Halloween

October 31st came really fast this year. We have not even carved our pumpkins yet, so today was the day! We started right after lunch. Tyler was a little late to join us because he was playing a game at a neighbor's house. At least he still wanted to carve a pumpkin!!!

The results...Lyndsey's (by mom), Corynne's, Lauren's, and Tyler's.

We got a little down time before time to dress up and go trick-or-treating.

Presenting Princess Belle...

Princess Cinderella

Princess Stinky Booty (aka Sleeping Beauty)

The Hunter

Our Crew

And finally...the surgeon and his barefoot and pregnant wife!

Life is good!

Camp Cosby

The 6th Grade at Trinity goes to Camp Cosby for 3 days of bonding and fun each year. JM went with the group as a parent sponsor. The boys had a great time. Hear are a few pics from their camp.

Western Night...

partner dancing...I am glad this was still a little awkward for them!!!!

Learning to line dance...

Don't break the rules or Mrs. Kirkland will give you a big kiss! Watch out Tyler...

My boys!

Lots of learning and fun!

Thoughts for today

My 6 year old said, "Mom, the days are going by so fast." I do not remember ever thinking the days went by so fast when I was young. Is this a bad sign for my children?

JM is gone this week, on call this weekend and everyday next week, and is leaving for India next Friday for ten days. During Monday night prayers, the girls said they missed Dad :(. I did not have the heart to tell them that our 3 weeks without Dad had just begun.

A 8th grade student at Tyler's school took his life at home on Monday morning. I cannot possibly understand what was going through his mind. How can a 13 year old in a Christian home be so troubled? This is a reminder of our present spiritual battle and our broken world. My prayers go up for the Ellis family.

Tennis Tourny updates

Tyler has been playing in a few tournaments this month. He played in the MCC Tournament on October 17-18. He played singles and doubles in this tourny. He and his partner won the doubles U12 division. Tyler played in the singles consolation finals on Sunday morning, but he lost to a local player. These two boys are very equally matched, and every time they play it is really determined by who keeps their mental game. They both have tempers, so the first one to lose their temper usually loses the match :(! After beating the kid two weeks ago in the Wynlakes tournament, Tyler lost at this tourny.

Tyler also went to a tournament in Dothan, AL with his coach this past weekend-October 24-25. This was the first tournament that we have let him travel without us. That is not to say that we have been at EVERY match he has ever played! We do have 3 other kids and sometimes, we miss a match. BUT we have never missed a whole tournament. So this was a learning weekend for all of us!!

Tyler did not bring home any hardware from Dothan, but his coach said he played a great tournament. Tyler ended up playing 6+ matches over the 2 days. He played singles and doubles. He played again in the consolation finals on Sunday night. He lost a VERY close match to his neighbor/friend/doubles partner!

Tyler had a great time, and the rest of the family enjoyed a little R&R after all of our Saturday morning activities.

Miley Cyrus Concert

John Mark purchased Miley Cyrus tickets for Corynne, Lauren and I. The concert was in B'ham tonight. The girls were so excited! The concert was not what we expected, but we had a great time!!! We really wanted more of a Hannah Montana concert!

Dress up days

This is Homecoming Week at Tyler's school. Each day the kids are allowed to dress in a different theme!

Monday was Geek Day! Here is our Geek!

JM and I got a hoot out of this outfit that Tyler put together! This picture is probably even funnier to those who knew JM during his 4th-6th grade years--big glasses and all! Just to say there is hope for all those geeks out there! JM turned out to be a nice looked man!

Lauren was feeling a little deprived from dress up I guess. She declared today to be Cowgirl Day for herself! Good thing it was parent/teacher conference day so she did not have to go to school!

4th Grade history day

Corynne's class had History Day today. Each kid was assigned a person from 300-1500 AD to research, write a report, and prepare a costume. King Henry VIII, Bloody Mary, John Knox, and Attila the Hun were a few characters present this morning. Corynne was John Calvin. The parents worked hard to prepare the kids, and the kids had a fun morning presenting their character! I think we all learned quite a bit--only because each kid called on people to answer questions at the end of their presentation and THE PARENTS WERE FAIR GAME! Let's just say that my listening skills were sharpened this morning!

Keeping up is hard to do!

