Thankful Tree

One of our projects we did last week was make our "Thankful Tree".  I had some tree branches I had spray painted gray and then cut out some leaves and a little pennant banner on my silhouette machine.  The boys and I then took each leaf and wrote something or someone we were thankful for.  It was so sweet to watch their excitement.   Some of the things they were thankful for....daddy, mommy, lexi, me-ma, pa-pa, mimi, papa, grandpa & gigi, uncle joey, courtney, josh, hudson & hayes, freedom, God, Army guys, school, friends, flowers, clothes, grass, trees & church. :-)  Definitely something I hope to do every year.

First Friday Toyland

Every year in November the "First Friday" event on the Bentonville square is turned into a Toyland.  Living in the mecca of Walmart vendors, all the toy vendors come out in full force to show off all the latest, greatest toys.  It's absolute chaos, but the kids love it.  They get to test out all the new toys and even get some freebies.  Lots of music, fun and even some special appearances by some of our favorite characters.  Carter was in heaven when he saw Batman there.  He was anticipating he would be there since he was last year, so he made sure to wear his Batman shirt.  Batman complimented him on his shirt and I thought that boy was going to fly away.  His smile couldn't get any bigger. :-)

Carter and Batman

Testing out a fun new ride. :-)

Collin found the Star Wars Fighter Pods

and a nerf bow/arrow set

Batman's batmobile and batcycle.

School Pictures

Collin-Kindergarten
5 years

Carter-Preschool
3 1/2 years

Halloween

I tell ya, Halloween just gets better every year with these two.  Carter was Batman and Collin was a Ninja.  We had such a fun time.  Watching them run up to every door with Carter's Batman cape just flying behind him was the highlight of my night.  Daddy wasn't able to join us because he had already left to drive to Colorado for an elk hunting trip.  The boys just wanted to walk around our neighborhood this year, which was perfectly fine with me.  It took us a little over an hour to hit all the houses in our neighborhood.  We met up with some of our neighbor friends as well.  There were a ton of kids walking around our neighborhood.  We ended our night by going home and having trick or treaters come to our house as well.  We ate candy and of course had to watch "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown!".  

Caden aka Ironman, Collin, Carter & Taylor aka Lalaloopsy

Our neighbors down the street really do their house up scary for Halloween.  It took a little convincing to get the boys to walk up to their door. ha!

Let the Candy Coma begin!!!

Kindergarten Fall Party

As "Homeroom Mom" for Collin's class, my big responsibility is organizing all the class parties.  My first was the Fall Party and although a little overwhelming at first, it came off without a glitch.  There are some great parents of kids in Collin's class who helped me out with money, supplies, volunteering at the party, etc.  It was so, so nice to have so much help.  The kids all had a great time.  We had cupcakes and snacks and then we did a craft where the kids made spider webs with yarn on paper plates and then we played a couple of games.  I think they all had a great time and it was so worth it to see all their smiling faces. :-)  After the party Collin said, "Mom, you throw the best parties."  That made my day. :-)  Love that little guy!!

This is his "I'm thrilled you're here, but I'm going to act like I'm not" look. :-)

Addison, Jacob, Kennedy, Dylan & Jared

Zahir, Peyton, Ryder, Audrey & Todd

Jordan, Ava, Caleb & Eva

The spider web craft they made.  I made some special pipe cleaner spiders with suckers for them to add to their webs. :-)

They played a game where I had little ping pong balls with ghost faces on them and they had to blow them with straws across the floor.  They loved it. :-)

Collin, Mark, Alyssa, & Mattox

Mickey's Visit

Our friend Mickey came up to Mom and Dad's for her annual visit. It happened to also be Mickey's birthday that weekend, so we celebrated with one of her favorites (mine too!), birthday blackberry cobbler!  We had a great weekend hanging out and visiting and even took some time to carve some jack-o-lanterns for Me-Ma and Pa-Pa.   

Me, Mickey & Courtney

Collin designed his all by himself and I cut it out for him. :-)

Fultz Family Reunion 2012

The first weekend in October, we had our annual "Fultz Family Reunion" in my hometown.  It's always nice to see everyone even though I don't get to visit much trying to wrangle two rambunctious little boys. :-)  I was able to visit with my cousin Lindsay who Courtney and I grew up with riding four wheelers and going on adventures deep in the woods.  Ahh... those were the days.  Funny to think that out of the 3 of us girls we now each have 2 boys a piece!  We were finally able to get a picture of our little guys together!

