Weekend, and a little about Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn and I had a fun weekend in Lubbock with my parents. James had to stay in Abilene because he was supposed to coach a soccer game on Saturday - but it got rained out. So, it turned out that he could have come with us. But I think he enjoyed the quietness of the house, and being able to take lots of naps. I wonder what that is like?

We didn't do a whole lot in Lubbock, which I love. Everytime I go home I just feel the need to curl up with my favorite blanket in the big recliner and just chill out. I did get to enjoy my mom's spaghetti and some pineapple upside down cake. I also played golf with my dad for the first time on Saturday. It was freezing to say the least outside, so we just played 9 holes. It was really fun! I wish I could play more often so that I could maybe improve, but we had a good time. And like a little kid, I loved driving the golf cart around! Kaitlyn and my mom went to the Science Spectrum. Kaitlyn loved it. We took her there a few months ago, but I think she enjoyed it much more this time around. She got to see and do lots of neat things.

I also stayed up late with my dad (If 10:30 is late to anyone) and watched Apollo Ono win the gold medal in speed skating. That was exciting! And the relay one?! That is madness!

We got back to Abilene pretty early on Sunday, so that we could get to a banquet at church that evening. I'll blog more about this later, but James and I were asked to be huddle leaders starting this fall. We are soooo excited about it. I'll tell you more about it soon.

Here are a few things Kaitlyn is doing right now. Just wanted to record them somewhere:

* She can say the entire Lord's prayer. It's about the sweetest thing in the world to hear.

* She still loves singing the books of the New and Old Testament.

* While we sing in church, if she sees anyone with their hands raised, she raises her hands. She will leave them up for the entire song. That's always good for a few laughs from the people sitting around us!

* She is getting a lot better and saying her prayers at night and at meal times. When she prays, her voice gets really high. It's pretty cute.

* When I tuck her in, she always says, "Talk about your day and my day." I then have to tell her really slowly every detail of our day. From waking up to tucking her in. And if I leave something out, she is quick to tell me.

* She loves to play baseball with pecans in the backyard. She will throw a pecan to James and he will hit it with a plastic baseball bat. I got James really good the other day when I acted like some of the shell had flown into my eye. He was freaking out. I laughed real hard at that one.

* The girl can eat okra like nobody's business. She thinks the outside skin is like a shell, so she peels it off of each one and just eats the green part in the middle. This could keep her occupied for hours. As well as peeling peanuts.

* She, like her mommy, enjoys her music. We don't have the same taste quite yet, but she can sing along with best of "Toddler Tunes", Veggie Tales Bible Songs, and some other Praise and Worship kids CD. I love listening to her sing, "Skinny Ma Rink A Dinky Dink."

* When I wash her hair at night in the bathtub, she always cries and says, "Don't get it on my tongue!!!" Drama.

* She can put back the chocolate milk. If she sees me making it for her, she has to have 3 "bites" of it with the spoon before I put the lid on her cup. 3 bites. No more, no less.


Kaitlyn is absolutely the funniest person on the face of the earth. She is such a joy. She is very strong willed, and can throw a tantrum with the best of them, but her personality is priceless. I am so very blessed.

Two stories

So, the other day in Walmart the most random thing happened. I was just strolling along, pushing my basket (or buggy as Holly would say). Kaitlyn was sitting in the front part. Let me preface this by saying that Kaitlyn had a SLIGHTLY runny nose. It was by no means running down her chin or anything. It was just a clear, slight run. Okay. So, this lady that we were next to while getting some milk literally stops in her tracks and says, "Oh my Gosh (she used the Lords name in vain however), DO YOU NEED A KLEENEX?!?!!?!" I looked at Kaitlyn thinking she was bleeding or foaming at the mouth or something outrageous - I mean, this lady was totally freaking out. When I noticed that nothing out of the ordinary was wrong with my daughter I said, "Uhh, no thank you, I have some in my bag." Are you kidding me? It was like she had never seen anything like a minor runny nose before. And just because she weirded me out, I did not even wipe Kaitlyn's nose. Just to make her mad.

It gets better. About 10 minutes later, we pass the nose Nazi again. This time she was ready for us. I swear, she was following us around the store. We started to pass each other going opposite directions. She was armed with klennex in hand - AND REACHED OUT TO WIPE KAITLYN'S NOSE. Are you serious?!?!?! I stopped her before she could though and said, "Excuse me, please don't touch my daughter." That's right. I said it. She had a look of total disgust on her face. Kaitlyn even looked cute that day! I put a bow in her hair and everything! And again, just to tick her off - I didn't wipe her nose until we got to the check out line. Not that there was even much to wipe.

