Kennedy had a birthday...shout hooray!

We celebrated our "Little Miss," Kennedy Marie! It is hard to believe we have lived here a year already with our precious kiddos growing a year older too! Kennedy has been a great blessing in our family. She has brought great smiles. The kids have enjoyed loving on their baby sister. Kennedy does all she can to keep up with the big kids and does a pretty good job. She still reminds us that she is the baby of the family.


Poor Kennedy was getting over a stomach bug and had a little fever on her birthday. We kept it low key, which seemed to be just right for her. We shared dinner with the missionaries, brisket...something the whole family loves! We then had an ice cream pie for her birthday celebration. Kennedy gladly dug into the cold pie which soothed her fever and budding teeth.





She later opened her vacuum and Leap Frog Refrigerator Magnet activity. As we all guessed, she enjoyed the packaging, while Cohen and Taylin got Kennedy's toys "tuned up" for her.



With two birthdays in one month, Taylin is anxiously counting down to her birthday. I never knew she would be so excited to flip the calendar to the next month. Watch out December!

Watch Our Watermelon Grow

We have enjoyed a really good watermelon. We have also been anxious to grow something that resembles garden life. I haven't ventured to pot gardening. We have nice dirt areas at our front door that needed a purpose. The kids planted 8-12 seeds a little less than a week ago. Farmer Taylin has one side and Farmer Cohen has the other side. Farmer Cohen was a little bummed when he noticed Farmer Taylin had two sprouts. Fortunately the next day Cohen sprouted two. Galloway gardens are growing. We will keep you up on the progress. I realize it is the end of summer, but it is Texas. We have hopes of one watermelon. We can't guarantee quality. We will have an interesting welcome growing at our door.








Farmer Taylin's crop








Farmer Cohen's crop








Kennedy loves watermelon...even interested in the rind.

Sleep...eventually it sneaks up on you!

This is what I found after things went silent:

So glad when Daddy comes home!

The kids and I have enjoyed David's lighter schedule. They have done some fun things. I thought I would post the tent/fort they built in our living room. Taylin loved it and wanted to live in it. Cohen wanted to climb on it and shine the flashlight through it. That is a problem. Kennedy went in and out and wanted to pull on it. It was an entertaining adventure...all the kiddos loved it and will remember these times with their Dad!
He is also working on making a castle for them. It is the few hours of Architecture from A&M he got in before deciding to go the doctor route!





We have had such special moments together. I have pondered my role as mother, wife and homemaker. I have kept myself pretty busy and not given my children as much time as I should. I have allowed for more flexibility in my schedule for spontaneity with the kiddos. I think we have all enjoyed it! In the last couple of weeks we have spent the afternoon at the children's museum last minute. We read books under the covers with a flashlight. We have done random science experiments. Today the apartment sprinklers were on and I took my kiddos, my neighbor/good friend and her kiddos to the sprinklers followed by a water balloon fight. I think my friend was surprised I didn't have the kids change. She has tried to get me to let the kids play in the large mud puddle between our buildings. I hesitated...stripped Cohen down to a diaper...trusted Taylin wouldn't get in...wrong. They didn't get in it much. They know their mom or I have created unadventurous kids. Until the sprinklers...I know we are adventurous. Watch out! Here is the mini video from last fall in the puddle. I was so spontaneous with the other things that I didn't grab the camera. I will do better!




Enjoy all the little moments. They all count for something big!

Hobby or Addiction?

Once I finish one project, I have to start another. Whether it be painting or sewing. David can't wait until I get my own "space." Right now the ironing board is a permanent fixture in our dining room and our sewing machine seems to be connected to the kitchen table. I never thought I would enjoy sewing sooo much. Now I can't put it away. I do believe an addiction is something that you can't control and takes over. It is pretty close to that. Anyways! This is some of what I have been working on.
















My poor kids are the models. Unfortunately I never get them together for pictures in them. The green outfits were fun...but getting a little out of hand. I am horrible at over estimating how much fabric in fear of not having enough. Then I don't want to waste the fabric. I either find something else to make in our own home or I get lucky and have another precious baby to sew for. I did start to make a skirt for myself, but got the size wrong. I found a more petite model to kindly add the skirt to her wardrobe. It was with the green too! Reminded me of the curtains from the Sound Of Music.














Even the doll...this is an addiction! Or I am not trying to be wasteful...that is my excuse! It will be a while before I sew doll clothes again. Especially the shirt;tiny sleeves.

















I am working on some "recycling" projects. I will post them soon. They are sooo fun!
I am sooo ADDICTED!

Musical Car Seats

We have reached the 5 year expiration date for car seats or have grown out of them. All at once!!!! I got the girls seats first. Kennedy has outgrown her infant carrier. Cohen's actually expired last December. We thought we had until this December. Now we know why it was on sale. The manufacture date was 6-18 months before the actual day we purchased it. We were ignorant. I just passed Taylin's onto Cohen (good until April). Between now and April I will be looking for Cohen's car seat.


