Picture perfect...well almost

So, we took the kiddos to get Christmas pictures made this morning. It took some coercing...(better known as a bribe) but we were able to get some good shots. I don't have any of those pics to share though. We had to go to Walmart's portrait studio (if you can call it that) because of what happened at Sears last Saturday. I made an appt at Sears and we get and it was a mad house...I knew it would be, but that was not the problem. The problem was that one of their cameras had broke down that morning and it took and hour and a half to get it working again so they were at least the far behind with their appt. Bethany, Chad and Keenan were with us. We still had some Christmas shopping to do so we choose to wait and shop around the mall. After almost an hour and half and me getting so frazzled and discovering my children are cleptos (I think Grant gave Kaylyn the bear while we were in hallmark, I did not find it until we were at the food court getting a cookie, someone came up to me and handed me a stuffed bear that was laying on the floor next to the stroller. I told them I didn't think it was mine and they said they saw her (Kaylyn) drop it. The bag was wet so I figured she had been chewing on it. See this bear was in the bag from FYE that Grant's Pokemon card had been in...so I came to the conclusion that Grant had 'given' Kaylyn the bear. So, I took it back, no one at Hallmark even had a clue, the store was so packed with people.). With all that I could not even shop we decided to go back to Sears. While we had been gone one of the afternoon photographers had called in sick so they were even farther behind and it was still going to be another hour or more. Are you kidding me! It was so frustrating and pretty more a waste of an afternoon. So anyway, that is how we ended up getting pics made at Walmart.

This afternoon we had Christmas play practice at church so I decided I would take the camera and get a picture of my kids in front of the tree at church to use for our Christmas cards. I only took two shots...hey beggars can't be choosy...they were both smiling and sitting still...I can crop it in later. So, I thought I would share these with you all.

Hey, I was pleased with the outcome...this is the one I chose....look at the end of this post for the finished product and let me know what you think :o)

After play practice we had praise band practice and Grant loves to 'play' the instruments. He really enjoys music. He started out on the keyboard and then moved to the drums.

Kaylyn had fun entertaining herself with the tree decorations...don't worry, it's plastic :o).
So, here is my pick for our Christmas card pic...I blurred out the edges and muted the colors just a little. I think it turned out well, I am very pleased.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Christmas Break here we come!!!

Woohoo! How exciting to start seeing signs of students leaving :o). I love the residents, the atmosphere and the social interaction but a break is always nice too. And everyone was especially looking forward to the end of this semester. This week has been particularly stressful since we had a student/assistant coach to pass away suddenly on Monday. Doris Wefwafwa from Kenya. She was a beacon of light, full of God's love. She was always smiling and everytime you talked with her she would say "God bless you" many times and mean it everytime. She will be greatly missed.


This has been uniquely hard semester, starting and ending on the same note...mourning the death of a student. So, yes, this break is much needed for many. It will be very nice to spend time as a family since Kenny will be off work as well. I hope we will take advantage of the time and make some good family memories.

So, after thinking about it...I realized I never shared this pics. I took this one Sunday after church in my pastor's front yard. Grant ran out and jumped in the leaves as we were leaving and I just happened to have the camera in the diaper bag so I was able to get some good shots of both kiddos.

Grant was wanting Kaylyn to have fun too. He was throwing handfuls of leaves at her.

15 days...what a whirlwind!

So starts the whirlwind of the next two weeks for us. This week is finals week so the campus is a chaotic place to be. The tests are the easy part. It's all the cleaning and packing and moving that has to be done by Friday that is the crazy part. Plus my RA's and I have planned stressbusters for each night to be kind of like a study break for the residents of the Village. I am really looking forward to a lower level of stress for a few weeks.
So, my Mountaineer is in the shop getting the breaks looked at, the ABS light has been coming on for about a week now. I am really hoping it is the back breaks...that will be a much lighter hit on the pocket book. And I really hope it is done today because we are supposed to be taking it to get it repainted tomorrow...the paint started flaking off the hood about 2 months ago. The guy that sold it to us has offered to help us out and is getting it repainted for us...Thank you God and thank you Terry :o).
And of course, we have all these Christmas parties. Then next week Grant has surgery to get new tubes in his ears. And we will stay in Louisville all week to spend time with Kenny's family. We will come back Saturday around lunch time and go to church for Christmas play practice. The play is Sunday morning then Monday we will be having a family get together at my parents house...eat, play games, gifts...the whole 9 yards. Then Christmas Day is here...I hope it doesn't go quite so fast. I would like to enjoy it and not just rush through it.
Well, with all of the things that are going on this week I also have to find time to get the kids picture made for our Christmas cards, which I also need to get out before we leave in a week..., wrap all our gifts, pack suitcases, and unfortunately I'm sure there are other things I am forgetting about right now.
I guess I type all this to say that the countdown has begun.
Take the time to enjoy this Christmas season!

