Not much going on...

What to say, what to say? Kevin went to a job fair this week, but that was basically a waste of time. Nothing really eventful happened this week until just today. Kevin's sister called me today and told me that they are going to be able to go forth with their adoption as soon as they are ready. They thought that they were going to have to wait until November, but we are sooooo excited for them and we cannot wait to welcome and unknown number of new nieces and/or nephews into our family.

Also, today, Geneva let go of a chair and took two steps towards me. It made me feel like a million bucks. You see, Geneva is much closer to Kevin than she is to me. She usually wants him and she actually says "Hi, Dada". She also would only wave to him for a few days when she first started waving. Well, she took steps to me which makes me feel great, even though she still won't say "mama", or anything close to it.

After the last post, a few people wanted to know where I work. So here is the story. My degree is a Bachelors in Human Exceptionality. It is basically a degree in special education, but I didn't student teach because Maddy was so little. So, last summer my sister-in-law Erin took a class that got me back in touch with some of my friends and professors from the college of education. At the College of Ed there is a program for kids with disabilities called Saturday School. This program not only gives parents a break, but it also allows the SPED 350 students and opportunity to observe students with disabilities and then work directly with them in a classroom setting. I am one of the co-teachers of Saturday School until April 4th. So, basically I play all day. That is what I do for my job, besides the obvious work of being a full time Mom Monday- Friday. My paid job is 6 hours a week, mostly on Saturday's which is nice because Kevin gets to be at home with the girls. And since he isn't home during the week, he gets to catch up on his time with them. I hope that explanation wasn't too long.

I love being an at home Mom. And I really love working with kids with disabilities, but just this short experience working out of my home makes me realize how much I love staying at home.

I hope that every one has a great week. Until next time!!!!

Bonjour!!!

If you cannot tell, Kevin has taken over the blogosphere for this week. So, prepare yourself...

First of all, Kevin is funny. He is obsessed with Legos, even though he has passed the recommended ages for them. And here is a poem that he came up with to tell all about Legos:

Legos, Legos everywhere!

Legos, Legos not in my hair!

Legos, Legos are not dumb!

Legos, Legos are so fun!!!

So, next time all of your closet Lego lovers see someone making fun of Legos, you can recite this wonderful poem and tell them the truth.

Another item that some of you may not be aware of: Kevin is obsessed with hockey. He is hooked. For Christmas, Kevin was able to order a hockey jersey of Kevin's favorite player on Kevin's favorite team, Joe Thornton of the San Jose Sharks. Yesterday, it finally arrived and Kevin was as giddy as a school girl. Go Sharks and Jumbo Joe!!!

Kevin has a wondeful family. Although he is outnumbered by gender, all of the females in the house are nice to him and help him discover his feminine side. They even indulge in many of Kevin's silly ways. Kendra works on Saturdays, which allows Kevin to spend some time with the MRS (Madeleine) and GPS (Geneva) Unit. This last Saturday, we went to the local model train museum and then we went to the Hat (Arbys). We had fun.

Kevin is so blessed. With him being in the bishopric, Kevin gets to look at Kendra trying to wrangle both kids, Maddy blowing kisses to her daddy, and my little Genny waving to her Dad. He doesn't get to see them a lot due to two jobs, school, getting prepared for comprehensive exams, and his calling. I am so grateful for what all of my family goes through for me. They are wonderful and don't understand how happy they make me. I am so grateful for my beautiful eternal companion, my silly buddy, and my waving friend. Je vous aime beaucoup, ma belle famille!

Well my friends, time to go. Hope that you have enjoyed a view from Kevin this week. Kendra should be at it again next week, so don't worry. Until next time...Au revoir!

Random moments of cuteness

Hello All-

I hope that everyone had a good week. We had a pretty fun weekend with the family. We ate and sledded and ate and went swimming, and ate and played basketball and ate and played games and ate and slept. We ate alot of good food. Kevin was so kind and made homemade Mac and Cheese for my family for the first time. I think they liked it, but the jury is still out. I really love it and I appreciate Kevin sacrificing his sledding time to make lunch for my whole family. I had a good time with my nieces and nephew also. As you can see, I think that they also had a good time with me.

We also got to go swimming. This was Geneva's first swimming experience. At first she looked a little terrified, yet intrigued, but she got used to it and was actually enjoying herself. That is until she started to turn blue.

The pool was at Lava Hot Springs, so we were amazed at how cold the water was.