I was against getting a gender specific car seat. This has worked for the infant car seats, since they only are good one year/child. That is why we have our kiddos close together...to get the most use out of a car seat! If you really think that is why, you kind of know us! Since kids are in car seats for life now, they pretty much keep their seat. I just have to make sure the seat they get will last them five years. So I went for it and got pink, flowery seats for the girls. I can't find anything exciting for Cohen. He did catch me searching and I found this one. He loved it! Only problem is it is a booster seat. He has to be 40lbs to have one of those. He might weigh that much in 1st grade. I also want to keep the kids in a five point harness as long as possible. I will cut 'em loose at 16...they might be 80 lbs by then, j/k!



My main reason for this entry...I am looking for a camo car seat for Cohen with a five point harness. I have had no luck. If you have any leads, please send them my way. I do want to avoid the covers.


Also good to know: when disposing of your car seat, make sure you cut the straps and disassemble/destroy it as much as possible, so it cannot be used by anyone. Also dump in a black trash bag and parts separately. This keeps dumpster divers from getting unsafe car seats out there. It was sad to tear up a pricey seat! When fire departments take them...and they will. They sledge hammer them or use a chain saw! Please don't try that at home, unless you have some serious stress to relieve.

Kids' Olympic Quotes

Cohen was watching diving and said:
"That man getting him underwear wet." Our goal is to keep our underwear dry, so he was fairly concerned.




He looks worried about getting them wet too!






Taylin was so excited after watching a race she said:
"America won first, twice and three times! I am so proud! That's just cool!" We have since started working on ordinal numbers.


Way to go USA! Everyone is doing so well!

"Motor-Bicycle" Birthday...3!!!

Cohen turned the terrific 3!!! Happy Birthday, Cohen. Cohen had a great day with his family at home. We had a family party and enjoyed the time together. Cohen was so excited to eat his "motor-bicycle cake." Then of course play with his motor-bicycle that was on top. When I was making the cake, he was very worried that it had fire on it. He didn't want it. Once I topped it, he was OK with it.







Cohen has been a blessing in many ways. We love his compassion for others. He truly is concerned with others. He is still learning how to express that sometimes. It isn't hard to see he is trying. Cohen tries to do his best and do it on his own. His frustrations stir up if he can't. If he makes a mistake, he tries to fix it himself. This normally turns out to be a surprise for mom. Due to his independence, he will try to take care of himself if I don't. I didn't give him the minute he needed to refill his water cup. Instead I gave him thirty minutes to cleaning up the water all over the kitchen floor after he tried to poor his own water from a very full (means HEAVY...especially for my little three year old). He felt very bad and was afraid he would be in trouble. I gave him a hug and apologized for not helping him sooner. I told him he could help me if he wanted to. Hey I didn't help him when he asked...I believe it was fair for him to choose since I chose not to help him. His great love for his sisters makes me smile as it does his sisters as well. I love to watch them support each other. Watch the video and you will see a tender moment at the end.



I love this kid! Happy Birthday, Cohen!

FAME- in PINK

I have an absolutely amazing husband! David has a bit more time for fourth year. We love it...although we will miss him for the two months he is away!



David has had time to plan a fun date. He told me we had plans for Saturday, but I wouldn't find out anything until Thursday. I received a letter in the mail Thursday with what to expect, but details still out. I was clueless. David knows I do my own investigating, so he can't give the slightest clue. All the details I had were to be ready at 5PM dressed in business casual and babysitting was taken care of, SWEET! Although, business casual took some guessing. He defined it kindly as something besides jeans and a t-shirt, my everyday attire! I couldn't get anything out of him...not even out of Taylin. I am sure he knows not to tell her or details will leak out.


David drove us to Killeen to eat at Olive Garden (not open in Temple yet). Then he showed me the tickets to see FAME. I was excited to see a musical. I have to be honest, I didn't know much about FAME. I recognized several songs once we were there. We had a good time. It was entertaining or disturbing for those around us. Our home has been hit by a pink streak...pink-eye. We have never had it this bad. David had it in his right eye and me in my left. We sat at our table so that the bad eyes were away from the waiter. The funny part, for us at least, we had a tissue through the whole play to dab our dripping eyes (sorry for the detail). FAME is not an emotional play. The people around us probably wondered about us. We did spare the cast and didn't shake their hands or thank them, as much as we would have liked to. They were great! We didn't want to ruin their chances of auditioning for what was to come next season. Nor did we want to see their reactions to our FUNKY, GUNKY EYES!


Thus no pictures!!!!


We had a great time and David was so thoughtful to plan a fun date for us. I love that guy! I am inspired to work on one of my life goals now. I will keep you posted!


This was a year ago...but still in love!!!

A Silver Tooth!

Sooo...Cohen had to get a silver cap and a filling last month. Of course we had to talk it up, so he wouldn't put up much of a fight. He did great and has his first silver tooth before the age of three!!! Yikes!


Well...Taylin announced to our friends at dinner that Cohen has a silver tooth. We responded casually, not a big deal. Apparently it was still on her mind. As we were brushing her teeth tonight, she added to her wish list. "Mom, I want a silver tooth." I guess we talked it up too well. Now Taylin thinks it is a must have! I am a little curious how this came up again. Cohen had his dental work a month ago. I tried to explain that we don't want silver teeth and that comes after too many bugs have attacked. Still didn't gross her out enough!


SMILE!