Heater in October...

...really?!?! The weather in Texas this fall has been very unusual, to say the least. We've had so much rain that I've lost count of the # of days or the # of inches! I'm kind of wondering if we're close to hitting the record for rainfall?!?!

So, today's weather, of course, was rainy & chilly. I think the high was in the low to mid-50s, but also a little windy! However, my biggest surprise was that the thermostat in our home reads 70 degrees, usually, very comfortable to the Kemper Clan. Ironically though, I found myself cold & soon cuddling on the couch with Colin (I'll take that anytime though). Colin's arms & hands felt cold, and he admitted that he was cold and asked to cuddle under the blanket with me, never mind the fact that he had a short sleeve shirt on & refused to put a long sleeve one on!

For a moment, I thought about turning on our heater. But WAIT! It's only October! To me, this is way too early to turn on the heater! In fact, I'm pretty sure that we usually don't turn on the heater until close to Thanksgiving or into early December. Also, the house temperature was 70 degrees! During the winter, we set our thermostat at 68 degrees. So, the house isn't even cold enough for the heater to come on! Are you kidding me, Sarah? (Is what I told myself!) So, I quickly stopped wimping out, put on my fleece jacket, put a portable space heater by our kitchen table for dinner time, and REFUSED to turn on the house heater! I think that I'm the only crazy person here, and am pretty sure that Greg will turn on the heater as soon as he gets home in the morning!

One of my friends commented on Facebook that it's cheaper to heat the home versus the cooling costs and couldn't understand what the big deal is about turning on the heater. I do LOVE the milder temperatures in Texas while they last, and October is supposed to have milder temperatures! I love how the milder temps don't require the use of either a heater or air conditioning! However, I must admit (not surprising to many of you) that I'm a cheapskate, penny pincher, tight wad, etc, etc! I was raised to work hard for every penny and was taught almost 4 years ago to make every penny work hard for me! So, I like to make good use of every penny that God has blessed us with...and also, yes, I am cheap and would love to make good use of the milder temps to help me out with my cause! So, I still refuse to turn on the heater!

Well, sort of! I won't make my children suffer! So, yes, I turned on the heater upstairs where their rooms are...but I still have my fleece jacket on and will just add an extra blanket to my bed instead and pray that the milder temps and no rain conditions will quickly return to Texas!!!

Bubble Sack Races

I was doing a little more unpacking & unwrapping of some of our pictures today. I wrap all of our pictures in bubble wrap before packing them in boxes...haven't broken a frame or glass yet!

I had just taken 2 big pictures out of the bubble wrap, but left 3 of the 4 sides still taped together for the sake of convenience. The kids got a hold of the bubble wrap (as usual) and climbed into the bubble wrap as if they were potato sacks.Then, they proceed to hop around in them just like they would in a potato sack race! It was so funny & entertaining to see. It's been raining here ALL DAY, and so it's great to see them get creative & have some indoor fun!

Our American Girl Basketball Player

Back in June, Sheridan went to an Upward basketball camp, and we let her "practice" her dribbling in the foyer of our house. At the same time, she was reading the American Girl "Julie" series, and Julie plays basketball in the books. Well, Sheridan decided to pretend to be Julie, the basketball player. So, here are some fun photos of our American Girl.

Speaking of basketball camp, Sheridan decided that she wanted to give basketball a try. So, we decided that a 1 week camp would be a better environment to try out this sport versus a 3 month season.

She seemed to really enjoy it, but not enough that she actually wants to play it this season. Sheridan is very passive in nature, so she doesn't go after the ball and will wait for someone to give it to her (not exactly a great way to play the sport). She also seemed to take on more of a supportive role & go back to her cheer instincts!

I'm just glad that she enjoyed it & maybe will one day make this former basketball player very PROUD!!!

Family Room Camping

Back in May, Greg & Sheridan were about to go tent camping again, and we finally bought our own tent! However, Greg wanted to make sure that 1) all the pieces were there and 2) that he knew how to put it together! It was supposed to rain the weekend of the camp out, and he wanted to "waterproof" it too!

So, he decided to put the tent up, and our family room was the largest room in the house to put the tent up in.

Since the tent was up, we decided to let the kids sleep in it & "camp" in it! It was a great "treat" for them!

We wish that we had an idea of how to make "indoor" smores for a "true" camping experience. If you have ideas, then let me know!

Future Camera Man???

I'm cleaning out our digital camera, in an effort to post some "catch up" postings from the past 8 months. I've come across SEVERAL (at least 10) short little digital videos that Colin shot when he got a hold of our camera! These were taken back on May 22nd (you knew I am WAY behind!).

This one is particularly cute & funny!

Here's another one that makes me smile & laugh!!

And now that I've watched them all, I'm beginning to wonder if he thought he was taking "still" pictures instead of the videos. Kind of glad that he took the videos...just a little glimpse into his almost 5 year old mind!

All about You, Jesus...and all about getting DIZZY!!!

Sheridan was on the stage at chapel this past week, leading their praise time. This is a cute song, but WOW...makes me dizzy!!

The funny part about this song is that the kids usually LOVE songs that get them moving & dancing. Not sure if you can hear it eventually or not, but I think they too are getting dizzy & tired of going round & round & round!

"Homemade" Lamp Project

Everyone in our family needed new bedside lamps for our rooms. I found a lamp with a shade for Colin's room for $6.50 total. Then, found new lamps for both Greg & my bedsides for $10 each. So, the hunt was on for a cute lamp for Sheridan. I found one that I really liked for $35 +tax, but didn't want to pay that much for it. So, I decided to try to make something for her.

