I always forget the things Kennedy says that I want to share so I thought I'd post this before I forget. We have the possibility for some snow tomorrow which I told her and she said she'd pray for it so she says "Dear Jesus, please give me snow". Then she says did Jesus hear me? I said yes and she said will he give me snow? I said we'll have to see. I reminded her awhile later that we may or may not get snow. She says, why not, didn't Jesus hear me? I again said yes and tried to explain (not very well obviously) that while He always hears us He can't always give everyone everything they ask for. And she says "but I don't want everything, I just want one thing - snow". So funny!

I just checked the forecast in Boone and it's supposed to snow 6 out of the next 7 days. I'm so jealous!! I think we might just have to make a trip up there next week.

I happend upon a toy store this week that was the neatest toy store I've ever been to. If you live in the Charlotte area you have to check it out. It's called Toys & Co (I think they have 2 stores in SC too) and is by Wendover/Randolph roads. I never go to toy stores because I almost never by the kids new toys, I can get almost new toys for a fraction of the price at a consignment sale or on Craigslist and then I can resell them when they're done with them for the same price I bought them for. I don't really buy them that many toys anyways because they rarely play with them. But next time I do need a new toy, I'm definitely going to head over to Toys & Co. I've never seen such a variety of toys in my life. And not all the licensed kind of things like Barbie, etc. that they have at Target and ToysRus. It was just so neat. And if you're bringing you kids with you (mine were at home with our babysitter when I was there), they have lots of areas where the kids can play with things like a train set, kitchen, dollhouses, etc.

We leave this afternoon to go to Winston Salem for the wedding of Chad's sister Hannah. Chad is doing the pictures and Kennedy is a flower girl. From there I'm headed to the airport to go to Boston and see Lara. Chad will be staying home with the kids. Thanks Chad!! When I get home we'll be getting ready for Emerson's birthday party and then it'll be the week of Christmas. Wow, it came so fast. We haven't even finished decorating our house yet! We're usually done the weekend of the Thanksgiving but we just haven't had the time to get it done.

Emerson is the huggiest little baby. She just loves to hug everyone. It's so cute. She also likes to say uhoh. She's taking more steps when she lets go of one thing to walk to another.

Parker is surprising me with his ability to remember things. I unfairly assume that just because I can't understand everything he says he can't learn a lot, and that just isn't true. I pointed out to Kennedy on our wall map where Disney World was, and the next day he walks up points right at Orlando and says "mama go?". He can also point at Charlotte when I ask him where we live. And then the other day he gets up on a chair to reach up and point at Iceland and says his version of cold and shivers. I was so surprised. I had told Kennedy once that it was cold in Iceland. So I'm now trying to focus more on teaching him things too.

Kennedy is full of questions that I don't always know how to answer in a way she'll understand. Like where does God live? Why does He like to walk far away? Why do people die? Is she going to die? That discussion did not go well because I tried to answer honestly and now she keeps saying she doesn't want to die. Her reading skills are improving and she can identify all 7 continents, the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean, and Madagascar! They watched that was set there and were so excited when they saw that it was an island on the map.

Happy Birthday Emerson

Happy 1st Birthday Emerson

Here's a picture from each month of her first year of life. We have so so many pictures of her it was hard to pick just 12.