Thanksgiving 2011

We had Thanksgiving dinner in our new home this year.  We had my parents, Uncle John and his son Tony, Aunt Beth, Uncle Joe, and their 4 kids, and our family.  We had a fabulous meal and I was excited to get good use out of my double oven.  :)

Teenagers gone wild--with Martinelli's.

Jacob, Eliza, and Samantha

My mom and I

Beth and Jacob

My dad and mom

Tony and John

Kendra ate a few bites of her dinner roll and that was it for her Thanksgiving meal.  I guess she was saving her calories for a big slice of apple pie and ice cream!

Somehow a whip cream fight got started in the kitchen...

Megan got to make Magaw look like an Indian

The traditional group shot

The next morning we all went to Chico and took our annual family pictures, played games, ate leftovers, and went to the park to play.  This was one of my favorite of my cousins--so cute!

Sleepover Party!

They all wore dress-up clothes for dinner.  Homemade Pizza Bites and carrot sticks, one of Mikayla's favorites!

Then we went into the living room for a dance party.  These girls have got some moves!

We found out Max does too.

Strike a pose...  (love it Kendra!)

Then we did a little Wii dance before movies and bedtime.  Mikayla has been begging for a sleepover for quite awhile.  I found an evening that was free and she had a blast with her friends! 

Kendra Turns 2!

Happy Birthday to a crazy, fun, sweet, charming, busy, adorable little girl! 

 I made her an Elmo shirt for her birthday and she won't take the thing off now! 

 Bad lighting here, I know, I know, but we put the 2's and K's up all over the house and I put a sign out front that said, "This evening brought to you by the Letter K and the Number2!"

 My mom cut out and painted this Elmo for Mikayla's birthday party 5 yrs ago.  Kendra developed the same Sesame Street/Elmo obsession, so he made another party appearance.

The thing about Kendra is she's cute and funny and she knows it!  She does whatever she can for a laugh and was cracking me up playing with the balloons, pretending to blow them up and squealing when she threw them at me.

I made an Elmo cake and the fuzzy textured frosting was so much easier than trying to make the frosting smooth on the eyes and nose!

She got a cute little play market/fruit stand from Magaw and Papa and loves it!

Yeah, tried to take a pic of Kendra with her party friends.  Epic fail.  5 two yr olds all conspired against me and decided it was NOT happening!

She opened her presents and the kids crammed in so tightly around her I could barely see what was going on!

She beamed and looked at everyone around the room as we all sang "Happy Birthday" to her and right on cue at the end of the song she bent over and blew those candles out in one breath!

Mikayla, Cole, and Riley got to sit at the big kid table--up at the bar.  They loved having their own area and chatting together.

Megan and Gracie and their very red frosting mouths.

 The kids were enthralled and fully entertained(and quiet!) during Trent's magic tricks!  They were in awe of his awesome magicness and tried guess after guess as to how he got the quarter through the back of his head and out his mouth.

 After the party, Kendra put on the new Elmo shirt that Karam got her and danced and sang song after song on the table.

 Quite the entertainer!

We love you big girl!  Happy Birthday and keep on being cute and sassy!

Guest Bedroom Update

I added a little vinyl above my craft station.  I have all my ribbon stored in a plastic rain gutter hanging on the wall--thank you Megan K. for that idea!

I added some family pics from the last year.  All our siblings and their kids are pictured on this wall.  I love to look at it when I go in there.

I added the chocolate brown pintucked bedding from WalMart that I am in LOVE with and made a few throw pillows.  I just covered a few old couch pillows we had laying around with some fabric I was given.  I love that the flowered fabric pillow matches the girls tops in the family photos also.  A little side bonus!

I rolled the fabric rosettes and hot glued them as I went and then just hot glued them to the pillows.  So simple, so cute!  I just love the look of the room now.

Grasshoppers!

 Trent got to coach Mikayla's soccer team this year.  It was a fun learning experience that's for sure!  Weekly practices and games are a lot with 2 kids playing socer, but we love to keep them active.

 Mikayla and her coach.

 About to score her first and only goal of the season!

Mikayla's sideline cheerleaders.  It sure was fun having Dad for a coach and it was nice that Magaw and Papa could come to so many games now that we live just 30 minutes away.  I had to make Mikayla play this year as I signed her up and told her she was playing.  She grudgingly did, and of course, loved it!  Same thing happened with swim team and with jazz dance too.  She has to be prodded a bit, but then she just loves getting out there and being active.