Christmas

This year we were on our own for Christmas. We decided last night that it is more fun to be with family during the holidays. We were able to spend part of yesterday with old family friends, (they knew my parents when they were first married and lived in Vale, OR - now they live in Edgewood, NM) it was great to see them and their family again.

We stayed home this year partly due to money - now that Kendra is two we have to pay for her airplane ticket, and partly because we are really behind with everything because I was so sick. Mark has six days off of work so we get him all of next week too! This is great! Sometime between now and then I hope he'll fix our kitchen faucet which broke a couple of weeks ago.

Here are some pictures from Christmas:

Notice the proud father in the background.

The things Disney teaches children...

Christmas Eve

This is our first year that we did not travel to be with family at Christmas time. Although we miss our families we've had a good time staying here. On Christmas Eve we made a gingerbread castle. Kendra spent about an hour making it just perfect. She said, "I'm doing a good job!"

She was very excited to do it herself!

This is the finished castle.

And this is what it is suppose to look like!

Kendra is usually shy and reserved when people are over at our house. This time Kendra was hyper and aching for attention! She kept making up songs.

Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas!! To recap our year, we have a test. And since we haven’t seen many of you over the year, you’ll be at a slight disadvantage. Good luck!

1. How many miles did we travel this last year?
a. 1,596 b. 7,312 c. 4,294 d. we never leave ABQ

2. What did Kendra do that made us laugh the hardest?
a. Cross her eyes
b. Says “go-ee-oh” instead of “here you go”
c. Tried to teach a toy fly to pray
d. Telling us she’s going to call pizza on her toy phone, then picking up the phone and saying “hi pizza”
e. Telling Mommy not to fall into the toilet after she had

3. What was Kristi’s favorite book?
a. Treatment of Childhood Disorders by Eric J. Mash
b. Get Rich Quick by Mike Jukes Onyou
c. Dude, Where’s My Country by Michael Moore
d. Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

4. What was Mark’s favorite book?
a. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
b. Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World by Bill Clinton
c. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
d. Birds of North America, by C. Robbins

5. What song does Kendra make us listen to over and over every time we drive somewhere?
a. “I'll Make a Man Out of You”, from Mulan
b. “How Does She Know”, from Enchanted
c. “I Know You”, from Sleeping Beauty
d. Theme song from Veggie Tales

6. What makes Kendra laugh the hardest?
a. Butterfly kisses
b. Peek-a-boo from behind her bathroom towel
c. Tickle torture from Mommy

7. What was Kendra’s best excuse to call Daddy back into her bedroom after she’s been tucked in for bed?
a. Needs to go to the bathroom (and then doesn’t go)
b. Needs to look out the window
c. Needs to be tucked in again
d. Needs to blow her nose
e. Needs a drink
f. Has no good reason

8. What was a year low point?
a. Mark backing Kristi’s new Rav4 into a pole (a plastic pole)
b. Kristi seeing, for the first time, Kendra behaving quite differently from other kids in a group setting (signs of what turned out to be a sensory processing disorder)
c. Mark’s car getting smashed while it sat in the bus parking lot

9. What was our year highlight?
a. Kristi’s 10 year high school reunion
b. Attending the BYU vs New Mexico Football game
c. A wonderful visit to St. George to see both parents and Shoni’s (Kristi’s sister) masters graduation
d. Kendra dancing on a table in front of a class of 2nd graders while her Aunt Shoni sang “How Do You Know He Loves You?”
e. Kendra making great strides in development after therapy for her sensory processing disorder

10. True or False, Kristi is pregnant.


Answers:
1. 4,294
2. A, but all made us laugh
3. D, none of the others were considered
4. C, A and B were not considered, but D made it to the list
5. A, and over, and over…
6. C, but the others are close
7. Take your pick, they all work every time
8. B, but, yes…the others did actually happen
9. 5-way tie
10. True!!! And we’re so excited. The due date is July 5th.

Snow Day

It snowed a couple of inches yesterday so today Kendra and I had a snow day! After we scraped our driveway and sidewalk we made a snowman. Now, back in Oregon when I made snowmen the snow balls always had grass and leaves in them. Well, down here in New Mexico we do not have grass. I thought this would finally be the time I could make a snowman without anything sticking to the snow. Instead of grass we have rocks and rocks still stick to the snow. I have learned that it is better to roll a snowball on the pavement than on our "yard." Kendra and I had a great time putting him together.

