Single-Parenting and Ailments for all!

Angela here!  It's been another busy week at the Kemp household.  Chris was in Chicago for what seemed like eternity so I had to hold down the fort as best as possible.  I am exhausted!  The week started out with my poor children having major adjustment issues with their morning routine.  Their luxurious, relaxing mornings of arising whenever they please had banished.  Chris usually takes them to school in the morning and I pick them up in the evenings.  But with dad gone, I had to wake them up before 6 am to get to school by 6:30 in order to be in surgery at 7 am.  And let's just say that these kiddos take after their mama and require a lot of sleep!  By the time evening hit, they were in complete disarray; the teardrops flowed, they had coordinated their crying outbursts and were inconsolable beyond compare.  It was debilitating for all of us.  But when they were not having complete meltdowns, Hudson and Adley were pretty cute to watch.  Now that she's getting bigger, they are becoming buds and actually like to hang out.  Hudson likes to "read" to her and show her how to color.  And they have no problem snuggling close if it means more TV time.

Growing a Christmas tree together with the special "magic water"....

  

Adley wants to be helpful all the time.  She can put her arms through shirt sleeves and will attempt to put on her socks and shoes.  And she's fairly close to being successful with that task!

But she is also getting a strong little personality and is testing her boundaries.  We finally had our first time-out encounter.  And I say finally because Hudson started this process at the mere age of 11 months (and has since perfected it).  The princess kept standing up on her chair and wouldn't listen.  After only placing her back in time-out a second time, she obeyed and stayed.  I was impressed!  But as soon as she completed her sentence, she ran back to the chair and stood right on top of it and laughed, ha!  I am certain we will have many more moments to "practice" time-out in the near future.  Poor girl!

By mid-week, Hudson and I were slowly falling apart.  I developed a sinus infection and Hudson had a bad cough that turned into a high fever by the weekend.  We were (and kind of still are) pathetic.  This resulted in Adley getting a tad more TV time than usual.  We have currently watched The Elf on the Shelf movie over a dozen times.  It is the only show that will keep her seated and intrigued.

We visited Santa for a third time with the cousins.  They got to write letters and place them in Santa's mailbox.  Hudson kept wanting to hold Anderson's hand while they waited; it was cute!

Cousin Claire was fearful of the big guy and could only wave from a distance.  Adley had no choice and was forced upon his lap.  And the boys had a long wish list.  At Hudson's second Santa visit, he had asked for "everything."  This time he was more specific; he wanted "Two football players.  A good-guy football player and a bad-guy football player."  This is in reference to Chris and his brainwashing antics - the "bad guys" are any team that plays Tom Brady and the Patriots.

Next years' Christmas card.....?!?!

We continue to stay in holiday mode and Hudson continues to request pjs from one of the elves in his life.  This has resulted in a tad more laundry, but it makes him so happy that I can't say no.

We also decorated his bedroom door!  Adley slightly freaks out every time she walks past it and keeps a safe distance from those scary snowman eyes.  Hilarious.

 Lastly, we received some bad news regarding our pup Penny Lane.  The biopsies came back as cancer.  It is slow-growing and just in her nose, but now she is congested from all the drainage.  She sounds terrible, almost to the point where you question if she's getting enough oxygen.  Imagine the sound of Darth Vader meeting a growling bear that is choking on a deflated squeaky toy.  Just awful and strange and creepy and sad all rolled into one.  And the bloody nose is back in full swing so it's not looking good for our furry friend.  Keep us in your prayers!
 

Below is Hudson feeling at his worst as well.  It's been a tough week!

Remember to hug the ones you love...including all those furry friends!  Hopefully our house is back up and running soon for Santa.  Happy Holidays!

Holiday Fun and Chipped Teeth!

Hope everyone is having a great December!  We continue to stay in Christmas mode and partake in festive activities when possible.  We have added additional lights to the house since the last blog, all thanks to Lolly and her amazing deal finds.  We are now officially owners of Star Shower lights.  I have an internal battle with myself debating if these things are tacky or clever.  It's basically a spot light that shines colored dots on your house.  I once called this a lazy way to decorate ones house for the holidays.  But now that I am a homeowner with small children, my tone has changed.  These things are great and only take two seconds to plug in.  And Hudson LOVES them!  He has to plug in all the lights every night.  Then he has to walk out in the yard and assess the situation to make sure they are working properly.  

