We brought the Circus to the Circus!

A couple of my friends and I took our kids (plus 2 extra kids) to the Circus in Big Spring Wednesday night. It was awesome! I think the adults were more amazed than the children! They had some amazing acts!! The acrobats had no harnesses and no nets and did some crazy stunts! The animals were fantastic! The lions jumped through rings of fire, the camels ran in circles with miniature horses running between their legs and the dogs did some cute tricks! The best animals were the elephants. They skipped, stood on one leg, formed a pyramid, then laid down on each other and pretended to go to sleep. They had 1 clown that was really funny! There were contortionists, jugglers juggling fire and knives, girl hula hooping 20+ hula hoops, guys balancing knives on their tongues with fire torches on the knives, etc. Probably the best was the motorcyclists from Las Vegas. They put 4 guys in a round cage and they rode around without crashing. It was really neat! The kids LOVED all the lights, sounds and action and of course, the snow cones! It was a great night!

It was a late night after the circus, so we didn't get baths. I had Cali the next day, so all 3 kids had a bath together! They loved it!!

Thursday was also rock star/movie day at school. The girls got dressed up for the pep rally! And don't they look like movie stars?!

Fall 2010 Update

The last few weeks have flown by! I cannot believe it's October already!! With time "flying by", my kids seem to be growing like weeds! I measured Taylor back in July (marked and dated it on the wall) and recently felt like she'd really grown a lot since then. So, I measured her last week, and sure enough, she's grown almost an inch in 2 months! As usual, she continues to say things that are wise for her years. Here are some examples...

1 - She told me she was jumping for joy yesterday when we arrived at Pizza Inn
2 - She said "You arrived just in time," when I got out of the shower the other day.
3 - We were looking for Dustin's body wash in Walmart. I picked up a green bottle and she said, "Actually, I think he uses the blue one."
4 - I was talking to my mom on the phone about staying the night in a couple of weeks. I said that Taylor could sleep on the floor. Taylor put her hands on her hips, sighed (dramatically) and said, "I most certainly will not sleep on the floor!"
5 - She also recently asked me what "head over heels" and "exasperated" means.

She's very into learning new things these days. She loves her preschool workbooks, art projects, and learning her letters. She can almost sing the Books of the New Testament, she can say the Pledge of Allegiance and Texas Pledge, and knows the days of the week and colors of the rainbow. I love how excited she gets when she learns something new!

Onto Ryan...He finally got both top teeth in as of a couple weeks ago. It looks so cute when he smiles!! He is practically running. He has no fear of anything and climbs onto everything he can! I cannot believe we haven't made an E.R. trip yet (knocking on wood). He's so busy all the time and doesn't stop unless he's eating or sleeping...or watching Mickey Mouse. I've never seen a kid so glued to a t.v. show as he is to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse! He dances and giggles while he watches! He still eats pretty much anything we'll feed him, which is great! He's sleeping wonderful...11 hours at night and 2 naps a day about 1 1/2 hours each. He doesn't say much of anything, but why would he when his sister talks for him and we give him whatever he "grunts" for. :-) He loves it when his daddy comes home. If we are outside, he races down the sidewalk with his arms outstretched. It melts my heart!

Taylor after church a few weeks ago

Ryan watching Mickey in Taylor's Dora chair

Fairy Tale day at the school

Ready for football!

Best Buds, Ryan and Tate

Sweet friends, Taylor and Cali

My kids love Champ the Mustang...especially Ryan!

Like Grandfather, Like Father, Like Son

Check out the similarities...First, Dustin's dad Sam, then Dustin, then Ryan. Gosh, they look alike! And I see where Ryan gets his love of food!!

Ryan 11 months

Dustin at about 1 yr

Couple more of Dustin

Homecoming Week and Home Improvements

This week was Homecoming Week at Sands. Taylor and Cali went to school Tues and Thurs dressed in the "theme" for that day, so they could pick prizes from Tana's prize box. These sweet girls have so much fun together!!

Mis-match day - they have mis-match bows, Cali's socks are different and Tay's shoes are different

"Your Future is Bright" - Bright clothes and sunglasses

Dustin and Ryan wore their bright colors, too!

Ryan's chunky legs are so cute...I couldn't resist a few pictures!

We are so blessed to live in school housing here! We've worked hard on the house since July and I wanted to post before/after photos. Dustin is responsible for the awesome yard!!

Yard before

Yard after

Living Room before

Living Room after (the school had the carpet replaced!)

Dining Room/Entryway before (notice the yellow glass)

After (yellow glass is GONE!)

Kitchen before

After

Master bedroom before

After - The back wall is chocolate brown...looks kinda green in pic. I still want to redo bedding (blue and brown) and add curtains.

"dressing area" in master before

After - still need to paint cabinets white

Kid's room before

Ryan's after

Tay's after - she made her bed :)

Pajama Day

It's homecoming week at Sands, and today was pajama day. Taylor and Ryan made the rounds at school this morning in their p.j.'s. My friend, Tana, took this great picture of the kids! I cannot believe how old Ryan looks and how much he looks just like his daddy! I love Taylor's smile!