the compassion experience

I can't remember how I heard about this intiative, but I think I saw something posted on social media about it.  Basically, this organization allows you to "experience another world without leaving yours".    The Compassion Experience is a project of Compassion International, which has been helping children for over 60 years in some of the most impoverished places on earth.  Their website states that there are 385 million children living in extreme poverty (defined as less than $1.90/day by World Bank) today.  That number is disturbing and heart wrenching. 

In order to advocate for these kids, the Compassion Experience was created to share some of their realities and allow visitors to catch a glimpse of what life is like for these children.  I signed our family up for a visit, but wasn't really sure what to expect.  Kevin had asked me if we wanted to invite friends to meet us out there in Burleson for the event, but I really wanted to focus on the experience with our kids and not turn it into a social activity.  Our kids had been acting pretty spoiled recently (especially about meals) as well, so I was really hoping that this would be eye opening for them. 

As we waited in the line, I read posters such as this and was appalled.  I really have such limited awareness of what is going on in other parts of the world, so it was really eye opening for me as well. 

 As we checked in, we were given headsets and took an audio-guided journey through the exhibits, which were made to look like home environments of real children who have grown up in extreme poverty. As we heard their stories, we moved from room to room.  These were real accounts of children, so as we heard about them being sponsored, we moved into a room which looked like their classroom setting.  Each story was one of hope, and it was humbling to see the way in which they lived and the gratitude they felt for the opportunities that were provided to them through this one-on-one sponsorship.

I don't know that my kids REALLY understood that this was real life for another child their age, but I think they understood that they have a lot!  Just seeing Brooke touch the walls in the home made me emotional.  We have been so blessed to bring our babies home to a beautiful, safe, clean home. 

 As we exited the first exhibit, a man greeted us, asked our feedback, and invited us to look at the pictures of the children needing sponsorship. It was slightly awkward because Kevin and I hadn't  really talked about this, but seeing the pictures of those sweet kids was such an emotional experience.  Many of the children were from Peru, which I could tell was tugging on Kevin's heartstrings.  I was pretty choked up, but I tried to explain to Brooke what those pictures represented.

 We walked away without sponsoring, mostly because we feel that we do a lot with charitable contributions for church, but I imagine that sponsoring a specific child and seeing their success and progression from poverty would be a completely life changing experience for both the child and the sponsors.

We had time to spare, so we went through the second exhibit as well.  We listened to the little girl speak about the mud doll she made since she didn't have any toys, and I knew I had to take a picture to remind Brooke about how much excess they truly have.  I really don't think kids appreciate what they have because they have too much. (This is something I want to really work on in our home!)

I feel so grateful that we had this experience as a family, and I would highly recommend it to other families as well.  It was a unique opportunity for my kids especially to realize that they are so lucky to have a home, food, water, education, toys, a soft bed, and basic healthcare.

cousin play date

And when you have a random Monday off of school, you meet up with cousins!! I adore this picture so much because the kids were cracking themselves up.  I really don't even know what was so funny, but I tried to capture the happiness and joy of the moment.  

The kids all love themselves some Chick-fil-a...

 The rest of the afternoon was spent at Auntie Mel Mel's house painting rocks (and paper), playing with toys, and dressing up. (Funny thing to remember: Colby didn't want to wear a bib because it "was for babies", but was totally fine wearing a girly apron to paint in, haha.) I guess he was digging the Christmas motif.

 I really love that they have these opportunities to play with their cousins and develop relationships with each other. I only saw my cousins once a year at the most, so this is new territory for me.

Towards the end, they were talking about who was taller than who...which finally led to a line-up of kiddos.  Probably because Colby thought he was taller than Aubrey or something, haha.  My kid is stubborn, but oh so adorable. The proof is in the picture, buddy!

clayton chandler

What do you do when you have the Friday off of school?? Meet up with your friends at Clayton Chandler park, of course!  We were so happy that the Myers were available because we really had a blast together.  It's amazing when your kids can get along so well together and entertain themselves for hours!

