Thankful Overload

With big plans to visit Idaho for Christmas, we were left family-less for Thanksgiving, no one was coming and we weren't going.

Luckily we have some pretty amazing friends, so we didn't have to eat at Cracker Barrel after all which was our plan b.  

Feast preparation is underway - the 2 best looking chefs around.  

Thankful!

 The "kid" table.  My kids have grown up here in Dallas with this crew.  The Christensens were the first family we met, our first Sunday at church in Plano.  

Thankful.

 The adult table got to keep a good watch over these babies during dinner.  

Thankful.  

Mason is always calculating how to merge these families.  He has some arranged marriages in the works.   He's bound and determined to have Dylan for a brother.  After dinner these guys went and played football at the park.  The adults watched some football on TV.  Mason wrote in his journal….."Today was the best Thanksgiving ever.  After the feast we went and played football.  It was the best because 1.  Football is a famous tradition and 2.  I got to hang out with the cool kids, I got to be part of the team."

 Thankful.

In Thanksgiving tradition - this happened.  

Thankful.

My thankful cup overfloweth.  Family, friends, job, house, health, schools, kids.  I'm so thankful!

8 is Great - part 3

Someone in our house turned 8!  A week later we had his baptism and celebration!

Luckily we had some family come for the occasion.   We had a full house, Chris's mom Cheryl, my parents and Chris's brother Stu and wife Taunya - we love when our family can celebrate with us.

My dad was able to baptize Mason.  This was Mason's choice all the way - when we asked who he wanted to baptize him he picked Grandpa John, that was early on and he never deviated from that choice.  I love their relationship - he's the best grandpa and I'm so happy they have the bond they do.

 As a counselor in the bishopric, Chris conducted the baptism and confirmed him a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

The baptism was very special, Charlotte played the harp and an piano duet with Natalie Christiansen, Rozlyn said and prayer and I gave the talk on baptism  Mallory just ran around like crazy for the most part.  

Right after Mason came out of the water he was getting dressed and talking out loud wondering what his first mistake would be.  So funny!  

 A group picture with lots of our favorite family and friends.  The Jensen, Christensen, Schultz, and Bashaw families.

The theme for the day was "8 is Great" we used a lot of green and gray and had "Mason pictures" all over the place.  

Food

and lots more food.  

Sadly Mason ate much more of the doughnuts and desserts than he did anything good for him.  It was his big baptism - why not.  He got so sick!  His stomach hurt so bad later on.  Poor guy.  I think he said it was worth it.  

 Mason and his good friend Gabi.

 We had a movie that I put together to show at our house while everyone talked and visited.  It was on You Tube because I didn't know another way to get it off iMovie.  Someone told Mason that everytime his video was viewed he'd get a penny.  Mason is now a salesperson for his own movie - I guess he's hoping to make it rich.

 Mason's Baptism Video

 After the baptism and our friends left I had to show our guests some good girly shopping so the boys stayed home and the girls went to Sam Moon.

 This picture is what I call "Sam Mooning".

 Then it was Mason's birthday dinner at Babes Chicken.  No birthday is complete until you dress up like a chicken.

 Happy Birthday Mason Guy - we love you to the moon.

"It's Great to be 8"

Mallory is 5!!

Mallory celebrated her birthday the 2nd week of school.  She's the oldest girl in her class and was excited for her birthday day:-).

We didn't have a party for her but she did get to spend the day celebrating at home, at school and at play:)  It was happiness overload!

The cake - look who she's sitting with - not me!  Charlotte's first birthday cake.  She did it all on her own.

 I love these two together because looking at Mallory is like looking at Charlotte 7 years ago.  Twinsies.

 Everyone was in the party mood!

 Mallory got to take a few favorite friends to the mall for some food and fun.

 Lunching with the  besties.

 Carouseling with the besties.

 Wishing with the besties.

 Mallory is a lucky girl to have such sweet friends.

 I got to pay a visit to Mall's school to read her favorite story and share a treat.

 We went with the purple room theme and I made little cupcake kits.  They came with the cupcake, sprinkles, frosting and the knife, then they got to decorate them by themselves.  And no cake is complete without a little side of birthday cake flavored ice cream.  Yum Yum!

