Trick or Treat

Macy and Jacob before they went trick-or-treating
(uhhh.... we did finally get some shoes on him later)

Macy and her friend, Stuart Scott

Little Sullivan as Raggedy Ann

Sarah Kate, Mally & Claire as a cute little cupcake

Some of the gang all dressed up

Jacob as Optimus Prime

Sweet baby Coleman as a giraffe

Daddy & Macy

Kimbell as Willie Wonka

A group shot

Jacob doesn't look too happy with the treat he got!

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of Madison..... she trick-or-treated with a friend last night and Mama was pretty sad not to see her or get some cute pictures.....

Hope it was a great night for everyone!

Another new puppy

Well, unfortunately we've had to take back our puppy this week because of some issues we were having with aggression. He was growling and snapping at us, and over the weekend he bit both Jacob and Madison. We've been very sad, but on Wednesday we took him back and came home with this little pup.

So here he is..... Charlie..... named by Maddie...... as sad as she was on the way home, we were all discussing names and had pretty much given up.
Then she said, "Mom, I've got it! Charlie! He looks like a Charlie."

Last night when we brought Charlie into the house for the first time.....
Boy, was he ever scared!

Jacob at his school this morning singing his pumpkin songs and songs
about Jesus at his pre-party show

Jacob and his buddies eating their treats

Mrs. Emmy and some of the kids loving on Charlie at Jacob's school

When we got home today, Jacob took a few snapshots with his new puppy.
Look at those cuties!

He even feels comfortable enough to pet him and play with him

Then we all got out in the yard and I took some more pictures.
Seeing them playing started to make me a little more confident of my decision, too.

Look how sweet. Jacob was loving it!

Happy Halloween everyone!
Be safe tonight Trick-or-Treating!

Ho Ho Ho!

It's been a crazy week, and although fun, I'm now glad two Halloween parties are done and were successful..... now it's time to move on to.... uhhhhh.... Christmas.

Not really, but I did receive an email from my Christmas card printer saying that if I'd order by October 25th, I could get almost 1/2 off. Being a sucker for a deal, I went Christmas clothes shopping, woke up early Sunday morning, did the dreaded drill of getting three kids shampooed, dried and styled, and then we were off..... this time with a puppy in tow.... to take Christmas pictures. 225 of them!! When you take that many, you're bound to get a few good ones.

I took the opportunity to take shots of each child individually, too, and I thought I'd share some of those. First a funny one.... Jacob put on the wig Jonathan was wearing to make them all laugh while I was taking their picture. Well, that's not ALL Jonathan was doing to make them laugh..... he must have been doing something to me, too, behind my back because every time I'd turn around, he would stop and act all innocent but mama ain't no dummy!

I was more than happy to be the butt of a joke if it made those kids laugh for pictures. Thanks, Jonathan!

Here's the wig shot.... don't ya love it?

Here's a picture of Miles.... already went from 3.1 lbs to 4.2 lbs in one week!

Here's a sweet one of Madison holding her puppy



Here's one I loved of the girls together

And one of my favorites of Jacob laughing

Finally he looks like himself in a photo!!

I'm missing my fellow bloggers blogging...... Come back girls!!

Oh, What a Night!

What a great party! Lots of people got together and had a Halloween party at Sky Bar here in downtown Auburn and it was a blast! Loved all the costumes.... really loved the music.... it was so much fun to watch everyone dance and cut up. We all need to cut loose every once in a while! Thanks everyone, and especially Jodi & Ronnie.... great job!

So, do you remember these guys????

Elizabeth's had this idea for years and we finally got around to doing it.....The Mystery, Inc. Gang..... Velma, Shaggy, Daphne & Fred...... where's Scooby??? Doesn't Elizabeth look great??

Joe, Elizabeth, Jonathan, me, Kevin & Heather before the party

I have no idea what we were doing but it
looks like we saw our first ghost!

Already having fun!

Here's a slideshow of the whole night.
If you want pictures, I'll try to upload them to Snapfish soon and you can order some.

Halloween Hoop-la!

Thanks to all of you who came to the Halloween party yesterday. It was loads of fun, and we had a great turn out.... maybe 140 or so. The weather was perfect for an outdoor party, too. Wow, we actually had a party and it didn't rain! The kids were psyched, or maybe just way loaded up on sugar, but I think they all had a blast.

Thanks goes out to everyone who let me borrow their tables, to Beth and Christie for bringing me so many volunteers, and of course, to all the other moms who let their older children help out. Much thanks to Dana and Kalyn for volunteering and for helping re-weave that ridiculous spider web! Also thanks to Heather for helping me set up and to Sutton who would have worked her fingers to the bone if I would have let her. You are a sweet girl, Sutton.

Here's a few pictures and then a slideshow..... a MUCH easier way than posting each individual picture. Lesley said she took 82 pictures, too, so if you don't see you or your children on these, she'll give me more later. I'll upload them all to Snapfish if anyone wants copies.

