Julia's Birthday Party

To celebrate Julia's 8th birthday we took a few friends to see A Dog's Purpose.  Since we arrived early Julia and Ansley were watching the trailer for the movie in the car.  Julia is thrilled to be celebrating with her friends!

A quick photo after seeing A Dog's Purpose.  It was a good movie but we had some tears from a few of the girls...especially Julia.  Back row we have Ava (Grace's sister), Landry Rose (Julia's best friend in her second grade class), and Grace (best friend from 3 year old preschool).  In the front row we have Calder (he was in Julia's first grade class and had a crush on her and she thought he was cute too), Andrew, Julia, and then Ansley (lives across the street).

Another quick photo walking from the movie on the way to Mellow Mushroom for dinner.  I think all the kids loved walking around The Collection with friends.  Such a big kid thing to do!

We hung out at Barnes and Noble for a bit while waiting for our table.

Look at all those great smiles waiting for our table at Mellow Mushroom.  Such a great group of kids!

Definitely a bunch of silly kids!  

Hanging out and chatting while waiting for our pizza.

Yummy cookie cake to celebrate Julia!

All ready for us to sing Happy Birthday!

All smiles and thinking of a wish!  Andrew sure enjoyed having another boy around.

Making a wish on her 8th birthday!

Hanging out and waiting for Calder's parents to pick him up.  Calder, Julia, Landry Rose, and Ansley.

Walking back to the car and stopping for one last photo opportunity.  We drove Landry Rose and Ansley home and Julia loved spending that extra time with two of her friends as they were singing and dancing on the car ride home.  We're so thankful for such a fun night with Julia and some of her friends.  Everyone was very sweet and well mannered, it was great!  Happy Birthday to our sweet girl, Julia!

Ear Piercing

Julia has been wanting her ears pierced for a while now so we told her she could get them done for her birthday.  She was so excited...a little nervous but very excited!  Picking out her first pair of earnings added to the fun.

Waiting while the lady was getting everything ready.

Ready or not here we go.

Before you knew it the first one was done.

Checking them out and looking quite happy with them.

Listening to some directions about taking care of them.

She chose the daisy flower with a little pink in the middle...so very cute.  Julia was very brave and didn't cry or even scream.  The only thing she did was squeeze my hand.  I can't believe it my little girl has her ears pierced and growing up right before my eyes.

Teddy Bear Parade for Andrew

 Andrew's preschool always has a Teddy Bear Parade for the 4K and 5K kids which is always fun!  This year Andrew is all decked out in Star Wars gear from his pajamas to his float.

 Daddy and Andrew worked hard making their float and of course it's the X-Wing fighter from Star Wars.  I must say it came out awesome and Thomas is much more creative than me at making these floats.  The boys had fun doing this project together!

 Andrew and his good friend Chase.

 Andrew was quite excited about bringing his X-Wing fighter to school!

My only contribution to this project were the stickers that say Star Wars.  Definitely a fun event for the kids and our last Teddy Bear Parade since Andrew will be in Kindergarten next year.

Thanksgiving Feast

Today was Andrew's last Thanksgiving Feast at the preschool.  It sure was cute to watch our little turkey sing and we enjoyed our special lunch with our little guy.

They always sing such cute songs...I sure am going to miss the preschool days!

We are so lucky Daddy works so close to Andrew's preschool and most always is able to join us for the fun activities.  We know many dads don't get to do that and we are very thankful!

Andrew and his buddy from down the street Hudson.  Even though they are not in the same class we still see them at many of the special activities.

Ryan, Andrew and Chase at the feast.  Cute little Andrew wanted to be sure the placemat he made for the feast made it into the picture.  I'm bummed I never got a photo of Thomas and I with Andrew at the feast but that's okay.  We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and take time to reflect upon your blessings.

Cheer Exhibition Night

On the Friday night before Cheer Bowl they have what's called Cheer Exhibition Night.  All the different squads from Midway Park come out at night and do their routine to practice in front of an audience.  It's fun to watch the different age groups do their routine as they prepare for Cheer Bowl!  Sarah is one of her friends in her class and she happened to be on her squad too.

Sarah and Julia along with one of their Junior Coaches Mackenzie.

Sweet Hallie came out to watch and support Julia and her squad.  Hallie is one of Julia's small group leaders at church.  She's such a sweet girl who we've used as a babysitter too.  I took a few pictures of the whole squad but they came out blurry....oh well!  We're excited for Cheer Bowl which is only 2 days away.

Pumpkin Carving

Another year of pumpkin carving and the kids are excited!

Julia has gotten better at cleaning out the inside of a pumpkin even though it feels gross.

Definitely gross!

Ready to clean out his pumpkin.

Andrew worked hard to separate the pumpkin seeds and after Thomas roasted them he absolutely loved eating them.  Julia wasn't a fan of eating them at all.

Andrew drew what he wanted carved on his pumpkin and Daddy carved it for him.

Julia decided to have the letter 'J' carved on her pumpkin.

She was strong enough to hold her pumpkin even though she didn't think she could do it.

Look at the cute face Andrew designed!

It was a bit too heavy for Andrew to hold.  Can you believe this was the day before Halloween and Andrew is wearing shorts and a T-shirt?

Trick or Treat at Avalon

 A few days before Halloween the newest outdoor shopping plaza had a trick or treating event.  Even though we knew it would be crazy busy we knew the kids would enjoy it so we decided to check it out.  It was busy but not bad.

 While there we saw Braya who is one of Julia's best friends from first grade.

 And Andrew saw Braya's brother, Chase, who is one of his good friends from school.  They were both thrilled to see their friends!

 Two Star Wars characters...Luke Skywalker and Julia was an x-wing fighter pilot.

Always wearing her boots!