Slumber party!

As I'm posting these pics & thinking about the month to come, I'm feeling a bit selfish. Stay tuned!
To kick it all off, my girl's bible study was treated to an official adult slumber party at the Gaylord Resort this past weekend! Dana "Big D" Crawford is our official leader & host of this amazing night!
Because she has a MAJOR hook-up, we were greeted & treated VIP style! Something she is used to, but the rest of us, definitely not!!! Thanks "D"!!!

We stumbled upon the date to go, which turned out to be opening night to the ICE Exhibit and the official lighting ceremony of the tree! This year's theme was Charlie Brown!!!! Here's our official group pic, we're missing 2 girls - we missed you Melissa & Chelsi!

View from our room...

Erin & Dana

The star is technically on the ceiling of the glass dome, but looks like it's on top of the tree from this angle...

Heading in.... remember it's 10 degrees in the exhibit!

Slide made of ice...

I wish there was audio on this pic.... Allison has the best laugh EVER!!! Very contagious!

Just wanted a punkin...

These pics are somewhat out of order from my previous posts....does it really matter... it was a Sunday afternoon and all we wanted were some pumpkins...Kella's new school has really turned out to be ahhh-mazing!!! In the monthly newsletter they give community events and October's had a mile-long list of pumpkin patches in our area, cause let's face it, there are only 5 thousand churches, farms & organizations that sell pumpkins. Thanks to Kipp for checking websites and narrowing down our choices. We settled on one pretty close to the house that offered the right amount of activities...hay bale maze for one...

bounce house...

While waiting in line for face painting, Kella snagged the camera and captured some pretty great pics of Ryan...

I can't tell you how thrilled I was to find this pic of my sweet girl.... sweet girl with a mean face. She makes this face allllllllll the time! Followed by the sweetest grin...ever!

Finally, it was our turn....

Finished product...my beautiful butterfly!

Ryan was wanting to get in the bounce house so bad...

Look at those cheeks!

Jumpin....

More jumpin...Gibbie was definitely getting her workout in!

Trying to get some cute pics...

Party in your PJ's!

Kella's school celebrated Halloween in the best way...their pj's!!! Needless to say, K was a little confused that morning when I said, "Okay, Kella, it's time to change clothes. Take off your pajamas and put these pajamas on."
Notice the lime green tutu. This is a part of "housekeeping" & it's the first thing K puts on when she gets to class. During the phone conference with her teacher this week, we laughed at how much she loves to dress up. She said she would wear it all day/everyday if she would let her. That's my girl!!!

Grandma Dottie & Poppo Stan made the trip down from Nebraska to spend our little gal's big day with her!

Ryan checkin out all the 'big kid books'!

Cleanin' up! Kella was more than happy to ditch the art project for playtime with Poppo!!!

State fair!!!!!

Okay, call me weird, but one of my favorite things is a good caricature artist. We got the girls picture drawn this year at the fair and I am soooo happy with how it turned out! It makes me smile every time I see it. I even have it as my screen saver on my phone, dorky, I know, but I think they are so stinkin cute. We have a GI-NOR-MOUSE one hanging in our garage right in front of my parking spot. We went to Six Flags with the Bartley's when Kella was around 5 mo. old. They drew her cheeks so chubby, it's hysterical! The reflections make this one look a little streaky, but you get the gist! Precious!!!!

Awwww....our favorite time of year! Who doesn't love a fun day at the fair?!! Kella remembered the huge slide from last year, so yes, of course you can ride it again!!! Riding the worm!!!!

Children's Hospital always has an amazing petting zoo. There was a new baby zebra that was born the day before!

Big Tex!

Another turn on the worm! This time was dad's turn!

I couldn't get her to do it, but dad sure knows how to get the thrill-seeker out of her! Look at her holding her hands up!

(sigh!)

Moving on to the swings. She's so funny, when taking her up there to check them out, she politely said, "no mom, it's their turn. I'll go next time." Silly girl had to make sure this Dora contraption wasn't going to make any sudden moves. "Nope, it's not scary. Just swings goin in a circle...okay mom, it's my turn now!"

Once she turned around and saw the girl behind her she got so tickled. I think she thought she was being chased!

So here we are, back at the Turbo Jump. Let's set the stage for what was going to be a long, but worthwhile experience. As Kipp & Kella exited the super-dooper-jumbo-slide, Kella spotted the trampoline's. We stopped by and the wait was about 25 minutes....moving on to shorter lines we promised our little dare-devil we would come back....so, just before dark and after hours of walking around a super-crowded midway we fulfilled our promise to check back on this circus act. As you can see in the first pic, there's a glimpse of daylight left...

finally, we moved from the long line to the shorter line...

sweet Ryan waiting patiently as always!

once little miss realized she was next, she looked up at dad & said, "I don't want to do it!" His reply...."oh, you're doing it! We've waited in line for over an hour, get ready 'cause you're jumpin!"

Off she goes! She didn't know what to expect at first, but once she took flight she couldn't get enough. We were sure glad we paid for 2 extra minutes!!!!