Goodies Galore

Kicking it old school today. We've got Count Chocula and Franken Berry for breakfast.

The candy bucket is ready for some ghosts and goblins. Notice we only give the good stuff.

The kids were so candy crazy this morning that they went looking in the car for some before school. As I'm driving them to school I hear Isabelle say, "this candy is disgusting".  Caleb had found a pack of tums and was sharing like a good brother. I had to pull over so everyone could spit their tums out on the side of the road. These kids crack me up.

She's ready for school. PEACE out. And God bless you Mrs. Foster.

My repair operation on little Bones. Shouldn't doctor daddy be in charge of this?

Some of my favorite photos from Halloween past.....

Isabelle's olympic size performance

We spent this Saturday watching Isabelle have a once in a lifetime experience. She was chosen to perform at the Kellogg's tour of Champions. For the past two weeks, she has practiced that routine no less than one hundred times. I can still hear the song playing in my head. I always watch in wonder when she is given a task. She is very serious and dedicated. I showed her once how to get to the link on youtube for her routine and every afternoon she would come home from school, set the laptop up in the living room, and go through her routine over, and over, and over.  I LOVE her determination. We dropped her off with Coach Lisa at the arena and three hours later (during which Mercer found a TV with GA/FL game) we came back to watch her perform. I knew she would come out excited and did she ever! Isabelle is shy but loves to perform. Here is the very shaky with no zoom from my iPhone video. Sorry. :( She is in the front, where the red lighting is... second row in the black shorts- the very center. Can you find her?

 That is the olympic gymnastic team on the olympic rings. The show was AMAZING!

Her gym friends. Sharing the dream!

Scarlet's reading!

Scarlet is reading her first books. At her conference, I told Mrs. Foster how much she loves to read "Go Dog Go". Mrs. Foster is a wonderful teacher and the next day she sent home "Green Eggs and Ham". Scarlet couldn't wait for me to put the baby down to nap so she could read to me. Here's a clip....

Blondie

The weather this week has been perfect. I usually take a blanket outside and lay in the grass while the kids play in the yard. Scarlet joined me on the blanket this afternoon and here are some shots I took from the iPhone.

Being silly, of course.

Silly

Pretty eyelashes

Perfect!

She is so funny, so sassy, loving, smart, and full of life.

Decorating for Halloween

There is nothing more thrilling for my children than when I finally say, "let's put up the halloween decorations". They are growing up so fast and now they are able to find the boxes in the basement and bring up the decorations. They were very proud of themselves. We added Mr. Bones this year (the name for our front porch skeleton) and I must say he makes a nice addition to our "spookiness".

Mr. Bones wearing Caleb's 2nd grade George Washington hat.

Our spider Charlotte. Who Scarlet sometimes calls Carlos. 

Our witch we have had FOREVER. I forget to turn her off most nights and she goes off in the middle of the night screaming Happy Halloween. I know my neighbors love me. :)

 Lights turned on.

Spooky...

All "A" party

Report cards were sent and the three "middles" got all As. Whoo Hoo!  (The teenager is only half way through his semester) I wanted to show them how proud I was of all their hard work. I quickly whipped up some cupcakes and icing, ran to the party store for some plates and decorations, and done. An all "A" party. 

Isabelle showing her all A report card. Actually hers she be a 99 party. Four 99s one 100 and a 98. The girl has some brains.

Caleb all As! Their report cards are sent electronically. Anyone else miss the ones they used to send home? 

She was celebrating an all "S" report card. I quickly averted a crisis when I told her that and "S"  was the same as all "A"s. 

 "Keep up the As so we can have chocolate cupcakes more often!" Love, Vivienne

I found this bag of poppers at the party store. I had no idea that actual smoke was involved in the popping of these. I guess they are like a little firework? It scared the kids at first. But then they wanted to try. It's so funny how they would only pop them with their eyes closed. 

Weekend and Homecoming

How was your weekend? My weekend was full and happy. Friday night we dressed in some warm clothes and cheered on our favorite high school football team.  The kids love playing at the football games. Caleb finds all of his buddies and spends the evening playing, throwing the football. Scarlet talks to almost everyone that passes by her at the game. I always watch in amazement as she is so open and friendly to everyone. I was so shy as a little girl. It was homecoming so the little girls were thrilled to see the older girls dressed up for homecoming court. I'm sure their little minds were dreaming of being those girls in those beautiful glittery dresses one day. Saturday we spent the day helping Matthew with last minute homecoming dance preparations. Pick up suit, check, corsage, check, last minute run to town for white t-shirt, check. His second homecoming dance and he only has two left. Wow, time is flying. He met up with a large group of his friends and they rode on this fantastic bus to dinner and the dance. I was so proud as I watched him tell his date how lovely she looked and shook hands with her parents.  I love when I see my children experience these important milestones of growing up. He was SO handsome. Sunday we went to worship and heard two great messages in sunday school and from our pastor. One was focused on missions and finding our place in our church's mission work. The other was on juggling the responsibilities in our life. It spoke to my heart and revealed to me once again that for me being a godly wife and mother are the two most important roles I can fill. The weekend was full but happy and blessed. My camera was not being nice (I REALLY want a new one..hint, hint ;) ) But pictures are coming soon......

