Homecoming & Such

This past week was Homecoming week at school.

  Our kids attend a Christian school - one school, three campuses.  

That means every campus

 had specially themed days for every day of the week, i.e.

 'school colors day', or 'retro day', or 'surf and ski day'... you get the picture. 

 A different level of craziness was added to our house

 as we searched out different costumes/outfits late at night, 

all in the name of school spirit.

Our week culminated with a winning Homecoming game on Friday night, 

of which I have no pictures because

 we inadvertently ended up sitting in the student section

 and were forced to watch the back sides of all the students

 because for some unknown reason,

 all of them stand for the majority of the  game. 

 I had a great view of some really blinged out jean pockets.

  Nice.

Saturday was the official Homecoming banquet 

where the kids got dressed up & headed out
 as couples or groups

 & had a nice dinner

 & then went to a fun center until the wee hours of the morning.

  

This is Mykenna & Luke. 

 They have been best friends since kindergarten

 and when Homecoming was announced,  Luke knew immediately who he would ask to be his date.

  The theme for the banquet was 'famous couples or groups' - they went as Ken and Barbie.

  They have a unique friendship,
one that we admire and approve of.
We love her
 & her sweet family

 &

 are happy that they like to spend time together as friends.

On another note, 

I went to the library the other day.

Seems like I have a little something for cookbooks.

I could sit and read through them for hours.

I think the thing I miss the most about

not being home all day, now that I am working full time,
is time in my kitchen.

Lord, I love to be in there puttering and

mixing and measuring and making dishes

that put smiles on their faces.

I have plans to put together a cookbook of my own one day.

One day...

I took the hound dog out for an early run this morning.

It was beautiful.

  

It was so very tranquil

&

just what I needed

 to clear my mind &

get myself ready for

 another

 busy

 week.

Blessings,

{K}

Ready or Not...

I am getting this post up a bit late

{what's new??}

but wanted to share with you our first-day-of-school photos

and

give you a little update.

And I also wanted to put this up

so that I could feel as though

I did something for me,

that I love 

and reminds me of my former life. :)

Goodness...

where has the time gone?

How are we headed to 

high school,

middle school,

AND elementary school this year?

Seems like just yesterday we were headed

out to MOPS 

and I was packing diapers and bottles

and double checking to make sure I had matching socks on.

No small feat in those early, sleep deprived days.

And now...

big kids.

And I truly love it.

The older they get, the more I enjoy them.

Yes, we have bumpy days and teary moments,

but by and large, they are becoming wonderful people

who I really like to spend time with.

Speaking of time,

adjusting to being a working mom has been challenging.

I have spent the last 16 years feathering my nest

and making sure home was a 

calm, clean, organized haven to come home to.

These days we leave by 7,

arrive home near 5,

and are out the door again for a 'Back-to-{fill in the blank} night.

I miss my kids,

I miss my cowboy,

I miss long walks with the dog.

I miss my measuring spoons - 

I miss being home.

I could go on and on but I might short out my keyboard

with exhausted tears.

While I desperately miss home,

I love my job.

I walked through the doors the other morning and worship music

 was blaring from the Worship Center,

people were gathering to pray

and peace reigned.

{AND  I get paid to be here??}

And just down the hall are roughly 300

middle schoolers who need to be loved on

and cared for and shown the right way to class.

They need copies of schedules,

and help with jammed lockers,

and maybe a kleenex or two.

{volleyball cuts were made today :( }

They need to know that someone is there to greet them

and say how glad they are to see them.

Bless their hearts,

 they are a mess!

Precious messes

 and I get to love on them 

and help them

 and love on their overwhelmed mamas, too.

{I can relate} 

Well, off to pack lunches and move laundry

 and maybe sneak a moment

or two with the cowboy

before it is time to start the whole thing over again!

Blessings,

{K} 

Changes

I added this beautiful leather cuff bracelet

to my ever growing collection

earlier this summer.

{jewelry, it's an addiction I tell ya!}

I wish I could tell you where I found it

other than 'somewhere on etsy'.

I had been looking for just the right cuff with just the right

word/saying for months.

And then I landed on this one

and fell in love.

I don't know if you can fully

read it or not but it says,

"just when the caterpillar thought her world was over,

she became a butterfly."

