The Blue House Chronicles

2010-07-27T11:43:00.003-04:00

I found this blog and I liked it so I thought I would share it :o)

The Undercover Book Lover

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Grant's Birthday...wow, # 6

2009-09-25T22:24:00.003-04:00

It is hard to believe that my boy is now 6 years old....the time has gone by so fast, he has changed so quickly. So, on Sept. 7th, Labor Day we had a big celebration. I made mini pizzas for the kids, 10 total. They all got a long well and played together.
Seems like they all liked the pizzas too (which were weight watcher friendly by the way :o)).
I made cupcakes and made Grant's cake in a mini loaf pan. I think he liked it, he ate it like he did anyway :o).

The older kids played Wii Resort and had a good time with it.
A new transformer game, just one of the things he would say, Want that, want that....when he would see a commercial for it. He was happy to see it :o).All the boys were so interested to see what was in each bag...the girls, however, not so much...
So, here is my handsome boy. When I held him in my arms 6 years ago I would have never dreamed of what he would be like at this age....and certainly a lot has happened in that short time. But every bit of it, good and bad, is shaping him into the man God will want him to be in the years to come.

Zoo trip

2009-06-10T23:02:00.006-04:00

Yes, I know how long it has been...my time has just been occupied with other things...
But I am away from home for a training with work and took the opportunity to finally post an entry :o)
On May 30th we went to the zoo with several other families from our SS class. We have a really good day and the kids had a great time. It was really warm but not too hot or real humid.
Here is a picture of some of our group:
Grant sitting on a turtle statue.
Kaylyn had to do it, too.
We stopped at the picnic area to eat lunch. My kids, however, were more interested in feeding their lunch to the geese...
Grant and Alyssa holding hands...I could not resist taking a pic...just before the dads started their comments...
Here is one of my favorite animal pics of the day...watching the giraffe get a drink of wate...didn't think he was ever going to come up for air.
Then I had the big idea that we should get all the kids on the rhino statue for a kids group pic...we were so close and then Keenan decide he didn't want to look at the camera...so here are the attempts I made a the group shot.
Finally got a pic of Keenan looking up at us :o)
I had to get a picture of Micah since he didn't get to be in the group picture.
Yes, we did ride the train before we left for the day...and then 2 days later one derailed!!! But no worries, we were on the red train not the green train....still scary though!
And the only picture I got of myself was this one...after we had been there all day and we were all sweaty and tired (and me with no makeup)...I look horrible but I had to have something that documented that I was there too.

How do you get a 2 yr old to smile in a portrait studio?

2009-04-13T23:16:00.008-04:00

If anyone has a fool proof plan for that let me know...because so far I am 0 for 2. It seems something happens around the age of two that causes my children to do the opposite of what I want them to. At least Kaylyn just would not smile, Grant cried and was not happy at all.
We took the kids to Sears on Friday to get some pictures made. I had not taken Kaylyn to get her 2 yr pictures done yet so that was the main focus of Friday's shoot. I also wanted a couple of pictures of the kids together since that is what most family members want. So, we ended up getting a picture CD with our order so I saved the pictures on my computer and was able to edit them the way I wanted to. So, that can be good and bad. We got about 25 shots on the cd, and I now have over 80 because of all the editing I did. I thought I would share I favorites with you.
Oh...you want me to smile? No way!
I am merely amused...
Here Kaylyn, this is how you do it!!! Cheese :o)
This kid loves Easter eggs. He has been talking about them for 2 weeks and drawing them on his art work at school...I should take a picture of his art work....hmmm.
This is one of my favorites.
I am going to hold this smile in if it kills me!
Okay, maybe just a small grin before I get up and run away, again...
Another favorite of mine :o)

And another, Kaylyn in her Easter dress.
Still, just amusing...not funny, I don't care how many times that frog falls off your head!
Yes...that is a Christmas ball ornament she has...so what... :o)
Here is it, the mischievous smile.
What, sit like a lady...you are so silly...almost a full smile.

I made my own big shot picture.
Look how long her hair is getting.
Finally! Success. Boy was I worn out! And very thankful for such a patient photographer. I was pleased after the fact.
I will post an Easter blog soon....I hope :o)

Finally! The finished project :o)

2009-04-05T21:17:00.003-04:00

We have been cooking this up for a long time. I decided I wanted to put up some family pictures over the couch. Kenny saw this curtain idea on a home design show. So, we put the two ideas together. This is what we got...let me know what you think :o)

***Very long post below***

The first quarter review

2009-04-05T15:44:00.012-04:00

WARNING! Very long post!

The the first quarter of the year our family has been very busy. We have moved into a new house, done some decorating, weathered an ice storm, celebrated a birthday, I started a new job and Kenny and I both traveled for work. Here are some pictures from the first 3 months of the year.
We were SO blessed to have 6 of our friends and Kenny's mom come to help us paint on New Year's Day. We were able to get it all done in one day. This is a before pic of our living room:
This is Mace, he is Mister Handyman! He helped so much around our house to get things done and get us in the house. He helped Kenny change out light fixtures and patch/putty the walls to get them ready for painting. He also changed out the locks and dead bolts and changed out the outside light as well.
Here is a before pic of our bedroom:

This is a shot of the view from Grant's room in the front of the house...
Here is Grant's room. Chris is putting together out new entertainment center while the room is getting ready to be primed and painted.

This is Wes painting the living room...ok, so the color didn't turn out the way I had pictured but it is growing on us...It was supposed to be more of a burnt orange instead of the dark orange-y peach color it turned out to be

This is my B-I-L, Chad. He helped paint in our bedroom.
Here is a picture of our refinished closet. It was in bad need of repair, some of the shelves had pulled out of the wall and taken chunks of drywall with them. So, Mace patched them and put up a new shelving system. There is plenty of room to hang clothes now :o).
Kenny's mom was a big help that day too. She scrubbed down both bathrooms for us. I was so grateful for that!
This is Stephanie painting Kaylyn's room. I absolutely love color...it is ok if you don't but it is my favorite :o).
Kenny painted Grant's room. At first I thought the color was way too bold but now I like it and really fits him.
Finally, the finished project. Our living room...
The master bedroom...I have found a painting I want to buy to put over the bed that has the same colors in it as the bedding set.
This Kaylyn's room...sorry this is the only picture I have of her room. We are in the process of finding her new bedding and I have plans to make some wall hangings...hopefully I can get it done before she turns 3!
Grant's room is so big we were able to 'upgrade' him to a full size bed and still have room for our old entertainment center and hide-a-bed couch. Chad said Grant is the only 5 yr old that he knows that has a bachelor pad...
Then in February we had the ice storm. Here are some pictures of our yard...
Yes, we have A LOT of trees! But we were very fortunate and only lost 5 or 6 small limbs. And none hit/fell on the house. This is the barn behind out house...I just liked this pic...
The ramp to our front door is very steep and it was very hard to stay standing with over a half inch of ice covering the whole thing!
Finally, the day came when sun shone again and melted all the ice off...
While it was beautiful to see the ice glistening in the sunlight it didn't take long for it to start falling. We had gone to lunch and Wal-mart with Kenny's mom and Grandmother. The ice was still on the trees when we left. When we got back it had started to fall. It was like a hail storm! We could not get into the house because of all the falling ice!
Here is Kenny cleaning off the porch and ramp. He was being silly, wearing Grant's ball helmet so the ice didn't pelt him in the head.
And last (for the post), we celebrated Kaylyn's second birthday!
She had so many gifts to open that she lost interest in opening them...She would open one and then run off to play. I finally put her in my lap and opened the presents myself.
Kenny's dad and step mom came to visit on Friday night and brought Kaylyn her birthday gift. Grant ended up wanting to play with her present as much as she did!
This is one of the presents that my mom and dad got for Kaylyn. Thankfully, they had a great season and she got to wear it many times. To bad they didn't make it to the final game...but at least they made it to the big dance!
My aunt Kathy (Kaky) got this for Kaylyn, she is a little princess...
Louisville had a game the day of Kaylyn's party so she was able to wear her cheer outfit.
And with all the festivities the little cheerleader was really tuckered out.
To finish, here are a few pictures from March to complete this post.
One afternoon the kids saw a squirrel in the tree and were interested in why is was running all over tree branches.