Carter, Roper & Collin

Hudson, Collin, Roper, Carter, Hayes & baby Rylan

Courtney, Lindsay & I

My dad (far right) with some of his siblings and cousins

Girls Weekend!

I was able to have a great girls weekend the last weekend in September.  Josh stayed home with the boys and my mother-in-law, Kate, and I headed up to Iowa to attend a wedding.  We stopped in Kansas City on our way to go to a store Kate wanted to take me to called, Nell Hill's.  Loved the store and did a little damage in there. :-)  It was little right across from the bank I used to work at in Kansas City.  It was amazing to see how much that area had changed.  We had dinner close to there as well and then headed on up to Iowa.  We stayed with Grandma Juanita in her apartment and just had a great time.  It's always so great to see her.  She really is the sweetest person ever!  Love her to pieces and I always learn something new when I'm there.  This time she told me about the time she and her family traveled by covered wagon to Minnesota when she was just a baby.  She said that on their way there, she was named Juanita by some American Indians.  So cool.  The whole weekend she would always say, "You know, God has just been so good to me all my life."  While I was sitting there listening to her, I decided to look up what her name meant.  Juanita truly means, "God has been gracious".  Wow.  After hearing her talk about how good God has been to her, it was so cool to find out that that was the meaning of her name as well!  Grandma Juanita is 96 years young and you would never believe it!  Such a sweet, sweet lady and we had a wonderful time with her.

The wedding we went to was so neat as well.  The reception was held at the Omaha Zoo Aquarium, so that was really neat.  Can you believe I forgot to take my camera this weekend??  So upset about that, but I got a few pictures with my phone.

Grandma Juanita and Kate

Me, Grandma Juanita and Kate

We were also able to have a nice visit with Aunt Betty and Uncle Doug.

Aunt Betty, Grandma Juanita, Kate & Uncle Doug

On our way back home, we stopped in Kansas City again and went down to the Plaza for dinner and dessert.  We ate at one of my favorite places there, Brio Tuscan Grille.  Kate had never been to the Cheesecake Factory, so I insisted on taking her there.  Oh boy, one of the many reasons I miss Kansas City. :-)  Of course I got my all-time favorite, Pineapple Upside Down Cheesecake......hello beautiful. :-)

Funny Friday!

Wow....I have A LOT of catching up to do on my blog, but until then, here are our funnies for the last couple of weeks. :-)

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I went to pick Carter up at preschool one day and his teacher, Mrs. Jamie, said, "Boy, you have taught this boy well."  In my head, I'm thinking, "Oh great, what has he done now...."  Jamie goes on to tell me that they were practicing their rhyming words that day and had a picture of a bat and were trying to get the kids to pick out other pictures that rhymed with 'bat'.  They went through several pictures and had one of a rather robust guy to represent the word 'fat'.  Carter pipes up in class and says, "No, we don't say that.  We say "big-boned"."  Oh, this kid never ceases to crack me (and everyone else) up. :-)

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In the car one day I hear Collin say to Carter, "Carter, when are  you going to learn to be quiet and listen to me and do what I say????"  Boy, could I preach that to both of them! ha!

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Carter came up to me one day and said, "Mom, did you know Collin knows how to say 'taco' in Spanish?"  Me-"Oh yeah?  How do you say it?"

Carter-"Uh, Taco."  With this look on his face like "duh!"

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The other night I took the boys to see the movie "Wreck It Ralph".  Super cute movie, but on our way there, Collin says, "I sure hope this movie doesn't have cuss words."  I was laughing inside and said, "How do you know about cuss words?"  Collin confidently says, "Mom, I AM the smartest kid in America.  I just know those things.....really I do."

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We have been getting a ton of toy catalogs in the mail lately....tis the season.  The boys love looking through them and marking them up just like I remember doing as a kid.  Such excitement. :-)  Collin was scanning through one of them one day and says, "I don't know why they make these toys that just look WAY to dangerous!"

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Have a great weekend!!