A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E...

Enough said!

Back to School!

Well, today was the first day of school! I cannot believe my little boy is in the 2nd grade -- crazy! Time really has gone by soooooooo quickly. I was just telling Randy over the weekend that in just 10 short years from now, our little boy will be starting his senior year. Makes my heart ache a little bit :( I will just hug him tight while I can, and cherish each and every precious moment, to the best of my ability!
I usually have a hard time, emotionally, at the beginning of each school year. I just love summertime! I love everyone being home, and the laid back schedule that the summer brings. I also enjoy the few days of warmth we have up here in the good ole north. So, the beginning of the school year is typically not my fav! So far, I have done quite well, so I am grateful. P has a WONDERFUL teacher this year, and I am excited for him to share the year with her.
When I picked him up today, and asked him how his day was, he replied with a big "IT WAS GREAT MOM, I MEAN, IT WAS JUST GREAT! I LOVE Mrs. Nabring" He then went on to add "Mrs. Wilkie (k-garden)and Mrs. Nast (1st gd) I have moooooved on! Hysterical! By the way, he loved Mrs. Wilkie and Mrs. Nast, and so did his parents. There are no words to describe my gratitude for the godly teachers that influence the life of my child, and so many others. What a blessing!
This morning on the way to school we heard the song "Hold Me Jesus" on the radio. I told Palmer that that was my prayer. I told him that it is scary to let your baby go, but that I just pray for the lord to hold me and calm me, and bring me peace. He did do that for all of us today!
We pray for an awesome year at OCS!
Happy 1st day baby boy!

Somebody call 911...

And no, I'm not talking about Sean Kingstons latest hit!

This morning, as I'm drying my hair, I hear some coughing, so I walk into the living room and can tell immediately that there is a problem. The major clue being the unscrewed bottle of B & B' s newest fragrance "Dark Kiss" opened up on the table and the look of disgust on LH's face.

I immediately call 911, and they connect me to Poison Control.

Me: Yes, my 3 year old just drank body splash!

PC: How much?

Me: I don't know. I was drying my hair, but it looks like about 1/4 of an inch - ???

PC: Is she coughing, gagging?

Me: Well, not to bad. I mean, she's coughing a little bit - ?
Seriously, how do you answer those questions? (What i really want to say is, "Listen, is my kid going to die? Why are you talking so calmly?" Something along those lines.)

PC: Well, the main ingredient is alcohol, but it doesn't sound like she had enough to cause any real concern.

Eventually, the sweet lady, Helen, at poison control decided that she thought LH was going to make it, and that we could just carry on with our day as planned. Whew!

So, yep, the little diva drank body splash from Bath and Body Works! Nice.

Somehow, she has developed this little fettish for smelly things....where she ever could have devleloped that characteristic, I'll never know :).

Anyway, she just adores going to stores such as B & B Works, Yankee Candle etc. So, the other day, I needed some hand soap, so we ventured to B & B, and of course she was immediately in sniffing heaven! She seriously walks around pressing her nose/face into each and every single fragrance. The girls in the store thought it was so cute, that at the check out they gave her her own little bag of goodies. Not that we would have dared to leave the store w/o a little smelly treat, pray tell! So, needless to say, she has not let go of her prized little treat bag since we left the store (including sleepy time)! I guess she liked the smell so much, she decided she might as well take a swig! Oh the joy of parenting! I'm assuming that we have a lesson learned!

So, I guess the worse case scenario, is that I might have a "loopy" little toddler on my hands today! HA!

Fun Family Weekend

Well, we are a little behind on the 4th of July festivities, but unfortunately, this past week, we have had some "mysterious" stomach bug in our house :(. At least, that is what I am hoping it was. Lainey Hope became ill with what appeared to be the "stomach flu", and then seemed better for several days, but then another random episode of throwing up began. Palmer also had one small round that seemed to literally come out of nowhere. I am hoping that it is now officially gone!

So, since we have had quite the boring week at home, I thought I would update on our 4th of July weekend! As you can see, we had some very special visitors! We were so excited that Uncle Travis, Aunt Kelly and cousin Bennett decided to come up north for the holiday weekend!!!

