Visit With Santa 2011

We made our annual visit to see Santa with the girls this weekend. We have always gone to NE Mall, because they always have a really cute Santa and setup. I MUST be able to take my own pictures and video, which they let you do with any purchase. We always just buy the smallest package and then take our own pictures. I frame our Santa pics every year, and I put them out as part of our Christmas decorations. The ones when the girls are crying when they are little are the funniest. Campbell really gets a kick out of “baby Campbell” in the picture when she is scared of Santa. This year we went to Bass Pro where they have a really cute Santa setup, and the picture is FREE in addition to being able to take your own photos and video. Note for next year: go to Bass Pro during the week! We went on Sunday, and they were handing out passes to come back for certain time slots. The earliest time we could get was 2 ½ hours from the time we arrived. Yikes! We headed over to Grapevine Mills instead. We were in and out in 30 minutes. The Santa was much too skinny for Santa, and the setup was a little cheesy, BUT we did get our own picture and video, and all three girls did “participate” in the picture even if they weren’t all smiles or all in Santa’s lap! I’d call it a success! Conley was the most nervous about it. I kept saying “he’s not scary, he’s nice.” She would just repeat that to us in line…”he’s not scary, he’s nice.” You could tell she was really worried but trying to convince herself that he isn’t scary. We told her many times that he had chocolate to give her if she would sit in his lap. She kept saying she wanted chocolate but she didn’t want to sit in his lap. When it came time for our turn, she REALLY didn’t want to get in his lap. Cooper didn’t either, but I was able to physically sit her in his lap and she stayed there with a worried look on her face. Conley put up more of a fight for sure! She finally was willing to stand next to him for the picture. You can see the concern in Cooper and Conley’s face, but they still did pretty good! At the end they were giving him high fives after he handed them chocolate. Now, if you ask them about Santa, they smile and tell you he gave them chocolate and high fives. It ended on a good note! I would bet money that they still won’t sit in his lap again if offered the chance, but maybe next year they’ll be more comfortable.

I've had multiple failed attempts at posting the video for this, but if you are on Facebook, you've probably already seen it.

Happy 5th Birthday Campbell Kay!

We celebrated Campbell’s 5^th birthday at Main Event with a bowling party. She requested a bowling party “just like her cousin Channing’s birthday” the year before. It really was a lot of fun! She had a LOT of friends and family come for an hour of bowling followed by cake and games. We even let Cooper, Conley and few other little ones bowl. That was interesting for sure, but they all seemed to have a good time. My sweet friend April did the yummy cupcakes in pink and white with zebra print liners to go with the theme. My sweet friend Amy designed the birthday invitations and some fun labels for the goodie bags that we gave to the kids with candied popcorn (watermelon was pink, vanilla was white and blackberry was black…made for an interesting flavor combination!). It all turned out so cute!! Main Event did a great job hosting and coordinating (although you definitely pay for it!).

Cooper and Campbell bowling with Pops at the party

Campbell's friends at the party

Birthday girl is ready for cupcakes!

Mommy and Daddy with their birthday girl

Playing games with cousin Channing

Also, for her 5^th birthday, Campbell got her ears pierced! I definitely prompted the idea asking her if she’d want to have them done since turning 5 was such a big deal. She said yes and seemed excited about it. Of course when we got to Sweet and Sassy to have them done, she started to get nervous. She seemed pretty anxious when they actually started to get the guns ready, and then she was really upset once the pinch happened. She cried and pouted for a while as if she had no idea it was going to be like that. It really did turn humorous, because we kept trying to talk to her about it and she finally said, “I don’t want to talk about it anymore!” She wouldn’t let us buy her any other earrings either. Once she got over the shock of what had happened, she proudly would show them off. Now that we are over a week past the trauma, she is starting to twist them on her own when we need to clean them. She’s definitely more and more comfortable with them and can finally talk about them J . She has specifically said she thinks pink guitars and red hearts would be her next earrings. I hope we can find them! She gets to change them out in January. If anyone has a daughter that wants to get their ears pierced, don’t have her talk to Campbell! She does not really encourage others to do it…LOL! She says, “it hurts a lot!” We’ll follow up with a question like, “but it only hurts for a second, right?” She’ll correct you that “it hurts for 6 seconds!”

Sweet Campbell showing off her new earrings

Mommy and Daddy with their sweet FIVE year old!

