Happy Birthday Aaron!

We celebrated Aaron's birthday this past weekend! Yay for birthdays and especially, birthday cake! Aaron actually requested a cookie cake, which I don't think I have had in YEARS! The traditional birthday supper continues... Leatha's Barbecue! If you have never had their potato salad, I highly recommend it, and their chicken, oh so yummy! I didn't intend for this to be a "food" post, but when you start talking about birthday cake and Leatha's, it's kinda hard not to :) Now, back to who this post was supposed to be about... Aaron :) Can you believe it? This was our 14th year to celebrate his birthday together!!! Wow! That means that we have now celebrated half of all his birthdays together!Kenadie singing happy birthday to Daddy :)
Aaron and Kenadie having fun with Mario Kart. Please excuse her lack of clothes... it's just easier to "eat cake by myself" with no clothes on :) You'll probably also notice that our potty training efforts were to no avail :( We'll get there...one day :)

The only thing missing from this birthday fun was Wes, Joy, Hayden & Henry. We missed you! It just wasn't the same :(

Happy birthday Aaron!!!

Let's Eat! Chicken and Sausage Alfredo

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed (about 3 cups)
1 lb. sausage
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium bell pepper, chopped
2 T. olive oil
1 jar Alfredo sauce
1 package angel-hair pasta, cooked

Brown sausage and set aside. Saute chicken with onion and bell pepper in oil in large frying pan until chicken is cooked through and onion is golden brown. Add sausage and Alfredo sauce. Stir all together. Cover, and simmer on low for 15-20 minutes. Serve over pasta. Enjoy!

If it's good enough for Molly & Lily, It's good enough for me

And so, 12 p.m. rolled around, and I guess Kenadie decided she would put herself down for a nap on Molly & Lily's pillow :) I watched her doing this, thinking she was just playing. After about 2 minutes of complete stillness, I checked to see, and sure enough... she fell fast asleep. I like the way she has her hands over her eyes blocking out the light :) I guess I just "tattled" on myself... did anyone catch that? It's 12 p.m. and Kenadie still has on her pajamas--oops :)

Another quick funny I just HAVE to share... So Kenadie & I met Aaron for lunch today at McDonalds. If you remember, my child LOVES milk!!! I'm trying to get her cheeseburger all ready for her, and as usual at meal time, she is BEGGING for her milk. Well... the McDonald's milk container is advertising the Chipmunk movie... and so, in a whiny, fretful little voice, Kenadie says "I want my squirrel milk." I just about died :) That's one of the funniest things I have EVER heard her say! Take a look for yourself at "squirrel milk." :)

Favorite Pastime

Kenadie DEFINITELY has a new love... pouring, pouring, and pouring some more :) All she needs are some pecansand two cups.And so, the pouring begins...I think the pouring concept stemmed from the sand table last summer, but whatever it is, Kenadie loves to pour the pecans from cup to cup, over and over again. I feel pretty certain that she has poured over 1,000 pounds of pecans just in the past 2 months alone :) No kidding, on an average day, she probably pours some type of object for at least 2 hours total, not all at once but throughout the day! Not too sure what type of learning is taking place, but she is definitely improving her fine motor skills :)

$2,240 later...

Yes, that's right, I have spent approximately $2,200 on diapers since Kenadie was born in her 26 months of life. And so, this morning bright and early, 7:30 a.m. to be exact, we officially started potty training. Whew!!! I am tired from just day one! I'm thinking it can only get better :) Remaining positive. I feel like the day TOTALLY consisted of staying in the bathroom or following Kenadie like a hawk to make sure if accidents occurred, I was there to clean :)

My schedule was VERY repetitive, and boy was I glad to see Aaron when he came in from work so that he too could share in all the excitement! Ha! Every 30 minutes I would take her to the potty. If we had success, she got to choose the color m&m she wanted as well as pick out a sticker to put on our "potty chart." If nothing happened in the 10 minutes that I let her stay on the potty, then we would come back in 10 more minutes to sit for another 10 minutes... and that routine went on and on and on and on... until it was bath time!!! Yay for diapers at bedtime :) Today's total was 3 successes :) and 4 accidents. We will start afresh tomorrow :)

Now, while I am on the diaper subject, let me just take a moment to reflect on a thought I had when Kenadie was a newborn. I was making my daily trip to Wal Mart :)when I noticed a "big kid", who was probably 3 or so riding in the cart. A big box of diapers caught my attention when I noticed that it was a "stage 6" diaper. My first thought was "Wow! they make diapers THAT big???" I thought surely children were potty trained BEFORE they need a stage 6. I was probably buying all of stage 1 at the time, so stage 6 seemed HUGE!!! If you will notice in the above picture I posted, I too am buying the WHOPPING stage 6 diapers :) So much for thinking my child would be potty trained before I had to buy that size--ha :) In Kenadie's defense, she is quite tall and stays "off the charts" in height at her check-ups, therefore, we needed the stage 6 before most :)

