november 2009

i hate that im always writing about our life in review but i guess writing about our life is the point of this blog so, while its busy, if in review is the best i can do it will have to be good enough. and november 2009 was busy indeed.

we spent the first weekend at tms for nascar. we had a wonderful time with old friends and made a few new ones.. as usual. the pictures never do it justice. well.. some of them do. =)
from high to low.. the next week i learned about the passing of a wonderful friend. its been difficult to face and talk about. not to mention a bit haunting.. but i think ive found a way to at least start saying goodbye with this post.

on friday night nicole got me out of the house for an much needed break from beating myself up over jelena's death. a little pat green always does the heart good. =) music is healing. on saturday night.. more friends more music at hanks .. we were introduced to a new texas country band - always a plus in our world. ive definitely added the bleu edmonson band radio to my pandora list. thanks randy!

twelve photo shoots{yay!} for jdp-photography.. a date weekend with my hubby.. a few days off and a wonderful trip to my hometown with my entire family did my heart good. it was the first time ive been home for thanksgiving since 1998. not sure how thats possible.. but its true. way over due. and completely a blessing.

and that was that. november. the good with the bad. lessons learned. memories made. not nearly enough pictures taken. such is life. and life is good.

dear jelena,

i remember the day we met.. more than 5 yrs ago. my life was more than a little crazy. i was taking over a huge business that i probably had no business running.. based on my experience - not to mention the stress in my personal life. everything was new to me. the job. the city. the single parent thing. i missed my friends and all the familiar things about my old life.. dont get me wrong. it wasnt all bad. after all, i had chosen all the change and i certainly wasnt regretful but finding a real friend, another relationship, certainly wasnt priority. thats what made ours special. it wasnt work. technically i was your boss, but it felt more like we were partners in crime. =) you were always willing to stay late and help me with anything. i remember crying on your shoulder when you happened to be in my office for a meltdown or two {or ten ;)}. things were good in your life at the time and you were more than willing to be there for me. having moved here from abroad only a few short years before, after marrying the american man of your dreams and you didnt have many friends outside of work either. that definitely helped to build our bond but it wasnt what drew me to you. you were always so thoughtful. picking up lunch when you knew i hadnt had a free minute to go pick something up myself.. offering to help with the little kid just because.. and always helping out with the demanding busy work even when your sales might suffer. we made it through that first christmas and inventory together in the big D at the big D. of course its a huge store.. and i do remember most of the management, but it would be work for me to drudge up the last names of any other associate in my dept. in fact, im certain, near impossible.

by the end of january things were looking up. things in my life were settling in and i was offered a wonderful position with an amazing retailer down the hall.. but things in your life were turning upside down just as quickly as mine was evening out. a bitter divorce no one saw coming. threats of deportation. struggles with immigration i could only imagine. it was my turn to be there for you and i was gladly up to the task. we moved down the hall to that other retailer together. partners in crime once again. we found a place for you to live, albeit not at all what i would chose for you. the offer stood for you to live with us but the last thing you wanted to do was 'disrupt our home when we had just found our groove' {the funny thing is i can still hear you saying those words with that ridiculously thick accent.. i always loved the way you thought you were overcoming it tho it never changed - remember that accent reduction class you took - that makes me smile through tears every time i think of it.} anyway, you were determined to make it on your own and prove, only to yourself of course, that you were worthy to be here and that you could make it by yourself. not long after you filed for a divorce, i got engaged. and you were so happy for me. because thats who you were. our work life didnt change much.. we had lunch together and an occasional girls night. i drove you home from work to give you a break from public transportation a couple of days a week. you were grateful.. though you would never complain about the bus. we planned a little wedding together. you helped me pick out, well, everything, {while we should have been working =)}. another christmas and inventory passed. you always bought me gifts for both. spa gift certificates. completely selfless. we celebrated birthdays over dinners. we celebrated lunches just because we didnt feel guilty taking them.. =) i told you we were expecting a new baby long before i told anyone else in the store, just about the time your divorce was final. and you were happy for me. because thats who you were. you got your own apartment and bought a car! not to mention full citizenship after many hours of studying and learning things about this country i definitely didnt know {all while we should have been working =)}. things were good for both of us. there was always the gloom of a career in commission sales that could get you down but things were mostly good.

