Kendall's 2nd Year

It's hard to believe another year has gone by and Kendall will be two this Wednesday, January 20th! As with last year, I have strong memories of just two short years ago...the extremely cold winter night...the hours of contractions that seem to NEVER end...and finally my water breaking at 1 am...our lives will never be the same again!

We love our little girls SO much...I mention them in thankful prayers to God every day.

Happy 2nd Birthday Miss Bee!

We love love love you!

Prayers

It's interesting how God works everything together...for example, Kendall in the past couple weeks or so has started asking to pray before bed. She will clasp her hands together and gleefully shout "Gawd!" (aka God). She then bows her head and closes her eyes and, as patiently as a two year old can, waits for you to begin to pray. At the end, she always nods her head and says "AMEN!"

She first began making this request to Trenton...which began the conversation - how should we be teaching her to pray? When I was little, but old enough to remember, I recall my dad teaching me to pray. He told me to always start by praising God, then asking for forgiveness for our sins, then thanking God for his blessings, and then conclude with our requests.

Ironically, today the topic in Bible Study was "Teach Me to Pray"...it was a great lesson as always, and it still amazes me how God's timing and teaching work so perfectly together...

Reflections on a New Year

I usually try to have a point for my blog entries...at least I begin with one, and sometimes get off topic, but for those who know me well, that is not too terribly surprising. This one, however, may be a bit "Seinfeld-ian"...

I was getting ready to wrap my week at work last Wednesday (two days before Christmas) and I overheard a coworker tell another coworker "Merry Christmas" and to that they responded "Merry Christmas for a self-proclaimed atheist." For hours and even days after wards, I thought about how sad that statement and that person must be. What hope in this world would you have, if this world was all you had? Fleeting moments of joy in a harshly, cold world...it was an oppressive thought that troubled me for quite a time. How scary life, and of course death, would be if you thought you would just sink into...nothingness? How do people live that way? It made me think...what am I doing to help? In anything? So that's what my New Year's Goal is going to be...find a way to involve the kids and Help. Do. Live. Hopefully this will be a goal I can accomplish on a daily, weekly, monthly basis...

I've been working on Kendall's "Second Year" video...call me the queen of multi-media, but I love things like that. Finding the perfect transitions, perfect pictures, and of course the perfect song, is very fulfilling. I have yet to watch it without my heart feeling a little heavy...I can't believe my baby is almost two! I love the beautiful little person she is becoming every day, but nostalgia can be swift and painful. I frequently remind myself that this is such a precious time in our lives and perhaps that is why I take pictures with such a vengeance...I never want to forget :)

All for now...Happy New Year!

December Snipets

I finally had to chance to upload some photos this afternoon and wanted to share...

Leah is starting to show interest in the Baby Einstein series and suddenly Kendall has re-discovered it. She now asks for "baby all-stan" more than even Barney. Below is a snap shot of the sisters enjoying a morning show:

Leah and Kendall playing the evening I caught Leah rolling over...this picture was taken shortly before:

Once I realized the squirt had rolled:

Leah and her beloved "Ma"...

Me again...

I know I just posted a matter of moments ago, but wanted to pass this video along...my new favorite Christmas song...

Brandon Heath - The Night Before Christmas

Prepping for the Holidays

The past few weeks have passed with blinding speed! I finally got motivated to decorate for Christmas, which is odd because usually I can't wait to decorate. In fact, the first Christmas after we got married, we purchased a tiny little tree with ornaments around Halloween and were so excited about it that we went ahead and decorated right then. The years since have followed similar suit, and we traditionally decorate for Christmas the week before Thanksgiving. This year was a little different - likely because I struggle to find the energy to keep up with the daily chores, let alone add decorations into the mix. But laziness and complaining aside, the decorations finally went up a couple weeks ago :o)

Kendall will be moving up to a new class next year - early preschool is what they call it, I believe. I'm excited for her to be with older kids, but sad to say goodbye to her current teachers Miss Donna and Miss Kristen. They are both extremely sweet and always so friendly to Kendall. One good thing, I think her best school friends - Johnny (aka Donny) and Bree - will be moving up with her so hopefully that should make the transition less painful.

