SOCCER (fall soccer, I might add)

Good at playing, or not, she always looked REALLY good! Makinzie is awesome at soccer when she is playing with her daddy, she gets very aggressive and makes great plays, but out on the field, she was a little timid and afraid of getting run over by kids she didn't know, so, she always followed the ball at least!

Soccer was good for us all! It got us outside after school, which was wonderful! And the kids all got warn out, running around like crazy! We were sad when soccer ended.

Only half the team was there for pictures. Luckily, there was one other little girl from our church on her team. We can't wait for spring!

Coleson turns 2 (yes, this was in September, I am that far behind!)

On his "actual" birthday he blew out the candles in his muffin or "oatmeal" for breakfast.

And again in the same muffin...after he had eaten half he decided he wanted to hear the song again :)And then Daddy brought home doughnuts from what had been leftover at work...it was Coelson's LUCKY day! He blew out the candles twice on his doughnut as well...

Coleson is 2. (he has been for 3 months now, but I'm a little slow.)

He loves to: give kisses and loves--sing ALL the time--be the "father" for Addellyn during playtime--tackle his sisters to the ground, mainly using his head like a ram--give the evil, look out the top of your eyes, look--read stories--say "hi" to people when we are out and about--talk in microphones--and wear his power shoes (as seen above, they help him jump--lift his feet off the gorund one at a time--, be very wild in a dr.'s office, dissappear at grocery stores, and the list goes on, they are definitely powerful!)

Then, the following Monday, I made his "real" birthday cake...no reason to make a cake when Daddy brings home donught, why not make the festivities last for days!

He REALLY wanted a Buzz Lightyear, to infinity and beyond, birthday cake. So, that is what he got (kind of) and an ice cream moon. He, of course, had to sing to himself 2 or 3 times before we could cut the cake, blowing out candles each time.

And, he definitely enjoyed eating the cake! Then, the next day, we let him bust out his "chocolate peanut butter" (which, if you know the kid, those are his two most favorite things in the entire world) that the girls saw at the grocery store and HAD to get for him as his Birthday gift. It was a very good dip for pretzles and strawberries that night. I would highly recommend it! (it's super healthy, natural peanut butter--better for you than the normal peanut butter--, but it tastes awesome and has cocoa in it! we love it!)

Happy Birhtday Coleson! We love you!

POOL party

They had a work party at the local pool...the kids LOVED it, it may have been a school night, but they were sooo happy we stayed until the pool closed. Free ice cream and pizza, what could be better?!?

First Grade...WOW

so, school started a long time ago, but...don't they all look so happy to begin an early morning school routine...

think she's a little nervoustrying to distract herself... the BUS! Wow, is she really old enough to ride a bus to school? I'm trying not to think about it.

Random SUMMER fun!

We made several trips to the local farmer's market...the restaraunt next door we tried out once...and only once...
We found this GREAT park in the middle of the busy city, but it made us feel like we had escaped for an afternoon, it was WONDERFUL!

Sometimes these two can be pretty good friends. And, Addellyn "doctored" me one day when we had to stay home from church together, however, that bird hat makes her seem not very credible as a doctor...

We had to make lots of "home improvement" trips...They entertained themselves by dancing to "BAD" and talking on the phone.

Making a house a HOME

Coleson helped me take this picture of the outside (that's why half the house is cut off :)), and all of our new bushes that need to be trimmed...here's the back, BEFORE the fencers came!

Apparently it will take me WAY too long to get everything perfect before I post pictures of our house, so I decided to post all of our works in progress...these are mostly after pics and not befores, because it would take way too long to download that many pics onto here...


This is what we did as we moved-in...Ran from the very scary cookie monster, and dress-up was the main source of entertainment while the boxes were kept packed so that we could paint EVERY room first. All of the rooms were painted in chalky, white primer (which you can see in these pics). Dad is always a GREAT toy too! Addellyn never likes to be told what to do (like to get dressed in real clothes so we can leave the house ;))

This is a pic of the painted living room/dining area from the eating area. And a picture of the front hall and front door from the dining room.

This is the kitchen...not super clean, but not too bad...right?

This is the loft, from the top of the stairs. And this is Addellyn's room, well, one wall.

The dresser I refinished, in Kinzie's striped wall room...soon to be Coleson's.

The book shelf and other refinished dresser in the family room (still waiting for my mom to visit and help me decorate correctly, ObViouSLy). These dressers used to match, and I should have taken a before picture...

The dining room...with the stuff I want to make a fall centerpiece out of, just haven't approached that project yet. And the wonderful playground...with the trees we planted in the corner of our yard behind it...(through the kitchen window, because it is VERY cold outside lately)