old pictures...new memories

I found this picture of me when I was Karleigh's age...with Ben. I thought of all the pictures I have of Karleigh holding Kole...there is almost the same age difference between us. Check out those BE U TI FUL shoes! Karleigh would die if I made her wear those! LOL! I was definitely not as concerned with my looks as she is...I probably didn't have a choice! Ben was such a big baby...he weighed almost 12 pounds when he was born...he was almost as long as me!

I also found this picture...Oh my goodness it looks like Cael! This is Diana, my sister with my dad. She has trouble seeing herself in her little boy sometimes...she can't deny it in this one!

Then there is this picture... Wow! he had his hands full...two thumb sucking girls who hated to have their fingernails cut! I can still remember knowing Dad was planning on cutting finger and toenails, and hiding in the bed hoping he'd forget...he cut them so short...I still remember how it felt! Of course I'm sure, now having kids of my own, that he had to cut them short because who knows when he'd hold us down long enough to cut them again... That was always one of Dad's jobs!

Have Your Cake

We never got around to having birthday cake for Kole on his birthday. October 3 was on a Friday (which means football game) so we met Jason at McDonalds and had a birthday dinner. He did get an ice cream sundae with a candle in it! Kole just has a few little friends, and it's hard to expect family to come everytime there's a birthday so we just kind of celebrated low key. This Sunday I decided I wanted some pictures of him eating birthday cake so I set up in the yard, and let him go! He had so much fun destroying the cake...and eating some of it too. The wind kept blowing everything over, and the balloons only lasted a few minutes before they were in the top of a tree. I can't believe my little man is a year old already! Time really flies when you have kids. I'm beginning to think it goes by faster the more children you have!

Pictures

These are some pictures I took for a friend of her two year old!

Long time no post!

I know it's been a long LONG time since the last time I wrote anything! I should be ashamed! A lot has happened since the last blog, but that's for a later time! My baby boy turned one on October 3rd! I can't believe a whole year has passed! He is so much fun to watch! Every new thing is amazing to him, and he is soaking up the world like a little sponge! He has a new trick. His top two teeth are finally coming in and he has discovered that he can put his top and bottom teeth together and make grinding noises! It makes my skin crawl, but he LOVES it! He bites everything...Cheerios are eaten a bite at a time, and he tries to eat anything he can get his hands on...which leaves me sweeping the floor 4 or 5 times a day!Yesterday was his first day in a "big boy" carseat, and I laughed so hard watching his face as he watched everything going by in the window. His little face was in a constant state of shock! I wish I had taken a picture! I haven't taken his one year pictures yet because Jason wants to be home when I do it...I don't know if that will ever happen (Jason being home long enough for me to take a picture that is). He is really busy with football this time of year, and it seems like every weekend he has something he has to do! This weekend we were going to clean out the garage and have a garage sale, but a friend who has done us a lot of favors called in a favor from Jason...so he's really obligated to help out! I know he wants to be home, but it's one of those things he just can't refuse!

Can't wait to be in her shoes!

I had a few minutes to sit down and browse on the computer so I read Kaye Butler's blog Butler Family Diaries (someone help me on how to make a link). I love reading her stuff...she's always putting a humerous twist on her life! I feel pretty boring after reading what she writes! LOL! Today though, I was kind of glad it's boring around here sometimes! Teenager problems are not something I am really anxious to enter into! I remember the emotional turmoil I felt as a teenager, and I know that my kids will feel it too (probably times 10)! I didn't like ME when I was a teen, and I don't look forward to having to "figure out" the blank stares, rolling eyes, tears, code words, and MOODS of a teenager in my house! Of course I have a 5 yr old whose going on 15 so we are already dealing with DRAMA! Today for instance. Karleigh insisted on wearing her NEW Dora Shoes. They are really cute little pink plaid tennis shoes with a little striped elastic strap that goes across the foot to keep them on. I TRIED to tell her that she should wear bandaids or ankle socks with them so that she wouldn't get blisters. She said "PLEASE MOM! that's not going to look good" (as she threw out her hands and shook her head). Then, she had to spend 10 minutes telling me why she could not wear a pink skirt with her pink and white butterfly shirt... "It's just TOO MUCH pink MOM!" ...what? too much pink? I didn't know there was such a thing in the life of Karleigh...well at least there wasn't last week...this is a NEW week I guess...new week, new fashion rules! Anyway, she then began to tell me that she couldn't wear anything that she had ALREADY worn last week. "I need NEW outfits MOM"...pardon me, I will go right out and add more clothes to your already STUFFED closet containing MANY outfits you just REFUSE to wear...for who knows what reason! OH MY! I told her that she better get over that little problem because the clothes she saw before her two eyes were the only ones she would be wearing until it turned cold! She finally settled on a bluejean skirt, butterfly shirt, and of course the Dora shoes!

