Kendra's Keepings

No To The "Ho Ho"

2011-12-14T22:31:00.000-06:00

My boys have never been too fond of old Saint Nick. Sure, they like getting all of the presents he brings. They love to see pictures of him, see statues of him, sing songs about him. But actually seeing the big man in person? Forget it!

Despite their feelings about "Ho Ho" (as Nathan calls him) I still make them have their picture made with him every year. It's my parental perogative to make my kids do things that I can torture them with when they are surly teens!

All I can say is I am glad I didn't pay big bucks to meet the big guy this year! Our gym had a Santa and we went to visit him one cold and rainy night. Not a good idea. Sam was not ready to see him because he didn't know what to ask for Christmas and it upset him too much! Poor kid!

Nathan was so excited to see Santa when we were waiting in line. He was jumping up and down and waving "Hi Ho Ho! Hi!". And then came our turn. And this was what we got. "No, Ho Ho!" as he gives poor Santa the stink eye!

Wayne's army unit had a family Christmas party with a Santa who arrived on a decked out jeep through a hangar door. So cool! At least Nathan was willing to get close to THIS Santa! It's almost the perfect Santa pic! But it was one of the best memories of this season. My three guys and Ho Ho!

Decking Our Halls

2011-11-29T22:19:00.000-06:00

Nothing makes me ready for Christmas like decorating the Christmas tree. It makes me giddy to see all of the colorful lights and special ornaments and remember how much fun I had decorating my tree as a child. No longer does my family trek out in the cold at a tree farm and cut down the perfect pine (darn allergies). We now go out in the garage, use the leaf blower to blow the years worth of dust off of our artificial tree, and haul it in the house in three easy to assemble pieces. It may not be as perfect as a fresh cut tree, but it's our tree and we love it!

My boys were so excited to help decorate the tree this year. They were the most enthusiastic little Christmas elves! We love to load our tree down with every string of lights and shiny ornament we can find, and the boys were only glad to help!

A Man of Few Words

2011-11-23T22:41:00.000-06:00

At age two, Nathan may not have a lot of words to use but he does have his own special way of letting us know what he wants.

This, for instance, is his way of letting us know he wants a drink. Subtle hinter, that kid.

And this means "Don't take my picture, mama!"

Mr. J With His Jingle Jingle Jacket

2011-11-20T09:02:00.000-06:00

Sam's school uses the Letter People phonics program. Now that the children have met all of their letter friends, they had a party to celebrate them. They dressed as their favorite letter friend. Sam's was Mrs. J with her Jingle Jingle Jacket. Of course my kid picked the noisiest Letter Friend!

I whipped out my sewing machine and made my kid the cutest Mr. J costume ever!

His whole class paraded around the school and showed off their Letter People costumes. They had so much fun, and even the big kids enjoyed remembering when they did the Letter People parade.

The whole class celebrated with a party! There were snacks, crafts, games, and lots of fun!

Me and My Mr. J, the cutest Mr. J ever!

Happy Second Birthday, Nathan!

2011-11-16T23:16:00.000-06:00

Nathan, how is it possible that you are already two? I can't believe you have been in our lives for only 2 short years, but what a difference you have made in our family! We just would not be complete without you! Your funny facial expressions, toddler sense of humor, loud roar, and sweet hugs and kisses just make live so much better!

Your Nan bought you this yummy cake!

You, however, wanted nothing to do with the festive singing of the Happy Birthday song. You covered your eyes and yelled "No!" the whole time!

Finally, we stopped singing and you could get excited! You love to blow out candles and you love to eat sweets! Score!

Then we had to take your picture with your family, starting with your lovely mama. You were too busy eating cake to pose for the camera.

I wanted to get your picture with your brother but you would not have it. You apparently thought he was trying to steal your cake and ice cream.

You calmed down enough to take your picture with him, though you kept eyeing him warily. Just in case he was going to steal a bite or two.

The family photo! This was the best that we could do. Life with a two year old! We had forgotten how unpredictable it is!

Then it was on to the presents! Nan and Pop got you this new kid recliner, and you promptly climbed in and leaned back. You looked just like your Pop chilling in that recliner!

You got some more cars for your race track. Fun!

And your favorite of all! A baby "Neigh" and "Broom"! Known to English speaking folks as a horse and elephant.

Sweet boy, two years ago we were driving through the dark and the rain to Kansas City to meet you for the first time. The minute we laid eyes on you we were smitten. We just knew that you were our son. It was torture not being able to hold you that first night, and it almost killed us to give you back once we held you. We knew that our lives would not be complete without you in them. We are so thankful for your birthparents and for them choosing us to be your family. God knew we needed your sunny and hilarious personality in our household. You are so sweet and cute that even when you are naughty I don't hold a grudge for too long. You are a precious gift from God and I am forever grateful to be your mama!

Fashion Hound

2011-11-04T12:19:00.000-05:00

Nathan has two loves right now: hats and my shoes. And he wears both of them frequently.

That kid knows how to wear accessories in style!

A Little Trick, A LOT of Treats!

2011-11-01T09:15:00.000-05:00

Halloween has come and gone but if your house is like mine you still have plenty of candy to go around!

My cute trick or treaters and their daddy got all costumed up for the big night. Mama abstained from the costume this year. Maybe next year I'll be in a festive mood but for this night I was glad to take pictures of the fun!

Sam was a feisty Dash Incredible. And Dash he did! Before we noticed he had run about 2 houses ahead of us and we had to drag him back to rejoin the family.

Nathan was a feisty tiger. He was thrilled to be a tiger, too! The minute he saw his costume he started ROARing and running around. Scary tiger!

After posing for the required pictures we set off to gather as much candy as we could from our neighbors! They never disappoint with all of the yummy goodies they have for us.

Nathan could not believe that all he had to do was stand there looking adorably and people would drop candy in his bucket! He spent most of his night peering inside the bucket in amazement at the growing pile of candy inside.

And Nathan spent the other part of the night excited about all of the rocks in our neighbors' yards. We still don't know which was more exciting to him- candy or big rocks!

We met up with some of the neighborhood kiddos and had to have our picture made with them. Where's Nathan? Still talking to the big rocks. Funny kid!

We let them eat a few pieces and then we headed off to one of our church's neighborhood Halloween parties.

Instead of doing a Trunk or Treat at the church or a community center our church started sponsoring neighborhood parties. They had games, bounce houses, cotton candy, hot dogs, and candy galore! We had so much fun playing and eating!

You can always tell how much fun it was based on the amount of candy you hauled home. We gathered almost a yard of candy! I think that means it was a fabulous Halloween!

Beggs Family Farm

2011-10-30T07:51:00.002-05:00

How have we lived in southeast Missouri for 3 years and have never taken the time to visit the Begg's Family Farm? We did not know what fun we were missing!

The weekend before Halloween we decided to head out on a fun family adventure and drive to good ole' Blodgett, Missouri. There is NOTHING in Blodgett except for The Begg's Family Farm. And it is the best and ONLY reason to visit there!

My mom came down to visit for the weekend so she got to join in on all of the fun! There was so much to do it was hard to decide what our favorite was! First we played in a fort and had fun sliding, climbing, and hiding in fun little hidey-holes.

Then Wayne and Sam braved a very tall, very bumpy tube slide. You could hear them bump and scream the whole way down. I think they went down that thing half a dozen times. Not me! My fear of heights kept me firmly planted on the ground, but they had so much fun I may have to try it next year.

They had lots of fun photo ops all around the farm. Sam could not decide which animal he wanted to be so he tried them all!

And then we took a quick potty break. Ha!

After than it was time to ride the horses! They were some of the wildest bucking broncos we have ever seen! But we tamed every last one of them!

After riding a few horses we were off to watch the pig races. Wild, exciting times in Missouri!

Nathan wanted to pet a pig. I don't even know if he didn't realize this wasn't the real pig but he was happy!

After the excitement of the pig races Sam decided to try something a little more challenging, like climbing a spider web!

And tackling the wily bounce house!

Meanwhile, Nathan decided to go hang out in the corn crib. He dug, flung, kicked, tossed, and stomped that corn for ever! Maybe we need a big bin of corn in our back yard next fall?

We were having too much fun so we had to sit down and rest a spell. Or belly up to the seat, if you do it Nathan style!

Then it was off to tackle the maze! We were not brave enough to venture in to the corn maze, but this little wire fence maze proved to be challenging enough! They boys could only find their way in and out of the exit. Maybe next year it won't beat us!

Since we were on a farm we decided to try our hand at milking. Glad we get our milk from the store and not straight from the cow! That's hard work!

No day at the farm would be complete with a ride on the animal train! Even Nan got in on the ride! Brave Nan!

While Sam checked out a fun house, Nathan and I checked out some more wildlife. Like these bunnies! Nathan kept yelling "Hi, Hop! Hi, Hop!"

And the sheep were just as exciting!

The sun was setting, the temperature was dropping, so it was time to call it a night. Our day may have been "corny" but it was so much fun!

Here's looking forward to all of the fun we'll have next year on the farm!

Fall Rocks!

2011-10-29T22:16:00.000-05:00

Nathan LOVES rocks! He's OBSESSED with rocks! If we see a rock he has to pick it up. So what a better way to spend a beautiful fall day than gathering rocks to throw in our neighborhood pond.

Karate Kid!

2011-10-25T21:48:00.002-05:00

Sam has been taking Tae Kwon Do at our local gym for several months now. He was so shy and nervous at first but he soon has become quite the little warrior! We definitely have seen an improvement in his coordination, his confidence, and his discipline, all traits that martial arts wants to instill in its participants.

Sam recently had his test to earn his yellow belt. We were so proud of him!

Congratulations to our Yellow Dragon! Keep up the good work!

Pumpkin Patch Time!

2011-10-23T10:17:00.000-05:00

It's that time of the year again! Fall! I love all things about fall, except for the allergies and the shorter days! One of my most favorite things to do in the fall is to visit our local pumpkin patches.

My local MOPS group (Mothers of Preschoolers) spent a lovely fall morning at the pumpkin patch. Nathan is big enough to enjoy it this year, so I had lots of fun taking pictures of him. Or at least TRYING to take pictures! That is one busy toddler!

Nathan wasn't as impressed with the pumpkins as he was with the millions of rocks laying around. That boy LOVES rocks!

Nathan was very impressed with the tractors. He kept saying "Big vroom! Wow! Big!" He had a ball on the tractor ride. He didn't even try to jump off which was a big shocker to me since all I ever hear from him is "Down! Down!"

He also loves animals and was so happy to talk to and pat the animals. Here he is saying "Hi, hop! Hi!"

He kept feeding the goats rocks. I don't think the goats were interested. Maybe that's why one mean ornery goat head-butted the poor kid? "Bad doat!" says Nathan.

There also was a gigantic sandbox that all of the kids piled in to. I had to convince Nathan to join in which is odd since every day he comes home from daycare with his shoes FULL of sand from their sandbox. Funny kid! He would have rather talked to the animals all day. Perhaps I have a future veterinarian on my hands?

Nathan even helped me to select a free pumpkin to take home. Such a strong boy! And such a fun day at the pumpkin patch!

