Jackson's 1st Day of Preschool

Labor Day Weekend

We went up to my parent's for the holiday weekend . . . on Sunday night they took us to the fair! The kids loved the rides . . . Kinsey's favorites were the carousel and the motorcycles. Jackson's favorites were the Dragon Roller Coaster and the Super Slide. Our trip to the fair would not be complete without some fair food! Yummy . . . elephant ear, funnel cake, cotton candy and snow cones! They loved it all!!

We were in our normal spot at the Labor Day parade on Monday morning. The kids had fun with their 2nd cousins, but as always we could have done without the fire trucks and their crazy sirens. Here is Jackson with Tate Wagner and Kinsey with Ellie & Lincoln Young.

Kinsey's 1st Haircut

Kinsey was NOT looking forward to her 1st haircut this morning. We had talked quite a bit preparing her for it . . . but finally yesterday we said she would be like a princess and get a special "princess" haircut and she was totally on board! We played it up a bit this morning . . . gave her a bath, painted her finger and toe nails, picked a special dress to wear so we were all ready! So when it was time to leave she was EXCITED! She was perfect! She sat up on the booster, let her put the cape around her and sat perfectly still. I was amazed!! And she went off to the small toy room and played while I got my haircut too! I couldn't have been more pleased! So we shared a special girly morning with great success!

Family Night: Bowling

Jackson has been asking us to take them bowling since he went at Sonshine School in May. So we finally took the time to go, plus we had a FREE coupon--perfect!! They had a great time cheering each other on. Kinsey would do this "victory dance" everytime she knocked down a pin! Adorable : ) The ball was as big as her, but that didn't stop her!!!

Kayleigh Update

Kayleigh has been scooting and "army crawling" for over a month now. She has even been pushing herself up and planting her feet with her bottom clear up in the air. This past week she has learned to go from crawling to sitting up all by herself. And she has even been trying to climb up on people and pull herself up a bit. She is going to be keeping us on our toes soon!

Jackson the Artist

Jackson has really sparked an interest in drawing pictures and writing his letters over the summer! So I have been trying to capitalize on this excitement . . . he drew this self portrait the end of July. He has been sounding out words and trying to read them (small ones that actually follow the "rules"). So last week I started doing lessons with him out of the "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons".
He loves having his own special lesson time with mommy and each day he finishes the lesson with the writing task, which is his favorite since we practice on a white board with a dry erase marker (why so exciting I do not know, but whatever does the trick!). He often writes his "C" and "S" in his name backwards, but earlier this week I was so proud to see him write it out perfectly! I am so thankful that I have one more year with him at home!

Kayleigh Faith - 7 Months

Balloon Fest

We were able to celebrate Grammy's birthday at the Balloon Fest again this year. The weather didn't cooperate to do the Balloon Race on Friday night (due to a storm in the area), but it did workout for us to be there for The Glow. It is so amazing watching them blow up the hot air balloons and get them all set up. And we love this Balloon Fest especially because we can get so close to the balloonists and even feel the heat as they turn on the burners. Jackson and Kinsey's favorite hot air balloon was Wally the Clownfish. Here are a few pictures from our fun evening!

Kayleigh Faith - Almost 7 Months

Kayleigh will be 7 months old on Saturday! Here she is trying sweet potatoes for the first time yesterday . . . she really liked them! She wasn't super crazy about her applesauce at first this morning, but we will try it again tomorrow. Kayleigh is scooting/crawling ALL over! She can get to anything that catches her eye. She especially likes remotes, cell phones and paper!! We keep thinking that we will find a new tooth poking out any minute, but she still only has the two on the bottom that she has had since 3 months old. I couldn't resist posting this picture on the right of a rather ornery looking smile! Though I must say, she continues to be a very mild mannered, laid back baby, so hopefully this smile isn't an omen of things to come!

British Soccer Camp

Just wanted to share this picture collage I made from Jackson's soccer camp last week. He LOVED camp . . . now we just have to wait for him to turn 5 so he can play on one of the city leagues. Hopefully this spring!

Soccer Camp

Jackson is attending a British Soccer Camp that is being held at our church this week. They needed a couple more kids to fill out a class and offered for us to attend for free! YAY! He has been SOOOOO excited to go!! The first day was yesterday and he was up and dressed in record time! So needless to say it is a big hit! It runs until Friday and I think he is going to be upset when it is over . . . he should be old enough to play soccer league in the spring. Here he is all ready to go!

A Date with Daddy

Dave took Kinsey to see Cinderella at our Community Theater tonight. She loved it and had a hard time distinguishing reality from the stage performance. During the show, when the clock struck midnight, Cinderella ran down the aisle to get away. Kinsey was very concerned and kept asking out loud, "Why is she going that way? Where is she going?" After the show was over, she got to meet Cinderella, but of course didn't want to get her picture with her. She even asked Cinderella where her "mother" was (meaning her step-mother . . . again that whole reality thing). They finished the date with a quick stop at DQ for a Starkiss.

An Evening at the Fair

Jackson has been begging us to go back to the fair to ride a few rides (particularly the Ferris Wheel). So tonight we went back to the fair and indulged them in a few rides and some cotton candy!

Kayleigh's 1st Bites

Kayleigh got to try baby food for the first time today. She would have been happy for me to just let her grab the spoon and chew on it rather than eat the food. But she did pretty well for the first time.

Kid's Day at the Fair

Our county fair does a FREE Kid's Day every year. And we LOVE going . . . we get to explore a straw maze, shuck corn off the cob, climb on tractors, visit farm animals (and pet some), visit a tent with hands-on kids activities, ride the carousel, eat lunch and enjoy a snow cone! All for one very low price of NOTHING! Can't beat that!



Here are some pictures of us enjoying our morning at the fair with some friends.