Happy 4th B-day Eli

Today we celebrated Eli's 4th b-day. The kids dressed up to celebrate. E was Packer-Man and Makenlee was a ballerina.

M not to thrilled but some of the boys were being rowdy and she was a little freaked.

Packer-man to the rescue

Playing in the backyard

I turned around on the way home and she stuffed this in her mouth.

It was the party favor. New meaning to stuff it.

Daddy and his lil lady

Making funny faces

Being silly

She did want her sippy. She wanted my water. She drank pretty much the whole thing. She is so big girl!

Even when he is brushing his teeth...

He acts like a pirate. My kid is freaking funny!

Praising Jesus~

Listening to Take it All by Hillsong.

Makenlee claps and raises her hands to praise.

Night Away

Jon and I just went away for the night. Boy did we need it. It was an all expense paid overnight trip. All we had to pay for was gas. Sweet! I'll take that. We had fun and enjoyed eating our food at a slow pace, going to bed and waking up when WE wanted and most of all just talking uninterrupted. Wow, that was really cool! What rocked even more was I got home to pay the sitter and she said, "No, you are not paying me." I was like even better. I have prayed very hard over the last few months for an opportunity to get away and an opportunity came up and Jon and I jumped on the train out of K-ville. God was good. The kids survived and the house was not a mess. I am so happy!

Sprouting Fun

We went to sprout yesterday. We met 2 of his friends there. The boys had fun playing. The kids came dressed in costumes. My kids were a cow girl but the girl would not wear the hat and Easton was a Home Depot Man. Then Easton would not wear his apron. Oh, well. We will not be debuting their "real costumes" till 10/31. So let the suspense kill ya.

Easton putting on a puppet show

The many faces of Easton

Yet another

Makenlee spotted the water table. She loves it.

Easton playing at the tool bench pretty much the only time he'd wear the apron.

Dollywood

We had the opportunity to go to Dollywood today. Jon and I got hooked up with some season passes. How cool is that! We are very excited to use them. I had an extra ticket so a my new friend Holly came along with her 2 kiddies. Luke and Chloe. Her kids and my 2 are about the same age so it worked out perfect. The boys became fast friends today. Everyone enjoyed themselves and we plan to go back hopefully together sometime. It was so much fun.

Some of my pictures got out of order when I posted them. Oh well.

Ol' Farmer Easton here

Riding the cars. He steered the car pretty good.

Riding in the old car.

Riding the John Deere like a natural

Loved the bee ride

Easton and Luke

Easton on a very large pumpkin

New buddies!

Poser!!!

She loved the duck ride!!

All 4 kids quaking along

The bees are flying

Happy 1/2 B-day Lil Girl!!!

Today Makenlee is 18 months. So started a new tradition. I want to celebrate their 1/2 b-days. Nothing with major fanfare basically a cake and singing.

Her and her 1/2 cake

After she touched the candle. Poor girl!!

I cannot believe our baby is 18 months. We are blessed by her and her blossoming personality. She is so fun and brings us so much joy.

It's a pirate pumpkin

Easton decorated his pumpkin today. Would you believe he decorated it as a pirate??

Big surprise!! Holding hands...
ARR Matey!

Loving on Kenna

My friend Krista had a baby last month and Makenlee loves her. She always wants to hold her and pat her. It is so sweet. Today Krista came over and as she was getting her out of her car seat Makenlee reached for her like hand her over. It was so cute. Then she kept saying, "baby, baby." Then when Krista put her down M went over and tried to hug her. She loves babies.

Pointing to Kenna's eyes. Makenlee likes to point out body parts.

Pumpkin cake

I made a pumpkin dump cake yesterday afternoon. I took it out of the oven to cool on the counter. I went upstairs to get some stuff done and I hear Easton yell, " Mommy, Makenlee is eating the cake." I go downstairs to see her standing on a chair digging in to the cake with her fingers. I look her in the eyes and say, "NO." This was the response I got. Those lil sad eyes! By the way. She took a chair from the living room and pushed into the kitchen and climbed up on it. Smart cookie.

Caught red-handed
After I tell them they can have a little piece. All the tears go away. There is my happy girl.

Easton's eye is on the prize.

Boogie Down Baby

I won free tickets to Boggie down baby. Which is this monthly dance party for kids. Easton and I invited Eli and Leah to go with us. The boys seemed to have fun dancing around and playing in the ball pit. Leah and I just enjoyed hanging out, talking and eating all the free food.

They threw all the balls out and were diving in the pit. Silly guys.
Easton loved the hula hoops and dancing around
It was fun to see the boys dance.

Daytime fun at the zoo

We took the kiddies to the zoo today. It was a nice Fall type day. So we enjoyed it a lot. Plus it is all decorated for Halloween which was fun too.

The 2 lil monkeys in the cage

The real silly monkey. Hanging out!

Easton posed so well today.

He loved all the pumpkins and how they were decorated.

Can I tell ya how hard it is to get both kids to look and smile at the same time. So hard!

Easton loves this lion. So he has to get his picture with it every time it seems.
The kids checking out the meerkats or vice versa.

" I see them."

E acting like an elephant. Note the arm is a trunk.

Dates w/ the kids

No we are not inter-breeding here. HA! Jon and I have been huge advocates of taking the kids out on dates. Just 1 on 1 while the other kid stays home w/ the other parent. Easton loves this special time w/ each of us and loves the 1 on 1 attn. What kid would not? But I have enjoyed taking him out. The stuff we have done lately has not cost a thing which is always a bonus. But I love the time we get to do something out of the norm or something that is fun to do w/ just 1 vs. 2. I get my special times w/ Makenlee while E is at p-school. Even when it was just E before M was born we would do dates w/ him but now that he is older he obvioulsy loves it more and more. He loves going on adventures w/ Daddy. He loves Jon so much and is all about Daddy these days.

So different and then so the same

Is it possible to have 2 kids that are so different but then the same at times? Well, I have them. My daughter is a GREAT eater (I sure hope I don't jinx that now). Easton just in the last 10 months has gotten to be good eater. Meaning he will eat what what is served to him and try it. That is all I ask in my home. Try it don't like that is fine. But if you never take 1 bite then you don't eat. For so long he would refuse to eat something without even taking one bite. He made up his mind he would not like it. Finally like 10 months ago he finally tried different things and he discovered it is not bad after all. The turning point I think was seeing Makenlee AKA-the human garbage disposal eating stuff he would never eat and devouring it. There is not much she will not eat. Another blessing of Makenlee she got Easton to eat more then a few things.

But my daughter is a dipper. She loves to dip her food in stuff. Just now she had yogurt and carrots and she was dipping them. I would never think to do that. E never dipped anything he seemed to not like the mess on his hand or whatever.

You give M a sandwich or hamburger she will eat the meat 90% of the time and leave the bread. Easton for the longest time would never eat the meat and only the bread. M is a meat and protein girl. E was a carb boy. So different. I am so glad she is the way she is after going through E's picky stage that seemed to last forever.

Growth

The picture on the top was last year and the bottom was today. Our boy has changed and wow I did not realize how different he looks. What a difference a year makes.