Looking back over 2009

2009 was pretty uneventful at the Kapka house!! We, like most Americans, are really being more cautious about how, when and where we spend our hard earned funds! Thank the Good Lord, Jamie wasn't working out of town as much this year. But there are some changes coming to his work over the course of 2010, and it looks as if he will be gone alot this next year. We are just still so thankful he still has a job in this economy! It could always be worse! He is loving having his dad across the street. Jim retired this year. So Jamie has really enjoyed their motorcycle rides over this past year. We are all looking forward to camping this spring and summer. Its nice to have family so close and we are all adjusting fine to having them here. Alot of people asked me - really your mother in law across the street? But it has been GREAT. We are all avid Cowboy fans and enjoy Sundays together!

Emily finished out her first year of school in May and she (as well as us) were so relieved! With school comes alot of busy time. When we approached Kindergarden I was concerned how much it was going to change Emily's little life I never accounted how it would change mine! Kindergarten wasn't our favorite time, but 1st grade has been much better. Mainly because there isn't a little boy in her class that she struggled with last year. Our prayer for her is that she become more bold and to grow a think skin... and fast! We can't shield her forever, and if it weren't that boy, there will be someone else. I would say kids are mean, but its people in general!

Blaine is still at the KDO program at New River Fellowship with me. He was bumped up to my class (the oldest ones) last minute. He is suppose to be in this class, but when we enrolled 2 years ago, this class was full. Which was fine with me - my good friend Rachel was his first teacher. It eased him into school well. But now our dilemma starts. He is a summer birthday. Should we send him to school, or wait one more year? We are leaning right now on holding him one more year. If we do, he will attend a 4 day a week preschool to prepare him for the "long days" as Emily referred to them. Our prayer for him is to reveal what we should do with his school situation, and get him out of this competitive stage he is so wrapped up in right now. He is a horrible loser!

I still work with the kids at New River KDO. I still think that is what I was called to do when we moved down here. I love being with the kids. YES I am exhausted after a day of school, but its worth it. I am OBSESSED with the Twilight series, and I am not afraid to say it. Thank goodness I have friends that are just as obsessed as I am to talk to and feel normal! For all of you who know me, 3 years ago, I was a crab. Stayed at home, blended in. My family were my friends and they all lived within a 45 mile radius. Moving here and with Jamie always gone, I had to break out of my shell and make friends, or go crazy. In doing so, I had to conquer my fear of trust. So I did, and the thing you fear never happens, happened. I met some fake people, who mingled in with all my great friends, who I allowed into my life, and in return got hurt. It took me months to understand why I cared so much???? I am not regretful for putting myself out there, because I realize now, I missed out on so much trying to blend in. Yes, you will run across some genuine friends and mixed in you will get those that aren't. But its worth it! God puts those people in your path for a reason. He showed me not to put my faith in people but in Him, and I won't get hurt!

We had our annual Family reunion over labor day. Attendance was low this year, but had a great time with some family we hadn't seen in long time. We also celebrated Halloween with our great friends The Brock's again this year. Our friends from Austin were able to come again, and the kids love this holiday.
We have been blessed this year, as always! We are all healthy. We are all together, roof over our head, food in our kitchen and all that...
Well that is about all for us and our little life - peace out.

Thankful Joseph and Mary couldn't find a Holiday Inn Express

They say the chances of having a white Christmas in the North Texas area is less then 5%. God decided he wanted to show them a thing or two about statistics! Although there wasn't enough snow to build a normal size snowman, it was considered a huge news event!! My family improvised with their snow supply and created Katie Snowman and Brutus the Snowman. Then hurried inside out of the wind to retreat by the fire with a cup of hot chocolate. I despise snow --- any cold wet thing (ha) But would love to make this a Christmas Eve holiday tradition! I can't see that happening again for a llloonnnggg time unless we moved from North Texas!

Merry Christmas all!!!!

somethings you know you will never forget...

Is there anything more precious then a sock baby Jesus made by a 4 year old? I never understood why mom pulled out all our old ornaments and Christmas crafts we made to decorate her home with..... Now I understand.

Lots to be Thankful for

Here we are.... rednecks gone wild! No its not a family photo by a professional. Its taken by a family friend and my mom with her throw away camera in her garage!! BUT.... this picture taken during Thanksgiving is the first time this family has been all together in over 4 years! Over the course of this night we laughed, we cried, we debated, loved and spanked on kids, shared stories we have missed. We heard a story of one of the kids calling his grandmother a not so nice name. We played any kind of instruments we could find. Sang until our hearts were content, most of us off key. We ate, and ate and ate. Then we had to say goodbye!!! I am thankful for this group of fun loving, beer drinking, music loving, dedication from every stage of parenthood, unconditional love and support. We may not be the prettiest looking bunch, but I know who I can call when I need someone to back me! Just sad they are 400+ miles away!

