A Parents First Reaction...

...is to never believe their child was making the "right" choice.  I have been told this by other parents about their own kids many times, but I have never fully appreciated it until last Monday.  I will get to that later in the post, but first the back story.  Kendall and I had the day off Monday for MLK day.  Sidney, of course, has every day off.  In the morning, I took Kendall to her 7 year check up.  Her and the doctor have very elaborate conversations at these wellness checks.  During this particular visit, Sidney and I were joking about our family phrase to Kendall, "We cannot take you anywhere."  Kendall is VERY accident prone.  She trips over imaginary objects, falls down stairs daily and spills drinks constantly.  Sometimes we get upset, but mostly we have learned to laugh at this trait.  The doctor mentioned that he has one of those kids in his house as well.  He turned to Kendall and said, "The trick is to never fill your glass full to the top.  Always fill it half way."  I am not sure that is the ultimate solution, but she has embraced it and has taken to meticulously measuring half way as she pours her drinks.

After the doctor's appointment, I took the girls to my favorite restaurant for lunch - Andrade's.  Going to a restaurant with young children can be tricky.  One thing you can always count on is that you can NEVER count on anything.  I got lucky on Monday.  It was me and my two daughters.  We had a fantastic lunch.  They were so well behaved.  Good food and good company!

If that was not enough, I decided to really press my luck.  We picked up Hannah and headed to the ice rink.  Here are the girls stepping onto the ice.

Sidney is ready to go.

First, let's pose for a picture.  Oops, we were not quite steady on our skates yet...

Okay, now we have it.

We skated for 3 hours!  I believe the girls could have kept on going, but I was pooped.  I did not even feel like I was skating that hard, but I was tired and sore the next day.  Granted, I had tried a new Jillian Michael's workout, so I am not sure what the exact root cause of the soreness was. 

Now to the beginning of the post.  When we first got to the rink, Sidney had asked for a walker to help her skate.  I told her no, because she knows how to skate.  She skated around once holding my hand then she let go and literally said, "I do not need you anymore mom."  Nearly broke my heart, but I was happy to skate with both my hands free!  About 30 minutes before we were leaving, Sidney must have found an abandoned walker.  I spotted her skating around the rink like a mad woman.  Ten minutes after that, I saw her conversing with a man and two young boys, and she turned the walker over to the man.  Of course, I assumed the worst that she had stolen his walker and he was asking for it back.  Later that afternoon as we were driving home, I started to tease her about getting "busted" for stealing the walker.  Kendall, Hannah and Sidney simultaneously corrected me.  Sidney did not get busted at all.  She saw this man with two little boys.  The little boys did not know how to skate and were hanging on their dad.  In Sidney's words. she "figured the dad was getting very frustrated having two boys hanging on him" so she asked him if he wanted to have the walker.  What a good egg she is!  Hopefully, I have learned my lesson and will not be so quick to think the worst!

Beach Pictures in January?

Yes, that is what we did today.  The girls love getting their picture taken.  I love having the pictures, and I had a coupon that could not go to waste.  We decided to have a little fun with the pictures and capture some of the activities that the girls currently like to do. 

Tea anyone?  Sidney, in particular, plays tea for hours in her room.  Her dolls and stuffed animals are always rounding out the party.

 

We took a few more serious ones while we were at it.

May I Have Your Autograph Please?

The girls' Sunday School class made some very cool projects for the holiday season.  Each of the kids painted on the backside of the glass of a picture frame.  They put the glass back in the frame and the frames were hung up on wall outside of the sanctuary.  Last Sunday, Kendall and Sidney were pointing out their paintings to us.  As we walked into church and were handed a bulletin, guess who's picture made the cover?  Sidney is famous!  She was ecstatic and told anyone who would listen.  Naturally, we went by the church this week and scooped up any of the remaining bulletins.  

 

Swim lessons have started back up again.  The girls love it and it is a great Saturday winter activity.  Kendall is learning the breaststroke and the butterfly this time around.  Sidney has overcome all of her water fears and is rocking her swim lessons.  She earned her first yellow ribbon a few weeks back, which means she swam to the rope and back unassisted while performing the front crawl. 

OMG...Seven Years Old.

Where does the time go?  Kendall is seven years old.  It is unbelievable.  She had two parties, one with my parents and one at our house.  She insisted on making the treats for both.  At my parents, she made cupcakes and put the initials or ages of everyone on the cupcakes.

For the party at our house, she chose a cross cake.  Grandma Terrell provided the decorations.  Kendall and Sidney did the decorating. 

Hannah stayed the night for Kendall's birthday.  The two of them set the table very fancy for dinner.

Grandma Terrell joined us for the party.

Kendall received a disco ball for her birthday, which will make the dance party's in her room even better than before.  Now Kevin and I will not have to hold the flashlight on her and Sid while they perform.  Wild nights at the Strong household.

After cake was done, the girls turned out the lights, turned on the disco ball and danced the night away.

