I had so many great pictures from Thanksgiving, I needed to make a scrapbook to fit them all.  Hope you enjoy it!

Free scrapbook generated with Smilebox

We left early Wednesday morning and caravaned up to Indiana with Margaret and Lonnie. The drive seemed like it took FOREVER!!  It was gray and rainy and traffic was pretty crazy.  We feel pretty blessed to hae kids that travel well, otherwise it would have been miserable! As it was, it was a long day but we made it in one piece and not too much worse for wear.  Since our family is getting bigger but Grandpa's house isn't, we were able to stay with Aunt Debbie and Uncle Larry for the trip. In addition to being able to enjoy Aunt Debbie's AMAZING cooking, it was nice to spend more time talking, visiting and playing cards with them, something I really haven't had the opportunity to do since I was much younger. To be honest, I don't think Cade or Keira had ever been to their house, even though they live just a minute from Grandma and Grandpa's.

Thursday was full of playing at the house, cooking, eating and playing games. My Grandma had been in and out of the hospital several times in the months before Thanksgiving, but she looked amazing while we were there! As usual, we had to keep shooing her out of the kitchen and reminding her that we got to do all the work this year.  The thanksgiving feast was fantastic and it was great to enjoy it with all our family. Curt and I were laughing at how much larger the family has gotten since we were married. Back then it was pretty quiet with adults playing card games and talking. Now it's organized chaos with more couples, kids running and playing, and more conversations...especially about football which makes Curt VERY happy.

On Friday we ventured out for a trip into town to a bowling alley. We had a lot of fun, but definitely missed Arkansas' law banning smoking inside most establishments! Saturday, Curt and Lonnie left early in the morning to go to Columbus, Ohio for the Michigan-Ohio State football game. Curt will blog on the events of that day soon. The guys had a great time, despite Ohio State winning and Curt getting cussed at by drunk Ohio State fans.  While the boys were gone, Grandpa and Grandma and I took Caden and Keira to the movies to see "Tangled." I thought since it was a Disney movie it would be great for the kids, right??  Wrong!!!  Keira was terrified through most of the movie and had lots of questions and concerns about why Rapunzel's mom was so mean and why Rapunzel didn't listen to her mommy. Whew...after that I have definitely learned my lesson and will be sure to research movies - even Disney movies - before we take the kids to see them.

Sunday we left for home...in separate cars ;(  I needed to go straight back to LR since I had a final exam Monday morning at 10, followed by another test on Wednesday and final on Friday.  Curt and the kids squeezed into the van with the Lamps and headed back to NWA.  Another wonderful Thanksgiving in Indiana was over! Boo!!!

The next Friday, my Grandma went into the hospital for a scheduled heart cath to see if there was anything that could be done for her heart to improve her quality of life. My Grandma had her first heart attack in her late 40s, and has lived much longer than any doctor ever believed possible.  She had some complications after her catherization and on Tuesday, December 5 my Grandma passed away.  She lived a wonderful life spent serving God in everything she did, so I know she is in heaven rejoicing with Jesus. But...that doesn't make it hurt any less to know that I'm never going to see her again on this earth. To know that Caden and Keira didn't get enough time to spend with her to really appreciate how sweet and wonderful she was. We had to tell the kids while I was still in Little Rock, so we got together on Skype to share the news.  We gathered them together both on Curt's lap and with tears in my eyes told them the sad, but good news that Greatma had passed away. Caden just looked at me with his mouth open and a shocked look on his face while Keira clapped her hands and fist pumped. She said "yay, now she's in heaven with Jesus!!"  I have to admit, I was a little surprised by her response, but when I thought about it, I realized she was right. There was no reason to be sad - there is not a doubt in my mind that she is singing with the angels!  We love you Greatma!!!!!!

Happy Halloween!

I really wish I could come up with clever titles for my posts, but it's just not in me! Guess you'll just get stuck knowing EXACTLY what I'm posting about. Hahaha!

The Benders had a Halloween party on the 30th, which was a lot of fun and gave the kids one more chance to wear their costumes. Everyone looked soooo cute!

 Keira and Eli - so much sweetness in one pic. It's almost too much to take!!

 Lonnie and I made an amazing Graveyard cake and won the
Best Treat award. Thank you Today Show for the great idea.

 Yes, Caden is using a creepy "witch's finger" to make Eli a unicorn. I never know what unique idea is going to come out of Caden, so I've learned to just roll with it. He makes like so much more fun and interesting!

 Getting the cheerleader ready for her big debut on Halloween

 Go Big Blue!!!!

 Caden mustering up his best mean face.

