Monday, October 31, 2011

Rainy Halloween


Cailey really wanted to do the "Wizard of Oz" theme for costumes this year and the others liked the idea. Between borrowing costumes and making them I think they turned out SUPER cute!! We had plans for face paint but since there was a DOWNPOUR we decided not to use it. I am only bummed that I didn't know the rain was coming so I could get some outside pics of them and have them skip arm and arm together:).


Cailey had dance class in the evening so we were waiting for her to come home...they were watching and so excited to go out!



When she got home we quickly threw her stuff on and handed her a basket with "Toto" for pics before running out into the rain. She was pretty adamant about not wearing pants or tights underneath her dress...even though it was cold and rainy:(. Made for cute pics, though!


we went trick or treating with
The Morgan's this year:)!


Poor Cailey didn't make it halfway up our street before she was too cold to go on....even with the poncho Emily Ruth let her borrow. Gracie (who was SO excited about trick or treating) was very sweet to come home with her while the others (who were warm) continued on to a couple more streets with the Morgan's.

They came home and wore matching jammies while I dried their clothes. We had dvr'd The Great Pumpkin so they watched it while filling themselves with TONS of candy:). Gracie stayed until the others came home...and when they did it stopped raining. Oh well...they all had a great time!

They were all allowed to eat as much candy as they wanted to and were still able to sleep...thank goodness! I think Kinsey ate the most:).

October 2011

October 1- Happy 7th Gotcha day to my sweet boy!!, lots of singing and celebrating, pancakes after his 4 mile run (with Brian and Brandon) in the COLD weather, apple picking in the drizzle, yummy pretzel lunch at the Amish place, Lion King in 3D (during baby naptime) with lots of yummy candy, played games/danced/chased/laughed/played inside, listened to poppy play the piano, watched him teach Cailey a few things, ate a yummy turkey FEAST cooked by nonny, more playing inside, read together, relaxed and talked with friends and mom while the kids were sleeping, and went to bed early.

October 2- Packed up and said goodbye to nonny and poppy, drove to Tyson's corner for American Girl Doll store with girls, Lego store with big boys, train ride with baby boys, lunch together, fun at the disney store, drove home, unpacked, choir, cleaned up, and everyone crashed from a super fun long weekend.

October 3- GORGEOUS day, piano for cailey, school, gymnastics, watched klick kiddos, made kelly dinner to take:), cailey went with emilee for writing class and ice cream, more school, dropped kinsey off to play with rebekah, hip hop, fun scout outing to national guard aviation, and early to bed.

October 4- walked with Leslie (first brrr morning:), early school for kinsey, long school day for B&C (extra b/c of the rest of the week), at home day, talked about orange/pumpkins with ephram and did a craft with him, watched Gracie, gorgeous day again...lots of outside time, packed, crashed.

October 5- walked with Leslie, went to Great Wolf Lodge (5$ tickets) with the Klicks, Conards, and Welch's, spent the day watching the kids have a BLAST!!, lots of waterslides and fun, realized how much cailey is growing up as she spent most of her time off riding with rebecca, snuggled a sleeping baby, stayed until close before going to laura's for talk time and a sleepover (while brian rode home with the conards)...very FULL FUN day!!

October 6- hung out at Laura's and caught up all day, had very tired kiddos who played outside in the gorgeous weather, had some great talks with Cailey and Braden, listened to kinsey tell me her verses, had a super tired baby who only napped 15 min, literally crashed when we got home, brian took kiddos to a fall festival at CFA, had a sleeping beauty (kinsey) who fell asleep before stories and prayers, and listened to ephram LOL in the cutest way while Cailey was silly reading him stories...all before daddy tickled everyone oh...and 99% sure I'm getting pink eye.

**looked back to this time last year and became a bit depressed about where i was with my running...as in 10, 11, 12, 6, 5, 5, 6 miles and loving it. trying to realize that the dr.'s are right and i shouldn't be doing it but it's so hard because it was just such an accomplishment.**

October 7-don't have pink eye but something is making my eyelid swell up and hurt constantly, watched sweet alex, went to co op and subbed the second hour, heard about all the fun the kids had, spent a good couple hours getting to know Cheryl at CFA while the kids had a blast with her girls, soccer practice for the girls, and went to Journey for a fun Family Worship Night.

October 8- more eye pain...and more swelling, let the kiddos play on the playground for a while, watched the girls soccer games in the BEAUTIFUL sunshine!!, walked with Leslie, did a little school, dropped the kiddos off to play at Mt Vernon from 3-7:30 while Brian and I went out with the Williams to see Courageous and then out to Ruby Tuesdays.

