Birthday Party

Hard to believe that my oldest baby is 11 yrs old!!! Where has the time gone? We had a birthday party on Saturday, which happened to be the first cold front, so we ordered a snowman cookie cake for the occasion. We also had a pretty fun bounce house that the kids jumped on a lot, even though it was cold. I did not even get any pics when Caroline's friends came over because it was too cold to be outside for long.

Going to school on her birthday with BIG smiles

Catch Up!

Since it has been a bit since I blogged here are some of the pictures I have taken that last couple of weeks. 

At the kids school they had a concert in the park-ing lot! They performed some Halloween songs. Eli kept his spidey hood on the whole time he sang so no cute pics of this face (hes in the orange with the spidey jacket).

 Elizabeth kept that little tilted sassy look the whole time she performed. I think she sang a couple of words but mainly just tilted her head and gave a sassy look.

 Caroline did a great job singing and smiling. She is always a little harder to see since she is always on the back row!

 On Halloween we decided to take a little trip out to this place with the big rocker and BBQ food. We have driven by it many times over the years but never stopped. The kids had a great time running around the place. It had two shops and one restaurant.

 In one of the shops they had Halloween candy so Eli found a Hulk ring pop!

 That night was off to the fall festival at a local church. I liked the way this church did things. The kids received tickets after playing different games then turned the tickets in for prizes or candy. I loved that there was another option besides candy!

New Look

Someone has a new look!!!! It is a bit of an adjustment to get him to keep them on.... but hopefully it wont take long to train him. I think he looks pretty cute though!!!

Odds N Ends

Caroline's last elementary choir performance! She did a great job! She is on the top row in the middle of the picture.

 Elizabeth came home with the sweetest note from her teacher this week. I turned it so it was easier to read but for some reason the picture didn't want to stay turned:)

 Lastly, Caroline and Eli are enjoying one of my garage sale finds (see next blog to hear about that). At some point the upstairs loft will be a kids gaming area and I thought this chair would be perfect up there. Caroline thinks this chair is hers... if we are all watching something on tv she is in this chair.

Busy Saturday!!

We had a very busy Saturday. We woke up and left the house before dark so we could see the hot air balloons take flight.

 It was a bit chilly first thing in the morning but the excitement of finally seeing the balloons get some air in them kept us all entertained.

 Finally two are off and going!!! There were only 5 balloons and we watched all but the last one take off... we had more things to accomplish this day....

 I did not take a pic of our next activity since it was garage sale-ing!!! Two times a year one of the big neighborhoods in the area does a neighborhood garage sale and we have been needing a few things... so off we went. I was pretty please with our efforts. We were able to find most of the things on our list. The kids love to go shopping also... especially Caroline who found a house selling clothes her size from Justice (her favorite store)!!

Next we took a break and worked on the house some (those pics are at the end). Then that evening we went to the kids school for their school carnival.  They played lots of games, but I forgot to take pics til the end.

 They rode on the "train" around the grounds. This is a big moment for Lizzy. In the past she wanted to ride but would get to scared when it was her turn. Once I got her on it with me on it. This time she went right to it and got on all by herself. They were out of room so Eli rode with Caroline. Check out Lizzy's big smile though!!!

 Eli insisted on getting a balloon sword from the local clown, so I took advantage of the line and took pics of the girls while Eli waited in line.

 Finally... our project this weekend..... we have completed the closet floor upstairs! So far I love it. I think it looks good. It is made from paper but has lots of polyurethane on it so we shall see how it holds up under the kids. We have started on the bedroom upstairs so hopefully we will get the bedroom and loft area done this week and start planning to move Caroline upstairs to her own room. She is super excited to have a space to herself again.

 Close up

Progress

Eli can tell you all kinds of facts about tractors and tools.... but ABC's he was not that interested in learning that.... so the papers below show his progress... the top is from the first week of school... did not know very many of this letters... the bottom is after 7 weeks of school!!! Huge difference!

 Elizabeth also made some great improvements... she also started our knowing a few more letters.

 We have also made some progress on the house... not much but I haven't posted pics in awhile. The island top is complete. We still have some tools on the floor but have moved some out of the house also.

 I put this one in because I was not sure I ever posted one of the living room. The above and below picture were taken from the loft area (obviously.... or I am super duper tall). The wood burning fireplace will hopefully be all the heat we will use this winter!

 Here is another of the kitchen... the trim is complete around the pantry and over the kitchen. You can kind of see the railing of the stairs also. Hopefully one day soon we will have flooring on the stairs and upstairs.

Weekend Getaway

We went to Georgetown/Austin for a wedding and while we were there we toured the State Capitol building.

 Then we went to a fun children's museum called the Thinkery. The kids loved the outside play area and....

 using their creativity and building and...

 playing in the water area...

 Then on the way home we stopped by Enchanted Rock State Park and did some major hiking up the BIG rock!!!!

 That is Greg and Caroline coming down... I am about halfway down at this point.

 That hiking wore this girl out.... she is sound asleep sitting up!!!!

Jack and Jill

Kindergarten is such a fun time of learning. The first 5 weeks or so they spent time learning their letters and nursery rhymes. They did several projects of nursery rhymes and also put on a little program. Eli and Lizzy were.... Jack and Jill.... they were the cutest Jack and Jill I have ever seen. Lizzy did not like having to wear a bonnet but she did it anyway (huge progress). I have more pics but they are on my mom's camera and she is out of town... so they wont be posted for a while. 

Newest Addition to our House

We have added one special feature to our house....

 a special hiding spot for the kids!
 The kids were super excited that they could finally play in their special hiding place!! They were quick to bring blankets and toys and play in their new area under the stairs. They actually wanted to sleep there last night but I said it was a school night... so who knows what tonight will bring...