Beard Thanksgiving 2009

This year we spent Thanksgiving with Cary's family in Ft. Worth. There is never a dull moment when you have 8 adults and 7 children in a house together for a few days. The children all play so well together so it is fun to watch their interaction with each other. For some reason my newest nephew was not in the pictures I took because I suppose he was napping each time I took the camera out (which was not very often) so I will have to make up for that on my Christmas post.

We got to have lunch on Thanksgiving with the Beard side of the family so there were a lot of aunts, uncles and cousins to visit with. Once we returned home that evening we started mapping out our route for Black Friday starting at midnight with Toys R Us. I do not know what we were thinking but I can honestly say I do not think I will ever tackle that store again on Black Friday. We (Chiara, Travis, me, Landrea, and Tiffany) waited over an hour after the store opened to just get in the door. That first store was enough for Cary's sister Tiffany so after taking her home the rest of us tackled Old Navy, Sears, Wal-Mart and Target. I was happy to have gotten all the deals that I really wanted thanks to there being enough of us to spread around the stores and attack the deals. My brother-in-law scored my favorite deal which was my new leather office chair for $35 at Wal-Mart. Thanks again Travis!! After a night full of shopping I was exhausted and looking forward to getting a few hours of sleep. Things did not quite work out that way because Cary cooked his famous french toast and evidently his Mom has an extremely sensitive smoke alarm so I will let you fill in the rest.

That Friday was Kaylee's 8th Birthday so we got to celebrate with everyone before leaving to watch Abilene-Wylie play in the semi-finals. Since Cary cooked one of her favorites for breakfast, Grandma decided to cook spaghetti for lunch per Kaylee's request. (Here are all the cousins minus Devon in the picture.) Kaylee was so excited to celebrate her special day. She got some really sweet gifts that she had been wanting. Thank you all for making her day special!!

Kaylee's 8th Birthday!!

I cannot believe that it is time to celebrate my precious daughter's birthday once again. Kaylee is 8 years old today! We had a birthday party for her a few weeks ago before all the business of the holiday season was upon us. This year Kaylee really wanted to have a slumber party at our home so that is exactly what we did. She invited some of her friends, I was smart enough to limit the number so we could have controlled chaos;-) All of the girls were so fun to watch and be around. We had a great time!

We started off with pizza and a little play time in the playroom. Then the girls decided to dress-up and perform a play for us. This was priceless and yes we have it all on video. Then it was time for a game so we played pictionary. Most of the girls had never played so it was quite entertaining to watch. They all got along so well!

Next we moved on to Birthday cake and presents. My sweet friend, Lindi, was gracious enough to offer to make Kaylee's cake so I took her up on it immediately. She let Kaylee pick out what she wanted as well as the colors and it turned out great! I was a little surprised that Kaylee picked the crown since she is not my girly-girl but maybe her taste is changing. Thanks again Lindi for the delicious cake and for letting Campbell spend the night with Abba!!

All of Kaylee's friends were so thoughtful in their gifts and I could not believe that there were no duplicates. We did put one of the gifts to use right away. She got the movie UP so we put it in and I gave manicures while the girls ate popcorn and watched the movie. The girls were all settled in their sleeping bags by 11:30pm but by the time the movie was over and they finally went to sleep it was 1:10am!

I just knew after such a late night that the girls would sleep in but they were all up by 7:30am except for Kaylee who managed to sleep till 8:30am. After a hearty breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes, brown sugar cinnamon pancakes, and little smokies they were all refueled and ready to play. Thank you to all the sweet friends who made Kaylee's birthday special.

Happy Birthday to my sweet Princess! Eight years ago today you made one of my lifelong dreams come true and I am so proud, thankful, and blessed each day to be your Mom. You give me the joy of experiencing life through your eyes and seeing all of the amazing things God created around us each day. I also admire the tender heart you have towards others. I knew from the moment I held you that my life had changed forever, but I never could have imagined what a blessing being your Mom would be. I love you "to the moon and back"!!

