Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Christmas 2008

Santa - we have been good all year.

Our new family member - Ms. Whiskers

Kara is so happy to have a new bike to fit her growing body.
Daddy and Bryan are proud to show off their local college support.
Our 3 kids - Kara, Bryan & Ms. Whiskers

Couldn't leave out this cutie - Reese 2 years old holding Ms. Whiskers.

WHAT A BEAUTIFUL SMILE!!!

Proud Papa is happy to be able to have Adryanne some weekends. She is a sweet sweet little girl.

What a beautiful smile!

Kara and I had a good time visiting with Adryanne. She is very happy. You may have to give her a few minutes to warm up to you but it is worth the wait. We had a fun coming up with fun ways to make her laugh.

Monday, December 29, 2008

Deck The Halls - 5th Grade Program

These 5th Graders worked very hard on their Christmas Program but not many parents were able to attend. The program was set for 9am on the day it SNOWED in Beaumont (yes, I did say it snowed in Beaumont - see my previous blog.) School didn't start until 10am this day so the program was switched to 2pm. They did a great job but I am sad that there were probably only a few dozen family members there to watch. John & I were both there (had it been at 9am John wouldn't have been because of work). Bryan did have a speaking part - one of a dozen so I am very proud that he was chosen.

You can ALWAYS find Bryan next to his best friend Joey (to his left). Every time that they have had programs they are standing side by side. They have been in the same class each year since kindergarten.

Bryan taking his turn at the microphone.

Cute moves to the songs they sang.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

It Snowed in Beaumont - Yes, you heard me right!

Wow, can you believe it? I still can't. I woke up to a recorded phone call at 5:30 am from the kids school saying that school will be delayed for 2 hours due to the snowfall during the night. (Why may you ask they have to call 3 hours before school is even supposed to start?...I wish the heck I knew.) I decided the kids could wait until at least 6:30 to see the snow so I had an hour to myself before getting them all wrapped up warm as best I could to have some fun in the snow. We, by the way, are NOT prepared clothing wise for snow and even after today won't ever be. By the time it snows here again they will have outgrown what they might have worn today.

OK, here goes....


Cliche' after Cliche' after Cliche'

WE HAD A SNOW BALL FIGHT


WE MADE SNOWMEN


WE MADE SNOW ANGELS


AND YES, WE EVEN TOOK A LITTLE NIBBLE AT THE SNOW
(Only 1 little bitty bite)



AREN'T WE JUST TOO CUTE!!!



NOW 4 SOME REAL FUN!!!
Playing "POPCORN" with tennis shoes is so out.
Snow on the trampoline was way more fun!!!
SNOWBALL VS. BASEBALL
SNOWBALL IS THE WINNER!!!
In this picture Bryan has hit a home run with one of our neighbor "kids" (the 20 something newlywed across the street). They had a blast blasting snowballs with a baseball bat.
Most of all we had fun, fun and then some more fun.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Blogs Blogs and More Blogs

Well, it has been way too long since my last blog so here goes...

I have added 9 new blogs (actually 10 with this one). From Halloween to Thanksgiving and others in between. My last blog was Oct. 12th. A lot has happened and most has been captured by pictures. Please check out my 9 other new blogs.

Since my last blog we have had a birth, a marriage, Halloween, a new Scout, Thanksgiving, Ice Skating, Plastic Skating (read blog to see what I'm talking about) and a visit to Santa. We got report cards (all A's for Kara and A's & B's for Bryan). Soccer season is over - won some, lost some & tied some. All and all it was a fun season.

It is now December and I hope to keep up the blogs a little better in the future. Thank you all for reading up on my family.

Christmas Blessings to you all. May the goodness, mercy, and love of Jesus bring joy, peace and hope to your Christmas.

Santa


Bryan & Kara are now 10 and 6 years old and in 5th and 1st grade. Aunt Kim (John's little sister)was in Beaumont recently and while I was at work she took the kids to see Santa and surprised me with their picture and even got a frame for it. THANKS KIM!

As you can see since we are in TEXAS my kids are in shorts and t-shirts. I am just glad Kara is back to being okay with seeing Santa so up close and personal. Two years ago she sat in his lap just fine for the first time in her life then last year she was back to being afraid. Can't wait to see what next year brings.

"Ice" Skating in Beaumont, TX

I say "ICE" in quotes because the "ice" was actually a plastic slab. Kara and her friend Skylar who spent the night with us and Carson and her friend who met us there had a good time anyway and I guess that's all that matters.



Kara & Skylar


Carson and her friend from Kountze

Ice Skating in Downtown Houston

Friday after Thanksgiving ("Black Friday") we opted to go ice skating over fighting crowds in the shopping malls. Bryan and Kara put on those skates (1st time for Kara & 2nd for Bryan) and hopped on that ice and took off like they have been doing it all their lives. They loved it! The sun was shinning and it was warm so the ice melted quite a bit. Bryan had a blast "pretending" like he was falling down and dove into it like he was sliding in to home plate. His dad was proud that he was "practicing" for the upcoming baseball season.

I did miss the "Black Friday" shopping just a bit because I missed spending the time with my sister-in-law Kim. She and I have made it a tradition to go out in the wee hours of the morning and get those "great deals". She was scheduled to work that day so she came to Beaumont the weekend before Thanksgiving and helped me shop for her kids.

Kara - 6 years old


Bryan - 10 years old (you can't tell in the pic but he is soaked)


Tim helping Hannah learn to skate.


Hannah - 5 years old
The kids watching the Zamboni do it's job.

