Luigi on the loose

Our neighborhood has a Halloween party every year. It's normally across the street in the first Oak Forest Estates subdivision....but this year it was in ours. We usually go for the trick or treating but skip the meal. This year was no exception. I had planned on taking both kids but Addie was asleep and she's been sick so I didn't want to wake her. Zachary has been VERY excited about being Luigi this year. I thought about having Addie be Mario (wouldn't that have been so cute!) but ended up with a ladybug costume. We'll have to wait till Halloween for those pictures. Here is Big Z in his costume, mustache and all!

The kids all ride on a trailer on some hay but it was full so some had to ride in the back of a truck. They go around to the houses that have their porch light on (mainly those without kids - because the ones who have kids are obviously out trick or treating!).

At the first house there was a precious puppy. I seriously considered stuffing her in Zachary's bag but it's Sarah's cousin's dog so I figured I'd get caught.

Running from house to house at the other Oak Forest Estates subdivision.

Here is Zachary with his friend Jessica who lives across the street from us.

Close up shot

even closer (he got tired of the mustache)

and closer still

posing as Luigi

Another dog dressed up as Spiderman.

He is just as cute as he can be!

Our sweet Luigi

Zachary's first soccer games

I can tell that the fall shows have started because I am really behind in posting. Zachary's first season of soccer is coming to an end. I figured I'd better get these pictures posted before it was over. He has really enjoyed it. I think Jason has too. He really is such a good coach. I've had a number of people come up and tell me what a great job he is doing with the kids. Here is a slide show of Zachary's first couple of games.

Zachary's own JibJab!

Zachary wanted to do his own JibJab....

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Dad's Scaffolding...

Pretty impressive!

YEA Retirement!

I know that I have been slacking when it comes to updating the blog. I've actually been very busy lately. I have joined the Junior Auxiliary and have been going to meetings and volunteering a bit. I am also home room mom for Zachary's class and am helping out with his school's fall festival which is the beginning of November. So....in the evenings, instead of posting, I crawl in bed and relax. I do want to take the time to talk about my dad who retired last Friday. He was the Controller for Solomon Corporation for 17.5 years. I know he has to be so excited about being free to do whatever he wants. I am very proud of him because instead of relaxing and playing golf his first week of retirement he is currently putting up scaffolding. He plans to doing some repairs on the house before scraping and painting the entire thing (and they have a big big house!). I know he'll send me pictures so I will post his progress from time to time.

I just realized that I never posted anything about my mom's retirement back on July1st. I remember posting about the article in the paper so I guess I was thinking I mentioned it then. I just looked and that was back in March of 2008. Wow - I'm losing it. Okay, so my mom has retired! YEA!! She was the Kansas Librarian for the Salina Public Library for 19 years. My mom is a writer so I know she will spend a lot of her time doing that. I just spoke with her and she just got back from a fashion show. Ahhh the good life.

In honor of my dad's retirement, scroll down a bit and enjoy.....

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Luigi & Woody

I know I need to post pictures from Zachary's first couple soccer games but there are a ton of pictures and I need to go through them all to figure out which ones to post. Hopefully I will get to that this weekend. In the meantime...Zach got his Halloween costume in the mail the other day and Addie was fussing because she wanted to wear it. I tried getting her to put on her Minnie Mouse costume from last year but she didn't want to. So I broke out Zach's old Woody costume from a few years ago. Addie loves it! I'm hoping to convince her to wear a more girly costume on Halloween but this will work for around the house.

I guess this is Zachary's Luigi face?!

Soccer season is upon us...

Zachary has started his first season of soccer. Jason has decided to coach and Zachary could not be more excited about it. Our friend, Doug (Gavin's daddy - Gavin is Zachary's best friend), has agreed to be the assistant coach. I'm so glad Gavin is on the team because he is going to a different school than Zachary now and they don't get to see each other very often. We started out having practice at the Bayou View Ball Park but the grass is really high (even after they cut it) so we switched to having the practices at our house. Unfortunately due to all of the rain we've had lately we had to have last weeks practice at the ball park again. (Our side yard gets pretty soggy if there is a lot of rain.) I finally remembered to bring my camera. Here they are stretching before practice.

