birthday party, halloween costumes and zim open

Want to do a quick update before I head to bed, so I don't feel behind once the week starts. : )

Saturday was our friends' little boy, Jayden's, first birthday party!  It was a day I know they've been looking forward to for many, many months... and even years for that fact.  You could sense the true happiness and excitement from Jayden and especially his parents.

The party was great!!  On our way there the kids asked if there was going to be a bouncy house at the party.  I said, "No, it's just at Joe and Meghan's house."  Wondering where in the world they got that silly idea.  So, we are at the party no more than 10 minutes and people are setting up a huge bouncy house in the yard.  Really?!  I could not believe it!!  How awesome was that!  The kids have never mentioned a bouncy house at a party before, so it's so weird that they mentioned it this time.  I'm sure they are going to be asking for that for all of our parties now... sorry, kids, not going to happen.  But, it sure was fun!

Here are some pictures I took throughout the day.  Jayden, even with no nap, was a perfect little birthday boy!!  He has the best smile and is just such a good kid.  Was so much fun to be there helping him celebrate his big day!

[no messin' around here!]

[Jayden (and Meghan) having some fun]

[love this look]

[and his smile is so adorable!]

[he wasn't all that interested in the cake...]

[especially when the monkey was facing him... he actually got scared of it, poor kid]

[he liked the cookie much better!]

Here is a picture I took of Kate last week that I haven't shared yet.  I finally got the booster seat out for her last week while Olivia was here.  They were both going to eat at the same time, so figured I could pull it out.  She was very proud!

[Eli is also doing bunny-ears... funny!]

Kate has been making us laugh a lot while she just walks around.  Not sure why she looks so funny walking around, but we can't help but laugh at her most of the time.  Here is a video of her pulling her puppy around.  Rachel taught her how to do it.  Kate thought she was pretty cool, but did get very frustrated a few times with it.  Rachel also did the video-taping... she did a good job. : )

Rachel has also been talking about getting Halloween costumes... she's been very anxious to find one.  This morning when she woke up she made a to-do list for us.  She's good at that!  Thought I'd include a picture of her list.  She even included the time we should leave.  Love her!

We went to Target first, because TJ Maxx didn't open until 11:00am.  Found a costume for Eli and got an idea for Rachel.  Then went to Wal-Mart to get an accessory for Eli's costume.  Found a part for Rachel's costume and then decided we wanted to go back to Target to get something we had seen there.  Didn't even have to go to TJ Maxx.  So, all Halloween costumes are done... and, it's not the night before Trick-or-Treating - wow!!!  We got Kate's a couple weeks ago.

The weekend activities ended with the Zim Open.  As always, it was a great event.  The kids had fun at lunch and watching their tickets to try to win a door prize.  They were so excited!  Eli won a football and Rachel (thanks to the generosity of the Teska's) got a set of golf drinking cups.  Not really age appropriate, but I think she only had a few choices.  Didn't really read the sayings until we got home and the kids were using them... oh well!

Now ready for another week.  Hard to believe it'll be October already on Saturday!  Crazy!

Keep smiling... : )