ARRGH!!! Kaden's 8th Birthday Pirate Party

I can't believe my little boy is 8 years old already!!!  We celebrated with a Pirates of the Caribbean Party!  Here is the cake and snacks table!

A close up of the treasure chest - complete with Pirate Booty veggie puffs:)

Kaden was able to choose 3 friends to go see the new Pirates of the Caribbean 4 movie - we saw it at the imax in 3D - AWESOME!  Here he is with Colton and Kayden - two of his fave friends, and since his other friend was out of town, little sister happily filled in:)!

Birthday sign in the kitchen!

So...we totally improvised on this cake - no store around us had ANY Pirate cakes, period.  Luckily, Curtis had the idea to buy some leggo Pirates stuff and just added it to a cake a lady at Target made us to look like water and a beach!...Whew...!

The pirate loot - Kade's presents!

Another shot of the table!

I had these cute little X's and O's dishes from Pottery Barn, they are actually for Valentine's Day desserts, but for this party - the X's really marked the spot!!!  ha ha

The little scalleywag with his cake!

Family pic!  We love this boy!

Opening presents with cousin Kai, and friend Kayden!

Then it was time for a treasure hunt - thanks to my sweet hubby for making these maps right quick - each kiddo had to find 2 coins at 5 different locations, and then trade those coins in for a treasure at the end!

This is team Kins and Kayden

Team Kaden and Colton!

And the little pirateer Kai Kai!

The party ended with a dip in the pool:)  Kinsley is a scary mermaid here - if you've seen the movie, ya get it! ha ha!

Sweet birthday boy enjoying life!

Can you see them - Curtis and David - Colton and Kayden's dad!

Mom, Dad, and my bro-in-law John!  And the last pic below is of me and Stephanie - Colton and Kayden's mom!  Fun was had by all!!!

July 4th 2011

Since my inlaws were in town this year we were happy to host the Fourth of July Celebration at our house!  We got these new lights for one of our patios and I couldn't wait to use them!

I made these cute red/white/blue strawberries - I saw this idea in Parents Magazine!

Curtis worked his magic on the grill - we had hamburgers, hotdogs, grilled corn, squash, and zucchini, Texas sheet cake, and ice cream - it was delish!

We swam a little - (Malakai, MIL Susan, and Kinsley)

And talked a little - my sweet momma!

Swam...here's my cute dad!

Swam some more - MIL, Malakai, FIL

Ate our delicious meal...

while the kiddos chilled at the kids table!

And talked some more...

It was a pretty laid back 4th - no driving all around town, parking miles away, walking in the 100 degree heat to find some fireworks, fighting the crowds, etc.  I kinda liked it!!!

Glenrose Dinos:)

My inlaws are in town this week and we drove down to check out a campsite my FIL might be superintendent over, it was 7 miles from this dinosaur valley so we decided to check it out!  Here's a poster of the types of dinos that left tracks here!

Su-weeet!  Dino tracks plain as day!

Kaden and Kinsley LOVED this but it was soooo hot, as you can tell by Kinsley's melting candybar and crayons I made her take out of the car so they wouldn't melt!  It would be great to go here in the Spring when you can stand to be outside a little longer than 10 minutes.  Nevertheless, it was cool to see these tracks!

Here's my father-in-law, David and my nephew Malakai by a HUGE dino!!  My kiddos were already back in the air conditioned car by this point!  Ha ha!

Thanks Grandpops and Grandma for taking us here!  It was fun to see!!!

Broken Bow Family Trip 2011

After the family reunion we headed to Broken Bow, Oklahoma for a few days with both of my sisters families and my mom and dad.  Here are all the cousins, from l to r:  Kai, Kinsley, Stewart, Kaden, Colton, Madison, and Makenna

We stayed in this awsome lodge called Lone Star lodge - obviously owned by some Texans!

This was our view from the porch - gorgeous!!  It felt like we were in a HUGE treehouse!

My mom enjoyed being with all her grandkids!

We spent a day on the lake tubing, wave running, swimming, exploring islands, and boating!

My dad brought us all a canvas to do a little family art!

We also took a scenic drive one day - this was the view from the top - awesome, huh?

This is my older sister, Jayna's family!  LOVE THEM!

This is my younger sister, Jae's family - too cute!

And here's our little family!  We all had a magnificient time!!!

Family Reunion in Arkansas 2011

This is the lodge where we stay

This is the pool we swim in and the lake we fish in and the view we see complete with deer grazing most of the time...

This is the porch we sit on, rock in rocking chairs, and shoot the breeze remembering reunions from years past...

This is the space where we all gather for meals, games, and memories - this year we did a Heehaw skit, that's me as the teacher with my "class", it took awhile for everyone to get "into" it but once they did we laughed and laughed - by the way...my mom wrote the script - pretty funny!

This is my mom and one of her cousins Linda chatting and catching up...

And this, well this is a pic of my cousins Linda, Sharon, and Millie - we helped my cousin Sharon dye her hair!!!

I love being with my extended family once every year.  We eat, play Bunko, talk, laugh, have a silent auction, and just enjoy being with eachother.  

Do others of you out there have family reunions?  If so, where do you go and what do you do while there?