Mom Update (11/09)

My mom is having a really rough time right now. Up until this point she has been able to have at least a few good days in between treatments, but she just finished the 3rd round 2 1/2 weeks ago and is still struggling (physically and mentally). It actually hit her during the treatment and hasn't let up since. Apparently the 3rd round is the hardest, because of something called the accumulative effect (according to my sweet friend Kim). If I understood correctly, she is basically feeling the effects of 3 chemos in one. She has also developed Taxotere syndrome which basically makes her hands blister, swell, tear, and feel like they have been mashed with a hammer (extreme throbbing pain). She also has 101 fever from it. The frustrating thing is that it's caused by her medicine and there's nothing they can do about it. They did give her some medicine for pain, but she can only take it every 3 hours and it only lasts 2, so she wakes up all through the night and has to sit in pain for an hour until she can take the next dose. The doctor also told her that it will probably spread to her feet as well and will probably cause her to loose her nails. It's so frustrating and so hard to see her in so much pain. I am going to go see her tonight without K (b/c she can't play with her right now). I know it's killing her to not be able to see and play with Kennedy. She hasn't been asking for Kennedy to come over in the past 2 weeks, which is extremely unusual...pretty good indicator of how she's been feeling.

She is scheduled for another treatment on my dad's birthday (18th), but we are not sure if she can handle another one yet. I think it's beginning to hit her that Thanksgiving and Christmas are going to be very different this year and that this pain and exhaustion are not going away any time soon. The length of it all is one of the hardest things to bear when someone is in extreme pain...seemingly never ending. I just hurt so badly for her. Please pray for pain relief, that she would begin to recover from her last chemo, and that she would be patient with herself during this process (to be able to cut her self some slack and not feel the need to continue being superwoman). Thank you all for checking on her and loving her.

Photog wannabe : )

We went to the Pumpkin Patch in Tontitown (Dickey Farms) and had a great time. The scenery was absolutely beautiful and I just felt like taking a ton of pictures. They even had a little chair and table on a hill, so I couldn't resist taking these. I drove my husband crazy with all the pictures. I told him that sometimes my inner photog wants to come out. ha! The problem is...I don't have a great camera and I don't have any skills. ha! I tried though. We would love to have professional pictures taken, but honestly never think about it and really can't afford it right now. We have also been super busy. I think my friend Casey and I are going to try to be good enough to do pictures for each other so we can save a little mullah and still have great pictures. We both like to pretend to be photographers anyway (although she's much better than I am). The next post is of some of the other pictures from our Pumpkin Patch Trip.

Just curious...which laughing picture effect is your favorite (1, 2, or 3)? I can't decide. You may have to click on them to really see them.

Laughing 1

Laughing 2

Laughing 3

Pumpkin Patch 2009

We had a great time at the pumpkin patch! Here are a few pictures:

Sweet Sisters

My girls : )

I love seeing this little head bobbing over Dasun's shoulder...sweetness.

Kennedy picking a pumpkin... "Dat ones just my size." We forgot to tell her to be careful with it...note to self. ha! (see next picture)

Kennedy hurling the pumpkin into the wagon (in her normal gentle way) ha!

Fun times!!!

Amazing Girl...Amazing Example of God's Love

My friend Sara was telling me about this story and after reading about her, I had to share it with you. She is amazing and if you will take a few minutes to go over to her blog, it will be well worth the read. I read through a lot of her posts and just sat weeping. I think it will speak to your heart as well, about what the Lord has called us all to do...take care of the least of these.
Her whole blog is good, but here's a link to a post that tells a little of her story:

Kisses from Katie

Bargains!

My friend Sara and I love good bargains! We went to some garage sales on Saturday and had the best time. We also met a lady that took her garage sales very seriously. She was stalking other sales and even yelled at a lady that was walking away. ha! We couldn't believe it!

At the next garage sale, I found these folding chairs, which I think are an adorable shape, for $4!!! They had mildew on them and needed some work, but I knew I could make them really cute with not a ton of work.
A little cleaning, patching, taping off, priming, and spray paint later...wala!!!

Here's Kennedy excited that she finally gets to sit in the chairs. : )

I also found a beautiful painting for $2 and some other fun deals! Dasun was excited that I brought home "more stuff" to find a place for (sense the sarcasm ha!).

Fun Run

Kennedy ran in the New School fun run this year. It was so cute! They have ages from 2 on up, run a short little race. Kennedy got 2nd place in her group and even got a trophy! She loves her trophy. They also had face painting and gave out water bottles with their names written on them. They went all out and Kennedy had a great time! Mimi and Papa (my mom and dad) surprised us and came. Mimi even got to run with Kennedy in her race. It was so good to see them. There aren't many pictures of Dasun, because he was manning the microphone and in charge of the races. He also won the tricycle race that the male New school teachers competed in at the beginning of the day...That's my man!!! ha!
Adelynn did so well. We were there for a long time and she didn't cry once. She just sat up and looked around. By the time I made it to the car to leave, she was out. : )

First Movie

Okay guys...we got brave tonight and decided to take both girls with us to see Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (which by the way is great if you are wanting to put yourself off eating for a while. ha!). I was desperately hoping that I wouldn't be the mom with the screaming baby that everyone hates. ha! Not that I would have stayed in there a second if she did start crying, but some people still wouldn't have been happy. Can I just say how proud I was of my girls!!! Adelynn just sat up on my lap like a big girl, watched the movie and didn't make a peep. I had to feed her a little into the movie, but she did great! Kennedy had a great time and was such a good girl too. It couldn't have gone any better. : )

First Night Out

Woo hoo! Date night! We got to go out for our first date night since Adelynn was born 2 months ago. If you can, zoom in on the most amazing dessert I have ever tasted in my life!!!! Chocolate Mousse cake covered in soft, smooth ganache. It was so delicious & oh so creamy!!! My mom is a chocoholic, so as soon as she's feeling better, I am taking her out for dessert so she can try this. : )

Lots of new art : )

I posted about 11 new things. Go check it out if you have time : )
thebusybrush.blogspot.com

Mom Update

My mom's first chemo treatment was on September 16th (her next treatment isn't until the 7th of October). We thought she was doing pretty good, but by the third day it hit her pretty hard. She was very sick, couldn't hold anything down, and was very tired. They put her on Zofran (the medicine I was on when I was so sick during pregnancy) which dissolves on your tongue so you don't have to eat or drink anything to keep it down and she said that even thought she still has a sick stomach she feels much better. A couple of days ago she noticed that her hair was starting to come out. I know that we knew this was a possibility, but I truly didn't think it would happen after just one chemo treatment. Today I talked to her and she said that she went ahead and shaved it off b/c she was losing so much. I think this is what I dreaded the most about this whole process. We so take our hair for granted until all of a sudden it's gone and every time you look in the mirror you feel ugly and are reminded of what you are facing. No more denial...the proof is looking right at you. My mom is SO much more than her hair, she is such a beautiful woman...shinning with the light of Christ. She has an adorable smile, an amazing heart, and beautiful eyes, but I am not for a minute going to act like it's a small thing to go through. She's trying to be so brave and upbeat about it all, but I am also reminding her that it's okay to be sad. We've shed a lot of tears along the way and I am sure there will be many more. We know the Lord is faithful and that He is not suprised by any of this. He knows what He is doing and it's so important to remember that He is good...He is good. Even when things don't make sense...He is good.

Fun new art : )

I have had a craving to do something fun and creative, art wise, and have been having the most fun! I know it's crazy to be staying up late painting when you are already getting little to no sleep, but sometimes doing something fun and creative can be therapeutic too. I usually don't post paintings on here anymore, but these were just some that I did for fun, not for orders, and they were different than other things I have painted before. I don't know what I love more...seeing the house all clean and organized after working really hard on it or doing something creative and liking how it turns out. Both= me happy : )

This one just makes me smile when I look at it. I haven't figured out where to put it yet, but I need to see this message daily right now.

This next one is one I did for my very good friend Casey who LOVES fleur-di-lis:

First Hog Game

Adelynn officially watched her first Razorback game. She's already a fan!

"Being Married"

Kennedy came in the living room and said that she wanted to "be married". She asked me to be married with her (doesn't quite understand how that works ha!) and wanted me to help her put the burp cloth on her head so she could be married. I had to get a picture of the side view. HA!
When Dasun got home, she asked him to "be married" with her too. You gotta love a man who will do this for his daughter!...What a guy : )

Fun gift idea

I just wanted to show you all what my sister in law made for me. Isn't it great!? I had never seen one of these before, but have recently started to see them in some stores. They usually cost around $150 or more, but she just recently started her own business and is going to be making these for about $75 depending on the framing and number of letters and is trying to make sure hers are unique. She has done some super cute ones for kids and has even incorporated their picture and their hobbies in the pictures she uses. I thought they'd make great Christmas gifts. Especially for parents and family members that don't really want more "stuff". These would make such sweet keepsakes. She's a photographer and a very creative gal on top of that, so I wanted to point you to her website (teapotsandrobots.com). She is just getting it up and running, so you'll have to be a little patient navigating it. If you can't find something, let me know and I'll get you in touch with her.

Photo Shoot : )

We had our friends, the Rainers, over this week and my sweet friend Casey helped me do a little photo shoot for Adelynn. We got some really sweet pictures. The cute little diaper cover was from my good friend Lydia Ruble...Thank you Lydia and Casey! Love you girls!

This is my favorite picture. : )

just chillin' like a villain. ha! I just love this picture. : )

I just love when she looks up...those chubby little cheeks. : )

First Smile

Adelynn smiled at me for the first time last night! She has smiled while she's sleeping before, but never in response to me until last night. I love that!!! It's my absolute favorite milestone!

Baby Adelynn pictures & other posts....

I have been such a slacker as far as blogging goes. We have had quite a bit going on since Adelynn was born to say the least, but here goes making up for lost time. Keep scrolling down after this one for lots of catching up.

Here are some much requested new pictures of Adelynn. She has already changed so much! We think she may keep her pretty blue eyes, because the are a much lighter blue than Kennedy's were...we'll see. She does have my mouth and nose like K did, but I think from the eyes up, she's Dase.

Click on this one if you can and get a closer look at her little face...precious : ) -I may be a tad biased.

Ohhh...I just love kissing those sweet cheeks!

The one and only time she ever took a pacifier. It lasted about 10 minutes and she hasn't taken it since. For some reason my girls do not like pacifiers.

Bath Time Fun!

Adelynn's 1st real bath...not a big fan. ha!
Playing with these super cool bathtime stickers that Mrs. Shelby got Kennedy. She loves them!
Had to take a picture of how long her hair is when it's wet...crazy! It normally looks about shoulder length when it's down.

I got Kennedy some bath crayons the week we brought Adelynn home, to give us a little something extra special to do together and we've had the best time with them.

Kennedy and Adelynn's 1st bath together. Kennedy had been asking if she could take a bath with Adelynn. She is so crazy about her little sister. Adelynn is lucky to have such a sweet big sister!
Bath time beards...always fun. ha!

Our little garden

Our garden has been doing so well! We have green beans, tons of tomatoes, okra, peppers, radishes, and much more. Its been so fun to watch everything grow. It really does make you feel proud to grow your own food. We also did a little flower garden for Kennedy. Dasun is so sweet. He makes us little bouquets and leaves notes for us in the morning before he goes to work. I got this little bottle on one of my mom and I's flea market trips.
Here are some pictures:

Isn't this flower beautiful?!

This just makes me smile. I love you so much Kennedy!
(notice that she has her purple purse, an animal, and jewelry on...even in the back yard. ha!)

Adelynn's Sip & See

Bee, Mary Beth, Baby Adelynn, Tish, My sweet mom, Kennedy, & I

My mom's sweet friends had a Sip & See for Adelynn. It was so wonderful to see so many good friends after basically being in hibernation for the 3 weeks before. ha! I become such a home body right after having a baby. Adelynn got so many wonderful gifts and so did Kennedy. Kennedy was cracking me up. One of my good friends (Mrs. Amy) got Kennedy some dress up stuff and when she noticed that she was surrounded by spectators, she went into performance mode. ha! She was singing her heart out (off key) and dancing around...what a mess...a wonderful mess. ha!
I am so thankful to have so many precious friends in my life. I love you all very much!!!

Heather (aka Sharpie) and I

The Grisham Gang (Betsy Heckman, Ashley Grisham, & Casey Rainer)

The food was delicious and the diaper cake was too cute!

My best friend Laura and my sweet friend Mrs Bohannan (Sorry...I still have to call you that).

