Happiness Is...

Thrill the World 2009

nobody@vox.com(Kendell) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 23:19:32 -0500

Brendan's middle school took part in Thrill the World 2009. This is when people all over the world do the Thriller dance at the exact same time. The kids spent several hours after school learning the Thriller dance, and tonight was the big night. Brendan and Jared were side by side, and I was filming what I thought was them. But there was a kid wearing an Obama mask that was in front of and directly between them, so he is in all of the video. I've watched the video several times and I actually laugh out loud when I see President B.O. doing the Thriller dance!! He steals the show!

Brendan and Jared really are in my video, but you have to look past the president to see them!

President B.O. Does the Thriller Dance

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My Collin Earned the Game Ball!

nobody@vox.com(Kendell) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:02:46 -0500

Collin finally earned a game ball in tonight's game. He struck out twice, and on his third at bat, he hit a grounder to the infield. Fortunately, whoever threw it to first base overthrew, and the first baseman missed the ball, so Collin ran to second. He hit a double and got 2 RBIs!! The next batter got a hit and Collin listened to Coach Jeff perfectly and ran all the way home. He slid into home because he knew the throw was coming. It was close, but he was safe! We really needed the run. All of the coaches congratulated him and Coach Josh even picked him up and carried him into the dugout. It was a big night for Collin, and I'm so glad his coaches recognized that. We are really blessed that he is on the Blue Jays this season.

And just as an aside, the reason this is such a big deal is because Collin is not a fast runner. He told me yesterday he wanted a game ball, and I told him he had to hustle. So he did! Yay, Collin!

Here he is proudly holding his game ball...

Collin and His Game Ball

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Brendan Wrote His First Song

nobody@vox.com(Kendell) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 21:11:02 -0500

Brendan has been taking guitar lessons since March, and he loves it. His guitar teacher (who is wonderful) has said some very complimentary things about him. He loves playing his guitar, and he seems to be pretty good at it. Then a couple of weeks ago he decided he would write a song for the PTA Reflections contest at his school. Next thing I know he has the music written, followed closely with lyrics. Andrew (guitar teacher) is helping him practice and record it. Today, his friend Jared joined him to practice playing the song. Brendan does the solo. They sounded really good and I am excited to hear the whole song.

Brendan and Jared Practicing "Can't Stop"

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Currently My Favorite Song

nobody@vox.com(Kendell) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 20:04:29 -0500

For the last couple of weeks, my favorite song has been, "Oh, Happiness" by David Crowder*Band. I heard it for the first time at the Church Music release party, and I've loved it ever since. Give it a listen.

15 Oh, Happiness 1

David Crowder Band

And just for fun, here's a picture of Angie and me with David Crowder at the release party.

Angie and Me with David Crowder

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Since UT is No Longer Trying To Lose

nobody@vox.com(Kendell) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 21:23:35 -0500

The Texas/Colorado game is in the 4th quarter, and I'm so happy (and relieved) that Texas has decided they want to win. I thought I'd take a minute while I'm sitting in front of the tv and do some blogging.

Things have been moving fast around here, just like always. I will resort to my old crutch, the bullet point, to bring you up to speed on the happenings at our house.

-I just finished my first long term sub job at the kids' elementary school. It was a 4 week job teaching the gifted and talented class and it was the perfect job to get me back into the swing of elementary education. I enjoyed myself, got reacquainted with the elementary way of doing things, and had some great learning experiences. I think I still was in a preschool mindset as it took me much longer to explain things than it should have, and I realized within the last week that I was explaining things too much, and not leaving much for the kids to figure out on their own. Mental note taken.

-I was offered my second long term sub job, which made me very happy and was a great little ego boost as the principal wouldn't have offered it to me if I had not been doing a good job with the GT class. This one starts in early November and is a 2nd grade class. My biggest behavior problem in the GT classes is in this homeroom, and it's going to be a challenge, but I will surely grow from it.

-My second round of measurements for the Total Transformation contest was yesterday. All numbers went down, including weight. Yay! At my September measurement, my weight had not changed, even though inches and body fat percentage all went down, and Mandi (the trainer) told me to step up my cardio and only do weights twice a week. Evidently this was my magic bullet and I have made myself run on the treadmill and make sure that my heartrate is in the correct range while doing cardio and it has made all the difference. Now that things are in motion, I look forward to seeing how I do over the next 4 weeks.

