We are moving

So it's been two months plus since I've blogged about anything. Sad I know, but I've been so tired and I forget what I wanted to blog about etc. So to catch you all up on our current events here it goes...

1. Our son has a name, Dallin Roam Walter. I LOVE it so if you don't be a pretender. ;)
2. Ashlyn is getting way too smart for us. However she thankfully cannot lie convincingly yet.
3. Jade remains to be sneaky and getting better at it all time while bullying her sister around.
4. The girls are also really beginning to play together.
5. Jade says Ashlyln's name now and it sounds a lot like, "Atchy or Atchin." Too cute!
6. Kenneth turned 30 on Dec. 10!!!! My older man. ;)
7. I was recently placed on bedrest for about 4 or 5 days. I LOVE the sisters of the church! Thank you all that helped me out I couldn't have been obedient to bedrest without you!
8. Kenneth was offered a job in Texas on Dec. 16
9. Kenneth was layed off on Dec. 17
10. We have accepted the job in Texas!

Okay so I'm sure everyone is trying to close their mouths right now. We knew that Kenneth would be layed off with how slow things at work were moving, it was only a matter of time. Their office hasn't had a sale in a little over two months. Why would they need more than one super. Of course we were crossing our fingers it wouldn't happen until AFTER the baby is born, but it worked out better for us this way. Kenneth was offered the new job the day before he was layed off and then we quickly became more serious about taking the offer after he lost his job. The new company only had one more superintendent position to fill and we got in just in time. So here's the VERY condensed version of the story. After MUCH prayer and planning and organizing we both felt the confirmation of the spirit to move. A VERY difficult thing for me seeing how it is that I've never lived anywhere but SC and that ALL of my family is here and I've never lived without them, not to mention that I have two small children and one on the way. Leaving my support group is hard to swallow. But I have been feeling the love of my father in heaven and know that I will be okay. The good news is that Kenneth has a job and we can pay our bills and support our family. I will also have two sisters-in-law in TX with me. Yes, two of Kenneth's brothers will be there as well working for the same company. They also have a sister that lives in TX, 8hrs away from where we will be, but visiting will be SO much closer! We'll also be closer to Kansas so we can visit his family next Christmas, something we haven't been able to do in years. Kenneth leaves on Dec. 27 to begin working right away. I will stay here in our house until after the baby's born. We're hoping to rent out our house until we and the house are ready to sell. If you know of anyone looking to rent please let me know, I have a GREAT house, (at least I think it's great). Anyway, Kenneth will come and get me and the girls and our things around mid March or so. Not every detail is planned out, there is a lot of the unknown, but we do know that this is what we are supposed to do. So if you ever get the feeling to "call Heather while Kenneth is away," please listen so that I may keep my sanity and my BROWN hair. lol. It will be very difficult being away from Kenneth. The longest we've ever been apart was 5days when he was in superintendent training 5yrs ago. He will be visiting about every other weekend or so, if the budget allows. While he's in TX he'll be staying with his brother Jonathan and looking for an apt for us to move into when we're ready to move there. Things will be very tight for us, not that it's much of a change lol, but it will be difficult. Hopefully someone will just LOVE our house and want to buy it! =) A girl can dream can't she? Well that's my update. This contract in TX, if things go well will be for two years. We may either come home by then, or stay if that's where the work is. We'll see where the Lord directs us.

We are expecting a...

Kenneth and I went to my Dr. appt yesterday to have an ultrasound and see the sex of our baby. We both had different opinions about what we thought the baby is. Kenneth thought we were having a boy and I thought it was another girl. So who was right? Kenneth was the winner! We are going to have a little baby boy! We are SO excited. Even though he guessed boy his face was just as shocked as mine was. We were of course hoping he was in fact a he, but when he wasn't a girl it just took us by surprise. After having two little girls already I had a hard time imagining that we were capable of having a son. lol. I'm glad that I was wrong. I teared up a little after we could clearly see that he is a boy. Now to pick out a name. Ashlyn thinks his name should be "Baby Kenneth." Sweet, but I'm not one for naming after the father, unless it was like a passed down tradition, or something. So we have much thinking to do. In case you're wondering Kenneth doesn't feel the need to name him after himself either. I am a nice wife, I try to compromise. Well it sure will be different seeing blue instead of pink around our house. I was so excited that when we left the appt. to eat lunch I actually left my car running! Can you believe that? I surely couldn't. It was funny because Kenneth locked his keys in his car right before my appt. and so we decided to eat lunch down the street while waiting for triple A and then I go and leave my car running! What a day! Thankfully no one took the car or anything out of it. It's a good thing it was pouring down rain ALL morning and afternoon long. Well we are SUPER HAPPY about our baby boy. Much love to everyone and we hope everyone is doing well.

Hospital $ Giveaway!

I have had a rather smooth day today which doesn't happen to me very often. Ashlyn's favorite thing to do when getting home from school is getting the mail. The other day she came in with an envelope I've been waiting for, Kenneth's rebate check for his Blackberry. Thank you Sprint for giving us back $100. Well this afternoon Ashlyn saw the mail man at the box and rushed outside to gather all of our mail. When she came in I saw something from Lexington Medical Center with my name on it that I wasn't expecting. They sent me a check for $130.00! Apparently I over paid on a bill from a while back and they sent me a check. There's nothing like getting checks in the mail, especially when you aren't expecting them! I'm also babysitting my niece Brooke while her parents are attending a U2 concert in Atlanta, GA. I was nervous she might be homesick and missing mama and dada, but she hasn't shed a tear yet. I have her until tomorrow and she's taking it like a champ. I babysit her a good bit and she usually does very well, but her parents were gone for five days two wks ago and she's been extra clingy ever since so I was a little nervous for her. But all three of the girls are playing so well together and I'm just loving it! I'm having such a good day today I just had to share it with everyone. I don't even have to cook tonight! Left over tacos here we come! =D Please pray with me that the day will continue to go this well. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this whole day hasn't been the calm before the storm. lol.
Some news on Jade. She's growing more and more in her vocabulary. I asked her to apologize to Jacob (Webster) for hitting him in the face and she literally walked over to him and said, "sorry." Then she proceeded to put her face to his and keep it there for an extended period of time. lol, I think she was waiting for a kiss. Morgan and I agree it's cute now, but scary later! Oh my little flirt! What will we do with her? She was loving up on Jacob all morning! Lots of hug attempts. He was so patient with her just waiting for her to walk away and give him his space back. lol. Thanks Jacob! Jade is doing so much better with saying words that I ask her to say. Before she would purposefully not say a word when asked just to be stubborn. She's being way more cooperative so HOORAY FOR JADE!
We find out the sex of our baby in 6 days! We are SO excited! We're hoping for a boy but certainly won't be upset if it's a third girl. I am just so curious as to what a little Kenneth and Heather boy baby would look like. I for one think he would be one handsome little devil. Well I will update everyone on the news when we find out next Monday. Love to all and hope things are going well for everyone.

Kindergarten Noodles

Ashlyn is LOVING preschool! She loves it so much that Kenneth uses it for punishment, i.e. "if you don't listen you won't go to school tomorrow." Which is then followed by, "okay okay! I'll listen, I'll listen!" I personally think it's a horrible discipline attempt. He may think he would follow through with it and that's great, but who has to stay home with the children? I'll give you a hint it's NOT Kenneth. I am very glad that she loves school so much though. She has a wonderful teacher and teacher's assistant. She's doing very well writing her letters and getting closer to writing her name, darn that squiggly "S." Not only does she love it but it wears her out! She comes home and gets a snack and watches her favorite cartoon and usually passes out on the couch. HOORAY FOR SCHOOL!!! =D

Okay so you are probably wondering why this post is entitled "Kindergarten" when she's only in preschool. So here's the story. I hope you all love it as much as I do and laugh just as hard, it's a good one! So the other day I picked Ashlyn up from school and when we got home she wanted to watch a movie. While we are watching it the main characters are eating and Ashlyn says, "Mom I want to go to Kindergarten." So I told her that she would and soon, (next yr). She said, "Oh good! I can't wait I LOVE their noodles!" I'm thinking noodles? What noodles? Has she heard about what a caffeteria is already? So I asked her what noodles she was talking about. Her response, "Oh they are so yummy! They have white sauce on 'em and they are big." LOL! Baby girl doesn't want to go to "Kindergarden" she wants to go to the OLIVE GARDEN! lol. I laughed so hard for so long. It was a great moment during that very stressful day for mommy. Making memories. My grandmother took us there for lunch a few months back and Ashlyn is still remeniscing. What a funny girl. I have to take her back now!

