Happy Anniversary

Today is Pops & Lolly's 30th Anniversary! I'm a little late with the shout-out, but I hope they know how proud I am to have them as parents just the same.

They are great examples of what a marriage should be. I remember growing up my dad would always make a point to say to us how much he loved my mom. We'd always roll our eyes and act disgusted, but even then, I knew how lucky we were. To say they still have it going on is an understatement - they are more in love today than ever before.

Thank you Pops & Lolly for loving each other first and showing us what love should really look like. Thank you for loving us and providing for us constantly. You are the best!!! I hope that we can pay it forward to our girls some day.

Happy Anniversary!
We love you!!!

This is just so funny that I have to participate! Click the picture above for the rules, but it's pretty simple - find an ugly Christmas sweater anywhere - your mom's closet, your own closet, Goodwill, etc. Take a picture and email it to Big Mama. Winners will be announced on Dec. 19! I can't wait to see what people come up with.

I've seen a few ugly sweaters in my time--what about you?

Who Knew?

Who knew that Snoopy would get me so much blog attention? Maybe I should have written about the "Challenge" our pastor has issued to the married people at church. That may have gotten even more attention.

Check out Good Morning America tomorrow for an interview with our pastor! On ABC from 7-9 am (not sure when the segment will air).

A new family member

Tonight we shared with Landrie and Karsyn a BIG surprise!

"Snoopy" is coming to live with us after Thanksgiving! Landrie cried real tears she was so excited!! Snoopy is a Beagle and is supposedly a very mellow, loveable dog.

I admit that I am still reluctant in adding a dog to our family, but Landrie's excitement was just so heart warming! She has asked and asked for a dog and hopefully this will be her dream come true!

Thanks Gigi & Grandpa...I think!

Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake

Tonight was our turn to host Home Team at our house. We have been a part of this small group for over 4 years. It's so wonderful to have close Christian friends who are in the same phase of life. We spent a long time tonight talking about parenting - it was GREAT!

We had good food, good fellowship and good fun!

Here's the recipe for the dessert I made. It's Paula Deen's Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake. I'm not a fan of pumpkin in general and I LOVE this!

Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cakes

Cake:

• 1 (18 1/4-ounce) package yellow cake mix
• 1 egg
• 1 stick butter, melted

Filling:

• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 stick butter, melted
• 1 (16-ounce) box powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine the cake mix, egg, and butter and mix well with an electric mixer. Pat the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 13 by 9-inch baking pan.

To make the filling: In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and pumpkin until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla, and butter, and beat together. Next, add the powdered sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and mix well. Spread pumpkin mixture over cake batter and bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Make sure not to overbake as the center should be a little gooey.

Serve with Cool Whip.

Variations:
For a Pineapple Gooey Cake: Instead of the pumpkin, add a drained 20-ounce can of crushed pineapple to the cream cheese filling. Proceed as directed above.

For a Banana Gooey Cake: Prepare cream cheese filling as directed, beating in 2 ripe bananas instead of the pumpkin. Proceed as directed above.

For a Peanut Butter Gooey Cake: Use a chocolate cake mix. Add 1 cup creamy peanut butter to the cream cheese filling instead of the pumpkin. Proceed as directed above.

The joke's on me

Date Night with Lamar - $50
Childcare through church - $10
Your youngest child puking on the way home from date night - Priceless!

God knew we needed this night so he let Karsyn hold off on the mess until we got her. We had a great night in spite of the throw up! Let's just hope that she's done and we can have a calm weekend.

Hope yours is less exciting than ours!

Unexpected

Today I had an unexpected day off. Landrie came in this morning while I was in the shower complaining that her throat hurt. I continued to get ready, but then she said she thought she was going to throw up. I thought she was confused about what really was bothering her so I just went about my business. About 2 minutes later, she threw up - in my bed. Yuck! It wasn't major, but I didn't know if it would continue or not, so I called in to school. I put her in the bathtub and within minutes she was acting like her old self.



I made her rest for most of the day, and thankfully she didn't get sick any more.



While we were enjoying our spontaneous 3-day weekend, I upgraded my photo software. I was playing around with it and came up with this cute picture!

The software now has photo retouching and you can add text. I'll definitely be doing this more often.

Praying for our children

I often don't know how to pray for my girls or how to pray at all. I have little conversations with God throughout the day, but to be honest - most of them are self-serving: keep us healthy, get us home safely, etc. After I read The Shack, my prayers have changed. I've tried to be more intentional and more conversational with God and to pray for more than just my instant needs - more bigger picture, I guess you would say.

I found the link above with specific prayers to say for your children. I think it's great! They are all based on scripture and are about the character traits that we all hope our children to will have---Christ-followers, kind hearted, compassionate and more. Hope that you like it too!

For Gigi

I'm feeling guilty about not posting any pictures recently. Gigi checked 3 times last night for pictures, so I have to come through this time. These are really random and not in any particular order.

The girls at our "photo shoot" in October.

Landrie and Avery at Landrie's birthday party.

Landrie opening her ring from Gigi & Grandpa. Gigi - she's been wearing it in short spurts now. She loves it!


At the Pumpkin Patch again with Channing

Slacking...

I've been slacking big time on blogger lately...We seem to be running in many different directions in real life so I haven't had a chance to post here.

Here's just a few highlights:

*Celebrated Halloween with my crazy family (see Lolly's blog for pictures)
*I've reorganized and added some decorations to the girls playroom (pictures coming)
*Karsyn's first Pep Rally (pictures coming soon)
*The end of football is near!

Is this time of year crazy for anyone else? I wouldn't have it any other way!

