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).