Happy Halloween!!!!!!!!!

Happy Halloween... we had a great day and I am so glad the rain stopped and we ended up having a nice afternoon and night for all our halloween fun.

We started the morning of with Halloween Cinnamon Rolls... I saw these at the store and thought they were so cute and very appropriate for this halloween morning...

This afternoon we went to our church for trunk or treat. All the Sunday Schools pick a bible story and decorate a car like the story and give out candy related to the story... very cute idea! The kids had a great time seeing all their friends dressed up, trick or treating, decorating a pumpkin and riding the hayride...

JP and his buddies Alex and TylerBrylee, Carter and Coleigh

(C and his family were all dress like character from scooby doo... can we say dad of the year?)

Brylee and Abby

Brylee and Sweet Sweet Kelly Snider...

BP loves KS and KS is always so sweet to take such good care of her

She rode the hayride with brylee and brylee sat in her lap the whole ride...

jackson fishing...

and brylee too... brylee and princess carsyn... After we went to trunk or treat at church we came to our house and had our 2nd annual "halloween party". We ate hot dogs, chili, taco soup, and snacks with several of our friends from church and family and then went on a hayride and trick or treated around our neighborhood. We also roasted marshmallows and made smores too... we had a great time and all the kids did too. I did a terrible job taking pictures... i was too busy making sure kids were sitting on the hayride and not falling off or getting run over by passing cars as they got off and ran from house to house or not getting burned by the fire while roasting marshmallows, or getting hurt while playing... so i have a few pictures but not many... and not one of anthony... nor did i take one picture of my kids together tonight... oh well...we had a blast and got enough candy for 10 kids!

We hope you had a happy halloween as well!

The hubs and I are heading out of town tomorrow for a little get away while the grandparents hold down the casa for a few days... i can't wait! Off to pack....

Jackson's Class Party

Jackson had his class fall party on friday... the class made these cute little owl cupcakes for their snack i thought they were so cute! It should be noted that JP gave me the "what for" for not having him a halloween shirt for him to wear to his party... he could not believe that i did not get him a pumpkin shirt from Mrs. Ashley... gezzz... but i will not make that mistake twice... we will have one next year and every other holiday in between. RP said he is a product of his environment... i guess he is saying i have created him to want to wear that? So he was "mad at me" and picked to wear navy blue... silly guy~

his table buddies...

He has a sweet little class with lots of people we know... and congrats to his teacher who is this years CPES teacher of the year!!!

Happy Halloween Eve!

Are you gearing up for the Halloween Fun and the sugar high that is only a day away? Get in the Halloween spirit and check out our costumes from years past....

Jackson's 1st Halloween- He was a Chilly Pepper!

Brylee's First Halloween- She was a fairy princess

and Jackson was Bob the Builder... Tigger (still sad that I did not dress him as Andy b.c he would have cared less) and Raggedy Ann **Mickey and Minnie (my favorite costume)** Peter Pan and Tinker belle ( a close 2nd) And then the years of dressing them alike come to an end ;( FiFi the Pink Puppy and John Parker Wilson and this year Barbie Jeanie and Mario

So there you have it... hope you enjoyed it!

Conclusions I have come to while looking at these pictures...

1. i barely remember life with just Jackson and of course jackson and brylee surely don't and did richard and i have a life before either of them... what did we do? b.c i seriously can not remember...

2. either my photography has gotten better or my subjects are more cooperative... or a little of both perhaps

3. they are growing up way to fast... at time i wish i could take them back to another age... i still think my favorite age was when jackson was 3 1/2 and brylee was 2 (minnie & mickey)... they were at such a fun age! However I am sure when they were that age I wanted them to be 5 and 6 1/2... oh how you wish their life away at times!

Wishing you all a Happy Halloween and lots of Trick or Treating!

Pumpkin Carving...

Tonight we carved our pumpkin... or should i say daddy carved our pumpkin! the kids had fun "digging out the guts"

eww... pumpkin guts

the master piece...

check out brylee's super cute outfit... another GoGo & Chunky Monkey original... love the colors!

our friendly ghost...

i realized i never shared with you the newest members of our family... they were really cute before it rained the whole month and we had wind storms the whole month... they have spent several nights laying on the ground and very wet with runny eyes... but non the less... we have enjoyed them!

In all my pumpkin carvin' years i have never done anything with the seeds beside throw them away... well tonight i decided to keep them, clean them, and cook them. They were actually pretty good... daddy was not a fan (big surprise), brylee and i liked them, and the verdict is still out on jackson he was asleep by the time they were ready????

