What to say...

I haven't blogged much lately. Nothing too exciting has happened, but here are a few pics of the girls from Christmas. They had a great time and were spoiled rotten by all of our families.

I tried to post a slide show with several pics, but I'm more technically challenged than I used to be. These pictures are of the girls the day after Christmas with all of their LOOT. Seriously Spoiled!

Future Blogger

Landrie was checking her email last night! I see a blogger in the near future!

Christmas Tour of Homes

Boomama is hosting the Christmas Tour of Homes. If you've never read her before, she is by far, one of the funniest people that I've ever "met". When she posted the idea for this tour, I couldn't wait to get my decorations up and ready for pictures. I can't wait to see everyone else's homes.

Here's the outside of the house...

Our Christmas Tree in the front room. This is also where all the blogging happens.

Our Stockings. I have 2 stockings in reserve should we have other Kirkles. The 4 stockings fit rather nicely on our mantle, don't you think??

Our Mini-tree in the Kitchen

My Cross Wall

It's not a Christmas decoration, but it is the favorite part of my house. And, since Jesus is the reason for the season, it's a perfect addition to the tour.

You could play "Where's Landrie" in almost all of the pictures. Most of the time I can't get her to take a picture at all, but tonight in all of her ragamuffin glory, she decided to accompany me to take all of the pictures. :)

Thanks for stopping by! Merry Christmas!

Joys of Christmas

I've always loved this time of year, but I think it has an all new meaning once you have kids. This year is special because Landrie is really getting into it. She knows that we're celebrating Jesus' Birthday, but she also wants Santa to bring her every cool toy she sees.

It is also special because Karsyn is learning so many new things. She is army crawling everywhere and just yesterday started pulling up to a standing position. She wants to be where all the action is. She'll follow Landrie wherever she goes...it's so sweet! And Landrie still lights up when she sees Karsyn as if she's meeting her for the first time.

Here's a picture of Landrie's Christmas 2 years ago, and Karsyn this year. They're wearing the same Christmas nightgown and are experiencing the Christmas tree with such awe. I love it!

And the results are...

Our picture taking spree wasn't half bad. It was just getting there that was the problem. It was our weekend to usher at church, so we decided to leave at 3:45 and take pictures before the service. We left closer to 3:55. We had just gotten to the highway when I realized that Landrie didn't have any shoes on!! Lamar put her in the car, and I forgot to go back for her shoes. By then, our gas light was on in the car (10 miles to empty). So, we rushed home, grabbed Landrie's shoes and then stopped for $10 in gas.

We got to church at 4:25 and scrambled to take a few pics. Lolly was great and met us there.

Let me know which is your favorite. I have to choose quickly for our Christmas card.

Not very ladylike, Karsyn.

Grand Picture Plan

Tonight I've planned a Christmas card photo shoot at Church. I've coordinated our outfits and scheduled a haircut for Landrie. Now we just have to pray for cooperation! Especially from Daddy! He hates having his picture taken. :)

I'll let you know how it goes.

New Friend

A new friend came into the world this week!

Matt and Missy welcomed Campbell Kay on Wednesday! Matt's mom and my dad went to high school together and then his family moved next door to us the summer before 2nd grade. Now Matt and I have both married and live down the street from eachother. Our kids will grow up to be friends just like we did! We're living out a 20 year legacy!

They were at the hospital when both of my girls were born, so it was only fitting that we be there when Miss Campbell was born. Landrie was so excited that "Campbell is in Missy's tummy, but she will be here very soon." She also told us that Campbell and Karsyn were going to be BEST friends. I agree!

Congratulations Matt & Missy! We couldn't be more happy for you!

Thank you Gigi!

Gigi saved us from a near disaster this weekend. My department at school is in charge of the Craft Fair. It is always the first Saturday in December. We work year round on the craft fair, but it's crunch time the week leading up to it. We're at school late on Friday night, and arrive back at school by 5:30 on Saturday morning and work all day through the craft fair. It's a lot of work, but a lot of fun too.

The problem was that Lamar had also scheduled a basketball tournament for this weekend. So that left him off duty with the girls, and Lolly was on call to work at her "job" Saturday. Gigi came to the rescue!