the baby was born in august and you were instantly his biggest fan. volunteering to babysit, even sleepover, ANYTIME. kennedy couldnt have been more pleased to spend time with you. she told me the funniest story just the other day about 'teaching you' to use the radio in your new car. im glad she has those fun memories with you. you made a trip home to see your family for the first time in SO long and i was SO proud of you for going. you were more help with the kids than any other friend {well.. becky might argue with that} and i could not have been more thankful to have you in my life. i returned to work from my maternity leave during the busiest time of year and over the next two months we discussed, almost daily, the fact that i was planning to leave the company to stay home when the holidays and inventory were over. you were always supportive and understanding yet reserved and leery. knowing that our friendship would surely suffer if we didnt see each other everyday like we had for more than two and a half years. even telling me that you couldnt make it there with out me. i remember assuring you that you would be fine. after all, you had overcome so much on your own.

that first year and a half we did a great job of chatting on the phone. meeting up for lunch once in a while. emailing. i started this blog.. and you always kept up with my musings. then, of course, the holidays would roll around and every ones life would get so much busier. we didnt talk too many times in 2009. im very sad about that. not that we were at odds at all.. just busy living separated lives. and i regret that so now. the last time i talked to you, you were excited about a new car and taking another trip home to see your family. =)


its so hard for me to imagine that you are gone. i will always wish that we had kept in better touch. that i had done a better job of keeping in touch. my heart is completely broken that you didnt call me before you made up your mind. im not sure i will ever understand why or how this happened.. but after a month of thinking of you everyday - sometimes the sweet moments i remember between you and the kids.. sometimes the laughing til we cried just because we were tired at the store.. sometimes imagining how lonely you must have been in those last moments.. sometimes selfishly wondering if you thought of me and if those thoughts brought a smile to your face or made the lonely harder.. after a month of trying to find a way to say goodbye and make sure your life has meaning - at least in mine - im writing to you to say thank you. thank you for nudge to take better care of my friendships. thank you for showing me how to care about people selflessly. and thank you for being my friend. i will miss you forever. rest in peace sweet jelena. i hope you have a merry christmas with your mom and dad this year. you deserve it.

veterans day gets me all choked up..

yesterday i watched all day as the 'birthday wishes and semper fis' flooded my facebook news feed. its a comradery im proud to have known first hand for many years of my life. and today.. its our turn to thank all of you for serving this great nation. and a special thank you to all of you family members. moms, dads, husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, children, grandparents.. you give so much, sometimes everything. thank you to everyone whos given their time, their life and their loved ones in the name of freedom.



my heart aches today for you, kathy. im sure its a bittersweet pride you feel as you see flags flying and celebratory parades honoring all veterans. you are on my mind..

im sure youre all wondering..

what this little {fake-smiling} rockstar was for halloween.. =)

you have waited patiently LONG enough! now lets see..

superman??

nooooooooo.. those are just pjs that are 2 sizes too small that he wont give up.. he wears them pretty much every other day. =)

baby mike jones?

dont be silly.. that was just one random day when mommy was bored and decided to straighten his hair! =)

a dallas cowboy?

nope.. that was just a trial run on costume day at preschool..

i'll give you a hint.. he's a magic robot!

thats right! yo gabba gabba's plex!

and who would plex be with out dj lance??

he was ADORABLE! and his daddy was pretty cute too. ;) he wore his costume on thursday night to the fall festival at our country club and then again on saturday for trick or treating at the cusanos. i wish i could tell you that he was as excited to put on his plex as our dj lance was.. but that would not be the whole truth. =) in fact.. my favorite quote of the evening was about seven houses into trick or treating.. and just minutes before this last pic was taken.. when he SAT down on the sidewalk and said, 'IM DONE. DOOOOOOOOOOOOONE. dont we have candy at home??' he makes a good point. =) and a good PLEX! **kennedy wanted to trick or treat in our neighborhood instead of going to the cusano's party... so she stayed with a friend and somehow i didnt get a single pic of her in her costume! ugh... we might have to recreate the event. hopefully it wont be as difficult to get her back into her costume as it was to get korb into his the first couple of times. =)

happy anniversary, love..

in some ways, its hard to believe that its only been 4 yrs since we toasted the beginning of our new family on that sunny october day in vegas..and in other ways, it seems like just yesterday that we were going out on the town in that long black limo to celebrate the beginning of a new chapter in our lives together..