Too FAST and check this out :o)

2009-03-09T00:08:00.002-04:00

Okay so this year is going by at record speed! I just can't seem to fit blog updating into my schedule on a regular basis. I mean, my sister just started a blog and is putting me to shame. She is updating her blog every few days at least!
Speaking of my sister's blog, you should really go check it out!!! She needs some people to send her some comments :o). It is always fun to get comments on your blog, so go welcome her to the blog world!
www.scrapbookinmomma.blogspot.com

Well, I would post more but it is 12:14 in the am and I have to get up a 6... and I am doing the morning routine all by myself in the morning...Kenny is gone with the golf team. Pray for me :o)

Christmas...seems like so long ago

2009-02-07T00:07:00.007-05:00

I found this post still saved as a draft....wow...how the kids have changed...I thought I would share it now...why let all this work go to waste right :o)

Post #3
Christmas, Christmas everywhere
I am just going to do a recap of our Christmas festivities and get together's and hopefully take up less space than trying to cover them individually...
This first picture is of the only decorations I managed to put up/out since we made the decision that we were moving Dec. 20th. It was a set of 4 snowman lights.
The kids did get to see Santa and even sat in his lap! That was a big shock to me that they actually got anywhere close to the strange man in the red suit, we have not had much luck with Santa visits in the past. Kaylyn even took a close up pic of Santa after she managed to whisk my camera out of my hands at Grant's school musical.
I managed to get a little more proof of Grant and Kaylyn actually acting like they love each other. They posed for a quick photo after the musical.
Here are a couple of pics of the kids playing with their favorite toys from gift opening on Christmas Eve (my mom's family get together). Kaylyn got a set of dishes.
Grant got a dinosaur play set with carrying case that unzips and can be used as a play mat. He loves dinosaur anything, toys, books, clothes, all the above.
Next was Christmas Day. Santa was way good to them, that is for sure! Grant was up and in the family room before we knew it. He could not/would not wait for Kaylyn to wake up. So he got to pick one toy to get out of the box while we were waiting for Kaylyn.
Here is a picture of the rest of the loot. Grant and Kaylyn each got 3 gifts from Santa and 3 wrapped gifts from mommy and daddy plus stocking stuffers. I know the picture below has more than that but that is because we were already staying at my mom and dad's at that point and you see Santa stops by there too...if you know what I mean :o). Plus, Grant had already gotten into his gifts at this point...
After Kaylyn got up they got to open all their presents.
Kaylyn some how managed to climb into her baby doll's pack'n'play...it is a wonder she didn't bust the bottom out, the little chunky monkey!
Just one of the many highlights of staying at nanny and papa's house, the hot tub!
Here is one of Kaylyn's favorite new toys, a kitchen set. It keeps her busy for a good long time.

Bedtime stories

2009-02-06T23:25:00.003-05:00

Post #2
Bedtime routine
One of my favorite parts of the kids bedtime routine is that story time. Here are a couple of pictures of the kids 'reading' a book together, this was unprompted, unscripted and uninterrupted. Just one of the times they were in close proximity and not fighting or picking at each other. I had to take a picture to have proof that they actually can get along.

Since we moved out of the dorm we have gotten away from this routine but as normalcy begins to set in we will return once again to the full length bedtime routine instead of the abbreviated just put on your jammies, take your medicine, kiss and hug, hurry up and fall asleep routine.
Adjustments to our 'new' way of life have come very easy for the most part. The unpacking of the non-essentials has gone very slowly but is starting to come along as we have more moments of I remember packing 'this' now where is it...and then the search is on to find that one item. However, during the search you find other things and think I really should put this were it belongs (and proceed to find that place of logical belonging since you had not yet planned for this 'whatever' to have a place in your 'organized' grand scheme of things). So the search for that one thing takes way longer, sometimes to no avail but at least the search was not totally in vain since you did manage to 'find' that other thing that you were not even looking for.
God's plan for us is so much better than I ever dreamed it could be. I am so thankful that He loves me so much that He truly cares about the 'little' things in life. We have been blessed beyond measure and I pray that as my cup is filled to overflowing that blessings my spill out on everyone around me so that they may know that my God cares about the little things in their life too.
Don't worry there is still more yet to come!

Yes, it has been a long time, please bear with me.

2009-02-06T20:10:00.005-05:00

Post #1
Grant's school Kindergarten Christmas Moosical
All 4 kindergarten classes at Grant's school participated in a production of A Christmas Moosical. Grant did a great job with the choreography and really tried to sing the words to the songs. He was even singing parts of the songs in the car but it wasn't until we saw the musical that we realized what he was doing. They had two performances, one for an elementary school assembly and one for the parents. Here is a sample of one of the songs from the musical.

I am sorry about the bad video job...it was hard to hold the camera still and keep an eye on Kaylyn at the same time. Plus there are a couple of times that I get tickled at Grant and the camera is shaking because I am laughing. At the end of the second video you can hear Kaylyn cry out a couple of times.

It took forever to download these two videos, ugh! I was hoping to get more than one post done but the videos took too long so I will post more later to get caught up to current events.

Busy, busy, busy!!!

2008-12-04T01:28:00.002-05:00

Sorry I have not posted in a while. I have been busy...though you could not tell it by looking around our house. Boxes are starting to pile up and there is still so much to be done.

If you don't know, we are moving! I gave my resignation and our last day will be Dec. 20th. Woohoo! We are so excited and so ready to get a bigger place to have room to stretch out and be able for the kids to have their own room and to be able to do laundry anytime we want with out have to pay for it or lug the baskets out of the house. To do normal family things like eat dinner all together at the dinner table without the TV anywhere in sight. To not have to run up and down the stairs 100 times a day for no reason at all like when I am changing Kaylyn's diaper and she cries "potty, go potty!" and then we get up there and she just sits there for 10 seconds and says "all done", like she really did something. But I don't want to discourage her because eventually she really will tinkle in the potty one day...

I have been taking some pictures but..of course...they are all still in the camera and wouldn't you know the battery is about dead, so it could be a while before they get on the computer. And I have been getting things ready to work on my Christmas present projects. I hope to get them all knocked out this weekend because I won't have time to work on them again before Christmas.

Anyway, I've got to get some sleep but I felt the need to procrastinate first...

I hope I can share some pictures soon, I know I have a lot to share :o).

It was a Happy Halloween :o)

2008-11-11T16:01:00.004-05:00

Well, time has gotten away from me...
The kids had a good time trick-or-treating. We got way too much candy, doesn't everyone. Grant was a Stormtrooper and Kaylyn was a butterfly. Keenan was Sully from Monster's INC. Micah was Mike from Monster's INC but I didn't get a picture of him because he was asleep by the time they got to my parents house.
We went to the pumpkin patch the Saturday before Halloween for a birthday party but I forgot to take my camera. But when we got there Chad has their camera so I took some pictures with their camera. So as you can imagine, Bethany still has them on the camera so I don't have them yet. But I can still tell you about it. It was rather chilly but a nice day. The kids had a good time playing in the silo, feeding the calves, and playing on the hay bales. We had lunch there and birthday cake and Zain opened his presents. Then we went on a hay ride to the pumpkin patch so all the kids could pick a pumpkin. The kids were looking at every pumpkin, picking one up then putting it down for another one. We thought we finally had the kids settled on one and everyone was loading back up on the wagon when I turn around and Grant had put his pumpkin down and is headed back across the patch...he wanted a 'green' one just like Kaden. Do you know how hard it is to find a green pumpkin in a patch full of orange ones? So, I finally find one...probably the smallest one but it is green and Grant was happy.
Here is a picture of our pumpkin family.
The pumpkins came from 3 different trips to the pumpkin patch (a field trip for Grant, a day trip for Kaylyn and the birthday party) and CU Homecoming pumpkin painting booth. Grant wanted to paint a pumpkin and ended up painting 2...he wanted to paint a dinosaur but ended up asking me to 'help'. We didn't carve the pumpkins this year. I've actually never have. But I found these pumpkin tattoos and I thought they turned out pretty cute.
Here is all the pumpkins Grant accumulated this fall.
Please don't be a critic of the dino art work...we did the best we could :o).

One year...

2008-10-30T00:39:00.005-04:00

That is how long it has been since I started this blog. It has been lots of fun. I just wish I could make a little more time to post. It seems everyone's life has gotten more busy over this past year. I took a look back at the first posts and was reminded how much Kaylyn has changed over this past year. She is walking and talking and got a whole lot more hair :o). Grant just keeps getting taller and taller and skinnier and skinnier. The changes he has made are not as visual as Kaylyn's but they may be even more profound and exciting. Talking more and more in sentences, counting to 10, writing his name, starting to 'read' words. And most people may not think these are great accomplishments for the average 5 year old but for Grant it is all signs that he is making great strides especially since he could not do any of that this time last year. It is amazing for me to see how fast Kaylyn is picking up new words and phrases and will try to repeat most anything. I love LOVE listening to her sing Jesus Loves Me and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. And Grant has really gotten into birthdays this year, for the first time really. It blesses my heart. I love LOVE hearing him try to sing Happy Birthday and try to say it too.
Here is a video I took on the way home one night. It is dark so you can't see anything but you should be able to hear Kaylyn singing Jesus Loves Me. She is even better at it now :o). It is just one of my favorite things :o) Grant can see that I have the camera so he is wanting me to take his picture, you can hear him tell me it is his turn and 'cheese' several times. There are 2 videos of Kaylyn singing. She can sing almost all of the words now :o)

Here are the pictures of Grant I took that night too. He wanted me to so I did, while driving. I just held the camera up kind of on my shoulder and pushed the button...they turned out pretty well for not being able to see anything.

Long over due...

2008-10-21T12:39:00.005-04:00

I have been meaning to post these pics for quite a while now. The video is hilarious...at least to me :o).
It was the first time Kaylyn had touched a 'woolly worm'. I don't remember ever seeing an all white one before, usually they are brown or black with stripes...
Kaylyn was better at letting the worm crawl on her arm than Grant was. He would shake it off and run away laughing. He said it was tickling him.
Kaylyn would just say 'ooooooooo' and squeal.
Grant was better at letting it crawl on his shirt.
Kaylyn said it got her belly :o)
Here is a video of their reactions :o).

