Reed is 3!

This is what I found this morning, Madalyn and Reed eating chocolate chips :)!
And this is Patrick the Pilgrim at his Friendship Feast. They all brought a can of soup to mix together in a pot, and made honey butter for their rolls! It was fun to see him with his classmates! I also wish I would have gotten a picture of the girl pilgrim's hats, they were adorable!

Finally, after a week I am posting Reed's birthday celebrations!
I won a cake kit from Cakes By Me, and Reed chose Spiderman and Friends- also his cake had to be orange, inside and out. We went out to our favortite place: Wingers for lunch and ice cream, then we had a family celebration that night for Reedy, he could not wait to open his presents! He is absolutely in love with Power Rangers, so that is mostly what his presents consisted of!
We love having Reed in our home, he makes us laugh and gives the best hugs and kisses. He loves his brother and sister and is always willing to help me make anything in the kitchen!
Since tomorrow is Thanksgiving I just wanted everyone to know how thankful I am for my family. My husband works so hard for us, and is studying non stop for the LSAT (the law school test). We are trying to figure out what to do with our lives, and it isn't easy for him, but he works so hard and is such a great example of strength for me. My kids are the joy of my life, I can't believe how blessed I am to have such great kids. They light up my life and I am honored to be their mother.
Well, I am off to finish packing, then I am working for a few hours. Kellen is packing the van, and picking up his sister's boyfriend to ride home with us. I hope we can get out of here early! We are so excited to spend the next few days with famiy!
I can't wait to eat a big, fat, juciy turkey and some pumpkin pie. I hope you all have a great turkey day, and maybe I will see some of you on Black Friday!

Birthday Wishes

Well, I am 25. Did anyone feel any differently when they turned old? I was thinking about doing something crazy- like renting a convertable since I am now "legal" to rent one, or buying something for myself at the 3 different Walmarts I went to yesterday- but I just couldn't do it. Well, I guess I bought some Hot Tamales and a chocolate milk while I was waiting in line for the 5th time (more on that later).

It was a wonderful day anyway! My parents suprised me on Saturday by showing up! They brought my niece Taylor along and we had the best time being together! The kids played from sun up to sun down! They rode bikes, and played outside and didn't even mess up the house! Sunday was great to have time together and for my mom to make me Apple Juice Chicken-I promise to post the recipe soon! It was so fun to have my parents celebrate my birthday with me yesterday! I asked my daddy to make me his famous french toast with real maple syrup for breakfast, and then he finished painting the house (he is a really great painter, and a great dad to paint for us).

I spent the day at different Walmarts trying to find the right size cowboy boots for my nephew and my kids. Also I was searching for the right paint color so we could paint our dinning room wall. No luck on the paint, but we finally did find enough pairs of boots!

When Kellen got home, he took us all out to Wingers for dinner. Actually Dad paid- to THANKS DAD!!! They opened a new one here just for my birthday! :) Then, (after one more trip to Wally-world in Meridian while my parents took the kids to the park) we had a delicious ice cream cake (my favorite) Kellen ordered a pink cake with daisys and got this:

At least it was cute! But after eating it we looked like this:You can't see it very well, but we all have blue tongues!!
The boys gave me a gift card to J.C. Penny to buy some new clothes (I have lost 5 lbs-and I am working on more :) Kellen gave me a bench for outside on our front porch, and my parents gave me a book, clothes, and the movie "My Turn On Earth" it was my favorite "churchy" movie when I was little. My sister Carleen sent me another book (I LOVE books) and my sister Cathie sent some O Henry Bars (recipe later also) and Space Bags- have you ever seen those commercials? I hope they really work since I have so much stuff!!

I have the best family, and I am so thankful to have had the best 25 years with them! Thank you for all the phone calls, love and birthday wishes!

And another birthday wish goes out to Jakey- my nephew. He just missed being born on my birthday by 5 min!! We love you Jake!

Happy Mother's Day!

How blessed am I to have a wonderful mother! She has always taken care of me, loved me no matter what, and fed me in more ways that one. My mom is also a wonderful Grandmother and would do anything for all of us. This year for Christmas, my mom gave all of the 15 grandkids the present that keeps on giving- pillowcases for every month. She sews all of them and sends them to us. When we got our next set for this month my boys jumped for joy because they love seeing the fabric that grandma picks, and in the package was one of my favorite things- Opera Creme Chocolates from Florences (a local candy shop). Now, these chocolates are not your ordinary cremes, they contain a creamy center with not 1, not 2, but 3 different flavors- Chocolate, Strawberry and Vanilla- (oh, I had better have one right now :) Yum-O!!-Anyway back to my great mom right?

Isn't my mom so nice? She has come to help me more than once with the kids and since I am so far behind on my scrapbooking she is planning a trip to stay for a week so she can watch the kids and I can scrapbook all day! She also cleans my whole entire house while she is here, and don't tell her but sometimes when I know she is coming, I won't clean my fridge, stove, oven etc. because I know she can and will do a better job!! I am really her baby, and she tells me I always will. I love you mom, and I wish we could be there to show you how much we really do care.

And how lucky am I to have a wonderful Mother-in-Law that I get along with, love, go shopping with, and look up too? She has always welcomed me with open arms and is always so willing to help. I could not have asked for a better MIL, and I am very blessed to have married into such a wonderful family and for her raising my best friend who the most wonderful man, husband and father.

I also have amazing sisters and sister-in-laws who are my best friends, and who teach me so much.

I hope everyone has a wonderful mother's day, and if you are not a mother- then make sure you wrap your arms around your mom and/or grandmother and tell the sweet ladies that you love them. I am grateful for you- the wonderful mother's that I know and love, for your great advice and great example. HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!! Now relax, soak in a hot bath with bubbles, chocolate, and a good book!