Sorry to all of the far away family for not doing a better job with my updating. Life has been rather stressful and busy including an ear infection and all kinds of other fun things. Hopefully soon I will feel like a have a brain again. Jade continues to grow more in her vocabulary but is still VERY stubborn. She has also won Kenneth over so completely we may not be able to rescue him. lol. He says to me all the time, "How can you get mad at her? She is SO darn cute!" How he asks! Well if HE were the one staying home with the beautiful Jade that screams, (and I do mean screams) when she gets frustrated because she can't do something on her own which all children her age do, and if HE were the one that she was taking her hitting stage out on, and if HE were the one cleaning up all of her millions of messes throughout the day I think he may be able to relate. What do you think? Not only this but she is Kenneth trapped in a female toddlers body. She knows exactly what she's doing and what she is supposed to be doing and she just gives you this irresistable grin that makes you want to laugh, just like her father. Kenneth if I can be frustrated with you, YES I can be frustrated with Jade too. lol. Silly men. Do you think that in the after life men will get a little taste of what women did on the earth? Probably just another fantasy of mine. Just to be clear I do love my family. lol. I guess this paragraph doesn't exactly sound uplifting. I'm actually really enjoying my time alone with Jade while Ashlyn is in school believe it or not. We do have a lot of fun together and share many sweet mother daughter moments. But because of an out of routine nap schedule she is SO done by 4pm and so is mom! So when Kenneth gets home I'm looking for LOTS of help but she just wants mama. Sigh. This too shall pass. I just need to focus on the good moments. Kenneth does do a very wonderful job helping me with the girls and getting things done. I'm very blessed because not all men are that willing to help and serve their wives! Well I hope I've caught everyone up enough. I look forward to your comments! Love y'all!

Dinner is served!

So the pregnancy cravings are still going strong. Last night for dinner I was going to cook barbecue chicken and mashed potatoes and broccoli, but every time I thought about eating it I felt sick. It also takes at least 35 minutes for chicken to cook in the oven and the kids were cranky because they were so hungry and I was nauseous because I was so hungry so I decided we would have chicken tomorrow, (tonight). I'd been craving homemade biscuits so instead I made homemade buttermilk biscuits so that we could have bacon egg and cheese biscuits and grits on the side. It was SO good. My craving was fulfilled and my tummy was quite happy. I was able to feel full for a long time too. For those of you that are more health conscious just ignore all of the calories and fat that me and the children just so happily ingested and we'll pretend that I don't butter and salt my grits and break little pieces of bacon in it. ;) It was so good I'm tempted to have it again tonight, but I know that the children need more nourishment than that and so does our unborn baby so I will control myself. Kenneth works outside a good bit too so he needs something healthy when he gets home.

Today has been one of those days that you feel like you just can't make yourself do anything so I called my very dear friend Morgan and packed up the kids and headed to her house. The children played joyfully...at times while we talked and she took a shower. It was nearing lunch time so we fed them and then packed them into the car and drove to McDonald's for ice cream and the play place. They had a good time but our poor Ashlyn and Morgan's poor little Hannah are just too afraid to climb to the top of the play place. Fortunately for the two of them they have each other at the bottom. Jade is more brave, unfortunately for me. She also really enjoyed running to the other tables where adults were eating while watching their children that did play all over the play place. One women stopped me and asked how old Jade was and I told her and she said, "Aww she's petite like her mother." That totally made my day! I know I'm not the size of a house, yet but it was still very nice to hear. I also had a man put a New Testament booklet on my table. I don't know what faith he was but it made me feel good that he wanted me to have it, like he was giving me a gift. Maybe he thought my children deserved it, either way I thought it was such a nice gesture. OH CRAP! WHY DIDN'T I GIVE HIM A PASS-ALONG CARD?? I keep several of them in my wallet for moments like this and I didn't even think about it!! Well great now I'm frustrated with myself. I can't believe the thought didn't even come to mind. I did think "I wish I had a Book of Mormon with me." Lets blame it on the pregnancy brain, it will make me feel better. Well Jade is sleeping and my nails really need some TLC.

A box of tissues and Walt Disney's Pocahontas

Yesterday I took Ashlyn to Wal*Mart to get a new movie. My Dad gave the both of us gift cards for our bdays and so we went shopping. She picked out Pocahontas which made me happy because I always liked it as a kid and we didn't own it yet. After we looked around for awhile we HAD to stop at Chik-fil-a so that I could get some of there delicious waffle fries and something to drink. So what if it was only 10:34am I have been craving there fries and Bo*Jangle's fries. For those of you who don't live in the South Bo*Jangles and Chik-fil-a are two different food chains that do not sell beef. They are chicken only! And I LOVE chicken! They are AMAZING! I wish I could send you all some of this delicious food. Anyway...when we got home we all sat around the TV and turned on Pocahontas and ate our food. I haven't seen this movie in years so I had forgotten a good bit of events in the movie. To make a long story short I cried like a little baby. Of course I was trying to hide it from Ashlyn to avoid a million questions since I was already answering a ton about Kocoum who dies. Anyway I had to keep getting up to grab a tissue out of the bathroom. You know you're pregnant when you can't watch a Disney movie without crying. I had to laugh while the tears were running down my face because I was getting to the point when my shoulders were shaking and I couldn't stop. I seriously couldn't help it. It was ridiculous. It's even more humorous if you picture it in your head. lol. Well enjoy my hormonal misfortune. lol.

Me and baby are doing well and growing just fine. Please if you see me and realize that I am only 12 and a half wks do not make the comment, or anything like unto it, "Wow! You're only 12wks along and you're already that big?" My sensitive pregnant feelings and I will greatly appreciate it. lol. I hope everyone is having a great week and ready for school.

Who's Pregnant?

I think that most of my followers know that we are now expecting baby #3. My due date is February 23, 2010. I have several feelings about this. Of course it was a planned pregnancy so nothing unexpected. We were going to wait until this fall to start trying, but our plans changed and I am now 11wks in. If you know me well you know how very sick I get. This time has been a bit different. I still get very nauseous when I don't eat and I do occasionally have to run to the bathroom to get sick. But it's nothing like before. I usually haven't gained any weight at this point yet, but this time is different. lol. I've gained 3lbs so far so we are doing very well. I feel so much more tired this time around too. Maybe that has something to do with a having two children at home already. It doesn't help that Jade wakes up at least once during the night because the beloved pacifier has fallen out of the crib. I am debating on when to take it away. Normally I would say at the age of two, but the baby will be born one month after Jade's second birthday and I don't want her to take the baby's pacifier and I don't want to overwhelm her with changes. Any ideas? I'm a little scared about the adjustment part after the baby's born. I know I'll be able to adjust, just as I did when we had baby #2, but it's still a process and not always the most fun. Jade was such an EASY baby, so I'm wondering if I'll get lucky again, or if the baby will be hard like Ashlyn. Only time will tell.

