This is why you won't get a Christmas card from us this year......

Listen to appropriate theme music here for Levi.

Lila's One Year Pics

I was a little behind in getting Lila's one year pictures made, but they are worth the wait (at least in mommy's opinion!)!!! Enjoy!! Let me know which pose you like the best (especially family so I know which one you want!)!!!

So much to be thankful for

Well, I'm back! I couldn't let Thanksgiving go without a post. I have so much this year to be thankful for. This always seems like a time to reflect on the past year and be thankful for all the blessings God has given us. I have been blessed beyond measure. This time last year we were just getting to know sweet baby Lila. Now she is such an integral part of our family and such a joy to be around. She has grown so fast!! After Levi was born, I thought our family was complete. After much thought and many prayers, Paul and I decided we wanted another baby. This is one decision we will never regret! Lila is so sweet and so full of life!!!
Addi and Levi have grown so much this year continue to bring such joy to us. I am so thankful for their life, health, and happiness. I don't know what my life would be like without my children, but I know it wouldn't be the same! I'm so thankful for God giving me the opportunity to be a mom.
I am so thankful for such a loving husband. He is such a constant in my life. I don't know what I would do without him. He is such a big help to me. He always has my best interest at heart. I'm thankful for him every day.
I am also thankful for my parents and my in-laws. I am thankful for my brothers and their wives. I am thankful for my sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law on Paul's side. I'm thankful for Hannah. I am thankful for all my nieces and nephews (even the ones I haven't met yet!). I'm thankful for Jasmine, Alex, Billy, and Mary. I am thankful for all of my family. I am thankful for good Christian friends. If you are reading this blog, rest assured, I am thankful for you!
If I listed everything I am thankful for, I would still be here typing next Thanksgiving! I hope you all count your blessings on this day and every day. Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Not in a blogging mood....

I know I'm behind on my blogging, but I'll be back when I feel like it. Please continue to remember Josh and Katie in your prayers, as well as the rest of us that have been so touched by this little soul's short life.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Well, today is the day. The day I leave my twenties behind and start a new decade of my life. I really don't feel any older than I did yesterday! Today has been one of those days that has been a roller coaster of good and bad emotions. I was in the car and the song "Blessed" by Martina McBride came on and it almost made me cry (which I never cry at songs). I just got to thinking of how blessed I really am. There's no way I could count my blessings or think to mention them all here. I just want my family and friends to know what blessings they are to me.
Daniel took me to eat lunch at Shanghai (my choice) today. It was good. Levi behaved pretty well (at least until Daniel got him all riled up) so it was enjoyable. Thanks, Daniel!

Rachel called early this morning to let me know that her grandfather had passed very early this morning, a little after 1 a.m. Please remember her and her family in your prayers. Rachel is like the sister I never had and I hurt when she hurts.

Mary made it through her biopsy this morning and we should know something later this afternoon. I am so worried for her that I can hardly imagine any kind of celebration today. I want more than anything in this world for her to be okay. Please, please, please continue to pray for her. I know that whatever her results may be that Mary can and will overcome this. I just want this to be a small hurdle and not another large one for her to have to jump.

Mary

Okay, first let me say, I know Mary may kill me for posting this picture, but I'm posting it anyway. I think I could outrun her at this point, considering she just had major surgery and still has 70 staples! :)
I haven't posted much about Mary's transplant and all that has happened since. Partially because I've been so busy and partially because I get so emotional about it. I chose this picture because Mary certainly has been ferocious like a tiger!! She is such an amazing person and I love her so much. She has been a "poster child" for transplant patients. She was off her ventilator within 3 hours of surgery and home less than 6 days later!!! She is still in pain, but her itching is GONE!! I'm so happy for her. The doctors are still playing with her medicine, trying to get the right dose for her. This could take a while, but is all normal. She is not going to rest like she's supposed to. I called Thursday to check on her and she was visiting her neighbor! Come on, Mary!! Take it easy!! I took them supper last night and then she proceeds to try to wash the dishes with me standing right there. Needless to say, I stopped her! I'm not by any means implying that this ordeal has been easy. It certainly has not, but Mary has been a real trooper!!
Mary still needs prayers that she stays free of illness and infection. Don't stop praying for her.
Mary, you are such and amazing woman and I love you!!!

Happy Birthday, My Sweet Lila!!

I'm pretty worn out and will update more later, but I couldn't let the day pass without blogging a special happy birthday to my Lila! Just because she is the third child, she is just as special as the first and second! She adds so much life to our house and she is the sweetest baby I have ever seen!! I still look at her today and she melts my heart even more than she did one year ago today. I can't believe she is one year old!!!

