Halloween, Part 4

The family trick-or-treating picture

Carlie and Daddy---one of my favorites!

Future Roomies and Past Roomies...those little ones already have the "ACU pose" mastered!

My precious ballerinas

Yes, this is part FOUR of our Halloween week. You might want to start at the bottom and build up to this ending!

So, I'm finally making it to the Halloween Day update! And, today was so much fun! Although "Little Bit Jacobs" caused some problems this morning and made me have to stay home from half of my plans, I did get some unexpected rest that I probably needed. And, the good thing was that Grandma Cheri came in town earlier this week, and kept the girls for the day while me and baby Jacobs chilled out at home.

Then tonight, we had a fun Halloween night with our friends, the Morelands. We had our traditional "breakfast for dinner" on Halloween (Really, it was a tradition that we just started last year, and one that I had completely forgotten about until little Miss Kendyll reminded me! She even remembered everything we ate last year!) After pumpkin and ghost pancakes, and a whole bunch of other breakfast foods, we got our costumes ready and headed out for some treats. It was so cute to watch the four kiddos trick-or-treat together! It was so much more fun than when we go alone! Kendyll and Hollyn could not contain their excitement and squealed, jumped, and ran from house to house, chattering away to each other. A couple of times, we had to remind them to stay with us because they were so excited! They even rang the doorbell to a house with NO outside lights on because they got so far ahead of us.

Noah and Carlie enjoyed themselves for about one street. Then, they were done. They just couldn't understand why we were getting all of these yummy treats, but not eating any of them. So, they were happiest when we arrived home, dumped the loot, and got to break into some of the candy.

Carlie and Kendyll didn't freeze like I thought they would, even in our cold temperatures and their short sleeved leotards! I think they were too busy to freeze! And, Noah and Hollyn looked adorable in their Jasmine and Diego costumes (which were warmer than ours!). We decided tonight that the Halloween night with the Morelands needs to be a tradition too! Thank you, Matt and Sara, for driving the distance this year....we'll do the driving next year! Hey, at least it's not five hours like it used to be!!

Happy Halloween, everyone. I hope you all got lots of good treats and good pictures of the kiddos...because I will be doing lots of blog-reading in the morning to see all those cuties!

Carlie's "updo" ballerina hair. She thought she was so beautiful (and she was!) And, then, she started acting crazy and tore half of it down.

Halloween, Part 3

Now, we're up to Monday. It was school party day, and wow, were my kids hyper! (both my own children and my class of three year olds) It was a great day and the girls had fun with their school friends. My favorite thing about Halloween is the pictures. Something about black and orange in crazy amounts is cute to me! Here are a few from our fun school day....

Halloween, Part 2

Sunday, we headed back from the ranch just in time for Bible Class at church, and the carnival that morning. Since both girls decided it was a good idea to wake up at 5:30 a.m.(we had Daylight Savings Time and the ranch sunlight in our windows against us that morning), Carlie was beyond exhausted, and therefore did not participate in the church carnival at all. Daddy and Carlie stayed home and rested while Kendyll and I hit the party for some fun with her friends.
It's always so fun to watch them all get excited together over each other's costumes and about every part of the carnival---the games, the treats, the bounce house---all of it is such fun in a four year old's eyes. This year, Kendyll's favorite game was the fishing hole and the velcro golf game. She played each of these at least ten times, and got some good loot for the whole family. (She kept playing again to get Carlie candy, then Daddy candy, then Mommy candy....what a sweet girl.) We went straight home to pick up the other half of the family to head to Grandad's and Grankay's for Grand Sunday! We had a delicious lunch, as usual, with the whole gang, and Kendyll and Carlie got a box full of Halloween treats! They were in heaven! We played and had fun with all the aunts, uncles and grandparents, as well as cutie pie Braden. I wish I had pictures of Braden loving his Halloween cupcake! I've never seen food disappear that fast...and I'm not kidding either! That boy is the cutest--even with black icing all over his face. We forgot our camera, but hopefully my sisters will post pictures from the festivities on their blog....

By the time we got in the car to head home, Kendyll was asleep in mid-sentence. Literally. She was laughing at Carlie and then stopped all of a sudden. I looked back to see why she had stopped and her eyes were closed and her mouth was wide open. And, she was sitting straight up without her head back or anything! And, she was ASLEEP! Poor girl! A long fun day wore her out.

