Christmas in Texas

We had such a nice time in Texas this year celebrating Christmas with our families. We got to spend more relaxed time with our families than we have in the past. We started our time in Carthage with the Allens. Kie & Poppa fell even more in love with each other and we enjoyed some wonderful Texas BBQ as is our yearly tradition! It was so fun to just play and hang out.

After spending time in Carthage we headed to Bryan to be with the Cargill's. We got to see our large extended family and got to see my parents new house on the ranch for the first time. It again was nice to just enjoy being together. It was different not being in Kilgore but it was much more important to be with the ones we love no matter where that was.

And after all the travel we were exhausted. Kati Ann makes it pretty clear how all 4 of us felt!

Christmas cheer

It is so hard for me to believe that we have a 4.5 year old that is so grown up. We went this week to her Kati Ann sing in her Christmas program with the other 4 year old classes at her preschool. She knows the songs so well and sings all the time. I love to hear her tell the Christmas story complete with "Jofus" and "the Wizzmen". She definitely offers lots of Christmas cheer as we see Christmas through her eyes. It is a stark reminder that Christmas really is the celebration of a birthday and we love to party in honor of a baby that changed everything.

A Little Procedure

Around July, I noticed a "bump" behind Kie's right ear while he was sick. It wasn't something I thought was normal but thought it might have something to do with him being sick. It kinda felt like a swollen gland but was not where you would usually feel for one when your sick. I monitored it and it never went away. We visited 2 general physicians and finally the ENT about it. The recommendation was to have it removed. Jared & I wrestled with if that was the right thing to do. We just weren't sure that putting him under and cutting on him was the best move. We prayed and sought further medical advice and finally decided to go forward with the surgery.

And we are so glad we did. We had the surgery at Huntsville Hospital and it was such a pleasant experience as you can see from him watching the Disney Channel in his little gown. He had the surgery on a Monday and I had made arrangements to not do much for the week. However by Tuesday morning he was better than before. Kie has felt remarkably better since his surgery and we are blessed to have 2 healthy children

Thanksgiving in Oklahoma

Every couple of years, we make the drive (or flight) to Northeast Oklahoma to visit Jared's grandmother for Thanksgiving. It was the first time for Grandma Joan to meet Kie and Jared's parents met us there.

Grandma Joan lives in a fabulous duplex connected with the Baptist assisted living village. Right outside her back door is a little playground. We were blessed with wonderful weather that allowed us to spend lots of time outside enjoying the playground.

We also enjoyed some delicious food! Grandma is some kind of cook and it was good to see her.

A "Kati Ann"

Can you guess from the pictures what a "Kati Ann" is?

A "Kati Ann" is a recently coined phrase by a little girl in one of Kati Ann's classes. A little girl named Kendall was getting ready to go to church and informed her mom, "I want a Kati Ann." The mom wasn't really familiar with who Kati Ann was and was slightly confused. "What is a Kati Ann?" asked the mother. She quickly learned that a "Kati Ann" was when you wear your hair on the top of your head! I thought this was hilarious! Trend-setting at four...who knew?

Fall Retreat 2011

Every fall we get the opportunity to hang out with Jared's group at Fall Retreat! We don't often get to do things with Jared's group as a whole family because I'm involved with my own ministry and there are only a handful of things small children can do! But we get to hang out at Fall Retreat. In the past, we have just gone for part of the day on Saturday. This year, we went Friday night and Saturday morning. It was fun getting to eat and hang out with the "big kids." We even slept in a cabin and had a great time! Its fun to make memories in student ministry together!

A boy that loves his ball!

My precious girl that just keeps getting big!

Future drummer?

Halloween 2011

So, in case you hadn't guessed, we are officially eaten up with the Princesses at our house, specifically Cinderella. Kati Ann dressed up as Cinderella for Halloween and really wanted Kie to be her "Prince Charming". As precious as that would have been, Prince Charming costumes are out of our price range for a one night event in the parking lot of the church! So, instead we went for Gus, Cinderella's mouse! I thought they were adorable! Here's just some of the sweet pictures that we had!

Kati Ann just hopped up there and immediately posed for her picture! What a diva!

Funnies

I try to remember to write down the funny things Kati Ann says so I won't forget.

The other day we were just sitting in the living room playing and Kati Ann looked at me and said, "Mom, I need a husband."

I replied, "You do?" thinking to myself...oh, man...already?

She said, "yeah, my princesses don't have anyone to marry."

I sighed in relief.

Another day, I was helping Kati Ann get ready for bed and she was acting crazy (as usual) and I opened my mouth to say, "You're such a silly girl!" As I did, I got out "You're such a..." and she finished my sentence with "...a genius!" I couldn't help but laugh. She's 4, People! How does she know what a genius is?

