the dress

Claire finally got the dress she has been dreaming about. She had explained it in great detail: "touching the floor so you can't see my feet, puffy so it always looks like I am spinning." It was at the top of her birthday list. Well, Grammy and Mimi did not disappoint. And now Claire is in heaven and doesn't mind having to pick up her dresses a little as she walks up stairs and loves to sit in a muffin and tell everyone to come look how big it is, so big she can rest her head on it.

Can you say future beauty queen? Scary, I know.

Her second favorite gift came from mom and dad. She enjoys giving her brothers a ride down to the lake. Unfortunately, her dresses are too puffy to fit in the car.

busy

It was a busy weekend

halloween cross dressing

Halloween weekend was an odd one this year...and the costumes seemed to fall right in line. Carter's last minute "dirty laundry" was a hit. Claire was a "bat queen" (obviously), and Jared went through old costumes and came up with his.

For the school spook parade Claire was again the bat queen (do you notice her pose? I swear I've seen that exact pose in some magazine add. I should do a post on just her poses, the girl has some moves). And what is Jared you ask.....

He is a Justin Bieber fan of course. (Yes, he is wearing my skirt and my flip flops-which are too small) His friend at school came up with the great idea of mocking the singing sensation and surprisingly Jared was actually game. Allen just shook his head, but hey, they came in 3rd place.

discovery cove

We headed down to Orlando for fall break. We enjoyed the Disney parks as always, but our main reason for going was to go to Discovery Cove (by Sea World). It had snorkeling (those pictures are on the waterproof camera, but trust me, it was great), pet and feed stingrays and feed, pet and ride dolphins, also a lazy river and unlimited food. Oh yeah and an aviary...

still shot of Carter and his arch nemesis

second time there Jared loved it

Claire riding Izzy

The family photo

we all warmed up to the stingrays eventually and fed them their lunch

taking a break at the lazy river

so much fun

happy fall y'all

best part of these pictures is that I took them in our yard

hot tub time machine

We are finally having cool weather, so we fired up the hot tub for the first time this past weekend. HEAVENLY. It was a crisp 54 degrees outside and a warm 101 degrees in the hot tub. OK, for the "time machine part"(I didn't just use the movie title for no reason, that would be silly)...all three kids (the boys finally talked Claire into it) jumped into the pool several times and swam around and then hurried back to the hot tub. This brought back memories of my family staying at various hotels through out the years and the fun we would have doing the same thing. I am not as adventurous anymore. I stayed in the warm water and enjoyed watching my brave kids and enjoyed my memories of when I was so brave.

Hamlet and Carter

I am trying to write a paper on Hamlet, but I keep looking at this.

Funny thing Carter said after studying for a Health test..."mom, I got it, I know how I can gain weight...I will eat two baconators and sit on the couch all day". He makes me laugh everyday.