Then I noticed we had icicles! This day just keeps getting better and better. I jumped up to get an icicle for Kendra. I love it when Kendra mimics me. She then jumped to grab the icicles, but of course they were way too high. It's too bad it only snows a few days out of the year down here.

Disneyland

We had our ward Christmas party on Saturday. I told Kendra on the way that we were going to see Santa. She said, "I don't want to see Santa, I want to see Cinderella." The whole night she said that until I told her that Santa was gone. She really didn't want to see him!

Now all Kendra talks about is going to Disneyland to see Cinderella. She even asks me, "mommy you want to see Mater and McQueen at Disneyland?" She goes through the whole list of Disney characters. We probably won't get to Disneyland for years so she's in for one great disappointment. My only hope is that the Disney Store in town has their employees dress up like characters once in awhile.

This Time Around

We will be having our second child in early July. We are excited to expand our family. Being pregnant with Kendra was so much easier than this time around! I have been miserable!! The month of November was the worst. It's a good thing that Kendra is easy, (for the most part). I would lay on the couch all day while we watched cartoons in the morning (Sid the Science Kid and Super Why are my favorites) and Disney movies in the afternoon. Poor Mark had to do everything. After work he would make dinner for himself and Kendra, do the dishes, and clean up the floor. During the day I put crackers and snacks on the floor with water for Kendra. I know, it sounds like feeding a dog. It's called survival. On the weekends Mark would do laundry, go grocery shopping, and run all the errands.

Some funny things occurred when Mark did the grocery shopping. I would make a list and on that I wrote the brand and the cost so he would get the exact thing I wanted. What would take me 20 minutes to buy Mark spent an hour and a half! He claimed it was due to the fact that he wasn't familiar with the store layout. He also bought the wrong items - things that weren't on sale or weren't on the list. So he ended up spending more money each week than I do. It was funny because sometimes he thought he got a better deal than what I wrote down, but he was always wrong. I still get a good laugh from this.

Kendra had the flu Wednesday night. This was the best vomit session we've had with her. She was so cute. Kendra woke up in the middle of the night screaming and threw-up just as Mark made his way in her room. Then she's crying from being upset over throwing up, and seeing that her bed, stuffed animals, and princess jammies are dirty. We have a bucket in her room but we've never been able to get her to throw-up in it. When she's sick we put her in our room with one of us sleeping next to her. She would wake up and say, "I need the bucket." And sure enough she did. Then she said, "I don't want to throw-up anymore." It was so cute. The poor thing. Getting a kid to puke in a bucket is so easy to clean! Hopefully we'll be spared the rest of the flu season.

Don't Make Fun of Me

I put a crib mattress on our living room floor that Kendra loves to jump on. Mark and I were trying to get her to jump on one foot. She did great holding onto Mark's hands and jumping on her right foot. Then we told her to jump on her left foot. She can't do it! It's hilarious to watch so I kept saying, "jump on your left foot Kendra" while laughing. Kendra stopped and said, "don't make fun of me!" What!?! How does she know about making fun of people already? I guess she's more aware than I thought.





We put up our Christmas tree after Thanksgiving. Kendra helped put it together and put on the ornaments. Notice how the ornaments are all on the bottom. Her favorite thing to do is sit and watch the Christmas tree. She gets upset if I turn off the lights.

Funny Kid

Kendra has not crossed her eyes for a couple of weeks. Then, last night at dinner she crossed her eyes, looked at me and said, "I have two mommies." Then she turned to Mark and said, "I have two daddies." We were laughing so hard. She loved the attention and so continued to do it over and over while we just died with laughter. Later on she was still in a funny mood. She put on her headband and looked up at it with her eyes crossed. What a funny kid.

Kendra loves to jump. Because we don't have a trampoline I put her old crib mattress on the floor. She loves to jump on it and it's become an enjoyable game for both of us.

Kendra and I sat down to eat our lunch today. Her plastic fly joined us. We were about to say the prayer when Kendra decided to help the fly say it. She said, "close your eyes," "close your eyes," "fold your arms," and "say, in the name...say, in the name." Then she turned to me and said, "fly won't say the prayer." It's nice to know that she is learning some things from us.

Laughs

The other day Kendra called me from across the living room. She said, "Hi mommy." It totally tripped me out when I saw her eyes! She's only two and she can cross her eyes! It turns out Mark does that to her all the time so somehow she learned how to do it. I got a picture of her and every time I look at it I just crack up!