My beautiful Momma. How cute is she?! : )

Back in the saddle again : )

I recently started painting again and posted some new pictures if you want to look. : )
thebusybrush.blogspot.com

Prayers for my mom...please (update: 4)

My mom had a lump in her breast and was told by her doctor that he thought it was cancer, so he scheduled her for a biopsy. She finally heard back from the doctor and it is cancer...apparently a very fast growing cancer called invasive ductile carcinoma. He said that if she doesn't do anything, she would have a year at the most and that it would spread to her lungs and brain pretty quickly. He gave her the option of a mastectomy or a lumpectomy, but with the lumpectomy he said there's a high chance for recurrence. She's not totally sure what she wants to do about it yet, but is leaning towards a mastectomy b/c she doesn't want to have to go through this again. They are going to do a little research before deciding. He said that with either option it will be about 8 months recovery time when she'll be out of commission, which is like like torture to her (especially with all the pain she is in with her fibromyalgia & other problems). The only thing that keeps her mind off her pain is hard work. This whole thing is just surreal to all of us. I just hurt for her and have to admit that I am a little fearful as well. I know that the Lord is in complete control, but that doesn't make it easy to deal with...just easier. I just can't imagine my life with out her. She is truly my best friend and I so want my girls to have her in their lives as well. I know there are so many people going through hard things that are in need of prayer, but I ask that you please pray for my mom...for the surgery to go well, for her recovery to be quick, and for her to be patient and hopeful through this whole situation.

-Update: The doctor wants to try a lumpectomy with radiation and chemotherapy, before trying the mastectomy, so that's what they are going to do. The surgery will more than likely be this week, but it's not scheduled as of yet.

-Update 2: The surgery has now been delayed until they can do an MRI to see how large the mass extends. It sounds like the doctor thinks it may be larger than he originally thought. If it is, then they will probably just go ahead with a full mastectomy. Please pray for my mom. All these different plans and changes feel like a really bad roller coaster ride and she's worn out. About the time you prepare yourself for what's ahead, the plan changes.

-Update 3: The MRI showed that my mom's cancer was worse than originally thought. She is at a stage 3 and he thinks it may have moved into the chest wall. He's afraid to try and do surgery for fear of spreading it further, so they are going to start chemo and radiation first and then do a complete mastectomy after that. She said she loves her doctor and that he reminds her of another Dasun. She said she could just take him as her own and really trusts him. That's such a blessing. He's been very sweet with her and has been walking through with her each step of the way. I am also so proud of my dad. He's been so strong yet very attentive and caring through this process so far (not that I expect anything less...he's a wonderful man). They have an appointment with an oncologists this week to plan out her treatment. I'll keep you updated as I know more. I just want to take a minute and thank you for all of your calls & e-mails offering to pray and help in anyway. I am so blessed to have so many precious friends and I truly thank the Lord for you all.

-Update 4: My mom met with her oncologists today. She will have a PET scan this week (They inject a dye into your system and then scan your whole body to see where the dye collects. It normally collects on cancer cells. This will tell us if she has cancer somewhere else, if it has spread, and will help determine what kind of chemo she gets and for how long). She will get a port installed sometime this week which will help administer the chemo.H er chemo will begin next wed (Sept 16th) and will probably last 4-6 months. He also said that she will probably lose all of her hair really quickly because of the strength of the chemo she'll be receiving (approximately 2 weeks). It looks to be a long road, but it's good to finally know the plan and know what we are facing.

My Girls (& more pictures)

Kennedy:
I cannot begin to say how grateful I am for my little girl's heart. She is so kind, loving, and giving. Every day she does something that touches my heart and makes me thank the Lord for her. She squeals with delight at the very sight of her sister, thanks the Lord for her sister in her prayers, has to kiss her all the time, asks if she can share her things with her little sister, and has been so flexible and goodhearted through all the adjustments. We just need to work on being gentle and we'll be doing good. ha!

A few funny stories:

-She told me I looked "SO CUTE" in my hospital gown and that her little sister was going to love my new outfit. ha! ...gotta love her for that...those things are less than flattering. : )
-Dasun got onto me for trying to vacuum the day after we got home and Kennedy said, with a very concerned look on her face, "But Daddy, Mommy loves to vacuum." : )
-When my mom was here helping, she was getting Kennedy dressed and Kennedy patted her on the bottom and said, "I love that sweet little hiney", in a momma voice, just like I tell her. I got so tickled. ha!
-We heard Kennedy belting out a tune and when we turned around, we saw Kennedy singing into my breast pump with all of her heart. HA!! To funny!
-She also kept talking about needing her "cutar" and we finally figured out that she was wanting her guitar---a.k.a. my boppy. We had the best time listening to Kennedy and Dasun rock out with their guitars. I was cracking up!

KK helping with bathtime

Adelynn:
Already this little girl has stolen our hearts. She's so sweet. She is a good sleeper for the most part, makes the most adorable faces, and is down right fiery when she's hungry (just like her momma). I could just sit and stare at her long dainty fingers, her pouty little lips, and her little legs all day. I am always amazed that God can create an entire person in such a tiny package. We took her to her 1st doctors appointment on Friday and she is doing really well. While we were there she was laying on my chest and all of a sudden, she propped her self up on her elbows lifted her head and started looking around. I could believe she was already holding her head up. It was so cute! We are just so thankful to have 2 beautiful healthy girls. I was talking to my mom about how overwhelmed I am when I think about the Lord's blessings and I just started crying. We are so undeserving of anything good, yet here we sit...so blessed.

Kennedy shared her bear with Adelynn

She's here!!!

I am sorry to just now be posting, but the last day and a half was a little blurry...filled with lots of sweet friends, sweet memories, and very little sleep --which I more than expected :).

Our sweet girl decided to come on August 1, 2009. She didn't want to though...it was a very long delivery. Kennedy's delivery was long as well, but I had heard so many stories of 2nd deliveries being a little easier, so I think my expectations were a little off. We got to the hospital at 12:00 and when my Dr checked me at 12:45, she surprisingly said that I was ready to go and it was already time to start pushing. I wasn't expecting it to be that fast (and I was right). She said we better get Dasun back in the room b/c it could happen right away....well after about 7.5 hours of pushing, she finally arrived! I was so exhausted, but when I saw her, I forgot all about that and just started crying tears of joy! I couldn't believe I was finally getting to see her! When she was first born she looked a lot like Kennedy, but we are seeing differences now and think she has a little of Dasun in her. She weighed 7 lbs 12ozs, 21 inches long, and was sweet from the beginning. Dasun and I had a little alone time with the baby and decided on the name Adelynn Cruz---Adelynn (which means sweet) and Cruz (which means cross in Spanish). She has such a sweet disposition (although now we've seen a firey side ha!) and is already nursing so well. We are trying to catch up on rest and have a little family time, but i can't wait for you all to meet her soon. I'll post more pictures soon. : )

yes...dasun has a black eye and sticthes, but I promise that it didn't come from me. ha! He got it playing basketball last week.

another update...ha!

Well, I guess we may have this baby by next month at the rate we are going...1 cm per week. ha!
36 weeks: 4 cm
37 weeks: 4 cm
38 weeks: 5 cm
39 weeks: I am now at 6 cm and still waiting. : )
It may go fast once she does decide to come, but if we take into account how long it is taking to go from 1-10, it's another story. ha! I am only at 39 weeks, so I really shouldn't be surprised, but when I knew I was at a 4 in the beginning of July, I just really thought she'd be here by now. I even ordered a birthstone charm for July, to go with Kennedy's. She may still make it...we'll see. : ) My nesting is in full swing as well. Those of you that know me, know that I am already really type A, so now I am on hyper drive. ha! My husband keeps saying, "Are you still cleaning?" ha! We have also had our bags packed for 3 solid weeks and I am ready to get those bags off the floor. My patience always needs work, especially when I am excited about something, but I sure don't like it. ha! I am so ready to meet this sweet girl!

Still hanging in there : )

When I posted "progress", I was 36 weeks and was at 4 cm. I have been there for 2 weeks (which I knew was possible but still didn't expect). I went to the doctor yesterday and I am now at 5 cm. ha! I don't think this little one is in a hurry to come. I am hoping that means she's going to be a very relaxed, easy going baby, but we all know that is just wishful thinking. ha! Today is my birthday and it's the only day I said I hope she didn't come on, so that she could have her own birthday day. I told Dasun I may put myself on temporary bed rest today. ha! I have my contact list all ready to go, so I'll be sure to let you guys know when she does decide to arrive. : )

37 weeks

Sorry for all the posts, I am slowly trying to catch up.
This is me at 37 weeks. Definitely feeling large and in charge. ha! My sister in law Jenny wanted to get a picture of me sitting in the grass, but after she finished she just turned to go back inside like she normally would and I didn't have anything to pull up on to get up. I just laid in the grass cracking up. ha!!! *PS* you can also see a pair of the new earrings my sister in laws got me...very big & very fun! You gotta love earrings- they fit no matter what. : )

Weekend With the Girls

My sister in laws came down to have a fun weekend with me before the baby comes. It was so good to spend time with them.

First they told me to get dressed up and be ready to go by 7:00. They surprised me by taking me to see the broadway show Legally Blonde. I don't ever do things like that, so I was definitely surprised. The show had quite a few things in it that weren't in the movie (one being a song by the name of "omigod" that was about 5 minutes long, repeated the Lord's name in vain over and over again, started and ended the show, and made us all cringe), but it also had some funny parts too. Our favorite character was definitely the hair dresser.
Daspri, me, Bridget, and Jenny

The next morning I woke up to find them making breakfast for us! After breakfast, they set me on the couch and pampered me (excuse the morning hair, bra straps, & no make-up).
Kennedy got a little pampering too. : ) I love this picture of her and Aunt Daspri.

They also had a little shower for me and got the baby some really cute things. This one is from my anti-pink sister-in-law Daspri.
After this, we got ready, did a little shopping (where they got me some really fun earrings) and then all went out to lunch. We had such a great time and it meant a lot to me that they would take time away from their busy lives and families to drive down and spend time with me.

My Friend JoAnna

My friend JoAnna, that I miss a ton, has always been so encouraging about my "craftiness" as she calls it. She sent me this picture she found and said it made her think of me. It was too cute not to share. Whoever thought up this idea, was pretty crafty themselves.

Vanessa's Visit

We had such a great time with my sister and her boys while they were down. I am listing a bunch of pictures from their visit.

*Star Wars Battles*
My husband was having way too much fun with this. HA! You have got to click on it and look at his facial expression. HA!


4th of July!!!


I love this picture!!! Everyone is looking and smiling...miracles do happen!


Luke and Kennedy in their patriotic swimsuits. We normally don't do bikinis for K, but my friend Casey passed this on to us and I couldn't resist trying it on the 4th...too cute : )


Kennedy cracks us up! She is so fearless (a little too fearless sometimes). She was jumping off the back by herself, but after jumping with Dase, she was on repeat from them on. They had a blast.


My mom, Vanessa, and I even got to have a day to ourselves! We went to lunch, had pedicures, and went to our favorite flea market! It was such a fun day!!!

Progress : )

So...I went to the doctor yesterday for my 36 week appointment. She asked me some questions (any cramping, stomach tightening, etc...) and after I clarified what she meant I said, "actually yes." Apparently I have been having contractions, but since I had all back labor with Kennedy (she was faced the wrong way), I didn't recognize them as such. In addition to the test she was doing, she decided to check me just in case....all of a sudden she had a bit of a surprised look on her face and told me I was already at 4 cm! All of a sudden my fears totally subsided, my mouth dropped open, and I couldn't stop smiling. I wasn't expecting to hear that at all! We were thinking at least 3 more weeks, because I was a week early with K. On one hand, I know it could still be a while, but to know that it might be soon is very exciting. I have a few painting jobs I have to finish (luckily I decided to take the rest of the month off. ha!), a little more to do on her scrapbook, and lots to do around the house, but all in all, we are pretty ready---or think we are. ha! Please be praying for the baby to continue to develop, gain weight, stay healthy, and for the delivery to go well. I feel so blessed to have made it this far with no complications. I know what a huge blessing that is and am so grateful. I am not taking it for granted for even one second.

Praise

I love spending time in the word, whether it's one of my favorite Beth Moore studies or just reading, but every once in a while I like to read Our Daily Bread. In such a short read, they have really been able to write some thought provoking messages that inspire me to better my walk with the Lord. Today there was a post that did just that and I thought I would share it with you...

