Labor Day Weekend

I'm so thankful for a LONG weekend! I loved having an extra day with my two favorite people in the world!

Evan and I decided on Friday that we would drive up to Florence, Kentucky (about an hour and a half away...closer to Cincinnati) so we could go to Steve and Barry's. We got turned on to Steve and Barry's when we were in Arkansas last year...Evan found some khaki pants that he liked a lot and I am fond of Sarah Jessica Parker's line, Bitten, sold there. AND...everything in the store is $9.00. CRAZY. Last year, they compared SJP's jeans to designer jeans on the Rachael Ray show, and you couldn't tell the difference in the way they looked. I got a pair, and they actually washed/wore very well. Some of the stuff is very poorly made, but some of it is decent, 100% cotton stuff. So, we decided we would venture there on Friday when I got out of school.

I digress on this whole story, but I just have to say that before we left, Evan started looking up directions on the internet, only to find that S&B's has filed for bankruptcy. We kind-of got a good laugh out of this, being that they sell everything SO inexpensively, you have to wonder how the store makes money! We decided that if we were going to go, Friday would be the day to go, since who knows how long the store will be around! We ended up getting five items a piece and only spent $85.00. THAT's a bargain for clothes!!!

Saturday, we were pretty lazy. EVERYONE ended up sleeping in, including Kendall. I think she finally woke up around 9:00 or so. We took her to the pool at the seminary that afternoon and then just hung out the rest of the day. I enjoyed not having anything to do all day long!

Kendall is in between still wanting baby food and eating big people food. This stage is kind-of difficult (well, I think trying to feed babies period is difficult...that's a whole other post!) but I've been trying some different things to get her to stay in her chair long enough to eat. (That is the other problem. She likes to go. She doesn't like to be confined, even if it is to eat.) On Saturday, she ate some rice, not that this is new, but I thought my dad and my Pappaw would love to see a picture of her LOVING some rice. Couldn't she be the poster child for Uncle Ben's? :) (Well, in our family, we'd have to say Riceland! HA!)



Sundays are getting harder and harder. Kendall DOES NOT like Babies B. I think it is because she thrives on her morning nap and she can't take a nap with all the action going on in that room. It's very rare that we don't get called out to come get her, or that she isn't red-faced and crying by the time we are able to pick her up. I just hate it! I feel stuck, because if we go get her every time, then we are fostering "if I cry, they will come and get me," but if I don't go get her, I make the workers miserable! I also hate it because she is generally a very happy, good natured baby and the nursery workers don't get to see her that way! It's also just bad because I'm helping teach a 1st grade SS class now, so if I have to get her, then I have to take her in that class with me (which isn't a huge deal if we are finished with the bible story) and if Evan goes to get her, he has to miss the rest of the worship service. What to do, what to do...

Anyway...I hope this phase ends soon. I don't want Kendall to be labeled as the "terror" baby, which we all know she will be if this continues! This Sunday was particularly bad because when I left our ABF to go to the kid's ABF, I peeked in on her, and saw her crying. (Which was around 10:15.) Then, I had to go down the nursery hallway to get a broom (around 11:30) and saw her crying again (probably never stopped). As I'm walking back with the broom, a friend stopped me in the hallway, RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE BABIES B DOOR, where Kendall then saw me and became even more hysterical. The terrible thing was that I couldn't do anything about it because Evan had her tag!

We were invited over to a friend's house for lunch after church, which I'm always hesitant about accepting invites for after-church lunch, because of Kendall's lack of sleep. We accepted, and everything was fine. Kendall had a little power nap on the way to their house and was good to go! We had tacos and Kendall needed to eat, too, so I decided I would give her some taco meat and black beans. She's had hamburger meat before, but I don't think she's ever had any with seasoning. She LOVED it! She also loved the black beans! (Somebody pass on to Joe Batlle... Evan said he was going to start fixing Kendall the traditional Guatemalan breakfast of eggs and black beans since she loved the beans so much!) :) Seriously, she went to town on the food!


The rest of the afternoon and evening was more laziness. Kendall and I took two hour naps while Evan had his fantasy football draft. Oh, I also went to the grocery store. (More on that in a second.)


When I went shopping with my girls in Arkansas, we ventured into Baby Gap. I had my eye on a little dress, but was not going to pay full price for it because I knew it would be on sale soon. Of course, when we went in, the dress was on sale, but they didn't have it in Kendall's size. I guess it wasn't meant to be. Last week, Kendall got a package in the mail from her Auntie Heather (one of my best, best friends from college) and the dress, along with several other goodies, were in it. Even though Kendall is not as "fluffy" in this picture (her hair isn't brushed, and her hair bow is out), I had to show Heather how precious she looks in that dress! Thanks, Auntie Heather! We LOVE you so much! We must get better pictures in the dress later. It's so cute!

After being home for two weeks, I FINALLY made it to the grocery store on Sunday afternoon. I can definitely tell that my grief has manifested itself in my lack of being able to make a decision right now. Those of you who know me, know that grocery shopping/planning is a big deal to me and I have this huge system of how it all works. (Go here if you want to read about that.) Since we've been home, I haven't even been able to think about trying to make a grocery list, much less actually get to the store. It just overwhelmed me. The night that we went over to Danny and Carey's house, I went to Kroger to pick up something to take, and literally stood in the front of the store for 5 minutes trying to figure out what to do, then walked almost every aisle before I spent $20 on fresh fruit. Not like me AT ALL! I always have a plan. Thankfully, our ABF has provided meals for us a couple of days a week, so I haven't had to worry too terribly much that we would starve!

Evan has also graciously volunteered to run to the store and pick up items here and there and even volunteered to do the BIG trip on Sunday, but I told him I needed to do it, plus, he wasn't as frugal as I was at the grocery store. Soooo...Sunday afternoon, I made my list and off I went. Everything went just fine, until I got to the checkout counter and the clerk started sacking my groceries. I seriously thought I was going to have a conniption on the guy when he palmed my bread RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE LOAF!!!! I mean, I did go to the Dirty K (a.k.a. Kro-ghetto) not seconds from our house, and I realize that most of the people that work there are a few french fries short of a happy meal, but STILL...do they not teach the baggers how to handle the groceries?!?!? He then proceeds to put my eggs in a bag and begins to toss them on top of all the other bags in the cart, but I caught him mid-air and put them in the part of the basket that the kids can ride in, and went on my merry way. As I was putting the groceries into the trunk, I noticed LOTS of other random things...like ONE can of rotel in a bag all by itself. As I put my eggs and bread in the front seat with me, (something I learned from my mom) I had to remind myself, "God loves people who don't sack groceries well" and "life is way too short to get aggravated about the little things." (So I just blog about it instead and that makes it all better! HA!)

Today has been another lazy day of just hanging out. Evan slept late (well, he got up, then fell back to sleep on the couch) and then took another nap this afternoon! We took Kendall to the seminary pool again and then met up with some friends at the park for a little picnic this evening. I didn't take many pictures, but I did get this one of Kendall on Evan's shoulders. He loves to put her up there, and you can tell she loves being up there just as much!

Kendall did take several steps on her own today. This morning, I was playing with her in the living room and she took about four, then she was trying to be a little dare-devil at the pool today and took some in the water (which made mommy a nervous wreck because daddy was letting her do it) and then again between chairs outside. Not too long! She also started clapping a little bit, only she has her own version. She holds her left hand still, palm down, and hits her right hand on top of it. Really cute.

Okay, it's 10:00. This is WAY long. I'm going to work on my bible study and go to bed!