White Christmas 2010

December 24th brought the second snow for Kentucky this winter. According to broadcasts, this was our first White Christmas since 1993. I hope everyone had as much fun making snow angels and having snowball fights as our girls did!

Attempting to Start Blogging Again..

Okay, so today is a sappy, sentimental day. All it takes is a sad song to get me dwelling on the fact that my babies are growing up. Today's song of choice is "Never Grow Up" by Taylor Swift. If you are a mommy and haven't heard this one you must run to iTunes and download it now!! My girls are growing up, and the simple fact of the matter is there are so many things about their childhood I have already forgotten. I'm kicking myself right now (and yes my legs are plenty long to do so) that I haven't been better about blogging or scrapbooking the simple little memories of life. I know they may never care about all the minute details, but they are my babies and I always will. So, starting today I'm going to try to be better about writing down more of the sweet little things my babies do and say...even if I am the only one who will ever read it :)

Warren County Public Library Summer Reading Program

Kick-off of the summer reading program is June 7th at 1:30pm at Parker-Bennett-Curry Elementary. The Wulfe Brothers will be performing.

Visit http://www.bgpl.org/summerreading.html to download the list of summer activities.

Free Summer Movies: Great Escape Theatre

Bowling Green 12
323 Great Escape Dr.
Bowling Green, KY 42101
(270)782-3112

SUMMER KIDS SHOWS 2010
Sponsored by: Fazoli's, Dairy Queen, & Chick-Fil-A

Alvin & The Chipmunks:Squeakuel - June 1,2,3
Ice Age: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs - June 8,9,10
Monsters vs. Aliens - June 15,16,17
Cloudy With A Chance OF Meatballs - June 22,23,24
Planet 51 - June 29,30, July 1
Paul Blart: Mall Cop - July 6,7,8
Night At The Museum 2 - July 13,14,15
Hotel For Dogs - July 20,21,22

"We're Going to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo...

...How about you, you, you? You can come too, too, too. We're going to the zoo."

That song is permanently etched in my brain now after Ella's school performance this morning. Here is the video of her section of the play. She was a chicken :)

MOZY...Might be the best $4.95 you'll ever spend!

http://www.mozy.com/

If you don't have a backup service I highly suggest Mozy.

It is an online backup service that saved all our precious memories a few weeks ago when a virus took over my computer profile. It deleted all my files under my user profile...which included every picture I have taken over the last 7 years.

We don't backup our pics on CD's, so if my hubby wouldn't have signed up for Mozy over a year ago I would have lost every precious picture of my babies! So this is my PSA for the day...if you haven't backed up your files do it now!

Even if you do backup to CD I would still suggest it. It is smart to have your files backed up and housed somewhere other than your own home. It is $4.95 a month, but oh so worth it.

My New Project

I'm once again attempting to coupon and focus more on saving money and getting our budget under control. We do a decent job now, but there is always improvements that could be made.

Seeing alot of friends save big money couponing has motivated me to think about ways I could be saving as well. Thus, my new project began...

I have started a blog called http://www.saveapaycheck.blogspot.com/. My goal was to start a blog about my savings journey that would motivate me to stay on the right track financially. For some reason, I find accountability in my new blog...even if I don't have any readers. I love to journal about new things I am learning on the road to money-saving success :)

I have started the site as a way to highlight my journey of couponing, but I hope to expand it in the future to feature alot of other great life tips on budgeting and household management.

I also got on http://www.mint.com/ last week and finally set up a working budget for our family. I played around with mint about 6 mos. ago, but I never made a serious budget on there. I have used Microsoft Money in the past, but mint.com has alot of new features that make it much easier to use. And, best of all its FREE! Plus, if you have an iPhone you can download the free mint.com app so that your budget is always with you! It really is a great service, and I highly suggest you play around with the features of the site to see if it would work for you too.

The Devastation is Heartbreaking...

This video has been circulating facebook via YouTube. The Cumberland River, which runs through downtown Nashville, crest at 51.86 feet, its highest level since 1937. Flood stage is 40 ft. The all-time record is 56.2 feet in 1927.

