Catching up...

Well the school year is in full swing and flying by!!  Today is the first day of fall break and I LOVE all the kids being here with me!  The boys are out in the yard attaching anything and everything to the end of a rope and dragging it around...Haley is in the basement playing (I think she would move her bed down there if she thought we would let her!)....  I love hearing the boys planning and laughing outside and her singing from downstairs!
Brock is loving first grade!  They had their first reading reward day Wednesday and it was SO much fun!  Haley and I went up there to help and we got to rotate through the stations with them.  There were six tents in the courtyard and they could go get in them and look through books then we roasted marshmallows over one of the 6 or 8 fire pits and made s'mores then went on a hayride.  The kids all seemed to have a great time!  Afterwards Ms Thomas let us stay and make pumpkins from milk jugs and Haley really enjoyed that!  Yesterday I went with Brock on his first field trip of this year to Moundville.  There were 3000 students from Tuscaloosa there yesterday because it was Native American Heritage Festival and so that translates to lots of vendors selling stuff for the kids to want to buy...good and bad...and learning close to nothing about Native Americans.  He had fun and we left with a bow and three arrows, two wooden snakes and a feather for Haley's hair....
Haley is doing great with third grade!  She is really reading well these days and LOVES books.  We are currently working on our first book report...The Swiss Family Robinsons.  Girl Scouts is in full swing we have 14 Brownies and 3 Juniors this year so LOTS of new friends!  This has been an answer to many, many prayers for me because it really changed the feel of the group and she is enjoying it a whole lot more now.  We are going to camp twice this year once in November and once in April so the girls are really excited about that.
Ty is riding a bike all over without training wheels these days!  He has been able to do it for a while but wasn't very sure of himself...I had to run along behind him loosely holding onto the back of his shirt but now he is flying solo!  He is very interested in doing school this year too.  He spends a lot of time listening while Haley and I read through her different subjects each day and asks some really good questions.  His handwriting is really coming along well.

Mam-Maw turned 94 last week!  Haley loves to cook so all week she kept on about making cupcakes for Mam-maw's birthday.  She got up at 6:15 that morning and woke me up by telling me she had already read the back of the box and laid out the eggs and butter for us to bake.  I convinced her we could wait until we got Brock on the bus at 7 to get started.  She made cupcakes with strawberry icing and we took them to Mam-maw around lunchtime.  All the family celebrated with Mam-maw the following Sunday so Brock got to see her then.  

Every year I have a picture of them in their Alabama attire.  As you can see Ty didn't want to be in the picture.  I cannot believe how much they have grown this time!  Especially Haley.  She is getting so tall and I am so glad!  What an answered prayers that those growth hormones really are doing their job!