Brooke and Nora were little monkeys on the playground...

 Then the majority of the time was spent in the sand at the volleyball court.  My kids love this sand, but I have a love/hate relationship with it!  It really is so soft and great for playing in, but it always stains their clothes for some reason.  Luckily, Brooke was wearing a dress so it didn't really matter and Colby's pants weren't affected.  Either way, it would have been worth it because they had such a blast building mountains, digging holes, burying each other, etc.  (I was just glad that I remembered to pack their sand toys.)

 I loved watching the teamwork and enjoyment these kids had together despite their age differences.  Good friends are absolute gems.

 When we finally pulled the kids away from the sand and attempted to clean them up a bit, we picnicked by the tennis courts and let the kids scooter all over the courts while Tracy and I chatted about life.

I'm not sure what Nora and Brooke were chatting about, but I loved looking over at their matching blonde ponytails as they sat there together.

 Brooke found a ladybug that she came to show me, and then it was off for a scooter ride and a failed attempt at riding scooters in the skate park, haha.  The ramps were all too steep for our kids!  But we thoroughly enjoyed our full day at the park and quality bonding time with Miss Tracy and her kiddos.  This definitely needs to be repeated soon before the weather becomes miserable.  But hey, Clayton Chandler has a splash pad area as well, so I guess we're covered :)

valentine's day

The Saturday before Valentine's Day, we went on a family date to Olive Garden.  Judging by the look on Colby's face, you can tell it was a big hit, haha.  

He had about a thousand comments to make about how yummy the breadsticks were, the chips with the artichoke dip, and his OWN pizza and broccoli. The commentary was adorable, and it continued when we moved on to dessert,  When our Zeppoles arrived with the berry and chocolate dipping sauces, we were in heaven!  So, so delicious!! It totally reminded me of the scene in "What About Bob?" where Bob is raving about the hand-shucked corn, haha.  Everything was just THAT amazing in Colby's eyes :)

So much of the attention was on Colby and his funny commentary, that I made more of a conscious effort to engage my little girl in some dinner conversation.  Brooke and Colby are at such a great age right now because it's pleasant to be out dining with them in a sit down restaurant :) Dining with kids isn't always easy, but our family dinner date was perfect!

 On the 14th, I had a few little goodies waiting for the kids on the dining room table.  The bag contained Wiki-Stik for the kids to share, and since they are both obsessed with gum lately, I gave them each a bag with bubble gum and a few other treats.  Simple, but enough to know that their Mama was thinking about them.

 Brooke was eager to pass out valentines to her classmates, and although I regretted not doing something cuter for her class, she was proud of the Fun Dip packets she was taking to school in her basket.

 This was the first year she was also encouraged to make a special box for her valentines. I love the way she wrote her name and meticulously placed each felt heart sticker.

 Here's my other sweet valentine :) He was disappointed about not participating in the whole valentine exchange, but we were invited to meet up with some friends at a really cool park!

 We had never been here before, but the whole structure looked like a giant castle/fortress, which kept the kids entertained for several hours.  Luckily we were the only ones there for the majority of the time because it would have really stressed me out if I didn't know where Colby was at all times.  I like to keep a visual on my kids at the park, and with this park, it was nearly impossible.  But since I could hear him wherever he went, I could relax.

Colby spent the most time with his friends Marlie and Whitney, who are both in his Primary class. It's fun listening to them use their little imaginations, but I did have to intervene a few times once new kids showed up and these three were telling them they couldn't join their game.  When I tried to talk to Colby about it, he was adamant that the new kids COULDN'T play with them because he didn't know them.  Clearly, we need to work on inclusion :)

 That afternoon we met another group of friends at the park!  We only planned on meeting the Funderburks there (Evie, Logan, and baby Jack), but Brooke's school friend Zoe was there and the girls ran and hugged each other as if they hadn't seen each other in ages when it reality it was an hour after school.  She mostly played with Zoe, which was a little embarrassing because we were there to play with Evie and Logan...but Brooke did try to include them a few times and they were all just busy playing, so it was fine I guess?  I probably worry about these things more than I should, and hey, sometimes play dates are for the moms, right?  That really was the main motivation behind the park date, so mission accomplished!

