thanksgiving..

just a few pics from our thanksgiving holiday.. kyle's brother keith was also at his moms for the day with his precious little girl aspyn. she is totally adorable! she and korb played together so well! ...my guess is much better than their dads ever played together!

korb also got to spend lots of time with his buddy dalto. dalton..of course..but for some reason korb likes to say dalt-o better! theyve gotten to play together 2 weekends in a row! but somehow the only pic i got of them is all 3 in the bathtub. really cute.. but not sure if i can post it. have to clear it with kenners first! however.. last weekend my friend terry of clarine smith photography, ( www.clarinesmith.com ) who ive bragged about many times, accompanied all of us (dalto's family and korb's family) to downtown mckinney for a photo shoot! it was so awesome.. she's the best. there are a couple of pics up on her site right now and as soon as the rest are finished i will share them too! cant wait...

im a bad friend..

so.. im a bad friend. back in october i went to my friend alyson's bachelorette party. and i promised to get the pics developed and posted before the wedding.. which i didnt do. then i missed the wedding due to this miserably crap of an illness that i cant seem to shake! worst friend ever, i know. anyway.. this is my formal apology. and i finally got the pics developed and photo-shopped them as much as possible. disposable camera + scanning them = very poor quality! but they are very fun to look at! i added them to the post. enjoy!
http://jammi-kyle-kennedy-korbin.blogspot.com/2007/10/congrats-to-aly-and-paul.html

happy birthday daddy!

today is my daddy's birthday! im sorry we couldnt be together for your birthday, dad, but i hope you have a wonderful day just the same! miss you lots.. love you even more. enjoy your special day!

another day..another antibiotic

i cannot believe this is thanksgiving week.. i have to admit ive been a little whiny and not so thankful lately. i think ive been sick for like a year.. or a month.. but a year sounds better. ive finished one round of steroids (prednisone..not 'the juice') and a 10 day supply of antibiotics.. only to start another antibiotic today. cant seem to kick this crazy cough. but after blood work, other tests and an MRI - i officially just have a serious amount of congestion. and nothing more! well.. a little more, a herniated disc in my lower lumber - but that is definitely not making me cough. i actually think i have a new cold on top of the 'serious bronchitis/walking pneumonia'.. who catches a cold while on other medication? anyway.. the point is im totally gonna live.. and i do have SO much to be thankful for!

the little kid left for her fathers this morning.. she had the entire week off for the holiday. so even tho i have to share her - which is harder than you might think - at least we got to spend some quality time together monday and tuesday. we cleaned her room yesterday.. usually a total beating.. but we had a really good time. it was our afternoon nap project. she was reasonable about getting rid of some stuff and she even did the vacuuming herself. have i mentioned lately that she is growing up too fast? im thankful we get to spend so much time together.

the little man is sooooo smart. im sure every mom counts their little person as a genius- so i, nor he, are any exception. but i have proof! just today i shh'd paula and he put his finger to his lips and shh'd her too. he said.. shh- baby. it was too cute for words. he has also added quite a few new words to his vocabulary. in addition to putting words together like 'bye bye kay kay' (kay kay is kennedy's friend kaylee) we've been working on food words and my new favorite is pickle. and mato (tomato). and cracker. honestly, theyre all cute. im thankful he is a part of our lives and that he makes me smile everyday.

i love my job. its been almost a year! 10 months.. and i can still say that it was the best career decision ive ever made. there have been moments when ive doubted that... and running your own business isnt always easy. especially when you take care of peoples babies and you cant help but let your heart get involved. but i am thankful that i dont get up everyday dreading my work and that i am blessed with happy healthy smiling little faces to spend my time with.

my parents make me proud. as long as weve been together we have always rotated thanksgiving and christmas between our families gatherings. the 2007 calendar says thanksgiving=palmers & christmas=shoffners. but seeing that christmas falls on mon-tues creating a long weekend & a possibility to see both families.. and in the true jammi-spirit of trying to do too much in too little time.. i came up with the idea of inviting both families here for thanksgiving. ya know .. since i have so much time on my hands to cook and clean on my one day off. not to mention all that extra energy in between coughing.. anyway. i pitched the idea to my dad and he quickly reminded me that he and my mom have been serving thanksgiving lunch at the childress county jail for as long as i can remember. i quickly argued that he could at least try to find someone else to do it. he told me they were counting on him.. and that i should just stick to our original family plan..even tho that means my parents will actually eat their thanksgiving lunch alone. they are committed to serving the community.. and i am very thankful to call them my parents.

i am also very thankful for my inlaws. and not just because i dont have to cook and clean for thanksgiving! i am thankful they have always been so welcoming of me. and i am thankful that they make time for our children. korb and kennedy love them very much! they are special people and i appreciate them very much.. all 3 of them!

im thankful for the friends weve been blessed with..

its awesome to have new people in your life to get to know. we have a few new friendships 'blossoming' and their company has been so much fun over the last few months. im thankful were not too old to make new friends!

its awesome to have friends in your life that you can neglect, for lack of a better word, even if they are down the street, and then pick right up where you left off. im thankful for those friendships and the occasional friday night reminders that they are still alive and well!

the usual suspects, as they are fondly known, are always there for us! the mincheys and cardwells have definitely become our 'family' in the last year. we rarely make it more than a few days with out getting together and it has become so comforting to us to know that we can depend on them when we need a laugh.. or a cry.. to celebrate a small victory or moan about a battle lost. its good to have close friends. im thankful for them.

