Christmas Morning

Christmas morning was even more fun than last year! Santa left footprints with baking powder "magic snow" from the fireplace to the girls presents.

As we did last year, Lamar and I couldn't sleep, so we woke the girls up around 7-7:30. I walked in to their room to find them both passed out asleep. Karsyn looks like she's even faking she's laying so perfect. The second we mentioned Santa, she woke up immediately and ran down the hall. It was priceless! Unfortunately, it was too dark to catch her running to the living room.

Landrie was very impressed by how BIG Santa's boots were. She had to check them out in her new pink boots.

After we opened gifts at home, Landrie had a few minutes to check out her books from her stocking.

The girls gifts have already gotten great use over the last 3 weeks! The Leapster is probably the favored gift of '08, but the bean bag chairs and pink boots run a close 2nd and 3rd.

After our family Christmas, we headed to Pops and Lollys for even more fun. The girls' big present was a Barbie Jeep or "Beach" as Karsyn calls it. They were so excited to try it out! We took it outside and told them they could try it out after we opened their other presents.


Landrie was completely unimpressed with the clothes that she got, but we saved the present she had asked for most for very last...


The Puppy Grows and Knows Your Name! She had been begging for the dalmation since before Thanksgiving! No surprise, the girl was asking for another animal! :) You plug this puppy into the computer and program it to say your name and the dog's name. She named her puppy Lulu - which is also one of Landrie's many nicknames.



Karsyn got a Princess Bike for Christmas! She loved it and will hopefully encourage Landrie to ride her bike that's over a year old!

After breakfast and Christmas with Grandma, we came home for a long nap. We still had one more Christmas to go at Meme and Papa's with all of our cousins. Santa even came to visit!


The kids all had so much fun! It was a zoo as usual, but we tried to remember the real reason for Christmas by having a birthday cake for Jesus. All of the kids circled around to help blow out the candles.

We had a great Christmas season surrounded by all of our family and friends! 2008 was full of blessings and I can't wait to see what is in store for the rest of 2009!

Christmas Continued - Christmas Eve

For Christmas Eve, we had a very relaxed dinner at our house and opened our presents from the siblings. Presents from Pops and Lolly had to wait until Christmas Day. After dinner and presents, we played some games - including Guitar Hero. We made Lolly try it, but she didn't think it was too much fun.

Lamar and Landrie decorated Christmas cookies for Santa.

Jordy and Landrie

Karsyn opening her present from Justin - a Barbie coloring game

The tree decorated WITH presents under it. That lasted all of 24 hours!

After everyone left, we took the girls outside so they could sprinkle the magic reindeer dust that Landrie got at school. It has oats and glitter in it so that the reindeer will smell the oats and see the shiny gold glitter and know to come to our house.

It definitely worked because the girls had quite the Christmas!!!

No surprise...

We failed at PT AGAIN! Karsyn is just not into it at all. I hate to keep writing about the details of her bathroom issues, but seriously I don't get it. She definitely has control issues...not sure where she gets that from at all! Haha!

Going back to school today wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. I'm guessing day 2 will hit me harder than today.

Off to bed to tackle another day...

PT Update (Day 2 Update at bottom)

Day 1 ended without much success yesterday. We went through 3 pairs of Dora panties and 2 pairs of Princess panties without ever going on the potty. Ugh! I'm hoping that Day 2 will be more successful.

As I've often teased...It's a good thing she's cute!


Update: Day 2 wasn't any better - maybe even worse. Without going in to details, I'll just say it was a messy day especially for Daddy. He was on duty while I worked out and he got the brunt of the work. I'm not sure what to do next. She recognizes what she's done after the fact. Any suggestions? Bribery and big sisters encouragement have not been enough. I've used the timer method too.

The BIG P.T.

I am up WAY too early on my last weekday of vacation. Landrie had a bad dream and I couldn't fall asleep after getting her and Karsyn back to sleep.

The girls spent 3 days with Gigi & Grandpa this week and while I loved my freedom, I am thrilled to have them back at home with me. All is right in the world now.

Here's a couple of silly Karsyn pictures from last week. She loved playing in Sydney's dress up clothes and Stacy caught some great pics!

Today is a big day for Sweet Karsyn...No More Diapers! We're making a really big deal about it this time and she seems excited. We took her to buy the panties that she wanted last night. No surprise, she picked out Dora. As soon as she wakes up, the training will begin. I'm praying for my patience and her interest in the matter. It's beyond time! Not to mention, her daycare Lolly doesn't want her to come back unless she's wearing panties. Wish us luck!

