The newest member of the Carpenter Family

What do you do when you want your daughter to stop whinning about getting a pet and want a clean room? You bribe her that if she keeps her room clean for 2 weeks she'll get a fish. You see, two weeks was short enough that she could do it, and long enough that she could forget if it didn't mean that much to her. It meant that much!

Today was day 14 and the Carpenters headed out to Pet Smart to buy a beta fish that Chloe affectionately named "Poachy". Yes, that's a long a sound...rhymes with roachy...

Let's just pray that Poachy (the male Beta fish living in a pink room with pink gravel and a pink tree) survives the 3-5 years as promised!!!

Can't you just hear the thoughts of this poor little guy? I am too tired to think of any, but I am sure that YOU can....will you post a thought from Poachy?

A laughable moment

Okay, if you know me, you know that I am a kindergarten teacher. I have had MANY things that I have wanted to blog about my sweet/crazy 21 kiddos, but knowing that I could possibly get fired and loose our income, I choose not to.

Well, today I HAD to share this. You know when you have a day that just...well...stinks? Everything seemed to happen wrong and there was absolutely no time to get the 1000 things done that needed to be done. That was the day I was having.

We are making portraits of our Mothers for Mother's day. The directions were to paint a head and neck with skin color paint. Here is the example:

So, today at 5:00, as I was stressing about NOT being home with my family and the 999 other things I needed to get done, I saw my friend's...we will call him Pokey...Pokey's painting and had to stop and thank God for a laughable moment!

Children of God

Every Sunday night we get together. Last Sunday night many of us couldn't make it. And the ones that did were tired, defeated and worn out!

But, not the kiddos. Their smiles and giggles radiated through the house (and backyard).

Doesn't that remind you of when Jesus said that if we wanted to come to him we must be like the little children?But Jesus called the children to him and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. These kids don' day!
Luckily, we came to Him...

we came as adults and left feeling more like the children He called us to be. When the Holy Spirit meets you, your worries are silly and the love He gives makes you remember who we are...CHILDREN OF GOD!

And the guys even cleaned the kitchen!

Show Some Love

Last Sunday night (my Daddy's birthday) was a benefit concert for our friends Steve and Elmira's baby girl. See, they are adopting a baby girl from Africa. This precious little girl may not even have been born yet, but Steve and Elmira have prayed, prepared and are anxiously awaiting this little angel to be a part of their family.

But, no one tells you how much money you have to put down for a little one! Really! These babies are literally being thrown away in trash cans, and a wonderful couple in the U.S. has to pay $30,000-$40,000 to get to love and take care of it. These things baffle me, but anyways.

Here are steve and Elmire saying thanks to all their friends.

The concert was a blast. It had a lot of singing, but our favorite was by far J.D. Smith...

I even got to jump in a sing a little BGV! Don't I look hilarious!

But it wasn't about me. It was about...... sisters

.........friends

.......and lovers

showing some love.

I cannot wait to hold this angel in my arms. Her name is Kaiyin (meaning long, awaited for child). Please keep her and our friends in your prayers!

My tribute To Rita

To many, this is a silly picture. For Kyla Erwin, this is HUGE.

#1 I hate mustard! #2 I used to hate pickles. And #3, I used to hate deviled eggs. Then, I met Rita Carpenter. Many know her as my husband's mother or my mother in law, but to some she could be seen as a miracle maker!

See, when Chris and I were dating I had to be polite. I went over for dinner and she had made coleslaw....I did not like coleslaw. But, I tried it to be nice and THIS woman made coleslaw like I had never tasted! I loved it! I soon learned the secret to the coleslaw was/were the PICKLES! I hated pickles, but THIS woman jars them herself! They are so sweet and yummy! So, a couple of years ago, I went ahead and tried her deviled eggs.......LOVED THEM!

And today, Easter Sunday, April 12, 2009....I, Kyla Erwin Carpenter made deviled eggs!!!! (And no, they do not have mold on them, they are eggs we had dyed on Friday.)

So, thank you Rita Joy Carpenter for working your taste bud magic on me! Now, if you can only get Deanna to eat veggies! Just playin' Deanna! Love ya, Kyla

Happy Easter!

....or in our house "Jesus is Risen Day!"

I thought the girls looked so cute that before lunch we took some pictures. It is sad because the best ones are when they aren't facing the camera! Hope you enjoy! (There are a lot, so if you get bored you have my permission to skim through. I just thought family would like all of them :) )

Finally Chloe needed to "strike some poses!"

Glow Galaxy

Monday night my friend Karen asked if we wanted to join her and her Bella for Glow Galaxy! Since Chris was working, Chloe, Cami, Flat Chloe and I were off to Cool Springs. On the way, I called Roza and her crew to see if they were up for a little glowing too!

Though Glow Galazy has not paid me anything for this advertisement, I have to say it was a blast! We spent 2 and a half hours.

Flat Chloe made it there for some sliding...

some putt putt, too!

Cami loved throwing the glow in the dark balls

Chance was a pro at golfing.

It was a blast! But, the best part was when I BEAT ROZA 10 to 9 at air hockey!!!!!!!