The babies of 2007!

Oh what a run for your money these two little characters can give you!

Me and my precious sis-in-law Kelly




We went to see the fireworks display in our small little town. Can you say "Americana"?/"Mayberry"?
My son and I love to frequent the local "Frosty Boy", get slushies and drive around our one square block, blasting Justin Moores "Small Town USA" song.
Good times...right here in "Mayberry"!

Playing in the sand with cousin Abbey before the fireworks!

Lainey Hope and Daddy

Palmer and Abbey :)

The whole Speck clan
The weather was AWESOME that night, and I think we all enjoyed the fireworks!

Wakey-wakey, eggs and bacey!

Mornings come all to soon after a late night here in Small Town USA

Later in the day, Palmer and the neighbor girls had a grand ole time dressing Lainey Hope up, and putting on some big shows for us!

One can never get enough of Justin Bieber blasting throughout their house!

I'll say it again....Good times!

Thanks so much for coming to visit Uncle Trav, Aunt Kelly and Bennett! We had such a fun time with you!

It was a "BEAUTY" ful day!

Well, my baby turned 3!!! I can't believe how fast the time has gone!

This year Lainey Hope has really come to love the Disney Princesses -- yeah! She was able to go to Disney this Spring to meet them, and she has been talking about them ever since. So, needless to say, we had a princess birthday party!!!

Lainey Hope on her birthday morning! So precious!
She came downstairs to some of her "visitors"...Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty :)
Other guests would arrive later that afternoon!

The party table

I ordered the plates from hallmark.com

This little princess is ready for her guests to arrive!

Palmer (brother) and Abbey (cousin) with the birthday girl

Oh boy! The special guest has arrived! I love the look of excitement all over Lainey Hopes face! Such a "magical" moment :)

Big hugs from Belle!

Lainey Hope had been wanting Belle to come to her Birthday party ever since we got home from Disney....so, Belle it was!

Belle was so much fun!!! She played games, read stories, painted faces and danced the with all the kiddos!

Dancing the day away!

All to soon, it was time for Belle to go home...all good things must come to an end!

All in all, it was a wonderful birthday for our little Princess!

Lainey, we love you SO MUCH sweet girl. You are such a blessing in our life, and we are so incredibly grateful to our heavenly Father for sending you to us! You are a little character, and you light up our life (with a little drama, I might add), but light it up nonetheless! We pray many blessings over your little life, and pray that it will be filled with much faith, love and happiness!
We love, love double love you!

The Inagural Spelling Test

Today was Palmers very first spelling test!!! We practiced all week, and he came home today with an A+!!! I told him that I was happy for him and proud of him, but I was sure to tell him right away that I will always love him and be proud of him.....no matter what his grades are. It is hard to believe that the little baby they placed in my arms just a few short years ago, is now able to spell words! I love you sweet boy!

We're Back!

Well, I'm embarassed to say, that the delay in my blogging, is due to the fact that I did not know how to download pictures from my camera to my computer! Who would want to look at a blog without pictures right? So, I'm happy to report that I believe I have mastered the fine skill of transferring pictures from the camera to the computer (what a genius), thanks to the tutelage of my hubby! Thank you dear!

Almost every day I have thought about what I would blog about, if I only had my pictures on the computer. So, maybe at some point I will go back and do "highlights" from June and July. But, for now, we will just start with today!

Our summer days are fairly predictable around here! We just eat up and enjoy every second of the sun we can get, knowing that we will be plowing through 3 feet of snow in no time at all :(. Palmer spends most days with our sweet little neighbor girls, who we refer to as "the girls", and I adore them. We are blessed to have such wonderful neighbors! They spend the day riding bikes, setting up lemonade stands, playing in the water, running in and out of both houses, and having all kinds of fun! Many evenings we have "movie night" and the kids often times wind down the day by watching a movie at one of our houses. Tonight we realized that we've pretty much watched every G/PG movie ever made, so we headed off to our local, "small town USA" movie theatre to see G-Force!





































What I can honestly say about G-Force, is that once will definataly do it for me! All in all, I think everyone had a good time!



Blessings -

Kimmy