Toys have many uses

Grant decided the tree needed a few ornaments since I had not yet gotten ours out of storage to put on the tree. He used Kaylyn's letter links to adorn the tree. It was so cute to watch him decorate the tree and of course I had to get a few pictures after he was done :o).

My Dancing Girl

I know this video is rather dark but I think you can still see Kaylyn dancing to the music from one of her toys. It was just too cute, I had to share :o) Sorry it doesn't play very long, the batteries went dead in my camera and it shut itself off. But at least I caught the moment!

What I am thankful for...

Well, I told Shelley I was going to be a copy cat, so here it goes...I will count my blessings, name them one by one, count my blessings, see what God has done.

1. First and the only reason these other blessings are in my life, I am thankful for God, his love, his son and my salvation
2. my husband
3. 2 beautiful, wonderful children
4. music and singing in the praise band at church
5. family
6. a loving supporting church family
7. wonderful friends
8. free housing, as cramped as it may be
9. warm house, heat
10. health
11. cochlear implants, Dr. Severtson, Dr. Windmill and Dr. Ewing
12. email and the internet so I can keep in touch with family and friends
13. all paper products, kleenex, toilet paper, diapers, wipes, paper towels, paper plates (it sure does make my life easier)
14. my digital camera
15. scrapbooking and supplies
16. sunshine
17. good babysitter
18. nap time :o)
19. a good head start program
20. little people hugs and kisses
21. a good, safe family vehicle
22. Kosair Charities
23. dishwashers (even though I don't have one now, I really wish I did!)
24. that am able to breastfeed
25. that both kids are sleeping through the night most nights
26. a extra large bath towel
27. indoor plumbing
28. tylenol
29. the ear drops the dr gave Kaylyn when she had an ear infection
30. scrapbook stores with work space :o)
31. when I get those few minutes to be by myself
32. my comfy lounge pants from Old Navy
33. all the students on this campus who love my kids and are willing to help out when I need it
34. the long Christmas break coming up! woohoo
35. the job I have so that I can be home with my kids
36. glasses/contacts so I can see
37. $2 movie night, though we don't get to go very often
38. payday! (and I am not talking about the candy bar)
39. almost being done with our holiday shopping
40. being able to take a nice long hot shower
41. a pre-lit Christmas tree
42. the Joy of the season
43. being able to get a hot meal from the caf if I want to
44. jarred baby food, and gerber puff star snacks
45. drive-thru windows
46. comfy shoes
47. cell phones
48. time to read to my kids
49. God's promise of a hope and future, and that it is all in his hands and not mine
50. not being able to read the minds of those around me :o)

Kids can sleep anywhere...Why can't I?

When Kaylyn gets her belly full she crashes. Not a care in the world. So relaxed.

Grant had been watching his daddy play a computer game. I watched his eyelids get heavier and heavier. He sat there a good 10 minutes sound asleep.

It just amazes me how children can get so relaxed and fall asleep anywhere, with whatever it going on around them. And me, I could go to bed so tired but lay there not able to fall asleep because my mind is racing with all the things I have to do the next day. Then I will just doze off and Kaylyn will wake up...just my luck. I am thankful that she has started sleeping all night again (darn ear infections). It is a perfect night when both kiddos sleep all night and I can fall asleep quickly.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Can you tell that Grant picked out his own pumpkin and I picked Kaylyn's. I was surprised that Grant's even sat upright since it is way smaller at the bottom and very uneven. At the pumpkin patch he was gathering all the pumpkins and putting them in a pile, we finally got him to pick just one.

Well, after a two week hiatus, I am back. It has been a busy time. The kids have been sick and it is now time to start getting the rooming assignments ready for the Spring semester. And my camera has had a dead battery so that is my excuse for not having a new post for two weeks...I mean who is interested in a post that doesn't have any pictures! So I thought I would share a few pics from our Thanksgiving Day (I got some new batteries from mom's house :o)). It is Kaylyn's first. My parents were out of town so it was just my family and my sister's family. And the guys decided they would cook our Thanksgiving feast. Here is a pic of our dinner table...

We had turkey, dressing, gravy, sweet potatoes, macaroni, corn, peas, dressed eggs, cranberry sauce, rolls, and pumpkin pie.
They did good. :o)

Kaylyn enjoyed her first Thanksgiving meal. I'm not sure if you can tell but she has macaroni on her face. And she ended up with peas in her hair.