Update time

2008-09-24T10:32:00.005-04:00

Well, Grant went back to the audiologist a few weeks ago and is doing so well with his implant. And no changes needed to be made in the programming of his processor. She was testing him in the sound booth to see at what decibel/level he would respond to sound. He was responding at a normal level for all frequencies tested, 15-25 decibels. That is awesome! What a difference a year makes.
School is going so much better now. We transferred him to C-ville Elementary and we could tell the biggest difference after one day. It was like night a day the difference and it really confirmed to us that Grant was now in the right place. His teacher really understands what I have been going through and is very willing to do what is needed to help Grant learn and do well. It has been such a blessing. Praise God for Mrs. Cox!
Kaylyn just finished 2 rounds of antibiotics for a sinus infection and the second round caused her to get a bad diaper rash and now yeast infection...so now we are treating that but her ears are looking great! Her hearing was tested last week and it is perfectly normal. So, now we can wait a year to have it tested again...unless we notice something in the mean time. Thank you Lord for your provisions and answered prayers!
Grant went back to the ENT for a recheck and he no longer had fluid in his ears, another answer to prayer since his tubes were out already. The allergy shots seem to be working. But the ENT seemed to think it would be a good idea for Grant to get another set of tubes just in case he were to get fluid built up again over the winter... I am torn because I know that God answered our prayers and now the fluid is gone but the dr. still thinks tubes are the best thing... I went ahead and scheduled the surgery for this Friday, Sept. 26th. But I have been thinking and praying about it and I really think we should just wait and see if the need arises before putting him through another surgery, even as minor as it may be. But I would really kick myself if he gets another ear infection this winter because we decided to wait. I haven't canceled the surgery yet but Kenny and I will be talking and making the final decision so I can call this afternoon.
***Update***
We decided to go ahead with the tubes because I know I would kick myself if he did get and ear infection and end up needing them anyway...so one more surgery...he has had more than any child should but he doesn't know he is any different from all the rest.
So Grant and I are in Louisville tonight and the surgery in scheduled for 7:30 am in the morning...we have to be there at 6:30 am. Kenny and Kaylyn stayed at home because it is just too much to have a sleepy clingy 19 month old and a very upset 5 year old with super human strength (you should try to hold him down for his allergy shots some time! I'm not lying, the nurses all say he is the strongest 5 year old they have ever seen.) to try to keep entertained and contained, especially for a 10 min procedure.
Well, that all for now...there isn't anymore.

Finally...long over due, Happy Birthday, Grant!

2008-09-23T16:55:00.004-04:00

Here are some pics from Grant's birthday party. He had such a great time, even if it was a little chilly at the beginning.
Grant picked out his own cake this year. He wanted dinosaurs and was so excited about it.
Here he is playing with the dinosaurs...one of his favorite things!
Here is another favorite thing...a Pokemon movie.
MawMaw got Grant this shirt, dad really liked it :o).
After we ate and Grant opened presents, the sun decided to break through the clouds and warm things up. So, the kids were able to put on their swim suits and play in the water.
I gave all the kids a water gun as a party favor. I think they all had a good time playing in the water and chasing each other.
Here is a pic of Grant chasing Zoe....before he tackled her to the ground!
We could not keep Kaylyn out of the water she almost fell in head first :o) and kept going back for more.
All in all, it was a fun day...but next year we are going to have his party at the Sport Spot...they take care of getting the cake, ordering the pizza, getting the drinks and supply all the paper products and each child gets a free round of mini golf. And the best part...they do the clean up too!

Happy 30th to Me, to Me...

2008-09-12T18:11:00.002-04:00

So, we were in the cafeteria for lunch on my birthday and we were almost done. Kenny was off talking to someone and had just come back to the table. Then all of a sudden he leaves again...
Then, I hear them...4 guys singing happy birthday to me!
Afterwards, Corey (one of the golfers) brings me this ice cream cone and says Happy Birthday.So, I just so happen to carry the camera in the diaper bag most of the time so I had to snap a shot. I took this pic and I took pics of my kids on my birthday but I don't have any of me...oh well. I guess I will just have to wait until 40 to get the birthday shots to scrap with...

Just because...

2008-09-12T10:16:00.008-04:00

Okay, so I haven't uploaded the pictures from Grant's party yet, but I will soon. So, I can share some other pics...just because I have not been posting doesn't mean I have not been taking pics.

Here are some pics from when we were at a friends house in Louisville...okay so the pics are from July...but you have not seen them. It was the first time Kaylyn had been in a swimming pool. Grant, of course, loved it and was ready to jump right in. It took Kaylyn a little bit to warm up to it but then she loved it too.
Kaylyn kept pulling out her ear plugs...maybe they didn't fit just right...
Here she is all kicked back after we got out.
The next weekend we went to a friends house here in C-ville Grant and Kaylyn were both ready to jump right in but Keenan was not so willing.
The water was a little chilly that day but we had a good time :o).
Keenan preferred to play on the deck while we were in the water.
Grant had a great time jumping off the ladder. He made sure he wasn't going under though, as you can tell. He had a life vest and water ring around his waist.
Here is Kaylyn and my dad making faces at each other...it was funny to me so I thought I would share...
Kaylyn must have been tuckered out from a long day of playing, she fell asleep after dinner, I had not even had a chance to clean her up yet.
Kaylyn is playing peek-a-boo with our friend, TJ.
Here is Grant sitting on TJ's bike, he can barely reach the handle bars but he liked sitting up on it.
Posing for the camera...see what living on a college campus has done for him...the girls try to teach the kids to say things like holla, peace and do things like throw the deuces. here is Grant's first spontaneous attempt to throw the deuces.
And here is his second attempt...not bad...Amanda Ford and Brittany Hall would be so proud :o). Thanks girls....
Every time the camera is pointed at Kaylyn she is all cheese...or ham...or maybe ham and cheese...:o)
One night during Welcome Week at school they had a Snack Attack night...it was a huge success. Several different vendors/restaurants were there with samples of their food and you got to go to as many booths as you wanted. The gym was full of booths. Even Summer Snow was there...so we all got some. Well, Grant got to choose his own flavor...I'm sure you can tell by the picture what color he chose
I chose for Kaylyn, she had a light pink one, Bubblegum flavored.
He kept wanting me to take a picture of him so he could see his mouth and how vlue (blue) it was...
And I just really liked this picture of Kaylyn, I think it may have something to do with the straight lines of the bike frame...
When Walmart started marking down all of their patio furniture my eye spied this swing. I had been wanting one since last summer so I was able to talk Kenny into getting. And we love it! It has a canopy and a round table attached to each side. It barely fits on our porch but it was worth it. Some days after lunch Kaylyn and I will sit and swing until she falls asleep.
I'll end this post with a few pictures from our trip to Louisville a few weeks ago. Grant was playing with Cody and a few of the kids from the neighborhood. It is the first time I have seen Grant play a game with other kids. To me it was a real milestone, so, of course, I had to take some pics.
They were playing Go Fish. Do you have any of these?
It seems they were all getting along.
And here is what was going on inside while the big boys were outside... Kenny's mom, Robyn, was sticking a Nerf dart to Steven's forehead and both Steven and Kaylyn would laugh. Steven would turn around to look at himself and it would fall off so the whole thing would start again.
In case you were wondering, Steven is 2 1/2 months older that Kaylyn.
Well, this I'm sure is one of the longest posts I have made...but somehow most of my post are long, probably too long. But I know Memaw enjoys seeing the pics of the kiddos, and heck, I just like to show off the cutie pies...I mean why else would I take so many pictures. Heaven knows I could never scrap that many even if I live to be 100. So, I have to find other ways to share, so I guess you'll just have to deal with long, takes me all day to put together, posts :o).
Anyway, there will be more to come soon!

do you follow my blog???

2008-09-10T17:06:00.001-04:00

If so let me know. You can click on the link on the right side to add your pic to the followers list.

thanks!!!
I will update soon!
Amy

Thanks and Praises!

2008-09-06T00:11:00.002-04:00

First let me say thank you so much for your prayers and thoughts and advice and encouragement over the past few weeks. It means so much to have a support group and wonderful friends who do not hesitate to share our burdens. We are truly blessed to have you as friends :o).

Just wanted to let you all know that Grant started at Campbellsville Elementary on Tuesday and his new teacher has consistently said he is doing well, listening and cooperating and just a real peach to have in class :o). Praise God for answers to prayers and confirmation that we are making the right decisions for Grant. Grant's new teacher, Mrs. Cox, is so sweet and wants to do all she can to help Grant learn. She has two children with special needs herself so she understands where I am coming from and knows what it is like. God totally worked it all out. Praise the Lord that it is all in His hands :o).

Grant has been so so so excited about his birthday party this week. We have had to count down the days and keep telling him that these things are for his birthday party on Saturday. It is so awesome to see him so into it and understanding what is going to happen. This is the first time he has ever done this and is blesses my heart and makes me so happy. I am actually enjoying telling him over and over that is for Saturday, your birthday party...3 more days, 2 more days, 1 more day... and hearing him talk about it in his own unique way, he is trying so hard to communicate.