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This morning on the way to school, this was our conversation:

K: It sure is foggy outside Mommy!
M: Yes it is!
K: Yeah. Maybe I can see a hog.
M: What?
K: Maybe I can see a hog.
M: A hog?
K: Yeah!!!
M: Wondering why she is thinking about a hog, and how it relates to fog.
K: I love those kinds of birds.
M: Oh, a hawk!
K: Yeah. Those are my favorite kinds of birds! Maybe I can see one of those.

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Just a couple funny stories for you! Hope you have a good Wednesday!!

Sing Song and Curious George

I hate the feeling I have after I haven't blogged in a long time. I feel that there is so much to write about, but I can't think of anything good to say. I'm sure Kaitlyn has said hilarious things that I have already forgotten. She keeps us laughing, that's for sure.

This weekend was Sing Song, so ALL of my family was in town. It was a lot of fun to see everyone. Kaitlyn enjoys seeing her cousins. (Really they are her second cousins, but closer to her age than my age)
Friday night we hung out with my parents, brother, my aunt and my grandmother. My cousin Brenna is a Siggie (they were Penguins this year), so she came over after the Friday night show. Kaitlyn wasn't too sure about the paint she had on her face!

Saturday it was FREEZING cold, so we just made chicken tortilla and potato bacon soup for everyone for lunch. It was soo good. We had a little birthday celebration for Brenna with a Double Chocolate Decadence cake from McKays. YUMMMMM.


We went to the afternoon show of Sing Song. It was a lot of fun to watch, but it lasted for forever. Like 3 1/2 hours. I have to give a shout out to Siggies though, for being the cutest little penguins ever. They did the whole show on their knees. Costumes were so cute - they even had a slide that a few little penguins slid down. It was real funny. They ended up winning on Saturday night. But not with out some drama. They announced that Gata got 3rd, Kojies 2nd, and Alpha Kai 1st. WHAT? So, Alpha Kai celebrated, and some people had already left the coliseum. They then called everyone back in and said there had been a huge miscalculation and Siggies had in fact won. Insane.

Saturday evening I got to go see my two roomies Sara and Sara and their sweet baby boys. I wish I could have spent more time with them!

Sunday Zoe was at Highland. Awesome. Mike was in full effect, our class was overflowing with people... it was a great Sunday.
That afternoon, mom and I went shopping and got Kaitlyn her Easter dress, and some other clothes and shoes.

We took Kaitlyn to see Curious George after her nap - she loved it. It really was a cute show - I recommend it to all of my friends with kids! I really enjoyed the music - Jack Johnson does all of the music. He's my new favorite!!


All in all, a good but busy weekend. I'll post more pics later. Have a good Monday!

Valentines Day

Last night the three of us were just sitting on the couch and these are some of the most precious things Kaitlyn said:

"I love you Daddy. Happy Valemtimes Day."

"I love you Mommy. Happy Valemtimes Day."

"We are all a family."

"Lets just hang out for a couple of minutes."

"You're my best friend ever."

"We're all together!"

"Your name is James, but I will call you Daddy. It makes you sad when I say James."

"We're a special family."


It was the most fun 10 minutes we have had in a long time. She was being so sweet. It was the greatest Valentines gift ever.

Highlights

This weekend:

* Enjoyed a fast food dinner with my parents on their way to Ft. Worth to visit my grandad. Mom brought us my favorite cookies, and some awesome candles. :)

* Got to help some of our good friends Lee and Stephanie fix up their house they will be moving into in April. I will need to blog about this whole thing another day. They are doing an amazing ministry here in Abilene.

* Went to a Valentines Dinner/fundraiser to help support some Marriage and Family Therapy students go to Zambia. It was so fun. We went with really fun friends, had a yummy dinner, and James even bid on a gift card to an awesome spa here - and won!! Yay! Massage and facial, here I come....

* Church was great, as usual. I'm mostly excited about next week when Zoe will be at Highland!
* Ate lunch with friends from church, and got to meet a new family that just moved to Abilene from Austin. They have a little girl about Kaitlyn's age that I'm sure she will play with soon.

* Enjoyed playing Texas Hold'em with James. This is my new favorite game. I'm highly considering quitting my job and joining the World Poker Tour. Good idea?

* Watched Grey's Anatomy and totally freaked out. My favorite show BY FAR. Love it sooo much.

*Also watched the Olympics for like 3 hours. I got teary eyed over Michelle Kwan dropping out. I have no control over my emotions. Also, I love the red-headed snow boarder. He was fun to watch. And I was really sad that Apollo Ono fell and didn't advance to the finals. I love the Olympics!

