RAISING KANE

Be My Valentine

2012-02-15T10:50:00.001-06:00

The day before Valentine's Day we met some friends for a quick play-date. We put these treat bags together for Kane's friends.

I got the bags from the dollar section at Target last month and I am truly in love with them. I think they are so precious. Each friend got bubbles, a straw, M&Ms, candy hearts and a ring pop.

I wrapped up the M&Ms with Valentine paper and added a heart note.

I was organizing some boxes for an upcoming garage sale and I found my heart frames. I put them out just in time!

Kane woke up Valentine's morning to a surprise breakfast. I decorated his table and made him homemade heart pop tarts.

Kane and I made heart cookies on sticks the night before

love these heart marshmallows

I filled the pop tarts with pureed strawberries and bananas.

"You have my whole heart for my whole life"

Since Kane is OBSESSED with trash trucks I knew he would love his final V-day gift.

He was so surprised to see his table.

He is becoming quite the picky dresser. He asked for his puppy shirt and monkey bottoms. ha!

I made him two heart chair covers

thank you kisses for daddy

I think he loves the trash truck

My Valentine brought me the sweetest card and most beautiful roses.

We were so thankful for such a gorgeous day, that we played outside all afternoon.

Valentine's Day LuLu Style

2012-02-15T08:00:00.000-06:00

We went over to LuLu's house a few nights ago and Kane scored in the Valentine gift department. He got a dump truck, a mailbox, 2 dogs, a tractor and clothes! He has the BEST aunt and LuLu ever.

Sweet boy loves his new toys.

Uncle Matt and Kane

He knew exactly what to do with his new dump truck... take it outside and fill it with rocks and dirt!

He has figured out that LuLu's house has a fun weight room where he can get in to lots of trouble!

Working off those gummy bears he's eating.

So many fun things!

He got to bring home his puppy since LuLu's real puppy doesn't like it.

He insisted that his puppy had to go potty, so instead of risking him throwing his puppy in the toilet, we had to explain that dogs go potty outside.

Puppy even got to sit on the table while Kane ate his snack.

His sweet LuLu came by on Valentine's Day to deliver more gifts for her Valentine.

A huge frog

and little frog cookies.

Thank you so much LuLu and Aunt Ashley for your generosity! Kane is so blessed!

Mini Valentine Gifts

2012-02-15T07:43:00.001-06:00

In continuation of this post, here are Kane's mini Valentine gifts for days 5-13.

-Day 5-

-Day 6-

-Day 7-

Posing with his new bouncy ball

-Day 8-

We made cupcakes with our heart cupcake pan.

-Day 9-

I found these adorable cups at Walmart. Seriously in love with the cuteness!

Kane has had popcorn only a handful of times, so it is a real treat for him.

Love my little Valentine!

-Day 10-

-Day 11-

Daddy and Kane sporting their mustaches.

This picture makes my laugh out loud. Am I married to Borat or Michael?

-Day 12-

-Day 13-

On Valentine's Day, Kane woke up to a fun breakfast where he received his final gift.

(All the gift labels were printed off the internet from blogs and websites)

Happy Birthday Elmo

2012-02-10T08:24:00.000-06:00

I'm going totally out of order, but I thought I would share Elmo's birthday celebration.

Kane has a minor obsession with Elmo, so when I heard Elmo has a birthday I knew we had to celebrate it. I collected little things from the dollar bin at Target, got a balloon at the Dollar Store and placed an order for an Elmo cupcake just a day before the celebration.

I decorated Kane's table while he was taking a nap.

Not bad for a Kroger cupcake.

His face was priceless when he saw his table. Makes it all worth it!

This little boy has hair like his mama when he wakes up- crazy and all over the place!

Pretty sure he loved the cupcake! He obviously had no reservations about eating Elmo's face.

It seems like he has figured out that if he looks and smiles at the camera, I won't take so many pictures! Smart boy.

Chloe's Birthday

2012-02-08T21:52:00.000-06:00

My sweet family has A LOT of January birthdays. 7 to be exact. It's pretty much a family rule that no future babies can be born in January. ha! kidding.... well, kind of.

