Son's Island One Last Time

We took the kids to Son's Island one last time in October. We knew we would move before the weather warmed up enough to go in the spring/summer 

The frog slide and rope swing were closed because the water levels were low so they gave us all wrist bands for the kayaks and paddle boards. 

We had never done kayaks before with the kids and they loved it.

These ifloats are basically the coolest invention ever.

We love this plus murky water and all!

Mallie kind of helped me paddle....

The other reason the kids love this place is because there is junk food galore.

Rachel is hilarious and fearless.

Hattie is such a trooper and sleeps everywhere. And she loves that blankey nuzzled against her cheek.

What a gem of a place that we found!!

Halloween 2017

This year I ordered our Christmas pajamas really early on clearance, like early enough they were in our house before October 1st. A couple weeks before Halloween the idea rolled into my brain that with the PJ tops and jeans we could pull off the perfect waldo costume. I told David the idea and said if we can get the beanies for cheap then it'd be worth doing. A family trip to Walmart resulted in 8 $1 hats and white duct tape and we were all set. 

David totally pulled off Waldo and I was so happy we had real binoculars from our Africa trip!

We also bought a bunch of dollar store reading glasses and punched out the lenses.

This was the only group shot I managed to get before the kids sprinted different directions at Trunk or Treat. I didn't realize what a perk it would be to able to spot all the kids the entire night. Definitely a bonus for the future if we ever do matching costumes again.

Rachel Turns 2

This sweet girl turned 2 on Sunday this year. Holy smokes she is as smart as a whip and keeps us on her toes. She's one of the most talkative two year olds you'll ever meet. She speaks in sentences and handles herself like a big girl. (If only I could potty train her early too!)

I have a video of her singing happy birthday to herself with all of her siblings. She was darling.

Then she stabbed her ice cream with a fork and used it as a popsicle. Her favorite present were new purple slip on shoes. This girl loves shoes and we are constantly finding everyone's shoes all over the house. Her brothers and sisters hate when I tell them to go put their shoes away when they are positive they had and it's Rachel who got them out so she can wear them. We started giving them a free pass when David and I began to find our shoes out too.

This is proof of her mischievousness. She climbs shelves and cupboards, she knows how to use scissors and uses them to open any junk food she can find. She loves her siblings and loves to be the boss. She keeps us all laughing on a daily basis.

August in pictures!

First Day of School

Holy smokes! What is it about kids in school that makes time fly?! I feel like the toddler days/years dragged on forever. Now I feel like I send the kids to school and I blink and it's Christmas. Once again it was overcast on the first day so we did pictures inside.

Lucy started Kinder with Mrs. String (Mallie's kinder teacher). We love her and the "bee" class!

Mallie started 2nd grade with Mrs. Sardella (Ashton and Hannah's 2nd grade teacher). She is just the best and we are thrilled for a third year with her.

Hannah started 3rd grade with Mrs. Oliver. We didn't know her but heard she was wonderful and requested her for Hannah. She has turned out to be so kind and just what Hannah needs.

Ashton has Mr. Morrison this year. He has 6 of his own kids (so he totally gets our family) and is just about everything a 4th grade boy could imagine. He makes learning fun and he loves those kids.

Lucy turns 5!

Lucy turned 5 this year right before she started Kindergarten. We let the kids have birthday parties with friends on 5,8 and 10. We asked Lucy who she wanted to invite to her birthday party and she said she didn't want a party she only wanted Brielle to come to a pizza/arcade place with us.

This is Brielle. She and Lucy have been besties since the month we moved to Texas. That's three years now! These two love to wear matching outfits and miss each other like crazy if they don't have play-dates often enough. Brielle got her a best friend's necklace and kitty ears for her birthday.

 Here Lu is at Mr. Gatti's racing David having the time of her life. That smile just gets me!!

 We came home and had cake and ice cream.

 As tradition Lucy was the only helper in decorating her cupcakes and boy was she proud of those babies!

 On her real birthday she opened her presents, Shopkins are all the rage at our house these days.

 It's so weird to describe a middle child as the "baby" but it's 100% true. Lucy has so many traits of a youngest child. Maybe we'll just call her the youngest of the first half of the family. She is my little shadow. Wherever I am Lucy goes. She loves to play with her siblings but if she can snuggle up next to me somewhere she'll stop playing immediately. It breaks her heart to be in trouble and she usually tries to pawn off her chores on someone else. She is as sweet as can be and is one of our more timid kids. She is just the best. We love Lulu!

Mallie turns 7!

Even after a brand new baby life keeps rolling along! 6 days after Hattie was born Mallie turned 7. Her birthday was on a Sunday this year so it was low key and at less than a week post partum I was grateful she didn't mind. Mallie was born a little homemaker. She loves to organize and have things perfectly clean. Baking is one of her favorite hobbies and she baked her cake and decorated it almost entirely by herself. 

I can't talk about Mallie without talking about how she is Rachel's little mommy. 

Rachel probably weighs only 15 pounds less than her but she carts her around on her hip everywhere. Rachel loves her and knows she can convince Mallie to do just about anything for her. Mallie is so dang competent and independent at all she does that we forget she just turned 7. She loves to play games with David and I and is always asking us to pull out a board game when there is downtime. We love her so much for all she adds to our family!