The Growing Caldwell Family

 All three kids had a Friday off of school and Mom and I took them on a fun outing to a gold mine in Dahlonega.  First, we panned for gold and each found a fleck of gold with Charlie and Livy finding 2 flecks in their pans! They were feeling like they had struck it rich! We had a fun tour guide who shared a lot of knowledge and made it interesting for the kids. She asked Charlie to be Cousin Jack and demonstrate how they drilled holes for the dynomite! After we toured the gold mine, we did some gem mining! The kids really got into it and found some great looking rocks! Sarah Graves has a dry sense of humor and sometimes she can really crack me up! What a great day together! We learned something new, explored Georgia, and had a great time together!

 Sarah Graves and I spent a fun weekend together while Aaron and Charlie were camping. We didn't do anything really exciting, but we enjoyed some fun time together She played a softball game on Saturday against a team that was really tough the previous season and whose coaches and parents have bad attitudes.  She had a nice hit! She scored a run off that hit! Her team won easily, which was made even better because the other team's coaches are rude and their players are not good sportsmen.  Her friend had a birthday that day and Sarah Graves wanted to help her celebrate by making cupcakes to share after the game. She did a great job baking! After the game we did some shopping, she worked hard on her Silver award for Girl Scouts, and we spent some nice time just being together.  We are getting to that phase of childhood where she is on the go a lot and it is so nice to spend some time with her. 

We enjoyed beautiful fall weather at Fright Fest!  It wasn't crowded, so we rode a lot of rides! My favorite was that we all rode Goliath together! It is my favorite ride and I am so excited the kids like it too! Sarah Graves also found her courage and rode Catwoman's Whip. Not sure she loved it, but proud of her for trying it! Being Fright Fest, there were scary costumed characters walking around, but they left the kids alone and the kids were interested to see the gory costumes, but not scared.   

On a whim we bought tickets to a Friday night Braves game and had a great time! The Braves were down by several runs and Charlie put on his rally cap! It worked and they scored 6 runs in the 8th inning! Lots of tomahawk chop going on! So fun to cheer them to a win! Staying for the fireworks was a lot of fun!  

Lovie and Maw Maw came to church with me and Sarah Graves for Grandparents Day! We thought there were special activities for grandparents, but when we arrived, the person greeting us wasn't aware of any. We made our own time together, then just before the service started we realized there were special activities in another area! Oh well, we still had time to visit together and went to lunch together after.  That evening was our turn to serve dinner for the Sunday night youth. When I signed up, I didn't realize there were as many as 35 people to serve dinner for! Mom came to my rescue with chafing dishes to keep spaghetti and meatballs hot!  I cooked the pasta in my gumbo pot! I have never cooked for that many before. The kids were sweet and thanked me for the yummy dinner! Somewhere in there Aaron and Charlie went on a Cub Scout overnight and had other scouting activities. What a busy Sunday!  

With the start of school also comes all the activities. Both kids decided they wanted to play fall ball and were happy to be back on the field. They both were picked for teams with some of their friends - Falcons for Sarah Graves and Tides for Charlie.  Of course, for opening weekend they had overlapping game times. Thankfully, Lovie and Livy were able to bring Charlie so that Aaron and I could watch Sissy and head over to his game. Plus, he had a cheering section!  

Labor Day weekend we spent time with Lovie's family - Uncle Steve, cousin Nick, cousin Kayla, and her girls, Raylee, Charlee (yep, 2 Charlie names got confusing) and Haislee. Charlie and Raylee were so cute together and had such a good time! She is just a few months older than him and they get on great! Maw Maw was so happy to have the babies around! Charlee was very happy to be back with Maw Maw! Sis enjoyed playing on the slack line and helping the little girls. A bucket of water balloons and Charlie, Raylee, and Olivia had the best time! They ran and played laughing and having a blast together! When the balloons ran out, they went for the water guns! I hope that will be a memory of a wonderful time together with cousins! Their favorite was going out on the boat on the rafts! Even the little girls loved to get on and ride! We also celebrated Maw Maw's birthday!  Wishes for a wonderful year ahead! Food was the theme of the gifts this year! Gift cards to restaurants and favorit