Pahk ya Cah!

We went to Boston for our anniversary trip and had an amazing time! We went without the baby and were able to get some good sleep (much needed) and it was so weird for me to not have to tend to a baby around the clock. It felt like everywhere we went there was a baby and even the room next to us had a crying baby (ironic i know) so needless to say we missed Missy Priss, but we had some time to laugh and get away and just remember what good friends we are. Bry and I made a comitment to not wait for a vacation to really ENJOY ourselves. Sometimes we get so stressed from the business of life that we don't delight in each other and celebrate each day. So it was a fun time for that. So here is our top ten fav things about Boston in case you are trying to decide if you should go or not for YOUR next trip...

Keri's top 10 list:

10. riding in the cab and getting a first class Boston accent tour at 1 am

9. Breakfast at Paramount can you say "ORDER UP!" those whole grain mile high french toasts toped with fresh fruit were amazing!

8. walking the streets touring the historical sights and drinking my chai (heaven) and bry with his hot mocklet like real Bostonians

7. the sizzzzle of a 500 degree plate and posing with statues of Donkeys , & etc :)

6. Boston Oysters, Clam Chowder, and Boston Cream Pie..... I'm so fat! lol

5. Remembering the guy at the fruit stand... lol (this is two part) and laughing SO hard

4. Seeing the Old North Church and the dog tag memorial


3. playing with the sealions, I think they wanted to come home with me...kiss kiss

2. seeing Bryson's face when his eyes hit the green monster for the first time


And the NUMBER 1 reason I love Boston is....

1. I got to sleep in with my cover hogging hunny





Bryson's top 10 list:

10) Eating at the original Cheers “where everybody knows your name” (two words for you “Fenway Special”, the kind of chili that will ruin any white shirt and internal organs).

9) Riding a subway for the first time and the many bodies rubbing me in a confined space (I still feel gross from that subway to Fenway)

8) The War Memorial for deceased American soldiers from Afghanistan . They took their dog tags and made this huge wind chime, not only beautiful, but the sound was amazing. Praise God for those men!

7) Our many journeys to Boston Common, the North End and Boston harbor (lots of hand holding and warm drinks)

6) Legal Seafood Restaurant (I still have dreams and drool uncontrollably about the swordfish and lobster bisque I had)

5) Chocolate Chip Pancakes from the Paramount (Re-freakin’ didiculous….they were yum yum).

4) The beautiful Holocaust Memorial (It was truly humbling to see how many lives were taken during the Holocaust)

3) The Old North Church ; it was the last thing we saw and one of the most beautiful sights in all Boston

2) Fenway Park….(The Green Monster, Cy Young awards, Hall of Fame plaques) it was amazing! Sometimes I wonder if I was supposed to be born there, the way that city loves baseball

1) Experiencing all these things with Keri! It really was an awesome trip

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pics of our trip coming soon to a Blog near you!

Wordless Wednesday

Photo Frenzy

We got a new camera and so the photo shoot began! Kehnley had yet to experience the joys of this months photo shoot and so I held out for a few days and decided to take the new digital for a test drive... Turns out, I am kind of a photo maniac! Those that know me well, I know it's hard for you to imagine me actually taking more photos than I already do, but I am and it's only gong to get worse I fear. There is a black and white feature but I have yet to master part...and she's got these baby blues I just can't not capture their color, their amazing.

I am such a stereotypical mom, I am constantly photo documenting ever hiccup Kehnley has! But I just can't get enough of her! I wish I could do this for a living... here are just a few of our favorites. Bry did an awesome job as props for laughter.

Her belly cracks me up

Look at her little skirt!

This one is my favorite!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay now I have ot share the "mouth test" with you, she does this to everything!

Dreaming of Sleeping

Never knew how much I would covet sleep until I wasn't getting any! Here is our darling sleeping... but it doesn't last as long as we dreamed it would.




Still... I keep tellin myself, one day she will sleep so long I will be waking her up before noon and asking her why she insists on "sleeping the day away" like my parents did.

Currently (after reading countless books and articles on sleep) we are experiencing a break through... she sleeps for 6 hrs straight, or has at least for the past few days... from 10 to 4 I actually have uninterrupted sleep! It's been amazing.

The only new addition to the past sleepless nights is that though she stays asleep longer she has a harder time going down. She kicks her legs and sakes my hands around as she eats in the dark... I think she is just finding out how much she can do and can't settle down from all he excitement! I mean wouldn't you if you just discovered that you can somewhat clap your hands



( it's more like clapping fists... but at least the hands are coming together!)

Rescued

I made our banner today and had to share what lead me to this inspiring image of our family and the scripture that God brought to my heart while making it...

2 Samuel 22:17-18,20
"He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of the deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me....re rescued me because He delighted in me."

Joshua 23:8
"But you are to hold fast to the Lord, as you have until now."


