My Kendall Bee is Three!

My sweetie pie turned three on January 20th! Yes, I am a little delayed in this posting but there will be a few other blog posts about why...so back my Kendall...her favorite color in the whole wide world is PINK (can you tell from the picture?)...her best friend is cousin Ella...she could watch Dora for days and days without ceasing if allowed...she likes sugar sugar sugar (wonder where she got that from?) but doesn't like chocolate - won't touch chocolate chip cookies, chocolate cake, brownies, or chocolate milk...she loves to have her nails painted (usually at least 2 colors) but hates to have her hair fixed (by mommy anyway...Aunt Maili and Grandma seem to get away with it)...her favorite song is "I need you now" by Lady A. (nothing like hearing a 3 year old sing 'it's a quarter after one and I'm a little drunk and I need you now...")...she likes to swing and climb the mini-rock walls at the playground but is still scared of the slides...last fun factoid that mommy is certainly proud of.....drum roll please....she is completely potty trained! She even wears panties to bed at night :o)

Love you Miss Kendall Bee!

Can it get any busier than this?

Our little family has been so blessed! In the span of about a month, we stumbled upon a new home that we fell in love with, put our own house up for sale, and started a new business project! We close on our new home in mid-December and will be moving in the week after Christmas...I just love the character of the new home and the gorgeous acre lot that it rests on! I'm sure I will have plenty of pictures to share with the girls exploring their new environment in early 2011. Because we weren't exactly looking to move, our own home had to be fixed up and put on the market for sale. That has been a very time and energy intensive process - it never fails to amaze me how quickly the kids can undo what I just did. Anyone that tries to live in a home with 2 toddlers and two dogs that must be ready for showings at any moment is crazy! We definitely must have been...

Last but not least...I have begun my photography business - Two Pink Boots Photography. My little 'baby' was born in late November and I've had sessions pretty much every weekend - in case all the other things in life right now weren't keeping me busy enough :) Before each session, I pray that I'll capture some of the beauty God has blessed these families with. I feel so grateful with each opportunity and I think God's teaching me about the goodness in his creation.

Hope everyone is doing well during the Holiday season...although we likely won't send out Christmas cards this year, look for "We've Moved" card in early 2011 :o)

Much love,

Kristi

State Fair...and Photo Shoot Fun!

This weekend was a busy one...we road the train to the State Fair on Friday and then I got to take pictures of a friend and her daughter the next morning. I'm taking the lazy way out...lots of pictures!

When you need a good laugh...

There are times in life when you need a good laugh...like today while I was sitting in an hour long teleconference that was running 15 minutes past...everyone was virtually bored stiff and suddenly a random participant forgot they didn't have their phone on hold and started chit chatting very loudly for all 100 plus of us to hear. I believe her conversation ended with "oh my gosh today has been such a bad day....oh no, I hit myself in the face with this door!"

The entire room of 50 or so burst out into immediate laughter...and we all definitely needed it.

Well, this picture does that for me as well...no matter what mood I may be in at the time, I can't help but laugh at this picture...perhaps it's the look of absolute terror in Leah's eyes...or perhaps its the serene bliss of Kendall's...whatever it is, I can't help but laugh, so I thought I'd share in case you needed a laugh today as well...

Update on Jolie

After a couple costly visits to a regular vet and also a specialist, we now know that Jolie suffers from congestive heart failure...she has a very oversized heart for her miniature size and is now on a number of different medications to help the rest of her time with us be as pleasant as possible.

I feel like I was blessed with a warning - to be thankful for her doggie pugnacity - because she won't be around forever. So now I am more patient when she has little accidents on the floor - after all, she is almost 12 years old - and to laugh it off when she is again digging in the trash, because at least she feels well enough to, well, be her normal crazy self.

"It rained and poured for 40 daisy, daisies..."

Okay, so not exactly 40 days did it rain, but it sure did pour this past week and the whole family realized the 'devastation' of it all this morning. Daddy was mowing the grass so I decided to take the two girls to their favorite park...or what was left it!

Kendall kept asking me "what happened Mommy?" and "oh my goodness, somebody messed up the park!"

Loving and Precocious Jolie

My best friend is very sick. My history with my miniature schnauzer goes back a long way - almost 12 years. I was a freshman at A&M - the start of my spring semester. I had just moved into an apartment alone after my dorm mate decided to pursue interests in other places and was in need of a pal. There was a pet store next to the coffee shop I used to frequent and one day I stumbled upon the cutest puppies ever. They were so dignified with their gray beards and white bellies - even their puppy barks were aristocratic.

That was the day that Jolie became my first baby girl. We have had a rocky history to say the least. Jolie can be the sweetest dog - she seems to sense when you are ill or sad and runs immediately to your side. If nothing else, she is perhaps too loving, and very jealous. She wants to be in your lap at all times and does not share attention well at all. We have had our down moments...the make-up experience, the poop mine field, the scratches on our brand-new-still-being-financed kitchen table....but she will always be my first baby.

We used to race through my 5 mile run across Research Park while I was still in college, then through Wolf Pen Creek the year after. It just seems like yesterday that we were running at a local park when we saw a coyote - thankfully she didn't pick a fight with that one.

But today when we tried to go for a walk, something very different happened. Instead of racing ahead and pulling with excitement, Jolie fell limp and lifeless to the sidewalk. For minutes her eyes were rolled back into her head and she didn't seem to be breathing. She has struggled with a cough recently, but I didn't realize it had gotten quite that progressed.

Now I feel horrible to have not caught her heart trouble earlier...each time I pushed her away, angry that she was again under my feet or shushed her for panting almost ceaselessly...she was very very sick and I didn't even notice. It was almost too much to sit and pet her this evening, not wanting her to leave us, but painfully aware of how labored her breathing has become.

We love you Jolie...hope you sleep peacefully this evening...