Claire is 6!!

Just like that my baby girl turned 6!!! I can't believe how fast time went and now my little baby is a sweet 6 yr old. We had our usual family party planned for her but with a twist. She knew she was getting her favorite dinner (taquitos and mexican rice) plus a cake but she didn't know that her Aunt Katie and Uncle Matthew were flying in from Michigan to surprise her. The look on her face when she opened the front door was priceless.

birthday pancakes

Secret Garden decorations

Her garden cake

opening presents

Aunt Katie, Uncle Matthew, and the birthday girl

Daddy and Claire

Mommy and Claire

Claire and her new guitar

Gingerbread House Decorating

We decorated gingerbread houses this year with our church family. The kids had a great time decorating and eating lots of candy. Claire was old enough this year to decorate all by herself. I helped Grace and my mom helped Hannah. Luke decided not to decorate and instead spent the hour eating his entire house. A sweet gal from the church made all the kids festive treats. 

I got to decorate too

Look at all the candy!

Eating his house

Our completed gingerbread village

Daddy Day for November

Jason took us all to downtown Fort Worth during the Parade of Lights. We ate at the Cheesecake Factory and then went to watch the tree lighting in Sundance Square. It was really crowded but the kids did great. The girls loved seeing the big Christmas tree all lit up.

Hannah is 3!

Hannah turned 3 at the end of October. Now I have a 5,4, and 3 year old. When I asked her what she wanted for her birthday all she told me was, "pink".  She had lots of special birthday treats and her birthday dinner believe it or not included broccoli. She requested broccoli, and yes she can eat a ton of it. Her other weakness is bubble gum so we made sure the birthday girl got plenty of that. 

Great Wolf Lodge

We finally did it, our very first family vacation! We decided to stay close to home and spent two nights at the Great Wolf Lodge. This was the first time for us to have all our kids in a hotel with us. The kids had so much fun and are still begging to go back. They played in the indoor waterpark everyday, loved the arcade, went to story time, met all the characters, and enjoyed lots of treats. They especially liked their bunkbeds. Claire and Grace slept on the top bunk together and Hannah had the bottom bunk to herself. In the water park, Claire could have spent all day in the wave pool. Her and Grace would just wade in up to their necks practically and enjoy being pushed by the waves. It was so fun to watch them enjoy the water.

The Kruises with our wolf ears

Howling by the clock tower

In our hotel room 

They loved their bunk beds

At the arcade

Their favorite was the wave pool

Lunch in the room

Craft time

Crossing the lily pads

Mommy and Lukey

Hannah loved being in the waterfall

Pumpkin Patch

We went to the pumpkin patch in Flower Mound this year to pick our pumpkins. The kids loved all the cartoon cut outs throughout the farm and playing in the bounce houses and play sets. We also rode the train, ate kettle corn, and let the kids each pick out their own pumpkins. It was a fun time for all of us!