I bow to you my queen!

I was helping Hallee with something the other day and she said, "I bow to you my queen" and then she proceeded to bow down to me.

This girl, she is just gorgeous!  Her hair always looks so pretty when we pull her bun out of her hair.

On Monday we were planning on going to the Parkway for a picnic dinner, but the kids wanted to go to their school picnic so we did that instead.  We had a lot of fun.  It was nice to visit with some of the teachers and administration. I'm so glad that they go to such a wonderful school.  The kids had a blast playing and the weather was perfect!

On Friday we all had fun at Boston's birthday party.  Love these boys!

Tessa and Hallee had a great time together.  They loved playing with the balloons.

They thought it was funny that the Kool-Aid turned their tongues red. Caitlyn had fun playing with Kiara and the other girls and Jonah had fun playing all of the games with the boys.

Wyatt rocked his soccer games this week.  The weather was cold and rainy, but that didn't seem to bother him.  He had some amazing plays.  On one play he turned the ball and dribbled around the whole other team before making a goal.  I love watching him play.  I also love hearing his Australian coach yelling, "brilliant Wyatt, brilliant."

Jonah's team won on Saturday!  Not only did they win, but they shut the other team out.  I think they had seven touch downs.  They all played so well.  Jonah played defense and made some great tackles and an awesome block when his team intercepted.  He had an interception, but then his teammate accidentally ran into him and knocked the football out of his hands, oh well!  His whole team was so excited.  It was good to see their hard work pay off.

Today was the primary program.  It was very different than our last ward, they couldn't fit all of the kids on the stand.  They had kids lined up in front of the stand, on the sides and in the first few rows of the pews.  Each child wrote their own part by answering a question, that made it really neat.  The kids all had their parts memorized and did great.  Caitlyn was one of the narrators.  She loved it and she did great, she was definitely in her element.  I'm grateful for the primary teachers and leaders who have a good influence on our kids.  It was Hallee's first primary program and Caitlyn's last.  Time is passing so quickly!

Frightmares

We were able to go to Frightmares yesterday.  Hallee was up sick Friday night so we weren't sure it was going to work out, but luckily she was fine on Saturday.  We loved it!  There were so many cute decorations all over the park.

The kids loved the decorations.

They had a few places that the kids could trick-or-treat.  There was someone dressed up at each station and they talked to the kids in their character.  The kids loved it.

They had a little maze set up for trick-or-treating in Pioneer Village.

My girl is turning into a teenager before my eyes.  She wants her picture taken all of the time.  I hope I can save her from this "selfie" generation!  

I didn't realize that they had so many fun things for the kids. It was fun to just walk around and look at everything.

The haunted houses opened at 5:00 PM.  They had really long lines, but Caitlyn really wanted to go.  They waited in line for one of them.  Jonah decided at the last minute that he didn't want to go.  I think he was feeling embarrassed, but I told him that I was proud of him for walking away.  There is nothing wrong with not liking scary things and he has nightmares, so I'm glad he knows his limits.  Caitlyn and Keith had a lot of fun in the haunted house.  Keith said Caitlyn was screaming and running, but she loved it.

There were all of these creepy people walking around the park. Wyatt was nervous, but he wanted to see if he could walk up to them and not be scared.  He just stared at this guy and he asked Wyatt what he wanted and Wyatt said, "nothing."  Wyatt was pretty proud of himself.

It was so funny to watch Wyatt just stare at them and prove to himself that they wouldn't hurt him!

I love this picture, our kids are so funny.  It was such a fun day.  We are all excited to go back.

Mom, I like this ride now!

Hallee surprised us all at Lagoon yesterday by riding six new rides.  She decided to try the airplanes first.  Wyatt is always great about keeping the rides low because Hallee is scared to go high.  Wyatt was shocked when Hallee told him to go high about half way through the ride.  She loved it and she was so proud of herself.

I love seeing her cute, little smile and wave every time she passes me.  

Next she went over to the animal ride.  I love watching Wyatt take such good care of her.  He went high and then kept checking with her to make sure she was okay.

She was a little nervous on the spaceships, but she decided she loves that ride too.  When she passed us she would yell, "mom, I like this ride now."  Usually, Jonah and Wyatt would give me an update on Hallee when they went around too.

We were really excited when she agreed to go on the little tidal wave because we could all go on it together.  She says this is her new favorite ride.

She tried the swings once and didn't like them, but we told her she would probably like them now so she went back on those too.  She loved them this time.

We ended the night on the rockets.  I'm so proud of Hallee for trying new rides!  All of the kids have pushed themselves and tried new things this season.  We have come a long way since we started coming in March.  

Mom take a picture of me

I take so many pictures of my kids, but how can I resist when Hallee asks me to take pictures of her every day.  She wanted me to get a picture of her with Jackson.

She always wants her picture taken before preschool.  Isn't she the cutest?

Caitlyn wants her picture taken too.  She sure is a beauty.  Caitlyn is the sweetest, she is always complimenting others.  Today Erin texted me after church to tell me how sweet Caitlyn was to compliment her new hair style.  She said no one else had noticed and not only did Caitlyn notice, but she told her how great it looked.  She said it made her whole week.  I love my sweet girl.

