2nd annual Cousin Cookie Christmas

My cousin Kim hosted our 2nd annual Cousin Cookie Christmas again this year and it was a blast!  She does such a great job baking all the cookies, and making all the different colors of icing & toppings.  She even had cookie boxes for each family so we could easily take all of our decorated cookies home.  Here is a picture of all the little rug-rats that came this year.

I found a website where you can make custom wordsearch puzzles!  So, I made this one & it was a big hit with the adults at the party.

 Working on the puzzle.

 Super cute picture of my Dad & Ann

 Some of the girls decorating cookies

 My two posing with a cookie they made

 Kim helping them decorate their cookies

Then, we all went out front for some adult v. kids relay races!

Balance a book relay

Derek & Dawson/ Hettie & Ella/ Me & Andi/ Kim & Audrey

 Penguin waddle relay

Luke & Jen/ Crazy Chris/ Ella & Prego Crystal

Rudolph Dash relay

Hettie & Madison/ Shauna with Lane/ Kim & Blake

And, all the kids being reindeers! I absolutely love our new CCC tradition!

Santa pics 2011

 Here at the kiddos pics with Santa!  It was pretty funny because in the car on the way to the studio, they both kept saying things like: 'I am not kissing Santa on the cheek anymore because that is just gross.' and 'I am definitely not sitting in his lap anymore...that is for babies.'  I am thinking our days of taking pics with Santa might be coming to an end soon! :-(  Dawson even said 'Mom, why do I have to take pictures with Santa?  Can't I just give him my list and leave?'

And, this is the front & back of the little ornaments that I made this year!  I just punched a small hole in the top and tied a pretty red ribbon in it.  The kids were so excited about their elf jammies & they LOVED matching their magic elves.  Pretty soon, they will grow out of this too!  They are growing up too fast.

Squirrel!

Spidey is OBSESSED with squirrels!  Everytime he sees one he freaks out.  It totally reminds me of the dogs in the Disney movie 'Up'.  If Spidey Dog could talk, he would be shouting 'SQUIRREL!' in this picture.  I think he sat frozen like this for almost an hour that day in the backyard!  Crazy dog.

My little bit of Minnesota

This little nightlight is by far my favorite purchase that I made while we lived in Minnesota.  I keep on my kitchen counter, and I never even turn it off.  It catches my eye multiple times everyday & it reminds me of our wonderful times we had while living there. I am usually the last one to go to bed each night and after I turn off all the lights, this is usually the last thing I see.  It's my own little tiny bit of Minnesota.

Christmas Card 2011

 A friend of mine from church, who is a wonderful photographer, took our family's portraits this year!  I could not be any happier with them!  I absolutely LOVE them!  Photography just makes my heart so happy, and looking at these pics will make me smile for years & years. I used these pics in our Christmas card this year & this is the front & back side of the card.

These pictures are the rest of my favorites from our session, but there just wasn't room enough for all of them on the Christmas card!  Now, I just have to find some free wall space so I can print some of these to hang...I need more walls.

Jingles the Tree 2011

We always put our tree up the weekend after Thanksgiving.  A few years ago, Dawson named our Christmas tree 'Jingles the Tree' and that name has just stuck each year.  How cute are their matching reindeer shirts?

 Decorating Jingles the Tree

 And, my kids are always up for a little photo fun!

Thanksgiving 2011

For as long as I can remember, my Mom's sided of the family has had Thanksgiving at my Aunt Anita's house.  I have so many years of wonderful memories playing with my cousins through the years over at her house.  Well, this last year, my Aunt Anita finally passed the buck to one of us younger ones to start a new tradition. So we had Thanksgiving this last year at MY house!  I had all kinds of backyard activities planned, even had a bounce house lined up for the day...but it POURED down rain all day long.  I was worried about how all 40+ of us would do stuck inside all day, but it went great.

 The guys hardly ever left the Manroom & watched football all day.

 The girls hardly ever left the kitchen & chatted all day.  Actually, we cracked up laughing all day.  That is my strongest memory of the day, is how much we laughed, and how many of us laughed so hard we cried!  Good times!

And, the kids pretty much played in Dawson & Andi's rooms all day.  Some of the brave girls did venture out for the fashion show that Andi initiated!  Yay for a successful Thanksgiving...I am SUPER thankful for my crazy big family!

Veteran's Day

On Veteran's Day, the first graders at Dawson's school put on an adorable program.  Each child was asked to invite any immediate family members who have served to come & be honored at the program.  After the program, the guests of honor went back to each classroom for cookies and the kids got to ask them questions.  It was a really special way to teach the kids about service & to honor those who have served/ are serving.

 The entire group during the performance.

Dawson was in the middle of the white group.  Love his goofy face in this one!

And, here is a short little video of one of the songs they sang:
(yes, that is me you hear giggling...it was just so cute!)

Photographer's Kid

One day after school while eating her snack, Andi says 'Mom, I really want you to take my picture right now because I am so cute.'  So, I of course grab my camera...and these are what we ended up with!  LOVE this girl!

(There were tons more...I had a hard time editing them down!)

