A Little Piece of Heaven

Sept

2011-10-10T12:12:00.000-07:00

August loves to climb. If it has a bar, she's swinging off it. I caught her today climbing into the bathroom sink of the trailer by using her feet and standing on the small circular knob. Here she goes climbing up the slide with her rabbit and barbie in hands.

Relaxing in the trailer watching Shrek

Movie Star

August is usually the one caught playing in the corn, but this time it was both of them. Kennedy said they wanted a corn floor. They achieved that goal.

We aren't doing anything

August looking angelic while sitting in her bucket of corn for the birds.

More playtime in the corn bucket...as Trey says "the corn bucket is the best invention!"

I think I can bury the barbies in here.

I love to wrap my head with towels or blankets.

August putting her baby to sleep

So, here are the next phases of the remodel. It's almost complete. I freaked out a little after the backsplash was put in, but once we get tile in the kitchen I believe everything will blend nicely. Everytime I walk into the house I can't help but smile!

Since, the doors have been open a little mouse came into the house. I saw it last month in the girls bathroom and this morning it was there again. I just don't deal with little mice very well. Trey came in and set a trap. I'm like a kid when it comes to those things, shaking and jumping up on anything I can to get off the floor.

A double trash bin or trash bin and recycle bin!

Glass is in, now I think I'm going to have to purchase new plates!

Papawa making silly faces.

Kennedy tickling August

Everytime I take August's picture now she tilts her head at first for her pose. Soooo cute!

It finally rained. To celebrate, we all ran in it and then the girls played in it.

Kennedy running in the rain

Yeah!

Kennedy and Trey making a lap in the rain.

I was letting our blow up pool dry when the next thing I know the girls are jumping on it like it's a trampoline.

Look at the head tilt!

Maty passed away this month. Explaining death to the girls,or at least Kennedy, is so difficult. My friend, Trish, pointed out that asadults we really don’t understand it fully either so it’s hard to explain. Maty and the Ron, one of the contractors, dogwere playing. Our neighbor on the back side of our house came over to Trey totell him he believed Maty was on the main hwy. Ron, went and got her for Trey(since Trey was watching the girls). Ron’s dog fortunately appeared back at thehouse around 8:30. Trey buried Maty in the backyard by the grapes. The nextday, Saturday, I told Kennedy that Maty had died and went to Heaven. She criedin my lap saying “ I want my Maty back”. Sunday, I showed her where Trey had buried her.As we swung on the swing, the questions began “ Why did you bury Maty?”, “Maty, is in heaven with Nanny and Granny?”, “ Did the car squish her?”, “When isMaty coming back?”. Trying to convey toa child that death is final is hard. All I could tell her is Maty is in Heavenand can hear her when she wants to talk to Maty she can, cause she lives on inher heart. “ Then I kept having to say “baby, Maty isn’t coming back”. August on the other hand, keeps going outside doing the sign for dog and saying” dog, Dog”……

I can suck my toe now.

Sweet girls or maybe not so sweet. We had to leave church because August wouldn't sit still...so we waited outside for Trey. Here they are posing by the statues.

August 2011

2011-09-08T10:40:00.000-07:00

My first day back to school!

Maty trying to give Kennedy goodbye kisses

Kennedy and Trey attended the Lockhart verses Luling football scrimmage. Trey sent these photos of the two of them eating, what he referred to as “nasty nacho’s”. Kennedy doesn’t look like she thinks they are so nasty.

yummy nacho's

my parents feed me only the best of foods

Dad and Kennedy having fun at football game

Go Lions!

What's baseball without eating a hot dog?

Trey and I went to Ft. Worth to check on the duplex up there and also sneak in some time for ourselves. My Company purchased season tickets to the Rangers game, so Trey and I went and attended a game. We really enjoyed ourselves, despite the heat. After the game we met Trey’s cousin Bryan and Deborah for drinks and caught up. It’s been a long time since I’ve been out on a work night. I didn’t realize bars still stay open till two on weeknights. The next day we went and had lunch with Daryl and Clara then headed home. It was a great mini getaway!!

Double the pleasure

Date night

We went down to Falfurrias for the day to see Honey and Papa. We ended up swimming in the pond then going over Raydell and Tim’s. They had saved a little fawn. Due to the drought, a lot of mother deer’s are either aborting their babies due to malnutrition. August and Kennedy got to pet the fawn and feed it some fruit. We also went to church where we got a couple of photos of the girls with their cousin Luke.

