A fun day for a fort . . .

Fall is in the air . . .

The stomach flu has recently taken over the McCrary household. It started with me, then found its way to little Evan and a week later finally got to Luke. Hopefully it has had its fun in our house and is GONE (for good)! In order to feel somewhat normal we've tried to get out at least once a day to feel the cool breeze and the sun on our faces.

Luckily Kate and J have dodged this one. We're praying that it continues to pass over them.

This girl is feisty! She's getting quite the 'tude. She is quick to protest when things aren't going her way.

See. Check out that "stink" face.

Well, here's to health and being able to enjoy Fall to it's fullest before the much dreaded winter sets in. (Blurry, but couldn't help but show that determined face - who knew riding a scooter required such focus!).

Check it out!

Look at this girl go! We can't believe that she's doing this. Kate has been standing for a while now and started cruising around the furniture, but to be walking behind this lion. Oh, it just is almost too much for me! I can hardly believe that in just over a month she is going to be 1! My goodness. Anywho, she's pretty proud of herself. (quality is bad . . . it's from my phone). Enjoy!

Vacation - Branson Landing

Every night we walked down to the Landing with the kids. They have an awesome fountain and light show overlooking the river. The kids absolutely loved it . . . so did we. We would park the stroller and let the boys get out and run. They threw coins in, danced to the music, made friends, and got a little wet in the process. It was a busy weekend and challenging at times (5 people in one hotel room) but it was great. We'll definitely have to go back soon!

Movie Night

It's been awhile since we've had a movie night. With summer being as busy as it has been, it was nice to get a good kids movie, order some pizza and relax. We heard good things about Rio, so that's what we decided on. We laid a blanket on the floor, popped Kate in the booster seat and feasted on some greasy, delicious pizza. Good times.



Of course you can't have a movie night without sweet treats, too. J bought some frosted sugar cookies from the store to have after we ate our pizza. Apparently someone left their cookie behind for this little gal to gobble up. I came around the corner to find Kate with her hands in the icing and then they went straight into her mouth. This is a blurry shot, but just look at that face. She knew she was up to no good!

My mom called just before we were getting ready to start the movie and asked if her and Jae (my niece) could come by. I said, "sure"!!! So, they joined us for the evening. The more the merrier, right? Almost. : ) With four kids under four, there wasn't a lot of movie watching going on, but there was lots of fun happening. They boys get along with Jae great and Jae mothers Kate. It's a pretty sweet combination.

Here's to more movie nights and the possibility of actually watching the movie. : )

Luke's 1st Day of Pre-school

It finally arrived. Luke's much anticipated first day of pre-school. We've been talking about this day for months and I honestly didn't know how it would all play out. Luke has seemed excited all along and everyone I talked to continued to reassure me that he would love it and he would do great. Well, that's awesome. But, what about me? Am I going to do awesome? Or, am I going to be a sobbing, blubbering mama when I drop him off? I am I going to make him nervous. Is he going to be ok without me? Will he remember to tell the teacher when he has to go to the bathroom? Oh my. Those were just some of the thoughts that ran through my mind leading up to this big day!

There was no reason to worry. Justin's mom was a rock star and volunteered to come over and stay with Evan and Kate so that I could take Luke by myself (love her). I woke up early (to an actual alarm, not one of the kiddos!), got myself ready (actually fixed my hair!), made coffee, and quietly tiptoed into the boys room to wake Luke up (without waking Ev (fingers crossed)). Success! Luke woke up happy and eager to start his day. We had a quiet breakfast, just the two of us (for the first time in a LONG time). We got dressed, took pictures and headed off to school.

Once we got there we found our way to his classroom. His teacher was great. She helped him find his name on the wall to hang his backpack and then showed him around so he could start playing during "free time". All the while, he just nodded and followed her looking over his shoulder to make sure I was still there. After a few minutes, he decided on an activity. I took this as my cue to get out of there. I leaned over and told him it was time for me to leave. I gave him a hug and kiss and he was great. I snapped a picture of him as I was outside his classroom and he hadn't even turned to look for me. He was ready! Thank goodness! Oh, and I was great, too. No tears. I was so happy to see him happy - that's all that mattered. Here's to an amazing year at pre-school. Hopefully the rest of the year goes as smoothly as his first day!

Vacation - building cars

We took the boys to a place on the Branson Landing where they could build their own car. It's like Build a Bear, but it's cars. In other words, Luke and Evan's dream day.

Oh my it seemed like an eternity before they could decide on a car. They went back and forth, back and forth before finally deciding on their cars.

Check 'em out. This place has it all figured out. You pick your car, tires and wheels and head over to the build station. They get to screw the base to the car frame, put the wheels in the tires and pop them on. After that, you're done. You can then go try on different spoilers, hood ornaments and other car stuff that I know nothing about and buy them if you want. Fun times.

Just check out the smile on his face. He's so excited.

