Merry Christmas!

We had a very merry Christmas!  The kids had a wonderful couple of days opening presents and playing with new toys.  We are so blessed to have so much wonderful family around to share the holiday's with.  We even managed to catch most of my family on Skype this year.

There is nothing like not needing to get up on the 26th because your 2 year old is fast asleep and your 5 year old is happily playing downstairs with all his new toys.  I don't think we got out of bed till almost 10:00am.  I love Christmas, but I also love the calm and quiet after all the busyness.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

Fall Leaves

With fall comes the daunting task of raking all the leaves in the yard.  With Carter's help Nate was able to unload two truck beds full of leaves onto the street for leaf cleanup.  Of course he couldn't resist playing in the pool full of leaves just a bit too.

A little randomness...Kennedy enjoying the last of the two mile walks in the mornings before the weather turned cold.  She is obsessed with umbrellas.  And of course my two kiddos together.  This is there natural habitat, always touching each other.  Sometimes that can be a good thing, but quite often it just causes a lot of "get off of her," comments from mom.  Boy do I love my kids.  I am glad that they like each other so much (most of the time).  

Happy Halloween

Unfortunately the warm weather did not last and by the time Halloween came it was super cold.  We spent the evening in weather just above freezing and a cold slushy drizzle.  Not the best Halloween weather, but the kids were troopers, they got candy out of it afterall.

Both the kids picked out their costumes this year.  Carter was a power ranger and Kennedy was an Owl (one of her favorite animals).  Carter's mask only lasted about five minutes.  He then told us in no uncertain terms that he was getting snot all over himself  inside the mask, yuck.  Kennedy was bundled up quite nicely. I managed to get last years winter coat under her costume and it kept her ears and neck warm too.  Overall, it was a fun, short, Halloween.

A little bit of Summer

A couple of weeks ago we had some unseasonably warm weather, we are talking almost 80 degrees.  I felt obligated to take the kids to the park.  We found this great park close to our house right along the Ohio River.  Don't know why we haven't been there before.  Carter was able to do his favorite thing--ride his bike!  He learned a month or so ago and has been taking every opportunity he can get to practice.  Kennedy spend the time running around playing and playing in the leaves.  I took quite a photo shoot of her, which perhaps I'll share later.  Only wish we could hold on tight to this weather and never let it go!

Sister's Trip

This October I had the awesome opportunity to leave my family behind and join my sisters in Savannah for an extended weekend.  We had such a wonderful time.  Savannah was absolutely delightful.  All that surrounded us and all the food made for one great trip.  Highlights were the trolley tour, Paula Deans restaurant,  the Chocolate Bar, Leopold's ice cream, b&d's burger's,Tybee island, and Bonaventure cemetery.

These were my two favorite pics of the four of us.  Boy am I lucky to have such wonderful sisters.  Here's to many more trips like this one in the future!

Savannah

Here are some brief examples of the beauty that surrounded us in Savannah, GA.  Walking the streets of historic Savannah you couldn't help but be in awe of all the beautiful things.  Absolutely loved it.  So glad I got to experience it with my sisters!

Hats

Well, I dug out my hat loom and decided to make Kennedy a hat after a friend made a couple for a baby shower.  This was the result.  Luckily I just had the yarn in my stash from ages ago.  These hats are so cute on girls, especially with cute embellishments.  I will be making hats for triplets in the next couple of weeks so I was glad to have a little practice.  Plus, I think I'll have to make a few more for Kennedy since they are so cute.  She loves wearing it around and putting hats on her stuffed animals.  Looks like it will be a hat making winter.

I decided to include all three pics so you could see a bit of Kennedy's personality.  She is a total goof ball, we love it!!

First Haircut

Kennedy had her first official haircut last week.  She did such a great job sitting still and doing what my stylist Nina asked her to do.  She even sat through my haircut happily.  Unfortunately I couldn't manage to get a decent shot afterwards so that will have to come in another post.  I love her new look.  No more baby wispy's looking limp and un-brushed!

A couple of weeks ago we took our yearly trip to Kings Island (amusement park) courtesy of P&G (Nate's work.)  This year was a lot of fun.  Nate and I pretty much each took a kid and ran around riding rides.  Carter could go on a lot of the bigger stuff this year and he had a blast.  Kennedy also loved all the rides.  Nate is a trooper and will go on pretty much any of the roller coasters.  I on the other hand refuse to go on anything that spins.  Luckily the little kid stuff is pretty spin free.

