this just doesn't make sense

Good morning everyone, Merry Christmas! Okay, it's 8AM on Christmas morning and I am the ONLY one awake! This just doesn't seem right. Kennedy was a ball of fire lastnight at Aunt Jeanne's and I could barely get her to bed lastnight because she was so excited! I didn't even go to bed till after midnight and I am awake. On a normal morning Kennedy would have already been in my room twice trying to get me and Gary up. This will probably be my last year not having to get up at 5AM to open gifts so I guess I better not complain! I think I will go clang some dishes around a bit to see if I can wake anyone. Hope you all have a great day!

Here are some random pictures of Christmas activities over the last couple days....

Decker

Here is our labradoodle, Decker. We call him " Decker the Wrecker". He woke me up early this morning wanting to go outside and play in the 5 inches of snow that we got over night. This picture makes me laugh, you can't even see his eyes through the snow on his face!

I think I finally finished up the last of my Christmas shopping. Jenn and I braved the bad weather and met at Target last night around 8pm to get things finished. Now I just have a TON of wrapping to do. Today I have to meet my study group. We will finish up exams next week, I can't wait to be done for a while. Hope you all had a good weekend!

Lucky me

I am so lucky. Every Saturday I have a date. Kennedy wakes me up at 7am EVERY Saturday morning and we get up together, before anyone else does and we have a "sugar toast and cartoon date". It's our own little tradition, although I wish it started at 8am instead of 7! I made her sugar toast about a year ago and now it's all she asks for on the weekend. As tired as I am when she wakes me up I really do like spending the time with just her.

Gary and I went grocery shopping with the kids this afternoon. When we were walking back to our truck I noticed how close the car parked right next to us. I was instantly mad. I couldn't even squeeze through myself let alone open the door to load the kids in their car seats. So I started complaining about how rude it was to do that to someone when the passenger window rolled down and a woman began apologizing to us. I could see that she was really embarrassed. She said I am so sorry, my husband did this. I told her, I know I have one of those too! ( he was in the store, she stayed in the car probably because she couldn't get her door open!) So I grabbed the kids while Gary backed the truck up so we could open our door. Truth is I know Gary has probably put me in a situation like that a million times so I know exactly how she felt. And I know her husband probably got an earful when he got back too.

Tonight I have been thinking a lot about Reid. It was close to this time last year that we had to spend a week at Devos Childrens Hospital because he had RSV. I have never been so scared in my whole life. I will never forget following the ambulance to Grand Rapids thinking I was going to loose him. He is such a tough little man though. I remember spending a week sleeping on the hospital floor. The nurses loaded us up with pillows to try to make it more comfortable. It didn't matter how uncomfortable we were though, we would have taken the whole hospitals pain and discomfort if it meant that Reid was going to be okay. I never actually slept that week, I couldn't. The nurses would make me go to the cafeteria to eat something, I never wanted to leave him. Now when I think about what we went through I can hardly beleive it. I can't beleive how fast a year can go. It has made me apreciate every minute with my kids. You never think anything is going to happen to you or your family, but it can so you have to make sure you never have any regrets. I want my kids to always know how much they are loved.

Reid Carver 1 year old

The Gingerbread house

On Thursday my mother-in -law and I took Kennedy to the Whitehall library to make a gingerbread house. This is Kennedy's 2nd year doing this and she has so much fun. The library does this ever year for free. They have tables set up all over with tons of candy, frosting and other goodies to decorate with. It's fun to watch the kids get into it. We met Kennedy's cousin Lexi and 2 other friends there and had a really good time. Hopefully we can get Jenn to bring her gang next year.

All grown up

This is a new picture of Kennedy. She is almost 4 years old and I can hardly believe it. She has gone from a baby I had to rock to sleep to a little girl that can spell her name and knows her phone number, in just a blink of an eye. I love her so much. It's so true that the love you have for your kids is so much stronger than any other love in the world. I look at her and just know that she is going to do amazing things someday.

Hmm...

Well, here it goes...my very first post! I am so excited to start this blog. I spend a lot of time checking in on other peoples blogs and I really enjoy it. I am facinated to read about what is going on in someone elses life. For me it's kind of like reality TV on the computer. So hopefully between working full-time, going to college and taking care of my husband and 2 kids I will have time to keep up on my posts!