Heaven’s Greatest Delights

READ: Revelation 22:1-5

Eye has not seen, nor ear heard . . . the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. —1 Corinthians 2:9

What will be one of heaven’s supreme joys?

Joni Eareckson Tada, disabled as a teenager in a diving accident, has been a paraplegic for over 40 years. One would imagine that her greatest longing would be the ability to walk, even run, free from the confinement of her wheelchair.

But Joni tells us that her greatest desire is to offer a “praise that is pure.” She explains: “I won’t be crippled by distractions, or disabled by insincerity. I won’t be handicapped by a ho-hum half-heartedness. My heart will join with yours and bubble over with effervescent adoration. We will finally be able to fellowship fully with the Father and the Son. For me, this will be the best part of heaven.”

How that speaks to my divided heart and grips my unfocused spirit! What a blessing to offer “a praise that is pure,” with no wandering thoughts, no self-centered requests, no inability to soar above my earth-bound language!

In heaven, “there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him” (Rev. 22:3). May the prospect of heaven enable us to experience a foretaste of that God-glorifying worship even here and now. — Vernon C. Grounds

Fun in the sun!

We have been having lots of fun in the water. This is a picture of Kennedy and my cute momma (I love this picture!)


This is a picture of us at the Springdale pool. Kennedy is such a water bug. I would love to take her to swimming lessons really soon. If you know of anyone that has really affordable lessons, let me know. : )

My Sweet Mom

Those of you that know me well, know that I am a little weird about things needing to match (and lots of other things ha!). Our new stroller is all black and our old car seat is navy and light blue. I know that it's really petty, but I really wanted them to match. I started looking online for car seat covers and couldn't believe how pricey they were. I just couldn't justify spending that much, just so they would match. I decided to get some material and just try to do it on my own (Did I mention that I have very limited sewing skills?--curtains, purses, pillows, ...square things that don't take as much thought). I got some material and elastic but wanted to ask my mom about making button holes before I got started. She asked me to leave it with her so she could think about the best way to go about doing it and she'd get back to me. Well...she surprised me and did the whole thing!!! It was her first time to ever try to do one and I am SO impressed with how great it turned out! I would've probably gotten so frustrated and it wouldn't have turned out near this well. I am so thankful for all the time she put into doing this for me...truly a labor of love! THANKS MOM!!!

Family pictures

Well, I am officially 34 weeks along (8 1/2 months) and cannot believe I could be having this baby in a month. I am getting so excited. With every kick and hiccup, I get more ready to meet her. We have a few names that we really like, but are going to wait to decide until we see her. Sorry to those of you who hate waiting...I have already gotten a lot of slack from some people. : ) I hate waiting too, but I think this will be fun. I'm pretty type A, so I feel like a rebel. ha!

We had a friend of ours take some pictures for us when we were at her house (THANK YOU CASEY!). We have been friends with them for a very long time and she's gotten really good at taking pictures. I didn't have any pictures taken while I was pregnant with Kennedy, so I thought it would be neat to do it this time around. Once again, K didn't really want to cooperate. She's such a hoot, unless someone's telling her to, and then she gets all shy and whiny about it...very frustrating. Thanks to the antics of Casey's little girl (K's best friend) and Casey's patience, we got some great pictures.

Here are some of my favorites:

Laundry Room Makeover

before


after!!!

Our laundry room is also the place right before we go out to our backyard, so it is the catch all for all the back yard toys, sunscreen, laundry items, etc... It always drives me crazy to see how cluttered it looks. I finally got around to making a curtain to cover it up and also got a little jar to keep my detergent in. I love going in my laundry room now (which is a good thing, b/c I'm in there all the time. ha!). I also posted about our 9th anniversary and new stuff on my Busy Brush Blog, so scroll down. : )

Our 9 Year Anniversary

We had such a great time on our anniversary! We celebrated 9 years this year! We got to go out to a nice dinner at Bordinos (there bread pudding was delicious!) and also got to go to a really neat place called Stonewind Retreat. We stayed in these cabins called Yurts. They were so beautiful and even had a hot tub on the deck. There were deer everywhere and the scenery was gorgeous! I love being outdoors. My mom and dad watched Kennedy for us and we got to just relax, talk about old times, and enjoy our time together. It was supposed to rain the entire time, but it didn't start raining until 30 minutes after we checked out (Thank you Lord for beautiful weather!). God is so good. : )

Lots of new things

I finally got around to updating The Busy Brush Blog. I have been really busy, but really able to enjoy it now that school is out and I am not as busy. Check it out if you get a minute. : )

Arguing advice?

Being that Kennedy is 3 now, I hear a lot of the same things from day to day. Some things that I find adorable and some things...not so much. ha!

Favorite things:
-"is that a good idea?" when Kennedy wants something she says what she wants me to do and then adds that at the end. The way she says it is so cute. (ex. Can you get me a snack? You can get up and go get me a snack in a little bit...is that a good idea?)
-"or something" I asked her if she wanted some meat and cheese for lunch (that's what she calls it) and she added, "some meat and cheese and some juicy pickles or something?" Letting me know that she also wanted pickles with it. I just think it's funny that she does this instead of just asking for pickles too. Instead she suggests the idea.
-"just a little bit" This one gets added onto almost everything. Mommy can you come here just a little bit?, Can I have some snack just a little bit?, etc...

Not so favorite things:
arguing, repeating, pleading (DESPITE me sticking to my guns).
Here's and example of her side of the conversation (just one conversation):
"Can I ____...please can I _____...but I really like to______...but I love it so much mommy...can I please_______...but why mommy? I really love it...It's so special to me...can I ____,it's my favorite..."
Can you believe the creativity and stamina in this girl?...determination is definitely a strong suit of hers. Even in small discussions, she just doesn't take you at your answer. She's so stubborn.
I continue to tell her no, I listen to her and let her know I understand that it's hard to hear no, explain why it's no and remind her not to argue and she just keeps going. It's super frustrating. I am already not giving in, but if you have any other tips for this lovely habit, I'd love to hear them.

Preggo Picts (week 29) & Other Updates

I had a lot of catching up to do, so scroll down to see the other posts as well.

So far I am feeling great & cannot believe I am already 29 weeks along! It seems to have gone by much faster this time. I was at my last appointment when she said she'd be seeing me "every 2 weeks from now on" and I have to admit...I had a little panic moment. ha! I am so excited, but I also know there is a lot of change coming my way...good change, but change just the same, that will be here before I know it. : )
I have been a little more uncomfortable this time around, but I'm also enjoying every moment of her moving, her hiccups, etc... This truly is amazing and I don't take it for granted one bit!
I finally gave way to maternity pants. Some of my other pants still fit, but not if I want to move. HA! Come to think of it, that's been the case with my pants several times in my life. At least I have a good reason this time. :)
Here are some pregnancy picture from week 29:

Our Little Garden

My awesome husband put together some garden boxes for us! We have been wanting to do this for a while, but with this baby coming, I wanted it to be his idea, so that he wouldn't mind taking it on later. We went to Conway and saw his brother's and that was all the inspiration he needed. The boxes are perfectly put together and measured out (if you know me, you know I LOVE that) and are veggies are already starting to grow. we also have a little 2x2 box for Kennedy's flowers. She's been quite the helper on this project. I made some labels for him, so we wouldn't forget what everything was. I can't wait until we actually get to eat everything!

Trip to Baton Rouge

We went to see my sister and her family in Baton Rouge this past week to see caleb's game and Luke's graduation from Kindergarten. It was just my mom, Kennedy, and I. It's about a 12 hour drive, so we decided to split it up and stay the night 1/2 way down and 1/2 way back. I couldn't have asked for Kennedy to do any better on the trip. Not one complaint in the car and she slept so good through the night (even though she got to sleep with us and was pretty hyper before the lights went out). We were all tired and ready to get back home, but it was a good trip.
My sister got a lot more pictures that I did, but here are a few pictures...

Brown Bear Brown Bear video

Had to show you a little video of Kennedy reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear, to me. She read really quickly and started skipping parts (probably because the camera was on), but you can hear her sweet little voice just the same. Please ignore mine. : )

New Busy Brush Pictures

I updated my painting blog with some of the new ones I have done (including the ABC canvas some of you wanted to see). Go check it out if you get a minute. : )
thebusybrush.blogspot.com

Kennedy's Prayer

Kennedy has started praying a lot more on her own and asking us to pray with her throughout the day. She normally just prays for our food at dinner and seems a little shy about doing it other times. I think it's because she wasn't really sure what to say. Even though she's heard us, some of the things we pray for are a little over her head and may be hard for her to understand. We have been telling her that she can pray and talk to God about anything and we can tell Him thank you for everything (not just food). It really blesses my heart to see her pray and hear sweet prayers. I thought I'd share her little prayer today...
(picture a little bit of a southern draw as you read) :)

"Fadda God, thank you for my mommy... and my daddy... and our baby...and our food and our house... and our friends... and our hots (hearts). AAAmen"

A little braggin' on my girl :)

So...because I am a teacher, I think I try really hard not to push "school" at Kennedy. I just feel that kids are so curious and if they have enough fun experiences and are talked to enough they just soak it up. Sometimes I feel like I should do more, but she has been making me feel a lot more sure of what we've been doing. She has been so crazy about "reading" books lately and is really starting to pay more attention to what I'm pointing to as I read to her, as well as what the story is about. She wants me to read it and then she carries around her little book she picked out that morning and "reads" it to me, Maxey (our dog), herself, her stuffed animals, and daddy when he gets home. We have a letter/sound movie that she loves and we watch a few cartoons on AETN (like Word World), but other than that, it's just been in regular conversation and life...answering all of her questions (lots of them), pointing things out when we notice them, singing a song, counting the stairs we go up...nothing big. She's so curious and inquisitive, that she really does it all.

All that to say that she shocked me today. She saw me painting these letters for a friend

and said, "Is that a C-A- L...Are dos and E and a B?" I went, "YES! how did you know that?" I knew she was interested and knew a few, but not like that! Then a question came on the cartoon...What letters did we find today [U S I]? and she got those right too! I know there are some children out there who are rocket scientists by the age of 3, but I was pretty darn proud of her. It's definitely not me who gets the credit. ha! Her brain is much more efficient than mine. It's a little scary how little mine works these days. ha! She also knows her colors (as well as which ones are our favorites), her shapes, has a great imagination, counts objects up to 20 (another thing she loves to do...count things), picks up her toys when I ask her to, puts away her dirty clothes, helps me in the kitchen, tries to clean up her own messes (without any prompting- which I know is a little OCD, but I think it's pretty cute), loves to sing and memorizes words to all her favorite songs (sometimes getting the words wrong--also like her mother. ha!), and is getting sweeter by the minute.
She is so fun to be around, has such a sweet heart, and is smart to boot...such a doll. I have been so blessed by her sweet little words to me and to the baby. I love seeing her chubby little hand feel my belly as she says,
"Come on sweet baby, move."
"I'm Kennedy. I'm gonna be your big sister."
"The baby's so sweet! She's gonna be so sweet!"
I get a little freaked out every now and then about all of the changes coming my way, but I am truly excited to see these 2 girls together. I can't wait to see Kennedy's sweet little heart in action. She is more grown up every day..helping me, wanting to do things "all herself", growing in understanding of so many things. Children baffle me at how quickly they learn. I can see her wheels constantly turning. God is so creative and amazing in his creation!

Thanks for letting me brag a little on K. : ) Feel free to brag on your kiddos to me...I'll love it!

Broken...

I know that posts are usually happy, but I need to ask for your prayers...

I am broken about something I saw on TV today. It was a report about a father who was sexually abusing his own 4 year old child. It's the type of story that's too painful to hear about. We often change the channel and try to avoid thinking about it, but today I felt guilt. Guilt that I can't even hear about what these children are actually having to live through. Just because it's hard to hear about doesn't mean it's not happening. These children need us to be on our knees for them. Even as I sit here 10 hours later, I can't hold back the tears. I often find that when something strikes an emotional chord in me, I react with a defense mechanism. I'm not sure why I do that, but in this particular case, I couldn't pretend for long. I heard the words, got a sickened angry feeling and left the room, but all of a sudden my brokenness came wailing through. I just fell to the floor in anguish over these poor children whose hearts, minds, and precious bodies have already been so torn apart. I was filled with confusion, sadness, and a desire to help them heal. Luckily, Kennedy was taking a nap, because I was far from in control over my emotions. I just cried out to the Lord...telling Him I didn't understand why this was allowed, asking for wisdom, and begging for protection, healing & justice for these little ones. As a mother of a 3 year old little girl, these stories affect me more than ever. Unfortunately, I am limited as to what I can do, but thankfully the Lord isn't. He sees the cases that the police have yet to even know about, He knows the healing that needs to take place, and even though I don't understand SO MUCH, I know that He is also more broken about this than I am. I pray that the Lord would be the Father they have never been able to know and that He would heal their little bodies from the inside out. I also pray that the abusers would be brought to justice, be able to fully see the sad and sickening truth of their actions, and that the Lord would change their hearts. Please pray about this with me. Please.