She got here at 3 on Friday afternoon and stayed through this afternoon. What a life saver!!! She had a great time hanging out with the girls and I know they enjoyed having Gigi around to spoil them! :)

I told her to reserve this weekend in the future just in case Daddy decides to schedule another basketball tournament!

Thank you GIGI!! We love you!

It's Been A While

I've neglected my blogging and I'm not sure why. I guess nothing monumental has happened around here. It seems that everyone elses blogs that I "spy" on have big, life-changing things going on. So my everyday life just seems unconsequential in the grand scheme of things. For that though I am thankful!

The only updates are:

Football is STILL going on! Bell has made it to the playoffs, so our Friday nights are still busy. Basketball has started too, so we're adding a few more late nights to the schedule.

Karsyn now has 5 teeth and the 6th is on its way. I can't belive how fast she is changing. She is also army crawling. Most of the time she still rolls because it's faster, but if you set something in front of her that she wants, she'll grunt and go after it.



Landrie is such a big girl. She's always talked...A LOT, but its now "big girl" talk. Everyone that she meets she wants to know more about them and who they're related to. She has such a photographic memory. She saw pictures of the Grey's Anatomy stars in a magazine and started talking about the "doctors show". She's a HUGE fan of Dancing with the Stars and was pretty upset that Lamar and I were cheering for Emmitt. She argued with me for at least 30 minutes telling me that Mario was going to win, not Emmitt.



I'm enjoying my girls so much. I can't wait for their reactions to the upcoming holidays. Landrie keeps telling Lolly all the things she wants for Christmas. She's also helping to make Karsyn's list. Too cute!

Call me Mrs. Personality!

I haven't posted in a LONG time...not sure why, I just haven't been in the mood I guess. But, I saw this Personality Test and decided to play along. It's rang fairly true for me. See for yourself...

Your Five Factor Personality Profile

Extroversion: You have high extroversion. You are outgoing and engaging, with both strangers and friends. You truly enjoy being with people and bring energy into any situation. Enthusiastic and fun, you're the first to say "let's go!" Conscientiousness: You have medium conscientiousness. You're generally good at balancing work and play. When you need to buckle down, you can usually get tasks done. But you've been known to goof off when you know you can get away with it. Agreeableness: You have medium agreeableness. You're generally a friendly and trusting person. But you also have a healthy dose of cynicism. You get along well with others, as long as they play fair. Neuroticism: You have low neuroticism. You are very emotionally stable and mentally together. Only the greatest setbacks upset you, and you bounce back quickly. Overall, you are typically calm and relaxed - making others feel secure. Openness to experience: Your openness to new experiences is medium. You are generally broad minded when it come to new things. But if something crosses a moral line, there's no way you'll approve of it. You are suspicious of anything too wacky, though you do still consider creativity a virtue.

The Five Factor Personality Test

Pictures Anyone??

Karsyn sitting up!

Cereal anyone?? She was in the process of spitting it back out at me!

Happy Birthday Landrie! After her 3rd Chocolate Cupcake!

It's BLOGtastic!

It's been 2 weeks since my last post and a lot has happened!

As of today, Landrie is officially a card carrying, bonafide member of the Potty Club! She went to school today without any accidents and went on the school potty 3 times!! While that terrifies me from a public bathroom phobia standpoint, it is great news on the PT front.

Since she was such a big girl, I promised her that she could pick out Dora or Diego slippers at Target. What an adventure...as it usually is. Karsyn was sitting in the front of the buggy (a new thing for her) and Landrie was in the back. She was wearing super cute, fuschia suede clogs from Gymboree. I had her take one off to try on the Diego slippers she wanted, so for the remainder of the trip around Target, she had only one shoe on. We bought the slippers and a Halloween t-shirt for her and then were headed home.

I had already loaded a very sleepy Karsyn into her carseat, when I noticed that Landrie no longer had her shoes on. There was one in the buggy, but the other was nowhere to be found. I took Karsyn back out of the car, loaded her in the buggy one more time, and then we started retracing our steps through Target.

Customer Service hadn't seen the shoe nor had any of the other people on radios at Target. Believe me...I asked. I left my name at Customer Service and hoped that would call if they found it. I came home and began to stress on where I would find the replacment shoes, Gymboree was sold out, so my next guess was eBay. Luckily, Target called and they're holding her shoe for me.