The following organization is one my family became familiar with in the months following Katrina.

http://www.disasterreliefeffort.org/content.asp?CID=119113

I wanted to share the link with everyone in case you are looking for a way to help physically or financially. Being a Nashville-based disaster relief effort, I feel confident that funds donated through this source will go to helping those whose lives have been altered by the floods in and around middle Tennessee & southern Kentucky.

Addie's Performance-Dora's Glowy Star

Ella's Video-"I've Told Every Little Star"

Ella is the first girl on the left. The best video I could get, but I did order the DVD. Excited to get that!!

Ella's Recital-"I've Told Every Little Star" May 2, 2010

Addie's First Recital-"Dora Glowy Star" May 1, 2010

Video to come soon! Addie did great! So proud of her.

An Important Phrase

A new phrase Addie has learned this year is "car-rider line". Everyday at 2:30, Monday-Friday you will find us sitting in the car-rider line to get Miss Ella. It is a part of our day that Addie really enjoys. So, I had to crack up the other day when I walked down the hall towards her room to find that she had lined all her cars up in the exact u-shape & the same direction as the car-rider line at Ella's school. When I asked her what she had made she said, "All da people in de car liner-line." She was very proud of her accomplishment.

Alot of days she will fall asleep before we even get to the line but on the days she is awake she always seems amazed by the process. The teacher always stands at the bend in the line to announce the name of the student being picked up. Before the teacher can announce Ella's name Addie will say, "Ella Kunkel column 2. Ella Kunkel column 2." She is always a hoot.

P.S. We wear our Christmas & Halloween pj's year round as long as they still fit :) Everyday is a holiday!

It was a 'Hurry Up and Get Here Monday' type of weekend...

Friday started with a sore throat for Ella. Against my better judgement I sent her on to school, because she had a VIP coming to eat lunch with her that she just didn't want to miss. But, by the time she got in the car Friday afternoon she was a pale, feverish, emotional mess. We headed on over to the Quick Clinic (best idea ever in healthcare) and 30 minutes later we find out that Ella has a horrible case of strep throat. While we were there I decided to get Addie checked out, because she had an ear ache earlier in the week. Turns out she had a bad ear infection...which makes me 'horrible mother of the year' that I didn't take her earlier in the week when it was actually bothering her. With allergy season in full swing it is hard to know when to wait it out or when to run to the doctor. So, we are now working on 40 doses of antibiotics between the two girls, and for anyone that knows my kids that isn't a fun job!

Friday night=No Sleep due to Ella tossing, turning, and whining every 10 minutes. Poor girl!

Saturday=Very droggy.

But, by 3:00 I was ready to begin my original weekend plans of cleaning this nasty house. 5 minutes in to my cleaning and I had created a new task for myself....

Cleaning up a "murder" scene. The victim? My daughter's favorite bottle of hot pink polish. Even with polish flooding my floor and splattered all up my bathroom wall all my child could worry about was getting another bottle of her favorite polish.

So, 30 minutes and one Goo Be Gone high later...and this is all that is left.

Time to add one more item to the spring 'honey-do' list: sanding, priming, and painting.

So, as if that wasn't enough of a clutsy move for the day this is what I decided to do next...

Yep! Shattered the iPhone on the hardwood floor...the same phone I cracked by dropping it on gravel just two weeks ago. Surprisingly, the touch feature of the phone still worked after this, but everytime I swiped the screen I had little fragments of glass on my finger.

And there was my weekend. Hope yours was better than mine!!!

All I have to say is thank goodness for Mondays!!!!

Living On Dreams & Spaghetti O's

My baby has an obsession, and that obsession is called Spaghetti O's---ABC's & Meatballs to be exact. Ask the child any time of day what she wants for breakfast, lunch, or dinner and you will be met with, "Spaghetti O's." I have to admit to caving every once in awhile and serving these bad boys up about 9am, but only after she has pushed the kitchen chair up to the pantry to get them out for me. Actually, the meatballs are all she likes, but I make her eat the ABC's cause that is the healthy, fortified part you know LOL! It's really cute to hear her with a mouthful saying, "I 'won't' mo meatballs. I do. I love skety o's."

My Biggest Obsession...