either way.. im so thankful that youve been making me smile everyday since, love. happy anniversary kp. 4 years down.. 70+ to go. =)

school picture day - the 4th grade edition..

today is school pic day at RJE. kennedy has been out sick all week with a virus but she was fever free this morning and really wanted to make a grand entrance on picture day with her new do. isnt it CUTE!its no secret how i feel about school pictures.. ugh. but whether i like it or not.. todays pic will be in the yearbook forever! and it should be a good one! =)

preschool memories..

my little korb is LOVING 'school'. he is only there 10 hours a week but he talks about those 10 hours all week long.. this week he has been trying to list all of the names of the kids in his class. he came up with 10 at one time and i was so impressed that i wrote them down!

avery
hadlie
zachary
tate
ryder
ava
noah
evan
ian
josue

however, he was quite frustrated that he was forgetting someone. so.. i sent the list to school with him yesterday morning and asked his teachers to fill in the names he had forgotten. when the list came home with him yesterday afternoon he had only missed 3 names! im impressed! and he will not soon forget

julia

jacob

or

hayden

i. love. HIM. and HIS ridiculous memory to PIECES!

what have we been up to?

cause it feels like nothing much.. AND wicked busy all at the same time! weve spent SO much time with friends lately, which is LOVELY.. but shouldnt seem like much of a surprise. after all.. thats really what we do. BUT lately weve been spreading the love all over the metroplex and its been so fun! two weekends ago we over stayed our welcome had a great time at brad & michelle arnold's celebrating blakes incredible new job.. and last weekend we had a wonderful dinner {until 1am} at the cardwell's on friday night. followed by a night of beer and bowling with a crew of boys on saturday night.. {ben szabo is the devil} love it! and the next 3 weekends will prove no less friend filled and action packed. this weekend = homecoming at north texas this saturday & sweet baby macy's first birtday party on sunday, a visit with a wonderful old friend next weekend on friday & the last amphitheatre concert of the season on saturday {gary allen and EYB!}, followed by HALLOWEEN festivities the last weekend of the month. wow!! can you keep up? we love friends!

10 + 3 = a photo shoot with mommy!

so i decided to try to document the kids birthday pictures myself this year.. i wasnt at all sure how it would go. i expected the worst. but even the bad shots turned out cute..

in fact i think this is our favorite!

have i mentioned jdp-photograpy?

its my little venture into making a business out of my favorite hobby!! and its paying off quite nicely, actually, thanks to great friends letting me capture special moments with their families AND referring me to their friends and loved ones! thanks everyone for letting me pursue my dream!!! and a special thanks to terry at clarine smith photography for teaching me soooo much. hopefully someday i will be half the photographer she is.. a girl can dream, cant she? and to my sweet husband for all his support and encouragement. =) i wouldnt even have dreamed the dream with out him. the only thing i love more than the priceless expression of a childs face in a photograph.. is the prideful expression of a parent when he shares that photograph!!!

**give me a call {757.270.4473} or shoot me an email { jammi.palmer@gmail.com} if youre interested in booking a session. all sessions are shot outdoors at the location you choose. you will receive a high resolution cd with 20-25 edited/retouched images, 2 or 3 storyboard collages and the copy right release to print as you wish. AND im adding a custom christmas card to each cd i produce in oct and nov!! all for a steal of a price. =)

a little he said she said..

happy october! i failed to document.. well, if im being honest.. much of anything during the summer {sorry nana & gran-gran}. im hoping fall is a different story. and to start things off.. a little he said she said. {aka silly things my kids have said to me lately that made me laugh out loud. literally.}

korb: {soon after getting home from preschool and while zipping his pants leaving the bathroom} mommy, did you know that there are actually little balls inside the hangy part of my business?
mommy: lol. actually.... ??

now please excuse me while i text your dad about your discovery. he will be so proud. =)

kennedy: {a few weeks into her 4th grade career} mommy, most of the girls in my class are wearing bras this year. when do you think i will need a bra?
mommy: um. honestly. need one? it will probably be a while.

like when she's 25 and finally buys herself a nice rack.. =)

september in review..