So how I told Kenneth...I found out I was expecting the Thursday before Father's Day. We were planning on going to TN with my Uncle and his family to there cabin and spending the weekend. I didn't want to tell him with other ppl, just he and I and the girls. So I waited and waited and waited. If you know me you know how difficult this was for me to keep a secret. Anyway, we were on our way home and since I am pregnant I had to pee a lot. I didn't want him to get any clues and I was doing so well so far so I pretended that I started my period and needed to stop. After waiting an hr in traffic we headed straight to my brother's house where we celebrated Father's day with my dad and siblings. I wanted to go home first to tell Kenneth and then to see my family so Kenneth could announce what he'd gotten for Father's day, but traffic just didn't allow it. So after spending time with my family we came home and I made Kenneth hide out in Ashlyn's room while I got everything ready. We sent him on a scavenger hunt. I made little poetic clues and hung them up in the house. After all of his clues he ended up coming to me to receive a card. I kept telling him it wasn't much that it was just something really small so when he got the card he had no idea that it would be telling him that he would soon be a proud father of three. He was very excited and told Ashlyn that she was gonna have a little brother or sister. She too was very happy about this news.

Let me just tell you how badly Ashlyn's wanted a brother. Before Kenneth and I even began discussing getting pregnant Ashlyn has been telling us that she needs her little brother. She kept telling me that she needed him so that she could teach him things. I thought that was quite precious. The day of my first OB appt I took the girls to Aunt Susan's house so I could go alone. When we got there she said, "Don't worry mom, it's a boy. It's a boy I promise." I tried to explain to her that I wouldn't find that out for awhile that they just wanted to make sure me and the baby were happy and healthy. Anyway she has since made comments like before snuggling up to me, "Don't worry mom, I'll be very careful with your baby." While rubbing my tummy one night she said, "This is his body, and this is his head. He has brown hair." Kenneth really thinks that she knows something we don't know. We will see what happens. We really want to have a boy, but we won't be disappointed if it's a girl. I feel like I'm somewhat of an expert with girls by now. At least up to the age of three anyway. Ashlyn just turned four on July 20th and I don't know who this little girl with the bad attitude is. lol. I hear it's just a phase. If that's true, it can't go by fast enough. Ashlyn has also informed us that she has a baby in her tummy. Her baby is a girl and her name is Ella. She won't share her food because she says that, "If I don't eat I'll throw up." Kenneth asked her who the father of her baby is to which she responded, "Don't worry daddy, we can take care of her." lol. Friday night I was getting ready to go to a friend's lingerie shower and Ashlyn was going to take a bath. After stripping down she said, "Look mommy. I have a big chest because I'm breastfeeding." You can imagine the shock on my face from that comment. Where does she get some of this stuff!? Next she then informed me that, "After my baby pops out you and daddy have to babysit so that I can do my homework." I almost said that she can't have a baby if she is still doing homework, but then I was afraid of questions that may follow that remark, so I just simply said, "Homework is important." What do ya do, or say? lol. She just cracks us up.

Not only am I expecting but my older sister, and two sisters-in-law are pregnant. We believe a few more siblings will have news to share soon too. At least we hope so anyway. =) So LOTS of babies coming to the family and we can't wait! My poor parents, all of these new grand babies. They are going to be so broke! jk. Well I wanted to spread our very happy news to those we love and adore. Hopefully I'll be able to download pics. soon. Let me know if any of you have or know someone who has the "Windows Professional XP" cd-rom.

The crown of my "rain"

Last Friday I was enjoying some much needed quite time. BOTH of my girls were sleeping peacefully in their beds so I turned on "Twilight" and grabbed some snacks. While eating a fruit snack, (oh yes. I love them too) I chomped down on something solid and hard. I pulled out my crown. The crown that has only been adoring tooth #30 for slightly over a year. After gathering myself together I called my sister Wendy, the dental hygienist of the family. Her former employer did my dental work so she had me call their office to get it bonded back on. Little did I know that they were going to be out of town from that Friday (July 3) until July 13! I was NOT going to wait two wks without having it fixed. I had to call the "on call dentist" covering for Dr. Meares' office. Thankfully they called me early Monday morning and asked if I could get there by 11:30. THANK GOODNESS! I showed up and after two hours of a little uncomfort they fixed it for me. Kenneth had taken Monday off so he was able to stay home with the kids so that I could deal with the pain without an audience. Ashlyn and I have a dentist appt. on the 14th and I don't want her to be freaked out. My crown is now happily back to it's place on the head of tooth #30. Luckily I didn't break it or accidentally swallow it or anything!

We had our family portraits done, FINALLY and I get to pick them up in less than two hrs. I'm so excited. They turned out REALLY well. I was nervous that the girls might not smile at the same time and that Kenneth and I might be trying too hard to get them to smile that we might not be looking at the camera but luckily everyone is smiling and looking at the camera. I was very pleased. I can't wait to get them and distribute them to all of our awaiting fans, or should I say Ashlyn and Jade's grandparents and aunts and uncles. =) These pictures have been requested for some time now and it finally happend. Thanks Mom!

I took Jade to her 18mo appt yesterday and our little monster, (as her daddy lovingly calls her) weighs a tiny 21lbs and 1oz and is 32in tall. She's a tall thin little monster. =) The Dr. was happy with her weight and height. When she was younger her weight was in the 10th percentile so he's happy with her progress. My mom says that she gets it from our side of the family being so little. After hearing that and seeing how we all turned out I quit worrying. We have a beautiful healthy little girl who is going to Nursery for the first time on Sunday! I AM SO EXCITED!!! She'll have a great time and she LOVES Morgan Webster, our new Nursery Leader. I think she'll do just fine. She may cry a bit, but those tears will go away soon I'm sure once she realizes she actually gets to play with toys at church.

We recently learned that our beautiful and amazing sister-in-law is going to have a baby boy! Congratulations Natalie and Jesse! They have a 4yr old little boy and a two yr old daughter. How exciting for them. We'll have to ask them for the little boy recipe so hopefully next time we'll get it right. lol. Not that we didn't want Jade to be a girl. That's not true. I wanted Ashlyn to have a little sister so that they could be best friends like me and my older sisters and younger sister.

We just enjoyed a wonderful 4th of July! We had our annual Bass Family Reunion and it was a blast. We had a great turn out and the food, as always was AMAZING!!! I'd been dreaming about the food days in advance. lol. Who wouldn't be satisfied with fried chicken, vinegar or mustard based barbeque, hash and rice, green beans, baked beans salads desserts, Aunt Lesley's awesome friscetta!?! That's just to name a few. There was so much food we all were asked to take some home. Well if they insist. It was really great getting to see my loved ones and spending the day with them. Ashlyn and Jade had a blast with all of their cousins and aunts and uncles. A HUGE thank you to Uncle Allison and Aunt Judi and Kristen. It was awesome y'all thank you!

If anyone has a "Windows XP Professional" disc I'd be MUCH abliged if you'd allow me to borrow it. It's the only way to fix my DL error so that I'm able to download pics. onto the blog or anything for that matter. I just have to let the disc run and it will take care of my problem. So if you recently bought a new comp. or were really great about keeping the discs that came with yours, you probably have it. Just thought I'd throw this in. ;)

Tips and fun, and no pictures?

So we have been quite busy lately. We have been to Myrtle Beach, Tennessee, and other fun things and I can't post not one single picture of our adventures. I'm quite ticked off to be honest. My computer has a "DLL error" so everytime I try to post a picture, only on my blog, it sends me to a blue screen with white lettering telling me that I have an error. Luckily I have a computer whiz of a brother-in-law and he is going to try to walk me through the steps of fixing it. So when I have some time and he has some time I'll give him a call. Until then, just imagine cute pictures of the girls playing in the water and building sandcastles with relatives. =)

I have found an amazing way to clean oven racks! I decided that my oven was long over due for a cleaning so I turned on the self cleaning cycle on the oven and took the racks out to clean them by hand. The racks weren't really getting clean so I decided to do some research to see if there was an easier way. I found one that sounded simple and I had all of the stuff I needed to do it. So naturally that's the one I picked. You place an old towel on the bottom of the tub so it doesn't get scratched and then you place the racks in bath tub. Use the hottest setting of water and run it until the racks are just covered. Then you add a 1/2 cup of granulated dish detergent, (i.e. powder cascade) and then you add about 1/4 cup of white vinegar. The directions say to let it soak for two hours but I did mine overnight. When I woke up in the morning I could see all of the yucky stuff just floating in the tub. I took the racks to the kitchen and just gently scrubbed off any residue. It came right off and my oven and racks especially, look brand new! I was so excited about this find I wanted to share it with everyone.