October 9-more eye problems, church, gorgeous day filled with lots of outside play with friends for the kiddos, rest, play, tents, awana, and choir.

October 10- walk with leslie, miraculous healing from eye pain, school, gymnastics for b&k (plus friends), cailey went to lunch then to writing with emilee, hung out with braden, kinsey played outside with friends (eva/elizabeth) all afternoon, hip hop for cailey, kinsey played with rebekah, yummy shoyu chicken for dinner, and family talk time.

October 13- great school day, lots of fun playing and reading with the kiddos, made shoyu chicken...yum!, watched Gracie...girls played war most of the time, had the Klick's over for dinner (made a new yummy breakfast casserole/pancakes/baked apples), tickled little girls and babies for a long time, planned our trip to the fair, and got some great talk time in.

October 12- woke to rain...couldn't walk outside, school, fall craft planning with the kiddos, listened to kinsey read Curious George, etc., baked brownies for Leslie, watched Grace/Emily (they all made bday cards for leslie), choir for three oldest, and got great ideas from Pinterest.

October 13- walk with Leslie in the warm humid air (really??), school, started whale/seal books, worked on our fall door art together (painted/leaf rubbing/tissue paper collages), playdate with the Johnson's, got great news from a preggo friend (one baby...and a heartbeat!), went to moe's with the hileman's/klick's/williams and kiddos, walked around the mall and had fun with kelly and the kiddos, and came home late:)

October 14-
kiddos: braden ran FIVE miles!!, oldest three went to work with b (and did some school) while ephram went to play with the klick's at the Y and mall, girls went to AHG while boys stayed home with daddy, piano ice cream recital for cailey, soccer for the girls, tired daddy and crashing kiddos:).

me: slept in a little, packed, drove to the Mountains with Karen for our girl weekend!, met Adele for lunch after a funny 'lost' moment, drove on to the house to meet laura, hung out and caught up before shopping at Target for clearance and Walmart for food, came home to eat dinner (late:), talk, stay up to late, and do lots of laughing!

October 15-
kiddos: both girl soccer games, playground, lots of outside play, built a giant tent with daddy in the family room, puzzles, star wars chess for brian and braden, and golden corral for dinner.

me: packed lunches and headed out to the farmers market for a bushel of pink lady apples (only 18$), hiked triple/hooker/and high falls in the gorgeous no cloud in the sky amazing leaf day, quickly went back to bake cookies and get ready to go to Cheddar's for dinner then to the movies to see The Help, and came home and stayed up chatting too late again:).

October 16- packed up/said goodbye to laura and farewell to the gorgeous mountains, met up with anne for lunch (YAY!) and caught up with her and karen, drove home chatting more with karen before she dropped me off to a house full of snuggle bugs:), chatted with the kiddos about the weekend and church that morning, they spent the afternoon playing outside, awana for all, choir for oldest three, and bed.

October 17- met leslie to walk, school, gymnastics (where i found out kinsey is very gifted in it), carter and ephram played, writing class for cailey, hip hop with emilee, shopped for shower/birthday party quickly, made blue choc covered pretzels with kinsey girl, and went to bed late.

October 18- school, quick grocery trip with kinsey and ephram, kinsey and ephram 'helped' me with scavenger hunt goodies, more school, super fun trip to the fair with the klick's, rides/animals/yumminess/fried candy bars/funnel cake/crafts/family fun, and lots of "thank you's" and smiles!

October 19- woke up to a midnight visitor drinking water from my cup (on my nightstand) and needing to go potty, school, LOTS of party/baby shower prep, choir, thankful hearts...thanking me for dinner and fairs and party prep:).

October 20- school, fall crafts, PERFECT weather for a walk with the kiddos, boston market for dinner on our cold night (though everyone agreed mommy's sides are MUCH yummier than Boston Market), family game night, and lots of laughter and tickles!

October 21- watched alex, co op, more party prep with kiddos, lots of playing outside, AHG induction ceremony, sweet cailey had a migraine and crashed afterwards, and made kinsey's owl cake and cupcakes.

October 22- last soccer games of the season, super great sunny day, ran errands with the boys, got ready for kinsey's party, kiddos helped clean, braden ran 3 miles with brian, cailey ran 1 1/2 in 15 min, kinsey tried to run a mile for the first time, sent cailey to emilee's and braden to caden's for sleepovers, celebrated kinsey with her friends for her 6th birthday party (her first sleepover party)...owl themed!

