Happy Birthday Cameron!

Another year passes and Cameron is now 11. One of these days I'm going to wake up and she'll be graduating high school, turning 21, getting married, etc. I wonder if this is how my mom felt.

For her birthday we bought Cameron a desk for her bedroom, to create a personal space for her homework and studying; however, I try to have just a little something to open on her actual birthday. Earlier this summer I won a Twitter contest from MckMama and planned to give the prize to Cameron for her birthday, but it hadn't arrived! With perfect timing, the box showed up on the doorstep late this afternoon.

Cameron really likes the young Christian singing trio known as PureNRG and her gift was an autographed CD prize pack.

Happy Birthday Cameron!!

Happy 8th Birthday Brenna!

As I drove Brenna to school this morning, I asked her how it felt to be eight years old. Just like her Daddy, she said to me, "But Mom, I'm won't be eight until this afternoon." (when she was born)

I surprised her during her school lunch to hand out chocolate-chocolate chip cookies for her classmates. After school, she excitedly told us that she was the first person in her class to get a "Birthday Bonus" of $10 Kubena cash, which is half of her weekly librarian earnings.

Despite an intense work week, Bryan surprised us by arriving home in time to join us for Brenna's special birthday dinner.

Brenna received her main birthday present last weekend: new blue bedding to replace her old pink Disney princess cover. I felt it was important that she have something small to open along with her card.

She loved getting new doll clothes for her Our Generation doll. This year Brenna chose Cafe Express for her birthday dinner. Immediately after this photo, she opened the door over her foot, scraping the top.

Papa and Nana called to sing their Happy Birthday wishes while we were at dinner. I'm not sure what they were saying (or singing) exactly, but Brenna laughed and laughed.


After dinner she couldn't decide between Baskin Robbins or iYougart. Bryan and Brenna flipped a coin (Heads I win, tails you lose) and Brenna wanted to be surprised at the answer. We were so busy chatting in the car that she didn't realize we were at Baskin Robbins until we got out!

After eating her "Birthday Cake" ice cream, she declared today to be her "Best Birthday Ever!"

Happy 8th Birthday Brenna Sue!

Merr's 88th Birthday

Every year growing up, we spent Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve with Merr and our Henley family. As the grandkids grew up, married, and added our own children into the mix, it's become much harder to schedule family gatherings around Christmas. This year, Merr insisted we have a big party to celebrate her 88th birthday.

My aunts did a fabulous job decorating and planning the party. Merr sat in one corner visited with all her guests before lunch. Cameron had been writing actual letters to Merr for a few months, and she finally showed Merr her newly pierced ears. Merr looks pretty surprised!

After a lovely catered luncheon, Merr opened her presents. We gave her homemade rosemary mint soap from our local farmer's market. Then she gathered with her children & their spouses for a photo. (Uncle Mike wasn't there.)

We took more photos with Merr surrounded by her grandchildren, their spouses, and her great-grandchildren.

In hindsight, it was a very special birthday and party, because a few months later Merr fell and broke her femur at the hip socket. After a successful surgery, she spent several weeks in rehabilitation care. Today she's back at home with Aunt Pam and Uncle Jack, but the fall reminds us how fragile her body has become and how important it is to see her and tell her we love her very much.

The First Decade

My baby is ten years old today. Now how did THAT happen?


1999: Photo taken in the hospital
2000: One year old. Photo take by Kris Toma in Austin at the Arboretum.

2001: Two years old. We had just moved to our new house in Houston. In a few months, Cameron would no longer be the only grandchild.

2002: Three days before her third birthday, Cameron became a "big sister".

2003 - Four years old and in PreK

2004: Five years old, already in Kindergarten and reading "Junie B. Jones" and "Magic Tree House" books.

2005: Six years old and in first grade at St. Clare.

2006: Seven years old. First (and only) short haircut. Finally able to enter public school.

2007: Eight years old, celebrating with brownies and marshmellows at SBR.

2008: Nine years old and Secretary of the Yearbook Club.

2009: Ten years old, last year of elementary school. Definitely a "Tween."

Happy Birthday Cameron. I love you.

Birthday Scavenger Hunt

Today we awoke to the sound of Brenna happily chanting "I'm seven! I'm seven! I'm seven!" Instead of just giving Brenna her birthday present, we set up a scavenger hunt.

Her first clue: "Before you learn to walk or trot, you first put these on over your socks."

She immediately found the second clue tucked into her riding boots.

"Even Papa likes to sing along with this little orphan who knows the sun will come out tomorrow."

Another clue inside the Annie DVD case another clue, "You have a special place inside your room for crayons, paper, and designs."

She looked in the drawer, in the books, and then started hunting around other parts of her room for "crayons," but after reading the clue again she resumed her hunt and finally found the clue held by the blue clip on top of the desk.

