October- First Half

 Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party

We headed to Orlando for Mickey's Halloween Party the weekend after the hurricane. It felt strange to be doing something so frivolous and fun with all that was going on just a little bit south but it was nice too! The kids enjoyed the candy, the short lines for rides and the boys were great sports in going along with Cora's costume idea.

School Pictures: 

Fourth Grade 

Seventh Grade

Freshman

Moving: 

The process of moving was a slow one. We spent a full month moving loads and doing projects before we finally spent a night at the new house. Every time one of us would go to the house for any reason, we'd load up with stuff from the apartment. Once the moving truck arrived on October 1st, we spent a lot of our time going through all the items from storage. On our goal move in weekend, Grandpa and Deona came and moved the big stuff with their van. We couldn't have done it without them. They were awesome! Roger has also been doing SO many projects (here are just a few), Rowan was so helpful with moving heavy stuff and Cruz was a trooper in assisting Roger in putting together many items including the basketball hoop and trampoline! 

Family Room feature wall. 

Wallpaper accent wall in Coco's room. 

Strong boy! 

The boys were in charge of Cora's loft bed. They took it apart, moved it and put it back together again! 

Thank you, thank you, Grandpa and Deona!!!!

Getting the bonus room TVs set up.

I loved peeking in the back slider and seeing the boys' heads on the couch as they watched basketball together. More pics to come! :) 

Flag Football: 

Flag football finished up! Cruz had a fun season and is enjoying the ten day break before basketball starts up. 

Henry B. Plant Museum Field Trip: 

I got to go to Tampa with Coco's class and visit a really cool resort built in the late 1800's which is now a museum and historic landmark. 

Cora and her friends sat down for lunch and I sat down on a nearby bench to eat mine. Cora came over and invited me to sit with her and her friends. :) I'm so thankful for the opportunity to go on this field trip with my girl as I know these times are fewer each year! 

Cora is TEN (Wrap Up)

Cora and Haven:

Cora and her sweet friend Haven requested a joint birthday party this year. Haven's family had a lot going on in September and ours was nut so having a skating party where we just showed up and had fun was the best!!! 

Sweetest friends! 

Love this bunch so much! And not to brag, but Roger and I were pretty good on the skate floor. :) 

Cora Celebrations: 

Thanks to her birthday trip, moving, Hurricane Ian and various weekday activities, Cora's birthday celebrations were kind of all over the place, only wrapping up this past weekend (10/15) with Grandpa and Deona. I didn't get as many pictures as I normally do but hopefully all the fun made up for that! 

Last birthday set up at the apartment!!! 

 

Coco chose Chipotle for her birthday dinner with Grammy and Grampy before we left for Los Angeles. 

Fun presents from Grammy & Grampy

After her trip but before the hurricane, Coco got to FaceTime with Grandma and open a new mermaid tail for swimming! 

We tried to FaceTime with Jade and Jemma DURING the hurricane but lost WIFI so Cora opened her gifts after we got WIFI back- the hurricane provided lots of extra chatter. 

Thank you Uncle Randy, Aunt Nicole and Emmett!! Cora received her very first piece of mail at the new house from you guys! 

Happiest birthday to our sweetest girl. 

Coco Bean,

At age 10 you are still tall (57 inches) and you weigh around 70 pounds. You have gotten so strong this year thanks to dance and all the conditioning that you do. I'm so impressed with your work ethic. You're P.E. teacher at school has noticed your strength and called you out on it as well. You have taken on 9-10 hours a week of dance with ease although I don't think its been too tough for you because you love to dance so much. 

You still love school and your friends. You enjoy reading and prefer books that are fun and not too challenging. Your favorites right now are the Katie the Catsitter graphic novels and the Agatha Parrott series. You sailed through your multiplication and division timed tests and finished them within the first month of school. You have gotten so much better at taking your time with your work and you have such interesting thoughts and ideas on the things you read! Reading directions continues to be a challenge though. ;) 

I continue to admire your dedication to prayer and you confidence in God to answer them. You are a faithful and loyal friend, something you've worked hard at since early elementary. You have requested to be baptized this year- and requested to do that alongside Claire in Tennessee and we're working to make that happen! We love you so much, Cora Grace. We are so thankful that you are our girl. 

Cora in 10SANGELES

I can't believe our last tenth birthday trip is over! This was such a fun tradition though and I think each of our kids totally enjoyed their trip. 

 

We left bright and early on 9/23. We managed to keep the destination a surprise until our connecting flight in Dallas. 

Thanks to having two brothers, this girl knows her cars. Daddy chauffeured her around LA in style. 

Her new lavender big girl suitcase was a birthday gift! 

We checked into the Ritz Carlton Marina del Rey and immediately had to see if the beds passed the handstand test. 

We had a little time before dinner, so the birthday girl opted for jammies, TV and gummies. 

Our beautiful big girl ready for her fancy birthday dinner! 

Coco felt so special! She even got a special dessert of her choice.

Beautiful room views! 

Ready for day #2

Coco loves breakfast so the California diners were her dream come true! 

Hollywood Museum

The Lucille Ball exhibit was one of the reasons we decided to visit the Hollywood Museum. Cora loved it. 

Did you know there's a tap dance move called a Shirley Temple? I didn't until Cora performed it for us by Shirley Temple's square.

El Capitan- wish we had more time to see a movie there! 

Our afternoon activity consisted of another one of Cora's birthday gifts- a shopping spree! 

Cora was given a "scavenger hunt" list and had to shop for things that fit those categories. 

Daddy and Cora came out of Bath and Body Works smelling really crazy. 

Done with shopping stop one.... on to stop two! 

Downtown had a Lululemon store at which our little dancer was VERY excited to use one of her last scavenger hunt categories.

 

We walked to the Santa Monica Pier....

and rode the ferris wheel! 

 

Coco chose Benihana for dinner! She loved having our whole hibachi table sing to her! 

On her actual birthday, September 25th, Cora chose to start the day at yet another diner! 

The owners were SO sweet and brought her a birthday treat with a candle when they heard it was her birthday. 

We spent the day at Knotts Berry Farm, riding roller coasters and eating treats!  

We had the absolute best time with our special girl and I'm pretty sure she felt super special too. 

Rowan and Cruz had the BEST time with Grammy & Grampy too. They ate special dinners, went Go Karting, played arcade games, set Grampy up with a Roblox account, played a lot of Chameleon and Scattegories and ate ice cream whenever they wanted. :)