It was Coeli's Dad & Kathy's 25th Anniversary on October 29th this year. The Maryland Kershners and the Florida Machados posted well-wishes on here from afar, and Cheryl & John and Robbie and Bobbie put videos on my Verizon Wireless account. I haven't quite figured out how to transfer them to here... maybe someday.
Addison was excited to start her 4 year old preschool class, but only in theory. We still think that if given the choice, she would be home with Mom instead. 
Logan was very excited for 1st grade. It is quite different than Kindergarden, with a lot more homework. He had to take a teddy bear on the first day and this was the coolest one we could find. Mrs. Prewit is very nice... and very young... and very pretty!
Logan was the quintessential cowboy, aside from the fact that it was a fake horse (details, details!).
And while I would like to say that Kieran was involved at the time, this is what she looked like during cowkid time.
We went to the playground one day and Addison went to check out the tetherball and ended up knee deep in mud. We were in the stroller, otherwise we would have made it another mud day. Besides, Addison was wearing her "favorite" bathing suit, which has a chiffon skirt sewn to it, and she was none too happy about getting even a smidge of mud on it. To make matters more interesting, while I was trying to clean her up with the 2 sips of water we had left and a dried up baby wipe, Kieran decided to stealthily check it out, too. We looked over and instead of knee deep, she had slipped and fell and was heiney deep instead. Wheeeeee!
I like to call this shot "Mugsy". Is it me, or does she not look just like that original gangster actor from the 40's (also seen in at least one Bugs Bunny cartoon)?!
.
Here, you'll find Kieran successfully climbing all the way into the dollhouse. We have no idea how she got in there or where she got the idea to get in there, but I think some old movie about Houdini may have been on at the time. In any case, she thought she was quite funny. Notice the face?
.
He is most definitely a sports kid, although he can be picky about what he plays. This fall will bring flag football(at 6 yrs old - yes, we are in Texas!) and a gymnastics class. Quite a dichotomy, but between watching his dad watch the Eagles all these years and his other hero, cousin Jack being a state finalist in gymnastics, what choice did we have?
Addison got to go to a "Sweet & Sassy" camp at a local gymnastics place last week. Sweet & Sassy is a store where girls go for makeover parties. They went to the gymnastics place and did makeovers there including hair and nails, and the girls got to ride in the S&S limo, which is bright pink - Addison calls it the pink Barbie limo. She was so excited about everything, but the two things she is still talking about are 1) the fact that she didn't wear a seatbelt in the limo (it was a ride in the parking lot), and 2) the gold glitter that they sprayed in her hair, and on her face and on her body. I am still finding that glitter EVERYWHERE!!
We had a great few days of celebration for Addison's birthday. We did her birthday dinner and cake the night before, and the day of, Addison got to choose several things to do. Her birthday dinner consisted of "long pasta" and "chicken on the bone" (translated this means spaghetti and fried chicken). Her cake was Mom's first attempt at a homemade strawberry cake, and as you can see from the picture, the icing didn't quite set. Can anyone say "pink puddle"?
We met Tim and Kieran at the infamous boat store, aka Bass Pro Shop. This is our third birthday at the boat store. Anyone who says you have to pay $100+ for a destination birthday has not seen the fun we have climbing on the boats and checking out all the "stuffed" (mounted) animals. Our kids can't possibly get that they were hunted, shot, killed and stuffed, otherwise I suspect their reactions would be just a little different.
Last but not least, we got to have breakfast for dinner at IHOP. Chocolate chip pancakes were on the menu and everyone (including Tim!) had them. While Addison was thrilled you can see that everyone was spent at the end of the day - Coeli with her big fake smile, Tim not even looking at the camera, Logan half keeled over, and Kieran crying. A perfect day ended on a perfectly predictable note! Woo Hoo!
Coeli, Logan & Addison went on a bike ride on Sunday. We ended up at Logan's school where we played on the playground for a while then hit the monkey bars. Logan found some trees to climb and Addison found some puddles. I told her she could jump in them if we took her shoes and socks off. Logan got in on the action soon after, then they both asked me to take my shoes off, too. Little did I know that we would all end up covered head to toe in mud. We spent 2 hours there and had so much fun. I've let the kids play in the mud at home before, but I've never joined in - what a blast! We made "mud angels", had a sliding contest, and of course, a mud fight! We came home, stripped down (the kids at least) and jumped in the pool. We left the water quite murkey, but it was well worth it!
Logan's shirt started out white, and Addie's was bright orange. You can't quite see it, but both Logan and Addison have dried mud all over their faces, too. Imagine laying face down in a huge mud puddle and you'll get a great image of the kids!
Addison has been coming into her own recently. She is going through a growth spurt and with it seems to be coming a new beauty of an "almost 4 year old". She fits right in with the older girls, but can still be our little girl when she wants to be. 
For a kid who used to hate getting his picture taken, Logan has certainly made himself comfortable in front of the camera. Now the trick is to get him to just smile normally instead of always making goofy faces. As Laurie always says, the pictures should capture what they are like at that moment in time. Hmm... maybe I should get some pictures of him stewing with his arms crossed, too.
This is us in October 2007 - (l-r) Addison, Coeli, Logan, Kieran and Tim. It's the most recent shot we have together where noone is crying or picking his/her nose.
