Bardstown Bound

There's this really neat event every year here in Louisville called "Bardstown Bound." It takes place along a short stretch of Bardstown Road (duh). During the event from 5pm 'til about 10pm all of the small businesses stay open and pass out candy to the kids. Some also have cider, cookies, and even food! It's really neat because it gives you a chance to see all of the artsy fartsy stores that normally you would never feel comfortable taking your kids into. The girls had a lot of fun seeing all of the women's clothing boutique's -- or as the girls called them, "beauty shops." The local arts and crafts stores were just amazing and really made us excited to someday be able to shop at one of those stores! lol! For a city of over a million people, it was a really nice small community gathering.

Pumpkin Carving!

Those are some pretty cute girls we have!

This is why my burners look so nasty. (okay, and a little bit of laziness too)

When you're cooking at almost 9 o'clock at night because you had nasty pancakes with your kids earlier for dinner and you're using all three good burners you have at the SAME time, they're bound to look as bad as mine. When you're finished that late at night, the LAST thing you think about is "hmmm... I should really remove those burners and scrub the drip pans so they'll sparkle!" However, when Shane saw the last posting, he was thoroughly disgusted. It does go to show you how little time he spends in the kitchen when the only time he notices is when he's reading our BLOG instead of actually noticing the real thing. Why am I posting this you ask? Well, I thought it was cool that I used a wok.
mmmm... pomegranate & lemon.....

Am I really this cheap???

So my friend Keri challenged us to find something hiding in our kitchens that really should have been thrown away and replaced a long time ago. Unfortunately mine isn't so hidden. As you can see from the picture the burners on my stove are about as nasty as they can get. The one that is on top in the picture hasn't been used in over 2 years. Our oven cooks REALLY hot and makes the top of the stove very hot to the touch. So you have to be very careful about what you set on top of it. Well, one weekend my sister-in-law Tracy came to stay with us and she wanted to cook us dinner (which by the way was AWESOME). Anyway, I completely forgot to tell her about this. As she was pre-heating the oven, she set a package of tortillas on top of the burner. We don't have a lot of counter space, so it was a totally logical thing to do. However, the plastic from the packaging melted onto the burner ruining it for good. Now, it's not hard or expensive to replace these burners. However, I am so stinkin' cheap I refuse to pay for a new one when I have three other good ones. Remember, this happened 2 years ago!!!! Also, did you see those drip pans? I mean, when you see it every day I guess you just get used to it. But now that I see the picture, I'm slightly disturbed that I have gone this long without cleaning them. So right now I'm going to come up with an excuse that is going to make me feel better about not cleaning them. I cook too much. I just love my family so much that I want to cook them good home cooked meals all the time and therefore I just don't have the time to clean them. Yep, that's my excuse.

Swearing in Ceremony

Today was the big day! Shane and my brother Louis were both sworn in to practice law in the state of Kentucky. Originally we thought we were going to have to wait until Oct. 25th for the swearing in ceremony. That is when they are doing the general swearing in for every person that passed the bar in Kentucky. Lucky for us, my dad is a State Senator and asked Chief Justice Lambart to do the swearing in today -- Love ya dad! The ceremony was AWESOME! It was really quick but sooooooo cool. Shane just couldn't stop smiling knowing that he had finally accomplished his goal of becoming a lawyer. I am one lucky girl! It was also really neat seeing my husband and my brother get sworn in at the same time. Life just couldn't be better!!!


This picture just cracks me up!!!

Here is a video of the actual swearing in. It's kinda hard to hear, so you might have to turn up your volume.

He did it!!!!

It's official! On Friday Shane found out that he passed the bar!!!! We probably danced around for about 2 hours after we heard the news. It's been a LONG wait and we're soooooo excited to have it done! That night we got a babysitter and we went out to eat at an indian restaurant with some friends of ours to celebrate.

On Monday Shane and my brother (who also passed the bar) are going to Frankfort to be sworn in and officially become licensed to practice in the state of Kentucky. He's going to continue to work in the office he is at already. Instead of being a law clerk, he will be a lawyer! Woo hoo! He's working as an immigration attorney and really loves the field. I'll make sure to take some good pictures of the swearing in ceremony and post them on here. Love you all and thanks for all the congrats so far!

Peanut Work

When Kelly was a baby we attended a small branch in Georgetown, KY. There was a family in this branch that had 5 girls -- YIKES! Their kids were amazing... very well behaved and very personable. We commented all the time about how good they were. The parents, however, told us something that has stuck with us ever since. They said all girls, no matter how cute and sweet, go through the "brat" phase. After raising two little girls of our own, we have come to realize they were pretty much on target. Our girls are notorious for throwing major fits and tantrums any time we go somewhere. They are the sweetest angels at home, but as soon as we get into a public place they turn nasty. We've really been getting fed up that every time we try and do something as a family, the kids end up screaming and crying the whole time. SO, we tried just about everything we could think of. We tried spanking -- that didn't work because their immediate response is "but God said our bodies are temples and that we shouldn't hurt our bodies!" Yeah.... so that's out. We have always tried teaching them how to properly express their anger or frustration, but I don't think they cared to learn. We also tried taking away their "special" things -- Kelly has a teddy bear that she's in love with and Isabelle won't go anywhere without her princess pillow. All that seemed to do was create a bigger "freak-out" and the girls never seemed to get the message. (We tried this tactic for about 6 months and we got zero progress) We also tried taking away privileges, but gosh darn it they never cared. So one night out of complete desperation Shane and I sat down trying our hardest to think of what to do. That's when it hit me! I remembered reading somewhere that there was this one family that made their kids shell walnuts every time they got into trouble. So, we decided to make the kids shell peanuts during their precious "free time" if they acted out inappropriately. Wow.... I just want to say "wow." I can't believe how well it has worked. It will stop a tantrum in its tracks. After school Kelly only has an hour and a half of free time before she has to start doing chores and homework, so she really loves her free time. Shelling the peanuts and then cleaning up afterward takes about an hour, so she REALLY doesn't want to have to do it. It's great because it's not so bad that you feel like you're torturing them, but it still makes a big enough impact on them to keep them from wanting to do it again.


Click here to see a video of the girls "working"