Lover of all animals

Feeding a grape to the fawn

What?

August loves to touch statues...in church we can spend some time keeping her entertained by looking at all of them.

August had her 18 month appointment. Her figures: 34 Length-97%, 28 lbs 15 oz -94%, 19.25 head circumfrance 96%. The nurse told Trey she looks like she will be a pretty tall girl the rate she is growing.

August has really started to use her signs. She poohed and showed me the sign for pooh and then said it. She also sings along to songs. Her favorite , Blue dog. When she starts to sing or dance she usually raises one of her arms and waives it back and forth in her hand. She also has gotten the word no down. She shakes her head and says "no, no, no".

If she falls, she gets right back up. She scrapped her toe and she peels the blister off. Of course, she keeps hitting it on stuff so healing has been an issue. If you put a bandaide on it, she peels it off. She still is a little explorer and brings so much sunshine to our life.

I can't remember if I posted some of these last months or not. They are cute regardless....plus you will see spartic pictures over the last year that I finally figured out how to upload to my email.

Peek a boo!

The other evening Trey said a curse word, the one that starts with "s" when he was referring to a pile of stuff on the girls bed. Well, Kennedy looked at both of us and said " That isn't "s" dad! That's a bad word! You shouldn't say that." She told her daddy!

August dancing

My car ran out of gas! Actually, August loves to push this car everywhere, she rather push than ride.

Kennedy in pig tails. The school had an outbreak of lice, or atleast a couple of students had them. We are so fortunate we didn't get them! All I could think of was about our child hood experience. We had gone to New York to visit family and couldn't figure out why we couldn't get rid of the lice we had gotten. Well, it finally occured to my parents that Melanie's stuffed animal, Ralph, had them. Poor Ralph got put in the dumpster...that ended the lice problem, but caused some tears for Mel and I . That stuffed animal went everywhere with us. We have pictures in DC holding Ralph. My parents bought me a smaller version of Ralph...which I still have.

I have to hang off of everything

I love to take drinks out of any container

Trey went to Lake Amistad in Del Rio to celebrate with Scott his Bachelor party. The boys rented a nice house boat. No one really caught any fish, but I heard a good time was had.

Captain O Captain

James, is that a boat following you?

Beautiful moon

Kirk and Trey

Joscar and Chet

Will someone let us out?

This is what Kennedy calls "Our New Home". The Ellison's were kind enough to lend us their travel trailer so we could stay close to the house while the remodeling takes place. It actually hasn't been to bad. The AC works great and August seems to fall asleep faster in the trailer. For a temporary home, it's been perfect.

Hey, Mom!

All grown up

Having fun

August loving on Joseph's stuffed dog

Chilling in the ice chest

Remodel update: We are making progress. It’s been a bit stressful at times. Saturday, the 20, the electrician said they would cut the power off to install the new electrical box for only an hour; mind you this was at 8 in the evening. Two hours later they finally had the box installed. A bit frustrating, but at least it is done now. My good friend, Tracy, reminded me to try to breathe throughout this process and to remember some of these things are out of my control so I need to accept that. It’s true, no one ever said it would be perfect; it was our choice to stay in the travel trailer so with that comes sacrifices. I know in the end it will all be worth it.

Wall removed looking in from dining area into kitchen

Wall gutted looking from living room into kitchen and dining

New half way in living room

Hallway

Gas line for island, they had to drill into concrete to put in the middle of the kitchen.

kitchen being worked on with lights

Insulation Trey installed in dining room/August's room

In kitchen before the arch was put in the middle

view from laundry room looking into kitchen

View from dining area

View from hallway into dining room

No more scratchy walls in the hallway

Looking in from laundry room

Ron, the carpenter

Entry way noche

View from office area

Entry way view into living room

New Electrical box

Sweet little girl

I love swinging in the big girl swing. The other night she was swinging on her belly and fell face first to the ground. She had a bloody nose and a mouth full of dirt. The next day she hopped right back on the swing.

Kennedy likes to sit in August's swing so that she can try to throw a ball over the fence. She also enjoys Trey pushing her in the regular swing over me. I'm to cautious....she enjoys going high, which daddy does s good job doing.