October 23- lots of LOUD giggling girls awake early, sprinkle pancakes, more playtime, goodbyes, brought rebekah and caroline to church with us, prepped for tricia's shower all day, smelled sweet and sour meatballs, had a fun time celebrating tricia, and crashed at 8:30.

October 24- woke up sick...with no voice, got through school (in bed), frances and kelly took all the kids to gymnastics so i could rest, frances took kinsey during writing to play with rebekah and cailey all day until after hip hop, brian took the others to scouts, and i slept.

October 25- still not feeling great, school, rested, caught up on a month of blogging, kiddos got ahead in school for disney, brian made dinner and did science.

October 26- school, kiddos played a lot outside, choir. (mommy didn't feel good)

October 27- kinsey woke up not feeling good and went back to sleep until 10 (but then woke fine), school, jammie day, canceled playdates w/ corbetts and lawleys b/c of sickness, caught up with laura c. (yay!), kiddos played outside in the warm sunshine, the youngest three made spider crafts, oldest three went in the neighborhood trying to sell wreaths for AHG, and made yummy ziti for dinner.

October 28- watched alex, co op, ate lunch with Keel's while waiting for AHG then left girls there, came home to pumpkin muffins from Laura C., worked on kinsey's scarecrow costume, packed, went to Virginia Beach with kelly for a race she/laura/beth were running, stand still traffic for 30 min, met up with sonja (where we stayed)...picked up packets, late dinner at an Italian restaurant, lots of talking and laughing, interesting server, drove back to sonjas and hung out until bed.

kiddos: went to IHOP for free monster face pancakes for dinner, went to choir for mission/craft night, searched (with brian) for a lion costume.

October 29- woke not feeling great so was THANKFUL i didn't sign up for the race, happy birthday to my kinsey girl!, woke up to cheer the girls on at the Wicked 10K (and laughed lots on the way...about new klick mottos, etc, no rain (which was forecasted:), called kinsey all day for 'happy birthday breaks', kiddos went to Molly's halloween party with brian, drove home with kelly...great conversation, hugged my birthday girl lots, went to the pumpkin patch only to find it closed (but the kids played at the front for a while), got kinsey her baskin robbins ice cream on the way home (PINK...strawberry), took kinsey on a date with brian to chili's while the linscotts watched the others,K opened presents, played, and got birthday phone calls:).

October 30- sunny and cold!, church, still not feeling great (moved to cough/head/eyes), cheered on the three oldest at their races!! (5K for Braden and mile for Cailey and Kinsey), SUPER proud mama of all three, and went to the fall festival with friends at Bayleaf for lots of fun/games/candy for the kiddos.

October 31- school, cleaned out the girls room...including LOTS of giveaway/trash, gymnastics for K&B, hip hop for Cailey, trick or treating with the morgan's, movie for cold cailey/gracie, CUTE costumes:), too much candy for ephram...and the others:), many "thank you's" from kiddos, and lots of laughter and roaring from ephram who loved playing with daddy.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Tricia's baby shower



I threw a baby shower for my sweet friend, Tricia, the day after Kinsey's sleepover. I started working on everything earlier in the week so it would all be ready! I've never thrown a whole shower by myself before (other than hosting, attending, and helping) so I got some GREAT food, decorative, and game ideas off of pinterest...seriously don't know what people did before the Internet!

I made blue chocolate dipped pretzels, a veggie tray, chips and salsa, sweet and sour meatballs (that were in the crockpot on a table behind the picture), cookie dough dip (BIG hit!) with pink lady apples and graham crackers for dipping, jelly bean/lifesaver pacifiers glued with white chocolate, and blue punch with white clouds. I totally forgot to get a picture (and didn't really take many during the shower) but decorated with a garland of blue balloons that I sewed together.

Beth enjoys making cakes and does a GREAT job...check out the one she made for Tricia! Thank you:)!


I was so excited for Tricia to see everything and have a great time:).


Again...didn't take many pictures but I had four games. The first one you can see in the picture on the left. I made pacifier necklaces with jelly beans and life savers for each person. If you said the word "baby" then whoever heard you got to take your necklace. The goal was to collect as many necklaces by the end of the shower. The winner ended up with about 8 or 9!

The second was a Nursery Rhyme game where you had to look at the given clues and figure out 15 nursery rhymes...this was my favorite game! Love it:)! The winner knew 11!

