325/365... enJoy

We let the big kids stay up a bit later even than what we would normally consider to be a late night last night for two reasons. First, it was our last night of vacation and they wanted to be a part of the card playing, movie watching fun and it's hard to argue with that. Second, I had a feeling that they were going to have a bit of trouble falling asleep knowing that they day had finally come..... PUPPY DAY!!! Yes, as of today, the very long wait for a puppy of their own has finally come to an end.

It's always hard for our kids to tear themselves away from our family trips, but I hope the Kyker side didn't take their eager departure this time too personally. At the end of our trip home from Birmingham they would get to walk their first pet over the thresh hold and welcome him into our family. To say that they were excited is a bit of an understatement.

After a ton of research, Jimmy chose the Black-mouth Cur breed of dog as the perfect one for us. The kids know him as the Old Yeller dog and have read the book and watched the movie tons of times (until it was actually official that we would be getting one and then it was all of a sudden too sad for them to watch anymore). Black-mouth Cur's are strong, smart, burly and gritty dogs and he wasn't going to come to any wimpy name. There were lots of contenders and even a front-runner for a while, but when Jimmy suggested one in particular the kids grabbed onto it and never looked back. He's named for the most decorated, most celebrated Marine in history. And everyone knows that Marines are pretty strong, smart, burly and gritty.

Allow me to introduce to you General Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller (We call him Chesty; "Chesty Pullah when he's in trouble," according to Ben.).

Welcoming Chesty joy....






















321/365... enJoy

It's Kyker family Thanksgiving in Birmingham time! There is no shortage of fun to be had and fun stories to come away with when any combination of Kykers are together. This year as many of us that could gathered at Jeff and Soraia's house for a few days of feasting and fun. I was especially looking forward to not being the only family with little ones anymore now that our niece Hillary and her husband Chris have jumped onto the parenthood bandwagon with their two little sweeties. Lawson and Jack met each other looking like little twins (even wearing almost the same clothes!) and had fun playing together (including throwing random toys over the railing from the loft to the living room. Too bad for Jeffrey that his couch-bed was directly beneath their launching spot!).
And I won't lie, I was also very  much looking forward to getting my hands on the newest member of the family, two week old Charlee Kate. She was every bit as precious and wonderful as I knew she would be and I'm pretty sure she's got the whole family wrapped around her little finger already.

Let the festivities begin joy...













319/365... enJoy

The simple act of checking the hydrant earned our local firemen a round of applause and many thanks. If they are ever feeling down and need a little ego boost they know right where to come.

Free entertainment for a whole lot of kids joy...


318/365... enJoy

The boys did a science project for co-op this fall charting the migration habits of birds that would come through our area. One aspect of the project was to set up three different styles of feeders in our back yard and make a hypothesis as to which feeder would attract the most birds. After consistently observing our feeders for over a week and never spotting even one bird on any of them, we determined that we had either started our project too early or the cool fall weather was taking longer than normal to find us. The birds were obviously doing just fine feeding themselves on the abundance of worms and insects still available to them.

So after our project had taken a different turn (learning why they weren't coming as opposed to how many/what kinds we were feeding) we kind of gave up and forgot about it. This morning, after several days of cooler temperatures, our feeders were finally put to good use! Turns out that the black sunflower seeds in the hanging feeder seem to be the food of choice for the various jays and chickadees that are passing through right now. Even our younger scientists immediately realized that the birds eating from our feeders must mean that the bugs and worms are being chased away by the colder air.

Science experiments that actually make sense (to mommy) joy...


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Ben-isms


"Mommy, whenever I get two junks I'm going to eat one of them and share the other one with you."


 "Daddy, when I'm a dad I'm gonna pants you!"


"Travis, do you want me to read this book to you the right way, which is very boring, or my way, which has heads chopped off? I choose heads chopped off."



"I think God knew that one of the best ways he could bless you was by putting me in your family."



One of life's best blessings joy...




316/365... enJoy

Poor little sixth child had to get his first taste of solid foods by finding a rogue cheerio on the floor and helping himself. When it first touched his tongue he was diggin' it, smiling like he'd made an awesome discovery. But as it began to dissolve and work its way towards the back he decided that he wasn't much of a fan after all. Eventually he was gagging and puking. I'm not sure that he cares too much about the fact that the cheerio might not have been given a fair chance coming off of the floor (there's no telling how much extra "fiber" came along with it), but for now we'll be skipping the cheerio snacks for a little while longer. Besides, the longer he waits to eat things like that, the longer I can pretend that he's still a tiny baby.

He's still a tiny baby joy....