black and gold ball

last friday night.. kennedy and i attended the school dance. the black and gold ball. she met up with her two bestest buddies. first jordan..then kaylee. not necesarily buds in that order..just the order that she met up with them. had a few cookies and danced the night away on the spotlight stage. there were two options..you could dance on the gym floor with the crowd or pay $1 to dance on the spotlight stage. mom, its only dollar. cant count how many times i heard that! the night could not have been complete without an appearance by (fake) hanna montana. she had a blast!
thank you nicole for hanging out with korb while dada enjoyed an evening on the town..we could not have done it with out you!

friends are friends forever..

not sure where to start..and im blogging from my phone...so im not sure how far i'll get.. but at least a short post is necessary. its late on monday night. and i am laying awake in the guest room of my parents house. kyles been asleep for quite a while and Korb is snoring in his pack n play. i need to get some rest as well.. its been a long 3 or 4 days. ..but my mind is racing..cant seem to fall asleep. tomorrow i have to watch my oldest dearest friend bury her mom and my heart is absolutely broken for her. i know that she will survive.. that she has a huge support group thru her 3 amazing sisters.. and that her mom is in a much better place than this world.. but all of that isnt much comfort when you see your friend hurting and you cant just fix it for her. all i can do is be there for her..for whatever she needs..and thats what i plan to do. love you jaime.. childress wont be the same with out your mom.

he will kill me for this some day..

ok. quick story. i was trying to finish my post about the stars game.. and i thought a little video would be fun. when you ask korb these days what the stars play he says 'hockey' in the cutest little voice. i just love it!!! so when we finished lunch today i thought i'd just catch it really quickly with my camera. ya know..show off his smartness. well, just as i hit record. this is what i saw

and quickly i stopped recording! then i thought.. its pretty smart that he knows what hes doing at not quite 17 months.. not what i was going for ..but gets the point across. so i quickly started to record again. and simply asked him what was going on. here's his response.

poop! think he might be a genius! does this mean potty training is going to be easy??? i hope so!!

has it been that long?

i know what you are thinking.. who is that guy? right? we dont see him often enough! but we do love him.. and his great travel stories so every few months we take the time to catch up with keno paintdawg. on tuesday night kyle and i met him at del frisco's for an amazing dinner and a bottle of wine (or two). after dinner we made our way to the cigar lounge in the restraraunt. we did a little people watching.. and a lot of catching up. we had our normal discussion about 'the perfect girl' ..in my last post about kenny which was in june -- cant believe its been that long (we did see him at a charity event in the fall..but still) -- anyway..in that post i predicted that he would one day run away with some latino princess. well, it seems that has been narrowed down to an argentinian princess... at least for now. we are glad he's picked a country..now maybe he will pick a girl. doubt it. but im sure he will keep traveling..and 'looking' for the right one. anyway, before the night was over.. the small town had come out in all 3 of us a bit and we had the the pianist singing amarillo by mornin. greatness! cant wait to do it again! we agreed that we would see each other before the end of april. we will see about that.. but hey, at least we have a goal. love me some KPS!!!
oh.. and special thanks to auntie cole & uncle derek for hanging out with the little k's! they had a blast and we owe ya!

doing something different..

this weekend we hung out with the usual suspects on friday night.. we played a board game called battle of the sexes. bet you cant guess who the superior sex turned out to be! sorry boys..better luck next time.

then on saturday..as soon as we got up..kyle went on ebay to find tix to the stars game at the AAC. it was a matinee.. started at 1:00.. it was 11-ish when we decided to go. talk about crunch time!!! anyway.. nicole went with us and we had an awesome time! it was so nice to get out of the house and do something different! and as you might recall from this post korb and i might have cause the demise of last season.. so now that football is over.. well, over for us.. we have to start supporting our stars (& mavs, of course)! the kids had a great time.. as did the adults. kennedy was so excited to 'go somewhere'. korb was so good during the first period. he just hung out. period 2..he was over the lights and that equaled boredom. but during the third i tried to draw his attention to the ice. thinking i might be able to get him to actually watch for a few minutes. he loved it! he watched for the entire third period. he said 'oh wow' about a thousand times.. he argued with me that their sticks were clubs (he has golf clubs he plays with all the time) and he followed the puck (tho he said it was a ball) from one end of the ice to the other over and over. it was so fun to watch him watching the game!

resting up on the ride over

kennedy and 'cole chillin
just after we arrived..

he was so excited by the lights he could not be bothered to look at the camera good one of daddy and sis, despite korbs lack of attn to mommy
nicole helped us try to get a family shot after the game was over.. none of them are good of everyone.. but all 3 are good of someone. couldnt choose.

