Halloween Party

The Saturday before Halloween we had a Halloween party! We all, including the adults, had a great time.
Jerry the "Chick Magnet"

Greg read the kids "The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe

Pumpkin Patch

This morning Scott and the kids went the see the movie "Flicka." Afterwards, we all went to the pumpkin patch. They all had a great time. They did the hay maze and picked out a big pumpkin. Afterwards, we all went to mom and dad's and had a big cookout with Nick. They carved the pumpkins on mom and dad's big patio.

Blessings,
Leslie

Introducing....Nikki!

Well, we did it. We got a puppy. We've tried this once before, but we're

giving it another go. So.....

Her name is Nikki and she's a Chiweenie...or a Weenie wa-wa. She's half miniature dashshund and half chihuahua. She shouldn't get over 6 pounds or so.

Grace is completely in love with her. She's really taking her responsibilities seriously.
Thomas and Mandy really like her too. There is often a fight over who is going to hold her next. Mandy looks and her and screams and laughs. She calls her "icky" or "hicky."

Her name comes from one of the twins in "Full House." Not after Uncle Nick. Although as Scott pointed out he is always begging people to name their kids after him and since we are done this is as good as we can do!

Blessings,

Leslie

Chucky Cheese

We met Scott at the Chucky Cheese by his office for lunch one day last week. The kids were out for Fair Day, but we decided to skip the fair this year.

As you can tell they all had a great time. I'm not a huge fan of Chucky Cheese...I think it's my teacher background. Mass chaos where kids are concerned just isn't my thing! However, when you go at 11:00 on a weekday it's not nearly so bad. We were the only ones there for quite a while.

Blessings,

Leslie

Welcome Hudson Taylor!

What a busy, wonderful week! My cousins, Scott & Patty, had a beautiful, healthy baby boy, and Nick came home from Iraq last Thursday! Sunday, I drove him to Oklahoma so he could see his family and get his car. We had such a great visit!

Blessings,

Leslie

The Joy of a Box

I bought Mandy a booster chair so we could put away the high chair. Thomas and Grace had WAY more fun with the box than Mandy did with the new chair!

Blessings,

Leslie

Fabulous Friday

At the kids school Friday's are called "Fabulous Friday's." This Friday was Grandparent's Day. The kids grandparents were invited to join them for lunch. Mom and Dad came and brought him lunch. He was so excited. I have to say...the placed was packed! They had so many grandparents RSVP that they had tables put up in the gym to accomodate everyone. For Grace, today was nursery rhyme day. They had to dress up and recite a nursery rhyme. Grace did Little Miss Muffett. She had a spider that we tied to a stick with fishing line and a bowl and spoon for the "curds and whey." Gretta came over this evening and she and Grace are having a sleepover. They played for a long time and then we had makeovers and did our nails. Next came the popcorn and the rolling on the floor laughing! They have now crashed in Grace's room while watching "Dora." Thomas and Scott have gone over to help Erin and Larry move into their new house. Although I'm not sure how much "help" Thomas is being!

When I was taking Grace's picture today doing her nursery rhyme, Mandy refused to be left out! She jumped in front of the camera and started hamming it up!

Blessings,

Leslie

Catching up...

I thought I'd take a minute and get caught up! Last weekend Scott and Grace went to Tampa Bay to visit Scott's sister, Robyn, who moved there in June. Since he had taken Thomas skiing in March he wanted to do something with Grace too. So, they decided they would go visit Aunt Robyn. They all seemed to have a great time. They played at the beach and the park and the Magic Kingdom!
On Saturday, Thomas went to Clay's birthday party. They all went to play Laser Tag, which Thomas described as,"Awesome!" He stayed with dad while mom, Jane and Judy and I went to Patty's baby shower in Oklahoma. We picked up Aunt Gladys on the way and all had a great time!

Blessings,
Leslie

RAIN!!!!!!!

It's raining!!!

We spent the night at mom and dad's last night because it was late and we were all exhausted. Mom, Christie, Nana and I had spent all day Saturday decorating the inside of the house, while Russell and Scott put up the tents and power-washed the patio. Then last night after the party we had to take it all down!! David stayed after the party and helped Scott take down all the tents and put the furniture back in the house. The whole thing was definately a team effort!

Anyway, when we got up this morning it was raining! The kids went outside on the patio and Mandy thought the rain was facinating. She went out and sat down in a puddle and just let it rain on her!

We came home after breakfast and have spent the day not doing much of anything!

Blessings,

Leslie

Happy Anniversary!!

Mom and Dad celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary Sunday. We had a great time celebrating with friends and family!

We put up big tents and tables in the yard, and were blessed with no rain and weather that didn't get over 85 degrees. The day was perfect!

Mandy and Elliott Eddie Deen catering fed us GREAT food and Greg was a fantastic bartender!