Boo at the Zoo

Sunday night GoGo took us to Boo at the Zoo. We had fun! However I was a little disappointed in the amount of candy they got... they probably got 10 pieces... they have taken a lot of the trick or treating away and added more games, hayrides, and other stuff which is fine but most of them want a donation... was the $57.00 that we paid at the gate for 3 adults, 2 kids, and 2 armbands not "donation" enough? I think this might be our last year... i am sad about that b.c it was one of my favorite things to do but they have changed it over the years and i don't really like it anymore! :(Jeannie and Mario

Jackson loves to play Super Mario Bros. on DS so when we saw this costume it was a must! He looked great! EVERYONE commented on his costume... he even said "why does everyone keep saying Mario"... Priss was going to be Hannah Montana but then decided Saturday she did not want to wear the wig... well that wasn't going to work so off we go to search the world over for a halloween costume a week before halloween. We were looking for Strawberry Shortcake or Hello Kitty but could not find one we liked that did not cost over 50 dollars. So we found this Barbie Jeanie Costume... GoGo basically re-made it... cute off some ugly net stuff, made her belt and added the sleeve... isn't she a cute Jeannie! TRICK OR TREAT

our house divided

It was fun... the kids loved it! We are excited and ready for a fun week of Halloween festivities!

Fall Ball

Someone looks pretty proud of their new fall ball trophy another trophy for the shelf! Yes, Sunday was out last game I love watching JP play but I am very glad we are going to get a break from after school activities for a few months. We are not going to know what to do with ourselves with all this "free time" on our hands. Daddy's football is over so he actually gets to come home before dark; Jackson's fall ball is over so no one has to go to practice or games; and brylee decided she did not want to take gymnastics anymore she wants to cheer. So tonight we were all home by 4:30 and got to cook and eat dinner all together at the same time. Which is unheard of for us these last few months... Friday was usually the only night we were all home at the same time. We will enjoy the break before basketball and cheering starts up!!!

Brylee's 5th Birthday Tea Party!!!!

Today was Brylee's Birthday Party. She had a baby and mommy tea party. She invited 5 friends (one friend was sick) and all her friends brought their baby dolls/bears, dressed their best, and came for a tea party. We had it at a tea room / bed and breakfast close to our house. I think they had a great time! It was definitely a little different pace than your average birthday party and the food was not your average birthday party food; but all in all I think they had fun and enjoyed all the sweet things if nothing else.

"The Mommy's and their Babies"...

Abby, Carsyn, Coleigh, Jill, and Brylee

Brylee is dresses and ready for tea...

a hat, a boa, and her gloves...

I think all the "big girls" had more fun dressing for tea than the littles one...

But we finally talked them into all putting on hat for just one picture...

i love that carsyn and jill were not a fan of the hats at all

notice theirs are resting on the top of the coach...

it was so funny... i really thought they would get all into "dressing up"...

ah NO! they wanted NOTHING to do with the hats, gloves, or boas

we would try and put them on and they would take them right off...

they did not know what to think about those

Time for Tea!

They liked "playing" in their tea the best.

They stirred and poured their hearts out.

They had three courses to eat and their faces when all the food would come out was priceless. They would look at it like "what is that"... it was too funny. The first course was chicken salad, quiche, and fruit... the fruit was their favorite for sure. The second course was different kind of sandwiches, scones, and strawberry pound cake... the strawberry cake was a favorite for most. The last course was 3 different desserts this was their favorite course for sure. Lastly we had a cake... more sugar! yeah!

Birthday Girl and her Cake!

And her favorite part of the party opening presents!

Thank you sweet friends for coming and celebrating brylee's birthday today. We had a great time and hope you did too. Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

check the website (link to the right) to see more pictures of the birthday party!

Brylee Family Birthday Party

Tonight we celebrated Brylee's 5th Birthday with our Family.

She picked out EVERYTHING! She picked where she wanted to go eat, including what she would have for her "birthday cake", what she wanted to do, who was going to be there, and what everyone was going to get her for a present. She is such a planner ( i don't know where she gets that from?)

