Birthday Fun!!!

Kalin is 3!! When I asked Kalin what she wanted to do for her birthday, she said she wanted to have a pirate ship and wanted everything to be pink. This invitation is what I came up with as far as a girl pirate theme goes. Her birthday fell on Thanksgiving day this year so we celebrated the Friday before and just invited a few playgroup friends.

Kalin and Porter enjoying the balloons before the party!
We had the kids go on a little treasure hunt and those who wanted could wear pirate eye patches that I made out of paper and string. In the picture kalin was saying "Argh"!

Thanks so much to the moms and Valerie for getting such cute girly gifts. Kalin absolutely loved everything she got! She had a tough time sharing and would yell and get mad if the kids tried to play with her stuff, so we had to put everything away for her! Oh, the fun things we do for our children. Below is the tiara and earings that cousin Taryn got for her. She came to watch Kalin and Porter for the weekend so we could go to Nashville for our anniversary.

Happy Birthday to Kalin!!!

We had to light the candles twice for Kalin because she blew them out before we could sing happy birthday! Then on the second time around she had a little help from some friends! As you can see, Kalin has a lot of little boy friends. Alan and I were talking afterwards that we need to find her some girls to play with, especially after she gets all of her dress up clothes for Christmas! (shh) They have fun together and thats really all that matters. In the picture above are Kalins friends; Brother Porter, Porter, Boston, Thomas, the Birthday girl!, and Jonas. Gabe was also there but not in the pictures!

Fall and Halloween!

Here's my two munchkins dressed up for Halloween!


Porter practicing his Rooooaaaar!!


Sitting pretty!

As a family we drove up North to Bert's pumpkin patch. We just couldn't believe these big pumpkins! And how many there were!! There were all different kinds of pumpkins, all different shapes and sizes.

WE LOVE SCHOOL/PLAY!!!

A few weeks ago four other gals and myself started a little play school. We meet every Thursday for a couple hours and take turns each week teaching at our homes. It has been so fun to have something scheduled each week and spend time with friends and other "big girls"! This week was at our house and we learned about elephants.

Ethan and Kalin

Jonas

Mary and Emma

We have six kids altogether that come to school. Mary was just visiting with us today. And Elijah, Ethans big brother, did not want to wear elephant ears with us or he would have been in the picture as well.

CAN DIRT BE A CHILDS FAVORITE INVENTION?

My friend Katie gave us this turtle sandbox. Kalin was very persistent in asking to play in the sandbox. So, one day...we went to Walmart and picked up two bags of sand. Kalin REALLY wanted pink sand (which really seems to be her most favorite color). I wasn't sure about the colored sand thing so we compromised and got one regular sand and one pink.

Kalin and Porter just sat in the same spot inside the sandbox for over an hour! I couldn't believe they were sitting in once place that long!

Porter loves his shovels and Kalin loves making her cakes with candles (sticks) on top! Just watch out Kalin, Porter wants ALL of the shovels!

OUR FALL KICKOFF

Mr Pumpkin Head! This was an idea I found online and it sounded fun, at least something different for Kalin to do. She was so excited to do this and we had fun making funny faces on our pumpkins!

THE BLOGGING WORLD!!!

So, I don't know how many of you have spent some time surfing blogs for ideas, but I'm blown away with the "blogging world" out there. Wow!!! I really can't believe the things I can learn from other peeps blogs and the ideas they give for FREE!!! Who need's books or classes anymore?!!! One of my favorite sites to visit for ideas is SugarDoodle.net (I think it's net). There are so many helps on there for church stuff. And under the POPULAR tab there are links to other websites. One I like is THE CHILDRENS NEST. From there you can go to other blogs for more ideas. Its endless and I love it and I don't love it! It sucks me in and I realize that I've spent all my time just looking but never doing. So, did I waste my time? Maybe, but it's sure cool!!!

Here is one idea from THE CHILDRENS NEST I'm going to do just for fun! Check it out!

Porter is ONE!!!

Happy birthday to Porter!

Porters birthday is July 26th and the day before we were flying back home to Georgia, so we decided to celebrate it with family and friends before we left. It was quite laid back as you can see by the pics. Alan won our little birthday cake discussion. I really wanted to make a cool cake just for porter and Alan was all about something simple like icecream sandwiches and popcicles. Who uses icecream sandwiches for a birthday cake, especially for your first birthday. Well, apparently we do! I gave in!! Sorry Porter!! Hope you don't think we are too lame when you grow up!


