Veteran's Day Program

Us right before heading out the door to get to Laurel's Veteran's Day program.
Laurel is in the Harmony Hornets, the school choir.  She loves to sing and this has been so good for her to come out of her shell a little.  (I know daddy. That mirror is crooked back there on the wall!)

Laurel brought this home from school when they were studying about Veteran's Day:

Remember (It was the Veteran)

It was the Veteran,

Not a reporter,
Who has given us freedom of the press.

IT WAS THE VETERAN,

Not a poet,
Who has given us freedom of speech.

IT WAS THE VETERAN,

Not a lawyer,
who has given us the right to fair trial.

IT WAS THE VETERAN,

Not the campus organizer,
Who has given us the right to demonstrate.

AND IT IS THE VETERAN,

Who salutes the flag, who served under the flag,
And whose coffin is draped by the flag!
Who allows the protestors to burn the flag.

I love this and I'm so thankful for those in my family who have served and who are serving!
There was nothing sweeter than these sweet third grader's voices singing, I Am Proud To Be An American......
Where at least I know I'm free....

Zoo Field Trip

Savannah's first grade class and Ms. Cooper.

Did you catch that Savannah's teacher is different from the one she posed with the first day of school.  Remember, she had Mrs. Spellerburg.  Well, this is the little story of how this switcher-roo happened.  Two weeks into school, we got a letter saying that they were adding a new first grade teacher because there were too many students in some classes.  They gave us the option to volunteer our child, or tell the reason why you wouldn't want your child moved.  Ms. Cooper was a Nationally Certified teacher with 8 years of experience.  So long story short. I asked Savannah if she would like to be moved into a new first grade class with a new teacher and new students.  She did not hesitate and very excitedly said yes!  Then she added sweetly, "as long as it doesn't cost you and daddy anything."  Sweet girl.  Mental note to self, maybe we talk about finances too much in front of the children?

So here we are with Ms. Cooper and we love her!  There is a little boy in her class from church, so that's pretty neat.

So let's go through the zoo...

 Hmmmm..... where do we want to go first?

The zoo sure is a stinky place!

Hanging like a monkey

Fun time with my sweet Savannah.

 

Her teacher told me that Savannah is the only one in the class who can stay on task.  She said that when she gives an assignment, she knows that Savannah will keep her head down until it is finished.

I love the person she is growing into. 

Halloween Night

I took Laurel, Savannah and Landon over to our good friend's Ava and Lily's neighborhood for some Halloween pre-party and some trick-or-treating fun!
Before we hit the dark night....

We ate pizza and cookies.

 And posed for pictures.

I love how Laurel is such a "little mommy." 

This car was parked in some one's driveway.  It always amazes me how people go all out for Halloween.  The children thought it was the spookiest thing.  It actually ended up making us all jump.  If you get too close to it, smoke starts seeping out from underneath making a hissing sound.  I used this scary scene as a teaching lesson.  I told Landon that if he kept unbuckling while I was driving down the rode, he was going to look like that little boy in the back seat.  He hasn't unbuckled since!

My sweet friend Dana has spoiled Landon since birth.  She carried him all the way home.
He was so tuckered out by the end of the night.

And here they are with their piles of treats!

Spooky Events Continued....

I'm doing a preschool group with 5 other ladies.  Every Tuesday one of us host preschool at our house.  We each have a theme that we cover on that day and our little ones get to have fun and maybe learn a little something along the way.
At the beginning of the year, we scheduled in some field trips.  One of the field trips was going to a pumpkin patch.  Well, we aren't really a "real" preschool so we couldn't get in at the pumpkin patches during the day.  So I said, "come to my house and we will have a hayride, because I already had that planned for Sawyer's birthday, and we will make a pumpkin patch."

We also invited another group of ladies who do this same kind of preschool.
It was so much fun.  Here are some pics:

 

The girls are ready for the hayride!  Did I mention that Landon's preschool group is all girls.  The other preschool group had a few boys, so Landon got some guy time on this field trip!

 Trying to round him up to get on the hayride.

We got a pumpkin!

The whole group after the hayride.  I think it was a successful pretend field trip to the pumpkin patch.

 

October Spooky Events

This is how our October spooktacular events went down:

Friday night:
Fall Festival at the girl's school. 
Honey (Seth's mom) came up to help out.

She kept up with Sawyer.  And I kept up with the other three.  Seth had to work late. :(

Savannah and her bff, Lily got their faces painted.

Laurel and her bff, Ava making sure Landon has a good time!  He stayed right with them all night.

Saturday night:
We had our trunk or treat at church.
When I started asking the girls what they wanted to dress up like, Laurel immediately said, a cat.  A few days later, savannah said, "I can be a cat too and Landon can be a mouse and Sawyer can be the cheese."  Savannah probably should have been a dog if we had wanted the nursery rhyme to go in correct order.  But you know what?  We already had another cat costume so we had two cats chasing the mouse!

What I loved about all of these costumes was the girl's imagination.  I got yellow poster board and let Laurel and Savannah draw whatever they wanted to on it. They drew a picture of cheese and wrote, "yummy cheese!"

Honey taking the little mouse trunk or treating.

Savannah with our sweet friend, Annie.  I want to be Annie when I grow up!  Her three daughters are grown, two of them have their own families, one is off at college and she still came all dressed up.  The kids love her!