Grandma's First Visit to Missouri!

2011-10-18T09:09:00.000-05:00

Last week we had a special visitor all the way from California! Wayne's mother came to spend a week with us. This was her first visit to Missouri and we wanted to make it a special time for her. Right away the boys roped her in to reading to them. And they read, and they read, and they read! I don't think Grandma knew just how much these boys love to read!

The next day we took Grandma to the Mississippi river. But first we had to wait for the train to pass. And wait. And wait. And wait! It was a long and loud train! But the boys were excited to see it!

We then threw rocks in to the river, watched huge barges go by, and enjoy the beautiful and sunny day.

No visit to Missouri is complete without a visit to Lambert's Cafe, the home of the "throwed" rolls. We caught a roll or two and ate a pile of food! Always a favorite destination around here!

We also spent a day in St. Louis. First stop: Grant's Farm! We had to feed the goats. Thankfully no goats tried to eat my kids today.

The boys were so excited to get a chance to see the animals and pet a few. Nathan spent a lot of time "talking" to the miniature horse and donkey. "Hi neigh! Hi!" says Nathan.

But no trip to St. Louis is complete without at trip to the top of the Gateway Arch! I have avoided the arch for years, mainly out of fear of the tiny washing machine-like elevator. But today I took one for the team and conquered my fear of tiny, high spaces and made it to the top. Boy, what a view! I had to call my mom to prove I was actually in the arch. It only took me 32 years since my last visit to the arch but I made it to the top!

On Grandma's last day in Missouri, we decided to visit the Bollinger Mill and covered bridge, one of only four covered bridges remaining in Missouri. It was a beautiful fall day out at the mill. We could have stayed all day had we only packed a picnic!

The boys were especially fascinated with the large mill stones. Try as they might they just could not get that big stone to budge!

We hope that Grandma had a wonderful visit to Missouri! And we hope that she comes to visit us again soon! (because plane tickets for 4 to California are EXPENSIVE!)

Dinosaurs, Canonballs, and El Nathan

2011-09-26T22:56:00.000-05:00

I have discovered that I am a member of a boring family. We just don't do a lot of interesting things. We don't have adventures or misadventures. We are not creating happy memories and fun stories for our kids to tell for years. We have become boring homebodies. I am determined to change that!

We decided to start having more family adventures. This weekend we headed to the exciting town of Marble Hill, home of the Bollinger County Museum of Natural History. The Smithsonian it ain't, but it is home to the Missouri Dinosaur. Having two dino loving boys living under my roof, we decided that it was the perfect destination for our first family adventure!

It was a nice 45 minute ride through hills, past a "redneck luau" and over country roads. It was made even nicer by the sight of two little boys passed out in the back seat.

Nothing makes a car trip go quickly like sleeping passengers!

This little museum is actually quite interesting! It has everything a little boy would want to see. Dinosaur bones and canon balls! What else could we ask for?

After checking out the first floor we decided to head upstairs and meet the replica of the "Missouri Dinosaur". The boys were quite taken by her.

We had fun exploring all that the children's area could offer, from dinosaur rubbing to dinosaur toys, from books and puzzles and rocks.

But before we were done Nathan had to introduce the "BIG" dinosaurs to each other. "Roar", meet "Roar" is the loose translation of Nathan's conversation with the dinosaurs.

The day was made even more special to learn that the near by street was named after one special little boy:

And because there is not El Samuel street, big brother had his picture made with the street sign, too:

I wonder what our next adventure will bring?

First Day of Kindergarten!

2011-08-17T09:04:00.000-05:00

Today was the start of a new era in our household. Today we sent our first born child to his first day of Kindergarten. He was excited about going to school.

He was thrilled to see a pile of new books on his table. He dove right in! That boys loves to read!

And he was excited about seeing his best friend again. Such big boys!

Sam, we are so proud of you. You have grown and matured so much this past year. It feels like just yesterday we brought you home from the hospital and now you are embarking on a new adventure in life. We know you will do so well in school and we can't wait to see how much you learn and grow each day!

Keeping Cool Creatively

2011-07-30T20:50:00.001-05:00

How can you keep two boys cool on a hot summer day when you don't want to go swimming, the grass is too tall to play in the backyard, and they just don't want to stay inside any more? You get creative!

I put the water table on the deck, sat out the deck umbrellas, and aimed the water sprinkler our way and let the fun begin! You would have thought I took them to a water park they had so much fun!

Good cheap entertainment for a hot summer day!

California Adventure- A Day At The Beach

2011-07-08T11:47:00.001-05:00

I love the beach. I would live right on the beach if I could. I have not been to the beach enough in the last decade since I married a man who does not like the sun, the sand, and the surf. But I'm working on him.

We spent a beautiful day (minus Wayne) at a lovely beach near Santa Barbara. Sam was beyond excited to be at the beach. That boy loves the sand and the surf!

Nathan wasn't quite so sure. He spent a little while gathering rocks and sea shells.

We tried to get him to go in the water but he clung to us like a barnacle.

So Sam chased the waves

while Nathan played in the sand.

Showing off one of his sea shell treasures.

And getting closer and closer to the waves.

We all worked together to make a sand castle, complete with a moat, a muscle shell boat, palm frond reinforcements, and a rock pathway.

These two cuties had so much fun digging and playing in the sand.

Showing off his beach body physique. Sexy belly!

After hours and hours of play and picnicing we decided to call it a day and head back to land. We made a run for the ocean one last time.

And then we hit the road. Our day at the beach was perfect! We can't wait to go again. Even if it did wear us out!

California Adventure- Fun on the Fourth!

2011-07-05T23:46:00.000-05:00

This Fourth of July was full of new things for me! It was my first in California. It was my first without buying fireworks. It was my first to not hear my neighbors shooting off said fireworks for days and days leading up to the fourth. It was my first where I had to wear a jacket and get under a blanket to watch the fireworks show. It was my first where I did not get eaten alive by mosquitoes! All in all it was a pretty good celebration of the 235th birthday of our great nation.

We hit the local community celebration and enjoyed the bounce houses, food, and games. We all chowed down on cotton candy.

Nathan LOVED his first taste of cotton candy!

And he was very sad to see it all gone.

Nathan in his post-cotton candy sugar stupor.

After grabbing jackets and blankets we headed to a park on the hill to enjoy the fireworks. After the firework fiasco at Disneyland (Nathan SCREAMED for the whole 20 minute show! Yikes!) we decided a far distance away was best. And being that I usually watch the fireworks with my fingers firmly planted in my ears I seconded that idea. We had a beautiful view of the show without the annoying BOOM! and POW!

A beautiful end to a great day with family! See ya later!

California Adventure Day Two- DISNEYLAND!

2011-07-03T16:37:00.001-05:00

What trip to southern California is complete without a visit to Disneyland?!? It's been a year and a half since we've been to the Magic Kingdom and we could not wait to take Nathan on his first visit. My sister in law and our niece came with us, making the day even more fun and special!

We got to meet some of our favorite characters.

And ride some of our favorite rides.

Nathan LOVED the Dumbo ride! He yelled "WHEEEEE!" the whole time.

This is more of my speed on the tea cup ride. A parked tea cup!

Our busy morning wore Nathan out so he took a stroller nap while we hit more rides!

The kids spent some time in Tune Town exploring the "houses" of their favorite cartoon characters, like Goofy, Donald, Mickey, and Chip and Dale.

Even Nathan got to go on some Nathan-sized rides!

And we all cruised along to "It's a Small World".

I drew the short straw, so that meant everyone got to go ride Space Mountain while I hung out with a short, cute little boy. Sam absolutely LOVED it! Look at his expression!

Look closer! It's a picture of a picture but the look of sheer joy is still the same. Next time I get to ride and have fun!

While they blasted in to space Nathan and I enjoyed the parade. It was great! We had front row seats and he clapped along for the whole time, waving at the characters and giving high fives to a few dancers.

These are his most favorite floats: Mickey, The Lion King, and the alligator on the Princess and the Frog float.

Natuarally we had to get Nathan's first pair of ears. And what a cute little Mouseketeer he is!

Our day ended late but I am already planning on when we can go again. I am a Disneyland addict. I'll take it over Disney World ANY time. It's smaller, shaded, cooler, and tons of fun! So many memories made in one day. I can't wait to go back!

California Adventure- Day One

2011-07-01T21:30:00.000-05:00

My husband's family all live in California and every year or so we get the chance to fly out and visit them. Our journey there was a long one starting with a 6 AM flight from St. Louis. We decided to stay the night by the airport instead of driving up at the crack of dawn. Getting two wild kids to settle down in a hotel room for the night was not easy. Neither was waking up at 4 AM to get on the plane! But they entertained themselves easily in the hotel.

Sam caught up on his favorite cartoons

while Nathan had fun playing with the baby in the mirror.

At last we arrived at John Wayne airport in sunny Orange County. Sam loved the gigantic statue of the great American actor.

Since we could not check in to our hotel yet we decided to walk around Downtown Disney. We could not go there without having lunch at the Rainforest Cafe with my own two little monkeys.

After eating we decided to check out the wildlife in the cafe. Nathan loved the fish.

Sam made a new friend.

And they both loved checking out the furry critters.

What visit to Downtown Disney is complete without a stop at every boy's favorite store, the Lego Store! Sam was amazed by the gigantic Lego structures.

He was thrilled to create his favorite Lego thing, Lego People! He made three scary Lego people complete with axes, knives, and flamethrowers. That's my boy!

All of my boys had fun at the Lego store!

We had a fun first day in California. Tomorrow: Disneyland!!!!

Catching Up- Summer Fun Style!

2011-06-27T09:42:00.000-05:00

With the exception of one week in early June, this summer has been nice and mild! Low humidity and temperatures in the low 80's mean we actually get to get outdoors and do fun things! Last Friday the sky was cloudy and the high was 77. The perfect day to head to the local petting zoo!

We are so lucky to have so many fun family things to do in our town. Just a few miles from our house is a really nice petting zoo called The Lazy L Safari Park, home to a wide variety of animals from goats and deer to zebras and a giraffe. My two animal loving boys had a blast!

Nathan had to wave "HI!" to every animal he encountered. Every sweet "HI!" was followed by a loud "MOOOOOOO!" We've got to work on his animal sounds, I guess.

For a dollar we were able to buy a bag of feed and made many animals (and two little boys) very happy on this perfect summer day.

There were "free range" chickens running around, and yes mine were the kids chasing the poor chickens while yelling "chicken dinner!" at the poor critters. We got to even pet one of the cute chicks.

This is the camel that terrorized little Nathan. Just as we was going to pet him the camel let out this loud and scary "BEEEUUUUUUUUUUUUUH!". Nathan was so scared he refused to go back in to the barn for the rest of our visit, the poor baby.

My kids made friends with this kid. Kid, meet kids. Kids, meet kid. They got along famously.

It was nice getting up close and personal with nature, making a few new animal friends along the way.

For one fun morning we got a taste of the country life, and what a fun morning it was!

Want a Good Summer Read?

2011-06-17T13:09:00.000-05:00

If you love the Twilight series , reading about Sookie Stackhouse, or want to find a Harry Potter for adults then you should check out "A Discovery of Witches" by Deborah Harkness. Read my review HERE or check out all of the reviews for this book HERE.

