drew's preschool harvest party...10.27

i ended up not being able to attend drew's harvest party because of an orientation at work, so sweet mary took my place...and took lots of pictures for me! LOVE the first one of little drew wholeheartedly praying!!!

halloween week at gymnastics...10.26

sarah AND drew take gymnastics at SEGA gym this fall. they were in the same class on monday mornings...we hit up gymnastics and headed straight over for sarah's dance class afterwards. it was a busy monday morning, but then we had no other activities for either kid the rest of the week (excluding church stuff!)...but, then miss sarah graduated to the "hot shots" class from the "gym-mini crickets" so we had to switch to monday nights so that both kids could take at the same time...it actually hasn't been too bad. we have dance in the morning, come home for lunch and naps, and then head out the door again...little jake is just along for the ride as always!!!
anyways...

halloween week is a big deal at SEGA...the kids were supposed to dress up in their costumes for warm up and then they got to go through the haunted house! THEN, the kiddos took off their costumes for their regular gym class. sarah and drew were in heaven! and of course we put baby jake in his new costume from aunt annie so he could be a part too!!!

it was a fun night and a great way to kick off halloween week!!!

ugh!...10.25

how can one sweet little baby make such a gigantic mess while eating breakfast?!?

mops playdate at priddy farms...10.24

sarah's preschool harvest party...10.22

aren't you glad you don't teach this class?!? 31 students 3 days/week!!!

sarah's class had their harvest party in the middle of the memphis monsoon season (aka all of september and october), so the party was held inside...but we still had lots of fun!!!

the kids got to play lots of games and burn off lots of energy!

it was all hilarious to watch! and overwhelming!

the only downside of the whole event was MY fault...just before going to sarah's party, i had my ultrasound to check out everything on the baby and find out if it was a boy or a girl...sarah had been so so excited for me to be able to tell her at her party...

ever since we finally remembered to tell sarah that she was going to be a big sister again, she has NEVER mentioned wanting one gender or the other. her usual response to that question was that she wanted 1 more brother and then 3 sisters! SO, i was dumbfounded when i told her it was a boy and she burst into tears! it was terrible! poor little thing. sarah is an extremely happy go lucky child. she is excited if you tell her anything! if i say it in the right tone, she would get pumped up about going grocery shopping! it broke my heart for her!!!

thankfully, the drama was short lived...and she was able to enjoy the rest of the party.

i really enjoyed getting to watch all the little 5 year olds interact...such little people trying so hard to figure out how to be big!

a little dinner out...10.16

while we were endlessly waiting for our dinner at mcalister's after we took our fall pics, we let sarah and drew command the diaper bag camera for some cheap entertainment...the results weren't too shabby!!!

fall pictures on the square...10.16

check out the past 3 years of collierville square pics...2008, 2007, 2006...

brothers...10.16

we don't know why jake does it all the time, but it totally totally totally cracks us up! he pushes his head into our heads or shoulders or necks...over and over and over again. i know we are just reinforcing it when we laugh so hard, but its so weird! oh, well...who knows!?!

love the little monsters on their little matching feet!!!

sweet boys!!!

sarah's big day...10.15

have i mentioned on here before about my "agreement" with sarah about 5T? last year, sarah asked MANY times to wear skirts and headbands to school like her friends. i told her that she could do those things when she was in 5T...i wasn't ready to let her "grow up" yet!!!

well, i have let her wear a few skirts here and there, and she thought she was BIG STUFF, but i had yet to let her wear her headbands...something about ratty, messy end-of-the-day hair that kept me putting it off. plus, she's never ever expressed any dissatisfaction at me sticking a huge bow in her hair every day, so i thought i should ride that train as long as i could!!!

anyway...so, one day last week, mimi was subbing in sarah's class, so i thought that was the perfect opportunity to try out the headband. oh. my. goodness! the excitement at our house that morning was out of control! she asked me to take her picture before school to document the big occasion! what a sassy girl!!!

and, her hair actually looked okay when she got home from school!

a few pics after church...10.11

(just fyi, THIS is what usually happens when i try to get a pic of all three kids...i'm tellin' ya, it was a MIRACLE when i took the pic at the top of this page!!!)

brothers...10.10

these pictures are so sweet. but they completely crack me up!!!
a. drew is wearing the same clothes he had on the day before! he slept in his clothes!
b. the boys are sitting in maggie's dog bed.

c. drew's hair is shaggy shaggy shaggy!
love 'em both to pieces!!!

community helper day...10.8

i was doing something or another up at the church after dropping the big kids off at preschool and when jake and i left the church, we happened upon drew's class visiting the firemen and firetruck!!! what excellent timing!!! (can you tell drew was a little confused to see us there!?!)

little monkey that he is, drew was NOT interested in posing nicely in front of the truck with a handsome smile on his face!!!

