anniversaries..

2009 will be scarred with first anniversaries of terrible memories. today is the first. i remember the raw emotion i felt when i wrote this. how helpless i felt. and still do. next month.. there will be this anniversary. march and april took it easy on us. rest, i suppose for the car accident in may. tornado in june. and another dose of perspective in july. and even the sweetest joy from october was almost taken from us in december. when i say it was a trying year... that might be an understatement. just maybe. one thing is certain. it definitely made me stronger. us stronger.

so, as i face 2009, and all of its unpleasant anniversaries, im trying to hold on to that strength. i will be there for my friends.. spend more time with family.. count my blessings.. and be thankful for everyday.

love you james. love you big.

2008 catch up!

nye 08 - check..
christmas 08 - finally..
thanksgiving 08 - done..

i cannot believe ive just gotten these posts finished! and i am COMPLETELY sure that NO cares! but i needed to finish them. now i can MOVE on!!!

NYE 2008

just like EVERY other year since we moved to mckinney.. we rang in the new year with close friends over a champagne toast in our living room. the group was more quaint than we had expected..but we had an awesome time just the same! {we missed you carters and shoffners}.

its hard to believe this was our 5th nye together. but then again.. its hard to recall what i was doing 6 new years eve's ago. strange how that works.

yes.. we let her stay up. well. sort of. she was supposed to be laying down in our room watching tv. but as soon as the countdown started they ran out of the room to see the ball drop with us. someone had to take the group pic, right? and they NEEDED to be in the girls shot!

the first nye that i stayed in.. kennedy and i rang '99 together.. she was barely 3 months.

was that really 10 years ago? i am so old!

kp loving the cardwells.and my girls! we had LOTS of fun times together in 2008. we have to keep it up in 2009!

christmas 2008..

ok.. christmas 2008 revisited. christmas was full of family and celebration for us this year. we actually celebrated with my family on christmas eve AND kp's family on christmas day AND had our own little celebration the following week when kennedy got home from her CA.

at my brothers house on christmas eve the boys opened a HUGE bag of goodies from nana and papa.. and somehow i never got out my camera! they had so much fun.. and i think it was the first time my brother's family and my family {except kenners of course} have been together with my mom and dad EVER. that was a gift in itself. and the best gift of all? right there in her mommy's arms. love you mace!

on christmas day we drove to grand praire to spend the day with all of kyle's family. it was a wonderful day. the weather was amazing.. the house was full of family.. and i took lots of pictures. of the kids. :)

and when the 29th rolled around and kennedy finally made it home.. i didnt take lots of pictures. hmm.. not sure how that happened. she was VERY excited about guitar hero world tour.

the little man got more hot wheels and hot wheels stuff than he knew what to do with!

kp got tiger woods 09. and he got a fancy new razor.. i think he loves it. its not quite as fancy as my new miracle working CHI that they got for me!!! its some kinda wonderful! and its not quite as stylish as the awesome camera strap he ordered for me from this sweet online store. dont you just love it when they pay attention?! thank you honey!

all in all christmas 2008 was really good... it came and went so quickly! and maybe before feb 1st i will get the tree back in the attic. thats the goal anyway... we all need goals. ;)

thanksgiving 2008..

two months later! i know.. i know. no one cares. but i NEED the pics to be on the blog.. and to have SOME sort of memory of the holiday for years to come. its important to me. clearly not important enough to finish timely..but at least its done!

the 08 holiday schedule should have been...

thanksgiving=shoffners

christmas=palmers

but it didnt exactly work out that way. my parents had plans during thanksgiving week so we headed to east texas for the day. we had a great visit with kyle's mom and stepdad. aka gran-gran & grandpa. and kyle's dad stopped by for a short visit too. a very nice surprise. the plan was to watch the cowboys game.. and then leave the littles with the grandparents and drive to houston to meet nick and jenny for the big move! a slight change of plans brought nick and jenny to kp's parents house and we had a fun time hanging out with his siblings and mine. i did take pictures.. but you will see a trend in this batch of holiday catch up posts.. it would appear that my children were the only people around. we all know that to be untrue.. but thats how the photos turned out. :) sorry. i promise to photograph everyone next year... things to work on in 2009. anyway. it was a great day. and the weekend that followed turned out to be a lot of fun {not just a lot of work}. it seems like ages ago..

happy birthday to me!

thanks for all the birthday cards.. email cards.. and text messages and blog posts yesterday! its nice to feel loved from coast to coast and all over the great state of texas! we had an awesome weekend.. the mincheys cooked dinner for me {us} on friday night. fajitas! and saturday was celebrate day. my sister and 3 friends took me out for an amazing evening in dallas. complete with more mexican food and hysterical laughter. two of my favorite things! then i had a little late night rendezvous with my sweetie at one of our favorite spots in dallas. yesterday, dada let me sleep in while he picked up the little man. extra rest, followed by a mid-day bubble bath and a LAZY afternoon equaled one relaxing day! it was GREAT!