Interested in finding more great books to read this summer? Check out all of the book reviews at BlogHer Book Club.

Summer Fun In The Shade

2011-06-10T17:08:00.000-05:00

I'm continuing on my quest to do one fun thing with my kids each day we are home this summer vacation. The trouble with summer in middle America is it gets HOT! Hotter than Hades hot. And that means that playing outside is not a good idea unless it involves shade or water.

Today our fun involved shade. Since our yard is not shady until after 4 PM I decided to visit the shadiest park in the city. Yes, it was still hot, but the occasional breeze and the tall trees helped to make it a little more tolerable. The kids ran off their energy for almost 30 minutes which is always a good thing. And mama got to take some cute pictures of two cute and happy boys.

Summer Fun Day #4

2011-06-07T23:08:00.000-05:00

In my quest to become a better mom, I vowed to do one fun this each day we are home this summer. Luckily I work two days a week or I'd run out of fun things by mid- July! Ha!

Sam took swim lessons earlier this spring and he took to it, well, like a fish. We decided to sign up for more at our area water park.

He was a little shy at first but he was very happy to learn that his buddy Garrett was in the swim class, too. I fear for the instructors having these two clown fish in their group. It was monkey-see monkey-do all class long.

Hopefully by the end of the lessons these boys will be great swimmers. At least they'll have a good time while they're at it!

You Can't Keep 'Em Young Forever

2011-06-04T21:58:00.000-05:00

My kid is growing up too darned fast.

And tonight, get grew up just a little bit more.

For several months now Sam has had a loose tooth. Barely wiggling, but loose none the less. Last week, after a small corn on the cob incident, the loose tooth grew even looser.

And tonight, while brushing his teeth, that tooth stuck straight flat out of his mouth.

The time had come. The tooth must come out!

I come from a long line of mothers who can't pull out their own kids' teeth. My maternal grandmother gave that job to my grandfather, my dad yanked out my teeth instead of my mom, and tonight I passed that lovely job on to my own husband. When it comes to loose, wiggly teeth, I get major heebie-jeebies. Can't pull them if my kid's life depended on it. Thank you, Wayne, for once again manning up when I got creeped out.

One final shot of my kid with even sized teeth. We'll spend the next decade with gap-toothed smiles and gangly sized chompers, I am sure.

Ta da! The tiny, tiny tooth post-pull. He has such small teeth. I don't know how he's going to fit grown up teeth in his mouth, which is why my dentist warned me he'll need braces. Joy.

And here's my cute snaggle-toothed kid. For a kid that freaks out getting a Band-aid pulled off a boo-boo, he handled the tooth yank pretty well. Better than me. Major heebie-jeebies.

He is now soundly asleep with his tooth securely tucked under his pillow.And I have forbidden him to grow up any more, but he told me I can't stop him. Sadly I can't. But I can sneak in to his room tonight, trade the tooth for a dollar, and smile thinking about this funny, gap-toothed kid who is growing in to a fabulous boy.

Mom and Me Day

2011-06-04T10:59:00.002-05:00

Sam was an only child for the first 4 years and 6 weeks of his life. That's a lot of time for him to have mama and daddy's attention all to himself. But he has done a great job adjusting to having to share the attention with his younger brother.

Sam is the best big brother in the world. He comforts his brother when he is crying, makes him laugh to distract him, and he'll play in his room with him for hours while mama and daddy get a much needed child-free break.

But having a baby brother around means you don't always get your parents' undivided attention. That has to be hard on him but he seems to be very understanding of the fact that Nathan needs a little more attention at this time. So I decided that Sam deserved his own special day. On Friday, I declared a mom and Sam day. Little brother happily went to day care while Sam got to have his mama all to himself.

He got to choose whatever activity he wanted us to do together. First, he wanted to go paint pottery at our local pottery store. We haven't done this since Nathan came along, since bring an 18 month old to a pottery store is like bringing a bull to the china shop. Sam easily decided on his project to complete: a rock guitar bank. He had the best time choosing the colors and making the bank as colorful as possible.

I made a plate with his hand print, so I could always remember this special day together, especially when teenage Sam probably won't want to be around me all day long. Ha! I forgot to take a picture of it but I'll post one when we get them back from the shop.

Next, he got to choose his favorite place to eat. Since our Chick-Fil-A is still under construction he chose his second favorite: My Daddy's Cheesecake. It's a local eatery and bakery that could put Panera out of business. Mainly he loves to eat there because of all the yummy cookies! Sam enjoyed his extra cheesy grilled cheese sandwich. Mmmmm, so cheesy!

Our last fun thing to do for the day was to visit LeBounce, our indoor bounce place. We have never been since it opened, mainly because I just could not deal with 2 kids there by myself. We met up with his good friend who sadly was moving away the very next day. This was sort of their last hurrah. And they hurrahed for 3 sweaty, bouncy, sliding hours.

Sam said his favorite part of the day was painting pottery with me and just being with me. If that doesn't melt this mama's heart I don't know what will.

We plan on having these special days more often. Because day by day our boy is growing up. I feel like any moment now he will be leaving for college. These days with your kids are fleeting, we have discovered. We just want to hold on to these moments and memories as long as we can. Today will be one day we will remember and cherish for a long time.

Painting The Town

2011-05-30T21:44:00.000-05:00

Even thought the calendar says it's still spring, with the arrival of Memorial Day and 90 degree weather we say it is officially summer! Trying to keep two rowdy boys entertained is a job in itself. I'm trying my best to be a better mom for them, which includes trying to find one fun or creative thing to do every day.

Tonight we whipped up a batch of sidewalk paint and set out to paint the driveway red! Actually, orange, green, and purple were Sam's choice of color to mix tonight.

All you need to make your own sidewalk paint is 1 cup of water, 1 cup of corn starch, and food coloring. Mix up in tupperware and grab your brushes! And your camera while you are at it because it is a whole lot of fun!

Even Wayne had fun becoming a drive way artist. Here he is working on his masterpiece "A Green Donut." You can tell what's on his mind.

Nathan wanted to help me paint my tree. He was the most enthusiastic of the bunch.

Nathan decided his feet needed a couple of splashes of sidewalk paint, too.

Sam spent all of his time creating a very elaborate forest, just like the trees in Grandma Margaret's yard in California. Complete with gnome holes, birds in the branches, and a field of daisies near by. Such a creative little artist!

Nathan put his whole self in to his art.

And the brothers gladly helped each other paint our concrete masterpiece.

Even impromptu art was created, like these adorable colorful foot prints. As you can tell no one walked carefully around the art project.

My two artists posing with their final masterpiece. They are already wanting to know when we can whip up another batch of paint. I have a feeling we will be going through a lot of cornstarch this summer!

But if it brings this much fun and those adorable smiles and giggles again it'll be worth every penny! This was the most fun we have had as a family in a long time. All it took was three ingredients, two boys, and a whole lot of fun!

Sunrise, Sunset

2011-05-19T22:28:00.000-05:00

That song from Fiddler on the Roof has been running through my head all day. Today was Sam's last day of pre-k. That means in just 12 short weeks he will start kindergarten. Such a huge milestone. It seems like only yesterday we were bringing him home for the first time!

The school year just flew by. This is a picture of him on the first day of pre-k on August 19th. Such a little 4 year old boy!

And this is him today with his teacher, Mrs. Zieba, and his favorite Letter Friend, Miss J and her Jingle Jingle Jacket.

He has grown so much, both physically and emotionally. We knew that attending a half day program would really help him grow and mature. We just didn't know how much. The love and patient guidance he received from his teacher and the Christian educational environment really helped to shape him in to a great kid. We take some credit, of course, because he is just so smart and knowledgeable.

Here he is with his pre-kindergarten diploma and his award for the Best Builder. He is so proud! And so are we!

And then he decided to show his awards off with a little flair.

I am just so proud of this boy. He really is maturing in to a fantastic child. He is so smart and clever and he is such a deep thinker. I cannot wait to see what kind of man he turns out to be. Actually, I can. Please, Sam, slow down your growing up just a little bit. Please stay little just a while longer.

Paris In The Springtime

2011-05-14T11:17:00.002-05:00

I love Paris no matter what the season, but to be in Paris in the springtime is something special. The city is alive, not too hot, not too rainy, and no miserable middle America pollen! What a great place to be in the spring!

We have seen and done so much on this trip to France. This picture heavy post highlights some of the fun things we have done, such as:

Enjoying the view from the top of the Eiffel Tower

And posing in front of the Eiffel Tower.

Look! Wayne was here, too! Just proving that he is here!

On Thursday I toured my favorite spots in the city such as the Musee D'Orsay (impressionism museum- no pictures allowed) and the Paris Opera House. I saw a ballet rehearsal, which was very exciting!

And I was amazed by the beautiful ceiling painted by Cezanne and the gorgeous chandelier. No phantom in sight, though.

And just to prove that I was there, I took self portrait on the grand staircase.

That night Wayne and I went to the Arc de Triumphe and climbed all 283 steps to the top. This is a picture of how I felt about that climb. I miss elevators.

A view from the top. Worth the climb.

On Friday I hung out in Montmartre, home of the Sacre Coeur, one of the most beautiful churches ever.

I did not feel like climbing 300 steps to enjoy the view from the dome so I took a tour of the crypt. Basically it was a fancy word for the church basement and storeroom. No dead bodies or mummies anywhere, just old chairs, pulpits, and used candles.

I enjoyed several hours walking around the area and soaking in the Parisian atmosphere. If there is one area that feel like the Paris we dream of in the States it is Montmartre . It is home to many artists, souveneir shops, and cafes. I may or may not have had a crepe. Or two. And a coconut ice cream. Or two. And I bought a few special pieces of art from artists on the street. I felt so Parisian!

This district is home to the art deco style metro entrance. I naturally had to get a picture of it. So cool!

Friday night we attended a reception at the palace of the French Minister of Foreign Affairs. He snacked on strange and unknown hors d' oeuvres and were the only non-French speaking people in attendance. We were still delighted with the invitation and this once in a lifetime change to hobnob with world dignitaries.

After the reception we took a lovely cruise along the Seine. It was beautiful and a little cool but something that everyone must do while in Paris.

On Saturday we took the train out to Versailles. Yes, that is the line to get inside. Everyone told us to go early to avoid crowds yet the crowds got there early, too. Oh well. It was a lovely, opulent palace.

I think my house needs a golden gate, too. It makes me look good.

It was so crowded inside compared to the last time I toured Versailles. I barely got to get my picture made in the Hall of Mirrors.

Here's Wayne posing with Charlemagne, the first king of France (I think. Ask him. He's the historian.)

Sadly our visit is almost over. We have a few more sights to take in before we return home to our boys, our two most favorite things in the world. I can travel all over the planet but there truly is no place like home. Even if my home is not in Paris!

Artists in Training

2011-05-09T08:39:00.000-05:00

My little sidewalk artists spent part of Mother's Day creating me a masterpiece.

