A jolly visit

Kaisley's school had breakfast with Santa on Saturday. I'd say it was a success. No tears!!!

Singing the ABC's

I'm trying to post from my phone so, let's see if this works! Sutton loves singing with the ABC's...you can hear 6 or so of the letters!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWUa54vmV1o&sns=em

My little dancer

Kaisley has dance class while she's at school on Wednesdays. Today was their show day! They will have a little performance, costumes and all, in May. But today we were invited to watch our little girls! So sweet!

She's the 3rd from the end.

Party day

We had a little party for Sutton today. Part of it was sad that we didn't have the whole family there. And lots of friends that we've made over the years. Plus, Sutton has his little buddies that he was really growing fond of in LA.

But it was also a wonderful time. We've met some GREAT people and families and they have welcomed us to Florida with open arms. We are forming relationships that are already so valuable to me and the kids. For example, after everyone left, Sutton was walking around saying "Fia, Fia?" Because he was having so much fun playing with little Sofia! I'm so grateful for these new friends in our lives!

Anyway, I didn't take a lot of pictures today, but here's Sutton with his cake! We sort of dropped the ball on teaching him how to blow out candles, so he kind of thought we were all crazy showing him how to blow! :)

The birthday boy

It's hard to believe this little guy is two years old. Our baby is not a baby anymore. It's funny how with our first, when he turned one I was insisting he was a toddler. Now, baby number 3, I still want to call him a baby at two years old!

First thing in the morning Sutton got to open his presents from us. Probably the favorite by far was the giant teddy bear!! It was very much an impulse buy (at Home Depot of all places), but totally worth it. This thing is so cuddly and big! And quite a deal if you ask me!

The evening of his birthday happened to be kids night at our regular Tuesday night dinner spot! And they have a magician (the kids love it!) and he does balloons! Love the Elmo he made for Sutton!

Then, we came home for a video chat with Nana and Papa so they could help sing happy birthday. I made a small Elmo cake since we had been talking about his Elmo cake for his party on Saturday. And when Sutton woke up, he said "Elmo cake? Eat?", so you know I had to do something for that sweet heart! He was very excited about his cake, but apparently we took too long to cut it! ;) He started without us!

(Sorry the photos are reversed, I've been using the app and apparently it's limited!)

Backyard fun

So far we are taking full advantage of fall in Florida. Of course Louisiana had rather mild winters as well, but our small backyard at this house is getting lots of use!!

We have a little pond, which the ducks visit us daily. The house came with a small swing set and slide, and this 70 degree every day weather is gorgeous!

Our boat

Not quite the boat Richard wishes we had, but hey, a remote control boat is still fun! ;)

Early Birthday

Nana and Papa were visiting this past weekend so we did a birthday dinner a little early for Sutton. We went to Rain.forest Cafe and sat really close to the tigers. The kids loved it and Sutton roared most times right along with the tigers!

Sweet moment

Brookston and Kaisley sharing a drink before church. Awwwww

Halloween

We had a great time in our neighborhood trick or treating. Our little tiger actually lasted the longest and was really into the process! I was impressed with his "thank you's" and "bye bye's"!

Brookston had a Halloween parade at his school in the morning. I was able to attend with the little kids to watch. Then later, I headed back to school to help with centers during their party. I was in charge of estimating the belly size of the pumpkin (so I had the educational one!) ;)

Richard was able to escape work for a little bit to attend Kaisley's Halloween party too. I'm so glad he could go, as it was his first time even seeing her school and I had already committed to Brookston's school. He was very impressed with her teacher! And I know Kaisley was in heaven having daddy visit school.

A second first day

Today was Brookston's first day at his new school! It sounds like he had a great day!!

Bye bye house

It was a very strange feeling pulling away from this house for the last time! We got married while we were in this house. Had 3 babies while living in this house! This really is the place where our entire family grew from the start!

Bye house...it's been a great 7 years!

New House!!