It is so awesome to see...hear the progress he has made over the past year. I am over joyed, praising God all the while.

I will share pics after the party tomorrow. Please pray for good weather since we will be outside :o).

Thanks again for praying and being great friends to us :o).

WE love you guys!!!!

Need some prayer...

2008-08-21T03:21:00.002-04:00

Kindergarten has not started out to be the great thing we had hoped for. Grant is have a real hard time adjusting and things that I was told about it is not the way it is. He got the one teacher I did not want him to have. She has not made a real attempt to connect with me and work to make sure Grant knows what is going on around him. I have been so frustrated and so has Grant. He has been getting in trouble, yelling in class, wrestling in the bathroom, pinching, kicking, biting, hitting and he has never done these things before at least at school, when he was at Head Start. Yes, I will admit Grant is a very active little boy who is very independent in a lot of things but his in not usually a problem child. He had only two yellow light days all last semester and never got a red light. So far in the past 2 1/2 weeks he has had a conduct cut, 2 red lights and 2 yellow lights. Something is going on, I think Grant is having a lot of frustration at school and not getting the help that he needs to be able to understand and do well and cooperate with the teacher. I don't have time to spill all the details but I ask that if you are reading this that you would please pray for us as a family and Grant while he is at school. We are in the process of changing schools and hopefully the change will happen next week. The move offers smaller class size and a larger classroom and the assistant goes with the class to activities (gym, music, art). Friday will be Grant's last day until he is able to start at his new school.
Well, I'll post again when I have de-stressed a little and have some pictures to share :o)....they are still on the camera of course...

Posting just to post...

2008-07-26T01:29:00.004-04:00

Okay, so it has been a busy busy time around here. Summer time is crunch time for this RD. July and August are just a blur. But it is always nice when they are over and things calm down. Right now I just feel like there are so many things to do and never enough time to get it all done. RA training starts in one week and I am starting to feel a little overwhelmed but I know it will all go smoothly.

Anyway...that is what is going on with my life. But now let's see what pictures I can find to share...
Kaylyn is wearing Grant's ball helmet.
My little soldier
Nothing is cuter than an ice cream mustache.
There's a little tigger in everyone...
And he sticks the landing!!!
I love that face...I could just stare at it all day. Bright eyes and big smile.
And this face is just so precious! This is Kaylyn's cheesy face she gives every time I ask her to smile.
Shhh...I think I see a wascally wabbit...
whhh....am I doing it right???
So, I took this pic at my parents house and then I played around on iphoto just see what all the features would do...this is just one of the finished products...A summer sunset.
Well, that's all I've got for now....Hope you all enjoyed the randomness of it all. I just needed to take a break from the hecticness of the chaos that is my life. Rest assured it will get better, this too shall pass!

The funny things they do

2008-07-11T02:24:00.006-04:00

Grant went to the allergy dr. on Wednesday. They did the dreaded allergy testing...dreaded by me not Grant since he really didn't know what was coming. While that was not fun, funny or even remotely enjoyable Grant did get a bag full of goodies afterward. And the kiddos had a ball play with it all. In that bag was one of those sticky wall walker things...okay, so maybe you don't know what I am talking about but you will see it in the video. Kaylyn thought is was hilariously funny. Here is a couple of videos I took of her watching it roll down the wall. I want to apologize for Kenny in the back ground...he was playing Halo and had no idea I was videoing...he doesn't say anything terrible, but he does call someone a sissy. And I didn't want you to think he was talking to us or himself :o).

And here is a couple of videos of Grant playing his bat guitar. Kenny was playing Guitar Hero and Grant and Kaylyn were dancing around to the music.

the 4th and other things...

2008-07-11T01:19:00.005-04:00

Okay, so I don't really have an excuse for not posting ...I can say I was so busy, but really it was basic laziness. Kenny and I have been catching up on the past 3 seasons of HOUSE...one of my new favorite shows. Kenny got us the dvd's of the 3 seasons for our anniversary.
So anyway.... I am going to share a lot of pics because that is what most people want and because I really don't have anything interesting to say...
Here are a couple of pics from Kaylyn's ear tube surgery...before
and after...

Our friend Chrystal invited us to a birthday party for her husband Bobby and while we were there Grant got to climb a tree for the first time. He had such a good time and was so proud!
Okay, so these pictures are just funny...they crack me up so I thought I would share...
I think they were watching Sponge Bob...Grant's pic makes me laugh every time I see it and Kaylyn's, well she is just cute as a button...
Here are some pics of our 4th of July. We went to the parade that morning but got rained on so I don't have any pics. I should have taken pics of us looking like drowned rats. My sis and I took our kids to watch the parade. Kenny and Chad were driving cars for people in the parade and they were nice and dry. Bethany and Chad came over to our place to dry off and dry their clothes before we went to a friends cookout for lunch. Then we came home for naps and then out to my parents house for supper. We ended the evening at our church for ice cream sundaes and fireworks. We have a good view of the city fireworks show from the church parking lot.
Bethany and her family had matching shirts, Micah did not make it in the pic he was sleeping...
Everyone was getting in on the Guitar Hero action. Even Kaylyn tried it on for size.
Grant watched as the neighbors set off their fireworks.
Another first for Grant, SPARKLERS! I was very nervous about letting him hold it. Some friends brought them and I told Kenny he had to be right there with him so he doesn't get burned or burn someone. Grant had fun twirling it around.
Grant and another boy from church, Andrew were really enjoying the fireworks. Kaylyn was really enjoying the ice cream...and afterwards the spoon.
After the fireworks I asked my mom to take a picture of us before we left. Well, it is really hard to take a picture with a digital camera in the dark... so this is the best shot we were able to get.
I still like the pic even though our heads a chopped off :o)
Well, I guess that is all I am going to try to cram into this post. Hope you enjoyed :o).

Let's play catch up...

2008-06-25T16:09:00.003-04:00

Can I take a minute to catch my breath...goodness this summer is busy.
We have had Father's day, anniversaries and my dad's birthday since I last posted. And I have been busy with work stuff too. So, I am really hoping this weekend will be a restful one.
Okay, let's begin with Father's day.
We went to church and my sister and brother-in-law dedicated baby Micah to the Lord.

Then, after church we all went out to eat at Garcia's. After lunch we went to my parent's house and gave my dad and Kenny their cards.
And here is daddy and his little girl...
And since Father's day I have been working long and hard to get all my 3500 pictures saved onto our external hard drive. It is very extensive and tedious work. I thought it would be very simple but I have decided that I don't just want the pictures on the external hard drive I want them organized as well. So, I am having to rename pictures instead of just going by the number and blah blah blah. I will hopefully be finished with that this weekend.
And some interesting news for the Lawson household...
Kenny is the new Men's Golf Coach at Campbellsville University.
You can read about it here: Campbellsville Tigers Athletics
He will be doing that in addition to his admissions job.

Then, this past Sunday was my sister and bil's anniversary and Monday was my dad's 50th birthday and yesterday was our 8th anniversary. So, we all went out to eat after church on Sunday. Again, we went to Garcia's...it is my dad's favorite here in town. And I think it is the best Mexican restaurant in Campbellsville.
Anyway, that's all I've got for now.

This one's for you, Ryan...

2008-06-14T23:21:00.003-04:00

So, Thursday morning started way too early for us...Kenny's cell phone rang at 5:20 am. The really weird thing is is that he already had the phone in his hand before it rang. It was Dave Walters. Is it not uncommon for Kenny to get calls from him since he is Kenny's boss but 5:20 is early even for him.
Unfortunately his call was not work related. He was called to be the clergy at an accident scene. He knew Kenny knew the victim pretty well. It was Ryan Shipp (29, our age). A guy Kenny had become friends with after we moved back to C-ville. When I heard Kenny say, What? I knew it wasn't good. When Kenny got off the phone he filled me in on what Dave had told him. Ryan was driving his motorcycle on 210 and had a pretty bad accident. EMT's took him to the hospital by ambulance (they tried to get the helicopter in to take him but they didn't have a good place to land). But his injuries were too great and he died. Silence and disbelief filled our bedroom. We were at such a loss and did not know what to do. Kenny waited a little bit and then tried to call a few friends who were also close to Ryan.
Ryan had been over to our house several times and ate meals with us either at our house or in the caf. He had been a student here at CU and would stop by Kenny's office between classes just to chat. Ryan loved to laugh and have fun. The kids liked him too and would always give him "5" when he would come over. We always knew when Ryan was here because he would drive his bike around to the front of our apartment and park on the sidewalk so we could always hear him pull up :o). Ryan always had a story to tell, of some adventure or or what not that had happened recently. He was just a fun guy.
The funeral was today.
I'm not sure why I felt the need to post this...I know most of you don't know Ryan but I guess I just wanted to do something in memory of Ryan.
Ryan, you will be missed by so many. You touched so many lives with your fun loving spirit and the charm of your genuine nature. Your death was a sudden tragedy, I hope and pray this is not the end and that we will see you again one day when our time on earth is done. I pray for God to bless and comfort your family as they grieve their loss.
So, this blog post is dedicated in Loving Memory to Ryan J. Shipp.
Okay,

Update on Kaylyn

2008-06-10T14:33:00.004-04:00

Okay, so some of you may be wondering what we found out about Kaylyn's ears. We had an appt with the ENT on Thursday and the fluid was worse...I knew it would be because she had an ear infection and had to be on two rounds of antibiotics. But we still had to wait for over an hour so the Audiologist could tell me what I already knew. Then we saw the dr and then we had to schedule surgery for tubes. I was on my last nerve, the kiddos were wearing them thin...very thin. Anyway, the surgery is scheduled for June 20th.
So here are some recent photos of the sweet baby girl. She was having lots of fun in Keenan's Little Tykes car.

