Hoya Cheerleaders Rock the House!!

We have a new little cheerleader in the house! Anna Caitlin is cheering for the Due West Hoyas this year and she is SO cute! This is her first year, and she is having a great time. She is cheering with her friends Kinley and Mariella, so that has been fun, and it has given me a friend to talk to during practices :) Anna Caitlin's first game was at home, and the girls did great. She was all smiles during the whole two hour game.

It has been really fun for me to watch too. So many of the cheers are the same ones we did when I was cheering, so she always asks me to do them with her at home. Some of her favorite cheers are "Who Rocks the House" and "Pepsi Cola." She has also discovered that she ROCKS at toetouches! Her toetouch is awesome and she loves to do it!

At Anna Caitlin's last game, she won the spirit stick. The spirit stick is for the cheerleader who shows the most enthusiasm at the game. She was so proud! Brings back memories of cheerleading camp. Our football team is not very good, but the cheerleaders rock the house!

Our Fabulous Fall Break

We have been counting down the days to Fall Break. An entire week off to just spend time with our family. The kids were so excited when it was finally here! On Saturday, our first day off, we had a pretty routine day. Anna Caitlin had a cheerleading game where she won the spirit stick for her team! She was very proud.



As always, the boys hit the concession stand with Papa Johnny. They love their weekly Slush Puppies that he gets them. Drew has also learned to like Diet Coke?? You know that he did not get that from me or his daddy.



Really? Could he eat any more candy??



And let's not forget all the fun Drew has playing in the dirt at the games while eating his candy...



Later in the day, Drew had teeball practice, which he really enjoyed, and I took the other two home for some nap time.



We slept in on Sunday morning, dropped Baby Joshua off with Mama Judi and Papa Johnny, and then headed to Helen to go tubing down the river with Anna Caitlin and Drew. We met up with the McLendons for a picnic and then headed to the river.



We all had a great time! Anna Caitlin loved using the push stick to help us along and Drew loved getting out of his tube to climb on the rocks. We ended our day with a trip to the candy store for suckers and fudge...yummy!

On Monday morning, we met up with Dana, Thomas, and Nicholas for a fun day at the zoo. We had not been since last year and the kids were excited. Ms. Dana took the boys into the snake house, because mommy does not go in there, and Anna Caitlin and I played in the Naked Mole Rat playground.

Almost all of the animals were out for us to see. Drew liked the snakes and the giraffes. Anna Caitlin liked stopping to take pictures on all of the animal statues. So glad I have one that likes pictures! Baby Joshua loved just looking around. It was so cute to see him point to the animals and say his two favorite...giraffe and elephant.

And we can't leave the zoo without a trip on the train. It was fun for everyone. As a special treat, we took the kids to eat lunch at the Varsity...the REAL one!

On Tuesday, the big kids had a trip to the dentist which means only one thing...FREE Ms. Pac-Man! We love going to the dentist. They have tons of arcade games and all of them are free. Fun for the kids while they are waiting, and fun for mommy while they are getting their teeth cleaned! A great report on both. All three spent the afternoon with Ms. Carol while mommy had some time scrapbooking.

The rest of the week was spent relaxing. We took a trip to the playground, played some Super Mario, drew pictures, slept late, and napped in the afternoons! Anna Caitlin and Drew spent the night with Grammie and Granddaddy one night which is always a special treat.

On Friday night, Anna Caitlin had her Homecoming Parade. They walked down the street throwing candy, which was truly like Christmas for Drew! Her team won for best banner, so she got a gift card for Stars and Strikes, which she loves. She told me later that night, "Mommy, I think I am going to cheer next year so I can go for Homecoming Queen." That's my girl!

Saturday afternoon was Anna Caitlin's Homecoming game (and the first win for the team!!) She had a great time playing in the jumpies and even had her hair spray painted pink. Macenzie and Abbie came to watch her cheer.