Christmas Surprises Unveiled

For Christmas 5 years ago, my siblings and my family snuck off to Target to take a family picture for my parents and grandparents. Landrie was just 6 weeks old. Before that, we had not taken pictures since my wedding in 2001. We decided to do the same this year since we didn't have a group shot with Karsyn included. Instead of going to a studio, we asked Missy to take our pictures in her parents backyard. We surprised Pops & Lolly and Gigi & Grandpa with some new pictures.

Now that all of the surprises have been delivered I can post some of my favorites here.

I thought Karsyn would let me hold her on the bridge - WRONG! My normally brave child was scared out of her mind!

The whole fam - even Justin is smiling!

Landrie and Snoopy - She LOVES her dog!

The Kirk Fam - against my wishes Snoopy did in fact make the Christmas card.

7 Years

I started this post for our Anniversary yesterday, but we got a spur of the moment call to go to Six Flags with 3 other families. We postponed our celebration for that fun opportunity. Now - back to the anniversary post.

Today Lamar and I are celebrating our 7 year anniversary! I had a harebrained idea that it would be fun to get married 2 weeks after graduating from college and 3 days after Christmas. It was a crazy 2 weeks for sure, but I wouldn't change a thing.

In honor of our anniversary - here are 7 things from our 7 years together.

1. Lamar always makes me laugh. Our relationship started on laughter. We've always enjoyed eachother's company and cracking up together. He has a very dry sense of humor and keeps us laughing often.
   
2. We have lived in 5 different houses. I was also part of several moves while we were in college too!
   
3. We were in the planning stages of a June wedding - dresses picked out, church reserved, flowers bought and changed it to 6 months earlier and scratched all of our plans.
   
4. I didn't know that you had to get a marriage license in Texas 72 hours in advance. Because of Christmas, we didn't get ours until the 26th. Our legal wedding date is Dec. 29.
   
5. We didn't go on a honeymoon until the following May. Being a coach's wife impacts so much. 3 days after our wedding, Lamar had to coach a basketball tournament, so we postponed a trip to the Caymans until May.
   
6. I had originally thought I wanted to wait 5 years before we had kids. We were pregnant the January after our first anniversary. God had bigger plans and boy are we so thankful that we have Landrie and Karsyn.
   
7. These 7 years have taught me so much about being less selfish (I'm still working on that), accepting change, compromise and a greater love than I could have imagined 10 years ago when we met.
   

Happy Anniversary Lamar! I am so thankful for the ride we've shared for the last 7 years. I can't wait to see where the next 7 will take us! I Love You!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year - Christmas Wrap-Up Part 1

We have had such a great week! It's hard to know where to begin. After 8 different gift exchanges, it begins to run together.


Our first Christmases started on Sunday in Salado. We headed there to celebrate with the extended Kirk Krew. We had a White Elephant Gift exchange on Tuesday night that was pretty funny. Everyone tried to make their gift the most desirable. We had an 80s Rock CD, a dog puppet, a raunchy board game, Spanish Christmas cards, an African-American angel and more.


Here's the sign that I got:


Anyone that knows me and my feelings about having a dog will understand the irony of this sign. Pretty funny!!!


Grandpa opened the puppet and it was a definite hit with the girls. Gigi named him Fido and it "talked" the girls into singing Jingle Bells. It was really sweet to see them sing it all the way through and not be the least bit embarrassed.

And here's Gigi with her Bill Clinton Celebriduck. It was one of the more fought over gifts!


Round 1 - Complete! I'll post more later today. For now - It's time for a pedicure with my sisters and cousins!

I am finally finished my Christmas shopping! Yeah! This is the first year that I have started buying as early as October, so the shopping has gone on and on. The good news is that I feel like everyone got a really thought out gift and not gift cards. I'm not opposed to gift cards - I love to receive them, but I was really excited that I found creative gifts for my family.

Our Christmas festivities start tonight, and it should be interesting. We're going to have a white elephant gift exchange and with this side of the family - it's guaranteed to be interesting.

I'll post pictures soon!

Blogging live

from our new laptop! Thank you Gigi and Grandpa!!! Having this laptop will help Lamar with his masters and will be more reliable than our older computer. We are thrilled to have it!

Thanks for supporting us all the time - especially as Lamar goes back to school!

