It Happened

That's right, it happened... As much as I didn't want it to... As much as I cried about it... Cambree turned, how old?

Yes, one!



We had a great celebration, even though I wasn't excited about losing my baby. Shayla showed Cambree what balloons were all about.

Then we put the presents out. Cambree discovered them and was very interested. The guests hadn't even arrived yet, so she had to wait to open them.

Daddy distracted her by showing her the decorations.

Finally, she got to open her presents. How exciting!

There was no need to worry that she didn't grasp the opening presents idea. There were plenty of helpers.

I wonder if she knows what she got for her birthday. She'll have to ask her helpers.

Time for cake! Cambree refused to make a mess.
No messy cake shots here.

Maybe she'll get messy when she eats it.

But she's just not sure about what to think of cake.

The verdicts out. She'd rather stay clean. There was no cake eating here.

What was that? You thought that cake looked great! Well, thanks! I actually made it myself. Yes it's true, Kerali, I decorated the cake! I am pretty proud of myself. I'm sure you want a closer look at what a fabulous job I did. Well, I'll not bore you. I'm really not one to brag. Oh... OK, here it is....

Why We Have Children

Who's Who?

As a second child, I swore I would never do hand-me-downs. I hated them and I knew I would not subject my children to something as humiliating as wearing her sister's clothes. All of my children would have brand new clothes just for them. No way would I give in to the pressures of reusing. "Use it up, wear it out, fix it up, whatever you do don't throw it out" has never been my motto.

However, I have this other side of me called a cheapskate. I save my Q-tips that have only been used on one side, I won't throw a toilet paper roll away until every single square of toilet paper is used, and I will not throw away a perfectly good outfit. So I am very careful to make sure that my girls never know that I actually do make them wear hand-me-downs. I would never take pictures of them in the same outfit, that would be wrong!

What's this? Oh, it's a cute picture of Shayla when she is almost 9 months old sitting in a rocking chair. How cute!

Oh look, a cute picture of Cambree sitting in a rocking chair. How sweet!

What do you mean? They're in the same outfit!

I think the only difference between this picture and Shayla's picture, is that Cambree is two weeks away from being one and the outfit fits her the same way it fit Shayla at eight and a half months. Cambree sure is a tiny little thing. In fact I saved the outfit for just that reason. I just wanted to see the difference in size between my two girls (yeah, that's it.)

They sure are cute together!

11 months and counting

Can you believe it? I am eleven months old. I love life. I can get around and play with things now. I love to stand at the back window, or anywhere for that matter, and watch whats going on outside.



I'm working on getting my top teeth, so I'm a drool machine.
My shirts are usually wet and my face usually has drool down my chin.

If you ask me where my nose is, I'll show you.
I will even put my finger all the way up my nose to show you that I have nostrils.

I love toys! I can entertain myself with a toy for hours.
I really like toys with music, so I can dance.

I go anywhere and get into everything.
My mom thinks I might be part vacuum cleaner.

I am a real sweetheart. I have a very pleasant demeanor. I am happy.
I even have enough hair to wear clips.

I'm trying to learn to talk. Here is one of my favorite words:

Christmas

Our Christmas celebrations started on Christmas Eve when we had our friends the Garners over for a little gift giving

Game playing

Dramatization of the Christmas story

Then Christmas morning dawned and the celebrating started anew
when we found out that Santa came.

Santa brought castles for Christmas.

A weeble wobble one for Cambree

Disney's Princess castle for Shayla

There were plenty of presents to go around

But the biggest and most exciting present of all belonged to Brian this year!

Frosty the Snowman

Boy did we ever have a white Christmas! Brian and Shayla decided to make the biggest snowman they have ever made. They were both pretty proud of themselves. Don't worry, it snowed several more inches after this picture to fill in the grass that was uncovered by the forming of the snowman.

2 1/2 Years

It's been 2 1/2 years since all of my siblings were together. So we decided to remedy that this Christmas. We all gathered together and Kevin and Kelley's to take pictures, eat, play, take pictures, laugh, open presents, take pictures.... We really had a great time. Here is some proof of the fun:

Technology is amazing! We were able to form our own rock band, play tennis indoors, and talk to our parents, who were unable to be there for the party. My brother put the webcam on the big screen so we could all talk to and see Grandma and Papa and they could see us. However, Kevin had other intentions with the big screen. What is that about honoring your father and mother? I'd like to see you try this in real life, Kev.