Goodbye 2007! HELLO 2008!

It didn't seem right to let the night go without a post about 2007. I probably wouldn't have really thought about it though if our "party" hadn't ended several hours before we expected it to. We invited some friends over - one couple had another party to attend and the other couple is expecting their first baby any day now. So, it's understandable that we've shut down the Kirk house early tonight.

I wish I could think of a few highlights of 2007, but they're not coming to me right now. The biggest one I can think of is Lamar's job. He's dreamed of coaching varsity football since we've been married, and this year he lived the dream. It could be considered a nightmare by some standards, but we came out of the season stronger in our relationship and have made many new friends.

Our biggest blessing is our 2 little girls! Who could ask for more? God has blessed us so much this year!! We have an awesome family, great friends, healthy little girls and a wonderful church. I can't wait to see what God has in store for 2008!

Happy New Year!!

The BIG Suprise

Lamar and I were like little kids on Christmas morning. Both of us were up before 6:30 eager for the girls to wake up. We couldn't wait for them to see this:

The swingset was a big hit. The girls were freezing, but insisted on playing for a while. We had to drag them inside so we could go to Pops & Lolly's for round 2 for the day.

We were all spoiled like crazy. Karsyn decided she'd rather eat cheerios than open presents, but all in all...it was a great day!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too!

I'll share some more of our Christmas festivities later!

PS: This is my 100th post! Wow! It's taken nearly 2 full years to get here. Next year, I'll be a better blogger. I couldn't get much worse!

Christmas Eve

I can't believe Christmas Eve is here. It's my favorite day of the Christmas season. I love the anticipation and hustle & bustle of the day. This year is no different except...I still have 2 presents to buy and about 30 to wrap!! I can't believe that I haven't wrapped presents yet. I put it off at first because I wasn't sure how Karsyn would do with the presents and then I just kept putting it off. Terrible, I know.

So tonight, Lamar and I will stay up after the girls have gone to bed wrapping presents and just enjoying our night. Luckily, at the advice of Pops, we have no Little Tyke's toys to put together. We know those can be a nightmare.

We do have a BIG surprise for the girls tomorrow! I'll post pictures after they see it. Daddy has been working hard!

Merry Christmas, Y'all!

Tour of Homes

I have been looking forward to Boomama's Tour since last year! I had so much fun peaking into other people's homes and getting ideas for my decorations too. I'm pretty traditional when it comes to Christmas and my decorating, so if you were here last year, you'll notice little has changed. I have added a few little things though.

This year we moved the tree into our living room where we spend most of our time. I love it here! Surprisingly, the girls haven't messed with it at all!

The stockings are hung by the chimney with care...

The Little People Nativity has been a HUGE hit for these two angels below:

And of course, Rudolph and Clarice!

I also have a Christmas Countdown Calendar. My mom did this project and got me hooked too. Landrie loves to take down the numbered ornaments each day to countdown until presents and Baby Jesus' Birthday.

Merry Christmas to all!!

Rudolph & Clarice

Landrie is all into Christmas this year. It's so much fun to see her reactions to things. Lolly thought it would be fun to take the girls to Build-a-Bear today to build Rudolph and Clarice dolls. I'm not sure whether to hug her or strangle her. The girls LOVE the dolls, but have fought over them since. But they caused Landrie to be very cooperative when taking some pictures tonight--I could hardly believe it.

Mommy's Little Elves

My little elves have been very busy. Check this out!

Cards

My mom has me on a new kick...handmade cards! She has ALL the equipment to make it super fun, so I'm making our family cards this year.



These are my first 6. I decided to go with a very untraditional combination - pink & green! I had some paper in a Christmas Paper Stack from last year left over, so I decided to start there. I think they're adorable! I'm looking forward to making the rest. I have 30 to go!!



I used a combination of Cuttlebug Embossing Folders (snowflakes), Cricut Christmas (Merry), buttons and ribbon. I've learned that the trick to cards is the embossing and ink/chalk. Those 2 things can totally change the look.


I'll be adding more over the next week as I get them done. I also have another Christmas project in process. Hopefully I'll finish that this week!


We did get the lights on the house and the tree up. Thanks to Lamar...He's done a LOT of work this weekend!

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving. I've enjoyed playing with the girls, spending time with family, shopping and of course eating. Here's some pictures from our trip to Salado.

Landrie & Karsyn on Uncle John's Rocking Horse

Mommy & Karsyn tired and FULL - ready to take a nap on the road.

Attempt 1 of many to get a Kirk Family Picture for Gigi's Christmas cards.

Since we're all dressed, let's try to get a family picture...turned out just like they always do! I think Daddy's worse than the girls! :)

They're like the Osmonds only cuter!

Sorry...bad joke, but they've been in the news so much lately I couldn't help it.

For your enjoyment "My God is so Great" and "The Itsy Bitsy Spider"

Feliz Navi-frickin-dad

So...what is today? November 7th...not even Thanksgiving and one of our local stations is playing Christmas music and nothing else. Ahhhh!!! I don't think I can handle it. I love Christmas and have grown to like Christmas music, but there's just something about playing it before Thanksgiving that I don't like. Anyone else agree???

By the way - I'm going to try and video the girls singing some songs tonight. Too cute!

