Don's Birthday

In November Don celebrated another birthday.  Jake woke up extra early to make sure Don was able to open the best present ever before he left for work.  Jake thought it was a perfect gift for those "family movie nights that Dad just loves!!"

Hayley was super cute and made a fun scavenger hunt up for Don to find his present.

We celebrated with cake balls, experimenting with German Chocolate Balls, Don's favorite type of cake. It was a great day. We love ya Don/Dad!!!

Birthday Fun

Happy Birthday Don!

This month Don celebrated another birthday.
We had fun with his parents coming for fun the night before & partied again on his birthday.

Good food, fun and cake balls 2 nights in a row, what could be better?

Even the ice cream scoop was tasty....

We love you Dad!

Michael missed the 2nd party because of bball practice and young mens at church, but he caught up with Don at the end of the night for a little birthday root beer and NCIS. Life is good!

Seems Like Yesterday....

Okay, so not exactly like yesterday...

15 years and 5 kids later

Happy Anniversary Don!

Fiesta

Saturday we celebrated Don's birthday with a little fiesta.

Nice sombrero hombre!

It's Party Time

Happy 40th Birthday to my man!

Quebec City

Check out the hotel (CASTLE!) Don got to stay at when he was in Quebec City this past week for work...I've really got to get me a passport one of these days & tag along on some of these trips!

Welcome back to our castle, honey! :)

One Crazy Night

Wednesday evening Don pulled up to the house just as I was buckling kids in the car. I quickly pulled Jake and Hayley out of the car and sent them running through the rain into the house with Don, so I could get through the next few hours a little quicker. Michael had a birthday party, Trevor had Cub Scouts & I was visiting teaching during the Scout time. It was then back to the church to pick up Trevor, over to pick Michael up from the party, stop at Target to get a few last minute things for Michael's trip that he was leaving for at 6 am the next day and return home by 10 pm.

The house was eerily quiet with lots of lights on. I followed the trail of lights to our room, the only room with no light, and this is what I found...



And I thought I was tired! Apparently the kids didn't like the rainstorm going on and were not happy about me being gone. So the 3 of them just laid on the bed and were talking until they all just konked out. I loved the pose of Hayley's hand protectively laid across Jake's back. I just had to get a shot of it before I moved everyone to their beds for the night. So sweet!

Our Anniversary

Yesterday was our wedding anniversary. 14 years ago Don & I were married in the Washington DC temple. It's hard to believe it's been that long...well hard until I look in the back seat of the car and see all those kids! It is so great to be married to my best friend. Don got off work a little early so we could all go to dinner before Trevor's Scout meeting. Good times!

Spring Break Memories

The Mangum Family 2008 Spring Break Recap:

Day 1 - Friday, March 14th
We started Spring Break with some Spring Cleaning, followed by an afternoon at the pool with friends. Don flies home from a long work conference in Vegas.

HAYLEY PASSING THE SWIM TEST


Day 2 - Saturday, March 15th
2 soccer games and a flag football game, followed by our annual trip to the Rodeo. Our family favorites included the pig races, carnival rides, and of course, all the FOOD! (see below post for more details and pictures!)

TREVOR & HAYLEY CHILLIN' AT THE GAMES

YEEHAW!! IT'S RODEO TIME!

Day 3 - Sunday, March 16th
Church and making cookies


Day 4 - Monday, March 17th
Happy Saint Patrick's Day! Library fun and off to see "Horton Hears a Who!
HAYLEY SHOWING HER YUMMY SHAMROCK COOKIE SHE MADE
MICHAEL DIVING INTO A BOOK
REMEMBER - A PERSON IS A PERSON, NO MATTER HOW SMALL!

Day 5 - Tuesday, March 18th
We visited the Museum of Natural Science with friends. Favorites were the dinosaur bones, the lions and zebras (Jake...loving the lion chasing the zebra, then later that "ketchup" on the zebra's leg!), the hands on exhibits, and the beautiful gem necklaces (Hayley of course!). Michael and Don ended the day watching the Rockets ending their 22 game winning streak to the Celtics. It was a great game to be at, even with the ending. Michael got these tickets to see his 2 favorite teams play for an early birthday present.


MOST OF THE GANG AND FRIENDS AT THE MUSEUM - 12 KIDS & 3 MOMS...YES WE ARE NUTS!

JAKE, HAYLEY & EMMY CHECKING OUT THE "BABY" DINASOUR

"LOOK EMMY, THE LION IS TRYING TO BITE THE ZEBRA'S BUM!" - JAKE WITH THE ALWAYS ENTERTAINING COMMENTARY

TREVOR SHOWING US HIS MUSCLES, TRYING TO LIFT THE 50 LBS WEIGHT!


Day 6 - Wednesday, March 19th
Piano Lessons and a quiet day of playing games and reading...well as quiet as playing Apples to Apples and Wii can be at our house!

Day 7 - Thursday, March 20th
Hayley and Jake went to play at my friend Maria's house. Michael, Trevor & I meet some friends at the Museum of Fine Arts and went to the POMPEII special exhibit. It was really interesting to see this ancient city that was fossilized after a volcano eruption in 79 AD. No pictures were allowed in the exhibit itself, but I got a couple fun ones outside the muesuem. After the museum I picked Hayley & Jake up & everyone came and played at our house. After a few rounds of Wii, we met up with the other moms at the park where the boys played football and basketball until everyone was tired out.

TREVOR POSING...WHICH IS THE FINE ART HERE?

TYLER, TREVOR, JONATHAN AND MICHAEL

Day 8 - Friday, March 21st

Don took off for the holiday week-end and we drove up to visit my parents. That evening we had fun dying Easter Eggs together. After dying 3 dozen eggs and 1 orange turned blue (Michael's attempt at Fine Art!), the kids were all multi-colored and ready for baths and bed.







Day 8 - Saturday, March 22nd

SIX FLAGS!!!! We went to Six Flags today with Grandpa and Uncle Ben. The other Texas cousins and Uncle Bob & Aunt Cynthia meet us there mid-day...after flying the red-eye back from the west coast! They are amazing! Six Flags was a lot of fun. I had the camera with me & the younger bunch in Looney Tune Land (and yes, Jake made sure it was very looney!). Michael loved the Superman ride and I still don't think Trev & Grandpa have recovered yet from the hangtime on that upside down ride they rode on! After a long fun day, we meet up with Grandma for a late dinner at On the Border before heading our separate ways for the night.
















Day 9 - Easter Sunday, March 23rd

Easter Sunday was a great day. We had a nice Easter program at church, Easter baskets for the kids, a fantastic family dinner, a Easter Egg Hunt for the kids, followed by your traditional snowball fight! Yep you read that right, Grandmommie had frozen a dozen snowballs from their last snow for the kids to have fun with. It was Jake's first time playing with snow and it was fun to watch their reactions to the cold balls of ice! We also tried to sneak in another humorous attempt at getting a good family picture...foiled again by someone's fun personality - see if you can guess the culprit. Before we parted ways for the night, Aunt Cynthia did the big deed - Haircuts!







SNOWBALL FIGHT!!!










FAMILY PICTURES











HAIRCUTS








Day 10 - Monday, March 24th

Back to reality. We said our good-byes to Grandpa and Grandmommie and headed back home. Now it is back to work and back to school. Thanks for the memories!