-Brendan and Collin are playing baseball and enjoying themselves. Collin has a fantastic coach and we are so grateful that Coach Jeff got Collin on his team. He has improved greatly since the beginning of the season, and it has required a lot of patience from Coach Jeff and the assistant coaches. Cole is coaching Brendan's team again, and they are having a mediocre season. They, too, have improved, but for some reason they just can't get their stuff together completely.

-Kaelin is taking jazz and ballet and she really loves her jazz class. She is bored with ballet, but was told by the owner of her dance studio that she needs to take ballet in addition to whatever other class she wants to take. She doesn't complain about it, but she doesn't really like it. She is loving 3rd grade and is still quite the social butterfly.

There are 6 minutes left in the football game, and it appears that Texas has a victory wrapped up. It shouldn't have taken them the whole first half to get this far ahead, but I'm just glad they got here. Hook 'em, Horns!!

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Twitter is Ruining My Blog!!

nobody@vox.com(Kendell) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 21:27:49 -0500

Since I started twittering, I hardly take time to blog. I guess if I ever posted anything earth-shattering on here this would be a big deal. I do find myself missing the blog, though. I will have to catch up soon.

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The Government Can

nobody@vox.com(Kendell) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:41:26 -0500

Funny stuff, Tim Hawkins.

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You've Gotta Check This Place Out

nobody@vox.com(Kendell) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 11:02:29 -0500

One of our favorite family outings is a trip to Marble Slab, Baskin Robbins, or any of the other various ice cream restaurants we have around here. Every time we go, we spend no less than $20, and I always wonder what the fat and calorie content is of what we're eating. So I was pleasantly surprised when we discovered Berry Cool Frozen Yogurt a few weeks ago. They serve frozen yogurt, rather than ice cream, and the price was much more reasonable. Take a minute and look at the nutrition information on the website. The frozen yogurt at Berry Cool has less fat and calories than ice cream, and it tastes just as good.

You choose what flavor yogurt you want and put as much as you want in a cup. Then you can add toppings. They have everything you could possibly want - fruit, candy, nuts, chocolate syrup. The cashier weighs your creation and you pay by weight.

The kids love it, too, and they don't even realize it's not ice cream. Check it out if you have a Berry Cool near you.

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What Next?

nobody@vox.com(Kendell) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 11:20:10 -0500

The past 24 hours have been interesting to say the least. I am currently experiencing one of those seasons in life when the smooth sailing of the past several months is suddenly interrupted by some pretty crazy storms. Two days ago, a cousin with whom I haven't spoken in years sent me a friend request on Facebook. I was really happy to get the friend request and glad to be back in touch with him. He is the youngest of 3, and it's a long story, but we've only been in contact with the oldest cousin for the past few years. So hearing from him was wonderful. Then my brother called yesterday and told me that the middle cousin has been doing some things he shouldn't have, like things that he *really* shouldn't have been doing, and the situation is suddenly not so happy. I'm still glad to be back in contact with them, but disappointed with the choices of my middle cousin and not really sure how to move forward with getting to know them again.

And then this morning I logged into Facebook only to find out that my pastor is going to another church. He hasn't had time to announce it yet, he preached there in view of a call last Sunday (of course we didn't know this), and the new church already has it up on their website. It's not his fault, and the lady who posted the info on Facebook was shocked and that was her reaction. I just wish the new church could have held off another week so that he would have had the chance to tell us himself. A beloved pastor leaving your church is hard enough to take, even if it's God's will, but to find out on the internet rather than from the pastor himself makes it harder to swallow. But I wish him the best, and I hope and pray that we find our next pastor soon.

A friend of mine tells me that things happen in threes. I'm not sure I want to know what's going to happen next.

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Quotes from Collin

nobody@vox.com(Kendell) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 22:17:45 -0500

My little Collin is quite the character. Every single day he says or does something that makes us laugh. He's given us 2 memorable quotes over the past week or so.

Quote #1: Collin earned a Transformers Bumblebee toy that he wanted and was happily playing with it upstairs. I heard yelling and he told me Kaelin took it out of his hand. I called them both downstairs and made Kaelin apologize to him, which she did with typical 8 year old girl attitude. Then she went back upstairs and Collin was still standing in front of me. He looked at me and said, "It's okay, I forgive her."

Quote #2: We went to visit my parents over Labor Day weekend. Kaelin wanted to take Cookie, but we wouldn't let her. She was crying Friday morning at breakfast and I was talking to her trying to get her to understand why Cookie would be happier at home. Collin said to her, "Whenever I have tears, I just drink some milk, and *poof* they're gone."

I just don't know where he gets this stuff!

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