As you can tell, she likes to stand up in the seat.

She is always ready to cheese for the camera. And she really loves close-ups :o).
Still more to come!

Man, how time flies....

2008-06-09T17:10:00.005-04:00

The past three weeks have been a busy time for us...though I can't really remember all the things we did...must not have been too memorable? I think what I am going to do is make a few smaller posts so I don't over load one post with an overwhelming about of pictures and what not.

I guess I will start with Grant's last day of school even though I don't have all the pictures from that day to share. My dad took some and I took some I and am yet to get the ones from my parents camera and now the camera is in Muncie, IN all week so it will be at least the weekend before I can get them...okay, so I have rambled long enough....here are the pics :o).

Grant climb up to the top, waiting for his chance to slide down.

He is on his way down!

Look at that face! He is having a blast.

Here's the boss telling him to be careful :o).

I thought this was pretty cool, a full action shot...maybe he will grow up to be a stunt man...or a power ranger....heehee :o).

It was a pretty fun day at the carnival. They had games, the slide and bouncer, and a fire truck. And the kids were able to spray the big water hose. Of course my dad has those pics...and Kaylyn even got to spray the water hose.

They also had face painting and a "clown" making the kids balloon animals. Grant had to have 2 of each, all of which were dinosaurs. Dad has better pics of them as well, but this is what I have.

This is dinosaur #1... (that is my dad in the red shirt with the camera in hand)

The kids sang a couple of songs and then we ate lunch and had auctioned off the classroom quilts. My mom bought Grant's class quilt...she wasn't going to let anyone out bid her :o).

It was a good day, fun was had by all. All were ready for a nap when we got home.
More posts to come :o).

Yet another ear infection...UPDATED

2008-05-14T12:49:00.003-04:00

Well, no such luck on having the fluid in Kaylyn's ears dry up on its own. She started coughing and had a runny nose on Saturday. So I took her to the dr and big surprise, she's got an ear infection. Only one ear this time but she is also coughing and has some wheezing so she has an antibiotic and breathing treatments. I am calling the ENT to see if we can go ahead and start planning the surgery for tubes.
So, still not sleeping well in the Lawson household...I really hope we (I) will be soon :o).

*****Well, everyone slept all night last night, FINALLY! Thank you, Lord :o).

It's FINALS week!!!

2008-05-09T00:49:00.005-04:00

So things are winding to a close. Woohoo! It is always nice to get a break from the normal routine. And so this weeks marks such a break....the summer begins. Finals week is always a chaotic whirlwind of activity with no classes only tests and papers due, people packing and cleaning and checking out and leaving. On Friday this place will be very empty and by Saturday night it will practically be a ghost town. But not for long. Summer school classes start on Monday and the beginning of summer camps will start to trickle in soon after. Summers on a college campus are so different than the rest of the year. I love to see the beginning come and even more happy to see it come to a close because that is when my normal returns.

It has been a busy week for Grant as well. This week they learned all about the farm. They had two field trips scheduled for this week but Wednesdays was canceled because the guy who was coming to give the Head Start classes a wagon ride was sick and could not come. But on Thursday they got to go to a farm and see all the animals. And pet some I am sure. And they even got to ride a horse. The teachers had gotten all the kids cowboy hats to wear while they were there. I did not get to go however, I had to take Kaylyn to the ENT for a consult visit...she has had 5 ear infections in the past 9 months. So we were talking about tubes. They tested the air pressure behind her ear drum and tested her response to voice. Her ear drums were moving some, which is good and she was responding very well to the audiologist voice in the sound booth. Both are very good signs. She has a small amount of fluid in both inner ears so we (the dr and I) decided to test her again in 4 weeks before making the surgery decision. I am hoping her ears will be totally clear when we go back next month and surgery can be averted, at least for now. Then we will see if fluid becomes a problem again in the fall.
Kaylyn is still having trouble sleeping though the night. She has been teething off and on for the past 3 weeks...ugh. But I noticed today that the tooth that has been giving her so much trouble has finally started to break the gums surface, praise the Lord. I gave her a precautionary dose of Motrin before she went to bed...so we will see how she does tonight. She woke up 3 times last night and Grant woke up once. So momma didn't get much sleep, though I am sure if you are a mom you know it goes without saying.
I am doing a womens Bible study called Walking by Faith. On Wednesday night the instructor on the video talked about 1 Thess. 5:16-18. She said that in order for us to find the blessing in the trial we must learn to rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in EVERYTHING. So I am trying to practice that this week when the kids wake up in the middle of the night. I am not happy when going on interrupted sleep, especially when there are several interruptions in one night, but I am trying to look for the things I can be thankful for when I am having to deal with this difficulty. I can be thankful that Kaylyn calms down in my arms and goes back to sleep. I can be thankful that I have to beautiful children to love and care for.... I can be thankful that I have a nice comfy bed to crawl back into. And I can be thankful for all of this while I am praying, Lord, please comfort them and help them sleep ALL through the night or at least the rest of the night
But you know what really struck me about this is that we can rejoice in the Lord, pray/talk to God about it all, and give thanks to Him in every situation, as hard is it may be and it is still okay to be sad and grieve and be heart broken. I guess a part of me always felt guilty for feeling that way. I always knew God was in control but man was I devastated and filled with sorrow and unanswered questions and whys and I'm not worthy, and what ifs...But now I can see that when I had no strength the joy of the Lord was my strength, He carried me through the raging waters for what seemed like miles but we finally reached the other side and the clouds finally started to part and I started to get a glimpse of sun light again.
Goodness, how quickly the past two years have flown by. And I can't even begin to express how wonderful it is to see the great progress Grant is making. He still has a lot of ground to cover but the gap has finally started to close.
You know, I'm never really sure what all will come out when I start a new blog entry but I am always sure that the beginning and end will be at far apart from each other as the East is from the West.
Well, if you are still reading this post God bless you! You are a true friend to entertain my ramblings. I thank God for you, my fellow blogging mommas!

PS. Kaylyn did not sleep all through the night...she fell back to sleep in my arms as I finished this post. It seems her mouth is still bothering her. Thank you Lord that I can still hold her cradled in one arm and type with my other hand :o).

Five things...

2008-04-26T22:56:00.004-04:00

A friend of mine, Jennifer, tagged me to be the next to fill out the survey below...so here it goes :o)

Found this on another blog, and thought it might be fun...

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?
Going to school at CU and working at Kmart

2. Five Things on my To Do List Today
Post this blog message :o)
Wash up the sink full of dishes
Clean the bathroom
Work on my Bible study workbook
Download the pictures to the computer from my camera, and make a cd of the field trip pics for Grant's teacher

3. Five Snacks I enjoy
Special K cereal bars
Crunch'n'Munch
Yoplait Strawberry yogurt
Vanilla Ice Cream cone
100 Calorie Packs

4. Five Things I would do if I were a Billionaire
Create a will :o) something I should do anyway
Pay off the loan for our church building and set up a missions fund for our church mission trips
Pay off our college loan debt
Buy/build our dream house
Set up college funds for the kiddos
Donate money to the local crisis pregnancy center (I'm on the board)

5. Five Bad Habits
Procrastinating
Being late
Staying up too late on the computer
Not putting my clothes away after Kenny does the laundry (he gets mad about that)
(sometimes) Not respecting my husband's authority as head of our house (I really like to do things my way :o)) Submissiveness is not my first thought when we don't agree

6. Five Places I've Lived
My parents house in Campbellsville
North Hall at CU
My grandparents house (after Kenny and I got married) in Campbellsville
Brookridge Village Apartment in Louisville
House we rented off of Arnoldtown Rd in Louisville
The Village at CU

7. Five Jobs I've Had
File Clerk at Cox's Cabinets
Sales associate at Kmart
Teacher's Aid in 2yr old classroom at CCDC
2yr old teacher at Child's Day Out
Office Coordinator for KCI at LLCC
Dorm Director

OK - I tag Amy C

Kaylyn's first hair cut

2008-04-25T17:26:00.005-04:00

I cut Kaylyn's hair on 4/4...that is what 3 weeks ago...I have been meaning to post these pictures since but just never got around to downloading the pictures to the computer until after Grant's field trip. Anyway, I finally decided to cut her hair because my brother-in-law, Chad, kept teasing that she had a mullet. So, I just trimmed up the front and back. It looks really good now if I do say so myself :o).
Isn't that just the cutest face... I love those cubby cheeks!

CU pool field trip

2008-04-24T11:58:00.005-04:00

Grant's class went on a field trip to the university pool last week. Grant had a great time playing in the water. Here he is sitting on the side of the pool waiting for his turn to get in. It was during a CU swimming class and each child had to be accompanied by one of the students or a parent that was in the water. I didn't get in since I had Kaylyn with me.

