SPARK Christmas party

Today was the SPARK Christmas party at Jumping Joey's. I wasn't sure if Kenna was going to like it, but I signed her up anyway. She had a lot of fun and I am so glad that we went! She even hugged Mrs. Gregory when we walked in!!! I am so excited about that I can't even tell you! I hope that by the end of the year she will even start talking to her! Kenna went up and down the big slide all by herself after I did it with her. She climbed up the dragon's mouth and slid down and came out the butt. :) We climbed thru the train. We played on the baby part. She jumped on the pirate ship. She jumped on the princess castle and slid down that slide too. She ate pizza and had a cookie. she even was given treats by friends from SPARK. It was such a neat experience! I just love this program and it has been such a blessing for Kenna and I. She is not the type of kid that could do a preschool without me and Mrs. Gregory is so good and the parent that go are really nice. I really do enjoy it. We only get in a few times a month, but it is worth it! I can't wait until she starts talking to her like she does at home! We even saw Addie, our friend from church there! It was a great morning! Then we picked up Kyle, and Cara, and Kyle C. and went to Mickey D's to play some more. Kenna should sleep good tonight!

Sometimes all you can do is take a picture!

At the end of the craziness of no sleep-I had pulled out my flour to make sugar cookies for the kids. Well I had gone into the bedroom to ask Jeremy a questions and I thought it was too quiet so I walked into the kitchen and found the bottom two pictures! Of course she didn't like the flour on her-so she is sans the shirt-When I asked her what she was doing-she told me she was making piles of flour so she could make treats for Kyle. Yeah.....

The top picture is what happened tonight when I sat down on the floor to hold Keira who is not feeling well and in five minutes time, Kenna has managed to feed her baby applesauce and pour my diet coke and her strawberry milk into two glasses smush a cookie and spill it all onto the table! This is not an age that I enjoy from that side of things! I spend most of my days from now until my kids are about 4 cleaning up after their make believe worlds, but when I see that smile I can't help but take a picture and not get mad. Who knows-maybe one day they will do the same for their kids and after all I do own stock in those Clorox wipes after 12 years! :)

Just the normal flying by the seat of my pants

So if you see me much you know that flying by the seat of my pants is normal. :) I am usually running from one thing to another. This week it was just me, though. Yes I survived with Jeremy in Chicago all week, but Kenna started to feel bad towards the end of the week when I was trying to get the Patriot's Day stuff done and so I didn't sleep much. Well it hasn't improved. I think my total in the past 3 days is 12 hours. Kenna was pulling at her ear tonight and I am still up b/c in this sleep deprived state I gave her the wrong medicine. In all the years of being sleep deprived I have never done that-I am SOOOO getting too OLD for this! And I am feeling pretty lame right now!
So here is my list of the things I did get done-make a costume, put up Christmas lights, Christmas garland, homework, get a car to and from a dealership, had triple car pool duty this week and still got Kenna to Spark. Even if it was late got Kelsey to soccer in Kingwood, made dinners, lunches, did hair, etc. So I did accomplish something this week.(note-this is more for me than for anyone else) I was able to spend a wonderful evening with a good friend on Tuesday that lifted my spirits and taught me so much! I love her tons! She has been such a great blessing in my life and the promptings that she would be a good close friend if I would just reach out were 100% true. I am grateful to the Lord for the people that He sends to be our friends in this life that we just click with.
I just hope that this is not the beginning of another long 4-6 months with Kenna-I am already worn out. I know I will get through it-it is just physically draining and I worry that I seriously turn into BAD mom when this happens. As I sit here Kenna is finally calm and watching TV so maybe there is hope we will get some sleep soon.....That is the recap of my week...let the new week begin!

Random Thoughts

So I was thinking the other day that hope is a very powerful gift that God has given us. Heavenly Father knew that we needed it to make it through this life. Along with faith and love as the scripture says. But I have been thinking a lot about the role of hope in that trilogy of words. Trials come our way-it does not matter what we do in this life or how we live it-trials will come. No one is exempt. As the song says "He answers privately.Reaches my reaching.In my Gethsemane, Savior, and friend" We will all have our garden moments when we feel alone, but we should not lose hope. Life at times may bring us moments where all seems hopeless, but if we have faith and we reach for Him-he will give us the strength to get through, get up, move on, to change, to believe, to find peace, to know that God is in charge and He will not leave us alone. I don't understand His plan at times or the trials that some have to go through, but I know that I am grateful for that gift of hope that gives me faith that reminds me of God's love. This time of year we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and his life. We try to be kinder and gentler and better. We serve more, give more, do more. I may trip and fall short most days, but I am grateful for the Lord who believes in me and knows me and helps me to get back up and helps me do better the next day. To look for those in need each day around me so that I may be a servant of Him. I know the joy and the hope that is renewed when I can share God's love with those around me.
Here is a great quote from an apostle of the Lord
"“Be assured that there is a safe harbor. You can find peace amidst the storms that threaten you. Your Heavenly Father—who knows when even a sparrow falls—knows of your heartache and suffering. He loves you and wants the best for you. Never doubt this."
Joseph B. Wirthlin, in Conference Report, Apr. 2000, 72; or Ensign, May 2000

More pictures to come....

