Give Me an H-A-I-L-E-Y, GO HAILEY!

This fall, after Hailey finished her fall soccer season, she decided to do another round of cheerleading.  I always love cheer because it teaches her so many things.  She is still in the middle class (ages 6-8) and she loved every minute of it.  At the end of the classes, they do a big pep rally to show off all that they learned.  We were so excited to go and see it again this time.

At the beginning of the program, they always do a cheer - loved that Hailey was at the back and there was enough of a gap that I got a picture of her in the cheer huddle.

Here she is doing one of the cheers

She was so on target with the beat and the actions, I was amazed.

I love her enthusiasm!

Here are a few videos of her because the pictures just don't do her justice.  At the beginning of the program, they show off some of the cheer jumps that they learn.

Here she is doing one of the cheers.

And lastly, a little bit of her doing one of the dances (you can see how right on she is based on the actions of the leader that happened to be in the frame as I was taking the video).

Here they are after finishing the pep rally, waiting to get their certificate and gift from the leaders.

She got a certificate, sticker picture, and bottle of candy - she was one happy girl!

Here is the whole cheer group - all 3 classes - so darling in their outfits!

We were so excited to find out that one of Hailey's best friends, Riley, from down the street was in the same cheer class.

It made it so fun to have someone to be in class with, carpool with, and practice with.

Best cheer buddies.

Here is Hailey with the girls who led the cheer classes.  It didn't seem that they were much older than her!

The boys wanted a picture with their cheerleader sissy!  Tate decided to wink just as I was taking the picture - goofy boy!

Nana and Papa made the long trip down for a 15-20 minute program.  Hailey was so excited that they came.  And of course they took everyone to ice cream afterwards.

Way to go Sis, we are so proud of you!  You are one good cheerleader!

Future Blackmail Pictures

This is what happens when you are a boy and have a sister just older than you to play with.

Of course, he doesn't know to be concerned about anything - look at that smile.

Unfortunately, these pictures will probably come back to haunt him at a later date.  Poor kid.

Happy Halloween 2013!

It would be an understatement to say that my kids love Halloween.  Actually, they can hardly wait for it and countdown to it every year.  The big decision was to decide what to be this year.  

Hailey decided to be a witch again this year.  I was extremely glad since I absolutely LOVE this little witch costume we got on clearance a few years ago.  She is so darling!

We even spiced it up and bought some glow-in-the-dark green hair to add to it.

And of course we had to write BOO on her cheeks - that's a must in her book!

Zach decided to be a vampire this year.  We found this costume online for pretty cheap and he was thrilled.

He didn't want anything special done with his hair ...

... but we found some fake blood to have dripping from his mouth - scary!

 Tate chose to be Buzz Lightyear.  It really wasn't a fair choice since his options were costumes we already had, but lucky for us, he loves Toy Story, so he was more than excited to see that as an option.  The costume is still a little bit big, but he was thrilled and I'm thrilled that he'll more than likely be happy to wear it next year too.

He was so cute, it just makes me realize how big he is getting!

Here's a quick picture of all 3 of them before Zach and Hailey headed off to school.  Love these 3!

Half an hour later, Tate and I were sitting in the school gym watching the Halloween Parade.  Last year we weren't as prepared with the camera when both the kids came by, so this year we paid extra attention so that we didn't miss them.

Here comes Hailey!

She was so cute and was all smiles!

Tate was so excited to see her, he was jumping up and down yelling her name!  She was so sweet and waved back to him!

 Here comes Zach!

They were all walking so fast, it was hard to snap too many pictures, but I actually got pictures of the front of him this year!

Tate was quick to get his attention too and was so excited to see his brother.

Zach even slowed down so I could get a good picture of him.

Later on that evening after dinner, we took to trick-or-treating the neighborhood.  The kids were so excited and were basically running from house to house.

 This was usually the scene - the two older kids way up in front and the little one a bit behind.  But they were great about waiting for him once they got up to the door.

Yes, it was another successful Halloween.  Mom and Dad were just about as worn out as the kids once the evening was over.  Good thing it's a whole year before it comes around again - I think we all ate enough candy to last at least that long!

A Few Random Pictures

Just a few random pictures of the day to day at our house the last little while.  Tate and Hailey love to sit together and read or draw pictures.  Sometimes they play school and sometimes they are just being together.  It's so cute to watch the two of them.

Papa made Zach some new shelves for his room and they look so good!  We especially love the extra space that is up and away from a 3 year old's roaming hands!

Tate has recently fallen in love with doing puzzles.  Every day he spends an hour or two on the floor putting together some of the puzzles we have. 

I haven't gotten a picture of it yet, but usually he does all that he has and lines them all up along the end of the kitchen and living room floors.  He sure loves them!

Just another few items that make up the day to day life of our family.

Nana and Papa's Halloween Party

Nana and Papa always have a Halloween Party in October.  The kids look forward to this party all year long.  There are so many fun activities and they get to play, play, play!

The first item of business was to head to the pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins.  I forgot to take some pictures, but they had so much fun walking through the fields and picking out the perfect pumpkin to bring home.  Then they ran through the corn maze about a hundred times!

Once they got home and did some other fun halloween crafts, it was time to decorate the pumpkins.  The little ones had a table all to themselves and had a blast painting their pumpkins.  Tate of course chose green and Libby had pink and purple.

Tate was focused for about 2 minutes before he decided he was done, but it was cute watching him concentrate on getting his pumpkin just right.

Hailey was all about the polkadots this year.  She painted her whole pumpkin white ...

... and then added pink and purple polkadots.  She was having a blast on the same table as Jocelyn and Mylee.

After Tate finished with his pumpkin, he informed me that he was so super, super hungry!  So we had to go in the house and find a snack to tide him over until dinner.  We found a sugar cookie and he dug right into it!

As you can tell, he enjoyed immensely!

Zach decided he wanted to graduate from painting his pumpkin to actually carving it.  So he and his Dad worked on it for about an hour.  Zach did most of the work, which he loved, even pulling out all the yucky innards!

Then he set to work carving it.  He went back and forth between a manual saw and a battery powered one.

At some point during the day, Uncle Taylor thought it would be hilarious to wrap our car in caution tape.

But the joke was on him since the kids threw a bunch of tape on his truck too!

There was also a game of dress the dads as mummies.

Almost everyone had someone to wrap up!

I think all the kids enjoyed this just a little bit too much!

But all the guys were good sports.

Hailey and Jocelyn really had fun wrapping up Jeremiah.

After the mummies, it was time to get dressed up and go trick-or-treating.  Our kids were so cute as a vampire, witch, and Buzz Lightyear.

Here are all the grandkids with Nana and Papa.

It sure was a fun party and the kids had a blast!  Thanks Nana and Papa for such a great party!