When I picked her up there was a frown on her face and she said "MOM, these shoes REALLY made blisters on my heels...I REALLY needed socks, but you didn't put any in my back pack...I had to take a nap with my shoes off because Mrs. Hiemer said my feet were BURNING!" hmmmmm ALL MY FAULT!

So Kaye, I guess I don't envy you, but make sure to tune in and lend me a hand in a few years because mine is already getting in plenty of practice for giving me grief when she's really a teen!

Kindergarten

OH MY GOODNESS! Wasn't it yesterday that I had a little girl running around my house that I couldn't even keep clothes on! She loved to be naked, and it was nothing to look up and see her in the front yard riding her tricycle with not a stitch of clothes on! Well, that has definitely changed! (yes I'm thankful) We spent at least an hour yesterday going through all of the clothes in Karleigh's closet to see what she would wear to school this week...she wanted each outfit to be just so and it had to have the right shoes to go with it too! We finally settled on a "first day" outfit, a "P.E. day" outfit, and a "picture day" outfit...Tuesday and Thursday will come tonight I hope... My little diva definately has an opinion about clothing...and everything else! She was so excited about school today...she talked really brave all the way to the classroom door this morning...BUT...not so much going in or sitting in her chair at the table between 2 boys! She was OK till I hugged her and said "I love you, have a wonderful day". BIG TEARS welled up in her eyes and she said "but I don't want you to leave me PLEASE" .

I promised her a treat on the way home from school if she would quit crying and she said "OK but you have to take my picture". So after a few snapped pictures and a hug from Daddy, she was sitting at her table watching "Handy Manny" and NOT all out crying when we left! I remember being a kindergarten teacher and wishing that the parents of the crying kids would just give them a hug and LEAVE... so I did! I know she's in good hands! Mrs. Hiemer goes to our church, and she's been teaching for many years! She's so sweet and loving I know Karleigh will be fine! Also, Jason's going to try to check on her at lunch and he's a few feet away in the field house! I am really glad we had preschool to prepare us last year because I might have been like so many moms I saw walking back to their cars this morning...bawling like they were leaving a funeral! I am sad that a part of her life is finished, but I guess I'm also really excited to see what this next chapter will bring! I love my little Karleigh, and I will always see her as my baby girl, but she's growing up and whether or not I want it to...it's happening!

Permission Granted!

Well, I have this habit of not blogging for days and then trying to catch up...this is one of those days... It's raining outside and the kids were napping when I started! How is it possible that they know just when I finish the laundry and supper and sit down to blog or read or whatever I want to do to relax for a few minutes! It's like they have a radar for mom relaxing! LOL! I know no one else has that problem but me! I love reading some people's blogs and thinking "wish I could be that funny" or "I used to know how to write". Well, how can you be funny or interesting when you have lil miss 5000 questions on your lap... Oh, I know, she'll be 16 before I know it and I will want those years back...and I realize that...I do get sad about her getting older...BUT, I just want 30 minutes! I'd even settle for 15 uninterrupted minutes! Jason can come home and tune it all out...sometimes I think he doesn't even know we have kids...he can sit at the computer for hours...no exaggeration!!!! Hello! What's my problem...maybe that's the key...just tune them out and forget they are here! HA HA HA! Why didn't I think of that sooner... except when we both come back to reality Kole will have eaten every bug, old Cheerio, and dust bunny within crawling distance, and Karleigh will be in the middle of the street with the "gang" of kids from the neighborhood finding out who's daddy just got out of jail...and that's no exaggeration! (a little girl from down the street told her the other day "you better watch out, my daddy just got out of jail!") UMHM...she's only 5 and this is what she's dealing with! ANYWAY, I blogged to say that I got to take pictures again the other day...these are maternity pics of our music minister and his wife...their baby, Madison, is coming Sept. 2! We had to take the pics at their house so lighting wasn't great, but I finally got permission to show them! Thanks Lindsey!

Update on the Kitchen

Well, the kitchen is finally finished enough to cook in it! I am sooooo glad! There is still some trim work and lighting issues to address, but it's useable...and much nicer than before! I guess it all happened for a reason! My mother in law bought me a new dishwasher and let me tell you...it is SO QUIET...I love it! I paid the extra money to get stainless steel, and I think it looks really nice...maybe that means I will get other new appliances if I have to stay in this house for another 8 years! LOL! Here's a few pics..

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Here's the view of the ss dishwasher (no I don't have frog decor...it's Karleigh's bathroom rug)

my clean countertops...how long will that last!

