12/23/14

12 Months

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Well Shea.  We did it.  You are a full year old.  
Nothing makes me more sad or happy at this phase of my life.  I am so very thankful for you and I want you to stay a baby forever.  And grow fast so that you can entertain yourself for a minute or two.  This year has been a dream.  A crazy dream that sometimes leaves you not knowing where you are or how you got there, but a dream all the same.
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You are light.  Joy.  Love.  Determination.  You are the best.
You love to wave to everyone and say hiiiiii.
You can almost walk.  Alllmostttt.
You eat tons of great food.
(you really loved your cake, clearly.)
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You are about to start crying it out.  As soon as I can stop rocking you to sleep.  I am sure I am almost ready.  Jeff is.  He is going for it.  I sneak in a sleep snuggle whenever I lay you down sometimes.  
You have just made our family.  You make everyone laugh and smile and everyone wants to make you happy.
Which is good.  Because no one is happy if you aren't happy.
You love to read.  Brown Bear Brown Bear is your favorite.  
You love to sing.  Happy Birthday is your favorite and itsy bitsy spider is a close second.  You also love to dance.
and laugh.  Did I say laugh?  Your laugh is the best.
We would not be complete without you Shea Bean.  We love you with all of our hearts.  We are so very thankful that God gave you to us and we could not love you more if we tried.  You are such a blessing to everyone you meet and I can not wait to see where you go and who you meet.
Happy First Birthday Shea Shea!
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School Thanksgiving Parties

I love a school party! 
 I had so much fun getting to help with both Ella and McKenna's Thanksgiving celebrations. McKenna's class party was in the morning and we got to hear them sing a few songs which was of course so cute.
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After that they filled their plates up and enjoyed a feast in their classrooms.
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I went up to the school a few days earlier and took pictures of each kid in McKenna's class. I made it into a placemat for the parents to take home. I asked each one what they were thankful for and then I wrote it on a chalkboard speech bubble. It was so fun hearing what each kid would say. Most of them would say their mommy but sweet McKenna said Mrs. Blacklock. She sure knows how to melt your heart. Mrs. Blacklock is the preschool director at their school but we also go to church with her. She has become such a special part of my girls lives, especially McKenna. Every single Sunday at church for probably the last year, my girls draw Mrs. Blacklock a picture and give it to her when church is over. She gives them a piece of candy or a small treat in return. The stuff she pulls out of her purse for them is pretty amazing, she is the modern day Mary Poppins for sure. She spoils them like her own and I love it so much. McKenna saying she is Thankful for Mrs. Blacklock makes my heart so happy.
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Ella's class party was combined with the other Kindergarten class. The room moms work together on holiday parties so it was so much fun putting this together with the other home room mom, Molly. She had the great idea to do a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving theme. I had never seen the movie but as soon as she told me their feast involved popcorn, pretzels, toast and jellybeans I was sold. We had planned on having the teachers show the movie to each class so that the kids would know the story. Turns out the movie says stupid and blockhead a few times so it wasn't allowed to be shown at school. We decided to just have the teachers read them the book instead. I thought it would be cute to have a character sitting at the head of each table.
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I pulled Charlie Brown characters into my silhouette program and cut and pasted them onto a chair. I then printed the characters onto transparency paper and then blew them up with an overhead projector. My girls loved having Charlie Brown characters hanging all over the house for a couple of days. Molly printed off some cute thankful cards that the kids filled out and set up a tray of Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving feast food at each place setting. It turned out so cute and the kids loved it. We had tables set up in the middle with other foods for the adults and kids to enjoy as well.
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I made some Thanksgiving goodies for the teachers. It was a yummy Apple Chex-Mix recipe from my mother-n-law.
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The prayer mom in Ella's class had the idea to make this cute wreath for her teacher. She took all the kids pictures and traced their handprints. I put it all together on a burlap wreath and we gave it to her for Thanksgiving.
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Happy late Thanksgiving everyone! 

Halloween

Just wanted to cover Halloween real fast before I get into November posts and then December. I think I know what one of my New Year's resolutions will be...