Kendall is all about her cousins Jake and Ella right now - particularly Ella. Due to her petite size, she has inherited quite a few of Ella's hand-me-downs, which she completely adores. In fact, the only coat and shoes that I can get her to willingly wear are Ella's, which she emphatically reminds me each time I put them on. She talks about them at least three times a day and literally spins with excitement when she knows they are coming to visit.

Leah rolled over for the first time (that I've seen) last week. We were sitting on the living room floor and she was doing her usual routine of rolling to her side and then back on her back, when suddenly I realized she face down! A few huffy moments later, she had returned to her back and began kicking her legs over once again. I have since tried to get it on video, but she hasn't quite cooperated. We tried cereal a couple times this week, but I think she still needs a few more weeks to be able to sit up a little better. She starts to slowly fade to the side after a few minutes, which makes her angry and instantly uncooperative for feeding. I'm hoping she will take to eating a little better than big sis did - we are still struggling with that!

I am completely finished with Christmas shopping - yay! In fact, I ran to the mall to grab something and was literally in and out in 15 minutes. This was good thing for me, considering my anxiety for crowds had started to bubble up as I drove in through the traffic.

We are looking forward to our cozy family celebrations...I have good authority that Santa is bringing something pretty fun this year :) Photos to follow suit at a later date...

where to begin...

Life has been so crazy lately that I haven't had a chance to post, or hardly take pictures, which has been a little sad. I try to snap a shot here and there to capture funny moments more than creative angles these days. There are so many funny stories to tell and events that have passed, not even sure where to begin...

The months of November and December are busy birthday months for me...my mother's is November 15th, followed by Trenton's on November 17th - short break for Thanksgiving - then rolls my sister's, the twins, and my grandmother's wraps it up before Christmas. Trenton's actual birthday was pretty quiet, but a few months ago I purchased Dallas Cowboys tickets for the November 22nd game against the Washington Redskins. Boy, was he excited! I think he told me 'thank you' about a million times that day. I could dedicate an entire post just regarding that experience, but I'll be as brief as a mother of two under two awake and on the loose can be...the game itself was pretty tame - not much scoring happening on either side, but the ambiance of it all was overwhelming! The most noteable part to me was when the 'doors' opened at 10am. All non-season tickets must enter through the end zones. When we initially arrived, I thought we would go through regular glass doors that lined the area, but suddenly around 10 I was proved wrong. The ENORMOUS glass WALL started to recess into the sides...it was truly a sight to behold.
Trenton and I in front of the stadium

Fortunately the Cowboys won, so we were able to walk away from the day completely happy, but there were many close moments there! I kept asking him that if they didn't win, would he still have enjoyed the experience...and of course, he said he would.

Leah is just a growing, growing, growing! We had her four month appointment a couple weeks ago and she was a whopping 15 pounds - just 6 short of her older sister. Oddly enough, we happen to pull Kendall's records and found that she was actually heavier at the same age.

I will conclude with a funny story...a few weeks ago we were playing in Kendall's room when she said "bed" and I asked her "do you want to go into your bed?" and she said "YES" so I placed her in her crib. She then said "sissy!" so I asked her "do you want me to put SISSY in your bed?" and she said "YES!" so I placed Leah carefully into the bed next to her. She then grabbed her favorite blanket with a bunny on it and said "sissy bunny?" so I went and tracked down a blanket for Leah and placed it on top of her. Then Kendall looked up and said "Mama, moo!" and started to wave towards the door. I asked her "you want Mommy to leave?" and she said "YES" and waved her head as far up and down as it could go.

I see how it is.

Kendall and "sissy" after telling Mama to "moo"