Some of the kids' best friends, Fall Festival 2011

The Campbell Family: Ryan, Raygan, and Reese (or Reesie Peesie, as Tommy calls him)

These are Fletcher, Paris, and Tommy's best friends. They LOVE the Campbells. The kids get to see each other every Tuesday now at Options. They are actually in different classes because of grade differences, but they still get to eat lunch together and play at recess. Tommy and Reesie have play dates on Tuesday mornings while the big kids are in school. Those two are Ree-dic-ulous together! So funny. So wild and rough and tumble. Luckily, they both like to wrestle and play BIG!

Lexie, one of Sarah's close friends, was a black cat. She and Monika (said "Monique-ah") came over after the Fall Fest for a slumber party. The three girls danced and sang until 1 a.m. They gave Charlie and I three dance performances before midnight which was cute.
Sarah and Monika, whom I love. Monika is dressed as Cleopatra in the costume she picked out and paid for with her own money. She is the SWEETEST thing! She is SO kind to Tommy and Noah. Her mom says she is so amazing with babies from choosing to help with them in the orphanage where she lived for many years.
My favorite picture of baby Shrek:

Valentine's Day Fun, 2011

The kids show off their creations:

Tommy loved tasting the creations:
Daddy was an enthusiastic overseer of the dipping work:
Paris just loves her new friend, MaKenna, and the two enjoyed the Young's Valentine's Day party together.
Sarah and the girls had a ball with the Valentines exchange and special food treats. Our kids brought gift baggies of their hand-dipped chocolate pretzel rods with sprinkles to give to all their friends and some to share at the party, along with their chocolate covered strawberries.
(Sarah, Lauren Keegan, Katelyn Keegan, Lexi Young)

Bday party pictures from South Platte River

"Clifford," the student ministries' ice cream truck, makes an appearance at Sarah's 9th bday party!

Charlie had been praying for a year for a free ice cream truck for the student ministries to use for passing out free ice cream sandwiches to kids in neighborhoods, skate parks, school events, church activities, etc. God said, "Yes!" to that prayer recently. Clifford joined our church about a month ago but was just revealed to the students a week ago after he got a great sprucing up from Chris West and his buddies. Clifford looks awesome and is ready to hit the streets with the kids. He made an appearance at Sarah's bday party which was so fun for her friends. Our kids LOVE Clifford! This Sunday they get to pass out ice cream sandwiches with the high school students at the skate park, and they are SO thrilled!! Tommy goes nuts when he sees Clifford in the church parking lot, waving and screaming and pointing at this beloved vehicle which he knows is so important to his Daddy. He loved Clifford well before the ice cream association, but now, there is probably going to be a strong connection between seeing Clifford and getting to eat some yummy ice cream treats!!

Photos from Sarah's Bday River trip

Sarah turns 9!!

We had a great time celebrating Sarah's nine years of life on Friday, May 7th. She invited about 10 girls to our home for lunch, games, cake and ice cream before piling in the Chuckwagon to head the 45 minutes to the Pike National Forest to play in our favorite place, the South Platte River. We moved the party to the backyard after her three siblings spent the week prior to the party battling one of the worst stomach viruses our family has ever experienced. We'd decorated the whole main floor with the decorations she'd picked out. She wanted a soccer theme since "soccer is my favorite sport, Mom." Decorating was the highlight of the day before the party, a very exciting activity that all four kids really enjoyed. Sarah was bummed that I decided on Friday morning not to allow the slumber party part of the bday celebration happen due to the virus that had just hit Fletcher. She'd planned to have four friends spend the night after the river adventure portion of the party ended. Thank You, God, I did make that decision because the virus hit Sarah on Saturday. Urghhh. By Monday, everyone was well. Only 11 short days of our family dealing with the stomach virus!! Here are the highlights from her fun birthday party (which two friends couldn't come to at the last minute because they were dealing with the same stomach flu!)

Snapfish prints from Dec. 2009

50 prints for 50 cents! Thanks, Marts, for the tip about that deal. :)