It's Beginning to Feel alot Like Christmas

Savannah Grace

Eleanor, Olivia, Savannah Grace

Olivia and Savannah Grace

My Crazy Girl

I can't believe the holidays are almost here! It has really crept up on us this year. Friday night was the annual "Santa is Coming to Town" at the mall. Savannah Grace's dance studio performed a ballet to "Suzy Snowflake." This year's dance has been so fun for Savannah Grace. A few of her friends from school and church have decided to take dance and they are in her class....Emily, Olivia, and Eleanor. After the dance, the Oefingers and Broselow's went out to eat with us. It was a great evening!

Lilly Claire Loves Shoes!

Lilly Claire's new favorite pasttime is putting shoes on and taking them off, over and over. And it doesn't matter whose shoes...Mommy, Daddy, Jackson, Savannah Grace's old soccer shoes or tap shoes...any shoes! She loves it...and I love her!

Fall Baseball 2009

Jackson eating peanuts between games.

Fall baseball was definately an undertaking this year. Almost every single game was rained out and had to be rescheduled, only to be rained out again! It was crazy! It felt like our life revolved around "when we might have a baseball game." Not that I'm complaining. It is absolutely one of my favorite things in the whole world to watch Jackson do something he enjoys. We played on a new team this year and so many of the kids were one's we hadn't played with before. That meant the parents didn't know me. Some of them would ask me during the game..."why are you biting your nails?" Cause I am so dad gum nervous...Jackson's up on deck! Haha! They learned quick I am a crazy yelling (always positive, though) mom! I yell for all the kids! Even the ones on the other team, if I know them. :) I seriously never thought I would be like this. Just typing about the games makes me a little nervous. Sometimes I ask Jackson if he gets nervous before he hits, and he always looks at me kind of funny and says, "Noooo." Like why are you asking? Thank goodness. Being nervous is not that fun.



Jackson's team was called the MudCats and they were coached by Cliff Dyer. The team consisted of Jackson, Cooper C., Jet, Hunter, Jacob Jeffers, Silas, Cooper Lyons, Blake Dyer, Garrett Townsend, Brayden Plyler, Cameron Curry, and Jasek Hooker. It was a great season!



On to Basketball...

Jager and June

Lilly Claire, Jager, Savannah Grace, June, Jackson

Sweet Cousins

The Rowdy Ones. :)

Jager and June came to visit! The kids had so much fun just playing, playing, playing! Savannah Grace and Jager adore each other and Lilly Claire and June like to call each other "baby." Sweet cousins, fun times!

Witches Brew

Wine. Cheese. Fire Pit. Dressing like a witch. Great Conversation. Fabulous Fun! Every Halloween, while the Daddy's take the kids trick-or-treating, the mommy's sit in my front yard and participate in our annual Witches' Brew. We hand out candy and even pose for pictures with some of the regulars. Our next door neighbors put on a haunted house through their garage, so we get lots of traffic. This year's Witch's Brew consisted of Elise, Roxann, Christine Broselow, and myself. We had a great time!

Annual Pumpkin Carving

Lilly Claire making her "scary face"!

Nicklas checking out his pumpkin.

Jackson being kind of crazy.

The finished products.

Great Job, guys!

Katie and Jody hard at work.

Savannah Grace drawing out her design.

Nicklas making his scary face.

It has become a tradition in our house to carve 5 pumpkins...one for each member of our family. This year we had a special treat...Nicklas, Katie and Nee Nee was here to carve pumpkins with us!

Taco, Naco, Guaco...my favorite!

Grandfather and his yummy guacamole!

Nee Nee and Savannah Grace

Grandfather and Nee Nee came to visit a few weekends ago. They fixed us my favorite meal...tacos, nachos, and guacamole...otherwise known in the Nicklas family as "taco, naco, guaco." Grandfather makes the best guacamole!

Our Third Annual Costume Party

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

What a fabulous evening we had on Friday, October 30th! This year, we co-hosted the party with our friends, the Rehmets. We held the party, for the 2nd time, at the Elves Christmas Tree Farm and Pumpkin Patch. Our friends, the Cathey's, own this beautiful pumpkin patch and each year they graciously allow us to throw a monstrous party on the grounds. The final count resulted in 153 people...which include more princesses and transformers than could even be counted!