Or should I call it a MESSterpiece? I don't know what got more chalk on it, the driveway or my kids? But their finished project was colorful and beautiful. What more could I ask for on Mother's Day than the creative moments of my two precious boys.

Box Boys

2011-05-06T08:44:00.000-05:00

Want good, cheap fun on a rainy day? Just bring out a cardboard box and let the fun begin!

Inside, outside, upside down, these two boys played forever with one old cardboard box. Who needs a Wii when you have an empty box to play with!

The One And Only, Genuine, Original Cat Band

2011-05-04T08:48:00.002-05:00

Once again I should never leave the living room. Because every time I do Sam gets creative.

These things never happen when I am in the room. And once again I was upstairs with his brother when Sam got inspired. This is the latest creative expression I discovered on my couch.

It beats finding the couch colored on or cut with scissors, I guess. But I had to ask what the heck it was so I could comment on how creative, cute, and funny it was. Apparently it was his cat band.

Clockwise from the pillow: Cutie cat playing the guitar, Christmas Cat with a maraca, Oreo playing the flute, Zebra Cat playing the piano, Rosie Cat tooting a tuba, and Henry Cat (formerly known as Sophie Cat. Apparently she was a he) playing Eeyore like a bongo drum.

I have one creative and clever child. I wonder what his future career will be? Puppeteer? Trained cat circus act? Sculptor? I can't wait to find out what he does next! As long as it doesn't involve destroying my furniture.

Easter 2011- Better Late Than Never!

2011-05-02T14:45:00.000-05:00

Just a little late on posting about our Easter celebration. But at least I am posting something!

I wanted to keep our Easter low key this year. I had so much fun at Easter growing up. There would be candy galore, dyed eggs, a massive lunch with family and a huge egg hunt with my cousins. I cherish those moments and memories but this year I wanted something different. I wanted a quiet, low stress holiday.

No eggs were dyed. No eggs were hidden and hunted. No Easter bunnies arrived at our house. We told the story of Jesus all week. We heard the Easter story using Resurrection Eggs and making Resurrection Rolls. We sang praises to God in church, and we spent time together as a family. It was a beautiful, yet rainy, Easter Sunday.

But lest you be concerned my kids did get Easter baskets and gifts overflowing with goodies from their parents and grandparents, not some silly bunny.

Nathan loved his books and toys.

Sam got excited over chocolate eggs and fluffy toy chicks.

Nathan especially loved sticking his stickers all over himself and anything that crossed his path.

I tried to get serious pictures of my family Easter morning, but I think the sugar high had already set in.

Happy Easter 2011.

The Greatest Show On Earth

2011-04-29T13:28:00.000-05:00

Last Saturday we braved the endless rain to attend the circus! My mom said that I went to a circus show when I was a child but I just don't remember so I feel like this was my first trip to the circus, just like the boys.

We are so fortunate that great shows and entertainment come to our town, like the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus performance of "Zing, Zang, Zoom!" There was magic acts, elephants and horses, performing dog and cats (how did they ever train a cat?!?), acrobats, motorcycle stunts, clowns, and plenty of popcorn, lemonade, and cotton candy (which we managed to avoid- phew!). I am so glad that my mom and dad got to join in on the fun. I hope they come back to our town every year!

Rock Stars

2011-04-15T22:57:00.001-05:00

When Sam was a baby I gave him the little red rocking chair that I used as a child. While he was not thrilled with sitting in the chair at first he soon grew to accept the chair's presence in his life. He never sat in the chair much, but his stuffed animals sure did.

Nathan, on the other hand, loves to sit in rocking chairs. He'll rock himself back and forth saying "rock rock, rock rock" in a sing-song-ey voice.

Now that Nathan loves rocking so much, Sam has decided to join him in the rocking chair love. Instead of listening to them fight over the chairs we just got Nathan one of his own.

They love to sit side by side and rock they day away together. I caught them rocking and enjoying a little afternoon cartoon break the other day and could not believe how long they sat in those chairs just watching and vegging out on PBS kids.

I can just picture them as old men sitting on the front porch and swapping stories from their childhood. Rock on, sons!

How I Got Spammed- A Lot!

2011-03-25T23:45:00.000-05:00

It's no secret that I love musical theatre! And that I get "guy" movies more than girl movies. So what would be a better musical for me to see than "Monty Python's Spamalot".

"Spamalot" is a crass, funny, musical adaptation of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail". It is a musical about the legendary King Aurthur and the knights of the round table and their quest for the holy grail.

In the movie they never quite find the holy grail. But in the stage musical version the grail is found after defeating the rabbit of Caerbannog using the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch. The explosion after the grenade launch reveals the location of the grail. Under something called D101.

Now, seeing that I was sitting in seat D128 I knew I was not the location of the grail. But imagine my surprise when the spotlights shine on me and I look over to see the character Patsy standing there urging me to stand up. Underneath my seat was the Holy Grail!

King Arthur declared that the brave peasant who found the holy grail must be brought before him, so amid much applause and humiliation from myself, I was dragged onstage to receive thanks and praise from King Arthur and the knights of the round table. They proclaimed that I would go down in history with other famous Cape Girardeauians, such as Rush Limbaugh, regaled me with song, and presented me with the award for the Best Peasant Anywhere. Don't believe me? Here's the proof.

I always dreamed I would have a career in musical theatre. In fact, one of the things I want to do on my "bucket list" is to be in a Broadway production. Thanks to "Spamalot" and my impromptu role as "Best Peasant" I can mark that one off my list!

Bluer Than Blue

2011-03-19T02:58:00.000-05:00

Today we took a bus tour of the island. O'ahu is not a big island so you can easily see the highlights of the island in a day. I wish we had more time to explore more of the island at our own pace but a week goes by so fast!

Blue was the theme of the day. Everywhere we went today we saw blue and more blue! The waters off of O'ahu are some of the most beautiful I have ever seen. I thought the blue of the waters in the Caribbean were beautiful but they are nothing compared to the blues of Hawaii.

We stopped at many beaches today. Each one rockier and bluer than the previous beach. And each one made me wish we could stay there and enjoy the gorgeous views. I was so glad I got to see them all and I can't wait until I can come back!

Look at how gorgeous the waters are:

I was amazed at the strength of the waves crashing on the lava rocks. The spray was easily over 20 feet high!

There were these amazing blow holes where the waves would come shooting out of the rocks. It was an awesome site to see the power of nature at work!

And among all of the sprays I was able to capture an ocean rainbow. Amazing!

We also enjoyed the blues at the beach where they filmed Elvis's "Blue Hawaii", the best Elvis movie ever!

And the mild blues surrounding this "Chinaman's Hat" island formation.

But blue was not just found in the ocean and the sky (or our shirts!).

There were even blue peacocks!

And these blue feathered chickens and rooster. (Guess we know why the chicken crossed the road. To get to the pineapple plantation!)

And this was not a blue but an "eew!". This gigantic snail was slimeing around near my foot. I wish I had a ruler to throw down beside him to show you the scale but I'd say he's the size of a small mouse. Biggest snail I'd ever seen, and I've eaten escargot!

And now I'm blue. Blue that this gorgeous, yet WINDY, day on the island has come to a close. Blue that our trip is nearing an end. I have loved visiting our 50th state so much and seeing the gorgeous blue ocean and skies. But the only blue I am dying to see now can be found right here:

I miss my two blue eyed, silly, and wild boys so much. And while I love the Aloha State, I can't wait to say "aloha!" to my two favorite boys!

The View From Here

2011-03-17T17:06:00.000-05:00

This morning we headed out bright and early, actually dark and early, to hike Diamond Head at sunrise. We may be crazy but when in Hawaii it's a must to see and do!

The hike is not for the faint of heart. Nor for the out of shape. I am so glad I was not the only out of shape, out of breath person on my hike. But slowly and surely we made our way up the mountain, stopping to enjoy the view along the way.

The hike along the mountain is not too bad. It's the last 99 steps STRAIGHT UP that's a doozy. But after much panting, sweating, and cursing we made it to the top!

We enjoyed the beautiful and windy view for a while.

Then we had to tackle the crazy 99 steps back down. Going down is always easier than going up, right?

I was proud of myself for having made the tough climb to the top of Diamond Head. I don't think I'm itching to climb it again any time soon but I am glad that I did. One more Hawaiian experience down, many more to come!

Paradise, Hawaiian Style

2011-03-16T00:53:00.000-05:00

What a better way to celebrate 10 years of marriage by spending a week CHILD-FREE in Hawaii!

My parents graciously (and crazily) offered to keep the kids for us so we would enjoy some much needed time alone in Hawaii. Wayne's military duty has some perks, one of them being this gorgeous beach front resort available only to military families. We were even given a free ocean view upgrade since we are celebrating our anniversary. so that means every day I get to wake up to views like this:

I wish I could live in this resort forever!

We spent our first day exploring some of downtown Honolulu and visiting the 'Iolani Palace, the only royal palace in America. The archetectural style of the palace was victorian, which is very strange to see on the island. We also found our way to the state capitol building and sat in on a senate session. Take a look at the HUGE Hawaiian shell disco ball decorating the senate. It had different colored lights that would change and reminded me so much of these funky disco ball lights at the roller rink when I was a kid.

We explored the downtown area a little. All over the island are these awesome banyan trees. I just wish we had one growing in our backyard back home. Can you imagine the fun our kids would have playing in these?

We then had our picture made with the King Kamehameha statue, a must for every Hawaiian tourist.

We spent the afternoon at the beach. I went to the beach a lot as a kid, but let me tell you the beaches in the Gulf are way different than the beaches in the Pacific. Gulf beaches are fine white sandy beaches with warm water. Pacific beaches are rocky and COLD! I don't know if the water ever gets warmer around here of if the cold water from Alaska has come down on vacation but I was freezing! My afternoon swim did not last long.

Our hotel has a beautiful view of Diamond Head, and naturally I had to take our pictures there.

The only thing I hate is that we never get to have our picture made together. That's the trouble when traveling with just the two of us. This is the best I could get of a picture of the two of us at the beach.

Hawaii truly is paradise. If I could afford to live here I would. The weather is perfect, the pace is relaxed, the views are gorgeous, and the hospitality is wonderful.

But for a few days this slice of paradise is ours to experience and enjoy. Mahalo, Hawaii. And Aloha!

Don't Let The Door Hit You On Your Way Out

2011-03-01T22:43:00.001-06:00

February is the shortest month of the year. Despite it's short length is has been the longest and most miserable month in our household!

I don't think one day passed in February where there wasn't one or more members sick. We have had a stomach bug, bronchitis, ear infections, upper respiratory infections, tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy, bronchitis again, ear infections again, and now pneumonia.

February, you have been cold and you have been mean to us. And I am glad you are going away and will not return for 11 more months. Next time you come back I expect you to be nicer to us. I hope that your friend March is gentle and kind and illness free because we can't take it any more! And I am pretty sure our doctor office and pharmacy are getting pretty sick of seeing us, too.

So long, farewell, adieu, February. And welcome March. As long as you don't give me a sinus infection I think we are going to get along just fine.

Goodbye Tonsils!

2011-02-18T16:14:00.000-06:00

This week was a hectic one in our household. Meetings and work schedules were pushed aside as our sweet Sam had his tonsils and adenoids removed.