Needless to say, day two of Halloween festivities was also a success.

Halloween, Part 1

I was reading a couple of blogs today talking about how crazy Halloween has become, and I have to say that I agree, although I totally love it! Halloween is now a week's worth of events and might eventually need a "holiday break" in schools just like Thanksgiving and Christmas! It's crazy how many updates I have to make on this blog for one simple holiday....but, it has been a week full of fun, that's for sure!

Friday was the pumpkin patch (see last post about my freezing kids), and next on the Halloween agenda was a trip to Gammy and Papa Ron's ranch, for my little sister, Cailee's, highschool Halloween party! My mom did an AWESOME job planning out this entire night for Cailee and her friends on the ranch, and even had an "Amazing Race" kind of game for them to play, complete with maps to follow, clues to find, and gift card prizes at the end! We arrived Saturday morning to help decorate the barn for eating, make some Halloween treats, and get the different "checkpoint stations" all scary and ready for the fun! (Side note: It was so nice to drive to East Texas that morning and see the fall colors and feel the coldness coming! I wish we had more trees like that in the metroplex!!)
(Yes, that's my grandmother in the witch's hat....hillarious!! And Cailee, of course!)

Anyway, it was quite entertaining to watch these highschoolers on Saturday night and just see what we were probably like years ago. Man, did we feel old! And, really, we ARE old...Mark even woke up with a pulled muscle in his neck from being the "scary guy" in the horse barn that night!

But, a fun time was had by all---even my kids. Although they went to bed and missed half the fun, they still found time for the hot dog roast, and the treats table!
We were glad to be a part of Cailee's fun party, and look forward to the Halloween bash again next year!

Pumpkin Patch Pics

Although we FROZE the entire time, we finally made it to the Arboretum pumpkin patch this morning, with some church friends. I think the wind was straight from the north at 30 mph or more! NOT the best morning for sweet pictures of all of our kids. And, as you can see, the girls have pink noses in each one. (Those same noses have been running all day since then, too.) We had planned a group picnic at the park after pictures, but we used the picnic blankets as stroller covers, and then quickly left and ate lunch INSIDE instead.

But, it was a great morning, and the mums and pumpkins were gorgeous. The girls were in awe of all the colors...and of the size of some of those "punkins" (in Carlie's words). When we got home, Carlie ran into Daddy's office and said "Daddy, we saw flars (flowers) and punkins! Big ones!!" (all of this was yelled with HUGE Carlie eyes...I love that.)

And, now for the pumpkin poses...
The next picture shows two forced smiles, only achieved by bribing with candy. What is up with Kendyll's awful fake smile lately??

And, the cute sister pose on the pumpkins didn't work out so well either....Carlie was not happy about slipping off the "yucky punkins".

We have lots of fall festivities coming up over the next few days. A Halloween party at "The Ranch" tomorrow, our fall church carnival on Sunday, Halloween school parties on Monday, and Halloween trick-or-treating with our good friends, Matt, Sara, Hollyn, and Noah on Tuesday. Whew! The festive fall fun might wear us out! But, it's so much fun!!

New Things to Share

This is a random blog. A few new things around here that I wanted to share.

First of all, I had to post my surprise from a few days ago. I spent my whole weekend selling my diaper bags at a craft bazaar that was pretty much unsuccessful for me. While I was gone on Saturday, Mark took the girls to pick out fall mums and pumpkins and surprised me with a front porch and sidewalk all "done up" for fall. (This has been on my list for weeks now, and didn't seem to ever get accomplished....so I was very thankful for the beautiful flowers and no work on my behalf!) He said the girls had a blast picking out the stuff and just kept loading up the cart with new things they found. They also had even more fun planting the flowers. Any excuse to dig in the dirt for the entire morning is fun! Apparently, Carlie preferred dumping the dirt ON TOP of the flowers, rather than in the empty pots. But, Mark had it looking all pretty by the time I got home. Thank you, Daddy, Kendyll, and Carlie for doing something so sweet for me. :)

Second thing....here is my favorite new purchase from today (see below). I picked up this coloring mat for $2.50 today at Joann's, including crayons and an eraser. It made pre-dinner time SO nice, as I cooked and they colored. They didn't even WANT to stop when it was time...and they only fought once! (over the purple crayon) So, go pick one up for that hour or more between naptime being finished and Daddies getting home from work! :) We might have it out every afternoon now. Third thing...another new thing that I love at our house. I bought it a month or more ago, and it still isn't hung. But, every time I pass it, I smile, thinking about our baby #3, and how perfect this painting is for our family. Don't the older two girls look just like Kendyll and Carlie?! I was thrilled when I found it...and I wasn't even looking for it! (but, then, that's how I find most everything I shouldn't buy though, really!) Now, I just have to decide where to put it...

