Halloween 2010

This year Hallie was so excited she got to trick-or-treat with Alayna Grace & Garrett

Hallie was a cowgirl and Alayna Grace was a dancer

Garrett chose to dress as a  football player

One last shot before they go. They made a great haul, Hallie is still on a sugar high!!

Say Cheese on 1, 2, 3

Hallie's cheer squad and football team had picture day last week. This was the first year that the cheerleaders have taken a group picture with the team. Someone remarked that we were looking at the future varsity football team and cheerleaders because with just a few exceptions the team and cheerleaders are around the same age. It will be fun to compare this pic with the one 9 years from now!

A funny little side note, the sun was directly in their eyes and it was brutal so the photographer suggested to close their eyes and open them when he said 1,2,3 so they wouldn't be squinting. Well as you can see a few were slower to open their eyes than others ;-)

After the group shot the football players took their individual pictures. Bad news...we waited a long time, good news... I got to take lots of pics!

Hallie & Kaylee

Hallie & Claire were in kindergarten together and have been buds ever since

Such a sweet group of girls!

Tori, Taylor, Kaylee, Gracie & Hallie

They wanted to make sure I got one of their socks too ;-)

I (heart) this picture it's one of my favorites of the day

There was so much extra time the girls started doing a few stunts. Of course all us Mommas were yelling no, no you're going to mess up your hair!

Finally, it was our turn and one of the Moms suggested this layout and we all loved it.

Here is a few group shots of the entire squad-it was a great year with a great group of girls!

Student of the Week 2010

Monday started out as most Mondays do with Hallie not wanting to get up or go to school but boy did that change when she saw her name on the sign as Student of the week. She had not heard the announcement on Friday, so it was a big surprise! It definitely turned her frown upside down :-)

Just for fun I looked back at last year's Student of the week picture and bless Hallie's heart I am so passing my love of animal prints onto her-whether willingly or not!

2009 & 2010

Finally Fall

Fall came in officially a few weeks ago but most days it hasn't felt like Fall until last week when the temp dipped into the 40's. I snapped a few pics as they headed out to school to a bunch of "Awwww Mom" but at least they smiled when the camera flashed ;-)

 Finally fall colors and long sleeves

Oh my, is it just me or does Hunter look 18 in this pic instead of 13?

Time to Dance

Just a few pictures from dance practice last week.  I didn't get as many as I would have liked due to the part that I was distracting Hallie, she kept waving and saying watch me Mom!

Hallie and Gracie talking and (giggling) before class began

Stretching and warming up before tumbling

Hallie takes after my Mom being so limber but unfortunately it skipped my generation-if I ever got that flat to the floor the paramedics would have to help me up!

Tumbling and flipping etc... is Hallie's favorite part of class (and my scariest) she has been practicing this one hand back bend and it terrifies me (and her Dad)

Next was the back handspring and the main part that Hallie wanted me to take pictures of

Gosh sometimes it's hard being a Mom watching your little girl growing up and doing things she loves but that terrify you! It seems like it was only yesterday when my little ballerina looked like this...

Pumpkins, Pictures & Petting

One more photo before we move on to fun.

Look at my country girl on these tractors. Her Paw Paw would have been so proud :-)

Believe it or not, picking a pumpkin wasn't Hallie's favorite part of the day. Hallie LOVES animals and the patch has a small petting farm consisting of horses, rabbits and a goat who we didn't pet but did feed.
We started with the horses

Next was the rabbits which were precious!

As a toddler we tried to have a "pro" picture with a rabbit but it scared Hallie to death she has obviously gotten over that fear!

I believe she would have stayed here the rest of the day!

The camera isn't playing tricks with their eyes, they were actually that color

In case you're wondering-yes-she does want one now!

Next was time for a little manual labor-shelling corn
This was an activity the kids loved but I'm sure if they had to do it all the time it would get old quickly!

As we headed out I saw a shaded area for pics and Hallie was such a good sport she posed for a few more. I think these are my faves, maybe just because it was in the shade!

If you have some free time before Halloween head down to Jack o Lantern Lane it was lots of fun and don't forget your camera!

Pumpkin Patch

We took a trip to the pumpkin patch today and as far as opportunities for photos it was a Mom's dream. As a matter of fact I took so many I am going to split this post into 2 parts!

 Follow me to the patch

It's such a cute setting with a country store

They have the front porch decorated with several displays perfect for pictures

Tables for old fashion checker games

Silly photo stands

Time to board the wagon and head to the patch

We arrive, now it's time to find the perfect pumpkin!

Oh my this is going to be a hard choice because there are pumpkins everywhere!

Bless her heart, Hallie took after her Mom and has the hardest time making decisions as you can see....

She picked up several pumpkins to try them out

 Only to sit them back down after a few moments

We thought we had a winner and we're headed out but look at that face looking at another pumpkin

And another pumpkin went back down, it would have been comical had it not been 90 degrees in that field!

We really thought we had winner here she even wanted to take a picture with this one

However, that was not the winner but you get the idea. She did finally make up her mind guess which of our 3 pumpkins is Hallie's?

If you guessed the largest heaviest pumpkin on the right that Dad had to tote along with his own-you are our lucky winner :-)
Stay tuned for pumpkin patch part 2