Here is one little spectator that I'm sure would love to get her chance in the water. She was so good just to watch though. Kaylyn was in her stroller for over an hour and never cried to get out.
He had so much fun. Isn't he just the cutest little swimmer ever :o).

Did you feel that?

2008-04-18T11:17:00.003-04:00

Well, we had an earthquake this morning. Kenny and I managed to sleep right through it but I think it woke Grant up (the vibration) because Kenny said at 5:40am Grant came and got in the bed with us. I ,however, didn't feel a think...I didn't even know Grant got in the bed with us.
Anyway, just wanted to know if you felt anything...

Has it really been two weeks????

2008-04-08T23:31:00.005-04:00

Wow! Time does fly. It has been two weeks since I posted. But in my defense Grant had been on Spring Break for the past two weeks and just went back yesterday so I have not had as much time to think about posting.
So, what is new with me...well, we didn't get to do what we had planned to do as a family like go to the zoo so I don't have any new pics, I know sad day. But we did take Kaylyn to get her one year pics made at Sears and they turned out really well. Grant was determined to get in on the picture action. I will try to link to the page so you can see the pics...let's see if it worked :o) Nope, didn't work so I just saved them and posted each pic...Then Grant decided he needed to be in the piktur too.
This is my favorite one of them together...if ever there was a picture worth a thousand words this one is it. To me it just captures their personalities and their relationship so well.

Then, on the 29th I had the opportunity to go scrapbook with the girls :o). I always end up doing more eating and socializing then scrapping but I had a lot of fun and really enjoyed the time we were together :o). Thanks Teaque for letting us come to your house. I did get a two page layout done and I was really pleased with the way it turned out. I haven't taken a picture of it but I will try to soon so I can share it here.
And I decided it was time to cut Kaylyn's hair...as much as I hated to I realized it looked rather shabby. I did take pictures but they are still in the camera so I will have to share those another day.
The weather has been great the past two days and Grant has played outside until he was exhausted. Of course I didn't think of taking any pics and really didn't have time to since both kids were always going in different directions.
Here are a couple of pics from bath time a couple of weeks ago. Kaylyn loved splashing the water in Grant's face. And when I got her out she was trying to reach the running water and she would have to stand on her toes to reach it. She would get her hand wet and rub her hands together and then smack her brother in the head...I think she was trying to 'wash' his hair...it cracked me up and Grant just let her do it without any complaints.

Well, that's all I've got for now. I will try to not wait as long to post again...

Easter...a post crammed full of pictures :o).

2008-03-25T15:42:00.009-04:00

We had a great Easter. Kenny was off Friday and Monday so it was nice to have that family time. Kenny's mom came to visit Friday and spent the night with us. We had a good visit. Then Saturday night I dyed eggs with Grant. He had so much fun with it. And he was so proud of the finished product.

Then we got up Sunday morning and get ready for church. The kids got their Easter baskets before we left. We had a good service at church and we participated in a passover meal.

After church there was an egg hunt for the kiddos. They had the egg hunt in the open field next to the church. It was divided it to 3 age groups and they had 1300 eggs! You can kind of tell in the picture below how the ground was heavily dotted with color.
Grant found one of the golden eggs (with just a little help from mommy :o))
I was able to get some good pics of the kiddos while they were still in their Easter Sunday best :o).

After all that we went to my parents house and stayed there until after dinner. Mom had Easter baskets for the kids too.

Grant got a mini bowling set and he really liked it.

Once again I managed to not get a single picture of myself...oh well, it was more fun to take pictures of the kiddos. And I hate having to ask someone to take pictures of me. Well, I'll get a pic or two of me next time...maybe when we go to the zoo on Friday :o).

I hope everyone had a good Easter celebrating and praising God for the sacrifice he made for us so that we could have the opportunity to become his child.

Bowling fieldtrip

2008-03-21T01:28:00.003-04:00

Grant had a field trip to the bowling alley a couple of weeks ago. It was the first time he had ever been bowling. I think he had a lot of fun but got bored at times waiting for his turn. The pictures did not turn out to great, they had the lights off and the black lights on so things look blurry. I did the best I could.

One of the assistants in his classroom was helping the kids on his lane.

Here he is waiting patiently for his line to turn red so it will be his turn, he is next. The names got a little cut off on the screen. Grant got a strike in the last frame! I was so excited for him, and of course proud :o).I just love the expression on his face. So sweet! That's my boy. He had a good time and we are thinking about taking him again sometime during Spring Break...which today was his last day of school for 2 weeks. We are thinking about going to the zoo next Friday if any of you would like to meet us there let me know!

Something old...something blue...

2008-03-21T01:16:00.002-04:00

This dress is almost 30 years old...can you believe it! It was given to me when I was little and now Kaylyn has worn it. The elastic was still good in it too, you know how sometimes the elastic will dry out. Anyways, a lady my grandmother worked with made this dress for me. My mom (the pack rat) kept it. And I am glad she did. It had a bonnet to match but I didn't even try to get it on her, she doesn't like anything on her head. I can hardly get her to leave a headband on for any length of time.
Well just thought I would share this like mother like daughter occasion.

Aaarrrrrrrrgggggghh!

2008-03-10T15:56:00.002-04:00

Well, blogger is acting up and won't let me add pics to my previous post. So I will add a new post with the pics...maybe...if it will let me.
Nope, still won't let me...I'll try again later.

Snow, snow, snow!

2008-03-09T01:36:00.007-05:00

Finally got the pictures add!!! Woohoo!!!
Snow. Snowy snow snow. I love snow. It falls down, down onto the ground. Snow :o). Have you seen the movie Anchorman...Ron Burgandy makes up this little diddy about scotch and I just changed the word to snow...oh never mind...it is funny in my head :o/. In fact, I am still laughing!
Saturday was the first time Grant was able to really get out in the snow and play. He was finally well and we had enough snow to really make if fun. Kenny took him tubing with a couple of the college students. They went out to Dave Walters house. He has a great hill in his back yard, just perfect for sledding/tubing when there is enough snow to cover it. We got 3-4 inches I would guess, so I suppose that is 'the magical amount' ;o)? Heeheehee :o). Yet another attempt to be funny on my part, have you seen the Truth commercial where they sing the song about the magical amount of nicotine. I crack up every time I see it...okay so I am very easily amused, as well as very easily sidetracked...oh well, it is my blog and I can do what I want to, do what I want to, do what I want to, you could to if you were crazy like me :o).
I will edit this post later to add the pictures of their snow fun. When Kenny was walking out the door to go this morning, I asked(told) if he would take the camera to take some pics since I couldn't go. It was just too cold for Kaylyn to be out...duh. Even though I really wanted to go real bad, ah the sacrifices of motherhood. And since she is finally over the ear infections and just stopped running a fever for 3-4 days (just a virus and not the flu, went to the dr on Wednesday to be sure, blahblahblah) I just didn't think it would be a good idea to get her out in the blowing windy cold. But after church we are going out to my parents house and we will be able to play in the snow there since we can be out for a few minutes and have a place to go into and warm up. And I am looking forward to seeing Kaylyn's reaction to the white fluffy stuff. My nephew, Keenan, didn't care for it too much after he fell face first into it.

I had to add this picture... she is such a ham!
Well, I hope you all remembered to set your clocks forward. Goodness I've got to go to bed! I think I have self induced insomnia....is that even possible?

Cute story :o)

2008-03-04T11:03:00.002-05:00

Last night I was putting Grant to bed and Kaylyn came into the room. I gave Grant a kiss and hug and then picked up Kaylyn and turned to leave the room. Grant said, "Mommy!" I turned around and he was wanting to give Kaylyn a hug and kiss 'nite nite'. So I held her close to him and they gave each other a hug and Grant kissed her cheek. When I stood up I hear Kaylyn, mmma (that is what she does when she gives kisses :o)). Then Grant blew us a kiss and told us 'lu new' (love you) as I turned out the light.
It was one of those I wish I could freeze time moments. It really was so sweet. Just melted my heart! I hope they will always remember that special bond...you know in 10-12 years when all they do is fight...yeah right. I'll be the one remembering that moment and wondering what happened to my sweet little ones, and who replaced them with these teenagers!
Anyway, that is my sweet story of the day :o).

Finally...some pictures to look at :o)

2008-02-27T15:38:00.004-05:00

Here is the invitations to Kaylyn's birthday party. I know it took me a while to get them posted. This is the two pieces.

And here is the finished product.

Kaylyn had plenty of help blowing out her candle on her cake.

Everyone was trying to get Kaylyn to get real messy with her cake but she stayed relatively clean. And after a few minutes she was ready to get all the cake and icing off her hands.

She was really happy and everyone had a good time at the party.

I got a cupcake cake this time instead of the traditional cake and it was a lot easier and very few leftovers :o).

Kaylyn helped me open most of her gifts. She really liked opening the cards.

Here we are...the family pic at Kaylyn's party. Yes, this is the best we could do!

While I was fixing supper last night Grant decided to entertain himself. He found an ink pen drew on his hand.

Then he decided it was a good idea to include his sister in on the action. I turned around just in time to catch him drawing on her face.