Last thing....this is what we did last weekend--the craft bazaar. And, if you like what you see (which I know you do!), you need to check out Stephanie's adorable website at www.fancypantsboutique.biz. Of course, a few things are mine and one other very crafty lady (Alisa), but we don't have cute websites like Steph does! And, she's got so many cute things starting up and I know lots of you mommies would love it! So go order from her! :)

So, how random was that blog?! Just stuff I was thinking about...exciting I know.

A Weekend Behind

I really meant to do this blog days ago, so it's pretty old news now. But, that is kind of how I feel about life in general this last month or so! I just can't seem to catch up. Eventually I hope I do catch up. Hopefully even before this baby comes. But, at the rate we're going with the holidays hitting, it might be in January though... :)

Anyway, last weekend, we had a wonderful time in good old Abilene for ACU Homecoming. I have seen many other blogs about it by now, and I agree with each one. There is such an amazing blessing in being back among so many people who spent the college years with you. So many of us have changed and "grown up", and now have marriages, jobs, children, and busy life outside of the ACU bubble. But, it always amazes me to see how quickly I can pick up with so many different friends and be blessed with even a five-minute conversation about their family and life.

We had the added blessing of spending time with two of my three sisters, who were also back for Homecoming! (It's silly that we have to meet up three hours away to hang out, but we had a wonderful time together.) We also got to see some of Mark's family, who lives in Abilene, especially his sweet grandmother, who always gives us a comfortable place to stay when we come.
Friday night, we drove in town just in time to check out the ACU carnival (which is SO much cooler than it was years ago!) and then met up with Cassie and Austin for some good cheeseburgers at Rick & Carolyn's. (I always wish I had a few more days in Abilene just to fit in all of my favorite restaurants!!) We headed back to Grandmother's for some late-night cuddling and visiting before getting to bed (see picture). Saturday morning was the Siggie breakfast, which is way too early, and definitely an increasing challenge for me to actually get to as the years pass. Mark was so considerate (ha!) and volunteered to sleep in and skip his breakfast so the girls could sleep longer too. It did make it easier to leave them at home, although getting ready at 5:30 am without waking the entire family who was sleeping in the same room was the challenge of the day. :) Here is a picture of the sisters and SWEET Braden at breakfast that morning.
The parade and chapel were the next events to attend, and we had so much fun visiting and talking with friends at each. Kendyll and Carlie LOVED the parade, loved the cousin time, loved the candy, loved the balloons, and loved learning the "Wildcat". Kendyll wasn't so sure about the balloon-drop they had planned for the end of chapel and spent the entire 45 minutes asking Cassie (who was sitting next to her), if those balloons in that net would hit her and when exactly they were going to be falling. Cassie did a great job of helping my oh-so-fearful child calm down about something that would be fun to any other kid in the whole place. :) As you can see, Carlie couldn't get enough of the action and tried to carry four balloons out of there. She finally settled for two when one of hers popped. The funniest part was that she thought I took the balloon from her, because she couldn't find it. It was quite hilarious to hear me try to explain to her that it really popped and that I did not steal it, as she was frowning at me like I was the meanest mommy around.

After chapel, we had "Roomie Reunion" for the Sig Shack gang at Matt and Melissa's house. Mark has had the wonderful blessing of three roommates and best friends who can pick up at any moment and be there for one another. I have the blessing of their wives, who do the same for me. What we love the most is to have all four families together and watch how absolutely crazy our lives have become since college. We now have NINE kids, with two more on the way...and Matt and Melissa were brave enough to have us all at their house for lunch and playtime. It was pretty funny to watch....and so great to experience. We had great barbecue, good talking time, and lots of cute pictures of our crazy kids. Lacy, we sure missed you and Kasen. I hope Kevin told you all about the day! The seven oldest kids in age order...Kendyll, Matthew, Aidan, Brynlee, Jackson, Carlie, and Jacob....the two babies, Kasen and Ella, were not crazy enough for this picture. :)