Wyatt loves to have his friends come over after school.  Ollie and Neko came over a couple of times this week.  Kellen came over too, it is always a little crazy to have three extra boys over, but they sure have fun.  Ollie and Neko were so sweet with Hallee.  They played house so she could play too.  Apparently Ollie and Wyatt were the babies and felt like they needed to be in Hallee's dress up. They sure thought it was funny.

Wyatt can't wait for Thursday every week so he can play soccer.  He loves playing with Kellen.

He is doing great.  He runs up and down the field and does great on offense and defense.

Jonah had another tough football game on Saturday.  His poor team really struggles.  They are improving, but they play really tough teams.  Jonah played the whole game on Saturday, he was so tired.  He got to run the ball a few times.

He also got to punt again.  He is working hard and getting better every week.  He is getting pretty burned out, he enjoys football, but I think he likes other sports better.  I will be surprised if he wants to play again.  He has been playing soccer at recess and I think he is realizing that he enjoys soccer more than football. I think he is also tired of having practice three days a week.  He never complains about going, but he was thrilled when it was canceled on Tuesday. 

My teacher said I'm the goodest one in the class

Wyatt started soccer a couple of weeks ago.  He is excited to be playing with his friend, Kellen. Wyatt is an awesome soccer player.  He is aggressive and has great ball control.  We love to watch him play.

Saturday was haircut day.  Jonah wanted to take a picture of me cutting Wyatt's hair.  I started out cutting Keith's hair when we got married and I have improved a lot!  Poor Keith had a few interesting haircuts, but I have the hang of it now!  None of us love haircut day, but it sure saves us money because all of their hair grows so fast!

Wyatt has been wanting a Gordon Hayward haircut for a while and his hair was long enough that I could make it work this time.  He is so cute!

He always looks cute for church on Sunday.  Wyatt always tells me that his teacher says he is the "goodest one in the class."  He is very reverent in primary and he loves church.  

 We haven't used our deck nearly as much as we should have this summer. We decided to eat dinner out there yesterday and as soon as we sat down to dinner the wind picked up and everything was blowing away.  Hallee and Wyatt wanted to go inside and it was pretty windy so we bagged it and went inside to eat.

Rockwell gets out of school early on Monday so we invited them over to play today.  Wyatt was so excited when I told him that Rockwell was coming over.

These cute girls always get right into dress up and play "mom and sweetie." 

I could watch Damon all day, everything he does is so cute.  He wanted to see Jackson so I took him in my room.  He got so excited and he would bark and then ask me to take him out.  It was so cute.  I love seeing him walk around our house and watch all of the cute things he does. The older kids were excited that they were still here when they got home. 

Kyle went to Alabama last week.  I'm sad that he isn't at the MTC anymore.  It was nice knowing he was so close.  I'm excited to hear about his mission though.  Yesterday was his birthday and it looks like he was taken care of, I'm so glad.  I love to read his e-mails every week, you can tell he is so excited and so happy.  My kids talk about him all the time and write him the cutest letters.  

Well I can't be a bowling pin so I don't know

Hallee cracks me up.  Today we were working on a poster for preschool and I asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up and she said, "Well, I can't be a bowling pin so I don't know."  

One of my favorite parts of the day is walking Hallee to preschool.  She holds my hand and says hilarious things.  We leave early so we have time to stop and smell all of the flowers and look at all of the bugs.  I love that special time with Hallee.

Last week we went to Tiff's and Damon kept grabbing Hallee and laughing. It was so funny.  Hallee wasn't sure what to do, but she thought it was funny.

I couldn't get a good picture to capture it, but it was so funny.

Wyatt loves to help daddy.

Wyatt was the spotlight student this week.  His teacher asked me to come in and read the kids a book for the last five minutes.  When I got there Wyatt was standing on the chair and Mrs. Cox was telling the kids all about Wyatt.  After that she let the kids give Wyatt compliments.  It was so cute, Wyatt loved it.  I've heard great things about his teacher and I can see why, I'm very impressed with her.

On Friday night we took Wyatt and Hallee to the parkway while Jonah was at football.  We are loving the cooler weather. 

Labor Day

We spent yesterday at Lagoon.  We love to go when Keith has a day off so he can join us.  It was a great day to go, the weather was perfect!  Keith and I had fun going on the rides with the kids. 

Wyatt tried the Flying Aces for his new ride.  I think that is his new favorite ride.

Caitlyn is sure growing up, she wanted to take lots of selfies!

Katie and Ben joined us.  I'm so glad they got passes, it is so much fun to go with them.

The kids were thrilled when we let them play a game.  They all got to pick a duck and everyone gets a prize.  We couldn't believe how excited these kids were over their mine craft rubber duckies. 

Hallee said she was going to try the helicopters this time.  When we got there she wanted nothing to do with them.  I knew she would like them so I put her on there crying and by the end she had a huge smile on her face.  

Wyatt is such a good big brother.  He took such good care of her on there and made sure they didn't go high so Hallee wouldn't be scared.  I loved seeing him lift her out of the ride when it was over.  The helicopters are now Hallee's favorite ride.  We have definitely got our moneys worth out of our Lagoon passes this summer!