Happy Birthday Logan!

My little man turned 6 this month. We celebrated his birthday decorating cupcakes and playing with his new toys. That weekend, we had a Halloween birthday party for him with all his friends.

The party began out back playing Hot Pumpkin and eating donuts on a string.

Savannah especially liked the donuts! : )

Welcome to the Witches' Laboratory!

Makayla and her friends: Madeleine, Lauren and Sarah helped me entertain the kids at the party in our own home laboratory of bat blood, spider venom, and witches brew. (Thanks to Mike for bringing half his lab home from work! ) They had a blast concocting all their potions and formulas and then showing them to the party goers. They especially liked having the kids feel their cauldron of "snakes" and bowl of "eyeballs."

All the little lab workers needed their gloves of course!

Logan got to be the witches guest star in the Lab performing experiments for all his friends to see.

The girls hard at work making potions for the kids to see. Makayla instructs them on the benefits of bat blood in her brew.

Thank you Mike, for helping with the party! He was a little obsessed with the dry ice. We not only put it in the "witches brew" punch, but he had it bubbling in all the beakers and test tubes in the Witches Laboratory. Our little witches thought that was super cool to have all of their potions and brews bubbling.We had 3 Captain Jack Sparrows at the party. Hmmm . . . Logan seems a little transfixed by the brew as well. For dinner we had witches hat tortilla chips, spider crackers, monster finger carrots, eyeball grapes and monster toes, aka hot dogs.

Don't forget the spider cake!

A big Thank You! for all of the fun toys and birthday $$ Logan got for his birthday. He loves to get cards in the mail from all his grandparents. He was especially excited about his new marble shoot. Thanks, Mom!

New Haircut

New Sexy Hair! Yea me! I thought I'd post a picture since its been a while since my last haircut, (5 months?), and I'm documenting a monumental event here. Also, Mike was out of town all last week and I don't think anyone even saw me except my kids. Logan exclaimed when he saw me after school,
"You look pretty, Mommy!"
(so normally I don't look pretty? Maybe I need to do my hair more), and then Makayla announced,
"You look younger, Mommy!"
(Do I need to look younger? I guess so, since I'm already old to certain 9-yr-olds apparently : )

Taking time for myself seems to get pushed back farther and farther with all the kids' stuff to do. But it was really nice to take some time for myself. I went to a fancy spa by my house and got the full treatment. Hair washed and scalp massaged in the massage chair, and ice water brought in a champagne glass. Ms. Haircut did a great job on my hair, blowing it all out and then asked if she could play with her new curling iron. "Umm . . . sure. Curl away." The best part was I had a coupon for $15 off any treatment at the spa, so it made the cut that much better.

Attack of the Spiders

This is how we spent our Conference weekend--decorating. Mike did a marvelous job on his spider masterpiece, don't you agree? There was only a certain amount of grumbling that went along with the hanging off the ladder to tie up the giant spider onto the house. No, we can't just have a giant blow-up spider on our lawn, if we're going to have a giant blow-up spider, then it is going to have to hang off our house. He added the dead branch strapped to our porch railing this year for dramatic effect. If you get up close to the web, there are lots of disgusting spiders and even a real snake skin tangled up inside. If you can't tell, we like Halloween around here.
While Mike worked on the porch, I created our little graveyard. The kids informed me we need lots of Skeletons now to come out of the graves. That would certainly be spooky. On a side note, our front flower bed we planted last fall has really grown, especially the yellow Esperanza.

The night view of our spider mania.

The Cheese Stands Alone

Can a cheese and a rat be friends?

Makayla's 4th grade choir performed the musical "The Cheese Stands Alone" asking that exact question. Makayla played Mr. Rat who because of pressure from her peers refuses to be friends with her long time friend, Cheesy, but by the end of the musical stands up for what she believes in and apologizes to Cheesy so they can remain friends once again.

Makayla (Mr. Rat) and her good friend, Madeleine (Cheesy's cousin, Gouda Cheese)
Makayla was quite the little actress. She had to memorize 8 lines and played the part of a cheese loving (or was that hating?) rat perfectly. I would have been too shy to get up in front of everyone at her age, but she was really brave. Makayla said she was a little nervous, but once she got on stage, she didn't forget any of her lines and really hammed it up. She got a big laugh at the end of the musical when she apologized to Cheesy and admitted she was "really lactose intolerant!"

A proud Makayla waves at the end of the play.

