Shave and a hair cut...lil bit!

So the dreaded hair cut has finally happened......Big sis Sydney has butchered Kiera's hair. Its really short now. So I cried, punished Sydney and took Kiera to the stylist. The stylist didnt do any better than Sydney. Then my mom came and took the girls for the weekend. She let Tanya take a look at the disaster to see if she could do anything. Tanya's a good friend of the family and a stylist herself. (had she not been a 2 hours drive away we would have gone to her in the first place.) She's done the best she could but Kiera still looks like a boy. And despite what loved ones insist is not true, I swear she looks just like my little brother did at that age. So now it's going to be all frilly dresses and lots of pretty bows and teeny piggy tails because I'll be darned if anybody else thinks she's a boy.

Prayers for Natalie

This is my cousin's beautiful baby Natalie. She is 3 weeks old and was born on mine and Jesse's anniversary. She is currently in the hospital in Charleston in the CCU. She has a multitude of problems and they've been running tests for over a week. I've got every person I know praying for her well being, and quick recovery. I've put her name in the Temple and even scheduled a visit and Priesthood Blessing from some local missionaries. The only other thing I can think of is to hold a spec ail fast for her. I can't express enough my thankfulness that I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. Where else can you get the comfort and promptings from the Holy Ghost? With out it I would have never thought to put Natalie's name in the Temple, or to even ask her non-member parents if I could send missionaries to the hospital to bless their baby. I don't know of any other religion where all you have to do is make a phone call and there are people far away willing to go and help where you personally cannot...without wanting anything in return. I am usually grateful that I have the gospel in my live, but today it rings throughout my entire being.

All Kids are Created Equal

Or so they think.....Kiera and Sydney are having a particularly hard time with each other lately. I think it all began at Christmas. They got  such different presents. I honestly should have gotten them the same things. I'll know better for next time. Sydney got a Barbie, Kiera constantly wants it. Kiera got a mini tent, Sydney pushes Kiera out of it and takes over. Sydney got a innotab (a kid friendly tablet). She can only play with it when Kiera is taking a nap or the world comes to an end. For breakfast they MUST have the exact same thing or one or the other will notice and let me know they are not the same. Kids are so funny!

This particular trait has translated over into potty training!!! Kiera sees Sydney use the big girl potty and wants to do it too! And thanks to Meme, she got some big girl panties (the training kind) for Christmas! I waited with Sydney to not start training until after she was 2. But if Kiera wants to give it a try I'm not going to tell her "no". She's actually got the idea down. I sit her on the little potty and I can hear her try to go. It's really cute! (sorry, that's a Mom thing to think your kid going potty is cute) But she hasn't quite figured out how to tell if she has to go or not and we have accidents. Those times when she does go in the potty she gets so excited! It's the most adorable thing. (again, mom-thing) I'm not expecting her to be trained over night. So we'll just keep trying and go as long as she's willing to try...or she turns 2....whichever.

In other happenings Sydney seems to think she's a hair stylist. We have to hide everything that could possibly cut hair. She has cut her own bangs 3 or 4 times now. I don't know where she keeps finding these scissors but I now have about 6 pairs in the locked drawer. They're starting to grow out now and I think I'm just going to let them grow out completely. I don't want her to think she can cut her own hair anymore. As a result I have made the decision to not give Kiera bangs. Half the time she looks like a little ragamuffin and the other half she looks like a throw back to the 80's with her little side ponytail. I still think it's adorable.

Sydney is now a Sunbeam!!!! My baby isn't a baby anymore. She's all grown up and in Primary! *sad face* She loved it though. The primary presidency gave her her own church bag with a folder to put her hand outs in and stickers to decorate her bag with and colored pencils. Those guys are so sweet. They loved her and said she was so good for them. She said she really liked singing time. I'm burning her a cd with this year's primary theme songs and a couple of other popular ones and keeping it in the car. I'm also downloading them onto her innotab so she can listen to them while she plays.