Hope everyone had a great weekend! Happy Monday!

I want a vacation!

My life really isn't that stressfull. I don't have a very hard job, and we live a pretty simple life. But I still REALLY want to go on a vacation. Just me and James. And I want to go to a place that we can just relax and don't feel like we have to fill our day with tons of things to go do. (Though a few things would be fun.) So, my question for this Thursday is:

Where should we go?

Happy Birthday James!

Thank you for always making me laugh.

Thank you for being such a wonderful, fun daddy to Kaitlyn.

Thank you for supporting me when I want to try something new.

Thank you for your prayers.

Thank you for doing the laundry.

Thank you for getting Kaitlyn dressed, fed, and packing her bag 98% of the time in the mornings.

Thank you for working hard to support our family.

Thank you for moving to Abilene.

Thank you for telling me I look good, even when we both know I totally don't.

Thank you for always asking me how my day went, and sincerely caring about it.

Thank you for forgiving me when I screw up.

Thank you for your patience.

Thank you for teaching me how to play Texas Hold 'Em.

Thank you for back rubs.

Thank you for being a wonderful friend to me and to so many others.

Thank you for choosing me to share your life with.

I love you! Happy 28th Birthday!!

Birthday Weekend (a little early)

We had a most busy weekend. I can think of one place I would like to be right now. In my bed asleep. However, that is not an option... so here I am "working." As tired as I am - we had a blast this weekend celebrating James' birthday. (His birthday is tomorrow.)

Friday night my parents came through on their way to Ft. Worth to see my grandad again. While they were here, my dad was fortunate enough to get in on a poker game James had set up with a few friends. James "transformed" our shed into a poker room - but that is another blog for another day.

Saturday morning we enjoyed breakfast at Town Crier - a wonderful place that is becoming our Saturday morning tradition. That afternoon Kaitlyn had a birthday party to go to at Chuck E. Cheese. That place is insane on a Saturday. She had a good time playing games with her friend Boston.


Saturday night was the big surprise.... James' parents came down and surprised him for his birthday. I told him we were meeting some friends at Texas Roadhouse - and when we walked in and he saw his mom - he was soo excited. I'm glad I could pull that one off. I'm not a very good liar. So, we enjoyed a wonderful steak dinner, and Kaitlyn had fun cracking peanuts for an hour. After dinner we went back home to another surprise.. I had invited some of our friends over for desert. We had so much fun - I haven't laughed that hard in a REALLY long time. I am so very thankful for our awesome friends that we have here.


Sunday morning James' mom made breakfast pizza for us (James' favorite meal). While she was cooking, I beat James at his own game - Texas Hold 'Em. Too bad, sooooo sad. I think I will play more often - that was fun! After breakfast we went to the famous Abilene Zoo. James had fun entertaining the monkeys, and it's always fun to feed the giraffes.

After a short nap that afternoon, more friends came over to watch the Super Bowl! I ate sooo much junk food it's not even funny. We had a blast with the Woods and David and Amanda. I have to say, I kind of wanted Seattle to win - I love going for the underdog. Oh well.

What was your favorite Super Bowl commercial?

And Grays Anatomy was amazing as usual. I did NOT want it to be over. Next week looks sooooo good. I love that show!

Adventures in Babysitting, and Question of the Day

Last night we had the pleasure of hanging out with Kaylee and Campbell while Cary and Erica went out for Ericas birthday. We had a really fun time. Kaitlyn and Kaylee played so well together - I only had to get on to them one time for laughing and yelling so loud! I know that Kaitlyn plays with other kids all day long, but I rarely get to see her, and the way she "plays." They played with dress up clothes, played catch, played in Kaylee's bed and pretended they were asleep, played the piano, made "special things" in Kaylees kitchen.... they never got bored.

Campbell is about the cutest thing ever too. Other than the 10 minutes she cried - she was SO happy. She really liked James, she smiled at him the most. Kaylee was so sweet with Campbell all night, but especially when she started crying. It took Kaylee 1.6 seconds to run to her sister and try to comfort her. So sweet. Kaitlyn got super jealous when I was rocking Campbell, but she got over it pretty quick.

Here are a few pictures from our fun night:























I know it's Thursday - so it's time for the question of the week. I'll make this a two part question I guess. Since babysitting is fresh on my mind - what is the craziest/funniest/scariest thing that has happened to you while babysitting? (I'll post my answer in a comment)

I am also inspired by Alyssa's blog today. So, if you don't have a good babysitting story, what is the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to you?