just the highlights..
we spent labor day weekend with most of my family at lake lugart near altus oklahoma. it was great to see everyone.. and it was wonderful to get out of town! i took one million three hundred thirty seven pictures. ..ur.. maybe its just 337. but either way.. i havent had time to even look at them. let alone edit. they will be a surprise to everyone when i finally get around to them! i did, however, scroll thru and find one of my favorites to share.. love it. the day after we got back, 9-9-09, korb started preschool! i really cannot believe it.. and i must admit that it was really hard for me to let him go. after all, he is my baby. but he absolutely loves it! he has had the best time! he rides to 'school' with jaime and bexley every monday and wednesday morning. he would go everyday if he could. i love the little stories he tells about his teachers and his classmates. he has been singing new songs.. and even reciting the pledge of allegiance. what a big boy! on the 13th we officially welcomed COWBOY season with a family filled watching party at casa del palmer! we had so much fun with the shoffner's, carter's and minchey's! from the 17th-21st the kids and i were on our own while kp celebrated the upcoming marriage of one his best friends in vegas with about 1000 friends. ;) 1000. or 25. something like that.regardless, he had a great time and the kids and i were definitely not short on things to do ourselves! we had dinner at the cardwell's amazing new home on friday night. partied with the reddick's for gracyn's third bday on saturday afternoon. hung out with my favorite girls and our babies at the shoffner's on satuday night. watched the cowboys game with the minchey's on sunday evening and even squeezed in a pedicure on monday evening before enjoying daddy's return. and somehow i didnt take a single picture.. all weekend. not sure how that happened.

and as if all that wasnt enough stuff to highlight september.. the last week is a whirlwind to say the least. on wednesday night i got to hang out with the famed fab 4. =) erin was in town for the price-meyer wedding and she was able to make it a day early for an old school dinner with the girls. this is the only proof i have that she was here. again.. photography failure on my part. but dinner was great.. the margaritas were awesome.. the conversation was all over the place.. and the company was phenomenal. we miss you e.thurday the 24th = kennedy's 10th birthday! I. CAN. NOT. BELIEVE. my baby girl is TEN. it doesnt even compute. she requests something more and more grown up every year. and there will be a detailed posts about the evenings activities.. but to highlight.. kp and i took her to the house of blues to see bowling for soup. the evening was nothing short of heaven for her. she LOVED every minute. highlights of the highlights.. her own real digital camera. meeting members of the band. front row center stage. and staying up WAY past her bedtime. she loved it all!

from highs to low.. we picked korb up from his auntie cole and uncle derek on the way home. he was sound asleep and didnt really even open his eyes during the 10 min car ride. i tucked them in and went straight to bed myself. around 545AM i heard him crying and when i got to him i realised he was having trouble breathing. the lights were on and the nebulizer running within minutes. but nothing seemed to give him any relief. i called the pediatrician and then followed his instructions to go straight to the ER. after hours.. more breathing treatments.. and a big dose of a steroid we had a diagnoses of CROUP. the drs couldnt explain why it had hit him so hard.. so quick. just that it was an acute attack. it was SO scary. ive suffered from asthma my entire life and its miserable not being able to breath. but seeing your baby struggling for breath is a completely helpless feeling. he is still coughing a lot. and from what ive read it will take him several weeks to get over it completely.. but he'll make it. childhood viruses stink!

we did manage to get out of the house on friday evening for a family birthday dinner for kennedy at the local hibachi grill. her pick. =) it was nice evening.. just the 4 of us.

and on saturday the 26th, with the help of my wonderful brother and sister in law taking care of our sick baby, {thanks guys!} kp and i were able to attend jackie and marks wedding. it was beautiful! and it was so good to see all of our friends! congrats meyer's!

WOW! thats a lot of stuff! no wonder i havent had time to blog..

**disclaimer.. i am completely out of time and i desperately want to hit the publish button on this post! please dont judge me for the grammatical/spelling errors.. i will find/correct them eventually. =)

3! already?

happy birthday day korb! he is growing up TOO fast. let me tell you about my three yr old.. {ouch, thats difficult to say!} well.. as much as i hate to admit it.. he's no baby. thats for sure.

