Thankful.......

This year had been hard. Trying desperately to get out of debt and seeing such little progress. Losing our nanny (and half a paycheck in the process). A difficult pregnancy, during one of the hottest summers of the past decade. The terrible two's!!!! Tragedy in our family, and for our close friends. There isn't a friend or family member who hasn't been impacted by a difficult hardship, that we know of. And yet through all this crud we've had to wade through this past year I find myself reflecting on the things I'm thankful for. They seem little when you look at them separately, but the little things add up. The ones that stand out most are a little obvious: My sweet hubby and wonderful girls. And some that aren't: that my relationship with my siblings has grown a lot over the past year. And the ones that make me laugh: I'm truly thankful for sweet pickles being there for a crazed pregnant woman with cravings! My list this year is truly too long to type up. So I'll just post a few pictures of my fav's:

Loving and supportive friends

The sweetest sisters!

The best Baby-daddy any baby-momma could ask for!

There are dozens more, but mostly I am thankful to be where I am, with people I love. (P.S. I'm thankful for blogs too *wink-wink!*)

Slacker Mom

Yeah, I know...I'm a slacker! It's taking some getting used to having a newborn again. This month's been busy too. Kiera was blessed by her daddy and Uncles Donnie and Carter. We also got a big suprise from Utah! Auntie Ginger came to see us along with Grandma. and once we got the house to ourselves Jess had to go to World Work Place in Atlanta. That left me at home with the two babies. We spent some of the time at the homestead in A-dale, and the rest of the time in C-town w/ Nana. Then I started back at work. It sooooo did not feel like it had been six weeks. Lil' Punkin-doodle has been growing like a weed and gaining tons of weight. We'll find out exactly how much next week at her checkup, but I'm guessing she weighs at least 10 pounds, judging on how fast she's outgrown everything!

Big Sissy Sydney is loving every minute of her baby sister. I have to watch her like a hawk though. She thinks Kiera is a baby doll and will try to play with her, resulting in a screaming baby and upset Syd. She's starting to have more tantrums, and has started randomly destroying things. Jess and I have tried to give her more attention, but this only works if we can both give her all of our attention at the same time. It's also suddenly turned cold here, which severely limits outside playtime. We figure she's just bored, and misses all of that undivided attention she's been used to getting.

1st month

No, I didn't drop off the face of the earth. I've just had my hands full lately. This past month has been crazy! Both kids have been sick with the cold bug that's been floating around here. Now we're all better, but still crazy busy getting ready for all the company coming to visit this weekend. We're gonna have a slew of people from all over the country staying in our tiny house. It's gonna be great! It's a good thing I've got room and beds for everyone! Now here's the funny part: even after everyone's gone we'll still be running around with our heads cut off! As soon as eveyone's gone, Jess is off to WV then turns around and heads to ATL for World Workplace conference. The kids and I will most likely be @ the homestead with the folks or my sisters' or someplace down there. Then right when he gets back will be Halloween ( which reminds me... i've gotta costume to finish). And the week after that I go back to work. Oy! Better set my momma-jets to turbo!

MY baby

Sydney has made sure that everyone knows Kiera is HER baby. It's very sweet. She wants to hold her all the time and when Kiera cries, she says "oh no!" and runs to see what's wrong. Then she pats her head gently and says "It's OK baby." She says "Kiera" so well, especially since she's still having trouble pronouncing lots of other words. Today while we were watching a bug's life in the living room, Sydney quoted the entire movie at her little sister and kept pointing out her favorite parts. Kiera fortunately was awake for most of it and was completely fascinated with the attention from her sister. She didn't care about the movie.


There has been no jealousy at all, and for that I'm grateful. In fact, she wants Kiera more than mommy! hahaha.... Now the only thing I'm worried about is Syd trying to pick her up and tote her around. So far she hasn't, but I'm just waiting for her to try.

Pinewood Durby Dash Cam

This is a short clip on my pinewood durby car with a on board dash cam. The first is what it looks like going down head first. The second is my car racing against my boss's car. You will notice it behind mine.

Kiera Louise Asmus

Well She made it! Kiera was born September 17th at 10:04 P.M weighing in at 8lbs 4oz. Amber is recovering quite well at the hospital while I attend to Sydney. Sydney met her new sister today and became instant friends.

Jesse Builds a Slightly Modified Pinewood Derby Car

This year's Elders Quorum Social is an Ice cream party with an added pinewood derby race. There are no rules except the car cannot shoot flames out the back. Taking this to heart I added a few adjustments and this is what I came up with. Watch!

I added two 24 volt motors connected to two 9v batteries wired in a series to make it 18volts. I added a micro switch to the front of the car, which when it is resting against the gate cuts the power to the batteries off, but when the gate drops the juice flows and the car flies. Cool, huh?