Our First Teenage Girl!

Linda is officially a teenager! She turned 13yrs. old on the 22nd. We had strawberry shortcake for her birthday cake. She got some new clothes, a riding helmet, a necklace, purse, boogie board, and all kinds of fun stuff.

We went to Medieval Times to celebrate. The kids really loved it and it was fun to see the knights and all of the beautiful horses. 

We love Linda so much. She was born a lady. She has a compassionate, kind spirit. She loves horses, babysitting, reading, and being creative. She has grown in to a beautiful young woman. We're so lucky to know her. 
Here is her yearly birthday picture with Grandpa Thompson.

Family Pictures - The Kids

Claire - 9yrs. old

Linda - 12yrs. old (almost 13)

Jane - 11yrs. old

Bruce - 14yrs. old

Family Pictures - Pt. 2

New Family Pictures Oct. 2017 - Pt. 1

Here are some of my favorites from our family picture session this year. 

 

Halloween 2017

I was ambitious and had a little Halloween party at our house the week before Halloween for the kids friends. It was pretty fun, and a lot of work. The next night was our Trunk-or-Treat at church. I felt like Halloween should be over at that point. 

On Halloween day I went to Claire's school for a little party for Literature Day/Halloween. You can't see the full costume but she was Charlotte from Charlotte's Web. That night we went to a friend's house and had a bbq. The adults hung out while the kids went trick or treating and the teenagers played video games.

Here are the costumes this year. 

Bruce - suspicious man :)

Linda - Red Riding Hood

Jane - Cop

Claire - Jaguar

I'd say is was a successful Halloween. The kids are passed out from all of the fun and they'll have candy around for weeks. 

Firsts For Bruce

Bruce has had a few firsts lately. He went to his first church dance. He was asked to dance pretty quickly. Because he is tall a lot of older girls ask him to dance, thinking he's older than he is. His Uncle Tom got a picture of him at the dance. Haha.

Also, he started to shave. It's fun when Bruce has firsts, because his first are also lasts. 

That's how it works when you only have one boy.