Saturday night, Drew had his very first sleepover. His best buds, Tate and Chappy, came home from baseball practice with us. The boys had a blast! Drew and Tate had a serious Super Mario game going on. Then all three went outside to ride around in Drew's truck. They had so much fun driving around. They came back in to watch Batman with cookies and popcorn and even went to sleep pretty easy. We even got all FIVE kids to church the next morning only five minutes late. It was definitely a success!

We really enjoyed our time off together. I hope the this schedule never ends and that we keep fall break around forever! Now only 40 more days until Thanksgiving break :)

Summertime Fun

We have had a fabulous summer. I cannot believe that it is really over! My sweet baby Joshua started walking at 15 1/2 months. He was walking on his own three days after he had tubes put in his ears. I am thinking that maybe his balance was a little bit off (or it is just hard to balance with that big old belly!!)



He is so proud of himself for being a big boy! Now he can really keep up with his brother and sister!

His next accomplishment was trying to feed himself with a spoon. I am thinking we need a little more practice on this one...



He is wearing more of it than he is eating. But could you not just eat up that sweet little smile??

The kiddos have had alot of extra time to entertain themselves while we have not had school. Drew's Tonka Truck has been alot of fun for all of them...



We entertain ourselves pretty easily. This went on for an hour and they were all smiles!

My little boy got his very first haircut. Now, I think that he looked precious, but his daddy said that we had to get rid of all of his flyaways in the back. He was starting to sport a little mullet.

Getting ready for the big haircut...



Mommy entertaining me as I am getting a little bit bored with this whole process...

And, the finished haircut. Look at my handsome boy. He is looking so grown up with his little boy haircut!

Our friends, Sarah and Jake, also had a Hollywood themed birthday party. Now, you know that my husband gets really into this kind of thing! We decided to go as Kourtney Kardashian and Scott. I swear, I could not breathe in my dress and I don't think I have ever worn that much makeup in my life. Jonathan was sporting the pink sweater tied around his shoulders. We had a great time!

The girls...

Sarah (Portia), Shawna (also Kourtney), Michelle (Sandra Bullock), and me

The boys...

Todd (Steve Carrell from The Office), Jonathan (Scott), Jake (Ellen Degeneres), Ken (Jesse James).

Good times with good friends!

Gone Fishin with Daddy

The weekend after school started, we spent a beautiful weekend on the lake with Grammie and Granddaddy. The weather was absolutely perfect and we had a great time! We went on boat rides and went swimming, and just relaxed after being back into the school routine.



Daddy took the kiddos fishing early in the morning. We decided to start easy, so we just used loaf bread as bait (Anna Caitlin and I were very happy about that!)



It was not long before Drew got a big pull on his fishing pole. He caught a fish!! It was actually pretty big and he was very proud of himself.



A minute after he pulled it out of the water, it came loose from the fishing pole and started flopping around on the dock. Let me just say that Anna Caitlin and I were hopping around screaming, probably scaring that poor fish even more! We let it go back in the water, but Anna Caitlin was done for the day. She just hung out with Daddy the rest of the morning. I think she may have hung up her fishing pole for good!

Anna Caitlin Hayworth, First Grader At Last!!!

I cannot believe that my baby girl is in first grade! Didn't she just start Kindergarten a few months ago? Boy, time sure does fly by! Now, she is in "big" school. She used to love for me to walk her to class in the mornings, but now she wants to do it by herself.



Anna Caitlin has been blessed with the very best teachers in the world. First, Ms. Carol, next, Ms. Nix and Ms. Foster, and now, Ms. McMath. She loves Ms. McMath! She is so sweet and loving to the kids...we could not ask for more! Anna Caitlin has lots of new friends in her class this year. She loves Gabby, Jamie Lyn, Maggie, Sarah, and Erin. I love that she thinks of everyone as a friend...she has such a big heart!



We are very excited to see all that Anna Caitlin learns and accomplishes this year. And we always love to hear "Anna Caitlin stories"...a definite perk to working in the same school! Here is to a fabulous first grade year!