This is Not a Joke {Take 2}

August 7th, 2017

983 days. Just shy of three years. That's how long it's been since my last blog entry. I've been racking my brain trying to think of a clever way to reenter the world of blogging but then it hit me. I tried that 983 days ago, and we see how well that worked out.

New approach, I've just got to move on. There. Is. No. Way. To. Back-Blog. FOUR. Years. I have always been scared to move on because that would mean I was leaving out a huge chunk of memories, milestones, and updates. Almost like four years of our life never actually happened. The hardest part for me was knowing it was the first four years of Abi's life, which REALLY made me feel like I did her a disservice as her mom. A major mom failure moment. However, the weight of being so far behind prevented me from blogging our current life, which turns out is an even bigger failure.

So, I'm just going to do it. I'm going to move on to the present, where Abigail is four and about to start VPK, Natalie is six and starting first grade, Gabriel is entering his junior year of high school, Nathan has a bachelor's degree and a new job, and I have a crazy busy life as mom, wife, amateur blogger, fourth grade teacher, and this ridiculous dream of a career in writing.

Needless to say, I'm back. Just bare with me as I get reacquainted with blogging, all while starting a new school year with BOTH girls at my school, squeezing in time to take two "continuing education" writing classes, juggling my new found love of reading (binge reading rather), jumping into a last minute bathroom remodel inspired by "sparkling sage" paint, and everything that goes along with my chaotic, beautiful life.

This is The Kendall Memoirs.

Disney Vacation/ Abi's First Trip!

July 12th-14th

Although Natalie was almost two when she went to Disney for the first time, Abigail "enjoyed" Disney at the young age of four months old! We went down for the weekend with Poppa and Grandma and went to both Downtown Disney (twice) and Magic Kingdom. Gabriel has always loved Downtown Disney, and Natalie's fave is Magic Kingdom. We stayed in a really cool hotel room that had a fort built in as a kids' area. Natalie and Gabriel stayed in there, and Abi slept (and by slept, I really mean woke up way too many times to keep track of...) in her playpen outside of it.

Downtown Disney was a blast as always. We enjoyed Earl of Sandwich and a couple of the little rides...as if Disney wasn't enough! It was a great mini vacation for us!

The crew checking out the view from our room. 

Round one of Downtown Disney

Before riding Dumbo, one of her favorite rides still. 

The souvenir shop next to our hotel

Natalie smelling the flowers at Downtown. 

The big kids riding the train. 

There are tons of other pictures, but until I catch up my current motto is:

Abigail is Four Months!

July 12th

Talk about a trip down memory lane...and memory is a really strong word for what's about to happen! 

Abigail Marie is four months old!

~Loves~

Her toes

To lay down and play

Shoving her hands in her mouth

We heard her very first giggle on July 1st. I just so happened to be recording her while I was tickling, and it was quite possibly the cutest sound ever! She also rolled from her back to her belly on July 9th and is now rolling constantly. She is even scooting on her face. 

She is doing great and reached all of her milestones at her latest doctor's appointment! She has learned to squeal in frustration (yay!) to express how she is truly feeling. 

Our almost thumb sucker

Dreaming of One Direction 

The paci that quickly became a toy. 

Love that face!

Sucking on her fingers

Fingers again!

Loves her toes!

My sweet girl after her shots!

The shocked expression when I told her we had to continue our monthly pictures...

Our princess!

This is Not a Joke...

Today's actual date: 11/26

Where I actually am in my blog because I've been the ultimate slacker: sometime July of 2013

I'm in the shower tonight, and it hits me. I don't want to be a blog failure. When I started my blog in June 2011, I had a couple of goals in mind. First, I wanted to stay on top of taking pictures of my sweet Natalie Grace. Second, I didn't have a Facebook, and this was an outlet to stay connected to the world, 

But tonight, when I started thinking about it, I realized that I'm just pretty amazing at writing. Okay, that's a slight exaggeration, but my point is I realized that I enjoy to write and feel I do a decent(ish) job at it. 

Let's face it, there is no glory in blogging...well at least there isn't in my blogging. I have about four people who used to check it on a regular basis, you know back when I was a regular blogger. Those same four people are family members that I speak to almost daily and are involved in my life with or without my blog! Eventually they stopped asking because I became just another statistic. You know, the statistic of "once you have your second child, you won't have time for your blog" or "this baby won't even get a photo album, you're just going to shove some pictures in a book". It's sad to say that they, the Debbie Downers of the world, were right! I didn't have time. But what I don't think people understand is that instead of blogging I decided to make memories with my girls. No, I didn't document or take pictures of every single one, and I could very well be that mother that says, "Oh yea, I remember one of my kids did that too..." and have no idea which one actually did it; but in the scheme of things, I think I'm going to be okay with that. This blog is and always has been for me.

So...

 Here's to no longer feeling like a mom failure because the last update of Abigail was when she was 3 months old. It has nothing to do with my love for her, only how much I love to sleep!

Here's to not worrying if I document every single zoo trip (because there have been A LOT and how many times do you really need to see animal pictures). 

Here's to continuing my blog because I enjoy it, and as a mom, sometimes I put my interests on the back burner. 

Here's to kicking ass and taking names as I bust it trying to back-blog the last 17 months of my life!

Here's to continuing to live my life and make it awesome, not just being concerned with how 

blog-able the experience is. 

~Courtney 

Nolan's 4th Birthday!

July 7th

 

 We had an awesome time celebrating Nolan's 4th birthday with him. He had a Diego party and had a big inflated water slide! Natalie and Gabriel both enjoyed playing on the slide. I am very good friends with Nolan's mommy, and we love to get the two together. Natalie is just now to the age where she is starting to interact with other kids. Nolan is such a sweet boy and a joy to be around! Happy 4th Birthday Nolan!

The Diego cake table

The birthday boy

Natalie and Nolan

Gabriel and Nolan playing water guns.

Having fun on the water slide.

Our sweet pea

 

The Fourth of July

July 4th

For the Fourth of July, we went to Moosehaven with Grammo for their annual festival. There were tons of bounce houses, face painting, lots of booths, food, and music. The kiddos had a great time. Natalie loves to bounce and slide so she was in her element. She is extremely tough and can do almost everything on her own. Gabriel was there too and enjoyed being able to help Natalie when she needed a hand. There was a really cool game trailer that was set up with loud music, lights, and XBOX games for everyone to enjoy. Gabriel enjoyed playing some games while Natalie jammed to the tunes.

It's pretty typical for Gabriel and I to make holiday treats. This year for the Fourth of July, we decided to make red, white, and blue strawberries, chocolate pretzel rods, and a red, white, and blue drink. The drink was pretty cool. Although you can't really tell by the picture, the colors didn't mix together. It was all in the sugar content. The drink with the highest sugar content had to be poured first and so on.

 

All I can say is adorable!

 

Abigail playing with Grammo's buttons.

 

 

Me and the babe

Gabriel and Natalie

 

After Moosehaven, we headed out to Grandma and Poppa's for food, fun, and fireworks! We planned to spend the night so that we could enjoy the night even though Nathan had to work early the next day. The rain put a damper on our fireworks, but we still had a wonderful time. We were able to come back a couple of days later to set off the huge fireworks that Poppa bought. Natalie is still not a fan of fireworks and wanted to go inside, but we were able to watch from inside the house.

 

Grandma and Abigail

Our super cool drink

Daddy with his littlest

Gabriel doing some sparklers.

Natalie and GG

Attempt Two at Fireworks!

Watching the fireworks with Bitty Baby.

Getting ready for the fireworks display!

Natalie thought she would be "safer" on the tailgate.