How Time Flies!!

I remember thinking that when school started, I would be able to keep up with this blog a lot easier--just because we would be getting into a regular routine, etc.  Boy was I wrong!  I absolutely cannot believe it is Thanksgiving week already!  Where have the last 4 months gone?  We have had so many milestones lately that I need to share.  

Olivia FINALLY started walking!  She was about 14 months old to the day before she decided that she could get around quicker if she walked.  And now, she hasn't slowed down a bit!  She has also cut a mouth full of teeth, finished all her immunizations, and gotten her 1st hair cut (pics follow).  She didn't really have much to cut, but I thought it might thicken up if it were trimmed.

We have also celebrated Jack's 5th birthday.  He won't be 5 until Monday, Dec. 1st, but we had his party this past Monday at Chuck E. Cheese so some of his classmates could come.  They had a blast!  We're going to have a little family party tomorrow night also.  I'll share pics from both after tomorrow night.

Shawn and I ventured out to the shopping world today...for the first time ever on the day after Thanksgiving.  I am very happy to say that we had a great day!  We went to Tunica last night and spent the night and were at the outlet stores at 7 a.m.  It was not crowded at all!  I was pleasantly surprised.  If it had been total chaos, I would have said forget it and we would have come home.  I can't handle rude, impatient crowds.  But it was just the opposite.  Everyone was very friendly and helpful and we got some GREAT deals!!  I was really excited.  So we are planning to make this an annual trip.

So, I have a small tree up in my den with a few presents under it already.  The kids will be excited when they wake up in the morning.  They helped me wrap a couple, but most I wrapped after they went to bed.  Having kids is the joy of Christmas for us.  They are so precious!  

These pictures are from Halloween.  We got one more use out of the football jerseys and the cheerleader suit!

Houlka has hit the BIG TIME!!

Well, after I don't even know how many years (about 12 for me), Houlka finally has a football team!  It is the single most exciting thing that has happened in this community in years.  We have 2 teams--Varsity and Junior High.  We played our first "game" last Friday night against New Site.  They are a new team also, but I think at least some of their players had some junior high experience.  I can only think of ONE of our players that had ever even stepped foot onto a football field.  We are overflowing with inexperience.  But I tell you what--those guys played like they had been playing forever.  Sure they made some mistakes, but it was the most exciting thing I think I have ever witnessed!  It all started with a farewell parade when the fire trucks and police cars, cheerleaders, and supporting fans all came out to the field house to watch them leave.  We left behind the bus and all along the highway going out of town, people were parked in their driveways and sitting in their yards waving and chanting with the cheerleaders.  Everyone of those guys had incredible smiles on their faces the entire time.  And they definitely proved themselves worthy of a team by their actions on the field.  Of course they have a lot to learn.  But I promise, in a few years, the sports gurus around here are going to wonder where this incredible group of athletes came from!  I promise to get some pictures and videos up and running.  If any of you get a chance to come see history in the making, our jr. high team plays Tuesday night (depending on Gustav) at Houston, then the Varsity team plays Friday, the 5th at Tupelo Christian Prep @ 7:30.  Looks like we're gonna need some hefty ponchos, but I'm ready!  Hope everyone has a great LONG weekend!

Birthdays & First Days of School

Whew!!  It has been a busy few weeks.  Things never really slow down around here, but since a week before school started, we have been in high gear!  Ethan's birthday was August 2nd, so we took a group of kids to Chuck E. Cheese a few days before.  It was one of the easiest birthday parties we've ever done.  Lauren made the cake (it was a 4-wheeler stuck in mud---one of the cutest she's ever done!) and we bought 1200 tokens for the kids to use.  We stayed most of the afternoon and they had a blast! 

 The next morning, we all had back-to-school hair appointments and then we went to Houlka so I could work in my room.  I changed rooms this year and the room I am in was more of a junk room last year so I had a LOT of cleaning to do.  Then Thursday, I was in Oxford all day at a workshop and we started school on Friday, the 1st.  Our students started on the 5th and it has been hectic since.  It usually takes me a few weeks to get back into the swing of things, but we're gradually easing back in to our school schedule.  The biggest difference this year is having two backpacks to check, two lunch boxes to fix, etc. It is a ton of work, but Jack absolutely LOVES school!  He asked on Friday if we had to go to school tomorrow.  When I told him that tomorrow was Saturday and we got to stay at home, he almost cried!  He comes in with something new to tell every day!  Ethan loves 1st grade, too.  I can't wait to see what he learns this year.  We have the best elementary teachers at Houlka and they do an amazing job with our kids.  