I probably went to stage 6 a month or so ago, and my first thought then was "uh-oh, we better get potty trained or there won't be diapers big enough to fit :)" So, that's what we're doing, and I'm hoping to have made some sort of progress by the end of the week. Just progress, that's all :) We'll get there, and I'm sure when we do, I will probably be sad that my baby doesn't need diapers anymore :( I'm the one who was sad when I didn't get to buy formula anymore when we achieved that milestone :) I'll let you know how the week turns out :) Wish me luck!

A Great Time In '09

Wow! What a FAST and FUN year it has been! The older I get, the faster time flies. Boo hoo on that :( 2009 has been a great year for our family, filled with many wonderful blessings and fun memories. Here is an '09 recap of how our year went.Our 2009 started with the celebrating of Aaron's birthday in January, and then shortly after, selling our house in one full day of being on the market!We moved in with Papa and Kay Kay March 5th in an effort to try and figure our what we wanted to do--house wise. The sell of the house in a day was actually a blessing in disguise because in April, Aaron received an unexpected promotion, which required us to live 30 miles from his office. My parents are 26 miles. I would say that was just about perfect!In April, we took a little trip to Atlanta. We had fun visiting the Georgia Aquarium, Zoo Atlanta and a Braves game, oh, and lots of shopping, due to the fact that somehow Kenadie's clothes got left behind? We'll just leave it at that :)Kenadie and I enjoyed attending our Mommy and Me class every Tuesday a.m. In the summer, we enjoyed our pet turtle, "turtle" for a couple of weeks. We checked on him daily, and after NEVER seeing him eat anything we gave him, we decided to let "turtle" go.In June, we took another quick road trip to Omaha, NB to see our Eagles at the College World Series. This is where Kenadie would discover frozen lemonade :)In July, we went on our annual beach trip to Destin with my family. This was also the same time that I discovered Kenadie's hair was actually long enough for a ponytail, therefore meaning her bow would stay put now :) July was a big month for milestones, because this is also when Kenadie's talking seemed to take off. She hasn't slowed down since! One things for sure, I ALWAYS have someone ready to talk to :) and what a sweet little voice she has that I never get tired of hearing :)The bow even survives in the swimming pool :) "I swimming, I swimming", as Kenadie was telling me and everyone else in the pool.God blessed my brother and his wife with a precious, healthy baby boy in October. Shortly after baby Henry was born, we said goodbye to Wes, Joy, Hayden and Henry as they made the move to North Carolina--hoping this is only temporary and that Wes gets transferred back ASAP!I guess the latest news would be that we recently bought a house. We are excited about it and look forward to making many memories here. We have truly enjoyed the 10 months spent with Papa and Kay Kay. I am so glad, as are they, trust me, that they have been such a part of seeing Kenadie grow and change so much this year! I'm sure many tears from my mother and I will be shed as our "move" approaches :( I could make a whole post on "How to successfully live with your parents." Ha ha--seriously though--It's been GREAT Mom and Dad! Thanks for having us! We've enjoyed every minute :) Guess it's time for me to get back to reality though :) It's been fun!

Looking forward to a great 2010! Happy New year everyone!!!

Christmas Cheer

Here is a glimpse of all our fun!Kenadie LOVED going to see the Lewis Lights! She was so much fun to watch. Papa and Kay Kay went with us, and for two years now, we went to eat at Cracker Barrel before going to see the lights. Sounds like a tradition in the making to me :)Barney, Baby Bop and B.J. were, by far, her favorites!"Making" cookies for Santa. She was quite proud of herself :)After making our cookies, we head out to do Christmas with the Smith and Zumwalt families. Our first stop was the Christmas Eve service at First Baptist Church in Ellisville. Much to my surprise, Kenadie went straight in to the nursery, without looking back! Couldn't believe it!Kenadie and cousin Ava at the Smith's. After dinner and exchanging gifts with the Smith family, we head to Laurel to see the Zumwalts.We're back from the Christmas Eve festivities and pouring Santa his milk.Santa made his visit!and so did Uncle Wes, Aunt Joy, Hayden and Henry!!! We spend Christmas morning and day with my family and then go to Papaw and D's house for dinner and presents.
Merry Christmas!!!