Have a good Thursday!

TV Shows and a fun night out

We had a really good weekend visiting my Papa in Granbury. I think I'll save that blog for another day though. I think I'll just write about random stuff again today -like I did on Friday. Hmm.. Gray's Anatomy - SO GOOD! I was dying when Derrick and Meredith were in the closet. And I can't believe Izzy has a daughter! Crazy. But, next week looks amazing. Being the genius that I am - I had no idea what "Code Black" meant - so I definitely looked it up on the internet. Now I can't wait to watch on Sunday!!

Who watches the Bachelor? Who is your favorite? For some reason, I really like Moana. I don't know why - she's honest I guess. Nashville girl bugs me, and I kind of like Susan. Thoughts?

I stayed up WAY too late last night. There was a movie on about Flight 93 on September 11th. It was really good, but very tense. My chest still hurts. James and I were on our honeymoon over 9-11, so we never really felt or experienced what everyone else did on that day. Watching that gave me a much clearer picture of what went on and I was flooded with so many emotions. It's sad to think that so many Americans have become desensitized (sp?) to the tragedy of it all. I'm really glad I watched it. Even though it was over at 2:00 in the AM!!!!

Last night I went to dinner with my fabulous cousin Brenna and my new favorite friend and co-worker Katie. We had so much fun. Those two girls can make me laugh SO hard. My stomach is sore from laughing - literally. We enjoyed yummy food at Chilis, an awesome trip to Target, and a drive through stop at Bahama Bucks (the best shaved ice ever) on the way home. Here are some pics....


Me, Brenna, and the one and only - Emmitt Smith. Nice.













Yay for the timer on the digital camera! (Notice Katie's new fabulous necklace she purchased at Target)











It was really fun hanging out with these girls and pretending like I was back in college again. But the second I went home and saw Kaitlyn sleeping in her bed with her hands tucked sweetly under her cheeks, I was so thankful for the stage of life I am in right now and wouldn't change it for the world.

Friday!

Today is Teacher Sheryls last day to teach Kaitlyn. She will be switching to another day care center. This has really made me sad! Kaitlyn talks about her all the time, always wants to take her a donut in the morning or color her a picture. She always runs right in to class and gives her a hug. She missed school Monday and Tuesday of this week b/c she was sick. My parents were in town on Wednesday morning, so they went with me to take her to school. I thought Kaitlyn would not want to go since Mamaw and Pappy were there, but she went straight to Sheryl. She is wonderful with all of the kids in her class. They did the neatest crafts. She has been so patient with Kaitlyn through her "stages." Sheryl has probably spent more hours with Kaitlyn than I have. She has been very instrumental in who Kaitlyn is, and I am so thankful for her. I wish her much luck as she begins a new stage in her life, but she will be missed by many!

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James's good friend Cliff is staying with us for a couple of days while he speaks at a conference here at ACU. I think Kaitlyn is in love with him. She has always loved older men - I don't know what it is. Especially guys with beards. And man does Cliff have a beard. It's awesome. I'll try to get a picture of them together. This morning Cliff was sitting at our kitchen table with his computer getting things ready for his presentation. James told Kaitlyn that she could sit in there with him, but no talking because he was working. So, Kaitlyn goes into her room and gets her toy laptop. She set it up right next to him, didn't say anything and just began "working." It was so cute. It would have been a very funny picture, but of course the batteries were dead on the camera.

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I read this headline this morning: "Should Brad and Angelina get married? Of Course! Then the gossip can start about divorce!"

Seriously? This was kind of wake up call for me and my love for Hollywood news. I love looking at People magazine, US Weekly... anything of the sort. And I don't really think there is anything wrong with that - but why was that quote a LEAD headline on MSN? What does that say about our society? What does that say about how marriage is viewed? There are many, more important topics to write about. I could go on and on about this, but I'll stop there.

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It's Friday! Kaitlyn and I may head to Ft. Worth. My Papa is in the hospital. He fell this week, broke his hip and had surgery on Wednesday. He could use some cheering up! Plus, it would be fun for Kaitlyn to play with her cousins for awhile.

Hope everyone has a fun and safe weekend! Say a quick prayer for baby Seth O'Quinn. You can read about the latest at www.theoquinnfamily.blogspot.com

Would You Rather.....

I decided to try and make Thursdays the day that I ask a random question. Except today, I'm asking 10 "Would you rather" questions. Feel free to answer all, or expound on one particular one that you have a great answer for. Or - just read through them, and answer to yourself. (But it would be more fun if you shared with the class) So...

Would you rather:

Be put in prison for 15 years or have all of your teeth pulled out?