I have several pictures that I'll get on later.  We also had pictures made at Olan Mills on Saturday and they turned out to be some of the best pictures I have ever seen.  I can't wait to get them in!  I'll share those, too.  We have a pretty light weekend ahead so I plan on getting some much needed rest.  Hope everyone has a great night!

Visit to Lorie's

I know this is a week late, but better late than never!  We went to Lorie's last Wednesday-Friday and had a GREAT time!  (I have had a bad headache since Saturday so that is why I haven't already done this.)  We got there about lunch on Wednesday and just visited most of the afternoon.  The kids swam a little and played in the playroom.  The kids played really well together.  Ethan and Cari Ann liked the same things and Jack and Collins really enjoyed playing together.  Olivia and Ava had fun playing, too.  Even though there is 8 months between them, they are almost the same size.  Here are a few pictures from the trip.

On Thursday, we went to Spring Park.  It is a little park right up the street from Lorie's house.  They have a splash pad, carousel, train, and kiddie roller coaster.  The kids had a blast!  Here they are on the train.  I would have gotten on of Olivia and Ava, but they were both sound asleep!
This is Jack and Collins at the splash pad.  Aren't they just the cutest things you have ever seen???
This is Ethan and Cari Ann on the roller coaster.  It wasn't very big, but it went pretty fast.  These two loved it!  Jack and Collins only made part of trip.  They wanted to ride on the front and I guess it was a little too scary.

When we first got there, Jack kept trying to take a picture of Collins and she would hide.  After just a little while, they had warmed up to each other and I got several of them together.
This is all the kids--Jack, Ethan, Olivia (notice her on the phone!), Collins, Ava, & Cari Ann.  You can really tell who belongs together!

Not long after we got there, Olivia figured out how to crawl into the toy cabinet.  Lorie said that Ava had never done that before, but she thought it was a great idea!

Here are the kids with Jeff--he is the cute one in the middle :)  Wednesday night, he went outside and tapped on the window and scared the kids half to death!  Then Thursday, he put on this mask and banged on the bedroom door and scared them even more!  They LOVED it!  They were SO funny!

As you can tell, we had a wonderful time.  Thanks, Lorie, for opening your home to my wild bunch!  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY OLIVIA!

Well I absolutely cannot believe it, but we are celebrating Olivia's 1st birthday today!  This past year has flown by!  We actually had her party yesterday at our church fellowship hall.  We don't have room in the little house we're in now and it was way too hot to have it outside anywhere so this was our best option.  It worked out really great I think.  She had a good party--just family and close friends.  She got a lot of wonderful gifts, many of which make a lot of noise :)  

Shawn & I got her a big girl car seat.  She absolutely loves it!  She likes being able to watch TV like the boys!

L to R:  Reed & Riley Newman, my nieces Tori & Lily Kate, my nephew Jace, Ethan, Olivia, & Jack.

Olivia had a great time playing in her cake.  It took her a few minutes to figure out that she could just eat it however she wanted, but after that, she made a big 'ol mess!

Aunt La La (Lauren) makes all of our birthday cakes.  She does a WONDERFUL job, doesn't she?

Olivia had a perfect party and would like to say "Thank You" to everyone!

Mom & Olivia were both worn out when it was over, but we still had time to pose for one last picture!

We had Olivia's baby dedication at church this morning.  I'll get some pictures and video from that on tomorrow.  She looked absolutely precious!  We are also planning a little mini vacation this week.  We are going to my friend Lorie's for a couple of days (Libby, we wish you could come too!).  I should have some great pictures from that when we get back.  Hope everyone has a great week!

Catching Up...

I feel terrible that I haven't kept up with my blog like I wanted.  I guess I have an excuse...3 kids and a husband!  That takes up most of my time, but I am not complaining.  I love it!  Maybe when school starts back, I will do better.  I know that sounds crazy, but I do better at everything during school--housework, cooking, etc.  I guess I just get lazy during the summer.  But the rest sure does feel nice!  

