Monday, January 23, 2012

Definitely blog worthy

Yesterday, Kenzie was having trouble staying focused on the task at hand: getting ready for church. I knew she had gone to bed at a decent time. (While at the mall, she had declared, "I'm really tired and want to go to bed early tonight." What kind of mother would NOT comply with that request?) And yet, she just couldn't stay out of my bedroom and get ready for church. She kept coming in saying she really, really needed to show me something downstairs. (I was afraid that if I went downstairs, I wouldn't make it back upstairs in time to get ready for church.)
Finally I said, "Is it good or bad, because I don't want to start my day with something bad." (We'd had a leak from the ceiling on Friday.) Upon her insistence that it was "really good," I went down to the kitchen and this is what I discovered:






 Apparently, Brynnley and Kenzie woke up - or stayed awake -- (although I checked on them around 10:30 and I would swear they had been asleep) around 11pm and went downstairs to make breakfast for everyone. Yes, breakfast was made at 11pm.
We discovered a delectable selection of cinnamon toast for each of the kids (who cares that it had been on the counter for 8-9 hours?), waffles on the "MAN PLATE" for Greg, and a carefully thought out salad (complete with cucumbers, carrots, turkey and sunflower seeds) for me.
These two little sweethearts made a decorated name place for each person (including themselves), complete with our last name, lest we get confused. (See MOM KERR picture above). And, just to make sure we could find our way around all the deliciousness, we had arrows taped along the counters to guide us to our spots. (They even pointed out that they purposely placed my seat next to Greg's.) They were so proud of themselves...(Brynnley pointed out that they would have waited until midnight but Kenzie kept falling asleep. She also pointed out that Kenzie was really worried they would get in trouble -- especially after Brynnley told her that when people hear noises downstairs during the night, they think they have an intruder in their house.)
Talk about a way to start out the day.
And, in other news, Greg was set apart as the 2nd counselor in the Bishopric yesterday. We have the greatest respect and admiration for our Bishop and other counselor, so we are excited about this great opportunity he will have to learn and serve. His dad was able to perform the ordination and then Greg was set apart by Pres. Snyder of the Stake Presidency. Both blessings were really neat and I only wish I could have written down the details. I will never forget, however, the feeling that our entire family received a blessing through Greg as he was set apart. It was definitely a memorable day. And the fact that the kids were quiet and sat still for so long made it even better.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Eighteen days into the new year....and I'm still behind.

These pictures were all supposed to go at the end. But blogger didn't put them there and I'm not taking the time to change them. So there you go.



This year, Cambrie got pie for her birthday. What can I say? No one was in the mood for cake and we'd certainly had enough cookies. She didn't seem to mind a bit. And, of course the pie was gone in no time.






Of course, I picked the one picture where Addysen had her eyes closed. But, I'm too lazy to go back and switch it.


Christmas was fun. It was busy. We didn't get any snow. We had lots of treats (can you say way too much soda cracker candy around this house?)  Sidenote: Mitzi -- the next time I ask for a treat recipe on FB...ignore me. Seriously. De-friend me if you have too. But don't send me the recipe! Of course, I am kidding... Addysen wonders how she's lived almost 13 years without this delectable addition to our traditional treats. She/we made it 5 times over the break. Yes...the break that lasted less than 2 weeks. Ouch. Calories. Whew...this is a long sidenote...
Anyway -- we had lots of celebrations and lots of get-togethers with family and friends. It was great. (Although, I also felt like I cleaned up messes for 2 weeks straight.) And since we were in such a celebratory mood....Cambrie went ahead and turned 3. YES. Three. My least favorite age of all my children. So far, it's not been too bad with Cambrie...but we've only just begun. And where did the time go?
Now that school is back in, of course we have snow. Isn't that some sort of Murphy's Law? It only snows when we aren't available to use the brand new sleds we got from Uncle Spencer? Thank goodness for Martin Luther King. By the time we hit the hills on Monday - -we had a grand old time sledding down iced over mud and grass. Good times were had by all.
We're working hard to get our website up and running. Such a high learning curve and more than a little experience in frustration. But, we are getting there. We're also busy saving people money on their gas bills (just save a lady about 25% on her home and business today. That is significant...Hint. Hint...for those of you in our markets who want to save some money.) And, I've decided to start doing some photography on the side. Maybe. In my spare time. (Just don't judge by the pictures in this post!)
We're also in the midst of basketball -- for just about everyone. Ok, so half the family is playing. Addysen is playing at the middle school (first game yesterday -- they won 40-10. That is a good beginning.) Cannon is playing  -- or should I say -- practicing (?) with the City Rec League. (That will be an upcoming post/rant. Six out of 8 of his games got switched to Sundays...LAME.) Brynnley is learning to play. Greg plays with the men in the ward -- scoring 36 of the 70+ points they had last week. (And no, I wasn't counting...but somehow, someone happened to point out his point totals. We're a humble crew...let's leave it at that.) Greg also plays with some guys from high school. Actually, tonight is the first night. He is playing at the guys house -- which has an indoor court the size of our church court. (And for those of you who know...we attend the stake center! Amazing.)  I THINK about playing. That's about it. I would love to play -- and it turns out there is a women's league....I've even been asked to play. (My sister-in-law is desperate for bench warmers. I'm not desperate for the humiliation that would come after nearly 20 years. OUCH. Seriously though, it would be fun...but we've got a lot going on. I told her to put me on the roster...for those very desperate times.)
There's lots more going on. But, it's time to make dinner. So, I'll wrap it up with some pictures of the past few weeks. I always LOVE a new year...and I'm fully expecting this one to be great!
I couldn't resist this one. Cambrie was more than ready to be done at the mall one day just before Christmas.