The next game was funny...and not one I was very good at. I gave each person a small pack of play dough and they had to shape theirs into a baby using just the play dough and a toothpick for details. I thought everyone did MUCH better than me:)!! Tricia picked the winning one anonymously and chose the one who used 'texture' for hair...which was Beth's!


the babies!

Finally we played a present BINGO game where people wrote down what gifts they thought Tricia would receive on a Baby Bingo paper Brian made for me and whoever got BINGO first won a prize. Some people gave her several things in one bag so I was worried the game would only last for a couple gifts but it ended up lasting a long time because of the order she happened to open them in. I thought it was a great first 'complete' shower and was happy to throw it for her! I can't wait to meet baby esh and love on him!!

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Kinsey's 6th Birthday!


Kinsey woke up to presents that her siblings picked out for her! It was so sweet and they all made her cards too!

She had pumpkin white chocolate chip muffins and a pink lady apple for breakfast:)! Afterwards they all got dressed up and headed to Molly's Halloween party where she got to see Caroline and make some new friends:)



After playing outside with her siblings we went to the pumpkin patch then took her to get ice cream with her Baskin Robbins club coupon...she picked Strawberry because it's pink:)!



Next up was a date with just mommy, daddy, and Kinsey girl! Her favorite food is pepperoni so I was just sure she'd pick a pizza place but she REALLY wanted Chili's so we went there:). We brought the "B" plate with us too. It was so special for us to get to spend that time with her and help her with word searches from her menu, talk to her about what she's learning in church, friendships, and just hang out with her. She's really grown up this past year and it is becoming so much more evident in our conversations with her. I'm so thankful our neighbors were able to watch the other kiddos so we could spend this time with her. Oh...Kinsey's not really a big fan of chocolate and ended up only eating the ice cream.


when we got home she wanted wii time but first she opened more presents and played with them. she told me it was the "best birthday ever!" so I'm pretty sure she had a great day:)! we LOVE you kinsey girl!! Happy 6th birthday!

Favorites:
color- pink
food- pepperoni and clementines
game- pretty pretty princess
sport- gymnastics
dessert- cake
toy- babies
movie-Ariel
thing to do- play with mommy
book- Amanda pig
season- fall
favorite thing to do outside- ride bikes
place to go- jumping beans

Friday, October 28, 2011

Kinsey's 6th Birthday Party!


The afternoon started with owl sandwiches for lunch:)...everything else was ready...owl gift bags, owl smores, owl cake, owl cupcakes, owls for pin the owl on the tree, owls for decorating hats, and clues written for a treasure hunt with an owl surprise.


Kinsey knew months ago that she wanted an owl party so I started researching and found a lot of cute ideas.

kinsey helped me make the cake the night before:)


kinsey said goodbye to Cailey and Braden who were
having sleepovers with their friends..which was GREAT so we
could focus on celebrating Kinsey. Cailey went with Emilee and Braden
went to Caden's house. They both went out to eat and had a GREAT time.
I was so happy for all three of them who had fun nights!


waiting for guests to arrive! sweet kinsey was counting down the hours and kept saying, "mommy, when will it be just FIVE more minutes??" rebekah came first and they girls headed out to the trampoline to wait for the other girls to come.


When everyone got there they decorated hats that Kinsey picked out with owl stickers. She really wanted owl hats but since they didn't have any we just used alphabet stickers on plain hats and they personalized them with their stickers.


Next up they went on a treasure hunt all over the house and in the backyard following these clues which Braden helped me come up with:



they found the treasure!! owl shirts!


After the treasure hunt they played pin the owl on the nest...very cute! Then it was time for dinner...pizza, raisins, trail mix, and fruit. Next up...cake and smores time!



such joy!




they went back out to jump on the trampoline while we cleaned up before coming back in for presents and more games.

Present time:


Sweet gifts from Caroline, Rebekah, Elena, Stacy, Elizabeth, and Emily

Next up the girls played the pot game (where they got tootsie pops...staying with
the owl theme). Ephram played for the first time too:). Then they all got their nails polished with different designs.



The girls got settled in the family room and then watched the Fox and The Hound (which Kinsey picked because there's an owl in it) as they fell asleep. We weren't sure how late they would stay up but thankfully they all crashed by 10:30. (Some earlier).


In the morning the girls had homemade sprinkle pancakes then played more before getting picked up. Rebekah and Caroline came to church with us:). Kinsey thanked and thanked me for giving her such a fun party:)!