i want to remember

that kendall enjoys pandora playing while we do things around the house just as much as she enjoys the tv. and that this morning, God of Wonders played and she kept singing "Holy, Holy." in fact, she's been saying "holy" most of the day



how kendall says the following words and names at 20 months: watermelon, pizza, yogurt, Clifford, George, Christian (her friend...it comes out Chicken), Nana, couch, and i love you


every time we make our final stop in the car, kendall says "OUT!" as loud and plain as she can. she also says, "Mommy, dance" which translates to "turn up the music" when we are in the car



how kendall lets us know that she's unsure about something or shy...she sticks out her tongue wide and flat



last night, when we were eating dinner, kendall stops mid-bite and puts her hands together, like in prayer. then she says "Amen" very loudly. she did the same thing while sitting on the couch drinking milk this afternoon.



that Kendall could out-eat an adult with the following foods...watermelon, popsicles, ice cream, beans of any kind, guacamole, and hummus



oh, how i'm filled with joy as i watch her grow!

Grandparents and Birthday Parties

We were so excited to have Evan's parents here for a visit this past week! Louisville was the location for the Southern Baptist Convention this year, which gave Barry and Sheila a great excuse to head this direction. We've been talking to them via Skype for the past couple of months, but this was the first time we've seen them since Christmas. Kendall was very happy to have her Nana and PawPaw around for a few days!

Somehow, we ended up with very few pictures from the week. You would think that with five sets of rechargeable camera batteries, I would have some ready to go at all times, but that was not the case!

When they arrived on Saturday, we grilled steaks and had baked potatoes and corn on the cob. Evan's precious Uncle Larry and Aunt Loretta always tell this sweet story of how much Evan loved "big corn" when he was a little boy, so when Kendall went for the ear instead of what was cut from the cob, I had to get a picture! Kendall loved it!

Evan's dad spent most of his days at the convention meetings, while Sheila and I took the days at leisure. We did a little shopping here and there, played outside, and took Kendall to the zoo. Sheila also brought her sewing machine to make my kitchen curtains. The fabric is the same that I have on the cornice board in the dining room, but it's a little bit hard to tell which side is the correct side. (Maybe it's reversible???!?!) Anyway, while I was gone to bible study on Thursday morning, Sheila started on the curtains, only to realize that she sewed them on the wrong side! Like I said, it's very difficult to tell which side is which! I felt so horrible because she ended up spending the whole day on a project that shouldn't have taken that long at all. Oh, well. The curtains are great and besides hanging them, that project is finished.

On Tuesday evening, we were invited to dinner at Cheesecake Factory with some of the other pastors from Northwest Arkansas. Of course, Evan and I were thrilled since we love, CF! Kendall, on the other hand, was a mess all night long. She pretty much cried through the whole entire meal and only ate a few french fries, some black beans, and the whipped cream off everyone's cheesecake. I'm just very thankful it was loud in there, because I'm sure many of the guests would have been mad! Evan also decided to branch out and order something different this time, a burrito. Holy Smokes...that was the biggest burrito we've ever seen! (See pictures below of burrito and out-of-sorts child!!)

Nana and PawPaw left this morning, and of course, Kendall has asked several times, "Where's Nana? Where's PawPaw?" We are so thankful for the visit and for a great week!





Tonight, Kendall and I attended Jack and Nathan's birthday party. About 1,000 times a day, Kendall asks me, "Where's Jack?" (Along with "Where's Sawyer?" and "Where's Judah?" and all her other little friends. It's precious. I never get tired of it!) You can only imagine Kendall's excitement when she realized she would get to hang with two of her favorite buddies tonight!

Nathan and Jack have birthdays only a few weeks apart, so their mama's go in halves and do the party together. Perfect idea! This year, it was airplane themed, and crafty ladies Carey and Kedra did a fantastic job, complete with airplane food lunchables for the kids' meal, an airplane cake sitting in clouds, and even the older sisters calling themselves flight attendants! C-U-T-E!!! Kendall was a little overwhelmed at times, but had fun playing in the water and seeing her friends.





ps. Jennifer M, if you read this, I tried your thing with the pictures tonight. It looked like it was working in my edit box, but when I posted, the pictures went everywhere! I'm not very good at it, I guess!

Mommy's Little Helper

We have a big joke around our house that Evan always leaves the pots and pans. I've finally found someone who doesn't mind helping! :)

Am I CRAZY???

First, I just want to say how much I LOVE being at home! My heart is certainly tuned to taking care of our family and our home and it brings me such joy. Of course there are daily challenges, but none so great that I long for the classroom. (I say that with the utmost respect for my friends who are amazing full-time teachers and mommies. I just know it's NOT FOR ME!!)



Second, I am so amazed at my husband's handyman skills. Isn't our kitchen looking great??



On to our week...



I hesitate to even post about this, because I know many people will want to cast judgement, but I blog a lot for my own personal benefit rather than anyone else's and the pictures are so precious I couldn't resist. So...here goes...



I decided to start potty training Kendall this week.







I know, I know. Everyone's reaction..."How old is she??"

20 months. Yes, she's young. But it just seemed logical for so many reasons.

1.) She's been telling us for a while (talking a few months here) when she's poopy. And in her terms, poopy means pee or poop.

2.) I'm home for the summer. This will most likely not be the case when her age seems more appropriate.

3.) I know several people who had great success with potty training around 20-22 months, so I thought I'd try.

4.) I know too many people who potty trained later, when their children can assert their will much more strongly, making it all the more difficult, and I wanted to avoid that at all costs.


I read this article and it just made sense to me. I had a friend who actually used this approach and it worked. So, I thought I would give it a shot. Nothing to loose. While I agree with Dr. Rosemond's "no nonsense, matter-of-fact, this-is-just-what-we-do" sort of approach, we've had to monitor and adjust just a little bit!

