Fall Soup Party

The weekend before Halloween, we had a group of friends over for chili and potato soup.  Caleb has a group of friends who go to church and school with him and they all have older sisters. 

We also happen to enjoy spending time with all of their parents.  So, I decided we should have a "party!"  I made my mom's chili and then did potato soup for the kids.  Turns out, I could have just done chili and been fine. 

I think Caleb was the only kid who ate soup.  Kate had chili and the rest had chicken nuggets.  Ha! 

Before we ate, all the kids played outside in their Halloween costumes.  It was fun watching them just run around with each other. 

E was NOT a fan of the dog but the boys did their best to protect her. 

It was a great night! 

Maybe it will become an annual thing. :-)

Halloween

Kate and Caleb had a fun time this year at Halloween.  They both had parties at school. 

For that, Kate went as Jasmine and Caleb was Obi Wan Kenobi (again). 

Our church had a Harvest Carnival, so we didn't go trick or treating but still had fun.  For this, Kate was Merida and Caleb was one of her bear brothers. 

Kate had been talking a lot about her friend from school and she actually found her at the carnival.  We were so excited to meet her and Kate had a GREAT time running around with her. 

Fair 2016

It is hard to believe that it has been FIVE years since David and I went to the fair together.  That was the beginning of realizing that we enjoyed being together. 

We make it a point to go to the fair each year (with the exception of 2014 because Caleb was only 10 days old...I cried that I couldn't go!).  This year, Caleb is essentially the same age as Kate was when we first went to the fair.

  Crazy!  He wasn't so excited about it at first, but after about 20 minutes of clinging to me and watching sissie ride the bikes,

he was all in!  While he was clingy, Kate and I got to go on "our" ride.

 Then Caleb decided he was ready to ride and went on the cars (because he was about 1/2 inch to short for the bikes - this happens to my children all the time!). 

He LOVED them!  He rode them four times, each time on a different color.  Caleb and I rode the bumble bees (which he STILL talks about!)

 and then he rode the bears with Daddy (this is an ONLY Daddy ride, Mama can't handle it!). 

We got free biscuits - of course.

Then we went to ride the ponies. 

Caleb was all about it until we put him ON the pony...and he was over it!

 Alas, he did well last year but I guess "knew" too much this year.  Then we went to the petting zoo.

 Caleb was a bit afraid at first, so Kate got to feed  the goats and camel several times.

  Finally Caleb decided it was fun

 and fed a goat.  "I fed a goat!"

After that, we went and stood in front of the slide while waiting for David to get more tickets.

 It was apparently enough time for Caleb to decide that he wanted to go.  YAY! 

He loved the slide! 

After supper and a few more rides, we went home with some sleepy kids!  SO fun!

Weekend of Parties and Cheer

About a week after school started we had a weekend full of birthday parties.  Kate was supposed to go to a cheer camp that morning but woke up with a pink eye, so I didn't let her go.  Caleb had a birthday party for his friend form school and had a blast playing in the birdseed box! 

That afternoon, Kate went to the present portion of her friend's party. 

They had cake balls and both kids LOVED them! 

The next weekend, Kate got to cheer at the football game.  She is one cute cheerleader if I do say so myself! 

She was actually more interested in the game but I think that was because she didn't get to go to the camp.  She stood with some of her new friends from her class this year and then got to see her teacher! 

She had a great time and did a fantastic job.  We were proud of her effort and excitement.

Boat Ride

In June, we prepared to welcome the new interns at work.  To do this, we, of course, had a party; this party was at the yatch club. 

It was hot but nice to be out near the water. 

The kids had a blast running around and playing with other kids and the ducks.

  After eating, we got to go out on the boat.  We took a nice little long ride. 

Caleb enjoyed it but was ready to be out of his puddle jumper by the time we got back.  '

Kate actually fell asleep. 

She had a small fever when we got home but was better the next day (thankfully, since she had camp the next week!). 

We are blessed to have fun little activities like this associated with work. And thankful for kids who enjoy it and enjoy being with other people.

Summer Sunday School Party

In August, our Sunday School class had a party out at the lake.  Some of the guys spent the morning setting up a slip and slide down the hill into the lake.  I really wished that I could do it but I figured it wasn't a good idea at about 33 weeks pregnant!  Ha!  Kate did get to enjoy it. 

I think she went down 4-5 times before it started raining...and raining...and raining. 

Thankfully, we were able to enjoy the outside under a porch.  The kids ran around playing with balls.  The dads enjoyed throwing frisbee. 

And the moms just enjoyed being able to sit around and talk! 

Kate, as usual, was so kind.  One little girl got hurt (very mildly) but Kate immediately started checking on her and telling her to "go see my Daddy.  He's a doctor!" 

She has the sweetest little heart!  I made a gluten free pineapple upside down cake for David.  He enjoyed it and wasn't sad that we came home with leftovers. 

Kate wanted to stay and play more but she was tired and lightning wasn't showing any signs of stopping...and THIS mama says no water when lightning is around! 

Hope we get to do this again...maybe Caleb can have his first water slide experience.  :-)

Kate's birthday - Five (from last year)

I am SO far behind on my posting.  Kate's birthday is less than two months away...and here is her birthday post!  Yikes!  She wanted a Frozen party (go figure!) this year.  We had it at a local gym that has blow up jump toys. 

It was a great place.  All I had to do was bring food.  I think the kids had lots of fun...and I enjoyed getting everything together, despite what David would tell you.  I probably did stress a little bit.  The biggest thing that stressed me was people not RSVP'ing.  Y'all, if someone puts RSVP or regrets only on a card, PLEASE notify them.  It helps in knowing how much food to have.  Speaking of food we had some cute stuff! 

We ended up having snowman ham sandwiches, snowflake PB&J,

Olaf popcorn,

Olaf noses, Olaf arms, frozen hearts (My favorite!),

ice blocks, snowman buttons, and s .  Kate said that she wanted an ice cream cake, which coincided with a challenge to make a frozen dessert.  Perfect! 

So, I made her cake.  I did have a bit of a fit and threw some fondant...but it all came together well!

They have a fun throne for the birthday child to sit in while he/she opens presents.

 Of course, this can cause some discontent in the guests but Kate was really sweet and shared by the end.  And we got a cute picture of everyone together. 

The kids actually played hard before food and presents.  Of course, Luke was the first to get there and he and Kate had some time together. Such special friends! 

And Kate was little Miss Gymnast on the balance beam!

I love my little five year old...um, soon to be six!