Happy Birthdays!

:oD

Happy Fall Y'all!

Hello!  Alright, I didn't mean to do it, but again - it's been exactly one month since the last time I posted, haha.  Well it's been a really great month, with a GREAT Halloween.  And we even had some pretty awesome Report Cards too!  Woohoo!  Here are some of our best pics and moments.  :o)

Evelyn's still rockin' her gymnastics classes.

She was asked again to join the Acrobatics Team (actually, she was asked to skip the Pre-Team and go straight onto the Team!). However, she had to decline.  :o/  Her practice times would increase from two 1-hour sessions a week to three 2-3 hour sessions a week, and with Cheer and school work, she just couldn't swing that.  Case of rum, case of rum.  She's happy, so it's all good.  :o)

Red Ribbon Week continued with Jersey Day.

Yep, we know how to represent.  :oD

Emmy scored some kitty-cat rain boots that she just LOVES.

:o)

I was sitting next to Matthew while he was reading, and I looked over to see this title, "How to Survive in Bear Country."  O.o  Lol!  Well alrighty then, guess we can count on him if we ever get lost in the woods.  ;o)

That girl is so cool.

Matthew's new glasses!

Which are identical to his old glasses, but these are black instead of brown.

Doesn't he look so sharp?!  :oD

Crazy sock day!

:o)

Joshua's Band performed at a volleyball game at the school.  (And again at a basketball game a couple days ago.)

:o)

Sorry these are the only pics I got - but check him out!  Right in the middle, rockin' that sax!  :oD

We took the kids to our favorite Chinese buffet for a grand celebratory dinner following the first quarter of school.

:o)

Oh - and we got their report cards a few days later, and wow, these kids are awesome.

Joshua's GPA:  94.0

Evelyn's GPA:  99.0

Matthew's GPA:  97.4

Woohoo!!

The kids make Prinicipal's List when they have a GPA of 94.5 or higher, so yep - Evelyn and Matthew made it!  And J just missed it by 0.5!  :oP  But it's all good.  He still made Honor Roll!  Woohoo!

We've been boo-ed!

A neighbor left this basket of candy on our porch for the kids.  :o)

The Friday before Halloween (the 25th) we got all dressed up and went to a Magical Maze where the kids got to trick-or-treat with Disney and cartoon characters.

:o)

(The other little girl is Evelyn's best friend.)

Then we went on a Haunted Hayride!

And it was seriously kinda freaky - out in the middle of the woods with lasers and fog, creepy scenes and people jumping out at you... but yeah, our little fools loved it.

And when it was over, they asked if we could ride it again.  :oP

Matthew and the bean plant!

Evelyn made us a lovely Halloween card in her Scrapbook and Stamping Club.  :o)

The kids dressed up for the All Saints' Day Mass at church.

No, Emily's not a Saint, she just wanted to wear something too.  :o)

I repeat - Emily is not a Saint.  ;oD

Matthew was St. Matthew, Joshua was St. Joshua, and Evelyn was St. Francis of Assisi.

Time to get those teeth checked!

At first, they had her sitting on my lap in that chair.  But then she said to me, "Mom, you can get down, I don't need you."  Lol!  Well okay then.  Hehe, and she was right, she did just fine without me holding her.  :o)

Evelyn bought her a cookie at school that day.

Finally, it was Halloween!

Hangin' out before school.

Following the leader, the leader, the leader.

Following the leader, wherever she may go.  :o)

Later we went to Matthew's story sharing time and class party.

Look, it's Ghoul-aid!

:o)

Time for trick-or-treating!  Check them out!

:oD

Joshua was Frodo.

Emily was Agnes, the little girl who likes unicorns.

Evelyn was Margo, Agnes' cooler big sister.

And (finally), introducing Matthew the Minion!

And my oh my, I bought the scarf on a whim, just hoping we could talk Daddy into wearing it.  Well...

All it took was that little unicorn girl saying that she wanted Daddy to be Gru and Daddy stepped up!  :oD

Check out the looks on their faces - what a happy Halloween!!  

Well, this year, we let Joshua go trick-or-treating with a group of his friends!

No worries, the parents of his best friend were leading this group around (also Joshua wanted to help his friend who was on crutches.)

But goodness - he had such a great time with them.  :o)

Haha!

We had a good time with our Despicable little crew too.

Hehehe!

