Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

 My family visited NY for thanksgiving several years ago. Jared and I couldn't go and always felt like we missed out. I've been begging my family to do it again for years and we finally did. 

 It was a little insane waking up at 4:30am to leave the hotel by 5am, to get our spot by 6am. The parade didn't start until 9am. I think those were the three longest hours of my life. I don't have any desire to do it again. 

 Luckily we had lots of warm clothing, food, grandparents and lots of electronic devices to keep us busy.

I'm sure Jared was wishing he had never married into our family for those 3 long hours, but he acted like a good sport. It helped that he found a family from Tennessee to talk to. 

I think it was all worth it when the parade finally started and all the balloons came out.  

The kids loved it. They were cheering and chanting the whole time.  

Jared claims he and Neil Diamond made eye contact.  Apparently they have this special connection now. 

 See, this isn't the face of a sleep deprived unhappy child. It was totally worth it. 

These guys were my favorite. They did an awesome dance for us.  

 While we were waiting for our cars to be found in the parking garage, my sister in law suggested the kids play "dead indian"?  Don't ask me what it is, but I liked how the kids were quiet. 

No big deal if we looked like a bunch of crazies with all our gear and 8 kids dead on the sidewalk.  

Okay, Clair is ready for a nap. She was done. 

Philly

On our way to NY we stopped in Philadelphia. 

It was a short stop as we didn't have the best weather and didn't make reservations for some of the tours.

We still had fun walking the square, seeing the Liberty Bell, Constitution Hall and eating a Philly Cheese Steak sandwich. 

Thanksgiving in Maryland

We were so lucky to travel to the East Coast with the Kidd family for the Thanksgiving Holiday.

Tami and I spent a fun day shopping at a barn sell and various swap meets. We didn't find much but were very inspired. 

Tami made us all some unforgetably amazing pizza. I'm still thinking about it. 

Since we were going to be in NY on Thanksgiving Day, Tami and I thought it would be good to do a little feast the Sunday before with the Fullers(my aunt and uncle). It was our first time cooking the turkey and most of the trimmings. It was okay, but we all prefer our moms cooking. Despite the mediocre food it was a beautiful day and we were all in good company.

The highlight of the day for the kids was playing outside on the Kamerath's swings.

They have a giant hill in their backyard with a rope swing tied to one of the tall trees.

I have to admit that it was a little terrifying to see my little girl flying so high in the air.

It's nice to see these too haven't out grown snuggling.

We spent monday touring the mall. We've been there so many times I didn't really take many pictures. Jared was excited to finally take a tour of the capitol, we hadn't been since the new remodel. It was actually a little disappointing and nothing like the self guided tour we tour as teenagers so long ago. 

Lydia turns 7

We celebrated Lydia's seventh birthday with blue birds. I was surprised when she made the suggestion. Blue birds are so hip right now. She helped make most of decisions on how we celebrated, including the fabric for her skirt, what colors to use, and the flavor of her cake. 

I still can't believe how big she is getting. 

She was a good sport to wear a party hat for her mom. 

Admiring our hard work. 

Everyone loved the cake not only the decor she chose but the yummy chocolate mint flavor she picked. 

Opening gifts in the birthday chair.  She was excited to get some new clothes, a purse and a webkinz. 

She didn't want to go to bed that night, for in the morning, "my birthday will be over."

firebirds soccer

We just finished another great season of soccer. 

Lydia played with a great group of girls and had an amazing set of coaches. She really learned a lot this year. I'm excited to see how much stronger of a team they will be next year as they incorporate more strategy into the game. 

It's been fun to see Lydia develop into a real player. She spent her first season dancing on the field, her second being polite and this last year being really aggressive. 

What can I say about Grayson's team?

Well, they are a crazy bunch of boys who love each other dearly. They aren't the best team. In fact they didn't win a single game, but they sure do have fun together. Plus I love all the mom's. They are our soccer family.

The highlight of the season when Grayson had his first header. I wasn't there, but I heard about it for days from everyone who saw it. 

Easter Best

I made the girls Easter dresses for the first time this year. It was a lot of work but the girls loved them and they looked gorgeous. 

After all the hard work I wanted to get a few good pictures of all the kids together. I soon realized how hard it is to get all four kids to look at the camera at the same time.

Grayson thinks he is hot stuff, and so do his sisters. 

We took our pictures in my mom's beautiful garden. Every spring it seams to take my breath away. 

Easter 2011

We celebrated Easter with the Kidd Family at NaNa's annual easter party. This year Papa had his first egg decorating contest. We all had so much fun making something to enter. 

Grayson won first place and $20 for his golden metallic egg. 

I made some fun egg shaped cake balls.

It was freezing this Easter, but we still went outside to plan the ballon game and have an eater egg hunt.  

As always we had way to much candy and the kids had to get extra baskets to hold their loot. In fact, I'm pretty sure the Easter bunny didn't bring much the next day. 

The kids were sure lucky to have Jarred and I to help them eat all that candy.