Recovered

I found the pictures in my Kodak!! I'm so relieved. Once I updated my Kodak software, the new default for pictures was not the same, so I didn't know where to look. It's fixed now though. Enjoy!!

The girls on the North Pole Express

Landrie and her favorite cousin Kade

Karsyn & Landrie at La Ha



Crazy cousins on Thanksgiving night



Karsyn doing cheer stunts with the cousins

Landrie & Snoopy in Salado - Love at first sight!

The only new Christmas decoration this year - a tree for the girls' playroom.

Daddy and his girls at the last football game.

Karsyn at Mommy's school for her first pep rally

Silly Landrie in the closet with all of her animals. She insisted on having the picture made.

Hustle & Bustle

I'm nearing my 200th post here at the Kirk Krew and was hoping to reach that milestone by the end of 2008, but with all of our running around, I'm not sure that will ever happen.

I finally downloaded 200+ pictures to my computer the other day that included Halloween, Thanksgiving, meeting Snoopy, Landrie's Christmas program and about 15 random pictures that my future photographer Landrie took.

I'll try to post the highlights here:

Scratch that...I cannot locate the pictures on my computer right now AND I deleted them off of my camera. I'm hoping that they are there and my computer is just not cooperating right now.

I'll keep you posted.

I must be crazy!

My mom and I are always up for the adventure of Black Friday. 3 years ago when I was pregnant with Karsyn, we got in line at Circuit City at 4:30 or 5 for TVs. I skipped the mad dash last year, but this year I was in. I had planned to buy the girls Leapsters for Christmas and found a great deal at Wal-mart.

We started our craziness on Thursday night. After reviewing all of the ads, Lolly and I thought we wanted the Jeep at Wal-mart that was $88. We finished dinner with our family (all 30+ of us) and headed to Wally World. We scoped out the scene, found the Jeep but decided the little Jeep wasn't going to work for Landrie. So, Lolly headed home and I planned to return to Wal-mart for the Leapsters that were on sale for $30.

My cousin Kyndra and I arrived at Wal-Mart around 3:45. After searching for the right black shrink-wrapped pallet, we stood in line for the Leapsters. We thought we were the only 2 coming for them, but the closer it got to 5, the more people that lined up. A worker came over and opened the pallet at 4:50 - it was ON! We grabbed our 3 and then started handing them back to the people that were waiting behind us. It was a grabbing frenzy! We walked over to the electronics section out of curiousity, but it was insane! People were practically climbing over each other to get the TVs, DVD players, etc. We paid for our Leapsters and were in our car by 5:01! Success!!!

We were on a high from that experience so we headed to Whataburger for some breakfast and then braved the line at Target for 45 minutes. It rained on us some and it was COLD! We weren't sure what we were looking for, but they handed out ads and maps and we found the goods. I got a surprise for Gigi & Grandpa and Leapster games for the girls. Success again!! I saved close to $100 yesterday!

I came home and tried to sleep, but I was too wired. I cleaned out the garage and then headed out to shop with Lolly. We braved Best Buy, Haverty's and Gymboree. Gymboree was another huge win.

Today, I punished myself yet again. I got in line at Big Lots at 7 AM for pink chairs for the girls. When the doors opened at 8, I ran in and bought them quickly. I wasn't too sure about the size or color, but I decided I could figure that out later. I dropped by Lolly's and we decided they probably weren't the perfect pink and might be too small for Landrie. So - I headed to Garden Ridge for hot pink bean bag chairs. Luckily they had 2 left. I bought those, and then returned the other chairs to Big Lots. I'm beat, but I'm finished shopping for the girls now so that's good. Last year I was still shopping for them until the 23rd of December.

I guess my crazy paid off!

Meeting Snoopy

Yesterday the girls met Snoopy for the first time. Landrie was immediately enthralled with her. Karsyn - not so much. She likes to watch her, but she doesn't want to touch her and she definitely doesn't want Snoopy approaching her. It all has to be on her terms.

Landrie loves to take her on walks and just to sit and pet her. It really is pretty sweet to see how much she already loves her dog.

I'm still definitely on the fence! She's very mellow and sweet, but she's still a dog! Gigi thinks she'll grow on me - the jury is still out on that one.

I think it will be good for Landrie to have Snoopy and have the responsibilities that go with her. We'll see how she does, but right now I'd give her an A+.

Pictures will follow

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!