These Boots Were Made for Walkin'

Karsyn found Landrie's old Cowgirl boots. They have been her newest accessory for the last few days. "Look at me, Mommy!" is her constant cry.

Ta-Da

Jennisa did such an awesome job and was able to turn my crazy vision into a work of art.


If you're interested in a re-design or just starting out, Jennisa's designs are so clever and fun and very reasonable. From the time we started working on it to now was less than 1 week! WOW! She does have a waiting list, but as you can tell - it's definitely worth the wait.

Thanks Jennisa! I absolutely love it! Thanks Lolly for this fun and unique birthday gift!!

Coming Soon...

A new blog design! Courtesy of Lolly & Jennisa at Once Upon a Blog!

Until the big reveal, here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure:

The hunt is on! Karsyn didn't have a clue last year. She did better this year, but still needed help.

The girls LOVE candy! I heard Landrie in the kitchen saying "this chocolate is good." I found her eating a giant easter egg. Yuck!

Another attempt at a family picture. Notice Lamar in his pink shirt - very handsome!

Crazy Cousins - minus Hayden + a friend of the Gainers. It's always a circus when we're all together, but so much fun!

Karsyn decided the fork was taking too much time. She decided the 2 fisted approach works much better. I guess she's practicing for her birthday on Saturday.

Get excited for my new blog! I can't wait for it to be up and running!

Boring is a Good Thing

I haven't posted recently because I haven't had anything excting to post about. That can be a good and a bad thing I guess. I'm going to consider it a blessing... So many people have much more hectic lives and so much hanging in the balance all the time. I feel blessed to have a family who loves me, healthy little girls and a job I love. I'll take that kind of boring over life and death excitement any day!

Happy Easter

Then the angel spoke to the women. "Don't be afraid!" he said. "I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He isn't here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying. And now, go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and he is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there. Remember what I have told you."

Matthew 28:5-7

American Idol - Top 12 Wrap-up

I really like the Beatles, but I just didn't think it was too "hot" last night. I was really surprised by all of the judges' reactions to the songs. I do think it must sound different live than it does through the TV because I just didn't get it.

Sayesha - She was just OK. She's usually really good, but she seemed nervous today.

Chikezie - He was GREAT! He really came out of his shell and entertained. You could tell he was proud of himself. The judges really liked him too. I'm sure he'll be around next week.

Ramiele - Let's just say-we fast-forwarded through her performance. Boring! She's good though and will be around for a little longer

Jason - Good, but a little boring. I'm not sure how much longer he'll stay in.

Carly - the judges love her, but I'm on the fence. I really would have expected Amanda to sing that song rather than her.

David Cook - Pretty good. He's growing on me, but I'm not sure how versatile he is. We'll see what he can do in the next round.

Brooke - She is my favorite, but I have a hard time seeing her as the "idol" type. The judges like her, so I think that will work in her favor for a little longer. I do believe she is very genuine and a good girl.

David Hernandez - way too over the top this week. I'm losing interest in him, but he'll make it to the top 10.

Amanda - I'm just not a fan. She does the rocker-girl thing well, but I don't think she could sing anything else. You can't understand a thing she sings either.

Michael - he disappointed me this week. Just a boring performance. He'll go through to next week, but if he doesn't come out next week with a BANG he'll go home.

Kristi - She's just trying way too hard and it's not working for her. The country thing was overdone this week.

David Archuletta - Poor kid! He was so nervous he forgot the lyrics. I felt really sorry for him. Hopefully the voters did too, otherwise he might be going home.

Bottom 3:
Kristi
David A.
David H.

Going Home - Kristi

Celebrate Good Times - Come On!

The last 10 days have been full of celebrations. It started off with Jordan and I going to see Matchbox 20 in concert. That was my Christmas present from Jordan! It was an awesome show and we had great food before hand - Pappadeaux.

The week continued with my birthday (eeek - 28, ouch!). Lamar and I celebrated on Thursday night at La Hacienda.

Jordan and I celebrated her birthday on Friday night at the Melting Pot.

Last night, Jordan, Pops and I celebrated again by attending a concert for a singer/songwriter (Verlon Thompson) that we've followed for a long time. After the show, we made our ritual trip to Starbucks. While we were there, he walked in! My dad was on Cloud 9!! It was so fun to watch his reaction and to hear Verlon answer all of the questions he had. He is such a genuinely nice person. It was a fun night!

Finally, today is Jordan's birthday. So although she and I have celebrated her birthday, I haven't had my official family birthday meal. We are having brunch at Blue Mesa and I can't wait!