My adorable niece Chloe celebrates her birthday first, on January 8th.

Kane and I took her a birthday lunch suitable for a superstar-

chocolate milk, chili cheese hot dog and fries. Yum.

Kane got his first taste of chocolate milk. Sweet boy kept repeating "chocolate milk" while I was ordering. I could not resist.

The night before, we actually all met at Brio for her birthday dinner. I'm sure the hostess fell over when she saw 4 adults come in with 7 kids... all under 10.

Ashlyn and my niece Kylie.

All the kids checking out Chloe's gifts.

Love them so much!

Adorable sisters- Cadyn and Chloe

Chloe and her BFF

My brother and two of his girls. He is such a good dad... melts my heart!

Cadyn, Chloe, Sarah, Uncle Danny and Kane.

Uncle Danny got Kane his very own ice cream. He was in HEAVEN!

Happy Birthday sweet Chloe!

New Years Day

2012-02-08T21:18:00.000-06:00

Since no one in the Miranda household stayed awake to ring in the new year, we had a mini morning party.

Kane helped me make ice cream cone blowers (is that what you call them?)

We also made a cupcake clock. I saw a similar idea on Pinterest, but they used cookies.

After our morning treats, we headed to my grandma's annual New Years Day party.

We always eat cabbage, black eyed-peas and corned beef in honor of our Irish roots.

My brother and his girlfriend, Sarah.

Grandma Holly and Sarah's son, Landon

My cousin Blake and his girlfriend, Madison

New Years Eve

2012-02-08T21:06:00.000-06:00

A few months before New Years Eve I started searching for tuxedo pajamas for Kane. I found the cutest pair at H&M for him to wear NYE 2011, but had zero luck for NYE 2012.

Luckily, Aunt Ashley went to H&M during her New York trip and found Kane a black velvet bow tie. I think his outfit turned out to be pretty cute!

Aunt Ashley also surprised Kane with a drum set. Such a blessed little boy!

Sporting his New Years hat while watching LuLu's Zumba workout DVD.

Kane and Aunt Ashley- they sure do love each other!

Cheers!

Aunt Ash and Mr. Greg- ready to go out for the evening.

Christmas Dinner

2012-02-02T22:02:00.000-06:00

Since I had to stop blogging last month I never had a chance to post about Christmas dinner. So here you go....

After Christmas morning, we went home to nap and shower before heading back to Lulu's for Christmas dinner. We all took a much needed 3 hour nap!

Michael showing K YouTube clips of Sesame Street.

Such a happy boy!

His little piano from LuLu

Kane was sneaky and opened other people's gifts while we weren't looking!

You are busted buddy!

When he plays the piano he sticks his tongue out, ha!

Such a proud daddy!

Me- "don't move Michael, just smile." ha! I'll take anything as long as Kane is looking!

My sweet family!

Michael and Kane looking at the Christmas lights from Lulu's front porch.

We sang happy birthday to baby Jesus after dinner.

So thankful for my angel

Mr. Greg gave us a huge cheesecake from Kenny and Ziggy's!

Kane just couldn't wait for us to cut it! Guess that is what we get for putting it right in front of him!

Playing in the dog bed

Aunt Ash and Kane

We had such a wonderful Christmas with our families. We are so blessed!

Valentine's Day

2012-02-01T07:30:00.000-06:00

Sorry for the mini hiatus- we had a few concerning emails that required me to shut the blog down for awhile. I am so excited to be back and fill you in on all of our January celebrations.

We met Michael's family at the Angus Grill a few nights ago. Despite Kane being a wild man at home, he is such a perfectly behaved young man in public... usually.

Ashley snapped this picture of him that night and I have to say, it is my new favorite picture.

Kane helped me decorate for Valentine's Day last week. Most of the decor has never been used, so it was fun getting it all out and seeing what I had.

Kane helped himself to one of my Swarovski heart ornaments and cracked it. Just adds charm and character... right?

We also made Kane a "tree of love". Each person and favorite toy has their own heart and place on the tree.

