palmer plans..

over the weekend we went to a birthday party for one of kyles college friends son. he turned 1 on 2-22.. love cool birthdays. it was nice so nice to see them.. we honestly hadnt seent he baby since last march. thats terrible!!! then on saturday evening we were invited to dinner at the kanuths. thanks guys! we had a great time.. and even found a short cut home from rockwall. on sunday we made a trip to plano presby to visit the canons and their new little one, kingsley. she was born on 2-21 exactly 18 months after her brother cash. mom, does that sound familiar?? congrats to amy and brad. she is beautiful!!! monday night we chilled around the house..talked about being frugal for the week.. tuesday night we went out to dinner with the usual suspects.. not at all frugal.. and last night we cooked dinner and hung out with our two spaz children. they are OOC sometimes! tonight kyle is going to happy hour with sammy b..and then we are back to the weekend. this time of year is always so busy. its soooo nice outside.. and our calendar is filling up..and im a little stressed about it! i know its all fun stuff but sometimes its overwhelming to see what you have planned on paper and figure out a way to juggle it all. im sure it will all be worth the stress. anyway.. there is a small point to this post. ive updated the palmer plans on the right to include buffett in april..cant wait.. and a few other new things. and ive added a ticker (no honey thats not just a ticket term) counting down to vacation!!!! its kindof an odd one.. we are going to the mountains and we will celebrate st patricks day there. just like last year..only with a few more 'family members'! i am so excited to get out of town!!!

oh no..

thats one of korbs favorite phrases right now. on friday we had a few people over for dinner and cards.. i was going to attempt to wash the baby smell (you know..spit up, poop, leaky diaper..gotta love babies!) off of me before everyone arrived, so i ran a bath. i was straightening up the bed room when i heard. 'oh no..oh no night-night!' thats what korb calls his blankie, his night-night. then he came into the bedroom. i asked what happened and he took me by the hand to show me this.
the night-night went to the washing machine..while i drained the bath. he is a mess.. oh well, at least it wasnt a pair of shoes.

a little february catch up..

not sure where the month has gone!! this should be at least 4 posts.. but i feel like combining. after my last post.. we had a wonderful dinner at dos charros (my favorite mexican rest!) and when we got home kp had to pack for his annual boys ski trip. hate it! but he always has a great time.. so i deal. anyway.. there was a debate over the camera. we only have one and he was sure he needed it for his trip. after all they would be in vail..and we would be in childress. good point. so.. we agreed and he got busy packing. i downloaded all the pics on the card so that it would be nice and empty for him. then i took a few more.

i think we will call this..leave me ALONE i have to pack.

so..i went downstairs to see if the other kp wanted his picture taken..

it seems that he had misplaced something under our bed.

cant imagine what it could be..

this is his.. 'you looking at me' face
and this is sis impersonating his 'you looking at me face'
ok.. enough camera fun. everyone in their pj's for bed. 'kennedy put down that box of chocolates you've had enough!' 'ok mom..ok.' so she sets it on the edge of the dinning room table. smart one sis.. korb quickly knocked it off and chocolates went everywhere! while i attempted to pick them all up..he 'helped' by shoving them in his mouth. he was a mess!!

so that was that..our valentines day. just the way i had it planned!!! thanks honey!

the next afternoon the little k's and i went to visit my mom & dad. and we talked nana into coming home with us for the week! korb had a few dr's appts (imagine that) and she was nice enough to help out with my daycare kiddos. have i told you lately how much i love my mom!!!! cant say it enough! we had a great week.. altho not 'well documented' ..no camera. but i assure you it was in good hands and put to good use. the camera (and kyle) went to vail, remember!! funny thing is .. these are the only 3 pics i can find on the camera from the trip. hmmmm.. must have been beautiful!!!

..so he got back late on tuesday and spent the day with my mom and i on wednesday. he took kennedy lunch at school. she was VERY pleasantly surprised. and then spent the afternoon with korb. he is sooooo much fun right now. they had a great day together. the next day was kyles moms bday. happy belated birthday trish!! dont worry i did call her ..i was just on a bit of a blogging hiatus. anyway..i tried (all day) to get a good video of korb saying happy birthday to gran gran. and if i had any idea how (or any software to) piece these together they wouldve gotten the job done. but thats not gonna happen. however ive decided they are too cute to scrap.. they need to be shared with the world.. or at least gran gran.

valentines day...

ive always had sort-of mixed emotions about valentines day.. of course i LOVED it as a child. i think most do. valentines parties at school.. getting cards from all your friends.. eating lots of candy.. converstion hearts.. all things every kid loves. as i got older..i always seemed to have a boyfriend..so that made valentines even sweeter. getting flowers at school was one of my favorite things! my boyfriend and my daddy never seemed to let me down when it came to flowers at school! then my junior year in high school.. my nana.. who lived with me my entire life.. fell ill the first week in february. she had a heart attack..and was rushed to amarillo where she underwent lots of tests and a balloon surgery to clear some blockage. she never made it home. she died on thursday feb 10, 1994. and we said our final goodbyes the following monday.. which happened to be valentines day. its never been quite the same for me.

