~ Pumpkin Patch ~

It's been awhile since we've taken a family outing so we headed to a local farm to do the pumpkin patch "thing." It doesn't feel a dang bit like Fall with the temps still in the 90s, but we enjoyed ourselves nonetheless! :)

High School Musical Mania!!

This past summer, Brooklyn and Blake discovered High School Musical. They are by no means obsessed with the movies, but we love the music!! :) I like the HSM movies just because they are refreshing; wholesome, clean movies, which you don't see much of these days.

About a month ago, I told Brooklyn that HSM3 was coming out in the theater and that I'd take her -- just mommy and Brooklyn -- to see it. She was counting down the weeks, telling everyone that we were going. I was having my doubts for a moment, thinking it's just too "old" for her with the premise being senior year in high school, but I couldn't crush her hopes now! I bought the soundtrack the day before and surprised Brooklyn with it, so we listened to it in the car and at home to get psyched up.Friday night came and it was time for our "girl date." That's what Brooklyn kept referring to it as!! LOL! We bought our tickets and then skipped over to Panda Express for a quick dinner. After we finished eating, we headed back to the movie theater, grabbed our popcorn and Icee and got seated. It was so fun to see the excitement in Brooklyn's eyes as the movie started! She was bopping in her seat when the different songs played, telling me that she knew this from her CD. She was pigging out on the popcorn and other snacks I had stashed away in my purse. By the last half of the movie, I could tell Brooklyn was getting tired. After all, it was past her normal 7:15ish bedtime. She hopped up on my lap and made herself cozy for the rest of the movie. The movie was super-cute and a great wrap up to the HSM era!!

All dressed up and ready to go!!

Dinner time!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Yummy treats!!

Us girls!! (I look so freakin' tired!!!)

We had a great time and I reminded her how fun it will be to be able to have "girl dates" since we are the only two girls in the family. I can't wait for the next one!!!

Playing catch up again!

I've neglected my blog for way too long! I really need to get back into the swing of things! But for now, there are THREE new blog entries below. Enjoy!

Park Day

Brooklyn and Blake had last Thursday and Friday off of school, as did my sister Becky's stepkids and my brothers. We decided to meet up at Freestone Park, let the kids run around and have a picnic lunch. The weather was perfect and I enjoyed chatting with my two sisters. :)

Gavin feeding the duckies

My cute niece, Lexi

Brooklyn, Blake and Gav hitch rides with their uncles (my brothers) Joshua, Cody and Heston

Dalton being spun silly on the tire swingJoshua and Brooklyn going for a strollBrooklyn can "pump myself all by myself" now ~ big milestone! Taylyn and Blake race down the hill

I guess I didn't get any pictures of Maddie, sorry girl! I almost didn't survive having all three kids home all day long for two days, so I was glad for this little outing. :)

Frogs and bugs and kittens, OH MY!!

Since we've been at our new house, we've been lucky enough to be graced with the presence of such wonderful things!!!

First of all - the FROG.

We were driving the back way home after a family trip to Target. Part of this road is dirt (Matt is forbidden to drive this again while I am pregnant, not pleasant I tell ya!) and as we were coming up to the paved part, Matt says, "Did you see that?? That was a huge frog!" He backed up and HOLY HECK!! That was the BIGGEST hop-toad I'd EVER seen!!!! I told him to be a good dad and get out and catch it for his kids! ;) I just about peed my pants laughing! Here is this guy, still dressed in his nice work clothing, trying to catch this giganto frog and keep it from jumping into the thorny bushes. Frog #1 got away, so we kept driving and there was ANOTHER one a few yards down!!!!! Matt jumps out of the car and actually caught the thing!! It was in a plastic Target bag and I threatened him he better not let it go while I was driving!! When we got it home, Matt put it in a big box and let the kids have a peek at it. We were going to keep it overnight, but Matt felt bad with all the trauma it had been through, so we let it go. I did get some pictures, but seriously, they do NOT do this thing justice!!! It was HUGE!!!
Next, the PRAYING MANTIS.