Santa also visited daycare this week.  Hudson was timid at first, but once he warmed up he had a long wish list to pass along.  He asked for a farm with four horses.  "Two girls horseys and two boy horseys.  And I need a pig, a cow and a chicken."  And he wanted everything life size and real, no fake plastic stuff.  It was cute.  Sure hope he's not heartbroken when his farm gets delivered in miniature-size proportions on Christmas day.  Adley, on the other hand, was not a fan of the big guy in the red suit.  She screamed even before she was forced upon his lap.  And then it took her a couple minutes to recuperate afterwards.  Again, hilarious.

Hudson planted his first holiday amaryllis flower.  Only 6 weeks for this baby to bloom into a pretty red plant.  This will be a great lesson in patience for my preschooler.

Chris and Hudson joined the rest of the crew at the Woodlands Lights, where you get to walk through the park and see thousands of holiday lights.  Adley and I stayed back home.  I was still recovering from my month-long cough and cold and the princess was fast asleep by 7 pm.  Adley still rocks a 12-hour sleep schedule!  

The crew got to meet Santa again...

Hudson still wants to rock his holiday pjs.  Almost every night, he requests his "Damien pjs" or his new "Itsy pjs."  Itsy is cousin Anderson's elf-on-a-shelf and since we get tons of hand-me-downs, any holiday pj of a Bockelman child is called an "Itsy pj."  Our elves love to deliver pajamas!

 And yes, he is wearing my ankle boots.  No story or explanation for that one, it's just what he does.

Our little girl continues to be on the move and get into everything these days.  She loves to explore and pull things out of bins and baskets, aka, making a disastrous mess in every room in the house.  If she's not reading a book, she is searching for necklaces or any long dangly object she can drape around her neck.  I'm excited for our future dress-up days.  She is also rough and tough like her bro.  When the boys or cousins are wrestling, she will jump on in and fling herself across a body.  She wants to be swung around by her legs and she is always instigating a "play-fight" with Hudson.  He gladly obliges.  The kids were recently playing in the bath tub and things got carried away.  Adley tried to get out of the tub, slipped and hit her tooth on the side...thus resulting in a chipped front tooth.  I didn't even notice what happened until daycare called the next day apologizing because they thought it happened at school.  Come to find out, Chris had noticed her tooth earlier that morning, but failed to convey the message to me.  So after we put the pieces together, it all made sense.  Poor girl!

I made a dental appointment first thing the next day.  I blamed it on needing to check her tooth canal and confirm there was no nerve damage, but really I wanted to know if they could cap her tooth when she's a bit older.  Call me superficial, but kids are vicious these days.  She can't go six more years with a chipped front tooth!  So thankfully, we will only have a wide-gap baby smile for a few more months.

Chris is headed to Chicago next week for work so I go back to single-parenting.  I've been spoiled since he hasn't traveled in quite some time, so things should get interesting now that we have two busy kids on the move.  Stay warm everyone!

Thanksgiving, Holiday Lights and Penny Lane

 Angela here!  Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!  We stayed local and had a yummy dinner at LollyPops house.  The kiddos got gussied up for the big occasion and Miss Adley pronounced that she does not like to wear boots.  The poor girl is just confused; she hasn't learned yet that she is supposed to be obsessed with shoes. 

Turkey, brioche dressing, green beans, sweet potatoes, corn bread casserole and of course cranberry sauce; we ate it all!  And topped it off with pies for dessert.  Even Hudson impressed and delivered with cleaning his plate.  Mr. and Mrs. Nally, old Louisville neighbors of the Kemp family, joined us as well!  

Adley was either eating or reading books.  These are her two favorite things to do in life right now.

According to Kemp tradition, the Elf on the Shelf makes his first appearance the day after Turkey Day.  Our elf, Damien, brought pjs, a stocking for the bedroom door and a mini Christmas tree that each kid could decorate and put in their rooms.  It was a great kick-off to the holiday season.  Now the daunting task is upon us...where Chris and I have to place the elf in a different spot every morning.  This has proven to be a full-time job, as we are always forgetting to move him until the very last minute. 

