A great leader

So I woke up this morning with an extremely sore abdomen. I could not for the life of me figure out what was wrong. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. On Monday at work I had to get re-certified in CPR on a computer dummy. I spent and hour and 40 minutes in there, thus the sore abs. All I can say is if you are an infant, I can save a life. If you are an adult, the compressions may be too fast, too slow, too deep, or too shallow so you might survive. Needless to say I know why my stomach is so sore.

Since my last update I had been on a hunt for a kids snuggie. Chris bought me one for Christmas and Makenna was beside herself to get one as well, "In pink monnie." I asked her where her money was and she said, " In my giraffe bank that I got from Nana at Christmas." Smart kid. So thus began the hunt. After many a Walgreens and a few Bed, Bath and Beyonds, the snuggie was found. Hers came with matching pink socks that are so big I can wear, but she did not seem to mind the growth hanging of the end of her foot. She was one happy and warm little girl. Now she and I wear our matching snuggies on the couch when we do quite time.





Maddax has been learning to walk but not with the intentional toy that promotes walking with wheels. No my little man is creative. He stands at either his leapfrog toy or the kitchen chair and proceeds to do a pelvic thrust to advance the object and himself forward. I know, he gets his weirdness from his father of course.





Kenna decided to play dress up yesterday and I found her preparing for the Nutcracker Ballet as she stated. I said where are your tights? She returned like this and I was left speechless.






Today during our family devotional Chris ended with a prayer for the people of Haiti. Makenna being her curious self asked about those people. We told her that there were a lot of hurt kids and mommies and daddies from an earthquake and that they needed our help. I asked her if she wanted to donate some money to those kids who were hurt and she said yes. She went and retrieved her Giraffe bank. Daddy told her whatever she decided to give he would match. She pulled out a $20.00. I was so proud of her. She gets her giving from her father. He is one of the most selfless givers I know always helping others in need. I am so lucky that he is the one God chose to lead our family.

The Natural Consequence

Yesterday, my two kiddos and I ventured to Elizabethtown to meet with a friend and her rug rats to celebrate "late Christmas". We arrived at our destination an hour and 10 minutes after leaving our house. Maddax who usually sleeps after 10 minutes in a car anywhere, found Makenna too distracting with her Leapster and decided to ditch the nap. YEAH!!! The last leg of the journey Makenna kept asking, "Where is the E-town house?" No matter how hard I tried she could not grasp the concept of the city Elizabethtown so I distracted her with phonograms. She loves phonograms. Of course we have only mastered 4 so far but slow and steady wins the race and hey she is only 4.

We arrived at Chic Fil A and awaited the arrival of friends inside. Even with 2 kiddos I am still a germ-a-fob, so I packed Maddax's booster seat into the restaurant along with 2 kids and a diaper bag. Our friends, the Jones, finally arrived and we exchanged gifts and hugs but not in that order. Kenna received an awesome pink backpack with her name on it for her Leapster. She was so excited as was I. I love monogrammed items. In fact I was given an apron with my initials on it in green and black to match my kitchen. LOVE IT!!!

The kids dissected their lunches for awhile and then hit up the play area. Makenna is sort of anxious when kids enter her 3 foot space so she perseverated on returning to me and asking, "Where is Hudson? Please make him hold my hand?" After multiple pleas to this 4 year old little boy Hudson took her by the hand and lead her into fun. All was well. Amber and I caught up on the latest issues in each others lives while the kids played and Maddax ate and ate and ate.

It was time to rally up so I handed my full little man to Amber so I could clean up his seat and reload the diaper bag. All at once Amber opened the door ande screamed come her. Makenna in her hurriedness ran toward the step and what she missed with her foot she hit with her face. Blood from her mouth, tooth, and nose as well as tears from her eyes. Immediately felt her tooth, tight. Thank you God. Amber ran to get ice witch turned out to be futile because Kenna did not want that ice but the ice that was 1 hour and 10 minutes away in my freezer. Wiping away tears and blood she looked to me and said, "why did that person have to smack me?" I was confused at first but remembered Amber saying she smacked the step with her face. I chuckled inside and reassured her that no one smacked my little princess but that an error in judgement caused this collision. When she finally calmed down I noticed the left side of her nose was swollen and she had what we called as a kid, "Bubba Lip."

We wrapped up things in Elizabethtown and headed to Aunt Sherries. She was feeling much better and even cuddled up on the couch with Ms. Durbins doggie "Bella". All was good. I felt so sad for her fall but I know that this natural consequence will help remind her to slow down next time. I hope.

Love is an action word.