Last nigh was Palm Sunday, the day that Christ rode into town on a donkey as royalty to the people of Jerusalem to give them a sign of peace that He had come as a savior. A week later the crowd, disappointed that He wasn't the savior they expected screamed Crucify Him... and He shed His blood for our sins. His blood brought peace... peace in the garden as He asked God to take the cup from Him, peace towards us when his blood spilt at the lashings before the cross, peace between us when his side was pierced and his heart spilled His blood and he breathed his last breath.

I never realized until last night that our enemy is our sin, and we live in a darkness that is the World. But God has redeemed us, He's rescued us... from our great enemy, from ourselves, from sin.

We have a lot of big decisions to make in the next 6 months for our family... but knowing that God has spilt His blood for our peace, we are going to hold on to Him and He has taken hold of us.

9 Months

It's so crazy to think that 9 months ago I was holding this sweet little baby in my hands trying to figure out how in the world I was going to be a mom. God has taught me so much through this little person. Bry and I talk all the time about how much Kehnley teaches us about ourselves, God's constant grace...and what it means to have "faith like a child" I have seen God through these little eyes for the past 9 months and I hope I will always depend on Him like I do now, and I will always have an eager desire to discover new things about Him....as Kenhley learns how to be a human being we are learning how to be the beloved, and hopefully teaching that to her as well.

When you hear "they grow up so fast..."

I had no idea!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Like new born babies crave spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have taste that the Lord is good." 1 Peter 2:2

I think of Kehnley and how she will cry so hard only for milk... there is nothing else that upsets her like being hungry. I don't know that I am always that hungry like that for Christ, to be THAT desperate for Him... that's what I want to be.

LILLYKINS

I just realized I haven't even MENTIONED LILLY! Her birthday is at the end of the month. She's been neglected a little since Kehnley came along, but I am trying not to give her the older child treatement. Her and Bry aren't on the best of terms, I'll let him explain why...

Parents are crazy...so some kids are too

Last night was the open house for school. You can tell by my title how it all went! Some parents and students are so great, their kids are fun and the parents are personable and it was good to meet them... then there are the "others". On the island of LOST the others are odd people who have lived in a confined community too long and don't know how to interact appropriately with those new to the island. The "others" tend to be controlling, manipulative, and just flat out mean! Well, on the island of MPE where I work, these "others" are those parents who hold the same characteristics. One parent actually came into the room and started looking through MY organized stacks of stuff to find their kids work... as was the child and I said several times it was in the hall but they didn't believe me!! I had other parents coming in to meet me and I was having clean up their mess.

Then I had some parents say "how come my child hasn't had any art work sent home yet" instead of my instinct response of because your child will roll his up and hit other students with it all day, or maybe because he doesn't have the self discipline he needs to shut his mouth and follow directions so he doesn't HAVE anything to show for his time in art class besides discipline slips... would you like those? I could frame theme for you if yo like. Instead I politely said that I would be passing work back at the end of the spring art show. I am just going to have to start giving much more simple art projects than what we had been doing before. They are projects that take a couple weeks... I am gonna just break down and do the one weekers!

Some kids never put their names on their work even though i have said to do so about a hundred times a day...so they end up with some random art work with their name slapped on it and i hope it's right!

I usually really love my job... but open house came right after a conversation I had with one of my students...Luis... sweet, honest, tell it like it is with a Spanish accent Luis....
he tells me in a lot of words with trailing off and getting lost in other subjects that basically the teacher before me was a better teacher, he knows more about art, he taught better things about art, he told them more about artists, and that he was the best artists he knows and that maybe I would be better served to go take one of HIS art classes...
PS. Luis is 7

I'm gonna pray for Luis's teacher

All in a days work...

On the Brink of a Break

Only two days left til Spring Break... I can't sleep! All I know is that Spring Break for me means more of this sweet girl!

I have to be at work almost all day tomorrow setting up for the art show and I am blogging at midnight... what's wrong with me! OK off to bed... more on the awesome day I had today tomorrow. The Lord has given me some direction!

Being Blowey itsn't about a title but a legacy...

Bry and I have been married for 2 years this past January and I am still learning what it means to be a Blowey. We've known each other over a decade and have come to learn the importance of our friendship and it's made our marriage something more amazing that I ever thought. On our 9 month anniversary we found out we were going to be bringing another Blowey into the world and so our daughter Kehnley was born. This is just a little bit of the story God has given us to tell...

Diving in

I have been meaning to start a blog for a while now... realizing that as a new mom I of course have NO time to really keep up with it... but i think it will be fun to look back and see where we were in life. Bry says he will be using this too... I thought it would be an awesome opportunity to do ministry as well as keeping our friends and family updated on news with us. My life has always been an adventure... full of fun and exciting things. I don't go anywhere really exceptional, or do anything out of the ordinary, but for some reason I always have a story to tell. Now Bry and I are doing it together and as the years go by...I have realized that maybe it's not the experiences, its the perspective. Hope you enjoy!