Winter Wonderland! (not quite...)

Yesterday in the 96 degree (in our house) heat, we decided to pull out the Christmas decorations!

It is always fun to remember what we have since we are only here to decorate every other year!

It's also fun to see what the rats have destroyed - the kids' faces as they saw what the rats had eaten were priceless!!

It was Cambree's year to put the star on the tree!

Cason was such a big help! He only dropped one nativity set, decapitating poor Joseph. Cambree (my super compassionate child) rushed to him saying, "It's ok, Cason! It's only his head!" :)

Our Advent table - our Advent devotions start Sunday!

My nativity collection

My Santa collection

One of my favorite ornaments from my sister!

The tree! I love it!

Our winter wonderland!

After all that work, it was time for 80 minutes of P90x Yoga with Mandy!!

Happy Thanksgiving 2014!

Our Thanksgiving at New Day was a wonderful, 104 degree day of celebration! :)
The kids all dressed and ready to go!

How many turkeys do you count in this picture??? (I see 5!!) These turkeys were running around New Day on Wednesday and in our bellies on Thursday!

His and hers Turkeys! Ricky's was fried and Niki's was roasted!

Watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade online!

Our group pic (minus Niki!)

A panorama of the food spread - turkey, mashed potatoes, dressing, macaroni & cheese, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, broccoli salad, deviled eggs, rolls, pineapple casserole, and cranberry sauce!

The turkey comas begin....

Unfortunately, one hour into our celebration, the power went off for 3 1/2 hours, so we ended our night outside looking at the stars and visiting

Cambree stayed up until 10pm and kept saying, "I feel like such a grown up!!" :)

Last Day!!

Today was the last day of our 2014 school year! We have a nice, long "summer" break until we start a new year on January 12th!

Grade 2 Language Arts class (and Cambree hanging out with them for the day!) with Teacher Carolyn

Grade 2 Math with Teacher Hildah!

Grade 4 Bible with Teacher Abby!

Kindergarten Bible with Nurse Mandy!

Teacher Diana's Pre-K class with Everlet - moving on up to Kindergarten next year!

It was a great year, and I now have a 5th grader, 4th grader, and 1st grader!!

Happy 6th Birthday Cason!

Cason Mark Tidwell is 6 years old today! This boy is a bundle of energy, joy, laughter, dirt, and FUN wherever he goes! He is carefree, easygoing, and the silliest child I have ever met! He makes me smile every single day. We love you Cason!

We got up early and opened gifts before school - he loved his dry erase set and lollipops from the Kimbroughs and was so excited to take the suckers to school to share with his friends!

Mama Dee's famous card :)

She had a challenge as last year she had to make a Power Rangers card too - I promise this is your last Power Ranger card, Mom!

A backpack, stuffed Power Ranger, and puzzle from Mama Dee & Grandpa!

A special "Cason" book from Paw & B-Maw!

I love their faces - this was something he REALLY wanted in South Africa that we didn't buy...or he THOUGHT we didn't buy it! :)

Power Rangers for the Wii!

Cason chose pancakes for breakfast, cereal for lunch, and "handburgers" for supper! He has school today, but we will have a fun family night together of burgers, trampoline time, and his pick of a movie! :) Happy Birthday to my baby!!

Cason's Party and Other Excitement!

Tomorrow is Cason's birthday, but today we had his birthday party! Here's a look at his past five birthday parties!

1st - Curious George party - Bangs, Texas

2nd - Construction party - Choma, Zambia

3rd - Truck party - Brownwood, Texas

4th - Batman party - New Day, Zambia

5th - Power Rangers party - Brownwood, Texas

6th - Power Rangers party...again... - New Day, Zambia

He forgot about blowing the candles out and just sat there for a minute until we all finally yelled, "Blow!!"

A jumbo Spiderman coloring book from Papa Wes & Mama Lala!

That's a lot of Power Rangers..

He also loved his new puzzle..and made a LOT of silly faces throughout the party!

My little angels ;)

How old are you now? 6!!

A GREAT day for water pouring!!

Teacher Hildah wanted to play in the mud, but Cason wasn't interested!!

He dressed himself for church this morning :)

Every day, he comes home from school and strips down and does his homework in his undies!

I pulled his front tooth this morning!!

Cason & Mama Joyce

Cambree's yield from her garden!

Carolyn & Debbie hanging out in the New Day kitchen last week during Family Dinner night

Niki frying up some bacon!