No tree is complete without a couple's initials carved in the trunk.

KM= Kane

AW= Amberly

I made Kane a knockoff Pottery Barn Valentine envelope. Super easy to do!

Kane's artwork got replaced with holiday decor... once again.

Pinterest is full of creative Valentine ideas, so since Kane is not in school yet I thought it would be cute to give him 14 small gifts. I had so much fun picking things out at the Dollar Store and the dollar section at Target.

Now the trick is going to be hiding all the bags from Kane!

Gifts 1-4

Christmas morning

2011-12-26T21:54:00.000-06:00

We decided to spend Christmas Eve night at my MIL's house . After Kane went to sleep, Ashley and I set up all his Santa gifts.

Kane must have been a good little boy, because Santa was incredibly generous this year!

Some of Kane's gifts were- a baby grand piano, a shopping cart and a spaceship.

Kane looking at his gifts when he first woke up.

Aunt Ashley and Kane going to wake up Uncle Matt

Santa forgot to eat his cookies, so Kane helped himself.

Trying on his new slippers

All the boys had matching pajamas.

Kane's breakfast plate

twins

Michael and Lulu

Sweet boy eating breakfast

Uncle Matt and K playing in his spaceship

BLASTOFF!! lol

grocery shopping in Lulu's kitchen!

Kane giving Lulu her stepping stone

Aunt Ash and Kane

The spaceship needed some repairs, so Kane went to work!

We had matching pajamas too!

Love my family!

My love

After breakfast, Kane asked Aunt Ashley if he could take a bubble bath in her tub.

We had such a blessed Christmas with our families! So blessed to be surrounded by our loved ones this year!

Christmas Eve

2011-12-26T13:47:00.001-06:00

On Christmas Eve we headed to my aunts house to celebrate Christmas with my family again. It was a rather quiet evening though, because my brother and his family were absent. All 5 of the kids have RSV and his youngest actually has pneumonia.

My poor babies!

Michael was on call on the 23rd, so Kane and I spent the whole evening baking them cookies. We delivered 5 trays of cookies and gifts to them on Christmas Eve.

Since my brother now "has" 5 kids, I had to come up with fun gifts that wouldn't break the bank. We have so many people/kids in my family that things quickly get out of control. I decided to go with a "family game night" theme. We got them video games to go along with their new X-box Kinect and multiple board games. I pulled out these cute popcorn containers I bought last year and filled them with popcorn, hot chocolate and snacks. They gave Kane a HUGE soccer goal and ball. Michael is beside himself to get it setup in the backyard.

Over at my aunts Kane enjoyed a sucker while we waited on others to arrive.

RJ, Brett, Kane and Michael

Opening his gift from Aunt Mel

My grandma got Kane a tricycle that he is in love with!

Brooke and Uncle Bri

The boys pushed Kane around the house all evening!

Rodrick, Mel and RJ

My sweet grandpa

My grandparents

Kane giving kisses

where in the world is Sheldon Miranda?

2011-12-24T08:42:00.001-06:00

We finished up with our elf on the shelf today. He has been put away until next year. Take a look at his final days in the Miranda house!

December 16th

Sheldon practicing his ABCs

December 17th

we found him relaxing on his hammock

December 18th

admiring baby Jesus

December 19th

Looks like Sheldon found the singing choir obnoxious too! Sorry we didn't have earplugs for you Shelly!

December 20th

roasting marshmallows

December 21st

Yikes! Sheldon got locked out! Good thing he had on a scarf and earmuffs!

December 22nd

Trying to get a little color before returning to the North Pole.

December 23rd

Sheldon made himself cherry iced do-nuts

December 24th

Off to the North Pole until next year!

Shelly, we had so much fun with you this year! We can not wait to see you next year!

10 years

2011-12-23T15:27:00.000-06:00

December 14th marked the 10 year anniversary of my dads death. I often find myself getting more emotional and sensitive around this time. I find myself needing "my fix." I go through pictures and the few things that I have of his. I keep a few of his shirts in ziplock bags- when I open the bags I can still smell him. His scent takes me back to so many wonderful memories when things were easy. Not that things are not easy now, but after he died I had to grow up fast. I was out on my own in so many ways.