It was funny/sad/embarrassing because Porter wanted to just stuff it all in his mouth, but it was so cold that he started crying!

As for opening presents porter was happy playing with a package of course so it was Kalin and I who got to open the presents. Aren't birthdays fun?!

Utah vacation

We spent three weeks in July visiting family and friends in Utah. I really love Utah and miss it there. The kids and I stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Tubbs while Alan lived it up in his executive suite at the Marriott with no kids!! I think g-ma and g-pa are still recovering, right?!! It was fun and I really appreciate all that you guys did for us. Thanks ya'll (family and friends) for spending time with us and wanting to hang out. We had a great time because of you!

Utah Trip and the Childrens Treehouse in Ogden

This was probably the best place I could ever take Kalin. Great idea Grandma and Grandpa! There was so much to do at the treehouse it was amazing! We climbed the big tree which has a slide at the top (Kalin was just too nervous to try it out), we saw how indians lived in teepee's, we made necklaces with feathers, we made tissue paper flowers, then played in a music room and made cards with scissors and a glue stick. There was so much to do. We stayed for two hours and still didn't get to do everything! I never even got bored!!! I can't say for sure about Grandma and Grandpa, but at least they do love their grandkids! Thanks for taking us Grandma and Grandpa!

Utah Trip and the Dinosaur Museum

For the 24th of July holiday we went with daddy to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point.


Kalin was a little scared at times but loved that they were "sooo big". She enjoyed playing in the sand with the water, trees and dinosaurs, but especially thought it was neat to wear that big apron! At the end she was able to dig for her very own dinosaur bones. What a cool place!!

Kalin and Porter

Trip to Savannah Georgia and the beach at Tybee Island

For so long Kalin has bugged Alan and I to go to the beach so a few weeks ago we decided to take a little road trip to Savannah. The picture at the very top is a bridge on the Savannah river, we just thought it looked neat! The next is of the main street in downtown Savannah just off the river walk. The trees were beautiful with all this moss hanging off them. We walked along the river walk stopping at a few shops. Kalin liked seeing the huge river boats in the water.
We weren't too prepared for the beach experience, so we lasted just over an hour. Kalin went in the water once with daddy then she didn't want anything to do with it! She just wanted to collect seashells and build sand castles! She had a lot of fun playing in the sand. And porter had fun eating it! We did see a pretty big jelly fish that Kalin almost stepped on. That would have been bad seeing as it was much bigger than her feet!

Lizards

Here's the lizard we keep seeing on the deck.

Our home in Georgia

This is our home along with a picture across the street and our back yard. Georgia is a beautiful state. I've mentioned before that there are a lot of trees here. It's rare to see a home that isn't surrounded by trees or forest. That is a fun change we get to experience. Our house is a new home in an older neighborhood, so some are unhappy that their forest was torn down for our home! We see many little creatures such as: Rabbits (who like to use our yard as their liter box), lizards, squirrels, birds (crows (they are like seagulls in Utah), cardinals, blue jays, and many more), and we have carpenter bees (these look like bumble bees, but they are pests who like to intimidate you by hovering right in front of your face!). There are many others I'm sure we have yet to see.

Formula Disaster

Kalin is a master at finding anything and everything to get into. We've locked up the fridge, pantry, and all lower cabinets in the kitchen. But to no avail, she started pulling a chair over to the counter and getting into the upper cabinets. Yes, that is where we keep the formula. Kalin has dumped the can of formula out twice now and this time Porter decided to join in the fun! When I walked in the room he was eating it out of his hands! Have I learned my lesson? Not yet actually, I still have yet to move the formula!

Kalin and Porter Studio Shots

Our Little Entertainer

Kalin makes us laugh and giggle constantly! Who needs to spend money for fun when you have her? She really brings a lot of joy to our lives and we love her busy personality.

One day I walked into my bathroom and there was Kalin lying in the sink. I just had to get some pictures of that!

The picture with the scrunched nose was taken through the glass door to our deck. It actually turned out to be pretty funny.

Do you think Kalin will fit in your backpack? Well she did!