Recent Fun Randomness!

Not a great deal of excitement to post from the Cordrey household. We had a pretty severe storm about 2 weeks ago sweep through around 4:30 am. Sad to say I was awake for the whole thing, but didn't take the kids downstairs. I figured starting the day at 4:30 am wasn't a top priority to me! Probably not the wisest mom move, because an F1 tornado passed by during the storm! We didn't have a great deal of damage to our home / yard like some neighbors, but we are getting a new roof out of it! We were actually kind of excited about that. Moral of the story for me, though, is to always go downstairs during a tornado warning . . .

Ella is still taking gymnastics and loving it. She is really doing well and most of all, I love the confidence that she is developing as a result. I am still teaching the 4s class at preschool, making me Ella's teacher. I love being there with her. We recently have Mamas in Pajamas day, as well as celebrated Dr. Suess day (see pictures). I can't believe she will be starting school next year! SO crazy. If you are familiar with the Louisville area, you know that the school issue is huge. The school busing / acceptance deal is so crazy. You may live 1 mile from a school, but based on requests and demographics, may be sent downtown. Our "home reside" school wasn't a great choice for Ella, so we looked into other placements in our area. After a few visits and conversations, we were told we probably wouldn't get any of them, we have settled on Christian Academy for her for next year. It was a hard decision, especially for an avid public school teacher myself. We view it as a possible one year decision to help her adjust to the 5 day a week school concept, then go from there. Maybe we will move to a surrounding county, or I will take a teaching position - who knows. We are praying about it, though, and she is excited to start next year.

Kinsley is growing and changing. She talks constantly and is so fun loving. Her newest trick, that she loves to show off about every 5 minutes, is "Why?" Especially when you tell her to do something. We are loving that!!! I hear my mom echo in my ears often as I say, "Because I said so . . . " I don't actually remember my mom saying that often, but I think you always hear that phrase and reference it as something you won't repeat. Here's for saying never . . .

So not much of an update, but just a few recent pictures to share. We are healthy, happy, together, and loving the simple moments everyday brings us. What more could we possibly ask for?

Great Wolf Lodge!

We surprised the girls this weekend and took them to Great Wolf Lodge, in Mason, OH. By surprise them, I mean Ella thought we were going to the Gap outlet for mommy. (No worries - we were able to hit that fun little stop on the way home!) We pulled in, started videoing, and got her shocked reaction to the wolves on the sign. It was great. She hadn't realized we had packed luggage in the back of the car.

We stayed in the "Kid Camp", equipped with two bunk beds and their own personal TV. They loved it. Not to mention we were right across the hallway from Cub Club, where it was full of toys, books, and crafts. If you know our girls well, they are crazy over crafts. We spent quite a bit of time in that little piece of heaven. On Friday, we took in the waterpark. Kinsley was pretty wiped, so our little "dare devil" leached on to Ronnie like a monkey and wanted no part of the slides. She warmed up a little bit by Saturday, though, and took in some of the water adventures. By Saturday late afternoon, we were all exhausted and traveled to our other hotel just down the road a few miles. (We weren't about to pay for another night there based on the cost - at this age, the girls don't mind. They just love the "hotel" concept!) It was a great weekend and so much fun to surprise the girls. Happy Valentine's Day to everyone - I feel like I am blessed with three of the best Valentines in the world!

Healthy!!!

So if we keep in touch often, you probably know that our family was sick - the entire month of January! I will say, we did lots of crafts and baking, spent lots of time in our playroom. I felt like we definitely enjoyed our home during the month of January. We were stuck inside most of the month! As great as we tried to make the time, we are so thankful to finally be healthy! I have turned into that crazy, over the top mom who wants to avoid germy places at all cost. Ronnie said he was going to take the girls to Chuck E Cheese today. . . Are you kidding me? To that place, on a crowded rainy Saturday, after a rainy Friday night? I picture thousands of school age children, covered in nasty germs, spreading their sickness around that place. After a pleading veto, they had a change of plans. Am I being a little over extreme? Most likely. However, we need to be healthy and I need to be able to leave the house during February!
All that being said, it has made me more thankful for the healthy times. I think of my sweet Memaw, who is pretty much house bound all the time. Her health doesn't allow her to get out and about very often, so I have found myself praying more often for her and for little joys to come her way during the day. So what is the good take away from our month of sickness? Better perspective, more thankfulness, and more frequent use of hand sanitizer!

A post of nothing :)

So, it has been awhile . . . I really have no good excuse. I will try to justify it by saying I got a new Iphone for Christmas, and the technical side of me is yet to figure out how to update the blog from my Iphone. Still, no good excuse, I know. I was told yesterday by the (probably only) reader of this blog - my sweet mom - she checks often and hasn't seen anything new. So here you go mom!:)

I have a new obsession. I actually will call it "fondness for". Obsession sounds so negative, and I don't want to sound negative about something I am going to try to justify financially! No, in all seriousness, I love wall vinyl scripts. I just put one above our door that says, " May our home be filled with laughter, family, and friends and the life togetherness brings." I just love them. So my new search is to find scripture wall clings. I definitely want one for each of the girls' rooms, as well as the playroom. My tendency is to go overboard. (I used to have a "fondness for" bedding. Luckily, that passed. However, I have passed several along to others so that wasn't such a waste. Back to topic-) If anyone knows of a great location where to find those, let me know. I have seen some on Etsy, so that's probably where I will head with the credit card. Pictures to follow, of course, since I'm sure you are dying to witness the finish products!

