Happy Valentine's Day 2009

Here are two of my favorite Valentines!! (In case you are wondering what is on Campbell's face it is a Sally tattoo from Cars which she got from her Valentine sack at school and refused to take off.)






With Valentine's day being on a Saturday this year I decided to have three meals with the pink and red theme instead of just one. After the girls went to bed on Friday night I decorated the kitchen table with a cute heart tablecloth and the beautiful tulips my sweet husband and girls sent me. I also went ahead and placed the gifts my parents' left for them on the table as their first gift. My new idea for the year came from my friend Lori who said she decorates the bathroom mirror with vinyl clings. The girls loved it! I may have to add the mirrors in their rooms to the list for next year.


For breakfast we had cinnamon rolls with red frosting and some strawberry yogurt. They also drank out of these cute red light-up heart cups Papa and Nana got them. They were so excited to get a few surprises at breakfast to start the day.




At lunch time I decorated the table with the gifts we got them and served spaghetti. Their favorite gifts of course were their Valentine Webkinz monkeys. After lunch they got to decorate their dessert which were some funfetti cupcakes I made. You can tell from the smiles on their faces they were very pleased.



















I would say we all had a wonderful Valentine's Day! For dinner the girls went to play at some of their friends' home with the babysitter while the parents had a delicious meal prepared by our husbands at our house. (Don't worry the girls had pizza with their friends so we did not break the red/pink meal tradition for the day.) I am hoping the filet, crab with bernaise sauce, and lobster become a new tradition for me. Thanks to my Sweetheart for all his hard work to make me feel special too.

Valentine's Party x2

Well we survived the sugar high of another holiday:-) Luckily for me this time the girls were able to have their parties on different days so it made life a lot easier for me.

Campbell's Valentine's Day Party took place on Thursday morning. Just look at that innocent face. All of the children had fun decorating their cookie with frosting and a variety of sprinkles. It was so funny to watch them lick all the frosting out of the little cups they had it in and to see which children could use all of their sprinkles. They were all very quiet and busy during the decorating process though. Just look at them being so diligent and "on task".
The next activity was to pass out their valentines to each other. I was really glad that I had the foresight to put one in their for Campbell too because she definitely wanted the goodies she brought. Such a funny age! All of the children were so cute walking around placing something in each child's sack. I will never forget the excitement in their eyes and smiles on their faces.








Here is my baby trying to wait patiently to dig into her sack of goodies.






On Friday Campbell and I both went to Kaylee's Valentine's Day Party at her school. Of course, Campbell feels so big walking into Kaylee's class. I had asked Kaylee the day before if she wanted us to come to the party or just skip it since I would have to bring Campbell too. Without missing a beat she said, " Of course I want you to come and bring my sister so I can show her off." That does not happen every day so it was so I was more than happy to oblige.

At Kaylee's Party they first got to have some juice and a cookie one of the Mom's had decorated beautifully. I almost hated to watch them be eaten and I did not even spend time on them. Next all the children competed in a relay in the room. They would run and draw a heart out of the bucket and follow the directions written on it. I think Kaylee had to "moo like a cow". They all got a kick out of watching each other and there were a lot of giggles too. After that they got their Valentine frog buckets and opened up their treats from their friends. Kaylee had so much fun reading and laughing about what each card said.



I would definitely say both parties were a big hit!

Goodbye January...

Where did the rest of January go? We have had a month full of more Birthday parties, a visit from Papa and Nana, a trip to the zoo, and a few ice days.



The New Year started with a trip to the zoo with some friends since the weather has been so nice. Both of my girls love to go to the zoo so it was a real treat to pack a picnic lunch and play with friends.











I just had to include this picture of Abba, Campbell, and Morgan running as hard as they could to go feed the ducks. Priceless...
















I have to include a picture of my two girls who are growing up way too fast. These are the dresses Papa and Nana got them before Christmas.














Here is a picture of Papa and Nana when they came to visit us one weekend and spoil us a little while Cary was hunting. (I was so glad to have my husband back after hunting season, too bad tax season started already and I am about to lose him again.)





Next up for the month was the "100th Day of School" which Kaylee was so excited about. Each student was suppose to come up with an example of "100 things" they collect or draw 100 of something. Of course, Kaylee chose stuffed animals and thought it would be great to take 100 of them to school. Luckily Cary came up with taking a picture of the 100 stuffed animals and taking it to school to show which was much easier.






This picture is from a Birthday Party at the Grace Museum. Campbell loved driving her friend Davis around in the ambulance. Of course she was way too busy to look at the camera.







The last Birthday party of the month was attended by Kaylee. She got to go to a cookie decorating party for her friend Samantha from church. I was not able to go because I was out of town but I definitely wanted to document the great job she did decorating her cookies. I could not believe that she did them! Kaylee may have a future at the local Cookie Bouquet one day.

7 Down....how many more to go?

Well last night Kaylee lost her 7th tooth! I am sure that the 8th will be soon to follow since the new teeth are already half way in. She was so excited to wake up this morning and find another gold dollar in her tooth fairy box. I am sure it will be the main topic of conversation for her today. I still remember the excitement involved with each lost tooth. Such a fun stage of life. My first baby is growing up so quickly.




Of course Campbell had to be in on the action too. She wanted her picture taken with her Diamond Castle heart necklace. I am not sure which Barbie it belongs too but it makes her smile to wear it. She even had to put it on for school yesterday:-) I wonder if she will forever be a girly-girl, only time will tell.


I love these two precious girls and feel so blessed each day to be their Mom, thank you Lord!

January Fun so Far!