I don't know that I've ever actually seen one of these things up close!!! Matt and my brother-in-law Taylor were working out in the backyard and they saw a praying mantis climbing up the wall. I told Matt to catch it so the kids could see it. We brought it inside for a bit and even let it go so I could get some decent pictures. Those suckers run FAST!!!! I don't think it looks like it's praying, more like prepping for a kung-fu battle!!! LOL!
And last, KITTENS.

I have to preface this one by saying that I am NOT a cat lover. Sorry if you are, I am NOT. Blake was helping out in the backyard on Saturday night and came in saying there was a cat out there but it was gone now. Cool, whatever. I ventured outside to see what he was talking about and there are two KITTENS, not cats, attempting to sneak under our side gate and apparently, Matt had given Blake the job to keep them out! Haha! I didn't want to make any sort of contact with these rascals so they wouldn't mistake our efforts with friendliness. Needless to say, my efforts were soon thwarted when Brooklyn carried one into the HOUSE!!!!!!! Then they were hiding in our garage and I couldn't shoo them out. Matt tried to and said he got them, but an hour later, I heard a sound - it was one of the kittens MEOWING in the garage! I had to get the blasted thing out. Some couple rang our doorbell later that night, asking if this kitten was ours because it was hanging out around our yard. Uh gee, I wonder WHY!!! I think the kits were a little too young to be wandering around on their own, but I don't know who they belonged too and we haven't seen them again.

School recap thus far ~ Did I mention BOYFRIENDS??!?

B&B have finished up their 1st grading period (every 6 weeks at the school they attend) and I had my very first parent/teacher conference!! Their teacher, Mrs. Ctibor, is such a gem and does wonderful with the class! I love the little songs and mnemonics she uses to help teach various things like the months of the year, counting by 5s, etc. I have volunteered in their classroom each month for the past three months and really enjoy doing so; I wish I could more frequently! It's neat to get a peek at the dynamics of a kindergarten class and see how my two react to their new, daily environment.

I just got their progress reports since we are already midway through the second grading period and both are doing wonderfully academically. Their teacher told me that Brooklyn is a very hard worker and gets her work done quickly. Blake, on the other hand, has a bit of difficulty focusing on his work and staying on task. He is easily distracted by what is going on around him and worries more about what everyone else is doing as opposed to what HE should be doing. He's also struggling a bit in the handwriting department. I think it's simply because he doesn't want to spend the TIME making his letters neat and legible. He knows HOW to write them. We'll be working on these little issues and see if we can get an improvement.

Here is just some of the cute classwork they have brought home-









Here is a comparison of their writing at the beginning of the school year and then again at the end of the grading period -

<----Brooklyn Blake---->





Brooklyn is constantly drawing at home and she did one of these each for Matt and I and placed them on our nightstands. I love how she phonetically spelled "Daddy" :) -----

Seems like little miss Brooklyn is popular with the men-folk in her class!!! She proudly announced to me one afternoon that she had a boyfriend. WHAT??!? Already????? Yep, his name is Kaleb and apparently, he was KISSING her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! {*enter fainting smiley here*} Matt gave her this humongous guilt trip, which of course caused her to cry, poor little girl! We talked about how it's ok to have FRIENDS that are boys, but not BOYfriends and that we certainly don't let boys kiss us. Since then, she's been standing up for herself, but still tells me, "Garrett says he wants to marry me," or "Nicholas kissed my arm today." Goodness gracious. This is going to be a long 11 years before she can officially date!!

I love the school that they are at even though I have to drive 25 minutes each way to pick them up after school every day. Matt takes them to school every morning (except Mondays and days I volunteer in the class) on his way to work, which makes it super nice for me. It's great to see Brooklyn and Blake thriving in the classroom!!!

Meanwhile, I get to stay at home with THIS little munchkin!!! He loves having free reign of the house and running errands with Mommy. :) Not too much longer and he'll have to share me!!

Why is it...

...on school days, I have to WAKE my kids up at 6:30am? Brooklyn always complains that she's tired, blah, blah, blah.

BUT, on school breaks (this past Thurs and Fri) and Saturdays, they are RARIN' and READY TO GO at 6:00am?!!!??!!!!?!!!!

Give a mom a break!! Sheesh!

More blogging to come...