dont get me wrong, we still celebrate. and i have found joy in love and flowers over the years. this is my fourth valentine with the love of my life. kyle is so special to me. and i love making valentines cards with kennedy for her class party. we always try to do something special.. and she always gets awesome gifts from 2 dads. and usually 2 grandpas.. and last year we had a new little heart throb to celebrate with! korb got cards and candy too.. and kyle and i spent too much money on gifts for each other. i got a beautiful journey pendant necklace.. and he got a beautiful blue tooth headset (romantic, i know.. but he's a boy and he likes boy stuff!)

however, this year i am reminded of heartbreak. ive been wrestling with whether or not to blog about this.. but ive decided it makes me love my valentine more and i want to share. i have a very good friend from va beach.. her name is kathy. we worked together for dillard's when i moved to virginia. she's one of the few friends i keep in touch with who knew me when i was pregnant with kennedy.. that seems significant to me. she, together with her mom, helped me buy my first house. ..and sell it, years later. we've known each other thru good times and bad.. she's one of those friends you can not talk to for months and then catch up in minutes. those are the very best kind in my opinion.. years ago kathy met a boy. his name is mike..and she was instantly in love. mike was much younger than kathy..and in the beginning we were not about to let her forget that! funny.. it seems completely insignificant now. kathy and mike were engaged rather quickly.. and then began the debate about 'the wedding'. the when's and the where's.. mike is a navy seal and was always being deployed. he loved what he did. and he loved his fellow seals. and he loved kathy. the wedding debate went on so long..and had to be rescheduled so many times that it became a bit. they would just be engaged forever...last week, mike was killed in iraq. my heart is so broken for kathy. yesterday there was a memorial service honoring him in virginia beach. and today.. she will say her final good byes at arlington national cemetary to the one she loves ~ on valentines day. and im sure it will never be the same for her.

so for me.. valentines day is about more than candy and cards and beautiful flowers (which ive already rec'd from my valentine today! thank you sweetheart!) its about loving your loved ones.. and celebrating with them! this year.. i dont want gifts.. and i dont want a romantic date.. i just want to be with my family. and i want them to know how much i love them. and how much i treasure everyday with them. i want to take awesome pictures of kennedy and korb loving each other. i want to read every card with kennedy when she gets home from school. i want to enjoy an evening together. and i want to fall asleep in the arms of the man i love. that sounds like the perfect valentine's day to me.

i love you mom. im sorry you are missing your mom today.. i know you do everyday. but i also know that today is hard. and 14 years of cushion doesnt ease the pain...i will see you tomorrow. and we will take her some flowers..and maybe some candy. i think she would like that. i know i would.

happy birthday jaime!!!

just a quick note to wish my bff jaime a happy birthday! not that she reads my blog.. or any blog! i think she is the anti-blog... but im sure brye will tell her! dont worry, i told her myself first thing this morning! im sure this will not be the best of birthdays.. but im also sure her mom is looking down and sending all her love from heaven above to her little girl. 31.. dont worry james.. i'll always be a little older! when we were kids that always seemed like a good thing for me..now im sure its better for you! happy birthday~

17months! dada's favorite age..

what a sweetheart korb is! he is so much fun right now.. he wont have a 'well baby' check up until next month so i will have official stats then..but he did see his new dr this week and he weighed in at 28.8 lbs (dressed with shoes) and 33.5 inches tall (without his shoes). he is really slimming up! of course he is still a big kid.. lots taller than all his buddies.. but we dont mind.

he talks so much! he can say just about anything you ask him too. and a lot more! hes starting to really put sentences together. sometimes there a little jumbled but he gets his point across. like when he wants to go somewhere he says 'bye go car'.. a little backwards but makes sense to me. he is also really starting to switch up the order of words hes been saying together for a long time. not sure if that is significant at all.. but it seems smart to me. example: he has always said 'dat dadas guitar' and this week he is saying 'dat guitars dadas'. just something ive noticed. he also talks to everything. his toys.. his food.. his friends.. the cat. one morning i had gone to the grocery store very early..and when he woke up i asked if he wanted milk. he said yes. so we went to the fridge. i couldnt find the milk. he said 'milk ere are u?' ..then i remembered that i had left everything on the kitchen table and not taken the time to put it away when i got home. when i pulled the milk out of the bag he said 'hi milk!' like they were long lost buddies. made me smile! one day last week he had his little people bus..filled every seat..and then threw it against the floor to watch it all break apart. (he's a little destructive) every time it would hit the floor he would say 'hoey moey'. i had no idea what he was saying..after about the 5th time i said to him with a question in my voice 'holy moly?' ..he just looked at me like, duh! hoey moey! that means he has spent WAY too much time with NANA lately! for the past week he says it when you turn on the tv/radio anticipating it being loud..hoey moey! its really cute! definitely an affective communicator..

