Christmas Lights Tour

One of our Christmas traditions is to go look at Christmas lights and we decided with not much time left before Christmas tonight would be the best night. So while Cary was doing some last minute Christmas shopping I got the girls cleaned up and in their pajamas so they could be comfortable while looking around town. I also knew there was a Santa at one of our stops and thought a picture with Santa in their pajamas would be cute. As you can see they were both very excited. I also fixed some hot chocolate in their thermal Christmas cups so that they would stay nice and warm. Once Cary arrived home we were off. We drove around our neighborhood first and saw a lot of "pretty lights" as Campbell kept calling them. They both kept telling each other to look out the other one's window so as not to miss a single decoration.

Next we were off to Christmas Lane which takes place at a State School here in town. They really go all out on the displays which different organizations and business in the community sponsor. The girls were beyond thrilled.





Kaylee and Cary liked the Santa on vacation the best.










Campbell and I loved the bride in front of the church. (I do not know how she will fit through the door being so much taller than the church.)






At the end of the road you can go inside a building they have all decorated with different animated scenes along with Santa. I could not believe that this is the year neither one of my girls were shy or put up any kind of struggle when it was time to sit on Santa's lap. Both of them even talked to him after the picture and gave him their list clearly and loud enough for him to hear. It was so wonderful! Now if I could only get them both to look at the camera. (I have no idea what Kaylee was looking at but out of the five pictures she is not looking at the camera once.)






I loved this picture!










Once we had seen everything Christmas Lane had to offer we went on to another neighborhood in town which never disappoints to look at their lights. After about 10 minutes of driving around that area this is what we saw in the back seat. It was before 9:00pm!





Followed about 15 minutes later by this...



I guess all the excitement of seeing Christmas lights and sitting with Santa just wore them out. When we got home they both crawled into their beds without a peep.

Yeah for the Christmas lights tradition!

Christmas Parties Galore!

Thursday was a very busy and exciting day around our house. Both girls had their school parties on the same day which made for one busy Mom trying to get to both of the parties which are about ten minutes away from each other which is not much, but when one party is from 10:30-11:30 and the other is from 11:30-12:30 it can be a little hectic. I am happy to say I made it to both and did not miss a thing:-)




Kaylee's Christmas Party was first on the list. When I entered her class they were all sitting in a circle passing a stuffed Santa bear around and when the music stopped that person got to pick a prize from the teacher out of the treasure chest and then start on cookie decorating and ornament making. I thought it was a very organized way of letting a few students at a time get started so as to not overwhelm the parents in charge of the party. Kaylee was so excited that I was there to watch her and meet some of her new friends she has made this year.


They also had a puzzle exchange and Kaylee was very pleased to get a penguin puzzle. After a quick good-bye to her teacher and a picture of all the students and their puzzles ( don't they look like a lively group?) we were off to Campbell's Christmas Party.






When we arrived at Campbell's school they were just getting back to the classroom after having some play time. The party table was all set up with Chick-fil-A chicken nuggets, chips, and fruit. A feast fit for some hungery three and four year olds. Campbell was very excited to have Kaylee and Mom there for her special day. For a few minutes she was a little clingy but once she saw the food it took priority.
This picture is Campbell eating with one of her best buddies "M".






Here is half of the class eating quietly.











Here Campbell is waiting patiently or at least trying while they have a puzzle exchange. She was pretty excited about her Cars puzzle...I think mainly because there were no Princess puzzles around.









Here is our attempt at a good picture of the three of us. I think they both turned out pretty good. (Thanks, Kristi) It was a very fun day for all of us and I am so thankful for these moments.

Some Christmas Decor

Well the stockings have been hung for a while now and the rest of the inside ready for Christmas too. I just wanted to share a few of our favorite decorations, some are additions for this year others we have had for a while. However, they are all special.

First there is the cute Santa on the mantle that I bought at Kohl's last year after Christmas for a steal of a deal. I just love all the different Santas one can find during the holidays.




My next favorite thing is the Hallmark church series of ornaments. I got the first one to commemorate Cary and my first Christmas together after we got married. The one here is number 11 in the series. I love to see the way they capture a different style of church each year and they are all so beautiful!










We have also started a tradition of buying the girls an ornament each year that reflects their personality or interest at the time.