Here's Ev in the process of building his car.

This shot is blurry but captures Evan's excitement and personality perfectly.

Vacation - a day on the lake

So, J and I decided that we couldn't go to the lake this year without renting a boat. I am so glad he pushed for this, it was an absolute blast. When we got to the Marina the boys immediately headed for the dock so they could feed the fish and turtles. I must admit - after seeing these GIANT fish begging for food (seriously), it made me a little nervous about getting into the lake. However, I overcame that thought and decided to relax and enjoy what the day would bring.

Even Kate was amazed by those enormous things!

From the start all Evan wanted to do was "get in lake". Poor guy, the search for the "perfect" spot took a little longer than anticipated due to one minor hiccup that we weren't planning on - no anchor. What? Really? Yes, that's right, no anchor. So . . . we had to find a spot calm enough to stop and swim and hope that the boat wouldn't get too far away from us in the process. It was a bit tricky at first and the kiddos were getting antsy, hot, hungry, etc...

However, we found a spot and this is the response we get. Pure bliss. : )

Sweet girl. Honestly, we drag her around from place to place more than I care to admit and she just hangs in there with a smile and little complaint. All she needs is some attention, snacks, a place to rest and she's good to go. Lucky us, right?

Apparently Luke likes to play it safe when swimming in the lake. Take note of the life jacket, his muscles and the noodle. I think you're good, buddy. He loved it.

What a great day to be on the water. Thanks, daddy.

Vacation - pool and biking

We just got back from an awesome trip to Branson, MO. Justin went with his family several times growing up, but this was my first trip there. It was great. There is so much to do there. We only scratched the surface, but what we did do was just perfect for us! The kids love swimming, so lucky for us our hotel had an indoor and outdoor pool. Luke was facinated by the fact that there could be a pool inside, he got quite a kick out of it.

Yes, Kate was as patient and cooperative as usual. She hung out in her stroller when she wasn't hanging out in the pool. She is such an easy going girl. (I know, I sound like a broken record).

Evan is a dare-devil (broken record, again?). We purchased these "life jackets" in Florida this summer and they really have been the best purchase. The boys have so much more confidence when swimming. Evan has so much confidence (or something like that) that he has started jumping in and wants us to throw him into the pool. I don't think he even closes his eyes, much less his mouth. He goes under, bounces right back to the surface smiling and says, "again".

Don't be fooled by this picture. Although, Luke can now "swim" on his own, he absolutely does not like to go under. So this picture may look like he's about to be tossed and dunked, it's an illusion. Dad is going to safely catch him as he comes back down. No going under for Luke. No sir.

Kate doing her favorite new move - waving.

Look how excited Luke is to have his picutre taken. Isn't that sweet?

Great photo-op off the side of the road. The boys loved looking into a REAL racecar.

Watching the rainbow trout swim by at Dogwood Canyon (I plan on dedicating an entire post of landscape pics of that place soon - sooooooo beautiful).

We rented bikes and carts for the kids to ride in. For 2 people that are out of shape, we biked (with kids in tow) 6.2 miles! The kids enjoyed it, too. We made various pit-stops so they could get out and run around, but otherwise they just hung out and took in the awesome surroundings. Kate started out the trip in a cart by herself, but she wasn't too happy about that and the weight proved to be too much for Daddy, so she teamed up with Luke and all was right with the world after that. (It didn't hurt that he was feeding her yogurt melts half the time : )).

After 3 nights of sharing a hotel room and running the kids ragged, Evan pooped out. He just couldn't take it anymore. This kid was sooo tired that J lifted him from the cart, bought water from the gift store (while holding him), changed his diaper, and put him in his carseat all without waking up. Poor buddy. Now we're getting back into our non-vaction routine. Good times!

Little Miss Kate

This sassy gal is 10 months old now and boy-o-boy is she into EVERYTHING. This is one of her favorite past times: playing, chewing on and toting around shoes. Kind-of gross, yes.
She's also pulling up to a standing position all the time. She has even gotten brave enough to let go for a few seconds. I wonder how long it will be before she starts taking those much anticipated first steps?!?

Waving to me, Daddy, her brothers and anyone that looks her way is also something Kate loves to do. The other day we were out to eat and she waved nearly the entire meal. Needless to say we had lots of people come by to say hello to this friendly little gal at our table. It's pretty cute.

Here's short list of things Kate is up to:

~ she has started eating "big people" food. Such as, cheese, yogurt, rice, noodles, bread, diced fruit, small bites of hamburger, chicken, turkey and of course yogurt melts and puffs. She can't get enough, actually. I really don't think she'd stop eating if we didn't cut her off!

~she's now a professional crawler - she gets to where she wants in a hurry!

~FINALLY sleeping through the ENTIRE night. Thank goodness for this!!!

~weight 21 pounds, 13 ounces (81%), height 30 and 3/4 inches (99%)

Love you, Kate!!!