Here she is in her First Thanksgiving bib...she was eating her cereal. Isn't she a cutie!

Here is a random pic of Grant...I'm not sure why he was doing this except to just show that he could...it must be a boy thing...

The next two pics are random as well...I guess just to show how well Kaylyn is getting around these days.Kaylyn has quickly improved her climbing skills. She can climb up our stairs with very little effort. She thinks where ever her big brother goes she can go too. So, we have been blocking the stairs off with the couch until we can get a new gate for the bottom.

I just had to add this one...we had just gotten home from my parents house and she had fallen asleep...she must have been turning her head alot...I of course had to take a pic...it was just too sweet to pass up.

Well, there you go...it was a rather random post...but at least it is just that, a post. And I will try to do better for those of you who were tired of looking at the same post for two weeks :o).

Hope you all had a happy thankful turkey day!

Dejavu...

Shelley's latest blog got me thinking about my kids baby pics. I looked through and this is what I found...

Okay, so you can definitely tell they are siblings. There is a slight family resemblance :o).
All I see is two really cute kiddos.

Just two things...

I got this in an email and I hate forwarding things on so I though I would just post it on my blog and you can read it or not, fill it out pass it on or not...

Two Names You Go By:
1. Amy
2. Mommy - my favorite :o)

Two Things You Are Wearing Right Now:
1. Black Planet Hollywood, Paris sweatshirt
2. Grey sweatpants

Two Things You Would Have in a Relationship:
1. Unconditional love
2. To share the work, joys and griefs

Two of Your Favorite Things to do:
1. Scrapbooking
2. Spending time with family

Two Things You Want Very Badly At The Moment:
1. A shower...
2. More time to scrapbook :o)

Two pets you have had:
1. Sunset the kitty
2. Socks the dog

Two things you did last night:
1. added a post to my blog
2. went to mom's for dinner

Two things you ate today:
1. Kelloggs Cereal Bar
2. nothing else yet

Two people you Last Talked To:
1. Kenny
2. Kaylyn

Two Things You're doing tomorrow:
1. Working at Student Services
2. watching Survivor and CSI

Two longest car rides
1. McAllen, Texas---25 hours
2. Orlando, Florida---14 hours

Two Favorite Holidays:
1. Christmas
2. Thanksgiving

Two favorite beverages:
1. Dr. Pepper
2. Carmel Macciato---Starbucks

Did you vote?

Well, today is election day. Did you make it to the polls to cast your vote? Though I don't really like politics I feel it is very important vote. My grandfather felt it was very important as well, I guess that is just one thing that was carried on from generation to generation. I look at it like this, if you don't vote then I don't want to hear you complaining about the way the government is going. Even if your candidate doesn't win, at least you tried to make a difference and let your voice be heard.

Now on to sharing some pictures :o)...
These are not recent but I thought I would share them anyway.
So the date is not correct, obviously...This pic was taken this summer. Kaylyn woke up early and fell back to sleep. Grant came in after Kenny left for work and watched Nick Jr and dozed off again too. I had to get a pic. Nothing cuter than a sleeping baby, except for maybe two sleeping babies :o).

It is now time to start putting the rail up on the crib. I caught Kaylyn pulling up on the rail after her nap. You can see the evidence on her nose from where she crawled off the bed. She got a nasty carpet burn. It just happened so fast. I am just not ready for her to be so mobile. If she keeps it up she will be walking by Christmas!




Grant has grown so much, he is such a big boy now and a great big brother. He is a big helper too, as you can see from this pic.








Well, guess that is enough randomness for now. I hope you all had a good day! Leave a comment let me know who is reading this blog :o).

Happy Halloween!

We had a good time trick or treating with the kiddos. Grant decided not to wear his pirate costume, but wanted instead to be an army man. Kaylyn was the cutest ladybug you have ever seen. Here are a few pics...

We met up with my sister, brother-in-law and nephew. Keenan was the most adorable sweetest smelling skunk you have ever seen.

We started out on campus, at the Trunk-r-Treat, hosted by BCM. Then we went to President Carter's house.

Some of the village residents were handing out candy as well. We even came across another little ladybug (Todd and Abby Parrish's little girl).

We finished the night at my aunt's house. My mom and dad came over to her house as well so we would only have to make one stop.

By the time had come to go home Kaylyn was so wore out. So, on the ride home she fell asleep.
Grant saw me taking a picture of the sleeping ladybug and he started pretending to be asleep as well.

So that was our night. The kids had a good time and were good and ready for bed tonight too. Grant has a field trip tomorrow to a farm/petting zoo so I will have new pictures to post again tomorrow night. Hope you all had a Happy Halloween!