New dresses and twirly skirts

Every little girl needs a twirl skirt. I love Scarlet's new twirl skirt. I'd give it a ten for twirliness...is that a word?

 New dresses are good for twirling too.

Isabelle has on only one sock. An important part of twirling, you need one sock on to make your foot slippery enough to twirl. Smart girl. 

Baby Vivienne in her new dress. She's working on her twirl. It is really funny and I'm going to try to get it on video.

Family Dinner

We did it! Well almost. Six out of seven of the tribe sitting at the table for a nutritious meal, together!! It really does warm my heart and make me so happy to have these moments.

There are just enough rolls in a bag of Sister Schubert's to feed the family. Yes! Daddy gets two.

It went something like this. Wow, mommy you are the bestest cook ever.


The teenager was at soccer practice. We'll try again tomorrow night.

Ummm...where's the baby?

My day just got so much better. Mercer called and he would be home early today! yay!! That meant not having to take the baby and boys to the dentist for the girls' appointments. I would leave the baby napping and he would pick up the boys from school later. I met him in the driveway with a quick kiss and a rundown of the plan. I head to the school, pick up the girls, and head toward town. As I'm riding down the road, I see Mercer headed towards me. I slow down so I can wave and maybe get a quick peek of baby as we pass. I wave, I peek, the carseat is empty. The carseat is empty! Ummm....where's the baby? I frantically call his cell. Of course, he doesn't answer. I call again. I call his cell about twenty times. Now I'm questioning myself. Surely, the baby is with him. It was just a quick glance. Now I have two choices. One, go all the way back home and check to see if he forgot the baby OR trust that I have a responsible husband that would NEVER forget the baby. I choose option one. I fly into the driveway, run into the house, go into the nursery, to find...my sweet angel sitting in her crib smiling. HE FORGOT THE BABY! I'm not happy but what fun would it be just to call him and tell him he forgot her. No, it's time for a lesson. I take the baby, put her in the car and we head to the dentist office. He calls (apparently his phone was on silent) and I casually ask him if he picked up the boys. He says yes. I ask him did Vivienne have a good nap and is she being good for him. Silence. "I forgot the baby". Yes, I know sweetie. How do I know? Because she is sitting here with me right now. He shows up at the dentist office about twenty minutes later with an "I'm sorry I forgot our baby" look. The ladies in the office did let out a few laughs when he came in. 

Vivienne enjoying a little magazine reading at the dentist. 

Izzy's note to Santa

While I was making Isabelle's bed this morning, I found this little piece of paper on the floor. I think it fell out from under her pillow.

It's never too early to give Santa and his Elves the heads up! I was laughing so hard and couldn't wait to show it to Mercer. We read it together and again and again. And just smiled and talked about how we are so lucky to have a little girl with such a lovely spirit. I love my Izzy SO much. 

Kids day pick, Corn Dawgs

A couple of Saturdays ago, we decided to have a kids fun day. A lot of great lessons are learned from this. The most importantly being compromise. Five kids planning means five very different ideas of what the "kids day" activity should be. I have a confession; there is a lot of subliminal messages coming from mom. Bowling? Last time everyone bowled two frames and then wanted to play the video games. Movie? The only thing out is Ice Age one thousand. Chuckie Cheese? My eye roll speaks volumes. I comment out loud, "I wonder if Corn Dawgs is open yet?" Corn Dawgs! Yes...my subliminal messages work! ;) The problem was Mercer was on call and the thought of being left at Corn Dawgs with the four kids alone..hmmm... But...we decided to roll the dice and go anyway. The day was so good.

Scarlet trying to escape the string "web".

This face is so funny. Help!

Almost out!

A HUGE sandbox of corn kernels. A little weird but really cool to play in. Fun fact, corn kernels leave this white film all over you. We were covered in it.

 Izzy buried in the kernels.

 A really good daddy is so HOT!!

Not her dream pony Cocoa, but look how happy she is to be riding a pony. I have to get her a riding lesson soon.

Vivi. seriously thinking she can pick up this pumpkin.

If I try REAL hard....

The End. Oh and see that pink croc on Vivi. it somehow got lost between this picture and the walk to the car. ??? But proof she was wearing it when we left.