Thanksgiving

Cara's Thanksgiving celebration. They made cornbread, real butter and had a parade.

This is from Kylie's preschool Thanksgiving dinner. Kylie wouldn't wear her Indianhat but Caleb loved it.

I cannot believe Thanksgiving has come and gone. We have a lot to be thankful for this year. God really blessed us when we didn't deserve it. Christmas is quickly approaching and once again, I am not ready. It seems like every year there is less time for shopping and enjoying the holidays. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Our newest family member, Katerina (Kevin's wife) is finally here in America. We got to celebrate Thanksgiving and her birthday with her. We all went to the airport the 17th to pick Kevin and Katerina up. They stayed the weekend at our house and then headed to WF. Karissa and Cara went to WF Sunday and stayed with my mom. Caleb, Kylie and I went down Wednesday and Kirk came Thursday. We had a relaxing time and it was wonderful to get to know Katerina. The kids love her because she is a great playmate. I love her because she makes Kevin happy and I can't wait to get to know her better. My. brother and his wife were at my moms and my sister in law and her kids (Doug is in Iraq). We all learned we are not Smarter than a Fifth Grader. Kirk and I played Bible triavia at his moms and learned we can do pretty good on the KIDS questions. We had family pictures made over the break. Thanks Kelly, for ALL you time!!! I might post some of the family pics later. We are using some for Christmas and don't want to ruin the surprise. Kirk has a 10k coming up this weekend and his marathon the next. He ran to Holiday and back while we were in WF. It was 32 degrees and sleeted on him and he still LOVED it. We saw Enchanted while we were in WF. I loved it and so dod Kylie and Karissa.

Gift Idea

When Karissa and I had our mother daughter retreat we made these together. I think they are really cute and would make great gifts for grandparents, teachers...almost anyone. Let me know what you think. If you want instructions I can send them to you. It cost les than $10 to make and took about 2 1\2 hours with my 9 year old helping!!

Virtue Alert

All you moms out there, I have a blog you need to check out. When Karissa and I went to the mother daughter conference called "Between," the speaker was Vicki Courtney. She is very funny and has great insight on things like the internet and celebrutants. She has written several books as well as Bible studies and speaks at mother/daughter conferences all over the US. She isn't afraid to say what she thinks and is very worried about the society our tweens are growing up in. When you get a moment it will be well worth your time to check out her blog. I have only read a few monthes worth and I love it. She also has a website for tweens and teens. I think it is called Virtue Alert. Even if your kids aren't tweens yet, they will be. http://www.virtuealert.com/

Our Little Monkey

This was one of those times I should get him in trouble but I had to have a picture and couldn't help but laugh. Luckily he deosn't weigh enough to open the fridge, yet!

Cara's Costume Carnival

Karissa was a pop star and she taught the kids to make oragami bats. Mitchell was the only boy but is Cara's best friend from school.
Kylie was such a sweet Snow White
Kirk and Ken

She was so proud after she blew her candles out. It only took about six tries. All those missing teeth make it hard to get a good blow out.

Cara and her Jamaican dad

This year Cara wanted a costume party. She thought all the party themes were too babyish. So, we had a mini carnival in our back yard. We had a bounce house, bobbing for apples, fishing game, ring toss, oragami bat making, baseball throw, duck pond and treat bag decorating. At the beginning there were adults or big kids to run all the games. After cake and presents the kids had a blast running the games for each other. We borrowed the bounce house and most of the decorations. It was too windy to have candles outside so we served cake inside and everyone ate outside. The bobbing for apples was hilarious to watch. Overall it was a fun inexpensive party. The kids decorated paper sacks to put all their prizes in. We used extra McDonald's toys for the fishing booth and candy and pencils, stickers, plastic animals etc. for the prizes. We were all exhausted at the end but it was worht it. Cara's birthday buddy Aunt Sharon came dressed as a sumo wrestler and her husband Ken (whose birthday is Halloween) had a really cool pirate costume. Happy Birthday guys!!!

Kylee, Cara and Marissa

(all October birthdays have birthday lunch on one day)

On Thursday, Cara's birthday, it was birthday lunch at school. She thought it was great. The kids get to choose a friend to eat with them and eat their lunch in the hallway or the atrium (weather permitting). They can also have their parents bring them lunch. Cara loved being the center of attention for a bit.

Palo Duro Canyon

Karissa on the ledge in the cave
The flood

The Race
The cave with the ledge

Beautiful Palo Duro Canyon

Our little cowpoke

Last weekend, we drove to Palo Duro Canyon(it is north by Amarillo). We left around 4 on Thursday and arived at 11:15. It was a really long drive and by arriving at night we missed the beauty and surprise of the canyon. My parents had arrived the day before and set up our tents, so we went straight to bed. It was cold in the tent and when we woke up there was ICE on the outside of our tent. It was very beautiful but DRY. We camped at the bottom of the canyon. The days were in the eighties and the nights were in the forties (except the first night). We could hear coyotes howling and my parents saw wild turkies walk across their campsite. We saw a family of deer upclose on the night we arrived. The night skies were beautiful and we could see Venus.

