A Maze, a Hayride and Lots of Fun!

"Tell me what it's really like to be a goat!"
"Look at those cute piggies!"

Riding the cow train!

On the hay ride!

Playing with the pumpkins in the pumpkin patch.

They had miniature hay mazes in addition to the giant corn maze.

You can see Ethan holding a map here. I didn't take any pics in the corn maze, but he and his friend got to hold the maps and tell us which way to go. They took us all over the place, but they loved being in charge!

My friend and her son--we went to college together 14 years ago! I'm so glad she lives somewhat close by now!

Last weekend, a friend and I went to a nearby farm to take our kids on a hayride and to a maze. We stayed there all day and had a blast, but were exhausted when we got home. Maybe I should rephrase that--my friend and I were exhausted but the kids were fine!

At the park and Boo in the Zoo

We just finished a kiss when she took the pic!

Ethan didn't feel like dressing up!

I went to the park with a friend and took some pics with the kids. We had a great day! I also have some pics from when we went to Boo in the Zoo with some friends. It wasn't nearly as nice as the one in Louisville, but Katelyn enjoyed being a princess.

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Pumpkin Fun

We decided a few weeks ago to get a pumpkin and carve it. We let the kids pick out a face from a book and they both wanted a scary face. Afterwards, Ethan was convinced it was watching him (much like Katelyn's Dora balloon) and wanted to throw the pumpkin away. We had a big talk about it just being for fun and it really being "a vegetable with a candle in it". This really helped! We've already thrown it away since it rotted, but the kids loved saying good morning and good night to it and lighting it at night!

Video from Katelyn's haircut

Ethan and Katelyn's school pics

You have got to see these pictures--they are so adorable! Their poses crack me up! Ethan's will be first, but you'll have to scroll down about halfway to find Katelyn (she's wearing a pink and black dress). Those stinkers certainly know how to get your money---Tracy joked that we won't have food to eat, but we'll have pictures of our kids! It won't let me link it so just copy and paste the address below:

www.richbeginnings.com/hdfall2008

Katelyn's 1st Haircut

Her before shot--her hair was pretty uneven and she had some curls hanging longer than others. The lady who cut her hair was the one who did Ethan's first haircut too!

We got her to sing songs to keep her occupied (video coming soon!).
Her after picture and she didn't want to look! I haven't got many pictures of her "look" here but this is her sassy "I don't want to do it" look!
I got my haircut too--doesn't she look thrilled?
Because she was such a good girl, we stopped by Big Lots and she got to pick out a small toy--surprise, surprise, but she picked out a tiara. She's really in to this princess thing. In fact, today in the car we were talking and I asked her if she was a baby and she said no. I asked her what she is (she usually says a big girl) but she said a princess instead. It was too cute!

Family fun and Community Fun Day

Katelyn being an Alabama fan last weekend when some of Tracy's family from Alabama came to visit.

Katelyn playing with Great Aunt Judy.

Giving cuddles to Aunt Amy (MiMi)

Playing on the computer with Nana.

Today we went to our church Community Fun Day and the kids had a blast. Here's Ethan on a pony.

Katelyn got to ride with him too.

They really enjoyed this and didn't want to get off!

They also had fun gyms for the kids to play on and Ethan really liked it. I think he's going to sleep well tonight!

Once again they got to ride in the church train.

We're still alive...

Ethan and Katelyn love Awana's! Here they are wearing Cubbie Bear masks!

Katelyn in her element--half naked and eating a cookie!

DaddyBob bought Ethan and Katelyn some cute Alabama outfits--which they love. Katelyn calls this her Princess outfit and Ethan thinks he looks cool!

We've been doing well, just busy as usual. I have just got to say that tonight has been wonderfully cool. As I sit here typing, we've got the windows open and I LOVE it! : )

School's back in and life is crazy again!

Sorry it's been so long since I last posted. I started back to school (the kids too) and it has been very busy. Ethan and Katelyn are doing great at preschool. Ethan especially loves it and tells me he can't wait to go and how he loves his teacher and talks about his friends. Katelyn wasn't as happy to return at first, but has settled in nicely. It's such a wonderful facility and the teachers are great!

The above picture was a few days before school got back in when Dad came and helped me clean the house. Whenever I do any cleaning, Ethan and Katelyn always want to help. They have a kid-sized vacuum, mop and broom. We, of course, encourage this!

The video below is kind of dark, but it shows Ethan singing to Katelyn before she goes to sleep. When we were on the youth trip, we were all in a room together so Ethan started singing to Katelyn when she was lying in her pack'n'play. When we got back, she kept demanding that Ethan come and sing to her every night and mostly he loves doing it.

Dance Party- WHOOO!

The kids really enjoyed dancing to the band's music!

Youth Trip to Panama City Beach

This is our first morning at the beach and the kids were very excited to see the ocean from this window in the cafeteria. They couldn't wait to get out there!

We walked out there after breakfast and had a hard time keeping them out of the water! Later we went back and swam and played but I didn't bring my camera. Unfortunately, that ended up being the only real time we got to play in the water as the rest of the week the warning flags were out.

I worried a lot about how Katelyn would do sharing a big room with me and Ethan and the other youth minister's wife and two kids since she is such a light sleeper. She did very well though her schedule was totally off. I took a pic of her sleeping because no one hardly ever gets to see her sleep since opening the door always wakes her up!

Although Ethan claimed he was not tired, he took a few naps too!

These are our roommates and they are all modeling the new stuff they got at a surf shop. Ethan got goggles and Katelyn got a kickboard. The other too got a boogie board and new sunglasses.

This is Ethan and Katelyn living it up during one of our worship services. They called it dance party and would always say "whoo!" afterwards. I've got a video that will be uploaded soon. We had a band from Atlanta called Counting Crosses who were awesome and totally ministry focused. They even led small groups and went on outings with us!

Our second to last day we tried to go to the beach one more time just to play in the sand but a thundercloud chased us away a few minutes later.

Our last morning there and these two didn't want to wake up. Aren't they cute?

This week was very stretching for me in a good way. I had to be more flexible with the kids and their schedules than I've ever been before, but we had a good time. We played in the pool, a little at the beach, went to a water park (Ethan loved the slides), went bowling and shopping and the kids even got to join in parts of the worship service. Although I would have liked to be more involved with the youth, I did try to spend lots of time praying for them. It was a good trip and the youth were impacted in great ways.