Frogs and Family

Last weekend was a Rader weekend! We went to Anthony's (my third cousin, if you want to be exact) graduation from Texas Christian University near downtown Fort Worth and were invited to the Rader Christmas gathering Sunday afternoon. Haisley had a ton of fun at both events and so did we!

Haisley had so much fun opening presents. We weren't really expecting to open any gifts but were pleasantly surprised by all of the "love".

Proud parent, Aaron, with one of the twins, Bethany.

Aunt Sharon and me - Sharon had two parties in two days at her home. I'm not quite sure how she pulled it off. She cooked steaks, potatoes, sauteed mushrooms and bread along with a salad on Saturday evening for Anthony, her youngest child's graduation. On Sunday, she made homemade spaghetti and meatballs with salad and bread. She loves to host parties and always does a fabulous job! It doesn't hurt having Uncle Tony to help her do whatever she needs to pull it off, either!

This is Madelyn and Haisley. Madelyn's parents gave us a ton of clothes and shoes that have been such a blessing to dress her in! Amazing!!! Pretty much every professional picture you see of Haisley is her in Madelyn's clothes. Just precious! LaDana, Madelyn's mom, and I have the exact same taste in clothes!

Marilyn and baby Zachary

Kim and baby Bethany

This is the proud mother of the twins, Amber. Doesn't she look great???

Me holding Zachary. He looks so much like Aaron, my cousin and his daddy, it amazes me! Bethany looks like Amber. So cool!

Back to Haisley opening presents

Elmo is always a hit!

Elmo DVDs from Uncle Tony and Aunt Sharon

Haisley pointing to Elmo

Aunt Sharon admiring Haisley opening gifts

Karen and Marty got Haisley a pink Minnie Mouse doll and a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Christmas book. She loves Minnie Mouse!!!

Haisley hugging her new friend, Minnie.

Aunt Sharon reading the Dr. Seuss books they got her. She loves the ABC book and Mr. Brown Can Moo from the collection the best.

This is the Washburn family opening presents. Everyone was opening presents around us. It wasn't just about Haisley :).

Marty had a game for all of us to play. We each brought 3 one dollar bills and we rolled dice to determine if we give a dollar to the person on our left or right, in the center of the table or we could keep our dollar(s). It came down to Amber and Justin. After several suspenseful rolls, Justin ended up winning! He won $42! Pretty impressive!

Mike and Tony


We all had fun!

After a lot of presents to open and playing with the kids, Haisley was exhausted. She wouldn't take a nap in her pack 'n' play so Tony rocked her to sleep. They both napped for a little over an hour. Pretty cute!

This is at the TCU graduation. The graduation lasted longer than any graduation I've ever attended or been in. We arrived at 11:30 to take pictures with Anthony, the ceremony started at 1, we left at 2:30 because I had to get to church for practice with the band. We heard it didn't end until 3:30. 2 1/2 hour long graduation. Crazy!!!

Close-up of Anthony receiving his diploma

Sue and Haisley

Anthony

There was a huge, live Christmas tree in the center of campus and Haisley was enamored by it. Tony took her up to touch the ornaments.

From L to R: Aaron, Amber, Sharon, Anthony, Tony and Ashley - Anthony was the last child to graduate from college. I'm sure Tony and Sharon were happy! Three kids in college the past 10 years. Crazy!!!

Us with Anthony - Congrats Anthony! We're proud of you!

This is a TCU cake I made for one of our friend's sons that graduated from TCU last weekend also. It is a two-tier chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream icing covered in marshmallow fondant. It was very tedious to make. I'm still paying for it with my back being in a lot of pain from rolling out the fondant and cutting out the letters and designing the horned frogs mascot. It was the first cake I made that I got paid for so that made up for the pain. Well, we'll see once I get the chiropractor bill if I "netted" anything :)!