Well myyyy goodness....

I would attempt to catch up on all that I have missed posting .... but you see it has taken me over a month to get to do a post so time isn't on my side! I love love love blogging and reading everyones blogs, etc. but finding time to do it (along with keeping up with the kids, dishes, laundry, cleaning X 5= IT AIN'T HAPPENIN!) I know you get me.... so we will just leave it be :)

All is well (ok... good.... not so "well" these days.. bunch of sick kids!) We made it through Christmas alive! I have 4563165413 toys to prove it. We had our first family gathering at our house for Daddy and my sisters (and a few other members of the family) I cooked a HUGE meal - pork tenderloin, potatoes, corn casserole, pintos (REAL ones) and I made a honeycomb cake (HEAVEN in a bundt pan!)




The next day we went to my mom's - more food... and toys.... :)




Then we had Christmas with Granna, Chad and Emily.






Then off to Granny's Christmas Eve.....




We had our little family Christmas at home Christmas morning ( after I was up until 2 am doing all of Santa's work that I will never get any credit for!) Kaylee got her dollhouse (her 1000-different-pieces-make-sure-you-took-ag-in-school dollhouse) and Kyle got Rocky the Robot truck ($65 for a truck he has played with all of 3 times.... and Kaden got a Jumper that he really liked the pretty paper on :) (ho ho ho)





Last... off to Dee and Rod's for the Brewer Christmas....







I will leave this post as it is for now and I will try to get back to posting at least once a week- because I know you have really missed hearing about my over-the-top-so exciting you could gag- life :) And YAY ME for putting pics in order... I know.. I am awesome (really slow to learn) but Awesome :)

So how behind am I ????

I have so much to show and tell on this post.... and I wish I could put the pics in order somehow... but as I have already fussed about- I CANNOT figure out how to... all you Blogger savvy ones feel free to pass that info along in "Dummy" terms for me!

First and most important- Kensley made it home!! We had a big welcome party for her- we were so glad to see all of them at home and doing well. She has been all over town since they got home- she has visited her school- been to church- been shopping-and she is loving every minute of it!

and as for us.... we have been on the go as usual.... we have had 2 big events (well... they are "big" in our world) The Alabama/Auburn game and Thanksgiving.

We went to our families Thanksgiving things- lots of food and of course good laughs :) We went to Norma's house with all the family and some of our closest friends. We then went to my aunt's house in Winchester to be with my dad's side of the family.... it is so hard to have only 1 day to go to all of our family functions- I wish I could do all of them but then sometimes wish we didn't have to travel all day either.... I am thankful that we have so much family to spend holidays with :)

Friday I got up at 3:45 to do some Black Friday shopping.... MISTAKE... I didn't get anything that was worth missing out on my sleep! I returned home by 9:30 (because my daughter called my cell and said "Momma, when are you coming home... Daddy don't know how to do nothing!" I still have a major Christmas list to knock out in the next 3 weeks (makes me want to gag thinking about it!)
We headed out to Aunt Karen's that afternoon to watch the game we anticipate every year.... Bama VS Auburn.... and Alabama won!! That was a major thing to us! That was an awesome game if I do say so myself... and I am not one who is all in the know on some football! (I should be as much as I am forced to be a fan.. oh I mean how much I love Alabama and I am the wife to their biggest fan...) lol

and Kaylee is still dramatic... Kyle is still wild... and Kaden is still fat.... its all good...

And another thing...

KENSLEY IS COMING HOME TOMORROW!!!!

We are so excited! We can't wait to see them all HERE!
I will have pics of the homecoming and will try to be speedy
about getting them on here. 3 posts in one week... how awesome am I!!

Happy Anniversary :)

Yesterday my hubby and I had been married for 8 years :) ( I know.. AWWWWWWW.... I hear all of you) We have had a very wonderful, eventful, childrenful 8 years. I am proud to say I picked him out myself- but I know the Lord had alot to do with! He is so good ( and messy, and crazy, and rotten) I love him more and more each day!

We went out Saturday (14th) to eat and do a little shopping- just had some peaceful time together ( couldn't do near as much shopping as I wanted b/c of his sprained foot/ankle... I am beginning to think that was planned lol) The kiddies stayed with Granna and Granny for a while. Yesterday we went to lunch (with Kaden and Kyle with us... oh yes... we are so romantic ;)- We aren't big spenders for gifts or suchlike- we require monetary things to show each other how much we really do love one another. Like- I take care of his house and kids and He goes to work everyday to provide for me, the kids and the house. It all works just fine!

