K for Kylee

Kylee is not allowed to go to preschool in our district. I guess it's funded by the state for special needs children only. That's great for the special needs kids, but it pretty much sucks for kids like Kylee who really need the stimulation and are ready to learn, but what can you do? We can't afford to put her in a private school for preschool, so we're doing some preschool activities at home. Kylee is learning to write her letters, numbers, she's counting, she knows most of her shapes (we still have to work on the hard ones like octagon). We haven't been doing it consistently for very long, but she's learning quickly. I honestly think she'd be ready for kindergarten in 2011, but she was born 19 days too late for the deadline. Kylee is so excited to do school work. If she could go to school now, she would. She knows she can't go to school till she's five (she also knows that is when she is allowed to have barbie dolls), but she wants to go.
She attempted to write her own name without every being shown how. She is a smarty.

Refreshing our memory on last week's letter-A

This week's letter-B

Kylee's attempt at writing her name

Number 2 (that's hard for a toddler!)

Close up of her name (can you tell I'm a proud mommy?)

Arbonne Party

I'm having an Arbonne party tonight to help get my sister's business going. If you live nearby, it's at 6:30. Come on over! If you can't buy anything now, at least you can hear about the product and have a night out!

Money

Usually I do not like money. Maybe it's because I've never really known how to manage it. You'd think after going through FPU (Financial Peace University) together 4 years ago, and Nick coordinating it two more times since, we'd be much better. But we're not. We are making a much bigger effort now. It's amazing how much more money you have when you actually know where it's going. We didn't follow our budget at all in January. In February, we basically screwed around with the first half of the month. The second half of the month is looking GOOD!

We are going out for dinner on Sunday for Valentine's day. Guess where we're going? Subway for $5 footlongs! Haha! Not super romantic, but you know, that is what is in our budget right now. We already went out for dinner twice this month to "nicer" restaurants. Honestly, I'm totally happy with Subway. Healthy and I still won't have two toddlers with me to say "Sit down" "don't touch that" "get off the floor" "Please don't touch that!" "If you don't stop, we're taking a trip to the bathroom!" No big gifts.

We've already started an account for birthday and christmas presents. We sort of have to when we have three kids with birthdays in September, October and December, Christmas and my birthday is right after Christmas. I wish we would have done this before. It would have made life so much easier during those four months!

We're just starting to do this stuff and I'm already feeling more at peace about money. We bought our kids Financial Peace University Junior in hopes of teaching them to manage hteir money at a young age.

This post is sort of all over. I'm very very sleep-deprived, but very excited to see how our future goes when we actually put the effort into managing our money.

Blessings

Edited to add: Please visit my friend April's adoption site. I have followed her story for about four years, and it is very touching. My life has been blessed by April. If you like candles, order some candles and help them raise the money needed to bring their sweet baby home! End edit.

January has been a rough month. Just about anything that could go wrong this month has gone wrong. You hear all the time "God doesn't give you more than you can handle." I think the creator of that saying got it wrong. I dno't believe God gives us bad things. If God is good, why would he give out bad things? We live in a fallen, sinful world. Bad things are going to happen. I don't believe God gives us bad things, but I do believe he allows those bad things, and he won't allow more than we can handle (although sometimes it doesn't feel like we can handle anymore). I also believe that there are reasons for allowing us to go through the things we do. I don't understand them all. Some we learn those reasons soon. Others we may not know till we're on the other side of heaven. I don't know why we have been been allowed to go through all the crap we have had to deal with the last month, or even the last four and a half years. If you know us, you know it's been a rough road, but it has only made us stronger.

Today I am going to focus on my many many blessings. I can't post pictures of them all, or even begin to mention them all, but this is a start.

First blessing is the forgiveness and eternal life from God. I know it's a Sunday school answer, but it's the truth. If God didn't forgive, we'd all be screwed.

