Kaylee's 10th Birthday Party

On Friday night we finally got to have Kaylee's Birthday Party! She wanted to have a few close friends spend the night and last weekend worked with everyone's schedules so there you have it. Kaylee is at such an easy age when it comes to parties. I gave her several options for the evening and she decided to go with the pizza, movie, and crafting option.

All the girls arrived at 6:00pm and we had pizza first followed by a lot of laughter in Kaylee's room. Girl giggles take me back to the slumber parties of my youth, so fun.

Next we opened presents and ate some of the cute cake we happened upon at our local grocery store. Kaylee was going to pick out cupcakes but this cake quickly changed her mind. It had blue flowers and since blue is her favorite color she was so excited. I have to say I was very impressed with how well Kaylee's friends know her which was reflected in their gifts. One friend gave her a Texas Rangers necklace. Another friend had a bag filled with cookbooks, cookie mix, an apron, and her own recipe organizer. Lastly was a friendship bracelet kit. It really touched me that they took the time to pick out something specific for Kaylee.

After the cake I took the girls to see Arthur Christmas and we really enjoyed the movie. I was a little worried they would think it was too childish but they loved it! If you have a chance I would recommend going to see it.

Once the movie was over I gave the girls the option of looking at Christmas lights or making jewelry at home and they chose the jewelry. While I was cleaning up they watched a movie in the playroom and crafted away.

I think they all finally went to sleep around 3:00am. I love these girls and their sweet families so much! It is such a blessing that Kaylee has some amazing friends in her life who are always happy to celebrate with her. Thanks Abbie, Chloe, and Anna for making Kaylee's Birthday extra special.

Hello December!

Hello December!! Where did you come from? I feel like the past year has flown by and here we are at December again. I love this time of year once the shopping is done, presents are wrapped, house is decorated, and I can just enjoy the season. It has not happened yet but I am looking forward to it;-) Here is our tree in the den. We actually put it up before we left for Thanksgiving since I knew how busy our lives would be once we returned home.

I added trees in the girls' rooms this year and each has its own theme. Campbell's is the pink one pictured here with shopping ornaments and girly things with the exception of the soccer ornament.

The white tree is Kaylee's and we filled it with baking things along with sweet treats. I had so much fun watching the girls pick out their special ornaments.

Along with the month of December came the return of Pep short for Peppermint. He has managed to move all over the house without being detected by tiny eyes.

Here is part of my decorated kitchen. My parents gave me this piece of furniture a few years ago and I love placing seasonal decor on it.

Here is the mantle all decorated for Santa to arrive.

Last of all here are some of my favorite people in the world. I was the co-host along with my sweet friend Melissa of December Bunko which also motivated me to get my decorating done. These women are a great treasure to me. One of the definitions of blessed right here.

Basketball here we come!!

Kaylee has decided to play basketball this year and is having a blast. I am amazed at how quickly she picks up different sports since I am such a non-athlete. ( I know that is a great shock to many of you reading this.) Her team name is Rage and there are some extremely talented girls on her team. Kaylee is on the B team and giving each practice and game her all. If you are on the B Team you play the second and third period of the game. I do not know how they run so much without a break. It does not look like my idea of fun but I do enjoy watching and cheering.

They have played two scrimmage games so far and won both. The first game they won 35-0 and the second game they won 16-2. I am thrilled that Kaylee is trying something new and loving every minute of it.

Kaylee is 10 years old!

Today my firstborn daughter is 10 years old!! How did that happen? I do not know why but this birthday has really been hard for me. I keep thinking that she will only be in my house under my roof full time for 8 more years. Oh, I cannot even bare the thought, so on to happier things.

Kaylee is in fourth grade this year and soaking up every moment of it. She makes friends so easily and really enjoys meeting new people and making them feel welcome.

It seems that each season we add a different sport. So far we are still enjoying softball and have added basketball this year. I love my little athlete!

One of her favorite past times is watching any type of sporting event with her Dad whether it is on the television or in the ballpark. I am so thankful they get to bond in this way.

Along with watching sports with Dad she also loves to go hunting. He cannot even think about leaving the house to do either one of those activities without her included in them.

