Darth Vader and a witch go trick or treating

Kyle decided to dress as Darth Vader and Kaitlyn wanted to be a witch this year for Halloween. It took us forever to find a witch costume for Kaitlyn that was not slutty looking. Finally we found this one at Wal-mart and luckily it was only $14.







First we went to the Fall Festival at church, they played some games.



Ashley



My brother and his girlfriend, Mandy



Kyle won this really cute cake in the cake walk.



Kyle and Andrew (dressed as a Jedi Knight) battling it out with their light sabers.



Trunk or Treating





Kaitlyn doing the cake walk, she won a pumpkin pie



Then we went trick or treating in my mom's neighborhood





I thought I would get a pretty good picture under this cute little arch so I told the kids to stand there and smile. Then right as I was snapping the picture that witch started to descend and make scary noises, freaked Kaitlyn out!

Spider Web cake

I made two cakes for the cake walk at our fall festival tomorrow. I was so proud of these even though they were super easy.


I started out with one cake mix and poured it in two circular pans and frosted them with chocolate icing.



Then I piped white icing in concentric circles (see the Geometry I am using)



Then I used a knife to drag the icing and make it look like a web.



And the finished product!

Open House

We went to the kids school for Open House. Kyle's teacher is going to be out for 6 weeks because she had to have some minor surgery. They showed me the music and art rooms. Then we went to Kaitlyn's room.

Here is Kyle's seat area (notice the proximity of the teacher's desk to his).



And here is Kaitlyn sitting in her seat and showing me this surfboard she made in art.

Aaliyah's skating party

My niece, Aaliyah, turned 9 last week so we had a party for her at Cordova Skating. It was so fun watching the kids skate, some of them for the first time.



This is where they spent a lot of their time, on the floor!







Jade





Hey Macarena!!



Peyton really wanted to be where all the action and kept trying to get out on the floor.



So her daddy let her skate for a few minutes.



Happy Birthday to you! There would be 9 candles on that cake.





Trying to get a picture of the girl cousins, it didn't work at all. I guess we shouldn't have put cake in front of them first, HA!



and opening presents





The lighting in a skating rink is horrible and I have no idea how to get good pictures in there. I tried several different settings. I have so much more to learn.

The never-ending soccer season

I realized that I haven't posted anything in a while. I feel like we have been busy but there is really nothing exciting going on to post on the blog. That should change from now until the end of the year, HA! So I guess quiet is good for a short while anyway.

Kyle is in his 4th season of playing soccer (I am signing him up for basketball tomorrow so stay tuned for that). He loves soccer. We have had so many rained out games that I don't think this season will ever end.

Here are some random shots:



I had camera/lens envy this day, do you see it?

Youtube

Youtube has to be some of the best free entertainment on the internet. Check this out:

Dancing in the rain

Yesterday at the Big Backyard they had a simulated rain thing. Every 30 minutes it thunders and starts to rain. The kids loved this, especially Will.



Kyle did not want to get wet at first, Kaitlyn tried to drag him in.




Kyle finally getting in on the action.





Will shivering.


Kelley decided she was going to run through it and said "okay I think I am going to run through". The second after she said that, the rain stopped. So funny!

The Big Backyard

The Memphis Botanic Gardens has a new thing called the Big Backyard. It is way too cool and on Wednesdays after noon it is free to get in (although next time we go we will pay to go because it was quite crowded and would be well worth the price you have to pay to get in). Kelley and Will went with us, we had such a good time.





a little clubhouse


music house


hanging laundry (why is this so fun everywhere but home)


Kaitlyn took Will in this house and said "come on, this is like in the three little pigs", I guess that would be the house made of sticks.


Kyle drew his name on the chalkboard house.


playing music




Kyle put this hat on and kept saying "I'm a cowboy"


Kaitlyn really took to Will, she carried him around and played with him really well. And no she does not need another little sibling so don't even bother commenting that!


big treehouse









We will definitely make more visits to the big backyard. There is so much to do there. I am not happy with most of my pictures. The sun was right in the way so the lighting was terrible for most of them.
They also have a simulated rain station but that deserves a post all to itself.

