What a week

Last week I was so proud that I blogged everyday... and then this week happened. That should tell you how busy I've been and I didn't even take time to sit down & read my friends blogs let alone post one of my own. Hopefully things will slow down next week. Here's what's happened this week for us.

The boys got footballs on Wednesday night at AWANA's . Since they were wearing their Panther jerseys they had to play a game in our backyard. Kensley loved watching them and she even started saying "BALL" except it sounds more like... "baaaaaaaw"

Just the kids being silly. You can see all the way down Kensley's throat her mouth is open so big.

Kensley finally got interested in her walker last night. She's always sat down as soon as you would put her up to it. Yesterday she was playing in her room & pulled up on it several times, but would never go anywhere with it. Corby put her at it last night & she walked all the way down the hall into the kitchen.

I took the kids to the City of Shelby Public Works Day this morning. I wasn't sure about it & if anyone would be there or if we would have fun but I am so glad we went. We all had a great time! They had all the utility trucks, garbage trucks, bucket trucks, fire trucks, police cars, etc. & machines out & all the workers were demonstrating how things worked. They gave out all kinds of goodies to the kids and we had popcorn & drinks as well. Chandler got a bucket ride and they got to put out a fire & get in the firetruck. This was right up their ally... especially Chandler's.

Home Sweet Home

How do you feel about your home? Is it a place of relaxation & comfort or is it a place of chaos and clutter? Most of the time for me, it's a little of both. We had 2 speakers from Proverbs 31 Ministry come speak to our MOPS group yesterday. It was great. She spoke on Home Sweet Home since the theme for MOPS this year is the Home Factor. She shared some tips with us that I thought were great & wanted to pass along to you.

Home Sweet Home means centering our lives on HIM... Psalm 127:1
-have a plan...make it a priority to have your quiet time each day, even if it's only 5 min
Home Sweet Home starts in the HEART Prov 17:3
-Would you want to come home to you each day? (Hmmm... great to ponder... how is your attitude each day)
Home Sweet Home means being HOME... Prov. 31:27
-establish a routine to make sure your housework gets done... don't put it off to make your home a cluttered mess
Home Sweet Home means controlling the HAVOCK (stuff)... Isa. 45:18
-we have to take time to be organized..1 Chronicles 24:1 talks about organization as being worship to God
Home Sweet Home means creating HARMONY
-unity, agreement, balance. All of these need to be visible in our homes.

Yep... that's it!

It bothered me for the longest time that I couldn't figure out what Chandler's "thing" was. Carter is into sports & running full blast all of the time. Chandler doesn't really care much about sports, but I just couldn't pin-point what he was good at...other than knowing everything about firetrucks, police cars & lawn care equipment. Anyways, I am convinced more everyday that I've figured it out. He is CREATIVE... very creative. He comes up with stuff I would never think a 7 year old would think about & is very detailed with it (I remember being that way when I was little). He's creative with stories, drawing, playing & pretending. Cater usually just follows along with whatever his Bubba is doing. They were in their room playing and kept taking all the bar stools into their bedroom. I wasn't really concerned because those bar stools have been anything from a steering wheel to machine guns to a fort...you never know. They called for me to come into the bedroom to see what they had done. Here's what I walked in on...

They had set up their own photography studio and even had 2 places for people to have their picture made. I must admit, I think this is pretty good & very creative. Here's a better shot of the actual picture they were taking.

Along with the picture studio, he also drew a sign (read my post from Wed) with a very good camera and directions of where to go & what to do in case he was taking pictures of someone else.... HILARIOUS! I love it! I wonder what all the creative genes will do for him when he gets older.

Got food?

We had spaghetti for supper tonight. Kensley loves food & will eat anything we give her. She LOVED supper tonight! I made a small bowl full for her thinking it would be enough for supper tonight & lunch tomorrow. Not the case. She ate the entire bowl, 2 pieces of bread & wanted more. Little Piggy... hee, hee. Here's how she looked when she was finished.

Needless to say bathtime preceded supper.

She had her well visit yesterday. She weighed 19 pounds and was 30 inches long...tall & skinny. The doctor was impressed with her eating habits and her verbal skills. She gave him an earful while we were there. She also cut her first top tooth yesterday. Those things have been right there on the verge of breaking through for about a month. She is going to look so different when they come in. I loved the gummy-grin because she still looks like a baby.

Chandler's List

I have to do lists all over the house... on one or more of my 3 calendars, on the fridge, on the door, taped to the bathroom mirror... lots of places. I guess Chandler decided he needed a list too. This is what I found on the dry erase board yesterday.

To interpret... in case you can't read second grade writing:

get up

get dressed

eat breakfast

brush teeth

watch TV

school

They teach them in school to sound out words to learn to spell. He usually does pretty good & it's so funny to read it & actually know what is says. But if you sound it out, that's actually most of the time the way it should be spelled. Who came up with word spellings anyway?

I'm done?

It's very rare that I get everything done in a week. Meaning... laundry, cleaning house & dishes. Usually I'll get one task accomplished & drag the rest of them out the rest of the week. Well, this is one of those weeks that it actually happened. My house is clean, dishes have been done & all the laundry is washed & put away. I wasn't quite sure what to think this afternoon when I brought in the last load of laundry from the clothesline. I put everything away and stood there for a minute... feeling like I needed to find something else to wash or clean. I love the feeling of a clean house. I actually sat down & worked on my Christmas cards... which are almost done by the way. I'm just waiting on the pictures to come in the mail. If you are on my Christmas card list, expect yours early this year.

I have a full day tomorrow, so I'm going to try to get to bed at a decent hour tonight. This is way early for me.

Party Day

We celebrated Kensley's birthday yesterday at our house. It was a small party with just family, but we all had fun & most of all, Kensley had a good time. It was a Baby Einstein theme & I made her a caterpillar cake. She loved it when we all sang happy birthday & she clapped her hands. I was so anxious to see how she would react to the cake because both of the boys didn't eat their cake...Carter even cried. Kensley was not a bit shy about it. She dug right into it & pretty much cleaned it of it's icing. She discovered how to dig into the cake toward the end, but I think she was so full of icing, she didn't eat much of the cake. I cleaned her up good, then it was off to opening presents. Corby was letting her play with his cup, therefore she wasn't a bit interested in her presents for the first few minutes. I tried to take the cup away & she screamed. She got interested when she saw the barbie doll. It was in the box, but she was giving it kisses & hugs anyway. (I love it that she likes dolls & babies!) She got some diapers, a push & go ride-on scooter, books, clothes and a baby doll that laughs. We got her a standing interactive Leap Frog toy that she loves. I also made her a scrapbook of her first year. I took a picture of her every Wednesday (the day she turned a week older) for 52 weeks. I put them all in a scrapbook and wrote a letter to her in the back. I cried when I wrote the letter... I guess just thinking about how fast the past year has passed by & thinking about my baby growing up. That's something I'll treasure as well.

I'm exhausted, but we had a good party. They boys have had as much fun with her toys as she has. They've also ate LOTS of cake! We had plenty left over.