She still wants to be a baker and open her own bakery one day so we do enjoy cooking together as our special time. Kaylee has also gotten into shopping over the past year so we get to have our bonding time too.

She is still enjoying piano lessons and looks forward to them each week. I love listening to her play!

She has the most tender heart and hates to disappoint anyone. This can be good and bad. When it comes to school this can be hard because she wants to get 100's on everything and pushes herself very hard. Luckily school work seems to come easily for her now so I pray that continues with this personality trait. The good side is she is always polite to others and respectful.

She loves Bible Bowl and learning about God. I love the conversations we have about God and the things we learn about in the Bible. Seeing it all through the eyes of your child gives it a new light and she teaches me something new too.

She loves listening to music and singing as well. It is a sound I never grow tired of.

She loves her sister, most of the time;-) Over the past few months I have seen more of a friendship growing between the girls and I pray each day that this lasts a lifetime.

She is a great encourager of others. One of her favorite things is to praise her friends for their good job on something. It is so sweet to hear.

I love our precious daughter and cannot wait to see how she uses all the gifts God has blessed her with over the next year. You are a constant joy to my souls and I am so thankful I get to be your Mom!

Kaylee's 3 Birthday Celebrations!

Kaylee is lucky enough to have a birthday around Thanksgiving so each year we seem to celebrate several times.

The first celebration was with Cary's family over Thanksgiving but for some reason I have no pictures. She did enjoy celebrating with her cousins.

The second celebration was at my parents' home. My Mom got Kaylee the best cake ever, a Texas Rangers cake. I really think they could have gotten away with n

o gift at all after the excitement over the cake.

Kaylee is blessed to have a birthday around the same time as Papaw so we usually get to celebrate their special day together. They both love getting to share in the fun and papaw does not seem to ever mind the theme of the cake. I am so glad that my girls are always so excited to spend time with their Great Papaw and love him as much as I do. He is an amazing man.

A few of Kaylee's favorite gifts were a Nook color, Rangers pillow pet, Connect 4 Launchers, and money.

The third celebration was at Chuck E. Cheese with just our family. I wonder each year how many more birthdays we will spend at Chuck E. Cheese before our girls want to eat somewhere else. I know that when the time comes I will miss the mediocre pizza, the fun games, and the what seems like hours picking out prizes with he tickets won. However the smiles on these two precious faces make it all worth it in the end.

Happy Birthday to my sweet 10 year old girl!

San Francisco!

The first week in November Cary had a business trip to San Francisco planned so I decided to tag along since it had been a while since we took a trip together. What a fun place San Francisco is and a little odd too;-) We managed to pack a lot of places into a weeks time.The first evening we were there we went to this fun alley filled with restaurants called Belden Place. I wish we could have eaten there again on our trip. The food was amazing!

The next day we took a tour of the Napa Valley area along with Sonoma. Our schedule was full so there was no time to shop in the square of Sanoma but it was somewhere I would like to go back to one day and experience some fun shopping.

The third day we ventured on a tour of Muir Woods and Salsalito. If you ever have a chance to hike in Muir Woods please do. The trees were amazing and the views were breathtaking. What a Mighty God we have who gave us such natural beauty to enjoy! We also enjoyed eating at a restaurant on the water in Salsalito and shopping around town a little before heading back to the hotel.

Look how tall these Redwoods are! I could not even capture all it in my camera lens. Amazing!!

The fourth day we only had half a day together because of Cary's conference starting. We enjoyed a leisurely morning and then went on a group tour with the rest of the office to AT&T Park, home of the SF Giants. It was very informative and I picked out a suite I would love to sit in if we ever take in a game there;-)

Can you tell Cary is in his element??

We ended our day going to an event where we got to take a cruise ship to Alkatraz for a nighttime tour of the facilities. Let me just say if you ever go there wear comfortable shoes not high heeled boots;-) Our tour guide I think was one of the best. He had us going up random ladders and really get a feel for what the prison was like for those incarcerated there. We were there an hour and a half and still did not see everything. It was a very interesting place with all the history and people who were locked up there.

