A Little Trim

Katherine had her first haircut today!  It was actually more of a trim, 

but it will go down as her first official cut!  

Here are a few before pictures . . .

 Some days her hair curls and looks extremely cute.

Other days, no matter what I try, it looks like she just rolled out of bed.

 When we arrived at the salon, I asked her if she wanted to sit in the chair, 

and she said, "Yes."  It really was that easy.  I couldn't have asked her to do better.

 She only had a little trim to help even the length and it only took a few minutes.

 The after . . .

 She wasn't happy with me once we made it home.  Once she calmed down, I was able to get a quick shot of the back.  Not much difference, but maybe her hair will start to thicken.  Our baby is getting too big.

Pass the Ball

Jackson had his first basketball practice tonight!

We missed out on t-ball this year (tryouts are in February and I didn't even think about baseball until March).  Each time I asked him if he wanted to play soccer this fall, he said no, he wanted to play basketball.  Thankfully, he was just old enough to be on a team.

 

The goal is really high, but he was able to make a few! 

 A little practice dribbling while pushing his way to the goal!

His first game is almost a month away and

we are excited to see what all he learns!

Starting the Month Off Right

We're doing what we can to enjoy the Christmas season, so today we headed to a parade.  It was extremely foggy on the drive in this morning and even started to sprinkle just before we found a parking space, but we found the perfect spot to stand (under an overhang, just to make sure we didn't melt in case it started pouring) and enjoy the parade!

 I'm not sure what these characters are, but it got Jackson excited!

And it didn't hurt that they were throwing candy. By the end of the parade, we had collected just as much candy as we did at Halloween.

 

 Look Katherine!  There's Hello Kitty, and Donald Duck  . . .

AND Mickey and Minnie!

REALLY???

LOOK . . . it really is them!!

 

  

 Jackson was pretty excited about Mickey and Minnie also, but then a big Coke truck came around the corner and he was infatuated.  He probably thought they were going to throw him a bunch of Coke.

 Finally, the Big Man himself.  I didn't get a picture of Jackson and Katherine, but they really were in awe of him.  They were waving and kept staring at him as long as they could see him after he passed by!

Now, we just need to sit in his lap so he'll know what's on 2 important people's lists.  Since we don't have a good track record seeing Santa up close and personal, I'm keeping my fingers crossed all goes smoothly this year!

Stuffing Ourselves

This year we spent Thanksgiving with my family in the country.

After stuffing ourselves, everyone eventually ended up on the front porch.

 Not surprisingly, Jackson had a grand time throwing rocks.

 And Katherine enjoyed getting swings from Grammy.

 Jackson had to have a turn, of course!

 These 2 are non-stop. 

 A blurry Katherine is a good representation of both of these children.

 

The sun started setting and brought the end to a fun day and a place it's been too long since we visited.

 The most shopping we did on Black Friday was to brave the 'crowd' at the Christmas tree farm.  These 2 had a fine time running around and hiding in all of the trees.

 I'm not sure what Katherine called herself doing,

but she did this with most of the trees.

 A little tree farm fun

 Our tree

Gnats were swarming our heads at the farm and this is the most Jackson could bear to show of his face.  We haven't cut the tree yet and Jackson has reminded us several times that it's not here.  He's definitely looking forward to Christmas.

Like Father, Like Daughter

Katherine has proven once again that although she may look like me, she acts just like Zach.  Thankfully, it took her 2.5 years (compared to Zach's 1.5) to figure this out . . .

I walked around the corner yesterday to find her like this and my heart skipped a beat.  How did she manage this feat?  She is standing in the drawer we've been keeping her books in and lately she's started standing in her rocker to pull open her drawer to get out books.  Yesterday, I guess she decided to take it up a level and climb in from the rocker.  How did Zach manage his feat?  He would pull open the bottom drawer of the dresser and climb in, open the next drawer and climb in, etc., until he was at the top.  And at some point in time, Zach colored on his picture.  Exactly what Katherine would do as well.  At this point, I'm crossing my fingers she won't break her arms as many times as Zach did.

Angel Tree

Wow!  Two posts in two days after almost a month absence!

Two of the preschool classes at Jackson's school sang at the mall today for the kick off of the Salvation Army Angel Tree.  He sings the songs at the house, but for the actual perfomance he barely sang and was more interested in playing with his friend, Ethan.

 I'm not sure if he's actually singing or smiling at Ethan

(little boy who has his back to the camera).

 He is giving a look to the little girl Addison next to him after she tried to join in the fun the boys were having.  He's not fond of girls at all. 

 In fact, I learned of his distaste for girls when he received a birthday invitation last month to Addison's party.  We were going to be out of town the weekend of her party anyway, but he said he didn't want to go.  I asked why and the gist of his reasoning was that he doesn't like girls.

 

Actually singing and joining in on the hand movements!

I realize these pictures look pretty much the same with just a few different facial expressions, but Jackson's done so well in school this year and we're proud of our big boy!

 

Goodbye October, Hello November

I mentioned last month how October started off busy, well . . . it never slowed down.  November is proving to be a copycat of last month.  Anyway, to catch up some, here is just a glimpse of what we've been up to.

 

We went to the pumpkin patch and as we were going in, I told Jackson that we had been to the pumpkin patch, now it was time to leave.

He didn't find the humor like I did.

 

The corn crib was crowded.

 

This is what Katherine thinks of her bows.

She had been moody since we arrived at the pumpkin patch and finally came around once Zach took off her shoes and she started playing in the sand.  If sand and dump trucks made her happy, it's obvious she has a big brother.

 

While Katherine poured sand all over her bow,

Jackson took a couple of turns swinging on the rope.

 

Train ride

 

Pumpkin picking

 

We didn't get our pumpkins carved until the night before Halloween.  The only way for them to "smile" and look at the camera is to make faces.

 

 

And Halloween.



 



 

The T-Rex is not really extinct

 and bumble bees are now domesticated animals.

 

Katherine couldn't keep her hands out of our bowl of candy and had a full bag of treats before we even left home to start knocking on doors.

And we're off!

Jackson loved ringing the doorbell followed immediately by sticking his face in a window to make sure someone was on there way.  He also has the mindset of an old person when it comes to the dark . . . once it started getting pretty dark, he was ready to head home and start passing candy out. 

Now that we're somewhat caught up on pictures, hopefully November will slow down just a bit and this won't be the only post for another month.