1. korb looks a little special
2. not sure what they are reaching for..

3. hate this one of me..but they are all adorable.

all in all ..we had a great time! afterwards i got to go to dinner with a few girlfriends and have a good ole GNO. such a good time!! we have to do it again soon girls! unfortunately i dont think there were any pics from the evening.. maybe next time.

terminator?

a funny story to remember this week..

on sunday evening, post the dallas 'one and done-ers', terminator: the sarah connor chronicles came on fox. it started about the time kyle finally took his face out of his hands and rejoined the living... personally i thought it was gonna be stupid - but im a girl. however, kennedy wanted to watch. she climbed up on the sofa next to daddy and started asking questions. what is a terminator? who is sarah connor? is this a true story? i think it was a very good distraction for kyle. something to focus on instead of pouting.. so he tried to explain. then.. he got his coat and shoes. i asked where he was going. 'to walmart.. to buy the terminator movies. she's gonna have to see them to understand.' oh the things girls and their dads bond over. he was only able to find the first one. did you realise it was filmed in 1984? ..15 years before she was born. they stayed up way past her bedtime to watch it. i heard her say a few things that made me giggle.

'why is her shirt tucked in?' thats funny! why were our shirts tucked in??

then kyle asked her how she felt about sarah's hair. she said '..its totally a mess! it must have been awesome just to get out of bed and go.' it is funny that people worked so hard to make their hair so bad.

i also heard her say 'is that guy really the governor of california?' how do you explain that one? no blaming that on the 80's.

anyway.. i think they are hooked. im sure we will be making a trip to best buy this weekend to find the other movies. hopefully the series isnt canceled in the next month.

ummm.. what can i say.

crappy end to an otherwise awesome weekend with my family. its time to pull ourselves together, move on and refocus... go mavs. im glad we got some pics of the boys in their jerseys.

korb chillin with daddy during the chargers game

jaime and i tried so hard to get a good pic of them together..they were not in the mood..love this one of bex bex..seriously dude. its my chair!nevermind. ill sit with derek..
or maybe nicole!

another year older..

its my turn to reflect on 2007. i know that new years day is the day most people use to look back at the previous year but seeing that my birthday is just 10 days later.. id like to put them together. too much reflection can get you down! dont get me wrong.. i have no real regrets for the year -- but there's always something you were gonna do..that you never got around to. we are not going to dwell on those things.. but in true jammi-spirit.. i have made a list. it is MY birthday.. her we go.

things to remember in 08

1. change is good. even if its drastic! if your hearts in the right place.. and you think your strong enough. just do it!

2. friends rock. the more the better.

3. get out of town. even if its a miserable trip to the guadalupe..you'll look back on it fondly.

4. love your family! period.

5. bigger tv's are better. so is HD..

6. traditions are important. but sometimes you have to prioritize them.

7. try something new at least once a year.. you might like it.

8. just because you like something ..doesnt mean you have to do it ALL the time. absense does make the heart grow fonder.

9. if you got it on craigslist... it was a good deal.

10. children make you younger.. and healthier.. and happier.

11. somehow music does too..

12. finish all the home improvement projects that are in progress before starting more.

13. be more straight forward..

15. take better pictures!

16. blogging is good for everyone. even perfect strangers. you never know whos life your gonna touch.

17. on your birthday remember your parents.. it was and is a special day for them to.

hmm..17 seems like a random odd number to end on. but 31 seems like a random odd number too. i remember 17.. (even tho it was a long time ago kelly!) i think i like 31 better.

before noon today i opened 3 wonderful birthday cards.. listened to 4 different renditions of happy birthday (live and over the phone).. got countless text messages with well wishes for the day (the most significant from my daddy).. and replied to several birthday emails. its nice to feel loved. thanks everybody!!!

new years eve 2007

for new years eve this year.. we decided, once again, to stay in. we were invited to a party or two..and to go out. but it just seems like staying home with your closest friends is the right way to start a new year these days. nick and jenny drove up from houston..it was great to see you guys! there was a lot of back and forth all weekend on trying to get them here ..but im so glad they could make it! they arrived just as the last daycare kid left. korb and dalton played together for a couple of hours so well.. then korb got a little rough. not always such a gentle giant...we are working on that - i promise! after a good time out..they semi made up and then dalt-o went night-night. he was done with the palmers for 2007. such a handsome boy!most of the usual crowd was here.. except team minchey. we missed you guys! the carters and cardwells were, of course, here. and our next door neighbors (both of them) made appearances. side note.. its good to know your neighbors.. means you can be as loud as you wanna be! nothing major went on. just a lot of hanging out. the normal tears over east coast phone calls at 12pm eastern. champagne toast at midnight CST. there was a kanuth siting.. they were here for about 30 min i think. but it was good to see them none the less! and we started 2008 off the right way.. with a poker game beginning about 30 min into the new year. not sure any of the pics need explanation.. but thats what i do.