My celebrations will continue next weekend when Janelle comes home and we go for a visit with Gigi & Grandpa. It's just a little bit too crazy - as we like to tell Landrie, but I love it! As you can see, all of our celebrations revolve around food. Maybe that's why I have some extra weight to lose! I'll work on it again next week...after all, I'm still celebrating!

Happy Birthday Jor! There's not anyone else I'd rather share my birthday week with!!

Idol Boys Top 8

Wow...very interesting this week.

1. Luke - liked the song, but he's just not going to cut it. He's out this week.
2. David A - weird song choice for him, but he's still really, really good. Top 2?
3. Danny - Gross me out! I could spend an entire post on him, but I won't. He'll make it to the top 4 though I'm afraid.
4. David H - weird to sing Celine, but it was good. I'm a little grossed out by his past profession though. Look at TMZ website for more info.
5. Michael Johns - AMAZING! Definitely my favorite. Top 3, but won't win.
6. David Cook - I like him, but I just can't picture him winning. Cool arrangement of the song though! Pretty impressive.
7. Jason - loved the song. His best performance so far.
8. Chickeze - I love him, but I'm thinking he's out this week. Seems to "old" for Idol.

Bottom line: Luke for sure and I'm not sure about #2...Danny (I hope), but unfortunately, I think Chickeze is out.

Landrie didn't watch and I'm glad. Danny is just too gross for words!

Crazy Texas Weather

Who would believe that I took thesee pictures on Saturday:

(yes - you do see both girls cooperating for a picture - amazing, I know!)

And these tonight.

Still half-asleep

Throwing a snowball at me!

It's snowing - IN March!


Jor came over for dinner tonight. When she was leaving around 7:45, it was just barely snowing. I was shocked when Lamar called at 9 to say it looked like a "blizzard" (for Texas anyway). I looked outside and knew that Landrie had to see it.


She is always talking about the snow and wanting to build a snowman and throw snowballs! She had been asleep for maybe 30 minutes, but I decided to wake her up anyway. I carried her to the living room, put on her Hello Kitty slippers and a hoodie and she finally woke up. Once we got outside, she was thrilled!

When Lamar got home, he decided Karsyn needed to join in the excitement too. He carried her outside in her PJs and she just stared at the snow. I'm not sure she knew what to expect at all.



I know it seems crazy to wake them up, but tomorrow's supposed to be 60 degrees and I wanted to make sure they saw the snow. Luckily it paid off and they both went to sleep right away dreaming of a White March.

Idol Results Week 2

The Idol girls didn't excite me much this week at all, in fact - I fell asleep right after Brooke White sang. She's really good, but for the most part the girls just don't do much for me. The judges keep surprising me by calling this the best season ever. I just don't get it.

As for the results, my picks were

1. Jason Yeager
2. Luke Menard
3. Alexandrea
4. Amanda - rocker chick

I was 2 for 4. The rocker chick is good, but she can only sing rock. I don't think she'll last after next week. Luke looks like he should be singing on a cruise ship. He has a great voice, but definitely not the "Idol" type. And - did you see Danny crying at the end? Give me a break! Surely he'll be gone next week. Landrie would be disappointed, but Lamar will be singing a hallelujah chorus.

For Gigi & Janelle - I took some video and pics of the girls today. Hopefully, I can get them posted this weekend. The girls were doing the Chicken Dance---hilarious!

You know you're a coach's wife if...

...You plan the delivery of your children around your coaching schedule.

Landrie was due on October 5, 2003--right in the middle of football season. Luckily though that weekend was a Bye Week for Lamar and the P-W Pirates. After much discussion with the doctor, I convinced her that it would be more convenient if we could induce that weekend, especially since she would be on call that weekend and we could have all of our family present.

And the family made their presence known...I believe there were close to 30 people in the waiting room while I delivered!

I went in on Friday night and 26 miserable hours later, sweet Landrie was born. Earlier on Saturday, when they broke my water, there was meconium in my fluid so they were concerned she was under stress. The doctor was prepared and there were NICU nurses standing by as I delivered. Landrie was grey and limp and didn't cry at all. It was the scariest moment of my life. The nurses worked on her for what seemed like forever, and she began to cry and "pink" up. Her first Apgar was a 2, the second a 8-9. Dr. B never could determine what the problem was, but thankfully Landrie suffered no effects from the delivery.

God was watching over us all that day - She truly is my miracle girl!

Look for more installments of "You know you're a coach's wife" - Coming Soon

American Idol - Week 2 Boys

After last week's AI, Landrie has had a new imaginary friend--Danny. It seems that every where we go, she's talking to him or about him. Yuck! She has even dubbed him the "new Sanjaya".