Hudson was soooo excited about his new "winter pjs," which he has dubbed any and all fleece pajamas.  He requested to put them on immediately so Damien knew that he liked him.,,

Then we had a mini Friendsgiving, where a few of my girlfriends stopped by with their babies and husbands for an afternoon of catching up and hanging out.  We've been friends since college (Lisa since grade school!) so it was wonderful to have a play date and spend quality time together.

Bowlen, Greyson and Hudson hanging out and eating lunch...

And now that Thanksgiving has passed, I can FINALLY turn on the outdoor holiday lights.  They've been up for a couple weeks, but only because I knew Chris wouldn't help me and I wanted them all up before the weather turned cold.  And unlike my scrooge-like husband, Hudson is very excited about the lights.  He always has to help me plug them in, which is then followed by a little diddy and a dance.  If you look closely, you can see him dancing on the porch...

And to end on a sad but hopeful note, we've been giving our sweet Penny Lane some extra TLC lately.  She has had a bad sneeze and a bloody nose for almost a month now.  Antibiotics, antihistamines and prednisone have not helped.  So she goes in next week for surgery to clean out and biopsy her sinuses.  The doctor is going to check for cancer.  So keep our pup in your prayers.  She's been in our family for 11 years and is of course, the best dog in the world!

Halloween, Spirit Week and Dance Moves

A tad late, but I hope everyone had a great Halloween!  Our kids were in costume-candy mode for what seemed like weeks.  The day before the big holiday, Austin Landing Shopping Center had a trick-or-treat event that we attended with the rest of the crew.  My Tom Brady and Patriot cheerleader have gotten a lot of use out of their costumes.  And the weather was warm so Adley was able to nix the turtleneck. 

Notice Hudson holding up some deuces in the picture below.  Not sure if that was intentional, but it made me proud.  That was my signature pose in college!  And I like to think that it is still cool. 

Another round of suspenders and glitter tutus...

Then came the big day!  Everyone came over to our house for dinner before we embarked on our candy adventure.  The football player and the Ninja were the coolest kids on the block.  Poor Claire had strep throat so she couldn't play.  Luckily, she's on the mend now.  But she passed her ailment on to Uncle Drew.  I fear the Kemps are next in line.

Chris had Adley out for over an hour that night; she was a trooper and rallied past her bedtime.  As they went house to house, Chris said the baby "needed candy."  Let me remind you that my little lady only has six teeth.  And she doesn't know what "candy" is, so she never gets it (but I'm sure my days are limited on that).  Thus, one could say a certain daddy needed a sugar fix and pawned his cute daughter off in order to collect a mound of candy.  

We will be eating candy till Christmas...

We have been fortunate to have a mild fall thus far.  Our weekends are spent walking Penny Lane and visiting parks and playgrounds.  We finally got out the double stroller and the kiddos love it.  Hudson kept rubbing Adley's head as we strolled along.  She didn't seem to mind.

And Hud continues to be a great big brother; he always wants to help, demonstrate or assist in anything that involves his little sister.

After Halloween, it was Spirit Week at school.  The kids wore their costumes that Monday.  Tuesday was pajama day.  They loved it.  And they loved being picked up early to play at the park IN the pjs even more.  Beyond excitement...

Wednesday was Wacky Wednesday, thus the mix-matched clothes.  Adley was in her third round of clothes by evening, so it was her "messy day."

Then came Thursday Decades Day.  We had a 90s grunge boy and an 80s workout girl.  Not sure if other mamas can attest, but getting creative and making up costumes on the spot is tough work.

Friday was apparently a bust, as I have no pictures and my memory fades quickly these days.  Oh well.  But I can tell you about the new family favorite song.  "Hand Clap" by Fitz and the Tantrums!  Hudson goes nuts every time he hears it.  And he'll request it by saying, "Mama, I wanna hand clap."  I'm a fan as well, so I gladly oblige to every request.   

https://youtu.be/wo4uFPpnBUc

Hope eveyeone has a great week.  We're gearing up for Christmas already!  The outside house lights are already in place.  But I have promised Chris (and the neighbors) that I won't turn them on till after Thanksgiving.  I just wanted to set things up before it gets cold.  Woop woop!