And the winner is...

Through the very high tech method of drawing names out of a hat...the winner of the teacher gift give-away is AMANDA MAYES! Thank you so much for all of the links, the good word of mouth, and your sweet comments. I love you gals!

Kennedy Rockin' Out

We went over to our Kyle and Shannon's house a week or so ago and had such a good time. They have Rock Band, and although we had to be careful what songs we chose, Kennedy was all about it. She played the drums and even tried her hand at singing the songs. She just belted out noise, but happened to be on key about 50% of the time, which we thought was hilarious. She was up there dancing as she sang, twisting her hips, and having a blast. As you can see, Kyle and Dasun had a blast too. ha! They named their band "Disctackular," in honor of their mutual disc golf love. Those boys are so stinkin' funny!

itty bitty!

Well, tonight I got to go run some errands by myself and I couldn't help but get this little dress at Walmart! It is size newborn, and I cannot wait to see that sweet little body in this dress! I also had a friend of mine mail me a present along with a size NB diaper to remind me how small they are at first. I had truly forgotten how itty they are. I remember thinking 0-3 month clothes would fit fine and they all swallowed her at first. I am so excited to meet this sweet girl and just had to share this little dress with ya'.

A New Day...New Presents (ha!) & b-day pictures

So, at her birthday party Kennedy had an allergic reaction to some chips. You can tell she broke out in hives in some of the pictures. I have never seen her break out that bad. Even her hands swelled and turned red. Dasun and I gave her some Benadryl to try to help. Later, while she was opening presents, she wasn't near as excited as she normally would have been and just seemed out of it. It just dawned on me, that it was probably because of the Benadryl...hence her waking up an in the middle of the night full of energy again. ha! She woke up this morning and came into the living room and gasped when she saw her presents from last night sitting there. She must have spent 20 minutes going through each item she received with sheer delight. It was so funny to see her act like she had never seen them before. She was very excited about her new gifts and remembered who gave her each thing. Here are some pictures of the party...
(click on the picture to see the slide show)

Happy Birthday Kennedy!!!

Kennedy was born 3 years ago today..April 2nd. I TRULY cannot believe it was 3 years ago. I am so thankful for this sweet, funny, crazy girl. She has brought more joy to my life than I could have ever imagined. It's crazy to think that I will have another little girl running around here before long.
We had her little birthday party tonight. She's so much like me. She loves people, and isn't shy at all, but when it's too big and all about her, she gets a little stressed out. We only invited her 2 "best friends," Jane and Audrey and the sweet family that watches her for me on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but she was still a bit overwhelmed at times. The funny thing was that she didn't mind every one standing around and singing her happy birthday one bit. She just bopped her head to the tune and sang along as she grinned. It was pretty cute. :)
The kids played in the backyard for a while and had such a good time. Then we ate some good food, opened presents, ate some yummy birthday cake, and then went right back to playing outside. It was pretty chilly, but at least it wasn't raining. :)
After we put her to bed, she asked me to sleep in her new bed with her (something she's been wanting me to do for a while). I said sure and we squeezed in to her twin bed along with all her animals. I love cuddling with that sweet thing (grin). As I fell asleep she started tracing my face with her hands and then reached for my hand to hold it while she slept. We both woke up a little while later to change positions and she sat up in bed and proceeded to tell me that she loved all of her presents ..."I love my flowers, and I love my pretty clothes, and I love my bike, and my baby..." She didn't say as much as she usually would have about the gifts with everyone around her, but I thought it was really sweet that she was still thinking about them at 11:00 at night. One thing I love about her is that she is truly excited and thankful for the gifts she receives. I hope that never changes.
Thank you so much to our sweet friends and family that came and for the ones who couldn't (We missed you Knights & Keylors). I wish we could have had everyone we love over.
We are so thankful for you all!
(I'll post pictures from the party soon)

Preggo Pictures (22 weeks)

I realized this weekend that I haven't taken any pregnancy pictures yet and I feel horrible about it. With Kennedy I took pictures every trimester and put the pictures in her scrapbook. I guess I'll be starting at 22 weeks in this scrapbook. Here's a couple preggo pictures of me at 22 weeks. (Keep on scrolling down to see pictures of the rooms. Today was catch up on my blog day. :)

Room Snippets

Here are some pictures of the unfinished rooms. We still have to do curtains, a little painting, etc...
A lot of you know that I was going to make the baby's bedding, but the Lord blessed us with another awesome find on craigslist. A lady had a custom set done for her little girl, who never slept in her room. The entire set (bed skirt, valance, bumper, diaper stacker, 2 throw pillows, and extra material) cost what only the material for the bumper would have cost!!!! Not only was it a good deal, but it matches the glider that's already in their and looks great with the black furniture (which has been hard to match). I was so excited!!!

Then after looking for a long time online, I found this sweet bedding for Kennedy's room. I think it looks pretty cute with the black furniture and I already had this little black table. Mimi and Papa got Kennedy the bedding for her 3rd birthday (coming up on April 2nd) and Nana and Pop Pop gave us the bed for FREE! That's the kind of makeover budget I like! ha! Kennedy asked to sleep in it the first night we got it all together and has been sleeping in it ever since! She loves it! The next day she helped me bring all of her things over and even picked out some toys that she wanted to leave for the baby to play with. What a sweet girl!

This is the little armoire I found at the flea market/antique store and got a GREAT deal on. It's a 1940's armoire and it even has little hanging rods on both sides for her clothes. Her things fit perfectly! Winter/Fall on one side and Summer/ Spring on the other. She loves her new "closet" too...especially the mirror and all the drawers. :) And, yes...that's my guitar still sitting next to it, that I started to learn on when I was pregnant with Kennedy. ha! I'm really talented at letting it sit there and gather dust. ha!

Paint Night with the Tuckers

We had so much fun with the Tucker gals the other night. Carrie wanted some help painting some art for the soon to be new bedroom and we thought it would be fun to make a night of it. The girls had their canvases and paint and we had ours. It's a little hard to paint with very curious little girls running around, but we got quite a bit accomplished before we had to go home. I can't wait to see the final product. : )

After the painting, the girls played dress up. I love this picture of Kennedy...ha!

New Art

There's some new art posted on The Busy Brush Blog if you want to take a peek. :)

Names???

Well, I have Kennedy's big girl room ready and the baby's room is mostly ready too, thanks to a blessing of a find on craigslist, but...no name yet. I am really struggling with a name this time around. I think we may wait and make it a surprise once we do think of one (or at least narrow it down), but we aren't even close to thinking of one. The middle name we want starts with a "c" sound, so I am not leaning towards names that start with K or C, but I am open to anything. If you have any ideas....PLEASE send them my way. :) You can e-mail them to me too ashley.keylor@gmail.com

As for requests for pictures of the girl's rooms and my fun finds...I am going to try to post them very soon!

FULL weekend!

Wow! Some weekends go by and you don't really get much accomplished, but this weekend has been a WHIRLWIND of accomplishments! Dasun and Kennedy were gone on Saturday and since it rained, our garage sale was canceled, so I was able to get a lot done! That and staying up past 3 every night. ha! I can sit here and look at my crossed of lists by myself, but I thought a weekend like this deserves a little online braggin'. ha! I still have a ton left to do, but crossing a bunch of things off always feels so good!

A few things on my to do list:

• Get a picnic table (since ours broke)
  
• Paint the picnic table (painted it at night...still have paint in my hair)
• clean the house (dust vacuum, bathrooms, kitchen, etc...)
• Get my hair did (Thanks Amy!!!)
• Wash the car
  
• do all the laundry (it had piled up)
• Organize stuff for the garage sale (mostly done...a LOT of stuff)
• Get K's Easter stuff ready (basket, candy, dress, etc...)
  
• Paint 7 canvases for people in 2 days (It's feast or famine I tell ya'...feast or famine. ha!)
• Clean out the VERY FULL guest room to make way for baby.
• Get Kennedy's big girl bed from Conway (Dasun's parents gave us one for free!)
• Run a bazillion errands
• Do a little sanding for an art project
• Find an armoire/wardrobe for K's clothes for under $125 (woo hoo!!! It is an antique, has little spots to hang clothes on both sides, drawers in the middle and a little mirrored cabinet up top. It needs a little work, but it's really cute and a GREAT deal! It was listed for higher and I got them to come down. That makes me like it even more!)
• Return my dad's truck (He was so sweet to let us borrow it and we did everything we needed a truck for in 2 days. Dasun even got stuff to make garden boxes in our backyard.).
• Deliver paintings
  

Can I also take a minute to brag on my sweet husband who has been super patient with my crazy type A mindset this weekend. When I get on a roll, its hard to stop me and he has stuck with me every inch. He even jumped on the bandwagon and got a bunch accomplished too. He's so good to me. In sickness and health right?...ha! I am very thankful, but I figure I better simmer down quickly before I stress him out too. :)

Fun Teacher Gifts (Giveaway!!!)

Hey guys-
I have been making some fun teacher gifts lately and thought I'd share them with you. With the end of the year quickly approaching, I know many of you will be needing teacher gifts. I am going to offer a chance to win a free teacher gift (or a 20.00 item for yourself). Please help me get the word out about The Busy Brush and leave a comment telling me how you did it (posted my button and a link to my page, word of mouth, etc...). I will be staying home full time next year and we will also have a new little person to take care of, so any help will be greatly appreciated. :) I will pick a winner by April 15th. Good luck and THANK YOU for your help!

It's a GIRL!!!

Well, Dasun is even more outnumbered than before. ha! We found out today that we are having a girl! I guess you guys voted correctly (61% girls to 28% boys). :) I should have asked you sooner. ha! For the 1st 30 minutes the baby was sitting perfectly criss cross (which I thought was pretty funny being that I'm a Kindergarten teacher). We couldn't see a thing and I was freaking out inside. I just knew that because I was so antsy, the baby wouldn't cooperate. ha! When we finished the appointment, I sat up and got ready to leave and she said, "Oh wait..I forgot to record the heart rate. Can you lay back one more time for me?" When I laid back down, the baby was all sprawled out and we could see perfectly...What a blessing! I know Dase was kind of hoping for a boy, but we are both so excited to have a healthy baby girl! We have loved having Kennedy so much and couldn't ask for more. :) I got to spend the rest of the day with my mom looking at scrapbook stuff and material that I could possibly use to make her bedding. We don't ever get to go out just the 2 of us anymore, so that was a really fun treat. She's so fun to be around. :) I hope my girls and I have a good relationship like that.

BOY or GIRL???

The suspense is killing me, so in the meantime I thought you guys could weigh in on my blog poll. I get to find out Monday and I am even more excited than I was with my first pregnancy! I am just so ready to know what our little family is going to look like (2 girls or one of each). A little background...1st heartbeat read out was 164 and 2nd was 172 (I don't know how much truth there is to the heartbeat thing). I have absolutely no feeling either way this time, so guess away and we'll see who is right on Monday! (oh...and please leave a comment so I know who voted what). :)

Kicking!

Tonight I felt kicking for the first time! In fact the little one is kicking right now! I love this part. It starts to become much more real. I wasn't able to feel it near this soon last time (17 weeks). I am getting more excited every day!

I tried to see if they could move my ultrasound appointment up to this next week for 3 reasons:
1. I thought it would be easier to just have it at the time of my other appt,
2. I am a really impatient person :) ha!, and
3. Because I just got my ticket for Rhea Lana, thanks to a sweet friend, and I wanted to know before then. ha!
Well...it was just wishful thinking. :) They told me I'd have to wait until 20 weeks.
I knew that, but hey...worth a try. :)

A few fun things

These are a few fun things I've been working on...

This was a fun idea I did for my mom's Valentine present. I'm pretty sure I didn't come up with this idea, and can't take credit, but I have no idea where it came from. Kennedy seemed to be drawn to it, so I can't believe there were no injuries and that it made it there in one piece. ha! My mom was so excited.