 Who do you think will win this battle?

 At the Fall Festival at Keira's school

 As if the boy needed ANOTHER sword!

 Keira and her buddy Addison from school.

Another great Halloween weekend. We even managed to hand out candy at our house after all our fun ended (and got rid of some of the candy that I DON'T need in the house.) How did you spend your Halloween?

A big pile of...

leaves!!!  (I bet you wondered what was coming next, didn't you?)

Margaret and Lonnie have the BEST back yard for creating a gigantic leaf pile. It was still a little early to make a huge pile, but the kids didn't mind and had soooo much fun jumping and playing.

Doesn't she just scream "future cheerleader!" I can't wait to see what the future holds for both her and Cade. It's fun trying to guess who they'll turn out to be based on their personalities right now. Maybe I'm right, maybe I'm wrong, either way it's going to be a fun ride!!!!!!

 Making leaf angels. Yep, we were digging leaves out of everywhere for the rest of the day!

 Don't they look like they're actually helping?! I love that Ethan is in the background playing with a HUGE stick. Just a few seconds later he narrowly misses taking out both Caden and Keira with that stick while I continue to take pics and laugh. Such a good mom/aunt!

 Such joy!

Sooo fun!
October 30, 2010

Family Night

We had a fun evening just hanging together as a family. This is the first night in a long time that we didn't have an "activity" planned and I wasn't working. So how did we spend it you ask? Free pizza (thanks to a coupon we won) with the Lamps and Gralls, playing at a new park in our area, and a grocery shopping trip to Walmart. Yep, we live an exciting life!!

Ethan throwing rocks into the lake

Happy Eli ;)

Love my family!!

Cade with some awesome algae. He loved being the slime monster!!!

PS: I know I've been HORRIBLE about blogging! I'm going to try to be better this school year, but we all know that's probably not going to happen. :)

Where has the time gone??

Just writing this post nearly makes me want to cry, but I'll try to keep the sappiness to a minimum for all you non-sentimental people out there (are there really any people like that??)

I was looking through the pics I took over the past week, editing them like I normally do when I came across this picture. Curt took it while I was off on an adventure with Cade, so it took me a little bit by surprise.



To most of you, this probably looks like just another cute picture of Keira. Her bright blue eyes, her sun-kissed skin, her almost-smile. But to me, it looks hauntingly like another picture.



This picture was taken in August of 2007. Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined the joy this sweet blue-eyed angel has brought to my life. Keira Faith, you light up our world. You see everything with such wonder and amazement, opening up my eyes not only to the eyes of a child, but to the eyes of God as well. You talk to God like you are talking to a friend and you strive to do what Jesus would want...most of the time. You are still my child so you have your moody, stubborn moments - I think as a reminder to me that I am so very imperfect.

I asked Keira today when I was showing her these pictures if she would stop growing up and stay 4 years old and live with me forever. Her answer "Sure Mommy! But I don't think that would work." I will still keep these moments hidden in my heart, taken with me forever.

Go Big Blue!!

I am sooooo far behind in my blogging, so I thought I'd go ahead and blog about the most recent event - Father's Day! I still have Caden's last week of school, Memorial Day Trip to Terre Haute, camping in the heat, and our BIG, BIG vacation to Michigan to blog about, but those combined are about 600 photots to wade through, so it may be a while before I get through them all. Just a teaser - the photos are CUTE!!!

Anyway, back to Father's Day. We got home from Nashville around 9 pm on Saturday night, so Curt unloaded the car and I got busy working on his Father's Day gift. He had STRICT instructions to avoid the scrapbooking room and he was mostly good about obeying. I already knew what I needed to do, so it didn't take me too long to put it all together.

We got up early, had breakfast together and the kids gave Curt his present, a Michigan freezer mug. He was sooo excited!! Now he can pull his out anytime Lonnie is over since Lonnie got an Ohio State one while we were on vacation. Before we left for church I managed to get a picture of all my monkeys dressed up in their Sunday finest. Are they adorable/handsome??!! I am so blessed!



After church, Margaret and I had planned to have lunch together since the boys were getting a combo gift. We couldn't wait to surprise them!!! We got to the restaurant a little early and while we were waiting for our waiter we let the boys open their gifts.

These pictures crack me up because you can see the progression from happiness, to surprise, to supreme giddiness.

"Oh yay, more Michigan/Ohio State stuff"


"Wait, what does that say? You're kidding, right??!!"


"Yep, I have the best wife in the world because she got me a TICKET TO THE MICHIGAN/OHIO STATE GAME!!!!" That's right everybody, Margaret and I planned months and months ago, probably starting around Christmas time to get the boys tickets. It wasn't easy, but we succeeded and the boys get to go the their Holy Grail of football games. So happy to be able to give them such a wonderful gift.