Kendra mimicks us all the time. She was playing with her bear and a plastic cow. She said, "Bear, there's cow, wanna say hi to cow?" "Wanna say hi cow?" Then she held her bear and swayed back and forth, "Oh you shy, you shy." This is usually the dialogue Mark and I use when Kendra meets someone for the first time. "Kendra, do you want to say hi to (name)?" Then she buries her face in our shoulder and we say, "Are you shy?" Kids are great.

Halloween and Other Events

Kendra is old enough now to make Halloween fun! On the 25th we had our ward trunk-or-treat. Kendra was our cow and Mark and I were the farmers. Kendra went around with a friend to each car. At first she didn't understand. She put out her hand for the candy. After two pieces her hands were full - she didn't know quite what to do when the third piece of candy was offered. When she was done Kendra excitedly came to us and said, "look at my tick or tweat!" She was in heaven with all that candy.

On Halloween we thought it would be fun for Kendra to trick-or-treat with her friend who dressed up as Snow White because Kendra has a Snow White costume too. I had so much fun watching Kendra walk without fear to each door anticipating her wonderful treat!

I haven't written for awhile so I need to backtrack a little. Kendra was re-evaluated two weeks ago. She is average to above average in each developmental area. Her lowest score is in socialization - but honestly, do we really want our kids to be socialized? Reviving Ophelia and Real Boys are two books that talk about the impact of socialization.

About a week ago at 4:30 a.m. I awoke to a loud bang, bang, bang, on our door. I jumped up and grabbed Mark. I thought for sure it was the cops. Who else would bang on our door and wake us up in the middle of the night?!?! I peered out the window - now cop cars. We could hear two voices. It sounded like our neighbor was fighting with someone (maybe his ex) and wanted us to intervene or something. He kept knocking as Mark and I sat and listened. We were not going to open the door and let an angry man in! Word to the wise - do not wake me up and more than that, don't wake my daughter!

Again?!?!

This is so funny. Mark's car was hit, what, three weeks ago? Mine was hit yesterday. I drove down to Kendra's Gym when a big rig truck pulled out. Obviously he didn't see me. Then, everything went in slow motion. I see him pulling out, he is on one side, and the curb on the other side of me. I slam on my breaks but I can't go anywhere, I'm going to get hit, I can't help it. My breaks squealed under the intense pressure and then wham! I sat in shock for a few moments. Did I really just get hit?!?! The guy backed up, and then pulled in front of me to conitinue down the road. I got out of my car and told him to pull into the next parking lot. Luckily my car only has minor scratches in the front bumper. Kendra and I are fine, but can you believe it! After the shock wore off I laughed about it. Our lives are way too funny.

Rise and Shout the Cougars are out!!

Saturday afternoon BYU played New Mexico in football. It was so much fun to go to the stadium again. We don't have cable so we haven't been able to follow BYU since we moved. They are a great team and I'm looking forward to the BYU vs. Utah game. BYU beat the Lobos 21 to 3. It wasn't a great game until the 4th quarter. Mark and I want to go back and watch a game next year at Lavell Stadium even though the cougs will be traveling here to play in New Mexico. After the game the players run around the north and west ends of the stadium and give high fives to the fans. It was fun. This was also the first time my parents, who have been BYU fans from before I was born, watched a football game in the stadium!!

Thanksgiving Point

Have you guys ever been to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point? It's amazing! You could easily spend all day there. It is fun for adults and kids with lots of hands on activities. It makes our ABQ museum look pitiful! Whenever we go back to Utah we'll go again.

Suessical the Musical

Friday night we attended Shoni's show at the Scera. The cast did a great job and it's such a fun show to watch.

Friday

Friday morning we headed to Temple Square. Mark and I were able to see the Joseph Smith movie while Shoni played with Kendra. My parents flew in that afternoon and then we just had to go to BYU bookstore. Everytime we go to Provo we always go to the bookstore! On our way we stopped at the BYU Museum of Art. I love the picture of Kendra sitting with her Grandpa looking at the painting of Jesus.

Shoni's Class

On Thursday we visited My sister's classroom. She teaches 2nd grade in Springville, UT. Kendra was shy at first, but absolutely loved being with all the kids. She did centers with them and even became a little performer for the kids and teachers.