It took me forever to convince our doctor that he needed to see an ENT, but once the ENT saw him she agreed with my diagnosis: they needed to come out! I hated to put my kid through this ordeal but it was for his own good. He simply could not breathe they were so enlarged. So on February 16th we headed to the hospital to bid them adieu.

This is Sam before surgery and hopped up on this goofy juice they gave him to help him relax. This happy smile did not last long. He did not have an easy time of it in surgery. His adenoids were much larger than thought. Some of the largest our surgeon had ever seen, so it took longer to take them out. And his tonsils were so diseased that the simple procedure turned in to something not so simple. My poor baby.

Because the surgery was tougher than normal the doctor wanted to possibly keep us over night. If he could keep his pain down through oral medicine and not get sick then we could go home. Luckily we didn't have to stay at the hospital overnight. A few popsicles and Sprite did the trick for him and he was raring to go! That and massive doses of hydrocodone made him one hyper kid.

After spending the night with mama forcing drinks and medicine down his throat all hours of the night, we spent the next few days keeping him entertained and still. The doctor said no bouncing or rough, wild play. She does not know our Sam! That boy can only play rough and wild! So we have been letting him watch a lot of movies and build with Legos to keep him still. Thankfully his little brother was able to go to day care, which really helped to make things easy on me! Trying to care for two little kids, one recovering from surgery, is not my idea of fun days!

We are now obsessed with Legos. Actually, *I* am obsessed with Legos. He is obsessed with the Lego people. But we had lots of fun building different creations together.

And then the sillies hit and he got a little goofy with the camera.

Even though he is sick and hurting, I am enjoying spending this quality time with my oldest boy. Just mama and Sam, making tonsillectomies fun!

One Trick Pony

2011-02-09T22:29:00.001-06:00

I'm raising two boys. Two daring, rowdy, noisy boys. Two boys who make me debate whether trying for that third is a good idea. Because I could end up with a third daring, rowdy, noisy boy. Or a daring, rowdy, noisy girl who is just like her big brothers! Some days I don't know if I should push my luck or not. Today was one of those days

Nathan has got to be the cutest 14 month old I've ever seen. And the most ornery kid, too, who tries to use his cuteness to mask his ornery-ness.

He decided that just riding astride on his rocking horse was not good enough for him. Oh no! That is so passe. So he decided to give some trick riding a turn. He'd been practicing his tricks for a couple of days now. First there was the "Look mama, no hands!" trick.

Then he decided to turn it up a notch and try the one-footed approach.

Having mastered those rodeo worthy tricks he decided to move on to a more daring feat. He needed a trick that was bigger! One that was better! He needed a trick that would prove he was the best trick rocking horse rider ever! So next he tried "the stand".

He was quite proud of himself. I can't tell you how long he stood up straight on that horse's back while he watched TV and while I photographed him. And I can't tell you how many times I thought "I'd better get him down or he's going to fall and get hurt!". But bad mama that I am I just kept taking picture after picture because he was so cute!

And wouldn't you know it, just as I took this last picture and got up to help him get down he lost his footing, flipped over backwards, and landed face first on the hard floor. But not before he hit his face on his cement truck on the way down, thus busting his cute little nose.
Mother of the Year strikes again! But at least I didn't take a picture of his bloody little nose, even though it was a new "first" for him.

Ever try to stop a nose bleed on a kid who acts like you are trying to murder him every time you try to wipe his nose? Not fun at all. Even more fun when that kid is a wailing, flailing, hurt little one year old who is normally a happy-go-lucky little baby. Made me feel like the worst mother ever.

I am sure that as wildly as he and his brother play it will not be his last bloody nose. I am sure that more bumps, scrapes, and bruises will be in his dare-devilish future. Getting hurt is a part of life, even if it their mama's fault!

Show Us Your Life- My Adoption Stories

2011-01-27T23:23:00.003-06:00

I don't often link up with Kelly's Korner "Show Us Your Life" blog carnival. It's often about house decorating or kids stuff and I don't do anything too fancy to qualify for those. But when I saw that this week's topic was adoption stories, I knew I had to put my story out there.

The miracle of adoption has touched our family not once but twice. Adoption is truly a miracle and an answer to prayer. Let me give you guys my story and my two cents on the matter.

My husband and I wanted kids almost immediately after getting married but we soon found out that we would not have an easy time expanding our family. We tried in vitro and were heartbreaking that it was unsuccessful. We decided to immediately turn to adoption. Family friends had adopted through Bethany Christian Services and we felt that it's beliefs and the way they help birth parents throughout the process is a perfect fit for our family.

We were delighted that we quickly were approved to adopt, but as soon as we were approved my husband was sent to Iraq with the Army Reserves in 2003-2004. Frustrating that knowing that yet another year would pass without a child entering our lives, but we continued to pray that God's will will be done.

Fast forward two more years to 2005 and we were beyond frustrated that friends were becoming parents left and right and we still were childless. It's a heartbreaking feeling that I just can't describe. Unless you have struggled with trying to have children you will never understand the heartbreak, frustration, and depression that you go through every day. I quit going to church because I could not stand seeing yet another pregnant girl in my Sunday school class. I hated going to work and seeing parents who were not married, who were unemployed, who were neglectful to their own children get pregnant. I got frustrated at God and felt abandoned by him and frankly didn't want to have anything to do with him. It was not fair that people who didn't even want or deserve or could provide for a child would get pregnant at the drop of a hat and we never could. 2004 to 2005 was a dark, depressive, and anxiety driven year.

In June of 2005 our church had a guest pastor who preached that Southern Baptists tend to pray wrong. They tend to pray "Lord, thy will be done" when they'd rather say "God, we need $1000 by Friday or we're going to be out of our house!" It's okay to get specific with God. I went home that day with a new purpose and a new hope. I told my husband that we were going to pray that God would bring us a baby by October. I was adamant that was how we were to pray. I even interrupted Wayne's prayers to interject that God will bring us a baby by October. And through the rest of 2005 we prayed like we have never prayed before.

Fast-forward to October 1st, 2005. Do you remember what you were doing that day? I don't. Wayne was out of town on a business trip, and it was a Saturday. That meant that I was home alone by myself. I probably slept in, hung around in my jammies for a while, watched TV, and did a whole lot of nothing that day.

Little did I know that that boring, do-nothing day would soon become one of my most favorite days ever. The next morning, at 8:30 AM, I received a phone call from our adoption agency letting us know that a baby boy was born the day before and that we were chosen to be his parents.

I could not believe it. While I laid around the house doing a whole lot of nothing, this tiny little boy entered the world and was destined to soon become the center of mine. How strange it was for me that in just 24 hours my life was forever changed. I went to bed Saturday as Kendra, wife to Wayne. And I woke up on Sunday as Kendra, mom to an adorable baby boy.

After years and years of waiting and praying we were finally going to be parents. And not only that, but God answered my prayer in every way. I prayed for a baby by October, and our son was born October 1st, 2005. I never imagined God would answer my prayer so strongly but he knew. Even when I am faithless, God is faithful.

We brought our son home on October 3rd and we have been blessed to be his parents every day since. Sometimes I have to remember I did not give birth to him he is so much like us. God knows what he is doing when he knits families together through adoption.

For years after Sam's arrival we debated whether or not to try to try in vitro or to adopt again. Spring of 2008 we decided that we really did want more children. So, since our insurance covered it, we decided to try in vitro ONE MORE TIME. After all, third time's the charm!

My doctor tried me out on newer, high dose, potent fertility drugs. Kinda like suddenly growing the reproductive system of Michelle Duggar. Those potent drugs, hormones, steroids, and antibiotics cause you to gain 20 pounds in 1 month. 20 pounds that never go away. (Do the math: 3 IVF procedures X 20 pounds = 60 pounds gained since trying to become a mama. FUN!)

I am textbook perfect every time I undergo IVF. But, alas, they never work. Good uterus, bad DNA, I guess. So, with strikeout #3, we decide that we are ready to adopt again. However, we then find out that we will be moving at the end of summer. So, we wait until we move and get settled to start the process again.

We contact our adoption agency, Bethany Christian Services, and apply to their domestic infant program in Missouri. We have our first meeting in October and begin the piles of paperwork, background checks, home studies, meetings, doctor visits, and financial history. By March we are finished with the application process and we are approved for the domestic infant program. We are then put on the "waiting list". We decide to start praying daily for this child. Because the first two years we were waiting for Sam we never really prayed for it. So we began to ask God for a baby by Christmas. Heck, God doesn't care if you get specific and give a deadline!

Now, some of you may not realize that most adoption agencies don't function like a deli. "Couple #24, your baby is ready." Now days, it is the birth parent's choice in who will be the parents of their child. And we wouldn't have it any other way, because never to we want to worry that they regretted their decision. We want them to be at peace and know that they made the best choice for their child.

What typically happens is a birth mother and/or father comes to the agency expressing their desire for help in making a birth plan for their unborn child. Our agency does so much to help these birth mothers, both before and after the birth of their child. The council them, help them get medical and housing assistance, if needed. They want to minister to them as much as possible, because you can not imagine what a difficult situation they are in.

Many birth parents choose to parent their child. And our agency continues to help them as much as they need. They don't drop them just because they are not going through with an adoption plan.

However, when the birth parent has made the decision to create an adoption plan for their child, they then ask us, the dozen waiting families, if we are interested in having our profile shown to them. We are given the situation of the birth parent and the baby. We know race, gender, medical information. We then choose if we are willing to be considered as adoptive parents for this baby. Some, we have not, and many we have. It's all based on what we are comfortable with and what we desire.

Once the birth mother reviews the profiles and has found a family that she wants to parent her child, we are informed of their decision and we arrange to meet in person and make plans together.

That is not the case with us. Apparently, when it comes to adopting our children, we don't do things by the book.

We received a phone call from our adoption agency on the morning of October 28th. The adoption counselor told me that a birth mother has chosen us. Now, I was quite confused because we had not received an e-mail in a long time asking us if we wanted our profile shown.

It turns out that this birth mother is not one they have been counseling and working with. She decided, on her own, to find adoptive parents for her baby. She found our profile on their Internet site and was drawn to it. She just knew that she wanted us to be the parents for her baby.

We met the birthmother and the match meeting could not have gone better. A few short weeks later we were surprised by a late night phone call on November 16th letting us know that our son entered the world. And though there were some bumps in the road the first few weeks of his life, we never doubted that this sweet chubby baby would be our son for ever. On December 1, 2009, we brought him home forever. We prayed for a baby by Christmas and once again God was faithful!

Some people have said that I am not their "real" mother. Some have said that you aren't a mother until you suffer through at least 12 hours of hard labor. But I am as real a mother as someone who gives birth naturally to their 8th child.

I wasn't there on the day my sons were born. I didn't get to see them enter this world, hear their first cry, and look in to their eyes when they opened for the first time.

But I get the joy and the honor being there for every cry they have, every smile, every breath, every look, every word. I get to spend my life being Sam and Nathan's mama. And I thank God and their birth moms and dads every day for the gift of these little boys.