 We finished off the evening with a heart shaped (tiny) pizza and a movie with Daddy.  I hope these little ones (and Kevin) know how much I really love and adore them.  I am forever grateful for my family and the chance we have to celebrate our love together!

new beginnings

The youth theme for the year is, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." Since we planned this event for February, it only seemed fitting to make the whole evening about hearts and love :) I have two new counselors, and I asked my second counselor to take the lead on planning everything since she works with the Beehives.  She is awesome and really did a great job planning the program. The Young Women were involved with the theme, introducing the class symbols, and then my counselor (Sandee) introduced the three new Beehives and a new girl that recently moved into our ward. My secretary spoke about Personal Progress and shared a beautiful video that I had never seen before.  It featured two girls in Ukraine that were inactive, then as a result of working on Personal Progress, were able to reactive their families.  It really brought the Spirit to the meeting, and I loved the reminder about this inspired program's importance.  I then introduced the 2019 youth theme.  This was a hard message for me to prepare because of the things our girls are struggling with right now.  I worried that I would come across as judgmental or too harsh when I spoke about keeping the commandments, but in the end, I knew that I had to preach truth.  I pulled my remarks from several different conference talks, incorporated a video from the LDS media resources, and ended with a song from the new youth album.  I was my normal emotional self, but I really think that they felt something, which was all I could have possibly hoped for.

I truly love my girls so much, and it has been such an emotional few months as I learn about the things they are struggling with. I tried to testify to them that they first need to come to know their Savior, because until we know Him and love Him, we won't feel the motivation to keep all the commandments that He has set for us.  When we have confidence in Him and who He is, it is no longer a burden to follow those commandments.  I know that our Father in Heaven loves those girls, as do I. As a gift, we gave the girls a famed print of the theme so that they can have a daily reminder of the importance of loving Him, and keeping His commandments.

The Bishop gave the closing remarks, and totally hit it out of the park.  He perfectly tied everything together, and bore a powerful testimony. He shared a story that he heard on his mission about a man asked to push against a rock.  I looked online to find the story since I couldn't remember all the details, and it is often referred to as "The Unmoved Rock".  I had never heard it before, but he related it to the young women about how they may not understand why they are asked to do certain things in the church (ie: Personal Progress), or keep certain commandments, but it is all for a greater purpose.  When we simply follow what we are asked to do (like the man who was asked to push against the rock), we need not get discouraged if we don't actually move the rock (that was never the goal), because we are strengthened in the process.  There is someone (our Savior) who will move the rock for us, we just have to do as He asks.  I should really type out the whole story here, but I am feeling too lazy for that, haha.  It really was the perfect ending, and I was so grateful for how the evening came together.

We had all of these decorations already because the Stake always assigns us to decorate for the February dance!  Sandee made those beautiful (and delicious) cookies, I brought chocolate covered strawberries, and a few leaders brought fresh fruit and dip.

My beautiful young women!  I was so thrilled and excited that we had 17 of our 20 girls in attendance!  At times, I feel overwhelmed with the mantle I have with these girls, but I love working with them and seeing them grow and mature every year.

And Colbster was our sweet helper!  We always set up in the morning so I don't have to stress about it all day, and Colby wanted to decorate the gym with a few hearts as well, haha.  While I was up on the ladder hanging the lanterns, he asked me to hook this random hook/strap thing he had found onto the projector screen.  I literally had never thought about pulling that screen down, and it was the perfect white backdrop for the lanterns.  I could have kissed that sweet boy!

