Austin's first Oklahoma Sooners Football game!

Randy was two tickets to the OU vs A&M game. And who better to take with him than his son!! Austin had so much fun!

I think Randy waited just the right amount of time to take Austin with him. Now that he has friends to play with in the neighborhood, he has really gotten in to football and appreciates the sport.

Oh my goodness! I was so glad that Randy got a picture of this guy because Austin kept talking about him! He couldn't believe how far back he could bend and still walk. He tried it a couple of times in our front yard but would fall over! It was funny watching him try to impersonate this guy!

And he loved how the Sooner Scooner would come out onto the field after every touchdown! I wish I could have been there to watch him take it all in!

The game was a lot of fun, especially since the Sooners won!

Austin loved watching Landry Jones play, but I know he loved having his own day with his dad just as much!

I woke up the other day to find Austin already up and watching TV. This isn't unusual as Austin is a morning person. But instead of seeing cartoons or the Disney Channel on, he was watching Sportscenter!!! I couldn't believe it! My little boy is growing up! It's so fun to watch him grow!

Citizenship Awards!

We are so proud of our kids! So far, they have both gotten Citizenship Awards at their school every year! This time, they got them at the same assembly! We always try to teach our kids to be good examples of Jesus Christ, choose the right, and to be leaders instead of followers. But it's great to see that they are making these kind of choices on their own when they are at school.
Kindergarten doesn't come to the assembly, so Addie wasn't with us. But thank you, Avery and Austin, for being such great kids and for the choices you make when you are away from us. We hope you always desire that happiness you get inside when you choose the right! Love you!!!

Austin's fall soccer

I'm not quite sure what excuse I have, but some how I have no action pictures of Austin this year! They didn't have quite as many boys sign up this season, so they combined the U9 and U10 boys. I think it was really good for Austin as he was younger and had to work a little harder to keep up with the older boys. He's team was called the Bombers.
But as always, Austin was a hustler EVERY game! Sometimes we have to tell him to stay on his own side so he can conserve some of the energy! He's doing better at talking and telling people when he is open and he even scored a couple goals... but he is still very defensive minded. He had a great season and we loved watching him play!

Addie's fall soccer

Once again, we loved watching Addie play soccer! This year she had some of her good friends on her team: Lucas Vaclaw and Ellie Christiansen.

Addie is fun to watch. At first she started off a little shy again, but once she scored her first goal she came out of her shell! :)

Addie scored some crazy number of goals over and over again. And she loved every second of the game. There were some kids on her team that were a little more timid and many times didn't want to take their turn at playing so she was always willing to go in to their spot.

Grandpa still has the goal=$1 rule.... so Addie racked in some good money!

Such a fun season, such CUTE outfits (Addie's team was Salt Lake City Real), such great friends to be around!!! Can't wait for next season!

World Series, Game 7

This year's World Series was with the Texas Rangers and the St. Louis Cardinals. Now, growing up Randy and I were both huge Atlanta Braves fans. We still are, but since they don't have their own network anymore we don't see as many games. And since Oklahoma doesn't have a Major League Baseball team, we tend to root for the surrounding States. So for us to have two surrounding States in the World Series, it was pretty exciting around our house. When it was decided that there would be a game 7, Randy and his friends couldn't contain themselves... they had to be there!!!

So John Colaw, Randy and Kyle Hubbard packed up Saturday morning and drove all the way to St. Louis. It was right before Randy's birthday, so I thought there couldn't be any better birthday gift than to let him go to the World Series!

The excitement was contagious!! The whole crowd was on cloud nine!

Randy's didn't buy his ticket until he got to the stadium... but from the picture you can tell that it really wasn't a bad seat! Of course the downfall was that he didn't get to sit with Kyle and John.

However, Randy said he never felt alone! Everyone you sat by was your "best friend". Lots of talking to each other, clapping, high fives, etc.

Someone even offered to take a picture of him, which I was very grateful for! So, Randy had been rooting for the Rangers most of the way through the series since they have never won, but with the crowd he was in I suggested he root for the Cardinals! I don't think he could help but go for them with the people he was around! He even borrowed a Cardinals pullover from his friend. :)

And it was definitely more fun routing for the winning team! Way to go Cardinals!

Randy stuck around for the ceremonies and stayed out most of the night watching the crazy crowds! People celebrated ALL night! It was quite the sight to see I am told! I don't think I will ever be able to top this birthday present! :)

Halloween festivities

So, as I mentioned we had three different events to go to during the Halloween "season". Our first night of Halloween was the trunk-or-treat activity at the church. We found Tyler and Amanda's family first and hurried to grab a group picture with MaryKate, Logan, Evie and Jake.