Kennedy is starting to enjoy riding her bike without us having to push her. She still stops by putting her feet down, which we are working on getting her to use her breaks.

August loves to play in water bowls. She loves to put the dogs food in the water. She didn't have a diaper on and went pooh. Guess who cleaned the mess up? Yep, her side kick Maty...I gaged.

Sporting her new tennis shoes

Walking with dad

The barbies have to kiss

Going in for the dive

These are pictures from my phone that I just uploaded from last month when I was in Mathis with the girls.

Balancing

Fun with strainers

Searching the parameter of the fence

Dancing at Main Event-Gracie's 5th Bowling party

Finally had a chance to clean my phone off.....here are some photos that are random....

Working on our headboard for our bedroom

Finished product

Feeding herself

Relaxing in the big rocking chair

How do I buckle this?

Mom's are away, girls get to play in the rain

Kennedy and Joseph resting after dancing

Fun at Home Depot

July

2011-07-30T12:50:00.000-07:00

Kennedy has been asking for short hair & bangs but her daddy wants her to keep the long hair. I compromised with Kennedy and told her she could get bangs if we left her hair long. She agreed. They are long bangs, but she likes them. She said “all the kids at school are going to say…Kennedy you got bangs”(she calls them bands sometimes).

We went out to the Bluegrass Festival at the VFW that Jim had organized. The band that played was really good. August and Kennedy enjoyed dancing. Of course, they were the only ones out there but they had a good time.

We went to Schlitebahn to see visit with the Winseaur’s. The girls loved playing in the kid area. I had high hopes for us to go down one of the tube rides, but by the time we got to the front of the line the animation of the pirate and music coming from the speakers for the Conga ride had scared Kennedy and Kylie. Trey, August, and Acea all went. Trey said August just cried on one part(a big drop off) but other than that sat in her tube observing.

Oh, my head....

Kennedy had gotten several of the stone making kits for her birthday. I had her put the mask on that came in the kit to stir the cement. The butterfly stone came out beautiful. She looks like a little Dr. in the photo dissecting something.

We took our couch to Melanie's house. August loved jumping on the cushions outside.

August got into the finger paint...and looked like Spot

Father's Day pictures

Fun in Mathis! The girls road in the bucket behind the lawn mower and did a little rain dance inside the house. It worked...we got a little sprinkle.August climbed into the dryer . The girls also love to climb the ladder outside. Anything that could go on August's head she tries to put on it.

Trey and Frank started demoing the house and should finish towards the end of July. We are just waiting on the contractor. I’m starting to feel the stress of the chaos that comes with this project. I know we will love it once it’s all said in done but it’s tough spending the money, being displaced, and feeling like there is no organization to the all of your stuff piled up. Sherry watched the girls for a couple of days to help relieve some of this stress so that Trey and I can hopefully tackle getting things ready and a little more organized. As seen in the photos, Kennedy and August enjoyed climbing in the cabinets

August used the potty for the first time, July 1. She still has a long way to go, but we are slowly working with her. She keeps pulling her diaper off when she is wet and squats when she uses the potty, so I feel like she is getting near potty training time!

Sarah Kirkle had her bachelorette party in New Braunfels. I missed the floating part of the trip because Trey was helping install the floorsr in the new lower elementary at Kennedy’s school. The taxi’s that Mel had reserved never showed up so we had a pizza guy, Kevin, take us to Whitewater Amphitheater were we saw Restless Kelly. It was so fun hanging out with the girls celebrating with Sarah.

June

2011-06-10T10:28:00.001-07:00

I started the month off by accidentally locking Kennedy in the truck. I had just gotten August out of her car seat and gave August the keys. Well, August pushed the alarm button which I quickly deactivated by sticking the key in the ignition. August and I get out of the truck and CLICK, the doors locked. After frantically trying to get Kennedy to unlock herself from her car seat, the neighbor called the police to come open the doors. Yes, we don't have a spare set. Fortunately, I had just stopped off at DQ so Kennedy could get her favorite Chocolate Extreme blizzard. While the firemen worked on prying the door open, she sat eating her blizzard.

When we were at Sherry's and Kirk August learned how to say their dog, George, name. She also is saying Joe Joe. Kennedy and August were so cute as they looked on as a frog hopped across the yard. Trey picked it up so both of them could touch it.