This one is Kaylee's, it pretty much speaks for itself. When you open the locker it plays a tune from HSM3 and Kaylee loves it!












This is Campbell's ornament and is very appropriate since each morning she asks immediately after waking up if she can put on her dress-up clothes and watch a Barbie movie. The Diamond Castle movie has been her favorite for several weeks now. However, today she did sit on Santa's lap at school and tell him she wanted skaters like Annika and a rainbow blanket like Annika. ( I think she is the Barbie in the Pegasus movie.) The skaters are on their way only they are roller skates instead of ice skates and I am a little unsure where the rainbow blanket came from but I am sure Santa will figure something out. Why is it every year they always come up with something random at the last minute?









Here is our very traditional tree in the den. Each ornament on it reminds me of a beautiful memory. I just love it!
















This is the tree that the girls get to claim and decorate all on their own with their special ornaments. It resides int he playroom for them to enjoy each day.















These last two pictures are of two Christmas decorations my Nannie made herself. She was not one to be overly crafty so imagine my surprise and delight when she made these for me to have each year. They meant a lot to me then, but even more to me now that she has been gone from this earth for a quite a while. Neither of my girls got to know their Great Nannie but each year we get to talk about how my Nannie made those decorations and delight in their beauty and the wonderful memories flow from me to them. The joy of the season!










I suppose I had better leave the computer now to continue making my list and checking it twice.

Christmas cards mailed...check
Teacher gifts delivered...check
Candy made...maybe this weekend??
Locate Santa to make sure he has a rainbow blanket.
Get pictures with Santa.

I am sure there are many more items to attend to but that is all I can handle right now. Hope you are all staying warm and enjoying the spirit of Christmas!

Christmas Light Parade 2008

Well it is beginning to feel a lot like Christmas at our house. We went to the annual Christmas light parade downtown last night. There were well over 100 entries this year. The girls had a blast as usual. It was the perfect night for a parade because the temperature was just right and the wind was not blowing very much. Kaylee was excited because she kept recognizing her friends from school and church riding on some of the floats. I think she was most thrilled to see Mrs. O her kindergarten teacher because she saw Kaylee and said "hi" to her. The smile on Kaylee's face was a mile long. Campbell on the other hand did not care whether she recognized anyone she was just waving, smiling, and saying "Merry Christmas" to everyone. I can totally see her riding on a float doing her princess wave one day. The parade is definitely one of my favorite yearly traditions with our family because of the smiles on my daughters' faces the whole time.







Kaylee waiting for the parade to begin and hoping that there will be some candy thrown from the floats.










One of the girls favorites because there were dogs pulling the wagons.











Another favorite because of the horses. Do you see an animal theme here?











In case you cannot tell what this is it is a huge HEB shopping cart with a hot rod under it. I thought this was hilarious!









This is of course a top pick because every one loves an adorable train!












The End of the parade.
Campbell wanted Cary to take a picture of her sleeping. If only she would go to sleep that quickly:-)


Hope you are all enjoying the holidays!!

Black Friday Bargains!!

Well my friends I survived Black Friday shopping and I have a new love! When we got our paper on Thanksgiving I quickly went through the ads and found that my favorite store, Target, was going to have the pink Dyson vacuum on sale for a great price. From that moment on I started thinking about what our plan would be to make this mine. I had already been to Target on Tuesday and knew there were only two on the shelf so I was going to have to be near the front of the line or just pray everyone else would be there to purchase something more fun. My Mom and I got up and went to Target at 5:30am with Starbucks in hand and I was shocked at the line. Let's just say there were at least 100 people in front of us. Everything was going great until it started to rain. I could not believe that of all times for the rain to start this was the moment. Once the doors opened we proceeded into the store at a fairly rapid pace. I went straight to the vacuums and my sweet Mom grabbed a cart. As I rounded the corner of the aisle I saw one of my dreams coming true, there sat two pink Dyson vacuums. I grabbed the first one and headed to the aisle to find my Mom with the cart. I lost count as to how many people stopped to ask me where to find one of these treasured finds. After getting a few more items we left Target to continue our shopping, of course I was grinning from ear to ear about my good deal. Then as I was walking to the car I thought about how my life has changed. I use to only get excited about jewelry and now I was almost as equally excited about a vacuum. I would not trade my life for anything! Just in case my husband is reading this jewelry still thrills me and I saw several pieces that would look great on me while using my new vacuum:-) In case any of you reading do not have a Dyson I highly recommend them. I have already vacuumed the whole house twice. (In my defense we did put the Christmas decorations up after vacuuming the first time so the floor was dirty again.)