I'm notorious for getting a "homemade" project in my head but never following through. I was determined to not let this happen!

I found a plain white lamp shade and a plain off-white lamp stand for a total of $6. So, I thought that I could paint the stand & add some beaded ribbon to the shade, and in total, spend a lot less than $35 +tax.

What do you think?

This is my first attempt to do anything like this! And I'm pretty pumped that I started & finished the project in about 24 hours from getting the idea to completion!

Sheridan loves it, I like it, but I LOVE that this project cost me just over $16 with tax (the beaded ribbon & the paint cost the most!), and SAVED me well over $20! Woo Hoo!!!!

So, now I'm wondering...what's next?!?!

It's been a while...OK...a LONG WHILE

I know that it's been a while since we've posted ANYTHING on our blog...since February! However, I've actually missed it & there are many things that have happened in the past 8 months! Although, I'm pretty sure that all the "readers" of this blog are family that are on Facebook as well & probably don't need to read the blog to keep up with the Kempers!

So, I guess that I'm going to start posting again just so that I can keep track of events & look back on them later...probably for scrapbooking purposes!!!

For a quick recap, right after our last post, we started to prep the house to put it on the market. So we spent almost 2 months of purging, cleaning, reorganizing, & touching up/repairing stuff. The house went on the market in April, and we finally closed on the sale the beginning of August! We only had 2 weeks "notice" to get packed, find a new house, and move out. So, it was a complete ball of stress & I'm very, very relieved that it's over!

We're slowly getting settled in the new house & making wish lists & projects lists. We'll post pics as soon as we take them! For now, I'll post pics of our vacant "old" house!

And so, now that I've posted something, I guess that I'll follow through & post more...soon!

Happy Valentine's Day 2009

We wanted to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope that your Valentine's Day is better than ours! Originally, Greg's parents were supposed to come visit this weekend and let Greg & I go on a Valentine's date. However, the flu hit our home at the beginning of this week. So, we told Greg's parents to not come. Greg was still sick this morning, Colin has an off & on fever, Sheridan is finally well after missing 4 days of school, and I seem to have missed this round of sickness (knock on wood!).

Instead, we made the best of our situation. I made the kids heart shaped peanut butter sandwiches for lunch. Greg is well enough to make a nice dinner for the two of us, and we'll probably watch a movie tonight.

The talk of sickness brings something to mind: why is Valentine's Day in February? Isn't February usually the peak month for the flu & cold season? After this week, I vote to move it to September!

In any case, hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day! We love you all!

North Texas Weathermen

OK...I just need to vent a little. I'm kind of sick of North Texas Weathermen and their end of the world type of attitudes! All I heard today were forecasts for Horrible, SEVERE thunderstorms with STRONG chances of tornadoes. They made it sound like this would be the storm of all storms, which completely FREAKED Colin out when he heard these forecasts!

Sorry...in my area, it rained, thundered a little and was mildly windy for about 20 minutes, then died down to NOTHING! I guess the thunder wasn't loud enough to bother my son because the boy stayed in bed! Two nights ago, the winds were so much worse. In fact, those winds were so much stronger & harder on our house that Colin thought it was thunder and came scrambling out of his room. He said that he came out and called for me, but I couldn't hear him over the wind. He, also, said that he realized it wasn't thunder, so he went back to bed. And where were the forecasts for that?!?! Keep in mind too, I grew up scared of thunder (and still am). I was more scared of the wind 2 nights ago than tonight's "thunderstorm."

Then, let's take last month's ice storm. Forecasts for freezing rain and treacherous icy road possibilities were so bad that school was closed on a day where NO ICE was to be seen. Now granted, later that night, freezing rain came, roads were iced everywhere the next day & school was canceled again; so, they were finally right there.

I guess my point is that they sensationalize everything to the point that I don't know if and when to believe them. Thankfully, I am married to my own severe weather "junky" who keeps me informed with more reliable forecasts! Thanks Honey!

Colin the big helper

Colin has been really wanting to help around the house lately. It has been precious to see. Vacuuming, cooking, washing/rinsing dishes...I have a feeling we don't have a typical four-year old boy. Isn't the older child normally the role model? See the pictures in the slide show below. Enjoy!

Happy New Year 2009

We wanted to wish everyone a HAPPY NEW YEAR for 2009. We hope that your 2008 ended wonderfully and that you will enjoy many blessings in the new year.

I'm just curious if anyone still makes New Year's Resolutions? It seems that most of the resolutions I hear of are something like, "I'm starting this," or "I'm not going to do that." My resolutions seem to be more progressive. For example, for 2009, I'd like to work on getting my home cleaned up, organized, and to keep it that way. I've had enough with the chaos, but I know that this is something that I can't just snap my fingers and make happen. I need to figure out a system, and I need to get my family to help me with the system too.

My other resolution is to figure out a good workout schedule and to get back into a routine. I'd prefer to find something that doesn't involve me getting up every morning at 5:30 BUT one that my son will allow me to keep. I haven't been inside the gym since prior to school starting in the fall. I had planned to go 2-3 times a week, but Colin refuses to go to the gym's childcare by himself. This obstacle has left me with the only option of going back to getting up at 5:30, which obviously hasn't happened. Again, going to take some time and commitment to figure this one out!

So, now that 2009 has started, it is time to start problem solving and some creative thinking. Hopefully, in a couple of weeks, I will be able to report some progress!