Fall Fun

Our freshly carved jack 0' lantern

Was Zsa Zsa and Pops' house built on an ancient Indian burial ground?

Kenzie helping me make caramel apples. Yummy!

Mackenzie and her classmates are ready for Halloween.
As the kids get older I keep having more and more fun! I feel like an 85 year old woman saying this, but I do feel like a kid again when I see K & E so excited. This is just a hodge podge of pictures from our weekend and today's Halloween party at school. Enjoy! How does the witch keep her hair in place? scare spray

Early Tricks-or-Treats

Today we got an early start on our trick or treating. We simply don't get quite enough candy every Halloween-haha! A shopping center in Cooper City has a trick or treating event where each store passes out candy and they have a raffle for prizes. There's also a costume contest. We didn't see the little stripper boy this year, but we did see some singing divas, lots of pirates me matey, and even more pretty princesses. There were even a few dressed up doggies. We met up with a couple of our neighbors and had a great time. Why couldn't the pirate get in to see the movie? Because it was rated argggg. Happy Halloween! Now where are the kids' candy bags? It's time for mommy and daddy to raid them....

We have made it a birthday tradition each year to take Mackenzie to the pumpkin patch to pick a birthday pumpkin. This year Zsa Zsa and Pops came with us. It was great fun picking out a birthday pumpkin!

5 years ago today...

Isn't that how every mother starts their stories about their children's birthdays? Gosh, five years ago if I'd thought about Mackenzie being five years old, I'm sure it seemed like light years away! I took out her first picture today to look at-wow! Thinking back on that day there are so many emotions tied into her birth. I had to write it all down months later. I thought it would be therapeutic, and mostly it was. I am so grateful that God has grown this little preemie into an intelligent, beautiful, big five year old! She's come a long way from that li'l furry red baby. :)

Fun with Wevi

Wevi? Wevi who? That's Levi in Ethonics. We spent the day with Levi and had a great time! Everyone played nicely (i.e. Ethan didn't hit anyone), and, of course, my kids were in kiddy heaven being at the Hunter's house. When we first ran outside to play, Ethan and Mackenzie were running back and forth from the trampoline to the swings to the trikes to the sandbox, not really sure what they wanted to play with first. We enjoyed playing Cariboo, and Levi kicked Ethan's butt in a game of chess. Mackenzie discovered Abby's dress up clothes. Wow! We had a fashion show with those. By the end of the afternoon, about 10 minutes before Mary came home, Levi curled up on the couch with his b squared (binky and blanket) and fell asleep. Ethan did the same on the way home. We were all tuckered out from a great day with Wevi!

What's a pajama party?

Mackenzie found out what a "pajama party" was when Abby came to spend the night on Friday. It was her first official slumber party, and she had a blast! Here's a list of the happenings:
*dress up with lots of bling
*painting flower pot pumpkins
*pizza, pizza
*playing at the park
*trading pajamas for the night
*watching a movie in a tent
*eating lots and lots and lots (candy, popcorn, ice cream -oh my!)
* bedtime and lots of giggles after lights out
*waking up before dawn (5:55 to be exact)
*playing Chutes and Ladders under the bed (?)
*pumpkin patch fun and searching for the biggest pumpkin
*more fun on the playground and being chased around by the big dragon (aka Matt)
Abby was a joy to have over, and Mackenzie was sad to see her go. Her first pajama party was definitely a memorable event!

Busy busy bumblebees

What a busy week we had last week! The whole fam damily got together on Saturday to celebrate "Abuela's" 80th birthday. We dined together at the Olive Garden, and then we went back to Zsa Zsa and Pops' house to have ice cream cake. Yum!! Auntie and Uncle Mike were able to come down for the celebration so we got to spend time with them. We had so much fun with them that we went up to Palm Bay to visit with them the next weekend! They only live about an hour away from Orlando, so we all went to Universal and Islands of Adventure on Saturday. Olivia went on her first caro-suess-al ride (although in utero), and while that was the only ride Auntie could ride she watched Ethan while we rode some other fun rides. (Kenzie will tell you that her favorite was the boat ride, and Ethan's favorite was ET.) It was a long, fun day. Overall, it was a great weekend! Thankfully, this week is slower, but next week is another story...... I think I'm going to throw away my calendar. :)

Mackenzie's first read

Mackenzie is reading her first book independently! The Fat Cat was given to her by her teacher.

