growing up...

last weekend we were driving and we were listening to kenley's songs. she was singing along and then stopped to tell me something. "Mommy, I'm growing up!!" she said. while i smiled and cheerfully replied, "yes, you are right, Kenley! You are growing up!" I felt my eyes start to burn with tears and there was a little tug in my heart. She is growing up so quickly and while i'm so excited to see what God has in store for her in the many years ahead and how the story of her life will unfold, I can't help but wish that time would just stand still for a while.

summertime!

summer break is finally here! after a great first year of teaching, i am so glad to get to relax at home! here is a list of current plans for my summer break:

• spend lots of time with my kids! (playing outside, trips to the library, park, zoo....)
• get togethers with several friends...1st grade colleagues, college roommates, high school friends!
• kids day camp at church (kenley is attending and i am in charge of crafts)
• working out at our new ymca (i'm setting a weight loss goal for the summer)
• scrapbooking
• finishing our backyard (grass seed is already growing!!) finishing our privacy fence, and laying much down the side of the house
• repainting our porch
• having a yard sale!
• extra community group get togethers
• baseball games (chad coaches the babe ruth league)
• lots of family time!
• celebrating our 4 year anniversary!
• birthdays and weddings
• preparing for the school year

it's so hard to believe that it's already the middle of june! 9 weeks till school starts...8 weeks till my summer break is officially over :( it's gonna fly by!!

since it's been so long since i've updated, here are a few pictures from the past few months. i've got lots more to post later!

EASTER 2009

Jarrett's 1st Birthday

Mother's Day

spring break '09 and catching up...

spring break has come and gone, but we sure did have a great time together as a family! monday was spent at the children's museum. the science and discovery zone was our favorite. kenley and jarrett both had a great time learning, playing, and discovering all sorts of fascinating things throughout the museum. tuesday we enjoyed ourselves at jump n play in avon. this is an indoor inflatable family play center that was lots of fun for all of us! guess what our total admission cost was???? $7...what a small price to pay for a great day of fun! we got a lot of play time in as there weren't too many people there. kenley had a blast jumping, sliding, climbing, and playing. jarrett enjoyed a few trips down the slides, but didn't so much like to crawl around in the toddler bounce area. he sure did love to watch all of the excitement though! chad and i had a great time being "kids" with our kids! wednesday we went to the indy zoo. the weather was great, altough slightly chilly with the wind. kenley and jarrett were facinated with all of the animals. one of the highlights was the dolphin show. kenley loved watching the dolphins do their tricks and she had fun showing off her dance moves as the music played. jarrett enjoyed all of the excitement as well. the car rides also turned out to be an enjoyable experience. both kids did a great job during the drives. they are both at such a fun age right now as they are interacting and playing more together. the highlight of our travel time was listening to both of our kids laughing and giggling with each other over what seemed to be nothing but the shear joy of laughter!! what a heartwarming sound that was...it was priceless!

life happenings...

i went to the redi med this evening. i have been having some strange symptoms lately, some of which are a sudden feeling of passing out, nausea, jitters, hot flashes, slightly slurred speech, a sense of panic, among other things. the doctor i saw was a little bizzare, but he came to the conclusion that i have a cold, and an anxiety issue, or possibly a thyroid problem. he asked me what i do to relax and i said read a book and he insisted that that was not a form of relaxation. he told me to research the internet to find ways to train my mind instead.....huh??? he was foreign so i couldn't understand half of what he was saying, but he seemed to be offering some sort of psychotherapy. he did give me a prescription for xanax, which he told me to just "play around with and figure out what works" for me. so basically, if i was vulnerable and desparate enough, which i am not, i could take as much of the stuff as i wanted to whenever i wanted to. (no wonder people become easily addicted to meds). he also gave me a slip for a leave of absence from work for 1 week. lovely. i'm ok with taking a day or 2 off of work, but i will not be taking the week off. i will be making an appointment with a real doctor, something i have not done in years. i am one who tries so hard to be tough but i have driven myself to the point that i am concerned that if i don't take care of myself right now, then i won't have the strength to take care of my kids. i think i have pushed myself past the point of exhaustion, and i've just been in denial about this for so long. this very well could have brought on the anxiety, although i am going to ask for bloodwork to be sure there isn't something else going on. for those of you who read this, if you could please keep me in your prayers, i would appreciate it!!

on a lighter note....some exciting things are going on in my life too. Chad and i have joined a small group which meets on wednesday evenings. i am so pumped to see where this takes us spiritually and i'm excited about the relationships we will build with others in addition to strengthening our own. also, we have decided to start teaching the 4's and 5's class at church. i feel like god has really been guiding me to get more involved. my spiritual life has been at such a stand still for too long, and over the last year i have been taking steps to reconnect and re-energize my relationship with god. little by little, i am growing. i want so badly to be a godly woman so that i can share the love of the lord with my children. i truly believe that god has got awesome things in store for my life, something i'm not sure i completely believed before. god is amazing, and i'm in awe!

i'm back...

wow...it's been sooooo long since my last post!! i will admit that i just have not been very motivated to keep up with it for the past few months. i'm very busy and very tired and every time i sit down to blog, i talk myself out of it. i will do my best to catch you up on the things that have been going on in my life over the past few months....



kenley is a blast. she is quite the vibrant 2 year old and she definatly keeps me on my toes. i love that she is old enough that i can have conversations with her. she loves to tell me how her day went while i was at work and i love seeing the excitement burst out of her when i pick her up....she melts my heart! she is also developing more of an imagination...she hosted many "tea parties" for me as well as other visitors over christmas break. yesterday she prepared a meal for the "super-readers," who are characters from one of her favorite shows called Super Why. They had all gathered in her tent and she was excited that even "princess pea" was there :) This year she decorated our christmas tree all by herself...except for the ornaments that i put around the top and lights of course. we also enjoyed watching her perform in her very first christmas program at church. she did a great job singing and of course we were very proud! before christmas, kenley and i got to go and make gingerbread house's at grandma and grandpa shannon's house...it was fun to carry on this tradition from my childhood with kenley. she also got some great things for christmas....a set of real barbie golf clubs (which will be put to great use this spring!), play doh, a trampoline, books, an awesome toy box made by uncle travis, and much more. it was fun to watch her open her gifts, but it was even more exciting to be able to share with her the real meaning of christmas :)



Jarrett continues to be quite the happy little guy. it's very rare to find him without a big smile on his face! he is now 8 1/2 months...it's hard to believe that in just a few short months we will be planning his first birthday! he is into everything....crawling, pulling himself up on things, and even walking with the help of steady hands. It is such a fun stage, even thought it adds to the craziness around the house! Jarrett absolutely adores Kenley...his face lights up the instant he sees her. it's so fun to see them interact as we are getting to the stage where they are playing together now! Jarrett also really likes to play the drums...he pulls himself right up on the guitar hero drums, grabs a drumstick and bangs away! We enjoyed our first christmas with him and he is enjoying all of his new toys and looks like a little man in his new clothes. jarrett is still not sleeping through the night, but we are making progress! i am just embracing the fact that he is only little once and down the road i know i'll miss these days :) Jarrett recently had his first tooth pop through and the second one will be there any day now! he's starting to lose interest in baby food and is enjoying some table foods. there's just not a whole lot i can give him since he only has one tooth!

well, i have written quite a bit....i guess that is what happens when i don't blog on a regular basis! i have more to fill you in on and i hope to blog that soon! I also have tons of pics to share :)