palmers & shoffners! thanks for making the trip guys!

love my baby brother!

most of team palmer..

missing kennedy lots! just a few more days...

just like this one..

can you tell the kids were just about done with 2007 altogether?

my bff's and our babies

ok.. this one does need a little explaining!

the first pic is aaron, kyle and brye plus their munchkins 2007

the second is all six.. same time 2006.

my what a difference a year can make!

christmas 2007

as you might recall from my thanksgiving post.. this year christmas=shoffners. we left for childress on saturday the 21st. i was so excited to spend the holidays with my parents and not have to rush home to work..or wait until 'the store closed' on new years eve to leave! what a blessing this change in careers has been! anyway.. the ride was completely uneventful. we loaded the truck for what seemed like two hours.. and then we were off. at least 3 hours behind schedule. the kids were ready to see nana and pop! we made a quick stop at sonic for some lunch and we were off.

lets go already!

this popcorn chicken is tasty!

here sis.. let me read it to you

korb really likes hair brushes.. not sure why.

its funny, if you know kennedy, that she would be brave enough to let him go at her with 2 brushes. she has a very tender head and screams hysterically when i brush her hair. maybe i should just let korb get her ready for school?

so saturday was pretty laid back.. got there around 4 (or maybe 5). went to elsombrero for dinner, yummy. made a stop at walmart to see mimi (..thats my mom's best friend, berva). then we dropped kennedy off at the skating rink and made our way home to watch the cowboys.

on sunday morning..my parents left for church early..like always. we usually just get ready and meet them there. and we are late every time..with out fail. church starts at 1030..we try to make it by 1045. well.. this sunday kennedy told us that nana said to be there by 10. she was invited to participate in their childrens christmas program.. she had been practicing her lines all week but only on her own. not with the other children. so we rushed and rushed to make it on time so that she wouldnt be late. honestly, i didnt even shower. gross i know. but we made it to the church at 1005. its still up in the air whether she, herself, fabricated the time change..or if nana really told her to be there by 10, but either way.. it was pretty genius. needless to say, church did not start til the normal 1030. but we were not late. im sure its the only time weve ever been early to anything in our lives.

while passing time before church started,

korb climbed into the wheel chair they keep on hand.

and then poppy had to take him and his buddy ashlyn for a ride.

kennedy in the christmas program.. she did an awesome job!

we had christmas lunch at the church.. it was a really nice service and meal. we love being apart of mom and dad's church. its always a highlight of our weekend.

every year since kennedy was little.. my dad always tries to find some large boxes around christmas. he and kennedy build forts out of them and always have a great time. this year was no exception.. well, except that they had a new playmate. during the design and construction stage, korb made good use of nana's pots and pans. who needs new toys when you have boxes and pots and pans?

let the box fun begin..

korb-where are you??

beat you to it sis.. already in the box. wanna play ball?

or not..

this one cracks me up.. notice the random hair brush.

love this one too.. kennedys whole head thru the window.

that gave us the great idea of trying to get both kids to peak thru the window.

kennedy thought it was a great idea too..

at first

we tried everything to get korb to look..

thats papa trying to entice him with a flashlight.

thats the best we got.. can you say stubborn?

he thought it was hysterical to look out when i didnt have the camera

once sis was bored with the fort..

he had to recruit new playmates.

thats papa on the right and dada on the left!

and a view from inside the box!

wore himself out.. but he had so much fun!

thanks papa!

on monday, it was time for the real presents. korb did such a good job opening them. he said 'OH WOW' about a thousand times. so cute.

kennedy on the other hand.. gave us a bunch of fake smiles..

like this one. until she found the one thing she was looking for

the ipod nano..

she and daddy had fun getting everything set up..

and making an 'on the go playlist' of her favorite songs.

you see..santa brought the ipod early in the week so that daddy could fill it up with music. smart thinkin santa..

and thats it.. christmas at the shoffners 2007. we did leave early enough on christmas day to make it to kyle's nanas in grandprarie. but all the pictures stink. ill try to work some photoshop magic and make them better.. but i think the bottom line is I NEED A NEW CAMERA! they are really dark. we had a great time with kyle's family tho. it was really great to see everyone. and korb was a big hit. he had so much fun with the other kids! and we all got some pretty good loot too! thanks to everyone (and mom and dad) for thinking of us.. you didnt have to. but we appreciate everything very much! lots of love!!!