Words To Remember

My friends keep telling me that I need to write down the precious things that Mary Kahlen says or does because I will never remember them all. "Put them in her scrapbook," they say. Oh! the scrapbook! You mean the one that was right out of Martha Stewart Daily and then suddenly ceased right about the time Mary Kahlen started walking?
So, in order as to not forget, I shall blog about these precious words, and if blogspot ever goes down, I will hunt them down and smash all of their precious computers...or cry.
Now, understand, we have always spoken to Mary Kahlen normally. NO Baby Talk ALLOWED! These are just a few things she has picked up and hasn't mastered just yet.

The Word(s) Mary Kahlen's version (some are the same just too cute the way she pronounces it!)

Grits -- Grips

Whistle Britches -- Whistle Britches
(Paw Paw's nickname for her)

Holla -- Holla
(Mimi's greeting obtained from
the Tyra Bank's show)

You're a Hot Mess -- Hot Mess
(Mimi again)

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star -- Almost has the entire song down!

Rock a bye baby -- Bye bye baby

Are you okay? -- You okay?

I love you -- I luv you (said for the first time on 11-28-08)

Whoopsi Daisy -- Uh Oh Daisies


Favorites
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Counting to 10
Learning colors
Wheels on the Bus
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Happy Birthday to You

Picture Day

I am sitting here subbing today, well it was actually this past Friday, and thought I would update my blog...on paper of course, because I certainly cannot use the school computers, those are on lock down like Alcatraz. I know, I know, I know, I sound a bit bitter. I understand that it is necessary, I guess I just can't understand how, as a sub, you are given access to the children, but not the computers...make sense to anyone???

O.K. moving on.

Below I have added a couple of pictures from Mary Kahlen's most recent photo shoot, the Valentine session. Our photographer, bless her heart, is Tracy Thompson at http://photographybytracyt.com/ and I highly recommend her! So, the first time we had pictures made with Tracy, Mary Kahlen did very well and we got some phenomenal choices, so much, that we had a very hard time choosing between them all. Fast forward about six months, nearing two years old, and a studio shoot verses an outdoor shoot...it was insane. Our precious little angel morphed into a fire breathing dragon. She wasn't happy with the skirt, she didn't want to sit on the chair, she threw beads at the background, she sat on the floor...outside of the view of the lighting of course, she screamed, she pouted, she had to be bribed, etc. I ended up on the floor trying to coerce her to remain still long enough for Tracy to press the button, and let's remind everyone that I am not a petite little thing, but even that did not work. Finally, we did what we could, and Tracy said that at that age, they do not like studio pictures, and not to stress, she did get three or four good ones...yep, poor girl, she only snapped about 70!

I do have to admit, these turned out pretty precious. And yes, these are the only presentable ones. :)

The Holidays

We had a very interesting, yet wonderful, holiday season. I am now realizing that I have not updated my blog since Halloween, which, I have to admit, was not as much of a gap as I was expecting as I clicked onto my blog page. :)

My mind is now racing with "what in the world did we do during the holidays?" thoughts. It seems like time just flew by, like the speed of light. I used to receive Christmas Newsletters from friends, who would put all of their comings and goings for the year in a pretty little newsletter, that would come as the Christmas card. I would think to myself, "self, one day, when you have a nice little house and precious little family, you can create a Christmas newsletter for all of your friends so they will know how your year went and what your wonderful Beaver Cleaver family has been up to." Yep, and that thought goes right through my head as I am rapidly addressing the somewhat personalized Christmas cards on December 22nd. Along with thoughts such as, "did I put stamps on the last batch? Well, it's Christmas, maybe the post office will send them anyway."

So, maybe I can use my blog to create some semblance of a Christmas Newsletter. Okay, I've already failed at that attempt and will resort to bullets! Since Halloween...

• Adam has been to Korea and back. He was there for two weeks training for his new job with KIA. During this time, my mother, my mother's mother, and Adam's mother stayed with me almost every night. Yep, they were very sweet to help out.
  
  
• We spent Thanksgiving with all of our relatives, and managed to eat too much!
  
  
• I went to the doctor and "mentioned" back pain. He ordered an x-ray, which came back with a fracture. Go figure. Men usually stay home with a sinus infection and I carry and birth a baby with a fracture...I'm just sayin. Anyway, I had an MRI, which showed early signs of deterioration in my spine and suspicious findings in my C3, C4, and C5. So, I'm now on arthritis medication...man I am old!



• Mary Kahlen has decided that she will answer us with "What?" With an emphasis on the "t." We are now teaching her the good ole' Southern ma'am's and sir's.
  
  
• I am loving my break from school, but I do have to mention that I made all A's last semester...did I mention that I was taking 10 hours???? :)

• I've applied for a teaching position. Keep me in your prayers. This will alleviate the need for me to do student teaching beginning in February. If I do get the job, it will definitely be a blessing financially.

• I found some precious pink beads that I hung from Mary Kahlen's playroom entrance, because she LOVES beads. So, I am so proud, because they are so Mary Kahlen and they even match...then a good friend of mine walks in and says, "what stripper club did those come out of?" I do not care, they are staying up! She, like me and most of my friends, do not have a mouth filter.

• Adam received a Wii for Christmas. I have to admit that it is fun to have around. Aside from almost having our coffee table knocked over during a boxing match between Adam and his father, it is quite entertaining.

• We visited Christmas at Stone Mountain. It was nice, but realized that we should have spent an entire day there instead of just a few hours. It kind of reminded me of Six Flags. You know, you go, wait for certain shows to start, but by the time you see that show, the other one, on the other side of the park is already over and doesn't start for another hour, but then there's not another one in between that time, so you either shop in the stores or eat. We did manage to get in the train ride and the Christmas Laser Show. This was before I knew I had a cracked back, so the train ride was delightful. Adam missed this trip due to being in Korea, but Mary Kahlen and I went with Adam's mother and father and my best friend Shelia.

• When Adam came home, we made a family trip to Fantasy In Lights. Mary Kahlen had a blast. We rode the trolley and she just couldn't get enough. It was so exciting to see her face.

• Mary Kahlen received many wonderful gifts, but the one I have to mention came from my father. It was a blow up horse that she is to sit on and play a video game, while sitting. Let's see, in the first twently minutes, she snatched the horse's mane off. So we now have a 4 ft, bald horse sitting in the floor...very attractive. I believe he will be deflated until someone can learn better grooming techniques.

• And on a final note, Mary Kahlen does not, let me repeat, does not care for Santa Claus. I will post a picture as evidence.
  
  

And now for my most favorite Christmas picture. After taking over my nephew's gifts, introducing, our little Christmas Thug...