Random October

Here's a glimpse into some random happenings of this month.

I spent a night with my mom and sisters and left the kids with Daddy. While Daddy was watching the kids he had given Jace some cheetos. The kid quickly discovered he liked them. He must've also recognized what the bag looks like because a few days later we were at the store and I threw a bag of cheetos into the cart. Next thing I knew, Jace was trying to get some cheetos. Sadly the bag got in the way.

Shaylyn left her lunch at home one morning and asked me to bring it to her. So the little kids and I hopped in the car and took her her lunch. Ailey decided that she wanted to wear my sunglasses and she wanted me to take a picture to send to Daddy. (We were parked in a parking lot when I took the picture)

Jace doesn't like to go to bed until after 10 most nights. So he spends a lot of time hanging out with Mommy and Daddy while we watch shows after the other kids have gone to bed. One such night Eric was also tired and when the show I was watching was over, I looked over and saw this. They were sleeping so similarly that I just had to take a picture.

What Happens Next...

Gardner Village 2014

My little sister and I have loved taking our kids to Gardner Village every year for the past 4 or 5 years. We always try to get there and we usually end up going during Fall Break or UEA, whatever it is where you are at.

This year was no exception and we decided to go on the Friday of the break. So I get the kids all ready and as we're making our way to Gardner Village, my little sister calls. She lets us know that it is EXTREMELY packed and that they were parked in a dirt parking lot not really even IN Gardner Village. 

Because I'd already got the kids in the car and we had planned our day to be at Gardner Village, I decided it couldn't possibly be worse than any other time we had gone. I was dead WRONG. The place was busier than I had ever seen it and it was a hike from the place we parked to Gardner Village, but we decided to make the most of it.

We met up with my sister and her family and discussed how busy it was. It was hard to get around and so she had already decided and told her kids they weren't doing the Witch Hunt and weren't going to get the cookies, but she did want to get some pictures.

Then we tried to walk around just a little bit to see what we COULD see.

Ailey was a great big sister and helper just like on her field trip.

All 6 Kids!

We then said goodbye to my sister and the cousins. They decided they'd go meet up with my mom and older sister at my mom's work. I wasn't so keen on driving out to where my mom works, so I declined the invite.

I decided that my kids had been pretty good and they were such great troopers with how far we had to walk, so I told them we'd still buy them a cookies. We weren't going to get discounted ones, but it was okay. 

Thankfully they had two lines for cookies and so it moved pretty quickly. We sat down and enjoyed our treats and then saw just a few more witches before heading out.

...When Nate actually ASKS me to take his picture, I make sure I do so...

We then made the walk back to the car and I knew the kids were pretty beat. It had been a hot day and we had done a ton of walking. I didn't realize just how worn out they were though, until I saw this out of my rear view mirror. (And don't worry, I had Shaylyn snap the picture while I kept my eyes on the road)

What Happens Next...

Let The Competitions Begin...

October brought about the Cheer Competition Season.

Because I was never in Dance or Cheer myself, I had no idea what a competition all entailed. We quickly learned at the first one.

Because of our Cheer Mom, I knew that the day would be longish - so Eric and I had decided ahead of time that I would just take Shaylyn and he'd stay home with the other kids. It also helped that Eric's cousin was having a baby shower the same afternoon.

So the morning of the first competition came. Shaylyn had to be there by like 9:30 in the morning, so it was a fairly early morning. We had to get her all dolled up and travel about a half hour or so to the venue.

We arrived and she found her group, while I found a seat on bleachers. Before long, Shaylyn's best friend Mikayla and her mom, Jessica arrived. I was thankful for Jessica being there. We sat and visited while we waited for our girls to perform. 

It took quite awhile. There were 3 or 4 teams competing and then you have some soloists and duos competing as well. There's also 4 or so grades from each school area competing. So Shaylyn was part of Westlake's 7th grade team, but one of the little teams, 6th graders, 8th graders and 9th graders were also a part of it.

Our 7th graders went and did an awesome job. And yes, I was just a little nervous about my little girl being the flyer (especially since she's had no gymanastic experience)...

Then we sat and waited for results. Our girls couldn't leave until results and it would've been pointless anyway as they were doing team pictures afterwards.

So the results came in and our girls got 1st place!!! Yay girls. In this particular competition the coach got the trophy and the girls got a medallion.

After the competition we headed around the block where they were taking the team pics. While there Jessica and I decided we should have Makayla and Shaylyn get a picture together. Yes, we had to pay extra - but I think when Shaylyn is older she'll like to have this photo.

My baby girl is growing up way too fast... 

What Happens Next...

Field Trip #2: The Pumpkin Patch

So with the joy school that we do with Ailey, each of the mom's are in charge of one field trip. My field trip just so happened to happen the first week I taught as well. It was kind of funny how it worked out that way, but it worked out to be good timing. 

I decided to do the field trip on a Wednesday because it's the day Eric works at home and I figured I'd give him some peace and quiet that day. It also broke up the 3 days I had to teach. Which I was all for.

I looked into a few different Pumpkin Patch's and tried to find the best deal that would also be fun for the kids. I looked into one my nephew's 1st grade class had gone to that looked like fun from the pictures my sister posted. It was only $20 for a small group like ours which meant that it'd only cost each kid $3 or $4. They also had discounted pumpkins for like $2 if you wanted one. It was definitely the route we went for.

We lucked out and had a beautiful morning and it wasn't too terribly crowded by the time we got there so the kids had room to explore and have some fun. 

We first came across some HUGE pumpkins that were perfect for photo opps.

Ailey was a great helper and big sister when I wanted some pictures of Jace.

The Preschool Group (With an extra toddler, for good measure)

And if arranged marriages were legal in the US, Ailey would so be marrying this cutie.

We then started making our way to the corn maze, but some chickens thought they needed to show off a little bit first.

There was a scarecrow sorta pointing us in the right direction.

Then we made it to the entrance of the corn maze.

The maze was pretty crazy and the adults couldn't really find our way out. Thankfully, we didn't really lose any children though.

On the outside of the maze are a few place your face in the hole cutout things and you know we spent a few minutes messing around with those.

While Jace was just sitting there like, "Yeah, this is real fun..."

Then we found a place where the kids could just go crazy for awhile, and go crazy they did.

The 2 J's (who are only a few months apart) had some time to chill together.

Before leaving, Farmer J. made sure to check on the chickens.

I'd like to say we had a successful field trip. The kids all seemed to have fun and I think they all left with a pumpkin of their own choosing. I was super thankful for the nice weather and that Jace was in pretty good spirits for the majority of time.

What Happens Next...