Bartlett Festival

Going to the Bartlett Festival each September has now become a tradition for us. This was our 3rd year to go. We love this fair. They usually have hot air balloons, which is the reason we started going in the first place, but this year it rained so much that I supposed the ground was too saturated for them to roll out the balloons and inflate them. The balloons are my favorite part so I was disappointed but there is still plenty to do and the kids always have fun.






Kaitlyn got her hair done at the Sweet and Sassy booth and climbed the rock wall.





Then we went to ride some rides. They love this.









There was a group raising money for Breast Cancer and you could beat on the pink car. Kyle of course wanted to do this.



And with all the rain we have had lately, there was actually a pretty sunset while we were there.

1st soccer game of the season

Kyle had his first soccer game of the fall 09 season this morning. I am so excited that he has moved up to the next league and now we play at 10:15 as opposed to 8:30. We only had 4 of our 6 players and the other team only had 2 of their players show up. They play 3 on 3. So we sent one of our players to their team so we could still play. So all 6 kids had to play the entire game (they normally switch every other round). They were so tired and sweaty by the time it was over.

Kyle scored 4 goals and did not want to stop playing.









Playing goalie


He really needs a haircut if he is going to get all hot and sweaty

PTA Program

Kaitlyn performed with some of her class at the PTA program tonight. She was so excited to do this. They sang several songs.










Jim Jaggers (from News channel 3) was there promoting his Go Jim Go campaign for Lebonheur (apparently his son goes to Bartlett Elem.)

Helicopter ride

At the Delta Fair yesterday John saw the sign for helicopter rides and said he had never done that so we should. I said whatever. Only two people could ride at a time so he and Kyle rode, then Kaitlyn and I rode. The ride was only about 2 minutes around the perimeter of the fair but well worth it.











When I got on I handed off my bag and camera to John. There was no door on the helicopter so I didn't want to risk losing anything. But I was so mad that I didn't have my camera up there. I could have taken some cool pictures. Oh well, I guess we will have to ride again next year!

Delta Fair

We went to the Delta fair again this year today. I am so exhausted. We got there about 12:00 and did not leave until around 7:00. We ate before we went and then went to eat right after so we would not be tempted to purchase any of the over priced food there. We found a coke machine inside one of the building that had canned cokes and water bottles for 60 cents so I bought a few of those. We got the kids wristbands so they could ride as many rides as they wanted, so worth it.

First they rode some kiddie rides.













Then they rode some of the "big rides". I was surprised that Kyle wanted to ride these and figured after the first one that would be it for him. But he rode several with Kaitlyn.











We also rode in a helicopter but that deserves a post all to itself. Then we watched a roller derby, some motorcross guys, and a demolition derby.









Kaitlyn and Kyle also fed the goats.





Here is the midway, I didn't think it was too crowded but this makes it look like it was.

Back to bowling

My kids enjoy bowling and have been on bowling leagues in the past. We signed back up to be on bowling leagues for the fall. They have their own balls and it is cool in the building, also doesn't take up a lot of time. We started the new league today. Kyle has normally bowled with bumpers and just throws his ball down the alley. He tried no bumpers the other day when we bowled for fun and did fairly well. He tried with no bumpers again today. He also tried a different ball (one that belongs to the bowling alley) and used the finger holes. He did really good and did not get frustrated. So I took his ball in the pro shop and the guy is going to drill the holes, it should be ready next week when we come to bowl.

Lego Party

Kyle had his birthday party yesterday. He mentioned in Target once that he wanted to have a Lego party and I just went with that because I thought it would be pretty easy. I made the invitations (seen here) and I made the cake (even though I should have paid someone to do that for me).

I had some games planned but the kids really just wanted to run around and chase each other so I let them.





Then they played with some Legos for a while.











Here is him with his cake:





Singing Happy birthday, he got excited and blew his candles out right after I lit them. Then I lit them again for the picture so he got to make two wishes.



He got some great gifts from his friends, here are a few of those pics.













Here is Kyle and some of his friends who came, I had every intention of taking a picture of Kyle and each individual person who came but it just didn't work out that way. You know how well kids, pictures and your plan works out!

Taylor Kate, Kyle and Jessica


Jackson and Kyle


Ryan, Lucas and Kyle


Eli, Kyle, Andrew and Cody


Allie, Kyle and Abby

Opry Mills

We spent the night in Nashville after the JB concert so on Wednesday (which was my birthday!) we went to the Opry Mills mall. We first went to Waffle house for breakfast and they had a jukebox. Six songs for a dollar, such a deal!