Ok- now for the real reason you check my blog- The kids are GREAT!
Joe David had a reality shock Saturday because Kaylee wanted him to pick her up over his head- he said OK- and then quickly realized she is much bigger than she used to be and he could BARELY do it. He came into the room almost in tears because he knew that she was growing up so fast (he also said he was going to work out so he could still do it... HA... I will believe that when I see it!!) She is getting so big it is unbelievable! I put an outfit on her to go to a school function and she had on blue jeans with her new black boots. She checked herself out (yes... her daddy's girl!) and looked at me and said "I look like a fashion girl!"

Kyle did get on yellow at school.... we have been surprised that he made it this long... not that he is mean... but OH SO ROWDY! He is a mess- doing this new thing of copying EVERYTHING you say- I think it is funny- Kaylee doesn't appreciate it one bit! He is our little comedian to say the least and he definitly has his PawPaw David's charm!

And Kaden (who will be SEVEN months old tomorrow *tear*) is coming out of shell to say the least! He gets so mad if you walk by and don't pick him up or play with him. ( he is in the exersaucer fussing at Kyle as I type!) He is becoming super attatched to his momma (who can blame him!) and will let anyone hold him as long as he doesn't catch sight of me. He is still trying to cut his top teeth- I am sure his nose will run until sometime around March! He has also decided that certain men scare him to death.... not cool when we did pictures with a male photographer... not cool at all!

Pics are from everything.... and I can't for the life of me figure out how to put them in order on this STUPID new updated blog layout whatever!!!!! It is what it is...

AARRRRR... or whatever Pirates say....

From the little Cantrell pirates.... Happy Halloween! (few days late but who cares!)

We had a blast at Chad and Emily's house. They (along with Em's family) threw her Mom, Lorrell, a big 50th birthday/ Halloween bash. It was so funny! This is the first time I can EVER recall that JD dressed up for Halloween! I know he only did it b/c Scott did- but whatever- it was so fun! We ate (and ate and ate) and took tons of pics and the kids got to go on a hayride around the subdivision to Trick or Treat.

and for the Kensley update... Kaylee finally got to go see her! We checked Kaylee out of school Friday (after her Trick or Treat party) and we went to Birmingham to see the Kelly's. Kaylee was so proud to see Kensley in person- she was so proud to hold her hand and talk to her. She even kicked off her boots and got up in the bed with her and laid with her. (Melissa got pics- we left our camara in the car b/c we're dumbys) Before we made it to the hospital- we realized that Kaylee misunderstood what our visit was- she thought since JD and I had went to Florida to "be with Kensley" that we had actually spent the night with her..... so of course she thought we were all going to spend the night with her in Birmingham (needless to say the tears came when I told her that wasn't how it was going to be! ) When we got in the car- we asked her what she thought about Kensley and she said "I think she is better!" When we left the hospital, we got about 30 miles down the road when I called Melissa and she was hysterically laughing- she said that Kensley was SMILING and trying to laugh at Keelie (Melissa and Dustin's neice) I was thrilled to the point that it didn't matter that we had JUST missed it! I had prayed that the Lord would let her smile and He did !!! They sent us a pic on JD's phone so we could see- it was awesome to say the least. We know the Lord is the one to get all the credit for that child and her awesome recovery. She seems to have some type of improvement DAILY!

I will post more later- we have a wedding this week... therefor.... you guessed it... more pics! I know your so excited you could just pee you pants :)-

CRAZY......

This is how I can explain life for right now... just crazy... just can't get over one thing without another popping up.... we are still treading water though... and not complaining WHATSOEVER.... life is good... we have a life to make us crazy so therefor we are Blessed... yep you got it- I am being glass half full again!

Update on Ms Kensley earns the #1 spot. She is doing better- aggresively going through therapy- showing small improvements everyday it seems. She celebrated her 6th birthday with tons of balloons, cards and a cake. Kaylee and Kyle called and sang to her- I had to pull the phone back because they got a little loud and I am sure she would have told them to BE QUIET if she could have :) We are praying for them continuously. As I talked to her mother tonight I joked that I didn't know I liked them so much until now because I haven't seen them since Thursday nite and I am missing them terribly! We will get there sometime this week- Kaylee is about to have a fit to go so we plan on taking her. She has never went this long without seeing Kensley in their lives (other than the 2 1/2 months Kaylee was here before Kensley was born)She misses her bff!!!

