Happy Sweet 16 MaKenna!

16 years ago today, Mark and I welcomed little MaKenna into the family.  She made Holly a big sister and since then, I have watched them over the years squabble, argue, laugh, giggle, play, and become the best friends they are today.

MaKenna - you are an amazing part of our family!!!  Our lives are better because of your kindness, your Godliness, your dedication, your laughter, your silliness, your passion, your uniqueness, your craftiness, your messiness, your CDO-ness, your awesomeness!!!!  You have always had the ability to bring a smile to my face.  I am so thankful that of all the people in the world, Jesus picked daddy and I to be your parents.

I love you sweet girl and hope that you had the best birthday ever with many more to come.

{Birthday party info and pictures to come, but here's a teaser...}

Caleb's Hunting Party

For Caleb's 12th birthday, he asked if we could have a Hunting themed party for a few of his friends.  This was a fun party to put together, and now, all the boys want to have one for themselves!  Here's what we did:

As the boys arrived, they gathered around the "campfire" in the backyard with their Hunting Instructor, aka, Mark:

Mark and I gave them some instructions and guidance for the first activity, a scavenger hunt:

We had a slip of paper for each of them with a combination of numbers:

Their job was to run around the yard and find targets like the one below.  Once they found it, they were to look on the back.  Each of their names was listed there with some letters beside it.  These letters went on their slip of paper under the correct number:

Gathering letters:

Kenna got in on the fun and helped Max, the youngest of the group!

As hot as it was, the boys had a blast running around and finding the targets that Mark had hidden - very well, I may say!

Hmmmm, did Caleb find any in that tree???

Mark hid them near and far...

Max, filling in his letters:

Once they collected all of their letters, they were able to read a hunting word and earn their prize (to be told below!)  Next up was target practice.  Mark gave them a safety talk, set up a target and let the boys chose the airsoft gun they wanted to practice with.  The boys were pretty serious about their aim!

Caleb used a handgun

Jack went for the shotgun...

Max liked the pistol...

Andrew used his handgun...

Dawson used a machine gun type...

Dylan went for the handgun... (seems to be the favorite)

Once everyone had a round of practice, we gave them their prizes, Marshmallow blowers that Mark and Caleb made for the boys, ammo attached!

Max had a little bit of fun with his!

They all took their guns into the yard and had a 'blast' (teehee) blowing them at each other, trees, squirrels, the air, etc.

Marshmallow guns are pretty cool!  They work really well and you can take them apart and recreate them any way you like, kind of like legos!  But the next big hit was the smores on a stick, below:

I took marshmallows, dipped them in melted chocolate, then in crushed graham crackers.  The kids loved these!  And no smores mess!  They each got a hot dog and roasted it over the 'campfire' - hunting does create a hearty appetite!

More free shooting followed, then it was time for the cake.  We had a few 'issues' with the cake, but in the end, it was not too bad...  Notice the sleeping bad in the tent, the marshmallows ready to roast, and the campfire, with the candle inside to light it!  OK, so it's not the best cake ever, but the kids all ooohhed and aaaahhhhed over it, Caleb loved it, and it tasted amazing, so that's what counts!

Here's a shot with the fire lit:

I meant to get a picture with all of us, dressed in our camo, but the girls got in the shower and changed before I remembered.  Argg!  Well, here are Caleb, Mark and I anyway...

Just trust me that the girls had on camo, too!  Ummm, any one but me realize how tall my 12 year old is???  Can we slow this down a bit?  I don't think we can keep up with the clothes anymore!  Help!!!!

So, Caleb loved his party, the kids played hard and a good time was had by all - Success! 

Caleb turns 12!

Another birthday?  Where does the time go???!!  We are so blessed to have Caleb in our family - he keeps us laughing with his infectious humor and laugh.  He is truly a gift from God!

His sisters think so, too!

You may know that part of how we celebrate a birthday in our home is by letting the birthday person get to choose all the meals we eat that day and what we do as a family.  We did a tiny bit of school in the morning, played a game and then he played airsoft war with his daddy.  After that, he wanted to watch a movie of his choice, so that's what we did!

Sometimes the food choices can be very interesting! He chose to have:

Breakfast - Homemade Biscuits and Gravy
                   {Note: This was the best gravy I ever made!  I made homemade turkey sausage and also used part milk and part 1/2 and 1/2 (because I ran out of milk - I love when accidents make something so much better!).  I don't know if it was one or the other or both reasons, but it was yummy!  And on top of homemade biscuits???  Not much better than that!}

Lunch - Quesadillas
                  {Funny that he chose this since we have them several times a week as part of our regular meal plan - but we just looooovvveee them!}

Dinner - Homemade Fried Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans and Baby Carrots

Dinner on our Special Birthday Plate

For his dessert, he wanted to try something new:  I don't even know what it would be called, except maybe sinful!  I'll share the process with you since they say confession is good for the soul... =)

Caleb snapped this picture of me working - notice the messy kitchen... this was a big job!

So, first you make a batch of your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe and spread it in the bottom of a well greased (or parchment lined) 9x13 pan

Homemade chocolate chip cookie layer

Next, layer oreos on top of the chocolate cookies - my recipe actually called for Double Stuff, but you have to draw the line somewhere!!

As if you needed more, you now add your favorite brownie mix on top of that (I actually cheated here and just used a box mix.  Sometimes, you just have to cheat!)

Then, you bake it for about 50 minutes at 350*  Take it out and it looks something like this:

Serve it warm with vanilla ice cream and chocolate and caramel syrup - because it wasn't bad enough on it's own.

I could only take one bite (don't need an upset stomach over dessert!), but it was very good.  Tasted like a brownie on steroids.  Caleb loved it though, and that's what counts!

Happy Birthday to Caleb!  I think this will be his best year yet and pray that it is so!

Happy Birthday to ME!!!

OK, for starters, you need to know that it was not just any birthday this year - I turned 40!  So, it was somewhat significant as birthdays go.  At least, I guess my friends thought so!  They decided that just going to a girl's lunch or having me over for dinner was not enough - not this year.  Nope, they felt that a surprise party was in order for the day.

Imagine being invited to a friend's house for dinner, on the presumption that they are keeping you from making dinner for yourself for your birthday.    Just your family and theirs.  You arrive, ring the doorbell and are greeted with SURPRISE!!!!!!!  From about 40 people.  I don't have that happen to me, EVER and it quite literally about scared me to death!

After recovering from the initial shock, reality hit me and I immediately felt so loved by these special people who took the time to recognize my day for me.  I never saw shock two coming as I was taking everything in.  As I turned to hug another friend, I realized that not only were many of my special friends from here at the party, but my very dear friend Kimi and her family were down from Alabama earlier than I expected and they were there too!  Could the day be any more special???

Well, they sure did their best to make sure that all of my favorites were covered - favorite people, favorite foods, favorite drinks, favorite activities represented with cards, notes, etc.  I was so overwhelmed with thankfulness for the blessing of true friends who I love dearly.

My lovely daughter Holly posted all of the pictures Here, so be sure to hop over and check them out. 

I have to say that 40 looks pretty good from here!  I think that it may just be the new 20. Or $29.95 + tax.  Or 30 with 10 years experience.  No matter what, I think it will be the best year yet!