Transplant Time

For those that may not know, Mary got her transplant call this afternoon. She has to be at UAB by 4 p.m. for admission for the transplant in the morning. Please pray that all goes well. I'll try to update when I have more info.

Busy bees....

First of all, let me just say, "I'M GOING TO BE AN AUNT AGAIN!!!" Yippee!!!! Josh and Katie told us yesterday that they will be expecting baby #2 sometime in June. We are super excited!!! Hannah has brought so much happiness and life to our family and I know this baby will too.
We are busy as ever with soccer, fall softball, school, and church. Sometimes it just seems like life is flying by. It's hard to believe our sweet Lila will be one year old on Sunday!!! We are having her birthday party at the church fellowship hall to help with crowd control. She is growing up so fast. Her hair is growing faster than she is! She is also going on three days without a bottle and walking! She is changing so fast!! Anyway, I'll write more about all that on her birthday!
Have a great week everybody!

Levi's Trip to the Emergency Room

We went to Addi's Fall Ball softball game today. Levi was playing on the playground. I looked behind me to see Levi fall from the jungle gym/monkey bar thingy straight onto his head! My first thought: OH NO! He's going to be paralyzed!! I was fine once I saw him get up and start crying for me. Then I noticed the blood gushing from his head. So off to Children's we went. Two hours and two stitches later, he's fine. He was a real trooper and didn't even get anything to numb the area while they stitched him up! The above picture is out in our yard today before the incident...isn't he cute? The following pictures are from our trip to the ER. I had my camera with me at the ballpark so I took it with me.

All my girls

All my girls except for Hannah....

Picture from my Phone

This is definitely experimental. I've uploaded a few pictures from my phone to my facebook and now I'm going to post this one here. I know it won't be the best quality, but might make it easier for me to keep more recent pictures of the kids on here! Here is a picture of Levi and Lila riding in the car buggy in Publix, their favorite place to shop!

Lunch with Levi

Me: "Levi, what do you want for lunch today? Would you like a hot dog?"
Levi: "No!"
Me: "Would you like some shrimp?"
Levi: "Yes, the orange and white kind." (Meaning cold, peel and eat shrimp)
Me: "Levi, I don't have that kind, but I have some breaded ones I can bake."
Levi: "I don't want that!!!!"
Me: "Well, what do you want Levi?"
Levi: "I want some Cookie DOUGH!!!!!"

Oh my, why did I even ask????

Finally some pictures!

Here are some pictures of the kids from the last month or so. Paul finally got the computer rebooted and I finally got the printer driver installed correctly so we can upload pictures that way.
In other news, we are doing well. We've had another battle with the evil MRSA bug. Lila had an abscess on her thigh, but luckily it responded quickly to the antibiotics and she is much better. I can't believe she is 11 months old!!! She weighed 22 pounds 9 ounces when she saw the doctor last week. She is getting so big and talking all the time. She called Alex and Hannah by name this week! Anyway, enough for now. Enjoy the pictures!!

Levi wearing Addi's pajama pants

Levi as "Underwear Man"

Lila lovin' Broccoli and Cheese Rice

Lila's Bad Hair Day!

Addi at the Butterbean Festival

Much Needed Update

• Things are going well in the Kelsey household. Addi is enjoying school and still calls it "The greatest place on earth." She was chosen as student of the month for her class this month!! I will get to go in the morning and have a special breakfast with her to celebrate.
  
• Addi sold 26 tubs of cookie dough, enough to get to go in the Hummer Limousine to Pizza Hut for lunch one day! She also had her named pulled in a drawing and will get to spin the money wheel soon!
  
• Levi is enjoying school too. He loves his teacher and is learning some things. He will get to go to Children's Theater starting in October and I think he'll enjoy that. He is doing GREAT going to the potty now. He finally caught on! He doesn't even wear a pull-up at night anymore!
  
• Lila is growing like a weed!! She has TEN teeth now! She has two of her molars already! She has taken a couple of steps here and there and I think will be walking before her first birthday (something not accomplished by her sister or brother). She has also found her voice! Man, oh man, has she found her voice! She used it rather loudly in church yesterday. Her favorite word is "Addi!" and she says it with great enthusiasm about 200 times a day!
  
• Thanks to early Christmas presents from Grammy and PaPa in Oklahoma, Levi is getting a new dresser tomorrow and Addi will be getting a new mattress this week. They are both excited! Never knew a 5 year old would be excited over a mattress, but she complains that hers isn't comfortable all the time!
  
• Paul and I broke down and bought a new dryer. Even after we had ours fixed, it's still ruining about one piece of clothing in every load. The clothing gets stuck in the edge and leaves a brown mark that can't be removed. It will be delivered tomorrow with Levi's dresser. It will be nice to be able to dry clothes without having to put it in a mesh bag.
  