We arrived to our new house Sunday evening. The movers were expected by Wednesday, but the driver called Sunday afternoon saying he would be there Monday morning!!! Yay!!

So, we came to check out the empty house, so the kids could see the place we had been talking about for weeks!!! Oh, and I had yet to see it in person too!

Here are the kids just rolling around! Just as you'd expect in a completely empty house!! :)

Moving Day

I guess I haven't posted our latest news on here...we are moving! Richard got a great job opportunity in South Florida! Crazy, right? As you see in the picture, the day is coming very soon! The kids wanted a countdown calendar and that sure does make it seem so much more real!!

Richard has already started and loves it. We are all excited to get to the new area and explore. Of course it comes with some anxiety for me with how the kids will transition. But I know they're young and will be fine in no time. They are already super excited!

Almost time!!

Car watching

First Day of Kindergarten

I am just posting the pictures on my phone, but I wanted to get them up before I forgot!

Last Monday, Brookston went to his meet the teacher. They also had school pictures ( already!!!) and that was the day to turn in all the paperwork. Tuesday and Thursday were his staggered entry days and today started his full week.

So far he's loving it. Which I fully expected. And he especially loves that a friend from church is in his class!!

Aquarium with friends

Last week we headed to the New Or.leans Aquarium with some friends....

All of the kiddos ready to explore

Sutton and his best bud

Sutton, Samantha and Kaisley watching fish in the big tank

Samantha helping Brookston and Ashlynn feed the birds

I'm not sure what it is about this frog, but we spent a good 15-20 minutes here, between sitting on the frog and a little game they had next to it!

Everyone has to take a picture here!

Ashlynn, Sutton and Brookston by the sharks

Posted a few updates

I'm not sure if anyone really follows anymore since I haven't done a lot of updating lately...but, I thought I'd let anyone out there know that I just did a bunch of posts and backdated them to when they happened...pretty much all from June.  You'll see a couple inbetween that I actually did post (from my phone), but if you go back to the beginning of June, you'll see a number of new ones too!  :)

All is well here...it's been a fun and busy summer.  Between a few weekend trips, a beach trip, soccer camp, two kindergarten camps, lots of Little Gym camp, dance class, karate class, swimming, and Mother's Day Out...we've stayed busy this summer! 

We are looking forward to the new school year!

The beach trip

The beach trip was almost a month ago now, but we've been having too much fun this summer and I haven't sat down and organized all of my pictures until now!  We went to a great resort style place in Florida that was right on the beach, but also had pools.  One of which I posted a lot of pictures below because it was PERFECT!  The water was only about 8-10 inches deep, so I didn't feel as stressed with 3 kids who need to either be assisted or watched like a hawk!

Pretty much every day was:  Wake up, go to the beach, go to the pools, eat lunch, nap.  Go back out to the beach, then back to the pools, dinner, bed.

  My friend goes to this resort almost every year and asked if we'd be interested in joining their family.  They have a 7 year old boy, almost 5 year old girl, and almost 2 year old boy.  They also brought their 3 nieces to help, since they are teenagers.  Everyone had a great time together and it was a perfect vacation!

Checking out a hermit crab they found

Sutton and mommy in the ocean...he LOVED jumping the waves

Mr. Chad playing in the sand with Sutton and Brookston

Kaisley enjoying her time at the ocean

Brookston burried his legs in the sand

Sutton loving the waves coming up to get him

Daddy and Mr. Chad with their big trenches they dug with the kids

Brookston, Kaisley and Ashlynn..they got along beautifully!

Jonathan, Brookston and Kaisley digging in the sand

The crew coming down the lazy river

Playing in one of the pools

Brookston going down the slide in the kid pool

Brookston and Kaisley in the kid pool

Kaisley doing her main pose in the kid pool

Ashlynn, Brookston, and Kaisley

Brookston, Ashlynn, and Kaisley...again!

Sutton loved this pool

Sutton playing in the dry area

Kaisley...posing again!!!

Brookston (notice he has his life jacket on, everywhere!  He never wanted it off!)

The kids in our condo!