Other news:

• Karsyn is sitting up!
• She is eating cereal -- only when I feel like getting spit on.

I'll post pics later. It is well past my bedtime. Sorry!

I haven't killed her...yet

Some of you were worried that Landrie might not survive the whole PT thing. In fact, one friend wanted to take her home on Saturday fearing for her life. I guess I had that weary look, but it really hasn't been so bad. In the moment, it was TERRIBLE, but I'm proud of our progress.

Yesterday, only 1 accident to report. Today, 2 but that's not too bad considering it was her first day at school in Big Girl panties! I think we've made the turn and are headed toward the finish line.

Thanks for all of your encouragement!

PS: Karsyn started eating cereal tonight. Why do I torture myself so?? I'll post pictures of that later!

I'm on my 3rd pair of panties and its only 11 AM!

So when I posted about Landrie's birthday, I left out an important item. When I woke her up that morning, I told her that we were no longer wearing diapers. She was 3 now, so we didn't wear them anymore. She said OK and happily put on her panties.

We've had a few successes, but more failures. This is SO much work!! I'm still terrified that she will be 5 years old and still peeing and pooping on herself!!!

I've come to the conclusion that Karsyn will be potty trained before Landrie is.

I'm considering the bringing the "cage" back and making her play in there with her potty...ALL DAY LONG! No, you don't need to call CPS...it's not really a cage. Just the name that I affectionately gave it a long time ago--it's really a play yard that we used when Landrie was younger.

So, pray for my patience and pray for Landrie to PLEASE figure this thing out!!! I'm not giving up. We WILL NOT be buying diapers for her anymore...no matter what!

Happy Birthday Landrie!

Today marks the 3rd anniversary of one of the happiest and scariest days of my life. 3 years ago, on October 4, 2003, Landrie Nicole Kirk came into this world 7 pounds, 8 ounces and 19 1/2 inches long. Never before in my life had I experienced love like that.

After an uneventful pregnancy (despite ALL day sickness), I went in on October 3 to be induced. Things didn't progress like expected and at 3 o'clock on the 4th, the doctors were threatening to stop the pitocin and wait until the next day. By then, I just wanted to meet my little girl. Shortly after that, I was far enough along to get my epidural. Things moved quicker then, but the doctors were worried. Landrie was under stress and they had the NICU nurses waiting when she was born. 26 hours after I was induced, Landrie was born at 9:50 pm. Unfortunately, she was not breathing and was very limp. Thank goodness, the nurses were ready for her and after just a few minutes she was breathing on her own and doing much better.

It still scares me to think about that night, but I also mark that night as one of the happiest of my life. I have experienced more joy in the last 3 years than I ever thought possible.

Landrie is sweet, funny and smart. She has such joy in her heart. I am so thankful that God gave Lamar and I such wonderful baby girls.

Happy Birthday, Landrie! I can't wait to see what an amazing girl you're going to be. I love you!

Best Friends

Lamar has a 7th grade game tonight, so Landrie and I ate dinner together and then we had a girls night and played for a while.

I was getting the girls ready for bed and Landrie ran over to give me and Karsyn a group hug. While she was hugging us she said "Best Friends". I thought that was pretty darn cute, but then she added "One of our best friends is missing!" I asked who and she said "Daddy."

We did miss him tonight. I can wait for him to get home and hear about his sweet girls!

4 words

Brea tagged me for this meme. I'm supposed to write the first thing I think of when I see these 4 words.

1. notebook - I immediately think of the movie "The Notebook". Janelle and I love to watch it. She balls almost through the entire movie. Also it reminds me of my school supplies and pens which are my very favorite things. :)

2. portrait - Portrait Innovations. My favorite place to take the girls for their pictures.

3. glasses - Hmmm. I guess the funniest thing I can think of is Pops at Kyndra's wedding last week. He couldn't see his notes for the ceremony and it sounded like he couldn't read he was stumbling so bad. He finally asked Papa for his glasses. That got a big laugh from everyone.

4. thunderstorm - NAP. Maybe its because I'm desparate to take one, but thunderstorms are my favorite times for naps.

So...there you have it. If you choose to accept the challenge, your words are: baby, tree, summer and water. Leave me a comment if you're playing along!