and speaking of friends.. over the last couple of years kyle and i have been able to grow a friendship with my brother and sister in law that i am very proud of. i know.. theres a automatic relationship there.. and not always something you think about..but we have worked really hard to figure out where and how that relationship works best for all of us and that makes it so much better. we could just take for granted that we are family and go from there - but instead we have thought thru each personality and created something special. i am thankful that we are really friends..not just family!

and finally i am thankful for my loving husband and best friend. he makes the world go 'round for me. love you kyle!

and in regards to the little man...

there are so many new things i could write about korb.. he learns something new everyday! yesterday he found his ears. he walked around all day pointing to his ear .. and mommys ear .. and his friends ears.. pretty cute. there is one thing he has learned that makes me a little sad. the days of the open-mouthed-baby-kiss are over. thats right. the little man has learned to pucker. its really cute -- but it does makes me a little sad. where has my baby gone?!?!

these are just some pics from around the house.

i realize some of these are a little blurry but they are still priceless. kyle almost always has a toothpick in his mouth after dinner.. and korb always wants it.

this is the game.. he will try anything to get it.

and it makes him so happy!

the reddicks came to visit for a little while on halloween.. this is the only way we could get gracy and korb both to look at the camera. stuck in the wagon.. SO CUTE!
not sure what was going on here.. but korb has definitely invaded any tv watching time that daddy and sissy used to have for sure!

i call these.. fun with the halloween candy bowl.

it has provided hours of entertainment.
in the bowl..

trying to get out was difficult..

lets try climbing on the bowl..

thats what im talking about!

whats going on with the little kid...

...something has happened everyday for more than a week that i need to 'document' and i cannot find the time!!!!! but im feeling better today.. still coughing a lot.. but feeling better so im gonna make the time for at least a few things! for starters.. a halloween story i would like to remember.

kennedy has a new friend.. she lives down the street and they have been attached at the hip since they 'found' each other. knew each other from school - they are both rje second graders. but they had no idea they lived on the same street. theyve spent every waking moment (that we will let them) together for the last 3 weeks. dont get me wrong.. they argue like most 8 year old girls. but they seem to work thru their disagreements and get on with hanging out pretty quickly. there's a point here.. i promise. kaylee is diabetic. she was diagnosed in kindergarten. she has to check her sugar and give herself (or mommy has to do it) a shot every time she eats. so as you can imagine..halloween isnt a lot of fun. her parents told her last year.. and every year to follow i guess, that they would give her .10 cents for every pc of candy she got while trick or treating. pretty good deal. well, her mom told me that after walking the neighborhood kennedy and kaylee and one other little girl were hanging out.. counting their candy and just checking out their goods when she heard kaylee tell kennedy to 'stop'. 'stop what' her mom asked. kennedy is throwing candy at me! she asked her why she would do that and kennedy replied that she was giving kaylee all the candy she got but didnt like.. so she would get more money....pretty good friend.
btw..she was a diva cowgirl. super cute costume. silver fringe..white cowboy hat. i didnt get pics that night because she was in such a hurry to catch up to her friends. and she took off her costume before coming home. but kaylee's mom said she got a few good ones. i will try to get them from her.

here they are at an ashley tisdale concert last thursday at stonebriar mall. it was crazy.. a whole post that i will not be writing!

here are a few more pics of kennedy.. aka the little kid.. around the house. i feel like we dont photograph her enough anymore. but when i get out the camera..she says 'seriously mom..im not doing anything'. growing up way to fast!

happy birthday ava grace!

i cant believe its been an entire year since that chilly sunday morning when i got the call that 'today was the day'. not that the experience is mine.. its totally kelly's story! but i wanna tell it from my perspective. ...i had been spending every spare minute i could with my friend kelly. i was on maternity leave and she was preggers. she was on bed rest..in the hospital.. and i could not bare the thought of her sitting up there by herself all day every day. so almost daily korb and i packed up and hung out with her. by way of chick-fil-a, of course. i had put off going back to work as long as i could.. monday the 6th of november was d-day. i had planned to pick my mom up on sunday afternoon. she would be babysitting the little man so that i could continue my career (see how long that lasted ;)! but i was really stressed that i was gonna miss ava's birth. after taking almost 12 weeks off i couldnt very well tell my boss that i needed another day..at a moments notice..cause one of my friends was having a baby. the answer would not have been good. so i was sure that i would just have to wait by the phone.. and pray that the news was all good whenever she decided it was time. after all she had only been 'cooking' for 34 weeks. and tho kelly had been on bed rest..all had been pretty uneventful. the fluid was low..but not any lower that it had been. she could have made it to 36 or 38 weeks. it was just a judgement call on the part of the nurse or sonographer of the day. i left home late morning on that sunday to drive to wichita falls. i had been in the car for about 20 minutes when kelly called. it was time. the c-section was scheduled for mid afternoon. i immediately called my parents. hysterical of course. it seemed too early. and i was gonna miss it! like there was no other option.. my mom and dad told me to turn around. go straight to the hospital. i argued that i HAD to go to work the next day.. and i HAD to have a sitter. they told me that they would figure it out. just to go be with my friend. i love my parents. so thats what i did. i called kyle.. told him i was on my way to the hospital and i would keep him updated with any news. i did not call kelly.. just showed up as quickly as i could. and thank goodness.. they had decided the situation was too dire to wait til mid afternoon. they were about to take her back when i arrived. we had a good hug..and cry..and then i waited. with kellys parents of course. and aarons mom. kate and rob were there too. it seemed like forever.. but then came the proud dad to show off video of his little miracle. crying and breathing on her own! what a blessing that was.. it was amazing to be able to be there. i know that she didnt know i would probably miss it if she waited one more day but i like to think she did. and what a blessing she has been every day after that for the last year! i love her very much!