Saturday morning,Kirk and Wendell ran the (fun run) 20K of the Palo Duro Trail Run. There was also a 50K and a 50 mile. Kirk says he is a runner not a racer. I am not sure where they finished overall but that isn't why they ran. They said the trail was hard but they had a great time. They will run a full marathon 26.1 miles in December.

I had fun hiking or rock climbing, as Kirk called it. He likes to hike on flat boring trails. I like to scamper over and around rocks at very steep inclines. Unfortunately for Kirk, our girls like to rock climb, too. We climbed up to a cave that had a ledge in it. There was no way to climb to the ledge inside so we found a way around on the outside. I say we but I mean me and Karissa and our friends. Kirk and Wendell's wife, Shannon, headed down and took pictures. The day before we arrived the canyon flooded quite a bit, so we got to cool off and rehydrate in the run off. We followed the water on into a stream and the kids found a mud bog to play in. They thought it was really cool to sink up to their thighs in mud! We saw a lot of horseback riders and learned we could rent horses. Maybe we can do that next year. Kirk wants to go back and run the 50K.

We drove home Sunday. The kids did pretty well. We took a pit stop at Kirk's parents and got home around 6:30. We packed the kids off to bed and sat down to enjoy another awesome Cowboys game. The Packers has a bye, lucky for us because Kirk couldn't even stay awake through one game! I have to admit, I slept most of the way home while he drove.

This week has been busy just trying to catch up from being out of town. Cara's birthday was Thursday. Her school also had Family Math Night on Thursday. So, we made little cakes and chicken spaghetti and then hustled back to school. I was amazed at what Cara already knows. She is so smart. I have always secretly worried that Karissa was so smart the others would not be able to compare (I know don't compare your kids...but we all do). Anyway, Cara can hold her own. She is reading, even big words and at math night she was adding and subtracting. The biggest surprise to me were her logical thinking skills. Kirk spent his time with Karissa. We all had a great time. Cara has asked for a costume party so we are getting ready for that tomorrow afternoon.

I can't wait until Sunday when we can sit back, relax and watch football all day. The Cowboys have a bye but I am sure there will be some other good games on. Kirk has to play the keyboard and I have nursery duty but then we can come home and veg!!!!!!

Introducing Romo and new do's

Kylie wanted her hair short, again and Caleb had his first professional haircut. He wasn't too sure about the cape but he was great. He sat very still and was very serious the whole time. Of course, I forgot my camera but he was really cute. He got a great cut but it looks the same as always in the pic.

Saturday, we went to Grapevine Mills and as usual were drawn to the Build-A-Bear store. We saw this cowboys outfit and couldn't resist making Caleb his first bear. We named him Romo and Caleb loves him. He carries him around and even sleeps with him. The Disney store had great sales going on, too. I bought Kylie's Halloween costume there for 40% off.

Too much to tell

Back by popular demand. What was I thinking not blogging for over a month. There is so much to blog about I am just putting pics and blurbs. Suffice it to say, life is very busy with PTA, 5 kids, Awana's, football, new women's bible study and everything in between!!! This blog doesn't flow well because the pics come first and the words after, sorry. When i try to edit the location of pictures they disappear, so this is the best I can do.
After the park, Kirk decided to do his long run. I think 12 miles. Anyway, we thought it would be fun ro meet him along the way and give him water and cool him off. It was really hot and he usually runs at night or early morning. Anyway, Cara thought it was great to dump cold water on Dad.

One Saturday last month, we visited Trinity Park, which is on the Trinity river. After playing on the playground the kids decided they wanted to go down to the river. I took the three little ones and we jumped all the way across these rocks. Cara was able to go back across all by herself. They were very pround and had a great time. After crossing the river and the playground we rode the mini train by the zoo. It is only a few dollars per person and the ride is about 30 minutes. It was a fun way to spend a Saturday morning.

A long way to go.
We made it!!
So proud:)

He got a Thomas train and shirt and he loves them. He call them choo-choo. He was so proud, he blew out his own candles.

Caleb had a Chuck E. Cheese party. It is the first one in all our 4 kids. We didn't actually do the party with them we just went there. He had a great time. He is officially, 2 and loves trains, Diego and bootball (as he says it).

Karissa had a High School Musical Party for her 9th birthday. I made a giant cookie cake decorated with red and white frosting. We ordered pizza (boy can girls eat!!) Then we planned to play the board\cd game of HSM2 but the girls just wanted to play. They sure run and scream alot. They had a great time and eventually plyed the game which requires singing and dancing.

Karissa and I went to a mother daughter conference called "Tweens." It was a great experience and fun time for us to focus on our relationship. We stayed overnight in a hotel and then had the conference all day Saturday.
Caleb loves his Peyton. All is going well with babysitting. I love being able to be with my kids and Peyton is relatively easy and fits right in to our family. Caleb would have made a great big brother. He is our little man. He is laughing and talking and playing all the time. He is just fun!!