• he is a couple of pounds shy of 40 {37.5lbs to be exact} and a qtr inch shy of 40in. and he mostly wears 4T clothing.. they say 3 is the magic number but it seems like korbs magic number for three is 4. =)
• he has been potty trained since two and a half {tho he does have an accident every now and then.. mostly at the carters house. ?? =)} he hasnt worn a diaper or pull up in 5 months. wow!
• he's been a talker since before his first birthday.. but theres really nothing he cant say now. the days of i yuv you are long gone. he even pronounces the L in the middle of words now. he can recognize almost all the letters of the alphabet.. tho he is pretty stubborn about showing off those skills.
• he is a sports fanatic! all sports. all the time. and showing off his sports skills, or sports knowledge, is something he definitely isnt shy about.
• he has given up his nuk.. not entirely on his own.. but he didnt put up nearly the fight that i thought he would. and he has shifted his 'night-night' affection from the full size blanket he originally fell in love with to a more petite version that he found at target. still shiny on one side and soft on the other.. just not quite as big as the original.
• his admiration of his big sis is stronger than ever and he will run right passed mommy to get to daddy most of the time. altho i cannot deny his mommas-boy tendencies when he is uncertain, uneasy or unwell. its always mommy to the rescue. {and it always will be little man}
• his sleeping habits are a MESS right now. and im not exactly sure why.. he loves to sneak to sissys room and pretty much does EVERY night. she loves the company right now.. im sure she wont in a couple of years but we will cross that bridge when we get there.
• he has finally found a love of tv. not sure if that falls in the positive category or negative.. but its definitely something new for him. his favorite shows are the backyardigans, imagination movers and jacks big music show.
• he is a L.E.F.T.Y. for sure.
• he loves the water! he has been swimming more times than i can count this summer.. he even has a teeny-weeny-tan. love it! of course its only visible by his white-tiny-hiney but its a tan just the same. he hasnt learned to actually swim yet this summer. hopefully with a few lessons he can master it next year.
• he is starting preschool for the first time next week. its a mon & wed program at fbc mckinney. jaime actually found it for bex and then offered for korb to carpool if i wanted. im super excited about my little boy and her little boy going to school together! like lamar elementary circa 1981 all over again. =)
• we started celebrating his 3rd birthday on sunday with a party in east texas with dada's family and next weekend we are going to have a little party with my family too. ive already started a birthday party post to recap all the goodies he has rec'd. =)

and im sure there are a thousand more things to tell you about my 3 yr old.. with his big blue eyes and his long curly locks. we love him so! every single minute, even the most difficult ones, are a blessing. he completes us.

happy birthday baby boy!

{almost} wordless wednesday.

i have a ton of posts to catchup on after basically taking the summer off.. ive been enjoying these two BEAUTIES for the last couple of weeks. =) and now that school has started back i dont have the excuse of 'kennedy and i were {fill in the blank} during nap time and thats why i didnt {fill in the blank[including blogging but not exclusively oops]}..' its time to play catch-up! but for now.. i wanted to share this pic from last week. its my new FAVORITE! =) one of korbs last blissful carefree days with his nuk.. hmmmmmmmmmmm.. how do they grow up so fast?

the first day of 4th grade..

my how time flies.. 4th grade.. already. SLOW DOWN little kid. you are growing up WAY too fast. =)

today is the day.. {prayers for dalton}

UPDATE! dalton is in recovery! the procedure was a bit more difficult than expected.. but its over AND seems to have been a success!! yay! we couldnt ask for more! his kousins and his baby sister and i have been talking about him ALL day! we are so glad he did so well! way to go johnny way to go!
today my sweet nephew has made it to that blessed age weve been patiently awaiting for.. and it only took 3 yrs 4 mo and 4 days.. =) today dalton is having an ablation on his little heart. he was diagnosed with SVT at birth and has been dependant on a beta-blocker.. every 8 hours.. with out fail.. to keep his little ticker at a healthy rate.. by my rough calculations he has had just over 3600 doses. the wiki definition of ablation in medicine says, Ablation therapy using radiofrequency waves on the heart is used to cure a variety of cardiac arrhythmias such as supraventricular tachycardia... CURE. cure. CURE. thats what we are praying for. and it would be great if you could join us in lifting him up.

minchey tx - population 3!

im so excited... check out minchey, tx! shes gonna need lots of love and support to get in the groove of posting. getting started is the hardest part, right girls? blog away, my friend, blog away!

two and two..

two weeks.. and two days! thats all the time left on the count down to kennedy's return! yay!! we are so excited. its been a looooooooooooonng summer for us and for her. im not sure who is more anxious for her to get here.. mommy or korb. either way the wait is almost over and then we will have 3 fun filled summer weeks to get our kennedy-fix before 4th grade begins.. 4th grade? someone slow things down PLEASE. she is growing up way to fast. no wait.. lets wait two weeks and two days before we slow things down ;)

a family filled 4th of july!

