Happy Halloween

This week has been a little crazy but the thing that has gotten me though most of it was looking forward to our annual Halloween get together.  I was terrible at taking pictures but for food I made Chicken and wild rice stew, potato soup, and tortilla soup.  We had apples and caramel, veggies, and chips for sides. My friend Lesley brought little tangerine pumpkins and pigs in a blanket (Thanks Lesley!).  My friend Nicole made dirt pudding cups and Kate brought a cookie cake (Thanks Nicole and Kate!). I also made a pumpkin roll.  Needless to day we had plenty of food!  The best thing we had was all kinds of cuteness at our house last night. 

Tate makes the best Marshall from Paw Patrol that I have ever seen...

Here was our attempt at a group shot...

Kevin was getting a little picture happy...

Henley was a lady bug and the cutest one around...

The hat didn't stay for long...

Chase was one of three matching ninja's in our group.  They were awesomely stealthy ninja's.

Angelina Ballerina hung out with out lady bug in the stroller.

And if all the candy sugar wasn't enough, the cookie cake got devoured...

I hope everyone had as much fun on halloween as I did!  Happy Halloween!  

Leah's First Haircut

Leah turned 5 on September 13th and I had been promising her that she could get her FIRST haircut on her 5th birthday.  Her hair didn't really start getting thick and long until around 4 and then I just really liked it long so I didn't want to have it cut.  Every time we took Chase for a haircut she would ask when she would get to have her haircut so I knew that I was going to have to give in someday soon.  Her 5th birthday rolled around and I was still holding out on the haircut but knew that I couldn't break my promise to her.  So finally I took her for her haircut!  

It was so long but very overdue for a cut.  

She loved it when it was all over and was ready to get another haircut!  

 I can't believe how grown up she looks now with the cute little layers in her hair.  I guess this momma is going to have to let go of her baby girl sooner than later.

The Birthday Party

The kids had agreed to a combined birthday party this year which worked out great from Mom and Dad!  They both agreed to a roller skating party which was even better because for a low price we could rent the rink for a private party and have lots of guests.  We invited Chase's entire 1st grade class and Leah's entire K-4 class and their siblings.  

 Of course where skating is involved, lots of falling was involved but everyone seemed to have a great time.

Henley found some of her favorite people and enjoyed some good snuggles.  

When the girls got tired of skating I was prepared with some Elsa coloring sheets.

I went easy with this party and bought cupcakes from Sams club and made cake pops to compliment them.  We could bring our own food in so we ordered pizza and had veggies, pretzels, and fruit.

There were no complaints from the kids.  Smile girls....

Smile boys....

Chase and Leah each blew out their candle and enjoyed their treats.

Henley loved her cake pop.

Since we only had an hour and a half at the skating rink and wanted to give the kids lots of time to skate we decided to bring the kids presents home for them to open.  I know a few kids were sad about not getting to see them open their presents but it was ALOT less chaotic to open them at home.

Thank you everyone for celebrating with us!  Our kids are so blessed to have amazing friends surrounding them.

Happy Birthday Chase and Leah

I can't believe another year has flown by and another month of September had come and gone.  With September means our big kids have turned another year older.  On the 13th Leah turned 5 years old!  The kids had agreed to a combined birthday party that I will blog about later so on Leah's special day we celebrated at home.  Grammie and Papaw arrived in Anderson the Wednesday before her birthday so they could have a special pre-celebration with Leah.  They took her back with them to their motor home on Thursday night for a sleep over and on Friday she got to go to build-a-bear, a special lunch, and got to find the mice on main street in downtown Greenville.  It was a very exciting day for Leah.  Her actual birthday was on Sunday so per her choice we went to Barbaritos for dinner and then came home for some cake.  

Every time we go grocery shopping at BiLo we have to venture to the bakery for a free kids cookie and every time Leah would see this Barbie cake in the display case and say how much she would like the cake.  So I decided to get her this Barbie cake for her birthday.

I think she liked it!

Barbie was well wrapped with saran wrap to keep her clean in the cake and it took Grammie and myself to free her without staining her with the icing.

Leah was trying to wait so patiently for her new barbie but she was almost impossible to set free.

Finally Barbie was free and Leah was so excited!  

Henley of course loved her piece of cake, or at the time she called any sweet a "cookie".  

Leah enjoyed opening her presents as Chase struggled to not be jealous.

Leah was also super excited to get a package in the mail from Uncle Ryan, Aunt Steph, and Connor.

She is super excited about getting to go to the movies!  Happy Birthday Leah!

Chase turned 7 on the 26th of September and that morning he woke Kevin and I up at 6:45 am (that's early for him) saying that he had lost a tooth and he couldn't find it.  So half asleep Kevin and I went on a tooth hunt and luckily recovered the missing tooth.  

What an exciting way to start your 7th birthday!  Chase also got an exciting surprise visit from Grammie and Papaw on his birthday!  He of course couldn't wait to open his presents.  And as you may be able to see in the background Leah was equally having a hard time not being jealous of her brother.

He got lots of cool gifts (thanks Grammie and Papaw)!

Chase choose Pizza Buffet for his birthday dinner and afterwards we enjoyed an ice-cream cake that he had also picked out.

Kevin and I decided to get Chase a bow and arrow for his birthday this year so Kevin took him out to practice.

Happy Birthday Chase!  I can't believe how quickly you are growing up!