Sydney is also doing at home studies and doing them really well. I've been teaching her how to write her letters and name, and what sounds the letters make. We have this curriculum that my preschool teacher used for me and my brother, Miki. She gave it to my mom when she decided to home school us. It's taught all of my siblings how to read and it's wonderful. She's also doing lots of math and now knows a ton of shapes, can count to 30 on her own and to 40 with help, can classify sizes and types and all sorts of things. She's so smart! And her speech is doing so much better. If you didn't know, Syd wasn't speaking well and we were advised to send her to a speech therapist, but couldn't afford it. Just by us speaking differently towards her she has improved SOOOOOO much! One of my friends, Shelia, just said yesterday that she understood every word that Sydney said, when just weeks ago she could only understand half. It really has improved her behavior too. Now that she can verbalize her wants, there are less tantrums. There are still tantrums, but there are much less than there was before.

Kiera is a little parrot. I don't think we'll have the same speech problems with her. Her vocabulary is enormus! Her pediatrician said she should be learning about 1 new word a week, but in reality it seems a new word every day. She says things I didn't even know she new. She even uses them in the right contex. The other day a car drove by the house. She only heard it, she didnt see it. But she clearly asked me "daddy home?" and she bosses the dogs around and loves to tell them to "HUSH!!!" when they bark. It's so funny cause they actually listen to her.

Well I must go....gotta play referee over the barbies again.....

Home Sweet Camper

Hi Ya'll! We're back in the blogging world, and oh boy was November a busy month for us! Here's what's been happening since our last post:
We found renters!!!
Heavenly Father listened to our prayers, even though it took a few leaps of faith on our part. After a few fall throughs, including one that happened after the lease was already signed, we decided to go public and placed a sign in the front yard. Less than 3 days later we had our renters. I believe that Heavenly Father's sent us the exact type of renters we could want to take care of our home. They're an older couple who both work, and don't smoke or have pets (pets would have been fine, but the smoking thing turned out to be a deal breaker for some other renters and calls on the house). They seen to be really quiet-type people, who love our house as much as we did.
We moved!!!
OK, our house isn't finished. In fact we had a few stalls in that area because of the trouble we had finding the right renters and once we had them, they wanted to move in immediately. But thanks to some very wonderful friends and a few compromises we are currently staying with said friends and sleeping in our camper at night. It's been a challenge, but it will all be worth it in the end.........i keep promising my self.
Bye-bye Bullseye!!!
After eight years with Target, I've finally said "goodbye". There were several reasons that contributed to my decision to leave, none of them pretty. I won't be specific here, but lets just say that it was time I found another job that suited my personality and life style better. That being said, I have found another job, with a different company where my primary role is to input information that I find on criminal background checks. So if you do anything bad...I'll know! and I LOVE IT!!! It's only been a week and a half there, but I love all the people so far, and the hours are just the best that I could ask for. And in addition to all that, I feel like I finally have a "grown-up" job. Is it too soon to say that I think I'm happier here than I ever was at TGT? Maybe. I was positively miserable there the past year or so, but I don't think I've been at my new job long enough to tell for sure. But we'll see.....so far I really like it!
Branching out!!!
Since our move, we are no longer in the Irmo Ward, even though we still see most everyone every week. We are now in the Chapin Branch. We have been fairly warned that the callings are coming, but I say that's fine by me. I suppose it's because I was raised in a small branch, but I just feel more at home when it's such a small group of saints. I have a serious problem with names, and the less I have to remember the better. Just joking! But really I am loving these people! They've already made this family feel so at home, it's almost as if we were always here. 
Thanksgiving
With so much gong on this year, I didn't get to make a grand feast like I wanted to. (You know me...I LOVE to cook!) But we did get to enjoy one! Aunt Mel and Uncle Troy hosted this year's spread. Everything was so good I didn't want to stop eating. In addition to all the good food there was something else to be grateful for this year. Just a few days before Thanksgiving Day, Aunt Mel and Uncle Troy signed adoption papers for their son Jacob! They've been working through this process for almost a year now, and now it's final! YAY!!! He's officially theirs! We're so excited!

All in all there have been so many changes this month it's been a little crazy. But all of these changes have been for the good. Now that we're all settled in at our friend's place, I can tell a definite change in myself. I'm not nearly as stressed now as I was at the beginning of this month. Soon we'll have the tree up and Christmas will be here before we know it! Get ready!!!

