Our Halloween pictures!

Forgot to give some major props to our photographer! You can find her at: http://www.shandimariephotography.com/

We loved all of the pictures!!

Halloween 2009

A true bunch of characters!!!

I still laugh when I see Brittan.

Oh Alice! Why you gotta be so grown?


What a dashing Mad Hatter!

The Queen of Hearst let us all keep our heads!

Britty with her Flava Flav slash White Rabbit Clock.

This year will go down as one of my favorite Halloween years yet! We had a mostly pain free time deciding what to be this year. I have wanted Mallory to be the Queen of Hearts for two years now. I first tried to get Lexa and all her friends to be little old ladies, but It was her idea to be Alice, so I was all to happy to commit to the Alice in Wonderland theme! I did have to beg Blake for a few weeks to agree to join his sisters, and as we were walking up to take our photos, he said, "Mom, I'm glad you talked me into this!". Whew! At least it won't go down in his memory as the year his Mom made him match his sisters! We had tons of fun putting our costumes together. Lex lived for her fittings with the AMAZING Debbie, Blake totally rolled with the fact that his pants were purchased in the girl department, Mally was so excited when her flamingo arrived and Brittan cheered me on the whole time as I made her costume one Saturday. I'm fairly certain I will not get them to do a them in the coming years, so this Halloween I will treasure forever!

Mally's 7th Birthday

This year Mally (or I, depending on who your askin') decided to do a cupcake party. Mally was super excited to have her friends over to decorate cupcakes. The party details were a moms very worst nightmare and are still painfully fresh, but just know they involve chasing a delivery guy two city's away to get the party goods three hours before the party started. If it weren't for the help of my Mom and my good friend Diane, it would not have come together. The kids arrived home from school and knew nothing of the mornings events and the party was a blast!

Mallory and the 80 cupcakes I made. Oh, and her cute cupcake shirt that my friend Angie made for her!
Eating a quick slice of pizza.

Now the work began. They each got to decorate 4 cupcakes and they had specific ways they had to do them. A flower design, a face, a pattern, and then one to decorate however they want. I was amazed at the creativity of the kids! It was fun to see their personalities come through in their cupcakes.

Brittan with her pattern cupcake.

Lexa decorated probably every last cupcake she could. So into her work!

All the beautiful cupcakes!

Lexa's "person" cupcake.

Mally has a best friend named Anthony. His mom slipped a framed picture in the gift of Anthony and both he and Mallory thought it was pretty funny.

One of my best friends, Gracie Love, got to come to Mallory's party. If she's around ( at school, the movies, or anywhere else), this is where Brittan likes to sit. She likes the free rides Gracie gives her.

Mallory with her adorable cupcake cake.

So hard to believe she is seven years old already. She is such a fun person to be around and kind to everyone. Mally is so special to us and we are blessed beyond measure to have her in our family. We love you Mallorcat!

Ca-razy

Two seconds into school, and we're already doing this! It's a little soon for my brain to come up with any ideas! Geeeez, give us a minute, is what I'd like to say, but then I'm super happy it's over til next year. Here is what we came up with....Ca-razy bunch.

Britty loved her Pink hair.

I left Mally at school crying cause her head hurt so bad! When I picked her up, she said the day was fine and she got used to it.

The back of Blake's hair said "wipe out" in white.

This was her own idea, an apple orchard!
I am happy my kids go to such an amazing school, so full of spirit!

Back at it....

We're back to it. The daily grind. Waking up when it's still dark. All the homework. Schedules galore. Summer is over. Do I sound sad, bitter, completely unenthusiastic? That's because I am. I really love our summers. It is a time that all schedules end and we are free do what we want, go where we want and sleep as late as we can. I love it. Life is just easier, even with everyone home. I just love it. K, now that my tantrum is over, on to real life! As much as I hate to see it come too quickly, there is an excitement in the air when it is back to school season. The kids were very happy to start and were very much looking forward to their teachers and seeing their long lost friends. Alexa started 5Th grade with Mr. Garza. I went to high school with him and he is one of the most motivational teachers I have ever come across. We are soooo happy to have him. She will also spend all of her reading/writing time with the other 5Th grade teacher Mrs. Harp. She is a family friend so we are double happy with that! Blake is stating 4Th grade and has the wonderful Mrs. Thompson (Alexa's last year teacher). Mallory is starting 1st grade with the legendary Mrs. Ross. We love her so much! This year couldn't get any better for my kids! They are getting some of the best of Hickman's best. And that is saying a whole lot!

First day, August 12

Poor Brittan. She was going to be with out her "guys".
The twins.

Lex didn't make the group shot. She wanted curly hair, so I was still doing it while Todd was taking Blake and Mally's pictures. She looked cute, I just had no idea what I was getting myself into curling her hair that way cause she's wanted it curly at least half of the days so far.

Another curly hair day.

And another.