Fader Days 2009!

Well Sunday was a great Father's Day (or Fader Days as Campbell called it) around our house! I had three of my favorite men all here to celebrate with us. We got to start our day celebrating the Lord as well as these three amazing men and then afterwards we went to enjoy some delicious food at Perini. Does it get any better than that? I think not!

Here is Great Papaw with Kaylee and Campbell. My grandfather is such a Godly and humble man. He has never wanted more than he has currently and will still tell you most days that he has too much. He lives in the same house he and my Nannie raised all three of their children in and drives a chevy blazer he bought in 1992 when I graduated high school. He is content and always has been in my eyes, too bad most people spend their whole life trying to achieve that. The Lord has always come first and family ranks a very close second. I love my Papaw for so many reasons. He has the best laugh when he really thinks something is funny and I adore watching him play with my girls. There is nothing that he would not do for his family and we all have great admiration for him. Thank you for playing such an important role in our family and in so many of my childhood memories.

My Dad, one of the best men I have ever known. He has always balanced, the Lord, family, and work perfectly. There has never been an activity I have participated in that he was not there for. You know that a father truly loves you when he goes along with his wife and his daughter almost every weekend to the mall to shop. (Thanks Dad, I am sure you would have rather been home a lot of those times.) It has never been hard for me to imagine the love that the Lord has for us because I have always known that my dad adores me. He has always shown me how important I am to him and gave me the confidence to grow into the woman I am. I remember being in college and he would drive three hours to do a little work but mainly just to have lunch with me and make sure life was going okay. I always ended up with a little cash too. Still to this day I know if I needed him all I would have to do is call and he would be here. I love him for that! As great as he is as a father, he is an equally wonderful Papa to my girls. They love to be tickled by him, play games, and just sit on his lap. My Dad has the best lap. There is so much more I could say but I will stop here and just say I love you Dad!

Now on to my precious husband! I knew in my heart that he would be a wonderful husband and father one day to our children when we married but I had no idea just how amazing he would be as a father to our two girls. When I married Cary I was looking for someone who was a great combination of the two men listed above which I knew was a lot to ask but he has them all! Not a day goes by that the girls and I do not feel the love that he has for us. He lives by the Word of God and puts his family at the top of his priorities. All three of his girls adore him!

I am so proud each and every day to call him "my husband" and I am so blessed to get to spend the rest of my life with the "love of my life". Thank you for always showing us your love and working so hard for us each day. We love you!!

What a blessed and lucky girl I am to have these men in my life, thank you Lord!

It's Party Time!

Well Saturday was the day that Campbell had been waiting for, for about three months. She had been fairly patiently awaiting her 4th Birthday Party. When I asked her a few months ago what kind of party she wanted to have she said a purple water party in the backyard so that is what she had. I bought two pools and borrowed a big blow-up waterslide from my sweet friend Lindi and we were in business. I did manage to sneak in a few colors other than purple but we did plant purple flowers, have some purple balloons, and a few hanging purple beach balls (along with a few other colors). The best part about our backyard is that even at 1:00pm there is still a lot of shade provided by the two huge trees we have back there.

Here are the girls getting some swimming in before all of the guests arrive. There is nothing like a cool pool on a hot day.

I think watching all of the 17 children sliding was great entertainment for all of us adults as well as the children. They went down the waterslide feet first, backwards, sideways, and head first. Luckily, no one was injured and they seemed to all be having a great time.

Once they had played for a little over an hour we moved on to cake and ice cream time.

Here are Campbell and some of her sweet friends waiting on the candles to be lit so we can sing Happy Birthday to her.

Campbell taking a bite of the delicious Princess cupcake from Sam's. I just love Sam's cakes and cupcakes they are always delicious and so reasonable. She picked the Princess ones since they came with rings on them. That is my girl-girl!

At the end of the day I was so glad to have another party behind us and a very happy 4 year old. She kept saying how much fun her party was which made all of the planning totally worth it.

