A Servant's Heart

Sometimes there are things that happen in my married life that make me remember how blessed I am to be married to Ken. Yesterday was one of those days. We had our Thanksgiving dinner on Wednesday evening with some friends so that left Thursday to hang up Christmas lights. We were outside working on getting our lights up (Ken was on the roof, I was supervising) when the neighbor came by and mentioned how good they looked. He said that he wished that he could get his lights up on his peaks, but that he was too scared to get up on the roof to do it.
Sooo...after hours of working with our lights, Ken left to go put the neighbor's lights on his house. Now, keep in mind that the Cowboys played yesterday afternoon. Ken had been looking forward to that day for weeks. But he was still putting lights up when they started so he recorded it and started late. My husband has such a servant's heart and I am so blessed to be married to him. I love you, Bob.

PS. For those of you who are thinking I just called my husband something else, don't be alarmed. That is what we call each other....long story.

A New Do

Like her sister, Kenley is blessed with her daddy's hair. Super fine and grows straight forward. Right into her eyes. We made the mistake of cutting Ashlyn's hair at this age and she looked like a boy for two months. We have decided to just let Kenley's grow wild and pull it back when we need to. Here is our little Pebbles with her new do.

If I Could Save Time In a Bottle

Ashlyn has a good friend that she loves to spend time with. He lives two houses down from us. They have good days and bad days, but it has been awhile since they have spent any amount of time together so these past few days have been great for them. They have been playing at one house or the other and no arguing or fighting has gone on. Quite the opposite in fact. They are so sweet and innocent and then seem so grown up at the same time. Here are some pictures of them playing this week.

Here they are riding their horses together. Notice the look of attitude on my daughter's face in the second picture...sassy!

The two pictures below are blurry because they were taken through the back door window. Sorry, but if they would have seen me they would have stopped dancing...precious.


They could not be cuter together. They look so grown up in this picture. Slow down, time.

Spaghetti Night

I get this weekly email update that tells me how to raise my kids. It has worked well so far I think. Just kidding, but I do get a weekly email telling me about infant and toddler milestones and what to expect. My last one told me that it is now okay to let Kenley start trying to feed herself with a spoon. Tonight we had spaghetti so we thought it would be a good idea to let her have at it. It was priceless. This is the aftermath.

Happy Birthday Kenley!

During my last pregnancy I had wished for a sweet little baby that loved her mommy. On November 19, 2007 my wish came true. Since the day she was born, Kenley has wanted nothing more than to be held and loved on. She would much prefer for me to hold her than to do anything else in this world. It seems like I have held her for most of this past year. I have felt bad at times for complaining about how much I have held her. My arms have ached, truly ached from hours of holding this little baby whose only wish is to be near me. But as I look back on this past year that I have had with her, I think about how grateful I am to have her in my life. I think about how much more my arms would ache if I didn't have her to hold each day. I love everything about this baby. I love her big doe eyes. I love her chubby, kissable cheeks. I love her tiny little nose. I love her long, skinny feet. She is my sweet little angel and I love her so.
We had a party for her this past weekend (will post that later), but we went to dinner tonight with Matt and Shelly to have a small celebration on their actual birthday. I know that I am not the only mother who has bittersweet feelings on this very special day. As I watched her sitting next to me, I thought about how fast this past year has gone for me. It seems like just a few days ago that we brought her home from the hospital. She is growing up right before my eyes. I can't wait for each tomorrow and what it holds, but want to hang on to each today. Here are some pictures from her birthday dinner.
Yummy ice cream!

The family photo

Ashlyn, Julia, and Kenley
Me and my daddy

The two birthday girls

Holy Cow, Sleeping Beauty!

We had a great time on Halloween this year. Germany doesn't have a trick or treating tradition so Julia got to experience this very American thing with the Rushings. We went to the neighbors house to have chili and let the kids play for a little while. Then right before 7 we left to start trick or treating. Ashlyn was dressed up as Sleeping Beauty. She had waited a long time for Halloween, just looking at Aurora's dress hanging up in our closet. I was going to try to stuff Kenley into the pumpkin that Ashlyn wore for her first Halloween, but that just wasn't going to happen. So Kenley was a cow that we borrowed from Shelly (thank you). Julia was a German teenager. They were all very cute. Aurora's hair didn't last long, but it was cute while it lasted.
Julia doing her thing....just chillin'.
Julia: "Ashlyn, please take a picture with me..."
Ashlyn (in whiny 3 year old voice): "I don't want to take a picture!"
Mommy: "Ashlyn, please stand still so I can take your picture..."
Ashlyn (in whiny 3 year old voice): "I don't want you to take my picture!"
Holy (cute) Cow!

Ashlyn loaded up on the candy and had a blast. It is so much fun to see the number of houses that she makes it to increase each year. Her first year she made it to about 6 houses. We called it quits at about 25 this year. I love these memories!