We took the girls to the beach for a couple of hours. August had never been and she seemed to enjoy it. We walked along the shore looking for seashells and tried to ride some of the waves. After, enough salt water getting in their eyes and mouth we headed out to Rita and Philip's house in Corpus. There we enjoyed good company and the luxury of a pool.

While at Papa's to celebrate an earlier Father's Day, August and Kennedy were playing the piano. I went into the kitchen and came back to see August walking sideways along the piano keys. She is my little climber!!

Mom went with me to Kennedy's school year end celebration. Of course, all of my photos of her getting her "diploma" are blurry.....she looked like a little princess. School is out for July...so hopefully she will have some fun times ahead.

We’ll we have a new family member in the Dodson residence. A little Terrier mix was in Mathis and wouldn’t leave the lake house. The dog would love all over the little kids but didn’t want much to do with adults. I left it up to Trey and he called me to let me know he was bringing her home. He named her Maty (after Mathis). The vet let us know she is around 6 months old. August loves playing with her and Kennedy is warming up to her. As you can see in the pictures, August thinks the dog bed is hers.

August finished up her swim lessons the first part of July. Her usual routine would be to splash a little, play a little, and eat a little. She loved going over to the drain to see what was inside, a mice was in it one day(glad It wasn’t me but Trey to find that one). Overally, she is moving her little arms and can go under water. She loves to blow bubbles in the water. When I’m giving her a bath she grabs my hair and has me lean in to blow bubbles in the tub.

The Chisholm Trail Roundup was the 2nd weekend in June. Kennedy’s school had a float in the parade so Mom, Jim, August, and I went to waive them on. Kennedy had been practicing her princess’s wave in anticipation for the big day. They won first place with their float.

May 2011

2011-05-12T06:07:00.000-07:00

Kennedy had her 4 year appointment and did great. She weighed 41Lbs and 41 inches tall. She is still in the upper percentile in height, weight, and head circumference. She had two vaccination shots in the arm and didn’t cry. We were so proud of her.

Kennedy had her gymnastic recital. Everytime we looked at her sitting on the bleachers watching the other kids perform you can't help but realize how grown up she is getting. She did great with her routine. I can't wait to get the video so we can watch her do her rolls.

She loves the Shrek song “Accidentally in Love” which I had to download to our music playlist. We also had to get our first boy doll...yes, that would be Ken. Kennedy asked me if we could get a boy barbie doll so that Barbie could have a dance partner.

I got my first homemade school Mother's Day present. I just love it! It's a rose pedal with Kennedy's photo inside. Made me tear up opening it. Trey also got me(from the girls of course) a cross and angel for the garden. I'm a lucky mom to have such great lovable kids and a subperb husband to go with them!

Trey, August, and I participated in Kennedy’s birthday celebration at school. Instead of bringing deserts to school, they ask that you pay ten dollars which is used to purchase a book for the school library. This book is then read by the parent at the child's Celebration of Life. I was so nervous about having to read in front of all these children and share Kennedy’s life story.
I made a poster board with several pictures from each year of her life which was displayed in the classroom. The Montessori classroom celebrates a child’s birthday with a Celebration of Life birthday walk. This event honors the child's life and accomplishments. All the kids sat in a circle, and Mrs. Zea placed a candle in the middle of the circle which represented the sun and the moment of birth. Before Kennedy started to walk the circle, Mrs. Zea asked the children’s how many days it takes for the earth to orbit the sun, 365 ( and some other science questions but I can’t remember them all sorry dad, I know it was about the planets). Kennedy held the earth( representing a concrete passage of time) and walked around the circle four times(one time for each year of her life). At the end of each time she walked, Mrs. Zea would ask the class….how old is Kennedy now? During her orbit around the sun, I told the following stories:

0 to 1 year: Kennedy was born on April 24, 2007. She weighed 8lbs, 5 oz….born at 1:58 pm. During this year of her life she learned to crawl, stand, started to walk , learned signs for milk and more, went to the Fire Station for the first time, met Santa Claus, loved sitting in the bathroom sink and looking in the mirror, and loved to spin the toilet paper roll to see how much she could get all over the bathroom.

1 to 2 years: Caught her first fish with her dad, went to the beach and played in the sand, first circus-she didn’t like the cotton candy she said it itched her throat, attended her first music class with Ms. Petra, learned to feed herself, She used to love to put Cheetos or her pacifiers in between each of her big toes and alternate feeding herself with her feet

2 to 3 years: Flew on her first airplane, First haircut, Became a big sister, learned to go to the bathroom all by herself, and whenever she would see a yellow car she would scream “Yellow Car”.