My brother and I always try to have dinner on the anniversary of his death, so this year was no different. We included our families since it was the ten year mark. Sitting at the dinner table, I looked around and could not believe how much he has missed. How has 10 years passed? He has missed weddings, deaths and births. So many wonderful grandchildren that he would love so much.

Sometimes when I drive to our old neighborhood I still say to myself that my dad wouldn't believe the changes, or lack of. My grandparents live only 2 doors down from my old house, so I always see the home we shared. The home where I said my last goodbye to him. If I stop and think about it too long, I get very upset. I can still see the gurney being pushed down the driveway.

This year I dug up my Senior Legacy that was due just a few months after he passed. I wrote the whole thing about him. It made me smile to go back and see the stories and the pictures I included. So many memories fade after 10 years.

I also included the speech I wrote for his funeral.

Within the senior legacy, I wrote a sonnet about my dad. It actually ended up being published in a book.

His hands were the anchor of my being,

The strength of my soul and the dawn of day.

They held me high and kept me believing

While leading me forward to show the way,

His love of life reflected in his eyes,

Shining ahead like a luminous light.

I felt his warmth through the force of the skies,

The blue of the ocean, the depth of the night.

His compassion for others helped me see

The true picture of his love for mankind.

Always encouraging me to be me,

His heart engraved the journey through his mind.

The hands, the eyes, the heart of a father

Mirrored in the spirit of his daughter.

-------------------------------------------------

For dinner this year, we decided to meet at outback. My dad always loved a steak!

Kylie being silly.

Landon and Kylie having a picture contest.

Kane loves Kylie so much. Every time she would go over to him, he would wrap his arm around her. Sweetest thing ever!

Kane and my brother. My brother wore one of my dads old work shirts. He had a commercial roofing company- O'Malley's National Maintenance.

Ashlyn

Big blurry group shot, that's what I get for letting the kids play with my camera!

My dads favorite color was green, so we all wore green to dinner in his honor...this was the same thing we did 10 years earlier for his funeral.

May the road rise up to meet you.

May the wind be always at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face.

May the rains fall soft upon your fields and, until we meet again,

may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

-Old Irish Blessing

christmas lights

2011-12-23T13:03:00.000-06:00

Kane teaching Lulu how to turn her Christmas tree lights on and off. Thank goodness for Kane, not sure we could of figured that out without him!

Tree lights with on/off foot pedal= entertainment for hours

Aunt Ashley took us by this phonominal house! They own a local mall, so they went all out with their Christmas decor.

So magical!

Kane was in heaven!

These pictures don't give the lights justice. It was breathtaking.

Thank you Aunt Ashley for taking us by this house! We have never seen anything like it!

bakefest

2011-12-23T13:00:00.000-06:00

A few weekends ago the girls and I had our annual bakefest. Since I had to miss it last year, I was thrilled to be part of it this year. The girls nominated my house for the baking portion, so I sent Michael and Kane on their way and then cleaned like a crazy lady.

Can you believe she is 7 months pregnant?

I think I ate more than I baked!

The wine glasses for those of us who aren't pregnant.

the girls

Kelly made a gingerbread lady with a baby in her tummy! ha!

Proud mommy-to-be!

Enough cookies and cupcakes to feed an army!

wreath cookies

1st attempt of a group pic. Our faces are priceless!

Much better!

We also did an ornament exchange. Chelsea forgot her gift at home so she grabbed a snowflake off my tree.

dividing up all the goodies to take home to the husbands

A few nights later we met at Maggiano's for dinner. Love our girl time!

Us with our babies 2 years ago!

Melts my heart to see how tiny Ambs and Kane were!

We are hoping to turn bakefest into a cookie exchange next year... or maybe do both!

christmas playdate

2011-12-21T12:23:00.000-06:00

Kane and I hosted a Christmas play-date at our house this week. We had lots of treats and crafts for the kids.

Ambs and Kane checking out all the goodies.

