Music

I tend to relate life to music...I can find a song that reminds me of most pieces of my past (good and bad) and I really listen to the lyrics. That may be a female thing, as many males seem to only pay attention to the instrumentals, but I could be overgeneralizing.

This will likely be a random post but I've gone through a string of songs that I just L-O-V-E...love to the point where I'll just listen to the same song over and over on my iPod. One of them is "Until I See You Again" by Mark Schultz, which I have the lyrics posted on this blog actually. If you looking for it on iTunes, you have to listen to the Ballad Version, it's just beautiful. But my latest song of LOVE LOVE LOVE is "Hide" by Joy Williams. I'll post the lyrics because they just represent so much hope to me:

To anyone who hides behind a smile
To anyone who holds their pain inside
To anyone who thinks they're not good enough
To anyone who feels unworthy of love
To anyone who ever closed the door
Closed their eyes and locked themselves away

You don't have to hide
You don't have to hide anymore
You don't have to face this on your own
You don't have to hide anymore

So come out, come out, come out wherever you are
To anyone who's tryin' to cover up their scars
To anyone who's ever made a big mistake
We've all been there, so don't be ashamed
Come out, come out and join the rest of us
You've been alone for way too long

And if you feel like no one understands
Come to the One with scars on His hands
'Cause He knows where you are, where you've been
His scars will heal you if you let Him

Hope this entry finds everyone well!

Love,
K

First week part time

The long awaited part time began this week and it was beyond wonderful...THIS is why I stepped down. Finally I am seeing the benefits of my decision...it was completely amazing the difference in my attitude about almost everything. Monday wasn't so bad because for me it was actually my Wednesday (which I liked to point out to my fellow co-workers at least 10 times that day...I'm sure they LOVED that). Tuesday couldn't possibly be bad - that was my "hump" day after all...and Wednesday I was beyond happy all day because it was like my Friday. It's amazing how much more I enjoy work because I know I won't have to spend much time there.

Thursday we played, ate breakfast, got showered/dressed, and made it to/from the grocery store all before 10:30 in the morning. Funny how I can remember a time not all that long ago when I hadn't even gotten out of bed by that time! Then we met up with Maili and the twins in pursuit of Halloween costumes - which we found a pretty good deal on. All three will be matching monkeys :o) I can't wait to see them all together!

Today we went on a leisurely stroll in the morning and went up to my work for a free hamburger cookout that the building management hosted. They had a raffle and I ended up winning a Cowboys t-shirt...which was nice...but they also had actual TICKETS given out... And yes, I know, I did end up going to work technically, but I did absolutely NO WORK I can guarantee. Kendall got to meet lots of new faces and she only cried maybe 3 times...actually make that 4...she still has some separation anxiety these days. Then we got to ride bikes with Sarah and her little girl Allyson. That was so much fun, but I am seriously tired right now! You are in such awesome shape, Sarah!!!

Maybe I'll get to sleep in tomorrow morning...

OK, I must be getting delusional now LOL.

Happy Birthday Dad!

This was my favorite picture of the afternoon - you can see Ella looking at her big sis Rachel in the background. When I get more time, I'd like to do some photo shop on some of these but for now...you get the idea...

Rachel

Jake

Mom and Ella

Dad

We had a slightly early birthday celebration for my dad last night...food was delicious and the $1 bellini's rocked! Happy Birthday Dad - we love you!!!!

In pursuit...

New Outfit from Grandma!

What is this thing on my shirt...

Southlake

I had a blast taking pictures of the family in Southlake this afternoon! These were my favorites of the day...

Cutie Pootie

Busy week!

It has been a whirl wind week in the Brockett household...this was my last full week of work, which was somewhat bittersweet. My company's annual User Conference was M-T-W and I got to help out Sunday and Monday for that. The rest of the week was mostly quiet as I completed my 'transition' in the team. My moods in relation to work seem to roller coaster still, but I'm very hopeful that the extra two days off this coming week will reassure me that I indeed made the correct decision.