Today,Geneva fed herself spaghetti for the first time. It was pretty cute, and I think that Grandma Patti will appreciate this photo. (Particularly because of the HUGE blue eyes.)

Also this week Geneva started using a sippie cup by herself. I think that I am so excited by that because when Geneva takes a drink, she drinks half of the sippie at one drink, so now she can take a drink whenever she wants one.

Maddy wanted me to take a picture of her this week sitting on the bookshelf. I don't know why she likes it so much, but it is pretty cute. So here is Maddy sitting on the bookshelf.

And here is the mess that Maddy makes so that she can sit on the book shelf.

When Maddy uses the potty she gets to wear a pull-up and watch a movie for 10 minutes. This particular movie was the video of mine and Kevin's wedding. She really likes to watch it. I just happened to catch this very cute cuddly moment.

One last moment of cuteness. Maddy was looking at a book this week and was trying to tell me something about the book that I just wasn't understanding. She finally showed me a picture of the you ka lady.

That's right, a ukulele. So, let's review. You ka lady= ukulele.

That's all for now. Just a heads up. I probably won't be blogging next week (but Kevin may, so beware. hahaha). I need to read about a million e-mails and blogs and respond to my long lost friends.

Have a great week!!!!

Sledding, Chores, and Pigtails!!!

I got home from work on Saturday and Geneva was awake and Maddy woke up very soon after. SOOOOO, since the sun was shining -SHOCKER!!!- we took the girls out to play. First we just walked through the slush and the puddles, then we decided to go sledding. It was just a tiny little hill, but it was perfect and sooooooooooooooooooo much fun. Geneva even got to participate. I think that Maddy and I could have stayed out there all day, but Geneva got cold and we wanted to spend time together so we all went inside.

One of Maddy's New Year's Goals is to learn about chores and how to do chores. She did all of her chores for 2 weeks in a row. She was so excited when she filled up her chore chart with stickers. For a reward she decided that she wanted to go to "The Hat" (Arby's) for lunch. It was a fun outing for all of us. She is still doing chores and on Monday if she does all of the chores she gets to go to the $1 store and find a jump rope. I love that we all have chore charts. I have found that when we have chore charts to fill up the house is much cleaner.

This past Sunday I had a few extra minutes, so I thought that I would really do Geneva's hair and as you can see she actually has enough hair to do 2 cute little pigtails. I thought that it was so adorable that I had to take pictures and what was even better was that she was such a happy girl and so smiley when I was taking the pictures.

Today was a difficult day for me. I don't know if I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed or what, but the kids were just pushing my buttons. Maybe it was just that I had a million things to do. I don't know. However, I do know that I am glad that I am a Mommy. I am also really grateful that I get to stay at home with my beautiful daughters. I know that there are plenty of women out there that would love to stay at home but can't, so I will just shut my mouth and be grateful. I am very grateful that Maddy is potty training and that Geneva is on such a great schedule.

Well, we are leaving on a trip tomorrow and next week I hope to blog lots of fun pictures from the trip. Have a great week and to all those out there that continue to check my blog and leave comments (Ashley Cammack and Family- I Love you and miss you so much) I promise that you are also on my mind all the time and I hope to email you back in the very near future.

Until Next Week-

Kendra

Hair Cuts, First Owies, and Cuddles

About two weeks ago Geneva, Madeleine, and Kendra got hair cuts from our good friend Kristi. It is always a little sad when a baby gets their first hair cut, but Geneva's hair was just out of control. She couldn't really see anything because her bangs were so long. As far as Maddy goes, her bangs were also getting a little long and her hair was getting a little raggedy. So she just needed a little trim, and now her hair looks great. I was really surprised to find that Maddy didn't loose her curls when she got her hair trimmed. I also got a hair cut, but now I don't know what I am going to do. I have finally found someone that I really like the way they cut my hair and now I'm probably going to be moving far away. Oh well! I guess I will just get a cut right before I move and make sure I take lots of pictures so that I can have the same cut again in a new place.

Geneva got her first serious owies this week. She was trying to pull herself up and hit the metal bar on the futon. I took a picture of Maddy's first owies so I thought I ought to do the same for Geneva. It was sad and she has a pretty good bruise, but she is fine now.