3 to 4 years: Started to write her letters, went to the dentist, started gymnastics and Montessori school, rode her first bike and horse, and one day she was walking at the lake barefoot with the Mimi and stepped in cactus – she walked like a penguin for several days because of all the cacti in her feet.

Now, that I know I have to do this for the children, I need to start preparing for August.

August had her 15 month appointment. She weighed 25lbs(79%), 31 1/2 tall, and her head was 19 inches (96%).

August does some of the funniest little things and I wonder where she picks them up. Lately, she likes to pretend she is sleeping. So, she'll be in the swing or in the carseat and you'll look at her. She will have her eyes squinted shut with a little smirk.So, Kennedy and I like to say "Oh, how sweet, the baby is sleeping!" that makes August smile bigger and squint even harder.

Something else that is funny that she does is hold her nose and squinsh her face as if something smells....then she just giggles. It makes me smile just thinking of her.

The other morning Trey went into the bathroom to find her inside the toilet sitting with my hair brush and pulling the toilet paper into the bowl. Now we are having to close the door to all the bathrooms because she enjoys climbing into to toilet.

If there is a puddle of water or dirt to be eaten, August is the girl to call on. Trey called to tell me she was sitting in the bird bath drinking the water. Then I told him about how the other day she sat near a puddle of water on the sidewalk and bent down while sitting to drink the water. I'm hoping she's building a wonderful immune system. She loves to play with the waterhose. In the pictures she is seen wearing some of her sisters training pants. She likes to put on panties so she feels like a big girl. Oh, to be young and to be adventourous.

Both the girls took swim lessons this month with Ms. Ashley. August has started to go underwater…but we still have a ways to go. We are going to continue with lessons for the next couple weeks and see where we end up. Kennedy is now swimming underwater and can swim to the other side of the pool by herself. We need to start working on taking some breathes, but I'm so proud of her accomplishment.

Mom and Jim watched the girls so Trey and I could go with Mel and Kirk to the Crawfish festival in Spring. We had a great time. We tasted some wine at the Wimberley Wine store and ate a lot of different festival foods. Later that night, Randy Rogers played. I forgot what it was like to be up front and center with a lot of young kids pushing you around. We survived…closing the place down as we waited for our taxi to bring us back to our hotel.

April 2011

2011-04-07T15:04:00.000-07:00

Kennedy had pictures taken at her gymnastics for her upcoming recital in May. The photos taken of her below are of her sporting her new leotard.

We finally pulled up the carpet! Let the fresh air in! Dad, Robin, and Trey worked on laying the flooring which turned out beautiful. We just lack some shoe molding and the bedrooms will be done floor wise. I also finished painting my door headboard and Trey put it together. This has been years in the making and we finally made the time to get it out of the garage. Thanks to Melanie for coming out and helping get a comforter and stuff to make everything flow together. There is still a lot of work to be done, but getting this stuff done helped with the motivation to get after it.

The girls and I attended the VFW’s annual Easter Egg hunt that mom and Jim help out with. On the way there, we stopped and watched Tyler play baseball and then headed to Leander. During the drive, both the girls put their baskets on their head. Once, we were at the VFW the girls did great. Both picked up a lot of Easter Eggs. August even tried to pick up a brick to put in her basket. Then when we were walking around after the hunt, if a kid sat their basket down August thought they were for her to get. The VFW also has some donkeys that we fed and Jim showed the girls the baby goat they are trying to nurse. They loved getting to pet the baby goat and donkeys.

August loves to open and close doors. She also likes to put Kennedy’s panties on over her diaper. I had bought 2 different dresses for Kennedy to choose from for her birthday party and August insisted that August put one on. August is starting to become very independent. One evening I put a little dress on her and she was crying. She ended up bringing me a onesie she wanted on. Once I got it on her she was happy. She still loves to put on shoes. She also climbs up the playscape which scares me to death…you have to run over there to make sure she doesn’t fall- There is no fear. I caught her climbing her bed and then in the bath she hikes her leg up on the side of the bath tub and tries to put the other one on the soap ledge. There is never a dull moment.