Thanks for Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving because it is usually the only time I get to see a lot of my extended family. The "Wynkoop" side (Thorpes) treat it as our annual Family Reunion. There are 3 Thorpes, my grandmother Judy Wynkoop is the youngest. She has 2 brothers Wix & Jack. Wix has 5 kids and Jack has 3 and Judy has 5 so you can imagine how many grand-kids and great-grand-kids these 3 Thorpes have. This year we had a rather small gathering - only 33 were able to make it to Houston ranging in ages 2 months to over 80 years old. Usually there are around 40 to 45 that make it each year with each of those years being a different make up of the family members. Each of the 3 Thorpe children (who are all over 80 years old) has over 25 when you count kids, spouses, grand-kids, & great-grand-kids.

THANKS Cindy for hosting Thanksgiving at your home. THANKS to all who put us up in your homes for the night. THANKS to all who brought such wonderful food. THANKS to all for the much needed fellowship. I love you all!!!

I took several pictures but decided to only add this one below. Pappy and the young kids had a great time playing card games. Thanks Pappy!!!

Kids will be Kids!!!

My Little Princess!!!

The other night before I went to bed I checked in on the kids as I usually do and found Kara sleeping in this plastic storage bin (the size that fits under your bed). I had just emptied it of her winter clothes and put them in her drawer. She even stayed asleep when I turned it on it's side to dump her out of it. Too cute!!!

Scouts

Well, we finally have a Scout in our household. I have been wanting to get Bryan involved in this terrific organization but have drug my feet. Back in 2005 we signed him up but then Hurricane Rita hit and it never got it's feet off the ground. Then with baseball, soccer, & school it just all seemed too much. Now that St. Andrews has decided to restart their Troop 221 we decided now was as good a time as any. I pray that our young man will stick with it and get his Eagle. There is so much peer pressure in this day and time. I am well aware that some kids may not support him being in the Scouts. In fact there are 2 boys in our neighborhood that he plays with often and one day he had to cut his playtime short to leave for a Scouts meeting. I was very sad when I heard them laugh about it (in front of me) and I called them out on it and asked them what their problem with it was. Later I talked to Bryan about it and he was upset (as I knew he would be) about them laughing and thinking it was un-cool to be in scouts. We had a good talk and he is happy to be in the Scouts (for now). In fact, as I am writing this blog Bryan and his dad are on their first Scouts camp out. Yeah!!! Please keep Bryan and his journey in Scouts in your prayers. He is a good kid and the Scouts will only make him better.

Below is a picture of Bryan in his Scout shirt before any patches got put on. I hope to get a new picture soon with the rest of his uniform and with his patches on.

P.S. No I am not trying to save money on haircuts. I have finally let Bryan keep his hair longer which to my dismay is the current style. It is so hard not to run him down to the local salon and get the #3 blade to this mop of hair.

Welcome to the World Kayden Lea

On September 20th, 2008 Kayden Lea was born. She just couldn't wait to see the world so she came about 6 weeks early. Kayden is now 2 months old. The first time I saw Kayden believe it or not I forgot my camera so here is MY first snapshots of her taken on Thanksgiving Day.




Jason & Hollie get Hitched Hawaii Style

On September 21, 2008 Jason and Hollie exchanged their vows in Hawaii with family and friends. I wish I could have been there but was lucky enough to get a few pictures sent to me by his sister. Congrats to you both!!!

The new family!!!

Halloween 2008

Hannah Montana aka Kara 6 years old and Baseball Catcher aka Bryan 10 years old


For Halloween this year I had a 6 year old Hannah Montana and a 10 year old boy who really really wanted to be something scary. With our church Halloween party we are asked not to be anything scary because there are lots of little ones that come for the night. We settled on Bryan being a "Baseball Catcher" (we had the equipment and it was easy) for our church event but then he was able to be "Jason" from Friday the 13th movies (which by the way he has NEVER seen so probably doesn't really know who "Jason" is but it looked cool at the store) for a Halloween party he went to and then after the church event we went to a few doors before heading home for the night.

Hay ride at the Church's Critter Carnaval


Ma-Maw, Kara (as Hannah Montana without the mask) & Bryan (as Jason without the mask)

Sunday, October 12, 2008

My Niece Reese Turns 2

Two fingers for 2 years old.

It's my party and I'll smile if I want to.

Fork? Who needs a fork?

See n' Say
Reese says "moo" after her first pull of the See n' Say birthday gift she received from her favorite Aunt Shelly :)

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Yeah 4 soccer!!!

Game # 1 - tied 2-2

Game # 2 tied 1-1

So glad to be watching Bryan play soccer again. After a late start because of hurricane Gustav and then the first 2 games cancelled due to hurricane Ike, soccer is on. We have 2 games under our belt both ending in ties. Our 1st game the team was short handed and after playing with no subs our boys played hard and tied 2 to 2. (Bryan scored one of our two goals.) For our second game we tied 1 to 1 with our boys playing hard and fast. They kept the ball on our end of the field for most of the 1st half but just couldn't pull off a win. Good effort made by our team. I just love watching Bryan play sports.

GO PUMAS GO!!!

I am also glad to say that Carson has also signed up to play soccer again this year. We've only been able to make it to one of her 2 games because Carson & Bryan's game last weekend was at the same time. I love watching the kids play in the sports they enjoy.

Carson is in position to give it a good kick.


Carson is #10

After all that running it's time for a spritz with the water fan.


The cutest little cheerleader in Hardin County
GO TIGER SHARKS GO!!!