Keven & Braquel got married

Keven and Braquel got married on September 15, 2012. I was torn as whether I should watch Gary and Braquel walk down the aisle or watch Keven's face when he saw Braquel in her dress for the first time. I snuck a peak at Gary and Braquel and then I watched Keven. All doubt was laid to rest when I saw the love in his face as he watched her walk toward him. I am so grateful to able to say that my daughter married a great guy and that I don't have any hesitation about them being married. He simply adores her and she loves him with all of her heart. They are so cute together!

I can't believe that my baby has grown up so fast! Seems like just yesterday she was crawling around and getting into things. Now she's a beautiful, smart, independent young lady! We sure got lucky when God gave us this special girl!

Gary and I wish Keven and Braquel a lifetime of happiness. I'm sure they will have their ups and downs as all couples do, but I know if they keep their marriage a priority, they will make it through life just fine!

Pumpkin Patch 2012

We wanted to take the preschoolers to the pumpkin patch early in October before the weather got yucky. Treven ended up not having school that day, so he got to come, too!

It's always been tradition to take pictures in front of the height sign at the pumpkin patch ever since we started coming here! This year was no different!

My little cutie pie with the tiniest pumpkin. We ended up taking three little girls and none of them wanted a big pumpkin; instead they loaded us up on these teeny little things!

The people that own the patch have a pretty good sized pile of hay bales with "stairs" in them. Of course, there is also a sign that says not to play on them. And of course, the kids had to climb to the top and pose by the sign.

Here are Ellie and her two friends, Addie and Jettah. They love to get together and play!

Here's my criminal climbing the bales. I didn't post any of them, but I have several pictures of the kids climbing to the top and then jumping off. I didn't want any evidence of their trouble-making!

The poor kids kept tripping over the pumpkin vines; maybe that's why they all wanted the little ones! We had a great time at the pumpkin patch and ended the day with a lunch date at McDonalds. Wish there were more places to take the kids for outside outings like this.

Do you think she got that nose from her dad?

Ellie and I went to the dollar store one day and she picked out these glasses. She had to wear them all the way home. When we got home and I went to get her out of her carseat, I couldn't help but laugh!

Preschool fun

I decided to do preschool at home with Ellie this year. Albion is too far away to really make it worth driving her to school twice a week. I decided that it would be better to have someone else in the class as well, so we invited Ellie's friend, Jettah, to join us once a week. When she got here on the first day, they were wearing almost the same outfit!

We are working on an different alphabet letter for two weeks at a time. We started with "A" for apples. The girls got to make necklaces out of Apple Jack cereal and they loved that!

We have also done some work on colors; sometimes even adventuring into finger painting! This time we painted with chocolate pudding...probably not something we will do again!

We've been practicing our cutting. It has taken awhile to get the hang of how to hold both the paper and the scissors, but the girls are both doing well.

When we studied the letter P, we had a princess playdate. The girls both ended up dressing up like Sleeping Besuty! They cut some princess papers, practiced writing like princesses and did a princess puzzle. We're having so much fun doing our letter activities...sometimes I can't even sleep at night because I'm dreaming up more stuff for them to do!

First day of school-Ellie

Ellie threw such a fit that the other kids were having their pictures done and not her, so I told her we would take some of her after she had a bath and got dressed She's so spoiled!

First day of school- Mikayla

Mikayla is starting her last year of high school. She has been participating in a tech program so she will have her CNA license by Christmas. She has been working all summer and will work at Pomerelle again also when they open. She has plans to keep working towards her R.N. degree after high school. Can't believe I'm old enough to have two kids out of high school already!

She tried to tell me she wasn't going to take first day of school pictures this year...NOT! I told her we have done pictures every single year since preschool and we were not about to quit now...hence the not so happy expression!

First day of school- Chelsey

Chelsey started the 10th grade this year. She has been taking drivers ed all summer and now has her permit. (AAAGGGHHH!) She is just dying to be old enough to have a car and a job and money of her own. She is going to be the president of the FCCLA club this year and she's really excited about that.

Miss Ellie can't stand to not be in pictures even though she was still in her pajamas! Good thing her Chelsey loves her so much!