Anyway, not much has gone on these last few days.  Last Thursday, the 3rd, my sister-in-law, her sister, and I took two car loads of kids to Chuck E. Cheese.  We got there at just the right time--it wasn't crowded and the kids were having a ball.  After a few minutes, we realized that they weren't spending any of their tokens (they had about 100 each--enough to last ALL afternoon we hoped!).  I walked around and probably 90% of the games had stickers over the coin slot that said "This game is temporarily unavailable."  They weren't able to play anything!  The manager said they had RUN OUT OF TICKETS!?!?  Can you believe that Chuck E. Cheese ran out of tickets???  I told my sister-in-law that was like McDonald's running out of french fries!  The kids managed to keep themselves entertained for about 2 hours before the truck ran with the tickets.  They really didn't care...they had a blast anyway.

This is my niece, Lily Kate.

This was made right before we left.  They were completely tuckered out after playing so hard, but you couldn't tell it!  I bet they didn't say 10 words on the way home!

This seemed to be the ride of choice for the kids since most of the games weren't working at first.  I can't tell you how many times we rode this!

Even Olivia had a blast!  She even managed a little cat nap amongst all the fun.  When she woke up, she was ready to play.  This little pink car was her favorite!  Below is my nephew, Jace.

Ethan enjoyed playing the "big kid games."  He has just recently gotten big enough to play pretty much anything.  He will turn 7 on the 2nd of August.

Olivia and I had as much fun as anyone!

This is one of the things Jack picked out with his tickets.

This is Ethan, Lily, & Camryn riding on the monster truck.

We spent most of the 4th getting ready for a yard sale that I had on the 5th.  When we sold our house, we stored a TON of junk we needed to get rid of.  I sold some of it--enough to get rid of one storage building we're renting.  I'm planning to do one more the first weekend in August.  We went to Shawn's parents for dinner on the 4th.  They grilled steaks and we shot some bottle rockets.  The kids really enjoyed that.

After getting up so early on Saturday and working in the heat all day, Sunday was another lazy afternoon.  After church, we all took naps until time for church again.

This week, we are planning a birthday party for Olivia.  We are having it at our church fellowship hall Saturday evening.  It is SO hot outside these days so we needed somewhere that the adults could stay cool and the kids could play.  We have a little playground behind the fellowship hall so I think it will work out great.  I'll have pics from that this weekend.  Ethan, Jack, and I may go to Tupelo tomorrow shopping for party stuff.  They want to go to the "giraffe store" (Toys R Us) to find Olivia a present.  I hope everyone has a great day!

VBS Fun

Whew!  This was an exhausting week!  Fun, but exhausting.  Our VBS was Son World Adventure Park (a Six-Flags-type theme), so on Thursday night, we had a little surprise for all the kids.  The church rented a couple of inflatables and let the kids play.  They had a ball!  By the end of the night, they were pooped!  On the way home that night (after we had delivered 6 other kids to their homes), Jack said, "Daddy, can you hurry?  I'm ready to get in my bed."  He's usually the one we have to MAKE go to bed!  They were asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow! I'm sure all the other parents appreciated that night as much as we did! 

This is my nephew, Jace sliding down the big slide.

This is Ethan climbing through the obstacle course.  This was a HUGE dragon.  It took up over half of our parking lot!

This is my niece, Lily jumping in the big sports-themed inflatable.  It had a huge baseball, football, soccer ball, and basketball on the top of it.  It also had a slide for the kids to slide out of it.  It was really neat!

Olivia had fun at VBS, too.  She ran a pretty high temperature all day Thursday so I took her to the pediatrician on Friday.  She swabbed her for strep throat, but that was negative.  But, she does have a viral fever, which means there is nothing we can do but give her Tylenol or ibuprofen.  She doesn't feel well at all, but maybe she'll get over this in another day or two.

We don't have much going on this week.  We'll probably swim with LaLa (my sister-in-law, Lauren) a day or two and we're planning a trip to Chuck E. Cheese's on Thursday.  I am also getting ready for a yard sale next weekend to clear out some of the storage buildings we have rented.  Have a great day!