for the first time since i moved to texas in 2004.. we made no major plans for the 4th of july. and i must admit.. it was SO nice to relax! we were L.A.Z.Y. we spent lots of time at the pool. kyle had the chance to play lots of golf. and we had a family filled firworks celebration. my team of 3 and nicks team of 4 all piled into our tahoe to watch the mckinney fireworks show together. we even talked to kennedy on the phone most of them time we were waiting for the show to start..

korb blew out a flip flop {he stepped on a pop-top ;)} as soon as we found a place to set up camp. so he spent most of his time in dada's lap. i might have taken a picture or two.. or 10. the only thing better than hanging out with kp is hanging out with 2 kps!

he did make his way to auntie jennys lap too. cheese.

macy was her usual perfect-baby-self.

dalton was content to hang out until the fireworks began..

then he had to retreat to the truck.

we had so much fun! thanks, shoffners, for enduring the heat. and the blue cup adventure. ;) we look forward to maaaaaaany more mck 4ths together!

the bad guys..

its safe to say that korb palmer is completely obsessed with sports. his little life revolves around playing catch.. swinging a bat.. throwing a football.. {and i quote} 'knocking the mess' out of a golf ball.. you name the sport. he would love to play it with you. or even just watch it with you on tv for that matter. one evening last week he was struggling with bed time. it was getting really late.. he had used every excuse in the book. i had tucked him in countless times. and then i heard his little feet in the game room.. AGAIN. ugh. but this time he didnt call for me and he didnt venture down the stairs. so curious about what he was up to i went up stairs to check on him. he was laying on the sofa with his blanket. he explained that he couldnt hear the baseball game that his dad and i were watching downstairs from his room. i laughed out loud as i took him to sissy's room, tuned in fox sports on her television and tucked my not yet 3 yr old all star in to fall asleep watching his beloved rangers. before i left the room he asked who the bad guys were that night... we always explain the other team as the bad guys... the angels baby.

the next morning i woke up early to run errands before kp left for work only to realise that our cars had both been broken into overnight. after the initial shock and disappointment in mankind.. and a short lecture from my husband about always locking the car doors nomatterwhat.. i called the police to file a report. the officers were still there when korb woke up. kp explained to him that a bad guy had been in our cars and taken some stuff. later in the day we had this conversation

korb: mommy can you please go get my faaaaaaaaaavorite backyardigans dvd out of the truck?
me: what if its gone? what if the bad guys who broke into our cars took it?
korb: gasp. {and then greatness..} you think bobby abreu took my mission to mars?

lol. i dont think bobby abreu was stealing stuff from our cars little man.. but i LOVE that you do. crazy kid!

and i'ma kid rock it up and down your block..

so ..we like concerts. sometimes i think its important to reiterate the obvious. =) since april we have seen the usuals.. pat green, jimmy buffett, kenny chesney and charlie robison. and tonight we are on our way to see KID ROCK! lynyrd skynyrd AND kid rock actually. and i am SO excited! the last time we saw kid rock i was 7+ months pregnant with korb and it was interesting to say the least. the show was amazing. our seats were great. i have an ironic story about a bag of cotton candy that i'd love to share but im choosing not to blog about.. and im definitely glad that we went! but i anticipate this summers show will be a little more comfortable. and im e.x.c.i.t.e.d. {but i think i already said that} now i just have to decide if im taking my camera..

oh..and its probably worth noting that korb is not going with us this time. =) he will be chillin with his uncle derek. thanks d-rock. youre the best..

a little he said she said..

time to resume a little segment i like to call a little he said she said.. it should really be a daily thing. the k's crack me up EVERYDAY with out fail. sometimes its proof they are little geniuses. =) and sometimes just reminders of their innocence.

knp after i told him that we HAVE to find a new teenage sitter {our favorite moved away =(}
mommy: korb we HAVE to find a new sitter!
korb: can you just get jarrod saltalamacchia?

lol. somehow i dont think he's available this friday night..


knp after walking as far as he could walk at the softball game and then begging to be carried.
mommy: korb i have to put you down. im not going to make it.
korb: mommy. hang in there. i prooooomise. you WILL make it. just keep walking.

