The Dean Homestead

Wow, she is getting to be so .......

Anyway, we had a party and invited our homeschool friends. This is a great benefit of staying home, you don't have to always have your parties on the weekends.

So we invited her friends and made all the plans and didn't tell Sissy. It was supposed to be a surprise. I suggested that we have a play date so she wouldn't suspect when people started to come.

It turns out that she is just as bad as I am at ruining surprises. She suggested that we invites all of her homeschool friends and make it her party instead... oh well. I had been wondering how I was going to pick up the cake without her seeing it (a draw back to having your kids with you all of the time).

Most of the kids came and they had a great time. Sissy had made a tray of cookies and brownies to share. We had hotdogs, mac & cheese and pasta. Of course we had ice-cream and cake.

I had originally said no gifts but family doesn't allow parties with no gifts so she had plenty of those to open. Here she is with her most favorite store bought toy.... Calico Critters. She has been wanting them for 2 years but hadn't gotten any until today. Now she has both the dog family and the cat family.



After all of the gifts were done the small children went out to play on the swings and the older children opened up the Apples To Apples game that Daddy brought home the other day. They said they had a blast with the game and so did I.

Thank you to all of our friends and family that came or sent gifts and cards. Sissy had a wonderful day and says "Thank you very much".

Since we had family for the weekend, we took the opportunity to celebrate both Sissy's upcoming birthday as well as Valentine's Day and more Christmas.

First, Sissy received more treasures for her special shelf in her room. Here is one that she especially likes...



Then we had Christmas. Little Man and Curly got some new clothes... they love clothes!



We finished up with Valentine's Day. The children gave Grandma Dean and Aunt Amy the cards that they had made. Mommy gave Curly a sterling thimble and Little Man gave both of his sisters each a new porcelain doll. Here is Curly with hers.



Always remember that giving is much more fun than getting.... but getting can be fun too! :)

Let us all be thankful for the little things,
Mother Dean

Well, last month we decided that we would wait until we were moved into the new place before we had gifts. We are in and now have the room to open and put away gifts.

Here is just one of the millions of pictures that we took last night.



My mother and grandmother came over to share the occasion with us.

Thanks to everyone that sent gifts and cards for the holidays,
Mother Dean

So Curly's birthday was months ago but we didn't want to have a bunch of gifts to pack and move so we decided to have her family party after we moved.

Here she is..



We had cake with her friends back in October so Maw-Maw decided to put candles in her ice-cream.

What a fun evening with the family!

Happy Holidays to you and yours,
from the Pa Deans

We come together as friends, families, communities and a nation. Let us all, joyfully, give thanks for what we have and the opportunities that present themselves. In this great nation we have many freedoms and today we exercise our duty to celebrate those freedom.

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So, I didn't take any pictures of the ceremony but I did get some nice shots of the reception. Here are just a few.

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Curly's 4th birthday has come and gone but we waited to get the bunnies before having a party for her. That way she would have her present on party day. Here are pictures of the party we had with her friends at Snow Hill.

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Thank you so much to everyone who called, sent cards and gave gifts. You all made my birthday a very special day!

Love,
Mother Dean

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