the most random post you ever did see

Yesterday was an odd day for me. The boys were so good and Baby A slept for-evv-ver so I was able to get our house in working order again. I currently have laundry for days, but the rest of the house is (was!) spick and span. Since the boys were little angels, our dog Holly decided she would make up for the peaceful day by doing this:

The worst part is that it is right on the line of our property and so it's basically in the neighbor's yard who just moved in last week. They're going to hate us. I briefly considered knocking on their door to apologize and tell them we'd fix it, but then I remembered Oh-my-gosh-I-just-left-my-children-to-fend-for-themselves-where-are-they? And what-am-I-going-to-do-with-this-now-dirty-dog? I shoveled as much of the dirt back into the hole as I could and ran back in to see what shenanigans the toddler had gotten himself into. Then I put Holly in the garage to clean her off and dry her so I listened to her whine the entire time she was in there. Bless her heart, she was used to having tons of room to run and play and now she is in an urban prison. Me, too, girl. Me, too.

The good news is today is a new day and the start of a fun weekend and HEY! We remembered trash day this morning so that's always a plus. Cray K woke up a little out of sorts:

I don't know what it is about that shirt, but it is half off in the morning every time he wears it to bed the night before. Wild little sleeper.

What if I got this haircut?

It's just something I'm considering. 

Also, did anyone else wake up to a morning person and a dirty kitchen?

Ahh! Pass the coffee please.

Happy Friday!

Currently (in my neck of the woods)

*I'm downing: a cup of coffee at 3:30pm as I write and schedule this post. Yes, it's been one of those days. I cannot wake up. Baby K is sleeping soundly and I wish I could be doing that, too. Instead I've been nesting. #cantstopwontstop

*I'm reading: The Telling by Gary E. Reavis Sr.

He's a local author (and by local I mean to my home state!). I guess I'll always be a Tennessee girl.

*I'm wondering: what I should change "Baby K" to when Baby A comes along. Many of you have pointed out that he's not so much a baby anymore as he is a walking, talking toddler! If you count his nonsense as talking. Still needs some work, in my opinion. Anyway, suggestions are welcome.

*I'm trying: not to go absolutely, freaking insane. A new dog has been added to our neighborhood albeit temporarily but STILL! He/She is a "froo froo" dog as I not-so-affectionately call them and he's tiny and LOUD. Barking at nothing. All.day.long.

*I'm excited: about the new Scentsy Scent of the Month for November. 

Honestly, I haven't smelled it yet, but I'll be placing an order soon after the new month rolls around. You can shop my Scentsy site here.

*I'm thankful: for the health of my boys. I fear that sometimes you come here, read my daily struggles, and think that I might just take how good I have it for granted. Maybe I do sometimes. But not a day goes by that I am not in prayer to God for blessing me so richly with two perfect sons and a loving husband. Life is so, so good. Even when it seems hard. I'm so blessed!

*I'm glad: for cool October evenings when I can snuggle with my honey by the fire. Check out our redneck fire pit and be jealous of our innovation.

*I'm missing: my blonde hair sometimes.

*I'm looking forward to: working toward losing weight and not putting it on! Seven(ish) more weeks to go until Baby.

Speaking of, I keep thinking: of all these things newborns require. Like burping! And swaddling! And nursing, oh my. I hope my body has muscle memory and just simply knows what to do. I mean, yeah...it hasn't even been a year since I had to do all these things, but the way I function is that I focus on the age group K is in and I deal with it. All other knowledge of what I thought I knew about him goes out the window as he changes everyday. I don't have space for remembering all those techniques for burping a tiny human right now. Do you think it'll come right back to me? Surely. Anyway, enough about burping. That word is just gross.

What's going on in your neck of the woods?

Things I'm Afraid To Tell You

This topic has been floating around the blogging community lately. The first post I read I knew I wanted to throw in my two cents, too. By hiding behind my computer screen, I can paint the perfect picture of what my life looks like or what I want my life to look like. I choose what you see. But sometimes I try to let you in a little more- I try to give you glimpses into my struggles and my daily life. I know I appreciate when bloggers are real. Usually when I do write posts that aren't all that positive, I receive negative emails/comments. But I don't let them get to me too much. Because this blog? It's me. Take it or leave it.

Via

*I'm pregnant. You probably knew that if you frequent my blog. What you don't know? I look like I'm about six months pregnant. No joke. The cute little photo I posted a week ago is not what I look like right now. I showed so quickly and I'm only 11 weeks along. I can't believe how much I'm showing as I go throughout the day. It's exhausting to carry my nine month old and apparently my tee tiny little fetus and know it's only just the beginning. I'm afraid to say it, but I'm not one of those people who enjoys being pregnant. I actually think it's miserable and I hate to say that when so many of my friends are struggling right now to conceive. It makes me sound ungrateful. Don't get me wrong- I'm so excited and happy for this child, but the process of meeting him or her is not my favorite thing to do.

*This one is hard for me: We no longer have Drifter living with us. I haven't mentioned it on purpose because some people are so judgemental when it comes to pets. We gave him to a lady who lives in the area who has another husky. They get along famously. We just couldn't handle him anymore. It wasn't just one little thing. It was a culmination of several things. He couldn't be trusted inside around the baby. Outside, he was ruining the yard, making our landlords mad, and costing us hundreds of dollars trying to repair what he repeatedly destroyed. We tried everything we could think of, but when he started growling at kids- that was the last straw. We're not going to live our lives in fear that he might hurt our kids- inadvertently or not. I feel as if we are awful doggy parents for letting him go, but I feel confident in our decision as human parents and that role means way more to me. Holly is the only K-9 in our lives now and she is spoiled rotten once again. We miss Drifter occasionally when we think back to all the fun times we had with him. I imagine if we still lived in Alaska, we'd have him until the day he died, but he just couldn't handle life here in our growing family. Judge me if you must, but we did what was right for us.