Until next time.....

A haunting we will go.....

Pumpkin carving, tricking and treating and what not.... Fun was had by all this year at the Kapka house!!! Our dear friends from Austin came up and celebrated with us!! We had so much fun!!! Now time to recover! Until next year....

Explosive!

This is what I woke up too -- its a great monkey bread recipe, if you use the right amount of rolls!

growing old....

The first granddaughter on one side, and first grandchild on the other, and first child to us, arrived on October 10, 2002 at 10:35am. You were destined to be spoiled!!! But actually quite the opposite - You are full of grace, compassion, and have a very unselfish heart for a 7 year old!! You were beautiful from the beginning, bigger then expected at 8 lbs 2 oz and almost 20 inches long. You exceed our expectations, and make us proud everyday!!

Happy Birthday Emily Grace!

MeMoRiEs

One of the many things I remember about my Nanny is she is the one who first introduced me to Shrinky Dinks. I spent hours with her creating and imagining and talking while doing those! So when I found them today I couldn't pass them up!!! My little avid colorers loved them!!!! Too bad we didn't have these last weekend when the rain kept us indoors all weekend!

These are for you Nanny!!! Hope you enjoyed watching us from above as we did!!!!!! Love and miss you!

Play Dates

With all older sibs in school, we've scheduled some play dates.... not sure who had more fun? The kids or the moms????? Gotta pass the time sometime right?

a brief moment of insanity

Meet Gilbert or Sugar (Blaine can't make up his mind) and we aren't 100% sure its gender..... she (or he) is all spunk. Just like Blaine. My favorite part of this cat, is his trade mark grey circle on his (or Her) butt that travels the length of the tail!

And Cally (Cat) She is Emily's cat. She is very timid and shy..... and very beautiful. humm..... so much like their owners.

I am not sure why we decided to get 2 cats, seeing I don't have a very good track record with one. But hopefully with fall just around the corner, hopefully we won't have a mice problem!

1st Grade?!? WhAt? wHeN? HoW?? Where did the time go?

So wasn't I just blogging about my BABY starting kindergarten. Where did that year go? Where did summer go??? They are so right when some veteran school mom tells you time flies once they get in school!!

Here is how Emily's day went -- highs and lows......

Disappointment right off the bat to learn her friend Abby had fever the first day and couldn't go to school. But then got to pick out which new school clothes outfit to wear... ahhh the forbidden clothes at last get to be worn!

1st graders sit in desks... not shared tables, so that's a plus.

For good choices, the class stuffed Dalmatian gets to set on your desk... very cool! As per Emily

Made a new friend named Maddie

Seen lots of friends from last year.

1st graders get to do really cool stuff. Nothing like we did last year mom!

Really held it together until mom started walking out.... she shed a few tears that I wasn't expecting. Felt like I left my heart sitting at that desk! But she was shining like a rock star when she came out of school that day!! She had a great first day...... now the rest of the week has been difficult. She is trying to balance being a good friend to everyone with a friend who wants only Emily's friendship. Trying to give the good example talk.... but we all remember how hard those days were!!!

Rangers vs. Red Sox

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Took in our first Ranger's Game since we've moved down here yesterday. We decided the kids were finally old enough to enjoy it. I am not real sure they enjoyed all of it, but they did have fun. I think they loved the food more then anything. Blaine was so impressed by it all, he took a nap! He is a scheduled mom's dream.... although, that isn't me! I know some of you are hating me now for that comment! ha We had a ton of fun. Rangers won 4 -3 and clinched the 1st place wildcard in the playoffs!!! Go Rangers!

A hard lesson learned... R.I.P Belle 2007-2009

This has been a hard week for the Kapka's. Emily's cat Belle was in an accident yesterday. She was on the garage door and I went to shut it. Her leg got caught in one of the panels and crushed her leg. Broken beyond repair, or repair that we could afford. Our options, Kitty heaven or 3 legged cat. It was her front left leg so we opted for heaven.
Emily and Blaine are heartbroken! Jamie is out of town, so momma had to make alot of hard decisions on her own. It will be one that I will question doing the right thing for the rest of my life.
Thank you Jesus for your grace that got me through this week!!!!

