A little Christmas and New Years!

 Nathan was very excited about coming down stairs and seeing what Santa brought him!

I love his express seeing that Santa decided to give him one more chance with a DSi.

He had fun putting all the bows on his shirt and declared himself "BOW GUY"

Shayla was a little calmer coming down stairs but still very excited.

Shayla loved her pillow pet "Uni" and her cape from Nana. Uni also has on a cape.

Nathan has been into Ghost Busters and these are a few of his favorite presents. He wanted to  be sure this picture made the blog.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011!!!

The kids have been having a sword gun battle for a while. Longer than normal since usually someone gets hurt and the game has to be called.

I know we are WAY behind posting. Tonight we still have an Uno game to play and celebrating to finish. Both the kids plan on making it to midnight. I wanted to Wish my family and friends a Happy New Year!

HAPPY Halloween!!!

This was the best Halloween EVER!!!! Was the response from both my kids tonight. I was very glad to hear that. Since we moved to our new house the kids compare everything to the old house. I was really worried that Halloween might be a let down but I was wrong.

We've had at least two parties for both kids before we reached the holiday this year. It's been a fun season and tonight was the best part.



This year we had a Ghost Buster and Pink Super Women



We sprayed her hair pink! (Her favorite color!!!)

He wanted to be a Ghost Buster to get rid of all the scary ghosts and goblins.

Having fun before trick or treat time!

The haul!! They had fun trading and getting just what they wanted.

I hope everyone had a safe, happy Halloween. Enjoy the pictures.

Aw Shucks Pumpkin Patch



We spent Saturday night at a local pumpkin patch. It was such a beautiful night and the kids had a great time. Nathan picked his pumpkin, had fun feeding the goats, was so excited that his best buddy came at the same time but his favorite was the tree house and the corn maze. This year the corn maze was in a shape to honor Scouting. He ended up getting to do the maze twice once while it was still light and then when it was dark.





Shayla also picked a cute pumpkin, enjoyed her hayride, the corn maze and feeding the animals. I think she said that was her favorite part. She and I had fun getting through the maze together.

 



These are some of the animals. Nathan loves turkeys and will not eat turkey because of it. So he was very excited to see a number of them. He calls them "Agent T" from his favorite show on TV. He loved feeding the goats.

 



After a couple of tries I finally caught Shayla working on her toe touch in the hay. The kids loved jumping and climbing on the bails.



 It was a great time! I love FALL!!!

Summer Recap - Shayla

Over the summer I didn't take much time to post pictures. We had a quite laid back summer with a few fun camps here and there. The kids had fun with their friends and we stayed up late and enjoyed time as a family. I thought it would be nice for my family to see a couple of things that we didn't get to from the summer time.

Shayla loved LOVED drama camp. The theme for their camp was the "Wizard of Oz." I was so impressed with how much they learned in a half day one week camp. Her part in the play was one of the munchkins. She learned her line the first day and loved singing the songs.

Another high light for Shayla's summer was losing her first tooth. She use to cry and cry when Nathan would lose a tooth. In her mind her teeth could not fall out fast enough. Finally she feels like a big kid.

Labor Day Weekend 2010

We had a wonderful weekend pack with all kinds of activities. On Friday we started off the weekend with Nathan's first flag football game. I was very impressed with how he played. More than anything I enjoyed seeing him have success at something he doesn't think he's very good at. Each time he had a great play his coaches were right there to give him a high five and the look on his face was priceless. He had two games this weekend and they didn't win either one but you would not have known from the reaction of the coaches or the kids on the team. That's what I want most of all winning would just be icing on the cake.

Saturday Shayla's Daisy troop was invited to ride on a float for the Labor Day parade. Only three of the girls could make it but it didn't really matter the one's that came had a great time. Thankfully it was beautiful here on Saturday.

Nathan took pictures during the parade and did a great job. He took over 800 pictures. From what I could tell he really enjoyed the cars and getting a picture of what was on the side of each one. Flags were a big hit. He enjoyed telling me about all the different things he saw and I think he found something else he really enjoys.

We ended the weekend with some time with friends at our local town festival and swimming at a local park.

We only have two days of school this week so we have another fun weekend ahead. Can't wait!!!

Shayla's First Day

Today was the first day of School for Nathan and Shayla. They were both very excited and ready for school to start back. I still have pictures to post from the end of July and all of August. I get back to those in the next couple of weeks. Our day started out early. Shayla is going to ride the bus this year and thankfully the stop picks up at 7:15 instead of 6:05. She was worried about waking up early but we got in bed at a great time and the morning went very smoothly. She is such a riot most of the time today was no exception. I hoped to get to her bus stop early and I should have known that the bus would be late. So we had a great time just talking and taking pictures. She was excited about the bus and went right on when it came. It only ended up being 15 minutes late which is not bad for the first day of school.

I didn't get much detail about her first day. She said she had a great time. Each first grader got a treat cone from the German students. That was her favorite part. She really didn't have any complaints so I guess it was a great day.