Tonight, we bathed the girls and put them to bed, but once Danny came on Lamar let her come out to hear him sing. Honestly, he wasn't as bad as last week, but I still CAN'T stand him. She was thrilled though and went to bed a very happy little girl.

My top 3:
David Hernandez - just a good entertainer
Michael Johns - not as good as last week, but still a favorite
David Archeletta - "Imagine" was great, but I was surprised that the judges thought so too.

Bottom 3:
Luke Menard - good singer, but not the "idol" type
Danny - see above
Jason (not w/ dreads) - just average

The girls definitely have big competition with the boys. Can they do it? We'll see tomorrow.

American Idol - Week 1 Boys

We are loyal AI fans. We are always waiting for the new season to come out and we watch every episode. We don't let Landrie watch the auditions part because we don't want her to see the really bad people who are made fun of, so her first episode was last night.

She always likes the boys better than the girls, so she was very excited to watch last night. She also has very unique taste in the singers. Lamar and I liked the "normal" ones - like David Hernandez and Michael Johns. Landrie, on the other hand, thought Danny was the greatest! In fact, she spent today imitating him and talking to him as her imaginary friend. She also commented to Lolly about how he makes Daddy sick because he wears girl pants. Oops! I guess we're going to have to watch what we say around her.

I predict that Garrett Haley and Luke Menard go home on Thursday.

I'm excited to see the girls tonight! We'll see what interesting comments Landrie has for us - I'll report back tomorrow!

My Babies are Growing!

Last night I went to check on the girls one final time, and couldn't believe how BIG Karsyn looked in her bed.


How did she go from this...





To this...




She is such a ball of fire and a bundle of energy. I just can't get enough of her sweet smile and little words that she learns each day.



Landrie is such a little girl now...any trace of baby is long gone.




I think I'm growing nostalgic as Karsyn's 2nd birthday approaches. It's hard to believe that she will be 2 in less than 2 months, and Landrie will be 4 1/2. Time has really flown by! Both girls are such blessings! Who could ask for more?

Happy Heart Day!

This morning started off VERY early. Lamar jumped out of bed at 4:40 this morning! He heard something and saw the light come on in the kitchen. Landrie was wide awake eating Skittles at the kitchen table! We sent her back to bed and thankfully fell back asleep. Usually, if I wake up in the middle of the night it takes at least an hour to fall back asleep again.

Landrie's sleep habits have been very interesting lately. She's almost 4 1/2 and she still takes a nap almost every afternoon. If she doesn't have a nap, she's a bear to be around, but if she does have a nap, she wakes up in the middle of the night. I think the nap is going to have to go - hopefully we can all handle that (you too Lolly!).

Lamar and I exchanged Valentines this morning once we got up for real. For me, cute coupons and the movie "No Reservations". For him, new running shoes.

We woke the girls up with their Valentines too. Karsyn opened her present all by herself (a first) and had a priceless reaction. She got such a surprised look on her face and then yelled "Oh Gosh"! I wish I had my video camera!

Landrie wasn't as thrilled - she handed Karsyn her Beanie Baby Bear and asked if there were any more presents! What am I going to do with her?? :)

We're having a very low-key night. Lamar had a softball tournament today, so I'm going to pick up Macaroni Grill courtesy of Lolly and Gigi and we'll have a quiet dinner at home after the girls go to bed.

I hope everyone had a wonderful, love-filled day!!

4 Things Meme

Lolly and Brea both tagged me for this meme. I have NO IDEA who to tag because they're my only real life friends that blog, and 2 of my 3 regular readers. Oh well...here goes:

4 Jobs I've Had:
1. Chick-fil-A cashier & Doodles the Chicken
2. File clerk for an eye doctor
3. Marketing for a motorcycle manufacturer
4. Teacher

4 Movies Watched Over and Over:
1. 10 Things I Hate About You
2. Runaway Bride
3. Sweet Home Alabama
4. The Wedding Planner

4 Places I've Lived:
1. Fort Worth, TX ~ Stella Russell Hall
2. Weatherford, TX
3. Bedford, TX
4. Euless, TX

4 TV Shows I Watch:
1. General Hospital
2. Friday Night Lights
3. American Idol
4. Law & Order SVU

4 Places I've Been:
1. Grand Cayman Island
2. St. Croix, Virgin Islands
3. Sturgis, South Dakota
4. Cozumel, Mexico

4 People who e-mail Me Regularly:
1. Lolly
2. Missy
3. Jor
4. Stacy

4 Favorite Things to Eat:
1. Mexican food
2. Seafood
3. Italian Food
4. Lolly's home cookin'

4 Places I'd Rather Be:
1. About 100 ft. deep - scuba diving in the Caymans or Cozumel
2. With Lamar & the Girls on a fun vacation
3. In my jacuzzi tub with a good book
4. Sunbathing in Lolly's dream pool

4 Things I Look Forward to This Year:
1. Watching the girls grow up and change
2. Making some upgrades/changes to our house
3. Getting current on my scrapbooks
4. Summer!

