Trick or Treat!

Well, another Halloween is in the books!  Jackson has discovered the show Storm Troopers and Katherine is still obsessed with horses!

I looked online for horse costumes for Katherine and couldn't find anything cute.  And then, Pinterest happened.  There was a cute homemade horse costume a kid was pictured in and it had a link to instructions.  We need instructions for a box horse costume since we're not very creative on our own.  The instructions were good until the end when they failed to mention the front would be top heavy once your child put the costume on.  After spending an hour or two, a couple of belts, and almost a roll of packing tape later, Zach finally came up with moving the reins and thankfully we had a horse costume.  (Trust me, I really just summarized all of our attempts on finding a solution!)  And just in time for walking outside for trick-or-treating!

She did look cute! 

 Katherine and I worked a couple of different weekends on putting her horse together!  She picked out the colors and all of the materials!

 Brenda and Grandpa decided the day before to drive over and we kept it a surprise for the kids!

Our sweet Jackson!

Until next year, we're still getting sugar highs around here!

Mud

Jackson and Katherine were a bit hyper this weekend, and Katherine was asking to go to a park, so we went to the lake playground.

 They finally got the go ahead to go down to the lake, and it didn't take long before they were both filthy.

We came back home, cleaned up, had some lunch, and Jackson had to work on his first school project of the year. 

 Happy he's finished with his first "book report"!

 This evening, Jackson, Katherine, and I went to the lake to shoot his slingshot.  Katherine and I gathered rocks at the house and headed down.  I didn't realize how low the lake was.  Zach came down a few minutes later and I asked if he would clear out some of the logs while the water is down.  He was sweet and went out there only to sink down to his knees.  It didn't take the other two long to want to join in.

 Uh oh!  Stuck!

 Muddy trio!!

Back in the Swing of Things

Katherine is in KINDERGARTEN!!

Although neither one were ready to start back, Katherine has been excited about getting to go to school with Jackson.  We're excited we only have to drop off or pick up at one place!

Jackson is in 2nd grade and was dreading starting back, but when I picked him up today, he was happy and said he had a pretty good day!

The first words out of Katherine's mouth when she climbed in the car: "Mrs. Bonner is MEAN!!"  Thankfully that's not her teacher, but it was Jackson's teacher last year.  The only thing I could get out of her on why she didn't like her was that she gives lots of tests!  I guess we'll try to stay away from her next year!!

 This will be Jackson's first year to sit in a desk!  He wasn't excited this morning about starting back.

 Katherine's room was pretty chaotic this morning and when I left her, she had an unsure look on her face.  Poor baby, but she was all smiles when I picked her up.

 I had planned to take them to get ice cream or some other treat once school was out, but yesterday on their last day off, Zach stayed home with them and took them to an animal shelter to pick out a cat.  They couldn't decide on the same one, so Zach got 2!  Yep.  I found out about all of this while at work and after the fact!  We went after school today to pick up the kittens.  Meet Sunflower and Socks.

At least those are the names for now.  Katherine was insistent on calling hers Captain Jack Sparrow.  Then she wanted to name hers Socks like Jackson's.  Then Sunny or Sunshine, and now Sunflower.  Jackson is settled; we'll see what tomorrow holds for Sunflower's name!

8

Jackson blew out 8 candles today!

Well, actually more if you look above!  And he got every single candle in one breathe!

We're celebrating this birthday at the beach, and both babies are having fun!  Um, well, we did learn today that Katherine is a little jealous of Jackson's big day!  I guess she forgot about her birthday a few months ago!

HAPPY 8TH BIRTHDAY TO OUR BIG BOY!!!

The Zoo was Hot

Our friend we haven't seen in a while asked if we wanted to join them at the zoo yesterday.  It's nice to see friends, but it was HOT.  Unbearably hot.

 As soon as we walked in, Katherine was ready to hit the splash pad.  I didn't blame her.

 After the splash pad, we changed clothes and looked at the rest of the animals.

 I look at these pictures and can't believe how big Jackson is.

We enjoyed catching up, but it sure was nice to get back in our vehicle and turn up the air conditioner!

Happy 4th!

We spent the 4th in Alabama.  Zach and I arrived Thursday evening and on Friday, we woke up to this cute pool boy!

 We also had special visitors this year!  Leslie, William, and Anna drove down and spent the weekend there.  Jackson had been asking all week when William was going to get there.

The boys ganging up on Katherine.

Leslie and I only get to see each other a few times a year now, so it was great getting to spend several days with her and all four of our babies.

 Katherine was pretty excited there was a baby around!  She wouldn't leave Anna alone and I'm sure she drove Leslie crazy.  :)

We spent a lot of time by the pool!

 This is the first year either of them wanted to go down the slide and they loved it!

 Austin and his friend, Nick, were there and the kids love both of them.  There were plenty of high throws all weekend!

Zach snuck up on Austin with the intent of throwing him in the pool.

 But Austin wasn't giving in that easy.

 Zach was able to get free and staged a comeback.

 In the end, Austin won the battle!

We all had a fun and relaxing holiday weekend!!