Now onto the cuddles portion of the post. I LOVE THURSDAYS!!!!!! Every Thursday I get a nap. (Unless something happens with the girls.) Well, today Kevin was home to wake us up. He came in to warn me that it was time to wake up, then he went and got the sleeping girls out of bed. When the girls came in they started smiling and cuddling with me. It made me feel like a million bucks. I love my family and I love being a Mommy. Some days are really difficult, but all the love that I feel for my husband and daughters make it worth it. (Plus Kevin lets me take a nap on Thursday and Sunday.)

I hope that I will be able to blog regularly now. I think that Thursday nights will be my official blog night since Kevin is out at class. So keep checking back!!!

We're Still Alive!!

Hello Friends!!

Never fear, we are all still well and kicking. However we are busier than ever. Kevin is gone 3 nights a week with class and Bishopric meeting. You would think that leaves me plenty of time to blog and e-mail, but no. I have been busy doing some projects to get the house uncluttered and ready to move in a few months. Plus I love to play with the girls when I get a spare minute. So I know that everyone really wants an update about how they are doing. So here it is.

Madeleine is getting smarter and smarter everyday. Her imagination is so strong that it is getting really easy to play with her. We are always going on "car rides" to Costco, Walmart, McDonalds, and Grandma and Grandpa's house. She is talking all the time. The other day we were running errands and she said, "Mommy, there is a park outside my window." What kind of 2 year old says that. I always tell Kevin that she is freakishly smart. She is absolutely going to be smarter than me by the time she turns 5 and starts school. (She is already smarter than Kevin.) We have also started having her do chores. We made a chore chart and everytime she does a chore she gets a sticker. She filled up the chart yesterday (it was a 2-week chart), so today we got to go to lunch for a reward. She loves reading books and dressing up. Her new favorite song is "Dancing Queen" by ABBA. Some of the cutest things she says are: Breakbest=breakfast, Can I work out with you?, Cingerella=Cinderella. She says lots of other cute things and I should probably write them down.

Geneva is growing like a weed. She started crawling on December 11th. She started pulling herself up onto furniture a few days later. She got her first two teeth at the same time just after Christmas. The teeth are on the bottom, the two in the middle. They are really cute and really sharp. It was a hard week before they came in. She didn't sleep well and had the runs every couple of hours for an entire week. All is well now, but Kevin and I are defintely not looking forward to the next teeth coming in if it like the first teeth. But, we will deal with whatever we are dealt. Currently, Geneva weighs about 15.5 pounds and is about 29 inches tall. She is a tall skinny kid. Today she learned that I am the Mama. She kept saying it over and over again this afternoon after naps. It was really cute, but sad because I was busy in the kitchen and she wanted me to hold her. One of Geneva's favorite things to do is to "tackle" Kevin. When Kevin gets on the ground to rough house with the kids, Geneva heads straight to him and tries to crawl on him, or she puts her hand on his head and pushes him to the ground with all the strength a tiny 9 month can muster. She is turning from a beautiful baby into a brave and beautiful toddler.

Kevin is really busy with classes and work. He is also trying to find a job for when school is over in a short 15 weeks. This semester he also has to take his comprehensive exams, write a 15 page paper and give 6 presentations on top of all of his regular work. I wish that there was more I could do to help him, but I can't do his work for him.

I mostly play with the kids, keep the house clean/picked-up and cook amazing meals. I have also started working out. I go to the gym twice a week, do a video at home twice a week and play church basketball once a week. I try to keep myself and the girls busy with Kevin gone most of the time. I must do a pretty good job because it is really nice when we get to stay home and just play in the morning. I was thinking about signing Maddy up for tumbling classes during the winter, but we are busy enough that I don't think that I need to.

Well, that is about all that is going on with us. Again, I'm sorry (especially to the Smith Parents and Grose Family) that we don't update the blog regularly. I really am going to try to do better. Especially with Kevin gone so much at night.

Lot of Love!!

Best Wishes!!

-Kendra

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please, someone help me. I am going insane. Madeleine won't go to bed at night any more. We just had almost a 2 hour battle with her to stay in her bed. She has gotten so bad that she is even waking Geneva up. I can't just lock her in the room because she will scream and wake Geneva up. But I cannot continue to have these battles with her. I am not sure that I am willing to give up her naptime yet, but that might be my only option. This post is a call to anyone who has ever know a child that won't stay in bed. Please leave a comment or call me with any advice. Sorry that I don't really blog anymore. I have been really busy making Christmas presents and our desktop bites the big one. We love you all and hope that you are doing well!!!
Love-
Kendra