I also have to brag on my husband who got up at and was in line at Sears at 4:30am to get these so our garage could finally be a little organized. He even put them up and had the garage organized by Friday afternoon. Thanks also to my Dad for helping too:-) First a Dyson then shelves...last week turned out to be a great week for me! Thank you Honey

I hope all of my friends who fought the Black Friday crowds had good luck too.

Thankful for our 7 Year Old!

Today has been a very special day around our house because we not only got to celebrate Thanksgiving at home with my parents and grandfather but we also got to celebrate our oldest, Kaylee, turning 7!! It was so fitting that her Birthday falls on Thanksgiving every few years because she has given us so much to be Thankful for. Some of the best times of our life started with her birth and have continued each year. We are so blessed to have a healthy, funny, intelligent, beautiful daughter who loves others and the Lord with all of her heart. She is a joy to our life each day and I love to see her mind at work contemplating different situations and the way you embrace each day with everything you have in you. You light up our life and we love you so much!

I am going to list 7 Things about Kaylee:

1. She has a smile that will light up a room and definitely put me in a better mood if I am having a challenging day. Her laugh is infectious too.

2. She loves Bible class and school, anything that has to do with learning. There is not a teacher that is not your favorite or a subject for that matter. You love to read and so far have not picked up a book that you do not love!

3. She is a loyal friend and will call each of them her best friend. She does not play favorites and includes everyone.

4. She is very tenderhearted and loving after getting past her shyness.

5. She likes to be aware of new situations and what to expect.

6. She still can remember things that occurred when she was two years old. If I have ever forgotten anything I just have to ask her. My little sponge:-)

7. She loves her family and is happiest when we are all doing something together.






My firstborn at age One!

How sad and wonderful at the same time. I am sad the years are flying by but happy that she is growing into such a wonderful child.












Kaylee at Seven years old!

Thank you for giving us so much to be "thankful" for every day but especially today! We love you to the moon and back!

Cooking Up Some Fun!

We decided to have Kaylee's party a little early due to it being on Thanksgiving day this year. Therefore Saturday night was the big night for her to celebrate. Kaylee loves to be creative and just have fun so we decided to have a Cooking Party. We started off with having each child make their own mini pizza using biscuits and toppings of their choice. It was so fun to watch them all creating their own masterpiece just the way they liked it.
As you can see from this picture it was all hands on deck as far as helpers to make this party a hit. (Thank you Lindi, Mendy, and Keri for your helping hands.)



While the pizzas were cooking we moved on to the next activity which was having all of them paint their own aprons. Being the responsible parents we did round up a variety of old shirts for the children to wear while painting. (Most of them were from conferences Cary has attended or our ACU days.) It was so quiet in the room while all of the children were trying to decide what to paint and making their ideas real on their aprons you actually could have heard a pin drop. Each of their personalities came alive in their artwork. I just love to watch little minds at work.




Once all the artists were finished we moved the party into the dining room so they could eat their pizza creations. I think Bobby Flay and Rachael Ray would have approved. My sweet husband even put some in the oven for all the adults to
sample too.






After the pizza it was time to move on to the cupcake frosting part of our evening. Kaylee requested some chocolate and funfetti cupcakes so that is what we had. My sweet friend and lifesaver on most days, Lindi, made some yummy homemade frosting in a variety of colors for the children to decorate with. We also had a variety of sprinkles in many colors and even some animal shaped. As you can see they were all business when it came to frosting their cupcakes. We really may have some future Food Network stars on our hands.











At the end of the party came Kaylee's favorite part as you can see on her face...the presents. All of her friends (and their sweet Moms) made sure that Kaylee's Birthday was a hit! She got so many wonderful things and the best of all was just getting to be around so many of her precious friends. These are the times we will remember and cherish forever. Thank you all for being a part of it!

We love you sweet girl and hope the party was all you had dreamed!