Well it's been quite awhile since I've posted anything. It's time to catch everyone up. We've been out of town a few times and we've been doing a good bit of swimming. Last week my AC line in my car decided to get a slit in it so I have no AC! We've been waiting on the guy that's supposed to fix it find the part we need. Today we decided we would find the part because he clearly does NOT have the same urgency that I do. I guess when you're not the one driving in your car that's reading 101 degrees in your car you don't really think about those that are suffering. Kenneth is looking for the part now and I'm praying they have one! I had to take Jade to the Dr and a big thank you to Jessica for driving us so we could have AC in the middle of the afternoon. Jade does not yet have an ear infection, but the Dr. doesn't trust her ears for a second seeing how it is that she gets infections so easily. She is however getting her two year old molars. She was also bitten by something on her inner ankle on her left foot. It was swollen yesterday and a little pink. This morning her foot is really red and more swollen today and I can see little dots that look like they have clear liquid in them. I called the Dr. again and they said give her more Benadryl and if she's not better by lunch or if it's worse to call them back. I gave her the Benadryl and she passed out in her high chair during lunch around 11:15. It was quite pitiful. When she wakes up I'll be able to check her little foot again. It's so swollen I can't get a shoe on it. She has a hard time walking on it too because her foot just leans WAY inward! Poor little baby just can't get a break. Her foot doesn't seem to be bothering her but I'm worried anyway. I guess that's just my job. Ashlyn had to be seen yesterday also because she smacked the heck out of her ear at my mom's house Sunday night. Her ear is completely dark purple and blue on the top and behind her ear. Luckily she's okay and no worries. Whew! What an awesome two wks it's been. I couldn't be any more sarcastic. Good news on my brother Jesse! He was able to urinate a little bit on his own last week. He still had to use the catheder to finish things up, but progress nonetheless. He has gotten a job since I last posted and he'll be able to do it sitting. A big difference from his old profession. He was an installer of car alarms, stereo eqiupment, tvs, etc. He can do anything with his hands! He's a big asset to the family. lol. My uncle runs the company that my Grandaddy started and he's been able to give Jesse a job. What a blessing. It will be a big adjustment to what he's used to but I think it's def. worth it. Well I don't have anything else as of now. I'll try to do better with keeping things current. Hope everyone's summer is going well! =D

Do I believe?

Two weeks ago I informed everyone of the trial my brother is facing with his Transverse Myelitis. Well before leaving the hospital two Sundays ago he was told that he has permanantly lost the ability to urinate on his own. He was also informed that he cannot work for a month at the minimum. They taught he and his wife how to insert the "in-and-out" catheder and sent them on their way. Jesse went to a Neurologist last wk and the Dr. was amazed that Jesse could walk. He said, "You don't understand. You should not be walking! This isn't something that people just bounce back from." He took Jesse off of his other pain meds and put him on one that has a high dose, and he's still on the steroids. Another Dr. believes that Jesse will regain control of his muscles again soon and be back to normal 100%, urinating on his own and everything. This Dr. told him to quit taking all pain meds and only take the steroids. He's weaning off of the pain pills and well on his way to recovery. On Monday Jesse felt the bottom of his seat for the first time. When he touches his arm he still can't feel his hand on top of his arm, but is soon approaching recovery.

So I ask myself...do I believe in the power of prayer and fasting? Absolutely without a doubt I believe that my father in heaven hears and answers prayers. I believe in the power of the preisthood and I know that we are heard. Our father is aware of us all and everything we are currently going through. I am so grateful to those that prayed and fasted with my family. Thank you to all of you, we have felt your prayers, and I know my brother and his wife have felt them even more so than the rest of us. Thank you. I will update everyone with things as they come. I'm sure he'll be making more progress each wk.

Long Stem Transverse Myelitis

On May 22 my big brother, (who is two yrs older than me) went to the Lexington ER. He was having severe pains throughout his body and hadn't urinated in two days. They gave him a catheder to relieve his bladder, gave him some pain meds, and told him to come back if he didn't pee within 8 hrs. He went back to the ER that evening as instructed if he continued to have problems. The Dr was SO rude! To make a long story short and keep me from gossiping he sent Jesse home with a "take home" catheder and told him to see a Urologist within two days. I don't know about you, but I don't know of any Drs. offices that are open on the weekends other than Pediatrics and Urgent cares. Anway...Jesse ended up going back to the hospital on May 23, (Saturday) and was taken to Richland Hospital this time. They definitely knew something wasn't right so they did an MRI and noticed that he had abnormalities on his spine and that it was inflamed. They did more MRI's a couple Spinal Taps. On Monday afternoon he was finally diagnosed with Long Stem Transverse Myelitis. TM is a neurological disorder caused by inflamation across both sides of one level, or segment of the spinal cord. The segment of the spinal cord where the damage exsists determines which parts of the body are affected. Damage at one segment will affect function at that segment and segments below it. So his inflamed spinal cord is putting tons of pressure on the nerves around it causing them to mis-fire sending excrutiating pain throughout his body. The Drs. have been great and he's been put on steroids so the swelling will go down. There isn't a cure at the time for TM. From the research I've done I've learned that the most critical part of treatment for TM is keeping the patient's body functioning and hoping for a complete or partial spontaneous recovery of the nervous system. The article also said that recovery usually begins within 2-12wks of the onset of symptoms and can continue for up to 2yrs. It also says that about 1/3 of ppl with TM experience good or full recovery from their symptoms. TM is a cousin to MS. People with MS can get episodes of TM, but you can't get MS from TM, thankfully. We're just waiting to see if there's any nerve damage. We were told at one point that Jesse may have lost his ability to control his bowels and urinate on his own. We will see how things go today when they take the catheder out again to see if he can urinate on his own. We pray he'll be able to soon! Please pray for him and his family. His wife is also 17 wks pregnant and I know she could use our prayers too!

Acceptance

Early this morning I received a phone call from Lake Murray Baptist Church informing me that Ashlyn had a spot in their preschool program. I am SO excited! As soon as I fed the kids we got ready to go pay the tuition to secure her spot. I didn't tell her I was putting her on the waiting list in fear of her not getting in and then having to be disappointed. After the phone call I asked Ashlyn if she wanted to go to school and she replied, "No, I'm not big enough yet." She used to tell me all the time that she wanted to go to school and I would tell her she wasn't old enough because I wasn't planning on sending her to school until she was 5. I informed her that since she was almost 4 she could go to school. She got REALLY excited and immediately began asking questions like, "will there be big girls my age there?" She was quite pleased to hear that the entire class will be 4yrs old. lol. I took her with me to the school to pay the tuition and it was the perfect time to go! I didn't get there until around 11:45 so she saw all of the children getting ready for lunch and playing outside. They were doing some fun stuff with water and croquet and all kinds of other things and she just wanted to play with them so bad. She got upset when we had to leave. So now she's really looking forward to school starting. We are so thrilled!