We are trying to get things together in our world- but it is day by day- and we are just going through the motions- not much time (or care) for many things that aren't necessary lately. We had a death in JD's family so that took up our weekend- our a/c decided it no longer needed to work (guess it didn't see the need since it is October and all) and our car decided to start acting up. BLAH BLAH BLAH.... it is all good....

MY KIDS.. are doing great! Kaylee had a "first 9 weeks of school" awards day (not sure why.... ) but she earned an ALL A's award (such a smarty... like her momma lol) and Perfect Attendance (which neither she or myself thought she had... I am still certain she missed a day or two???)
Kyle did really well on his report card- most of his was S's- but he had some N's and P's - mostly on things revolved around TALKING! He is his father's child... doesn't know when to be quiet (you know it CAN'T be me who he got this from!)
Kaden decided after all of my training and assisting that he would roll over- while I was in Florida and he was with Granna and Granny!!! I was like GO FIGURE!!! He did show me his new trick as soon as I returned home- he was so proud:) He is sitting up really well lately- which is a good thing because he has gotten so big I have taken him out of his infant carrier and put him in a BIG BOY car seat and he has to sit in the shopping cart now- which he loves!

I am doing a run through post- I have neglected my blog and thought I would atleast let y'all know that we are still here. I may throw some pics on here to so you can see the kids - and Kaden's new hair that is coming back in!

We will have some trick or treat pics next week.... they are all going to be PIRATES! (I had to do some tricking of my own to convince Kaylee not to be something else ;)

Later gators..... oh.... not gators.... but elephants doesn't work here.... hmmmmmmm

A birthday I will never forget.....

I am just taking a very long- turned into 1 hour of typing- moment to reflect on the longest/fastest/most terrible week we have had.
It was October 7- the day I was born in 1981. You know birthdays just ain't what they were when you were small! We went to Cracker Barrell for supper for my 28th birthday. This was just a normal Wednesday night- except we had changed things up a bit, Mullins is usually our place we eat at on Wednesday nites- we usually meet up with 2 or more of the Kelly family there- getting something to eat before we head over to our weekly church service. But this night had more in store for our entire church family than we knew. As I turned onto Maysville Road, I recieved a phone call that stopped me in my tracks. It was Heather (my very closest friend) telling me that our other very closest friends Dustin and Melissa had been in a car accident while traveling to the beach from DisneyWorld- where they were to finish out the rest of their fall break vacation.

The events that unfolded over those next few hours made time stand still. We were first told that Dustin and Melissa were being med-flighted to the hospital and the kids were ok- in an ambulance. This WAS NOT the case. Suzie (Kensley's grandmother) came in church and told us that Kensley had been badly injured and had been placed on a ventilator.

I will pause here to tell you about Miss Kensley- this is the child who was born 2 1/2 months after my Kaylee- she is one of my Kaylee's bestest friends- She has came home with us countless times- She is about the only person Kaylee will willingly spend the night with- she is the prettiest little drama queen you have ever laid eyes on- and here we sat - trying to hope for the best and imagining the very worst.

And they were over 400 miles away- it seemed it was almost the very worst case scenerio that could have been. How could this have happened? I just talked to them this afternoon? Dustin and Melissa NEVER go on vacation- this is just their luck!

Without a minute to plan- My husband and I along with Dustin's twin brother Justin- all jump in the car and were Pensacola bound. I have never ridden for 4 1/2 hours where it felt like we made it in 1- no one was tired- no one was hungry- only two stops for gas. We prayed- kept as updated as we could on the condition of all 4 involved. Kensley's older brother Konner was the first to the hospital that members of the family got to see and check on and we were SO thankful that he was there with just a few bad dings and bumps and some road rash (and getting out of some stitches by doing what he does best- Praying) All we knew of Kensley's condition was that is was bad- really bad- can't describe over the phone and can't get there fast enough bad. Dustin arrived and seemed to also be super banged up (which he was - bless his heart). It took hours before we knew of Melissa's condition (she was to be med-flighted to the same hospital with the rest of the family- the hospital she was first taken to was 1 hour away- the helicopter couldn't fly because of the weather- so she had to be brought by ambulance- we did not know all of this was going on... we were scared to say the least) Melissa was also banged and bruised- but she was breathing and we were thanking our Lord! We arrived to the hospital around 1am Thursday morning. It was unbelievable- the sight wasn't anything you could prepare yourself for. Dustin and Melissa were in seperate rooms with limited visitors- it may have been too late for visits but we HAD to check on them ourselves. We went up and down those elevators countless times from the 5th floor where they were to the 3rd floor where Konner was in a room (watching cartoons at 3 in the morning) and Kensley was .... I didn't get to see Kensley until Thursday evening.... I can't explain to you that feeling.... the closest I can come to letting you know was that I saw what every Momma saw.... that was one of OUR babies laying there.... you just can't imagine.