Here is a picture of the beautiful roses that Kenny got for me for Valentine's Day. The best part of the day hands down....

I had to add this pic. Kaylyn is playing the Guitar Hero guitar. Her daddy is so proud...

Look at this sweet cheesy face. This is what she does when she sees me with the camera. She is such a ham.

Playing catch-up is hard to do!

2008-02-26T00:07:00.002-05:00

I am still trying to catch up from when I was sick. So that is way I haven't uploaded any new pics. I will get on that soon. Just bear with me. I do have a lot to post about. Mostly Kaylyn's birthday. Grant and I are better but Kaylyn still has a double ear infection so we are on a second round of antibiotics. Isn't winter weather grand! Well, just wanted to let you know I am still working on getting the blog up to date and posting plenty of pictures. Stay tuned...(all 4 of you :o))

So, yeah....about last week

2008-02-17T19:38:00.002-05:00

Kaylyn was sick all last weekend so get her dr appt for Monday afternoon. Grant wakes up early and is coughing a little bit. Great...but no fever, and no other symptom so we decided he could go on to school. Then during the morning I get a couple of phone calls about some issues going on with work. Just after lunch Grant's teacher calls, "he's acted fine all morning, but after lunch he started acting droopy." She took his temp and it was 102.7. So, I go get him, and when I get there they tell me they sent a boy home that morning with chicken pox and the child's daddy had them too. I get home, drop off th kids with the sitter and rush off to my two meetings, then rush back home to take Kaylyn to the dr. Diagnosis-(no big shock) double ear infection.
So, Tuesday comes, Grant's at home. The fever is off and on, tylenol brings it down and it stays down for several hours, then all of a sudden he's got a high temp again. Kaylyn is not sleeping well, she is also teething. And I was still dealing with the work related issues.
Wednesday was a snow day---too bad we could not go out and enjoy it...Grant watched from the window. He was excited to see the snow flurries coming down. Grant is still on again off again with the fever. I got to bed late, had to finish Grant's Valentine Box on the off chance that he can go to school.
Thursday---no go for Grant to go to school he woke up in the night with another fever. Thinking maybe I should take him to the dr. I also wake up coughing and generally feeling bad. Happy Valentine's Day honey! I'm still in bed at 9:20 (Kaylyn amazingly slept in really late and Grant was in my bed watching cartoons) when there was a knock at the door. I drug myself out of bed and answered the door. It was a flower delivery! For me! It was the highlight of the week, hands down. 12 beautiful red roses. I even started to feel a little bit better. But that night I was feeling rather bad.
Friday--Grant had no fever, yea! But I felt rather bad. I called Kenny at work and asked him to take a half day so that he could take Grant to get his allergy shot. While they were gone, I got Kaylyn down for a nap and I took one myself hoping to feel better. I should have made a dr appt for myself. But I was really hoping to get better. I had to call Tiffany and tell her I could not meet her at our scrap store in the morning because I was sick...that made me even sicker :o(
Saturday morning I go to the urgent care center and receive confirmation of my feared diagnosis--the flu! He gave me a script for Tamiflu. So, now I am thinking that is what Grant had too but he only had a sporatic fever and cough and not much else I guess since he had the vaccine. I felt like such a bad parent for letting him go all week before realizing that. I guess I just kept waiting for the red blisters to show up or more symptoms or something. And I was thinking...another dr visit, we have had to many to count this month already, He probably got the flu from going into the dr's office last Friday for his allergy shot, plus I had a fever myself so my brain wasn't working properly, the fever impaired my judgement. (boy was that a run on sentence or what...talk about random thoughts) That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Grant spiked a fever again on Saturday afternoon.
Kenny called the pediatrician and she called in a script for Tamiflu for the poor boy.
I'm just really glad we are on the road to recovery. Please pray that Kenny and Kaylyn stay healthy, free and clear of the dreaded flu bug.
And just so you know, this Tamiflu stuff works pretty well. Lord bless the inventor of Tamiflu, it worked for me :o).
Hopefully we will have all this sickness behind us by Saturday as we celebrate Kaylyn's birthday. Oh and the invitations I was working on, well there not quite done...because of the week I had. But I think I can still get them done tomorrow and get them in the mail on Tuesday. Here's hoping anyway.
So, I know that was long and boring, thanks for sticking it out and reading it all :o). I feel better :o)!

Gold Canyon Candles

2008-02-06T16:41:00.000-05:00

I am taking up an order for Gold Canyon Candles so if you like them or would like to try them let me know. I have all the scents if you would like to test them or if you know what you want just email me and let me know. I will be turning in the order next Saturday the 16th if not before (depending on how much interest I get).
Just wanted to see if any of you would like to place an order.

Look who's walking...

2008-02-05T14:18:00.000-05:00

Kaylyn is getting more and more steady on her feet and is now taking several steps at a time. Just thought I would share a video of her walking around...

I still can't believe Kaylyn's birthday is almost here...just over 2 weeks away. I have decided to make invitations to her birthday party. I will post a picture of one when I get the first one done. I bought the paper yesterday and have a good I idea of what I want them to look like. I just have to find a picture of Kaylyn I want to use...the invitations are really cute in my head I hope they turn out the way I want.

First pages in 2008, of course they are not of 2008

2008-01-28T10:43:00.000-05:00

I was able to go scrapbooking this past Saturday and to my surprise I was able to get two 2 page layouts done...well, done for me. Done means put together...the first layout still needs journaling. The second layout needs a few embellishments and journaling. Anyway, so there not really done...but I was still proud of myself and I had a good time :o).

Here are some pictures of my artwork...let me know what you think!

This is a layout of Kaylyn's first 4th of July...kind of obvious, I know

This is a layout of Mother's Day 2007

chronic ear infection...

2008-01-24T00:29:00.000-05:00

Okay...I just want to vent a little. Dec. 18 Grant had surgery to get his 4th set of tubes. Two weeks ago he got an ear infection in his left ear. We went to the dr. and she gave us ear drops. they seemed to work. Then last night he and we were up half the night...until I finally just gave him some tylenol...10 minutes later we were all asleep...man that stuff works fast for him. I just wish I had given it to him 5 hours earlier! Anyway, you see I had no idea what was wrong all last night, even after asking him 20 times what hurts, what it wrong...blah blah blah. He still can't tell us. You would think as many times as he has had an ear infection that would be the first thing I check...well, I guess you can tell I am a real slow learner, especially at 4 am. I didn't know until he got up this morning and I was getting him ready for school that his left ear was draining again. So I call the dr. and can't get him in until tomorrow but we still have some drops left from last week so we start those again. WELL, guess what, I noticed at dinner his right ear was draining now too! How frustrating. And it is even more worrisome since he is at higher risk of getting meningitis because of his CI. But we are starting him on allergy shots tomorrow so...I am hoping that will take care of this reoccurring problem. I guess we will see in about a month or so. Please pray the allergy shots work!

The season of bumps and bruises

2008-01-18T16:20:00.000-05:00

So the season of bumps and bruises has begun, I am sad to say. Kaylyn has started to take a step or two at a time this week. Big milestone I know! I can't believe it is time for her to start walking already...but that is a post for another day :o). The other night she stood up in front of the entertainment center and misjudged the distance when she was reaching for it and fell into it. She got her first official self induced bruise right above her left eye. In her eyebrow line in fact. It just so happened I had been taking pictures of her standing and stepping so I got some bruise pictures, too...after I comforted her of course.

This picture was taken just before the fall.

She is still a cutie even with the bruise. Some other milestones she has achieved recently, saying uh oh when she drops something, whether by accident or on purpose. She has been able to blow kisses and wave byebye for a while now. She can say mama and dada but she says dada more :o(. And I think she has started to say 'that'. She shakes her head yes and no. She can drink out of a sippy cup and a straw. She weighs over 22 lb and is right at 30 inches long/tall. She is 11 months Monday. How much they change the first year.

The "M" word...

2008-01-11T23:52:00.000-05:00

Yes...I did say the "M" word...Masters. I swore I would never go back to school, but here I am 7 years later eating those words. I had my acceptance interview today into the Counseling program, which went well by the way :o). Right now I am only taking one class per trimester and this first one is an online class, Research Methods.
Other than that I have started purging the clutter from my house. After Christmas it seems we have been bombarded by toys and trash and junk in general. So, today I started with the kitchen and the countertops have never looked so bare...I love it :o). I have decided just to take one room at a time as to not get overwhelmed because believe me we have accumulated a lot of junk plus the tight living quarters makes it seem like there is so much more.
And now if only I could keep my kids well...Kaylyn with her perpetual runny nose and cough, Grant with yet another ear infection...ugh! So, hopefully we can get him started on allergy shots next week and start to see a difference in the next month or so. On the up side, his tube is still positioned well and I guess is doing its job. And he is doing so well with his implant. His speech therapist said she is very pleased and that his quick progress is amazing. They are talking about sending him to Kindergarten in the fall...but I am not sure yet. Don't they start reading and math and spelling in Kindergarten now...I just don't know. How can he learn to spell when he is just starting to learn how to say words correctly... I keep asking myself, are the any pros to sending him on, are there any cons to waiting one more year? But if we don't send him to K where will he go...he can't stay in Head Start since it is based on age and 3 and 4 yr olds go to head start and 5 yr olds go to kindergarten....Where is the parents choice in all of this? Why do they think my child is going to be ready for Kindergarten in the fall. I just don't want to regret sending him on before he was ready, you know. How horrible it would be to have to hold him back...would it be more horrible for me or for him? I just want what is best for my child. I don't what to have to see him struggle. Will waiting another year give him that edge? Or at least help to catch up on speech and language skills.
I guess that lends itself to a prayer request, please pray for God's guidance and clarity for us over this matter.
So, I haven't downloaded any pictures lately but Kenny has been wanting me to post these of the boys playing Rock Band...
So there you go... the 3rd on is my fav :o). Grant will imitate anything, good or bad...

