Natalee's Sweet Sixteen

Our darling firstborn turned 16 in December.  

She began the celebrating with a bowling party with her friends the day before her birthday.

"Excited to party selfie."

This is the sweetest group of teen gals ever.

They bowled two games with a cake break in the middle, and I just sat back and relaxed.

After bowling we had pizza at the house and they had time for one round of Natalee's favorite - Catch Phrase - before we had to cut the festivities a bit short for youth group caroling.

Lighted necklaces for caroling!

Natalee's birthday was on a Monday.  Natalee slept in, we did some school, had her favorite foods, opened gifts, had swim practice, and did our best to make it a great day!

Natalee, we love you so much.  We are so proud of the young lady you are becoming and cannot wait to see what God has in store for your future.

Tallman Thanksgiving

On Friday we headed to Missouri for Thanksgiving with our Tallman family.  We were all able to gather, which is a rare treat these days.

Grandma Cindy and Papa Curtis had outdone themselves with our meal - sure we all pitched in here and there but they carried the majority of it themselves.

Missing a few in these pictures but you get the idea.

Tooooo much good food.  

Lauren brought crafts while we let some of the meal digest and visited.

Papa made 5 pies for dessert and Grandma made pumpkin bars - no one went hungry.

The kids played, we visited, we online shopped, and we just spent the day catching up together.

All 9 grandkids...

Ages 22, 20, 15, 14, 10, 9, 8, 5, 3. 

On our way home, Mike decided to pull into the drive through Nights & Lights.

They were beautiful....and Evie fell asleep the minute we got her back into her car seat for the remainder of the drive home.

We have so much to be thankful for.

Thanks to our family for a lovely day together!

Thanksgiving 2024

We were home for Thanksgiving day this year.  

We started the day watching the parade while eating breakfast casserole and a FaceTime to the Beelers/Paredes to wish them a happy day.  

The kids decided to get out their art supplies and do our yearly Balloons on Broadway project while they watched the parade.  This cheered my heart - we hadn't gotten to it and I'd given up on them getting it done this year.  They paint the background buildings and then design their own parade balloon and add it.

turkey balloon

Marshall Paw Patrol balloon

Thomas the Tank balloon

Honoring the fallen veterans balloon

Ron from Harry Potter balloon

I decided to do a light version of a Thanksgiving meal since we'll join my extended family tomorrow for the works.  Mike baked us a ham and we had twice baked potatoes, green bean casserole, regular green beans, corn, macaroni and cheese, and rolls.

The rolls came out of the oven during the parade....everyone taste tested for me.

We ate mid afternoon and then were kinda lazy.  We watched Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, the kids played Catch Phrase, and just enjoyed a day at home without anything scheduled.  We ended the day enjoying leftovers and playing Skyjo, then right before bed everyone helped me get the fall decor down so we can put up Christmas on Saturday.

It was a lovely day together.  We have much to be thankful for.

Zayden's Golden Birthday {9 on the 9th}

Zayden turned 9 on the 9th!  I tried to make his "golden birthday" a bit special and we had a full day of fun!  Birthdays on Saturday are great!

Zayden started his celebrating on Friday night watching the third Harry Potter movie with Daddy.

First up Saturday morning.....one gift before going out to get donuts with Daddy.

Zayden requested donuts, bacon, and pancakes for breakfast. 

Mia and Evie had worked so hard on cards for him.

Zayden mostly requested Legos for his birthday.  I snuck in a couple of books but leaned into what he really enjoys and he was so pleased.

We headed to meet Grammy Sara and Papa Phil and Pizza Hut for lunch.  We had a wonderful visit and everyone enjoyed the pizza.

After lunch we headed to the movie theater to watch The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.  Sara had given the kids Halloween goodies and Evie was loading her sweatshirt - a sleeve of oreos fit perfectly in her sweatshirt pocket.

The movie was adorable.  Cannot recommend it enough. 

From the movie we headed straight to the bowling alley to bowl a game, per the birthday boy's request.

After that we went back home and had the birthday supper....pigs in a blanket and hamburgers, mac & cheese, carrots, and dirt cake.

We ended the day with a couple of final gifts.

And then the birthday boy built Legos on the floor beside the couch late into the night and I laid beside him and dozed.

Happy birthday, Zayden.  What a gift you are to our family.