Stopping here to point out ...There are no big "I's " and little "you's" to my post ... I DO NOT want it to seem that way AT ALL.... the "we" that I refer to here is everyone that was down there... other than JD, Justin, and I , there were so many people who arrived before and after we got there that it was amazing... Another testimony.... they wrecked and were placed in a hospital that was 30+ minutes from vacationing family that were in the Gulf area.... friends who were in the area.... family that also NEVER take vacations were right there to sit with Dustin and Melissa's babies.... The Lord did it.... within minutes of their arrival to the hospital- they had someone there.... 400+ miles from home..... Yes- a testimony indeed! Now back to what I was saying....

We stayed until everything got somewhat settled- went and got a hotel room for 3 hours of sleep until we were all back up- we had to go get Dustin, Melissa and Konner some clothes- their luggage, camaras, phones, you name it, etc., etc., were with the car and we couldn't get to it without Suzie with us- so we just had to make due and get them some neccessaties until any of their things could be recovered. Melissa and Dustin were released first (we all thought Dustin was in too bad of shape to be released- but they did it anyway) Friday night they both got to see Kensley for the first time. ( the 3rd floor nurses were kind enough to bend some rules and let Konner go see his momma and daddy and let them see that he was ok) It was hard- harder than you and I will ever know I feel certain.

We got them set up at the Ronald McDonald house for the night- and that place is great for parents of sick children.. maybe not so great for parents and siblings who have been in an accident themselves. They do great things for many people and I think it is wonderful. But Dustin and Melissa checked out the next day and I didn't blame them one bit. They were put out enough- where they stayed needed to be where they wanted to. For the time being- it was a place to shower and to try to rest off some of the pain.... they got the shower.... the pain stayed with them.

We got back to the hospital. We got a deeper explanation of Kensley's condition. Traumatic Brain Injury- pressure needed to stay below 20- medical terms that were far above our comprehension in the most part- we just knew- time to pray. And praying is what we did, from that phone call Wednesday nite... until this very moment... prayer ..... who knew you could sum up such a huge thing in a 6 letter word.

Kensley has had good days.... Sunday was bad day.... but we are back to good days now.... she is now being woke up from the heavy sedation that was helping her ICP - that is inter caranial pressure- to stay stable while her body is healing. We have been to the Lord with this child- so many people we don't even know has called her name in prayer- it has been amazing and the Lord has been sufficient- He has brought her up to this point and we know He is going to be there throughout the rest of this journey..... The effectual ferverent prayer of a righteous man availeth much- Bro David said that EVERY time we had prayer at church and Heather had made mention of it the other day... So true!

It has been 1 week since the accident- which is just beyond me- I feel like the same day has played out over and over.... sitting by for more news on Kensley's condition. Making sure that everything is OK with Dustin, Melissa and Konner.. I have been a pain with all of my phone calls- but I can't stand going 2 hours without any news- I told them I required a "Nothing new" just so I don't have a breakdown here at home. We wish SO badly that we could set up camp down there with them- but we have our kids and jobs that have us tied to home ( and don't you know we came home and had no problem keeping kids up all hours of the night just so we could hug and squeeze on them.... this will put your life into perspective in a heartbeat)

We are going to visit with them this weekend. Oh how precious it would be to see those little green eyes when we get there- We are hoping and praying!

Check out the blog written by the family and some awesome friends... www.prayingforkensley.blogspot.com for updates. If it weren't midnight I would be all fancy and figure out how to do links and such... but my brain is shot... especially after replaying all of this again.

Love to you all and Praises to our Heavenly Father.....
Drea