Happy Halloween!

Trick or Treat!

We have had a great time celebrating Halloween this year. It started last weekend with our neighborhood fall festival! This was our first neighborhood party since moving.

It was right across the street from our house in the park.

There were bouncers for the kids, hayrides, live music, good food, candy, good friends and neighbors...well you get the idea! The kids (Scout and Cole) got to wear their costumes and participate in a costume parade. Jake said he was too old to dress up. :( He is six!!!!

Anyway, it was so much fun.

My mom even got to come and was a big help with the kids.

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Today, we went to the Dothan Area Botanical Gardens to see their annual scarecrow exhibits. They were really cute. We took a picnic lunch, and then enjoyed walking through the gardens and looking at the scarecrows. The kids had a ball!

Then we ended the day ready to trick or treat!

Jake went as an Alabama football player (this is as close to a costume as I could get), Cole was Mickey Mouse (Thanks Aunt Lisa for the costume!), and Scout was a beautiful little ladybug!

Getting some candy!

This was our first year trick or treating in our new neighborhood. We heard that it was crazy with anywhere between 1,000 and 1,500 trick or treaters. We invited my parents over to help adn experience the fun with us. I am not sure how many people there were, but we (mostly me, my mom, and the kids) gave out over 3,000 pieces of candy while my dad and Don watched the Auburn game. I am not sure if you can tell how many people were there from the picture below, but this crowd was mild compared to other times, and our house wasn't near as crowded as the one across the street. We actually ran out of candy about 30 minutes before it officially ended!

It was fun and crazy! Hope you have a great Halloween!

Fall Break

We weren't sure if we would be able to get away for fall break this year. Don had his surgery in September, and we really didn't think it was going to be possible.

So Friday came and school was out for a whole week. We had plans to stay around the house and see what kind of adventures we could have around here. Then...

Don surprised us and said he thought he would feel well enough to go to the beach. It would be relaxing, give him some time to rest, and get us out of the house. We were all excited!

Let me just say that Fall is now my favorite time to go to the beach!

The weather was beautiful, the beaches were beautiful, and it was not too crowded!

We played!

We relaxed!

The kids loved the "hot pool" as they called it!

And we were entertained!

We went to Gulf World one day and had the best time.

We saw every show they had!

The Sea Lion Show

The Dolphin Show

This was our favorite show by far. Jake was selected to help out with the show.

He was thrilled!

After the dolphin show, Jake went back stage (or tank) to have his pictured made with a dolphin.

Scout and Cole were too little and were disappointed, but since there weren't a lot of people, they let us all go back with Jake. After the photographer was done, we all got to go to the tank and pet the dolphins and talk with the trainers. It was really interesting.

After the dolphin show, we saw a bird show and a reptile show.

Scout actually touched this snake.

She thought nothing of it, just walked up to it and petted it.

I was too shocked to get a picture!

The rest of our week was spent playing on the beach, searching for treasure shells, and walking on the pier. I took the kids out on the pier by myself. We made it half way before I started getting nervous (those of you that know me, know I am a little scared of the ocean). I was able to get a few pictures before I made the kids turn back and walk very QUICKLY to land!

We really did have a great time. Lots of precious memories made!

School Days

I have started about 5 different posts to cover all of the things we have been up to for the past 2 months. They all get way too long, and for some reason, I delete them before posting them. Seriously, you would have been in picture/information overload. So last night, I decided today I would do a post that focused on one thing. Hmmmmm...what one thing should I pick? I decided I would post about the thing that takes up the most of our time...SCHOOL!

As most of you know, we moved back to Dothan right before school started. That meant that all three kiddos would be going to new schools.

I am sure you will all remember Jake's first day of school. He was not too happy that he was going to a new school, especially one that required uniforms.

The above picture I took of Jake on the way to school the first day.

He was NOT excited. Can you tell?

But time has passed, and I think it is safe to say that Jake loves his new school! He has made some great friends and has learned so much.

His class took a field trip to the Montgomery Zoo. They had a great time!

This is the best picture I could get of them all together.

It is NOT easy to get 15 1st graders to sit still and all look at the camera at the same time!

Jake got his first report card last week and had perfect marks in every subject! He has also recieved several super reader awards. He loves to read! He loves his school! But most of all his LOVES his school's football team!

This is Jake at one of the Providence Football games! Go Eagles!

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Scout's school story is totally different! Scout LOVES anything to do with school.

She loves to read, write, and color.

This is Scout at the local library.

She loves to check out books and read them.

Since we had just moved, there was not an opening for Scout at the preschool that we wanted her to go to. We put her and Cole on the waiting list thinking it would be next school year before we received a call. But we received a call a lot sooner than expected, and Scout was able to start school the week after Labor Day! This was definitely a blessing from God. She was excited to say the least, and she basically walked in by herself the first day. She wakes up every morning and jumps out of bed, runs down stairs, and asks if its a school day.

This is Scout on her first day of K-4!

Not long after she started, Scout's class had a tea party. This is a big tradition at her school for the K-4 classes. I was so glad she was able to start in time to be a part of this day. Their tea party is to help them celebrate learning the letter "T", of course, and also a way for to use thier good manners that they learned in their manners unit. The kids dress up in "mommy" and "daddy" clothes and have a real tea party and end with a dance. Too cute!

Scout loved getting dressed up for the party.

This is the best picture I have of the room and all of the kids dressed up.

This is Scout and her first boy/girl dance! Ha!

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So that left Cole...

Well, there were not any spots available at Scout's preschool. But that was ok. I didn't really ever get to spend time with just Cole when he was a baby. We have had so much fun. We have gone to the library for story time, and we both joined the Community Bible Study that meets on Wednesday morning. Then one day right after Fall Break, I received a call from Scout's school. There was an opening in the two day 3P class that meets on Tuesday and Thursday.

Cole was excited!

I love this picture of Cole. This is right before we left the house on his first day of school. I asked him if he was excited about starting school and he jumped in the air and yelled with excitement!

Ready to go school on his first day! PRECIOUS!

So that's how we are spending most of our time these days...going to school. The kids all have wonderful teachers and wonderful schools. We are so blessed and looking forward to a great year for all three of them!