he still loves to sleep.. he naps in the morning and afternoon for at least 2 hours each and overnight from 8-8 at a minimum.. usually later than 8 on the weekends. and along with that comes the 2 N's so precious to his life.. (well make that 3 including nana) his night-night (his blanket) and his nuk (his pacifier). he would carry them around all day if you would let him. nana is the only one who does.. we make him leave them in his crib. probably why she's his favorite.
he still loves to climb.. and dada loves to help him out with that! thats him..on our mantle. dont worry - dada never took his hands off of him. he has also learned to climb the stairs. he is much too reserved to attempt going down tho. his buddy bex is a whiz at it! maybe he'll learn from watching bex soon.

he loves to be held..think thats nana's fault too. im sure she will gladly take the blame tho. she loves to hold him! we all do..but somehow she and i are the only ones with any stamina at it. seems that his near 30 lbs little body breaks every one elses arms! i hear all the time..how do you hold him all day? well..i dont hold him all day but when i can, i do. im afraid he will grow out of wanting to be held very soon and i will miss it! he's very strong.. and mischevious. always getting into something and dying to get caught! its way more fun that way! the next few pics are of one of his favorite pass times at my parents house. he loves to play with the water dispenser. of course he can only lift the empty bottles. but he thinks he is so tough when he does. he's very dramatic about it. and he's always trying to make more 'empties' a little faster.

he can recognize just about every one he knows in pictures. seriously..i think he's up to about 30 people. its pretty crazy.. not too mention all the stuff he can name. he also knows a few colors. yellow, purple and green. we are working on the rest. he knows a few shapes. circle, square, star, hexagon (pretty cute..he says hex like bex) he knows the difference between football, hockey, basketball and golf on tv. im sure soon he will have to learn about baseball. not my favorite. maybe dad will have to teach him that one!

he has had non-stop ear infections for the the last 5 months. looks like we maybe on our way to tubes. as much as i hate to say it. i just changed his dr this week.. i just dont feel like our pediatrician is aggressive enough with medication. im all for not over medicating him..but if he needs it, he needs it! maybe the new doc will be able to knock out the infection and avoid a trip to the ENT specialist. he has a followup swallow test next week..hopefully it will go really well and we will be done with thickening all of his liquids! he is still seeing dr r, his pulmonologist, but with daily allergy medication and nasal spray his lungs have been clear for quite a while now. he does have a nasty cough this week..but the mucous is clear. so hopefully its just from this crazy weather and not an infection.

wow thats a lot of stuff! feels like i havent really journaled about what he's learned in a long time. its always fun to look back in a few months and compare. he and his sister are still best of friends. very much in love.. they play so well together. and she is not yet annoyed with him. wonder how much longer that will last!?!? he is our pride and joy.. our lives are much fuller with him in it!