Be able to fly or live to 200?

Sit on a fire for 5 seconds or eat 50 flys?

Be 4'1" or 7'9"?

Live without music or without TV?

Be gossiped about or never talked about at all?

Be able to hear any conversation or take back anything you say?

Publish your diary or make a movie about your most embarrassing moment?

Have one wish granted today, or three wished granted in 10 years?

Write a mystery or a poem?

An Email from a 2 year old... with her Daddy's help

Dear Mommy,

I love you, and playful. I gonna write mommy a book. I’m gonna make mommy an e-mail. I want to do something else on your computer. Hey, I want to do something else . I love you. I don’t want to tell a lot of things.

Miss you, have good day at work.

(this was what Kaitlyn would have typed if she could, instead I just typed what she said. She did type the subject line)

Yada, Yada, Yada

Here is what we did this weekend for all of you that care... However, if James is right - all of you are bored with this blog and I am writing this just for myself. Either way... here is what occupied our time Friday-Sunday.

Friday night: I went to Body Step at 5:30. Yes, I'm the loser that works out on a Friday night. The teacher came up to me afterward and said, "I have really enjoyed having you in my class. Your facial expressions are just so animated." Hmmmm.... Good or bad?

After working out I ran home to quickly change clothes, pick up the family, and head to the ACU bowling alley for some non-stop fun and excitement with our good friends Clayton, Felicia, Amanda and David. We had the lanes to ourselves and the girls lane was fully equipped with the bumper things. (There are some advantages to having a 2 year old on your team). They even had cute little bowling shoes that were just her size. She called them her "special kicks." She did pretty good throwing her ball down the lane!

Saturday: An awesome day filled with shopping with Erica!! I was so excited to spend as much time as I wanted just hanging out going to fun stores that I don't go to very often. We had a great lunch at Beckers Loft in the middle of our trip. I was pretty disappointed that the only thing Erica bought was some wallpaper paste, but she was great company! (And if you saw the wallpaper the former owner had up in their kitchen, you would be buying anything to get it off) She has such a good eye for decorating.. their house is already so cute.

Oh - but before I left to go shopping we spotted a mouse in our house!!!! YUK!!! Hopefully the 37 traps we set out will get the whole family. I'll keep you posted on that situation....

Saturday evening Kaitlyn went with me to get some grocery shopping done. The girl LOVES Walmart. Just wait until she experiences a Super Target.....
While there, she got to pick out a new fish. Gill, our previous fish lived for quite a while, but passed on not too long ago. So, she got to pick out a new one. She named him Jesse. He was dead before morning. She had no problem with this. She noticed he wasn't moving so she came into the living room and said, "Jesse is still sleeping. I need to go to Walmart and get another fish that swims around." She helped James flush it down the toilet. According to Nemo, all drains lead to the ocean, so she had no problem with it.

Sunday: Got another fish, whom she named Treith. Pronouned Treeth. I have no idea where she came up with this. I tried to change her mind about the name plenty of times. It had to remain, Treith. (If that is even how you spell it.) Treith the fish was dead this morning. What is the deal?!? No more fish for awhile.

IT RAINED!!!!! I'm not gonna lie, I almost started crying in the middle of the night when I woke up and saw lightening and heard the rain outside our window. On the way to church Kaitlyn said, "Thank you God for the rain!" So sweet. Sunday afternoon we were L-A-Z-Y. We all took naps. I love naps. Sunday night I went to a fun surprise dinner for a good friend at Abuelos. The best Mexican food ever. And fun times with friends!

In the middle of all this madness, James and Kaitlyn are not feeling good. They both have horrible coughs. Kaitlyn has not slowed down one bit, so I hesitated to even take her to the doctor. But, today I took James and Kaitlyn both to the doctor. They both have viral bronchitis. Fun!! Kaitlyn LOVES Dr. Martin. She laughed and laughed when he looked in her ears and her nose. When he was finished looking at both of them she walked over and gave him a hug and a kiss on his hand. Too bad he had just sanitized them. Oh well.

Hopefully they will feel better soon!! Have a good week!

Odds and Ends

James told me yesterday that I needed to post something interesting. Was that a shot? Is my blog really that boring? He said for me to write about something else besides what we do every day. I proceeded to tell him that the purpose of this blog is not for other people to necessarily read (though I LOVE when lots of people comment), but for me to journal about our life and what is going on, so that one day I can look back on it and remember the good and not so good times.

I am not good at coming up with a random topic, or interesting question for people to ponder and comment. But - I decided to try and come up with one random question a week to just throw out there to see what others have to say. These could be serious questions, or silly - pointless questions.