I never thought I wanted a boy until Sam and Nathan entered my life and now I can not imagine raising anything but boys. But God knew. He knew the minute they were formed that they were to be my sons. He knew their little personalities and how they would match to mine. God knew that I needed a Sam and a Nathan.

Is our adoption story over? Is our family complete? I'm not sure but I am praying for an answer from God. But if I ever begin to doubt God and his plan for my life I just look at these two boys and remember the blessings he gave me and the answers to my prayers.

White Stuff

2011-01-21T09:53:00.000-06:00

Nathan is such a funny kid. He is fascinated by the craziest things. And if anything is set in the floor it's fair game for his climbing and belly flopping game. Take for instance the day I bought more toilet paper. You would have thought I came home with the newest and greatest toy with as much fascination and delight he had about the pack of TP in our floor.

He immediately climbed on it and flopped all over it.

And, apparently, even sampled a bite of it. I guess it was quite tasty because he went back for more.

He decided in the end that it was better off as a chair than a snack. Smart boy.

Sam's favorite white thing is snow. And we get our fair share of it around here. Enough to enjoy, but not enough to drive us crazy with cabin fever. We got a 3 inch snow yesterday, enough to close schools. So Sam and I got to spend the snow day together.

He tried so hard to catch flakes on his tongue, but it was coming down way too fast.

So he decided to just sled in it for a while. This boy loves to sled!

Then it was on to snow recess on his swing set. Glad I bought those extra warm snow pants this year! Swinging on 3 inches of snow can get quite cold, I imagine. But he didn't notice and just had lots of fun instead.

My favorite way to spend a snow day, especially when I'm not feeling so great, is to just stay inside, wear jammies, and watch the snow fall.

I think we'll be enjoying lots of white stuff this winter. Whether it's toilet paper or snow.

Lightened Up Poppy Seed Chicken

2011-01-14T15:20:00.000-06:00

I'm blogging about this here in case I lose my recipe.

I love comfort foods. Love them! They make you feel all warm and cozy inside. Maybe because they're warm and tasty. Maybe because they make you warm and cozy from that extra layer of fat they'll pad on your middle if you are not careful!

My husband and I are working hard this year to exercise more, eat less, and lose some weight. I've dropped about 8 so far, and I'm sure given his male metabolism he's lost about 16. Not fair. We've never really ate unhealthy except for our twice a month mac and cheese night. We just ate too much. So apparently, according to my waist, you CAN have too much of a good thing!

I had a lot of leftover chicken from our grocery store rotisserie chicken purchase and I wanted to make something out of it besides my lightened up faux chicken enchiladas. I decided to try to lighten up poppy seed chicken. I wrote down every ingredient I used, used a handy dandy app to calculate their calories, and came up with how many calories were in the dish as well as how many calories per serving!

It certainly is not easy cooking healthy but it is so much better for you! So since I felt so proud of my recipe I decided to share it with you all:

Kendra' Lightened Up Poppy Seed Chicken

1/2 can low fat cream of mushroom soup (or chicken) (95 calories)

1/4 cup skim milk (22 calories)

4 tablespoons fat free sour cream (70 calories)

1 1/2 cups diced chicken (347 calories)

1 1/4 tablespoons poppy seeds (28 calories)

10 low fat Ritz crackers (140 calories)

"I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" buttery spray (0 calories)

Total calories- 702

Total amount made- 2 cups

Calories per 1/2 cup serving- 175.5 calories

Calories in the regular recipe- 326.4

Calories saved: 150.9 (that's a scoop of ice cream, people!)

1. Mix soup, milk, and sour cream together until creamy.

2. Stir in chicken and poppy seeds.

3. Add mixture to a small casserole dish.

4. Top with crushed Ritz crackers until covered. Spritz crackers with butter spray until covered. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Serve over brown rice or whole wheat pasta (but watch your serving size and calorie count!

This recipe can easily be doubled or even tripled for a larger crowd. I just had a limited amount of ingredients and I didn't want extra left overs in case my kids hated it or the total calorie amount was too much to tempt me. But the truth is BOTH kids LOVE it and begged for more! Even Sam who does not like casseroles or foods mixed up loved it. And the 1/2 cup portion was plenty to satisfy us, especially when served with hearty vegetables on the side.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we did! Bon appetite!

Snow Day?

2011-01-11T21:22:00.001-06:00

I love snow. Maybe because growing up in the south it was a rarity. It falls more frequently since we moved to Missouri but not as much as people in Minnesota or Colorado. Enough to enjoy, but not enough that you go all "The Shining" crazy with cabin fever.

I've been yearning for a snow day. A chance to romp around in the cold, sled, and have fun. Our local school district almost NEVER closes for snow because we have such an efficient street department that those roads are usually clear and passable before the flakes have a chance to get too comfy. So imagine how shocked I was to wake up this morning to about an inch of snow and find out that the schools were closed! Even my husband stayed home instead of going to work. It was a winter miracle!

Yes, I finally got my snow day today. It was not like the Snowpocalypse of 2010, but it was good enough. For now. But Jack Frost had better come again with a couple of more inches in tow before spring arrives!

We all got dressed and went out to enjoy the fun before it melted away.

It's so funny that from the time you decide to go out in the snow to the time you actually get to crunch some white stuff is about an hour. All those layers, buckles, zippers on wee people take forever! Glad I only have two kids because let me tell you, getting Nathan in snow clothes was like trying to dress a cat. Or a small elephant seal. But after much rolling in the floor, gnashing of teeth, and wailing like a banshee I got him dressed. And he was so darned cute, may I add. His brother, too. Kids look so cute in snow pants! Me , not so much.

At first, Nathan was not thrilled to be dressed like the Michelin Man and outside in the cold. But after a few hesitant steps he was loving it!

We then enjoyed all of the typical snow activities, like making snow angels

throwing snowballs

sledding

and Sam's personal favorite, rolling down the hill.

Some people may moan about snow days, but we say...

LET IT SNOW!!!

Watch It Wiggle, See it Jiggle

2011-01-04T21:08:00.001-06:00

I have a weird baby. Have I ever mentioned that?

After having a birthday in October, a birthday in November, and Christmas in December we are over run with toys. We have so many toys we can operate a day care out of my living room!

So, with all these new, fabulous toys available, what is my baby's favorite new plaything?

Yes, that is a Jell-O box. Peach, to be exact. And it is unopened and unused so it has a nice "shaka-shaka" sound when he walks around shaking it.

Or dancing with it.

Or hugging it.

Or excitedly watching TV with it.

Or running all over the house like a maniac with it.

So, instead of spending all that money on Christmas and birthday presents, I could have bought a 50 cent box of Jell-O instead.

Maybe I'll have to pick up a few more boxes in a variety of flavors so he'll have more things to play with. Because there's always room for Jell-O!

Wrapping Up 2010- Better Late Than Never!

2011-01-02T19:22:00.000-06:00

I wanted to end my 2010 blog posts with one about our Christmas festivities, but sadly life got too busy to be able to sit down and do it until the second day of 2011. Let's just pretend I wrote this on time, okay???

Christmas has been great this year. Wayne actually took 2 weeks off from work and he was home with me and the kids the whole time. I think he may actually have gained a new respect for what I go through every day while he's working. Or at least understand why I'm about to tear someone's head off by the time he gets home! Usually I hate being in the house day after day with everyone but this time I really enjoyed our time together and I hate to see him have to go back to work on Monday.

Christmas was a wonderful, relaxed day. The kids slept in until 7:40, which is a Christmas gift in itself! When I think of all the 5 AM Christmas morning wake up calls I gave my parents growing up I am thankful my kids slept as long as they did!

Santa made his annual visit and my kids were delighted at his choices. Santa was very economical this year and shopped at sales and consignment stores. Wise old elf. The kids had fun checking out what Santa brought them.

They both got Pillow Pets. Sam's not so subtle hint by singing the theme song for 6 months and Nathan flopping on every stuffed animal he sees made these the perfect choice for the boys. Sam immediately hugged his penguin

while Nathan, naturally, belly flopped on his.

After much Pillow Pet flopping they moved on to their other loot. Sam got to work playing with his toys

and Nathan saddled up and took his for a ride with plenty of "Whee!"s along the way.

They then both played forever with the Weeble and Weebleville toys. So glad that they play so well together!

Sam, being the wise boy that he is, reminded us that we had plenty of gifts under the tree to open. And we got to work on all of the pretty papers and pretty ribbons. Sam was trilled to have skull pajamas (such a boy thing!)

and Nathan literally loved his soft and fuzzy books.

Sam was thrilled to find a Plastic Man under the tree for him and could not wait to test out his elasticity. He made it less than 12 hours before his first overly stretched tear. Oh well.

And Nathan decided that my brand new knitting loom was the perfect place to cop a squat! Thanks, my chubba-chub!

I sadly forgot to take a picture of all of us on Christmas morning, but the love and the memories will live on in my heart. It was a great way to wrap up 2010. Here's hoping that 2011 is the start of a wonderful decade for us all!

White Christmas (Eve)

2010-12-24T20:22:00.002-06:00

We have not had a White Christmas since 2004. That was an AWESOME magical Christmas, though it was not fun spending 8 hours to drive a 3 hour trip. But it was fun playing in the snow and sledding for days at Christmas.

For years since I have hoped and wished to have another white Christmas. Today is as close as we have gotten in years. This afternoon it started to snow and we all went outside and enjoyed the few, fat flakes. Watching them fall, tasting them on our tongues, made us all feel like Christmas really was here.

Merry Christmas to all! And may all your Christmases be white!

2010 Santa Photo

2010-12-23T13:13:00.001-06:00

I don't have many photos of myself as a child with Santa. My mom says it's because I was too shy to have my picture made, and I do admit I have a lifelong mistrust of bearded men. So I decided that once I had kids, I would have their picture made with Santa every year. Whether they like it or not!

Apparently Nathan inherited my distrust of bearded men because he would have nothing to do with the man in red. Sam, who tried to balk at having his photo made with the jolly old elf, was easily bribed to sit on his lap with a sprinkle cookie. I couldn't have a picture of one kid and not the other, so I took one for the team and joined in on the photo. And since I didn't want to be the only under dressed, under makeuped parent in the photo, I talked their daddy in to joining us on Santa's throne.

So, I give to you our 2010 Santa Photo. For better, or for worse.

Fa la la la la, and HO HO HO! Merry Christmas to all!

Show Us Your Life- Christmas Tour of Homes

2010-12-13T11:45:00.024-06:00

I'm joining up on the tour of homes over at Kelly's Korner blog and at The Nester's blog. I love Christmas and I love decorating my home for Christmas! And while I don't decorate as much as I used to or as much as I want I still get a warm feeling every year when I open up the boxes of decorations and start to transform my house.

Most important of all of my decorations is my tree.

I love colored lights on Christmas trees. Something about it seems so warm and festive. We decorate our tree with ornaments we've gathered over the years. From homemade ornaments to Hallmark ornaments to ornaments found on our travels, nothing makes me feel happier than looking at our family tree.

My "great room" is one big room housing the living, dining, and kitchen areas. This is primarily where most of my decorations are because we spend 90 percent of our time in this room. I have special decorations that I always put in our kitchen, no matter what house we live in.

