Happy Fall Y'all!

Ok, pretty sad that the last post was from Halloween and here I am to post one year later.  So much has indeed happened in that year's time, but instead of rehashing all of that I'd rather just share these fun photos.  I forgot how much I really liked fall since having really missed it while in New Orleans.  No fall colors, no windy days with falling leavings, no raking, and no COLD Halloween nights!  Thanks to a cold and rainy Halloween night it was postponed to this past Sunday.  Although it was cold (probably colder than Christmas in New Orleans) the kids still had a good time.  We also raked our leaves this weekend.  Most kids that live where leaves regularly fall would not be able to understand this, but my kids having not seen it in years or at all, were all about it.

William reprised his Coast Guard pilot from last year (age 8), Clark is Clark Kent (age 6), and Jack is a dinosaur (age 2). Check out those pumpkins!  The one-eyed one is Clark's creation, and the scary one with face stitches is William's. The baby one (as he calls it) is Jack's. Oh, and pay no attention to that "ghost" peeking out of the window.

Halloween Fun

William (age 7 - Coast Guard Pilot), Jack (age 22 mos - monkey), Clark (age 5 - dolphin)

Clark LOVES dolphins and so he requested to be one for Halloween.  It wasn't the easiest costume to pull together, but thanks to Grandma's help, it worked out, and Clark thought it was great!

Hayride fun!

Brotherly love...at least before any fights could ensue over candy!

 

We had a great Halloween!  The kids had lots of fun activities at school (Clark had a party complete with games, treats, and dancing and the entire school has a costume parade and the teachers also have a special performance for the kids) and then we all went on a trick-or-treat hayride around our neighborhood.  The best was that the kids were off school for the two days after so we could live up our last Halloween in NO, and spend some quality time with Grandma and Grandpa who were visiting.

1 Year Today!

Can't believe that we celebrated Jack's 1st birthday today! My how fast it has gone, and how big he is already! He wasn't too sure about the cake at first--really didn't like getting it all over his hands--but, after a little prodding and his brothers' encouragement, he dove in! It was so great to have my parents here to celebrate too.

Jack is sure getting big. He is starting to say more and more words all the time and just this week he mastered waving "bye-bye." He really was a great baby from the start and I have certainly enjoyed his first year!

6th Birthday

As unbelievable as it is, today we celebrated William's 6th birthday. He opened lots of wonderful gifts from friends and family when Andy got home from work. We then went to dinner at a restaurant of his choosing and then home for a cookie cake. But in the grand tradition of birthdays his has been going on for several days with a kid birthday party on Saturday followed by a trip to Dauphin Island and Lambert's Cafe on Sunday. The party was such a fun time! With proper hats and aprons, the kids all looked the part as a local chef came to the house and taught them how to make jambalaya, chocolate covered strawberries, and homemade lemonade. This included having the kids cut up the vegetables and squeeze the lemons which seemed to be their favorite parts. Chef Mark was great with the kids and it was definitely a party to remember.

Run, run, run

William has been running some with me and has entered a few races of his own this spring. All 3 of his races have been half miles and he has done very well. He came in second on the first two of them, and then got first at a race over at the base a couple of weeks ago (unfortunately no photos from that one). I like having a parter now and then, and he really seems to enjoy it...but who wouldn't when you are winning medals?

5, 4, 3...

3 months

4 months

5 months

Jack is growing so very fast! I can't even believe that he is 5 1/2 months old already. He is such a wonderful addition to our family! He is always happy and has the biggest, most contagious grin, just like his daddy. He is starting to really play with toys and his two older brothers are very happy about that. Jack is also working on sitting up and just last week he really started to figured out rolling over from back to belly. At his 5 mos dr. visit he weighed 15 lbs and was 27 1/4 inches long. He is very near going off of the chart (above 95th percentile) on height and is at 25th percentile for weight, so it looks like he got more than just his smile from his dad.

End of the Beginning

Where does the time go? I am far behind on many things these days--this blog is definitely one of them--, but I cannot even believe that we are already through William's kindergarten year! As of last Friday, it is done, over, and gone forever! He did a very good job and really seems to enjoy school. In fact, today is the first official day of summer vacation, and by the end of it he was already asking me when he gets to go back to school--a kid after my own heart. To celebrate his last day we took him to dinner of his choosing (Margaritaville, which he pronounces Margarinaville, and is his favorite) and then for beignets. As you can see from the photos William's class enjoyed face painting on their last day. He is a cat, which is his favorite animal.

I am in the process of crafting an update or two or three to fill in the HUGE gap since my last post IN JANUARY. Hopefully it will be ready soon!