My hunters!

Well, I thankfully don't have to say that I have hunters in the house quite yet. :) Just one hunter for now! Wilson had the opportunity to go hunting with a buddy today. He came home from work a little early to get his camo on and get his supplies together. We had been in the backyard playing and came in to find Wilson dressed in his camo. Ann Evelyn was so funny - almost tickled - to see Daddy "dressed up". She came in and said, "Daddy, look at you!" with a big smile on her face. The boys disappeared for a while and came back dressed like Daddy... in their camo!

I guess I better get used to the idea that these little boys are going to want to go hunting with their Daddy one day soon. I think I'll start praying for safety now! :)

Football & Friends

We took the family to an MSU game at the beginning of October. It was our first time to Starkville this year and we had a great time cheering for the Dawgs and seeing friends.

It was Ann Evelyn's first game to actually go to - although she has been wearing her cheerleading outfit at home most weekends! She loved the excitement of the day, and in typical Ann Evelyn style powered thru the day without a nap! She's no doubt that "easy-going 3rd child."

These 2 buddies were excited, too. I think there favorite part of game-day is the great Kids Zone with the jumpy things and blow-ups.

Daddy needed a picture with his Sweet Pea, too!

Can you tell we were sitting in the sun? :) A little bright and warm!

We hung in there til the 3rd quarter. Halftime and watching for Bully were the best entertainment... not really into football watching! The kiddos and I scooted out early and let Wilson finish watching the game.

I was excited to head back to the tailgate for a little more visiting time with these sweet friends!!

We even managed to get a picture with all the kiddos!! I love it! We have quite a crew amongst us!

Birthdays!

Well I am a little late, but I couldn't miss giving my husband a birthday post. :) We loved celebrating him and his special day! Andrew, my sweet boy who loves a birthday, helped me decorate the kitchen for daddy's birthday breakfast while I cooked. His birthday fell on a Saturday so he enjoyed the rare treat of sleeping in! Then we had one of his favorites, sausage balls, along with cinnamon rolls for breakfast. When I had finished cooking breakfast, the kids and I were going to go into the bedroom singing to wake him up. Only, he met us at the door! We made him get back in the bed so we could pretend to wake him. :)

A little wrestling followed :)

Daddy and his Sweet Pea at breakfast

We headed over to May-May and Bubby's for lunch that day to celebrate Wilson and Rebecca's birthdays. Rebecca celebrated her 35th this year! Happy Birthday, Becca! We love you!

Ann Evelyn helped Daddy with his candles.

Then we sang one more time at home that night with Wilson and had more cake!

Happy Birthday to a wonderful husband and father! You are well-loved!! :)

Signs of Fall

What a fun and busy fall we have had! The Lord has given us a beautiful fall to enjoy... lovely colors in the leaves, nice temperatures, clear skies... We have enjoyed spending so many days outside - really noticing His creation and His changing of the seasons. The children have really taken notice of the season, too. As I would point out the leaves changing to red, yellow, and orange, Forrest has asked a few times why God didn't make any change to blue - so cute and thoughtful. :) I told him that maybe God designed the leaves to change to other colors since the sky was already blue. He seemed content with this answer. Isn't it fun to hear those great questions from a child?! In addition to gathering beautifully colored leaves, Andrew has been especially interested in gathering acorns. He enjoyed carrying a bag to fill on our walks or just filling up his pockets. Then we'd come home and he'd count them, compare their sizes and even use them as "ammunition" from the play house in the backyard. :) Ann Evelyn and Forrest, too, caught onto the fun and began gathering acorns. I am occasionally picking up throughout the house!

The beauty of the outside has transferred over to me wanting to do things "fallish" inside. We've made pumpkin pie with fresh whipped cream (Forrest loved it!), dipped caramel apples, painted pumpkins and more! I love fall! A few fun pictures from the signs of fall at our house...

Forrest dipping his apple

mmm... that caramel is yummy!

carving pumpkins with daddy

a big smile... having a lot of fun!

costumes! Wilson and I had fun with friends at a karaoke costume party! He was a pirate... and I was his treasure, of course! :)

Forrest and Ann Evelyn painted little pumpkins one morning while Andrew was at school.

We have painted a few other times...

Andrew's fall tree... he used a q-tip to dot colored "leaves" on his tree.
Forrest's hand is ready to make his turkey!

Everyone painted a piece of card stock. Then, we cut out leaves. We wrote on the back of the leaves what we are thankful for and hung them on our "Thankful Tree".

Swinging... "I wanna go high!!"

Playing in the play set outside - brothers who are best buds always (well, almost always) have a fun time together. :)

one of many pocketful of acorns gathered by Andrew

Happy Fall!

Our TREATS!!

We have had a fun few days of dressing up!

Ann Evelyn's MMO class had "Let's Pretend Day" last Thursday at school. They wore their costumes and paraded by the church staff for candy and treats. I went up to take pictures and love this one of Ann Evelyn getting her treat from Daddy. He forgot a costume and borrowed Pastor Wheat's robe. :) One happy, beautiful princess!