Where to Eat: She wanted to go to the mall and eat "in the middle" aka The Food Court. So to the food court at the mall we all went (barf... all the adults we "so excited"... but it wasn't our birthday so we all went with a smile on our face and ate some yummy fast food). She wanted to go to the cookie company and get cookies... but not a big one b/c Harper doesn't like chocolate so we all got our own. I ask them to put icing on hers so i could put candles in it. She did not want a cake. What she wanted to do: After we ate; she wanted her, jackson and harper to ride the carousal so they did... twice. Then she wanted to go shopping so she went to the Game Store and bought a new dc game for her dc. They also rode the little video game "rides" there at the mall too! Who was going to be there: She "invited" all the people she wanted to come... Mommy, Daddy & Jackson; GoGo & Grandaddy; Nonnie, KK, and Harper T (her boyfriend)... and last night she was with GoGo and Grandaddy and told GoGo we forgot to invite Mrs. Cathy, Mr. Randy, and Patrick... so GoGo and Brylee called them and invite them too. I did not know they were "added to the list" until today... and of course everyone came. How could they not right?Everyone was so sweet to come, eat tasty fast food and cookies, watch them ride the carousal and bring all the "right presents". What everyone was suppose to get her: She was at Nonnie's house one Saturday and they got on the Toys R Us website and made a birthday list of all the things she wanted and who was "suppose" to buy them. She kept up with that list for a month and when someone would ask her what she wanted she told them what present was beside their name. And low and behold everyone did just as they were "told".

Mommy and Daddy: A Cheer leading Outfit (mommy does the shopping so we got Auburn :) I can assure Daddy and Nonnie would have bought Alabama)

Jackson wanted to get her something so I got a Disney Princess Phone for him to give her... she loves those things and we only have about 10 but what is one more. :) Go Go and Grandaddy: A Pink Nintendo DS!!!! She was so excited! She loves to play Jackson's and she was counting down the days until she got her own. When she was at GoGo and Grandaddy's last night she saw it all wrapped up and she kept saying "it's my DS, it's my DS"... Grandaddy kept playing a trick on her and telling her it was sewing stuff for her sewing machine. She would give him her signature Brylee look (you know the one like it better not be) and would tell him "your not suppose to tell me". Little Stinker!Nonnie: A Ring... Brylee had been wanting some jewelry like mommy so Nonnie and her decided on a ring. Who better to buy a ring for her than Nonnie... she always bought me jewelry growing up since she had boys and they don't really wear jewelry (LOL). I am so glad she is continuing the tradition with Brylee. She got her a pretty pink ring (which is her birthstone) and her favorite color. KK: Dora Art Set and Coloring Books... KK and Brylee love to do art projects together... so who better to give her art stuff but KK. She can't wait to break it out and use it!

Mr. Randy, Mrs. Cathy, and Patrick: Umbrella and Rain Boots... bless Mrs. Cathy's heart she looked everywhere for some and no one had matching umbrella and rain boots in her size... so they gave her money for me to find some. She is all about money... so of course she loved that!

So is 5 too young to go on your first date? I mean I hear things are starting earlier and earlier so I guess 5 years old is the new 16? Ha... just kidding!

But Brylee sure did take her "boyfriend" with her to her family birthday celebration. We even picked him up, took him with us to the mall for all the fun, and them brought him back home. They rode "in the way far back" aka third row seat together and played DS, laughed and talked the whole way there. They were too cute; holding hands through the mall (just so i would not loose them).

Well, the real "reason" Harper came tonight with us is b.c Brylee's birthday party is Sat and we are having a tea party which is a "girls only thing" so her "stipulation" for "agreeing" to having that kind of party was that her and harper got to do something for her birthday so i told her we would bring him along for the family birthday. So we did!

Harper was too sweet tonight. They are just the best of friends. They are not in school together this year and they miss each other so much. Thank goodness for Wed. and Sun. at church. They get so excited when they see each other on Wed. nights at church. They sit beside each other to eat, go to the library together, play on the playground together until their class starts and then follow each other around during class. On Sundays they were not in the same class b.c of their birthdays and they could not handle being "separated" so we moved her over to his class (good thing we have connections:) ha! Tonight was no different they were all about each other.

He also gave her a great present but i don't have a picture of it... however we plan on opening and using it tomorrow after school. It will be a super cute post so you will have to check back! I will tell you that he knows exactly how to pamper "his girl"! :)

We had a great time! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you sweet family and friends for coming out tonight and helping make Brylee's 5th birthday absolutely so special! I don't know what we would do without each and everyone of you. I don't think you all know how special you are to us and how much we love each and everyone of you! Brylee (we are too for that matter) is such a lucky girl to have so many people that love her and want her to have the best birthday ever! You all are the BEST! We love you so much!!!