Happy Fall!

Yesterday we spent the afternoon outside enjoying the beautiful weather. We bought a few pumpkins at a small, local produce stand and set out with bold enthusiasm to carve two pumpkins, one for each child. Well, this ended up with the kids losing interest within the first 5 minutes and Mom carving pumpkins for the next 2 hours in the silouhette of princess Aurora for M and a silly pumpkin face for N... We also saved all the seeds and roasted them which were actually pretty yummy.

Nolan took this photo... Not too shabby for a 3 yr old!

M & N this morning before church with their pumpkins. Don't they look so very cute. N is catching up with M in the height dept.

Princess M and her pumpkins

Two cute kids and their pumpkins

Our soccer star

M played her first soccer game this past Saturday after we returned from vacation and she was excited. She managed to score 2 goals in the game and she says that she had fun but I know she was still very tired from our trip. After she made her goal she skipped back to the center of the field and we could tell she was very excited about her score. We are looking forward to seeing her play the rest of this fall. There was a little girl who was pushing all of the other girls from the opposing team and even pushing her own teammates who may have pushed M a little during the game and she clearly did not like that at all. We have not stopped hearing about this certain little girl who will remain nameless. Lots of lessons in good sportsmanship already!!! Mommy and Daddy are so proud of our little soccer player and little brother was hollering from the sidelines "kick it Tissy!" So cute and funny! I will be glad when he can play because he wanted to be out there so bad.

Just a small peek at disney

Family vacations are what I remember most about my childhood. They were so much fun and there was great anticipation about what we would see and do, so I guess, I have not grown out of that because Disney was no exception. I was excited for my children because they were looking forward to this trip. We had a very busy, but fun week at the huge Mouse house. We saw almost every character that I can possibly think of that Disney ever had and some that I am still wondering who they were... We had breakfast with royalty, dined with the a spoonful of sugar's Mary Poppins, saw Everest, watched Gorillas run at each other in Animal Kingdom, went on a safari, met Tinkerbell and saw her flight from the castle, and so much more. Everyone was so tired because we were up before dawn (literally) and to bed well after we should have been. These photos were of our last night in the Magic Kingdom for the festivities. I took over 900 photos while we were there if you can believe that! You could say I saw the trip through the lens of my camera but I also managed to enjoy the sights and sounds with my own eyes. N had us in stitches with his comments. He asked Alice in Wonderland where was her cat which left us confused because we have not ever watched the movie but clearly he knows about it. He also asked almost every character if he could touch their eyes, shoes, nose, tongue, etc?!? So funny! M was on a hunt to find Daisy Duck, who appeared to be very elusive but she did show up the final night at the party which made for one excited little girl. Her favorite thing was to ride the tea cups over and over and over and both kids really enjoyed the toy story ride in Hollywood studios. We will look back on this trip with fond memories!

"To infinity and beyond" The 'ole if I had a dollar for every time I heard that one would make me a rich gal on this trip.

The much anticipated Snow White and the seven dwarfs. I was so afraid I would cut one out of the frame on accident!

Cinderella's Carousel and Castle lit up for Halloween festivities



Cinderella's Carriage!

HHS homecoming

Maggie & Caroline (Sweetheart and Queen)

so cute!

M giggling with Daddy about all the rain falling around her

The Guin Girls

M and Maggie (a.k.a. Football Sweethart)

Mom and M

N and Daddy

We had the chance to go to the HHS homecoming game and we certainly made some memories in the rain. The Bucs won but we left in the second quarter because the rain was so heavy. We did manage to snap some pictures before the game and the downpour of Maggie as the Football Sweetheart. We missed Caroline somehow... So beautiful and all grown up. I still picture Maggie as our little flower girl and that little 3 yr old girl who had a fixation with candy and freeze pops and said "lickstip" for the word lipstick. M was so excited to see Maggie. It was like she was star stuck! :) Congrats Maggie & Caroline! Both girls were beautiful! Lots of prayers for a wonderful year.

Our sweet girl

Our baby girl turned 5 this past week. It is very hard for me to believe that she is 5 for some reason. I guess because I feel that she is growing up so very fast. We had a princess tea party and she had a great time and is already asking for a tea party for next year. My child is one of those who begins to think about her next birthday the day after it is over. I love that she had so much fun and to tell the truth I had fun, too. I know it will only be a few more years where she will like princesses so we are enjoying it while it last. This was also my first attempt at making a tiered cake. I was a little ambitious and, yes, the cake is leaning but at least I gave it the college try. The bow on top was so heavy it was making the cake lean but that did not matter to M because she loved it.

Happy Anniversary

Me & Cil

Brent & Dad

Mom and Phyllis

(Old high school friends-don't you think they could pass for sisters!)

We had the privilege of celebrating a 50th wedding anniversary with Cil and her sweet family. Cil practically raised my brother and I while my Mom and Dad worked. I stayed with Cil from the time I was a wee baby until the 5th grade. My brother and I, still to this day, say that some of our crazy things we do are attributed to Cil, such as my brother not taking a drink with his meal but waiting until after he is finished with all of his food! She is the only reason that I believe Oil of Olay may actually work because she was always slathering herself down in the stuff and still uses it to this day! :) There will never be another woman like her. She is amazing in my book, by all standards. She does not keep children anymore and after all those years she deserves a well-needed break. She is the only woman I know that moves the refrigerator almost weekly to clean behind!!! I basically watched her family grow up, too, and they feel as if they are an extension of my own family. Congratulations Cil & Fernando on 50 wonderful years of marriage!

Day of Discovery

We finally made it to a great, kid friendly place, here in town. The kids had so much fun and the adults did, too. Just watching their little faces run around was great. I could hardly get N's picture because he would not stay still, but M found the pretend baby nursery and was so excited. She wrapped the babies in blankets and then rocked them in the rocking chair.