"When it's time to eat, earning this commission is a $ .25 treat."

This clue took her a teensy bit longer. First she stopped at our Commission worksheet to hunt for a new paper clue.

Then she remembered that she gets $ .25 for setting the table and she found the next clue in the silverware drawer.

That clue led her to the piano, where she found the last clue in the bench. "You stare at this for hours each week, but have you ever wondered what's underneath?"

We really needed to write harder clues, because she instantly went to the television.

After briefly looking under the entertainment center for a piece of paper, she opened the cabinet door and found her present!

Brenna asked for a "boy Barbie" doll to replace poor Prince Eric (of The Little Mermaid fame) whose head had broken off. She was quite pleased with King I want to be an inventor (what's-his-name) from the new (not yet released) Barbie movie "The Three Musketeers".

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to me.

Happy Birthday to me.

Happy Birthday to me, the mom, who is still in her thirties.....

Happy Birthday to me!

For my birthday this year Bryan and the girls took me out to dinner at BJ's. Then a few people from work took me to lunch the next day at Wael's. For dinner, Mom and Dad took us all out to Carinos. Then Saturday after working all day cleaning out Cameron's closet, I made the "executive" decision for us to eat at Don Picos.

Jeff Dunham

Bryan LOVES Jeff Dunham. I saw Jeff perform almost twenty years ago when he was doing the college circuit. He is sooo funny. For Bryan's birthday I gave him tickets to Jeff's October appearance last Saturday at the Reliant Center. We saw.....

Walter.


Achmed, the terrifying terrorist. (Say it with me: Silence! I kill you!)


Peanut (with the Guitar Guy, Brian Taner, who was really very funny!) He also did Peanut with Jose - the Jalepeno on a stick.


Jeff and his wife have a foundation they created from their income via ticket sales. To help the area after Hurricane Ike, Jeff and his wife presented a $35,000 check to the Houston/Galveston area Ronald McDonald House. They also presented $100,000 to the Red Cross for their hurricane relief efforts.
Then Jeff brought out Bubba J for an encore.

We laughed so hard at the ad-lib. Jeff said he hadn't performed Bubba Jay in a while, so he had crib notes for the jokes in his other hand. The audience shouted out all the punch lines. Jeff (and Bubba Jay) ad-libbed that it was like the Rocky Horror Bubba Show.

Birthdays

Sunday after returning from SBR and SF, we gathered at Lisa's house to celebrate the girls' birthdays. We had a hot dogs, cake, and they opened their presents from the family.

(Lisa I had to use this photo because I was going through them and saw this look on Ashley's face and I could not stop laughing. I'm not even sure what was going on at the time with her.)

I'm told that Cameron spent the entire time at the ranch taking care of Megan (4 mos). Tonight in the car coming back from dinner Cameron worked herself into tears begging me to have another baby.

Since we missed Brenna's birthday we let her open presents on Monday morning.

She got a 2-wheel Razor scooter just like Camerons. She loved it, if you couldn't tell from the expression on her face. We've had it in the garage for months now, just waiting.

Cameron begged to open her presents on Monday night, before her birthday Tuesday. So we let her open one then, and the other Tuesday night. She got a little manicure set and a really nice matching brown pants and hoodie. There's something to be said for having birthdays right after the "back to school" sales.

What Were We Thinking?

Five girls, pizza, lemonade, cake, cookies, music, and the Camp Rock movie=a very late night!

I had my first slumber party when I was nine years old, and so when Cameron asked me if she could have a slumber party for her 9th birthday, I thought it would be a great idea.

We had a little trouble scheduling the party first, because we traditionally have Brenna's party first (her birthday is first) and Cameron's the week after Labor Day (no birthday parties on Labor Day weekend; no one is available.) But since Friday was Meet the Teachers day and I had to take the day off work anyway, we decided to have the slumber party on Friday night.

The girls arrived around 5 p.m. Anna brought Claire and then stayed to help me ice the "microphone" cupcakes (in an ice cream cone with sprinkles.) I also made these fabulous Mini Caramel Apples from Family Fun magazine. They were a huge hit!

The girls played, sang, ate pizza, watched Camp Rock. Then came the "cake"

After the cake they finished the movie and moved into the front living/dining room for presents and games.

Her friends know her so well - she now can buy new books, rent a new DS game, and logon more Bella Sara cards. LOL!


The nice thing about birthday parties at this age is you don't really have to plan any activities.



They all played really well - and very loudly - until we told them to settle it down for some sleep. But sleep still evaded them until just past midnight. Brenna slept in her own bed and was up before 7 a.m. (as usual). After breakfast, they played outside for a while, then time to clean up, pick up, and get picked up.