the good with the bad.. and 5 more reasons i love my husband

just a little weekend recap.. friday night, while kennedy and i were getting ready for the black and gold ball jaime called. she was on her way to childress.. a scheduled visit with the parents while brye was skiing in new mexico with some friends. she said her mom had been admitted into the hospital..nothing serious. she had bronchitis and had let herself get very dehydrated. we talked a few minutes and i told her i would call her the next morning to check in. the dance was a hit! we had a good time..and then we came home to hangout with nicole! there was a boys night out planned for friday night as well so kyle talked nicole into staying with korb so kennedy and i could still go to the dance. thanks nicole! anyway, after some late night bueno (1030pm) kennedy fell asleep during a new disney movie minutemen and nicole and i stayed up talking WAY too late. the next morning i got up early..korb and i went to wash the tahoe for our much anticipated trip to east texas! just as we were getting on the road my dad called.. he shared with me the news that jaimes mom had just passed away. as soon as i could catch my breath i called her.. we talked briefly.. told her i loved her.. kyle and i spent a few minutes talking about what we should do. we finally agreed to continue on to east texas for the day. we havent seen his family in months..and if nothing else we had just been reminded were certainly not promised tomorrow. so we made the most of our time with his fam..the kids had such a good time. im glad that we went. we drove home late that night instead of staying over so that we could get an early start on our trip to childress..reason number 1 that i love my husband more after this weekend. after we made a few arrangements..unpacked the truck..repacked the truck..filled up with gas again..we were on the road again, reason number 2... the kids were asleep in a matter of minutes. after the 4 hour drive, we dropped the kids off with nana and papa and we spent the afternoon with jaime and brye. and the rest of her family.. and then around 5pm kyle and kennedy got in the truck again to drive back to mckinney, reason number 3. we didnt want kennedy to miss any school.. he needed to pick up some things for james & brye.. and he needed to get a little work done.. so he drove all the way home to take care of 'stuff' while i stayed in childress with my parents. on monday, korb and i did a lot of hanging out with nana. she took us to lunch with papa, to order flowers for the funeral, and to walmart..of course. we checked in on jaime in the afternoon.. and then my mom and i spent some quality time together while korb napped. kyle worked until 3ish and then drove back to childress, reason number 4. mom, korb and i met him at jaime's parents house. we had been there a little while when he arrived... its worth noting that the weather was so nice over the weekend and on monday. in the 70's and beautiful! after dinner we got the kobra ready for bed, left nana to do the honors of putting him down, and headed back over for one more visit. there were so many people in and out of the house..people i had not seen in YEARS. very good fellowship over a very sad and sudden situation. sometime during the night the weather made a drastic change. a storm blew in ..and when i say blew in i mean it quite literally.. check out this tree in my parents back yard.. turns out its a cotton wood and makes their allergies crazy.. silver lining i guess. the funeral was at 2 on tuesday.. the service was incredibly uplifting.. sad.. but still uplifting. it says so much about someone when you leave a funeral inspired by their 'acts' to be a better person. we visited with the family and a couple of hundred guests before packing up for one more 4 hour drive.. that was kyles 5th in 4 days. reason number 5. we made the best of a terrible situation.. we spent quality time with our families.. and we learned that you have to take the good with the bad and then unfortunately move on. so, wednesday..we got back to work..and the rest of the week has been business as usual. i do have a few funny korb stories.. be on the look out!

no damage? really?

on tuesday morning.. after a very sleepless night for all.. this is what we woke up to! around 6am we heard a terrible noise.. kyle and i both sat straight up in bed! i said..dont worry honey, its just thunder. he said..thats not thunder it was the wind. i argued..it couldnt possilbe be 'just wind'. turns out we were both a little bit right.. it was the wind. and this tree. seems they got into a little tif and the tree lost! that window you see..its my parents bedroom. had the tree of fallen straight into the house instead of into that corner - who knows what couldve happened. a little later in the morning i got on the phone to the insurance company, sure there would be LOTS of damage to the roof. my daddy..got on a ladder..with a chainsaw and told me to get off the phone. he and a few buddies made a day of clearing the mess.. love small towns! everyones always willing to lend a helping hand..even in 40 degree weather with windgusts that could up root a huge tree! the damage to the roof is very minimal. crazy! the first few pics are from the back yard. the last two are from the drive way. on the other side of the house! what a mess.. guess they wont have to buy firewood for a while!

on the road again..

this pic is from sunday morning.. on our way to childress. i just think its pretty sweet. kenners sharing her pillow with he baby brother.

an east texas saturday

satuday morning we made a LONG over due trip to see kyle's family! we spent most of the day at the highschool gym watching his neices play little dribblers basketball.. btw - both of them added a tick mark in the W column! congrats girls. the first game was at noon..and i didnt get any pics. then we went to lunch in tyler..where the camera finally made it out of the bag. second game was at 5.. pics? not so much. oh well..the ones i got are very cute. and tell the story of the day very accurately, i think!

first things first.. korb-the entertainer.

he had tons of fun with his cousins..

especially kelsi ...

..and hailey.

they both got lots of korb smooches.

aunt kelli got a few too.

kaden did a lot of hanging with uncle kyle at lunch..

kennedy and kaitlyn took turns running the show at their own table. and i use the term 'took turns' very loosely. they are the bossy ones of the group. always competing!

kelli's new man.. first impressions..hmm. not exactly what i expected but VERY cool. nice, whitty, good with all the kids (big plus in my book!) over all..he gets an A. cant imagine what he must of thought of me..puffy eyed..quiet..definitely not myself! sorry brad.. i promise i am fun!one thing korb was not about to smooch or even touch..was any taxidermied animal hanging on the wall. not even that harmless goat...

btw who stuffs a goat?

so gran gran came to his rescue..

then they both gave dada that look.

she meant..dont mess with my baby. he meant..yea, what she said!

and then they hung out..all smiles

keeping with the theme from the dance.. and remebering from this old post that kennedy doesnt believe in bringing back any change. she asked for some quarters..i handed her a $5 bill. and yes she spent it all on that stupid horse. dont worry she let the other kids ride along..not all of the happily!

yes again..she got the look from granny too! she did save enough to get everyone a toy on the way out the door..

such a sweet girl.

after the last game we went back to kyle's moms. kennedy got to spend some quality time with daphne! she enjoyed that so much. thanks for having us guys! we will be back soon..i promise!