Amber Waves of Grain

Happy birthday, Kennedy!!!!      To our sweet & fun girl! She's 5 today!  She LOVES to dress up whether it's jewelry, fancy clothing, or princess stuff.   Here's her latest-- a pink fur coat and sequins skirt.   Classy! She's nurturing.  She loves playing "mommy" to her baby dolls and caring for other people.  She loves to sing ( and I mean constantly ).   She is thoughtful and compassionate and loves to pray for others.  She can be headstrong and difficult too (just like her mother) but we're working together on that!    She goes to Pre-K 5 mornings a week and loves her teacher and school.   Her favorite foods are cheese quesadillas, pepperoni, and Ritz crackers.   Her favorite show is Curious George.   She's also obsessed with dogs whether it's pretending to be one, begging us to buy one, playing with a toy one, or asking every stranger in the city if she can pet th...

I think we were officially "cool parents" today.  And, probably today only . We threw Keegan a BIG party.   Now, I'm not one to have a house full of kids for parties.  Or, to watch a million kids at a germ-filled, over-priced pizza palace (* cringe *).   This year I had a bright idea.   We used an elementary school gym (where our church meets). FREE .  And, we just hired some church teens to run gym games like relay races, tag, etc.   GENIUS , right!?   The teens have lots of energy and are great with kids.  Plus, they earn some spending cash.  Win. Win. Keegan LOVED it.  He got to invite his entire 2nd grade class, some church friends, neighbors, and cousins.  This smile says it all:   Lots of relay races:  We probably had 25 kids show. The kids had fun and I'm pretty sure we sent them home worn out.   And.... we're a little worn out too.  But, so much fun.  W...

Happy 8th birthday to our Keegan James!!   I can't believe we have an 8 year old. He's matured so much since his last birthday.  Here's a little bit about Keegan this year....  -He loves Angry Birds and Star Wars -He is an amazing reader.   He recently finished reading Harry Potter 1 & 2.   He also read Genesis and Exodus in the NIV Bible and has started reading Leviticus too.  (and, yes, he understands what he reads! ) -He loves to learn about the human body (cool anatomy stuff). -His favorite food is cheese pizza . -He's doing MUCH better with food issues but he's still pretty small for his age (which he's really sensitive about).  He recently weighed in ( fully clothed, shoes & all ) at 39lbs.  The nurse thought her scale was broken.    He's doing a great job working through his sensory issues but it's been a long journey. -He's artistic , creative , and an entertainer . -He likes to be a good friend t...

We've had a fun Thanksgiving weekend. First, we traveled up north to be with Nathan's mom's extended family. I took a chocolate pretzel pecan pie . Yes, you read that right.    ( LINK to recipe) And, green beans with bacon which wasn't exciting enough for a photo. My favorite part of Thanksgiving may have been playing a prank on Nathan's Aunt Melissa who couldn't attend.  She's fun and I thought we'd have fun together.  I made a Melissa cut-out, took her photo everywhere, then posted to facebook.   Here are just a few favorites:       She was a great sport.  I laughed so hard.  I'm not sure the extended family appreciates my humor, by the way. We got our tree up.  We traded in our huge Christmas tree (which took up most of our front room) for a 'slim' tree that's pre-lit.   Score . We also ventured to our local mall on Black Friday where we got THE front parking spot.  We didn't buy a thing; we j...

I'm sure you're all expecting an obligatory "here are my kids in costumes" post.  So, here you go! Our city postponed trick or treating until Nov 1st due to storms. The weather was perfect. The kids had a blast ( and so did I) .    Here are the kids in their costumes ( garage sale finds, of course! ). We had Obi Wan Kenobi from Star Wars. Kennedy was an army guy.   She owns several princess costumes but chose her brother's play costume instead.  That's my girl! And, a kitty cat.    Savannah really got into it.  She very quickly switched from saying, "Trick or treat!" to "I want candy!" when we rang doorbells.   Slightly rude but adorable all at once.   And, we kept busy answering our own door.  We had (*insert drum roll*) 189 trick or treaters stop by!!    We actually think we had more but we heard a few run away when Nathan's spider on a motion sensor scared a few away.   (insert evil laugh...

The kids all submitted entries for our gym's recent coloring contest.   And, much to our excitement, Kennedy won! Here's her entry ( the colored pumpkin ) with her prizes.... cotton candy, a coloring book, and crayons. She was so proud ... Keegan was also a winner to me.  He worked SO hard on his entry and added a lot of creative touches including ( *gasp* ) glitter.  He REALLY wanted to win.  When he heard that Kennedy won, he was happy for her instead of being upset.   What a good brother.    That's a winner to me. Congratulations, Kennedy!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's that time of year again!  School picture time! We received the proofs today for Keegan & Kennedy's school photos.  They surprisingly turned out nice. You never know what you're going to get.    Of course, I made the kids hop out of the van this week to snap a few pictures myself.  It was about 32 degrees and we did the shoot in about 4 minutes.  Here's what I got for "my" version of school photos...  Showing off those 3 front missing teeth: He was really in the mood to pose this day! And, Kennedy, with her fly-away hair:   Savannah wanted in on "school pictures" too.... We'll use the nature shots to hang in the house in frames, but I always order one copy of the school one for fun.  There you have it, school pictures!

Some of you are dying to know what I put in my vintage BINGO cage , aren't you?  I received a lot of great ideas from my readers..... everything from Gobstoppers to ping pong balls.  Well, for now (and because they were on clearance at Meijer of all places) .... I filled it with these fun greenery balls.   They're soft and bright.  And, most importantly, they squished through the little door .   I may find something more fun later, but these will do for now.   BINGO!!!!!!!  I'd say these are a winner!

I enjoyed my recent senior photo session with Cody!   The weather was perfect and the company was great (it helped that he's family!).    He brought along my little niece and nephew too so you'll see a couple pictures of them as well.  (Excuse all the near-duplicates. This post is really more for his family than for you!) .  Congratulations, Cody!!