I called my parents on the way home and gave them the rundown of the evening because they had been praying so hard for me!  I was nervous about my speaking portion, was having a terrible nervous stomach all afternoon, and was having technical issues right before I left my house.  I know those prayers helped because everything worked out, and I am so grateful that my parents love me so much :) I know that Heavenly Father was aware of my feelings as well, and allowed me to share the message that I had prepared. 

blog books

This may be silly, but these books bring me SO much happiness!  I started this blog at the end of 2009 when we moved to Miami, and blogged about some of our adventures in Florida.  When Brooke was born in 2013, I had a lot more to blog about, and I really started to cherish the things that I was documenting.  I did some research before finally using Blurb to print the blog posts from 2009 to 2014.  I loved the books, and the process was seemingly easy.  Life became a lot busier when Colby was born in 2015, but I was determined to keep the blog alive because I loved having everything documented.  I look back at pictures fairly regularly on my computer, but I love blogger because my thoughts are written down about those beloved pictures as well.

When I tried to create the 2015 book, I quickly realized that Blurb changed their format and I was no longer able to "slurp" all the date from my blog easily into book format.  It would import all the pictures and text, but not in book format.  I had to manually set up each page by selecting a format, then drag the text from a menu with ALL the text from my entire blog, and then find all the pictures that went with that blog post.  I spent a few hours on it, then realized how impossible the task really was. There was no way, with over 100 blog posts and easily a thousand pictures, that I could sit and drag and drop pictures and text. That was when I began researching other companies.  The thought of the books not all matching really bothered me, but again, using Blurb just didn't make sense.

I did some research, but could't find another company that could provide what I was looking for.  I wanted my blog entries to appear as they do on blogger, but not waste space by printing one column down the center of the page. I continued blogging well into 2016, but was anxious to get my 2015 and 2016 into book format.

In 2017, I came across a website called Into Real Pages.  The company is based out of the Netherlands, and their whole premise is "getting your blogging life out of intangible digital life and into the real world." The testimonials were spot on to what I was hoping for, and they were the only company I could find with a two column format, making the best use of the page without compromising on the layout of blogger. The only problem was that their website was under construction!  I waited (semi-patiently) for the next year until their site was up and running again.  I began creating that 2015 book and was amazed at how easy the process was.  You literally pick a book style, size, write the introduction, manage the table of contents, select a date range for posts to include, then allow their book creator to do the rest.  It was SUPER easy, and the final product was a 257 page book of priceless memories.  I could have cried when the book was completed so easily!
The book cost about $150, but was worth the money to me.

Then came the waiting, haha.  It took several weeks for the book to arrive, but it was gorgeous. Better than I could have ever imagined.  The only problem was that there was an error with the printing on the spine.  The blog name K & K Meador (+2) came with a series of codes, including %26 and 2B2 in place of the ampersand and each parenthesis. I emailed the company and they apologized profusely and sent me a new copy of the book with the corrected spine.  The new book was much thicker than the first one (despite having all the same pages) so it must have been printed with another printer and on different paper.

I then began working on books for 2016 and 2017.  Again, the process was seamless and the books were perfect when they arrived.  I could have stared at them forever, I was really just so relieved to have printed copies of everything.  Kevin looked at the books with me in bed one night, and we both just talked about how quickly our babies are growing up and about all the fun moments documented on those pages.

Blogging isn't always easy because it's hard to find the time to do it, but it truly is important to me so I hope that I can always make it a priority.  I take SO many pictures, so I have really pared down what I blog about.  I leave the daily stuff to my Instagram posts, but post about the bigger stuff on this blog since I can give the content the attention it deserves.

A few weeks into January, I was able to finish blogging about 2018.  I ordered the book, and after some delivery hiccups, finally received my book a month later.  The shipping could be improved, but I won't complain too much since I am totally in love with the finished products.

