Halloween 2015

We did Halloween as a family this year.  In previous years, we've met up with friends {and sometimes, family} to go trick-or-treating, but this year we were alone.  It was nice to be together, I think my days of just having Halloween as a family are numbered...if not over.  Next year the kids will want to go with friends.

The past 5 years, I've done a Halloween party at our house.  I always did it carnival style for little kids.  Nobody asked me about it this year, even though I didn't plan to do one.  Last year when the party was over, Quinn and Parker both told me it "wasn't scary enough."  They've outgrown it.  John suggested maybe next year we can do a little haunted house for them and their friends.  We shall see.

The kids had a haul of candy.  We trick or treated a little here in our own neighborhood, but it was pretty quiet here so we went two streets down.  There were quite a few houses all decked-out that made it fun for our kids.

Quinn was "Ant Man", Parker was a witch, and Paisley was one of the characters from Ever After High, Madeline the Mad Hatter's daughter.  Who knows....  She wanted to be a warewolf, but we couldn't find anything last minute and she picked this instead.  Parker made a great witch with her black wig.

I love Halloween.  I missed being with friends and having my party, but the coziness of family and the fall season seemed to be enough for me this year.  Happy Halloween!!

Fall

A couple of weekends ago, we went to Mountain View to be with family while my oldest nephew, Rocko, was ordained a Teacher at church.  The day before John and I went to see the Avett Brothers in concert in Jonesboro, AR.  That was awesome.  They are quickly becoming one of my favorite bands.  Such great music.  It was fun to see them, even though I had to tell John who they were....  We met some friends from Conway at the concert, it was fun to see the Davis's.   John and Bruce hugged goodbye.  lol

Anyway, we had perfect fall weather for this trip.  We stayed in the cabin for a couple of nights and this picture is of Parker, Mav & Paisley going down to play in the creek.  There's some cows loose on the property so there's a few cow-pies laying around.  Parker and Mav named them.  I know....  One was named Devious Dave, which they pointed out every time we drove or walked past it.  lol

This was a nice weekend.  We spent time with the Woods & with George and Colleen.  We loved it.

I love Arkansas in the fall.  Missouri is kinda pretty, too.

Grandma Merrill visit 2015

 Back in October my mom came to visit for a few days.  My dad was supposed to come, but he has a fear of flying so he didn't come.  No just kidding, he had a ton of work to do and couldn't get away.  So my mom came out by herself.  I'd say we kept her pretty busy, although she didn't stay long enough!

She and I spent time going to yard sales and getting some good stuff!  Probably my favorite part of her whole visit was when we did that on the Friday she was here.  We found the best yard sale and I spent almost my whole wad there.  I got us two Fossil watches for $6.  She took one home and I kept one.  When I wear mine I feel fancy and I think of my mom.  I also got two really big decorative pumpkins.  I've always wanted some like what Hobby Lobby sells for $200, and now I have some that I got for $4.  Yay!  I really enjoyed driving around finding sales and showing my mom what this new place I live in looks like.

We took her to Silver Dollar City, too.  We went for 1/2 a day and it was perfect.  It's funny...I have a picture of she and Paisley on a ride where they are sitting across from me, and my mom is about to barf.  I didn't post it here.  But I looked at it today and laughed.  Sorry mom.  Grandma was good to go on all of the rides with the kids and they loved it.  If you can't tell by the goof picture of Parker below.

And true to form, I didn't take a picture of us together.  Dang.  We had a great time.  I wished it could have been longer.

I'll be honest in that Missouri hasn't really grown on me yet so having a visitor was just what I needed.

Soccer 2015

 Paisley's sport of choice is soccer.  She just runs after the ball and sometimes kicks it.  For her its mostly the social aspect of it, I think.  Maybe she really likes it.  Maybe she hasn't tried anything else.  Who knows.  All I know is that he likes it and she likes it when we watch.   Her first game she got to be the goalie.  She even stopped one from coming in, but lets face-it--sometimes it's boring being the goalie.

This last picture is a picture of a picture.  How many times could I write picture in one sentence?  lol  Such a cute little thing.  Love her.