Waiting

Yesterday I went to Lake Murray Baptist and put Ashlyn on their waiting list for Preschool. At first I wasn't going to send her to school until she was in Kindergarten but decided that she and I both need for her to go to school. She is just so bored and we all know what happens when kids are bored...they misbehave! I've tried sitting down with her and doing our own little school time, but she doesn't stay engaged for very long at all. So I've decided to give in. I think that she will really enjoy it. She's so social and loves to learn and I think she'll do much better in an educational environment. Not that I don't feel she can't learn at home, but maybe it will be more exciting this way. I pray we get in. We're number two on the waiting list and if two ppl don't pay tuition Ashlyn will take one of the spots. The cordinator told me that if they have 14 or 15 ppl on the waiting list they'll open a new class. So I'm really hoping that either way we will get in. I think I'll know something in about two wks. Lets keep our fingers crossed. It would be so great. This way I'd be able to give Jade some more special mom time and work on her communication skills. I want her to be able to feel just as special as Ashlyn did at that age. I feel like I jip her of SO much one on one time with me. She really loves mama and doesn't want anyone else. I've been feeling VERY guilty about the lack of time with her. I know it's normal with a second child, but I don't want her to grow up and feel like I didn't give her enough time. Especially when it comes time for us to have another baby. I can't just push little Jade aside like that. She deserves my time too. Both of my children deserve the absolute best mom that I can be and I feel like I'll be better if Ashlyn is able to learn better, (and I won't be so frustrated with her) and Jade will be able to learn more as well. Is this just a dream I've set up in my mind? Or is this something atainable? We will see. Lets all pray for the best mom that I can be!

Haircut Blues

I woke up ready to take on the world this morning. After feeling like such a horrible mother for the past few wks. I decided things were going to change and I was gonna feel like a good mom again. So I woke up really early with the girls and got them breakfast. Then I took a quick shower and we all three played games together and chased Jade around the house, (which is one of her favorite past times) and watched a few cartoons. Before going visiting teaching Ashlyn informed me that she wanted a snack. So I walked into the kitchen with her and opened the pantry doors to help her find the perfect snack. I just happend to look down into the trash can (it was getting full and needed to be taken out) and what I found lying there made my heart sink to my toes. There in my filthy trash can lay some of Ashlyn's beautiful hair. Aparently it's not REALLY bad or I would have noticed without having to find the evidence she tried to clean up. Once you know what to look for it's really not hard to miss. Some may think I'm being too dramatic, and that's fine. But when you have a three and a half year old with hair to her waist line you become quite attached to the lovely flow of the golden brown color and the way it elongates her sweet little face. And how you can smell the shampoo when she runs by. Well now I have to decide what to do with her hair now. I do not want to cut it short. I think short hair is precious on children, but I just really love hers long. It's something we get to share. I was thinking of just having the wonderful woman that cuts my hair give Ashlyn a cut with lots of layers. That way it can be blended in. I don't know if that will work without taking the length off. I'm still angry that she cut it. I sent her to her room and after regaining my composure I very firmly, yet lovingly, explained that if she EVER takes scissors to her hair again I will chop it off and give her a boys haircut. That really scared her so hopefully after hiding the scissors, again and threatening her she won't do it again. Now I just have to keep her away from Jade's hair!

It looks like the beginning stages of a mullet!

Oh how my heart aches for those lost inches.

The lighting in this picture around the deadly weapon is perfect because that's how I imagine the scissors looked to her when she first laid her eyes on them.

The remains. And that's not even all of 'em. =(

Beyonce Walter

Today the girls and I went to the bank to deposit daddy's check. Ashlyn always tries to get the tellers attention so that she can say hello to them and hear them speak to her over the intercom. Today she was successful! She asked me to roll her window down so that she could talk to the lady too. I did as she asked and watched/listened to her try and get the tellers attention. The teller asked, "is she trying to talk to me?" Very happy that she noticed, I said yes, she wants to tell you hello. The teller waved to Ashlyn. Since she was working and trying to get our money in our account she had to turn her back. Low and behold another teller walks up to finishes things up for us since more ppl pull up. Ashlyn is steadily waving and saying "hi." After a few seconds I hear Ashlyn singing, "All the single ladies! All the single ladies! All the single ladies! All the single ladies! Now putcha hands up!" LOL! It was HILARIOUS! My daughter is seranading the bank tellers a Beyonce song! Unfortunately for them I don't think they got to hear her. Too bad, that would have been awesome! I quickly got her to put her seatbelt back on and we drove home. I have this song on my playlist if you have not heard it on here before. Well Ashlyn has been a fan of it for awhile and everytime she hears it she says, "Oh! My song is on!" She then runs to which ever room it is playing in and begins to "shake her booty." What a ham! I've decided she has entertainment written all over her. lol. I've included some pictures of Ashlyn being silly and Jade feeding herself. Yes, my little Jade has reached a new milestone. She's been feeding herself with her fingers for quite some time now, but we have moved on to untensils. YAY! So enjoy the pictures and if you see Ashlyn any time soon ask her to seranade you. I'm sure she'd be more than happy to appease! =)

Like I said before, Ashlyn REALLY LOVES the camera!

Ashlyn is quite impressed with her little sister.

What a big girl! We're so happy for her!

Yay! Jade is feeding herself with utensils now.

Disney On Ice

Pretty cool huh?

Now for the main event! It's Tinkerbell!

We couldn't get the girls to look at the camera at the same time, but they had a blast!

Kenneth and I enjoying the show.

This was Kenneth's favorite part. These are the wildabeast that run over Mufasa. Kenneth thought the costumes were pretty neat.

Ariel and Prince Eric came along too!

They're mouths and eyes moved as they spoke and everything!

Mater and all of his "Cars" friends were here, Sally, Lightening McQueen, Flo, and Ramone.

We were given the opportunity to go see Disney On Ice, Worlds of Fantasy. This included some of the characters from "Cars," "The Little Mermaid," "The Lion King," "Tinkerbell," and Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy. It was GREAT! The girls had SO much fun. Jade's eyes were glued to the rink. She would just start clapping every couple of minutes. She laughed and sqealed so loud! She REALLY enjoyed herself. Ashlyn was really impressed by the princess characters, of course. She was so happy to see Ariel and Tinkerbell. We had really great seats too so she was able to see them quite well. Ashlyn felt so special when a good bit of the characters waved specifically at her, (not the cars of course seeing how they don't have any hands). At the very end of the show confetti came down EVERYWHERE. Ashlyn looked so amazed. I being the awesome mother who can catch anything that I am caught her some of the wonderous confetti. As we walked back up the aisle to go home she would keep stopping the "traffic" to pick up as much of the confetti off of the floor as she could. I had to keep pushing her along and telling her to leave it alone. It was quite humorous. When we were all settled in our car again fighting the traffic, Kenneth asked Ashlyn what her favorite part of the whole show was. Her response, "the white stuff that fell out of the sky." Funny. Especially becuase during the brief intermission right before Tinkerbell came we took a potty break and while sharing the small stall I asked her if she was excited. She said, "Tinkerbell's coming!" After I used the potty she was trying her hardest to pull my jeans up so we could go sit back down so we wouldn't miss anything. lol. She cracks me up. So after all of this waiting to see Tink...she loves the white confetti. =) A special thanks to Scott and Susan for letting us have the tickets! We all really enjoyed it. Even Kenneth was in better spirits after a few short minutes into the show. hehehe. I love Disney!

You are how old?

Jade REALLY enjoys "helping" with the dishes!

Who says cleaning isn't fun?

This is Ashlyn striking a pose. She likes it when I just take pictures of her. Oh brother!

The other day I went to Wal*Mart to pick up a few things. I cut through the clothing to get to the light bulbs when we passed racks of women's bras and panties. Ashlyn being the funny little girl that she is had something to say about all of those bras. She very loudly said, "Mommy when I get big I'll need a mommy bra." In other words one day she will need me to buy her one. Nice. Just what I want her to announce to the store, especially since there were only men around us, (what were they doing in the women's section anyway?). She has also taken my bra while I'm getting ready to go somewhere and stating that she "needs it." The other day she told me we couldn't leave the house yet because she had to shave! I often times find her doing the dishes and trying to mop the floor. It's so funny to me that children want to be so much like mom and dad that even the "unfun" things we do seem SO cool and exciting to them. She sure does scare me sometimes though. I'm a little intimidated of the teenage years ahead of us with two girls. I will also admit that when we are ready for another baby it too will probably be another girl. Bras, deoderant, shaving, talking on the phone to boys, dating! AHHH! Of course I'm not stressing over this now. I'm enjoying my time with them as little children. I'm just unsure of the future. lol. Thankfully we have the Holy Ghost and Heavenly Father to help lead and guide us. I "thank thee O God for a prophet!" Otherwise Kenneth and I would be toast!