I printed out these cute cards as a party favor.

The bags were filled with oatmeal, glitter and sugar...staples for any reindeer.

We had these cute water bottles for the mamas

and a Santa belly full of fruit for the kids.

Kane and I made these adorable marshmallow snowmen the night before the party. They were "melting"right before our eyes.

My favorite thing were the snowmen milk cups. I got the idea from a punchbowl I saw on Pinterest. We also had Christmas trees and gingerbread men for the kids to ice and decorate.

There were also reindeer ornaments for the kids to make.

Sweet Amberly and Kane kept eating the "Christmas trees" before the other kids arrived.

Baby Brody

Gingerbread decorating

Thanks Kristina for your help!

Notice the bananas and apples on their plates....it balanced out all the sugar, right? ha!

Icing the Christmas trees

Thanks Melissa!

Bella trying out her cookie!

Cookies and milk= perfection!

"show me your teeth!"- only way Kane will smile for a picture!

haha! love this smile!

The big girls took turns pushing Ambs in the swing. It was a miracle her sweets didn't come right back up!

My grandmother got Kane all these "wonderful" singing animals that the kids loved!

Caden playing golf with the soccer ball.

Ambs catching bugs

such a handsome boy!

Love this sweet boy more than words!

Kane showing his friends his train

string christmas

2011-12-21T09:05:00.001-06:00

This year my grandparents hosted string Christmas. My grandma has always done something unique for Christmas, but it has been a long time since she's done this. My brother and I met at her house early Sunday morning to help set up and learn how she does it.

First, we assigned a different color yarn to each child participating.

Count them... 10 kids. My family is expanding faster than my wallet! ha!

My brother and I divided up the yarn- we each got 5 kids. We started from the same point on the walkway and just went crazy. We had yarn going through 4 rooms upstairs, the living room and entryway downstairs. Whew. It was exhausting.

Each kid had 5 string gifts, so we had to make sure the string touched down on at least 5 spots. For the older kids, the trickier the better... on top of tall furniture, fans etc. As we went, we were literally sweating. We had to climb over and under string all morning. We felt like robbers dodging lasers. ha!

Once we were done, we went home and got our families.

My two guys excited to see everything!

As part of tradition, every guest got a bell necklace.

The kids seeing it for the first time. Kane kept saying "mess"!

All the kids standing by their string colors.

Let the games begin!

My grown-up boy looking at all the past Christmas pictures.

Caught him mid-sniffle!

Playing with his new toys

precious girls!

My little love!

She was so excited to show me how she can read now.

sisterly love

Kane asked Chloe to read him a book.

love these sweet cousins

Kane showing Michael his new toy

Ashlyn and Brooke

Kane and Landon

Kane laughing at Ashlyn flipping her hair

Sweetest little kids

After the party, we all went on a hayride through the neighborhood. There was so many of us that we got our own trailer.

My mom and Kane

My precious family

Love us!

My brother, Sarah and Chloe

Nothing is more special than making memories with the ones you love!

meeting Santa

2011-12-20T12:26:00.000-06:00

A couple weeks ago, we met some friends at the Brookwood community to have breakfast with Santa. The kids were able to sit on Santa's lap, eat, play, and decorate gingerbread cookies.

Amberly was the first one to see Santa out of the kids. She was not a fan to say the least!

When it was Kane's turn, he willingly got in his lap and talked to him.

But after a few seconds, he realized Santa was a stranger and he was done!

So, we tried again as a family.

Caden jumped right in his lap and spit out a whole list of things that he wanted. Such a brave boy!

Aunt Ashley wanted her picture with Santa too. I think Santa enjoyed this one the most. :)

Our attempt at a family picture

Aunt Ashley entertained the kids with her phone, while we waited to be seated for breakfast.

After breakfast, the kids got to decorate cookies.

A and K discussing their plan for the cookies.

Ambs giving Kane a big hug!

When we took them outside to try and get a group picture, everything was going great, until they discovered that the rocks were fun to throw!

Ashley and Caden

Big boys

As we were leaving, Chelsea saw Santa driving off!