Thank you to all the family and friends who made this day so special for Campbell by taking the time out of a busy Saturday to attend as well as all the wonderful presents she has not stopped playing with. We love you all!

Happy 4th Birthday Campbell Grace!

Well another year has passed as I sit here at the computer typing and wondering where the time has gone. My sweet baby is FOUR! There is something about four that seems so much older than three. Why is that? Is it because her face is looking less and less like a toddler and more like a big girl? Is it because she is my last baby? Or is it the independence that she likes to enforce daily that is making me feel less needed and yet so proud at the same time? I am thinking the answer is all of thee above.

Since Campbell's Birthday fell on a Tuesday this year it was packed full of activity with swim lessons, a movie with a friend, swimming with friends (hence the sunburn all of us girls are sporting), and of course Chuck E. Cheese. I do not think we could have crammed one more activity into the day. She had chosen Taco Bell for dinner but after some negotiating Kaylee talked her into Chuck E. Cheese. ( I am sure she was just thinking of Campbell.) We do not know why Campbell likes Taco Bell so much but if you ask her where she wants to go eat 9 times out of 10 she will shout out Taco Bell! Too funny!

In the end Chuck E. Cheese's turned out to be a very happening place on a Tuesday night. It was not very crowded but they were throwing out free tickets right and left, the girls danced with Chuck E. and got more free tickets, and there were even some new games for the girls to play. We ended up with over 500 tickets to cash in at the toy/junk counter so the girls were very pleased.

In this picture the girls are waiting for Chuck E. to tell them what to do for some more free tickets. (Traci, remember when Kaylee was so afraid of Chuck E.? I will never forget you telling me about her going with you, your Mom and Kylie. It still makes me laugh.)

After all the fun eating out we returned home for Campbell to make her

Birthday wish and blow out her candles as well as open presents. Can you tell someone is into My Little Pony right now?

She even got a My Little Pony game

for her new DS.

We are so blessed to have Campbell Grace in our family. Here are a few things that I love about her at age FOUR:

* She is a Momma's girl still.

* She loves her sister so much that she wakes her up each morning when she wakes up. (Poor Kaylee does not get to sleep in very often.)

*I love to listen to her role play with her Barbies, babies, or ponies. It takes me back to my childhood. She can play four hours just talking away to herself with these friends.

* She has named short sleeves "uppers" and long sleeves "downers". She prefers to wear a halter top or spaghetti straps over either of these. Do not ask me where she got the names from, I still do not know.) We think this is hilarious though.

* She loves to read books. That thrills me since I love to read when given the time.

* She has picked up a Southern accent from somewhere that really comes out when she says certain words and it is too cute!

* She cannot wait to be like Mommy and Kaylee and have darker hair. She asks me each day if her hair is darker yet?

* She has a strong-will which can make me proud and crazy at the same time. Yes, I know where it comes from;-)

I am going to close this post with a few pictures looking back through the years. We love you Campbell Grace and cannot wait to see all the amazing things that the next year will bring.

Campbell Grace born June 16, 2005 at 7lbs. 12 oz. and 20 1/2 inches long.

5 Months old

1 year old

Campbell 2 years old and Kaylee at 5 years old

3 Years old

4 Years old

Cinderella's Ballet Camp

Last week Campbell got to participate in a ballet camp hosted by one of the studios here in town. We had not tried dance yet so I thought this summer was as good a time as any. She went from 10:30 to 12:00pm all week last week. It was so cute to see all of these little girls in their dance attire walking into this huge studio with a wondering look in their eyes. The teachers were precious with them and I really think that she learned quite a bit. She told me that they had a time for ballet, art time, a little movie time, and then some more dancing. All I know is that she has talked about dance every day this week so it looks like this may be what she wants to pursue at least for a while.

Her favorite day by far was Friday when they all got to come in dress-up clothes for the Princess Tea Party. She picked her wedding dress so she could be the Cinderella at the wedding. Too cute! All the little girls had on their prettiest dress-up clothes and were grinning from ear to ear while walking into the studio. They loved seeing each other dressed-up.