Mallory is pure joy to have around.  Her energy sometimes seems endless.  Chris always says that Mallory is how he imagines I was as a kid.  He's probably right.  She doesn't want to miss out on any fun, ever, and loves to be the life of the party.  I'm so happy she's mine.  I love that sweet girl to pieces!

A few of her favorites:

color: pink

food: pizza

show: Wild Kratts

toys: stuffed animals, dolls, play dough

friends: Harper, Kate, Ivy, Catherine

story: any Fairy book

game: Minecraft on the iPhone

Scouts!

I've been serving as a wolf den leader for almost a year now.  My favorite guy is finally joining me on Wednesday afternoons.
He got a head start on scouting since he loves to steal my wolf book and just read it for fun.  I can't wait for all our crazy boy adventures together.

 Mason and a few of the gang.

 My master art work.

Back to back to back to back to school.

So it happens, every year around this time.  It's unavoidable.  The sleeping in, the late breakfasts, the board games in the morning and swimming in the afternoon's are over.  Not to mention the late nights cozied up on the couch or sleeping over in the family room.
I'm thankful for good schools so that my kids can learn and grow because I don't think a lot of that happens under my watch. (see 1st paragraph).  I still have a few days with my Mal Pal.  It's just crazy to think that next year she's a kindergartner.  So here are the pictures of my sweet kids who seem to grow a foot or two every school year.

 Here was a sad family first.  Charlotte riding the bus to Junior High.  I really wanted to take her but she wanted this new adventure.  Chris convinced me that she would survive and to let her go:-(.  I begged her to send me a text that all was well so I knew she'd arrived at school.  Sure enough I got a text at 8:00a.m.  It was two words long.  It said "I'm here".  At lunch I got another that said "I'm alive".  My girl of little words.

....... and just like that she was off. I might of taken pictures of her walking to the bus stop but you have my word that I didn't follow the bus.  (Even though I really wanted to!)

New teachers!

 More new teachers!

Another family first!!  Chris representing the orange vest!  Best looking crossing guard!

 Mallory's first day of pre-K!

She's neither afraid or scared.

 The first day however can be very, very exhausting!

Adventures in Dog Sitting

We've been throwing around the idea of getting a dog for awhile.  We've even been on a waiting list since November!  Still no puppy at our residence.  Our good friends went on vacation and needed some pet care.  The Graham kids jumped and leaped with joy at the chance.

We were really going to have a dog in our care for 12 days!

Introducing Libby!

She was the best dog, the first night we tied her up to the door by her dog bed (as instructed) and she started to wimper and whine.  She wanted nothing to do with her bed, she much preferred the kids beds upstairs.  She wasn't picky, she'd go from bed to bed each night. The kids were so excited to walk her and even clean up her poop.  They all argued over who would get to clean it up each walk.  They loved feeding her cheese to watch her do tricks and loved to show everyone who would come around.  Bath time and hairstyling was also an adventure.  

Libby loved her walk in the rain and watching the kids race colored pencils.

Chris, Charlotte and Rozlyn dedicated their time and talents to bring you the "Where's Libby" photoshoot!

Whoever gives the best belly rubs wins!

Favorite spot in the house, right under Mallory's chair.

Our main goals was to keep her alive and not lose her in 12 days.  We succeeded with only 2 scares.  The first time we ever left her home alone she was tied to the door.  After our errands we came home and there was no Libby by the door.  She'd gotten lose and helped herself around the house, just roaming around with her leash on.  Incident two was when we were going swimming.  We were all very careful to never open the garage door while the door to the house was open to the house.  She got out and made a run for it.  Imagine 6 Grahams in swimsuits chasing her down the road.  It was a sight.  

Libby was the best, she never barks, bites, chews, we love her!  She almost convinced us that we can't get our own dog because of the high standard she set.  Chris has promised us that no dog would behave as well as Libby.  (Mallory would pick her up non stop and pack her around and she would just do a little growl to show she was annoyed - that's it!)

So instead of being future dog owners, we might become future pet sitters.  Get the dog, enjoy the dog, play with the dog, give back the dog.  

Thanks for the good times Libby!