Cookin' Kiddos

My kids LOVE to cook. I'm guessing they feel this way because I love to cook! This week Cailey asked if she could 'cook' nachos for everyone's lunch and wanted to do it all by herself. She did a great job choosing the ingredients and putting everything together!

spreading out chopped tomatoes

cutting up the peppers...not the easiest thing
to learn how to cut but she did a great job!

They all LOVED their nacho lunch! Cailey informed us
all that it had whole grain, fruit, vegetables, and dairy:)

Braden wanted to make muffins another day this week and did almost all of it himself too! He needed some help with cracking the eggs (after trying for a long time) and getting the muffin scooper to work with his little hands:). He was even able to safely put them into and take them out of the oven.

he read the instructions and got everything he needed

enjoying his yummy banana nut muffins

Sunday Mornings

Brian and I were both sick this past weekend. Sunday morning Cailey came downstairs and Brian found her eating breakfast and reading the comics (or funny papers as he says:). She looks so grown up! Braden loves to read them too and looks for them every week. I remember doing the same thing as a kid every Sunday morning before church. I guess they are attracted to the colors because neither one of the 'get' the jokes:).

Rakin' Em' Up

Cailey and Braden have been raking and re-raking the leaves up all week so they can jump in them. I LOVE fall and we've had some great sunny days the past week but I've been too sick to enjoy the weather with the kiddos. I'm glad that they are still able to jump in the leaves without me being able to do the raking for them!

soccer season comes to a close

Cailey has grown so much in soccer this year! The fall season is over but she's already asking about playing in the spring. She got her first goal mid season and was SHOCKED, EXCITED, and OVERJOYED! She literally jumped WAY HIGH in the air with a huge smile on her face and she was waving her arms. Coach Rick (who's had her since she started playing soccer) ran over and picked her up...I wish I had the camera that day because her reaction was priceless.

playing in the park before trophies are handed out

trophy time

co op

The kids have been having a great time at our homeschool co op this fall! Braden comes home weekly so excited to tell us what he's learned in his Solar System class and his 'Around the World' class. Braden's teachers constantly tell me how well behaved and smart he is!

Cailey's been making some great projects in clay and art class. Cailey LOVES to do show and tell each week, so I'm glad they have it! She always loves to get up in front of people and share a verse or show a toy.

Kinsey has made some really cute projects in preschool and comes home walking like a penguin or another ocean creature. During one half of the time I teach preschool (with a couple other ladies) and have Kinsey in my class. We are learning about seasonal things.

for L

i could just eat her up!! love those
cheeks:)

bama and isaac

check out those giggles...and dimples!

Today I went to see my sweet friend, Laura. I took some pics of the kids in hopes of getting a good shot of them for Christmas but it's HARD to get a six year old and 3 two year olds to cooperate at the same time! I thought they turned out cute and was happy to have one with them all smiling:). Love you guys!!

hot, humid, halloween

instead of their original plan, the kiddos decided to
go in the dress up clothes and pick out different
costumes.

Braden called himself a firefighter clown
(loved the nose but it just wouldn't stay on:)

Cailey said she was a ballerina queen and declared Kinsey to be a ballerina princess....they were very comfortable considering it was HOT outside!

the CRAZY amount of loot

This year we went trick or treating with some neighbors. Kinsey was SCREAMING in the driveway and wouldn't come...we could not figure out what was wrong until we heard her scream and point, "ELMO!!!!!" Ha! One of the older kids (that wasn't in our group) was dressed as Elmo..BUT you could see their face so I thought she'd be fine...not so much! Daddy carried her past Elmo then all was well with the world.

After a few streets Kinsey and Braden said they were done (and their bags were FULL) but I honestly think Cailey could have gone all night! She was so excited to be with friends and we had a great time getting to know neighbors better.

coupons helped us to give out
some great BIG SIZED candy
this year for free!! we had so many
free packs of skittles and reeces that
we still a bunch left.

THE email

The day of the referral we were sent pictures of Ephram over email. The kids AND the dog (who went away as soon as I got the camera) were jumping (literally) for joy just trying to get a look! Sweet Kinsey kept saying, "aww...I want to hold him right now!" We love showing the pics off but nothing is as exciting as seeing him for the first time:)

up on the housetop

The other evening I went outside and found Cailey contemplating up on the housetop....and then two cuties on the swings. Cailey informed me that she was waiting in line:).

Halloween Eve

the mouse and bear were cleaning up toys
in the back yard before we left and they were too
cute...just had to snap some pics of them!

LOVE this pic!

pooh, minnie mouse, and mickey mouse!

i can't remember where i got the mickey mouse
costume, but cailey REALLY wanted to wear it
(and it was free:) so that led to braden wanting to
be pooh, and kinsey wanting to be minnie mouse.
i think it's cute that they want to wear 'themed' costumes
that go along with each other. fortunately it wasn't hot
so they didn't burn up!

outside games first...and a GIANT pumpkin

there was a TON of yummy food

and jumpy slides and bounce houses!

the kids listened to a story about how
people can be compared to pumpkins...
it was very cute and ended with how we shouldn't
hide our light but let it shine for others to see.

beating down Goliath

playing bible trivia...
cailey and did AWESOME and
was sweet to help kinsey!
braden did good too:)

cailey was SO thrilled to pop a balloon with
a dart!

braden popped one too!
(i can't believe that the kiddos
were using REAL darts...especially
kinsey:)

this game was about shooting
down SIN...it was so neat to see
the youth teaching the younger kids
how to play the games!

golfing through the beatitudes

Friday night we went to a Fall Festival at Bayleaf Baptist Church where Cailey played soccer and they have choir/bible study. It was a lot of fun and neat to see how every game they had was something from the bible. There were stories told (lion's den etc.), trivia, and even a 'tunnel' made to look like a whale was swallowing them. The best thing was that there were things that both the younger AND older kids could do together:).

We especially liked the fact that it wasn't on Halloween so the kids would still be able to go trick-or-treating with the neighbors. This is the first year we haven't gone to Providence's fall festival....therefore the first year they've gone to more than a few houses for trick-or-treating.