the sweet fireman in the background "encouraged" drew to smile and thankfully drew at least listened to the man in uniform! yet, NO ONE was able to convince him to take his silly little fingers out of his mouth...grrr!!!

once the kiddos bored of the firetruck and firemen, all the attention turned to drew's baby brother! drew was so proud to show his little brother off to his friends!!! what a sweet surprise to be able to watch drew and his class for a few minutes!!!

sarah's first skating party...10.4

sarah went to her sweet friend emma's 5th birthday party...

at the skating rink!!!

sarah has "skated" around our driveway with her little dora-go-over-your-shoes-skates-that-don't-really-roll, but she's never been to a skating rink!

missy prissy quickly figured out that she could "walk" in her skates, and off she went!!!

all the kiddos did the limbo! i was waiting for them to play "cold hearted snake" or some other paula abdul number and tell us it was "reverse" skate or "couples" skate...being at a skating rink brought back LOTS of memories!!!

all the girls had a blast playing and skating and being all girly!!!

it was a fun party...and a great "girls night out" for sarah and mommy only!!!

a night at the rodeo. yes, i said rodeo...10.1

our sweet friends, the littles invited us to go the rodeo during the midsouth fair at the desoto center...

we all got dressed in our best "cowboy" wear [read: blue jeans and fake cowboy hats from a vacation bible school]...

then we ALL loaded into one of our minivans for the drive down...[oh, we left baby jacob and their youngest sarah katherine at home...so it was *just* 8 of us in the car...]

we got the kids all settled in their seats and the daddies headed out for the best part of ANY stadium event...THE FOOD!

once the kids got bored with eating, the daddies started bringing out the big guns...overpriced toys!!! oh, and yeah, there was a rodeo going on as well...

the rodeo experience was interesting. i was surprised at sarah's reaction at first, but after thinking about it, she was right on the money!!! she kept asking me why the cowboys were hurting the calves. i mean, they WERE chasing them around and catching them with lassos and throwing them down on the dirt and tying all their legs up with rope!!! i explained it to her on the fly...i told her that the cowboys and calves were just playing like daddy sometimes plays with maggie. i think she bought it...UNTIL one of the calves DID get hurt and they had to bring an animal ambulance out to pick it up! my cover was blown!!! i guess i really didn't think sarah would be paying that much attention to the logistics of the rodeo!

other than THAT, we did all have a wonderful time! drew's crazy big smile says it all...

the actual big day...9.29

miss priss posing in her birthday crown from preschool. she went to preschool on her actual birthday this year.

when i asked her what she wanted to take for her special snack on her birthday, she said, "you know mom, those cookies that are brown and then have that white stuff in them, and then brown on top again?!?" poor pumpkin didn't know what oreos were called!

sarah took her special oreos and capri suns to school and thought it was the greatest snack time a girl could ever have! what a little sweetie! happy 5th sarah!!!

sarah opens her birthday presents...9.28

we decided to NOT have sarah and griff open their presents at their party. too much confusion and craziness!

mean parents that we are, we did NOT open presents when we got home and settled after 8pm on her party night! (in all seriousness, sarah did not notice...i promise!)

and then we didn't get to open them on sunday either!!! we went to church, headed to mimi's for lunch, and then the kids stayed with her per their weekly tradition!
~~major sidenote~~
(each week, mimi and poppy keep the kids sunday afternoon, mimi takes them to children's choir on sunday nights [which somehow ends up with an after church trip to mcdonald's for happy meals], and then the kids spend the night at mimi and poppy's house. on monday mornings, mimi gets them ready and takes them to gymnastics. again, i KNOW i am spoiled...and the kids LOVE their time with mimi and poppy and NO mommy and daddy!)

so FINALLY on monday night, we opened up all of sarah's presents! mimi and poppy came over to watch and enjoy some cupcakes with us!

sweet sarah let drew help her open the presents and let baby jacob play in all the paper and ribbons!

all in all, sarah's birthday celebration ended up being almost a week long! what a way to ring in 5!!!

the birthday party...9.26

the birthday kids...sarah and griffin...

just being kids...

checking out the bait...

the fishing...

the paddleboat riding...

baby jacob's 1st horse ride...

the marshmellow fight...

the birthday girl's turn on the horse...

the cupcakes and song...

the hayride...

the birthday girl...9.26

saturday morning cartoons...9.26

jake's 1st haircut...9.25

we FINALLY got around to getting jake's ragamuffin hair taken care of...he went to our friend miss deana for his first haircut...as did his big brother...wearing an elephant outfit...as did his big brother! he wasn't too impressed with the salon experience!!! if his hair grows like his big brother, he'll get used to the frequent trips soon enough!!!

compare with pics of drew's first haircut...