Angels

We traveled to Provo, Utah on Wednesday, October 8th. Mark worked half that day and we met in the middle so he could return his rental car. We had planned to stop in Moab, but when we arrived it was only 5:30 pm. We knew we could easily make it to Provo by 9:30 pm. But we had already reserved a hotel. To cancel without a fee it had to be within 24 hours prior to check-in time. We thought we'd give it a try.

We stopped at the Super8 in Moab. The manager was very kind and told us that as long as we had a place to stay in Provo she would cancel our stay in Moab with no fee. Their motel was almost completely full so she thought for sure she could fill our room. How kind of her - and we were able to finish the trip in a day.

After Moab we travel on I-70 for about 20 miles before getting onto another highway. Mark, excited to end the trip was going quite fast. Shortly after we got on I-70 we flew past an officer. Immediately his lights went on. We were the only car on the freeway that past him after his lights came on. I told Mark he might as well pull over. He said he wanted to wait to make sure it was him. Of course it was! He finally pulled over. The officer took his license, our registration and proof of insurance and returned to his car. Much to my surprise I wasn't mad at Mark. He deserved a ticket for going so fast! The officer returned and told us he was only going to give us a warning. He then said, "I just want you to slow down so you can get home safely." What a nice guy. Have you ever met such a kind police officer?

Possessive are we?

I took my car in to get the oil changed. Mark can do it, but I won't let him hurt my car - I want it to last a long time! Kendra cried when she saw that people were "hurting" our car. Geez, does anyone else's kids do this? AND we had to get up and discuss various items and when we were done someone had sat in Kendra's chair. She kept whining saying, "that's Kenga's chair, that's Kenga's chair." Distraction usually works but this time she kept going back to the woman sitting in her chair. This happens with everything she thinks is hers. If anyone touches it she cries, whines, etc.

Lately we've noticed the tender side Kendra has. At the gym one of the little girls didn't want to run around, she just wanted to sleep. So Kendra laid next to her and patted her on the back. So sweet. I was surprised that Kendra touched her - she doesn't like it when the other kids touch her.

Our other great news is that Kendra wore panties all day today - and no accidents!!!

We enjoyed watching conference today. I really look forward to it. It's nice to hang out at home for a couple of days with our family. We use to go to the church but that was hard with a little child, so last March we upgraded our internet to DSL.

Life

This just totally cracks me up. Mark use to park at the mall to take the bus until the new bus parking lot opened. We never had any problems parking at the mall. Then, within two weeks of opening, Mark's car was damaged. Yesterday, and this just makes me laugh, someone puked all over by Mark's driver side door. He scooted around and jumped over it to get in. I would've just crawled through the passenger side. I wonder what will happen next week....

Here in New Mexico (and probably all of the southwest) you have to spray every so often to keep bugs out of your house. It has been a few months and bugs are creeping back in. I didn't mind until last night when Mark and I were about to go to bed and I noticed a long crawling critter coming towards my head!! It was another centipede - about 4 inches long, but with giant pinchers. Yeah, Mark's spraying tonight.

Kendra attends the Little Gym for gymnastics. It is probably the most expensive gymnastic program and I wouldn't have enrolled her if I didn't think she needed it. She loves her instructor and playing on the equipment. It's so good for her body. She still has issues with touch. Yesterday at the gym a boy ran into her (they run into each other alot). She began to cry (she's not hurt, just upset someone came into her bubble unwelcomed). The boy went back to say "sorry" and Kendra flipped. I'm sure she thought he was going to touch her again. This behavior has puzzeld me and I haven't known what to do about it. Today, after talking to my friend, I realize I need to validate her feelings and role play with her. Hopefully with time she'll handle it better.

Only If There's Food

Kendra is really into princesses. We found this used Snow White dress and I couldn't resist. She wears it all the time - especially when she wants to dance.

Today we went to Corrales to go to Wagner Farms where they have a petting zoo. Little did we know that it was Harvest Days down there. We had to take a detour just to get to the farm and then when we got there we couldn't get down to the petting zoo. So discouraging. I'll take Kendra next month.

We took Mark's car in for an estimate yesterday. The total damage is $2600. That's half the value of his car! Our insurance will pay all but $250 and they'll even pay for a rental! Isn't that great! Let me tell you about the place we took his car to. It's called car crafters and we took the car there because they work directly with our insurance. Now, when you think of body shops you imagine a dirty greasy place right? Well, this place is nice! It was clean, had a lego table and chairs for kids, and to top it off they had cookies and drinks!! I don't just mean the store bought from a package cookie, they had gourmet cookies that you would get from a deli!! The cookies just made car crafters my favorite place. It's too bad they don't do oil changes.

