Making Memories with Mom & other stuff

Today was the Kindergartners "Making Memories with Mom" day... we made gingerbread houses. It's a lot of fun and our house turned out pretty cute. Here's some pictures from our day...
This is Carter with his best buds, Weston & Hunter


Working on our house


The finished product

I had the van checked out yesterday & fortunately the damage wasn't too steep & only the bumper cover needs to be replaced. I can't take it until Jan. 2, so it's a little embarrassing to drive around a van with a big dent in the front, but at least it's drivable, so we don't have to worry about all the holiday travel issues.

On the other hand, I must say when it rains, it POURS. Our heat has been doing strange things for a few days. We had problems all summer long with the AC and they never could figure out what was wrong with it. So on Sunday night, as freezing at it was, I was up at 1:15 am trying... praying... to get it to come on. It was 63 degrees in the house & one of the coldest nights we've had all season. I was worried about my babies freezing all night. I messed with it about 30 min & finally, the Lord answered my prayer and it came on. So, I called first thing Monday morning. The guy came & was here for about 2 hours and he ended up replacing the motor. A very steep bill later, he thinks it's fixed... including the AC problems too.

Soooooo.... it's been an interesting few days, but thankfully, the Lord is taking care of us & things could be much worse. I keep reminding myself of that.

A CRAZY Weekend

We had a very eventful weekend... some good, some bad. It started off bad. We went to Forest City on Friday night to let the kids see the Christmas lights downtown. They were pretty. When we got home, I needed to go to Wal-Mart, so we got the kids ready for bed, I put Kensley down and headed out the door about 8:30. (For other moms reading this, you know how much easier it is to go to the store without kids...can I get an amen!) Anyway, on my way to Wally World, I ran into the back of someone in my van. That's the bad part. I am so upset with myself. I don't think it's really bad (still drivable), but I've got a big dent and tear in my front bumper. The guy was pulling out onto 74 or so I thought and he stopped for some reason and I ran into him. BIG bummer. It didn't hurt his car bad, just looks like someone took a round ball or their fist and punched it into his back bumper. Still issues to deal with.... insurance, body shop to get the van fixed, it's Christmas, all the stuff we'll need to haul back & forth, I'll have 3 kids crammed in the back of a car...thankfully, my parents have an extra car and they were gracious enough to let us borrow it while I get the van fixed.

Anyways, onto the rest of the weekend. Corby was super busy with Y stuff and he's so glad his weekend is over. My parents came down for Saturday and Sunday. We had a fun weekend with them and I am so thankful for their help. Today was the busiest day. We had a special combined service for our church at Shelby High School auditorium. We normally have 3 services, so we put them all into one. Corby was a second-rate mall Santa to start off the program (very funny) and he also had a part in a skit during the service. I sing on the praise team and we sang some very good songs. It was a full house and a GREAT service!

This afternoon was the Shelby Christmas parade, so me & Mom took the boys and FROZE our buns off. We only stayed about an hour it was so cold. The KIDS church had their Christmas program at church tonight and Chandler was in it. After the program we had our church-wide Christmas party with lots of yummy food and a hilarious skit to the song My Favorite Things (from The Sound of Music). The pastor dressed up like a woman and sang the song while a bunch of the leaders and deacons of the church dressed up like the things "she" was singing about...for example, girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes... 2 men dressed up like girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes... brown paper packages tied up with strings was a man in a brown box that looked like a package with strings tied around it... (read all the lyrics here and just imagine a bunch of men dressed in these costumes). It was a great way to end the night and I haven't laughed that hard in a while.

Here's a few pics of the kids. They looked so cute today in their Christmas colors.

Kensley is still not walking on her own without a lot of coaxing, but I did get a shot of her walking by herself.

But she LOVES to stroll her babies around in her walker. Santa is bringing her a baby doll stroller for Christmas... she'll love that!

A Child's Heart

Corby sent me this link today to this conversation on YouTube that a little boy is having with, it sounds like, a radio DJ. This is precious! Listen

Sweet Baby Girl

I had such a great day with Kensley today. I guess maybe because it's the first day in a while that we've stayed at home the majority of the day. She was so sweet all day (not that she is normally bad, because she's not... just extra sweet & cute today). She laid in bed with me this morning & cuddled after the boys left for school, then we got up & played & ate breakfast. She is SO funny & animated. Her expressions are hilarious! I took a bath & she tried to get in with me... she's trying to get in the tub now & almost did. She hugged me a bunch & gave lots of kisses. We played with the baby & gave it nummy, nummy & she took all of her babies for lots of "strolls" in the walker she pushes around. She also took a forever long nap & I got a ton of stuff done. It was just a sweet day with her. I love the mother/daughter bond that we are developing. The boys were always really sweet too, but it's been so long since I've had a baby at home with me.

Chandler had his Christmas Around The World program at school tonight. I didn't get any good pictures because my camera does horrible in dark rooms & we were sitting to far back. He did so good! We've got a busy weekend coming up, so I might not have a chance to blog for a few days. I'll have lots to catch you up on when we get back.

Uh... is it December?

I can't stand this weather. It is December, not September! Some of you may love it, but when I am sweating in December, that's not a sign that Christmas is around the corner. It's supposed to be cold and I'm supposed to be bundling up on the couch with warm blankets, not turning on the AC and the ceiling fan. I don't know the official temp today, but it was over 80 I'm sure. I sent my kids to school in short-sleeves (and probably could have put shorts on them too... but I refuse). I'm ready for winter to come back. Can we say 'global warming'?

Kensley is walking some, but we've not been home much for her to actually practice. It's been a busy few days and the rest of the week is pretty busy as well. I am one present short of being completely finished Christmas shopping... woo, hoo! Carter had his Kindergarten Christmas program last night at GWU. It was really cute... he's holding the W in the first picture. The second pic is of him singing at church with the WeeWorship on Sunday.

Step by Step

Well, she's finally done it.... Kensley is taking steps. I wouldn't say she's walking yet, but she is making her way there. We've been trying for a few weeks to get her to take steps, but as soon as you let go of her hands she would sit on her bottom. She's been walking with her baby-block walker like crazy for a few days, so I guess she built up enough confidence to try it on her own. She loves to prop herself against the couch, so I decided to take advantage of it today. I got in front of her and said "walk to Mommy" and she took 3 steps to me. Of course I was by myself and have no pictures or video of this.... ugh! She kept getting up and wanting to go again, so she would do it over and over. When Corby got home, we had her walking outside back & forth to us and she's taken 7 steps so far. I WILL get this on video and pictures tomorrow... even if I have to rig up something. My baby won't be a baby much longer... she'll be a TODDLER!!!

A Visit with Santa

We went to Uptown Shelby tonight to see Santa. We've done this for the past 3 years & it's so much fun. They have a Santa house every Friday night before Christmas in Dec. and they offer lots of games & activities for kids, horse carriage rides (we've never done that), Christmas music, free hot chocolate and the court square is decorated so pretty with lots of lights in the trees. We got there at 5:10 and stood in line until 7:45 to see Santa. Yes, it's ridiculous when you can go to the mall and spend about 15 min... if that much... from start to finish. But, I really didn't mind it. I was freezing and my big toe was numb, but we knew plenty of people in line around us and the atmosphere is great. The boys always look forward to this. I wasn't sure how Kensley would be, but she didn't care too much for Santa (as you can see from the picture). She didn't mind looking at him or him talking to her, she just didn't want to sit near him. The boys asked for their video game and a bunch of other stuff I've never heard before and we were on our merry way.