It's fun to be 1!!!

We don't have a bitty baby any more! I can't believe it's already been a year. It seems like it was just yesterday when I waddled into the hospital and a couple of days later was wheeled out with a little teeny bundle wrapped up in my arms. Now that teeny bundle has grown into a chubby little rug-rat, who toddles all over the place and knows how to work mommy and daddy's phones. I am amazed at how much her personality shines through and how opinionated she is! She's such a sweetie and too smart for her own good. I miss my tiny baby every now and then, but for the most part I just sit back and enjoy the adventure of raising 2 little CRAZY WILD girls.

Where is that present?!

Yummy Cupcakes!!!

Yes, Kiera turned one last month but we were expecting a very special visitor all the way from UT, and decided to wait until Grandma came before we celebrated! We had a nice week with grandma, although there was some major construction going on around the house. And a party was just the icing on the cake! (no pun intended ;) She got soooo many presents, and Big sissy Sydney wasn't left out of the fun, thanks to a prepared mommy and yaya who got her a few small presents of her own. And we had a bunch of kids close to Kiera's age come to the party. I think all the kids had a blast. I also want to give a special thanks to Aunties Annette, Krissy and Bridgett for coming to the rescue and helping me get the party finished before everybody else got there. They were my heroes that day! Here's some party pictures:

Can I check my stocks on this?

Because of this...

Syd has a fever blister on her tongue! This nasty bugger showed up Friday evening and still hasn't gone away. Of course it would make an appearance on a major holiday weekend when the next available appointment for her would be the following Tuesday. Unless I wanted to take her to the ER, which I absolutely did NOT want to do. We tried everything and it just seemed to get worse. She lay around all weekend crying. It completely broke my heart. It got to a point where she completely stopped eating drinking and talking. Talk about scary! We did get her to drink some milk a couple of times, but that was pretty much all she would let pass her lips. Fortunately Tuesday finally came and her pediatrician gave us something to take the pain away. I am happy to report that as of yesterday I have my normal girl back.  It's still a little sore in the mornings when she first gets up, but for the rest of the day she eats drinks, plays and talks. I never thought I'd be so happy to have to clean up one of her messes again, but I found myself rather cheery the first time since she'd been sick.

And a one, and a two......

And away we go!!! September is here! There is so much to do I hardly know where to begin!

On our agenda:

*Meet some old friends! Some where, some how, some way, we just gots ta! No question about it, It won't be easy in the least.

*Party! Kiera's turning one! Can you believe it? Where did the time go?! Now with so much other stuff on our plate we gotta throw a shin-dig. And you know me: Ms Crafty! You think I'm going to let this party be decorated with store-bought stuff? You got another thing coming! I've already got in my mind the things I need to make, I just have to write them down and find the time to make them.

*Move on outta here! Not only do we have to get out, we gotta finish what we started. That means painting the kitchen, installing all the new appliances, clean like there's no tomorrow and the spot you get in heaven depends on how clean this house is! (or maybe that's just my slight OCD coming out) But fortunately I may be able to con my sisters and mother into helping. (insert evil laughter)

*Make Halloween costumes! OK Now you may be thinking, "But Amber, it's only September! You still have all of this month and the next to make those." To which I reply, " Oh, no I don't. With our living situation being what it is about to be, I will not only have my machine all packed up, but there will not be anywhere for me to sew!" Kiera's going to be Tinker Bell and Syd is going to be Rapunzel. And I'm already half-way done. I just gotta get them finished. This year instead of making myself something elaborate, like I've done in the past, I've opted for His and Hers M.A.S.H. costumes courtesy of some hot red lipstick and a t-shirt from Target. Say hello to "Hot-lips" Hoolihan and Dr. "Hawkeye"Pierce. I do have to track down a stethoscope though.....

* Find some one to rent our house. I think the renters we had lined up are having second thoughts. Oh well, such is life. No hard feelings and all. I'm disappointed, cause that means we might be having complete strangers living in our house. Not that I'm adverse to strangers in my house, but the group we were going to have were people I knew and trusted. My worst fear is that someone will come in, destroy all our hard work, and leave owing back rent for months! I know that not everyone who rents would do this but Murphy's Law keeps creeping into my mind. I just have to keep my chin up and have our friends at the Sheriff's Dept do a THOROUGH background check on any one interested in the house. And possibly have a good lawyer on the side.