Even at 31, I struggle with acne and had a blemish on my face while we were at Disney. She said, "Mom, what's that on your face?" I replied, "a pimple". She said, "a nipple?" Jared and I both tried to clarify because I can just hear her going to tell her Sunday School teacher that her mom has a "nipple on her face."

Oh, the joys of parenthood.

Disney

What an adventure! We had the wonderful opportunity of taking our sweet 4 year old to Disney World last week. It was such a special time for several reasons. First of all, it was just Jared, Kati Ann and myself. Kie spent the week with GanGan and BobBob on the ranch in Texas and we got to spend some individualized time with our sweet girl. Second of all, seeing Disney through the eyes of a 4-year old is so magical. Kati Ann's favorite parts were meeting the characters and especially the princesses. It is a week that we will cherish the memories of forever.

Master of Disaster

Disclaimer: This post is just to be funny...I cherish every minute with kids and know that they will be grown before I turn around. I would fold the same load of laundry as many times as necessary to enjoy the blessings God has given me!

Ever wonder why moms of small children feel overwhelmed or like they just can't quite keep up? Well, Kie is a perfect example of undoing all of my doing. You know...really...I try to stay on top of things. I do laundry almost every day and I try to fold it that same day. It doesn't always get put away that day but I'm trying, folks. So, I dutifully folded a load of laundry while Kie was taking a nap and the basket was sitting on the living room floor. Kie got up, we ran to the grocery store and then came home and I started dinner. While I was starting dinner. Kie thought it would be fun to play with the laundry basket. He began dragging around and throwing out the folded clothes as he went, much like a flower girl tosses her flower petals. He made a trail of clothes and finally got them all out so he could turn over the basket and play on top of it! What fun! :/

The Trail of Kie

A Momma Break

This past weekend, I had a wonderful opportunity to enjoy some of my favorite ladies as well being refreshed and become better equipped as a mom. I went the first annual .MOM conference put on by Lifeway. It was in Birmingham and I went with some of my dear friends that I don't get to hang out with nearly enough. It was an amazing time with excellent speakers and powerful worship.

However, I have to take a minute to describe to you the highlight of the whole event for me! THE DUGGARS WERE THERE! Okay, before you roll your eyes, I need to expound. I have periodically watch the TV series 17, 18, or 19 Kids and Counting and enjoyed it. I'm not at all a "super-fan." Though, I've watched Josh and Anna get married and actually seen Anna birth both of her babies (on TV of course). I have never considered myself very impressed with "celebrities" or one to be star struck but I was. I was so excited to see them and for some reason they didn't seem to have the same reaction to seeing me. I mean, I felt like we were friends. I should be walking up to Anna saying "Hey girl, how are the kids?" I was with her when she birthed them, remember? I did walk up and talk to one of them but to be honest I felt too much like a creeper to have my picture taken with them. I mean, you don't do that with friends, right? Good friends don't have to take their pictures with each other especially when all those other people are!

New Orleans

Some of you may or may not know that Jared is working on his Doctorate at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and actually almost done with it. He had a class in New Orleans during the middle of September and so we decided to make a little family adventure out of it. I had never been to New Orleans so it was a fun, new experience for me as well.

Most of our time there was spent just the kids and I since Jared was in class but it was great to get to see him when he was out of class. We went first to Jared's "school".

The kids explored and got to enjoy seeing Daddy's "school church" as Kati Ann called it.

After checking out the seminary, the kids and I hit the zoo. It was such a good zoo and we had so much fun. I know you've seen these animals in pictures before but I took these pictures with my phone! That's how close we got! We had so much fun.

No connection to University of Alabama but the elephants have always been Kati Ann's favorite

My favorite were these gorgeous tigers. It was like they were posing for us!

The lazy jaguar!

Yes, you are seeing correctly. She's touching the snake!

Unique to the swamps of Louisiana is the white alligator. Kati Ann & I both thought they were really cool.

The petting zoo was a favorite for both of our kids.

Kie finally had all the fun he could handle!

Dirt

We live in a neighborhood under construction. Our neighborhood has 170 lots and we were the 10th house so, we've lived with construction since the beginning and will continue to for quite a while. They are finally building a house right next door to us. They had to bring in about 8 truck loads of dirt for this lot. After they grated it, the kids discovered it was a great place to take a shovel and dig. They wanted to sit in the clean grass but dig in the dirty dirt. It was good "dirty" fun!

The Letter "O"

This week, Kati Ann's class studied the letter "O". Kati Ann was supposed to bring a snack for the whole class that started with "O" so we decided to my Octupuses. It was a fun project that Kati Ann could help with. Kati Ann put the legs on the bodies and I drew on the faces. It was lots of fun.

Morning at the Park

We had a beautiful morning of weather and it was a perfect day to go to the park. Its fun with both kids big enough to really enjoy playing. As soon as we pulled up to the park, Kie about came out of his seat with excitement.