Here are a few more pics of Joshua's gang.

When we got home, the kids sat outside and passed out our candy.

And they were so good at it!

When we ran out, they made sure to put a sign on the door too.

Lol!

That weekend, we made a trip in to Houston for Uncle David and Aunt Jamie's wedding.

:o)

It was really sweet and we had such a great time.  :o)

Time to get down!

The girls kept Paw Paw busy too.

So glad we got to go.  :o)

Our crew before school one day.

:o)

We took the big kids for their annual well-child visits.

Everybody is happy and healthy!

Matthew is now 50.3 inches tall (25-50th %) and weighs 57 lbs (50th %).

Evelyn is 53.1 inches tall (25-50th %) and weighs 73 lbs (25-50th %).

Joshua is 58.4 inches tall (75th %) and weights 85 lbs (50-75th %).

:o)

Oh - and Chris and I got to get all fancy and go to a Coast Guard Chiefs' Dinner!  The kids stayed with some neighbor friends of ours and we all had a great time.

Photo courtesy of Evelyn.  :o)

Matthew got to have his best friend come over for the day (who lives off-base, so it doesn't happen too often, so it was kind of a big deal) and they had the best time together!

So happy for my boy.  :o)

Emily discovered our paint with water books.

So yes, now she paints all the time.  :o)

The Cowboys were playing the Saints, so I made sure to blow up that big Dallas Cowboys helmet bouncy ball and throw it outside for everybody to play with all day.

:oD

(But yeah, we're not gonna talk about that game.  :oP)

Happy Veterans' Day!

The base was having a luncheon for everybody, so we got to chow down on hot dogs and nachos.

Oh, and cupcakes too.

Lol!  :o)

Evelyn painted her nails orange and green in honor of the fall season.  :o)

And then it got cold outside.  Like 36 degrees outside - C O L D.

Like, I didn't want to walk them to school for fear of freezing to death so we drove - C O L D.

Brrrr.  But then it warmed up again 2 days later, and then got cold, and then hot, and then cold, and then runny noses for everybody!  Bring on the daily breathing treatments for Emmy!  ;o)  Lol, but we're all okay and it's all good, but it's definitely Fall out there.

Aww, and Evie got to wear her Cheer outfit to school.

Beautiful girl!  :o)

Her squad did a great job cheering at the basketball game after school.

Lead those girls Captain Evie!

:o)

Emily was overjoyed with the Donald Duck orange juice she talked me into buying.  When the kids got home from school, she opened the fridge, got it down off the top shelf, and lugged it into the living room to show the kids, "Look!  Look what Mom got us!"  Silly girl. :oP

All the kids got to beat up Sponge Bob at a neighborhood birthday party.  ;o)

And remember how she loves that Pitch Perfect movie?  We bought a couple of the songs from the soundtrack, so she donned her dressiest apparel and danced along with Itunes.

Hehehe.  :o)

She's getting really good with her tracing.

"Look, I did all the letters."

Yes, yes you did.  :oD

We finally took down the Halloween stuff and got out our Fall/Thanksgiving decorations.

Emily was really excited because their were 4 scarecrows, "One for Emmy, one for Jah-Jah, one for Matthew, and one for Evie!"  :o)

She helped me set them up outside and posed for a pic with them the next day.

:o)

And yep, that brings us up to date - and Thanksgiving's right around the corner!  Already!

The kids will be out of school for the week, but we're gonna stay home and chill out in the Big Easy since Daddy has to work on Turkey Day.  :oP But it's all good, because he'll have Christmas off!  Yay!

And wow - Emily (and Chris') birthday is next Monday!  She'll be 3!  But honestly, she already acts like she's 8 or something, so I guess it's not that big a deal, but goodness... she is sooooo excited and ready for her party, which we're having the day after Thanksgiving.  She's decided that, "My party will be a Dor-dor party (Dora) and Daddy will have a Minion party."  :o)  When we went to the store to buy the decorations, she picked out some Dora cups, but then she saw the My Little Pony cups and she said, "Um... maybe does Daddy want to have a Pony party?"  Hahaha! No, I don't think Daddy wants a Pony party Em.  But yes, we got her the Dora and the Pony cups.  ;o)

Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying this crazy yo-yo weather.  The kids brought home their progress reports yesterday and they are all doing just fine.  :o)  Happy Thanksgiving!

Laters!