It's getting real!

Someone's excited that her baby sister will be here in a few months.

Jared and the kids put together the baby's crib this past weekend.  To say they liked helping would be an understatement. 

We are all thrilled that her room is coming together.  We've gotten all of the baby clothes in the dresser and hung up in the closet.  Now we just need the rocker and a few more things and we'll be set. 
It's starting to get very real!

'Round here lately...

we have been getting all purdied up at a birthday party!

The girls got to choose their outfits, have their hair done, get their nails painted and even make a bracelet to take home.

Then they had a fashion show and even got to karaoke a little bit.  You know that Maddie was all over that!  She rocked the mic.

We've also been visiting our friends who just had a new baby.  Lila was in HEAVEN holding Baby Samantha.  She was so good with her and even sang her a few songs.  Baby Samantha especially loved it when Lila sang her Jesus Loves Me.  So, so, so darn cute.

She was very good about holding her head and making sure she was doing it right.  What a great big sister she is about to make!

This past weekend we went to watch Maddie's last two soccer games.  A back-to-back doubleheader.  They did awesome, too, and finished the season undefeated!!

In addition to her regular fans, her sweet babysitter, Presley, also came to watch her play.

Gooooo Madison!! We love #10.

And finally, I felt this was worthy of documentation as well.  I taught the kids how to do the dishes on Sunday morning, and they liked it so much that they asked to do them again that night.  As Jackson pointed out, "Mom, it's just not fair for you to have to do all the cooking AND clean everything up."  It's like a light went off in his head.  And I just love it.  I'll take all the help I can get! 

Fall Ball

The Cubs have had another productive fall season.  They have learned a lot over the past few months and are ready for real competition to begin this spring.  Jackson played first base and was a heckuva fielder, catching almost anything thrown his way.  We were most proud, though, of how well he started hitting the ball about half-way through the season.  His whole team really came alive at the plate and had a great season. 

J man got the game ball for the second to last game.  He was so proud and it's now in his display case above his bed.  Sometimes it's the little things that mean the most to these kids.

These 12 boys came to play every game this season.  We are so thankful that they also had a great group of dads that were there every game to coach them.  Thanks Coaches, Larry, Larry, Carlos, Brian and Jared!  The boys could not have better coaches to lead them.

We love the Cubs!  Silliness and all!

To properly celebrate the end of the season, we had their team party at Napoli's last night.  The boys had a blast and they got to thank each of their coaches, too.  Now we rest up for the spring.  And just think, by that time, Jackson will have a two month old baby sister there to cheer him on.  Oh my!  I better make sure she's got a cute Cubs outfit to wear, just like her big sister. 

Halloween 2013!

Thursday, Oct. 31st was a very big day.   As in, almost as big as Christmas morning.  First, Lila got to put on her beautiful Belle dress and wear it to school.  She found the cutest little Red Raider in her class!

That afternoon, I helped get her room ready for their Halloween party.  First, they made these spooky ghosts...

then they got to chow down on a creepy popcorn hand and two frosted cookies.

After one more activity it was story time.  Ms. April read one story and then Lila insisted that she read Room on the Broom that we had brought from home.  It's a little long, but she loved it, and all of her sweet classmates listened to it so well.  What a difference between this class and Jackson's, when he was three years old.  That class was crazy, with a capital C!



The kids who were still dressed up even posed nicely for us.  That never happened in Jackson's boy-filled class!



After leaving school, we went by and picked up big brother.  He was excited to see how I had decorated our orange-frosted brownies.  You can never go wrong with candy corn:)

A few hours later, the cutest Pink Lady EVER arrived!

Love it.

After and early dinner, Belle, Sandy and Floyd Mayweather Jr. were ready to get some candy!

Not exactly a "tough" face, but he does look pretty fierce.

"Now gimme some candy!"

On second thought, he's not such a mean guy.

All four grandparents came over to see the kids in their costumes.

Before long, a gang of trick-or-treaters had assembled in our cul-de-sac.  The kids took off with Dad, Boom and Poppi trying to keep up.  By all accounts, they had a fantastic night.  They got to see lots of cool halloween decorations and even went through a maze at Coach Byron's house.  Lila said it was spooky, but she wasn't afraid.  She said there was a ghost and spiders, "but they weren't real." 
Brave girl!

A little after 8, we heard a familiar knock on our door.  The little monsters had come home!  And boy oh boy did they get lots of candy.  Happy Halloween from our fam to yours!

GHS Homecoming

Friday Night Lights!  One of my reasons that fall is my favorite seasons.  We took the kids to our old alma mater's homecoming game this past Friday night.  The weather was cool and crisp, but not too cold.  Just perfect for enjoying some good football and hot chocolate.  These two were so excited to be there.

"Hail Garland High School.  Your glory behold...." They pointed to Ollie the Owl for the Alma Mater and might have even yelled "Gig 'em Owls!" when it was over. 

The Owls have upgraded since our days at GHS.  Check out this fierce blow-up owl that they now get to run through!

Football, hot dogs, popcorn and good friends.  What more could these two ask for?

Although I doubt she will ever follow in her Gigi and Mama's footsteps and become a GHS cheerleader, she can still have lots of Owl pride!  We had such a fun night watching the Owls beat the South Garland Colonels and getting to visit with some of our oldest friends.  We might even do it again this football season.  Gig 'em Owls!

Goal!

My favorite Murphy Mustang--not only can the kid score 3 goals a game, but he's also turned out to be a pretty good goalie, too! He got the goalie gloves and padded shirt for Christmas last year and finally got to put them to use this fall. 

This goal keeper takes his job very seriously...

and can punt the ball like nobody's business, too!

He's enjoyed playing with a few kids from his school and I love that he is continuing to get better at lots of sports.  He's also got a really nice coach who keeps us entertained on the sidelines with plenty of commentary.  He's got a tough job, no doubt about it.  I know that I wouldn't be nearly as good natured about coaching 12 six year olds!  It's very similar to hearding cats.  But J loves it, so I'm glad that there's a dad willing to take on this task.  Go Mustangs!

Who's ready for Halloween?!

I got inspired the other day and bought a few things for the kids to make at the store.  First, we made sugar cookies, and they got to choose between bats, brooms, witches, tombstones, and black cats.  We also made plenty of pumpkins and then they got to frost them all with orange icing and then decorate with sprinkles.  While the rest of the cookies were baking, they made some not-so-spooky spiders to eat.  We used pretzel sticks and mini-marshmallows and peanut butter M&Ms for the eyes.  So easy!

While they liked their spiders, they LOVED getting to eat their cookies!  And I gotta admit, they were really good!

On Sunday, I took the kids up to our church's fall festival.  They played tons of games, both won a prize in the cake walk, and both had so much fun in the bounce houses.  After all of that, we rode the train and then went to visit with the police officer and firefighters.  Such a nice way to spend the afternoon.  These kids are so ready for Halloween this Thursday.  Main mission: Get Candy!