Tad took a lot of the photos in the video. He also created and edited the video. I love it!

Take a look!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rntIRdEOKnU&hd=1

I found this idea on Pinterest a few months ago and changed it a little for Lila. She was learning a letter a day back when school started. Each day after learning the letter she would write both the upper and lower case letter on apples and tape them to her apple tree. We finally had to take down the tree today so we could start putting up some Christmas crafts, but I wanted to capture a picture of it so we could remember how well she did on it.

My niece, Tyler, got married a couple of weeks ago. She had a beautiful wedding during a very busy time. I can't post too many pictures because Tad hasn't officially given Tyler the photos yet. But I have a few as a glimpse of how great the day was.

Lila was a flower girl. That makes two weddings that she was in this fall. She loved every minute of it. My mom made her dress. Brooklyn, my niece, did her hair.

Drennan is third from the right. Micah is third from the left. They had lots of fun visiting with cousins.

I was asked to play the piano. Nettie, my niece, also played, and we played one piece together.

This is Tyler's family on both her mom's side and her dad's side. Lots of smiling faces.

Every year we try to get a picture of the cousins who were born the same summer. Ellie Anna, Drennan, and Memphis (Memp) are 10 this year. They aren't smiling in the picture because there weren't smiling in the first picture we took of them in their birth order. They were only a few months old then.

Tad caught of picture of me with my Judles. 

The festival followed the wedding, and we were absolutely worn out after the weekend. But it was fun, fun, fun! We're so happy for Tyler!

I can't believe we are starting our 7th week of school this week! I wanted to post some pictures I took of the kids last week. They've been working so hard.

Drennan is my avid reader. He is currently reading Lord of the Rings (Fellowship of the rings). But since that is such a big book I have him to read shorter books during the day. (He reads fellowship when he goes to bed.) One morning he decided to read on the front porch, while the other kids were busy inside.

Lila is in Kindergarten. She LOVES school work, and she's such an eager learner. She writes letters all the time. I can't wait for her to start reading. Here she is putting straw pieces in play-doh to trace over the letters she was working on.

Our little Judels hops right in there with us. When I snapped this picture he was playing with his cookie monster backpack and watching a show.

 Micah is messing around on the computer. He's come a long way with his school. He started out "hating his letters," and now he's reading chapter books faster than I can put the titles of them on his reading list.

This is a random shot of Lila holding a teeny, tiny Tinkerbell. She was dressed really cute this day, so I grabbed the camera. She said, "Take a picture of me holding Tinkerbell for Ainsley to see." 

Last Sunday, my grandmother called and asked if the kids wanted to go to a homemade amusement park. My dad's cousin apparently bought some used amusement park items and fixed them up.

So Tad and my dad took the 3 big kids. It was nap time for little Judles, so he and I stayed at home.

They got to ride on a miniature Ferris Wheel and Bumper Cars. From what I heard, they didn't want to leave when it was time to go. :)

MamaSue and Betty

Needless to say I hope Jude and I can go the next time. Drennan, Micah, and Lila had a blast!

The cooler weather means the kids have been outside more. It's been great, especially since we've started school back and they need/want the fresh air and the exercise. This week one of them had the idea to make a circus.

 Lila was the acrobat.


 Micah was Moe the Clown. I couldn't help but laugh when I first saw him. He and Drennan took paint (non-washable paint) and completely covered his belly, back, arms, and face.

Drennan was the musician. He sang and played the guitar. I heard him singing The Rainbow Connection, which Kermit the Frog sings on the Muppets. For the very last line, he sang, "the clown, the swinger, and me." So funny.

Jude was just an audience member, but he got to eat a cookie, so he was excited. Maybe they can take their act on the road.

I never got a chance to post when Drennan was having his birthday at the end of June, so I thought I would combine Drennan's and Micah's birthday celebrations into one post.

Drennan turned 10 on June 23rd. I can't believe he is already 10!! He had an Avengers party at the pool. His cupcakes turned out so well. I put M&Ms on top to form different symbols from the Avengers. 

 It was blazing hot, but the kids had a great time swimming!
 Micah turned 8 on August 7th. He had a Captain America party. He was so excited to get a Captain America costume that he wore it to his party and hid until everyone was there. Then he came running out in his suit. It was great!

All of these kids just happened to be sitting on this bench in this order (except for baby Della who we added for extra cuteness).

Tad took this photo of Micah on his actual birthday. Jude keeps saying, "Micah is Cap Amewica."

 It gets so hot in the afternoons, that we usually try to stay inside or at least on the porch so we don't get scorched by the sun. We took scooters and other ride-on toys, but in addition to those I took some crafty things to do. Lila and Jude painted seashells. They did this a couple of days for a long time each day. They loved it.

 I also had each kid from Jude up to Brooklyn (16) to make a sand handprint mosaic. We've done this once before and it's a lot of fun and really cool.
We poured plaster of paris on top of the shells and pulled it out when it dried. 

We also did a sand art craft. And, of course, had our annual Pirate Treasure Hunt.

Lots of relaxing on the porch.

Lots of playing in the sand.

They all loved the water. Drennan and Micah did a lot of body surfing. Jude and Lila played in the sand a lot, but they also loved the water quite a bit.
Every evening they went crab hunting. They caught bigger and bigger crabs each night.

Crazy family photo.

Group shot. The rest of Julie's family was gone to watch/play softball.
We were happy to get home, but sad to leave the beach. Jude, especially, said he wasn't going home. He wanted to stay at the beach house.

Ok this is my last post on our Disney World trip. On Friday of our trip we went to Downtown Disney. There is a ginormous Disney store called World of Disney that has tons of Disney paraphernalia. We let the kids pick out a souvenir. Drennan and Micah each got Mickey ears. Lila got a Little Mermaid doll, and Jude got a Buzz Lightyear gun.

 Then we moved on the the Lego store. This store was awesome for a lego fan. We happen to have 2.
 Micah and Drennan each built a little lego guy from various parts. It was a pretty cool thing to do.


Buzz Lightyear and Woody are made from legos! Jude had to have his picture with them.

The seven dwarfs are also made from legos.

Princess Aurora and Cinderella were not made from legos, but we couldn't pass up on a photo op.


This concludes our trip to Disney World. We made lots of memories and definitely look forward to going back. Note: Next time we have to remember to buy tea bags and jugs of water to make sweet tea. We were all so sick of having to drink Florida water! :)