Soccer 2010!

Annalyse just finished her first soccer season. I think she had a good time. At least it looked that way out on the field. The season ended a few weeks ago but I am just now getting around to posting about it. She was one of the two fastest players on the team when it came to running races during practice. Running on the field during a game was another story. This is a picture of her very first trophy ever. She's so proud.

Look at that form!

One of her best friends Maggie showing true sportsmanship!

Lucy was such a good supportive sister.

Veteran's Day Parade!

My friend Amy and I took our girls to the Veteran's Day parade yesterday morning. The girls had a great time. When the four of them get together they are so funny and get so silly. The parade started at 11:00 a.m. and we finally pulled out of the parking lot at 1:00 and the parade was still going strong. We had fun but we had had enough. (BTW, I don't why these pictures are so huge, and have yet to figure out how to reduce them. sorry)

Lucy and Lily Baker taking a break for a snack.

The parade was great and watching it got me thinking about everything that our military sacrifice for us. At one point during the parade there was a woman pushing her child in a stroller that had a wreath with a picture of who I assume was her husband, as a memorial to him hanging around the stroller. It really struck me and made me realize how grateful I am that I have a husband that comes home to me every night, and that my girls have a daddy that come home to them.

I could tell that Annalyse was very interested in the soldiers. Every time we are out around town and we happen to see someone in a military uniform her eyes get real big and she says "that's a soldier mommy". The girls were chanting U.S.A. throughout the entire parade and every time a military person came by they would yell out "thank you!". It was so cute and you could tell it really meant a lot to those in the parade. It always brought big smiles to their faces.

Lily Baker was hilarious. She really got in to the cheering. Most of the time she would let out a big "Roll Tide". They would be yelling U.S.A. so sweetly and proudly then in a second switch over to the Alabama fight song.

Charlotte did awesome during the entire parade. She sat there for over an hour and a half and never fussed a bit. Her grip onto my shirt got a lot tighter every time she heard a firetruck siren or the drums from one of the bands come by but she never fussed. She was a trooper.

Thank you so much to our soldiers that sacrifice so much for our country's freedom everyday!

Tate Farms

Last Saturday Nathan and the girls and I went to Tate Farms, our local Pumpkin Patch/fun fall place to go! We go every year and they always love it. We wanted to wait on daddy of course so he could go with us. The first available time was the last day before they closed for the month, the day before Halloween. We thought it might be crazy busy, but no it was perfect. We had the best time. The weather was beautiful and not too cool and definitely not too hot. There were a few people there but not near as many as we have seen in the past. I think everyone had already gone. Of course, the first thing we had to do was go to the petting zoo. Annalyse can't get enough of the animals. I have no idea where she gets that from!

This first little area was where they kept the puppies. They have built a new barn this year for the animals and it was very nice. We did have a little friend who visited us though. A little mouse ran by us and scurried between the boards of the wall before Annalyse could get to it. Yes, Annalyse would have caught it if she could. Later that day when we asked what their favorite part of the day was she said getting to see the mouse. When we asked sweet Lucy she said getting to spend the day with her daddy. She sure loves her daddy! Who could blame her?

The girls always love playing in the corn pit. We found corn all over the car and in their bedroom floor after they changed their clothes that day.

Nathan and Annalyse buried Lucy.

Going through the hay maze.

Every year we always take their pictures here at the pumpkin height chart. Don't they all look thrilled?

We are all on the hayride being pulled by the tractor headed out to pick out our pumpkins from the patch. Charlotte enjoyed the ride but possibly enjoyed her thumb even more.

I thought these pictures were hilarious. At no point did they ever all have their faces in at the same time, I guess not all with smiles anyway. They were cracking us up.

I absolutely love this picture with Nathan and his three girls. It is my new screensaver. If they only knew how blessed they were to have him for a daddy.

I thought Charlotte looked so big in these pictures. She was enjoying picking out her pumpkin but wasn't quite sure what to think of all the vines and grass around her.

