Brandon and Tanna threw the most incredible carnival themed 1st birthday party for Audree!  It was so fun and special for everyone!  Here’s Noelle and Audree playing the ducky game while Rose and Cerly were busy thinking about their next games, lol!  Rose was trying to concentrate on getting her first ticket to stick on the rose she just had face-painted on her cheek.  Silly girl!

Cookie the clown was amazing and even did a magic show for all of the kids!

 

The big girls were excited to play with Brylee and try out the dunking booth!

Mike helped Rose throw the ball through the tire.

 

Rose was surprisingly still the entire time Cookie painted her face.  She surprised us with a beautiful rose on Rose’s face.  So thoughtful!

 

Mike and I have decided the Bozo the Clown game from our childhood is the best carnival game ever invented!  We do penny can at home!

Bean bag toss to knock over the cans.  Rose LOVED this game!

 

 

After lots and lots of fun games, we took a popcorn break!  Tanna even thought of this fun ball pit for the littles to play in!

  

Here’s the Pond girl line-up!  Love catching them in the middle of fun, fun, fun!

 

 

Katie came right as I had to leave early to take Noelle to her last October breast cancer awareness football game!  Next week, it’s back to all red, black and white!  At the end of the party, Tanna had set up a fun prize room for the kids to redeem their tickets for prizes!

Happy 1st birthday, baby Audree!!!  You are so loved!

  

 

 

 

 

After we took some sister pictures, I told them to go “dive in!” to play with the pumpkins.  Anna Kate kept her head down long enough for me to ask her what she was doing, and she said, “You told us to dive in!”  Lol!

 

 

 

 

  

Love our pumpkin patch memories each fall!

Here is a side of Anna Kate that you guys haven’t seen here on the bloggity blog.  She is so crazy cool, and when I say she keeps us laughing, I mean, she is soooo funny, as in, hilarious!  One day, she came down stairs wearing what you see here (pirate eye patch, stained grape slush purple lips and all), singing over and over again, “Calling all the monsters, calling all the monsters!”  The whole family was cracking up, and she was loving every minute of it!  Here’s a peek into her world:

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

Fun day.  Fun run.  Until it was over.  Rose was not happy to see the 2nd graders go back to class!

         

The Pond girls had a blast celebrating Ella’s 4th birthday at Country Critters!  It was so hot (it’s been going back and forth in Texas between really hot and really cold, which is nothing new, lol), so we improvised our costumes.  

Noelle has always been our sweet animal lover/whisperer!

 

I don’t think there could be a cuter picture of a princess and a goat.  She actually was casting a spell on him with her wand as I was taking this picture, haha!  In the second picture, she was really sad because she wasn’t tall enough to pet the rabbit.  Noelle lifted her up right after this pretty smile!

Rose enjoyed all of the animals so much!  This is her first year to really understand what she is doing, and she’s loving every minute of it!  Texas was dry dry dry until the rain came last week, thankfully.  We needed it so badly!

 

 

Livy is another one of Anna Kate’s sweet school friends!

 

This action shot is so funny to me!

Rose is a little more reserved around animals than you would think.  I think the word is precautious.  She’s outgoing and lively, but she understands danger and boundaries too.  I’m proud of our little pumpkin!

 

 

Hayride and llama time, ha!

 

Ella’s big sister Anna and Noelle waiting to ride the horses while Rose takes the lead!

Rose wanted to ride all by herself.  I asked her if she wanted me to hold her hand, and she said, “No thanks!”  She says thanks when she wants to get her way fast!  I’m telling you, she’s a smart cookie!

Sweet Anna Kate wanted me to walk beside her, which I was so happy to do.  I’m proud of her for giving the horsey ride a chance.  Mike took this picture as I was pointing at Rose running off into the wilderness. 

 

 

Noelle, Noelle, my sweet diva girl, or in this case, disco diva girl!  Mike and I let her have fake eyelashes for Halloween, and she loves it!  I’ve never worn them before, and I was so nervous putting them on her, but she was like, “Go for it, Mom!” (last year, she just wore little pieces, this year it was the whole strip)  She was so excited!  I don’t know where she came from, but I love her to pieces and all that she teaches me about all things girlie!

 

My favorite things about these two pictures are Rose’s expression and Anna Kate’s sweet little feet.  These two pictures capture so much of both of their awesome personalities.  Love my Pond girls!