We’ve also started straightening Campbell’s hair recently. We only do it when she wants it straight AND when it’s not going to be raining outside. If she sweats or is exposed to pretty much any humidity, that curl is coming right back! It’s been fun to change it up between straight and curly! She seems to really like it! It doesn’t take long to straighten since her hair is so thin. People have been surprised at how long it is when it’s straightened. We think she is totally adorable either way, but Mommy is not always confident in fixing those crazy curls!

A cute picture of Campbell opening a present with her straight hair

Campbell and Jayden flirting away while having birthday cupcakes at school

Mommy and Campbell having cupcakes at school for Campbell's birthday

It has been so much fun for me to look back at how much she has changed over the last 5 years…here are just a few pics that I wanted to share!

We love you Campbell Kay! You have provided us with SO much joy the last 5 years, and you always keep us laughing and smiling! We thank God for making us your Mommy and Daddy! You will always be our baby girl! Don’t tell Cooper and Conley, but I told Daddy that I hope this next baby looks just like you ;-) !

Happy Turkey Day, 2011!

Well, I have gotten so behind on blog posts that I keep avoiding getting back into it. I have felt the need to play catch-up, which just seems more and more impossible the longer I go without posting anything. I've decided to give up on that and just start blogging current posts! So, here I am!! I'm back!! Maybe I'll put some past posts here and there so I still feel like I'm catching up some...we'll see!

Anyways, we have SO much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving! We have three beautiful, healthy girls and are thrilled to be expecting our miracle #4!! We are so blessed to be surrounded by ALL of our family close by, so we had our usual marathon of Thanksgiving get-togethers! Sometimes we complain that we have so many places to be, but really I can't imagine it any other way!! The best part is that no one expects much from me when it comes to cooking, so I don't do much in the kitchen at Thanksgiving!! Ha ha!!

We of course started our Thanksgiving morning off with the Dallas Turkey Trot. We had our usual big group participating. Most of us walked the 5k, while Matt, Christy and Kyle ran the 8 mile. I hope to be running with them again next year!!

Here are some pics of our wonderful 2011 Thanksgiving!!

Two cute little turkeys

Mommy and Daddy at Campbell's Thanksgiving Feast at school

All bundled up for the Turkey Trot!

Ready to trot!!

All of our Turkey Trotters

Our sweet Campbell Kay sportin' her straight hair

Mommy and her girls on Thanksgiving Day, 29 weeks preggers

Matt's grandparents took a picture with ALL SEVEN GREAT-GRANDDAUGHTERS! They have two more great grand babies on the way...

Will there be two MORE girls, or will there finally be a boy???

We'll find out come February!

God is so good! We give him all the praise for our many blessings in 2011!

October 2010

Our October was fun-filled! We went to the zoo, celebrated some family birthdays at Babe's, went to the State Fair with Nana and Papa and of course visited the pumpkin farm a couple times getting ready for Halloween! Here are some photos of our fun October!!

C&C's 1st Birthday Party!!

We had Cooper and Conley's first birthday party at Colleyville City Park. It was a Barnyard animal theme, although we did not have a petting zoo. I just saw these adorable cupcakes and cake that our friend Jaime had made, and decided that just HAD to be the theme!!



There were LOTS of family and friends at the party! We invited people to honor Cooper and Conley at their first birthday by making donations to the Children's Heart Foundation in support of Team Liam, our CHD buddy that shares C&C's birthday! It was so touching at how generous our friends and family were for such a great cause!

Here are some pics of LOTS of people that love these precious girls!!

Here is our family of 5 getting ready to sing Happy Birthday to C&C!

Cooper enjoying her first cupcake!

Conley enjoying her first cupcake!

Even Shelby got to come to the party for a visit!!

Campbell sporting a party favor hat...she had her eye on the horse hat the entire time!

We opened presents back at home. Of course an outfit change was required!! C&C had to show off their party dresses!

Conley (left) and Cooper (right)

Conley Kate crawling in her dress...a difficult task

Cooper and Conley enjoying their new "big girl" chairs from Nama and Papa

Cooper trying to put her bow back on, I have her well-trained

I was happy to get a few of these on camera!! Cooper would ALWAYS make this face and hold her finger up as if she was saying "number 1". She did this all the time right around turning 12 months old. It was too funny!!

Happy birthday sweet Cooper and Conley!! Mommy and Daddy have SO enjoyed your first year!! You girls are such blessings to our family!! We look forward to all of our future memories and plenty of entertainment and laughs with you girls!!