Wow, what a busy fun weekend.  And guess what?  We haven't even had Halloween yet!

Birth Order

First born, Laurel.

Last born, Sawyer.

I think they are in love with each other.
He came up to her, as soon as she got home from school, and reached up for her to pick him up.
Then he layed his head on her shoulder and stayed there.
Makes. my. heart.melt.

Playing Dress up!

Seth and I did something wild and crazy this past October!  Well, it was a little crazy for us two.  Our sweet friends, Dan and Debbie Bethers invited us to a halloween party they were hosting.  You had to dress up!  I was so excited about going but knew as soon as I told Seth he had to get in costume, it might take some convincing.

This is how it went down:
"Seth, Dan and Debbie are having a halloween party and we are invited!"
"Do you want to go?"

"Sure, we can go."

"We have to dress up!"

"Well, do you have that figured out?"

"I sure do.  I knew you wouldn't want to go all out crazy so this is what I came up with...

"I will be the one to go crazy and you can put that dirtbike uniform on like you are going to a race!  And I will get me one, long blond wig, because really, who wouldn't want to be blond for a night, and I will be your dirtbiken trophy girl!"

"I like it!"  He said.

Side note:  Our children thought we were the coolest parents ever that night!  Laurel and Savannah were very concerned about how I was going to be a "modest" trophy girl.  Yep, they have seen the dirtbike races on t.v. and every time they say, "mama is that girl dressed modest?!"  "No girls, she isn't and it's just silly that she is back there grinning like a monkey and you better not grow up and do that!"  When Landon saw me, he hung his head and did the loudest belly laugh ever.  He thought I looked hilarious!  Sawyer, on the other hand, was scared to death and clung to Seth for dear life.  He must have thought, who is this crazy woman with my mom's voice.

Then I said, "you know it is going to be a fun party with Dan hosting it.  I can't wait to see what he dresses up like!"  Because you see, Dan is crazy and funny and so much fun to be around:

And he, Jack Black from Nacho Libre, did not disappoint!  Oh my goodness, he was so funny and he stayed in character most of the night.  Debbie was sister Encarnacio'n.  Their costumes just fit them so well as a couple.  Dan:funny, crazy! Debbie: So sweet and a little bit more reserved than Dan!
There were so many creative couple's costumes.  I wish I had gotten pictures of all of them. Here are a few:

And, we all know how that fight turned out! :(

Here is the winning couple, Sariah and  Trey.  Yeah, remember my friend, Sariah, the theater major.  The one who put the warrior dash costumes together!  Of course, she would come up with the best Honey Boo Boo costumes!  They took the trophy home for best costumes.  I voted for them!

So, I guess I thought we were just going to stand around and eat some....

spooky food!
Oh no, they had fear factor games planned!
Here are some that I captured:

Seth, totally let a girl beat him, with the shots of, I don't know what all kinds of vegetables were blended up to make a nasty concoction.  Seth took one sip and decided it wasn't worth puking over.

And there is our other hostess, sister Encarnacio'n.  She has her feet in ice cold water, picking up marbles with her toes.

This was my favorite one.  Seth is holding a plate of gummy worms buried in cool whip.  He has to dig for the worms and I have to take the worms with my mouth.  He looked so cute digging for those worms, I was juggling a camera and trying to stuff worms in my mouth all at the same time.  We did not win!

Us at the end of the night!  I couldn't help but show this picture.  I look so tired!  I think this was the latest I had stayed out in awhile.  My eyes look like they are about to close!  If I remember correctly, I think I walked into the house and heard Sawyer crying.  Sometimes it doesn't pay to go out.  Sometimes the night is just not worth it when you have to stay up later with a crying, teething baby.

But this night was!
I'm already thinking of what we can be next year!

Dear Sawyer,

You are one!

Frogs, snails, puppy dog tails that's what little boys are made of.  Well, not really.  But that's the theme I went with for your first birthday!

We celebrated your day with cousins, aunts and uncles, granny and papa.

We went on a hayride!

 

All of a sudden you have turned into such a little man. 

I'm pretty sure eating cake was your favorite part!

You dove in...

You giggled...

You started slinging cake everywhere!  You had an audience and we giggled with you!

This group of kiddos loves you so much and will always protect you!

This is your cousin Alistair.  You are only two months older than him.  I bet you will be great friends.  And guess who else loves you?  Your Papa!  His grandchildren are so important to him.  I love how he makes his rounds and makes each of you feel special.

You know who else is special.  Your daddy!  Do you know how much I love him.   You will one day.  Do you know that I thought our family was complete with Laurel, Savannah, and Landon.  I had no idea that I would be able to have another baby.  Do you know that your daddy felt like we should have another baby and we did!  We had you! 

Do you know who loves you most of all?  That's right, me!  You see their is a special bond between a mother and a child.  I am so in love with you.  I can't even imagine our family without you.  You are such a funny boy.  You are SO loud.  You express yourself with lots of grunts and screams.  You laugh so much.  You are very determined.  You mock our sounds and expressions. You walk up to me and put those sweet arms around my legs and look into my eyes with your gorgeous brown eyes and say, "mama, mama!"  That is the best sound ever to me.  I am blessed to be your mommy!

Happy Birthday Sawyer.
I love you,
Mom