We had Kennedy’s year end assessment with Ms. Zea regarding her progression at the Montessori School. Overall, Kennedy is doing great academically. She has great fine motor skills, is learning her mathematics(she says” 2 plus equals 4…then she says 2) and she has started reading 3 letter words. It’s so exciting watching them learn and then come home and share with us. Ms. Zea said in groups she is pretty reserved but one on one speaks up . We also got the word she and her friend are being separated more often because they are tattling on one another. There are two Kennedy’s in the class and the kids have always called her Little Kennedy. But Kennedy doesn’t like that anymore so they are trying to get the kids to call her Kennedy Lynn instead. We are so pleased with her advancement.

Kennedy Lynn turned four this month. We had a Dora Birthday Egg Adventure at our house over the Easter weekend. Most of the family(including Trey’s cousin, John Michael, from California) and some friends were there for the celebration. All the kids did great participating in the adventure. We had to go through the jumpy house, hop to the slide, make a silly face down the slide, run to the parachute, pop the balls off the parachute, walk to the front of the house and hit the Dora piñata, and then back to the backyard to the Easter Egg hunt.

Easter fell on Kennedy’s birthday this year. The Easter bunny stopped by our house and left the girls a chocolate bunny, some pj’s, bubbles, and shoes. I had gotten confetti eggs for us to play with but we never got around to it. The girls looked so adorable in their dresses (although I couldn’t get a good shot of them together).

Trey received his worm farm. Trey was checking on them on day and Kennedy picked them up and then wanted to show August. Trey explained we can let August see them because she might eat them along with probably roll all in the dirt. Kennedy asked me the other night "Mom, call Trey (she refers to us sometimes in that manner) and see where he put the worms so I can show August". I had to reinterate we weren't showing August just yet. The worm box is to break down our food so we can use it on our plants/garden-if we ever till up some soil.

Had a great time with the girls celebrating Stacie's Tom's Bachelorette Party. We went to the San Antonio Riverwalk. Stacie had a great time. Onward to the wedding in Ballinger, Texas on April 30. I rode with Rhonda and Kara to watch Stacie Tom get a new middle name. The wedding was beautiful, as were the bride and groom.

March 2011

2011-03-06T13:46:00.001-08:00

Kennedy shared a story with me that one of the little boys at the school said diet coke was bad for your kidneys and that his dad drank diet coke. Kennedy told the little boy “well, my dad drinks beer.” And the little boy said” that’s bad for your kidney’s too.” Another funny story about Ms. Kennedy is the following email I received from her teacher, Ms. Zea: We had a Kodak moment and no camera today. Kennedy sat in group with Erin Avery and they had the babies out playing. Kennedy had her dress pulled up very discreetly and she was breast feeding her dolly. It was priceless. She was just sitting there chatting away. Guess it goes to show...they are always paying attention even when you don't think they are! Trey and August joined Kennedy for Lunch to celebrate St. Patrick ’s Day. The children at the school marched in a parade down the road while they followed a bagpiper. I hate I had to miss the parade, but glad that dad and Auggie could enjoy it…..think all of the kids were looking forward to cake afterwards. August’s top two teeth just came in this month. Over spring break, I meet Mel at the carnival. I think all the kids had a good time. When I asked Kennedy that night, what she thought of the carnival she said “all of the teachers were really nice!” I thought to myself…teachers? So, I asked her if she meant the people operating the machines and she said “yes”. Gotta love kids.

We also went down to Mathis. We couldn't’t get in the house cause someone had taken the key,so we stayed with Sherry which we all enjoyed. The girls loved fishing and playing with their dad.

Kennedy went to the dentist and got her teeth cleaned. She did great! In 6 months we will both go again and get our teeth cleaned together. I am so glad she doesn't have her mothers phobia of the dentist.

August doing has started doing the sign for shoe. She's still into everything.

Friday, March 18…Brenda Gail Parks, my great friend Becky’s mom passed away. Brenda was always full of life. Back in high school, she helped me in my horticulture class by keeping my airplane plant alive that I had planted from a cutting. Petite in stature, Brenda always was giggling about something. She had a zest for life and will be missed by all.

Trey ran the Capitol 10K and did very well for only running once the Friday before the event. He ran a 9:58 pace. Everywhere the girls and I went we missed seeing him run, even at the finish line. We finally found him in the mass of people.