But, before I ask my random question of the week - let me just say how glad I am that the Beards are now in Abilene. We called them totally last minute last night to go eat at Chilis for dinner. They are awesome people that I know James and I both wish we would have known better when we lived in Dallas. So, now that they are here we can start a new, great friendship with such great people. They may not think we had a good time last night b/c Kaylee "had not had a nap" if you catch my drift - but we had a blast, and look forward to spending more time with them.

Okay.. here is my random question:

What is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you?

Think about it and let me know...

Ramblings...

Thank you to everyone who posted advice on the sleep issue. Let me just tell you... since the day I posted this -the technique I tried has worked better and better each night. And last night, our sweet Kaitlyn fell asleep completely on her own and slept in her own bed until we woke her up at 7:15 this morning!!!

So, I went with the Nanny 911/Shanta technique. We went through our nightly ritual of reading 2 books, maybe sing a song or two, say our prayers, kiss goodnight. Then I just sat my bootie on the floor and stared at it for what seemed like FOREVER - and slowly inched my way to the door. The first night it took her about an hour and a half to fall asleep. The second night, she was asleep in about 20 minutes. Night three she regressed a little bit, taking about 45 minutes - but then last night was perfect!! I hope I am not jinxing anything by writing about it. I seriously did not think this technique would work. I was sure that she would hop right out of bed and start playing, or she would talk to me or something. But it has been great. I will also add that I took her to Walmart so that she could pick out a fun night light. I thought that may help. She chose a Dora and a Strawberry Shortcake one. So, which ever side her head is turned she can see a friendly face!! Whatever works, right?

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We had a fun weekend. My parents came down on Saturday from Lubbock. Dad helped James replace a CV joint? Something on "Silvia" (the Honda). I was really impressed with James's ability to replace this certain thing. It was huge! Kaitlyn, mom and I had fun and just hung out. We ate fast food all weekend and just enjoyed each other's company.

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I was SO disappointed to see my boyfriend Peyton Manning lose on Sunday! What an exciting ending though! We have some friends that are HUGE Steelers fans (what?!).. they came over on Sunday night sporting their black and gold. Whatever.

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I really want (not a need, just something I would like) a new, fairly inexpensive digital camera that takes awesome pictures. Any suggestions? Kristen OQ... what kind do you have? The pics on your blog are always so good and clear!

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We desperately need rain! Everything is so dry in so many parts of TX/OK and other states right now. I'm so tired of hearing about fires every where! Pray for rain people!

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Gray's Anatomy last night? Loved it. Did anyone watch The Office last Thursday about "The Injury?" That was the funniest episode of anything I have seen in a long time. Golden Globes are on tonight - I LOVE award shows.

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I have a really awesome boss. There was a few of us that had to work on this day of celebrating MLK. He just came in and said I could leave whenever, but still put a full 8 hours on my time sheet. And I can use this day as another paid day off whenever I want. YAY! Now I can go to Body Step and Pump! This is turning out to be a good Monday..... Have a good day!

The Longest Night Ever....

The evening started off well, with James cooking us a wonderful dinner of pancakes and eggs. I LOVE having breakfast for dinner every once in awhile. The 3 of us enjoyed sitting down together, talking about our days... just enjoyed each others company.
Not long after dinner, it was time to get Kaitlyn ready for bed. For the past few weeks, it has been the biggest struggle putting her to bed. She has always been a good sleeper - since she was a baby. All of a sudden, she turns 2 and forgets how to fall asleep on her own. When we moved her into her big girl bed she still did okay going to sleep on her own, but she would come into our room sometime in the middle of the night. We thought this was a phase... she would stop doing it eventually... it really didn't bother us, etc. Well, this has continued for months now. And for the past 3 weeks she will not go to sleep unless someone is in the room (preferably in her bed) with her. Warning! Pushover Parents alert! Warning! "Sure honey bunches of oats, we would LOVE to spend 2 hours laying with you until you fall asleep!" Idiots.

So, yesterday I decided to end it all - let her cry and cry and cry, but the girl needs to go to sleep on her own. This can not go on. So.. here is a rundown of our night:

7:30PM - bathtime.

7:45PM- She wanted me to play with her dollhouse with her instead of watching a video. NO problem. I let her know that I would play with her for a few minutes - then we would read books and go to bed.

8:00- Read 2 books (with a fight because she thought she was still getting to watch a video)

8:25- left her in her room after saying our prayers, I love you, Goodnight.. Started crying almost immediately

8:30-She stopped crying, but she is up out of her bed putting on a pair of her jeans.

