Stuff: Christmas stuff & kid stuff

Why is it that when you take down all your Christmas decorations that the house looks bare? (yes, I'm telling on myself that I just took down my decorations today, but I've had a good excuse) The only extra thing that takes up space is the tree, but all the other decorations in my house are put out when I take the other stuff down or put it away to be replace by the Christmas stuff. I don't get it. My house looks so empty & so plain now. I guess all the bright colors are more noticeable than my neutral stuff.

I love having a girl...(I love my boys too, but I can relate better with Kensley... cause I am, after all, a girl myself). I prayed that I would have a girly girl and I think I got one. It is SO much fun to just sit & watch her be girly. Today we sat in the floor & played for about 45 min before the boys got home from school. She has a small rocking chair & she sat & rocked her babies & fed them while proclaiming "nummy, nummy, nummy, nummy" as she stuck the bottle in the baby's mouth. She not only had one baby, she had to have 2 babies to rock (mind you, one of them was as small as my hand). She then got up and walked the babies around in the stroller for a few minutes & then went back to rock them again and she said "yok-yok" over and over, loving & feeding them. It is SO sweet! I could just eat her up. She had to have her new pink crocs on & a bow for her hair as she walked around. Then she got so frustrated because she was wearing one of her teething rings as a bracelet, but it kept falling off of her wrist every time she would try to crawl across the room. She cried big, crocodile tears and just pointed at it. She finally gave up trying to crawl with it & just walked with her arm bending up so it wouldn't fall off.

Her personality is so adorable & she is so bright & bubbly. I remember loving this age with the boys too. They really are starting to express themselves at this point and show who they are. I've also looked at the boys over the past few weeks & thought, "where did time go?" They are growing up so fast! Chandler is to my armpit and Carter has lost his little boy look. They are so smart and independent. Chandler made a comment to me the other day about something & said "Mom, I AM 7 years old... I can do this by myself". I sit and look at them & think about when they were Kensley's age. Chandler with his white hair, smiling all of the time & singing. Carter with his curls & fat cheeks, so quite and sucking his thumb. Gosh, I miss that! I guess with another year passing you can get so caught up in all the "stuff" that you do everyday & don't really take time to see how fast your kids are growing up.

Here's a little video of Kensley & her babydoll "episodes" today. So funny!

Name lables for cups!

If you are a mom of a young child, I think you will appreciate this post. It looks like one of the most fabulous inventions ever! I just saw an advertisement for these in a parenting magazine today. Check it out here. Look under the featured products on the front page... it's the Bumpy Name Orbit labels. I've had some labels before that work good, but they were a one time stick and if you took them off they didn't re-apply. How many times do you have to label your kids cups when you go places... church, preschool, play dates, etc. I will be purchasing some of these.

Welcome 2008

How many of you actually stayed up to watch the ball drop last night? I was struggling. I felt bad from my sinus infection, but I was gonna make it & we did. We've had a tradition for the past 7 years that we go to some friends house for New Years Eve, stay up late, play games, eat lots of junk, and ring in the new year together. They live about 45 minutes away, so we always spend the night. We have a lot of fun & their kids about the same age as my boys, so they have a blast playing together & all cramming in the same bedroom to sleep. This year we didn't even break out the board games. They got a Wii for Christmas and we played that all night. It is a lot of fun! I've got Corby on video playing tennis. He broke out in a sweat from playing so hard. It can be a great workout.

I've got a few pics of Kensley. She's at such a cute age right now, so something new is always waiting to be captured. If you ask her where her eyes, nose, mouth, ears, hair & bellybutton are, she will point to all of them. Her favorite is the bellybutton.

She's so girly and loves her babies, so Corby gave her one of my purses the other day. She loves to cram stuff into it and carry it around... and it has to be on her shoulder.

She got some new boots for Christmas from my Mom & she loves them. It put them on her tonight & she was fascinated with them & the balls on the front of them. She kept pointing at them & walking around talking some gibberish. So cute! I'll say "Kensley, look at Mommy" and she sees the camera and says " eeeeeese" (for cheese).... that's what she's doing in this picture.

10...9....8...7....

...the countdown is on until the famous ball drops tonight. I can't believe it's the end of 2007. This will be short & sweet.... I'm battling a sinus infection so I don't feel great & haven't been on the computer much lately. I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year!~ I hope your 2008 will be fabulous!