Sheldon and Holly

2011-12-16T09:02:00.000-06:00

Chelsea and I got the kids matching "elf on the shelf" pajamas, so naturally we had an elf

play-date.

Ambs and Kane playing with the train

Kane loves his fire hat. If he is not wearing it himself, he has Michael or I wearing it at all times. ha!

baby love

This picture brings a smile to my face every single time I look at it. I hope their love for each other continues to grow.

Elf Sheldon and elf Holly warmed up to each other before we knew it!

The kids found them soaking in the "hot tub" together.

(idea from pinterest... of course)

They had monogram towels for when they were ready to dry off.

true elf love!

s + h = 4ever

Kane and Ambs playing with the felt tree

Ambs trying to understand what all the fuss is about with Kane's fire truck.

We turned horse into Rudolf again this year

Kane being silly and wearing Rudolf's nose.

K trying to get one more hug before they left!

elf on the shelf

2011-12-15T21:16:00.000-06:00

This year we decided to jump on the bandwagon and get an elf on the shelf. At first I was very skeptical of it because I did not want Kane to behave just because Santa was watching. My sister-in-law got an elf the first year it was out and basically threatened the kids with it. I knew I did not want to do that, but still wanted to participate. This year, Kane holds and plays with the elf. We don't really play by the books. It is just a fun activity that we both enjoy. Here are a few pictures of where Kane has found Sheldon since December 1st.

We had a mini kick-off breakfast on December 1st. We were both terribly sick and this is all I had the energy for.

Our plates and cups ready for Christmas tree pancakes and milk.

Introducing Kane and Sheldon. Michael named Sheldon... Michael's favorite TV show is "the big bang theory" and Sheldon is a hilarious character on it.

Sheldon came with his very own name badge

and a letter to Kane.

"keeping my eyes on you!"

December 2nd

We found Sheldon taking a ride on the train.

December 3rd

Sheldon admiring Kane's past Christmas pictures.

December 4th

Hanging out

December 5th

Racing his friends

December 6th

Replacing a broken ornament

December 7th

Rocking out with Elmo

December 8th

sliding down the race track

December 9th

See next post :)

December 10th

Working construction

December 11th

Singing along with Jessica Simpson's Christmas album

December 12th

Watching Monday night football!

December 13th

Helping farmer Jed transport the animals

December 14th

Pirate Sheldon sailing the high seas!

December 15th

Today was national cupcake day...Sheldon helped himself to Kane's cupcake.

Stay tuned for the rest of Sheldon's shenanigans!

Grandpa Victor

2011-12-14T21:25:00.000-06:00

Earlier this week we celebrated Michael's dad. Monday marked the 3 year anniversary that he has been gone. We went with Michael's family to our favorite sushi restaurant, Azuma. We went there many times with Michael's dad, so it was the perfect place to celebrate his life.

This picture was taken a couple years before he passed. This is my favorite family picture they have!

Ashley, Matt, Michael, Dr. M and Lulu.

Michael and Matt celebrating their dad's birthday one year.

Dr. M and Lulu

Ashley's debutant ball in 2007

Kane celebrating his grandpa Victor when he was just a month old.

Our sweet boy at Azuma this year. We were seated in the private room, so Kane was able to run around while we enjoyed a delicious dinner!

Kane "sleeping" instead of smiling for a picture.

Since Dr. M can not be with us, we will continue to celebrate his life and make sure that Kane knows what a great man he was.

our tree

2011-12-12T13:22:00.000-06:00

Despite having lost most of our Christmas decor in our move, I have loved decorating our house this year. Christmas has a whole new meaning this year because of Kane. It warms my heart for him to stand back and look at our tree and say "pretty". I would keep it up all year just to hear him say that if I wouldn't look like a crazy person. ha!

our tree

My mom got Kane a train that goes around our tree. I was worried that he would mess with it constantly, but he has been so good about just watching it. My brother had a train around the tree in his room growing up, so I'm excited to pass this along to my son.