*I'm a registered Republican. Some might (and have) called me a bible thumping Republican. I try not to get into politics much on my blog because it's not worth it to me. I've learned that I'm probably not going to be swayed much by what YOU have to say in that department and you probably won't change your mind based on whatever information I provide to you either. But there's something I simply can't ignore and those are blanket statements. They come from both sides and they're ignorant and ridiculous. If you make one, I'll probably take you off my mental list of 'people that can carry on intelligent conversation'. "Liberals are lazy. Republicans are greedy. Christians are stupid" et cetera- I can't stand to see this on my facebook and twitter feeds. We're probably all guilty to some degree, but it's such a backward way of thinking. Along these same lines, I don't like when people assume that because I label myself as a conservative that I must believe a certain way. Yes, I'm a right leaner, but no I don't care if gay people want to get married. Yes, I'm a Christian, but no I don't think that it's my place to judge anyone based on who they love. I just think politics should be reserved for things like, oh say, THE ECONOMY?! I don't know if you've noticed lately, but there's a lot that needs to be worked on in that department.

*My facebook job title reads "Freelance Writer", but I haven't sold anything or even written anything that I'm proud of lately. I sit down at the computer to do so and then the oven dings, the dryer buzzes  or the baby cries and I run off to do the things around the house that have to be done. Life calls. The {little} money I make on this ole blog is the only thing I contribute to our family with financially and that still bothers me on some level even though I've accepted that God wants me to stay at home with our children for now.

*On that note, I'm not currently working on my Master's either. I took another break. I couldn't do it. Well, that's a lie. I can do it, I just want to be able to focus on it and not worry that I'm not going to do well. I made it a goal of mine when I graduated college that if I went back, I would get a 4.0 with my next degree. As it stands, that is still an option for me but last semester I just barely came out of it with an A. Because Captain J is in grad school right now, I just didn't have the help I needed with the baby because he was busy with his work, too. I hope to go back when he finishes his up.

Allow me to sum it up for you-

I'm not perfect, folks. I hope we're still friends!

XOXO,
Mrs. K

White Flag

It never fails. Every time he leaves, a host of things go wrong. He'd probably say this is because we depend on him for so much, but I just chalk it up to my incredibly bad luck. He's been gone for 24 hours. Here's what has happened in the last 24-

(Note: The following are bolded for emphasis.)

•  I discovered the rain totally fried our electric fence.


• A few hours later, the dogs discovered it, too.


• Drifter ran away.


• I rejoiced. (Ha! I'm only half serious).


•  I brought Holly inside, but I had to literally drag her- kicking and screaming because she did not want to cross the line. While I'm holding her, trying to show her it's okay- I also have Baby K on my hip because he refused to be put down without emitting Baby K screams.

*Enter a few moments of peace.

•  K starts freaking out, something he hadn't done all week. Consequently, Holly starts pacing and wondering what's wrong with her tiny human.


• I hear whining at the door. Drifter is back- great.


• I take the dogs outside. They stay on the porch- barking at every single movement outside. This makes it pretty difficult to get my whiny babe to sleep.

*Baby K did sleep all night once he finally drifted off to sleep!

• I awake to an unhappy little one and this continues the rest of the day.


• I run out of chocolate. Disaster.


• Battery on car is shot. Took her to Walmart and they told me they hadn't seen a car like that and would be unable to change the oil or replace the battery. Umm? Whatev.

Where's my white flag? I surrender.

(Image credit)

Dog Days (2nd Edition)

On facebook, it was brought to my attention that I haven't been talking about my other two furry four legged kids. Forgive me. But you know when Mama says, "If you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything at all", I tend to follow that rule.

I'm just playing. Or am I?

Drifter and Holly still have us questioning our decision making skills on a daily basis. As I talk about my four legged friends, I would just like to say, in case you didn't already know, you should never NOT EVER get a husky. They're absolutely terrible dogs.

But we love them so that their bad habits are sometimes endearing. They dig. They jump. They chew. And by "they", I mean Drifter. Holly is my angel dog ;) She does no wrong in my book.

I went outside to play with them today. They've been banished to the side of the yard because of this:



Oh, yes. We're the worst renters ever. We found out how terrible their digging habits were in Georgia. The people we rented from there actually asked us if we were trying to make a place for a pond or a bird bath because of the massive whole they dug. It's ridiculous and we've tried everything. We weren't aware how bad it was in Alaska because there was snow on the ground most of the year and in the summer it rained a lot and I could make a million excuses, but the fact is- I don't think it can be trained out of them. Alaskan Huskies are bred to run. They have a job. Drifter and Holly? They don't have a job...and this creates a problem (and many holes).

(Note: Of course we would never leave a property we rented looking like this! We bought sod before we left GA and judging by the picture above, we'll be buying a lot more when we leave here.)

These dogs are bloody expensive!

But they're also cute and sometimes sweet, too.



I like when Drifter sits like that. He's so proper.

And Holly is so timid when Baby K is strapped to me. She wants to be on her best behavior so she sits like this as if to say, "I'd like you to pet me but I know you have your hands full so I'll let you come to me." Love her.

I wish there was a dog park here so they could run and play again with other dogs like they love to do. We'll have to make a special trip to the dog park when we get to Tennessee. We can't forget them this time of year! Santa didn't. He brought them Christmas bones.

After our visit with Drifter and Holly, Baby K and I just walked around our massive backyard discovering leaves, an airplane, and fresh air.