We began discussing our family costumes in September of this year, and when it was clear we were not coming to any agreements on a "family theme", I set the deadline of October 1st. Finally, my boys caved...and we got...I mean I got to dress as Cinderella. Jody was Prince Charming. Jackson was Jaq the mouse. Savannah Grace was Driscella the wicked step-sister. And Lilly Claire was the cutest Fairy godmother I have ever laid eyes on. Dressing up in a family theme was sooo fun! As people started driving into the pumpkin patch the night of the party, Jody and I stood at the entrance of the party area, waving to the cars...with our Cinderella and Prince Charming waves of course!

The food was scrumptous...all the gummy bugs, chewy eyeballs, caramel apples, halloween cookies, chik-fil-a nuggets, monster cupcakes, and frito pies. The families took hay rides to the actual patch t pick a pumpkin and play around. I just love all these families and it always brings such a big smile to my face when the hayride turns the corner and all you can see are kids in every direction....jumping hay bales, decorating scarecrows, and looking for that perfect pumpkin. After returning from the patch, the kids decorated pumpkins, played in the never-ending maze, and basically chased each other around like 4-6 year-olds do!

This year, many parents dressed up and the costume contest was difficult! In the end, the Coach Purses (April and Elise) won the mommy contest and the Rapper (Olivia's dad) won the daddy contest. We had 10 kid prizes for costumes that went to the most deserving.

Once it got dark, we handed out glow necklaces and pixie sticks and headed for the open pavilion. The night ended with a fabulous Magic Show from BAM Magic. Jackson is still talking about some of the illusions he did...and I absoulutely don't have the answers! We handed out packed goody bags, everyone grabbed their pumpkins and kids and headed home.

And by the way, we already have our family costume ideas for next year!

Trying to Recover...

I want to post about our fabulous weekend, including the annual costume party....but...I'm too tired to post! I'm still trying to recover...a.k.a. dishes, laundry, sleep, etc......so keep checking back! I will post soon. :)

The Cowboys and the Girl

Savannah Grace got to go to the Cowboys game and tailgate party last week. It was such a treat for her! She loves spending time with her daddy! She is definately a Daddy's girl. And...the Cowboys are tied for 1st place. Go Cowboys! Go Tony Romo!

A Great Start!

Jackson got his very first graded report card for 1st grade today. And......he made all A's!! I can honestly say that we...and may I emphasize the we...had to work really hard these past 9 weeks. First grade is tough! The emphasis on perfect handwriting...listening to directions that maybe aren't on the paper...if the paper says color it blue, it does not mean aqua blue...that kind of stuff. Jody and I are sooo proud of Jackson. He also got an "A" in overall behavior, with absolutely no marks for improvement.

A few weeks ago, when it was coming down to the wire for the grades, Jackson and I discussed possible rewards for straight A's. My parents never really rewarded for grades and since this is a first time for us, I wasn't sure if just expecting it is enough or what. So, I asked Jackson what a good reward would be for making straight A's. I told him he could have or do anything he wanted. Well....he said that if his report card had all A's he wanted to stay up until 11:00! So, when his bedtime is 8:30...it is currently 9:49 and he is still going strong.

I hope that Jackson always strives to achieve excellence. But at the end of today, I simply want him to do his best, to be happy, to never give up, to treasure the small moments in life, to learn to love God with his whole heart, and to know that his mom and dad will love him unconditionally...forever... no matter what. We love you bubba...and we couldn't be more proud.

The Pumpkin Patch

My baby girl.

My big boy.

Lilly Claire, Savannah Grace, Jackson

Our Little Pumpkins.

L000000vvve that girl.

The Princess.

LOOOOO0000ve her Too!

Jackson...the best son, ever.

Nicklas!

We had a fun time at the Pumpkin Patch this weekend, with Grandfather, Nee Nee, Katie and Nicklas. After looking at these pictures, I just can't believe how big my babies are getting. I just want time to slow down a little! I love these 3 little pumpkins so much!

Touchdown!

Jackson is getting so big!