Christmas in July

This is my answer to "what do you want for Christmas"



Not sure why a guy would wear this... but it is something that needs to be in my wardrobe! A must have for any Bon Jovi fan!

Now you have been informed!

Rednecks on Parade

One of the gifts from Mom and Dad for Blaine's 4th birthday was tickets to Texas Motorspeed Way to see the Monster Trucks. A good time was had by ALL. Emily loved it! Blaine loved it! Dad loved it! And I loovveeedd to people watch at this event! Good family entertainment!

Happy Birthday Mini Jamie.....aka Blaine

Ivan Blaine Kapka entered this world July 15th at 6:45pm. The first thing I noticed was how big his hands were, and how loud he was crying! He weighed 9 lbs 8 oz and was 19 3/4 in long. He completed our family. I can't help but think about his chubby little cheeks and his unconditional love for me. And then I remember our first year!!! He is the reason he completed our family! He is all boy, energetic, but full of compassion and empathy! He adores his big sister, motorcycles, and baseball, really any sport, and hot wheels. I just wanted to share with you how this week is a bittersweet for the Kapka's.
Happy Birthday Big Boy!

Stylin' Tyme....

Emily wanted to jump on the band wagon, and cut all her hair off. Every little girl in Mrs. W's kindergarten class started out with long hair at the first of the year, and all graduated with short hair minus Emily.
After tons of begging her Daddy to cut her hair, he finally gave in (like I told him, this is one battle I don't want to fight. There will be bigger fish to fry later on...)
Makes her look so much older to me. I have to face it... sniff sniff. I have to admit, it is easier to take care of then when it was long!

Not typically like me...

So I've been stressing lately about life "stuff". I was on my band wagon yesterday about yet another "problem", complaining to a friend. And God suddenly was screaming at me to "SHUT UP"... To let go of this bitterness that is the root of all my stress and you will find MY PEACE"
I am usually not the blogger who praises how God moves and works and talks to me everyday of my life! Not because I am ashamed but that I feel like that is my private intimate time with my God, and I am a little selfish, and don't want to share. But seriously chicas.... I could write a book about testimonies just like this one over my life. And I always think... why? why do I do that?
God is good, merciful and loves me when He should hate me... and Satan will never have victory. I want to apply that everyday and not get wrapped up in the ways of this world.

Light at the end...

6 more weeks! 6 more weeks until the life of no schedules, no homework. Endless days of sun, swimming, relaxing!! This year has been draining!
Any who -- not much else is going on in Kapkaland. Just trying to make it through to summer. We celebrated Easter here in Weatherford with the in-laws. Emily's favorite holiday - prove that Nanny is still here with us. Easter was her favorite hoilday and it is Emily's as well, which is odd that it would exceed Christmas or her birthday! I will post some pictures from vacation when I get out of my lazy mode.. so don't expect anything anytime soon!
Love you all!

We've got spurs that jingle jangle jingle...

So the first part of spring break we made a quick trip to Hereford to deliver birthday presents to cousins, grandma, alot of birthdays in March.
My neice Peyton has got an obsession with horses. Her uncle's room mate just happens to have a horse. So we put on our best cowboy clothes and loaded up the wagon and here is how our day was with Chester.
The birthday girl was up first... or so she said the whole way out there... but as soon as she saw Chester.. she threw Blaine under the bus. She ended up going first, then Emily, then Blaine. The girls loved it. Blaine was more interested in the go-round thing that they train the horses on.
Emily fell in LoVe! She called her daddy immediately and asked, saying but we have all that place behind our house where that little barn is (which is a horse barn from the previous owners). You can just put up a gate. Granted... this is the daughter who begged for our cat, whom she speaks to maybe once a week. So we will get to hear how much she wants a horse for a while... until she moves onto something else. I grew up here, in this little country town, but never had country in my blood. I was always a blacktop road, Allsups on the corner type gal.... Jamie moved us "outstide" the city limits and the first time I saw a snake in my yard, I was ready to pack up and move back "into town". Now here is my little country girl ready for a horse!?!? I can hold on to her shoe fetish.. for now... until she asks for boots.

my life for next several days

Tuesday we are sete for new carpet. However, being the cheap-os we ususally are, not just in these dark ecomonic times, we decided we weren't going to pay more for them to rip out the old and haul away then we are for the new carpet! So we did it ourselves!!! Or shall I say my mother in law and husband... because I wasn't feeling good.. Thank God for them! But here is our living arrangements for the next couple of days and nights.... can't get much closer then this! The kids are enjoying how loud all the rooms are when they go in them and sing! Plus its like "camping".