We did some pumpkin decorating. I invited all the girls from Ella's class over one day after school and they had fun covering their pumpkins with foam stickers.
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Then Bob busted out the power tools and did some carving.
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We have reached the time where I don't really have much say in my girls costumes anymore. So sad that they don't see eye to eye with me about family themed costumes. Maybe someday...
For months they were stuck on Sofia Grace and Rosie. Then it switched to Elsa and Anna which I was great with since we already had the costumes. They dressed up 3 different times for truck or treats and then Halloween. The first time McKenna was Anna and Ella was Elsa. After that though McKenna switched to Pippi Longstocking. It was a costume I had made for Ella when she was 3 so it was the perfect fit. She looked adorable. Her favorite part was the drawn on freckles. She wanted to sleep with them on and never take them off. 
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Our small group did the Candy Land trunk for the third year in a row for trunk and treat and it was so much fun.
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How cute is that cupcake?!
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We had a group of friends come over for a front yard soup party while the kids passed out candy. Once it got dark we all loaded up in the back of Bob's truck and he took us down a couple streets in our neighborhood. It is one of my favorite Halloween traditions we have done here. I didn't take many pics and don't even have one of Bob and I. Y'all will just have to imagine our super awesome and creative costumes. Or just picture me in my uniform of jeans and a sweatshirt.
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Happy way late Halloween everyone! 

12/17/14

It's a Shorrrrt December...

Oh Counting Crows reference.  
The 90s are back, anyway right?
What am I saying. Of course they are.  My Facebook feed, just this week was full of people coveting and/or buying Doc Martins and Keds.
The two most opposite of the 90s shoes by the way.  One much too light to last and the other will never die thanks alone to its steal toes.
And that has nothing to do with anything.
But this is how my brain has been the entire nov/dec months.  It's like a car wash in there.  Stuff is being washed away just as I think of it and then put on another side of my brain. Then, even though at the end it should be clean, its just more muttled and cloudy than when I started the day.  How is that for a metaphor.
Back to whatever I was going to say before I said anything.
We have had a great December so far but it is going much too fast.  Too fast to get presents and have christmas parties and too fast because I will have a one year old at the end of it.  Just can not wrap my head around that one. 
Speaking of one year olds,
new carseat
We went ahead and turned this kid around.
We thought like all parents do, that seeing us would lead to incredible excitement and peace in the car, but of course it has only made her more mad that she can see us and we won't let her out or look at her the entire drive.  She is a mess.
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It was also my birthday and I loved it like I do every year.  Just the best.  And linds got me the awesome scarf and let me hold this angel as long as I wanted.  Heaven.
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I have truly failed my kids as a mom this year.
We dont have a tree yet and this is the only santa we have seen.  Santa Claus did actually come to our town in the form of a parade and it was so much fun.  The parade was amazing and he threw snow-until he got to us and he ran out.  And then I begged them to go talk to him after the parade and they just wanted to go home.
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But it was magical while it lasted.
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And we got a group pic (jeff was working.)
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We also went down to Tyler for Hilltop Get's Lit.  It was so much fun seeing everyone and everyone was wearing the shirts I had made in the past and it literally made me want to cry.  I love that crew so much.
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blurry, but documented.
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The kids were adorable and have the whole routine down.  It was just so much fun.  It gets better every year.
We didnt get to see Brooke and Will because we were in and out, but they did come in town for our friend Ryan's bday and we forgot to take a pic.  But I LOVE YOU GUYS!! And thank y'all for letting us crash your lunch!
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We have been making a lot of sweatshirts and it has been so much fun.  I seriously love it so much.
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Thank you guys so much for being so supportive!!
And I have had a lot of help.
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We went to Sams to get a table to work on (that jeff spent his entire off day on that ended up being too tall.  wa wa) and we barely fit on the way home...
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Luckily Jeff had a lot of help putting it together.
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She was more the morale booster than the actual help.
I guess that about covers it.  Shea is almost one and I have absolutely nothing for her birthday except holiday decor that is already up (minus the tree).
I hope I can pull it together before everyone comes over and I dont even have a cake, because that is how its looking as of now...
December, please slow down!
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