um.. why didnt i think of saying that to him? WHY?

ksw after learning of mj's death.
kennedy {crying over the phone}: mom. did you hear that michael jackson died?
mommy: i did sweetheart. dad and i were worried about how you would hear. dad tried to call you. we know you loved him.
kennedy {crying}: i was at school. the teachers and i were upset and all the other kids were looking at us like we were crazy.
mommy: aw. im sorry kenners. im glad that you understand the significance. we understand why youre upset.
kennedy {still crying}: thank you for worrying about me mom. i knew you would understand. i should have pretended like i didnt know so that you or dad could tell me.

lol. if only we could always hear news {good or bad} from the right people.

redocorating & refocusing

now that the daunting task of redecorating is out of the way maybe i can get back to just writing..if im being honest its not all that much work to redecorate the blog. in fact i LOVE digi-scrap booking. but ive been wildly productive around the house in the days ive been absent on the blog. so, i fear becoming a slave to the blog world again because that equals a dirty unorganized house. there has to be balance.. but its seems ive never found it. all or nothing. thats how i roll. ;) there is a point, i promise. even if its just a reminder to myself. last night we were at kp and derek's softball game. 6:30pm. 100+ outside. chasing korb around like a crazy person. i talked him into sitting just for a minute next to auntie cole on a bench in the shade. brayden was sleeping peacefully in his car seat/stroller.. which is a korb hand-me down and it brings back SO many memories to see his tiny little self all snug and surrounded by combi grey & orange.

{korb sept 1, 2006.. 2 days old}

korb and i were admiring him when nicole mentioned that she had looked back thru old blog posts today to see how old korb was when he did this & that. aw! i love that!! i love that we can look back.. LOVE IT. thats what blogging has always been about for me. preserving memories. i have to snap out of this blog-funk! thanks nicole for a little motivation. AND i see a blog in your near future. weve gotta watch that baby grow! i vote for mincheytexas.blogspot.com. i will even help you decorate. :)

a whole lot of NOTHING!

thats what we have been up to. mostly hanging out with friends and family... the best part of summer, right?! i havent posted in forever. and i really want to.. but it always seems like something else always occupies my time in the afternoon. and the fact that i desperately need to update the photos on my blog header seems like a lot of work. so every day i put it off for another. im thinking july will be the month i really get back into the groove of things.

for now.. i thought a brief update would be better than none. this little guy is absolutely OOC.

his sleeping habits are a mess. his eating habits are a mess. he talks all the time {well, maybe thats not completely out of character}. and its hard to be mean to him because he is so stinkin cute {and smart which equals cute to me=)} ...basically in a nutshell he has become KENNEDY. they are one in the same. baby kennedy. im not sure if it keeps me from missing her or makes it worse. but i do want to remember a few kennedy-esque things that have come out of his mouth lately.

one night recently after sending him to bed no less than 5 times. and listening to EVERY excuse he has ever heard her come up with {or so i thought} ..i have to go to the bathroom. ..i forgot to tell you something important. .. i need a snack. i heard the pitter patter of his little feet on the stairs again. 'mommy?' 'what korb? what now?' 'i need some tylenol. im feeling sick.' REALLY? is he almost 3 or almost 8?

after a long afternoon of bickering with his cousin last week i heard him say to dalton 'i can hit you with this book or this baby doll. those are your options.' what a turd! i promise i intervened. there was no hitting. and i only laughed out loud about it later so as not to encourage him. but seriously.. those are your options? he spends too much time with mommy!

and finally.. a few saturdays ago he and i were at lowe's. he spotted a display of tape measures and promptly asked to play with one. my answer was no, not this time. he asked if i remembered last morning {which equals any day other than today} when he was playing with that tape measure at lowe's and he whacked sissy with it. i do remember that.. i remember it well. and then he said 'i wish sissy was here.' me too buddy. me too. 'i wish she was here so i could whack her with a tape measure.' that was ALMOST sweet. ALMOST.

introducing... mason.

a puppy. after we swore NEVER again. here we are.. with a puppy. a sweet, loveable, and so-far well behaved puppy. we will cross our fingers that he STAYS that way and this isnt just the honeymoon phase. the kids absolutely love him.. and believe it or not it was kp's idea.

here he is..the newest member of team palmer. mason.

kennedy is in absolute heaven..

and korb thinks he is pretty cool too..