Since this January has been quite warm we have enjoyed a lot of time outside using Kaylee's new basketball goal and Campbell has enjoyed riding her scooter. Both of my girls love to be outside! I am glad that no one has come by with a video camera to tape me playing basketball with Kaylee while trying to avoid a moving scooter at the same time. I am sure we would win America's Funniest Videos very easily but I do not want to try at this time.

We have also enjoyed one birthday party and have been invited to 4 more before the month is over. I never realized what a popular Birthday Month January has turned out to be. Here is a picture of one of the Birthday girls. Abba is such a sweet girl and her Mom is great at planning parties that all the children enjoy. Campbell was in heaven with all of the fingernail painting and the tutu. Kaylee was happy to hang out with Matthew for a little bit before joining the other girls at the Birthday table.

Campbell in her purple tutu. Purple is her favorite color right now so the party was perfect for her since everything was purple! She also had fun dancing and singing into the karaoke machine on the elevated dance floor Lindi had planned out.

Here is Kaylee enjoying the fun with her friend Madison from school who also happens to live next door to Abba. The party was a huge success and all three of us were ready for bed by the end of the night.

Ft. Worth Christmas !

Well the weekend of New Year's we had our last Christmas celebration. We went to Ft. Worth to enjoy some time with Cary's family. As you can see from the first picture the girls have a lot of fun with their cousins. One night all sleeping together in the same bed was all any of us could stand though. They have the memory of a fun night with their cousins and we have the memory of some tired and grumpy children the next day:-)





This picture was taken before the opening of the presents and as you can see Campbell was not in a very good mood. I do not remember why but she had been crying just moments before, I think part of it was due to the lack of sleep mentioned previously. However once the presents started being delivered she was more than happy to smile.








The girls were both very pleased with their presents. I do not know which were their favorite. I do know that Kaylee was very pleased with her softball and glove because she has been talking about playing on a softball team since last Spring. Unfortunately it was not possible to play last year because she had a recital to prepare for but since we are not taking dance this year, softball here we come! We will see if she has her Daddy's skill or her Mommy's talent to stare at the ground, run from the ball, and hate the heat. I think she will have her Daddy's talent.





Campbell loved all of her gifts but if I had to pick I would say her top two were the Diamond Castle doll on the horse and the wedding dress with shoes. Dressing up happens daily around our house and it is so cute and sad at the same time to see her dancing around in her wedding dress with veil. I know that all too soon she will be wearing that dress for real but I just try to put that in the back of my head right now.
On a side note the nice scab above her lip is from us playing in the driveway at home a few days before. She made a nice head-plant into the cement. Guess who won? I was just glad all her teeth were in tact when she got up.



Here are two cute pictures of my nephews and my niece. They are so precious and they all play so well together that it is really a joy to be with them. My girls always look forward to playing with their cousins and we enjoy getting to watch them all play together and enjoy being kids.






We had a good time getting to be together and celebrate the last Christmas of the season. The weekend was full of laughter, good conversation, and of course some good food. Thank you to everyone for all of the gifts and love.

Christmas Eve

Well here is the Christmas picture of our family that I swore I would get this year since last year we did not have a single one to commemorate the holiday season. As you can see from the picture we were all smiles about the fun traditions and excitement this time of year brings.

We went to Papa and Nana's house in time to celebrate Christmas Eve. The girls got to open a few gifts that had been put aside for them and also got busy frosting some cookies we brought with us to leave out for Santa. As you can see from the picture I have two very serious helpers. They were all business when it came to decorating for Santa.





Around dinner time Great PaPaw and GG showed up to celebrate Christmas with all of us too. The girls were very excited to see both of them. I think a little of it had to do with getting to open some more presents as well. Campbell could not wait until we were all done with dinner so she could get to all those presents under the tree. I have to say I was anxious to see their faces myself.













I think the top present for Kaylee that night was the Wii. You can tell from the picture that Campbell is not quite sure what to think about the box but she knew enough to know that Kaylee was very excited by it. I do not know who was more excited to get it hooked up and ready to play Daddy or Kaylee?












Campbell's favorite gift by far was the Diamond Castle horse that flies. She could not wait to get it out of the box. She even slept with it that night while listening for Santa.

Once the rest of the gift were unwrapped and Papa had gone to take GG home the girls went for our traditional ride to look at the lights around town. It was a brief ride this year because we had two very tired girls who just wanted to go back to the house to play with their toys for a little bit and go to bed. Of course, we had to put the reindeer food out on the lawn first. Who knew oatmeal and glitter could be so much fun to put all over the yard? When they returned inside Daddy read The Night Before Christmas and they quickly went to sleep.

Christmas Day 2008!

Well after all of the shopping, list making, and talking to Santa the big day was finally here. Not surprisingly Campbell was the first one up. The funny thing is that she walked by this sight at least ten times with her flying horse and never once asked to open a gift or even mentioned that Santa had come. I am guessing the horse was enough of a distraction that she never thought to look. We were all cracking up about that.




Once Kaylee got up we let them dig in their stockings while all the adults got their different cameras ready. You would have thought a movie star was in our midst:-) They were so excited to see all the things Santa had left for them. Santa evidently loves the dollar spot at Target as much as their Mommy.






Once the unwrapping of the presents started I was pleasantly surprised. They both really waited on each other to see what the other one got before going on to their next present. We were able to really witness the joy each of them expressed at the surprise of each gift.

This is Campbell bursting with excitement over the Alexa Barbie from the Diamond Castle movie. Since everything she asked for was from this movie she was thrilled. Santa along with some other helpers (aka Papa and Nana) were very good to her.






Kaylee on the other hand asked for a variety of things but the one thing main item on her list was the Kit American Girl doll and her friend Ruthie. Since seeing the movie way before Christmas these items had been tops on her list. She was thrilled!










A quick photo with Papa and Nana. Merry Christmas to all!!