The next day while our spouses were in classes I got to experience ships and submarines with this character, Larry. He and I had a lot of fun walking around several piers, a submarine (The Jeremiah O'Brian I believe), too many ships to count, and even a stop at In-N-Out burger. We also did some sight seeing/people watching in the process. That evening the whole crew went to eat at a restaurant across from the ballpark and enjoyed a delicious meal.

Larry's sweet wife insisted the next day that Larry go with me shopping so he could carry my bags. Lucky for us the hotel was located off Market Street which was conveniently located close to some of my favorite places including an indoor mall, Tiffany's, Macy's, Ugg shoe store, H&M, and about 200 other places to enjoy. We decided to tackle the indoor mall since it was a little rainy. There were so many wonderful shops and I even got to find a few treasures to bring home. We did stop for a little bit to enjoy the Brookstone massage chair which I am sure Larry is getting for Christmas;-) Larry was a great sport and did not complain once. Thanks for the company Larry.

I am so thankful I got to spend a week away with the Love of my Life! Thanks again Nana for taking care of the girls!

Halloween/Fall Fest 2011

This year we had a little bit of a different Halloween since Cary and I would be gone on the 31st. Kaylee decided to be a Texas Rangers ball girl this year and Campbell was Blair from the Barbie Charm School. We did keep our tradition of going to the Wylie Fall Fest and playing lots of games. The girls quickly found their favorites which included the ducks, cake walk, and shooting the bottles. It was so much fun to have this night as a family which was the real treat, of course the girls might disagree and say it was their sack of candy. Happy Halloween!!

World Series Game 4

Welcome to the World Series Texas Rangers!!
Once again this year Kaylee and Cary got to attend a World Series game together while Campbell and I occupied ourselves in the comfort of our home. You will recognize that once again Kaylee and Reid got to attend a game together. They were in different seats at the ballpark this time but got to talk about a lot of baseball on the round trip from Abilene to Arlington. My favorite part of Kaylee and Cary going to a game is the enthusiasm and smile on her face while telling me about every play of the game when they return home. I love that girl!

Kaylee & Dad

I love this picture because they both look like they can hardly stand the excitement.

More Soccer Storm

Here are a few more photos I had to share of our soccer star. Campbell had a great season and enjoyed playing more than I ever thought she would. She had the sweetest coaches Stephanie and Kara to learn from. I have to admit I was dreading spending Saturdays at the soccer field but it turned out to be a lot of fun. Unfortunately Cary and I had to miss the last game of the season and that is when Campbell decided to finally score a goal. I was so proud and disappointed at the same time. Proud for her but sad I missed it.

ALCS Game 2

Once again Kaylee and Cary were able to go to a play-off games for the ALCS Championship. The best part was Kaylee getting to go with one of her best friends, Reid. I do not know who loves baseball more. They are such sweet friends and really look out for each other. They happen to be in the same class at school this year which is a real treat. You can tell how great their friendship is by the following two stories.

1. Reid told Kaylee if he is ever President he will pass a law that girls can play major league baseball because he knows how much Kaylee would like to play.

2. Sometimes Kaylee plays catch with Reid at recess. Another boy asked why he always played catch with a girl. Reid replied, "Because she throws better than most of the boys." Love it!

Kaylee proudly sporting her mustache in honor of her favorite player Derek Holland!

Two of the sweetest kids I know. Both all smiles because the Rangers won!!

Campbell is toothless!

Well Campbell has been looking forward to this day for a long time. She finally lost her First Tooth!! Just like her big sister she lost it at school. It was so much fun to see the excitement on her face when she got in the car after school. Another milestone gone, time is going by way too fast for me.

Rangers ALDS Game

On a Friday about a week ago Kaylee and Cary went to the Rangers ALDS game in Arlington. Kaylee was so excited to be able to have some Daddy/Daughter time while enjoying their favorite pastime together. There really is no place in the world that she would rather be and I am so thankful that she and Cary get to have these bonding times together. Even though the game did not go as planning this night my family walked away winners because of the memories they made which are PRICELESS.