• Paul and I are going to see Dave Ramsey in Atlanta on Saturday. We're looking forward to it. Mom is going to keep the kiddos for us.
  
• We had a GREAT, FANTASTIC, MARVELOUS Ladies' Day this past Saturday at Sylvan Springs. If you are a lady and didn't come, you missed out! Thanks to all the girls who did so much work to get this task accomplished, especially Rachel. And of course, Rachel's mom did an excellent job speaking. Addi got to lead two songs and was as adorable as ever.
  
• Soccer is going well, but Levi won't play. He whines and it's not worth it to make him even go on the field.
  
• Addi is loving Paul being their coach. They played a practice game. Our team only had 4 players and the other team had 7 and we held them 1-0. Not bad!
  
• Addi is also going to be playing fall softball this year. It's more of an instructional league and they'll have practice games on Sunday afternoons.
  
• Addi is also going to be in the school beauty pageant on November 8th. Addi is turning into quite the busy little bee! And enjoying every minute of it!
  
• I better go for now. I'll try to get pictures up soon. Our computer is no longer recognizing our camera so I can't do it at home. It doesn't recognize the printer any more either and apparently now won't recognize the disk to reformat the hard drive.
  

September 2, 2008

Hi Everybody! Not a whole lot is going on in the Kelsey household. We went to Parrish yesterday to clean out MaMa and PaPa's house. It is under contract and the closing is supposed to be sometime this month. We worked all day and got the dining room set moved to my house! Thanks, Mom and Dad! Because of Medicaid, etc......Mom and Dad bought it for me for my birthday that's coming up in October. As I mentioned before, I'll be the big 3-0. Ick.
The new dining room suite looks good in my dining room. I still have to get everything squared away and put where it goes, but I think I'm going to be very happy with it. It's not the most beautiful set you've ever seen, but it reminds me of the many family dinners we all had together at my grandparents. It was kind of sad having to go through all the stuff in their house, but it's just a reminder that stuff is JUST stuff! You can't take it with you and you might not even get to keep it while you're alive.

I joined the gym. I met Jazz there this morning at 5 a.m.!!! We both decided we would have to meet each other there at night because this early bird stuff is NOT for us! You'll notice I put a new weight loss ticker on my sidebar. No, I'm not delusional in thinking I only have 30 pounds to lose, but I'm starting with attainable goals and I'll work my way up (or down?)! After working out this morning and all the moving of furniture that took place yesterday, I may not be able to move tomorrow!

Thought for the day: Cherish the moments and forget the stuff.
Have a good one!

Levi's Latest Obsession

Levi found this bicycle while online shopping with me on Amazon.com (my favorite place to shop online!) and now he wants to look at it EVERY day!! I guess Santa may have to bring it!! They also have a cool Thomas helmet and knee pads! I think both of the kids may get bikes this year for Christmas.
I know Christmas is a good 4 months away, but it is that time of year where I start thinking towards what I'm going to get the kids and others on our Christmas list. I also can't help but think of my own "wish" items! Although I probably won't be getting one, I have had my eye on an iPod Nano...but I'd rather spend the money on the kids!! And my birthday is coming up (too soon to turn the big 3-0.) and I'm getting a gym membership from my hubby and kiddos. I'm looking forward to that! Enough of this random post....
Have a great Labor Day weekend!!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Hannah-boo!!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Hannah Elizabeth Courington!!!

I can't believe it's been that long!! Hannah is such a precious and beautiful little girl and I love her with all of my heart! She is growing so fast and is so smart! I love the way she runs up to me and gives the best hugs! And I love the way she wants to go with me when I leave. She'll say, "I'm gonna go with you, Kim." I love how she doesn't phrase it as a question, but as a statement of fact. Maybe she's a little too smart sometimes! Maybe I'll post some birthday party pics later. Happy Birthday, Hannah and always remember Aunt Kim loves you!

Addi's Sunday Afternoon Quote

"The Bible says if you don't spank your kids they'll turn into little brats."
Seeing that I don't use the B word (my most hated word in the English language) I wonder where she heard this? Even though her wording is a little off, she gets the idea. This quote was directed to Levi after he asked, "How come mommys get to spank kids?"

Addi's First Day of Kindergarten!!!

I just dropped Addi off at school!!!! I went in with her to make sure she got everything put away and settled in. After about 2 minutes she looked at me and said, "Mommy, I'm ready for you to leave now." I guess I was cramping her style!! I was proud for her. She was so excited and neither one of us shed a tear!! I hope she has a great day! I'll update more on that later!