Don't just stand there, bust a move!

Passing time

Do you ever feel like you are stuck on cruise control, fast-forwarding through life? I can't tell you where the time goes but it seems to be whizzing by quickly these days.  Days at work are a blur. Nights are filled with some Kenley time, making dinner, and cleaning up. This cycle is repeated 5 times and then the short fleeting weekends come and go in a blink. I am scared to say, I'm not sure life ever slows, so when I have a few minutes I have been enjoying them. Maybe some extra cuddles with Kenley or some quality time with the husband. A quick second on the computer and then off to bed. Blogging has been on the "To Do" list but seems to get back burner-ed. I hope someone still reads even though my posts sometimes go missing in the passing time.

In a nutshell, life has been good. Maybe a bit busy as described above but overall I am content.  Clay and I have been working on getting the house ready for the market.  It's scary and exciting all mixed in one big bowl. I know we will love the new house when it is built and lord knows we need the space, but part of me will always miss the first real home we made when we brought home our baby girl. The first place we put blood, sweat, and tears (and definitely some money) to fix up and add our personality to. While looking forward to doing the same with the new house and making it the home Kenley grows up in, it's just a bit bittersweet.

Anyways, this past weekend we had my folks come and stay with Kenley so Clay and I could attack cleaning and organizing the last room. It was the worst so of course I put it off until the end. The closet was beyond the "Monica closet" from Friends. Maybe you know what I'm talking about but maybe you don't. However I am sure you've all had that closet you are afraid to open. Well, it no longer exists at the Hotel Brockman. It now looks like this:

So I now consider the house cleaned, organized, and almost ready to show on the market. We do have a little bit of that "no fun" cleaning to do. I have to hit the ceiling fan in the kitchen and Clay will be on cobweb duty. I tried to tell him to just use the broom but he insisted you have to use a duster so this weekend I got him a gift. 

Now he is ready to get to work. The handle even extends so he will be able to use it at the new house with the taller ceilings ;o) I had a plan!

Now I know most of you don't read this blog for our updates but prefer to see adorable pictures of Kenley, so I promise I won't disappoint. This past weekend we tried something new for her. We gave her a "piggy" and boy was it C-U-T-E!!!

and the poor girl just can't stop me from putting things on her head for a laugh and taking pictures. This one got me good and made me think of those hats I picture for Holland to go with wooden shoes. Maybe I'm crazy but it's still funny to me.

We are working trying to get Kenley to eat more table food (other than shells and cheese which she can't get enough of) and drink more whole milk from her cup so that I can cut out the bottles. Definitely seems to be a harder transition on me since I always worry she isn't eating or drinking enough but I'm working on it too.
So there you go. That's how the Brockmans have been passing the time. Hope all is well on your side of the screen too. More to come later!!!

Purrrrr-fectly Wild and outside fun inside

Today we dressed our little stinker in a new outfit that seems to purr-fectly match her personality. Our little wild child ;o) So cute!!!

I guess it also kind of describes our wild hair when we wake up.

We have also been having a lot of outside fun inside with the cold weather. We have been playing with our wagon and taking rides (although very SHORT ones) from the kitchen to the living room and sometimes down the hall if I can make the turn.

 And since Clay put together my new stroller, we had to take it for a few test drives inside too. It has a much better turning radius so we can easily go down the hall with these wheels.

We have also had some fun with bubbles inside but no pictures of that. We can't wait for the warmer weather of spring when we can escape the house and play with all of our new things outside.

Funny Family Photos

Clay and I took our Christmas cards from work that we got to Best Buy today and bought a web cam. After Clay set it up, I heard him and Kenley in the office laughing like crazy. I was told they found something funny to do with the new web cam so after dinner they showed me.  It has a few different settings, but by far our favorite was the "fun house mirror" effect. It will take an average looking family like this...

and turn them into some very funny characters like this...

Kenley really liked moving around and seeing all the funny changes but it seems every time it tried to count down for a picture she would squirm around or look down. Oh well, it was still a lot of fun. I'm sure we will play with the other "features" and use it for serious things too like talking to family far away.  So Merry Christmas to us from work!!

One year later

We were looking at old pictures this morning and reminiscing on this past year watching Kenley grow and change so quickly. I thought I would post a comparison to ring in the new year ahead.

 New Year's Day 2010

New Year's Day 2011

Happy New Year!!!!

Giving Love!

I always hang our Christmas cards on the front closet door. This year I hung most of them at least 30" from the ground as to be out of the reach of 10 little fingers attached to my cute buggins. However, I did hang one low enough for her to see and reach and boy did she know EXACTLY who it was. It was the card from A. Val, U. Scott, and cousin Sophia. Kenley loved looking at that picture everyday and would give the picture of Sophia kisses when we asked where she was. We were able to catch it on camera so we wanted to share us sending out some love to them and especially our cute cousin Sophie.

1st bday party (and more)

It hardly feels real that I have a healthy and happy 1 year old running around the house. We had a very busy holiday weekend last week (it took me awhile to get to posting this), but we had a great 1st birthday party on the day after Christmas. We had several family and friends with us. Thanks to everyone who came!!

Kenley had a great time. She had practiced the unwrapping skills on Christmas. She enjoyed reading her bday cards...

and opening up the gifts. She really liked the tissue paper from this one.  As you can see she really hammed it up!

She would work on opening something and then share the paper with her party guests.

She got a lot of wonderful gifts. Thank you everyone!

After gifts we decided it was time for cake and ice cream. I made Kenley a Big Top Cupcake as her smash cake and decorated it with frosting and sprinkles. Clay picked out the "1"candle for the top.

She looked very excited to get the cupcake, but

was a little reluctant to DIG in.

After cake and ice cream our party guests said goodbye and Miss K took a nap. It was a wonderful day.

We continued the celebrations on Monday for her actual bday. Clay and I took the day off as we plan to do every year. This year we decided what to do but in future years, Kenley will call the shots. We stayed in PJs most of the morning and then in the afternoon we cashed in the "Piggy Food" to open her savings account.  Here's the piggy emptied out and a picture of us at the bank.

 

We are hoping to make the trip to the bank a birthday tradition. She made out like a bandit this year and had over $60 in the piggy. Guess she was a good little saver!

We also took our family picture for her birthday frame. I'm hoping to make this a tradition too. I want to take our picture every year on her birthday to see how we all change from year to year.

All in all I think Kenley had a wonderful 1st birthday. The first of many I am sure ;o)