oh.. AND.. kp {with a little help from derek} finished my awesome-new-and-improved playroom! it is SO cute!!! i L.O.V.E. it. cant wait to show it off. unforturnately i left my camera in nicole's car saturday night. so the pics will have to wait. but trust me. its fabulous! thanks for working so hard on it sweetheart! its the best birthday present EVER!

and a little shout out to my SIL! happy birthday today kelli! i hope you have as relaxing of a day as i did! love you lots!

the random thoughts of a two year old BOY..

this morning i was on the phone with kp.. filling him in on the details of a very sad story. more tragedy in the life of someone i love dearly. its so hard not to be able to help.. fix.. when someone is hurting. ya know? anyway.. i was telling kp that i HATE that my sister cannot seem to catch a break. life keeps throwing her one challenge after another. she is so strong.. but when is enough enough?

korb had definitely been listening in on my conversation with his dada and when i hung up we had our own conversation that went something like this:

korb: mommy, my auntie jenny cant catch a break.
mommy: i know, korbie. i hate it.
korb: she needs a break mommy.
mommy: i know korb.
korb: she needs to go to a mavs game.
mommy: she does?
korb: yes. she needs to sit really close. and watch dirk make baskets. and call for champ the horsie to come over. that will make her happy.

hmmmm... lesson learned. he is very thoughtful... in a boy-sort-of way. i guess he knows what would make him feel better when he needs a break. :)

love you lots, jenny. things are going to get better..

dear blogland..

hi... ive missed you! i have tons of big things to tell you about. new years, christmas, pat.. hey even thanksgiving. and lots of everyday things.. little things, if you will.. that i want to share, mostly so that i dont forget them. and you know what that means.. i need a list. ;) and if im being honest, i havent even started the posts about at least 10 things that i want to blog about. so it could be awhile before they are complete and i feel caught up but i will get there. if ive learned anything from blogging hiatuses its that you have to just jump right back in. and today, im jumping.. and when i get around to it, im going to tell you a few stories about:

• our thanksgiving adventure.. it seems like years ago, that crazy weekend when we helped nick and jenny move. not sure how im going to blog about all the now infamous one-liner's marked that weekend out of sheer tired-goofiness without completely offending anyone. hmm.. and i have adorable pictures of korb and his grandpa on the kabota that i NEED to share.
• our annual pat green weekend... the first time EVER in 9 years and 3 months that the little kid has found herself speechless. thats something i definitely dont want to forget. :)
• our christmas celebrations.. with both sides of the family. precious memories.
• i HAVE to borrow a video camera from someone before korb forgets how to recite twas the night before christmas. im not sure it will have the same charm next year when hes 3 as it does coming out of his sweet little 2 year old mouth.
• the annual NYE party.. it was the 5th new year kp and i have rang in together. the 4th in this house! the gathering was quaint, intimate, cold. and some how turned out to be just the og usual suspects. cant remember the last time that happened...
• oh.. and i bet you were wondering about that heat wave that came thru. that was me. i prayed, God answered. and the total FROZEN tundra that was the metroplex on monday the 5th.. yea, that was God saying, 'enough already, fix the stupid heater in your house. i cant keep it unseasonable warm forever.'
• and remember this old post.. well, i have another dirk & steve story. and it doesnt quite have the same feel-good-happy-ending... i had to wait a bit to tell it. until some of the emotional pain had past for kp. ;)
• there will be an unveiling of my new and improved playroom... as soon as its finished. which could be any day now. or it could be next month. depending on how much more stuff we decide to do. and this awesome chair i scored on craigslist! love it! bye bye squeaking rocking chair. hello adorable plaid scottish antique-ish rocking chair!
• along with that.. theres the story of squashed high hopes of moving straight down the hall and continuing the festivities of 'baby-remodel' in my kitchen. {you know exactly what i mean by baby-remodel. not completely remodel just paint and change a few things.. like a weekend project.. that actually takes a month.. and causes your husband to give you that look when you ask too soon to do another project. you have to wait for the memory of the pain to fade. kinda like child birth.. only for boys. last night i dreamed that kp shot me with a nail gun. love you, honey.}
• third grade is flying by and my little girl scout will be starting her first ever cookie sale this weekend. wait til you hear which prize she is shooting for.
• playoffs. are you kidding me? dont talk about playoffs.
• and finally.. my second annual birthday-resolutions and things i learned at 31. maybe i will do that first.

wow, thats a lot of stuff! but at least ive broken the ice.. im back people! maybe youve missed me as much as ive missed you.. or maybe this is a one-sided blog affair. the traditional lack of comments speaks to the latter. but google analytics says you visit.. even if you dont comment. and thats fine with me. im not much of a commenter either. and either way, it makes me happy, this little blog. and im sorry ive neglected it. things have been a little crazy around here lately. its time to get back to routine.. and that includes putting away the laundry instead of leaving it in piles of HIS and HERS and hers and his. cleaning the floors EVERY week.. and blogging. ;)