It perfectly sums up where I believe I have

been for the last several months.

The Lord has been up to a mighty work in my life the last

few months, and I naively thought it was all about weight loss.

In February I committed to a healthier

lifestyle and gave weight loss a good try.

{I'm not known for sticking to my guns in this area}

I originally hoped to loose

20 pounds.

To date I have lost 30 pounds

 and have become a foodie and exercise junkie.

Who knew I had it in me??

Certainly not moi!

Then waaaay back in May

a job found me.

As I was walking in the cross walk.

To pick up my middle schooler.

Just crazy

as I had applied for a job at my kids' school months earlier

 and had resignedmyself to the fact that I wouldn't be working there

this coming school year.

I just wasn't in the cards, or so I thought.

Long story short, the principal

of the middle school grabbed me and told me I was an answer to prayer.

She wanted me to be a part of the middle school staff

and work in the front office.

All the pieces fell in to place

and I will be there this coming school year.

I am thrilled to have a job and yet conflicted at the same time.

For the last 15+ years I have been a stay at home mom.

And a very content, happy one at that!

I fully believe that having a parent who is 

passionate about home and being fully present in their role,

is the greatest gift a child can receive.

                           I have loved {almost} every minute of being at home with my kids.

LOVED IT!!

But it is time for me to leave home and supplement our income.

It is time to take the burden of raising a family
 on one paycheck

 off of my sweet man's shoulders.

He has been a trooper for so long

 and graciously

 allowed me to live out my dream of staying home with our kids.

Now it is his turn to live out his dream

of working for himself.

So this fall will be a crazy one for our family

as we all adjust to having a working mama.

I started work just yesterday

and bravely wore my cuff bracelet,

proudly telling my story to anyone who asks

about the engraving on it,

of how a gracious God has taken this caterpillar out of her

cocoon and readied her wings to fly.
My world isn't ending...
just beginning a new chapter.

His hand has been evident in every move that made this job

possible - in ways that I could never manipulate,

all the way down to the timing of cataract surgery

that allows me to really see my new computer screen

in my new office

at my new job.

30 lost pounds + clear vision + the perfect job

=

one butterfly ready to take off. 

I'm not sure how working full time will impact this blog.

That remains to be seen.

So we'll just take it one day at a time,

see how it goes

and give it my best shot.

Thank you all so much for hanging in there 

with me.

You all mean the world to me and I so appreciate

your stopping by to check in on me.

xo,

{K}

I Can See Clearly Now {almost!}

See this lovely bowl of summertime sweetness?

ME TOO!!!

Thank you all for your sweet, encouraging words and your prayers.

The Lord came through in a mighty way for me this morning

as I had the greatest peace about my eye surgery.

His faithfulness amazes and humbles me...

every time.

The surgery went well,

about 40 minutes 

{compared the the standard 10-15 minute cataract surgery}

It was comfortable, but not completely pain free.

That was to be expected, as the amount of work to do was huge.

But, tonight I am singing the praises of Valium

and one great God!

My first post-op visit was this afternoon and when the doc checked my vision

I could actually see!

My vision isn't quite clear,

and probably will take a few weeks to

come to a place of stability,

 but I can see faces and numbers and prints

and on and on!!

We are continuing to pray that my autoimmune system stays quiet

and won't perceive a threat in that eye and do a major

freak out in the form of swelling.

On a completely seperate, but kinda related note

the issues with Photobucket worked themselves out

and I can post some of my recent faves...

that I can actually see...

because God and Dr. Kumar are

 just. 

that. 

good.

feeling poorly

summer reading list... more on that later

football camp

THE best cookies... EVER!

more to come...

Thank you again for all your prayers!!

XO,

{K}

lately...

As you can see, I have yet to fix my issues with Photobucket.

  This is not their fault - all mine.  I just can't seem to find the time or make the time to sit down and get it done.

I need a bit of help from my sweetie, as we just got this computer up and running after a hard drive crash, a printer that died, and a modem blown out by storms.

I'm a bit leery of causing any damage, and that is just what I might do!

We are fully enjoying the last few days of summer here.

The kids start school in about two weeks so we have been trying

to get all those supplies shopped for and squeeze as many pool dates in as we can.