Braggin' Rights

On April 25, 2009 Kenneth participated in his very first Triathalon. For those of you who do not know what all this entails I'll clue you in. It begins with a nice swim that is 1/2 a mile long in a chilly lake. Next you race to your bike and take a leisurely 12 mile ride. After burning some calories on the bike you run for 3.2 miles. All of course without any breaks in between. Kenneth finished all of this in 1hr. 33min. and 10 sec! He came in 3rd place under his division! Not too shabby for his first try at the race huh!?! Ashlyn was screaming and cheering so loud for her daddy! She was so excited to see him running and swimming and biking so hard. It's great for her to see him working so hard for something. Kenneth has been training for this race for about 3 months. He'd been wanting to give a triathalon a try for sometime and got the chance and jumped on it. He's lost 20lbs and a few inches off of his waist during training and still counting. He's found a new hobby to enjoy and a great stress outlet. He's already planning on doing another one this June and then again in July. He wants to continue to train so that he can do another triathalon at the international level. The international level is a 1 mile swim, 24 mile bike, and a 6 mile run. He hopes to be ready this October. I think he'll be great! I'm SO proud of him and this great accomplishment. It's wonderful to see him enjoying something he has grown to love. Just in case you are wondering, NO I am not planning on doing one any time soon, (which translates to never). I like to exercise, but I don't feel the need to race. However, I LOVE watching him do it. I cheered for him as loud as I could. All that cheering in middle and high school actually paid off. lol. jk. We had a great day with Kenneth and sharing that experience with him. We love you Kenneth. You're our Champion and we're your biggest fans!

From left to right: Ariana, John White, David David (the man who introduced Kenneth and John to the sport) Kenneth and Ashlyn's back.

After all of that hard work he can still pick up both of his little girls for a picture with their hero.

I couldn't be any prouder of him!

Here he comes through the finish line!

Kenneth (on the right) is grabbing a quick swallow of water before getting deep into his 3.2 mile run.

The crowd of men and women ready to see what they are made of.

Advice one may receive from an upcoming 4yr old

Kenneth has been steadily training for the triathalon this weekend. He's been swimming and running and riding his bike a ton trying to get ready for the big day. Ashlyn calls it his exercising. In fact tonight she asked me if I exercised like daddy. Of course I was honest and said no, (which I hope to change soon. Kenneth promises to watch the girls a couple times a wk for me to go run). Her next question was, "well can you wrestle like Daddy and Uncle Zachary?" Everyone from the Lexington ward knows "Uncle Zachary" as Zach, our cousin. I guess since he's older than her and he lives with Aunt Lesley and Uncle Brian it makes him Uncle Zach. lol. Anyway Kenneth wrestled from middle school through college (until the program was cut). Again I was honest and said no. She just looked at me like, well what can you do? lol. Anyway back to the title of this post. Earlier this evening Kenneth got home and got dressed to go ride his bike. On his way out the door she said, "Don't fall off Daddy. Be careful. Look out for cars. Don't fall off the bike. Daddy I love you. Have a nice trip!" I heard the conversation from the back of the house and was just grinning ear to ear. She says the cutest sweetest little things! Earlier today Susan came over to help me with the computer, (Thank You Susan!) and to drop off Brooke while she got her hair done. She came back with lunch for the two of us and while we were sitting down eating Ashlyn came and sat beside me. I was just happily eating my very, oh so delicious chicken supreme combo from Bo*Jangles when Ashlyn out of nowhere said, "Mommy, I like your face." I said thank you baby I like your face too. A few minutes pass by and she says, "Mommy, I like your pretty face." So of course I hugged and kissed her and told her I love her pretty little face too. It's little things like that that make all of my frustrations seem worth it. I can't wait to hear Jade say things. She says a few things like, "mama, dada, no, uh-oh, and today said, bye." My favorite thing to hear a child say for the first time is "Love you." I can't wait to hear her say that so that when I say it back she'll know what I mean. I say it to her now and I know she knows that I care about her. I think she and every baby for that matter know that we as their mothers love them. We play with them, feed them, change them, bathe them. We do it all and usually with a smile or goofy look on our face, (trying to make them smile). They can FEEL the love we have for them. I am very blessed and just wanted to share that with everyone.

Girls weekend

What sweet little faces!

Who stays up 'till 5am?

We had an awesome weekend with Aunt Sarah! Kenneth, Jonathan and Scott all went to Cherokee, NC to go camping this past weekend. Well Jonathan and Sarah are living in Tennessee so she came down here to hang out with Susan and I and the kids. We had a blast! We went to the Virginia Hylton Park, McDonalds, and Cold Stone Creamery all in one weekend. It doesn't get any better than that. Well maybe if it had been Ruth's Chris rather than McDonalds, but what kid wants to eat there if they can have chicken nuggets. lol. Anyway...It was a great time and lots of memories were made. Chance, (Aunt Sarah's son, dog) came along for the trip. He was SO good and he followed Ashlyn everywhere. It was quite cute. The kids had so much fun playing together and with Aunt Sarah. For those of you who don't know, Ashlyn has been quite taken with Sarah. In fact almost all of her stuffed animals and imaginary animal friends' names are "Sarah." It got to be so many Sarah's that we had to put what the animal is on the end of it, (i.e. Sarah dog, Sarah horse, Sarah kitty). Good times. I missed Kenneth but was grateful for the time I got to spend bonding with my sisters. It's so great to marry into a family and feel like sisters rather than sisters-in-law. =) Sarah and I actually stayed up until 5am on Friday night! Can you believe that? I couldn't either. One would think that if you have two children you KNOW they will wake up early so you should get decent amounts of sleep right? We were just having too much fun talking and laughing. Good times. We went to the temple Saturday morning at the 10am session while my mom babysat the girls. It was a great session and we both felt very uplifted. Well here are some more pictures of the park. Enjoy!

Some conversations with my little adult

Some things that Ashlyn has said recently that made me laugh. I thought y'all might enjoy this.

On the way to Publix to get their prescriptions:
Me: "Wow Ashlyn! You and Jade sure did take a long nap!"
Ashlyn: "Oh no! I forgot to take a little nap. I forgot to take a little nap, aw snap!"

While getting ready for bed last night:
Ashlyn: "Mom I get to have a little brother."
Me: "You do!?"
Ashlyn: "Yeah. I can have a little brother. And I want to keep Jade too. Then I'll have two babies!"
Me: "Of course we'll keep Jade. Why do you want a little brother?"
Ashlyn: "So I can teach him and Jade things."

At mom's/Lovey's house a few wks ago:
Ashlyn: "Lovey lets go get Jade and Aunt Amy", (they were pretending to be monsters and Ashlyn uses a blanket to cover herself with while she growls ferociously at you).
Lovey: "Okay."
Ashlyn: "I'll use the blanket...you can use your face."

Lol. She cracks me up! She's also doing her own hair now. It's a little frightening, but she looks SO pleased with herself. If we show up to church on Sunday and it looks like hairbows attacked her head, just smile and tell her how beautiful her hair looks. We'll see if I can be sneaky enough to have her let me do her hair. I gave her two little braids today for the first time and she loved 'em! I'm hoping she will want that on Sunday. Well I tried to post some pictures but something keeps happening. I get a msg error that tells me something is invisible and it can't find it or something like that. Hopefully it will work next time. Sorry for the delay.

Well Aunt Sarah is here visiting from Tennessee while Kenneth, Scott, and Jonathan are in Cherokee camping. So we'll be having lots of fun hanging out with Susan and Brooke and Aunt Sarah and her super cute dog Chance. Ashlyn's been looking forward to this visit for quite some time. She has named almost EVERY stuffed animal that she owns Sarah. It's way cute seeing how much she loves her aunts and uncles. We sure do miss y'all! Well I'm hoping to get lots of awesome pictures at Virginia Hylton Park tomorrow. Hopefully my computer and camera will settle their differences soon so that I can show y'all the amazing pictures I'm going to take. lol. Here's hopin'!