I have been reeled in by the mindless fun and games facebook has to offer. Yes I am addicted. There was an episode of Dr. Phil recently highlighting a mom who planned her whole life around when her Farmville crops needed harvesting and planting. As pathetic as it might sound I can relate on some levels. I wouldn't call myself as addicted as that woman, but I have been a little obsessed lately. So much so that now my kids are obsessed. Ella loves to come home from school and immediately hop on the computer to check her pet.

The designers of these facebook games are genius. They take the thoughtless task of clicking a mouse and turn it into a necessary part of our day. I have to have my game time, or I feel like I have let my "farm" or "pet" down at the risk of letting my own household down, pathetic huh? But, so much eye-glazing fun.

Addie's First Week of MDO-August 2009

We had a rough first month of MDO. Addie cried everyday at drop-off. But, once we got over the initial hurdle things have gone great! So loves Ms. Terri & Ms. JoAnna. She has made alot of new friends. She tells me her best friends are Lola, Brayden, and Taylor. She makes new friends very easily now that she has been in MDO. Anywhere we go where there are other kids she has made a friend within a few minutes. She is learning so much socially & academically! She finally has her colors down, and she loves to learn new songs and nursery rhymes. She is definitely my fun-lovin, good time kiddo.

Conceptualizing God...

This is a difficult task for all of us at times but even more so for a 5-year-old. Ella's little gears have been working overtime lately trying to figure out who God is and what he is all about. It is good, but it also makes for some awkward moments. The other day when getting ready for bath time she said, "I don't want to! I don't want God to see my butt! I'm naked." Funny I know, but "Oh my!" just the same. Didn't think that was going to come out of her mouth at that moment.

Alot of her questions are no longer satisfied with yes or no answers. She wants to know more, and mommy's "yes" or "no" are only met with more questions. She really is trying to figure out how God sees everything all the time? Where is Heaven? And, why people die? That question makes me the saddest, because I don't want to believe she is old enough to need to understand those answers. When they were babies I took comfort in the fact that they didn't understand, nor need to understand those parts of life.

She is growing up, and it is forcing me to accept certain things that I would rather not accept. I know these are just the first of many questions from her, and these questions will keep getting harder and more complex. We just have to cherish the innocence of the preschool years while they are little, and accept the responsibility of teaching them as much as we can as they grow. They are ours to teach, and that is the biggest, most important job we will ever have.

Emotionally exhausted today. I feel like I could sleep for a year at this point. I just wish I could understand why some things unfold the way they do. The hardest part is trying to figure all of this out in my own head without a verbal explaination for why things have went down the way they have. Without an explaination there is no hope for change. But, maybe some people are beyond change. I know I need to just accept some things and move on, but not knowing why is the hardest obstacle in moving forward. I know that everything happens for a reason, but in the times that could apply the most are the times it seems like the biggest cliche out there.

Ella's First Day of Kindergarten-August, 4th 2009

As many of you know, Matt & I struggled with the decision of whether or not to send Ella to kindergarten this school year. This was due to the fact that she was still 4-years-old when school began in August. So, this day came with even more apprehension than is normally felt by parents on the first day of school. But, I am happy to report that we just finished our 100th day of school, and Ella is doing just beautifully! She is one smart cookie, and I can't believe how much she has matured in the past few months. We can say with 100% certainty that we made the right decision sending her on. The number of opportunities and friendships she would have missed out on are just too many to count.


I will never be able to look at the pic of Ella in front of the bushes without laughing. I can still hear her saying, "Mom, why do I have to stand in front of the bushes?"


Couldn't wait to get to school. Check out the sweet new booster too!


Yeah, she really didn't need us there. We were just for show.


Ella had to tell me to leave. Ah, and the days of embarrassing my child officially began!

Best Friends Forever :)

I could never quite wrap my head around the saying, "I love you more than life itself" until I had children of my own. I am sure every parent feels the same way. This is my favorite picture of my girls in 2009. It shows the true bond that they share. Of course, they have their bad moments.. a million times a day it seems, but deep down this is how they really feel. I love my girls, and I hope they will always be there for each other. That is one of my many wishes for them. Kisses girls!

Playing catch-up....Here comes the 2009 Review

Ella singing 'Pants on the Ground.'

Addie singing 'Pants on the Ground'