Blessings from the end of the year!!!

Friends played a big part in the year for Kelsey as she transitioned in to middle school ... the phone is ringing always, the texting is always going, the computer is always on ... it is full swing tweendom here :). She is blessed with girlfriends that are nice.
Kelsey and Isabella making a gingerbread house ....

Landry is growing like crazy and loosing teeth like CRAZY~ in one week he lost two teeth. He is such a big boy, he has pulled all the teeth himself :).

We are blessed to have my Uncle Sam (yes my Uncle Sam not a joke) living across the street from Daddy and Jean so he can look in on them and help out when needed. He has taken Daddy to a few chemo appointments to give Jean a break. He loves his dogs too and this his a picture of him and Molly -- there are 2 more pom's at home.

We are blessed that Daddy's chemo treatments have been a huge success! He is now starting his maintenance chemo! How awesome is that?! Prayers do have power and a positive attitude will take you a long way. The moment he was told he had stage IV lung cancer he told us he was going to beat it. Way to go Papaw!! :) We are so thankful that the maintenance chemo will be 30 minutes each time instead of his normal 7 hours he had been doing. It will be a year long process. What will 2010 hold for us all? More blessings I am sure! Do not forget to eat at least a spoonful of black eyed peas for good luck and to have money in the New Year ( a southern tradition ;) ).

I still need to work on my Christmas post and photos. Happy Happy!

A Very Merry White Christmas

We were so excited to have a white Christmas! It was very magical. Grandma Janet and Uncle Michael made it to our house from Kingwood just in time before it started snowing really heavy. They were excited to see the snow too. We built a snowman .... always a fun thing to do when it snows.

And is it only Texas kids that love the trampoline so much that they do not care that it is snowing ... they still want to jump and have fun! :)

Look at our friendly snowman. He is still standing today (Sunday) but his head is very tiny :). It is still pretty cold outside and they are saying we "might" see some more snow flurries this next week - maybe New Years Eve.

I will work on the Christmas pictures soon .... have a nice restful Sunday (after all the Cowboys did win and we have playoff spot! :) )

Do you hear what I hear?????

The weatherman is saying SNOW is headed our way!! A white Christmas, could it be? We will wait and see.....

Merry Christmas to everyone and a Happy New Year!

We had a SNOWY morning ....

We woke up to a big surprise this morning ..... SNOW!! Yes it is so crazy to see snow in Dallas this time of year ( we are lucky to get even a little in February). It fell fast and big flakes but by 10 am rain started and then the snow was gone :( The kids will be very disappointed they were hoping to play in it after school. Maybe we will have some more. Stay warm!!

Kelsey, Landry and Sadie before school this morning.

Thankful

Thankful to be able to spend Thanksgiving with Papaw (aka Daddy).

Boosterthon Fun Run and Frisco Parade

Today was the Frisco Community Parade and Landry's Boy Scout Pack 298 participated in the Parade .... Dave and Landry walked the long route and passed out candy to the on lookers. He had a great time but his little legs were tired. What made it even more fun was that some of the friends on the street are in the same pack and walked too. Landry is so excited about being in scouts and he loves his Den and Pack - how cool is that?! John is in the photo below right behind Landry and he is a level ahead of Landry and one of our great neighbors. Mark is two scout levels ahead of Landry and is another great friend.

There is Dave in the very middle reaching in the bag of candy to pass out along the way. Mark is the scout in the front with his hat on passing out candy.

Olympic Gold Medalist Nastia Liukin was a surprise to see -- a local favorite for sure.

Also this week was the Boosterthon Run at Landry's school. It is their fund raiser where they get pledges per lap or a flat donation. This year Landry's goal was to go all 35 laps and get the back of his shirt all marked up ---- HE DID IT! Way to go Landry. He and his friend Wesley just kept running and were two of the first to finish.

The back of Landry's shirt showing all the laps marked. He was so proud! We are so proud of him. :)

Look how excited he is! He loved it. Go Landry Go!

A wave from the little man as he went by. What a week!

Halloween 2009

Halloween in our neighborhood is always so much fun! We have watched a movie on Halloween in the front yard of Jen's house in the past but she moved last December so we had to make new Halloween traditions this year. Jody stepped up to the plate this year and went way beyond what we could ever imagine. We started the night out with Mummy Dogs down at Caron's house and at our house we had some of Kelsey's friends over for pizza and my friends too ;) ... then we all started the fun with trick or treating a little after 630 pm. After trick or treating and it was dark we met up in Jody's yard to watch Coraline and roast marshmallows for smores. It was the perfect fun night for all!

Army man Landry in Jody's yard starting his trick or treating off passing the movie screen where we watched Coraline.

Kelsey, Eliana, Grace, Landry and Cole in front of a neighbors house with their display - which included a skeleton on a table with a saw and such and a sign saying Obama Care.

Kelsey and neighbor friends Morgan and Lauren and a few others. Kelsey was a zombie cheerleader along with a few others.

Some Ghoulish girl scouts and Alice's little brother August. Ready to start their candy gathering - I sure hope it is not Kelsey's last year to trick or treat.

Yu-gi-oh, Clone Trooper and an Army man ---- Mark, Cole, and Landry out for some fun!

Girl Scout Camp 2009 at Camp Bette Perot

We went to Girl Scout Camp this past weekend in East Texas at Camp Bette Perot. We have been going to this camp since the girls were in 2nd grade. We had 9 girls this year and 3 adults go from our troop. Everyone got along great which is highly unusual for 6th grade girls, right? :)
We have waited all these years to be old enough to stay at Bette's Treehouse and it was well worth it. See they are jumping for joy!