8:45- Begins putting pieces from her dollhouse into one of her rainboots.

9:00- I make the decision to go in her room and put her back in her bed.... starts crying

9:10- Gets out of bed to get her bible and looks at it for awhile.

9:15- James and I hear a few chords being played on her piano.

9:30PM- I go back in to check on her because it sounds like the walls of Jericho came crashing down... put her back in bed.. more crying

9:40PM- Starts reading her bible again.

9:50PM- We hear her Rudolph stuffed animal start singing.

10:00PM- Go in her room to find her with no pajamas on, no socks on - sitting in a half-daze in front of her doll house. Put her back in bed (4th time), left her crying for her Daddy with her eyes closed... this HAS to end soon...

10:20PM- ASLEEP!!! For how long....

12:45AM- She comes into our room, and James carries her back to bed

1:35AM- She comes back into our room, and I carry her back to bed

2:00AM- Back into our room.. I take her back again.. she starts crying VERY hard.

2:45AM- Who is crying harder, Kaitlyn or Leslie?

3:00AM- Still screaming her head off saying she is scared, monsters are going to get her, she doesn't like the water heater, her tummy hurts, her bottom hurts, she has 2 boo-boo's.....

3:30AM - Has not let up yet... I am about to go insane. By this time I am wondering how long do I do this? All night long? Should I go lay with her until she goes to sleep? Right as I go in there, she is at the door, so I just pick her up. She has never held on to me so tight in her life. I carry her to our bed and she is asleep in about 30 seconds.

What have I done? This is so hard. We tried a reward system sometime in there - but that didn't last long at all.

Needless to say, I will struggle all day with keeping my eyes open.

Any suggestions for what to try tonight? James will be out of town, so I'm all on my own.

Weekend rundown...

Man, I am TI-RED this morning! Monday mornings usually hit me pretty hard. We had a really enjoyable weekend just being at home and not having any big plans. Friday night we took Kaitlyn to Chucky Cheese - she loves that place. Expensive food, but each ride/game is just one token, so that helps! The bigger winner of the evening was James, however, winning about 80 something tickets on this game where you have to push a button right when it lights up on the Jack Pot. I was pretty impressed! For her prizes, Kaitlyn picked out some rubbery fish and lizards, 3 packages of Smarties, a purple bracelet, and some airplane toy.

Saturday the weather was SO pretty! I got up and went to Body Step (my new favorite class). When I got home James took down the Christmas lights while Kaitlyn and I picked and ate some pecans. I tried to help James with the lights, but I wasn't "wrapping them right," so I had to quit. Sorry... I didn't know there was a certain way! But, when he was all finished - they did look very neat and organized!
For lunch we went and got some chicken and had a picnic at the park. We took some bread to feed the ducks - but there were so many birds - they were huge and white. They looked like sea gulls, but I don't know if they were. Anyway, we fed them instead. James picked out his favorite one that he fed. This particular bird was pretty awesome. It would catch anything in mid air that James threw to him.

After our picnic, we played at the park for a good while - playing a couple of games of follow the leader. This is one of Kaitlyn's favorites.

Saturday night we had dinner over at our neighbors house. Kaitlyn loves playing with Kelly, their 3 year old daughter. They got a trampoline for Christmas, so Kaitlyn was in heaven jumping on that thing! We had a good time cooking out hamburgers and getting to know them better.

It was good to be back at Highland on Sunday! We still aren't having classes until next Sunday - I'm ready for those to start back up! After church 30 of us went to Olive Garden for lunch. Yes - 30 people! It was one of the girls in our class birthday - and her husband made reservations for our whole class to go. We had a really fun time, but Kaitlyn was so hyper and would NOT stay in her chair. This gets annoying VERY fast! She played with her friend Emma most of the time though - so I can't complain too much!

Sunday night I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned some more!! I got the bathrooms shiny and organized, floors swept and mopped, dishes done, and furniture dusted. That's always a good feeling when you finish.

I was then so excited because there was a new Gray's Anatomy on TV, but then it turned out to be an hour clip show. Disappointing. Next week looks good though!!

Have a good Monday! (I'll post some pictures of the weekend tonight or tomorrow)

Back to School & Goals for the New Year

Well, the end of my first week back at work after the holidays is almost over! I love Fridays. Work has been really busy this week - tons of emails, and lots of phone calls - I'm ready for another break!