 

And the next minute, Rose is laughing at herself and picking flowers.

Our Pumpkin Pond in the pumpkin patch!

 

  

Thanks for having us out to the farm!  We had a blast celebrating you and your love for puppies!

First trip to the zoo this year turned out to be as exciting as ever!

 

 

 

 

 

Anna Kate was the first person to guess an animal on a show we were watching all together as a family this summer.  You know what the animal was – a Meerkat!  Anna Kate is one lucky girl to go to such an awesome preschool!  We love Mrs. Paula and her “always in teacher mode” attitude.  It’s incredible all that she has taught Anna Kate so far; we are so blessed and so thankful Anna Kate has such a loving, happy, and intelligent environment during this special time in her life! 

 

 

The baby elephant has arrived!

 

 

Wow!  I can almost hear him Roooo-aaaa-oooo-r!

 

 

What is that on his nose?  Eww!

I can’t believe Anna Kate got up this close to the tank!  It’s awesome Mrs. Paula takes and shares pictures every week for us parents to watch our kids learning too!  So awesome!  Anna Kate and I always go through the pictures, and she tells me all about what she learned or was interested in or how she felt in each picture!  She explains a lot and fills in the stories that some of the pictures can’t tell. 

 

“The mingos are making a heart!” says Rose when she sees this picture pop up on the computer!  Cool, Rose!  She can’t wait to go to Mrs. Paula’s and talks about it all the time!  “I go to Paula’s too, Mommy, OK?”  We tell her when she is potty-trained we will ask (and she has to be 3), but Rose just smiles and says, “Nah!”

Anna Kate and Conner… sweet buddies, sweet pic!

What a beautiful day!  Thank you, Mrs. Paula, for always sharing the beauty of Anna Kate’s preschool days with all of us!

The Bobcats got to play on the big college football field for their Stockshare Game this season.  When we drove up to the stadium, Noelle started screaming with delight that they were going to get to cheer on such a big field!

 

Noelle can touch her toes to her forehead and her tumbling coach said it’s a good stretch for her to do.  She’s crazy!  I can’t do that!  Can you?

 

Little sisters Sydney and Anna Kate with Big sissies Hannah and Noelle

 

First steps on the big field were so exciting for Noelle.  She’s such a little performer and couldn’t wait to get started!

Here are some of my friendsies: Aimme (Mason and Carson’s mom), Rebecca (Hannah and Sydney’s mom), and Amy and Kyle (Ava, Eden and Liv’s parents)

The girls were all fired up!

 

Cute cheerleaders right here!

Lacy, Sydney, Eden and Anna Kate colored their little hearts out together today!  When people ask Anna Kate if she’s going to cheer next, she always replies, “No way!  I’m going to be a soccer star!”  I love it… love it all!

 

Anna Kate is coming into her own!  She’s sassy, spirited and knows where she’s going!  She’s all about being a part of the family and having a blast!  Anytime we’re ready to go, she’s the first one in the car with a big smile on her face!  She LOVES life!  I draw my strength from her joy, energy, and spunk as we go about our days together.  I don’t even want to think about Kindergarten.  I need Anna Kate in my days!  Here are some spontaneous (adorable) pictures she asked me to take at the big (exciting) stadium last week while we were getting concessions before the game.

 

No words.  Simply adorable.  My girl.

 

One of Anna Kate’s favorite games is “Spot It.”  She’s really good at it too!  One of the symbols you have to yell out if you “spot it” on the card, is lips.  When she spotted lips for the first time, she yelled out, “Smoochy Kissy Lips!”  We all cracked up because she could’ve just yelled out “Lips!” so from then on, everyone in the family that gets the lips symbol on their card, calls out, “Smoochy Kissy Lips” because it’s so cute and fun!  When I saw this shirt on clearance at Target, I knew Anna Kate had to have it.  It matches her Cherry Bomb Converses perfectly!  We’ve had those Converses for years (I bought them on clearance at Nordstrom for Noelle, but she never wore them… not once), so I’m loving seeing Anna Kate enjoy a style that is different from her sister that I think is so totally cute (and I enjoy Noelle’s super awesome one of a kind diva style every day too, of course)!

Cutie Kate is as fun and alive as they get!  I thank God for her every single day!