Ashes, Ashes, we all go to the Drs. Office?

Don't worry, our house didn't burn down or anything. So here's what happend. Kenneth was Super Man on Saturday and did a lot of work in the yard and garage, (I can park in it again)! He had a good bit of yard trash to burn on Sat and so he did. All was well. This morning Ashlyn wanted to go outside a little bit before it rained and I was okay with that. That is as long as she put some shoes on and stayed out of the burn pile. There were no longer flames and it wasn't red or anything like that, but just to be on the safe side. So of course as soon as I look up to the back yard guess who's walking through the ashes. You guessed it! Ashlyn was. BAREFOOT! She had shoes on when she went out there, I'm not exactly sure when they came off. She claims she was wearing them when she walked through the "fire" as she calls it. Well I got an ice pack and called the Dr. since a few small blisters were forming. I went outside and was touching the ashes to see if they were hot. They weren't really that hot at all. The nurse said they wanted to see her because they needed to bandage the foot so the blisters wouldn't pop to avoid infection. I'm all about that since I may not have insurance soon, (that's another story for another day). Anyway we got to the Dr. at 11:45. I was instructed to not let her walk so I had to have a woman from the front desk carry Jade inside for me so that I could carry the weight. Ashlyn weighs about 42lbs! Well Dr. Taylor looked at her foot and said it was fine, no bandages needed and to clean the area often and use Neosporin. Yay. Then he asked how Jade was doing and I told him of her new congestion so he checked both Ashlyn and Jade's ears. Guess what! They BOTH have a mild ear infection in their right ears! What are the chances of that? How grateful I was to have gone to the Dr. I knew her foot was fine, but I just felt right about going in to the Dr's office for some reason. Now we know why. Luckily Publix Pharmacy gives Amoxil (the generic for Amoxicillan) for free. =) So my girls can get better and fight this pollen fair and square. I feel so much better. They fell asleep in the car on the way home around 2pm. It's 15min after 5 and they're still asleep! I should probably wake 'em up. I do want them to go to bed at some point tonight. I'm not a fan of being woken up in the middle of the night or really early in the morning. Well I'm off to go mother. I sure hope my blog is as fun for y'all as y'alls blogs are for me. =)

A-S-H-L-Y-N What Does That Spell?

Ashlyn learned how to spell her name on Sunday April 5, 2009. I had been working with her for awhile trying to get her to spell her name. I would spell it several times and have her say it with me and then try to get her to do it on her own. Well that didn't work. I know, I was shocked too. I thought it would take a few minutes and she'd have it. Well Kenneth took a different approach on Sunday before and on the way to conference. He kept spelling her name with a rythm over and over and OVER again. She was begging him to stop spelling her name. lol. He told her he couldn't stop until she spelled it on her own. Can you believe that that actually worked? I was amazed. I think more than anything she liked the rythm he put with the letters of her name so it sounded like a song. If you ask her how to spell it, she still breaks it up. lol. Very cute! I was so proud of him for teaching her when I couldn't figure out how to motivate her to do it. Everytime I would try she would say she needed help, even though I KNOW she could have done it on her own after I spelled it 600 times. She just needed Daddy. I also named him driving instructor as well. I think he'll be better at it than I will. My nerves will be so shot by then I won't have a prayer. We dyed Easter eggs on Thursday with my sister-in-law Natalie and her two little kids. I made one that had Ashlyn's name on it. Yesterday she saw it and said, "That spells Ashlyn!" I was so amazed that she could learn how to spell it, and then to recognize it. It seems so simple to us, but to only be 3.5 it's quite remarkable. Or it is to me anyway. She's beginning to show more interest in writing letters, but not by a whole lot. lol. We'll keep working on it. We have this whole summer and school year.

Jade is walking and semi-running. She LOVES to be chased! She gets so excited when she sees Ashlyn or Kenneth or I coming after her on our hands and knees. She has 16 teeth! She is saying, "Mama" "Dada" "Uh-oh" "No" and sometimes "hey." I have been trying SO hard to get her to say "Cup" and "Juice." Unfortunately all of my hard work is mocking me. Ashlyn picked up talking so quickly and NEVER stopped. I truly and honestly believe that Jade could say the words I'm working on with her. Maybe she's just focusing on other motor skills while I'm stuck on language. I'll just go with her flow. I think she knows what she's doing. She's obviously intelligent. I don't compare her to Ashlyn as thinking that she's not as intelligent, but to make sure nothing is wrong. She's done a lot of things after Ashlyn did at certain ages, but she did walk sooner than Ashlyn. Just goes to show ya how different children can be. They are truly born with their own identities and personalities. How I love my little girls. I get teary just thinking about how much they mean to me. Even though Ashlyn does continue to go into the bathroom and put hand soap in her hair to "wash it" and Jade would rather say, "ugh ugh" instead of cup or juice. They eventually will learn from the "wrong" things they're doing now and move on to something else. Like daring one another to eat gross things. And getting into my lingerie drawer. Oh wait, they already do that. lol. Don't worry, the drawer has been moved. Ashlyn thought I had pretty dresses. lol. My mom told me that when I was 5 I walked into the kitchen which was full of 6 missionaries and said "Teedah!" while WEARING some of her lingerie. Poor mom. Sorry about that one. At least you can kinda laugh at it now. =) Well I've had long enough of a break. Back to more cleaning and praying for insurance guidance.

Toothpaste is NOT for the bum!

The other day I heard Ashlyn in the bathroom and she'd been in there for awhile. I was getting suspicious so I went to take a look. After I walked in she looked up with the "I am SO guilty" look and said, "my bottom was dirty so I'm just cleaning it. Oh yes! I can't make this kind of stuff up ppl! She had covered her bum with antibacterial soap and Crest toothpaste. Nice. So of course I'm really worried that she got it in other places than her cheeks, so I ordered her into the tub immediately to bathe her. The good news is she's in to good hygene and she didn't hurt herself. She also smelled of lavender and fresh breath. lol. The bad news is that I have to monitor her potty time and RUN everytime I hear water runnning that I didn't turn on. Not only is she into hygene, she is also in to making up her own drink concoctions. I was terrified when she brought me a FULL glass of something brown. It was water, fruit punch juice, and chocolate syrup. WOW! After pretending to taste it I poured it out when she wasn't looking and told her (after I was asked where it was) that I drank it all up. I even had her taste it so that she could see making up her own drink isn't tasty. Unfortunately she thought it wasn't too bad. This morning I caught her trying to put some cake crumbs into a choc. milk bottle from last nights Krispy Kreme trip. That is now in the trash, again. No more drink concoctions! GROSS! You all MUST be thinking, "Where was Heather during all of this? Surely a good mom would do a better job of keeping her children outta truouble." Well my friends, I was doing laundry so the only thing I could hear was that water and the sound of Oxi clean spray. She WAS watching a movie before announcing to the whole house that she had to peepee. That's when the red flag went off after not hearing her for several minutes. Good times.