Fall TV Line-up

I have a lot of things to catch up on here, but I thought I'd start by giving you my TV shows for the new season. Now that I have DVR, my list has grown since I can watch more than one show in the same time slot.

First - General Hospital - my sister will gag at this one, since she thinks that Soap Operas are ridiculous...and they are. But, I'm going to blame this one on my mom. Ever since I was very young, I've watched this show. I was in LOVE with Frisco when he was on many, many years ago. Now the kids on the show are my age and having kids of their own. I guess that's what makes it interesting to me. Plus, it's a good wind-down in the afternoons when I get home.

Monday
7th Heaven - Nothing much else on. It's also one of the only classy shows left.
The Bachelor Rome - starts on Monday, but I always enjoy watching and critiquing with Lolly after the show is over.

Tuesday
Gilmore Girls - just a fun girly show to watch. The reruns are great too!
Dancing with the Stars - A family favorite! Landrie loves to twirl around the living room while this is on. Lamar and I are rooting for Emmitt Smith...thank goodness he made it through tonight. We were threatening to boycott.
Law & Order: SVU - Jordan and I are addicted. This show leads to some disturbing dreams sometimes, but I've always been interested in crime stories.

Wednesday
Dancing with the Stars Results - need I say more...
Lost - Starts next week. We used to have watching parties with our HT friends. We'll see how season 3 pans out. It was starting to get weird for a while, but I enjoy having something to talk to my kids at school about. They all love it.

Thursday---MUST SEE TV Night
Thank goodness for DVR because Thursday is Game Night so Lamar misses Grey's Anatomy. Another family favorite. When Landrie sees it on, she calls it the Doctor's show.
6 Degrees caught my interest last week. I'll keep watching to see what I think.
ER- Another old favorite. I'm DVRing it and will watch it if I have time.

Friday & Saturday - No shows

Sunday
Desparate Housewives - we've watched it from the beginning and I'll continue to watch even though it's not so much a favorite any more
Brothers & Sisters - I forgot to record this last week. I'll give it a chance though since it has such a great ensamble of actors. We'll see!

At some point I'll need to sleep, eat and raise my children, so I may have to cut back on this hectic schedule! Haha!!

How I met THE one!

It's funny that when you're getting to know someone the conversation always turns to how you met your husband/wife. And although I haven't had a conversation with anyone in the "bloggy" world, this is one of the posts that's gone around. Barb at A Chelsea Morning posted the idea, so here goes:

Going to a small college, you kind of just know everyone. On our campus, there were only 2 sororities and 2 fraternities. I was a member of Alpha Xi Delta and our sorority was usually paired off with Lambda Chi Alpha, Lamar's fraternity. I knew who he was, but that was about it. I don't really remember an introduction, but I do remember the first time I noticed him other than just a Frat Boy.

I was moving back in the dorms after Christmas break and my friend Tommy brought Lamar by to my room. I thought...this is strange. I knew who he was, but we'd never really talked. From there, we hung out a lot, just talking between classes and things. We had our Sweetheart Bash coming up and the guy I was dating at the time couldn't go. So, Lamar became my "default" date...just friends, you know. From that date on, we were a couple. Our first official date was February 14, 1999.

We've now been together 7 1/2 years, married for nearly 5 and have 2 beautiful girls!! This is my Happily Ever After!

Sweet Husband

The last few days haven't been the best. I'm feeling pulled in many different directions, but I think I'm still managing to keep everything functioning at a good level. My two proudest accomplishments around the house lately are making my bed everyday (except today...oops) and cooking dinner at least 3 nights a week.

The bed thing is something that is important to me, but I'm sure Lamar could care less. Dinner on the other hand, I know is more important to him. I don't really doubt that Lamar notices these things or that he appreciates them. The problem is I am a words person and Lamar is not. That's probably pretty obvious, but after we took the Love Languages test, it was confirmed. (He's Acts of Service)

I let Lamar know that I was feeling unappreciated. Evidently he agreed...

He came home last night early so I could go to my nail appointment. While I was gone, he took Landrie & Karsyn with him to the store and cooked dinner!! I think that was his first time ever to venture out with the girls by himself. Just for that I was impressed.

He and Landrie also picked up a surprise for me...

Last night was great! My Love Tank is FULL again! :)