new smile

Jared has a new smile.  Check it out.  His orthodontist is amazing.

Claire's ninth

 Claire turned nine!!  She had a big bash at Pump it Up and now has enough crafts/jewelry making kits to keep a small town busy for a year.

 She got her long awaited American Doll from us and some matching clothes.

Claire at nine:  still happy as ever, still makes us laugh, still hasn't met a stranger.



twelve

 We went shoe shopping over the weekend and made this discovery.  Jared is now a size TWELVE just like his dad.  Jared is TWELVE years old!  They were both happy to have just expanded their shoe selection.  I am not looking forward to having to buy all Jared's size 15 shoes online when he is 16.

Halloween 2012

 We had a fun Halloween this year.  We didn't carve a pumpkin since no one comes to our house.  I did let Claire do a princess pumpkin which she named Princess Pinky.

 Allen dressed up as Clark Kent in mid change during the day at work and the boys liked the idea, so they both copied the idea that night.  Carter went out with friends while the rest of us went to our church's trunk-or-treat so it was all good.

 Claire was the cutest 50's girl ever.  It was a great night for all of us.

piano princess

our princess has started piano



summer 2012 recap

I didn't blog about all of our summer activities, so here is a peek at some of our fun:

went to the Sexton's beach house

surfed behind our new boat-Allen and Claire!

enjoyed watching the sun go down

we got close to our dog

we introduce Max to the boat-he loves it

we went to metcalf bottoms

we swam on the swim team-Carter and buddies getting psyched for their race

went to the mountain for a weekend with friends

Jared wanted his buzz back, so Allen had some fun first

Carter had a pool party on the last day of school-40 kids!!  Co-ed!

 By the end of the summer the boys really got a hang of the wake surfing and could go several minutes without holding on.  Here is Carter:

school

No outside pictures because it rained the first day of school. That seemed appropriate. That was about how we were feeling. "We" being everyone in the family except Claire.

showing off her new dress

saying good-bye to Max

excited to be back at school!