80's Murder Mystery Party!

Every year, our dear friends, Rachael [aka Diva] and James, host a themed murder mystery party right around Halloween time.  Anyone recall last year's Jersey Shore-themed party - um, hello J-Woww and Pauly D!?  

This year's theme was the '80's.  Hells yes.  The only thing missing was a live Journey concert; no kidding.  James & Diva pulled out all of the tricks from Vanilla Ice hovering over the ice box at the bar...

... to the place being stashed with Razzles, Ring Pop's, and Cheeseballs - to the stellar makeshift backdrops to take terrible '80's couple portraits in front of!

Pat Benetar [Sam] & David Bowie [Mark]

Willie Nelson [James] & Madonna [Diva]

Bob Saget [Ben] & Molly Ringwald [yours truly]

Eddie Van Halen [Will] & Paula Abdul [Lauren]

Men!

Laaaadies!

But the best dressed peep in the place was none other than Coach!  Such a great looking female-male dog!

Until next year's stellar party,

Molls

PS - It was Madonna!

Hangin' at Bapa's

With so many fun things to do, look at, and, lesbihonest, destroy, Teigan has a blast at Grandma and Grandpa [aka Bapa]'s house.  Just a few pictures to document an ordinary, you know, ten minutes in the driveway.  I don't even want to discuss the backyard or inside.  T-struction!

"Is that a cat? I hate-slash-am-totally-intrigued by them!"

Thanks for always letting us take over your entire place, Doug and Kathy!

Day at the Park with TnT!

This past Saturday was so stinkin' fantastic!  Not only was it beautiful out and Teigan and I had a wonderful mommy-daughter morning, but we rounded out the afternoon with lunch at the Creamery Park Grille and a couple hours of playtime at the Fountain City Park with our favorites!

The pictures pretty much say it all, you know, other than the fact that Tucker 'n Teigan are full-on baby lovers.  Sorry, Donald and Ben... it's true.

Ladies and their babies!

Eat. him. up!

Dangit, I love us.

This picture totally cracks me up! Such a combo of both crazy excitement, fear, and a... dirty diaper?

TnT!

So... Ashley and Tuck Tuck, same time and same place this Saturday?  See you then!
Erin and Teigs

Spirited Art!

All in the name of supporting Bazillion Blooms [a Dogwood Arts tree-planting program], and also so my brother, Matt, and I could have a stellar excuse to spend a Friday night together, we signed up for a class at Spirited Art.  We hadn't done one of these classes before, but, quite honestly, we had a blast.  And really, who knew that our pieces would actually turn out so well?

Phase One - mine is on the left and Matt's is on the right

Almost done...

Matt & I showing off our masterpieces! I mean, they seriously are phenomenal, right? And it's NOT paint-by-number!

Long of the short of it, Lil' Brover: we don't totally suck at this! Let's do this again soon, okay?
Seester

Annie Artsy? Kinda.

While I try not to pretend that I'm more crafty than I actually am, I did give in to a bug that was itching like cray-cray and I painted up a lil' dress for Sweet T a couple weeks ago.  Not only was it super fun to make [guilty of doing mid-presidential-debate], but Teigan looks absolutely adorable in it.  

Thanks to Grandma Kathy for inspiring me to always do more things artsy!
E

T sporting her new rig at the park, but can someone say "Perfect Squat!"? #crossfit101

17 months old!

Our not-so-little [26 lbs.], completely independent [plays by herself in the backyard with absolutely no guidance... mommy fail?], and super chatty [new words of the week: bapa = grandpa and shoe] lady is 17-months old today!

It's crazy that she's come so far.  She acts like she's two [introductory tantrums included], but it seems like just yesterday I was breastfeeding [thank God that part of my life is over...].  

Molars coming in, books to be read, and dances to be had [mostly to Barney],
Mama

KnoxVenture Race!

This past Saturday was one of our favorite events every year - the KnoxVenture Race, benefiting Big Brothers Big Sisters.  Long story short, think Amazing Race on a local level... and obviously way more fun!  

We had an absolute blast and Team Party Rock! [that's Ben, Matt, Christin, Teigan, and I!] totally rocked it out.  Check out the obscene amount of photos detailing some of what we did along the race...

Team Party Rock! pre-race waiting for instruction... pre-Ben throwing the wig off

Capturing Teigan's absolute obsession with balloons - as she's entertaining the entire room!

Animal print pants outta control!

Christin and Matt are so sexy... and they know it!

Ben canoeing it at one of the checkpoints along the Tennessee  River

Party Rock! photo op!

This happened.

Actual scene from LMFAO's music video [hint: not really, but could be]

Teigan and I trucking it to the next checkpoint...

... where I acted like a dog at the dog park!

Why in the world did we choose to stop at Lululemon so late in the game? The workout about killed us!

Christin killin' on the "rock wall"

We had such a fabulous time and, based on our killer standing of 2nd in the family category, I'd say Ben and I did a pretty good job of picking our teammates!

Sorry [we're not sorry] for Party Rocking,
E

Bedtime, errr, playtime?

This is what happens in my household nearly every single night.  It's called Operation Let's-find-everything-fun-and-obnoxious-and-loud-to-play-with-and-bang-on.  Super cute, right?  Um, yeah... except for when it's 30 minutes past her bedtime and we're clearly not even close to putting her pajamas on.  Sigh.

Who needs to count sheep when you've got pots to bang on, songs to sing, and dances to be danced?
E

Bliss.

There is nothing on this planet more wonderful than your nearly-seventeen month old little girl falling asleep on you.  I've been talking for the past couple of weeks about how badly I wanted Teigan to nestle up in my neck and fall asleep, and low and behold, she did... and I couldn't have been more happy.  It's been months and months since this was commonplace for us and, quite honestly, it was the most glorious moment I've had in a long time.  While I could have easily fallen asleep, all I did was feel her heartbeat, smell her hair, and rub her soft back.  Just typing this takes me back there... such a perfect moment in time... that I will never forget.

I think every parent can attest to the fact that their child[ren] grow up so fast and it's moments like these that we all dream about, pray for, and absolutely do not take for granted.  

So, Teigan, can we do that again sometime?  Like, tomorrow?
Mama

4th anniversary = Ziplines!

So Ben and I played hookey from all work and responsibilities on Tuesday so we could have a little fun in the mountains.  We could say that it was to take a day and celebrate our fourth anniversary, but honestly, it was us getting away and pretend like we were kids again... oh, and perhaps to make up for the fact that last time we went ziplining [on our honeymoon in Costa Rica], it was literally in the middle of two hurricanes and the ziplining was for functional purposes, not recreational.

Anyways, it was a great day and we had a blast!  

Shhhhheckyeah!

Happy fourth, Ben!  I know you're sad the skydiving didn't work out, but at least we saved a perfectly good pair of boxer-briefs from being thrown out!  :)

Love,

Erin

And for the honeymoon reference from above... it seemed so nice... until about 15 minutes after this photo was taken.

Costa Rica honeymoon in '08 :: Pre-functional-zipline-hurricane-adventure