Saturday night, we had a nice dinner out with Grandmother (minus Carlie's two-year-old behavior) at Outback, and then met up with the sisters and hubbies for a night out at the musical. Kendyll got the special treat of joining us for "Singin' in the Rain", and she loved it. She felt pretty big to get to hang out with the adults that evening! The musical is something that has always been special to Mark and me, since it was our first date TEN years ago. We squeezed hands tighter than usual during the show and both took a trip down memory lane to remember that first crazy night when we saw our first of many ACU musicals together. (Awww....)Sunday was church with the family, Bible class with old friends, lunch at The Home Place (YUM!!), and playtime with cousin Carrie before heading home. Overall, a wonderful weekend with so many people we love. Now, if I can just talk my OWN roommates and fellow classmates into coming back someday, Homecoming will be complete in my book. :) Maybe for our ten-year, girls??

Our Sonogram News!!

Well, today was the big day! We had our doctor's appointment and sonogram this afternoon and were so thankful to see that all was developing well for our precious baby. And, at the same time, we got the wonderful surprise of knowing that our "Little Bit" is a baby GIRL! So, we have named ourselves the Jacobs Girl Factory! It is really hard to believe that we will have three girls in our family, and I don't know when it will really sink in! But, we are all thrilled with the news. I don't know who is more excited, Kendyll or Mark.

When the doctor told us the gender, he said "Well, it looks like Kendyll and Carlie will know what to do with another baby sister!" And, seriously, Mark just started laughing. It was a giddier laugh than I have ever heard come out of my husband's mouth. I eventually asked "Are you okay??" He was smiling from ear to ear and just kept saying "I knew it! I knew we would get a girl!" So, he was beyond excited. Then, we went to tell the girls. They stayed at our sweet friends, Terry and Nicole's, house while we went to our appointment. We brought them "It's a Girl!" balloons to tell them the news. Kendyll closed her eyes and we put the balloon in front of her. I said "do you know what that means?" She screamed "It' s a GIRL!!!" And, then proceeded to scream and jump and hug us all a few times (including Carlie, who didn't really want the excited hugs). She was so excited for the news she had been hoping for.
On our way home in the car, she said "Mommy, God answered my prayers because I prayed EVERY night that He would make it a girl!" Then, she busted out with "God is so good, God is so good, God is so good, He's so good to me....He answers prayers, He answers prayers, He answers prayers, He's so good to me." I really still wonder what she would have done if we had said it was a boy. :)

We had planned to go straight to the store to buy something for the baby, but we all decided that we'd rather go celebrate by eating and playing at the park for a while. We had a fun time having a picnic outside and listening to Kendyll (and Carlie) call the family one at a time and spread the news. Every time Kendyll told someone new, she sounded just as giddy as Mark did in the sonogram room! It was so precious to watch and listen to.
We have been thanking God tonight for our wonderful day, our wonderful news, and most importantly, for the absolutely amazing health of yet another baby in our family. We don't take for granted for a minute her perfect heart, perfect brain, or even perfect kidneys! I loved getting to see her profile and to know that in just a few months, I'll be kissing those sweet cheeks. We love you Baby Girl!!

Beyond Frustrating!!

Well, I give up. I have now tried for a week to get my stinkin' trip pictures to publish to this blog. And, with absolutely no luck. Look below....and you will see the ONE picture that Blogger will allow. I've tried almost every other picture on the "blog list" that I had wanted to share, and they get rejected every time. It's something about those specific pictures, because I've tried other pictures from past posts, and they publish without a problem. AHHHHHHH!!!! It's so frustrating!!

I've spent hours resizing each one so that it would be ready for the internet. I've done all I know to do. So, I'm sorry to say, that I am giving up. If anyone who is wiser than I am wants to give me some kind of other option for getting these to work, I'll be glad to listen.

But, right now, I hate blogger.

Finally!

(As usual, Blogger won't do the pictures....I PROMISE to have those tomorrow.)

Well, I've been avoiding blogging for a number of reasons. First, Mark was out of town all week and that has made for absolutely NO blogging time. Second, our brand new fancy camera that we bought right before our big trip already had issues, and we had to return it this weekend. So, we just now downloaded our pictures from the trip! Third, I am still completely overwhelmed by the thought of condensing our trip into a blog-type report! I don't even know where to start! But, I'll give it a try, just to make my family stop bugging me!! (Love you guys!)