Now I have a REAL BAR area!

my kitchen adventure

OK, so the house is really quiet right now because Kole is taking a nap, and Karleigh went to the DR with her daddy (amazing...he never goes to the DR). Jason has a sinus infection...which he gets every year at this time, and has let it go until he's keeping me up at night coughing...so at 3AM I said "either you make an appointment or I will!". So he did! ANYWAY, that's another story. Back to it's so quiet, and I should be putting my make up on and fixing my hair and all that stuff since I have no interruptions...lol! I decided on this rainy morning I was going to sit down and relax for a few! I have been feeling so "on edge" lately...I think that probably everyone feels like Karleigh who says "Mommy, your not being very nice to me right now..." I really haven't been nice in awhile, and I think it's in part because my house has been torn up for almost 3 months now! When you are a stay at home mom your house is your "workplace" and it is the only thing you feel you can really "control". My job is to make sure the kids are fed, entertained (to an extent), rested, clothed (although Karleigh slips out of the house half clothed at times), and loved! I also have about the same responsibilities for my husband. Something that falls under that description is making my grocery budget stretch through the month...not an easy task I can tell you. Well, that was all before we started on the kitchen renovation journey!
One day in March of 07 I went out in the garage (3 months pregnant) to get something out of the freezer, and ended up on my backside! When I got up I realized that the floor was soaking wet! I did an investigation and found that the hot water tank was leaking really bad. I crawled in the hot water heater closet, turned off the water, and called Jason to come home from work b/c I couldn't move all of the things that were floating in water. To make a long story shorter a plumber from our church came over and replaced the hot water heater and told us to just watch the walls to make sure they didn't get wet. We never noticed any water on the walls, but in May of 08 (MOTHER'S DAY) we decided to tile our kitchen floor to "update the house". As we moved the stove out and started tearing up the flooring the smell of mold met our noses! Underneath the flooring was a wet slab which had caused mold to grow...it was horrible...the cabinets were also ruined! Jason and I are not what you'd call "handy", but we ripped out the flooring and cabinets because we could not stand the smell. An insurance adjustor came over and told us he would start trying to get us some money, but he couldn't promise us anything! Our journey started that day, and today, as I speak, I still do not have a functioning kitchen! We are close, but not there yet! It will probably be next week sometime at the earliest before I can run water in a sink, get a plate out of the cabinet, or put ice in my drink! I say that to say that for all of this time we have been eating out...which is not cheap, and gets really OLD after awhile! It is also really expensive to buy all microwaveable foods...so my "grocery budget" has been nonexistent over these 3 months. My house is also in chaos because we had to find a place for everything in the kitchen and laundry rooom...and that meant the garage...which is FULL or the other 3 rooms of our house! I just would like to be DONE so that I don't have to think about where we can eat out or what I can cook on the grill (in the 100+ degree heat) not to mention where do I CLEAN dishes that I cook in...the tiny sink in the bathroom where people wash their dirty hands and brush their teeth? EEEWWWW!!!! I also want to get on with making my house look presentable and liveable...it's getting really small for us, but it will seem a little larger when things settle down and I can clean out all of the clutter and make my house a home again! SO, that's my rant for today...oh, also the counter tops that we've been waiting on for 4 weeks finally came in, but our cabinet guy is leaving on vacation after tomorrow he was going to install them today, but IT'S RAINING...and he can't transport them until the rain stops! SO...more waiting... I guess I should look on the bright side...I will be so happy to cook for at least a few months after I get my brand new kitchen!lol! Sorry everyone if you've been a victim of my "not nice" side...I feel like a caged tiger sometimes! It WILL BE WORTH IT ALL!

swimming

Well, it's not grand, but it's a place to cool off.. or it was before this intollerable heat! We went and bought a little pool...well, big for us...for Karleigh to swim in, but we all love to get in at the end of the day and cool off! Here's some pics of my crew "cooling off" in the water (which was the same temperature as bath water at the time! lol)

9 months

WOW! Time flies way too fast! Up to this point I have been pretty good at getting pictures of Kole done on time, but the other day I realized that he was almost 10 months old and I had not taken 9 month pictures yet! Of course for many other people it would not be that big of a deal, but I already feel guilty that I haven't taken him to have his pictures taken "professionally" like I did Karleigh so to not get him at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months would be unforgiveable! 9 months has been a BIG month for us...Kole has learned to say "Mama, Kar, Dadee, bye bye, dun (done), and du (duck). He has also learned to crawl, wave, eat finger foods, clap his hands, and he had his first ear infection! We still are not pulling up, and we don't have teeth yet (though we're working on those). I love watching him...it's so fun to see him discover new things! SO, I finally did get some pictures of Kole...if you could have seen us...it was VERY HOT outside, but that is the only place I could set everything up. Kole, Jason, and Karleigh were in the pool, so I snatched Kole from the pool and tried to take pictures quickly so that we wouldn't get too hot! I will attach some of the results. They are not everything I was imagining, but they will do!