He's got the ball!

He's got some fancy footwork out there on the field.

Touchdown!

Jackson at quarterback.

Beautiful pass.

Upward Football has been a blast this year for Jackson. His Colts teammates are Cooper C., Hunter B., Ryan K., Greyson L., and Connor N. Jody is the coach and he is loving every minute of it.

A Little Mum Crazy

I love fall! The weather, the clothes, the parties, the sports, but most of all...decorating for fall. I really like for my front porch to be all decorated up with mums and pumpkins. My mom and I went to Canton a few weeks ago and I found the cutest little personalized pumpkins! Love them! Anyway, as I was decorating the porch a couple of weekends ago, I kept going back to home depot to buy more mums. They were big and full and very inexpensive this year! I guess you could say I went a little mum crazy.

From Super Mad....to Super Dad

The Lipscomb Pianists

Savannah Grace, Mrs. Lesa, and Jackson

Today was Jackson and Savannah Grace's 2nd piano recital. While the last recital resulted in the children being "super mad", this one left them feeling like they have a "super dad". The recital was called a Fall Festival and the kids were encouraged to dress in their Halloween costumes. They have been practicing their music for months now and both of them had their pieces memorized. In addition, Mrs. Lesa had asked if Jody would be willing to play a duet with Jackson. After some coaxing, he agreed...and so they have been practicing their fancy version of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star for a couple of months. As we were starting to get the kids ready for the recital this afternoon...Savannah Grace in her Snow White and Jackson in his Transformers costume, Jody said to me, "What should I wear?" I think he meant should I wear the blue plaid shirt or the red stripes. Well, my over-the-top self said, "You should definately wear the Buzz Lightyear costume." And so he did. Little did either of us know that he was the only parent playing a duet and therefore the only parent dressed up. Haha! He is such a good dad. If you listen closely, you can hear the giggles in the video as he takes the stage for the duet.

My children continue to amaze me at the piano! Savannah Grace plays her songs without looking at her fingers and Jackson has moved on to playing different things on each hand. I seriously could not be more proud of them!

Savannah Grace playing "AB Bop"

Jackson playing "A Spooky Halloween"

Jody and Jackson playing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"

Singin' in the Rain

It has been raining for 3 weeks straight! All but one of Jackson's baseball games have been rained out...that's 8 games! Construction has come to a screeching halt on our house addition. The car is screaming "wash me!!" However, the rain has made for some fun big puddles and yesterday, we decided to take full advantage of them.

Kumon

In true first-born tradition, Jackson is pushed...just a little. ;) With that being said, he has been going to Kumon for a year now to sharpen his math and reading skills. Practically every night, he works 100 math problems and then does reading homework. Kumon is time based, so Jackson feels like he is competing with the clock, which makes it fun for him. He loves Kumon. He asked me just this morning, "Mom, do I go to Kumon in the summer?" I said, "Yes." He said, "Yay!"

We found out today that Kumon is closing at the end of the month. Well Jackson, if you don't become a rocket scientist, blame it on Kumon closing when you were in the 1st grade. :)

10-19-09....Update on Kumon! We enrolled Jackson in the McKinney Kumon and we only have to take him once or twice a month. He will still get the daily homework, but because it is so far, we don't have to go to the twice a week classes. This might have been a God thing...He knew I could use a break from all of the sitting and waiting. Yay for Jackson...(and Savannah Grace and Lilly Claire when they are old enough).

Food, Fun and Flu Shots

Lilly Claire...right in the middle of it all.

We catered in Jalepeno Tree food...there was hardly any left!

And the flu mists begin...Jody gave out 21 shots tonite.

Rudy and Rosana...my faithful blog readers. Love you guys.

Jody...the ultimate professional. He gave each little family the flu shot talk, documented lot numbers, collected fees or billed insurance.

Lilly Claire...she stole that plate from Isabelle.

Ellie kept us all entertained with her missing teeth

Tonite we hosted a "flu shot party" for some of our friends who were needing the vaccine. We actually had quite a good time! The Rehmets, Liras, Oefingers, Kinneys, Williams, and Coles came for good food and flu shots. I sure wish I knew someone to host a botox party. :)