Halloween 2011

Halloween photo highlights!

 I found these wooden masks at JoAnn's & we had fun decorating them together!

 She LOVES scary teeth...

 The kids at our church's awesome fall festival, during Jedi training

 Posing with Darth Jones, I mean Darth Vader...thanks Chris!

 About to go trick or treating!  Of course, Spidey Dog went with us!  Andi was Jessie from Toy Story, and Dawson was a Jawa from Star Wars.  He was so excited about getting a costume with light up eyes!

 BatCat did NOT go with us, but he did wear this costume for an entire 5 seconds.

 Driving to Granna's neighborhood to trick or treat.

We found Granna all dressed up with lots of Halloween surprises!

Studio Halloween Pics

Pumpkin Pics 2011

 This was the first year that I even attempted to take pics of the kiddos at a pumpkin patch.  Every year before this one, Andi was still in her 'run away from Mom at all costs phase' and I just never quite had the energy to even try it.  But, they did so great for me!

And, the two of them really are best buddies when they aren't trying to kill each other.

Pinterest fun

Well, I officially jumped on the pinterest bandwagon at the end of last summer, and have totally LOVED trying out some of the things I see on there.  I have actually tried a bunch of the recipes & done a ton of things with the kiddos that I have seen on there, but yet these are the only pics I have to show of things I have done!

 For Andi's b-day party, I used a pinterest turorial about how to make your own personalized cake stand using cardboard, empty cans, scrapbook paper & ribbon.  I also found the idea on pinterest to actually put cupcakes in a CUP since that makes them so much easier for kids to eat.  Since I was drizzing strawberries over the cupcakes, it worked out perfect!

 I threw a fall themed scentsy party at my house & these were the cupcakes I made from a pinterest idea.  After your cupcakes cool, you just cut the tops off with a serrated knife & then use small cookie cutters to cut your shape out.  You then spread the icing in the middle of the two pieces to hold them together. You could do these for any holiday! I also made a really pretty fall cupcake stand to hold these...but I forgot to take a picture of it!!!

And, last one, I made this fun wreath for Halloween.  You just gather sticks & bind them together.  I used a spool of really fine metal to bind them together...and a little hot glue where needed.  Then, I spray painted the whole thing black.  The ribbon & sign I got at the dollar store.  I am also thinking I would like to make a Christmas version.  Since my door is white, I would spray paint the sticks red & then add some fun candy cane striped ribbon with maybe a green Merry Christmas sign.

Looking forward to many more pinterest creations!

Go Fireballs!

Andi had a great second season of soccer!

 Right before the opening day parade

 playing goalie

 LOVE her intensity in this one

 So sad this shot turned out blurry, but I still love it.

I actually COACHED her team this season!  It was challenging because of the issues with my knee.  It's really hard to be a soccer coach when you can't run.  But, I am really glad I did it!  Andi loved it that I was her coach.  After the first practice she told me 'I am so glad you are my coach Mom...you did amazing.'

 The cookie cake at our end of season party

 Most of our team with their trophies

Here is a cute little video of her dribbling & trying to score a goal:

And, here is a video where she just busts out skipping across the field...such a girl!

This will be the last soccer season for awhile.  She wants to start playing t-ball now...bring it on!

Birthday pics

For Andi's b-day pics this year, I knew I wanted to photograph her with her new matching doll.  She has several outfits that match her doll, but their matching jammies are my favorite.  So, I just photographed her in her window seat in her room this year.  Yay for a fun, easy photo session!

Andi looses her first tooth!

The first picture is a close-up of Andi's crazy wiggly teeth at her birthday party (which was a day before her real birthday)  It was a race, what was going to happen first?  Was she going to turn 5 first?  Or loose a tooth first?  Well, she lost her first tooth at her birthday party...literally lost it. I bet it disappeared somewhere in the bounce house!  I was so sad that she didn't get to put her actual tooth in her tooth pillow, but it didn't seem to phase her.  She just asked me to write the tooth fairy a note explaining how she had lost it.  She also had me ask the tooth fairy to leave her coins instead of dollars because coins are sparkly.  The second picture is her with her note I wrote for her.  Then, two days later, she lost her second very wiggly tooth!  So the last picture shows off her bottom gap.  Whoever heard of a FOUR year old loosing teeth?  Of course, she was only one day shy of 5, but still!  Quit growing up so fast please!

Andi's 5th birthday party

Here are some photo highlights from Andi's 5th birthday party!

 Baby girl with her look-alike American girl doll that we got her.  She was SO EXCITED about this doll!

 Strawberry Shortcake themed party, so I made strawberry shortcake cupcakes.  They were pretty yummy!

 Andi enjoying her bounce house/slide!  Crazy girl!

 With her favorite ladies: Mamaw, Hettie & Granna

 posing with some cousins

 Dawson with some cousins

With her best buddies: Jillian & Emma

 I forgot to get a pic of ALL the kids together...but here are some of her guests enjoying the slide!

 And, here she is with all her presents! I am so proud that I get to be this awesome little girl's Mama!