Family Fun Night with Our Church Friends

Tonight was the Fall Family Fun Night at our church!! The kids all dressed up and got to go to a place called Funcastle! Christian did not want to wear his costume!! It started out being quite a sad time.
This is Christian saying "No Pooh, No Pooh." He thinks Tigger and Pooh are the same things. It was a rather cold night and we were going to be outside, so I made Christian wear it, despite the tears (am I a tough mom or what?? poor kid). I knew he would quickly get over it, and he did!!
Christian and Jeb hanging out on a turtle! As soon as Christian saw Jeb tonight he ran over to him and gave him a big hug!
Jeb is such a cool friend! He's in third grade but is still gracious enough to hang out and play with Christian. Christian loves the attention. I think Christian especially likes having Jeb as a friend because he can be rough with him and Jeb doesn't cry about it (like Nathan usually does).

Christian and Abby playing in the ball pit!!
It's the bunny and Tigger again!
I just had to include this picture because I just love that little bunny tail of Abby's!

Our little Tigger with his dad.
Christian took Daddy for a "ride" in this truck.
Emma is in the red car and her friend Anessa is in the pink car. Emma and Anessa go to the same school and they are both in the same Sunday School classes. They also go to Good New Club together at school. It's a joy to see their friendship grow.

Emma loves driving her own go kart. She had been looking forward to this for an entire week!
You can hardly see her, but Abby is driving this car. Abby really didn't meet the height requirement, but the staff let her drive anyway. She had to scoot down to be able to reach the pedals. I wasn't actually sure if she was going to be able to steer the car or not, but she did an awesome job and kept up with everyone else!! She didn't even have any major crashes! I guess you just grow up when you turn four.

P.S. Nate came to Funcastle too, I just didn't end up with any pictures of him. Sorry buddy...I'm sure your mommy got some!! Maybe she can email them to me and I'll add them later to this post.

A Fall Party!

Tonight was trick or treat night in our town. Since we don't celebrate Halloween we decided to have a very fun party to celebrate fall instead!! This ended up being such a fun night!! I think this party could become a new tradition.

This party included:

Creating pumpkin magnets

Making brownies and decorating them with candy corn and candy pumpkins.

Eating Pizza

A candy scavenger hunt in the dark with flashlights.

Inviting our special friend Jeb over for all the fun.

Watching a movie!

Abby's colorful pumpkin magnet! Don't you just love those beautiful blue eyes!
Emma and our friend Jeb making their magnets.
Christian arranging the magnets on the fridge.
Everyone getting excited about decorating their brownies!
Nathan decorating his brownie. Notice - no candy actually made it onto the brownie. It's all in his mouth!

Jeb's masterpiece!! (Just a note to all you other bloggers out there....does anyone know how to turn a picture once you've inserted it into your post??) Sorry this is sideways. I don't know how to fix it!

Emma's masterpiece!

The whole gang with their flashlights, just waiting for me to finish hiding the candy.
Everyone got at least one bag of loot! Of course, Emma and Jeb ended up with the most and they were quite proud of it!!

Nathan and Christian with their flashlights in the dark. They're checking out all the candy and being quite selective about what they choose!!

The boys loved their lollipops!! It's the only candy they cared about!

Updates...

I just realized that there are a few things I've blogged about that I should give all of you updates about!

PINK EYE: It looks like all of my insanity yesterday with the Clorox Wipes and antibacterial soap has paid off!!! No one else has gotten pink eye. Emma actually enjoyed having the day to herself. She didn't complain once. She thought it was so cool to eat her meals in my bed (although I did end up with Ketchup and crumbs in my bed...but I was going to change those sheets anyway). Emma watched a ton of TV, a luxury she never gets anymore. Emma also did some school work and read an American Girl book.

BIG BOY BED: Christian has successfully slept in his big boy bed every night since I moved him into it. I think it's been over a week now. He hasn't gotten out of bed once (at night). Nap time is a different story. Christian doesn't cry his head off when I put him down for a nap anymore because he gets up and plays once I've left the room. He has no toys in his room (I've taken them all away), but he still manages to use his imagine. I've found him lining his books up like a train and saying "choo choo." I love it that he's creative - I hate it that he won't nap well!!

BABY CHATTERTON: Our little girl is now almost 24 weeks old. That means I've got 16 weeks until her arrival. She is 11 inches long and I can tell!!! She is so active. I don't think Christian was ever this active! She constantly reminds me that I have five kids to take care of, not just four! There for awhile I didn't have much time to think about being pregnant or her arrival, but now that things have slowed down a little I'm starting to think about getting her room ready and all the things we still need to do before she comes.

Ahhh...it's pink eye!

Well, Emma came home from school with pink eye yesterday. Which means she had to stay home from school today. This presents quite a problem for me considering we have three other children in this house!! So today I am at war with pink eye!! I've got the Clorox wipes out and a stool at every sink, so the kids can wash their hands a ton!! Emma has been quarantined to my bedroom. Right now she thinks the whole idea of spending the day by herself is fun, but I'm sure she'll be sick of it by lunchtime!! She's got books, her leapster, a TV with lots of movies and some school work to do! So far she hasn't tried to come join in the chaos outside her quarantined area! Pray that no one else gets pink eye!! It's such a pain and Emma's poor little eye looks terrible!! I'll keep you posted!!
P.S. I usually only post stuff during naps or around bedtime and right now I made an unwise choice to try to post something during the middle of the day. I've been on the computer for about 5 min. and in that amount of time Christian and Nathan got the crayons out and drew all over the kitchen floor. Abby managed to spill a drink all over the living room. Ryan is out of town, so my only hope is the fact that PopPop (my dad) is coming to visit and help in just a few hours!! Hooray for PopPop! I hope he's hurrying!

