Madison friend birthday party at CSI

Today Madison had her friend birthday party at CSI gym where she cheers. She had about 12 girls come and the coaches had them doing a little tumbling and jumping around. A good time was had by all. She got lots of gift cards to Justice, Claires, and Old Navy. She's excited to go shopping. Here are some pics.

Lining up to jump

Split!

Back handspring 1...

Back handspring 2!

Kylie and Hannah

The future's so bright.....!

Chessy and Megan

Carter enjoying an icecream!

Madison #10

I can't believe my oldest is a decade old today. Ten years ago I was a month away from my 22nd birthday. It seems like time has flown by so fast but I can barely remember what it was like to be kidless. She is definitely the "princess" of the family. By the time her birthday week is over we will have sang Happy Birthday and blown out candles 4 times. We started off by taking doughnuts from Dunkin Doughnuts to her school at lunch to pass out to her friends (sorry I don't have any pictures of this event....couldn't carry 2 dozen doughnuts, purse, and camera into the school). Tonight just our immediate family ordered pizza and she opened her gifts from us. I didn't want her actual birthday to go by without eating cake so I bought a pack of 6 cupcakes from the store...hehehehe. Here are some pics from today.

Carter blew out her candle before she could..hehehe

Sunday School Wii Night

We had an awesome time with our Sunday School class tonight. We had this month's social at our house and everyone brought desserts and we played Wii.......kidless! Leah brought Guitar Hero (which I've never played) and Star Wars Legos game (complete with light sabers!). We also played Raving Rayman Rabbids which was hilarious. It is a game that has several games within it so you could pick a dancing game, a game where you play a song with your selected instruments, and other games that we didn't get around to. I don't think I've laughed that hard in a long time....especially with John and Brent doing the dancing game....priceless! Here are some pics of our evening.

Roasting marshmallows.....

We had a really nice 70+ degree weekend so we decided to build a little fire in the firepit and roast hot dogs and marshmallows. The kids were sticky and filthy by the time they were finished but it was a fun beginning of spring activity!

Great Depression Cooking with Clara

I happened to run across this video on youtube the other day. This lady who grew up in the depression has her own cooking channel. Her grandson is in the film industry and he runs everything. I've watched most of the videos now! She tells stories about what her life was like with no heat or refridgerator but her family always had good (inexpensive) food! My kids (all of us actually) will be trying lentils and rice tonight! Check her out! She even has her own Facebook page and a new DVD coming out. Watch out Rachael Ray!!

http://www.youtube.com/DepressionCooking

Kara....... or is it Katina?

HAHA......Kara had a bone marrow biopsy about a week ago to see how her marrow is doing and how much of it is "me." Well, the results came in yesterday and her bone marrow is 98% me and her peripheral blood is 99% me! Her doc says she is right on track and doing great! They told her that she would only have to come to the clinic twice a week and she could get out and about with a mask on (at certain times of the day when the crowds are low). She got out in public for the first time since the 2nd week of January today! She enjoyed getting out but was pretty pooped by the time she got home.

Day 100 is April 20th when she'll get to go back to Knoxville. She's ready now though!

Playing in the snow.....

WOW! What an insane amount of snow for the Memphis metro area! The news said that it hasn't snowed this much since the 60's. We got 8 inches at our house and John's parents said they had at least a foot. The kids LOVED playing in it. They've never seen snow like that...even in Denver. Of course the winters there were some of the mildest Denver had seen while we were there. Here are some pics!