Making Progress

My child was bald at birth. Her hair growth has been very slow - so I was very excited when I could finally do a ponytail, then two ponytails, and check out what I did the other day!! Her hair is finally growing!

Kendra was diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder in April. She was below the 2nd percentile for tactile dysfunction. Basically her brain didn't interpret tactile input correctly. She was such a clean baby and being a first time mom I didn't know any better. The other day for our "snack" we had apples and caramel dip. I was thrilled to see her hands and face!



We take Mark's car in tomorrow for an estimate. We are hoping our insurance will cover most of it and that our cut will be only $250. Our normal deductible is $750.

Seriously People

So Mark takes the bus to work. He use to park at the mall, but ABQ recently made a new transit parking area down the street. Due to this there are no cameras, much to our dismay. When Mark arrived at the stop this evening he noticed that his car had been hit. There was no note, phone number, or insurance card. This was no little scrape either as you can see from the photos. I was miffed! Seriously how rude!

Awakening

So over the course of the last couple of weeks we have had to scrub our living room carpet a couple of times. One spot Kendra puked on and the other she peed. We noticed how white the carpet is where we scrubbed. We had no idea our carpet was suppose to be so white! Guess it's time to rent a carpet cleaner.

The other night I realized something I should have long ago. Kendra sometimes has a difficult time sleeping. This was one of those nights. She just kept crying, exhausted, and unable to relax. I finally did compressions and put some weight on her. She fell asleep soon after that. She needs a lot of proprioceptive input because of her Sensory Disorder. All she needs is a weighted blanket - what an easy fix. I can't believe it took me this long to figure it out!!

Go Cougs!

We decided today to visit Utah yet once again. My sister is in Suessical the Musical at the Scera so we'll get to see her show. AND as luck would have it, that same weekend (Oct. 11th) is BYU's homecoming football game against New Mexico Lobos!! Mark and I will get to wear our true blue while Kendra will sport her Lobo cheerleader outfit! (By the way, everything down here is English and Spanish, so for those of you who don't habla espanol Lobo is spanish for wolf). We're excited to get to go to another game at BYU.

When we drove through Utah in July we didn't have much time and we were rushed. We wanted to see our professors, spend more time at temple square, and go to Thanksgiving point. Plus I wanted to eat at Brick Oven. So, now we'll get to do that!

Just Quarantine Us Already!

So on Wednesday Mark came home and just fell on the couch. That's not a good sign - he's never done that. "Kristi I don't feel good." Great, my entire family is sick! He finally went to the doctor today and got an antibiotic. I just hope the cycle will stop now. Mark was sick a month ago, then passed it on and it's going back around. It started early for us this year. Last year it didn't begin until late October. It didn't end until April. Let's hope we'll be healthier this time around!

Who taught her that?!?!

Kendra and I have watched way too many movies over the past two weeks. I think she is learning new vocabulary from them. One day she said, "Oh my gosh!" Mark and I don't say that and it took me forever to figure out where she got it from - The Little Mermaid. We play a game where she sits on the couch and then I sit on her and she pushes me off, she thinks it's loads of fun. So as I sat on her today she said, "mommy you're too fat!" I still haven't figured out where she learned fat from. I need to be more careful with my impressionable daughter.

I have bugged Mark for years to take me to Disneyland. He is finally okay with going. My brother just went with his family and I talked to him to get a perspective with a young child. He told me that Disneyland is an extremely over stimulating place and asked if Kendra with her SPD would be okay with that. Out of my excitement to go I had forgotten about Kendra's SPD!!! I'm not sure how she'd take it. I thought the beach would be a great sensory experience for her, but maybe Disneyland would be the ultimate!

Kendra loves to talk on the phone especially to her aunt Shoni.

My Two Cents

After Mark and I moved to Albuquerque we decided it was time to follow counsel and start our food storage. Every month we set aside some money to spend on food storage items or preparedness items. Recently I heard about the avian bird flu. The federal government is planning on a pandemic. Now that we have our year supply I am working on being able to live in our home for 3 months. I thought this was good enough to pass on.



