on work and school

Is it really already July 28? I've always said that summer goes flying by after the 4th of July, and this summer is no exception. I love summer and am always sad to see it come to an end.

We are making a few changes around here as far as work and school are concerned. We are very excited that Evan was accepted into the online program at Liberty University where he will complete his undergraduate degree. We may have mentioned this in a previous post, but Southern Seminary and Liberty University have a partnership that allows people who are over thirty to complete a degree and attend seminary simultaneously. In a nutshell, what this means for us is that there is a light at the end of this tunnel! Liberty accepted more of Evan's transfer hours and he has 36 hours (three semesters) until he is finished with his undergraduate degree. (Insert Hallelujah Chorus here!) This is such a great thing for so many reasons, one being that Liberty offers federal aid and because of this, we only have to pay about $500 a semester. We are so thrilled! Evan will not enroll in the Seminary this semester (he is taking one class at Boyce so we can get insurance through Guidestone) but will probably try to enroll in the upcoming year.

We are also excited that I will be staying on part-time at Conway Middle School this next year. I will be sharing the same 6th grade Social Studies position with a retired teacher. Our schedule is a one week on/one week off sort of deal. At first, I was really hoping for a two/three day a week gig, but I think I'm going to enjoy having a whole week off at a time. I won't get benefits of any kind, but the my daily rate of pay is the same, so it should all even out. I am looking forward to this opportunity for many reasons, especially that I will be working so closely with a veteran teacher. I know I will learn a lot from her! I am also thoroughly looking forward to having more time at home with my precious daughter.

As of today, Kendall is officially registered for preschool. I was very excited to find a church close to our home/my school that offers preschool and think this will be a great experience for Kendall. Lately I've become more and more amazed at her development and think she could benefit from the other children and a teacher besides her mommy. I met with the preschool director this morning and feel very confident about our decision, as the director has been there for 30 years and most of the teachers have been there for at least 15. It's very small and will only have about 5-6 kids in her class. Kendall's first week will be the third week of August.

God is so faithful to us and we are so thankful. We appreciate your prayers as we make these new transitions.

Little Miss Independent

It's really kind of sad. Kendall just really doesn't want our help much these days. (And since I had the camera out, I thought I'd get a couple of her other "tricks" on here.)

ps. Mimi...you asked to see what my house looked like when it was "lived in" instead of clean. I've been thinking we needed to invite someone over for dinner so I will have to MAKE myself do a FULL cleaning. Maybe you can play "I Spy" while watching this video. Find these items: a drill, a stack of books, a salad bowl, tape measure, glasses and a wooden spoon. Have fun!

On Potty Training

My life is just consumed with this subject right now.


I feel very safe in saying that Kendall is well on her way to being potty trained and I'm very excited about it. I really hoped and prayed it would happen this summer when I knew I'd be at home with her consistently and it seems as though it's a success.


We kind-of took a break with the whole potty training thing back in June. After I posted about it, Kendall ended up getting sick and having two new teeth come in. Not to mention the fact we had back-to-back visitors. The timing was just bad. However, when we went to Arkansas, we stayed with my cousin Laura, and Kendall thought her daughter, Tatumn, was IT. Everything Tatumn did, Kendall wanted to do, including the potty. (Kendall now also asks "Why?" after everything, thanks to Tatumn!) :)


When we got back to Louisville, I decided I would give Kendall a couple of days to get adjusted to being at home again and then I would really hit it hard. We got home on a Wednesday afternoon, and by Friday, Evan was suggesting that I go ahead and put her in panties. We were going to be home all day, so I figured I had nothing to lose. It went very well. I did put her in a pull-up when we went outside to play, but even then she told me when she needed to go.


Monday was our first day to venture out in panties. Because we had to put our car in the shop, Kendall and I had to take Evan to work. Evan's office is about 20-25 minutes away, so I packed the potty chair in the truck with us and we went on our way. I was so nervous, but she made it!


We haven't had an accident free day yet, but with the exception of a couple, her accidents have not completely been her fault. One was on Wednesday at church, when she told the nursery workers she needed to potty and when they got her to the bathroom door, it was locked from the inside with nobody in there! She just couldn't hold it any longer!