It's a Beautiful Day

Wow! Wasn't it a gorgeous day!!!! We went to the pool today (which many of our northern pals can't do anymore until next May)and I tired out the kids. I get a little jealous when I hear about the beautiful, cool weather that is starting up north. But I wouldn't have traded today's weather for any of that! But it would be nice for it to be a little cooler here at night....

Underoos

Remember the Underoos? We never had any of them in our house (with two little girls) but I do remember seeing them being sold in Publix. Ethan had on lots of different pairs of "underoos" today. The training has begun. I think I got up all of the puddles from today. I hope. Let me go check.......

Go Noles

I have just one thing to say about last night's game....

It's all about the U baby!!!!!

Go Noles!!!

Who Has Mono? Let's Play!

Our first contestant is mom. The sign says it all...NEGATIVE! For those of you reading this mom would like to say that she would jump for joy if she didn't feel like crap. But she doesn't have mono folks! Let's give her a hand (remember your protective hand gear when shaking hands, giving "high fives", etc. ).

Our second contestant is Ethan. What a high powered boy you have! He is....POSITIVE. And it only slowed down Hurricane Ethan for a week! Whoa! There he goes....

Our third contestant is Mackenzie. She is....????? Mackenzie's preemie "super drug" must still be working (mom and dad hope!).

Our fourth and final contestant is Dad. He...HAD IT! That's right folks. Hmmm...how did Elder Matt get the "kissing disease" at the tender age of 13?

There you have it!! That concludes our game for today. This family will walk away with an all-inclusive trip to THEIR HOUSE indefinitely!

Hunker down, stay safe, and don't forget to spay and neuter your pets! Have a good one!

Mono, no mono

****Let's Play...WHO HAS MONO???****

(cue the cheesy game show music)

Welcome to Who Has Mono! Our family comes to us today from Florida. Please welcome the Cates! *Please remember to keep your protective facial gear on while near them.

Let's get started!!

First Day of School

Mackenzie is ready for Ms. Lori's class!

Ready for her first day of Pre-K!

Her first day of pre-k was a good one. Ms. Lori said she and the other 3 girls in the class had to stick together (there are 11 boys in the class!). Ethan wanted so badly to stay in the room! But I was able to drag him away and get him home. We are looking forward to a great year!

Pool party, princesses, and iguanas?

Kenzie and Pop Tart, the "gunana"

the birthday princess, Abby

pooltime pals

Ethan's keepin' cool in the pool

We got crabs!

What a day! We ventured out to the Oleta River State Park, and it was beautiful. We had never been there before, but the Hunters had. So we decided to make time for the families to spend some time together. The kids had a blast! Luke caught a crab that he kept in a bucket for awhile, and the crab did make a break for it when the bucket he was in broke. Everyone had fun playing in the sand, and we got some great pictures of the kids. As usual I didn't use my head and didn't bring a bathing suit for me. So next time I will be prepared! What an incredible blessing our friends are to us. Looking over these pictures when we got home, I really couldn't help but hear the clock ticking. Next summer when my buddies are gone, I think I will hear the Prozac calling....(sniffle)

Fun With the Family

Duncan, Ethan, Mackenzie, and Caitlin

they're ready for the diving team

Mackenzie's first slumber party with her cousins

Dress up time

...at least it wasn't with pantyliners

Where has my baby gone?

Where has my baby gone? My little curly Sue is replaced with this big girl!! I was a little sad today as I looked at some pictures of her with her long curly hair, but she looks so cute with her new haircut! To think she used to be sooo bald!!

Happy 6th of July!

Oops! I missed blogging on the 4th. Oh well. Time is really getting away from me. Every time I look ahead to the next week and think it will be a slow one, I'm wrong! I'm housesitting for my parents and taking care of Frankfrankfurta and Rusty (the hot dogs). It's really quiet....oh! and when I called Matt tonight to check up on everybody and he told me that he just happened to catch Ethan playing with the turd he found in his diaper, I was really glad that I'm housesitting. So back to the 4th. We had a nice time doing not much of anything. The kids played in their little frog pool and ate a picnic lunch outside. I tried to get them to decorate their bikes but Mackenzie only wanted to put jingle bells on hers and Ethan just wanted to play with the crepe paper. So I decorated the tricycle and would've taken a ride around the block on it if I could have. Matt and I got a little carried away with the crepe paper as we decorated our neighbor's work van as a prank. His Eco Lab van turned into the Party Mobile for the night. All in all it was a good day. Our fireworks consisted of a few sparklers and the snakes that look like the turd that Ethan pulled out of his diaper tonight. Enough potty talk for the evening!