Happy Birthday Bing

Today is my best friend Kristen's birthday. I know birthday posts can be repetitive...but, I just can't help myself. Kris has been my best friend since I was 6 years old. She is like a sister to me and I cannot imagine my life without her. She has provided endless inspiration for me, taught me so many things in life, and I pretty much copy everything that she does. She is everyone's biggest fan and everyone who knows her loves her and wants to be her best friend too. She just makes you feel that way. You can talk on the phone with her for hours and after you get off realize you talked all about yourself and never even asked about her. She gets all that from her momma. She is an amazing mom to her 3 precious babies and an incredible wife to her lucky hubby Jeff. Here are a few old pics with Kristen in them that I found on my computer.

Happy Birthday Kris! I wish I could be with you today! I miss you and love you more than you know.

Christmas Countdown Blocks

I came across this Christmas Countdown Block tutorial from Jenny Garland and loved it so Mendy, Ashley and I decided to make a few sets for early Christmas Gifts. We picked out some vintage-looking scrapbook paper and used tons of Mod Podge. I love a craft where you use Mod Podge. These are so much fun to make and a great inexpensive gift. Go here for the tutorial because the only tricky part is making sure you get the correct numbers on each block. Happy December! I am excited to countdown to Christmas!

Shutterfly

I saw this post on my friend Mindy's blog, which is so cute by the way, about 50 free Christmas Cards from Shutterfly for bloggers! It is such a good deal, I could not pass it up. I use Shutterfly alot for printing pics and I even made a calendar one time for my grandma for her birthday. I looked around many of the popular sites for Christmas cards this year (i.e. Snapfish, Tiny Prints, etc.) and I really do think Shutterfly has the best layout options for the best price. I really like how you can have a picture collage and that the pictures go all the way to the edge...like this one. I had already decided to use Shutterfly when I say Mindy's blogpost! What a small world. So, if you are a blogger, you should go to here and register for 50 free Christmas cards. And, if you aren't a blogger, you should still look on Shutterfly for some awesome Christmas Card and Holiday Card options..like this one, or this one.

On the Christmas Card note....we tried to have a very amateur photo shoot with Mendy and Alex for our Christmas card pictures...and Kinley was NOT into smiling or cooperating. Here are some blooper pics that didn't make the cut:

We are laughing because she is so NOT cheesy anymore.

Not sure what this face is.

Maybe a few from this session will work...or we may have to try again another day! Either way...can't wait to send and receive all those Christmas Cards this season!
Merry Christmas!

Gary's 60th and a Fantastic Cake!

Friday after Thanksgiving (the 26th) my precious Father-in-Law turned 60! What a fabulous chance to celebrate! I have known Gary now for almost 11 years. He has always been a big supporter of Ben and I in our relationship and in choices we have made. He is a great example of a father, husband, and friend.

There are a few things Gary is known for LOVING.....Mexico, specifically Cancun, the sun, beer, and K-State football. I don't think there is a better vacation spot on the planet than the Royal Resorts in Cancun and there isn't a player, coach, trainer, or fan of football that has not been affected by K-State football or Bill Snyder somehow. So, it was only fitting that for his 60th, the K-State football team was in town playing North Texas. It was meant to be. There was nothing Gary wanted more for his birthday than to go to the K-State game with his family. None of the rest of us even had any K-State attire but, when we arrived at the Harrison's there was enough Power Cat purple gear to outfit all 6 of us. We got to the game 3 hours early and tailgated with all the other die-hard K-State fans and grilled brats and just waited for the game to start (which they won!) For some reason, I didn't have my camera so these are the only pics of the game...from my iphone....it was very cold.

Then Sunday night, we had Harrison family dinner to celebrate Gary! The hit of the night was Mendy's AMAZING cake! She made this cake and the icing from scratch and free handed the Power Cat on top. She truly is GIFTED. It is incredible.

Kinley loved licking the icing and blowing out the candles...which we did several times.

Just for kicks, here is a video!.... taken from the iphone so not the best quality.

Happy Birthday Gary aka Gar-Meister aka hbiggary50 aka Pops! We love you!

Howe Family Thanksgiving

Howe family Thanksgiving this year was this much fun!

We spent the day and night at Honey & Boss's house and 17 of the Howe side (plus 3 kiddos) could make the day. It gets harder every year as our family continues to grow to get everyone together but, we had a good showing. My mom did a fantastic job of making her house inviting and beautiful. I wish I had taken pics of the tables and place settings because they were so cute. The food was delicious and way too much. But, the company topped it all!

Kinley, Aubrey, and Luke could all play so well together this year...but, we really missed Winlon and baby Speight. Kinley's red wagon was the hit of the day and they climbed in and out, opened and shut the doors, pushed and pulled each other all day long. Every once in a while they would stop to climb some stairs, swing outside in the freezing cold, or throw some pool balls around the pool table...but, overall, the wagon was number one.

The boys had some good times reading and watching sports....this pic was for real. What a bunch of handsome boys!?!

We missed Sean, Camila, Winlon, Speight, Lois and Jack who were all in Atlanta with that sweet newborn angel! But, we did Skype them for literally hours all day and just kept the computer on. We all talked to them and we ate at their dinner table. It is incredible what modern technology allows.

As always when we get together....we took a lot of family pics.

The Hardens

Minus sweet Jessica who was sick. We missed her so much!

The Knowles

David, Kristi, Aubrey & baby knowles due in April!

The Howes

Minus Matt who was at the A&M game watching the Aggies beat up on the Longhorns...Whoop!

We could NOT get a good Harrison family pic....Kinley was not into participating.

The Siblings

Minus Lois and we were all with Helen who was missing Phil, Cary & Chris who were all in Lubbock.

Grandkids and Great-grandkids

We tried to get a good kid pic and that didn't work...so we tried a kid and momma pic...which was also not so successful....but, SO much fun!

We ended the night with a fabulous pj party and, of course, some more wagon time.

Hope everyone else had a fabulous Thanksgiving!

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.

Psalm 100:4

Turkey Shirt

i am aware that I steal every creative idea that I have from my best friends at Lullaby Lubbock. there should be an addict class for people like me. i am not creative on my own but, i can copy someone else and create someone else's vision any day. but, i have to say that i am so, so thankful for creative friends who also love to match and totally support copying each other. so, with that in mind, i made kinley a turkey shirt for thanksgiving. i just used material i already had at home and a white shirt we already had. it was so fun, super easy, and she looked adorable in it.

a little turkey shirt

for this little turkey!

I sure am thankful for her too!

Happy Turkey Day!

More pics from Howe Family Thanksgiving soon!

This is the day the LORD has made, let us Rejoice and be Glad in it.

Psalm 118:24