And this isn't even all of it! It's already been a crazy few months, and it's about to get even crazier! I keep singing "Wake me up when September ends." in hopes that I'll wake up and October will be here, and everything on my to-do list will have magically been done. OK Maybe I won't sleep thru a few of the things going on this month, but would it be so much to ask for my fairy godmother to get to work on the other things?

TP and Ramen

Kiera and Sydney have been doing their best to make me wonder what's going on inside their little brains today. Loulou has been climbing as high as she can get (usually onto Syd's bed) and then screams "mamamamamamamamama!!!!!" when she wants to get back down. Then she wants to hang all over me while I'm cleaning. Classic cry for attention. Textbook even. Unless I'm paying attention to Syd. Hmmmm.....that one's a head scratcher. These are the times she uses to find the toilet paper, or my Avon catalogs, and proceeds to meticulously tear them to shreds. With all the recent sales on school supplies I have the notion to get her a bunch of notebooks and then her have at them. We'll just recycle the shreds.
Sydney on the other hand is very much her father's daughter. Many of you who know him well know that he can go all day without feeling any twinge of hunger, unless someone waves a 22oz. steak in front of his face. Lately this has been Sydney (sans steak). I have to tie the child down to her chair to get her to just look at food. OK maybe I'm exaggerating just a little, but I swear this kids can survive on the microbes floating in the air. That's how little she eats.
Then this morning she wakes up and requests eggs. 'OK.' I'm thinking, 'she likes eggs. I'll make her some.' 30 minutes later she's requesting gogurt. Also normal, she loves those things. What I wasn't expecting was a food request every 15-30 minutes for the rest of the day ranging from more eggs to hotdogs to mac and cheese. I have spent more time in the kitchen today than I usually spend all week. Then came the kicker: My child climbed into a box of stored food and found a case of Ramen noodles. She then brought me the box and said "Look Mommy! I found noodles! Have some?" Yes you may. I already had some "noodles" out, so she kept the box and wouldn't let me have them back! She was so afraid that if I took her box she wasn't going to get her noodles. Call me an opportunist, but I had to get the camera out on this one. This is one of those days when I'll look back and say to her "I don't know why you thought you were starving that day, but you held onto that box of ramen like your life depended on it! And yes....you were naked."

Playing Catch-Up!

OK, yes I know it's been a while. That being said here's whats been going on in the Asmus Clan:

*We're trying to move!*

Not far, still in SC. (sorry west-coasters. we aren't getting any closer.) Also note the word "try". It's been very challenging! Who knew there was sooooo much you had to do to get land ready for habitation?! OK so we knew most of it, but that doesn't mean it's not time and money consuming. I won't bore you with the details, but lets just say it's a LOT!
*We're trying to sell/rent our current house!*
Also a challenge. Our house is a little bit torn up at the moment (read: being renovated), because we're still on the fence about the buy vs. rent argument. Each side has it's pros and cons. I'm pro-anything-that-gets-us-out-of-this-house-and-into-the-new-house-without-losing-money-or-getting-deeper-in-debt. So like I said before: the house is torn up at the moment. Anyone that knows Jesse, knows that he's Webster's definition of "Handy-man". Needless to say, our current house has many fabulous features that have my husband's sweat in them. But with the sagging market for selling and the rising market of renting......it's a tough decision.
*The kids are getting BIGGER!!!*
"Duh!" you say?! yeah well...you got me there. I really shouldn't be surprised. But then I take LouLou to the Dr. and find out how much she's grown, or take out a picture of Syd as a baby and I get all nostalgic. Time is flying, and there's not enough battery life in my camera to capture it all!!!! And I know I can't (read: shouldn't) keep all of their baby stuff.....but dang it! It's hard to let go of my baby's time being a baby! (read: Why oh Why can't they stay this little and cute forever?!?!*sniffle*)
*I'm going crazy!*
Also "Duh"?! Again.......you got me there. It seems that juggling being a mommy with 2 other jobs, a home renovation, and home building has left me very little down or me-time. See? I'm even taking a brief over-lapping nap time to write this up. That's what I mean: crazy as a loon! while I could be painting my toe nails, or even getting a shower (by myself), here I am catching up on some neglected blogging. Oh, well. A Mom's job is never done. Maybe the next post won't be so far off.....if I can ever slow down for a minute!

