January Full of Excitement!

We have had a busy month this January. It was Kendra's 8th birthday (see previous post). My in-laws came for a fun visit. We took the time to go to Disney.... what an adventure. The Jungle Cruise is more fun at night but not recommended for kids with glasses. Kendra was suddenly scared of the plastic animals in the dimly lit forest, and jumped into my lap. With the cold weather, I was sporting a thick winter jacket. The following happened in SLOW MOTION.... her face hit my arm, the glasses hooked onto my jacked, my arm went up to make room for her head, her glasses snapped off her face, my arm went on the top of our seats, over the side, and KERPLUNK, her glasses fell into the dark, merky waters of the Jungle Cruise. It is not likely that we will see them again. Did the insurance cover them, NOPE, only covers broken glasses not lost glasses. I explained that they were not lost, just unretrievable, but to no avail. Here is the last known picture of Kendra with her first pair of Barbie glasses in line for the Jungle Cruise Ride.



$198 bucks later, Kendra is sporting a new pair of Barbie framed glasses!



Jerome finished his first ever official science project, Dinosaur Water in 2010. He received a 100% on this project, and really enjoyed it. Lowell was the photographer, and Jerome and I worked on the research and development. Here he is with final presentation.



Lowell and I celebrated 10 years of marriage in December, but we officially celebrated with a Disney Cruise in late January. It was great. Grandma took the kids (THANK YOU GRANDMA) and Lowell and I loved our time away. We visited Atlantis like we did 9 years ago on our 1 year anniversary cruise. It was a nice long weekend cruise!

Princess Kendra Turns 8

Click here to view this photo book larger

Kendra Got Glasses!

Kendra was so excited today to learn that her new glasses had arrived! She has waited so long to have them! It was so cute to hear her when we picked them out. She had questions, like "How do you think I look in this pair, okay this pair, okay this pair?" and my favorite, "Excuse me, which of these pairs come with a pink case?" It was adorable. I think it was the hearts on the side that sold this pair. :)

I Love You By Kendra

We went to DisneyQuest tonight. While Lowell was playing video games with the boys, Kendra and I went to the song maker. I told her that we weren't going to buy our song like we did last year, but that she could make the song all by herself.... Here are the lyrics she wrote (they pick from 10 choices for each line, and then add a line of their own vocals to the finished product).

I Love You... by Kendra

I declare today Mother's day

There's something I want to say

You brought out the adult in me

And were loving when I needed you to be

And you never let me go astray

Mom, I love you

For the loving home you made

Mom, I love you

For the money you gave

Without you, I don't know what I would do

Mom, I love you

Mom, you're the best of the best

You're more loving than the rest

Because of you I'm happier than most

I don't mean to be too grandiose, but

Thanks to you I feel truly blessed

Mom, I love you

For everything you got me

Mom, I love you

For the lessons you taught me

You always cheer me up when I am blue

Mom, I love you

(In Kendra's voice) I love you, Mommy

I'm so glad that I was raised by you

Mom, I love you

Did I buy a copy, YOU BET I DID!!

I nearly cried the entire time she was picking out the lyrics... She said to me, are you happy mom? Blessed I told her, very very blessed!

Happy Birthday!

Kendra turns 7! We had a family birthday party with cousin Kaitlyn who turned 4 this week.

Kendra is so grown up! She is taking cupcakes into her class, and having a pottery painting party with the bobble head dogs I bought for her classmates to paint. My baby is growing into such a nice young lady. Stay tuned for pics from her class party.

Wishing and Hoping

Life on a Saturday evening is so much fun. Especially when your dad thinks you are old enough to use the lawn mower! Kendra has waited patiently for her turn with the lawn mower for the past 2 years. Jerome frequently is able to help dad with most of the yard, and Kevin has been mowing the back yard starting this summer. But Kendra, has been running around the yard wishing and hoping that she could have a turn with the lawn mower. This weekend the big day had arrived and she was able to "circle" the back yard once with the lawn mower and her daddy at her side. She was so excited!

We had spent the day at Sea World with Grandma while daddy was at work. Much fun was had at the park, and great excitement could be heard waiting for the Shamu show as Grandma had bought new books about polar bears.... "Did you know......" and "Wow!".... could be heard for the entire 30 min wait. We had a great time and enjoyed the "not as hot" weather as it is finally starting to not be 6 million degrees outside (only a small exaggeration!). Daddy is now on day shift and we LOVE it! Oh the difference of a two parent family each and every evening!

I started to only do the essential laundry each week, and let the kids actually wear some of the other clothes in the closet. This has given me much extra time, and now I only do "all" of a child's laundry when they run out of other outfits. For the boys this means that I only wash pj's, socks, underwear, and shorts weekly. When they run out of clean shirts, then I wash all of their clothes. For Kendra I only wash the undergarments as she has way too many outfits (one month later and we still have clean clothes to wear!) But I must say that I do not buy all of the clothes as we play "pass around" with several other families with older and younger kids. This had lead to a full closet, but now I smile as I still don't have to do the laundry for her yet. Mom said that I'll die a dreadful laundry death when it comes time to do the mountain of laundry she has... but that will be for another weekend!

We have a busy week ahead.... Jerome has 2 days of speech therapy, Kevin has an allergy appointment and there is Cici's Pizza Night for the elementary school. I am sure I'll make it to the end of the week, but likely it is to feel like a long week.