Kylie's First Day

Today is finally here. Kylie was up and dressed before everyone else. She could not wait to get to school. I took her to her class and snapped a picture and she sat in her chair and acted like I wasn't even there. No tears from her. I asked her if she wanted to take her blankie in her bag for rest time and she said "no" with disdain in her voice. So, now I have two and they screamed the whole way home in the car.

Kylie, Gingerbread men, Kirk's b-day

Kylie's preschool meet the teacher was Thursday night. She was so cute and grown up. Karissa picked out her clothes and helped her fix her hair. Then just Kylie and I went to her school. She sat in her chair all prim and proper and even closed her eyes through the whole prayer. She had grown up all the sudden. I enjoyed getting to spend time with just her. Recently, I have had the opportunity to spend time with the girls one on one. It is amazing how their personalities come out differently when they are in the spotlight. I hope we are able to spend time together individually more often. I didn't get any pictures because Kylie refused and my batteried died. She promised I could take one the first day of school (tomorrow). Kylie has been so excited for school to start we had to make her a paper chain to count down the days. She didn't like it at all that the big girls got to start a week before her.

Friday, Cara got to make gingerbread men at school. They did the gingerbread man story Thursday and then the cafeteria baked all the kindegarteners (6 classes) cookies. The kids got to decorate them and then went on a chase throught the school. Each room they came to they found a note that said"run, run fast as you can...can't catch me I'm the gingerbread man." She thought it was really cool. Unfortunately, her first week of school wore her out and she woke up Saturday with a stomach bug. She is better today.

Today, is Kirk's birthday. He bought himself Guitar Hero with birthday money. We are also getting the Sunday Ticket so he\we can watch Brett Favre every week. Happy Birthday, honey. I love you.

1st Day

Karissa was late to class because I made her walk with us to Cara's class, so no pictures of her with Mrs. Peters.

Peyton

We have had a crazy two weeks. We had VBS last week, ending with a Saturday party at the waterpark. This week I started watching my neighbors 6 wk old daughter. She is a tiny thing, only 5lbs 12oz. All the kids love her and are very helpful. PTA activities also started this week. I don't know how people do it. How can you work meet the teacher night and meet your kids teachers. Thursday was BTS teacher luncheon plus meet the teacher night. I feel like everyday this last week I had twice as many kids in my house as I actually have. We babysat, a lot. Kirk is gone to WF to run a trail run half marathon on Sunday and do his Fantasy Football draft. I opted to stay home and rest for a night and a day before school starts. Kirk took the kids with him, except Cara who is spending the nigt with Aunt Linda. I am struggling with just being lazy and enjoying the peace or working my tail off and getting a lot done while I can.

Pool Time

Every summer I take tons of pool picyures. This summer I haven't taken hardly any. It was a little bright today but I got some cute shots. I almost had a great shot of the foursome. Someday, maybe!

Sleep, Running and Pictures

Caleb went to sleep at naptime with no swats at all!! Last night Kirk thought it would be fun for all of us to go to the track with him while he ran two miles with 100 yrd sprints. We loaded everyone up at 6:30 and went to the oven, I mean track. I ran and walked with Kirk and the kids came and went along the way. Kylie ran and walked almost the whole two miles and she ran faster than I did!!!! So, I got on earlier to check my mail and blogs and I got an e-mail from Kelly. She said her photographer was having a give away and to sign up and say she referred me. I went to the photographers webpage and an hour later I pulled myself away from all her beautiful pictures.http://www.xanga.com/fotobydeedra I hope I win because I probably can't afford it otherwise:)

Sleep training (AGAIN)

A little over a month ago I posted the cutest video of Caleb crawling out of his crib. He has turned our house upsidedown. We used to have a naptime/ bedtime routine that worked great. The past month we have spent hours sitting by his bed or in his doorway waiting for him to go to sleep. We tried shutting him in his room with a kid lock on the inside door handle but we felt really cruel. We tried putting him back in bed over and over but that didn't work either. Saturday, we had a garage sale and took the kids to the water park (thanks Mom!!). Needless to say we were exhausted and everyone fell into bed by 8:30, everyone, except Caleb. We gave in and put him in our bed as we couldn't even keep our eyes open. I think he fell asleep somewhere around 9:30ish. So, Sunday we silently agreed we'd had enough. We put him in bed and everytime he got out we swatted his leg and put him back. It took a few times but he stayed in his bed and went to sleep. Today is the third day second nap. I can't say it is getting any easier but I think he is learning. At least he stays in his bed even if he doesn't fall asleep right away. I don't know how you all feel about the dreaded spanking, issue. I have never really had a problem with it but I must say my mind is being bombarded with all the physo babble out there. One minute I feel mean and I feel sorry for him, the next minute I feel like I am just doing my job as a parent. The whole time he is crying and getting up my mind is warring within about the right and wrong and damage I am doing. So, if anyone out there agrees with our method I would appreciate some moreal support on this. If you don't agree don't bother adding to my stress. Thanks.