There was a great turn out- both trunks and kids! Addie found Laynie Hansen, who was dressed as a mermaid. Love the pink hair!

Austin with his buds: Logan Vaclaw and Mack Vaclaw. These guys have grown up together... I think I have a picture of these three together from when they were toddlers!

And these three also!!! It seems like just yesterday that these little girls were a few months old, sitting in their daddy's laps dressed up for Halloween. I can still see the picture in my head right now! How time flies! Addison, Ellie Christiansen, and Evie Vaclaw. :)

Even though she loved her outfit... I think Avery was a little bit jealous of Izzy's banana!! Hahahaha, so funny!

Addie felt a little safer hanging out with Ninja Lucas Vaclaw! :) The kids got a lot of candy this night, and they also had hotdogs. It was a fun evening!

Our next event was with our new neighborhood. Our neighbors block off a road and have a street party. Everyone brings a side dish while the main course is provided by the party planner. This was a great way to get to know more of our neighbors. But there are some we already know, like the Hansens. Burke Hansen has been the best neighbor we could ever ask for!! He has become like Austin's big brother and they hang out ALL the time!! He keeps Austin outside playing football, basketball, kick the can.... whatever they can think of! It's so great to have some boys around for Austin and his house full of sisters. The boys decided to be beat up football players for this day of Halloween! :)

And our little Kate Hubbard that I use to babysit now lives just down the street from us as well! We love our Kate! Ok, so now Avery AND Kate are the cutest witches I've ever seen! :)

My nieces grandparents also live down the street from us, so we get to see them all the time too! Here are the younger girls with Mika...

and Ashton later with Sora!

After the block party everyone goes back to their house so the kids can come around trick-or-treating. We went around with the Hubbards. Kate was a little bit nervous at first... Megan had to coax her to the door.

But it didn't take long for her to be right up ready to ring the doorbell and say "Trick-or-Treat" and also "Thank-you!"

Kate even shared her wagon with AJ when we had to go further in between houses. Another night full of candy!! Holy cow, our house was full of candy!

And then we had our third and final Halloween party. This one was actually on Halloween night. We went over to Amy and Brian Christiansen's house for a cook-out and then trick-or-treating their neighborhood. Lots of great food and great friends!

This was our best attempt at getting all the kids in a picture! Not too bad!! Lots of kids all ready to ring some doorbells!

So off they went.... with parental guidance of course!! Look at that smile on Addie's face!

Ashton was a little bit slower than the rest... but she wanted to go up to each door by herself. And she would run back to me after EVERY house and be so proud of her self for saying "thank you". I was proud of her too!!

After we were done trick-or-treating, we went home to a crowd of people trick-or-treating our neighborhood! So many kids, that Randy ended up taking a chair outside and passed out candy out there. With four kids and three days worth of trick-or-treating, we let them pick out their favorite candy and then passed out the rest to the kids who came to our house! There was plenty for everyone!!!

Happy Halloween!!

Wow! Halloween time again! I know it sounds kind of mean, but I'm never really big on Halloween. I hate spending tons of money on Halloween costumes when they wear it once... but luckily we had three different events to go to so it helped justify some of the costs. Plus we had a borrowed costume and one that didn't cost anything! Yippee!! :) These pictures were taken right before we left for the trunk-or-treat at our church.

My sweet little Ashton bunny!! Can there be a cuter bunny?!?! I don't think so! She actually wanted to be a pig but I couldn't find a cute pig nose and ears, but I loved these bunny ears and tail, and luckily she agreed. And the ballet outfit is now part of her dress up clothes so she wears it all the time!

And then I also had the cutest cat ever... the ONLY cat I love!!! Addie got a black leotard and ballet skirt too that is now in the dress up clothes and is worn all the time. Reusable costumes... the only way to go!!

Here is the no cost costume!!! Austin wins! :) He really wanted a morph costume that was very expensive but we talked him into being a cowboy because we already had everything for it! So handsome!! I LOVE it!!

And have you ever seen a gorgeous witch?!?! Well, now you have!! Such a CUTE costume that Avery borrowed from one of her friends! We had the black skirt and black shirt, and I found the orange and black tights at Walmart, the only thing I had to get extra for her outfit! So sure, its stressful at first trying to figure out what they are going to be and getting them all ready in time... but they always turn out so dang cute that I really can't complain!!