Whoa! Where have I been??

Wow!?! Has it really been a week since I last posted? Things are so crazy for me right now. The semester is ending in 4 weeks, so it's crunch time to tie up loose ends. And, can you believe another month has came and gone? What happened to March? And February? And January, for that matter? Can you believe Christmas is only 9 months away? Here is a random update on how things are going in our neck of the woods:

• I have fallen off the wagon pretty much for doing my stairs for Lent! Everything was going so well, but then I missed a day. Which turned into another day...then another. Next thing I know, here it's Friday (almost) and I haven't done stairs all week.


• It's been really cold and rainy this week. I'm so ready for summer.


• My sweet nephew, Josef, celebrated a birthday this past week!


• I had dinner with some of my favorite future teachers last week. These are some of the classmates I have grown so close to over the past three years! I don't know what I'll do when I don't get to see these girls once-twice a week when we graduate.



Bobbie, Kim, Me



• 
  
  For the past three nights, we've made Kade cry it out in his crib. This part of parenting stinks! Someone should have warned me how hard it would be to hear him sobbing between his "Ma-Maaaaaaaaaaaa's."


• 
  
  We also took Kade roller skating! He loved it. At one point, I glanced over and saw this



Uncle Shawn, Kade, Kenleigh



• Kohen is almost 5 months old. He has a cow-lick which makes me call him Alfalfa. You can barely see it in the picture.


• Still getting the silent treatment from some family members. It's been a month and a half now.


• Life goes on.

That's our life pretty much in a nutshell! I hope you all are having a fantastic week!

Tell me Thursday: Thankful Thursday

This has been a week for bullet points:

• I just finished reading By The Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead by Julie Anne Peters. I posted a review on my other blog here. If you like to read, check it out. It was really good, but more importantly, it was "real." It's a young adult literature novel, and let me just interject here...my, oh my, how books have changed since I was a kid. I read YAL novels because I am going to school to become a middle grades teacher, and I want to be knowledgeable about what books my students will be reading and which books I can recommend.
• I have a mid-term tonight at school which I am in no way, shape, or form ready for. I have been the epiphany of the procrastinator student this semester. I'd really appreciate your prayers for me to do my best, and that will be good enough for me.
• Still having some family drama. We are currently getting the silent treatment from members of our family. I wish I could say I don't care, but if I'm honest, I care a lot. Maybe too much. Time heals all wounds right?
• New Life Lesson Learned: If I would have know then, what I know now I probably wouldn't have "opened the can of worms" with said Family. Nothing has changed. Nothing good has been gained. Although everything we said (both parties) were true, I don't know now that it was worth it.
• My Sweet Kade has pee-peed in the potty 4 times today! My mom is the best! She keeps my boys during the day, and she works so hard with them. I'm so glad they are in her care and are smothered with hugs and kisses all day long.
• My Sweet Kade won't sleep in his big boy bed. He wants to snuggle with Mommy, which I am loving a little too much. Daddy, not so much. I think he is scared of the dark :(
• My Sweet Kohen is teething! I anticipate he will have one come through soon.
• My Sweet Kohen also had his 4 month well visit this week. He had to get shots. I've never quite seen the shade of red his face turned before. He was so friendly and flirting with his nurses before the shots. I'm pretty sure he broke up with her after that.
• My husband is the best. Have I told you that lately? He is. I use to want to win the lottery. But now, I look around at my husband, our boys, and the life that we share, and I realize I already have.

What are you thankful for? Tell me...It's one of the last days to enter to win a $25 visa giftcard. Go to this post to enter now! By the way, I filled up completely my car with gas this week, and it cost $62.25! Ouch!

Lots of good stuff going on...

We had an important week of events to occur in the Killian household this week.

My Sweet Kade....pee-peed in the potty for the first time.

He also learned to share with his brother.

And my Sweet Kohen...

rolled over from his back to his stomach.

He also declared his thoughts on the UNC/Miami game from Friday.

Life is good in the Killian house!

Happy Friday!

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Lent 2011

I have never really participated in Lent, or if I have, I don't recall it. This year, I've felt a tugging from Someone to do it. I've been considering for weeks on what I could give up that would "hurt"--or really notice--to remind me to go to God and give thanks for the blessings in my life which he has poured upon me too generously. My first thoughts were caffeine, but I've given up caffeine before, so it wasn't all too difficult to do.

What would really hurt?


Sigh.

Exercise.

I'm not an exercise sort of person. It's not my idea of fun--at all. I just don't enjoy it. I wish I did, but I don't. My attitude is pretty much summed up in this cartoon.

So, yesterday I convinced myself that while on break at work I would do 4 sets of stairs. Not four flights of stairs, four sets of FOUR FLIGHTS of stairs. That's sixteen flights of stairs for you math whizzes out there. Why stairs? Well, the weather in NC is so odd these days. I didn't want the ability to use "weather" as an excuse to quit. I also feel that stairs involve more physical stamina than walking--my calves are so sore today!! They couldn't possibly be this sore from walking.

Now some of you, I realize, are probably thinking, "Well, that's so easy...blah, blah, blah." Holy moly! I almost died. Twice. I think I heard angles singing at one point. I was breathing so heavily on my second set that I decided to stop at 8 flights on shear fear that I would pass out. Maybe by the end of Lent I'll be able to do the 3rd and 4th sets.

The entire time I had to push myself. I prayed to God and thanked Him for the blessings he has placed in my life. I prayed for guidance and direction. I prayed for you, my sweet friends. I prayed for family and good health. I prayed for my friends. I prayed for God to make me godly. Every step was so hard for me...each next step, a little harder than the prior step.

Ironically it reminded me so much of my journey to parenthood. It started out easy...then it got a little harder...a little more hard...a lot more hard. When I was finished I felt so relieved and fulfilled. It's almost hard to put into words. It was a "me and God" moment that I will cherish where He put some things in perspective for me.

I will press on, one step at a time.

SSMT #5

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Sorry, I failed to post my new bible verse for yesterday. I can't believe another month has come and gone. I need to strive to live in the moment. There are so many moments of February that I don't rememeber (or I'd like to forget).

I decided to memorize Ephesians 4:31-32

"Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of malicious behaviour. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you." (NIV)

Here are the other verses I have meditated on so far this year:

SSMT #4
"Work hard and cheerfully at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people." (Colossians 3:23 NIV)

SSMT #3
"Just as the rich rule the poor, so the borrower is servant to the lender." (Proverbs 22:7 NIV)

SSMT #2
"Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the best part of everything your land produces." (Proverbs 3:9 NIV)

SSMT #1
"Study this Book of the Law continually. Meditate on it day and night so you may be sure to obey all that is written in it. Only then will you