Campbell's Thanksgiving Feast

Well, I have some catching up to do;-) On Tuesday, November 24th Campbell's class had their Thanksgiving Feast and she was so happy that I came to help out. It is always so fun to be around my sweet girl and her friends. They feasted on some rolled turkey, corn, mac and cheese, cheese sticks, green beans, apple sauce and yummy rolls. Which of those items do you think they had at the first Thanksgiving? Haha. Of course, they also got the choice of apple pie or pumpkin pie for dessert. I cannot believe this is the last time I will attend a Thanksgiving Feast at YCW as a parent;-( I have to admit the year is going by a little too fast for me.

Look at all those precious faces!!

Me and my baby girl!

Sydney's Party

Well today was a very special day for Campbell. Her sweet friend Sydney invited her to her Horseback Riding Birthday Party. Let's just say the smile did not leave Campbell's face the whole time. Looks like she got her love of horses from her Mom. (I still would love to have my own horse someday.) They said that the adults could have ridden at the party but I refrained;-) It was pure joy that I felt watching her ride three out of the four horses at the party. We may just have to have a horse party for Campbell next year.

Veteran's Day Program

Kaylee is in second grade this year and has a few school programs under her belt but today everything changed. She actually spoke in front of everyone. That's right, my daughter who claims to have stage fright walked up to the microphone and spoke clearly and enjoyed it! Maybe we have turned a corner people. We were sure to praise her profusely so maybe she will have the courage to take on more speaking parts in the future.

I loved that her school thought it was important to have a Veteran's Day program and honor those who fight for our freedom daily. They honored two World War II veterans who were precious men to watch accept a little certificate from the children. All of the students also sang several patriotic songs. The program was great and we felt honored to be able to watch it.

Way to go Kaylee!!

Halloween Week 2009!

Well this year Halloween was turned into a week long event. We kicked off the celebrating with the whole family going to the Fall Festival at Kaylee's school. Kaylee wanted to be a cowgirl this year and Campbell chose to be a Barbie Three Musketeer. As usual the festival was a success for our family. The girls did the cake walk, played hockey, spun the wheel in the Wheel of Fortune booth, chose ducks in the duck pond, went fishing for treats, and chose suckers off a sucker tree. They are both at such fun ages right now so it was great to see what each of them found most exciting. On Monday we took treats to Campbell's ballet class for a Halloween Party and she got to dress up in her Halloween costume. It was so cute to see all these precious girls in their costumes with ballet shoes on.

Tuesday I got to go work the Fall Carnival at Campbell's school. She was so excited to have Mommy there while she got to play all the different games like bean bag toss, pin the face on the pumpkin, go fish, duck pond, and even face painting. Notice that she chose a rainbow on her cheek. It was so fun to watch her with all of her sweet friends and get a little loving from my baby girl too.

On Thursday Campbell's school had a costume parade which I had to miss due to hosting Prayer Group at my house. However, being the great Dad that he is and since he was leaving town for a few days, Cary went to take pictures and give her a little loving.

Then on Friday we went to my sweet friend Lindi's house and carved pumpkins for Halloween since we had not done that yet. The girls both had definite opinions on the images they wanted on their pumpkins. Kaylee chose a pumpkin scarecrow while Campbell chose Blaze from the new Tinkerbell movie. I ended up carving Campbell's while she played with Abba. Kaylee on the other hand showed extreme patience in tracing her template on her pumpkin and doing most of it herself with a little help from Mr. Mark. My camera would not cooperate so if you want to see pictures of our handy work you will have to check out my facebook photos. Thanks again Lindi for planing such a fun night for us.

After a week of fun Halloween finally arrived and we went to our annual party at The Robinson's home. The girls look forward to this event each year and so do their parents. Since Daddy was gone Nana, Papa, and Great Papaw came to town to Trick or Treat and party with us. Once again Keri outdid herself and we all had a blast as you will see from the pictures below. Thanks again for being such a wonderful hostess Keri!

Kaylee taking a time out from playing with her friends for a quick photo.

Barbie and Alice in Wonderland

Part of the group all dressed up.

How would you like to have all these Trick or Treaters show up at your door all at once?

Papa and Campbell at the end of the night. Her feet were tired and she told me she had enough candy so we could go home. What a perfect ending to a great week!

Hope all my fellow blogging friends had a wonderful Halloween too!