A lot is on my mind right now. We were told a few months back that Kenneth had to take a mandatory furlow day (a day off without pay) once a month. That automatically takes a good chunk of $ out of one paycheck each month. But we weren't bitter, he still had his job and we had insurance. Yesterday we learned that their company insurance will be $325.00 more expensive a month! So we've lost a good bit of $ out of our monthly budget. Lets just say I did a LOT of pleading with the Lord last night along with a lot of tears. I'm trying very hard to rely on my faith and to be reminded of the SEVERAL times I was in need and asked for my Father in heaven's help and was always given His aid. I go through these little moments when I'm like, "we'll be just fine, I have faith." Then I have other moments when I'm freaking out when I think about how we will pay our bills. Of course we have the option of purchasing our own insurance. Or we could be VERY risky and not have insurance at all. I can look into medicaid but I'm pretty sure we will not qualify for that. Kenneth has a great job and I'm very thankful for it. I need to focus more on that. He's SO gifted with his hands and the way his mind works with numbers and building. I need to just be more faithful. Well if you know of any great insurance packages that are cheaper than about $850.00 let me know. Not very likely I'm sure, but I thought I'd put it out there. Thanks for letting me vent. Keep us in your prayers and if you have any words of wisdom, I am ALL ears! Oh yeah! Jade is finally beginning to fit into 12mo clothes. lol. She's 16 months old. My sweet little blue eyed baby. =) There are still SEVERAL wonderful things in my life. I am blessed and I am grateful.

Happy 88th Birthday G.G.

Today is my Grandmother's 88th birthday!!! Happy birthday G.G. Ashlyn and her G.G. love each other SO much! They really love spending time together. This is my Grandmother's first birthday without my Grandaddy, so we'll be having a big birthday celebration for her on Sunday after General Conference. It's gonna be SO much fun! I have the best grandmother in the world. Every single one of her grandchildren has felt that they are her favorite. It's an on going joke that we know that we're her favorite. But lets be honest, everyone knows it's me! lol. My grandparents have been a guiding light in my life along with several of my cousins. Our parents are the wonderful ppl that they are because of my grandparents. We have so much to be grateful for. I'm thankful to them for opening the door and welcoming the missionaries into their home so many years ago. Because of that I have more blessings than I can count. Just imagine how many lives were/are touched because they accepted and taught the gospel in their home. They have 8 amazing children and 27 wonderful grandchildren, (and still counting if Aunt Lesley and Uncle Brian have more). They have 32 great grandchildren and still counting! What a miracle the gospel is! Thank you Grandmother and Grandaddy for your examples and your selflessness and kind hearted natures. We love you both! We love you G.G. and we can't wait to see you Sunday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

My Daughter is giving, and a flirt!

This afternoon while watering the plants and our hopefully growing seedlings of grass, a little boy rode into my driveway. He said, "Um, I need some money for the fundraiser please." lol. I'm thinking, I need some money for the Walter fundraiser please. lol. jk. Well I told him I didn't have any money and he said thank you and rode away. Not 30 minutes later a little girl rang my door bell and very elloquently told me what the fundraiser was for and gave me all of the details with the cutest little lisp ever. lol. I was going to tell her too that I didn't have any money, but my little Ashlyn said, "I have some money. It's in my money jar. I wanna give her some money." Of course I'm not going to let an opportunity of charity go by so I said okay. Oh yeah, the fundraiser is for children with cleffs in their lips that need surgery. Well Ashlyn got a chair and got her money jar out of the cabinet and brought it to me. I told her to pick out how much she wanted to give the little girl and she pulled out about .63. I wrote Ashlyn's name on the back of the fundraiser and the amount since it was her money. Well the little girl was leaving and saw her little brother and his friends. Ashlyn ran to get shoes to try and play with them. They were still at the end of my driveway when she got outside. The little girl was gone but there by the mailbox were the boys. She spoke to them and told them she was running and asked if they wanted to play chalk. They said no, but one of the older boys offered her a flower he was holding. I thought that was very sweet. It makes me feel so good when other children are so nice to mine. Anyway, the three boys walked away. They were probably a good two hundred yards away or so when Ashlyn yelled out this noise she does as a whistle. The three boys turned around and she hid her face and got closer to the porch. She continued this "whistle" every time they would turn back around to leave. It was quite funny. Wow! Flirting already though?! Kenneth and I are in for a treat, this little girl isn't shy, just like her mother. lol. We'll be praying a lot. lol. Well I thought everyone would enjoy that little story and Kenneth will be happy to hear that I finally watered our seedlings of grass. lol. Seeds are so much cheaper than sod! Anyway, I hope everyone is enjoying our little family blog. I'll have new pics. this weekend so I hope to make the time to get those posted.

I almost forgot to mention...the kids slept until 9:30 this morning! Can you believe that? It was like a blessing from on high! I didn't know what to do with myself. So I stayed in the bed and just rested and enjoyed the silence. It was beautiful. Until Ashlyn called me from her bedroom. She decided that wetting her bed was much better than getting up alone to use the potty. Jade's diaper had the same idea because it soaked through to her sheets also. So my morning began wonderfully and quickly turned into a few loads of unexpected laundry. Oh well. I told her if she peed in her bed again on purpose I was going to make her wear pull-ups to bed. I think that did the trick. We shall see. I know sleeping so long didn't help the situation for either child, but I did really enjoy that. Well I'm sure I'll have a new adventure to post soon enough. Love y'all!

Toilet paper is NOT a toy!

Ashlyn found something to play with that she thought was the coolest thing ever! She called out to me yesterday saying "Mama, look! I have a tail!" She ran into my bedroom to reveal a naked bum with toilet paper cliff hanging as her tail. Oh yes, this is a true story. I had to do quite a bit of coaxing to get her to finally take it out and put it into the potty and explain that it's inappropriate etc. Gross! She even tried to get dressed and have her tail sticking out. Wow! I was tempted to take a picture to torture her with later in life and decided against it. That would just be plain out cruel. I say a lot of things that I never expected having to utter as a mother that's for sure. As of right now she is being the BEST big sister ever! She has covered my bedroom floor with pillows of every kind and is rolling all over the floor with Jade and tickling her. I LOVE to hear the girls play and laugh together like this. It's my all time favorite sound in the whole world!

So Kmart isn't only the devil, but their chocolate was not at all impressive. The first two pieces I had were great but after that, I was sorely disappointed. When a woman wants chocolate and finally gets it, it should be the best thing she has ever had! I feel very passionate about chocolate as you can see. lol. Call me pathetic if you wish, but it is my all time weakness. Do you think Heavenly Father will allow me to have lots of "perfect" chocolate? lol. jk.

I forgot to mention on here the cutest thing Ashlyn has said in a while. I'm sure everyone remembers my attempts to getting my girl scout cookies and finally getting them. Well when I did finally have them in my possession Ashlyn excitedly said, "I want some out scout cookies!" lol. That's how she pronounces the words. funny. She also calls primary at church "crymary." lol. She's never cried in there, she positioned quite well. She just pronounces it so funny. We have also discovered that she LOVES to paint, but finger painting is not her favorite. She doesn't like her fingers and hands to be dirty. Isn't that funny? A kid that doesn't like dirty hands and fingers. A first!

Kenneth is still training for his Triathalon coming up in about three wks. He hasn't been training as hard lately due to work and such. But he's excited and we're excited for him. I wish him much luck and much endurance. =) Kenneth has lost two inches off of his waist! He noticed tonight that he had to tighten his belt two or so notches tighter! GO BABY!

I've been staying busy with the girls and trying to find things for us to do to keep us safe from boredom, for that is where the advesary lives. Ashlyn is just plain awful when she's bored and she throws tantrums that make me want to cry and hide from her. A big thank you to Morgan Webster for letting us hang out with her and her two adorable children. I finally got a little bit more of the girls scrapbooks finished. Well not finished finished, but something was finally done after months of ignoring them.

Today has been special in so many ways. First my girls and I got to spend a little time with Pop-Pop, (My dad). He even bought us all a treat, candy! Yum. Second special thing today Ashlyn and Jade got to play with the Webster kids so of course the mommies got to spend some time together and talk. Third special thing today...I got to take a nap! I haven't done that in months! It felt so great. It was a good nap. Even Ashlyn fell asleep. I don't know HOW great that will be tomorrow morning, but it was great today. I'm trying to "broaden" my horizens and I'd really like to take a cake decorating class. I think it would be SO cool to work in a bakery! Well my show (The Biggest Loser) is almost on and Ashlyn and I are going to make some muffins. She gets to stay up a little late tonight since she fell asleep. Love y'all!