Kaitlyn got to go back to school today for the first time in over 2 weeks. (Why they start back on a Friday, I have no idea). I was curious as to how she would handle going back, but she was SO excited. James called me and said he has never had to get her dressed and ready so fast before. He said she literally ran into her classroom, and when he left her, she was just sitting at the table laughing. I guess she was getting a little bored of hanging out at home with mom and dad. I mean, we're fun - right? It does make me feel good to know that she is going to a place that she likes and that she misses when she is not there.

I also thought I would take this opportunity to record my goals for the New Year. Not just because everyone else is doing it, but so that in a year I have something I can literally look back on and see if I held up to them or not. So.. here goes:

1. Stop biting my fingernails. I got some stuff I'm supposed to rub on my cuticles for Christmas - maybe that will help.

2. Read my bible WAY more than I do now. I can read "Christian" books all day long, but I really just need to spend my time in the Word itself. I would love to memorize the book of James.

3. Become a more patient mom and a more self-less wife. One of my struggles is after being at work all day long, I just long for time by myself to do what I want. I really need to quit being selfish and spend more quality time with James and Kaitlyn during the week.

4. Eat healthier. I think I have finally got the exercise part down - but what good is that doing me if I just eat junk all day long?

5. Add on to our family. I realize I'm not the one in control of this, but I would really like it if Kaitlyn could have a brother or sister!

I'm sure I could make a much longer list, but those are the main ones.

Here is to Fridays and to 2006!!!

Here's to 2005...

Part 2 of my holiday posting. Another year bites the dust. Let's see what all has happened this year..... (in no particular order)

1. Made a huge move in jobs and cities! After 3 years in the DFW area, we moved further west to Abilene. One of the best decisions we have made, I think. (Hopefully James will agree)



3. Celebrated Kaitlyns 2nd birthday, right after we got to Abilene.

4. James started working for Sysco Foods and I am back at ACU working in Admissions.

5. I got to see my best friend get married at a beautiful wedding in Nashville, TN. (Also the first time I got to meet her husband, Ashley. Love him!!!)

6. James' 5 year college reunion. Got to see some WAY fun people. I'm so glad I married someone from that class... they are awesome.

7. 2 of my roommates from college had babies!! I'm so thankful for the weekend that we had to hang out together! You girls need to move back to Abilene!

8. James and I went through a miscarriage. I debated on whether or not to add this one in... but it was a big part of our year. It made us even more thankful for Kaitlyn (if that was possible) and more aware of what a miracle babies are!

9. I went to my first ever ZOE conference with one of my very dearest friends, Julie. This was an amazing spiritual experience. I can't wait to go back.

10. I watched/am watching the greatest TV show, Alias - come to an end. Horrible. I would be fine if it didn't even finish the season. I also gained a new favorite show, Gray's Anatomy.

Anyway... those are some of the highlights. James and I spent the New Year holiday in Lubbock with my family. We took in a few movies, ate lots of good food, enjoyed the weather (except for Sunday when the wind blew like 175 miles per hour), and took it some good basketball games. My high school girls bball team was playing in a tournament and they made it to the championship game, which they won! I'm glad James was supportive and went with me! Go Mustangs! My brother and I had got my parents a chiminea (sp?) for Christmas, so we enjoyed sitting by the fire at night. Kaitlyn really liked helping my dad throw the wood in, and we even roasted marshmallows. She wasn't too sure about the taste of those.

I'll end this post with a few of Kaitlyn's favorite things/things that she does right now:

1. She no longer has her paci!! I meant to write about this a long time ago, but never did. She's been without it for about a month and a half now. Yay!

2. She still comes in our bed every single night. I can't wait for the day that I wake up naturally and not to someone trying to poke my eyes out.

3. Her two favorite shows right now are Little Einsteins and Charlotte's Web.

4. She has only seen Little Mermaid once, but she likes to sing the "Ah, Ah, Ah's" while I dance around. And then I sing, and she dances. We're dorks.

5. Some of her favorite foods/drinks are: chicken nuggets, spaghetti, capri suns, apple juice, orange juice, m&m's, (really anything chocolate), pecans that we pick from our trees, green beans, corn, chicken nuggets, spaggettios, and did I say chicken nuggets? We have a real healthy eater.

6. She would wear her plastic, pink, Hello Kitty rainboots everyday if we would let her.

7. She is on the verge of being potty trained. She has stayed dry for very long periods of time, but we just can't seem to get it all together.

8. She has been saying "Don't be hateful" a LOT. This really bothers us, but we figure if we ignore it, maybe she'll just stop?

9. She can say the Lord's prayer. So sweet.

10. She is so smart, beautiful, a little messy a lot of the time, funny, observant, greatest gift I have ever been given.

Okay, enough of this long, long post.

On to 2006!!!!