I bought my self 2 new wallets at Liz Claiborne. Kyle tried on some glasses and thought he was too cute.




We went in Old Navy and Kyle kept asking to ride the ferris wheel. I had no clue what he was talking about but we walked down and there was a merry go round. I told them they could ride, then we get down there and it was attached to a aquarium and you had to pay $3.95 per person to get in plus no child admitted under 12 without a parent, even though I could see them perfectly from behind the fence. They looked at the fish and got to touch the stingrays also.
















Kaitlyn and Aaliyah found a photo booth and wanted to get their picture taken. I said here for $5 (which is how much it cost) I will take your picture.



Then we found this little place in the center of the mall called Gigi's cupcakes. Since it was my birthday I bought myself one. They were delicious, I could not decide which one to get but I settled on the Peanut Butter.



This is the cupcake after Kaitlyn accidentally sat on the box.

Jonas Brothers concert

My SIL bought us tickets to go see the Jonas Brothers in Nashville on Tuesday night. This is the kids birthday and Christmas presents for this year. I didn't tell Kaitlyn and Kyle that we were going until about an hour before we left. I gave Kaitlyn a piece of paper to read that said "we are going to the Jonas Brothers concert in Nashville". She read it to Kyle and they were so excited. Now naturally going with Lora and Susan we were bound to be late but we got there and everything was fine.





We got out to take some pictures while we waited for Susan and Lora to park the car.



Jordin Sparks was going to be the opening act. I love her so I was more excited to see her than the JB. Imagine my disappointment when we walk to the door to see this:



Here are some other shots before the concert starts:







A video of Kaitlyn dancing to the music playing before the JB came out:



Then the lights went out, the screaming got louder and the Jonas Brothers were finally on.

















Here are some pictures of the dancing:







This is what got in the way of my pictures for most of the night. This girl in front of us kept waving this poster that said "Joe, fly with me"



This is what Kyle looked like for most of the concert. It took him about an hour before he got into it. He finally started clapping, then singing, then standing in the chair dancing.



This is one of the videos I made while there. I have a couple more but you can really just hear screaming so I will refrain from uploading those. But this one is funny because I turned the camera to video the kids dancing and Lora scooted back because she thought I was taking a picture. You will see her face go "oh no" when she realized that I was videoing not just photoing.



Susan bought the kids and her the over-priced t-shirts. They were so excited. I had to stay up last night to do laundry so they could wear them to school today.

Dancing Kids

I normally would not post pictures or videos of my kids in their underwear on the internet but this is too funny not to post. Kyle was dancing to one of the songs on Mamma Mia in the den. Hilarious!

Jade and Peyton's party

My nieces, Jade and Peyton, turned 3 and 1 over the weekend. Susan had a combined party for them. They had cute butterfly cakes.




Jade got shy all of the sudden why we sang happy birthday and had Cohen help her blow her candles out. Of course Peyton needed a little help too.







Peyton eating her cake, she had just woken up from her nap and was not really interested in cake.







We had a few minutes for cake and Jade said everyone was finished with cake so we could open presents (even though everyone was still eating).





Jade was so excited to find her cards in the packages. She gasped "Look I have mail!"



















They played on the slip n slide





And they painted on canvas'



Susan had this big canvas that all the kids put their handprints on, it was quite an ordeal.

Kindergarten

I took Kyle for his first day of Kindergarten today. I have been a little worried about him going because he kept saying he didn't want to go or he wasn't going to go. I went for a K meeting on Friday to his room and they were selling some t-shirts for $3. I thought that was a pretty good deal so I bought him one. I brought it home and showed him and he said "what does that say?", I said "it says I love Kindergarten". Without missing a beat he said "but I don't love Kindergarten".

So this morning he woke up without any help, he got dressed and wanted to wear his I love Kindergarten shirt (even though my first thought was it won't look very good for the picture). His backpack was all packed and we were off. He was so excited!





His teacher, Mrs. McEwen



Me and Kyle (even though I think this is an awful picture)




And then since I was there, I snuck down to the 4th grade hallway and took a picture of Kaitlyn in class.