These were some canvases I did for a sweet girl I teach with. She has twins and they are about the get their very own big girl and big boy rooms. :)

I thought this was such a wonderful idea! My friend Ashley Wanted to do some canvases with their family creed on them. They have such a neat marriage and 4 great kiddos. We have known their family for a long time and she is always a wealth of knowledge to me and everyone else who knows her. : )
(p.s. sorry for the bad picture)

What a sweet dog! You couldn't ask for anything cuter to paint. One of our friends had this painted for his wife's birthday to surprise her! The picture isn't wonderful, but I was really happy with how it turned out. It's so funny how things happen. I never thought I would be painting animal portraits, but thankfully someone gave me a chance to push myself and though I'm still learning, I really enjoy it.

Our Apple

I am 15 weeks along (though it seems like I have been pregnant much longer than that). I am feeling a TON better and am really able to start enjoying being pregnant! Our wee little one is now about the size of an apple (4 inches from crown to rump). I don't know why, but I feel like I am able to enjoy these little details a little more this time around. Don't get me wrong, with Kennedy we had out little book out each week reading about what was going on, but there was just so much information to pay attention to all at once. I don't feel the need to think on all that extra stuff this time. I am just enjoying picturing our baby and what it's able to do right now. God is so amazing...His creation, His never-ending creativity, His blessings...I stand in awe. As someone who loves to paint, I realize that even the most talented artists can only hope to copy what He's already created. I can't wait to see what this little "apple" is going to be. We'll hopefully find out sometime next month and I'll be sure to let you know! :)

"You've Got Personality"

"Cause you got personality
Walk, personality
Talk, Personality
Smile, Personality
Charm, personality
Love, personality..."
-Lloyd Price 1959

Kennedy has quite the personality...sometimes a little to much. ha! That seems to be the first thing people say after spending some time with her. Here are some of her most recent things that I have just recently heard for the first time:

*When we were out to lunch with my friend Mitzi, Kennedy leaned over to her daughter and said, "So...how about you?" I just cracked up.

*Tonight, after Dasun got home from work, I was trying to tell him something quietly that Kennedy had done earlier. She smiled and said, "Hey...what's goin' on over there guys?" Dasun and I couldn't help but get tickled.

*My friend Laura and her daughter were at our house the other day and I told her we were going to go see Meme soon. She said, "Oooohhhh, you wanna come with us guys?" and when they left she moved in front of me at the door and yelled out, "Bye, see you later! Have a good twip!"

*Kennedy just randomly started doing a little stretch routine the other day, which is odd seeing that she never sees her mother work out. ha! I really like the last command she illustrated.
"straytch yo' arms, straytch yo' knees,
straytch yo' legs, straytch yo' booty."

I know that these things aren't as funny to everyone, I'm not dilusional, but there's something about hearing these grown up things come out of your 2 year old, that just shock, you, amaze you, and make you laugh. She's growing up so quickly!

Morning Fun

I love waking up to my little girl, with crazy hair, bringing me all of her treasures. One at a time she hands them to me..."I got my sunglasses." "I got my shaky-shaky." (maraca) "I got my necklaces." and so on until all of her treasures she's chosen that day are lined up in my bed. I managed to get some pictures of it today and thought I'd give you a little glimpse into our morning fun. : )

Then she climbs up and wants to get "under da covers." It's little moments that just make my heart smile. Looking over at her sweet profile as she lays there talking to me, Listening to the names she has for each item, cuddling, etc...

Ice Storm 2009

We had a pretty bad ice storm this past week. We missed almost a whole week of school. I have lived in this area for about 25 years and I don't remember ever missing that much school because of snow or ice (although I could be wrong). Every little blade of grass, ever tree branch...it was all covered in ice. It was so beautiful, but it was definitely destructive. We couldn't believe all of the destruction when we finally left the house. We lost power for about 2 1/2 days, but luckily had a gas fireplace and a little camping stove. We had fun "camping" at the house, but we were so thankful to get it back.

K didn't know what to think about walking on the crunchy ice at 1st, but after we showed her she could eat it, she was all about it. She also loved to take big pieces off and smash it (like her daddy showed her).

After the ice came, we had a small layer of snow. The icy grass below made it look like we had a yard full of pebbles.

Book Review : )

Okay...I thought I would update you on the book after I finished it. I really liked it and I thought it was wise, scripture based, and challenging. It made me think about my heart condition as well as Kennedy's. I only wish it would have been a little longer, so that it could have gone into more specifics for different ages, as well as what to do when your child doesn't give the right response. For example, when I was disciplining Kennedy for disobeying, I asked her, "Are you obeying mommy right now?" and she said, "Yes"
I thought...uhhh...that didn't go like the book said it should...ha! Do I just tell her what she's doing wrong and skip the "heart probing questions" at this age? I don't know the answer, but that's what I decided to do. I love the fact that she is so encouraging about her own mistakes and the fact that it's never too late to get a handle on it.

Overall I feel like I have been challenged in these main areas:

-Checking my heart condition before I discipline or respond (Am I reacting because God's will has been disobeyed,because my will has been, or because I have been inconvenienced?)

-Making sure that my voice is not frustrated or angry when disciplining, but that I have the heart of a mother who is disciplining in love. Children know the difference & will resent the other form of discipline rather than learning as much from it.

-Checking my consistency (Even in the little things). I think it is so easy to get "used to"
some small behaviors when you are around your children all the time.

-Using scripture to discipline instead of my own words (although not in a preachy way), because God's word tells me of it's effectiveness.

"All scripture is God-breather and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness." 2 Timothy 3:16

"For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joint and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." Hebrews 4:12

-To not only talk to my children about what they did wrong, but train them in what they should have done ("Put off the old self and put on righteousness").

As it is with teaching children to tie their shoes, you cannot merely tell them how;

you must show them and then allow them time to practice (sometimes several times).

If this principle (gumnazo) is true for simple tasks,

how much more is it necessary for teaching the application of truth

and the development of eternal character.

–Lou Priolo

Awesome Book!!!

Okay all you moms out there who struggle like I do with knowing how to discipline correctly....I have an awesome book for you! A sweet momma that works at my school with me told me about it and I just happened to be having a rough week with Kennedy. Isn't God merciful and good! Ever since I began working with children, one thing bothered me when it came to discipline. I wanted to make sure I was reaching their heart and not just addressing the issue at hand. This book is all about dealing with heart-oriented discipline. Getting to the root of the problem...the heart and not only disciplining them, but instructing them.
"Bring them up in discipline and instruction of the Lord." Ephesians 6:4
"The good man brings good out of the good stored up in his heart and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored in his heart." Luke 6:45
Another example she used was about the pharisees who honored them with their lips, but their hearts were far from him. Do we want to raise children that merely behave well and know what to say and do for fear of consequences, or reach their actual hearts? I know that's my hearts desire, but also a source of fear for me because I feel so overwhelmed and under prepared for the job at hand. I try to discipline with love and truth, but sometimes it just feels like a guessing game. I really never knew how difficult disciplining your child could be...how many different choices must be made when trying to handle something so important to you. I was so guilty of thinking we would have most of it figured out since we had both been around children so much...BOY was I wrong! I have only read the 1st 3 chapters of this book so far and it's already changed me, reminded me of biblical truths, and encouraged me. I couldn't wait to tell you about it until after I finished it, but I'll be happy to keep you updated about it as I go. Better yet, buy it and read it with me! :)
She is funny, wise, and very easy to read. I'd really like to meet her. I bet we'd have a great time together. ha!

The sweetest words

The 2's have had their ups and downs for me. I can do without the sassy, but oh how the rest of her has changed as well. I love being able to have conversations with her and I can tell she feels pretty special about it too. :) I love seeing the sheer delight come across her face when I understand her sentences and talk to her about what she has said. You know that's got to be such a relief after about a year of people saying, "What is she saying?" :).
Tonight was my favorite conversation so far...
I was sitting on the couch as she was eating her snack. She climbed up in my lap to cuddle (which always blesses my heart) and leaned her head back on my chest. I was making conversation with her and kissing her forehead, when all of a sudden she said,
"You're my berry best fwiend."
What a treasure to hear those words. I know she may not understand fully what that means, but mommas need to hear sweet words and I loved hers. Lord thank you so much for Kennedy and this precious baby on the way. I truly can't believe how good You are. You've already blessed me beyond my imagination, yet Your goodness continues.

My precious Bonnie

Friends and family and strangers wandering by, please lift up this precious family. Bonnie and I have been friends for a very long time and she is such a godly amazing woman. She is wise and she is strong, but she is broken and so is everyone close to her. Please remember to pray for them as they walk through this.
http://sweetcarolinebaby.blogspot.com/2009/01/terrible-tragedy.html

Christmas Card 2009

This is our Christmas card this year. I just got a new photo program a little before Christmas and had so much fun tinkering with it and designing our card. It was perfect for me, because I can never fit all I want to say into 2 sentences. ha!
My friend Brandy has a photography business, and she took some pictures of us in exchange for some canvases for her kiddos. She got some really cute ones, but more than that, it was a pleasant experience. It was so nice to just have fun as a family and let her snap a few pictures here and there. It was so much more enjoyable than the last picture experience. ha! Thank you Brandy!

Special Christmas Memories

We had such a wonderful time with all of our family this Christmas. This year was very special with Kennedy, now that she's growing up.
There are several things I don't want to forget about this year:

*Putting up the Christmas decorations with Kennedy's help this year. She was so sure where each ornament should go and had such a blast. She even got to put the angel on top of the tree. :)

*Kennedy "making cookies" with my family. Seeing her little chunky fingers try to roll the dough and having such a hard time resisting it. :)

*Talking to Kennedy more about the true meaning of Christmas this year and seeing her begin to comprehend it all. She saw our new niece and said,
"Mommy! It's a baby...It's baby JESUS!"
She said this while I was trying to get on to her, so it was a little hard to not laugh. I definitely had to turn my head for a minute. ha!

*Her squeals of delight with everything she opened (big or small). I love how excited and thankful she is. She got just as excited for us to open our gifts. She was so fun!

*Dasun still loving to surprise me. : ) I am so thankful for a husband who loves me and delights in doing sweet things for me. He got me some new dishes I had talked about wanting without me even asking for them.

*Our Hillian family candlelight service. We started this tradition after a few crowded and stressful candle services at church when we were growing up. It's always blesses my heart to sit in a circle with my family and talk about what we're truly thankful for. There are always tears. I can't ever get through it with out weeping. We are so incredibly blessed!

*Watching Kennedy try to carry everything she got for Christmas all at once. She got a package of little rings, a little back pack, a microphone, a little horn, some candy, a baby, etc... She had it all on and looked like a bag lady.
(picture to come)

*Really enjoying watching Kennedy interact with her cousins...listening to them have little conversations, giving each other hugs, being so excited to see each other, and watching them play together. They are all growing up so fast.

Catching Up :)

Life has been crazy busy lately! I haven't posted in over a month, so I am going to try to catch up in one post. We had a great thanksgiving. It was busy and full of travel, but it's always fun to see everyone. My sister and her family got to come up from Louisiana. It couldn't have come at a better time, because after we got back from Conway, we fount out some fun news to tell them...

We're pregnant!!!
(This is a close up of the shirt I made to surprise Dasun)

It was pretty surprising and a little scary to think of how much our lives are going to change,
but we are also excited! Kennedy has been one of the biggest blessings of our lives and now we get to have another huge blessing added to our lives! I went to the doctor a few weeks ago and found out that we were about 6 weeks along (now about 9 weeks) and are due on August 4th. I started getting pretty sick to my stomach at 7 weeks. With Kennedy I was sick until 19 weeks and lost about 20 pounds, so please pray that that would end soon. Those of you that remember my last pregnancy, remember how horrible it was and this time I have a 2 1/2 year old needing me. I can't very well feed her oranges for 15 weeks (which was my basic diet last time) ha! Please pray for everything to go well with this pregnancy and this precious little one.

On top of all of our traveling, I have gotten a lot of art business lately, that I have been trying to get done. It's been a huge blessing (but also a busy one). A sweet lady from our school gave me a ton of orders for family members, some of which really challenged my skill level. I warned her ahead of time that I don't have any training and she didn't have to pay me if she wasn't satisfied. She wanted me to do canvases that matched pictures of her nieces jumping on their horses, some of her nephews guitar, and also some pictures of dogs. I was nervous, but excited to try. I'm still working on some others for her, but here are a few I finished. She also hired me to do a couple of things for my sweet principal who just had her little girl. I also made a Big Sister t-shirt for her other little girl.
These are a few of the ones I've done for her:





Here are a few others I've done:
I did some leopard initial plaques for a beautiful young lady I used to teach when she was in 4th grade. I saw her while I was out shopping the other day and she is now in HIGH SCHOOL! I feel so old! ha!