Here the kiddos are dressed and ready for the Reformation Celebration at church. We had such a fun time with our church friends playing games and eating hot dogs (and candy, of course!).

Ann Evelyn and Forrest dressed up for Kindermusik today. Here they are with sweet Ms. Robin and some of their Kindermusik friends. What a cute group of princesses... and what a handsome knight to defend them!

Then it was trick-or-treating time! Andrew has been counting down the days on his calendar! He was so excited and all 3 kiddos had a blast! We loved having Aunt Semmes join us for part of the night.

Trick or treating at May-May's... she always has extra treats to give!!

Andrew's Pumpkin Field Trip

Andrew went on his first field trip to Freshway Produce... the perfect place for a 4 year old field trip! They played in the back of the building where all the big pumpkins were lined up before having the opportunity to pick out their own. They could choose between 3 little ones or one pie-sized. Andrew chose 3 little ones - great to decorate our kitchen table! Before leaving they sang their "5 Little Pumpkins" song to the men and women who work there. I love this little song, especially from sweet 4 year old voices. :) Andrew loves his little preschool buddies, and it was a treat for me to drive on the field trip and watch the class interact with each other.

Ann Evelyn's Big Girl Bed

Well, the kiddos have been having a great time playing together as always. One of their new favorites was to all climb in Ann Evelyn's crib. We were finding this more and more in the mornings! They were having a blast, but Wilson and I were a little worried that the crib might not be able to take much more of 3 rowdy little ones rough-housing in the bed. And we need that crib to last with Baby #4 coming in April! :)

So... now our baby girl who is soon to be a big sister is sleeping in her new big girl bed. And she is so very proud!

C is for...

"Cap Day"

I have never seen Andrew so excited to wear a cap! He is not a big cap fan, but needless to say, he was loving it on "cap day" at school! He's wearing his cap from T-ball this year - his team was the San Francisco Giants. :)

Ann Evelyn's 1st Day at MMO, Fall 2011

I had originally planned to keep Ann Evelyn home with me this year. I had thought it might be fun for us to have a little girl time together when both of the boys were at preschool on Tuesday and Thursday. Well, in the weeks that the boys began preschool, I began to rethink my plan. AE was asking to go to preschool, too. Some days she would cry after her daddy left to take the boys and was just not happy being home with me. Then, she started getting out her lunch box and wanting to pack it with a snack (like her brothers take to preschool) to take with us where ever we were going! She just wanted to go play with friends like her brothers! Thankfully our sweet MMO director had a spot for her and she now goes one day a week! She loves it and comes home happily talking about what she did and who she played with!

Here she is her first day, holding her sippy cup and one of her small nursery rhyme books in hand! Ready to go!

Peter Pan

Bubby and May-May took Andrew and Forrest to see their first musical this week... Peter Pan!! It was the perfect first show for these 2 boys. They looked forward to it all week and were so excited when Bubby and May-May came to pick us up. I was just as excited as the boys (I was able to tag along)! It really was such an entertaining show - wonderful performances - singing - dancing - costumes - sets! The boys literally were on their feet watching, clapping, and taking it all in for the entire show. What a special treat and one we'll always remember! Thank you, May-May and Bubby, for such a fun night!

Our resident pirates!

Playing pirates and treasure hunting is popular at our house. Forrest got a pirate costume from Izzy and UncDawg for his birthday. He loves to dress up and wears this costume quite a lot. Wilson found a pirate costume for Andrew and we gave it to him for his birthday. We took this picture after Andrew opened his presents the morning we celebrated his birthday at home. They were 2 happy boys... or should i say 2 happy pirates!

Andrew's Pirate Party!

We had so much fun celebrating Andrew's birthday with his friends. He decided he wanted to have a pirate party in the backyard, with the plan for Daddy to convert our play set into a "pirate ship". It was a success! Andrew's buddies came in their pirate gear (and we supplied some extra!) and they joined in on all the fun! We put on pirate tattoos, made & decorated pirate hats, played "Pin the Parrot on the Pirate" and played on the pirate ship. It was cute to see the boys "cut loose" - some even took off their shirts for better play!

Andrew and Forrest, waiting for guests to arrive

The Pirate Ship! Daddy did a great job! He added sails, ropes and a pirate flag. Then, he completed it with buried treasure in the sand underneath, walk the plank, and a rope swing over a pool of water!

Our pirate princess and Andrew's sweet friend, Ellie

The boys tossed the crocodile into the pool to make the swinging a little more adventurous!

Pirate cupcakes with chocolate gold coins... yum!

my sweet birthday boy!

Andrew said this was his favorite part of the party - sitting with his buddies, eating cupcakes and telling jokes :)

We ended the party with a treasure hunt. Everyone loved solving the riddles and finding the next clue... the last clue led to a treasure chest pinata filled with candy! Certainly a fun way to close a pirate party!

What fun we had with these cute pirates!