Crazy Girls!

Too much hiking, I guess :) ---- we went on a few hikes in the woods and they were so tired when we got finished.

Kelsey and Alice being silly near the fire after roasting the marshmallows .... watch out Kelsey!

Sitting on the deck waiting for the day to get started!

Kelsey roasting marshmallows for smores ---- we all need smores when camping. I tried the night setting on the camera and it gave this neat effect on the photo.

Kelsey riding her horse, Chevy. The riding of the horses is always a highlight at camp. We did have one crazy thing happen ... Rachal's horse had a stomach ache and just decided to lay down. It started going down to the ground and lucky enough Rachal knew to jump off before the horse rolled over on her. WOW! Rachal was not phased at all she got back up and on another horse. had that been any of the other girls they would not have gotten back on a horse or would have thought to jump out of the way.

The girls gearing up for their horse ride - love the helmets and boots that they provide for the girls.

Working on an art craft --- painting wooden snacks.

Breakfast at camp!


That is it for this year. Next year the girls are old enough to do the ropes coarse ---- we will see if they can handle it! :)

Our little scout .....

WOW!!! First grade is full of fun :)... Landry lost one of his front teeth at school on Tuesday. He was so excited that it happened at school since he got to get the fun little treasure box and color the tooth chart. His friend Samire lost a tooth the same day too. He looks so different without the tooth. Funny how that works. He loves it :).

Here he is with his little treasure box holding his tooth.

After YEARS of going to all the girl scout functions with Kelsey he is finally getting to be a scout of his own. He is a Tiger Scout and absolutely loves his scout shirt. He was busting at the seems on Monday when he heard he had a den meeting. He and Dave are going to have a lot of fun with boy scouts.

A day with Lori and her girls and Kelsey gets her ears pierced

Last Saturday we got to meet Lori and her mom Laura in Denton along with Lori's sweethearts. Five beautiful little girls that are melting Lori's heart so fast she does not even know what hit her. It was a fun visit but way too short. Kelsey had fun with the girls. Looking forward to our next get together.

After lunch we called to say to Christi and she was in need of a girl fix so we picked her up and guess what we did - well you see the photo so you already know :). Kelsey got her ears pierced. It was fun getting to do this with "Aunt" Christi. Kelsey was a brave girl and the girl at Claire's that did the ear piercing looked about Kelsey's age and we will affectionately call her the "elf". She did a great job.

A photo of Lori and I. Can you believe we have been best buddies since Kindergarten?! It's true. Love her so much!

A sweet picture of Kelsey and the girls.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, Its Off to School We Go ....

Yes in my true fashion of uploading photos I have these backwards - imagine that!!! Ha! Look at our 6th grader walking into school without us as we stayed in the parking lot. W are so proud of her and love her so much!!! Go Kelsey!

Look at the little man sitting at his seat and getting his colors out for a first day of school project. Can't believe he is actually a first grader!!!

Here he is in the hall outside of his class hanging his backpack up. He wore his Star Wars shirt for the first day of school. He is just as cute as his sister.

Striking a pose outside before heading to school. Look at our girl! She is so pretty.

Landry was still sleepy but was ready to face the day - he did say he thought he needed 6 more months of summer - don't we all? :) Sorry Landry it is school time for now but a break is just around the corner.

A Saturday Visit with Pappaw

Two weeks before school started we went to visit Pappaw before he started his chemo. It was a nice day and of coarse we were outside a lot. My dad is doing well with his chemo (has only had one so far but has another one this coming week). He is participating in a cancer study so is using the combination of three medications together so it will be very beneficial for him. Please keep him in your prayers. I went with him for his first treatments and it was an 8 hour day. They said that the others will be 6 1/2 hours so a little less. He will go every 3 weeks for treatments and will do blood work on the 2 Wednesdays between the treatments. He is staying strong and upbeat! I have faith that he will beat this. Hard to believe that it has been just 10 years since my mom passed and now we are facing this horrible C word again.

Landry takes his first motorcycle ride and liked it a little too much - makes you worried that motorcycles will be in his future. This is his cousin Trent, my nephew. He is all grown up and has a wife and two kids.

Me and my dad sitting on the porch out back as always.

Kelsey hanging out with Pappaw.

Landry (or as Pappaw calls him Willie) having some fun at Pappaw's - look how red his face is from playing.

Some time out with Girlfriends

It has been a while since I posted anything here on the family blog - falling behind is not fun! I have lots of scrapbooknig to get caught up on too .... when will I do all this?? :)
Last month I was blessed with some opportunities to get together with some friends from high school. I adore all my girlfriends and well all my friends for that matter. They are so important to me. In August some of us got together and went to the Rick Springfield concert at Billy Bobs. We had a great time. He can still sing and dance around on the stage like it is nothing. We could not believe when he announced he would be turning 60 in a few weeks.

Having fun with Lisa, Dana, LeAnn, Amber and Melinda at the concert.

Rick Springfield on stage - "You know I wish I had Jessie's Girl" GREAT TIME!

More girl time was had this summer!! A few weeks before the concert I got to meet some GHS girls for dinner in Lewisville. We always have a great time together. There is something special about that Gainesville girls that is for sure! Our for dinner were Suzanne, Lisa, Rose, Laine, Jamie, Lynda, and Esther and me :)

My friends are a gift from God and a huge part of my life and my family! Thanks Girls!!