We ended our fun morning with a picnic lunch. We were starving and the food really wasn't too bad. I think Charlotte finished her meal before the big girls barely got started.

This is what happens when you are 14 months old and miss your morning nap. She passed out with in 2 minutes of being in the car. Nathan, the girls, and I had a great weekend. We love the times that we get to just hang out as a family and do what we want to do when we want to do it. The girls really seem to love it also. They are always asking to have a family day or night. It's really sweet. I am trying to soak it all up now because I know it won't be long and that won't be the case.

Halloween Party 2010

We had a great Halloween this year. We had our 4th annual Halloween Party and had tons of fun! Annalyse was a dolphin trainer this year. She has wanted to be a dophin for the past two years but the only costumes I can find on line are mascot costumes that cost $1000. Sooo... Mom Mom came up with the idea of her being a dolphin trainer (since that is what she wants to be when she grows up anyway!) We got a black unitard to look like a wet suit. We bought a whistle and a bucket for her fish. The label on the bucket has the Sea World logo with "dolphin food" typed under it. Then I made her a name tag that has the logo and her name with "dolphin trainer" typed under it. She also had some water shoes that were hand me downs from some friends. Then we got her wagon and put blue plastic balls and some blue tissue paper for the water and put her big stuffed animal dolphin "Squeak" in as the dolphin she was training. She was so proud and as most of you know played the part perfectly. That girl knows how to pretend!

Lucy was a "nice" bumble bee. She said she wanted to be a nice because she didn't want to sting anyone. That is just like her. She has a heart of gold. She is so loving and tender hearted. My friend Amy let us borrow her little girls costume from last year and it fit perfectly. She was precious.

Charlotte was a precious little ladybug. They have all worn this costume at some point, so I would definitely say we have gotten are money's worth on this one. Charlotte is just starting to walk and was so cute waddling around in her costume. Her antenea didn't stay on very long. I think she enjoyed watching all the kids, especially trick or treating.

My precious bumble bee!

I loved her sweet little wings. So delicate.

Look at all the cool food we had! This is a cheese ball (coated in doritos, yum!!) made into a Jack o lantern.

We had scary punch that had a hand and spiders floating in it!

My sweet friend Ashley made these cute little fruit cups. Can you imagine how long that took her to carve out each one of those? We also had eyeballs made out of powdered donuts with a green m & m in the middle and then red lines drawn on the donut to look like bloodshot eyes. We had string cheese with almonds at the tips that looked like fingers. We had ghosts made out of marshmellows. I wish I had taken pictures of all the food but things get a little crazy with all the people and kiddos running around. It was too fun!

I even got creative and made a scary little tree decoration. The girls filled up the mini Halloween buckets with some goodies for the kids as they came in. I got two branches and spray painted them black and stuck them in a bucket and put some moss around it. I thought it turned out pretty cute. I think handing out the buckets was Annalyse's favorite part. She was upset after she realized that some of the kids left without their buckets. She was so sweet and very excited to get to hand out the buckets.

The kids also decorated Halloween cookies. They always love that part because they get to eat them immediately. Nothing like adding a little extra sugar to the candy they are already getting! We made Lucy her "eggless" cupcakes and she got to decorate those and loved it. Having food allergies couldn't have happened to a better kid. She has such a great attitude about it all. She never whines about not getting what everyone else has. Plus, she is definitely her daddy's girl and doesn't have a big sweet tooth anyway. Unlike Annalyse who has my sweet tooth and would eat sweets 24/7!

Annalyse's cookie with as many sprinkles as she could possibly fit. That's my girl! Notice the precious skunk in the back ground!

My good friend Katherine has one of those electric cars that looks like a golf cart. She decorated it and she drove around in the trick or treat mobile. She had spooky music and everything. It was so cool and if anyone needed a ride at anytime we could just jump on. With so many people trick or treating at one time, about 50, we end up spreading out pretty quickly through the neighborhood. All in all we had another great Halloween. The only thing we didn't do this year was carve pumpkins. We just ran out of time!