I love filling up glass containers with shiny glass balls. They look so sparkly in my sunny kitchen window. And this "recipe" for the holiday is just absolutely adorable.

I've had these holiday friends for years. Now they are perched on top of my fridge.

These Santa mugs are OLD and fragile. When I was little we used to sip hot chocolate out of them at Christmas time. Now they reside in a place of honor in my kitchen. And in a place where little fingers won't break them!

I put some simple decorations on my sofa table because my kids love to undecorate it for me! I just love those snowy bird houses. And I have framed pictures of my boys with Santa scattered all over the house.

I love to knit but I'd never have the time to make all of these cute knit balls and turn them in to this adorable wreath. Thanks to TJ Maxx I don't have to!

Some child-friendly decorations for my friendly children.

These black and white snowmen have been with me longer than my husband. They are probably my first "grown up" decoration that I purchased when I got my first house. They have always resided on top of my TV hutch.

I love how elegant this icicle wreath looks year after year in my house.

I even have these mini icicle wreathes hung all over my house in various places. Know what they are? Candle rings from Hobby Lobby!

I love my nativity set, especially in front of this snowy, winter picture.

My gigantic snowmen. Bigger than my kids!

Our stockings are NOT hung by the chimney with care, since we don't have a fireplace. So we hung them on the pantry doors instead. I think Santa will still be able to fill them come Christmas eve.

My son, Sam, made this nativity set in his pre-k class this year. I think it may be my most favorite decoration yet! I love homemade decorations!

But my most favorite part of my Christmas decorations are these two little faces:

They make Christmas special and magical again. Merry Christmas to all! I hope your holiday is just a bright and special as mine is!

Miracles CAN Happen

2010-12-10T08:37:00.002-06:00

Last weekend our church's children's choir presented their Christmas play "Miracles Can Happen, If You Believe". And BOTH of my children were in the play. Yep, even baby Nathan got to join in the Christmas celebration. The play too place in Bethlehem and our church went all out recreating the city and the Christmas story in our sanctuary. All children were townspeople and I do believe I have two of the cutest townspeople in the entire city of David.

I was so proud of how well my children did in the play, and how all the children did. Sam was perfect at looking adorable and prayerful.

And Nathan was wonderful as a little baby shopping in the Bethlehem marketplace.

It was an amazing and beautiful production of the Christmas story. And our church went all out for their telling of the miracle of Jesus. There were donkeys and camels.

There were heavenly hosts rejoicing.

There were kings and Roman soldiers.

It was a touching and moving production of the birth and life of Christ. It was a beautiful reminder of what Christmas is all about. I admit I cried every time during the productions. Partly because I was so proud of how my children are growing up knowing about the TRUE meaning of Christmas. And partly because I am not worthy of our Savior but he still died for me. And that is the true miracle of Christmas.

Show Us Your Life- Entry Ways/Foyers

2010-12-03T09:20:00.004-06:00

I love to read the "Show us Your Life" blog carnival on Kelly's Korner, but I never contribute. Mainly because my house is never as fancy as the ones people link up. And because it is never clean enough to take a picture of it.

But today's showcase is about showing your entry ways and foyers. That's one area of my house that IS clean because no children go in there It's gated off. They can't even try without an adult accompanying them. No children = clean room! So here is it. My foyer:

I've never figured out what my front room is supposed to be. Maybe a formal dining room, but why do I need one with a breakfast bar AND an eat in kitchen in my great room? So, it's houses our pianos and my son's Super Hero city. None of which I care to showcase today!

Don't let my yellow walls fool you. In the day time they are the perfect yellow. At night, they turn in to this garish orange. I am a fan of bright colors so it's grown on me. But the color is not for the faint of heart!

I have pictures of my kids with Santa framed and scattered all over the house. Some years we even went to TWO malls to meet Santa. Mainly because my oldest would NEVER smile in his pictures! Always looked like we were sitting him in the electric chair and not on Santa's lap! But I digress...

This is a handy table in the entry way. I love to have drawers to shove junk in to. I must have 12 junk drawers in this house. That gold chair and it's twin that you can't see were bargains from a junk store. Just needed to grace the right room and let their 1960's gold velvet color SHINE!

I love my stairs! I love that the family pictures are displayed so nicely on the walls. I love the garland on the banister (though it apparently needs to be rehung. Little fingers have apparently knocked it off). My entry way has been so boring for the past few years but I didn't know what was missing until I saw my frosty friends. I LOVE my gigantic snow people! We have an AWESOME Christmas craft weekend here in my town and I picked them up at a bargain price! If little fingers don't pick off their decorations and flocking they may last me until I have grand children.

And there's all of my exciting foyer Christmas decorations! Festive enough for me!

I Heart December!

2010-12-01T14:39:00.000-06:00

I am so glad that it's December. I think December is my favorite month of the year.

I love winter and cold weather. I love wearing coats and sweaters. I love knitting scarves and hats.

I love colorful Christmas lights. I love reminiscing about each ornament as we hang them on the tree. I love Christmas trees.

I love red and green. I love glitter and sparkles. I love silver and gold ribbons.

I love sugar cookies shaped like trees and Santa. I love hot chocolate with marshmallows. I love red and white candy canes.

I love hearing Christmas carols on the radio. I love singing Christmas carols in church. I love playing Christmas songs on the piano with my Reader's Digest song book.

I love watching Nathan go "ho-ho-ho" at every Santa he sees. I love watching Sam get excited over hanging decorations on the tree. I love wrapping presents and making bows.

I love manger scenes. I love angels saying "Glory to God in the highest". I love the humble way Jesus was born.

I love that December is the end of one year and the beginning of another. I love that December is beautiful, shiny, and sparkly. I love the joy I feel inside just knowing that it is December.

December is promise. December is hope. December is joy. We celebrate the birth of Christ this month. Whether you believe in Santa, too, is of no matter to me. Because December is about believing in things that are amazing and impossible.

A child, born in a stable, made all of this possible. And that makes this month even more special.

Happy First Birthday, Nathan!

2010-11-24T07:53:00.000-06:00

Better late than never, I say.

And this post is late. One week late. Oh well. No one but my husband and mom reads this blog anyway so no one's been waiting on pins and needles for this post. But here it is, better late than never!

On Tuesday, November 16th, this little booger turned one.

I was not there the day he entered this world. I was not there when he drew his first breath. I was not there to hear his first cry or to be the first to hold him. His birth mother had the honor of those firsts. But I have the joy and pleasure for so many other firsts because of her and his birth father's selfless decisions. And for that I am eternally grateful to be celebrating his first birthday as his mama!

We celebrated with just the four of us. We had balloons!

We sang happy birthday as he tried to squeeze out the candle!

We ate cake!

We did not enjoy the icing and while getting mad about eating icing we ended up rubbing it on our face.

"What, is there something on my nose?"

We got over our mood about icing and laughed it off.

We opened presents from our brother (who liked the present as much as the birthday boy did!)

And we got our own cat to chew and slobber on (much to big brother's delight).

And, as per tradition, my usual monthly in the bed pose:

Which has turned in to standing and laughing in the bed.

Nathan, at ONE YEAR OLD you:

- weigh 23 and a half pound and are 31 and a half inches long. You are between the 50th-75th percentile
- wear 18 to 24 month clothes, size 5 shoes, and size 4 diapers.
- are down to one nap a day. Boo. And you get super tired around 7 PM.
- have 7 teeth with no sign of number 8.
- can't decide if you are ready to go total table foods or not. You started out finger feeding yourself everything, then only if I put the food on a fork and hand it to you, then only if I feed you on a fork, and now back again to mainly wanting chopped up foods. What gives!?!
- are addicted to Ritz crackers. Which is why we've switched to low salt crackers because a one year old with hypertension is not cool.
- are trying out whole milk. So far, we're on the fence. You're more gassy and fussy at night so maybe milk still bothers your tummy.
- love to play with balls, your brother's Hot Wheels, Little People, and Duplo blocks.
- still cling to your mama like a vine to a trellis.
- cruise everywhere and will stand up and play but are not yet ready to let go and walk.
- can say "bye, ball, balloon, cracker" and make sounds for cars, cats, sheep, dinosaurs, and wild animals. You are one noisy baby!
- dramatically throw yourself in the floor and bawl like your heart is breaking if I put you down, if ever you don't get your way, or if I walk away from you.
- laugh like a chipmunk. It is so stinking cute that people stop and listen and laugh with you when you get going.
- smile at anybody and everybody. You have got to have the sunniest personality I've ever seen, which makes you such a joy and a delight to be around.

Nathan, some days I can't wait to see what kind of boy and man you are going to become, and some days I want so badly for time to slow down or even rewind. These days are precious, sweet baby, and I want to enjoy every moment of them. I loved every minute of the first year of your life and I can't wait to see what is going to happen as we embark on your toddler years!

One Week Left

2010-11-09T07:25:00.001-06:00

I can't believe that we have only one week left until Nathan turns one. I can't believe that this time last year we did not yet have this baby in our lives. I can't believe how much more our family is blessed by the addition of one roly poly baby.

This is our family about this time last year.

Little did we know that soon a baby would come in to our lives and change everything for the better.

While we count down the days until the beginning of the end of his baby-hood, we are enjoying the lovely fall weather and spending time together as a family.

We've hit the pumpkin patch, where both my boys looked adorable posing with pumpkins.

We've tried, and failed, to take fabulous fall photos.

We've played outside, enjoying the crisp air and crunching leaves.

We've gone to football games (well, not Nathan. He hung out with a babysitter.)

We've dressed up and did the whole Halloween thing. Except carve pumpkins. No one ever wants to carve pumpkins with me.

We've enjoyed our time together as a family this fall. And now we are anticipating celebrating Nathan's first birthday next week. Who knew that one year could make such a difference in the lives of a family?

Good Pictures. Bad Mama.

2010-10-28T07:36:00.000-05:00

Our first stop on our visit the California the other week, besides spending an HOUR in line to get a rental car, was to meet Wayne's dad and step-mom at the beach.

We met at a great restaurant right on the beach. Which meant that we had to hear eleventy-hundred times throughout our meal "Can we go to the beach? Can we go now?"

But finally, we let the boys hit the beach. Because Missouri boys don't see the ocean all that much. And because mama wanted to take some great pictures. I've been taking a photography class. I figure it was time to learn what all those fancy buttons and dials do on my fancy camera. And I practiced what I learned on the beach that day taking great pictures. At least, they're great to me!

Sam was so excited to FINALLY be at the beach that he could hardly contain his joy!

He set out to find sea shells, but all the found was driftwood. Maybe they don't have sea shells in California?

Then he braved his way through about a hundred yards of rotting, smelly seaweed to reach the ocean and chase a few waves.

The sheer look of joy on his face made me eager to capture every moment of his delight.

He had fun throwing rocks in the ocean and trying to outrun the waves.

But then the got cocky and started taunting and daring the waves to get him.

And that was when mama forgot that she was supposed to be keeping an eye on her 5 year old son playing by the ocean, not focusing on the photographic subject in front of her. Because if I wasn't so focused on, well, focusing, I would have noticed the miniature tsunami brewing off shore.

