Gavy the great walks!

He did it! Gavy finally started walking on his own. He just took steps totally unprovoked. It was great. By the time I shot this video he was getting tired so he started stumbling a lot but yeah Gavy! It's so wonderful when they reach those milestones.

Christmas Kienbusch style

Here they are, my Christmas photos. We like to go to Bill's family on Christmas Eve. Taylor gets excited and pulls together some sort of festive outfit. We only exchange gag gifts for the adults and we give presents to the children. My gift was from my Brother in law, Bob, who gave me a hair volumizer...nice....just what I needed. Bill got Grecian formula for his mustache. All those grey hairs you know.

Gavin didn't know what was going on but he sure had fun with all the wrapping paper and other babies. He was up and down the couch all night looking at ELlie and Olivia.


We had tons of fun and lots of laughs. Bill has a sister named Wendy who lives in another state and she sent the goofy glasses with elf ears so we took a group shot to send to her. It's great to be a part of a big family like that. It gives me insight as to what type of Christmases I can look forward to in the future when my kids visit me with their families. I'm gonna love it.

One Day Way

I just finished reading One Day Way by Chantel Hobbs and it's a definite must for people that want to lose weight but are overwhelmed with how much weight they want to lose. Chantel is very encouraging and helps people break down their diet/lifestyle changes into bite sized pieces and not looking too far ahead but just doing what's right now.

After having just lost 40 pounds in the last year I can attest to how hard it is to stay motivated and keep on track. I wish I had read her book last year. Her philosophy is simple, make simple goals and stick to them. For example, move everyday. Eat more vegetables. Skip dessert...just today. As you stick to your goals then add more. Don't try to do it all in one week or beat yourself up if you have that piece of cake. Just get back on the horse and keep going.

Pick it up to encourage you in your new healthy lifestyle, you won't regret it. I have a copy to give away. All you need to do is to post a comment and I will draw a name for who gets it.

Extreme Makeover

One of the many nice things about having a daughter is that she likes to do hair and makeup. When she first started she was about Liam's age. She would roll my hair around a hairbrush to use as a curler and then she would get it stuck. Bill tried pouring olive oil on my hair to get it unstuck but it didn't work so I had to cut chunks out of it. I was leery of her trying after that.

She's improved a bit since then. She loves to straighten my hair and I love it when she does because it's so smooth. I never want to wash it afterwords. We had fun taking these before and after photos because my curly brown hair scares her. I think she will make a great beautician if that's what she decides to do. Otherwise I can just enjoy good hair for a few more years before she moves out.

Things for sale!!!!!!!!!

Quilted Pillows $10 each.

Here are some doll clothes that I still have for sale. The shirts, pants, shoes, shorts, backpack, and hats are all $5 each. The fancy dresses are $20 each. The leotard is $10. The tablecloth is $15. The quilted pillows are $10 each. I can ship what you want to you at a flat rate for $4.95. Please email me at wendy.william@att.net to let me know what you want and to get your address. Local pickup is free of course. I can take paypal or a check but have to wait for the check to clear before shipping the items. Thanks for looking.

If you are leery of ordering from my blog through email I would be happy to list the item on etsy. The link is http://www.etsy.com/shop/taaudy I have the purple dress, Christmas dress and the hat and muffs there already. That way you could pay with a credit card too. Just email me the item you want listed. If you buy multiple items you only pay one shipping charge, the other items are free.

Hats $5

Table cloth $15

Sunflower hat $5

Christmas hat, shoes and dress $25

Blue satin and lace dress $20

Two piece blue satin top and yellow skirt $20

brown jumper and peach shirt $15

Apron hat set $15

Two piece colonial dress $20

Red calico shirt $5

BLue skorts $5Striped pants $5

Plaid skirt and shoes $10

Fall dress $20

Pink satin dress, white lace and ballet slippers $25

Pink hat $5

Red/silver sleeveless dress $15

Cardigan, skirt and shoes $15, hat and muff $5

Red silver dress and jacket $20

I have a son I call my Eeyore. You know the type, glass half empty, expect the worst type. He was going on and on about the things that were wrong in his life. I then reminded him about all the things that were right. He had athletic abilities (doesn''t get a chance to use them), he had friends (they like Taylor better), he had little brothers that thought he was the greatest (they like Taylor and Dad more). He then went on to do a complicated grammar exercise and got it all correct. "Ha!" I said, be negative about that.

"I wasn't sure I got any of it right!" I had to laugh. In the past I felt that if I just loved someone hard enough that they would be more positive and FEEL loved. I've since realized that you can't do that. But I did give him a hug and told him I love him just the way he is. But I still can't help but pray for him just to be a tad more positive!

Halloween Fun....a little

Yes, I know it's almost Christmas time and I'm just getting the Halloween pictures up but I'm behind. This Halloween Austin and Taylor invited friends with us. Dylan sewed his own costume, complete with chest muscles! Liam was of course Spider man but without the mask as it scared him. Gavoo was warm in his Elmo costume. This year was a little different in that we started out as a family but we let the kids go on by themselves. The boys were out late and then spent the rest of the night trading candy with each other. The girls were cold and Taylor's friend was "bored" . Oh how times change quickly. Liam was just fascinated by the fact that he could go up to the door and say, "Trick or Treat" and people would give him candy. He got over his shyness right away!

I know some Christians don't celebrate Halloween and that's fine. We view it as a chance to visit with neighbors and dress up in cool costumes. We've talked with the kids about the origins of Halloween and what it means. We don't glorify the macabre or the death and violence that seems to permeate the day but instead look on it as a family activity with sweet treats.