Last night Kendall stayed overnight with a family from church. I dropped her off in panties, but told them that if they didn't want to mess with it, they could just put her in a pull-up. (I don't want other people to feel obligated to clean up my child's messes, you know?) This morning when we went to pick Kendall up, she was in panties and they said she hadn't had any accidents at all! How exciting!


I have to laugh and say that potty training makes venturing out with Kendall a whole different experience. We dare not travel out without the potty chair and of course we can't go in any store or restaurant without having to go see the bathroom a million times. The funniest was yesterday when I took Kendall up to the school with me and she wanted to go in the bathroom and scream as loud as she could because she liked hearing her voice echo. It's funny how watching your child finds delight in something so small like screaming in the bathroom makes running back and forth to the bathroom not seem so terrible. Does that make sense??


Exhausting? Yes. Ready for potty training to be in the books? More than yes. But it's all part of it and I wouldn't trade it for the world!

Goin' to the Country

Since moving to Louisville, we've been hearing about the wonderful Huber Farms and what fun it is to visit. With the unseasonably cool weather on Saturday, Evan decided that we should take a little trip.

Funny...I knew Erica, Preston, and Sawyer were thinking about going to Huber's this weekend, but I didn't say anything to Evan about it. When we decided that we were going to go, he went to get his phone. It's just one of those things, I guess, but I just KNEW he was calling to see if they wanted to join us. I looked at Evan and said, "I think they might already be going." Needless to say, we ended up going with the Petersen's and having a blast! Sawyer and Kendall just love each other and it's just a joy to watch them play. We think Sawyer's momma and daddy are not so bad either! ;)

We had a HUGE, yummy country lunch that was delicious! The food is served family style, so there was plenty to go around! We had fried chicken, dumplings, lima beans, corn on the cob, zucchini and tomato salad, slaw, green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy and fried biscuits. No kidding...it was a TON of food! Around the restaurant is a walkway leading out to a little pond with ducks and geese to feed, so we took the girls out there. Kendall was a lot more interested in the swings nearby than the animals!

Huber Farms has so much to do! Peaches, blackberries, and blueberries were in season, but we didn't actually go out to the orchard to pick. We went in the very busy Farmer's Market and looked around, then went over to a play area for kids. This little area was full of activities...a HUGE bouncy slide, playground, petting zoo, etc. Sawyer and Kendall had a blast!

Kendall, of course, was not all that fond of the animals. She was okay if one of us held her, but she didn't want to get too close. The petting zoo had a calf, several goats, lambs, deer, and rabbits.

The biggest hit was this tube slide. It's a HUGE slide that is built into a hill that is really long and fast. Kendall and Sawyer were so brave running up the hill, going down the slide, then going back for more. Both girls even did it alone several times. They just loved it!

We finished out our day with some homemade ice cream and then headed home. It was a great day! I can't wait to go back during apple season and head out to the orchard! Here we come, orchard-picked apple pie! :)

Arkansas Trip

What I learned:

Flying on an airplane with Kendall but without Evan always brings a great sense of accomplishment.

Kendall is loved by many.

What's visiting family without a little bit of drama?

Kendall really loves sunshine and water.

So does her momma.

Children are influenced by other children.

It's really easier to just stay in one place and tell everyone if they want to see you, to come there than traveling all over creation with a toddler and all her stuff. Really, much easier. Especially when daddy isn't with us!

I have sweet, sweet friends.

And a precious, precious family.

What I will remember:

Kendall will be potty trained because of Tatumn.

And eat hot dogs.

Watching Kendall interact with all her grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins is joy to my heart.

Kendall stood guard over Gwen's birthday cake.

Jackson told the waitress that "she could go ahead and take his plate even though it still had mashed potatoes on it. Those really didn't have any flavor."

It's bittersweet for me to visit the farm. And Mammaw and Pappaw. I always expect it to be full of life, like it was when we were growing up, but it's not. Great memories, but visiting is just not the same.

Dinner at Mimi's Cafe with Heather and spending the day in Russellville with Kendra and Allyce. I'm so thankful for great friends. And that Jill came over for a little while before leaving for Denver. :)

How horrible it is to tell someone their dog got run over. Awful. I'm still sad thinking about it.

Tatumn and Kendall eating all of Pappaw's ice cream. That's what he gets for eating so slowly...they both already had a bowl, but realized he wasn't finished, so Kendall got in his lap and Tatumn stood beside him with her mouth open like a little bird. I don't think he minded.