Easter Holiday

We spent Easter with my (Amber's) family. It sure was fun. We actually spent over a week with them so Jesse could hunt. But alas! The closest thing to a dead turkey Jesse will get to this year is named Butterball. It wasn't for trying though. He went out in the woods twice a day every day. He saw lots of birds at one point, but happened to spook them since he accidentally walked through their nesting spot.

Anyways, the girls really enjoyed their Easter. Sydney couldn't get over the bubbles (so much joy for so little!), And has wanted to read "George" every night since (Thanks Nana & Papa!). Kiera only cared about the grass and eggs. She tried to eat them both. And I have to brag a little bit...I made the dresses and the shrugs! I couldn't find any matching dresses, since the girls have such different sizes. So i just whipped up something simple.

Later we went to Uncle Troy's and Aunt Mel's for Easter Dinner. After dinner we had the egg hunt followed by the traditional 4-wheeler rides! YAY! (yeah I know we're rednecks.......) This time, since there were so many of us, we got out the trailer and the 4-wheeler rides ended up being a hay ride (without the hay).

We love spring!

It's been a busy few weeks! We went ahead and moved the swings out to Nana's and Papa's.
Picked daffodils in Bluffton.


And got our seeds ready to plant in the garden. And we're steady going! This family refuses to slow down! (scroll down to see Pics of our gardening in action!)

S & K Farms

Here's our little Garden! Ok, so it's not so little. It's about 1/2 acre. We've just gotten everything planted. We're going to have corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, squash, butter beans, green beans, and WATERMELON!!! That's the best part, of course.

Here's our tractor. Syd will only ride with Mommy so far.

And this is what we do when it starts getting dark: Hang out in the back yard with Daddy.

We'll put up some more pictures as our crops grow!

Neglected!

There is no other word for it....My poor blog has been sadly neglected! In my defense we have been very busy, and hardly ever home. So here are some pics of what we've been doing the past few weeks:

Learning to sit up! Now Mom can sit me on the floor and let me play by myself so she can clean!


I've discovered how soft puppy-dogs are, and I LOVE THEM!!!!



Sydney's Trying more and more to be a good Big Sister. Including: Feeding Kiera, picking up all the toys and helping Mommy clean!

We've also been to Bluffton, and to Meme's farm and been sick for the majority of this past month! We're getting better though, and hopefully (if we slow down any) We'll get to blog more.

All Worth While

The kids have been driving me crazy! Kiera is very clingy, and despite my almost constant use of the sling, I can rarely get anything done. Sydney on the other hand will go right behind me and make everything Jesse or I have spent hours cleaning an absolute disaster area. Or throw a ball and it lands on the baby. Or squeeze out all the juice from her juice box all over the couch.....you get the picture. We used to joke about having a Velcro wall and suits so we could just stick the kids there. Of course that would never happen, tempting though it is. I think Sydney would be less destructive if she could go play outside, but alas we have no fence to keep her in the yard and off the train tracks, and it's too cold for the baby to go out for long periods. I still work nights and don't get off until late. This makes for a tired and grumpy mommy. I need a vacation, or just a couple hours by myself with no kids or husband so I can feel like I'm getting something done. Even if it's just a nap!

Then Syd snuggles up to me and says "I love you Momma!" or


Kiera gives me one of her infectious giggles (complete with toothless grin)
and it makes my life and all the craziness that goes with it all worth it.

Lights @ the Zoo

It was really warm the other night, with temps in the low 60s. So we decided to take Sydney to see Christmas lights. The zoo always does a great job decorating and lets people come in after dark to see their lights. Most of the animals were tucked into bed but we did get to see the fish and farm animals and ride the carousel. Sydney had a blast. They even had fake snow falling all over the place!
Syd and her daddy

2 monkeys!


Giraffe rides are the best!

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.