Happy Fall

Well, Fall is flying by quickly.  I always know that once we hit October, it might as well be Christmas...but I am never really ready for how busy we get!  On my birthday, we decided to go camping with our friends. Richie and Edna showed up first thing that morning with gifts and cake!  They spoil me rotten :)  The cake definitely helped me work through the morning!  Perfect breakfast!   I'm not always a big fan of camping, but we survived.  I had us prepared enough, that it was relatively painless.  We took Suka with us...he had lots of fun. There were storms that night though, and I was awake all night for any number of reasons...but mainly because I was worried about the dog!  I hope he knows how good he's got it :)

 

Of course there was nasty water, and of course they all had to get in it...at least 3 of the 5 of them with their shoes on...grrr.

Kaywen and Suka having some difficulty navigating around the trees.

Garron rode this little bike around the campsite all day long!

Afton taking a break.

 

Daddy and Rykin having some quality bonding time...attitude adjustment necessary :)

Richie showed up with monster suckers for the kids one morning...perfect way to start off October!

Kaywen participated in the play, "Annie Get Your Gun" a few weeks ago.  She was super busy for about 2 months, and then it was time for the big night!  Celesta made her a good luck cookie to wish her well before opening night.  Tesema was very concerned that her mother wanted Kaywen to "break a leg"...she wasn't quite sure that was a nice thing to wish upon someone before they took the stage!

 The whole family went to see Kaywen...she brought in over 20 tickets with people there just to see her...she's a lucky girl to have so many people who love her so much.   She did a great job and she loved every minute of it!  We are very proud of her!

 

This is just kind of random...but I thought it was funny.

 Braydon had a really bad headache one day...apparently, lego man did too!

 

We are just moving right along with school.  Everyone is doing well.  I think the thing I am most excited about is Afton learning to read!  He's doing a fantastic job!  To get us in the swing of things for Halloween, we studied about some of the things that you usually see during the holiday.  While we were studying bats, we went on a bat hunt one night.  And did we find bats?  Oh yes we did!  The buildings downtown are full of bats!  We had a blast.  At first we thought we might have been a little too late to really see them in action.  We could hear them...just couldn't see them.  Christopher was persistent and aggravated them enough that they decided to come out!  I have video, but due to the fact that the bats came straight out and right towards us, I'll spare you all the drama!

   

 It was a fun experience!  Who says there's nothing to do in Childress?!?

 

Well, last year we said, "never again"...and we did it again.  Rykin chose to play flag football.  He had to move up into the older age group this year and was a little apprehensive about playing at first, but his love of sports drove him to it!  He was on the Giants team...and he did a fabulous job!

 

Rykin...Giants...#8

 

 Mom and Dad so proud of Rykin at the end of a winning season!!  His team won all the way through the season and was able to play and win the Super-bowl!  Rykin chose to complete his season at the end of the playoffs...the Superbowl is always on Sunday...and what a faithful young boy to CTR with no hesitation for the second year in a row!  He's quite an example!

 

Rykin got a cookie from Celesta too!  Way to go Rykin!

(Celesta loves my kiddos a whole lot...can you tell?)

Halloween came fast!!  We don't buy costumes...Total waste of money in my opinion.  My kids love to dress up, but they get to come up with their costumes with things they have or can get on their own.  I love it...they have to express a little creativity!  And it costs me nothing!!  So, here they are!! 

 Braydon was an engineer...Rykin was an outdoor explorer...Kaywen was a neon rainbow (with the sole intention of glowing in the dark later.  She also had a neon afro wig, but didn't want it while we were out)...Garron was a football player...Afton was a cowboy.  I am super excited with they way they all turned out!  Too cute!

 

 I loved Braydon's costume!  He came up with it and he pulled it off.  He really wants to be just like his daddy.  I cannot think of anything better for him to be!  Afterall, he does have the best dad in the world!  He was the spitting image of Christopher!  Looks just like him :)

 

We found the whole crew at Nanny's!

 Then we went to Grandma's to scare Richie for the last night of his 'birth-month'. Grandma got him out of the house and the kids all hid to surprise him!  Talk about some screaming...from the kids and from Grandpa!  ...and then inside for cake and ice cream (as if we needed more sugar!)... finally,  home for our glow in the dark dinner that we always have on Halloween night!  Here are their jack o lanterns for the year.  Perfect ending to a fun and crazy night!