The whole crew

Ch-Ch-Changes

This has been a BUSY month! I'm impressed I've even had the presence of mind to take pics of anything! These pics start out on Mother's Day. Can I say I have the best kids and husband EVER!! I know every mom feels the same way - can I get an Amen!! We wanted to get up early to make it to early service, so while I was getting showered and dressed, the fam was getting an AMAZING breakfast ready for me. Curt and Cade had picked out a beautiful flower arangement for me, complete with a gift card for a massage hidden within. Do they know what I need or what??!!

We made it to church on time, but I didn't get a chance to take any pics before so Margaret took a few for me during church - bad idea!! Soooo hard to get kids to focus on a pic when there are soooo many other distractions EVERYWHERE. I wish I could say I was surprised, but not great pics on Mother's Day seems to be pretty typical for me for the past few years so I can't be too disappointed. I'm happy to even have these few. I love being a Mom to these amazing kids - I am so incredibly blessed!








Aren't we gorgeous!!


On Saturday, Caden's Boy Scout Pack had their Crossover Ceremony. This is where each member of the pack symbolically crosses over a bridge, removes their neckerchief from their previous level and progress on to the next level, which for Cade means he is now a Wolf Cub. It was a fun event, perfect weather, and Cade was pretty proud of himself and all his achievements.



Crossing Over





The new Wolf Pack!!


Since I didn't get great pics on Mother's Day, I decided to do my annual "Blooming of the Flowers" photo shoot this Sunday and combine it with Curt and I and call it good. My flowers are blooming beautifully, but they are nothing compared to the gorgeous kids God has given me to grow. Check them out...



Soooo sweet







My handsome boys - such goofballs!


Cade took this pic. Not too bad for a 7 year old!!








And last but not least...my baby is growing up. Keira has been talking about riding a bike with no training wheels for a while and tonight they finally came off. She's not riding totally by herself yet, but she did soooo good today. No fussing or whining about it, didn't fall once, and had a determined look on her face the whole time. I predict she'll be riding independently in a few weeks. What am I going to do when this girl is in kindergarten last year. I'll have lost the last bit of baby left in this house - I don't know if I'm ready for that yet!!


Getting a pep talk from Dad

Dancing Queen

Customize your own free scrapbook

Keira's dance recital was this afternoon and was absolutely adorable. The theme was Disney "Where Dreams Come True" and all the acts had songs from Disney movies. I think Keira was just as excited to see all the different costumes as she was to actually dance! She would tell you: "There was Belle, Cinderella, dogs from 101 dalmations, the Lion King, and Mary Poppins." There were actually MANY more, but she didn't recognize some of the songs. As you can see, her class was Snow White and so very cute!!

The recital was going great...until it was time for her routine. They were song 19 in the first act and they started dancing, but about 1/3 of the way through "Hi Ho" the song stopped, the lights went out and they were rushed off stage. I think the girls were completely confused by the whole thing. The next song and dance routine went on and they brought the girls back out. Again, no song. They stood up there, poised and ready for about 30 seconds before they rushed them of the stage again. By this time, I think Curt was about ready to fight someone! Don't mess with his baby girl!! LOL! He could tell the girls were getting a little frustrated, which made him a LOT frustrated. So they finished up the normal schedule, and at the very end of the first act, the announcer even announced overhead that they had worked out the kinks and were going to let our girls dance now. Out they came, the lights came on...and no sound! AGAIN!! Keira and her little friend Julia on her right looked like steam should be coming out of their ears at this point in time. So what did they do?? Closed the curtain right on them!!! Since Keira was front and center I could see her face as the curtain was closing and she looked so sad and very confused. I seriously thought Curt was going to get up there and start singing the song for them so they could perform their dance.

Intermission went on as planned and all of our girls parents gathered to discuss the events. It was rather amusing to see how frustrated the dads seemed to be more than anyone. After intermission, our girls finally got to dance and they did great! I was worried they would be unfocused, but I didn't need to worry. They got out there and enjoyed themselves. I was so proud of my baby girl! Their second routine, their ballet routine, went off without a hitch.

Curt and I bought Keira a dozen yellow roses and a Snow White Barbie to present to her after the performance. Caden used his own money to buy her a giant Pixy stick butterfly wand. He was so proud to give it to her. I think I will always have that moment in my mind's eye. "This is for you Keira, you did really good." He was almost shy and timid when giving it to her. I think he was really proud of his sis! We are too!!!