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!

The Aftermath

Well, we are home. We had a great Christmas & enjoyed spending time with family & opening lots of presents and eating lots of yummy food. We got home late last night and today has been a doozy. Coming home after Christmas or any trip is always hectic trying to get all the stuff unloaded, unpacked, washed, put up, etc. I don't enjoy that part. To top it all off we had some extra drama today. Carter woke up in the middle of the night a couple times with a sore throat. I knew he would have to go to the doctor today, so Corby took him & he has strep throat. Chandler had a sore throat a few days while we were at my parents, so the dr. said he probably had it too. They are both on an antibiotic and Kensley is still on round 3 of antibiotics for her ears.

Then, I started washing the mounds of clothes, from being gone for almost a week, this morning. I was in the bedroom unpacking & thought the water sounded really loud. So I walked into the kitchen to check on it & there was probably close to an inch of water in the laundry room running into the dining room. PANIC! I immediately shut off the washer but it was still pouring out.... still panicking.... So I turned off the water valves... water still running... I told Chandler to go to the neighbors to see if they had a wet vac... I finally figured out that the water was draining out of the back & the hose in the back had detached from the washer, so there was really nothing to do except wait until it finished draining. I grabbed every towel that I own & started throwing them on the floor trying to soak up the water. It finally stopped and my feet were freezing from standing in the really cold water. My neighbor did come with the wet/dry vac, so that helped a lot in cleaning the mess up. My towels are still hanging on my clothesline & dripped with water all afternoon! Corby came home after lunch & fixed the hose. Then the washer got off balance and wasn't level, so it has jumped and banged every load I've washed this afternoon! Ugh! I hope my floor doesn't collapse from all the wetness & the banging of the washer. So, needless to say, I didn't get much done today with the washer drama, a sick kid, and Kensley being attached to me all afternoon.

So, to sum it all up. The kids had a great Christmas and got everything they asked for... plus a lot more! Here's a few pics of the kids over the past few days. By the way, Kensley is walking pretty good now. She tries (key word) to walk more than she crawls now.

The boys throwing out the reindeer food on Christmas Eve.

Kensley LOVED opening presents.

She loves her babies! She got a carrier that she insisted carrying all of her babies in, despite the fact they fell out every time she took a step.

Kensley and her babydoll stroller... she loved it, although hasn't quite got the hang of it on hard floors yet.

Carter & Chandler both got a Nintendo DS

The boys both got real firefighter gear from Mimi & PawPaw

Me & Corby got luggage from my parents

The boys (wearing their firemen suits which they just took off today) made their own santa sleigh with 2 hot wheels-reindeer!

Merry Christmas to all!

Well, only a few more days till Christmas. It's been such a busy week... I looked at my last blog entry & realized, whoa.. that was a few days ago & seems like I just posted that last night. All the wrapping, cooking, baking, shopping, washing, packing... and pretty much anything else that ends with -ing... has got me tired & ready for a break. I love Christmas, but all the preparation can wear you out. I read a devotion today that marked this Bible verse as the focus:
“Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:11(NIV)
She talked about focusing on the word "today"...what is our reason for celebrating this season? It's Jesus of course... but concentrate on how you can celebrate Him today, not worry about all that you still have left to do in the coming days. Praise Him by singing carols while you wrap your gifts; praise him while you bake your goodies as if you were preparing them to take to the stable He was born in; praise Him while you are buying those last minute items and standing in the long lines at Wal-Mart by smiling and greeting someone around you with a Merry Christmas (that last one is one I came up with... from experience).

It's so easy to get wrapped up in all the hustle & bustle of it all and believe me, I have. But every time I read something that brings me back to the real focus of this season, it makes me so thankful that the tiny baby was born in a place so humble. The least I can give to him is the glory He deserves... in all that I do.

We are heading out of town tomorrow, so I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas!

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