In no particular order, here are the highlights of our trip (to me):

*Seeing Mary Poppins AND Wicked on Broadway in London. Both shows were amazing and I can't wait to take my girls to both someday!

*Finally having the chance to stand in so many spots I had dreamed about: Big Ben, the steps of the Bank of London (Mary Poppins scene of "Feed the Birds"), and at Trafalgar Square in London, at the Coliseum and the Vatican in Rome, on the cliffside of the coast of Italy (among many other awesome spots along the way), in front of "David" in Florence, and in the midst of history in the ruins of Rome and Pompeii.

*Spending time doing the cheesy cruise activities that all of us secretly love....Bingo, putt-putt, rock climbing, art shows, Black Jack in the casino (not my favorite thing, but definitely Mark's!), shopping in the overpriced stores, and attending the awful nightly entertainment, ranging from wanna-be Broadway shows to not-all-that-amazing magicians and comedians.

*Seeing the skies change from gray and dreary (London), to cloudy and rainy (France), to clear and sunny (Italy). We had fun in all three, although I preferred the beautiful sunshine to the pouring rain days!

*Finding out how wonderful the hot chocolate and croissants tasted at numerous cafes in France....as we tried to stay out of the rain. :)

*Finding out how wonderful the gelato (Italian ice cream) and espressos tasted in every cafe in Italy....so we could use their bathroom. :)

*Getting the incredible surge of joy from bargain shopping for leather bags, cashmere scarves, olive oil, jellies and honeys, artwork, and beautiful handmade children's toys in Florence.

*Modeling our "P&G Cruise" sweatshirts and t-shirts. (P&G stands for Papa & Grandma, since they were the reason for the vacation.) These were a surprise in our staterooms the first night of the cruise.

*Getting to spend our "quiz euros" on ourselves and each other. We had weekly quizzes (given by Mark's dad) leading up to the vacation about the different cities we would see. For each correct quiz completed, we got 50 euros credit for the trip. All together, we had 250 euros when we arrived. The rule was that we had to spend half on ourselves and spend half on our spouse. It was SO fun to shop with "free money" and surprise each other with great remembrances of our trip.

*Watching the people of each country live their daily lives. From the tiny European cars and scooters, to the local markets selling every fresh food item you can imagine, to the sidewalk painters who made amazing keepsakes for tourists like us....it was so much to soak in and I loved knowing what it was like to live there for even a day.

*Standing where Romans and Greeks stood 2,000 years ago and just imagining what a day was like for them. Especially in Italy, the history was so rich and surrounded us so much, that it was breathtaking. Pompeii, for those who don't know, is a city that was literally frozen in time when Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD and covered the city in ashes. It is indescribable to stand in a house that still has paintings on the walls and mosaic tiles on the floor and to see these people who were living centuries before us (many actual remains of the people of Pompeii are still there to see as well). The streets even had chariot tracks still rubbed into the stones! Truly amazing!!

*Getting all dressed up with the whole family for our formal nights on the cruise. Although we didn't get quite as decked out as many people, in their sequins and tuxes, we enjoyed nice dinners together every evening with as many courses and as much food as our hearts desired. And, we got a few cute pictures too!

*Gambling in the Grand Casino in Monte Carlo on the French Riviera. It was WAY glitzy and glamorous and very distinguished feeling. However, we still lost money the same way we do in Shreveport or Vegas. So, I liked it as much as I do any other casino....not much at all. (I'm not a gambler...can you tell?!) The French Riviera was beautiful though!

*Being kid-free for ten straight days! (Although we missed them alot!) It was nice to take naps when we wanted, stay up late when we wanted, have long dinners with great conversation (usually about our kids!), and enjoy being with adults....especially my husband! Of course, we called the girls when we could, and emailed them from the ship. Thank you Gammy, Papa Ron, and Aunt Cailee for taking care of them while we were gone!

The list could go on and on of the great parts of our trip. It is still hard to believe we were in such amazing places. I am so thankful to Papa and Grandma for the blessing of that time together. They would have been so proud of what they had given us. The next P&G trip is planned for three years from now...a Disney Cruise to the Caribbean---with all the grandkids, of course! Let the countdown begin!