It’s official! No more pacifiers in the Dodson’s home, well maybe an occasional one for August. Friday, March 25 Trey and I were discussing Kennedy finally giving the pacifier up. Trey was under the assumption I wasn’t ready but I assured him I was. So, Kennedy and I discussed the fairy coming while she swung on August’s swing. In our discussion, Kennedy informed me that she really was to big now to suck on a pacifier(since she lost a tooth-she hasn’t lost any teeth but a couple of girls at school have). So, I went with it. I told her we needed to have a practice run of not using the pacifier before we went totally without. Kennedy agreed no sleeping with the pacifier that night. To my amazement, she had no problem with not sleeping with it. The next morning she saw her pacifier still sitting on the kitchen table and she said “ this one is for August now, I don’t need it anymore. “ She did go outside and say “ the fairy didn’t come”. I explained the fairy would come when we wrote her a note and left the pacifiers for her. She did great on Saturday and Sunday….so Sunday night, she drew some pictures for the fairy, wrote a little note, and left two of her pacifiers on the kitchen counter. Monday morning when she arouse, Trey went to her and said “I think someone left you something”. She ran outside and started to play on the playscape. Trey said she cried because she didn’t want to go to school. You probably can hear my sigh of relief and my astonishment of how my little girl has grown up.

Mel and the boys came out this month and Laura, Kenneth, and the girls came to visit....here are some of the photos of everyone having fun!

February 2011

2011-02-09T11:28:00.001-08:00

August turned 1 year old. Her weight 22Lbs (69%), 29.5 length(61%,) and Head 18.5(92%). She is walking everywhere and getting into anything she can. She grabs the broom, then goes and gets the dust pan….I caught her putting clean diapers into the diaper pail (oh so proud of herself). She has started to use a little sign language: milk and more. She loves putting on shoes(not hers of course but all others). When Dora comes on she tries to say Dora but it doesn’t come out correctly. At the end of February she said "apple". We also had a birthday party with Payton down at the lake. We all had a nice time and the girls, especially August, loved getting dirty while eating her cake.

Trey and I had to take Kennedy to have a VCUG scan of her kidneys. It was a precautionary measure to make sure that the Urinary tract infection she had earlier in the year was completely gone. Apparently, doctors are finding that children who had uti’s as children sometimes never fully got rid of their uti’s and it caused damage. These children in their 50’s and 60s are now on dialysis. Kennedy did so great and the staff at Dell’s Children is amazing. The cocktail they gave her to sedate her made her so silly. She kept pulling her sucker out of her mouth and saying “look it does magic!” all with slurred speech. The picture here was taken from my phone so clarity isn’t the best…Trey and I wish we would of had our video camera cause she went from being real quite to a chatter box. Fortunately, the dr’s said she won’t remember the procedure just being in the hospital room.

We had our first snow of the year. The girls loved playing in it. Kennedy and I made our own Angels while August was busy eating the snow.

January 2011

2011-01-17T10:54:00.000-08:00

We have had a big breakthrough in bath time!! You see, Mrs. Kennedy has always taken a bath with her swimsuit on from about the age of 2. It was a massive breakdown if she didn’t wear it in the bath. Well, on Sunday she told me she has decided that she no longer needs to wear her swimsuit to take a bath. She would take it without her swim suit like August does. Trey nor I have ever pressed the issue, Yes, we always tried to see if we could get her into the tub without it on, but for some reason she had comfort or control over that situation. Needless to say, it’s been nice not having to put the thing on before bath time!!! Since, I'm having issues trying to get caught up with my posts... I'm going to try to do a quick summary and pictures can be viewed. Kennedy got her hair cut.....so she was modeling her new look. The girls playing with balloons...think this is suppose to be party of the birthday party picture we had for August so they might be repeats in Feb. Trey shot two deer so we tried to make up some sausage. It was getting late so all hands were on deck(Kennedy enjoys helping). Had some cold days this month...Aug and Kennedy love playing outside.

December 2010

2010-12-10T15:35:00.001-08:00

I hate to say it but I have way behind in posting. Maybe in 2011 things will be better, but time just slips away. For December here is my best recollection of things that went on. THe photos below are basically a hodgepodge.