I was also asked to make a camo painting for a little girl. They wanted it to be real camo, but girly. This was the first time I've done any camo and it was pretty fun to do...a little like an abstract.

Art for the Boys

I don't get a chance to do boy's art near as often as I do girl's, so this was fun for me. The first picture is of a canvas I did for my friend Brandy. She just had her little boy and he's precious. She is the one who is designing my blog. All she has left to do is the sidebar. I can't wait to see it all finished.

The next canvas was done for a very sweet family I know, who have a third little boy on the way. I have been so blessed to get to know this family this year. They already have 2 of the cutest boys I know, so I can't wait to meet this little one.
The colors are a bit off in this one, but after taking a zillion pictures, I gave up. ha! Just imagine it being more of a bright red instead of burgundy.

Costume Fun

Well, this year we had two costumes. Dasun's family has never celebrated Halloween and mine did, so we've been trying to figure out how we were going to handle this holiday for a while. The more he researched it, the more he didn't want to do it. We decided not to celebrate Halloween, but we didn't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater so to speak, so he thought dressing up was okay as long as we didn't do the whole Halloween thing. I was so excited to dress K up this year. I bought her a little costume really early and then when the time came to put it on, it was too small. Isn't that the way it goes?...I was finally on top of things and this is what happened. ha! Oh well.. she was still a cute bee. : ) We had planned on just taking her to my parents and having a fun night with them on Wednesday, because they were going to help with Trunk or Treat Friday night, so we went ahead and put it on and we had a great time. They really wanted us to come to the trunk or treat so they could show her off, but I didn't think Dase would be okay with that (even thought it wasn't technically a Halloween thing).
--story continued below

Since she couldn't wear the hood comfortably, I made her hair into little antennae.

When we got to Mimi and Papa's, Mimi had a little suprise bag for Kennedy.
One of Mimi's suprises was a Mickey Mouse DVD. Ever since she saw Mickey Mouse at Mrs. Amy's house, she LOVES all the characters (especially Goofy), so this was a huge hit. I know she's standing on the couch, but I had to snap these picture before I told her to sit down.

This is Kennedy with her mouth full of chocolate, still fascinated by the movie. I know this is a random picture, but I just thought she looked beautiful...chocolate mouth and all, so I had to share it.

On Friday, he got home and said, "I was thinking we could run by." I totally wasn't expecting that, but knew K would have a blast so we went to put on her costume. She said she didn't want to be a bee, and I knew the out fit was probably not comfy since it was so tight, so I thought I'd try to get her to wear the "scawee tutu" that she runs from. When I put it on her, she said it was scary, but I just kept plugging along and she didn't seem to mind. She was very cute and had a great time jumping in the bouncy castle and eating candy.

I know this is sad, but this is the best picture I got of her costume. She was a moving target that night (as she is most of the time). ha!

A few funny things

The other day while she was going potty, she tooted. She looked at me with this suprised look and said, "Mommy, What's dat sound?". I couldn't help but giggle. I said, "That was you tooting." She said "Dat was me toodun...I'm sowee momma." I told her it was just something that happens sometimes and about that time it happened again and she asked me what it was again. ha! She cracks me up!

Kennedy stood up on her changing table (I was holding onto her for you protective mommas) she started swaying back and forth singing with all of her heart,
"Twinkle twinkle littleSTAR, how I wonder WHAT YO' NAME!"
I just busted out laughing. She keeps singing it that way. : )

Also, ever since Trunk or Treat, she's been referring to candy as "Kennedies". I guess we kept saying "Kennedy when we'd hand her the candy and then remind her to say thank you. We've tried to tell her that it's "candy", but she's not buying it.

Sweet Kennedy

I just wanted to write about my sweet girl. I have enjoyed her so much this week. I have had to really slow down ever since this pain all started, and it's been so nice to just sit back and observe her. We finally got past the terrible stage we were in (knock on wood) and have really been able to enjoy her. She still has her moments, but she has such a sweet spirit. She is learning so much and is talking so much more. She's repeating everything we say and getting so much better at using her manners and having conversations. She's such a little person now.
I love hearing our little conversations:

"Here's da phone Mommy."-"Thank you Kennedy."- "Yo welcome Mommy."

"Mommy tanks so much for da fruit snacks."-"You're welcome Kennedy." -" They're so yummy Mommy."

"Good morning KK, did you sleep well?"- "Yes, did you sleep so well Mommy?"

"Kennedy, you are so sweet."- "Yes I am...... I love you so much Mommy."

I could go on and on. :)

When ever she needs to go potty, I'm always the lucky one that gets chosen to go sit with her. I joke around about not wanting to, it's not the rosiest of smells :) , but to tell you the truth, we have the sweetest little talks while we sit there. For some reason she feels the need to whisper while we're in there and it's so precious. She brings so much joy to my life...her hugs, her voice, the little way she runs ("readyyy--setgo!"), her sweet giggle, the way she randomly belts out her favorite tune (off key), the way she likes to cuddle under the covers with me, the way she loves to help others, ohhh....I just love her sooo much! I can't even write this without crying. Thank you so much Lord for this precious girl! I hope I don't ever take this for granted. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Painful Week

Well, for those of you that don't know, it has been one crazy week. Saturday, I began to have pains underneath my left ribcage again (it happened about 2 months ago as well, though not near as bad). It got really bad Sunday night and I began to throw up because the pain was so intense. The pain was also really severe in my back. I could barely breathe or move. Dasun called my mom to come get me the next morning so she could take me to the doctor. That was Monday morning. It's a little humbling to walk into the doctor's office looking like I did with a throw up bucket infront of you. ha! The Dr said he was unsure, but he wanted to run some blood work and wanted me to have a CT scan, to see what the problem was. He also gave me a shot to help with the pain. Within the next 30 minutes, I started to get really drowsy and was finally able to get some much needed sleep. He also put me on some really strong painkillers. We were supposed to go the next day for the CT Scan, but my insurance said that it has to approve it before we go, despite Dr's orders, and it would take another 48 hours. My mom was awesome, she called around all morning an got through all of the red tape and got us approved. She ran into the room saying, "We've got it..we can get you in today!" I don't know what I'd do with out her. We went in for the appointment, drank about 40 ozs of nasty stuff, got the CT scan, and then went home to await the results. We didn't hear from the doctor until about 2:00 the next day. Apparently, I had an infection in my lungs that had caused my lung tissue to collapse (atelectasis of the lung), making it really painful to breathe and move. He said he's not totally sure though and wanted to do so more tests. We have yet to hear back from any of those. For now, I am on really potent antibiotics and painkillers. I thought I was getting better yesterday, so I decided to come home, despite my mom's hesitations. I woke up this morning wishing I hadn't made that decision. The pain seemed worse today than yesterday. It's subsided a little this afternoon though, so that's a blessing. So many of you have called me or texted me and let me know hat you were thinking of and praying for me. I can't tell you how much that means to me. Thank you for being such good friends to me. I am so blessed! Please continue to pray for my body to heal and for the pain to go away. I have a little girl who has been so patient with me, but she needs her momma to be able to move around and be normal again. I can't say thank you enough to my mom. She has taken care of Kennedy and I so well. I am going to miss being around her as much as I have been this week. We both cried when it was time to leave last night. We just enjoy being around each other so much, even when the circumstances aren't great. She is such a blessing and a joy to me. Please forgive any typos : ).

These Boots Were Made For Walking

These are the pink boots I got for Kennedy at Rhea Lana. It know it wasn't a necessity, but I could just see those little legs in them
(and those little thighs).
I had to share some pictures of her...
The first picture was taken on Sunday morning. Dasun was sitting at the kitchen table reading his bible and Kennedy went to go get another bible, so she could sit at the table and read her bible too. It was so cute...she imitated him to the tee.In this last picture, she was playing hide and seek with Dasun. He popped out to scare her and she took off with sheer delight.
I LOVE this picture, because it gives you a little glimpse into how much fun she is to be around.

Tutu scary!

Well, I told you earlier about the tutu I made for Kennedy, so that she could wear it for our pictures in November. When I showed her the tutu, she ran away and said, "It's scawe momma! It's so scawe!" I have no idea why she is scared of it. It's hot pink and black, so I don't know if the black part looks like a spider to her or what. I just had to laugh. I put the tutu on the other day to show her it wasn't scary and she decided to dress me up in all of the jewelry her Nanna sent. It turned out to be such a fun day. We danced, sang, and had a ball! She's still scared to put it on, but maybe she'll like it by the time November comes. You never know with 2 year olds. :~)
I thought you'd enjoy seeing me all decked out. ha!

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Does Kennedy look like me?

I have heard this question ever since Kennedy was tiny. Most people just say she looks like a mini-me, but then they say, "Does she look like your baby pictures?"

Here are some old pictures of me.
I'll let you decide...

Okay...the next picture is just for fun. I got into my Mamaw Diamond's powder while we were camping (expensive Estee' Lauder powder). When she asked me about it, I lied. Well...as you can see, it was painfully obvious to everyone but me that I was lying. I got in trouble and got spankings. Not a great day for Ashley. : )

This is our birthday party at my grandma's house. Check out these awesome Raggedy Ann cakes! I'm impressed Mamaw.

Oh yeah...I was even cool then, with my cowboy boots on. : )

Do you see me, Dasun, a combination?...
Let me know what you think.

Making Tutus!

I finally learned how to make tutus and couldn't wait to tell my friend Casey.
She is one of the girliest friends I have and I knew she'd be excited about making them too.

I made a black and pink tutu for Kennedy (which we are going to use in pictures later). We also made one for her new baby girl.

Here's a picture of her in her little tutu. hee hee : ) I love it!

Razorbacks, Paisleys, & Flowers

I have been having so much fun painting!
Here are a few of the latest canvases I've done:

Sweet Dreams

Woo Pig Sooie Razorback Canvas

This next one was painted for our new headmaster and his sweet wife. They just had a little girl right after moving here and starting the school year. Talk about busy!

This was painted for my friend Brandy Foshe's little girl Jordan.

Blessed Morning

I know I have written about how hard the age of 2 has been, but I am also enjoying it more than ever. The whining has gotten less, I have gotten better at diffusing bad situations before she loses it, and I am more able to see all of the good in her. This morning was such a blessed morning, from the time I went in to wake her up, 'til the time I laid her down for a nap. She's so sweet. She wants to repeat everything I say, help me around the house, sing songs and dance with me. I love being her momma.
Precious Lord...I sit here with tears in my eyes. I bow before you in thanks and adoration for all of the undeserved blessings you have laid at my feet. Thank you for allowing me mornings like this to truly ponder all that I have to be thankful for. My relationship with you first and foremost, my husband who chooses to love me even when I'm not very lovable, my beautiful daughter, my amazing parents, my family, friends that love me and all my quirks, the list in my head goes on. Thank you Father. You truly are a good Father that gives good gifts. May I remember this even when the road isn't as smooth as it's been today.

If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
Matthew 7:11

Project Door

Well, I just finished my biggest project to date. A few weeks ago I went to a baby shower for my friend Lydia and her mom was talking to me about a really neat decorating idea that she had. She had seen someone take a door, paint it, and hang it with piano hinges to the door frame (since piano hinges won't show). That way you can still open the door if need be, but it looks like a big piece of art work instead of a door. She wanted me to paint a copy of Blue Dog on it. For those of you who don't know about Blue Dog. It's apparently a very famous piece of Art by an artist named George Rodrigue. Well it looks very simple, but it wasn't as easy as I thought. First, I had to get the background down. Next, I had to draw the dog and make sure it was to scale which was probably the most difficult part (I had a tiny picture to reference and have never painted on something as huge as a door before). After that came all of the details and shading. It took me a pretty long time, but it was so fun and I think it turned out pretty well for an amateur. Lydia's momma seemed really happy with it, which is all that mattered to me.

