Picture Perfect

I love this picture. It was taken by the lady who comes and does our preschool pictures. She does a great job.

Happy Halloween

I had my very own littler of kittens for Halloween! Costumes were so easy this way!

Birthday Fun

I know it has been a little overdue (all right a lot overdue) but here are some pictures of Cayden and Carsyn's birthday party. Mom is cheap (actually parties are expensive) so we split a party between the two of them. It actually turned out very nice. We went to an indoor inflatable place where they pretty much do the party for you. Of course you have to write the check when it is all said and done! It was worth it. Everyone had a great time.

Columbia

Last weekend we went to Columbia to spend the weekend with Reesha and Brandon. Mizzou had a home game Saturday so Brandon and J spent the afternoon there while Reesha and I took the kids to lunch and then to the park. It was a great day to be outside and the park was awesome.

The vote was unanimous! Favorite thing at the park - the giant tires!

Random Stuff

Here are a few random pictures I've taken over the last couple weeks. Carsyn and her best friend Taylor looked so cute all dressed up I had to stick that one in here. Maybe they're practicing for Halloween!

New Looks

After spending lots of our time at the pool this summer it was time to get rid of our "chlorine" hair. Thankfully Mom's hairdresser is awesome and did everyone in one visit. Check out our new do's! (Mom is starting to question the intelligence behind this move as now the girls look the same even from behind! It just got harder to yell at the right kid!) Don't they look adorable?

First Day of School!

Well, it happened again. Summer ended and the school year began! Today was the kids first day back to school. Cali started middle school this year (6th grade) so everything was new to her. She came home (on the bus) reporting that it was great! Mom was very relieved that the day had a positive outcome as Cali had been very anxious about going to a new school. Cayden started 3rd grade and has a brand new, straight out of college man as her teacher! So far so good! She wasn't so sure about having a male teacher but once we explained that her Dad had started out as a classroom teacher she became a little more open minded! Camryn started 1st grade and also has a teacher that is new to their school. I'm not sure yet if she taught somewhere else or if she is also going to be broken in by my kids! We will see. We decided not to tell her too much about Camryn as it is always fun to let people discover Camryn for themselves! (Maybe the kindergarten teacher already filled her in!) Carsyn doesn't start preschool until after Labor Day so she felt a little left out this morning. It didn't last too long though as she spent most of the day playing at her "best friend Taylor's" house while Mom had meetings. Mom had truly forgotten how incredibly exhausting it is to send kids to school. Amazingly no one was late for their first day!

Meeting Ty!

In June we were lucky enough to receive a visit from Rachel, Ty and Grandma. They enjoyed our mild weather as the Phoenix area was under a heat advisory. We went to the Discovery Center while they were here, ate out at everyone's favorite - Lamberts, went to Branson but mostly just spent time hanging out at home and playing.

Cruising to Mexico

In June we took an awesome vacation. We were celebrating Mom & Dad's 40th wedding anniversary by taking a family cruise! Brandon & Reesha were there, as were Dustin & Lynn. It was fun to be able to spend some time together and visit new places. Before we got on the ship we also got to spend a day playing at the beach in Galveston, Texas.

Just for practice?

One of the requirements of the cruise ship is that you participate in an emergency drill. It seemed to be just routine to most of us however I'm not so sure what Camryn thought about it!

Relaxing

There was no shortage of things to do but it was also nice just to spend a little time hanging out together.

Eating and eating and eating!

Dinner on the cruise was quite an affair. Every night we would get cleaned up (one night we got all dressed up) and go the dining room. Our waiter would put the menu in front of you and your napkin in your lap if you weren't fast enough! The choices were awesome and we had lots of fun trying new things. We had assigned tables but with so many of us we got two tables all to ourselves! It was such a treat not to have to think about, plan, prepare or clean up after meals for 5 whole days!! Truly a vacation for any mom! As if that wasn't enough there was always a 24 hour sandwich and pizza bar for snacking in between meals! Most nights the serving staff performed in some way. Camryn really enjoyed getting into their little shows.

Cozumel

Our favorite stop was Cozumel, Mexico. There we spent the day snorkeling, hanging out on the beach, and enjoying the amazingly clear water! The girls loved seeing and swimming with all the fish. That day happened to be June 12, which was Camryn's 7th birthday so we let her fill her "life's dream to kiss a dolphin" - her words, not mine! Here are a few pictures of our fantastic day.

Eleven and counting

This weekend we celebrated Cali's birthday. She got spoiled rotten! On her birthday Mom took her lunch at school from Steak-n-Shake then Papa took everyone out for pizza that night. She got her requested remote control helicopter from Grandma and Grandpa, a gift card from Target from Uncle Dustin and Aunt Lynn, some new CD's from Aunt Reesha and Uncle Brandon, Harry Potter movies and birthstone jewelry from Grandma and Papa and her own digital camera from Mom and Dad. (She has started teaching Mom how to use the video feature on the camera so maybe video clips will be added to our blog in the near future!) We grilled and had everyone over on Saturday to help celebrate and hang out in the back yard. Oh yeah, there was ice cream cake too - another request from the birthday girl!

A clear view

Cayden had noticed she had trouble reading the hymn numbers at church so we took her to see Dr. Hasson. He is quickly becoming our family optometrist. Cayden makes number four in our house to wear glasses or contacts. She picked out these frames herself. The only requirement on her part - they had to be purple!

Piano Recital

Cayden had a piano recital. She played her piece wonderfully and from memory. It was great to hear how much progress each one of the kids had made since the last recital.