Here is Campbell with her friend Mallory who also took the class with her. You have Cinderella at the ball and Cinderella at the wedding. (Even though the sun was in their eyes, still a cute picture.)

Swimming our Days Away...at least our Mornings

Well we welcomed the beginning of Summer with two weeks of Swim lessons from our two favorite teachers, Mr. Lynn and Mrs. Sherry. Kaylee is completing her fourth summer of swim lessons and Campbell has just entered her first.

Kaylee is learning different strokes, kicks, and techniques this year so her class lasts an hour. I cannot believe how much she has learned and there are three days left of lessons. I may have to get her to teach me a few things at the pool this summer. Who knew there were so many swimming strokes? Not me. Anyway, she absolutely loves her class and cannot wait to get in the water and get started each day. She never takes her eyes off Mr. Lynn when he is giving an instruction and hangs on his every word. He truly has a way with the 8 students in her class. even when he is correcting them he finds a praise for them too. I am so proud of Kaylee's progress and attitude.

Campbell has a love-hate relationship with swimming. For about the first 15 minutes she loves it and then she is ready for class to be over. She adores Mrs. Sherry but just wants to move on to something else about half way through. I can always get a picture of her smiling when it comes to "jumping in time" because she knows after that comes the "fish food" aka Skittles and M&M's. What girl wouldn't love that! Despite her not always giving it her all she has come so far. I really think that in three more days she will be able to swim independently with some support from me occasionally.

Rangers Game 2009

Well we finally made it to a Rangers baseball game. Cary's Mom was even feeling well enough to come with us. There have been several times that we have tossed the idea around but Friday night ended up being the best choice for us. I love the way Campbell is looking up at Cary in this picture as if she knows just how excited he is to be there. It was fun! I much prefer being at a game rather that watching it on the television. You get caught up in the excitement, atmosphere, and energy when you are actually sitting in the ballpark.

Somehow we even managed to get there early enough for the girls to play a few games before hand. Kaylee picked the hitting and slingshot game, while Campbell too tried the slingshot game and the pin the tail on Captain.

On the way to the game we realized that this would be Campbell's very first major league baseball game! That was so hard for us to believe. Cary and I have been to games since moving from the metroplex but I suppose we have always gone with friends and left the girls at home. As I have stated before Campbell is not the sports lover in the family...she gets it from her mother. An example of this is just after the first pitch of the game had been thrown she turned to be and asked if it was time to go home yet. She said she wanted to go shopping;-) That is my girl! I think she only asked about five more times during the game if it was time to go home yet. Luckily there was so much going on around us she was preoccupied most of the time. Her favorite thing was to watch for the airplanes. She especially liked the ones pulling the banners behind them.

Kaylee on the other hand was thrilled to be at a Rangers game. I do not think that she stopped smiling most of the evening despite the lack of a breeze and the lightning storm we got to witness a little too close to my liking. Since she played softball this year she knows more about the game and can relate to the things that her Dad shares with her about what is going on throughout the game. She was really soaking it all in. I am so glad that she and Cary have this bond.

It was a great night to be at the ballpark! Other than the fact that I thought we were going to get rained on at any minute for the first two hours and Josh Hamilton was on the disabled list. We got to see Hank Blalock hit a home run and the Rangers achieved a shut out against the Dodgers with an ending score of 6-0. Since we were lucky enough to be there on a Friday night we got to

see a wonderful fireworks show. I think we had the best seats in the house because we had started walking toward the car and made it to the yellow tape across from the ballpark when the show started. It looked like the fireworks were coming right at us.

I lost count how many times the girls used the word "Awesome" to describe them. It was the perfect way to end the evening.

A picture of the whole crew.