However, the storms keep thwarting us!

We made two attempts to get there today and finally decided to just make a trip to the fabric store instead.

I can't tell you of the utter joy and elation that came from my boys. :0)

Sweet girl is up to all things flipp-y and cart wheel-y.

{Are you watching the Olympics too?}

She will spend a bit of time on the computer checking out gymnastics moves

and then head out in the yard to perfect them.

I think she would be a great gymnast.

Completely flexible and coordinated,

but she doesn't need one more thing to fill her schedule.

{Neither does her mama!}

That big ole 14 year old boy has been running a lot lately,

all in preparation for cross country this fall.

Being as he has just about reached the 6' mark, 

you can imagine his stride.

He is a great runner and kicks my fanny every time we head out together.

Little Bit is finished with swim lessons where he earned the title of

MVP Butterflier.  

He can kick it in the poollike nobody's business.

This time of year his skin turns the loveliest shade of deep brown, just like his daddy's.

I can hardly keep my hands off of him!

The cowboy is keeping up with keeping up.

We celebrated 18 years of wedded bliss yesterday

with a yummy dinner on the patio of one of our favorite local italian restaurants.

It was so lovely to have uninterrupted conversation 

and reminisce on the past.

He gets more amazing with every passing year,

I'm one lucky girl.

As for me,

 I head in for eye surgery in the wee hours of the morning tomorrow.

Pray for me??

I am in desperate need of getting a humdinger of a cataract removed.

It has been there forever 

{thanks rheumatoid arthritis for 40+ years}

and has completely blocked the vision in my right eye.

I can see colors and some shapes,

 but absolutely no detail.

Lord willing, all will go smoothly.

My surgery will take longer than normal as there is much scar tissue to remove and work around

and according to the doc, it's a sticky mess in there.

Eesh!

I am so thrilled to be getting this taken care of and behind me.

It really has been too long.

If you wouldn't mind, I would love if you would send a prayer up for me!

Thanks!

Checking In...

I think this summer of blogging officially puts me in the 'Lamest Blogger Ever' category.

Every time I sit down to post, I have technical issues.  Big ones.  Right now I can't access my photos {which is causing me great stress}.  My sources are helping, but they are closed on weekends and they take a few days to get back to me and sometimes I'm at the pool and can't seem to get out of my chaise to respond to them and it takes a day or two for me to get back with them and so on and so on.... and who wants to read a post without pictures??  

Needless to say, we are working on solving the issues but I'm not willing to hijack my kids' summer so that I can sit in the basement for hours and attempt to connect with 'Steve' from Photobucket {is 'Steve' a real person or an automatically generated response based on key words??} and stress over photos.  But I do anyway.  At night.  When we can't be at the pool.

A quick thank you to all you sweet readers who leave comments.  I get them, I read them, and love them.  Y'all are so kind!  Unfortunately I cannot respond to your comments unless I have your email in my system.  I can respond to the comment under your original comment but who wants to log back into the comment section to see if I replied or not?  If you do, give a shout and I'm happy to do so.  I just figure nobody has that kind of time.  Just know that I do read them and so appreciate the fact that I am not just out here in cyberspace having a conversation with myself :)  Earen, Kristi, and Mary Lou - thank you for your encouraging words{love you tons!}

The biggest news here is the rain.  Yes, the blessed rain!!  We were in Costco yesterday when the heavens OPENED UP and sent a deluge our way.  No kidding, people were dancing and cheering and wanting to play in it.  Seems to be an appropriate response when half of your state has been on fire for a month and temperatures have averaged somewhere near what is common on the surface of the sun.  Thank you, Lord for rain.  Amen.

On another note, I have news to share with you all but I am waiting for Photobucket to get their act together before I do so.  A picture would make a much better story than just my words.

Fourth of July was great, but falling smack dab in the middle of the week and having a fireworks ban due to the extremely dry conditions made it feel like an average summer weekend.  I didn't even bring my camera to the mountain with us.  See?  Lamest Blogger Ever.


Blessings,
{K}

A Memorial Day Recap

Ah... laziness I must be rid of you.  It is almost the 4th of July and I am just now getting to a Memorial Day recap. Good heavens!!  My 4th of July recap {likely in October} will look much like this post, except everyone will be in red, white and blue, of course.  And there might be a flag or two thrown in for good measure.

