Toothless in Tennessee

OK, well, these pics loaded in the opposite order that I wanted them to, but you'll just have to read to the end to see the Toothless one...

Here is the shot I got of Camden after chasing her around the house and into the laundry room, trying to get her to look at me. She has just "licked the beater" for the first time (as you can see all the cookie dough on her face...)

(Tricia, this is in honor of you! After I read your post about Lane not knowing what to do with the beater, I decided to make cookies. Katie is an expert in beater licking, but Camden needed a little coaching!)

Here are the two girls both licking the beaters after we made white chocolate chip cookies Saturday. Katie and Camden were good helpers!!

Here we (well, Katie and Ben in this picture) are Saturday afternoon in the sunshine on the deck outside. It really wasn't necessary for Katie to wear her winter coat, but she was pretending that she was on an Arctic (or Antarctic) adventure to return her penguin to the South Pole... (or as Ben says, pretending we still lived up north and needed to wear big coats.)

Incidentally, Katie has observantly noticed that nobody here wears a coat as "big and puffy" as hers and she does not want to wear it anymore. She is afraid people will make fun of her! (Yes, she is only in 1st grade).

Last week, the Tooth Fairy came to our house 2 nights IN A ROW! She's been missing the top middle 2 for a while now, but the two on either side are out now too. No sign of the permanent teeth yet, but I have a feeling the poor thing is going to get my big ol' front teeth. I don't know where they'll go in that little mouth!

Last weekend, Katie decided she wanted to get her hair cut like Kit (her American Girl) again, so we went to Great Clips and had it done in about 10 minutes. Which was good, because Camden wasn't going to stick around much longer than that. :)

Congratulations, Ben!

Two weeks ago, the team state tournament was in Nashville. Baylor won the team tournament, and here is the plaque that now hangs on our wall:



I just want to say that I am so proud of Ben and the work he has done with the team. He is an assistant under two Tennessee coaching legends, Jim Morgan and Shaack van Deusen. They have built an amazing program, and I know Ben loves being a part of it. But I'm especially proud because everywhere we go, we meet people who tell us the nicest things about Ben. More than just "we're glad he's here", too. These people go out of their way to express that they think much of the success the Baylor upper weights, especially, are having is directly because of Ben. One father was sitting behind me at the traditional state meet last night and was telling the head of the science dept (whom I was sitting next to) that he was so glad that Scott had been able to get Ben to come here (and that was before I was introduced to him!) So I know the people love him here and he is doing a fantastic job.

Baylor placed 2nd at the traditional state tournament last night. They did a great job. They have been ranked the #1 team in the state all year, but unfortunately one of their top guys came down with mono and was out, which could have given them about 40 more team points.

Ben is one of those people who is good at everything he does. He's a great teacher, a great coach, a great husband and a great father. We love you, Ben!

Katie's first CD...

So here it is...THE best part of Katie's party. I can't wait to put this in her birthday scrapbook...hopefully this summer I can do her 5th, 6th, and 7th parties! :)

The coolest invite ever... don't you agree? THANK YOU, GEORGE!! All the moms were asking about it and saying they all thought it was a real cd when they first saw it. (We put it in a cd sleeve, so it really did look real!)

The basement is still all decked out with purple and teal streamers and sparkly stars hanging from the ceiling, Hannah Montana posters on the walls, and deflated balloons on the floor...one day we'll get around to it. One reason we haven't done anything yet - we've been sick here at our house for a long time. Camden got sick a few days after Katie's birthday, and is just now getting better but still on antibiotics for bronchitis. Now Ben and I are sick (here's hoping Katie stays immune). The other reason we haven't cleaned it up...it's been 70 and sunny here the last few days. Who can stay inside and cleanup when you can go hiking in your backyard or sit outside without a jacket and soak up the sun? :)

Where My George?

Uncle George has been the focus of Camden's attention for quite some time now! Every morning, she goes through her routine of asking where everybody is..."Where Daddy? (or if Daddy's with her, it's where Mommy?), Where Katie? Where Bapa?" (Grandpa) At some point, I think around Christmastime, she added George to her questions, and he's always on her mind! "Where George?" "Where my George?" over and over... on a daily (sometimes hourly) basis...

So George, we don't always get it on video, but this was just this morning when both the girls were thinking of you!! They love and miss you lots!!!



I should let everyone know, also, that George made THE coolest birthday invitation for Katie's party this year. I tried to upload it to the blog, but it's a pdf and I couldn't figure out how to make that work yet. It looks like a CD, with Katie on it dressed as a sparkly popstar... maybe I can scan it and put it in that way so you can see it. I'm sure you will all want to hire him to do your invitations too!!!

She's 7!!!

Some days she seems like she's 17, but I can't believe she really is 7 years old now. This is a picture taken on her actual birthday. This year, we had Katie's party at our house. The playroom in the basement was transformed into a Hannah Montana concert arena. There were 10 screaming girls - getting their nails painted, makeup done, making jewelry, decorating sunglasses, playing with balloons, and singing karaoke! This year, Ben made Katie a red velvet birthday cake made for a Rock Star. Check it out! The cakes just keep getting better and better each year. He'll have to make a cookbook or something by the time the girls are out of elementary school :)

What I love about the South...

Last week, we had the end of Christmas break. Teachers were back Monday and Tuesday and they were probably two of the most frustrating days I've had lately. Students were back Wednesday, except we had a FLOOD DAY so....no school!! A gift from God, I think!! This week, we were back at it full time. I laughed yesterday when some of the 4th graders asked if we would be out of school Friday due to it being forecast to be "too cold to go to school". (It's supposed to get down to 8 tonight, but high of 30 tomorrow!) And what did I see when I opened my email tonight, but a message saying NO SCHOOL TOMORROW due to severe cold weather forecast. I am not complaining! The gift of time is the best gift I can think of right now, so I will take it. I know my Northern friends & family are laughing, especially when they have been in the -30's for temps! I'll be thinking of you tomorrow...

Visit to Santa

I finally got the picture of the trip to see Santa scanned and saved in the computer, and thought you all might like to see how our trip went... Camden was acting all tough until she had to sit on his lap. Katie's finally got it down the last few years to where she's not scared anymore. New Year pics will come soon, but as we are taking down all the holiday decorations before school starts again tomorrow, I just wanted to share this one last holiday photo from 2008. Now on to 2009!