Second is my husband. I am so thankful to have someone who loves me for me. He works so hard for our family in not one, but two jobs. We both feel it is important that I am home with our three kids, and one sacrifice we have to make is for him to work two jobs. It's only for a season, and we know this, and we know it will be so worth it in the end. I'm so excited to be able to go on a date with him (and Adleigh) tonight! He never gets Friday nights off, but they gave him one without even asking!

Next on the list is our three beautiful children. Some days are difficult, but I've never heard anyone say having children was an easy task. They come with a mind of their own and it's our job to shape them and raise them. I am so thankful that they are healthy and gorgeous! (Well, I could be biased, but I think they are the most beautiful children ever!)

Kylee, our 3 year old has so much spunk, energy, and is as bossy as her mommy was as a child. She has more facial expressions than any kid I have ever known. She loves "reading" her books, playing with her dolls, princess dolls, and dressing up. She's so girly and I LOVE it!

Our little 2 year old boy is a ham. I am so thankful for this little boy. I was terrified the day I found out I was having a boy. I didn't know what to do with little boys. I have three younger sisters! Elijah is showing me how to be a mommy to a boy, and that crashing cars and throwing balls is what being a boy is all about...even if he does it while wearing his big sister's pink tutu!

Adleigh, or Boo Boo, as I (and ONLY I) like to call her is our third little blessing. I love her snuggles, and boy does she like to snuggle a lot. She can hardly stand to be away from mommy for a few minutes, but I love it. This time goes so fast. After two before her, I've learned to cherish these times because she will soon be a toddler running everywhere. Adleigh seems to be more laid back than the other two. She is finally smiling more often, and I adore those baby smiles. Seeing the smile take over her entire face when I'm talking to her makes my heart melt.

My sister Nikki is a big blessing. If you know both of us, you know that Nikki and I are about as different as night and day, but I'm thankful to have her as a sister. She is not only a sister, but a good friend. While we don't agree on many things, we have fun together, and I'm so glad that she lives nearby, and I will enjoy it as long as it lasts. I know she doesn't want to be here forever, and I hope she finds a place that she loves when the time is right. One of the best things is she made me an aunt for the very first time. Little Easton Michael is one of the cutest, sweetest, smily babies ever. I just had a baby girl and I find myself drawn to the boy baby clothes in case I find a present for him.

I have been blessed with an awesome HUGE family that is scattered all across the united states (and into Canada). I have great parents who love and support us. I know that they are always praying for us. I have two other sisters, a brother in law, and another nephew on the way. I have many aunts and uncles, and even more cousins.

We have a great church family, great friends, a best friend I've had since 4th grade, a place to live, a car to drive (even if it doesn't have heat and you can hear it a mile away!), food to eat, plenty of toys, health, and five Starbucks within just a few miles! This month hasn't been great, but really, we have what we need (and yes, I consider Sbux a necessity! =) ). God is good.

It's 1 am and I'm still awake. But I am cuddling this:

I think it makes these times so worth it. Sure, I might be short on sleep these days, but they go so fast, I will enjoy the snuggles!

4 Weeks

Adleigh is four weeks old today! On Saturday she will be one month old. It's hard to believe. Time is going so fast. I think it was my 8th and 9th grade English teacher, Mr. Busick, who always told us each year seems to go faster than the last. I think he understated that! I can't believe Kylee is over three years old already. It really goes by so fast, and each year seems to go faster, making me realize how little time I really have with all three of them. In the grand scheme of life, the 18 years is so short. ! I want her to stay this tiny and cuddly for a long long time!

We are currently under a winter storm watch. We'll see if we actually get this storm. I think we might get an inch or two of snow, but I don't expect much else.

All ready to cheer on the Bears!

All snuggly in her new outfit from Kelly

Looking adorable in her outfit from the Reddicks


She's just too cute!

Comparison: Kylee and Adleigh

Yuck

What about this commercial makes people want to go eat there? What is funny about kids cussing? Why would parents allow their children to be in this commercial? Why would adults want to be in it? It's so stupid. Personally, I think it is appalling. We don't have a Joe's Crab Shack around here, but they wouldn't be getting my business if they did. They really couldn't come up with anything more creative than a family cussing?