Halloween Festivities

The kids had a great time today for Halloween. We had some yard work to get done, but then went swimming for awhile - can you believe it! It was a little cold at first, but they had a blast. It'll probably be the last time for the year. However, Blake says he wants to jump in on Christmas...we'll see.
Then after the traditional pizza dinner, our little fairy and dirt bike racer were headed out to canvas the neighborhood.There weren't as many people home tonight as usual because of the big Georgia vs Florida football game that was on, but the kids still made out with quite the haul.Notice Blake's strategy for seeing what he ended up with...who sits and classifies their candy into groups?Ashlyn couldn't have fit another piece of candy in her bucket if she wanted to!

All in all it was a great Halloween, however I'm already sick of monitoring the candy...after breakfast tomorrow I think Rick and I have agreed to let them go at it. I'll let ya know how it goes...hopefully nobody pukes on my couch!

Go Cowboys!

Blake had his last football game Thursday night and boy was it a good one. The score ended up being 24-30 and we lost at the very end. Being such a high scoring game all the parents really got into it and made it fun. We're sad the season is already over, but are happy to report we made it with NO injuries...we were really worried those first couple of practices. Even though he had a rocky start, he had a good time and can't wait to play again next year.

A Little Bragging

I just had to take a minute to brag about our weather today...as my sister and her husband dealt with 12 inches of snow. It was in the high 70's with a light breeze, a perfect day to play at the park and ride scooters along the beach path with a friend! Really Aunt Tana and Uncle Nathan...ya should think about moving!

I'm Crafty!

(It was raining outside today so Ashlyn assumed it was cold and insisted on wearing her new LONG sleeve shirt today. However, it was 80 degrees...I LOVE Georgia!)

Check out the adorable headband that I made for Ashlyn this weekend. I can't believe how grown up it makes her look! She got TONS of compliments on it while we were running errands this morning. Thanks Miss Brett and Miss Amber for showing us how to make it.

Oh, the Difference of 3 Letters...

We found this out the hard way when ATTEMPTING to go camping this weekend. We had planned on camping in South Carolina at Hunting State Park, however, upon our arrival, the park hosts were quick to inform us that I had made reservations at Huntington State Park instead. The difference of adding those 3 little letters ... 147 miles along a 2 lane highway AFTER we had already driven 2 1/2 hours - OOOPS! So with both kids crying in the back seat over the mistake, we headed home.

Boy did we have some make up to do after such a disappointing end to our family fun weekend. Saturday morning I took the kids with me on my run, they rode their bikes, followed by playing LOTS of games. Then we took them Cosmic bowling in the afternoon.

Ashlyn has never been old enough to play when we've gone, boy we she excited to get in on the fun. We didn't even think about the fact that you get new shoes bowling - in her mind it was the highlight of the event! (Ever since she's been old enough to walk she's had a thing for shoes, going into a shoe store with her is CRAZY, whether we're shopping for her or not she has to try some on.) While putting mine on after I got her bowling shoes on, I look up to see....

Then we headed home to watch the U of O game (Go Ducks!) and put our tinfoil dinners on the grill, rather than in the camp fire.

Then since we had gotten ourselves substitutes for church already, we opted for a "Second Saturday" and headed out to Jekyll Island and hit the bike trails. We had done chunks of the north trail before, but this time Rick and I rented bikes and we all set out. 15 miles later with very sore rear-ends and me with scraped knees and hands (I wrecked) we were excited to report seeing 2 gators and a large buck on our excursion. We didn't realize that the south trail took you through the forest rather than following the road and beach like the north trail, so it was a lot of fun to go places that cars can't. The kids had fun crossing TONS of bridges to cross the marshes, streams and ponds. Next time ya'll come to visit we'll take ya riding if you're up for the challenge...don't worry if Blake can handle it, you'll be fine!

Merry Christmas

T'is the season to start learning Christmas songs! I love Christmas songs and am excited to hear the kids start practicing them...even if Rick complains it's only October. Here's the first one that Blake has learned this year from the Children's Song Book. He's finally learned not to play so loudly and has gotten the concept of the pedal (without it being written in) so things sound a lot more smooth. The next song he picked was "Angels We Have Heard on High" from the hymn book, that will take a little longer, but so far so good.

Ashlyn has one more week worth of lessons to be able to start Christmas songs, she hasn't learned F on the bass cleff or G on the treble cleff...both of which she needs. First song on the agenda is Jolly Old St. Nicholas. I can't wait!

Mr. Football

I have forgotten to take the camera to the last couple of Blake's games, until last night. Man has he improved! He went to playing the bare minimum amount of time that the coach was required to play him, to playing the entire time for the last two games. Boy was he excited! He makes quite a few tackles a game, tons of blocks (rather than letting the guy right by him) and even made a BIG play last tight to keep the other team from scoring! Maybe football won't be so bad...and we've had NO injuries either! I'm just glad that he's having fun and isn't the worst kid on the team, it makes watching the games more enjoyable.

Remember This Song?

Remember when Blake was around this age singing this song (or should I say BELTING out the song) all over the country the year that we were moving around between Oregon, Florida, Kentucky, New Mexico and Georgia? The DVD that the song was on was so scratched up that we threw it away awhile ago, but I thought about it the other day and downloaded the song from iTunes. Now we have ANOTHER 3 year old that BELTS out the song in random places around town. It's pretty darn good if I do say so myself....can you sing the ABC song backwards?

Just Cruisin' Along

Rather than going down the the Outlet Mall in St. Augustine for some much needed shopping, Rick decided that we needed to organize and clean out the garage today....blah! The kids were cooperative for most of it and enjoyed playing together outside.

Towards the end of the day Ashlyn decided that she wanted to try out Blake's scooter while I was inside grabbing something... and crashed right away. I came out to find her crying, not because she fell and got hurt, but because Daddy told her she was too little to ride the scooter. She practiced and practiced and once she decided to try it left handed (or should I say left footed) she figured it out.

Take that Daddy! Maybe she'll need a shiny pink one of her own for Christmas rather than having to fight Blake for his.

As for the garage - check out the awesome organizing racks we got to hang everything on. After hanging multiple of them on the walls and putting in two shelfs our garage looks AMAZING! No more bikes, power tools, yard tools, beach chairs, wheel barrels, golf clubs etc. to clutter the garage!

Gettin' Better Every Day

Blake had another game last night and I had working batteries for my camera - yipee! He's proud to report that he almost made a tackle...the guy ran a little faster than him, so he was just able to get a piece of his uniform to slow him down a bit until reinforcement got there. Plus there were many other plays that Blake was right in the middle of the pile at the end of the play. Maybe football won't be so bad.
The smoke in the background was the county burning some trees they took down to put in a new parking lot...never in Oregon would that happen. It smelt like we were camping while watching the game, I kind of liked it.

Another Unique Thing About Blake

Blake's been having issues with the various warm-up exercises they do at football practice, push-ups being the main thing. So last night we set out to teach him how to do a proper push-up, rather than a butt-up. We realized what his main problem is...his elbows are double jointed. Is that not one of the grosses and freakiest things you have ever seen!He finally got the concept, even if they are "girl push-ups", and if he doesn't lock those crazy elbows of his he does pretty well. So from here on out push-ups and sit-ups are added to his daily "After School To Do List" to practice and build up some strength.