The first day and a half were pretty successful. The biggest hurdle was Kendall not wanting to sit on the little potty, so I went to Wal-Mart on Monday night and bought one of those seat-adapter things for the big potty. By the middle of the morning on Wednesday, we had to take a break. We went outside and Kendall peed three times in the 45 minutes we were out there, with the potty chair right in front of her. At that point, I was ready to throw in the towel.

Oh, how I am thankful for encouraging mommies! I called my sweet friend Jennifer who was recently very successful with potty training her youngest daughter. She was SO encouraging! Jennifer is the one I spoke of above who actually used Dr. Rosemond's approach and had success. While comparing stories, I found out that Kendall was doing the same things Anna Kate did and Jennifer was equally ready to give up, so she took a little break, then pressed on. Sooo...on Wednesday, Kendall and I ran some errands and didn't even think about potty training that morning and I just took some time to regroup.

Wednesday afternoon, we ended up having a HUGE success when we were outside playing and Kendall told me she needed to potty. We hurried inside and she made it!!! All while never letting go of her beloved popsicle, which melted and fell into the potty!


I was just so excited that she actually told me AND that she made it to the bathroom that even though her popsicle was almost all gone anyway, I gave her another one! I'm not big on bribery, but in this case, I just didn't care.

As of today, we had two big successes this morning, but took a little break this afternoon because we had company coming for dinner. I plan on working it as much as I can tomorrow and Saturday, then Evan's parents will be in town for the week, so we'll just have to take that one day at a time. I don't want to suck up our visit with them with cleaning up messes or thinking about if she's going to make it or not. So...we'll see.

Of course, in parenting we question ourselves all the time. All week long I've been thinking, "Did I start too soon?" "Is she really ready?" "Why is this not working?" Maybe it is something I'm doing or did. I don't know. Maybe it's Kendall...maybe it's the fact that on the same day I decide to start potty training, she develops a runny nose and seems to be teething. Maybe it's just that she gets stir crazy in the house all the time and it's been rainy all week and we can't go out. I don't know...

I DO know that I'm learning more about my precious child in this process. I DO know that I'm continually learning dependency in God in even this aspect of parenting....Praying for wisdom, grace in the moment, patience...I DO know that I'm not going to give up, because she will get it eventually!

Design on a Dime, Smith Style, Pt. II

Here are a some more pictures tracking the progress of the of the work we've done in our kitchen. To date we have replaced the flooring, removed wallpaper and painted the walls (twice), painted the cabinets, replaced the countertop, replaced the sink and faucet, and replaced the backsplash.


1. The kitchen when we bought it:





2. The kitchen today:

3. The old sink and faucet(Yuck!):

4. New sink and faucet:

5. New backsplash:

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the way it is coming together.

Vacation Bible School

Today was the last day on the Boomerang Express. Need I say anything more??!?!?!

Even though it was tiring, we had a very fun week. Looking forward to a week at home with no big plans next week. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE summer?!?!?

locked out, round two

While Kendall was playing this afternoon, I ran down to the basement for a minute. Anytime she figures out one of us is downstairs, Kendall is hot on our heels to go. Being that our basement is not all that kid-friendly right now, we rarely let her go and usually shut the door to the stairs behind us.


Not sure why, but the people who lived in the house before us put the lock on the outside of the door, not the inside. Part of the basement does have a lovely black carpet. Maybe it was a dungeon some sort?!


Anyway, Kendall locked me in the basement today. I could see her standing at the top of the stairs through the door crack, and she could hear me, she just couldn't figure out how to unlock the door. After about five minutes of talking to her, I decided to get a screwdriver. Thankfully, there was an indention where the screwdriver would fit to turn the lock and I quickly escaped. So, it really wasn't too big of a deal.


The really funny part is that Evan and I stopped at Taco Bell on the way home from church tonight. While we were sitting there eating, I said, "Kendall, did you tell daddy that you locked mommy in the basement today?" Kendall looks at Evan and says, "Mommy, door. Knock, knock!"

What do you get...

When you put this: this:
and this:

Together?

Answer: SUMMER FUN!!!

Summer is officially here and I am SO happy! I am SUCH an outside person and am so happy days of spending hours in the sun have finally arrived!

Cool story...We really wanted to get Kendall a swing set. Since her birthday, I've been looking religiously online at various places, trying to figure out something that would work with our budget, secretly hoping I would come across a great deal on Craigslist or something. A couple of months ago, I just kind-of gave up the hunt, mainly because we started focusing on finishing our kitchen and I knew with that project going, the swing set would just have to wait.

To make a long story short, Evan's boss had a practically brand new swing set that he needed to get rid of at his former home. He was planning to list it on Craigslist, but GAVE it to US for FREE as long as Evan would just come and get it. Crazy, huh???

Kendall was a little bit intimidated at first. The thing is HUGE and she will have to grow into it a bit, but I don't think that will take long. By the end of the evening, she was up the ladder and down the slide over and over all by herself.

Evan and I are just in awe of this happening. I know to a lot of people, a swing set is probably not that big of a deal, but we probably would never have been able to get one as nice as this one EVER. This thing is top-of-the-line! I think it's just another way that God shows us how involved He is in even the smallest aspects of our lives.






After the swing set was all set up, all the helping families (actually our small group from church) came over to grill and hang out. The kids had a blast playing outside! Evan bought a new pool for Kendall (which I think he secretly did it for himself...I think the wading pool was a little too crowded for him!) and the some of the kids got in the water for a while.

Is it summer yet?

Last day for students is tomorrow

Teachers' last day is Friday

Kendall has been lovin' her pool since Memorial Day

Summer is FINALLY here!