Party!

We partied hard today for Lucy's birthday! She had a fun morning with my parents at their hotel, sleeping, eating, playing....

Then it was time for her party at the local bowling ally. She had 3 of her best friends there plus her brother and her friends little bro. They bowled for 2 hours solid!

After the party we came home and played some more. Then she got to open her mound of gifts from all the grands that are here!

I made a huge feast again. This time ham and all the same stuff from Turkey day. So good and a lot of fun! Then we gorged on ice cream cake! YUMMMM

After all the dishes were put away and we said our good byes to Marshall's folks we dived into a game of Uno.

This so far has been a wonderful weekend and its not over yet! We still have our Open house/Tree Cutting tomorrow!

Happy 7th Birthday Lucy!

Today my little princess turns 7. Where have the years gone? How can we be parents of a 7 year old? What will the next 7 years bring?
We are so blessed to have this caring, smart, funny, beautiful girl in our lives.



Our angel at one day old.


A busy little 1 year old!



Finding her inner princess already at 2!

A charming and funny 3 year old!

Cinderella was huge at 4!

Finding her love for horses and knowing her smile can melt hearts, what a doll at 5!

Having just donated her ponytail to Locks of Love, she a very giving 6 year old.

Happy Birthday my love! It is an honor to be your Mama!

Family Here!

Today my parents and grandma came down to join in on all the fun we were having with the Roache's. We had a great time chatting and catching up. Its been nearly 9 years since my Grandma has been down here to Oregon to visit, so that has been a real treat!

Me and Grandma Toots.

The woman! My mom Barb, My mom in law Norma, My grandma Toots! So happy to have them all here!

The men! And yes they got served hand and foot....that's just how we roll here in Roacheopolis!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We have had a very nice and relaxing holiday. The kids stayed the night with Marshall's parents at their hotel, so we got to sleep in. Very nice!
I got my 25lb turkey in the oven by 8:45am and set forth or prepping all the rest of the food for our feast.
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday to cook for. I have been doing the cooking since our first year of marriage in 2001, so I have a few years under my belt. Every year the meal gets better!

Me and my little helper!

Marshall names our turkey every year....tradition I guess. This year his name was Lou, as in Lou Forigno, the Incredible Hulk. He was so big he almost did not fit in my roaster.

The long anticipated skin! This is another tradition here in our house. We all fight over the skin, gross, unhealthy, but Oh MY Gosh so good!!!

Cheers! This year I am so thankful for my family, friends, our home, and to have found a community that I feel so comfortable in. A good small town to raise our kids.

Yet another tradition...Marshall gets the drum stick and I always take his picture with it.

Caymus and Abu.

Lucy and Papa.

Marshall and I. What a great day!

Pie anyone?

Busy Week!

I am getting exhausted just thinking about what the next few days have in store for us!
It all starts with today....at 1pm I have to be at the school to help with the "Feast" in Lucy's class, then home to clean and off to Wrestling Practice. Marshall's mom and dad will be arriving at some point this evening and will be entertained by us for the rest of the week.
Wednesday we will be cooking, baking, raking, making swag, making wreaths, having family time and day dreaming about the day ahead.
Thursday will be filled with Cooking....I love cooking for Thanksgiving, I make everything, and I do mean EVERYTHING from scratch! Lots of eating, and drinking......sleeping and then we can do it all over again!
Friday I am sure we will spend decorating the house for Christmas.....more eating and drinking. Then my parents are coming down and bringing my Grandma Toots! I am so excited for her to come down and visit! Its been at least 10 years since she came to OR to visit us!
Saturday my little princess turns 7! I can hardly believe it. I have been a mom for 7 years. She has blessed our lives for 7 years! Amazing!
We will be prepping then partying all that day. Bowling party this year. Then a huge feast for dinner....more eating and drinking....do you see a pattern?
Sunday is our Tree Cutting Party/Open House. We are all really looking forward to this event. It should be a lot of fun with friends and family. What a great way to kick off the Christmas season!

This is usually one of my favorite weekends out of the whole year. Thanksgiving, Lucy's Bday and getting ready for Christmas! Plus all our family comes over!

My Kids Love Each other!

 

There are so many days that I think my kids will not make it the next 11 years living together…and then they do this and it warms my heart! Its moments like this that tell me we are doing something right in raising them.

 

First Wrestling Tournament

Yesterday was the kids very first wrestling tournament. They were both very excited and ready. Caymus had been doing a count down for the last 2 weeks!
We got there at about 7:30am, weighed in and then waited. We ended up with 37 kids from our club their and ready to wrestle! That's more kids than most clubs have on their team! We were by far the largest group there. Talk about crazy, and hard to keep track of!
Wrestling started at 10am with the Pee-wee division...that's Caymus!
His first match was with a kid on our team, he wrestled so hard and beat him 12-2. Second match (several hours later) he won 11-4. One more match and he finished his first tournament with a Second place! We are so proud of our little 48 ponder!!


Caymus scoring near fall points. He had a smile on his face every second he was on the mat!

Lucy wrestled at 58lbs in the Bantam division. She wrestled so hard and was very exciting to watch. She ended up wrestling a friend of hers from class and did not let that change how hard she wrestled him.
Her last match of the day she had a tough opponent, she wrestled him so hard. At one point he slapped her across the face, the ref stopped the match and awarded her a point. Unsportsman like conduct. It did not even faze her and ended up beating him by pin with 2 seconds left in the match! I think everyone in the gym had been watching her because they went crazy! Revenge is sweet!
She finish the tournament with 3rd place.


Lucy going in for a shot.


Marshall with his little wrestlers! We could not be more proud of these two kids.

On Thursday at practice Marshall told the kids that we do not cry on the mat, if you need to cry go to the locker room. I have been informed that that applies to moms too! So for the record I did not cry on the mat, was close, but I stayed strong!.....Casey