Bieber Fever

Oh, the joys of having a tweenager. In this case, braving thousands of screaming (and I do mean SCREAMING) girls at the Justin Beiber concert.

But after all, July 6th, the day of the concert, was my oldest daughter's 12th birthday. What a fun way to celebrate! So, I bought her a ticket and a ticket for a friend, and of course, the obligatory adult chaperone ticket.

And then I tucked my earplugs in my purse. Just kidding, but I did have a litle bit of that "Ok, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" kind of attitude. Here are Kami and her friend Brooks before the concert.

Then appeared the teen dream, Justin Bieber himself. Baby, baby, baby oooh!

And the more I watched, the more I got the fever, Beiber fever, that is. I thought his songs were sweet and catchy. I loved "One Time" and "One Less Lonely Girl" I stood up and started clapping and dancing in the aisles! I admit he was flirty, calling out to all the "beautiful girls" at his concert, but he was so cute and his concert was clean and it took me back to 1983, when I fell hard for Ponyboy and Sodapop Curtis on Outsiders. Rob Lowe and C. Thomas Howell opened the door to those first feelings of pure, innocent interest in boys. And to the dream of someday falling in love with the man for me...

I think the Kami might have gotten just a tiny bit of Bieber fever herself on her 12th birthday.

A Christmas Carol - 2009

Does anyone sing "Come on Ring Those Bells" anymore?

I learned the Christmas carol in school as a kid and sang it at the top of my lungs.

I hope it will make a comeback if you haven't heard it;

it's such a fun song with a message!

Come sing along with us now... and enjoy the images of our Christmas 2009.

Cancuuuuuuuuun!

Here are some pictures of Cancun in no particular order because I am too crazy to rearrange them and if I would've been smart I would have uploaded them in the preferred order but I didn't so now they are all helter skelter and don't really tell a story but I can't worry about it because it is December 5th and this week of vacation in Cancun was so wonderful but put me behind Christmas-wise and the only thing I have done to this point is my Christmas cards, which is great, but there is not one, I repeat not one Christmas item up, they are all still in my attic. Deep Breath. So not as to neglect the documenting of our family story, I add these pictures with a few phrases to help me to remember in the future what fun filled experiences we had in Cancun, Mexico in November 2009.

Hallie and Kami on the beach,

Luke and Khloe bury Ellie alive!Luke relaxing in a hammock.

Every room at Moon Palace Resort had a hammock.
Interestingly, my mom and dad's hammock was stolen one night,
ut management replaced it that next day.

Kami and Tom taking in the deep blue expanse.Preparing to Parasail!Gotta love birds that dive headfirst into the water for their lunch.Game Time!

Luke and Josh poolside.

Hallie has excited eyes while parasailing!

Fun with sand.

We love our players.
Roderick is the one on crutches.
He tore his ACL just a couple days before this trip.

Thanksgiving Day fun? Wet and Wild Water Park

The kindergarten crew.

Luke and Lauren by the Palms

Don't palm trees make nice background?
This is Kami and Mackenzie waiting to swim with the dolphins.

Looking for shells our last morning in Cancun.

The "toilet bowl" - what we called this very cool ride at Wet and Wild.
This is Scott riding it
(before he was flushed out like a piece of well, you know)
and we all took a turn on it!
Never seen anything like it!This is Kiki, Kami an Hallie enjoying
an exhilirating trip on the parasail!

Hankoween

Perhaps that post title sounds a little racy.
Just trying to be a little creative here.
The local aquarium has HallowMarine
and the zoo has Hallowzooeen.
This is the Hankins' family version! Hankoween.

One blogging challenge is how to make the same types of pictures from annual events fresh and interesting every year.

I am blogging my FOURTH Halloween! I am excited about that fact, but aware that Halloweens 2006, 2007, and 2008 could look scarily like the Halloween of 2009, just different costumes.

Traditions:
We always go to a Halloween party with my sister and her family before Halloween, followed by a grab bag of Halloween parties and decorating cookies at Granny's house. Finally, we have the visit to Granny's on Halloween Eve and then Trick or Treating in the Mackey's neighborhood, followed by a quick strike back in our own neighborhood. It is just about the most fun a kid could have. And with the weather this year, I was feeling the fun... it was absolutely gorgeous... plus there were no heavy winter coats messing with the presentation of my kids' costumes.

Speaking of that... what is up with my kids' choices of costumes?
I guess Luke's choice was pretty typical for a 6 year old boy... he always wants to be mean or scary... this year he was Cobra from the G.I. Joe show....? I have no idea who that is, really. Could be a character of a serial killer for all I know.
Then Ellie chose to be a nerd. I told her she didn't have to dress up to be a nerd. She could just go as herself. Ha ha. She was cracking us up with her suspenders, taped up glasses and pens in her pocket. She collected her Halloween candy in a backpack. Here she is with her cousins, Ana and Hallie. Look how DARLING they both look, and then, there's my nerd. One thing she does have is personality!
And Kami got this totally original idea to be duck tape girl. Duck tape seems to be "the thing" this year... the girls at school are making duck tape bracelets and covering their notebooks in duck tape. If you didn't know already, duck tape (as opposed to duct tape) comes in a plethora of colors. Even plaid. Kam fashioned her costume out of some old clothes and orange, pink and purple duck tape. The costume was actually about $ 40.00 cheaper than the Cobra dude that Luke dressed up as.... she also has a silver duck tape bow and a striped duck tape cape. Here Duck Tape Girl is with her friend Goldilocks at a Halloween party.I thought my girls both looked cute and their costumes were just right for each of them. However, for just once could they possibly look like my sister's children? Just once, put on a frilly skirt and revel in their girlishness? Pleeeease?
I call them the three pretty princesses, because that is what they are. Gorgeous. Adorable. Princessy. Precious. And such a contrast to my nerd, my duck tape girl and my... um... cobra man. Take a look at an up close contrast: the nerd and the ballerina. Sigh. I've given in to it. Don't get me wrong... I adore my kids just as they are. I am not going to squeeze their fanny cheeks into a frilly costume they don't want to wear. I might consider it though! ;-) Costume choice is just a funny part of our Hankoween.So is all the other fun stuff, like getting Boo'd. Did any of you get Boo'd? That is when someone comes and leaves you Halloween treats at night. They ring your doorbell and run away. Then, you return the favor to someone else. My kids got Boo'd and they Boo'd some friends. These lovely teeth above were from one of our fun boos. Like the eyeball cookies we made this year? Ellie called this her "Here's Looking at You" cookie.
Possibly the cutest Halloween costumes I saw were the Oompa Loompa and Willy Wonka, which further proves my point. My kids don't have to be frilly, just coordinated! That would work for me! I am not getting bitter... just sayin'....Eating some severed finger gummies. Oh so yummy.The spookiest house in the neighborhood... visiting it is a Hankoween tradition.Kami and her purple skittle of a sweet friend. This picture just kind of sums up our Hankoween. The preciousness of time with friends and family. Showing love and attention to others. Having a zest for life and breathing in each second.....

.... even if it is with my Cobra man, my nerd and my duck tape girl.