ABC Parade

A very excited Logan got picked as door holder for the day and waits for the parade to begin.
Luke Skywalker Logan holding his Light Saber marches happily through the school in the parade.
Logan's Kinder Class
One of the cutest things the Kindergarten does during the year is the Alphabet parade. All the kids get to dress up or make a poster of their letter and march all through the halls of the school with music blasting on the intercom.

Fall Flag Football For Logan

Toughest Football Player Ever . . .right?
Logan's enjoying learning to play flag football this fall. We are learning all about pulling flags, running fast, and hiking balls. It's been fun to watch these little guys catch on a little more each week on running plays and making touch downs. I know I would be intimidated by these faces! : )
Logan's Team. Go Jaguars!!!

I had to include this pic of the team running through our banner to get pumped for the big game. Logan looks pretty tough with his mouth guard and black under his eyes. (Click on the picture to blow it up and check out my tough little guy.) Also, Thanks Meliss for the cute font idea and Thanks Susie for the great football pics. Scatterbrain me only remembered to bring my camera for the team picture day. Can you say too many balls juggling at once?


Cheerleader 1 and Cheerleader 2!

My Little Ballerina

Savannah just started her first ballet & tap class this fall. She has so much fun dancing, especially the "free dance." You should see her moves. : ) She has the cutest little teacher who reminds me of Snow White, and Miss Snow White has them shaking pom poms, twirling scarves, and waving parachutes. Savannah's favorite dances are Baby Beluga where she gets dance with her little stuffed whale and "Strawbababababerry Shortcake is so sweet, just like hers name." (We are having a little trouble with pronouns.) I'll have to post a video--it's precious.

Savannah's First Day of Preschool

My baby started Preschool this year. If you thought I had a hard time sending Logan off to Kindergarten, it was just that much harder to send Savannah off to Pre-K. (What do I do with myself all day long with no little ones to pick up after?) She was a little worried to leave mommy all day at first, but she is loving it now. She has so much fun painting and making projects, playing with her friends at center time and recess and learning new things. She feels so big bringing her lunch to school just like Kayla and Logan. Savannah is a good little helper and listener at school and she was one of only a few that got a special prize for listening to the teacher and following directions. And it is nice to be able to run an errand or exercise without "extra helpers." : )

Savannah's favorite thing to do at school is sort all the little bears into their color coded little cups during center time.

First day of School for Logan and Makayla

Logan and Makayla love school! I'm so lucky to have two very motivated, smart, love everything about learning, kids. They had a super first day of school. Logan started Kindergarten this year. I had a much harder time with this than he did. He was so ready for kinder, just missing the deadline last year, and loves all the hands on projects and activities he gets to do in school. I on the other hand, missed him that first day and wondered how on earth he was going to survive on his own all day without me. He did fine. He is my sweetheart, and apparently, all the girls in his class and the class next door think so too. : ) His teacher says he is a good friend and loves to participate and help in class. She says that if she needs the right answer, she knows she can always call on Logan. I'm happy he is doing so well in kinder, and I am starting to enjoy the "me" time I get during the day now.

Makayla started 4th grade this year. When did I get old enough to have a fourth grader? She seems so grown up this year, and she loves everything about school. She is becoming very responsible about finishing her homework, and it's nice not to have to worry that she is doing well in school. She is a good friend and a good example to her classmates, and her teacher tells me Makayla gets everyone excited about what they are learning in class and exemplifies leadership qualities.
Savannah sure misses Logan and Makayla during the day, and was so happy to see them after their first day of school! She is my little buddy, my little helper, and my little mischief maker. She loves to follow me around the house helping with the laundry, cooking dinner, doing dishes, dusting, sweeping, and anything else that I am doing. I hope this enthusiasm for housework continues! : ) Savannah is loving all the one on one attention she is getting from mom now. She tries so hard to be big like Kayla and Logan and wants to do everything they are doing. I'm lucky that she has two great examples in her big brother and sister.

Logan Lost His First Tooth!

My little man lost his first tooth right before we came home from our looong vacation to Utah. (Don't worry, this is the last and final Utah post : ) He was soooooooooooooooo excited to discover he had a loose tooth. All he could do for a week was wiggle it until it was dangling in a most disjointed fashion. It needed to come out, but his mom is a wimp and too grossed out to pull it, so his Aunt Jeanette came to the rescue. A couple of twists and some spine tingling, goose flesh causing crunching and popping sounds and out popped his tooth. Thank you, Jeanette!