Nate did take each of the kids on a spinning ride called the Monster.  We couldn't believe that Kennedy was allowed to ride it, but she was.  Carter went first and had a blast, without spinning too much.  After shouting "my turn" over and over Nate took her too.  That ended up being a mistake.  They spun so much that it was actually difficult to watch with out feeling nauseous.  When they got off Nate said that was the worst spinning he had ever experienced and that Kennedy spent the whole time saying "no, no, no, no..." in tears.  I am just glad no one lost their dinner!

The weather was perfect and besides a little dizziness and lack of a firework show we had a wonderful time.

Fun with the Fam

We wanted to do something fun with the kids for Labor Day and since it was raining, we decided to go bowling.  We started off with a super yummy lunch at Five Guys and then headed to the bowling alley.  It was the first time for our kids and they had a blast.  Kennedy spent the majority of the time saying "my turn" and jumping up and down.  The kids and I went with the bumper lanes while Nate decided to brave it unassisted.  I managed to beat him with the bumpers on, but not by much.  Bowling was followed by Icee's and then some chill time at home.

As you can see, Kennedy was a little more worn out then I realized since this was how I found her in front of the computer watching a show.  Definitely the first time one of my kids has ever fallen asleep in a chair.  We sure had a fun time and I think Carter will be asking to go bowling every week for the next little while.  

Football Pointers

A sure fire way to remind yourself that you were not raised in a sports family is to have your five year old son  give you pointers on how to throw a football.  After giving me a few much needed tips he said "Don't worry mom, you'll get better."  I am not so optimistic.  I do believe he was right when after I tried to give him a little instruction he proclaimed, "Mom, I think I'll just get help from Dad."  I think I am probably a lost cause, but at least I know Dad can pick up the slack in that department.

Bedtime Daddy style

This is how Dad puts the kids to bed.  Boy do they love climbing on and heading upstairs like this.  Needless to say Mom does not do anything so fancy.

Kindergarten

Well, it is official.  Carter started school this week.  He did great and was so excited to be able to walk to school.  Gone are the days of sleeping in and staying in pajamas till noon.  I am so proud of my little man.

Baseball

Carter played his first season of Coach pitch baseball this year.  It has been a lot of fun with his Dad and uncle coaching and his grandma coming to every game.  Too bad the season has been disrupted by scorching temperatures.  The last time Cincinnati hit 104 was over 100 years ago.  Thank goodness it has settled back down to more reasonable digits.  Carter did really good this year and we look forward to many years of ball games in the future!

Her Favorite Things

I thought I'd share some of Kennedy's favorite things.  A few of them are represented in this picture.  She is currently obsessed with wearing swimsuits and sunglasses (usually upside down).  I guess she is a summer girl.  She wears them around the house all the time and if she finds one, she will take off her clothes and attempt to put them on herself.  She is currently taking a nap in the one above and has been put to bed for the night with one over her pj's.  She will also throw on any headband and bracelet she finds laying around.  The light up pen was a bonus find yesterday.  Oh, to be two!

Fun with Cousins

We had so much fun when Nate's sister came out with her kids a few weeks ago.  It was a bit crazy with five kids running around but we had lots of fun.  Here are some pics of our mall trip. 

Here is our little blue tongued lizard, courtesy of an Airheads Popsicle at Skyline.  Imagine if all our tongues were blue!

Happy Birthday Kennedy

We now have a two year old.  We celebrated with a Dora birthday party.  I think every single gift was Dora.  Kennedy loves to watch Dora and Diego.  The "cake" was a craft project that Carter and I worked on.  I can't believe my little girl is already two years old.  She is such a wonderful addition to our family.  She is snuggly, jumps, imitates her brother and is a master pouter, crossed arms included.  She is tall and thin for her age, weighing in the 20% and 90% in height.  Let's hope she can keep up those stats for several years to come :). We love you Kennedy!

Our little graduate.  Carter finished up preschool a couple weeks ago.  He had his ups and downs about wanting to be there but in the end I think it was great for him.  His teacher informed me that he was not only doing great, but was actually a little bored and ready for Kindergarten.  I sure hope he likes his new school in the fall.  I've already had tears about missing Ms. Cathy and wanting to go to Kindergarten at Bluebird.  I guess that means he liked it.