Nathan's First Day of School

It is hard to imagine that Nathan is entering third grade. He is getting so big. He gets to sleep in a little longer than Shayla since his school is closer to the house and starts later. We had a great open house. This year it seems that everyone is ready for him. He was so excited to see his 1st grade teacher and resource teacher. His teacher for this year is very nice and gave him a big hug. Nathan is a hugger and loves it when he gets to see all the teachers. His eyes just light up. It makes me tear up every time. I hope that innocence and joy are around a couple more years.

From what I could tell his teacher went over all her expectations today. He even mentioned to me that I wasn't to load his back pack that his teacher said they were big kids now and that was their job. His goals for the year are to be more organized and work more independently. He had a great time at recess where he got to see some of his closest friends. Lunch must have not been very good because he didn't eat any of it and after school some how managed to lose his lunch box. After care must have been fun. He was excited to go back so it must have been a good day.

After the Wedding

After the all the beauty of the bride, flowers, church and guests it was hard to imagine an even more glorious site but the reception did not dissapoint. Held at a historical plantation right next to the water it was a perfect continuation of a wonderful wedding.

Wedding Part 3

We didn't have to get ready for the wedding untill later in the day. First we slept in until 9:30. Shayla is a great sleeper and would have slept longer but we had to get down to breakfast before they stopped serving. After breakfast Shay took a quick swim. Then we painted finger nails, curled hair and did a little make-up. All things she loves to do.
We got to the church just as the girls for the wedding were arriving. Shay got to see everyone and enjoy seeing the bride before she got married.
Both the Flower girls were very cute. They both did a great job.

It was a beautiful wedding.

Wedding Part 2

The rehearsal went quickly and everyone headed out for a dinner cruise to celebrate for the rehearsal dinner. The bride is in white on these pictures and one of her sisters is in pink. Shayla adores both of them and loved getting her picture taken. The rehearsal dinner was amazing with the historic area of Charleston as a back drop. We both had a great time eating, visiting and enjoying the boat.

Beautiful Wedding Part 1

Shayla was blessed to be the flower girl this past weekend in Charleston, SC. The setting, people and especially the bride and groom were amazing. The weekend for Shayla started with the rehearsal. Shayla loves to dress up and play princess so this was a dream weekend for her. She was smiling from ear to ear most of the weekend.

These are pictures from the rehearsal.

July 4th and More!

We enjoyed a wonderful 4th of July. The weather was awesome - wish it could have lasted longer. It is really HOT now. Rudy got a long over due bath. Both kids helped wash him and then played with their squirt guns while we walked him around to help him dry. It took forever for him to dry enough to go back inside.

Toward evening we shot off pet friendly fire works. That's what the kids called them because once it got dark we were surrounded by large beautiful but LOUD fireworks. We didn't have to leave the house to get a great show. The kids both enjoyed watching the display and we finished off the evening with our favorite show - Wip* out!

It was a great day. I am so thankful for my family and our country. To all the people that have fought for the freedoms we enjoy THANK YOU!

The next day both kids woke up not feeling very well. None of us have gotten back to the east coast time zone. We all enjoyed a movie in bed. By the end of the movie Shayla was jumping on the bed and Nathan seemed to be feeling better. Shayla later said she wanted to get her ears pierced. So off we went. She was very brave (more tears than I was prepared for) in her words. I was worried for a few minutes that we were going to end up with only one ear pierced but she came around. The second one went much better and she has not stopped telling everyone about her "Sparklie Ears"

More Pictures from June

June 2010

June was been a fun month. Both kids finished school and did a great job. They advanced to 3rd and 1st grade. The last two weeks were crazy with all the parties, field days and me running between the two schools.

Also at the beginning of June Shayla finished her soccer season. She enjoyed the social part of being on a team but the soccer part was not that much fun for her. We finished up our first year in Girl Scouts. This is one of her favorite activities since it is mostly socializing and she loves that. Nathan finish up his second year of Scouts and moved from a Wolf to a Bear Scout.

We jumped right into summer with Nathan attending his first Boy Scout Day Camp. It was incredibly HOT that week but he still seemed to have a great time. He enjoyed getting to ride with two of his friends. His group had great leaders. They must have done a good job because they won all kinds of awards. Shayla spent the first week going to camp at the gym and also doing preteam for gymnastics and her cheerleading with her cheer team.

June 18th was Shayla's third family day. We spent the day together and looked at many of the video's and pictures of our time in China. She loved the special attention. I can't believe it's been three years. She is such a blessing and makes me smile daily. Each day is still so exciting for her. She can find joy in just about any situation.

The second week we visited my brother in Texas and parents in Oklahoma. The kids would say other than seeing their uncle and grandparents their favorite parts were the Zoo with Uncle John and the spray parks in Oklahoma. We went to a number of movies and enjoyed spending time with family.

Enjoy the pictures.