It is a SNOW DAY!!!!

Well I took about 60 pictures or more of the snow and all of the fun we had. I won't bore everyone with all of the pictures, but I will post several for everyone to see. It was so much fun to have SNOW two years in a row! It was fun to have the kids get out early even if it was a pain to get them all at different times. I have a TON of laundry to do from all of the WET clothes because as TEXANS we are not prepared for SNOW and so the kids had to layer and change as they got wet! But it was so much fun to be out in it and play and have snow ball fights and wake up to snow on the ground this morning! The kids tried to make another snowman this year, but the boys kept knocking it in two or smashing the balls as they were stacking them so we never got one up all the way this year. But I got a few pictures of the neighbors snowmen. We did get a little one made. I think I made about 6 batches of hot chocolate yesterday and went through an entire bag of marshmallows! Last night we had pizza and movie night to end a fun day out in the snow. It was a lot of fun and I wouldn't complain if we got to do this once a year! :) I know other Texans would call me a traitor for saying that-but I would love to have snow once a year! It was the best when it snowed Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2004 down at my mom's!!

Now for my little science experiment!!!! And why I love my dyson!

Well-we had a day of cleaning before we left. We have two vaccumm cleaners in the house and the bissell is downstairs while the dyson is upstairs. I like the bissell stair tool so I keep it downstairs and I use the dyson upstairs for the kids bedrooms and all of their allergies. Well I decided that I would bring the dyson downstairs and test out how good of a job the bissell had been doing on my carpet downstairs. Ok-let me just tell you-when you see this picture. I vaccummed with the bissell and then with the dyson. The cup with the dyson was empty when I started!!!!!I know it is gross to think there is still that much dust and dirt in a carpet-but now I understand why the allergist keeps telling me I need to replace all of my carpet with hardwood floors-if only I had the $20,000 it would take to refloor the entire house!!! :) But then again who does these days! Anyway-I love my dyson even more now!!!!!

And so I got a little camera happy!!!!

We went back and forth about whether we were going to go or not and at the last minute decided to go. And I am so glad that we did! We all had a lot of fun! I got great pictures and I look forward to our trip to the Valley in a few weeks to create more memories there too. It is such a blessing for my kids to have two sets of grandparents to create memories with! I am really grateful for that and grateful that they will have all of these wonderful memories to reflect upon!

More.....

no matter the distance, no matter the time-they always enjoy each other's company! And those pies were heavenly!

Thanksgiving!

Here is the first of some of the fun shots from Thanksgiving! It was a wild weekend, but the kids had a blast and I hadn't realized we had not been there since March! Wow! Time Flies! My battery died so I have pictures of baby Jaithin on my phone, but not my camera-so I will figure out how to get those on here too one of these days. He's a cutie as well! :)

Here you go, Kate-My Tagged Answers

1. What were you doing ten years ago?
I was living in Boerne, Texas. (In previous years since I am old :) I had already graduated from college and gotten married.) Kyle was 28 months and Kelsey was 9 months old. Jeremy was working full time and going to school full time. I got to spend my days playing in the sand box, jumping on the trampoline, going to seaworld, going to the park, walking around the neighborhood-or chasing a naked Kyle around the neighborhood, spend Sundays with my sisters in laws and all of our babies at Grandmas for dinner while the boys all watched football. I was a counselor in the Relief Society presidency of our ward. It was a whirlwind of a time. But I would not trade a minute of it.

2.What are five things on your to-do list?
1. Laundry-that I am always behind on
2. I want to Clean Sweep my house-will someone come help me?
3. I need to mop my floors.
4. get more serious about my diet
5. get more serious about my exercise

3.What snacks do you enjoy?
I love pretzels, parm. goldfish, celery with peanut butter, apples, bananas and Diet Coke. The deadly snacks that I enjoy are Chex Mix, M &Ms, and popcorn, and Dublin Dr. Pepper and real Mexican Coke!

4.What are the places you have lived?
McAllen, Portland,Tx, Austin, Houston, Kingwood, Provo, Salt Lake City, Hemet, CA, Mission, El Paso, San Antonio, Boerne, College Station, Humble, Texas.

5.What are the 5 things you would do if you became a billionaire?
1. I would pay off our debts. (house and student loans) 2. buy land and build dream house in country 3. establish a program that helped parents/ spouses/soldiers pay for psychological care when they could not (after death, illness, long term, care, etc.) since even with coverage copays for mental health is so expensive it is often overlooked 4. I know this is selfish but I would take my family on a world tour over the course of a couple of years and see all of the places I long to see. 5. I would help kids and sports in some way

At the Park