I had a lovely mom-experience on Monday...it's been so long since I've been home alone with Kendall during a morning, but Monday I got to see her giggling and babbling away. Normally I have to snatch her from bed at 5:30 am, well before she would wake herself...to be expected, she is a little grumpy being woken this way. I'm getting excited again about re-bonding with the little rug rat!

This weekend should be full of sunshine and snapshots...I'm taking Kendall to Southlake Town Center while Trenton has an eye appointment to get a few pictures and then Sunday we will be in the mound (Flower Mound to be exact) for my dad's birthday...

Photography Classes

So finding a photography class has not been quite as easy as I thought it would be. I thought I could just look on UTA or TCC's website...but I couldn't find anything. I'm looking for a non-credit class...basically an 'idiots guide' to recreational photography...if anyone knows of anything in the DFW area, please let me know :o)

Dreary Saturday...

This picture was taken a few days ago but since it's a little dark and dreary looking outside with the remnants of Hurricane Ike on it's way, I thought it would be a nice to relive a 'happy Kendall' moment.

She looks so funny...if she was jumping up in the air instead of laying horizontal, I think she could be the poster child for the Lottery.

"I just won a MILLION dollars...yippee!"

9/11

The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Psalms 34:18

Smart Cookie

I found a shirt on sale at Target the other day - a very cute brown onesie with "Smart" and a picture of a cookie underneath. Kendall was sporting it today and apparently wanted to demonstrate her growing intelligence for us...I left her playing in front of the tv for a moment to grab something in the kitchen and returned to find that she had 'army crawled' over to the DVD player, turned it on, had pressed the eject button and was in the process of pushing the DVD tray (very gently, surprisingly enough) back into the machine.

She has already figured out how to turn the 'jungle soother' in her crib off...I realized that earlier this week after I placed her in the crib and turned it on - to find her turning it off a moment later. Apparently she was not in the mood for music that night!

Cousins!

Kendall-Bee...she's a little orange looking

but nothing a little photo shop can't resolve

Jakers!

Beautiful Ella-Bella

Beauty Queen Double-R (Rachel Ramirez)

I had the opportunity to take some pictures of my gorgeous nieces and nephew! These were some of my favorites...

Ready for the Cowboys Game!

Kendall is sporting her very first Cowboy's shirt - for those who used to frequent my babyjellybeans website, this was the onesie I got as part of Trenton's birthday gift last year.

Grandpa in training...

Saturday "photo shoot"

I've had a great time playing with the new camera! Although it's taking me a couple more hours to get my housework done on the weekends :o)

Transitional Blues...

As many probably already know, I decided back in June to go part time at my company. This decision was sort of a mixed blessing - the upside obviously is 2 more days with Kendall - but the downside was that I would be giving up my supervisor role to go back as front line technical support. Well, for a number of reasons that I won't expand on, I have continued with the supervisor role through July, August, and will carry on until the latter portion of September. So now that I'm within arms reach of being part time, most would probably think I would be elated, relieved, estatic even...but I feel the weirdest pangs of almost sadness?!?!

Most of it probably relates back to the role itself...I went through a 6 month interview process to get the supervisor position and was barely in the role that amount of time before I decided to give it up. It was and still is a difficult time in my team. Around the time that I decided to request the part time, I felt like I couldn't breath in the position...there was so much to do and that I was responsible for...I felt like I was disappointing not only everyone at work but my little girl at home that I barely saw. But the weirdest, most sickly ironic thing happened once I decided to step down...it got better. In fact, the past month has been insanely calm for me at work.

So now the new person has been selected and I am starting to hand off responsibilities and I almost have to stop myself from wanting to pull back. And then I remember that I was the one who wanted this in the first place...

I still know I am doing the right thing...it's just hard...I imagine this is 1/100th of what it feels like to take your child to kindergarden or college. It's that feeling of having to let something go that was yours and now...not so much...

Love this camera!

New Camera