Getting the party started

Having fun making some crafts

Jacob's favorite game

Anna Grace, Emma, Anna Charlotte, Holland, Madison & the puppy, Miles

Hannah, Taylor, Thomas & Wells

A group shot taken toward the end of the party.
Quite a few of you are missing..... sorry we got to this so late in the party

Macy & Laura, together again!

Famous Last Words....

We're back..... with a brand new puppy!! So glad to be home, too. Yesterday was one of the LONGEST days of my life. Friday after school we loaded up the car and headed to Atlanta to spend the night. We shopped a bit, had a nice dinner out and then went back to the hotel. The kids always love to stay in hotels, so that in and of itself was fun for them. Then we woke up early Saturday to head to Cumming, GA for the Lakewood Antiques Show. The kids really enjoyed that, too. After loading up on some funnel cakes and a few souvenirs each, and with the kids pleading to go get the dog, we headed that way in a rainy, yucky mess of a day.

Now's a good time to go back and re-read my last post...... the day before we left to go to Atlanta for the weekend and to pick up the puppy I had had a pretty crazy week and wrote these famous last words in my post......

"Should be a nice break from the chaos."

Uhhh...... NOT.

Amazing how quickly life can throw you a curveball. Just when you think you're about to create one of the best memories of your childrens' lives, picking up their brand new puppy, not 10 minutes down the road, Jonathan looks over at a pumpkin patch on the side of the road, looks back and in 2 seconds flat, all the traffic in front of us on the highway was at a dead stop. With nowhere to go but straight into the car in front of us, well, we crashed. And just as we were realizing what had just happened, BAM! We got hit again from the back.

Everything was really quiet for a few seconds and then Macy starting screaming. That scared me because I thought she had been hurt, but luckily, she was just really freaked out. I turned to make sure everyone else was OK, and luckily they were. Then we got out to inspect the damage and make sure all the other people were OK. The man in the passenger seat of the car behind us was holding his hand out with blood all over it saying he thought he broke his hand. They had a little six year old girl in the car with them who was obviously very shaken up. The parents were pretty scared, too, and there was smoke everywhere in their car and their air bags were deployed, so I took the little girl away and tried to distract her for a while. Amazing how asking a little girl what she's going to be for Halloween can bring a smile and a story out.

Needless to say, it was not quite the day we thought we were going to have. But, all in all, everyone was fine and that's all that really mattered. The rest of the day didn't get much better either.... we stood out in the rain for what seemed like FOREVAH dealing with the police and insurance and moving the cars out of the road. Then we had to find a rental car place which turned out to be 25 minutes away. We decided to drive our banged up car there...... not really sure if that was a good idea..... every few minutes something would fall off the car and go bouncing back behind us on the road. Then when we got to the car rental place, they had no SUV or van big enough for our whole family, our luggage and the dog crate, so we had to rent two cars. Then we got lost, because of bad directions (REALLY!) on the way to get the dog, and it felt like we must have turned around 10 times.

But I will say, that once we got there and saw Miles for the first time, I think we all forgot about the bad of that day and were so excited to meet him. He was every bit as cute as the pictures we had seen. After we played with him there, we talked to his breeder for a while, and then we got him in his crate to head home. He wasn't a very happy camper, he was carsick and definitely scared and homesick, but he made it home just fine. He spent the first few hours very afraid and trembling at times. But pretty soon, he started warming up, and seemed to find some comfort in me, so I tried to hold him and play with him for the next few hours. He did cry a few times last night, but all in all, he made it through his first night in his new home just fine.

And best of all, my husband, who had wanted a hunting dog that would live outside, and said NEVER EVER EVER would he have a poodle..... well, I think he fell for that little puppy just like the rest of us. Last night, after we had been home for a few hours and he had not been paying Miles a bit of attention, he finally sat down and played with him. The next thing I knew, he was saying, "I'm positive this is the cutest puppy I've ever seen." And then I found him all curled up with him on the chair in our den. Puppies can melt everyone's hearts, I guess.

Jacob having fun playing in the hotel room Friday night

Madison catching up on a few tips from Cesar Millan before she goes to bed

Sweet dreams, little boy

Jonathan dealing with our mess.... lovely huh? And he had just been asking me on the trip what kind of car I wanted next...... I told him I loved my car and didn't want another one.

And another view

Our lovely rental cars..... me in the truck with the dog and the girls, and Jonathan in the KIA with Jacob...... never seen him driving a compact car.... it was kind of funny

Guess I won't be driving my car for a while..... don't you love the duct tape job..... the state trooper fixed us up so we could get over to the next town to rent a car..... I don't think he would have done that had he known things would be falling out of my car the whole way there.

The kids meeting Miles for the first time at the breeder's house

What a cutie pie!!

They were so excited!

Taking Miles inside our house for the first time



Can you see why we'd all fall in love??



Macy cuddling with Miles



And even daddy got in on some cuddle-action

Thanks for the phone calls of concern..... we're all fine, thank goodness.
Come by sometime and see baby Miles!