Just a side note.....

JARED PASSED THE BAR!!!!!!! We are so excited. Way to go DAD!

Go Bulldogs!!!

Pictures from George's 2007 Fall Soccer Team

Jack-O-Lanterns

Dad's Vampire and George's Monster (designed completely by himself). Great job boys!!!

Halloween Night 2007

A Visit to the Pumpkin Patch

Our very busy "little mama"

Katie is such a sweet "little mother". She works all day long taking care of her little babies; she walks them around the house and consistently remembers to change their diapers throughout the day. She is always very, very busy--a great multitasker--notice the phone up to her ear. She sure does watch every thing we do!

I often find her cleaning the house, as well: she loves to wipe off the table and cabinets, she's always eager to soak up any spills, and she is diligent about vacuuming the carpet along side me or daddy. Katie also loves to empty the dishwasher, but you've got to watch her closely or she'll lick all the spoons and forks before putting them in the drawer. Don't you want to come over to our house for dinner?

The Celebration Begins (and Never Ends)!!!! George's 5th Birthday

So....first off, you have to understand that George's birthday celebration lasts about a week. It begins with a family gathering. This year we met at the farm near Crockett, TX. The presents were opened just as soon as Grandma and Grandpa arrived that morning and walked through the front door. George was so excited. He had not opened a present since Christmas and 10 months is a long time for a little boy. Grandmother and PawPaw gave George some new cowboy guns, Papaw came with pirate toys, and Grandma and Grandpa bought George his first star wars toys (a light-up light saber, a Sith fighter ship, and a few small figures). George was in toy heaven!
Then we had a big family feast with barbecued chicken and ALL the fixin's. The food was wonderful, as usual. George got to blow out a candle as we all sang "happy birthday".
This however, was only the Saturday BEFORE the big day.

No photo editing here - it really lights up!

Tuesday, October 2nd, his actual birthday! We took cupcakes to preschool in the morning, made his favorite for dinner - grilled hamburgers. We sang "happy birthday" over the grilled hamburger so he could blow out a candle. We then hurried off to a soccer game with another round of cupcakes and blue Gatorade for the after game snack.

Friday night: The BIG STAR WARS PARTY!!! Every kid we invited actually came (and their siblings and parents)! Needless to say, we had SO many kids in our little backyard, it was pretty chaotic but tons of fun! We tried to keep the activities going constantly to keep them busy.

When the kids walked in the door, we had costumes ready for them. The girls pulled on their white Princess Leia gowns and the boys donned a brown Jedi knight robe each tied with a golden cord. Then the Jedi training began......We learned which characters should be trusted or avoided by playing a "Star Wars cake walk" to the sound of star wars music. They walked around in a circle over pictures of Star Wars characters until the music stopped. Our next training required learning how to fly a fighter plane so that we would be able to destroy the Death Star - we played pin the x-wing on the Deathstar. Then we played red light (saber), green light (saber). Afterall, a Jedi must be able to follow directions. At last, kids were deemed ready to be given a real light saber (we cut pool noodles in half and taped duct tape and electrical tape on one end to make a handle). George's Daddy conducted the light saber training which included dangerous but essential moves for a real Jedi knight, such as "Yoda's twist" and "Obi-wan's surprise attack." While Daddy secretly snuck away to dress himself as Darth Vader, we practiced our new moves by popping bubbles made by a very handy bubble machine. Next, I had all the kids sit down as George led them in a rousing rendition of the Imperial march (a.k.a. Darth Vader theme song). George insited on this activity after seeing a version of it on Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqTi0ZFDawY). I said, "Every time you hear this music, it means Darth Vader is COMING!" and from behind them, Darth Vader appeared. All the kids jumped up with their light sabers in hand to fight the evil Vader; of course, some kids jumped up and ran to their mommies crying. After all the kids got their turn facing the evil lord, they all ambushed him at once, and he fell to the ground dead. (Poor Daddy).

We took a break for some cake and ice cream and to sing "happy birthday" (once more--what a spoiled Georgie!).

It was getting dark and we still had a storm trooper piñata to beat in the front yard. After everyone had his fill of candy, we all went inside the house with sticky fingers to watch George open his presents (sadly, it was too dark to open presents outside--I'll have to plan that better next time). He got an R2-D2 mini laptop, a transformer, a Nerf gun, Star Wars comic books, a Crayola art pack and a couple star wars figures. All the kids opened the packages and enjoyed playing with the new toys together. What a mess!

Anyway, George and his friends had a fabulous time!!!! Mom and Dad were very tired. It felt like an hour and a half long whirl wind that started in the back yard, moved to the front yard and ended in my living room!

When asked why my cake wasn't a detailed R2D2 replica, I said, "Hey! I was busy making light sabers and costumes!"

Today is the happiest day of my life! Katie's hair is long enough for pig tails!!!! Hooray! (Obviously not one of Katie's happiest days)

Room for Four!

Cousins, Reuben and Samuel have moved to Dallas! George is having such a great time playing super heros with Reuben. Katie and Samuel, both being under two years old, are trying to get along and "share."
Bath time was lots of fun! They had just come in from playing bare foot outside...and you can't imagine how dirty that bath water was when they got out!

A Walk in the Park

On visits to Houston, grandma and grandpa always make it a point to take the kids outdoors for a little adventure. This time time we went to a great park with plenty of playgrounds, a duck pond, and even an area with caged buffalo (crazy, I thought)!

Katie's usual wide-eyed, open-mouthed stare! Soaking it all in! And George, of course, working on his super hero qualities, a light speed throw, landing a piece of bread far into the pond (for the poor little duckies who didn't get a taste yet).

IT STOOD!!!!

This last week was a bit hectic for our family. I was asked by a friend from church to make her son's wedding cake. I was a bit nervous but accepted.....I am so glad that Jared was home and available to help out (still waiting for the bar results and hunting for a job). The whole week I worried and worried. I knew I could bake a cake, I knew I could decorate a cake, but I wasn't so sure about transferring the cake across town, or stacking the cake without any help. And then I kept imagining the whole thing crumbling or collapsing...what if the whole thing fell over during the reception? I'd be so incredibly embarrassed! However, all went well and it actually stood! Phewww! I stayed at the reception and had a miserable time though. I kept looking over at the cake to make sure it hadn't fallen over yet. I was so glad when I got to pull the whole thing apart to cut and serve it!

Disneyland

While daddy stayed home and studied for the bar, mom and the kiddos took a trip out to California to visit the family. Our first stop was Disneyland! We had a big group: Grandma Carolin, Aunt Angie and her girls, Jordanne and Tayler, Aunt Tiffiny, Aunt and Uncle Viv and Mike (the newly weds), Me (Sarah), and George and Katie. We spent two days and had a great time. Then it was on to Sea World in San Diego, also fun, but by now we are a bit over stimulated. Didn't stop there though.....we drove back up to the Sacramento area to visit friends and family....then over to San Francisco to visit Tiffiny's new apartment and to do some sight seeing...then drove to Fairfield for a cousin's baby shower...then back to San Francisco....then back to Roseville....Can you tell we spent a lot of time in the car? We were exhausted! The kids were throwing fits on a regular basis. By the time we returned home, we needed a vacation from our vacation!

Graduation Day

Jared's graduation from Southern Methodist University was May 19th, 2007. It was such an exciting day for us. Although, the whole day we kept thinking to ourselves, "What now?". Jared spent so much time studying at school, he felt like he was losing his second home. Of couse, studying wasn't quite over....the bar exam was just a couple months away!