11 Years!!

Well another year of wedded bliss has come and gone;-) I cannot believe that I have been married to my best friend for 11 years now. We have achieved and experienced so much over the past eleven years and I would not trade any of it for the world. If you had asked me if we would end up back where we started I would have laughed out loud but here we are and loving every minute of being able to have more family time than we could have ever imagined. I love being Cary's wife, I am more in love and more proud of him each day. Seeing him with our girls just makes my heart smile, he is an amazing father to them. I love that we can make each other laugh even when we are frustrated. When I am down he is up and when he is down (which is not very often) I am up. We compliment each other so well and are always there for each other. Even after 11 years we are still learning new things about each other, which I think is so fun. (Like I found out Cary would love to have some land and bail hay someday, I did remind him that where there could possibly be snakes his wife will not be there.) Who knew my husband would like to farm? I am still laughing about that one;-) Thank you Lord for sending the perfect man for me into my life at just the right time. I should not be surprised though because the Lord's timing is always perfect. We are so blessed by our two daughters, family, and so many precious friends. Our life is more full than I could have ever imagined, my cup truly runneth over. 

For our big anniversary date Cary and I went to Perini  for a delicious dinner and were surrounded by tables of other couples who were celebrating their anniversaries too. Who knew it would be such a popular night for celebrating? After dinner we drove around a little and then Cary surprised me with tickets to see "Leading Ladies" which was being performed at the Abilene Community Theatre. It was a really funny show and so nice to be surprised with something different. He got an A+ for the evening. 

Then we got to return home to our two greatest blessings who were sound asleep.

A New Tradition

Well I decided since Kaylee is 7 years old and Campbell is almost four years old this would be a great summer to start cooking a whole meal together. In anticipation of this fun new tradition I bought the Southern Living kids cookbook at one of my favorite places, Sam's. Kaylee also made a fun cookbook in kindergarten so between the two we should be able to come up with a meal once a week for the whole summer. The girls are going to help me by planning the menu, writing down the ingredients we need (with my help), going to the store to purchase what we need for the meal, preparing the meal, and finally serving their delicious creation. Since my daughters have been known to argue from time to time, I decided they would take turns picking out the entree and dessert so we do not have to totally agree thus no arguing. Today it worked like a charm!

Campbell chose the entree today which ended up being Tuna Fish in-a-Fish. I think that she just liked the shape of it. It tasted pretty good. I am sure it will not be featured on the Food Network anytime soon but the four of us ate it and enjoyed it. I would give it a three star rating.

For dessert Kaylee picked out of her kindergarten cookbook and chose Dinosaurs in the Dirt. However, since the grocery store we went to had no gummy dinosaurs we had to go with the old standby...gummy worms. I would say that it would also get about three stars.

All in all it was really fun for the girls and I to cook together and for them to see all the steps that go into getting a meal on the table each night. I am already looking forward to next week and I think they are too.  

Camp out Party!

Well last Saturday was a very busy day around our house. Cary and I decided to mulch the yard which ended up taking two truckloads of mulch and we are still not done, Kaylee had her end of the year softball party, Kaylee had "R's" Birthday Party to attend, and Campbell and I went to Kennedy's first Birthday Party. It was a very busy but fun Saturday...well except for the mulch. 

Due to all the activity we only got pictures of R's party which was a camping party so I hope you enjoy them. I have heard about the party every day since Saturday either from Kaylee or her Daddy. Evidently "R" has two very creative parents who had a scavenger hunt, mazes, cute campground signs all over the backyard, a friend who came and played the guitar while they all sang campfire songs and roasted S'mores, creative food like ants on a log and ticks on the toilet (don't ask me I was not there), and they even got to watch a movie outside. R's parents are sweet friends of our and they have given me a lot to live up to come November. Maybe Kaylee will forget how Awesome it was by then. Hmmmmm, doubtful;-)

Here is Kaylee being very excited after she and her partner won the maze where you had to find and name each animal by it's picture. She was so Excited!!

Here is Kaylee hanging out with one of her sweet friends.