Happy Halloween!

An unhappy bumble bee

Practice round @ Pops & Lolly's

Karsyn & Campbell ~ The Cutest Bumble Bees!

Lolly has the other pictures on her camera. Hopefully she'll post them soon! Landrie and Karsyn actually smiled together for a few pictures! Surprise, surprise!

Pics, Pics & More Pics

This will probably take 2 posts, so I'm putting the random ones here and I'll put the others on a Halloween Post. We've been busy lately, but we're having a great time enjoying the cooler weather.

Haltom played Everman a few weeks ago in a pre-district game. Everman is having a great year and Haltom...not so great. We won't hold it against you Ally & Jay.

Karsyn & Daddy at Tanner's Wedding

Landrie was enjoying the chocolate fountain at the wedding. I have NO IDEA where she got such a sweet tooth.

An attempt at a family picture...Will we ever succeed?

Pops & Lolly at the wedding

Karsyn trying out her new bike.

Sweet Mornings

Most mornings Karsyn wakes up before Landrie. I think she hears our alarms through her wall and is ready to start her day before we're usually ready for her. I usually pick her up and take her in to Landrie's room to wake Big Sis up. This morning I laid her in bed with Landrie and went back to my room to finish getting ready.

When I came back, this is what I found...

Let's pretend that 2 minutes later I didn't hear Landrie yelling because Karsyn took her blanket or that Karsyn is laying so perfectly still because she wants to be sweet, not because she's a little sick and is too tired to move. I just want to imagine them as being this sweet and loving all the time.

I'll show them this picture when they're 16 and 14 and remind them that they did like each other's company at one time in their lives.

Silly, Silly Girls!!

First I should say that I'm loving 4 years old! Landrie has not (for the most part) had any fits and has just been sweet and so fun since her birthday. Karsyn has too! We had a long weekend at home and they were so good that I could imagine being a stay-at-home mom for once.


Here's some of the silly pictures over the last few days...and maybe a video if I can get it to work.

Karsyn kept bringing me bows to put in her hair.
She thought she was hot stuff...but hey, she is!!

I went to check on Landrie last night and this is what I found...she was sleeping with her pumpkin from her party!

We were trying on possibilities for Halloween costumes for Karsyn. Fortunately or unfortunately (depending on how you look at it), Karsyn gets to try Landrie's hand-me-downs before I buy her something new. This was Landrie's costume last year, but it looks good on Karsyn....what do you think?? I tried to take it off of her and she started screaming. I'm not sure I'll ever get it off of her!!!

Landrie is going to be Cinderella for Halloween this year. Complete with glass slippers, a tiarra and a magic wand. She wasn't too happy with the costume today, but I think it will work out!

Here's the video. Karsyn and Lamar were playing a game with his hat. It's just funny to watch the facial expressions she has and hear her sweet little voice.

Birthday Week

Growing up, we always said we had a Birthday Week. It never just lasted one day. This year, we did the same for Landrie. Her actual birthday was on Thursday and we finally finished celebrating yesterday. It sounds like fun, but it's actually pretty tough on a little girl.


Thursday morning, Lamar and I woke her up and sang Happy Birthday. She was so excited to open the presents we picked out for her.


She opend her clothes and new flip flops so she'd have an outfit to wear to school. We got reactions like "Wow, these are COOL!" and "Thanks Mom!" She was thrilled to say the least. She looked adorable and so grown up going to school. We were saving the fun presents for later.







That afternoon she opened a few of her presents from Pops & Lolly (more clothes & shoes) and 2 special puppies that she really wanted. She was still excited and very sweet about her presents! She even tried to give one of the puppies to Karsyn.


That night she opened her toys that Daddy picked out and some more surprises from Pops & Lolly. Little by little her reactions got less and less animated. By the time her party rolled around, she had a tough time mustering up any excitement. She loved the party and her presents, but we didn't get the authentic excitement I was hoping for.


Here's pictures of her Pumpkin Patch Party. It was sooooo steamy outside, but we had so much fun! We're hoping it will be a new tradition for Landrie's Birthday!

Youngest Fans

This is why I love ABC "Premier Week".

The girls love Dancing with the Stars!! Karsyn is the Dancing Queen. Landrie loves to just twirl around until she's dizzy. It is such a blast to raise these 2 sweet girls!!!

Hugs & Kisses

Karsyn has been very lovey lately. Two weeks ago, she starting giving hugs. Landrie would ask her for a hug, and Karsyn would run from wherever she was and give her a big hug. Too cute! She gave Daddy some love too! Tonight we were playing outside and Karsyn would run between Landrie and I to give us kisses. I'm loving this sweet, sweet girl!

On a completely different subject, we were at a wedding 2 weeks ago, so I tried to get a family picture. No one cooperated...including Daddy!

A Weekend Getaway

Landrie & Karsyn had a weekend with Gigi & Grandpa and Mommy & Daddy had a much needed weekend together. Well...mostly together...if you exclude LOTS of football. It was great though...the girls were missing G & G!

Here's some pictures of their day at the playground. I can't tell who had more fun--the girls or G & G?

Thanks Grandpa & Gigi!!! I hope they didn't wear you out too much! Landrie said tonight she wanted to go back to your house instead of school. :)