Happy Birthday Abby and Nate!!!

Nathan actually turns two on October 27th, but we celebrated his birthday today in a double celebration with Abby! Look at the smile on that face! He loved it when we all sang to him! He is so precious!

This is the birthday princess!! Abby wore a dress-up princess dress over her clothes for the entire duration of her party! Abby turned four on October 11th, but according to her she just turned four today!! Abby's Aunt Kristen made this beautiful crown for her!

Abby, Hannah, Elizabeth B. and Elizabeth S. All the girl cousins dressed up at the party, at least for a short time!
Emma, the astronaut, giving Nana a push on the zip line! Is Nana a good sport or what?!
This birthday party sort of evolved today. It was supposed to take place at a park nearby. We started out at the park and the kids had a great time playing on the playground. One look at this picture should tell you just how windy it was. We had tissue paper, cups, napkins, plates and even our drinks blowing everywhere! The wind made it rather chilly too, so we ended up moving the party to my house. Thank goodness we had 14 people for dinner last night, so I already had extra tables and chairs set up!
Nathan opening his present. There goes the tissue paper!
The girls checking out one of Abby's new presents!

The boys checking out Nathan's new race track!

Once the party moved inside we were able to eat and actually light candles on the cake. Aunt Erin made this adorable Elmo cake and brought it all the way from Virginia.
Okay...this was probably the best part of the day! Nathan's grin was so huge when we started singing happy birthday to him. He loved his sparkler candles and had lots of help blowing them out. Adam and Christian were going to make sure those candles were out!
Yum! The inside of the Elmo cake was pink (just for Abby our pink girl).
This is cousin Joe who came all the way from Massachusetts to celebrate this day with his cousins! Can you believe I had four two year olds in my house at the same time??
This is cousin Elizabeth (Beezy) enjoying her cake too! She and Abby are both four now!

The pinata was quite a "hit." (Dad that pun was just for you.) This is Nathan getting a little boost from Uncle Ryan.

Scavenging for candy!

Some of you might find this hard to believe, but this was actually Christian's first lollipop. Believe it or not, I've been able to avoid the whole candy thing for almost two and a half years. Now that he's had a taste there's no stopping him. He had three lollipops in about one hour.

This moment brought such joy to my heart!! There were nine kids playing in our backyard and Nathan and Christian followed each other around and chose to play with each other for the majority of the time. I love to see these precious gifts from God learning to love each other!

Princess Abby in action!! In the background Elizabeth is pumping a little gas for Beezy (the other Elizabeth). Joe was waiting for his turn at the pump.

Uncle Tim loves Abby so much! He made a special effort to make sure he didn't miss this special day for her! Abby is holding her new FurBerry (I think that's what it's called) from Nana. That was her favorite gift!

A rare picture of the Brinkley kids and Christian all looking in the same direction!

Back row: Christian and Adam

Front Row: Hannah and Elizabeth

Elizabeth and Christian saying goodbye!

Christian was so sad to see everyone leave. He actually ran across the yard in his socks with his arms outstretched to give Elizabeth one last hug!

I didn't get many pictures of the adults. That always seems to happen. I need to be a little more conscious about trying to get the grown-ups in pictures too!

Grandmom and PopPop Brinkley were also at this party they just didn't end up in any of my pictures.
Auntie Christine made the trip all the way from Massachusetts with Beezy and Joey. They woke up at 4am on Friday, so they could get here early to spend the day with Abby, Nate and Emma.

Auntie Erin was here too!! Thanks for making the special cakes. It was so nice that each of the kids had their own cake! I know you put a lot of love into your baking!

Of course, Amy and I were behind the cameras most of the day!

Another Lost Tooth!!!

It was just two weeks ago that Emma lost her first top front tooth. That tooth was a three day ordeal that involved a mommy, an aunt, and an uncle (aka "the tooth tugger") and some tears. This tooth was actually pulled out by Emma herself!! She did the old twist and pull trick and the tooth popped right out. She had some help from Nathan earlier in the week when he knocked her flat on her face after pulling her off the trapeze bar on the swing set. That event loosened the tooth right up. So Friday night Emma pulled this one out! She is so proud of the giant gap in her mouth!

Apple Picking!!

Christian with an apple that he picked!

We went apple picking today at Gardenour's Orchard!! It was such a fun activity for the kids and we went with some of our favorite friends; Miss. Angie and Taryn, and Miss. Mandy, Ellie and Kate! We went to an orchard that is basically on the side of a mountain. It's so beautiful, but difficult to hike around. The combination of a significant incline with lots of apples all over the ground made for a few spills for the boys! It was fun for me to see the orchard owners because I taught their son in fifth grade five years ago!
Ellie and Emma found some great red apples! At first they were enjoying being in charge of their own bags, then they started to fill up and pretty soon the mommies ended up carrying them!
Taryn helping Nathan pick some apples!
Christian and Kate! Kate just turned three, but she and Christian will actually be in the same grade in a few years! That scowl on Christian's face is just him saying "cheese."
Taryn giving Emma a boost! All the best apples always seem to be at the top of the tree!
Heading up the mountian!Coming back down the mountain!

What sweet friends, Kate and Abby!
Taryn giving Kate a boost!
Now it's time to figure out what I'm going to do with all these apples!

P.S. I just have to mention the fact that Emma got her first report card today!! All of her grades were an S+, which is the highest grade you can get! Emma's teacher had glowing things to say about her. We were especially please to hear that Emma is a great friend to everyone in the class and that she helps the other students with their work and that many of them come to her with their questions!! Way to go Emma!!