Here's to blogging in 2019!

boat show

Kevin couldn't miss an opportunity to head to the Dallas Boat Show, especially since Papa hooked us up with tickets from the guys at the Mastercraft booth! Before we walked in, Kevin gave the kids a lecture about sitting properly in the boats (Colby) and not touching buttons (also Colby, haha.)  The kids behaved themselves and loved climbing on A TON of boats, pretending to drive, testing out all possible seats, and finding any hidden nooks or crannies. 

Brooke looks so big here!

The little goofball hanging with Grandma and Papa.

Making themselves comfortable :)

Resting with Papa on the sweet surfboard bench...

I have the most adorable video of Colby explaining the "zoomer" (throttle) that helps the boats go fast, haha.

Three generations of boat lovers.  It really is fun to see how much these guys love all things boat related.  It brings Kevin so much happiness to teach Colby (and Brooke) about boats, especially when he sees their excitement about it as well.  I know Jerry feels the same about watching Kevin and his grandkids enjoying the boat life.

The kids were sure that they each needed their own surfboards, since these ones were "just their size", so we'll see what this summer brings.  If a new board helped Brooke gain confidence to surf on her own, you better believe that Kevin will buy her one.  Colby is gonna tear it up this summer, but Kevin is eyeing a wakeboard for him instead of a surfboard.

After the show, we headed to Lockhart Smokehouse in the Bishop Arts District.  This wall mural was very Mary Poppins-ish to me, so I made the boys pose for a picture.

The food was really yummy, and we enjoyed the time to sit and chat with Grandma and Papa.  As we walked back to our car, we passed a unique chocolate shop and left with giant chocolate marshmallows!  It was a fun ending to a great day as a family :)

100 days of kindergarten

It's official!! Our sweet girl has been in Kindergarten for 100 days! She has totally rocked school, and I love seeing her thrive in this new setting, but I have also really missed having her with me all day.  School is so long, and I don't love the unknown about what happens each day at school.  I love her school and feel that she is safe and well-cared for, but I just wish I could be a fly on the wall in her classroom, in the cafeteria, on the playground, etc.  Like I mentioned in the Open House post, she is doing well academically.  Her teacher emailed me mid-day a few weeks ago to let me know that Brooke was already reading on a level 4, which is where they expect the kids to be at the end of Kindergarten.  Those are always good emails to get! The school pays for a few different computer programs to aid the kids in their reading at home, and luckily Brooke loves to do them.  They are also currently working on addition and subtraction, and Brooke is constantly writing out math problems :)

She loves to write notes to us, and has started having writing homework each week.  They are given 2 prompts per week and the children are expected to write 3 sentences on topic, using correct spelling for sight words and sounding out the rest on their own.  Brooke gets a bit frustrated with the sounding out part because she wants the words to be spelled correctly, but she's getting less frustrated about it :)   They also draw a picture about what they wrote, and Brooke's pictures are adorable.

She has so many sweet friends in her class, and I love watching her run and play with kids after school. Colby and I walk her to class once or twice a week, and I adore seeing her interact with people in the halls and seeing her excitement when she gets to walk in with someone in her class. She really has the sweetest heart, and is happy and bubbly each and every morning as she walks into school.

I love you, Buggy!  Oh, and she created this shirt design on her own!  I bought the jewels at Hobby Lobby and knew that she was going to be in love.  We figured out how many of each color she should use to make 100, then she got to work on the design.  It took a lot of self control for me to let her be independent, especially when she started getting frustrated that the lines weren't perfect.  I had to walk away when she kept saying that it looked ugly because I offered my help and she didn't want it.  She probably gets her perfectionist attitude from me, but I hate to see her get so frustrated with herself! (It was after school on a Thursday, so maybe she was just tired after a long week?)  After she cooled down, she adjusted the rows that were bothering her and I hot glued them all in place.

I am grateful that she snapped out of her funk, was pleased with the result, and was excited to wear it to school!