August has 2 teeth now and is ever so antsy to eat grown people food. If you have, she wants it. She started to take 3 steps in the early part of December then on Christmas Day, Kennedy and I watched her walk across the room. It took me a while to realize what she just did. Kennedy and I both started cheering for her. She still loves to clap, starts to move with the groove to music, and smiles about everything. We constantly have to get her off things or out of boxes….she’s a climber and is proud when she does. There is no fear.

Kennedy made a funny comment about kissing. She said they don’t kiss at school because kissing passes germs to other people and that is bad. She is growing up quickly before my eyes and still makes me giggle by some of the mature comments she makes(if only I could be so quick and write them down).

The Montessori School hosts a breakfast with Santa the first of December. Kennedy and August enjoyed themselves. They were able to tell Santa about the Princess bike, ear plugs/ear phones, and drums the girls wanted for Christmas. Guess both of the girls had been good because both got their goodies they asked for and then some!
Both the girls came down with a virus over the Holidays so for 2 ½ weeks we were confided to going nowhere. This was hard because of the Holiday season, but we survived.

Santa came and visited the girls.
Trey and I went on our first cruise to Cozumel. We enjoyed ourselves and the friends we went with.
Here are some photos from the Christmas’s we shared at the all of our family’s homes:

Kennedy had her first midsemester gymnastics performance for us. She did so good on all of the apparateces. I think she especially likes the balance beam. We are looking forward to her year end performance in May.

Trey went hunting for his first time on Lake Mathis. Him and Kirk shot one green wing teal & 1 Lesser Canadian goose. Needless to say, I tried a tasting a little of both of the animals. I can’t say I would be requesting either on a dinner menu.

November 2010

2010-11-12T14:23:00.001-08:00

Kennedy helped her dad bring in the big fish! They caught a 6 1/2 lb bass! Way to go guys.

Kennedy tells us how big the fish was!

My First Turkey...it actually turned out delicious. That is blueberry sause on top of it.

On November 20th, we braved participating in the Warrior Dash, a 5k obstacle run-running over cars, jumping barriers, treading through a creek, climbing a muddy hill, running tires, climbing haystacks, rolling over nets, jumping fire, and rolling through a mud pit. We had such a blast! Thanks Sarah K , Sarah and James, Rhonda, Chris, and Mel & Kirk for being warriors….can’t wait till next year~

August has expanded her vocabulary to include “Hi, bye, ball, and nana”. She has also started to clap this month. She still loves to wave goodbye, bounces up and down to music or when she gets excited, and still very inquisitive on how anything works. She also has her first tooth coming in. At the end of November she took one step!

I received a phone call in the middle of the month from my old boss and friend, Lynn Hulse. I worked with Lynn and her husband, Ed, at Poston Feed Mill while working on my Masters at Tarleton. Lynn had ran across my number in a card I had sent a while back. She called to inform me that Ed has passed away on November 5. When I shut my eyes to envision him I see him standing at the entrance of his office, with a big smile, handle bar mustache, wearing Wranglers and a tucked in shirt. Ed, Lynn, and the others at Poston became my family. They cared for me, listenened, on occasion had to ask “what did you do?”. Still to this day, Poston’s has to be my favorite job I’ve had. This city girl learned more about fertilizer, livestock food, how to weigh trucks, doing accounting by hand, and the amazing warmth and acceptance from the farmers and rancher s that frequented the store(even if it was to just come in for a cup of coffee and a smoke).

My heart also goes out to Erica Uplinger and her family who lost their father on November 20 to cancer. Erica has always been a big advocate of men getting their prostate checked due to the late diagnosis of her father’s cancer.

This also marks the first Holiday for Trey and I to be without our grandmothers. How I miss them both. One of my favorite dishes made this time of year from them are: Nanny’s squash casserole and Granny’s parker house rolls. Even though they are gone, they are still in our hearts. The last couple of times I’ve been to church we have sung “How Great Thou Art”, one of Nanny’s favorite songs. I can’t help but get teary eyed when I sing it, but then remember I can feel her presences telling me she’s still with me and what a lucky gal to be with our Lord.

Trey and I celebrated 6 years together on the 20th. Leah watched August for us so that we could go eat lunch at Foco de Chao. Yes, Trey tried all 16 cuts of meat. Trey- thanks for six marvelous years of marital bliss. You are more than I could ever dream of or asked for from God. I am constantly marveled by your amazing love and playful interaction with our children. As I say every year, the best is yet to come, because every year it seems to get better and better.