Who is Kendall at seven?
K is for kind and compassionate.
E is for energetic.
N is for night owl.  Though bedtime is at 8pm, she is often awake until 10pm reading books or rearranging her room.
D is for determined.  She does not know the phrase "I can't".
A is for amazing reader.  She is passionate about reading and writing in her journal.
L is for loving the boys.  UGH!  This one is certainly going to age Kevin and I.
L is for laughter.  She laughs at herself, laughs at others and generally loves to laugh.

New Year, New Colors!

During the second week of vacation, Kevin and I took on another round of painting.  This time we did the powder room and the entry way.  We did the powder room in a sage green.

For the entry way, we used the same chocolate chip color that we had used in the dining room.  It was quite a job and most of the work was done by Kevin.  We took the colors all the way up our stairs to the second story walkway.  In some parts, the wall goes up 20 feet and there are stairs.  I am not sure how Kevin did it, but it is done.  We still have the touch up to do, but I think we are both burnt out.  Touchup sounds like a really good spring break project.

Ever since we painted the sun room, I have been wanting to take out my old topiary (not pictured) and put in something a little more updated.  Sidney and I hit up the home decor stores and put together this arrangement.  It turned out pretty nice!

Bowling's Most Improved Award...

...goes to myself!  Check out this form, I actually look like I know what I am doing.

After Christmas, a bunch of us decided to go bowling for the day.  It was good fun.  Check out the final score of our last game.  There are two items of note.  First, I broke 100.  It must be the form.  Second, I beat Kevin (K).  If there is one thing that has always held true,  Kevin NEVER lets me win.  He will let me come close, but he will never LET me win.  If I win, it is fair and square.

I chose this score strategically, because I am quite sure that I got my butt kicked the previous game.  In fact, here is Kevin receiving a high five for one of his many strikes.

Sidney was in rare form.  There were no ramps to help her launch the bowl down the alley, but between Cousin Cami and Aunt Stephie she was well taken care of.

Feeling pretty full of herself, she was giving cousin Dylan a hard time.

We even talked the Grandma's into joining us.  Neither one of them actually bowled, but they had a good time anyways.  My mom got a hold of my camera, thus all of the great pictures.

My sister was the "Where's Waldo" of bowling.  Which I love, because now I have plenty of pictures of her.  Check out her shirt - Bon Jovi.  The lucky duck went to his concert a few month back.  We are products of the 80's and 90's and still love that music.  According to her, the concert was just not the same without Richie Sambora.

Kendall had a great time and was quite the champ.  Little Miss Independent would not take help from anyone, and she did a phenomenal job.  Given that Kevin and I are her parents, it comes as no surprise that she is quite competitive. 

The Very Long, Very Lovely Christmas Vacation



I had a full two weeks off for Christmas this year.  I cannot even remember the last time that I had a full two weeks off.  There was a saying in the military "choose your rate, choose your fate".  Teaching was looking pretty good after that time off!  All joking aside, it was very restful.  I can honestly say that at the end of the two weeks, I was refreshed and ready to head back to work. 

 

We traveled up North to visit our family for the first week.  We celebrated Christmas Eve with Kevin's side of the family.  Lisa outdid herself once again with a delicious meal.  Then we had our annual bingo night.  Both of the girls participated this year and were quite competitive.  Kendall even stole my favorite lotion from me (Twilight Woods).  She keeps it in her bathroom and taunts me with it everyday.  Sidney swiped a Duck Dynasty doll for Kevin, and I scored a pack of OPI nail polish.  In fact, I just got finished putting a fresh coat on.  My nails are drying as I type.

 

We spent Christmas day with my family.  Kendall found these awesome glasses in her stocking and dubbed them her "gift opening glasses".

Sidney scored a Doc McStuffins dress up outfit.  Super cute!

Kevin joined in on the fun and helped the girls dig into their gifts.

My sister got each of the girls a very special Bible for Christmas.  They loved them and have been taking them to church and Awana ever since. 

Kevin had picked out these wild and crazy exercise outfits for each of the girls.  When Kevin and I were shopping for them, I can honestly say I thought they were a bit ridiculous.  Kevin insisted the girls would love them, and he was right.  The other morning Sidney chose the PBS fitness show over cartoons and did the entire 1/2 hour of exercises. 

The first year that Kevin and I were married, we lived in California.  We bought an artificial Christmas tree for $20.  The tree was likely the first artificial tree ever made.  It was about 6 ft. tall and very Charlie Brown.  We have used that tree for the past 16 years.  For the past six or seven years, we have discussed buying a new one, yet each year passes and we do nothing.  This year, we hit up the after Christmas sales and purchased a brand new, pre-lit artificial tree.  It is 9 feet tall and has multi-colored lights.  We had to search long and hard for a 9 ft. tree with colored lights! 

Kevin suggested that I take our old tree and put it up in another room and make a theme tree. The notion seemed way to extravagant for my tastes, until...I came up with a marvelous idea.  A photo tree.  I found these foam gingerbread men and snowmen on sale.  I printed up a ton of black and white family photos, bought some puffy paint to add a bit of color and away I went.  We are all ready for next year!