But at least I noticed before he was washed out to sea. Not before he was turned in to a wet, sandy, swamp thing, unfortunately. So after washing him up in a tiny bathroom sink (a bathroom WITHOUT paper towels!) and putting dry, warm clothes on my frozen beach boy, he decided he had enough of the ocean. At least for now. Next time, we'll be sure to keep our eyes on the tide, because you never know when it will turn on you!

Oops, I Did It Again!

2010-10-25T22:13:00.001-05:00

A little something called life has been in over-drive lately, which means I've been too darned busy to blog about my life. And in my busy-ness I missed documenting Nathan's 11 month birthday! Oops. Bad mama. Maybe he'll never know or care, but I will.

The reason I missed celebrating and blogging about Nathan's 11 month birthday is that I spent it in a little place I'd like to call hell on Earth: flying.

We were flying back from visiting Wayne's family in California, and we spent all of the 16th in airports, driving to airports, driving from airports, and crammed in planes trying to keep our two kids from behaving badly enough to get us kicked off the plane.

Good news is that we, obviously, survived the ordeal. And both kids were well behaved. Nathan wanted to smile and flirt with everyone on board, and most people were welcome of his charming personality. Sam happily played with my ipod or his super heroes all flight. And Wayne put up with sitting in the middle seat of all this craziness.

So, here's a picture of how Nathan spent his birthday:

And here's a few cute pictures I took of him in California. The boy just won't cooperate and pose in his usual in the bed birthday photo position, so these will have to do in documenting my boy and his special day.

First time at the Pacific Ocean. He was not impressed.

Playing and grandma and grandpa's.

Just a swinging.

Hanging out in grandma and grandpa's yard.

Celebrating his birthday, just a little early.

And for a few of Nathan's monthly stats. Nathan, at 11 month old you:

- are pretty heavy and tall. I have no idea now much, though. I'm guessing 25 pounds because you are getting harder and harder to carry around!
- are wearing 18-24 month shirts and 12-18 month pants. You are solidly in a size 4 diaper, too.
- are drooling like a madman. You refuse to wear bibs anymore, so we have to change your shirt 2-3 times a day!
- have 6 teeth. Three on top and three on bottom. You look funny because you have both of your upper and lower middle teeth, and one on the top left and one on the bottom right. Such a snagglepuss!
- have not mastered "mama" or "dada" yet, but "bye, ball, balloon" are firmly in your vocabulary. Nice. We can see what your favorites are.
- love to shake your head "no" and "yes". Actually, you favor no. Which makes me wonder if we'll have two head strong children on our hands.
- are so close to walking. If you would only just let go I think you would! You love to push chairs around the room and walk behind them, you clever boy.
- love balls. LOVE them! You will crawling around with a ball in one or both hands. You will stand up and bounce on your big toy balls. Future sports fanatic, perhaps?
- still hate your car seat but will happily ride if Sam is next to you.
- love your big brother. Maybe even more than me! But I am so glad that you two brothers love each other so much. I hope you always will.

Nathan, I pray that you are always as happy and friendly as you are right now. Your friendly nature and determination will take you far in life. I have so many dreams and prayers for you, sweet baby. I pray that God gives us guidance in raising you and your brother in to strong, Godly, loving men. I only have one month left until you are one year old. Some days, I want this past year back to relive. Some days I can't wait until the next month so I can see how much you change and grow. But for now, you are my sweet, adorable baby boy and I could not love you any more!

Photo Shoot

2010-10-11T16:50:00.005-05:00

The other day, Sam and I were hanging out in his bed. We were playing and talking and having such a good time. I decided to take a few self-portraits of the two of us. Because I wanted to remember the fun we were having, and because I want to get his picture as many times as I can before he becomes a surly teen and will never cooperate for my camera.

Apparently, judging by the first few frames I shot, he wasn't cooperating anyway.

Yeah, not a whole lot of cooperating going on (and what IS it with him giving "the bird"? I seriously doubt he's really flipping my camera off, but just in case we may have to have a talk!). But sometimes the best photos are the ones that are not super posed. So, I decided to play along and join him in the fun!

Not exactly pictures that I want to frame and hang on my wall, but the memories? Those are priceless!

October 1st, 2005

2010-10-01T23:10:00.000-05:00

October 1st, 2005.

Do you remember what you were doing that day? I don't.

Wayne was out of town on a business trip, and it was a Saturday. That meant that I was home alone by myself. I probably slept in, hung around in my jammies for a while, watched TV, and did a whole lot of nothing that day.

Little did I know that that boring, do-nothing day would soon become one of my most favorite days ever.

The next morning, at 8:30 AM, I received a phone call from our adoption agency letting us know that a baby boy was born the day before and that we were chosen to be his parents.

I could not believe it. While I laid around the house doing a whole lot of nothing, this tiny little boy entered the world and was destined to soon become the center of mine.

How strange it was for me that in just 24 hours my life was forever changed. I went to bed Saturday as Kendra, wife to Wayne. And I woke up on Sunday as Kendra, mom to an adorable baby boy.

By October 3rd, 2005, he was in our arms and home forever. He was so small and cuddly. He loved to eat and he ate a lot. And he slept from 11 at night until 5 the next morning, both frightening and delighting us first time parents.

And, for 24 hours, he did not have a name. But soon, while reading "Who's Who in the Bible" we both knew what his name would be.

Samuel. Samuel Parker. Because like Hannah in the Bible, we prayed and begged God to bring us a child. And Parker, after my grandmother and great grandmother that I loved very much. Two very important names for a very important boy.

I wasn't there on the day he was born. I didn't get to see him enter this world, hear his first cry, and look in to his eyes when they opened for the first time.

But I get the joy and the honor being there for every cry he has, every smile, every breath, every look, every word. I get to spend my life being Sam's mama. And I thank God and his birth mom every day for the gift of his little boy.

I never thought I wanted a boy until Sam and now I can not imagine raising anything but boys. But God knew. He knew the minute Sam was formed that he was to be my son. He knew his little personality and how it would match to mine. God knew that I needed a Sam.

5 years have flown so quickly. I want to badly to slow this down and to soak in every moment of his childhood. Some days I wish I could relive his past. Some days I can't wait to see what he becomes as he grows.

But for today, I celebrate this amazing boy of mine and the 5 wonderful years he has spent in my life. Happy birthday, my sweet and silly Sam. I love you more than my heart could ever express.

Figuring Things Out

2010-09-24T07:54:00.002-05:00

Once again, I have signed myself up for WAAAAY to many extracurricular activities! This fall I am taking intermediate knitting (because one can have only so many scarves), advanced Photoshop (because one can only crop and use automatic correction settings so much), and the art of digital photograpghy.

Last summer I broke down (when Wayne was out of the country and could not stop me. HA!) and bought myself an SLR camera. I have always wanted one and I was tired of taking crappy, blurry photos of my fast kid. Since then I've added another fast kid in the mix, but I am still boring when it comes to taking pictures. I almost always use the automatic setting. I know. Why have a fancy camera if you don't do anything fancy with it. Forgive me. I'm lazy.

Today I started playing with manual settings and I discovered that you can change your color setting to reflect your environment and your mood. There's a button which allows for colors to appear vivid or natural, for outside pictures or your personal settings. And there is also a monochrome setting, which is better known as black and white. I love me some black and white photos. Never have been able to find anyone who could print them worth a darn, though, ever since my daddy quit developing film by hand. I still love to convert my pics to black and white and hope that they will turn out alright on paper. But now I can shoot them in black and white, and I love the grey scale in this setting.

I may become addicted. Would it be bad of me if all my kids' pictures look like I'm raising them in the 1950's? Here's a few lovely shots I captured today in my living room. It may have been hot and sunny outside, but the sun coming in my windows was the perfect lighting for my flash-less photos.

My beautiful (can I say that?) handsome Sam. Is he really this grown up already?

My cute little chubby bubby Nathan. And all of his jelly rolls. Why can't I be this cute with a poochy tummy and jiggly thighs?

They are gorgeous boys! I may never take my camera off of the monochromatic setting!

I love taking pictures of my boys. They may tire of me taking pictures of them one day, but for now I will photograph them and all of their handsomeness, beautifulness, and cuteness. And maybe, occasionally, in color!

It's That Time of the Year Again!

2010-09-22T07:53:00.000-05:00

Can't you smell it in the air? That familiar smell that permeates the atmosphere this time of year? No, it's not the smell of turning leaves in the crisp fall air, since it's still at hot as summer around here.

It's the smell that takes you back to your childhood days. It's the smell of funnel cakes, cotton candy, corn dogs, diesel fuel, and barn stalls. Yes, it's time once again for the fair!

I bet my fair is more fun than your fair. Because our town is host to the Southeast Missouri District Fair. Which means more ride, more food, more people, and more fun!

Once summer hits I get all giddy thinking about the fair arriving and all of the fun rides to ride and the delicious foods to eat and I can't wait for September to arrive so we can enjoy it all! Why can't fairs last more than one week?

Usually we like to go to the fair as many nights as we can. But with Nathan in tow, and an unusually busy week, we were only able to go twice. We got as much fun as we could out of our $17 arm bands (I SWEAR they were $15 last year!).

If you want to know the best night to go to the fair it's the night of the big parade (BIG. As in over 3 hours long. Not to be confused with the fair parade in my former town which lasts all of 7 minutes). The lines were short and we were itching to ride some rides and eat some fair treats!

We had to take turns hanging out with Nathan, who was so fascinated by the Ferris Wheel that he was happy just to watch the whirring, spinning lights. Wayne got to ride the dizzying and nauseating rides, like the tea cups

and Sam got to ride solo on fun kiddie rides, like the viking ships

and the flying cars, always one of his faves.

And I got to do fun things like the fun house, the scrambler, and the roller coaster. None of which were documented since the camera was riding useless in my pocket, darn it. Even Nathan got his picture made at the fair, such as it is.

After having a day to recuperate, we headed to fair again on Wednesday night. We were joined by friends of our and their son. Our boys (and their daddies) had so much fun riding all of the dizzy and crazy rides together like the Dizzy Dragons

and the Tilt-A-Whirl (or as I call it, the Tilt-A-Hurl). Sam's new favorite ride, apparently.

The boys had more fun riding all of the kiddie rides together

and Wayne and I had turns joining them on the rides.

I was even brave enough to try the scary rocking ship ride. I can't believe I rode that thing. I can't believe I did not barf while riding. I may have ridden with my eyes shut tight the whole time, but I rode it! If only I had photographic proof, but once again my camera was in my pocket. Oh well.

After all of the rides we were STARVING. Usually I love to indulge in fair food. If they can put it on a stick and fry it they serve it at fairs. Next year they'll be serving fried butter on a stick, I am sure. But we decided to go the cheap route this year and avoid the feast of foods on a stick and instead indulge on funnel cakes and the large bag of cotton candy. They were good. Really good. Sam ate his fair share of sugary fair foods. Can't you tell?

It may take us weeks to come down off the sugary, dizzy high of the fair. But I would not have it any other way. The food, the fun, and the memories are all too wonderful to forget!