Cute as a Cupcake

The Friday after Thanksgiving we headed to Waco to celebrate Lila's (my precious niece's) first birthday!! Kacey decided to make it a family affair, but with 7 cousins in attendance it was a full house.

The party was cupcake themed and Kacey had every little cupcake detail looking absolutely DARLING!!

The kids all had personalized muffin tin munchies for lunch! And the grownups had mini burgers in cupcake liners and cheesy potatoes baked in - you guessed it - cup cake tins.

How is she already a year old?!?

If You Give a Cat a Cupcake was the birthday book.

This little precious was he star of the show and her perfectly coordinated and personalized cupcake outfit was perhaps the cutest thing ever!

I love this little family,

And this big one too!

Time for cake

The adoring fans.

The boys loved decorating their own cupcakes,
And the mini cupcakes on a stick.
Happy Birthday Miss Priss!! We love you SOOOO much!

So much so much so much

To be thankful for!!

We are so blessed and while I do not understand why the Lord has lavished upon us such undeserved blessings I am incredibly grateful.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at "the country" in Jacksboro with Stacey's family. The country is very peaceful and a perfect getaway for the holiday. Thanks Cassie and Teddy for hosting us all!

Cassie and Debbie spoiled us as usual by cooked and incredible feast and taking care of the kids overnight while the big kids went to a hotel.

The rugrats.

I got to get some good lovin' from T-bird

All the boys by the fire pit.

Stacey and Wyatt got a precious teepee from Big and Nannie - perfect for this Pilgrims and Indians holiday.
We made s'mores.
III declared he would like to make them every night when it gets dark.

Our star treatment continued with a gift basket at the hotel. Notice the special "Caryn - no nuts" cookies just for me. I know, we are spoiled - there is just no other word for it!

On Thursday afternoon while we were recovering from a huge lunch and watching football I forced a Christmas craft on the girls. :) I think it stressed everyone out more than anything, but I thought it was fun.

Here is my finished product on top of the armoire at home.

It was a perfect Thanksgiving and leaves me overwhelmed by all I have to be Joyful about.

Tailgate Wrap Up

We wrapped up the season in style last night at a hometown tailgate outside of the Deathstar (cowboy stadium) for the Tech/Baylor game. These boys threw a great party, and we've decided that tailgating to Stacey (and a few other kindred spirits) is just like throwing a birthday party for me. He plots and plans and obsesses and loves every minute of it.

I thought due to the rather windy day and some 12 hours spent outside that I'd wear a hat, and based on these pictures that is not a look that I will try to pull off again soon! But I'll put vanity smurf to bed and post some pictures anyway.
We had tons of family (included my brother-in-law Geoff who is an A&M fan that we recruited for the day and even got to wear red and black) and friends stop by making it one of my favorite tailgates to date!

There were cheeseburger tacos, ribs, bacon wrapped shrimp, DP can chicken, queso and more, but someohow these cake-balls that Chris' Mom made are the only food picture I got. You can see where my hearts desire is when it come to the eats.

We ended the night with a WT ride in the bed of Stacey's truck transporting Kacey and Josh and the Warren's back to their hotel. Sadly no pictures to document the adventure, but thankfully no arrests or broken bones either.

Until next season :)

Rollerland

Last night we stepped back into time at Rollerland for the boys first ever skating experience.
I am not kidding when I say that the roller skating party has not changed one bit since we were attending them some 25 years ago. They are still serving the same cardboard pizza and the kids are wearing the exact same brown and orange skates.

I guess if it ain't broke why fix it.

The boys both enjoyed it, but don't let the pictures fool you they tightened up the skates so they barley rolled allowing them to "skate" or perhaps more accurately, walk with skates on, without too many tumbles.

One roller rink veteran decided he had better show the boys how it was done. I am confident the memory of the wind in his hair during speed skating and the lull of Red Red Wine were at the forefront of his memory as he skillfully rounded every corner.

On the way home III suggested that perhaps he could have a skating party - a sure sign of a good time. But, for now it is back to 2009. Happy Birthday Brooklyn!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

What? But Chicken Day isn't even here yet!!

When I put out a few turkeys right after Halloween Stacey woke up and said, "Mom, is it chicken day!?!" So, as if he wasn't confused enough, this weekend (before chicken day - gasp!) I got out our Christmas decorations.

This is very out of character as I am a rule follower by nature (Sarah, I feel you!!) and usually stick to a strict no Christmas decorating until the day after Thanksgiving policy. But, we had a rather uneventful weekend with soccer rained out so I had the time. And we all know self imposed rules were made to be broken. Right?

III was so excited and insisted that I didn't get out any more Christmas stuff while he was napping so that he wouldn't miss anything! He went trough every ornament and he loved hearing it's "story." And I loved having someone who cared that, I got that bell when I was two, and this was from the year Daddy and I got married, and Oh look at that tiny baby! etc.

When we headed over to Nannie and Big's last night he excitedly asked, "Are we going over there for Christmas!!?!!" It may be a long month. :)

So, just to make sure that my kids think there were pilgrims at the nativity we decided to make some Thanksgiving treats for lunch.

This is a classic, but always a hit...as is pretty much anything that involves eating extra marshmallows and fruit loops.

Pants are so overrated!!

Happy Chicken Day to you and yours!! :)

Thankful

A cold front finally rolled in making it feel like November and keeping us from enjoying the outdoors today so I thought it would be a perfect day to make our Thanksgiving Tree. Each leaf has something on it that Stacey and Wyatt are thankful for. Our family, home and friends were at the top of their lists as well as school, toys, boxes?, and thankfully, each other!

I sure am thankful for these two!!

I couldn't resist a flashback to this same Thanksgiving activity last year.

What a difference a year makes!

Wyatt must be working on perfecting his "Blue Steel" :)

"Give thanks in all circumstances,

for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

1 Thessalonians 5:18

GOOOOOOAAAAAAL!!!

We had some VERY special guests at Stacey's soccer game this weekend! Stacey was thrilled that Ryan,

Ally (someone else was thrilled too),
G.P.
and Honey were all there to cheer him on!! Mark and Angie were there too, but I neglected to get their pictures. :(
And of course, this local was representing as usual.
What a blessing to be loved so much by so many people. I think our star player was feeling the love from the sidelines because he scored his first goal!!! And the crowd went crazy, of course.

Stacey you just get better every week and we all love watching you play. Thanks to everyone for making III's and my day by driving in for the game.