Party Time!

We had the big 5th birthday parthy yesterday, so Preston is "officially" 5 now! It turned out to be a gorgeous day, which most of you know is a rare treat on one of my kids birthdays :) Preston really wanted to invite some friends this year, so I made a deal with him that he could make up the guest list, but he had to limit it to his 5 best friends. It was a difficult decision, but he finally decided that he wanted to invite
1. Kirstin
2. Kayden
3. Owen
4. Addison
This next one was really tricky and it just couldn't be decided, so I caved and let him invite 6!
5. Braton
6. Harper

I have a feeling our birthday party list won't change much over the next few years. Of course, we also invited all the family and boy was it wild around here! But I think a good time was had by all.

We had a Dinosaur theme and I made this orange cake, which I know that T-rex's aren't typically orange (how do they really know that anyway?) but again, it's what Mr. P wanted! We also had green punch (which got smashing reviews) and all the children were sugared up. Their parents were probably not thinking too highly of me when they picked them up and they were bouncing off the walls, and I also sent them home with a bag full of candy!

We played a game called dino-stomp, which I think would have been more fun with more people partcipating, but lesson learned by mom! I tied balloons to everyone's ankles and then they had to try and stomp someone else's balloon without getting theirs stomped on.

Then it was pinata time. And while we are talking about pinata's have any other mother's bought these contraptions lately? I thought I was never going to get candy into it. I had to pull paper out for what seemed like an eternity before I could even begin to put candy in. And then the "HUGE" bag of candy I did buy didn't even come close to fitting. Anyways, back to the kids. There was "llama-drama" with Preston because he wanted to be the ONLY one to hit it and he was mad that I let everyone else have a turn. In the end we gave everyone one turn and then we turned him loose on it without the blindfold. I had to help him get it open with the bat...those suckers are tough? Next year maybe we will go old-school and make our own paper mache version!

Preston had a great time, which was the goal, so I deem it a SUCCESS! He didn't want to go to bed last night (unless I would let him wear his new ou uniform, but I didn't) and he woke up this morning begging to put legos together and put his uniform back on ( which he did with his dad and I did let him wear it)!

Love a Bargain!

I have been looking and looking for something to go in Cambree's new room since she has a full size bed now and we painted her room pink. I think I finally have an idea of how I want it all to go together. I ordered this adorable quilt for her today...

on sale and she said she wanted camo in her room! Then I want to get these decals

and these 3-D butterflies


to put up in her room. Sort of going for an outdoors type of thing, only a little more girly! She threw a fit the other night because Jeremy suggested hanging one of his deer in Preston's room and she wanted to have one in her room too! Maybe 3-D butterflies will make it better! Anyways, so any grandparents or other famil members looking for x-mas ideas for CJ, keep these decals and butterflies in mind. She absolutely does NOT need any more baby dolls and she doesn't really need any clothes, shoes, or toys for that matter. She did tell me the other day that she wants a "puter" from Santa...so maybe he will have to bring her one. I hope some day I can sneak a photo of her at my desk workin'! She's so darn cute when she does it, even though she usually messes something up. Luckily I have been able to fix all her "mistakes."

Speaking of photos I have been giving photo collages and whirl and have posted two up on my photog blog. I think they turned out pretty cute, hopefully the moms and dads will let me know what they think. If you have time, drop me a comment and let me know what you think. I am going to try and do one of Harper tonight, so we will see how that one comes together. I guess I should get busy working on that and try to get some sleep since I will be going to the church in the a.m.! (to work)!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRESTON!!

I can't believe that 5 years has passed so quickly! Today Preston turns 5 and it makes me just a l ittle sad to see him growing up so fast. When I do the math, he is half way to 10 and one quarter of the way to 20! Before I know it he will be off to college, getting married and providing me with grandchildren. Can't believe he was once this small!

And now we have this!