How blessed our little family is!

4th of July

Kendall and I are leaving for Arkansas in the morning, and I wanted to get these pictures on here before I fill up my camera with all the fun we will have next week!

We spent the 4th with Preston, Erica, and Sawyer and had a wonderful afternoon and evening! We have grown to absolutely adore this family and just enjoy our friendship with them so much. I don't know if I've posted about them or not, but we met Preston and Erica at the new member's breakfast at our church over a year ago, and hit it off with them really well. We would run into them in passing at church, and finally went over to their house for dinner one evening back in the spring. That night, I just remember laughing my head off with them and feeling like we had known them forever. So fun! Since then, Erica and Preston have joined our BFG and Sawyer and Kendall have become big buddies. Erica stays home with Sawyer, and was very gracious to help keep Kendall during the last month of school when Evan started his new job.

Erica and Preston are both from Louisville (which we are glad because they won't be leaving anytime soon!) and Erica's parents were out of town this weekend, so we crashed their place! Erica's parents have a beautiful home/backyard, and the plan was to let the girls play outside all afternoon. The rain spoiled our fun and we had to move the party inside.

We stuffed our faces with all kinds of food-steaks, potatoes, corn on the cob, watermelon, spinach dip...you name it! I didn't take a picture of it, but I did make a caramel apple pie from scratch for dessert. It was certainly not the Pie Kitchen, but it turned out pretty yummy!

After we ate, the girls ran around in the basement, dancing and having a big time, then Preston popped popcorn in this cool popcorn machine! Kendall and Sawyer enjoyed watching a couple of videos on the theater screen while munching on their popcorn.

So, these pictures aren't from the 4th and they are a little blurry, but I couldn't resist.

Kendall and I played dress up yesterday. She was pretty cute walking around in her purple tutu and dress up shoes. Besides listening to her clunk around in those shoes, I think my favorite thing was watching her try to keep all those bracelets on her arm. Oh, I love her! :)

another visitor

Don't you love having people stay with you that don't care if you wipe the toothpaste out of the sink or if you have laundry piled to the ceiling? I do! And I was so happy to have my sweet friend Jill with me for a few days this week. The first traditional anniversary gift is paper, and for their first, Jill asked Brad to buy her a plane ticket to Louisville to visit us. We had such a great week! I never have to entertain Jill; we just do our thing and she comes along with us. I love it.

Jill also got a new, fancy camera, so we spent a lot of the week testing it out. I downloaded around 280 pictures last night, so I picked out a few from the week to share. :)

The first night Jill was here, I cooked a roast and then we ventured out to the pie kitchen. (Evan was wondering who he could get to come next week so he could have an excuse to go! HA!) That has become one of our favorite places to take guests. When we got home, Kendall needed a bath. Kendall spotted her sunglasses on the vanity in the bathroom and we COULD NOT get her to take them off, which is the reason for all the tears! All the bathtub pictures with the glasses are from the first night, and the ones of her smiling are from later in the week.

The weather was unseasonably cool this week, which was a nice break. We spent all morning Wednesday playing outside. After Evan got home on Wednesday, Kendall was playing in the pots and pans cabinet and dropped a lid on her foot. Her big toe is now swollen and the nail is black. I'm just waiting for it to fall off! YUCK! Funny thing is that this is the second nail we've lost in a matter of weeks. She had a fingernail come off two weeks ago, although we aren't sure what happened with that!

Thursday was a Preschool Play Date do the zoo. Jill and I were counting on Mr. Sun to make an appearance so we could enjoy the splash park, but before we met up with everyone for lunch, we were wishing we had on sleeves! It was actually chilly outside, but made for a nice trip to see the "aminals" as Kendall would say.

Kendall is not very fond of animals. She likes looking at them from a distance and when they are being still, but heaven forbid one of them move or get anywhere near her! She's come along way, but is still very, very skiddish. Our zoo is wonderful, with really nice playgrounds and the splash park (which Kendall loves) so it makes going there worth it to me-even if she isn't big on all the animals.

Last night we all went to dinner and then Jill and I did a little shopping afterwards. I dropped her off at the airport this morning, and cried the whole drive back to my house! I was sad to see her leave!