On another note, our home seems to be the catching ground for sickness so far in 2011. The girls and I had the stomach bug on Christmas Eve, then Ronnie caught it on New Year's. Kinsley followed up with a pretty severe respiratory virus that knocked her down for about a week. Ronnie closed out that week with H1N1, and now Ella has a new stomach virus. I did have a moment of truth this morning, though. In my frustration of sickness, overwhelming laundry piles, and altered plans, I was quickly reminded that these viruses pass. I know there are many families who struggle with sickness and disease on an unending basis. It was a quick, and needed, reminder to be thankful . . and "this too shall pass".

We had a fantastic Christmas with the girls. Probably one of my favorite events of the holiday was our Happy Birthday Jesus Birthday party that we had a couple of days before Christmas. We invited our playgroup friends and had a great time together. Kinsley loved rearranging the manger scene so all the people and animals could see baby Jesus (precious!). We read books, made a craft, had cupcakes, and brought new toys to share with less fortunate children in the name of Jesus. It was probably one of my favorites because I felt that morning we were getting Christmas right, and helping others to do the same. I'm sure we just started an annual tradition (until the girls complain they are way too old for such a thing and don't want to invite their 17 year old friends, I will stand by this tradition!!) Santa did an awesome job of bringing the girls some special things, without going overboard. That is something we really hoped he would do, as we are trying to instill gratefulness in the girls and not entitlement. (I'm sure that will definitely be more challenging as Ella starts school.) We left Christmas night for several days in Gatlinburg. We had a great time, but came home a day early. The New Years crowd began to get a little overwhelming. It has been back to work, PDO, gymnastics lessons, and our standard routine (other than all the sickness) ever since! I will admit, this creature of habit thrives in routine. I love having our mornings to either go to school or do something fun, lunch, naptime for Kinsley and playtime for Ella, cooking dinner, and family time usually in the evenings. Having a simple schedule has been a bit more challenging since Ronnie took a new role at church, but something we feel is worth fighting for while the girls are still young. I already feel they are growing too fast. I teared up the other day at a Toy Story 3 commercial - the emotional ride of motherhood!

Finally, in this post of nothing, I will close out. I will try not to let time get away from me, and keep the blog more updated (mom)

Enjoying life!

How is it possible that Ella will start school during this year - 2011. I wish I could stop time some days, but that isn't how things are supposed to be. I try to remind myself not to focus on how quickly they grow, but on making the time count.

I just finished reading a parenting book. Something that really stuck out to me was how we are to try to prepare our kids for something much bigger then them. This is an overwhelming thought for me. I think I am mich more successful at being overprotective. Something to work on I guess! :)

Getting Christmas Right

So let me just warn you - this is one of those posts where I just randomly share thoughts - probably more for myself than anyone. Our current series at church is "Getting Christmas Right". I feel like that is something we try to do with the girls, without giving it an official name. Part of what allows us to really take time to enjoy amd make memories during the holiday season is getting lots done before the season arrives! (Thanks to my mom teaching me how it is done!) Prior to Thanksgiving Day, our house is fully decorated, gifts are all purchased and usually wrapped, and Christmas cards are ready to go. This allows us the time and opportunities to enjoy making memories during the holidays.
The girls have an Advent box (Ronnie calls it our "Christmas Vacation" box since that is what it reminds him of visually). Each day includes a different Christmas activity. This year, we have incorporated a lot of service project ideas and doing things for others. We have done a lot of baking to share, nursing home visits, giving away toys, some random acts of kindness, and thoughtful notes to others. We have made gingerbread houses, had Christmas dance parties, read Christmas books by the tree, and so on. We have gone to do various Christmas activities around town.
Tonight our main event is making the nativity scene (using animal crackers, graham crackers, EL Fudge cookies, coconut, marshmallows, and icing). Should be interesting. Tomorrow we having a "Happy Birthday Jesus" birthday party for our neighborhood playgroup.
So even though I go to bed lots of nights thinking of things I didn't do right, or will hopefully do better the next time as far as parenting, I do feel like we do try to get Christmas right. Thinking and working ahead gives us the ability to slow down during the holiday season to enjoy the simple pleasures. I hope it is something we are able to always prioritize and do. For us, it helps us remember the true meaning of Christmas.
Merry Christmas to your family and I hope this holiday brings lots of joy, peace, and incredible memories for your family!
Check out some of our favorite pictures from some of our holiday activities this year:

http://animoto.com/play/NWFV3f0ptgnrFBvIQJlocg?autostart=true

Christmas tree . . . take 3!

So we are a house full of traditions - especially around the holidays. One tradition that we don't budge on is when we put up our Christmas tree. It is ALWAYS before Thanksgiving. Whether or not the lights go on is up for debate, but it is always up and ready for the day after Thanksgiving. This year, we spent lots of time putting up our tree, docorating with lights and beads, and what seems like thousands of ornaments! Apparently Ella thought we didn't have enough ornaments, because she made several more (8 1/2 by 11 size :) to tie on the back of the tree.

So catastrophy #1 - most of the lights went out on the tree on day 3. The Scrooge side tried to come out of us and threaten to steal our Whoville joy, but we pushed it away. Down the tree came, fixed the lights, and up it went again. We thought that made for a pretty funny story after it was all said and done. Little did we know . . .

Last Thursday, Ronnie was upstairs with the girls (and luckily the dog to keep himself out of trouble) and they heard a crash. I came home to find the tree on its side. Apparently, our poor little tree stand had finally had enough and gave out. Amazingly enough, we only lost one ornament (plus another in the clean up - but still minor!!). So our tree is up - for the 3rd time. I am optimistically hopeful I have seen the last of my tree decorating skills until 2011!