Preston, I love you more than you will ever know! You bring so much joy to my life, every single day and I couldn't imagine life without you in it. You are growing incredibly fast and I feel that, even though you are still a little boy, our time together is fading too quickly. I love your snuggles, your giggles and the way your imagination works! Right now you want to be a truck driver and if that is what makes you happy when you get older, then that's what I want you to do. You have also mentioned being in the army and being a fire fighter. Could you maybe pick something less risky to make your momma feel better? Whatever you choose to do in life I will be there to support you and stand behind you. You make me proud to be your mother and I hope you always remember how much I love you and how happy you have made me. Have fun today at the OU football game and we are going to have a Dyno-mite time next weekend at your birthday party!

In Memory

Papa passed away early this morning ~ We miss him already!

Papa this past June at his 84th birthday will most of his great-grandkids.

Jesse, Jerra, Papa, Janis, Rodney
Papa last June at this 83rd birthday.
Papa & Cambree on Easter 2006.
Papa, we hope your reunion with Gram is an incredible celebration! We miss you both and can't wait to see you again one day.

Updates...Finally

Whew! The last few weeks have been jam packed and flown by. I am finally getting some video/pictures uploaded and posted today. Getting settled takes so much time and energy, especially when you have a handy-dandy sidekick like I do. The great thing about my particular sidekick is that she wants things done her way, right away. Like now, she is outside in shorts, no shoes, pushing her baby in the stroller. I won't know what to do without her when she goes to school though, my life will be so boring! Here's the diva herself, playing dress up with Grammy's jewels!

So I said I would post pics or video of the new house and I am finally doing so. I hope this works... it's kinda long and takes awhile to watch. Oh and one more thing, you might need a strong stomach as I am not the most steady videographer!

Let me know what you think and when you are going to come and visit us!

Here is a picture of Preston opening some presents while we were in Oklahoma. He thought it was fantastic to get to have a party early!

Here's dad & I at the OU/UT game. We had fun even though the sooners lost. The weather was nice and we didn't have to sit by any obnoxious fans! It's too bad this will be the last time Dad gets to use our tickets to go to this game....everytime he does the sooners lose! I told him he was on babysitting duty from now on!

Now some random thoughts this week.

I LOVE fall. The leaves are barely starting to change and the air is crisp and I love it. I love that I can wear a sweater around the house and be cozy all day long. I love that there are orange pumpkins and multi-colored gourds adourning our house.

New opportunities...I have told a lot of you, but I am sure I have missed a few, that I am starting a job at our church in a couple of weeks. I am going to be working part-time as our church secretary. It will be for a few hours a day, M-F. The really nice things about it is that it is super flexible and I can take the kids with me, so no daycare bill! The work won't be overly complicated, but I will have a steady income stream this way. I will miss substituting at the school, but it was just too sporadic and I needed to find something more stable. I heard a rumor that our church could be looking for a new secretary soon, so I called to let them know to keep me in mind if that was the case and by the end of that day, I pretty much had the job if I wanted it! It sure pays to be proactive! I have actually been in one day to talk with the current secretary and have her explain things to me, but I am going to go in a couple more days before she leaves.

Being settled....finally. I think I can say that we are there. I still have a few things to do, but some of them I need help with and some of them will require the kids being gone to actually get them done. I have managed to get some things hung on the walls and laundry done and made cupcakes to take to school for Preston tomorrow. I would say that things are settling down! Now if I can get Jeremy to help me hang curtain rods tonight I will be happy!

The big game

I am headed to the OU/Texas game tomorrow! This game is the one I look forward to the most every year and the one that is the most fun! Jeremy wasn't able to come this year (meetings and he thought he needed to get caught up on stuff) so I am taking my dad with me this year. I got my new camera in the mail earlier this week and I hope to have some videos to upload when I get home. I have taken some video of the new house and of the kids, but we just got the internet connected at the new house today, so I haven't been able to upload them and I am at Dad's now, so they will have to wait until next week. Don't worry, once I have a few minutes there will be a ton of videos to watch on here! It has been a ton of fun to play with and brainstorm all the things that I want to get on video. The worst part is going to be having one more thing to have to back up and figure out a storage system for! All part of being a gadget junky though!

GO OU!

We're Moved!

Well our stuff is in the new house and we have spent two nights there. Boxes are slowly getting unpacked, but it is hard with so much help!!! I won't have internet at the new house until Thursday, so after that more pics and hopefully a video because my camera shipped on the 4th!!!