4 People to Tag:
1. Jor
2. Janelle
3. Gigi
4. You!

Bad Blogger

Wow...I thought I was going to start off the year doing good with my blogging, but I've been terrible! I actually haven't been spending much time on the computer at all. That could be a good or bad thing.

Karsyn is such a dare devil lately. I really can't believe how fearless she is. Landrie is my cautious one - they are complete opposites! But, that's a post for another day... I finally downloaded some new pictures and wanted to share with you.

Karsyn & Daddy playin' the guitar. She thinks she's SO BIG!

Landrie went to her friend Chase's birthday party at his karate school. I was so impressed by what they were teaching the kids - respect, self-confidence, stranger danger, etc. I'm really considering signing her up. She seemed intimidated at first, but she seemed to really enjoy it.

Lolly already posted about the girls and their glasses. Somehow one pair ended up at our house and the girls were modeling for me last night. They were so funny and actually willing to pose for pictures -- a rare treat.

Well - since the QUESTION game is going around, does anyone have any questions for me? I have a meme to post from Brea so I have at least one post planned. Maybe you all can prompt me for a few more. :)

Build-A-Bear

For Christmas, the girls got Build-a-Bear gift certificates from my Grandma. You know about the Rudolph and Clarice experience, so you can imagine how frightened excited I was to for this adventure. We picked up Grandma and headed for the "Trinity Mall". Why Landrie calls it this I have no idea...

We ate in the food court and then headed to BB. All Landrie had talked about was a skating puppy, so we scoped out that one first. The skates alone would have been close to $15 and thankfully she changed her mind. She led Grandma around the store trying to make her decision. Those two were a pair! I'm not sure we wouldn't still be there if I hadn't hurried on the process.

My crazy, dog-loving child of course chose a puppy (the most expensive one at that) and we chose a Hippo for Karsyn. Karsyn loved the hippo before it was stuffed. She was holding it and hugging it. We stood in line patiently waiting for a very excited man to stuff the animals. He was quite the entertaining act. Both girls chickened out in helping him, but we moved on to the "bathing" station. Both girls fluffed up their animals and then it was on to the fun part: choosing accessories.







Landrie first eyed a hard hat for her puppy - not sure why, but then we saw a football uniform. Side story, if you ask Landrie who her favorite team is, it is always the Giants. I think she just likes to root against the Cowboys to tease her Daddy. So, this uniform was blue and orange just like the Giants. She was so excited! She decided to name her puppy Giant. Success!

Karsyn didn't have any real interest in accessories, but I picked out a baby set for her. She's been taking good care of her baby dolls lately, and I thought she'd enjoy babying her Hippo. I wasn't too creative with her name--Baby. I figured Karsyn can say her name, so it works.

When we left the store it was naptime. Baby Hippo wasn't getting any love from Karsyn. That poor hippo hit the ground 3 times before I finally decided to take her away. We nearly lost the Baby's bottle too. Karsyn crashed shortly after we got off the highway. I'm hoping that after feeling refreshed she'll love Baby now. We'll see!

Goodbye 2007! HELLO 2008!

It didn't seem right to let the night go without a post about 2007. I probably wouldn't have really thought about it though if our "party" hadn't ended several hours before we expected it to. We invited some friends over - one couple had another party to attend and the other couple is expecting their first baby any day now. So, it's understandable that we've shut down the Kirk house early tonight.

I wish I could think of a few highlights of 2007, but they're not coming to me right now. The biggest one I can think of is Lamar's job. He's dreamed of coaching varsity football since we've been married, and this year he lived the dream. It could be considered a nightmare by some standards, but we came out of the season stronger in our relationship and have made many new friends.

Our biggest blessing is our 2 little girls! Who could ask for more? God has blessed us so much this year!! We have an awesome family, great friends, healthy little girls and a wonderful church. I can't wait to see what God has in store for 2008!

Happy New Year!!