This week has not been ideal. Putting away Christmas decorations, returning to a routine, saying goodbye to Papaw and Nana Lamkin, and two kids with two colds. SOB, SOB, SOB. Needless to say with 2 sick kids and the mess of other things to hold down at home we did not get out much this week. This morning Makenna came running into my room, after asking to get out of bed first, and said, "Monnie I not sneezing anymore." What she meant was that her nose was not running anymore. Whew one kid on the mend. Hold the phone. Maddax woke up without snot crusted on his nose. Yee-haw. Time to get out of the house. So after Chris got out of court this morning we loaded up the kiddos and headed to Louisville. On the way there Chris mentioned a case he had worked the night before where he met a little girl 3 years old who was wearing a princess crown. He went on further to say she was living with her mom at her grandmothers because her father was killed a year ago while trying to rob a house. The little girl told Chris that she loved princess stuff. Chris told her his little girl did too and just maybe he could find her something with a princess on it at our house. He told the little girl to look for his car soon. Makenna overheard much of the conversation and offered to share some of her dress up dresses to the little girl. I was so proud of her. I wanted to do something special for her for thinking of others.

I am very much a bargain shopper. Chris calls me FRUGAL. I call it WISE. I get it honest from my mother. My mom and I can tear up some Goodwill together. Any way, we were on our way to Louisville to pick up $5.00 diapers at Babies R Us and to hit up the Goodwill because I was looking for a pot to make laundry detergent in . (awesome recipe for homemade laundry detergent that comes out to $0.03 a wash and it works great, but need a old pot to make it) So Chris dropped me off at Goodwill so I could run in a check while he waited with the kids. Sadly there was no pot to be found. However, on the way out I noticed a diamond in the rough. Atop a mound of dirty toys I saw a pink tutu peeking out. Upon further evaluation I learned it was a ballerina doll that had elastic attached to her feet for dancing with your child. It was a whopping $3.05. You must understand that Makenna thinks any ballerina anywhere is her. Every other word out of her mouth at the Nutcracker ballet was, "See that ballerina Monnie? That's me." She spends most of her day in a tutu of some sort that was passed down to her from her cousins. So you see, this was PERFECT!!

I brought it home and washed it on the gentle cycle while Makenna and Maddax took their afternoon nap. Put it on the gentle cycle to dryand 20 minutes later took it out, fixed her hair and then hung her up to finish drying till Makenna woke up. Upon waking she was amazed by her beautiful doll. Talking about speaking a little girls love language. She danced with it, fed it dinner, and watched Dora with it before going to bed with it.

Chris called later to tell us he delivered the dresses and shoes to the little girl. Her mommy said the little girls face lit up as Chris' police car pulled into the drive. I was so proud of two people today. First Makenna for thinking about that little girl and offering up some of her dresses to make that little girls life brighter. Second for my wonderful husband who makes an effort in his job to reach those that others would just overlook. He has such a tender spot for children especially those in rough situations. They say love is an action word. I think there was a lot of love in our home today.

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress..." James 1:26-27

Merry Christmas and happy New Year from our crew to yours.

The past few weeks have been a bit of a blur. I picked up a few extra days at work to pay for Christmas, parents in to visit from New Mexico, visiting family, and attending weddings and Christmas parties. Needless to say the blogging fell behind. I will most likely be a weekly blogger at best.

We celebrated Christmas with Chris' family on Christmas Eve and had a great visit. I watched the love a almost 4 year old for her great-grandfather as she ran to hug an kiss a very frail and ill 80 something man. It made my heart melt for her to see past all the sickness and embrace him with all the love she had. Thank you Lord for a sweet little girl who loves others with so much passion.

Christmas morning we opened up presents from Santa and the mommy and daddy. She was so excited to see the "car slide" she had asked Santa for on 4 separate occasions. She kept asking how he got it down the chimney. Next year I hope he delivers toys that are already put together.

Maddax opened his tickle me Elmo, but was more enamored by the paper than the present.

That evening we spent Christmas with my family at my sisters. We played Phase 10, ate lots of food and Christmas candy, told stories about our childhood, and just enjoyed each others company. Christmas Day was drawn to an end with my little girl turning 4. Her birthday is not till the 26th but we decided to make due of the fact that we were already together. I was going to happily make her a birthday cake but Makenna insisted on her Nana making it instead. Is she trying to imply something? Nana did a fabulous job on the cake. It turned out better than I or Makenna could have ever dreamed. Makenna was so excited to turn 4 and eat her cake. I on the other hand was not so happy. It was a very bittersweet moment. My little girl was growing up. Sob Sob.
In all the hustle of the Christmas season we found every opportunity to tell Makenna and Maddax the real reason for Christmas. One night she came into the kitchen with a blanket on her head and holding a baby. I said, "What are you doing?" She said, "I am an angel and this is baby Jesus. I must lay him on the hay." I am so glad she knows about the real reason we celebrate Christmas. Sometimes even as Christians we get caught up in craziness of the season and forget the true meaning of it all. That God sent his only son to be born in a stable so that we may have life eternal. This Christmas I want to say thank you Lord for your gift of love and mercy.