Here's the door I painted:

Bedtime Antics

So...bedtime has been really interesting the last couple of weeks. To start off with, Kennedy has discovered that she can get out of her crib and back in without any help. Being that she's a night owl anyway, this doesn't help our situation. The child loves shoes, so for about 3 nights in a row she would get in and out of bed trying on her shoes. She will also take all of her books out of her bookcase, out them all in her bed, and just sit there reading all night. We have been leaving the door open a crack so that we can check on her to make sure she's in bed. We have had to add several new rules to the list now that she's discovered her new talent of escaping.
Last Sunday morning Dasun ran in and told me to come look at her.
This is what I found... ha!For some reason she's extremely fond of her black patent leather shoes. After the cold weather went away, I hid them, because she wanted to wear them everyday and it wasn't worth the struggle. Well...I guess she found them during her nightly adventures and fell asleep satisfied with her find. ha! I just love her so much. What laughter and joy she brings us!
Another thing that's funny is that she wants all three blankets around her when we lay her down. If she only has two of her big blankets, she'll say, "Nudder one blanket please."
One of my favorite thing she says right now is, "sing me a song momma". She does it every night before bed and also when we are driving in the car. I don't know why that's so precious to me, but I love it. I guess I know deep down that one of these days she'll be saying, "mom...stop singing you're embarrassing me," so I'll appreciate it while I can.
My favorite thing to sing to her is..

"Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, there's just something about that name,
Master, Savior, Jesus, like the fragrance after the rain,
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, let all heaven and earth proclaim,
Kings and kingdoms will all pass away,
but there's something about that name."

ABC's

I don't know exactly when she learned them, but the other day, she was singing and all of a sudden, she began singing the ABC's. She went all the way through and said them all in order. I have never heard her do that before or even be close. I was so proud of her. What a smart cookie! We don't even work on them. We just sing them every now and then when we are swinging or when we are in the car. She never ceases to amaze me with the things she's learning.

Lydia's Painting

This was the last painting I did for my sweet friend Lydia, who I don't see near enough. She told me black, white, and pink and wouldn't give me any other preferences or ideas. I kept asking her questions and she'd say, " I don't care...surprise me." To which I replied, "you're killin' me smalls!" I like being creative, but I also like knowing that I am doing what you want (your ideas, your tastes, etc...). That's Lydia though. She's so laid back compared to me. ha! Maybe that's why we get along so well. It turned out to be a really fun project and probably one of my favorites. It seems like so many of my friends are all due around the same time. My sister in law Jenny(who already has 2 boys) and my friend Casey are due as well. I did a canvas for Casey too. She wanted the same verse I did in Kennedy's room and it turned out cute as well.

Baby Marion, Baby Sarah , and Baby Josie will be joining us very soon and I can't wait to meet them all.

Sunshine & Barney..kennedy's songs

Kennedy loves singing. I heard her sing you are my sunshine the other day and just had to see if I could get it on video so I could share it. There is something about the way she says sunshine, that I find ridiculously cute. She watched Barney on AETN a couple of weeks ago and has been singing that song ever since. I don't care if it's Barney or not...it's a sweet song, and every time she sings it I get a hug and a kiss...Thank you Barney : ). In this video, she starts off singing You are my sunshine, get's a little distracted when she spills her water (we're painting) and then starts singing the Barney song (this one always seems to get louder as she goes...especially if we are in public). ha! It's a little choppy in places. because I had to cut it down to 100MB.
I apologize that you have to listen to me too. ha!

Ugh! It keeps posting sideways. If any of my brilliant friends know how to rotate this, that would be great. Until then, I guess this will have to do.

Hardy

We went to Hardy to visit Dasun's parents. We haven't seen them in approx. 6 months, so it was a much needed visit. We had a great time! Pop Pop came swimming with us. He's even stylish when going to the river. Kennedy loved swimming as always and didn't want to leave.

Nana let Kennedy play with some of her jewelry. Nana's house is a jewelry jackpot! She came into the room with bracelets all the way up both of her arms and tons of necklaces. She spent a great deal of the night taking the jewelry on and off. She wanted to let Bunny wear them too, so Pop Pop helped her. This was such a sweet moment. What is it about men doing things like this with little girls that just gets me.

She accidentally left her bunny and had been asking about it all the time. 2 year olds don't understand that you can't immediately fix everything. Today we received a wonderful package...a letter & bunny (complete with jewelry). She was so excited.
"WOW Mommy! Wow! Bunny! Look Momma!"
The next picture is of her playing with the jewelry Nana sent.
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A Shower for Casey

We had a little surprise shower for our friend Casey (pink shirt). She thought is was just a girl's night, which is fun in and of itself, but the gifts made it all the better. She isn't due until the end of August, but is hopeful that baby Sarah will arrive early (aren't all pregnant ladies hopeful of that). One of our friends Ashley, is turning into quite the seamstress. I am so impressed with her mad skills. : ) She made a blanket, a very cute diaper bag, and a "hooter hider"---All of which turned out wonderfully. I will definitely be using her services when we have another baby.

Vanessa & The Boys

Vanessa and the boys (Caleb & Luke) came down for a visit. The kiddos had such a good time playing together. They had the best time playing in the rain. Aunt Vanessa taught them how to fill up bowls from the water spout and then throw it. Kennedy may love purses, jewelry, and shoes, but she can run with the boys too. She's such a trooper. I don't mind some "girliness", and even think it's cute, but I also want her to be fun and tough. She definitely is. We went to Locomotion and she rode the go carts with me (& wasn't even scared) and she loved the bumper boats. She loves putting on capes with the boys and running around the house like a superhero. Her favorite thing to do though...wrestling.

Playing with the hose!

*If you are wondering why her mouth is blue, that is thanks to her Meme giving her a blue raspberry ring pop which she savored all the way 'til the plastic center. : )
Dasun's fun new toy. ..The Rocket Launcher! Dasun came home one day with a new toy he found and was so excited to try it. I laughed, because I can always count on him to come home from wal-mart with candy or a toy, but I have to admit that it's really cool. It hooks to your house and has an actual lever that you use to launch the rocket. It was so cool, that we decided to get one for Luke's Birthday present. Needless to say, they loved it and played with it for the rest of the evening.

Missing Nanna & Pop Pop

I looked over and saw her sitting and looking at a picture of Dasun's mom and dad. It was so sweet. I am so thankful I was able to get a picture of it. We don't get to see them very often, but we get to go see them in a couple weeks and are so excited to spend some time with them.

29!

Well folks...I turned 29 today! I don't know why, but 29 sounds so much older than 28. I know it's not old, but I do feel a bit older. ha! I got to spend all day with my mom and sister just piddling around town...going to antique stores, flea markets, and little shops. We were trying to remember the last time we have been able to do that and came up with about 6 or 7 years ago. It was long overdue and totally worth another birthday. We finished off the day having a big family dinner that was incredible (Thanks mom!), and spent some wonderful time with family. I also got a lot of phone calls and e-mails from sweet friends that I love very much. Thanks everyone! I am so thankful to have so many great friends...what a blessing.

Camping Fun

We went camping this last weekend. It was Kennedy's 1st time to go camping and it was also our first time to use our new roomier tent. She loved every bit of it and even helped us gather sticks for the fire. By the looks of Kennedy's sweaty little curls around her face, you can tell it was a bit warm, but we had an awesome time!

I got this sweet picture after waking up. I looked over and saw Kennedy sleeping and didn't want to forget that sweet little face.

We also went swimming while we were there. Kennedy had such a great time. She is a little fish. She wears a life jacket, but can swim by herself. Even when she goes under water, she just comes back up, coughs, and keeps on swimming. I'm so proud of her : ).

Two Much Emotion : )

Hello all- I decided to write a little about the craziness of the last few weeks. I told you before about the "wonderful" time we had trying to take family pictures and how surprised I was by K's behavior. Well, much to my delight (sense the sarcasm) it has continued. I was watching Jon and Kate + 8 today, a show I've been told about but have never seen. The mother was talking about one of her children either being completely lovely or stubborn. I could totally relate. When it's good, it's really good(She has the best manners, such a thankful heart, and is so much fun), but when it's bad, it's pretty bad. Today she decided she wanted yogurt for breakfast, then changed her mind as soon as I opened it. I told her we were still going to eat it because mommy already opened it...she burst into tears. Then I took a bite and she said, "Don't you not eat my yogurt momma" (with a sassy tone) ---Indecisive, joyful, oppositional, sad, & sassy... and this was only in the 1st 15 minutes of our day. ha! She's super emotional. She's either joyfully happy, breaking down into tears, or throwing a fit and you can never tell what is going to happen next. She is also very opinionated and is constantly changing her mind about what she wants. I kept thinking, maybe she's just tired, hungry, or any other excuses to make myself feel hopeful that this wasn't going to continue. I am sure all of you experienced parents can relate to denial. ha! I knew we'd run into "phases," but was secretly hoping that we'd skip them all together. ha! I think I am finally admitting to myself that we are in uncharted waters and are probably going to be here for a while. AHHH! I looked up terrible twos on the internet tonight and began to feel a little bit better as I read the words that described the type of behavior I have been seeing as not only normal, but good and necessary. There's something about knowing that, that gives you a little extra patience and sanity. Mom's are constantly feeling like we are supposed to have everything together and often feel a sense of failure when our kids act ugly. We're so hard on ourselves! Truth be told...I am glad she has personality. I wouldn't want her to be a robot by any means, but that doesn't mean I have to like the process. :~) For now I am going to try my best to empathize with her when she's frustrated or sad and try to teach her how to better handle all these emotions she's having. That doesn't mean I am going to give in when she acts up, but I also don't want to act like an iron-fisted ruler with no care for her feelings on the matter. I am going to try to be patient, knowing that this is all new and hard for her too and I am going to pray that the Lord would graciously give me wisdom in all of this (and I'd appreciate yours too if you have a second).
Here's the site for those of you that want to read it: http://www.drgreene.com/21_556.html

Proud Parents...ha!

We are so proud...for some reason our daughter likes putting toilet seats on her head. The first one is the little cushy seat she decorated for our potty, but never uses and the next picture is the little camping potty we ordered. We had just received it in the mail and as soon as it was out of the box...on the head it goes. I can't wait to tell her this when she gets older. I am sure she'll be as proud as we are. ha!

WE ARE POTTY TRAINED!!!

Yeah! We tried a new approach that's very positive and relaxed (thanks Lora Jenson) and have been potty training for the last 3 1/2 days. No stress, just staying at home and working on it. On day one I had her throw out her diapers (so we couldn't get frustrated and give up) and then she got to open up her brand new big girl panties. After that it was practice, lots of praise, and reminders to tell me when she needed to go. I think my expectations were much more realistic than last time, which helped me have a ton more patience. I asked a few of my friends to be praying with us and boy did God answer our prayers. I couldn't have asked for this week to have gone better. I have a very stubborn child, so to be potty trained in 3-4 days is a miracle...I know because I've tried with her before. Today we have had no accidents and the only time I took her, was in the morning after she got up and right after her nap. She told me all the other times when she needed to go potty (1&2)! She's been waking up with dry panties in the morning too! Praise the Lord!!!! Please pray that it continues to go this well! : )

Family Picture Fun

My sister's sweet family got us a sitting a Bedford's for Kennedy's birthday. We have tried to schedule the pictures before, but Kennedy kept getting injured and we'd have to reschedule (yes...she has her mother's grace ha! ). We finally had our pictures taken Tuesday night and it was pretty crazy. Kennedy woke up on the wrong side of the bed after her nap. She was super emotional about everything! Dasun and I kept looking at each other like "what in the world?" She is normally such a fun and happy girl. She did okay during the family pictures (although every time the photographer would ask her to move she would break down again), but then when we tried her individual shots and she was not having it. She bawled almost the whole time. I don't know if she was scared to sit by herself or what (the room was pretty dark). I was so frustrated. After we left, she was fine. We went to go get something to eat and she was laughing and playing. I sarcastically said, "Oh, you're in a good mood now, Good timing." She turned to Dasun and said, "I had good timing daddy." We couldn't help but laugh. We got our pictures back today and when I came to the crying pictures I started giggling (at least I can laugh about it now). I'm glad we got all of the memories on film. I am including a progression below for your laughing pleasure. Stressful or not, I am thankful for these sweet pictures. Oddly enough, I think the crying pictures are some of my favorites.

Awesome Wonders

Sunday we were driving home from church and saw an awesome cloud. It went up instead of out and looked as if it were a castle. I have looked int the sky a million times throughout my life and am always blown away by the beauty of it and the way it's always changing. When we got home Dasun and Kennedy headed out to play and he came in to tell me that a similar cloud was outside. We were so excited to get a picture of it. It always amazes me to think, that even the most brilliant painters, can only try to copy God's creation...hoping to make it look as breath taking as the original.
What an awesome God we serve...loving, merciful, just, solid, and definitely creative.

"The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands."
Psalm 19:1

Bubble Fun!