Jason has them run a lap or two before getting started. The games aren't all that long (about 45 minutes) but the kids need to get used to running a lot.

Then he has them run from one goal to the other.

I laughed at this picture when I saw it because everybody is running back and Zachary is on the ground. Poor thing just falls down all of the time.

Coach Jason

Addison likes to kick the ball too. She is actually surprisingly good at it already.

Here are Gavin & Zachary joking around and being silly.

Hutson even stopped by to say hi!

Addie & the Dinosaur

Each week Zachary has show & tell on Friday. They typically bring something that starts with whatever letter they are working on that week. This week it is "D." They've been doing a lot of dinosaur stuff so I thought it would be appropriate for Zach to bring the 'big guy' for show & tell. I keep him hidden in the attic because I figured he would scare Addison. Once again, I am wrong. She loves it. Here she is giving him a hug.....

and a kiss...... and petting him....and feeding him....and petting him some more.He is a bit scare though, don't you think?
And finally, I just had to add this. I think they have the same expression in this picture.

Addie's First Day of MMO

Today was Addison's first day of MMO. She actually went last year but this year she'll go two mornings a week. I took so many pictures outside before we left but I only got a few that she was looking at the camera. Most of the pictures are of the back of her head.

She has the same teachers as last year. She was excited to go to school. Especially since cousin Sophie is in her class this year!

I wanted to get a good picture of the two of them together but they were a bit preoccupied. Maybe we'll try for another day when they are used to going.

These pictures are from a few weeks ago. We were playing in the backyard. I was trying to get Addie to go inside and eat lunch but she didn't want to. This is her pouting.....

But she never pouts for long....
Here she is in the fake "Ugg" boots I got for her at Payless. So cute!

The Grand Hotel - Part I

Last weekend we all went to the Grand Hotel in Fairhope, AL. For the official site (and pictures of the entire property) click here. Jason's company had a meeting there and since it is only an hour and a half away we all decided to go. Martin & Linda, the four of us, and Chuck, Amy & Hutson. I had heard a lot about it but had no idea how wonderful it is. I'm going to post a second post with pictures of the grounds and will explain a little more about the hotel there.

Friday night there was a cocktail party and the theme was tropical. They handed out straw hats and the kids really enjoyed them. They also had a guy playing a steel drum. It was pretty neat. The kids had a lot of fun dancing. Here are a few shots from that evening.

Hutson & Amy

The next morning, while the guys were at the last meeting, Linda, Amy and I took the kids to the fabulous pool. We really lucked out with the weather. It was absolutely beautiful.
Addie took a break to eat some Cheetos (her new favorite snack).

There was a dad hanging out with his son right by where we were sitting so Addie decided to be generous with her Cheetos. Here she is digging in her bag.

And giving them to this guy and his son, Gabe.

Gabe thought she was so nice to share her snack he paid her back by shooting her in the head with a water gun. Boys.

There is a fantastic water slide that Zachary REALLY enjoyed.

Jason enjoyed it as well.

Pop & AddieHutson

Pop with Zach AND Addie.

Grandmama even went down (with Zachary chasing her)!!!The neat hot tub.

Here is a picture of the entire water slide.

On Sunday morning while the kids swam with Pop & Grandmama, Jason and I got a croissant and ate it outside. There was a squirrel that was hanging around and we could not resist feeding him. He got so close.Cute little thing!
There were dragonflies every where. It was actually neat to see them flying all over the place. I think this one was waiting for some croissant.

Right where we were sitting there was a putting green that people could play for free. Hut is giving it a go before heading to the pool.Amy, Chuck & Hutson gave me this card for my birthday (which just happened to be that day!). I thought it was hilarious.

After we got packed up we stayed for the famous Champagne Brunch. It was wonderful. So much food and they had like a six man band playing. At one point they walked around and played 'Happy Birthday' to anyone who's birthday it was. It was really neat. On our way out Zachary spied some big suckers that he had to have. Which means Addie has to have one too. Here they are eating them on our way home.

I want to thank Martin & Linda for bringing all of us along. We had such a fun weekend. Scroll down a little more and you can see some other pictures from that weekend.