Some of our wrapped presents

One tradition that I got from my grandmother, is framing past Christmas pictures. I loved going through Kane's past 2 Christmas albums and picking my favorites! I hope this next year I can get a few from my childhood as well as Michael's and have those out next Christmas.

Please excuse our dining chairs, I want to have them recovered, but I bought them new, so it's taking a little longer than usual to recover all 6 chairs! The fabric defiantly doesn't flow with the room.

I made the table runner and the tree skirt...thanks to pinterest for the tree skirt idea!

I saw this idea on pinterest too. It's a felt tree with felt ornaments. Kane loves taking the ornaments on and off of it.

Since Kane's tree was lost in our move, I decided instead of replacing it and decorating his room, I would decorate his playroom.

Erin from Blue-Eyed Bride got this nativity set for her boys and I instantly fell in love with it! I think it's a perfect fit for his playroom. He always points to the wise man with the black beard and says "dad". ha!

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-25T10:23:00.000-06:00

Kane and I had a very busy Thanksgiving. We went to Lulu's for breakfast, where she made the famous Miranda potato and egg dish (topped with hot sauce of course). Then, we headed to my moms house for a Thanksgiving lunch and back to Lulu's for dinner. Michael got off at 5, so he was able to join us for dinner.

Kane in his turkey shirt

We kept Kane busy at my mom's house by putting her Newfoundland on a leash and letting Kane walk her around the house. Needless to say, the dog walked him more then he walked the dog.

Kane was pulling with everything he had, but Mystic wasn't budging. She had enough!

Upstairs, cousin Brett entertained Kane with many games of air hockey and X-box Kinects.

Who rules the roost at Lulu's house?!

Playing play-doh with Lulu while the turkey finished cooking

Aunt Ashley showing Kane photo booth on her computer

haha

loving on Winston

Instead of pies, we opted for Sprinkles cupcakes. Kane followed them around like a puppy chasing a bone!

His Lulu finally gave in and let him have one with dinner.

I hope everyone had a very blessed Thanksgiving dinner.

thankful for play-dates

2011-11-23T22:06:00.000-06:00

Kane and I have done a couple Thanksgiving crafts this year.

This is his hand print turkey

and his thankful turkey. We used his feet to make the feathers.

We are so thankful for our wonderful friends and play-dates we have been to lately.

Last week we went to Chelsea's house to decorate sugar cookies and play.

gobble, gobble

Today, Kane and I hosted a fairly large play-date at our house. All of Kane's sweet friends were on Thanksgiving break, so it was the perfect opportunity to get together.

The turkey bowl that I put fresh fruit in

turkey cups

I had a craft station were the kids could color a Mayflower and make a headband.

I also made a popcorn filled turkey again this year.

beautiful baby Peyton

Amberly loved Kane's 4-wheeler!

Brad and Bella coloring feathers for their headbands.

Brad's headband sans the feathers.

Brad, Bella and a picture of Kane looking!!! I'll take what I can get these days!

Sweet Caden playing with the fire truck

Brody giving Kane a push on the swing

How many kids can you squeeze in a playroom?!

Bella pushing Kane on the swing

Bella and Caden

Violet and Brad playing baseball

Bella

Kane decided Bella needed a push

Ambs, Violet, Starla, and Kane eating the popcorn

Ambs and Kane playing peek-a-boo in the pantry

Found you monkey!

Thank you sweet friends for coming over today. We hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. We have a jammed packed day and a daddy who has to work. Despite Michael working, I am so thankful to be around family this year. Don't forget to count your blessings!

oldies but goodies

2011-11-18T10:56:00.000-06:00

As I was going through some of my pictures I found some stragglers that I thought I should share.

We love going to the Kemah boardwalk on the weekends. We usually grab a bite at the Aquarium, watch the boats, and let Kane play.

One evening we decided to head to Rice Village for ice cream.

Kane and Michael shared a cup of chocolate ice cream.

A few rare pictures of Kane actually smiling for the camera!

His long hair gave us many laughs in the bathtub!

We made our first purchase for his big boy room...extra large letters to spell out his name.

I plan on painting the letters and hanging them above his dresser.