Spotlight on Kaitlyn

So Kaitlyn had a special kind of day mid November. On the same day she was recognized at an early morning school assembly as a "Marvelous Maverick" and then had her very first Piano Recital! Woo-hoo!

(she's the one in the hot pink in the middle)

(don't mind Sam--he was in a mood!)
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Then later that night, after only 6 weeks of lessons, she participated in her first ever piano recital. She was so proud of herself for learning her pieces and memorizing them. She did great!

We were actually quite surprised she didn't act more nervous because we would expect a bit of anxiety from her because new things are overwhelming for her but she didn't show any signs of nerves at all......until the car ride home when she threw up! Yup! in the car, it was awful and smelled even worse. Then my husband--wonderful man, cleaned most of it while I got the other kids in bed and cleaned her up. It was a memorable event, to say the least! But we are very proud of her performance....at the recital that is.

Lindsey's Day!

The Day after Halloween is Lindsey's Birthday! That's how she explained it to everyone and true enough it dawned and it was HER day!

Her FABULOUS Nursery leader had made her a Birthday Crown (which she wore for a few days) and it got her lots of attention as she explained to anyone who would listen that it was her birthday and then she'd proudly display 3 fingers!

Sam was at preschool that day so she and I were able to spend some special time together. Our friend Dee Dee (Divinidee Cakes) has a cake shop and I was such a cool mom to take her to get a cupcake but they were "closed" but luckily Dee Dee was there and she had some little cake bites just her size AND a purple balloon and that was even better than a cupcake! Then we drove through McDonalds and ate a picnic lunch in the living room (because it's one of her favorite things to do).
She helped make her birthday cake, white cake with the confetti sprinkles and purple frosting (do you sense a favorite color here?)

And then that evening Grandma and Grandpa Lewis came to help celebrate and open presents. She got new pajamas, some play food and from my parents: a new suitcase (for our cruise in the spring). She was so excited with the suitcase she exclaimed, "This is the best suitcase EVER!" It was priceless!

Happy Birthday to a girl who brings so much laughter and happiness to my life. She is her daddy's buddy, my wild child who always surprises me with things she says and does--we just love her to pieces and are so grateful she's part of our family!

Here are some great shots of her over this past year:

Trick or Treat

So Halloween fell on a Sunday this year so that meant that the Halloween festivities took place around here on Saturday in the form of a 2 ward (LDS Congregation) Trunk-or-Treat--and believe me we got all the candy we needed and threw away half of it!

For Halloween we had a Princess:
She was going to be a cow (a perfect companion to Sam's costume) but at the last minute decided to be Cinderella.

A Howdy-Dowdy Cowboy:
And here he is with a little friend from church who was "Jessie" from Toy Story:And Kaitlyn was going to be a butterfly fairy but that morphed into the story book character "Fancy Nancy" who is just an over-accessorized little girl who uses big words--fairy wings are required part of the Fancy Nancy outfit!:And Matthew used the obligatory "First Halloween" costume that Sam, & Lindsey both used:
Hooray for Trunk or Treats! I seriously passed out over 300 pieces of candy/pencils & erasers! There were a ton of kids there!

And someone decided that Matthew had to have his first ever piece of candy--he was teething so he enjoyed it even before he could taste it--but once he did WOW was he LOVING it!!

Fieldtrip & Pumpkins

Happy Halloween!! Oh wait, yes it's December and I'm THAT far behind in updating the blog, so here's to a week of catch-up! Woo-hoo!

Sam's preschool went to a little farm (Owen's Farm) with a petting zoo that morphs into a pumpkin farm for the season. Lindsey and Matthew and I tagged along for the fun of it.

Lindsey is quite brave! My older two are a little hesitant to try new things (Sam mostly is because he watches follows Kaitlyn's cues) but Lindsey is so confident and independant and LOVES animals so I wasn't suprised at all to find her doing this:


We also took a hay ride, saw other farm animals, and picked our own pumpkins to take home.

Then THAT night we had grandma and grandpa Lewis come over and help us carve pumpkins--this is really the ideal way to do this because this way each kid has an adult to work with and it goes pretty smoothly, enjoy some photos:

Sam the Soccer Stud!

Sam was the "Breakaway King" this last Saturday at his soccer game!

At the kick-off to start the game, he booted it and it rolled all the way into the goal!(unfortunately that one didn't count) But the OTHER 3 GOALS he scored DID count! He got it in his head that he could run faster than everyone else if he tried (because"Dragons" are faster than "Jets"), and he kept getting the ball and running it all the way down the field and scoring! His smiles were priceless! GO SAMMERS!!

Pumpkins

This past Saturday we went on our annual Pumpkin Patch outing.Usually we go to an actual patch where we pick our own pumpkin, but this year we went to Fall Festival at the Dallas Arboretum It was REALLY COOL! And we even had a special guest along--well a few:
These are some friends of Stephen's from Texas A&M, the one in the middle, Charite is one of his closest friends, she lives in So. Cal and was in Dallas for a Conference, so this was our chance to spend some time with her.

And now, enjoy some fun shots of the kids:

Sam is an engineer in training!

My 4 year old Sam made this:
Mostly by himself at pre-school last week.

We send our "creative trash" to school all the time and the kids get a chance to create things. He decided to make a BOAT! I love the sail and the masts. His teachers helped him tie the string, but we tried it out in the bathtub and it even floats! He was so happy.