The BIG Suprise

Lamar and I were like little kids on Christmas morning. Both of us were up before 6:30 eager for the girls to wake up. We couldn't wait for them to see this:

The swingset was a big hit. The girls were freezing, but insisted on playing for a while. We had to drag them inside so we could go to Pops & Lolly's for round 2 for the day.

We were all spoiled like crazy. Karsyn decided she'd rather eat cheerios than open presents, but all in all...it was a great day!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too!

I'll share some more of our Christmas festivities later!

PS: This is my 100th post! Wow! It's taken nearly 2 full years to get here. Next year, I'll be a better blogger. I couldn't get much worse!

Christmas Eve

I can't believe Christmas Eve is here. It's my favorite day of the Christmas season. I love the anticipation and hustle & bustle of the day. This year is no different except...I still have 2 presents to buy and about 30 to wrap!! I can't believe that I haven't wrapped presents yet. I put it off at first because I wasn't sure how Karsyn would do with the presents and then I just kept putting it off. Terrible, I know.

So tonight, Lamar and I will stay up after the girls have gone to bed wrapping presents and just enjoying our night. Luckily, at the advice of Pops, we have no Little Tyke's toys to put together. We know those can be a nightmare.

We do have a BIG surprise for the girls tomorrow! I'll post pictures after they see it. Daddy has been working hard!

Merry Christmas, Y'all!

Tour of Homes

I have been looking forward to Boomama's Tour since last year! I had so much fun peaking into other people's homes and getting ideas for my decorations too. I'm pretty traditional when it comes to Christmas and my decorating, so if you were here last year, you'll notice little has changed. I have added a few little things though.

This year we moved the tree into our living room where we spend most of our time. I love it here! Surprisingly, the girls haven't messed with it at all!

The stockings are hung by the chimney with care...

The Little People Nativity has been a HUGE hit for these two angels below:

And of course, Rudolph and Clarice!

I also have a Christmas Countdown Calendar. My mom did this project and got me hooked too. Landrie loves to take down the numbered ornaments each day to countdown until presents and Baby Jesus' Birthday.

Merry Christmas to all!!

Rudolph & Clarice

Landrie is all into Christmas this year. It's so much fun to see her reactions to things. Lolly thought it would be fun to take the girls to Build-a-Bear today to build Rudolph and Clarice dolls. I'm not sure whether to hug her or strangle her. The girls LOVE the dolls, but have fought over them since. But they caused Landrie to be very cooperative when taking some pictures tonight--I could hardly believe it.

Mommy's Little Elves

My little elves have been very busy. Check this out!

Cards

My mom has me on a new kick...handmade cards! She has ALL the equipment to make it super fun, so I'm making our family cards this year.



These are my first 6. I decided to go with a very untraditional combination - pink & green! I had some paper in a Christmas Paper Stack from last year left over, so I decided to start there. I think they're adorable! I'm looking forward to making the rest. I have 30 to go!!



I used a combination of Cuttlebug Embossing Folders (snowflakes), Cricut Christmas (Merry), buttons and ribbon. I've learned that the trick to cards is the embossing and ink/chalk. Those 2 things can totally change the look.


I'll be adding more over the next week as I get them done. I also have another Christmas project in process. Hopefully I'll finish that this week!


We did get the lights on the house and the tree up. Thanks to Lamar...He's done a LOT of work this weekend!

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving. I've enjoyed playing with the girls, spending time with family, shopping and of course eating. Here's some pictures from our trip to Salado.

Landrie & Karsyn on Uncle John's Rocking Horse

Mommy & Karsyn tired and FULL - ready to take a nap on the road.

Attempt 1 of many to get a Kirk Family Picture for Gigi's Christmas cards.

Since we're all dressed, let's try to get a family picture...turned out just like they always do! I think Daddy's worse than the girls! :)

They're like the Osmonds only cuter!

Sorry...bad joke, but they've been in the news so much lately I couldn't help it.

For your enjoyment "My God is so Great" and "The Itsy Bitsy Spider"

Feliz Navi-frickin-dad

So...what is today? November 7th...not even Thanksgiving and one of our local stations is playing Christmas music and nothing else. Ahhhh!!! I don't think I can handle it. I love Christmas and have grown to like Christmas music, but there's just something about playing it before Thanksgiving that I don't like. Anyone else agree???

By the way - I'm going to try and video the girls singing some songs tonight. Too cute!

Happy Halloween!

An unhappy bumble bee

Practice round @ Pops & Lolly's

Karsyn & Campbell ~ The Cutest Bumble Bees!

Lolly has the other pictures on her camera. Hopefully she'll post them soon! Landrie and Karsyn actually smiled together for a few pictures! Surprise, surprise!