Long time no blog!

SO,epic fail on my part to blog over the summer at all--and also the start of school, and our Disney vacations, and Halloween--so this will be a pretty long post. Sorry the pics are out of order--can't seem to figure that out on here:-) So we will start with Halloween and work our way backwards through the summer:-) Here are the kids with mom on Halloween--she and dad came up for the Razorback game and she got the pleasure of trick or treating with us. The kids had a lot of fun and we were able to keep it short since we had to get mom back to pick up dad. I was also very thankful for an extra hour of sleep that night:-)
Caleb was Duke from GI Joe, Emma was Pocahontas, and Jake was Woody from Toy Story.

He had to try his costume on as soon as it came in the mail-hence the single shot of him above.

Here is the start of our Disney pictures--which is actually the end of our vacation. Here is my sister Christy and her husband Josh with the kids--they really enjoyed being around them all week--and I think Josh and Christy had fun as well:-)

Caleb and the other boys (adults) went on to Star Wars, so mom and the kids and I took a detour to see Lightening McQueen and Mater--Jake was a little tired of smiling at that point.

I think this was probably the highlight of Jake's trip--I love the look on his face as he sees Woody "in person". We only had to wait 10 minutes in line--it worked out great. We went on the new Toy Story ride right after this, and that was our longest wait at the park--1 hour from start to finish.

We waited to see Mickey and the rest of the gang about 30 minutes-this was towards the end of the afternoon at Epcot and they are getting a little bit tired. We stayed at Epcot all day long--through the fireworks that night, and they were such troopers! I can tell you my legs hurt something fierce by the time that night was over-I'm surprised I could walk the next day.

Here's the gang getting pictures with Captain Hook and Mr. Smee--they were all really into getting the characters autographs.

Emma, Jake, Shon and I waited in line to meet the princesses--mom, dad and Caleb went and rode go karts:-)

I love this picture of Jake--he really seemed to like Belle:)

Here we are at the first afternoon in Downtown Disney--Emma had a princess makeover at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique--she loved it! They fixed her hair, put makeup on here, and painted her nails. Plus she was able to keep the makeup and nail polish.

The boys got "cool dude" makeovers--Jake wasn't thrilled while it was being done, but seemed to enjoy it after he got down from the chair. They both have "pirate dust" (confetti) in their hair and Mickey Mouse painted on the back of their hair.

Christy with Caleb and Jake

Mom and Emma

1st day of school--Caleb started 3rd grade with Mrs. Huddleston, and Emma started 1st grade with Mrs. Hill.

We also had swim lessons at the end of the summer at Swim Ranch--they loved it, as did I. They made such strides from the beginning of the week to the end. Caleb and Emma both swam the entire length of the pool by the end of the week without any help-I was so proud! It was very warm that week, so we made good use of Sonic's happy hour!

For 4th of July we enjoyed the fireworks at the crosses at Pinnacle Hills campus--it was so pretty and let me try out some night shots with my new camera. The kids enjoyed it as well.

Summer vacation started out with swim lessons at Wilson Pool. Caleb and Emma were in the same class and really seemed to enjoy being in the water. Jake and I hung out and waited at the pool--he had fun playing with cars and eating snacks:-)

We also visited my sister-in-law Renessa and her husband Greg and our nephew Clayton this summer, but of course I forgot my camera and so I have no pictures of that. The kids were able to swim everyday in their pool and we had a great time.

They also got to visit my parents and Shon's parents at different times this summer--they enjoyed both visits.

So I think I am caught up for now--we are looking forward to Thanksgiving with my parents and getting ready for Christmas. I can't wait!