Politics, Drag Queens and Richard Simmons - OH MY!

Last night was the 6th Annual Huffman Halloween Party. We have celebrated 4 of the 6 with our Home Team friends, and this year didn't disappoint. We had a costume contest and the Huffman Hallolympics. It was a great night with LOTS of laughs!

Popeye & Olive Oil, Buffs Cheerleader & Football Player, McCain/Palin, Joe the Chemical Guy, the Graduate, Baylor Baseball Player & Cheerleader, Richard Simmons and Olivia Newton John, War & Peace, M&Ms (switched up) and Hansel and Gretel.

Observation

I know that the state of our economy is all over the news, but other than the ridiculous gas prices, I've been relatively OK with things until last night...

I went to Wal-Mart to load up on all the necessities for the week. Everything was priced basically the same, except for the Cascade... Drum roll please - $7.00!!! I usually pay $3.50-4.00 for the same size box as I bought last night.

That my friends is ridiculous!

What other items have you noticed going up?

Buffs WIN!!!

It was an exhausting and emotional night, but the Buffs pulled off a surprise victory against Weatherford tonight! We went into 3 overtimes!!! At one point, I looked up into the box and Lamar had his hands covering his eyes... It was the much needed boost that they needed in a tough season so far.

Keep an eye out for some celebration pictures and Karsyn sporting a sweet new hairstyle! Let's just say - she took matters into her own hands. Yikes!

Have a good weekend!!

"I forgive you"

Those are some precious little words...especially coming from a sweet little 2 1/2 year old. She's being a little difficult tonight about going to bed (imagine that) and she keeps yelling "I'm sorry" and right away "I forgive you".

She can be so frustrating but at the same time so adorable! How can you be upset at this face?

I recently read the book The Shack and could really understand how God feels about us for the first time. The book illustrated how God truly looks at us like his children. We mess up and God just keeps on loving us. I know we must frustrate Him sometimes by the choices that we make, just as my girls frustrate me, but that will never change the love I feel for them. I loved that the book showed our father/child relationship so well.

Family Pictures

After a late night celebrating a Buffalo Win (yes, you read that right!), the girls and I had pictures made on Saturday. Scott did a great job! I think he captured the girls personalities perfectly! The group shots weren't great because of cooperation issues, but I absolutely love their individual shots. Here's a few of the 140 that he took:

My computer is so slow, so I'm having trouble rotating my pictures. I did get some great individuals of Landrie too but they would have been sideways on here. Plus, I want to save some for surprises later on.

Here's a special shout out to Justin & Jordan - Thanks for watching the girls last night so I could go to Home Team!! I love you and appreciate you both!!!

Party Pooped!

This weekend was a whirlwind of activity! We started Friday with a football game. We had another disappointing loss. The Buffs are going to be named the "almost team" this season. We've had 4 heartbreaker games losing each in the last minutes of the game. Gigi and Grandpa met us there, and the girls were thrilled to see them.

They gave me some relief Saturday morning while I got ready and had a little bit of down time before the celebrating began. Gigi and I did some shopping in the afternoon while the girls napped, and then it was party time!

The party was great! The weather was much nicer than last year and the kids had a great time. I've got pictures coming from several different cameras, so I'll be posting pictures hopefully tomorrow.

Landrie was definitely spoiled!! She's stocked up on cool t-shirts, Hannah Montana and Camp Rock gear to last her a long time.

Thanks to everyone who came and especially to Gigi and Lolly for their help with the party! I couldn't have pulled it off without you.

She's 5!!!!!

It is so hard for me to believe that my first baby is actually 5 today! That seems so BIG! Some days I see glimpses of a future teenager, while other days, she's still my baby girl! I can't wait to see what this year will bring.

Happy Birthday Sweet Landrie! We love you!

Pumpkin Fun at Four (Landrie's Birthday Part 4)

With Landrie having an October birthday, I decided that a Pumpkin-themed party would be great! We had heard about the Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch and it didn't disappoint!

The party was inexpensive and fun! They provided a covered table area, a free hay ride and for party favors - a small pumpkin. We brought cupcakes and drinks and that was it. The kids loved all of the cute character cut-outs and the adults loved the picture opportunities! Unfortunately, it felt like it was over 100 degrees outside! Landrie was crying as she opened presents because sweat was dripping in her eyes.

The party went so well and was so much fun, that we're repeating it again tomorrow! This time, I'm in a little over my head as we decided to invite several more families. We're expecting close to 40 kids! I'm sure the party will be great!

The Big 3! (Landrie's Birthday Part 3)

Landrie's 3rd birthday was the first one in our new house. I was a little fearful of kids on the new carpet, so we scaled back - as much as you can with 3 siblings, 5 cousins and their kids, grandparents and great-grandparents! I think we still had close to 40 people!

In all the craziness, I only have a few pictures. They're pretty cute though because typical Landrie - she's covered in chocolate icing! She could care less about the cake, she just wants the messy icing!

On her "real" birthday with the grocery cart and Curious George toy Mommy and Daddy got her. She got her kitchen from Gigi and Grandpa, so we thought the cart would be a good addition. She still plays with the kitchen now.

Karsyn celebrating Landrie's birthday for the first time. She looks really excited. ;)

Little Cowgirl (Landrie's Birthday Part 2)

For Landrie's 2nd birthday, we had a Cowgirl Party - pony and all! We hired Chunky Monkey to come and entertain our family and friends. Landrie still talks like she remembers the actual day. She likes to remind Lolly that she forgot to get a carrot for Chunky Monkey! She was a little timid at first, but I think she enjoyed it in the end. She was a precious little cowgirl!