Here is the CDC's website:



http://www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/



Here are websites for food storage/preparedness:

http://www.providentliving.org/pfw/multimedia/files/pfw/pdf/113827_HSOrderForm_US_JUL_08_pdf.pdf

http://www.foodstorageideas.com

http://www.survival-warehouse.com/food/index.htm?gclid=CImj2OCd2ZUCFQQRswodkXZFDw

http://www.beprepared.com

I also have recipes that I use frequently. I'll post them sometime. Many preparedness items can be found at Wal-mart or sporting good stores for a cheaper price.

The Doctor Visit

I avoid the doctor as much as possible. Why you might ask? My daughter is like a hysterical caged monkey. It has been this way since she was a newborn. She would just cry and scream until the visit was over. She would be fine in the waiting room and as soon as we crossed the door into the office part, the screams and cries would begin. Amazing. It's been more difficult as she has grown. I think this reaction is partly due to her SPD and partly due to her temperament. She always freaks when there is unwanted physical contact - no matter who it's from.

Kendra has had a cough for a week and a half now. On Sunday my mom told me that I needed to take her in to see her doctor. Yesterday I decided that was wise counsel. Kendra's lungs are so full of gunk and she can't seem to get it out. So I made an appointment for today. I dread going to the doctor!! I have a social book that I read to Kendra, we practice with our doctor kit on her baby, and we talk about how fun it will be. I also brush her and do compressions before we leave.

Today she was as happy as a lark to go to the doctor! I thought that finally we would have an easy visit. Kendra loved watching the TV as we waited and was great with the nurse. She did everything she asked her to without any hesitation (that's a first). We sat and colored while we waited for the doctor. Kendra was laughing and having a great time. As soon as the doctor came in Kendra's mood changed. Before the doctor did anything Kendra began to scream and cry! Are you kidding me?!?! The doctor hadn't even touched her yet!! She clung to me as before while freaking out until the doctor opened the door to leave. Geez, even when it was over she wouldn't stop!

But we got through it without gagging or vomiting amazingly. We had to fill her prescriptions after that. I took home a grocery bag full! Have you ever taken so many meds home? Most are for her nebulizer. Well, all in all it was worth the visit for now I know Kendra will get better and our days (and nights) will be easier. Then we can go places again!

At the pharmacy the pharmacist was adding flavoring to Kendra's med and she was pounding it on the counter. Kendra yelled, "come in!" and everyone started laughing. She's such a funny kid.

This is the life

We have spent alot of time outside recently. While Kendra and I sat on our swing she said, "this is the life mommy." She now says it when we are pulling weeds, playing in the rocks, or just watching a movie.

Kendra has been sick all week and thus didn't get to go to nursery class at church today. She loves her class (finally!) which we owe to her great teachers. She kept saying, "I'll get my shoes k?" A few weeks ago she began to say prayers all by herself. She says the normal things and then she'll add something like, "thank thee sparkles" refering to her Cinderella doll dress or "thank thee movies" which make us laugh.

Smiths grocery store had their case lot sale last week. This happens twice a year and is a time I stock up on our "year supply." As I waited in line a man from my ward waited behind me. I had 50 lbs of sugar in the bottom of my cart. I twisted it around before I lifted it so that I could get a better hold. He, being nice, said, "here let me get that for you." I was like, are you kidding me? I was raised on a farm to be a tough burley girl. I know I'm skinny and look weak but please, I can fend for myself. I just said, "I got it. Thanks though." And ofcourse lifted it with ease. :)

I've attached pictures of our backyard. Two are from when we moved in. Weeds consumed our grass and ugly bushes were planted by the fence. Mark and I have constantly weeded our lot. Weeds grow everywhere! Our grass is finally looking decent, but sparse without the weeds. I took out the back bushes and put some type of flower in. The other two pics are what it looks like now.

I did it!

I finally set up a blog! Kendra is just too funny not to. By the time I email everyone I forget everything she has done.

We bought Kendra a toddler bed a few weeks ago. She loved it so much that she no longer wanted her crib in her room. She frequently comes into our room before "morning." The other night she came in at 3 am. I usually hear her open the door but didn't this time. I only realized Kendra stood next to my bed when she coughed. The poor thing! I wonder how long she waited there for her mommy to pick her up. She laid with me in bed for a few minutes before I took her back to her room. She apparently turned off her sound machine and nightlight before walking down to our room. How responsible!

Kendra is really into princesses and loves dancing to the songs in the movies - her favorite - Enchanted.