My in-laws have a nice little place in the mountains that we head to for all the summer holidays and an occasional fall weekend or two.  Or three.  It's here that the vast majority of our family gathers to spend time together, relax and get away from it all.


For the kids this means cousin time.  And we all know that there is nothing better than 48-72 hours of  the sheer delight that is know as 'cousin time'.  A new house was built on the property in the last year and my in-laws had the super great idea to make the upstairs 'the bunk room'.  A place with numerous bunk beds and cozy nooks for all the kids to gather, play games, read a book and most importantly, sleep together.  They couldn't be happier.  They all get along fabulously {all 13} and highly prefer each other's company over most anyone else's.  They play and laugh and the fun never ends.  For me and Todd, it means a long walk through the pastures and uninterrupted queso dip!

  It's like a living dream.

Isn't it just lovely??

best buds

they kinda like each other a bit :)

growing up waaaaay too fast

2nd fish ever - brought this one home and grilled it

always a good time

7 of the 13 cousins


Blessings,
{K}

Catching Up

Well.

 My goodness.

Between the end of school, a hard drive failure, a husband traveling and the beginning of summer, I've had no time to post.  Oh, throw in some email issues with Blogger not recognizing passwords and a whole new redesigned site {Blogger, not mine}, and this not-so-tech-savvy-girl has been a bit overwhelmed.

To say I'm behind in posting photos is a gross understatement.  You see, some pictures are on the cowboy's phone, some are on my camera and coordinating a download to multiple places takes forever!  And boggles my mind.

So, I will give you the briefest of updates and pictures that go back to Christmas.

Yes, Christmas.  Have mercy!  I know, it's so silly to go back that far because who really cares any more, but I promise it will just be the highlights.

Spring Break entertainment at it's finest.  Oh, how they love a good fort!

Valentine love

pretty bird on a summer's eve

warm, sweet start to the day

HUGE snow, huge fun!

Christmas joy

My biggest boys

teacher gifts

THE highlight of my Christmas season - packing shoeboxes to send around the world to the poorest and neediest

Three times a day all activity stops to lay hands on the gifts and pray over them

How I love the work they do!

Well, I think that should do it for now.  Do you feel like we;ve never been apart?  We didn't skip a beat?  Me too!

Blessings to you, sweet friends!

{K}

We're in a Holding Pattern

I hope your thanksgiving was wonderful.... I hope you had a turkey, mashed potato, and stuffing hangover. :0)  Ours was really lovely and over the long weekend we were fortunate enough to spend time with both sides of the family.

And now it's Monday, and the kids are back in school, and I was all set to pull out the Christmas decorations and then Grace asked if I would hold off so that she could help. {Sorry for the run-on sentence}

Hmmmm.... well, I put away the fall decorations and I've pulled just a few of the Christmas decorations I love most - including a framed print that reads, "Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Men."  I love it! It sits behind my cooktop and I see it no less than 50x/day.  I also brought up the metal sign that sits on our hearth.  I love this one too, it reads, "Jesus is the Gift."  Such a good reminder that we have already been given all we truly need.

 So now what?  I guess I wait for help from the kids. It may take a few days though.  Between homework, scouts, basketball games and Christmas parties {yes, parties already!}, our time is limited.

  The kids get so excited to see all the things come out of the boxes that they haven't seen in so long.  And they really have become big helpers, hauling bins and tubs up from the basement, helping with electrical cords and lights.  I HATE electrical cords of any type.  They are my nemesis.  I don't know why but I just can't seem to coil them properly or make them neat and tidy.   Let me say, you'll never have to ask who put away the electrical gadget - if the cord is a mess, it was me! That is where Todd comes in... he has a special gifting for it.  Maybe it is a  gene only given to men.  Kinda like backing a trailer in a garage or parallel parking.  They can just do it.

Once the house is decorated I 'll try to get some pictures up.  I love to decorate and make the house feel cozy and smell all good.  Until then I'll leave you with a few images of all things Christmas-y that I just love!

Oh, how I love a red door!

Pretty packages!

We are so dreaming of a white Christmas this year!






Have a great day!!

Blessings,
{K}