Jack's Halloween Birthday & Emma's Harvest Festival

Emma and momma on the hayride.
Digging for treasure!

Supergirl Emma!

Emma's school had their annual Harvest Festival the weekend before Halloween. She went as Super Girl. She played games, slid on the giant slide, rode the train and the hayride. She had a so much fun!

Jack blowing out the candles on his "buggy cake".

mummy wrap

Jack's friend Jack was Jason. Yikes! I guess nine year old boys like the scary stuff!

Jack turned nine in August, but we never had a friend party. He decided it would be fun to have a Halloween party, so we made it his birthday party! We had ten nine year old boys running through the house and yard and it was a blast! The costumes were great. We had vampires, a slime bucket, Freddy Kruger, and Jason, a football player, a skeleton and two Michael Jacksons. Jack has great friends and he had a great time!

Jack's new glasses

At the beginning of the school year Jack mentioned that the lines were moving on the paper when he was reading. Then in the car line his teacher said he seemed to be having trouble with it in class, so I made an appointment with the eye doctor. Sure enough, Jack has my far-sightedness and Adam's astigmatism. I told him he got the best of both worlds. So we ordered his glasses (camo of course) and here he is. He only has to wear them for reading and playing video games, so the real trick will be trying to teach him to keep up with them.

Sundaes on Saturday

Drake
Max

Emma

Logan

Caroline

Molly

Jack

So much fun!

Last Saturday we had all the cousins over for an ice-cream sundae party. The kids had so much fun making their own sundae. It was really interesting to see how they are all so different in what they like on it and how they eat it. Some put every topping we had and some only wanted one or two things. Some mashed and stirred their ice cream up (which reminded me of Jackie) and others only mashed and some didn't mash at all! It was a great time. Maybe next month we will do make your own pizza night!

Back to School!

Emma's first day of preschool.

It's September 1, and everyone is back to school. The boys and I started back two weeks ago and Emma started back today. I don't have pictures of the boys on their first day because they were not to excited about pictures this year. Oh well, at least Emma was excited to take a first day of school pic.

Drake has successfully stared junior high and he loves it. Jack is in third grade this year, and he has a great teacher and a great class! Emma is in the four year old class at Presbyterian. She is finally on my hall, and she enjoyed getting to see me some during the day. She has lots of friends in her class and she loves her sweet teacher, Mrs. Kelly.

Of course now that school has started back everything else has too. Drake is in band, youth and is golfing, and of course seems to be going constantly. Jack is taking art and playing soccer, along with an occasional baseball tournament. Emma is taking ballet and playing soccer for the first time. Needless to say, my van seems to have become a shuttle service. It's all fun though!

We're back to school and looking forward to a great year!

Those Lazy Summer Days

It's hard to believe that another summer is ending and school starts this week. Last week we went to the lake and canoed the Spring River hoping to pack in just a little more summer fun. The kids and I went to the lake with the Carters and we had a great time. Everyone, including Emma tubed, and the boys jumped off the cliffs. We just had a great time relaxing and playing.

We came home Friday, and headed back Sunday to the Spring River. This time Daddy and Uncle Eric and Pawpa came along. We spent the day on the river and everyone had a blast. We will miss those lazy days of summer. Emma and Max floating in Norfork.

Max, Drake, Molly and Jack

Max, Molly, Drake and Jack getting ready to jump.

That's Jack in the yellow life jacket. Momma was nervous!

Jack getting ready.

Drake and Max

Jack driving the boat.

Drake and Emma

Max and Emma tubing.

Peace out!

Emma was done. (So was momma.)

Happy Birthday Jack!

Jack getting ready to blow out the candles.
New catcher's gear.

He got a picture of him catching at his state tournament.

A new Shuffle!!

Loves his new bat!

Saturday was Jack's ninth birthday. We had the whole family over to celebrate. He got a new IPod Shuffle, catcher's gear, a baseball bat, Harry Potter stuff and G.I. Joe stuff. He loved everything. He had a great day!

My kids are so blessed to have so many people who love them. Their grandparents and aunts and uncles, and cousins have always been there to help them celebrate the special times in their lives. I am so thankful that they are growing up with such a great family!

Sweet Summertime

Adam and the kids wading in the Spring River.

Jack's team banner.

Drake turns 13!

Happy Fourth of July!

I have already mentioned that Summer is my favorite time of the year. I love spending lazy days with the kids; going to the pool and playing and doing all the fun things that Summer holds.
July has been no exception this year. Although I'm not to sure how "lazy" the days have been. Here are the highlights.

We started July with a bang! The Fourth is one of our favorite holidays. We love getting together with our families to swim, eat and shoot fireworks. The kids had a blast at Adam's dad's house shooting their fireworks and making smores on the third. Then we spent the fourth with mom and dad and aunts, uncles, and cousins. We had a great time and ended the night with a big fireworks show at the fairgrounds.

Drake's birthday was the next big celebration. It was a big one this year with him turning 13! I can hardly believe I have a teenager. It really does go by so quickly. When he was born and I held him for the first time I thought that I couldn't possibly love him more than I did at that moment. I was very wrong. He is one of the greatest people I know. I am so proud to be his mom.

Right after Drake's birthday, we packed up and headed to Northwest Arkansas to a little town called Pea Ridge. Jack's team played in the 7-8 year old state tournament. We didn't win, but the kids had a great time. Jack plays catcher for the team and I absolutly love watching him.

He played hard and he made us proud.

It has been a busy July, but we have loved every sweet minute of it!

Summertime and baseball!

Jack loves to catch! Drake playing center field.

Drake at bat.

Jack at bat.

Emma and daddy enjoying the game.

It's hard to believe that we have finished another year of baseball. The boys finished their league play last week, but Jack is still playing on a tournament team, so we have about a month of traveling with him. No worries though. We actually really love watching them, so I am glad he is continuing on. Drake decided not to play any tournamnet ball, and is concentrating on golf. I really love baseball season. I am one of those moms that is sad when it ends. Baseball goes with summer and we love them both!!

Angela's engagement party

Adam and Janice at the party

Adam with his sister Angela

Angela and Justin with the kids

Adam's sister Angela is getting married, and we are so happy for her! My kids love their Aunt Angie, and her fiance, Justin. We went to their engagement party a couple of weeks ago, and we had a very nice time.

Emma's Dance Recital

Emma with Daddy and Mommy after the show.
Emma and Caroline with Grandma and Grandpa.

Getting flowers.

Our sweet ballerina.

Today was Emma's first ballet recital. It was quite an experience for a family who is used to baseball and soccer fields. Lots of little girls in sweet little outfits. It was very cute. She did a great job, and we really enjoyed watching her perfom.