I love to read my friends blogs, and I get disappointed when there is no new news! Yet, I do understand that keeping a blog updated is just another task that gets moved to the bottom of the to do list when we run out of time! Life is so busy with school, activities, church and family. So here is my fast attempt to let each of you know what has been going on around here.

I just downloaded my pics, so they will be my story teller! I have to admit that without them I probably could not tell you what has happened in the last few weeks!

September 23

Corynne is part of the dance team again this year. It is a very low key dance team. They do a few competitions, but I would just classify it as a dance group that gets to perform a few more times than a traditional dance class. They performed for the first time at a nursing home here in Montgomery on Wednesday night. Corynne's group performed 2 dances. They did a great job! I actually think they did better than the older dance groups, but that is a mom's opinion.

Corynne is the leader of the group again this year. She has no problem remembering all the dances unlike a few of the others. (She gets that quality from me!) It is great to see her as a leader because she is normally so reserved and quiet.

September 25

The kids have been asking to "camp out" for months. Tonight was not the best night since it rained all day, but it was the only night we could see it happening until December with our schedules. JM came home from work a little early (which for us means he was home by 5)! He and the kids assembled the tent. We enjoyed hot dogs, smores, and stories in the tent. It was a good night! The kids had fun. Everyone slept...I know that because I was awake to watch them!

September 26

Lauren's first soccer game. Lauren is playing on a soccer team made up of 8 girls from her 1st grade class at school. They are playing on a coed 1st-2nd grade league. They are trying really hard, and they are playing good basic soccer. They are just at a disadvantage against those big 2nd grade boys! All in all, they have kept a great attitude and are enjoying the game!

They are just completely exhausted from playing defense the WHOLE game!

September 27

Just another manic SUNDAY, but the kids looked so cute! JM snapped these pics as I was finishing up getting dressed! Lyndsey had on a new dress that I broke down and bought off the clearance rack because the poor girl has out-grown all of her hand-me-down church dresses! With two older sisters, she very seldom gets to pull the tag off of church clothes!

October 2-4

Tyler played in a tennis tourny here in Montgomery. It was at the Country Club right around the corner from our house. He played some tough matches, but ended up short quite a few times. I complained to JM a few weeks ago for not taking any tennis pics at the tourny he took Tyler to. Now I have to eat my words because I was at every match he played this weekend but my camera never made it out of the car with me :) I will work on that this coming weekend (October 16-18) when he plays at another Country Club here in Montgomery!!!!! Go Tyler!

October 7th

Corynne's 4th Grade class at Eastwood went to the Zoo today. Yeah :) I just love to go to the zoo with school groups...not! I actually was assigned my usual group of girls. They are all really sweet, and they do obey (and they know I WILL tell their parents if I have problems)! We had a good time. They got to hear/see a presentation from the education department with different animals that you do not normally see in the zoo. I have a lot of good pics of animals but very few of the kids since my group of girls took over my camera!

October 9th

The girls are out of school today for teacher workday. They have been wanting to go to the pumpkin patch since I set out fall decorations in mid-September. Tyler had no interest in going, so we took off for the pumpkin patch right before lunch. It was a HOT afternoon! We had a great time, and the heat worked to my advantage because they wore out quickly!!!

I think that catches us up until now. Everything else is just the day-to-day routine in a house of 4 growing kids, 1 pregnant mom, and 1 working dad who very seldom is home! If I shared a daily schedule it might blow your mind!

Well, here is a typical Monday schedule just to prove that I do not sit around and eat Bon-bons all day!

530 Wake up and get everybody up and going. Prep breakfast.

615 I leave the house to go to the gym for my workout with my trainer. JM loads the kids and takes them to school

730 I meet JM half way between kids schools and his work to pick up Lyndsey.

8-12 Come home. Clean up mess. Get dressed. Buy groceries. Run errands.

1230 Pick up girls from school. Feed them lunch

1-2 Girls piano lessons and homework

2-3 Finish homework with the girls

3-4 Run carpool for Tyler school.

400 Girls to tennis lessons. Tyler to SZ batting lesson.

430 Tyler to piano

5-6 Tyler back to SZ for fitness training and pitching lesson. Pick up the girls from tennis

630 We finally made it home for the day. Now dinner, homework, baths.

800 Everyone please go to bed. Mom is exhausted.

Tuesday and Wednesday are just as busy. Thursday and Friday are slower until basketball and baseball season!!!