Trick or Treat

Bags Mrs. Ann gave us two years ago!!

Trying to be tough

Love it!

She wouldn't go near the door

Doing her Spiderman stance

She also has Daddy wrapped

roasting hot dogs

We walked about three miles tonight treating! The boys had so much fun - Ann Phelps was scared to go up to the houses BUT she had a great system: she would yell out to her brothers, "Hey guys, don't forget to get me some candy!" as she stood at the curb! She has them wrapped! After two and a half hours of filling their bags, we came home and roasted hot dogs! On a side note: I made the kids take a nap this afternoon. I laid down with them and fell asleep also. I slept hard because when I woke up, I had pillow marks on the side of my face and my hair was messy - as I am getting the kids dressed in their halloween costumes, Rhyne asked me if I was going to fix my hair and put make up on to cover the lines going down my face before we left to treat - I said, "No, I am going as a tired momma for Halloween!!!!!!!!!!" Memories!!!!

Her Style

Thanks, Mrs. Christina, for the awesome GLITTERY Halloween tutu! AP LOVES it! I walked around all morning with orange glitter on my shirt and skin - YUCK!! As you can see from the pictures, Ann Phelps matched the skirt with a purple shirt, gray and pink knee socks, and spiderman sandals! My way is boring, black shirt and black leggings!! Gotta love her style!

Boo at the Zoo

Dee Dee, this one's for you!!

Notice AP striking her "Benstacular" pose -

she can't say "spintacular" like in the Spiderman

song so she says, "Benstacular"

Here is a good picture of her pose

Will felt the need to pose by every decoration

still posing

Such a GREAT Daddy - we are blessed

Waiting in line for the hayride

I had this big plan to go to the "Boo at the Zoo" tonight. It took a lot of convincing, but I got Rhyne to agree to go because I said, "It is only from 5-8pm and we don't have to stay that long, we can let them get some candy then do the hayride, then leave!" I said this because 1. he was worried to be in "that part of Jackson" after dark and 2. college football was on!! Now in his defense, Rhyne doesn't like the idea of going to big crowded places where there will be lots of other people's children there - let's face it, you can look at the parents of some kids and see why the kids break line, run over anybody in their way, spit out gum, etc.. - poor Rhyne doesn't have the patience!! Thankfully, I see these events with rose-colored glasses - I think "oh, what fun the kids will have, they will be so grateful to us for planning something so fun"!! (ha, ha, ha) All kidding aside, we did have fun. It wasn't so grand as I had dreamed in my head, but our kids enjoyed it! Ben had the most fun looking at all the other kids' costumes - he kept pointing out who was the "bad guy" and who was a "good guy"! It wasn't as easy as getting in and out fast, though - we got in line at 5pm and didn't leave the Zoo until 8:15pm - we waited in line for everything - Rhyne kept giving me looks like "ha, ha told you so"! It was great because it was a family memory and the kids all said, "Thank you Daddy for letting us go to the zoo." - just hearing them say that makes all the lines and other people's unruly kids worth it!

K5 Fall Festival

Will and his friend Luke

Will bowling with gourds

Shooting basketball one-handed

Will's sweet class

The clown was so much fun- this is

the grandfather of a kindergartner

Roaring like a lion

The Kindergarten classes at FPDS had a Fall Festival on Friday. It was so much fun (it went so smoothly since those of us planning it had never seen a fall festival done before)! There was face painting (Will wouldn't get his face painted because he said it would be too hard to take off in the bathtub - I am raising him well, ha ha), tattoos, snacks, games, and even two clowns!! Something that melted my heart: when we got in the car after the festival, Will said, "Mom, thank you for working so hard on the festival, it was the best day ever!" How sweet?!

The Great Pumpkin

Since Daddy (Rhyne) is staying in Mobile tonight......the kids are piled up in my bed and we are watching Charlie Brown!! Love making memories!

Rounding out the month

She begged me to take her "ballerina"

picture. She wears this outfit everyday,

she will not let me wash it!!

AP would not put these wax lips on, so only the

boys would pose!

Little Sas can't resist not being in the spotlight




These are some random pictures I took this month. The pictures with Ben and the sword are priceless. He is obsessed with warfare. He is mesmerized by anything army. We went to visit my PawPaw and he showed Ben his swords from WWII. My grandfather fought in the Pacific - he earned a Purple Heart because as Ben loves to tell people "He was shot in the head by the bad guys, but the bad guys lost in the end!"! Not only did he show Ben the sword he used at Culver Military Academy, he also showed Ben a bayonet he took from a Japanese gun during WWII. Ben was completely amazed and still talks about it! I considered it priceless that Ben has gotten to hear these stories from his great-grandfather- it also makes me forever grateful for the "Greatest Generation" for their selfless sacrifice!

Of course the other pics are just silly acts that happen every day around here!!

The Next Food Network Star

Ok, I am not the new Food Network Star, but I have made a HUGE accomplishment in my life today......I baked 26 loaves (small) of pumpkin bread!!! This is a from-scratch-not out-of-a-box recipe! From reading previous posts, you know I am no cook- so this is probably the equivalent of me climbing Mt. Everest!! Will's school is having huge fundraiser (Holiday Potpourri) and one part of it is a bake sale. I made the sacrifice to help the school! This is how NOT prepared I was to make bread, I didn't have the bread pans so my Mom let me borrow hers!! My Mom gave me three different bread recipes, but I decided to stick to just one so I wouldn't have to multitask too much!! I really feel a huge sense of accomplishment right now! :)

New Phase

Ann Phelps has entered a new phase.....she now wants to be girly!! She is moving on from the Scooby Doo, Spiderman, and Batman phase. She now wants everything ballerina, princess, or sparkly! We have morning battles because she does NOT want to wear anything I pick out - she only wants to wear tutus EVERYDAY!!! We have gone to school more than once dressed in a tutu. I pick my battles and have come to the realization that this is the only time in her life she can get away with wearing tutus to school! I have to admit it is fun to see her so girly!