Happy New Year!!!

2008-01-01T17:19:00.000-05:00

Well, it has been a very busy and quick passing two and a half weeks. I can believe it is 2008 already. I knew it would happen like this...it always does. Just so fast, a whirlwind really. But we did have a good time with Kenny and I being off the whole time. Spending time with family, friends, watching the kids, making memories and setting traditions, and, of course, taking pictures :o).
The week before Christmas Grant has surgery for new ear tubes. The surgery was quick and uneventful, and Grant was running around like nothing ever happened. We spent time with Kenny's family that week as well.
Then Christmas week everyone started getting sick. My mom had been sick for 2 weeks and was still sick. Kaylyn started with a cough on the Sunday before Christmas and I started with a fever on Wednesday. Took Kaylyn to the Dr on Thursday since she has started to get a runny nose, she has bronchitis. I went to the Dr on Friday because I wasn't getting better either. Kenny took Grant to see Alvin and the Chipmunks so that Kaylyn and I could rest. Then Friday night Grant started throwing up. Stomach bug or food poisoning? Not really sure. But it started about 8:30pm and he threw about twice an hour until 5am when I finally remembered we still have some phenegran suppositories in the fridge. He then slept for about 6 hours but I didn't. It was time for Kaylyn to wake up and of course she was ready to eat. I did get a little shut eye while I was nursing her though. Then on Sunday morning I get a call from my bil saying they are on the way to the emergency room with my nephew Keenan, he had a bad cough and labored breathing. Turned out that he has Croup. And my mom's family was all getting together on Sunday afternoon for Christmas. So, poor Keenan had to miss out on all the festivities and Bethany and Chad took turns coming over to visit.
On Sunday night Kenny's mom came to visit and stayed with us until Tuesday late afternoon. We all went over to my mom and dad's for dinner on New Year's eve and played cards but we came home before midnight so we could get the kids ready for bed...but they ended up staying up until the ball dropped anyway. Well Kaylyn didn't make it she was asleep in my arms. And we all slept in this morning :o).
Jan. 2nd...Kenny goes back to work and Grant goes back to school! Break is over...for some of us :o). The residents don't come back until next Sunday...so I still have a week and a half before things get back in full swing for me.
And over the break Kaylyn has gotten one 'step' closer to walking. She is now standing alone for a few seconds at a time.
Well, that is my update from my last post. I hope everyone is well and will be blessed with a happy and wonderful New Year!

Picture perfect...well almost

2007-12-15T19:02:00.000-05:00

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!!!

2007-12-14T01:21:00.000-05:00

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!

2007-12-10T11:36:00.000-05:00

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

2007-12-05T00:13:00.000-05:00

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

2007-11-30T02:00:00.000-05:00

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...

2007-11-27T12:10:00.000-05:00

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?

2007-11-26T00:18:00.000-05:00

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!

2007-11-23T00:41:00.000-05:00

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...

2007-11-08T12:11:00.000-05:00

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...

2007-11-07T11:56:00.000-05:00

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?

2007-11-06T16:04:00.000-05:00

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!

2007-10-31T21:58:00.000-04:00

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!

How many cupcakes does it take to cause a sugar rush?

2007-10-24T20:53:00.000-04:00

Evidently 3! That is how many Grant apparently had this afternoon. Well, let me rephrase that...that is how many he ate the icing off of this afternoon. So, tonight he is wound tighter than a banjo. And Kaylyn has started to cruise the furniture, wow! It is busy with activity tonight! I can't believe she is doing that already. She is only 8 months old. I think I am in denial about the fact that she will most likely be walking before her birthday, at this pace she could be walking by Christmas! Just a scary thought for me since we live in an apartment with a living room the size of a sardine can. Not to mention the stairs to bedrooms. I guess we will be investing in a 2nd baby gate for those stairs in the near future.

The magnet keeper

2007-10-24T12:30:00.000-04:00

Here is what Grant's creative mind thought up while I was fixing supper last night. You can see him putting the fridge magnets into his sister's shirt. He also filled the back of her pants as well. you can see the bulges in her onesie and the bottom of her pants. I couldn't help but laugh when I turned around and saw him and realized he had put so many in the front and back of her shirt and pants. How creative :o). And they were having fun and playing together. Grant thought is was so funny. I had to take a pic. It will make a good scrap page one day, and a good blog post today :o).

Where did the weekend go?

2007-10-22T00:06:00.001-04:00

Okay, so this weekend was a good one, but as always it went by way too fast. We had some good family time. Well, at least Monday and Tuesday is fall break for the students so I only have a handful of residents here until Tuesday night, woohoo. It is nice to get a break.
It's going to be a busy week for Grant. Monday he has a Fire Safety Program at the elementary, which I am sure he will like to see the fire truck and all that. Wednesday Head Start is taking a field trip to Lee's pumpkin patch in Hodgensville, I am hoping to get to go with them to take pictures, always looking for scrapable moments :o). Then Saturday is a whirlwind of activity with the Walk for Life (with the crisis pregnancy center, I'm on the board) that morning, the Fall Festival/hayride with the church in the afternoon and the Costume Ball (because it's a ONE thing) at the university that night. Plus Saturday just happens to be Kenny's birthday. I really wanted to do something special just the two of us but there is just too much going on that day. So maybe we can do something on Friday night....the wheels just started turning...why had I not thought of that before now? I'll come up with something. I'll let you know what I come up with :o).
Hope you all have a good week!

Just another lazy Saturday...

2007-10-20T20:10:00.000-04:00

Is that not how Saturdays are supposed to be...laid back, leisurely paced, do what you want to do kind of days? Kenny took Grant to get his hair cut (much needed), we went to my parents house to watch the UK game (I could not have cared less), and I did a load of laundry (Grant is wearing his last pair of clean pants today).

I spent a lot of the afternoon looking at pictures on the computer, editing, cropping, grouping, uploading for printing. Goodness it does take a long time but I really do enjoy it.

I have been thinking about the milestones Kaylyn has already reached in her short life and I decided I would compare the timing of said milestones with Grant's just to see the similarities and differences. I'll post them when I get it completed.

ONE.ORG

2007-10-16T23:10:00.000-04:00

Our students are participating in the One.org Campus Challenge. Please check it out! One's mission to see an end to extreme poverty and Aids globally. You can join our team and campus challenge just by going to http://www.one.org/campus, look at the top right hand corner, type Campbellsville University and submit. That will take you to our campus page where you can enter your email address and be added you our number. The more people we have signed up the more points we get in the challenge. Did I mention we are the #5 school in the challenge right now, out of almost 3000. The challenge is to help raise awareness about extreme poverty, what can be done to help bring it to an end. Who would have thought Campbellsville University would be in the forefront, ahead of much bigger colleges, yet here we are trying to impact our wold and make a difference. We are having a candlelight walk tonight, to help bring awareness to poverty stricken countries. There is a Costume Ball/Silent Auction planned for Oct. 27, at 8pm. Community tickets are $10 and student tickets are $5 plus a can of food. This Costume ball held at Campbellsville University is meant to bring awareness to world hunger and to raise funds to send to the World Food Program (www.wfp.org) and to raise awareness for the ONE organization (http://www.one.org/). All can goods collect will be given to our local food pantry, we are hoping to collect a total of 1 ton of food through the ball and collections on campus. Please help us any way possible, spread the word, attend the ball, buy a Campbellsville ONE t-shirt, sign up on our ONE page.

My kids

2007-10-15T20:04:00.000-04:00

I finally did it...

2007-10-15T18:29:00.000-04:00

Well, here it is...my new family blog. Why did I want to start one...not because I think we are better or have more interesting stories. I guess it is really because sometimes a mom just needs a place to vent, share thoughts, get feedback...
I wish I had started one over a year ago really...after we found out about Grant's hearing loss. It would have been nice to have that whole journey chronicled to this point but for a while I could hardly think about it without crying. So, I guess I will have to play catch up.
Another reason I started this blog is because it is easier for me to type up a quick note than it is to put together a scrapbook page. I love to scrap but just don't have the space to be able to do it at home and don't get a lot of opportunities to go elsewhere to scrap. So, I was look for another outlet and a blog is what I found.
I have read several blogs but it was not until I started this one that I thought anything about what one might put into their first post.
So, as I sit here typing, watching my 4 yr old mop the floor with his baby sister, I realize I can type in whatever information I want. And you can read it or not, you can like it or not but at least I had fun doing it :o).
That's it for now...I'll post again soon :o)!