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!