CaponiFinallyEverAfter!

The Emerald Coast Autism Center seems to be where long term relationships go to transition in marriage!  Though I had already married Daniel by the time I joined the ECAC family, I have seen three good friends and fellow therapists move from long, long, long term girlfriends to fiance and finally wife.

It was such a treat to get to celebrate with my dear friend Kassie as she became wife to her love, Michael.

What a gorgeous bride!

Alexander and Daniel had to stay home, because by this time, Alexander's virus had come on full blast with a 103.3 fever.

The wedding was on the beach and was absolutely gorgeous.

After a sweet ceremony in which the best man married the couple, we headed to their beach house to celebrate.

We danced, ate, and had a great time!

Love you, Kassie!

Pumpkin Patch

At the beginning of Alexander having the nasty virus, he had lots of energy and just a low grade fever.

Daniel and I decided to risk it and drive out to Milton to explore the pumpkin patch.

It may have been a bit much for our borderline sick toddler, but we all had so much fun and made memories I will hold onto forever!

Alexander never stopped talking the whole time we were there!

He loved everything about the place, but the tractor may have been his favorite.

Entering the corn maze

We definitely got lost!'

We got out!

He loves pumpkins so much, but calls them all 'pumpkin patch'

This slide was so fast!

Mom fail- I took video at the bottom rather than catching him, resulting in a goose egg on his eyebrow!

So much fun!

They whipped this cow around pretty tightly!

I was glad we didn't send Potatoes out on his own!

Xander's first time seeing a full sized horse and he got to ride!

Simba!

Fuzzy chickens

Lovely day!

Alexander's talking amazes me every day!

He uses mostly sentences now, and almost always remembers his manners.

"Come on, papa.  See dragon"

"No puppy, no eat grass"

He loves trees and trucks and all animals and loves to tell you whether something is big or little.  He likes to talk about colors, but rarely gets them right.  He is about 50/50 on yellow and purple though....Gotta focus his attention on red and black!

The other day we were sitting at the table together eating grilled chicken bites.  He started moving them from in front of me to in front of him while counting, "one, doo, eee, foh, feye." Wow, kiddo!  He may have had eight bites in front of him, but color me impressed nonetheless!

He wants to do everything himself and is constantly closing all the doors in the house.

He has become a pretty picky eater, but I'm trying to not make a big deal out of it, because of his desire for control.  I just keep serving him what we eat along with food I know will help pack on the pounds.

He finally gained some weight!  Even with being sick, he weighed in at 26lbs when we went to the ER.  That's 2lbs higher than he's been for over a year!

Sail Away

We absolutely love my dad's quick visits!

Recently, he got a cool new toy, getting him back into sailing after a long hiatus.

He claims it was a 50 year hiatus, however, there was a stint where we had a two seater sailboat when I was growing up, so it hasn't been quite that long!

The weather was PERFECT and the wind allowed just enough to be relaxing and a little bit exciting.

I can't wait for my dad to regain his sea legs enough to share this experience with Xander!

While my dad was here, Xander's school had Holy Spirit week.  Each day they had a fun way to dress and a scripture that paired with the day.

Crazy hair day was no problem for this guy!

Red, White and Blue day was his time to shine

Team Spirit day- Go Dawgs!

At the end of the week, Alexander started to run a fever.  The fever lasted 8 days!  It got really high and sent us to the ER when he woke up from nap shaking.  They ruled out five different things and diagnosed it as a nasty virus.  It may have been nasty, but he never stopped wanting to RAGE!  It took a lot of popsicles and gummies to get this guy to rest his way back to health!

Hunter Halloween

It is finally feeling like fall around here and we are loving it!

Before a week and a half of being sick, we enjoyed some fun fall weather with lots of great activities.

His "smile" face

We enjoyed our Hunter Halloween party on Friday the 13th

We recreated a costume Daniel and I did with our friend Chris back in college, but we updated it to MarioKart

We completed our costumes with steering wheels, a turtle shell, a mushroom, and banana peels.

During the party, we played a lot of games.  I nearly won musical chairs, but my banana peel failed me right at the end!  Luckily, my 5 inch heels didn't stop me from crushing the dance off!  I gladly offered to share my gift card to Taste of Fort Walton over brunch with my friend and fellow former ECAC therapist, Courtney.

The MarioKart crew had our own game going, trying to see who could be the last one with a balloon.

Mario was the first one to lose all his balloons

After a high speed chase, Princess Peach claimed victory!

Vanessa and Kevin looked great as Greasers and Laura and Jon rocked it as Brexit

 We had a great night and came in second for "couples" costume, behind our friends Matt & Andrea, who dressed as Taco and Belle

Cuteness!

We had a great fall kickoff and can't wait to wear our costumes again for Alexander's first Trick or Treat experience!

RAGE!!!!!

We have had so much fun wrapping up summer and beginning the fall, even though the weather has not been feeling very fall-ish this week!

I realized just how far back my photos have to go to catch up on our family fun.

We have been busy, busy!

What a stud

RAGE!!!

Whenever we let Potatoes go to full energy blast, we tell him to RAGE.  Rock Out in Destin is the perfect place for this!

Potatoes climbed so high at one point, Daniel wasn't able to spot him anymore and told him he needed to come down.  He listened- letting go and free falling!  Total trust that his daddy was there to catch him, which thankfully, he was.

He found the speed bag and did his best to get tall enough to hit it.  

He loves our speed bag at home, too.

We have really enjoyed having this beautiful family next door.  Alexander is constantly asking for "playground girls"

Jennifer and I have been enjoying the Young Philosopher's Society toddler music class.

Alexander especially loves the scarves and the parachute

He rocked out on the drums!

We stay outside as much as the weather will allow

Thinking hard

We had a great time playing with Olivia at ECACs one year in the new building party

She kept him in line- helping him to learn the boundaries of staying on the curb.

He met his first pony at the ECAC One Run

He still talks about horsey with shoes!

He got a chocolate covered doughnut while I did the 5K with Brooke and Ashley

That evening I hung out with these cuties so James and Alyssa could have some time together before James headed to Alabama for a month. Here they are carrying their "lunch boxes."

My princess

He gets so red in the face, sometimes we just need a popsicle to cool off

This week, Daniel met us after work for A Night of Honor to kick off the Honor Games, which The TEAM w/ Paula Sherman is sponsoring.  Alexander loved all the boats at Legendary Marine!

This week,  I got a tough reminder of how important it is to hold close to those you love when one of my ECAC family lost her husband.  Her strength through Christ inspires me.

We love and cherish family time!