Our friend Jane got to come over to play with us and spend the night. The girls had such a good time splashing in the pool and catching bubbles. They were so cute :)

curly sue

For those of you who ask me if Kennedy has my curly hair...here are some pictures for you. After she sleeps it gets a little crazy (like her momma's), so we usually have to put it up. These were taken about an hour after her bath. The 2nd one is a little blurry, due to the fact that she's 2 and almost never sits still...ha! When her hair is wet it goes midway down her back, but after it dries a little it curls up to right below her shoulders.

8 years!

Dasun and I celebrated our 8th anniversary this June. We were so excited because Dasun won a certificate for dinner for two at Ella's restaurant and a night stay at Carnall Hall. We arrived at dinner only to find out that we wouldn't be ordering. One of Dasun's friends is a chef at Ella's and he had already prepared what he wanted us to have. Needless to say, I was a bit nervous about what we were going to be eating. Luckily he came out and checked the menu he prepared with us. Most of the things were items we would never have ordered on our own, but everything was wonderful. It was the fanciest dining experience either of us have ever had. It was 5 courses and everything was so beautifully prepared. It was almost like going on an adventure, never knowing what was next, trying new things, etc... We had a great time and got to spend the next day together as well! Boy...8 years...we have learned so much in that time. God has definitely used us to sharpen each other. It's been a wonderful and sometimes painful process, but by God's grace, we love each other more than ever. I feel so blessed to have a man who is still so loving and fun to be around after all of these years. I look forward to many more. : )

Artsy Craftsy Fun

I have been having so much fun this summer. I
love actually having time to be creative. I started to do growth charts on my website, thanks to a request from my friend Betsy. It's so fun for kiddos to be able to see how much they've grown. I hope people like them as much as we do.

I also did a couple of scenic paintings for my parents for Mother's Day and Father's Day. I usually don't do paintings like that (and my lack of training doesn't help ha!), I prefer doing more fun and whimsical paintings, but I wanted to do something special for them. As a parent, I find myself much more appreciative of my mom and dad...their love, their sacrifices, etc...

I started back knitting too (mostly to see if I still remembered how) and I am trying to knit a blanket right now. It's taking a whole lot longer than I thought it would. I haven't been getting much sleep as a result...ha! I'll post a picture whenever I finish it. The other pictures are on my website.
I recently changed a few things so it wouldn't take so long to load (or at least I hope).

Zoo

We went to the Tulsa Zoo this weekend with some good friends of ours that we don't get to see much anymore. On our way, the rain starting pouring down and it didn't look like it was going to let up. We got to the zoo and decided to eat lunch in the car and hoped it would let up by the time we finished. As we were eating it rained less and less and by the time we finished it had completely stopped. Thank you Lord! We go to see lots of neat animals and had the best time!

ABC's & 123's

Kennedy loves learning (as long as she doesn't have to sit still to do it ha!). Here are a few things she's doing right now:

-She has been counting to 10 and a few numbers after that for a long time. I love the way she starts out with a normal voice and then starts yelling the higher she gets. She's not a quiet child. ha!
-She knows 2 bible verses so far
"Children Obey your parents, in the Lord, for this is right." Ephesians 6:1
"Chiln bay yo pants, in the Lawd, fo DIS IS WITE!
(We say Ephesians)Sic: uh one"
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart." Matt. 22:37
"Love yo God wif all yo hot. (We say Matthew) 22:?7"
-She just recently started singing her ABC's and being more interested in letters all together. I asked her to sing her ABC's to Dasun the other day and she said...
"ABCDEFGHI...YOU USE THE POTTY.... YEAH!"
The latter part is from one of her favorite movies Elmo's Potty Time. It was so funny! She sang it with everything she had. Dasun and I couldn't help but crack up when it happened. She was so proud.

Other than that, she has been talking up a storm. We had to go help out at the U of A for a study they were doing and I had to check off all the words she has said so far. I don't think I realized how many words she knew until then. Anything you say can and will be repeated. I am so glad I don't cuss, because I'm sure I would have slipped up by now. She randomly said, "Nice to meet you" to my friend Jessica as she left the other day. When Jessica said it was nice to meet her too and told her she loved her, she said "I lu you too" and gave her a hug and a kiss. She also loves to say "Oh my", "Dat's so cute!", "Hands are derby" (one of our favorites), "yeah, Okay, Me too!", "No tank you pease", etc... I am sure you know I could go on and on. : )

If I had to describe her, I would say she's very sweet with a ton of personality and a pinch of sass. She is so fun to be around and even on harder days (we all have them), I lay down with a smile as I think about her. I feel so blessed to get to be around her everyday...Thank you so much Lord. Thank you for reminding me of your goodness through this child!

Throwing in the towel : )

Ha! Well...we kind of threw in the towel today. After a week we were making no progress and we were both miserable. 5 days of non-stop potty-training, checking for dry pants, cleaning up messes, and tears. My friend Casey that was an early childhood major, said "If it's that hard, she's probably not ready...take off a few weeks or so and then give it another try. She said that she did that 2 times with her daughter and on their last try it was very easy because she was ready. I was really worried about stopping after I started, but also worried about sticking with it (since she was literally bawling every time she had to go potty- even though I was pulling out all the bells and whistles trying to make it fun). I feel okay about waiting another month or two. I'll keep you updated as we go.

The Potty Training Begins : )

Today we began the new adventure of potty training! I was a bit nervous, but hopeful. I am not going to go back and forth. I think she's ready, so we are going to stick to our guns now that we've started. I think her personality needs that consistency. We used the method in which you have the child help you teach a doll first, lots of encouragement, treats, and practice when an accident occurs. She was mostly excited about the new doll and wanted to play with "baby" all day long. Overall, today was a long day, but went really well. She is not potty-trained "in a day", but I didn't expect that. I had never really given much thought to how much new knowledge has to be attained during this process...walk to the potty, pull your pants down, climb up to the potty, sit down far enough back for the pee pee to go in, wiping, flushing, pulling back up the pants, etc.... It's a lot to take in. She has the whole process down (and can do it all without help) after day one. I was so proud of her. Now we just have to work on actually going when she needs to, instead of continuing to play. I can't blame her at all. Not only has she been doing it that way for 25 months, but she also has a mother who waits to the last minute as well. : ) I am hoping tomorrow will go even better.

Last Day of School!

We had a fun last day of school today. We met in the class for a little bit, cleaned the roomed, passed out gifts, and had a few more minutes together before the field day started. We weren't sure we were going to get to have it, because rain was predicted all week long. Praise the Lord for holding back the rain! When we got to the party there was a band playing called VIVIT. Most of the students in the band were from Providence and I was so impressed. They were really good! We ate pizza, played relay games, got our faces painted, and ate snow cones (despite how cold it was outside). : ) The last day of school is always a little bittersweet for me...I'm excited about the summer and the end of work, but sad to say goodbye to my kiddos. I was glad to have one last fun day with them. I am so thankful for a wonderful year...great children, awesome parents, great faculty, a wonderful Kindergarten teacher to work with...thank you Lord.

Playing with Jane

Today we got to play with our friend Jane all day! It was a beautiful day and both girls wanted to play outside. We were outside for most of the day. They were so cute playing together and taking turns. Kennedy loves Jane so much!

Kindergarten Graduation

My sweet Kindergartners graduated tonight! They were so cute in their outfits. I can't believe it's already time for them to graduate. For some reason this year went by extremely fast!
*side note: Last year at this time...Kennedy was taking her 1st steps. : )

Good Girl Daddy!

Well, we have been introducing Kennedy to going potty for a little while. We aren't going to really potty train until I get done with teaching and can be home consistently. That said, Dasun was going potty this morning. Kennedy came in asked him if he was going potty and said "Read to you Daddy?" Then when he finished she said, "Good girl!" ha! Dasun came out and said, "Kennedy just told me I was a good girl for going potty." I just cracked up. I love kids!

Kennedy's 2nd Birthday

Kennedy's Mimi found this ladybug outfit for her ladybug party. It was so precious, that we had to wear it despite the red and black icing. : )

We had a few problems getting the cake lit and keeping it lit, but we weren't about to complain about the wind on such a gorgeous day! It had rained almost everyday the week before. Praise the Lord for beautiful weather on her birthday! Another reason we were thankful for the sun was that we got her a swing set for her birthday and were so glad she could play on it. She keeps going to the back door and asking to go to "the park." We are all sunburned from pushing her on the swing morning, noon, and night. ha!

Everyone had such a good time at the party...even the big kids. We played volleyball, dug in the sand, blew bubbles, played with sidewalk chalk, etc... We didn't even make it over to the playground equipment.

We had such a wonderful day! Thank you to everyone who came or called. We feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family! We love you all so much!

Kennedy's 1st Easter Egg Hunt

Kennedy had her first real Easter Egg hunt on Easter this year. She did so well. I thought for sure, that she'd find her first egg and want to open it right away. We talked about how when we find it, we're supposed to put it in our basket to open later and she did such a great job.

Easter Bunnies

Kennedy got to take a picture with real bunnies. My friend Amy was watching Kennedy for me and surprised me with these sweet pictures when I came to get Kennedy. What a precious gift!

Day with GG

Kennedy and I went to visit my grandma (her GG). They have so much fun together. I finally remembered to bring my camera this time and captures some really sweet memories. Kennedy always gives her kisses and hugs, talks on her phone, and loves getting tickled by her GG. It's amazing how alive my grandmother comes when Kennedy's is around her. Most of the time she just sits, but as soon as Kennedy gets there, she's back to her ornery self (chasing , tickling, laughing, etc...). I love it!

Snow Day #2

Kennedy had a blast. I think the first snow day broker her in, because she was having a ball this time. She was trying to make snowballs and trying to throw them at us. She'd end up just hitting us with her snow covered hand, but thought she was getting us really good. She would crack up. It was so fun to watch her play and have fun!
We made some snow ice cream : ). We were out of vanilla, so we made chocolate. It was pretty tasty if I do say so myself. ha! I had several bowls and a few ice cream head aches.

Princess Leia Hair

Well...we had another bout of sickness and on one particular day, Kennedy wanted to be by my side every minute, which I loved. My independent child doesn't doesn't do that often. : ) She asked if she could watch a movie and I asked her if she wanted to sit on my lap. She said "no dank you mama," but then she stood there leaning up against me through the whole movie. I just happened to have the camera sitting beside me and I got to capture the sweet little head I was looking at. I am so in love with this child! She is getting more ornery, but she is also so sweet and so fun.

My Old Overalls

My mom found my old overalls the other day. I can still remember the day my grandma took me to the store to buy them. I thought it was big stuff. We decided to try them on Kennedy. They fit perfect and she looked adorable. I wish you could see her front, but she wasn't into taking any pictures. : ) Her hair is getting so long. You'd never know it because of the curls, but it goes half way down her back when it's wet. Let's just hope she doesn't have a fro like her momma when she gets older. ha!

Kennedy's Cousins Came

Krys (Dasun's brother), Jenny, Stone, & Aiden came to visit us in February. They had so much fun playing on the pullout sofa bed and were pretty sad to get off and go to bed. We had a great visit. We got to paint some canvases for the boy's room, go shopping, and celebrate Uncle Kry's birthday.

SNOW DAY!

We may not have gotten a ton of snow, but it was enough to get us out of school and get us outside to play in the snow. We had a great time throwing snowballs and stomping in the snow. Everything is more fun with kiddos around to make everything so new & exciting. : )

flu

Kennedy and I were lucky enough to come down with the flu this year. No...I didn't get the flu shot...should-uh-could-uhs. We both had temps of about 104 and felt pretty stinky. It's so hard to see them feel so horrible. Thankfully it provided us with lots of cuddle time, which is usually pretty rare with my busy gal.

Making Cookies...yumm!

Kennedy and I made cookies, but she spent most of her time eating the dough as I tried to put them on the cookie sheet. She was cracking me up!

New Years Eve!

We got to go dancing for New Years Eve with our friends Kyle and Shannon. We learned a few dances, laughed a ton, and had an awesome night!

Christmas

We had a great time with both sides of the family. The kiddos seemed to have the most fun just playing with each other. It was such a blessing to see everyone.

Christmas Dress

Oh my goodness! From the pretty dress & purse her grandmas got her to the wrinkly tights...I squeezed the poor child to death. We went to church with my family. She got to go to big church with us and did really well. She was a little lady. : ) What a blessing!

First Ponytail!

Kennedy's hair is finally able to go up in a ponytail. It's actually really long, but it's so curly that it's hard to keep up. I have never thought the back of someone's head was this beautiful...sweet little neck. : )