Carving our Pumpkins ~ October 30, 2008

Last night, we carved our pumpkins - one for each kiddo. They told us how they wanted the face to look, Daddy helped to get all the guts out, and we carved away. Every year we are very impressed that it actually looks like a face by time we are done butchering it up! We bought some flickering lights to put inside for the glow effect - which looks pretty cool.

Trunk or Treat ~ October 26, 2008

Our Church, Brookwood Baptist, had a Fall festival that was a Trunk or Treat. It was set up with our trunks opened and a themed game was available to play to get some candy or a prize. Our trunk was "decorate a cookie" - who doesn't love a frosted up sprinkled cookie? The kids had a blast!! The funniest was the old fashioned bobbing for apples - Clayton found it to be quite difficult, Nicholas learned the trick of picking it up by the stem, and Kaylee was so cute all the ladies working the trunk helped her out by placing a long stemmed apple right in front of her - it pays to be cute! Nicholas' last year's Kindergarten teacher was Darth Vader in "May God's force be with you" trunk - he thought that was so cool. He had to hold a light saber up and catch rings on it that were tossed to him by Darth. There was so much to do that we didn't even have enough time to do it all. The kids got tattooed, face painted, petted animals, tossed rings, threw bean bags, had balloon animals made, searched for needles in a haystack (that is hard to do), and so much more! Trunk or Treat Rules!!

Cloudland Canyon State Park Family Trip

^ Can you spot Kaylee in this picture? ^

This past week-end (October 23 - 26, 2008) we took Kevin out of town for some family fun to celebrate his birthday. We rented a cabin in the woods at Cloudland Canyon State Park in Northwest Georgia. It was nice to just relax for a few days. The weather was chilly so we kept the fireplace burning. Our first full day was rainy, so only hiked for a short distance and played Kerplunk inside by the warm fire. Kevin wanted a pecan pie and Blue Bell Vanilla ice cream for his "cake", so that is what he got! It was yummy!! The second day was full out hiking and exploring the canyon rim. It was stunningly beautiful! We hiked for about 5 hours - whew! We found a river, a waterfall, huge rocks, beautiful trees changing color for the Fall season, and more. Once we got back, we just enjoyed sitting for a little while :)

Kaylee's Mountain Brook Gymnastics Birthday Party ~ October 19, 2008

Kaylee had her 4 year old birthday party at Mountain Brook Gymnastics and loved it! She invited her best girl friends, her brothers, picked out a really cool Dora cake, and bought some Dora plates and balloons! Kaylee and her friends enjoyed the gymnastic leaders and loved being able to run, jump, and play for an hour. Kaylee especially enjoyed the long trampoline and foam squares pit that you can jump into! She was definitely treated as a princess!

Boo at the Zoo - Birmingham Zoo - October 18, 2008

What's not to love about Boo at the Zoo? It is loaded with games for the kids, tons of candy, fun scarecrows, a haunted train ride, and your Granny GG gets to go with you! We dressed the kids in their new costumes - Clayton is Commander Cody from The Clone Wars, Nicholas is Pikachu from Pokemon, and Kaylee is Ariel from The Little Mermaid. The kids loved filling their candy buckets! Clayton and Nicholas were excited to see some Clone Troopers and Darth Vader, and Kaylee got to see Snow White and Princess Leia. Thanks GG for making the trip again - hope you had fun at your first ever Boo at the Zoo!

Cake for Kaylee ~ October 14, 2008

Yes, I love birthdays, so, in our family, I make sure we celebrate it all day and make you feel really special! Kaylee felt special eating her cupcake cake I made with M&M's just for her! We all enjoyed the cupcakes and then let her open some gifts from us. Daddy picked out a beautiful pink and white Webkinz kitty that she adores and I picked out a Dora watch that she wears everywhere! It was a fun day for Kaylee Mae, our sweet four year old.

Kaylee's Birthday Movie Adventure 10/14/08

For Kaylee's birthday (during the day), we headed to the Rave movie theatre to see a special 10am Tuesday showing of Spookley the Square Pumpkin. Kaylee was very excited to go, we even invited our friends, Missy Fooshee and daughter, Ellie, to come along. We got to the movies at 9:50 and there were no cars and no lights on in the theatre. After numerous call attempts and several other families showing up confused as well, a manager came out and informed us the paper we saw the listing in was a misprint. What a bummer!! He also said he would be more than happy to allow us all to see the new Beverly Hills Chihuahua movie for free. What is more fun than a free adventure? We agreed and had a wonderful time. By the way, it is a cute movie. Now, the boys are jealous and want to go see it this week-end. GG is coming in town again for Kaylee's party, so I told them to talk her into taking them.

Kaylee is 4 Years Old Today!! 10-14-08

Clayton, Nicholas, and I (Kevin is out of town, but will be in later today) went into Kaylee's room with a stack of 4 pancakes and a candle to wake her up by singing Happy Birthday. Clayton requested we do her birthday cake tonight when they are out of school, so they wouldn't miss it. I chuckled a bit at the request and then assured him we would wait until the whole family was together to do her birthday cake. Later this morning, I am taking Kaylee to see a kid movie for her birthday - Spookley the Square Pumpkin. Enjoy watching Kaylee's special morning birthday.

Jumping in the Leaf Pile 10/11/08

It is that time of year again where the leaves begin to turn and fall from the trees. We raked up all the leaves in the backyard into a big pile and let the kids run and jump as much as they wanted. Kaylee wanted us to bury her in the leaves, Nicholas wanted to run as fast as he could into them, and Clayton wanted to jump the highest into the pile - they all succeeded!