Volleyball 2015

Parker got to play volleyball for the first time this year.  To say she liked it would be an understatement.  She wanted to play all the time.  We bumped back and forth for hours.  Literally.  It showed, too.  She was pretty good on the court by the end.  He coach wasn't very great, and I kept thinking that even though I'm not a volleyball player, that I could have done better.  Maybe I'll try coaching her next season.  I'd rather do basket ball.  Anyway, Parker's games were all held early Saturday mornings.  My girl who hates waking up in the morning had no problem jumping out of bed to get ready for her games.  She was fun to watch.

This picture is her 1st ever serve in a game.  And it went over!  Yay!

Mighty Mites

Quinn played real football this year.  He's a 6th grader, so this was the last year he could play for this league--they don't allow 7th graders.  I don't know a whole lot about the plays in football, or even the positions.  I know, I know...I grew up in a football factory....but I never really liked it.  I enjoy the games, the nachos, the Fall air, Friday night lights, etc....but the actual game?  Nah.  I tried really hard to watch where Quinn was and what he was supposed to go, but I got lost a few times and missed some big tackles.  oops.  It was really fun to watch, though.  I really like watching my kids do things.  I like watching them play with each other, clean their rooms, give talks in church, perform on stage and play sports.

John LOVED it.  That's all I need to say about that.

The picture below is one of the first games.  We didn't know the team wore black pants.  John got Quinn some pretty nice pants so when we found out he should have had black I made the executive decision to just stay in the nice white ones and not spend the money twice.  So my boy was easy for me to spot.  I actually proved to help me keep track of him.

Quinn is growing so fast.  He's currently on the junior high wrestling team and his first meet is tomorrow night.  I'm nervous for him for all sorts of reasons.  Wrestling is hard.  Really hard.  Hard workers are wrestlers, I married one.

Paisley turns 7!

 September is my least favorite month out of the year so I'm thankful that Paisley saves it for me.  September 2nd is her birthday!  This year she turned 7 and is in the 1st grade.  The picture above is her being silly with frosting on her face while we were having lunch together at her school.  I love at this school when I go up to have lunch with the kids that I can sit in the cafeteria with her and her friends.  Its fun to see my children interact with other kids.  She loves her birthday.  love love loves it.   I got her that "birthday girl" pin to wear so that everyone would know it was her special day.

I love this little thing.  Here she is making a wish then blowing out her candles.

 And she asked for a bike for her birthday.  She got one, and promptly she got a hole in one of the tires from a thorn from that big ole tree next to our driveway.  It's an Osage Orange tree, I think...and it is thorny.  It's yucky.  Anyway, she didn't get to ride her bike all that much since it's got a flat...

 Here she is in our garage riding.  She just went in circles and was in heaven.

Paisley is still into toys big time.  She loves small toys, like little sets of things.  She loves her Woodsies, Shopkins, any sort of small toy that comes in sets.  She's always looking to get the next set.  She is a light eater, and has really long skinny legs.  I tell her she needs to put more fuel in the tank so that her legs don't get tired.  She would rather snack all day than eat a meal.  Hmmm...sounds kinda like she learned that from someone, who knows.  ha ha.  Paisley loves paper and coloring and cutting things out and crafts.  This week she starts the "craft club" at school.  One day a week she stays after school to do crafts.  She is SO excited.  She's very kind and is quick to laugh and make jokes.  She's quick witted.  One night we were driving and telling riddles.  John's dad told a riddle that went something like this, "what is always coming, but never here.".  After some silence in the car, Paisley said, "Jesus?"  We all just busted out laughing.  True, but not that answer we were looking for.  She thinks farts are funny, and loves to tell jokes.  She's the only one of our kids who think bathroom humor is the thing to laugh about.  I'm glad we still have one who thinks it's funny.  Paisley's health is very good.  She was recently tested for OT at school and they thought she was doing wonderful.  She is growing and learning and doing everything as good or better than other children her age.  Paisley is such a blessing to our family.  Now if I could only get her to stay in her bed all night!!!