In My World: CRAWLING

In My World: CRAWLING

CRAWLING

Well, we now have a crawler in the house! Wednesday I was watching my friend's two children so she could run an errand. It was officially naptime and all the kids were cranky especially Seth (7months) and Kole (9months). The babies were in Kole's room playing when all of the sudden there was screaming coming from all 4 corners of my house! Karleigh and Evan were pretending to be lions and were clawing, roaring, and screaming. Kole and Seth were tired and scared of the lion roars coming down the hall so they started screaming too... While I was calming down the two Kings of the forrest I noticed a movement out of the corner of my eye... It was my baby boy Kole who'd apparently had all he could take of the screaming Seth...he crawled right out into the hallway! So, at 9 1/2 months we are officially crawling, and let me tell you he can get anywhere he wants to go in 2 seconds flat! It's so fun to watch him, but sad too...he's becoming more independant every day! I sure do love that sweet little boy!

"photographer"

Last week I got a chance to take some pictures for a family from my church and they actually paid me. I can't believe I got paid for something that I love to do so much. I still have a lot of trouble believing that what I do is good enough to get paid for. I got really nervous and sick to my stomach the day that I was taking the pictures, but it all went really well! I think my favorite part is coming home and looking at the pics, and editing them to have a certain look. I am still learning photoshop...I need to take a class...but I love to use what I know so far! This family had wonderful places to take pictures...there was a pond, HUGE trees, a gravel road, and of course their new house... As I was editing the pictures I thought of so many other poses I could have used, and things I wish I had done, but all in all it was a good first. (I have been paid to take a child's pictures before, but not a WHOLE family!) The best part of it all is that a friend of this family saw the pictures and asked me to take their pictures too... More nerves, but it could also be a way for me to make a little money once in awhile!...here's a few of the pics!

Vacation

We just got home from 5 days in Branson MO. Branson is a 2-3 hour drive...depending on whether or not you get behind a big truck (or Grandpa Jones out looking for turtles) on HWY 7. We went with Matt, Kim, Evan, and Seth Moore. Kim and I have been friends for about 16 years, and Karleigh and Evan are best buds...most of the time! We stayed at Point Royale resort which was a little like a retirement community with some houses and condos on a big golf course. It was quiet and had really nice pools for the kids. Our condo was 3 bedrooms...Matt and Evan had the first bedroom, Kim and Seth took the upstairs loft, and Jason, Karleigh, Kole, and me took the third bedroom (which was huge). On Sunday we went to Lambert's in Ozark for lunch...we had to wait for over an hour, but it was some GOOD food! Then, we drove on to Springfield to the Bass Pro Shop for the rest of the day...just as we were getting ready to leave it came a MONSTER hail storm so we watched our vehicles getting pummeled through the huge glass boat showroom windows. Monday we had tickets to Silver Dollar City (thanks to Jason's Coke reward website)...and we had a full day at the city... Kareligh actually rode rides! (The Flying Elephants, The Lost River Ride, The Sunken Mine, The Teacups, The hot air balloons, and Fire in the Hole...which she didn't like) Evan fell asleep on the way out of the park, and didn't wake up till morning...not Karleigh...she and her daddy went swimming when we got back to the condo! Tuesday was a trip to the Fish Hatchery, fishing with the dads, and swimming! Wednesday went shopping at The Landing, ate a Famous Dave's BBQ, and yes, we went swimming again! The last morning we had to be out of the condo by 10:30...and yes, the cleaning lady showed up before we could get out...hahahahaha... We finished the vacation off with a trip to the outlet malls...where I spent a lot of money at Gymboree (CUTE CLOTHES), Karleigh got her first pair of real NIKE shoes, and even Kole got a few outfits! Panera was the last stop for lunch...OH I COULD EAT THERE EVERY DAY!!!! Wish we hadn't waited week to eat there! All in all, we had a great time, and made lots of memories with the kids...which is the important part! Now, lets see if I get any of this scrapbooked!

My Babies

Kole was dedicated on Sunday... we kept having to reschedule it over and over so we finally just said WE'RE DOING IT THIS SUNDAY! no matter what! There were 7 babies scheduled to be dedicated and ...selfish me... I was so disappointed! I wanted it to be special for him...and us of course! Karleigh's dedication was so precious, and I have it all documented in her scrapbook down to the sweet prayer that Pastor Moore prayed for her. When your baby is one of 7 it can't be very personal! Well, I stuck to my guns and kept the date, and a lady from the church called and asked if we wanted to have Kole dedicated in the first service (which is the one we always go to). WOW, of course we did! He was the only one, and the pastor held him and prayed for him...it was really sweet! I didn't think we'd have any family come, but Dad got off and he, Glennis, and the girls were here. Diana was out of town, but Jeff brought the kids and came too. Our neighbors even showed up. It was a special day that I will always remember!