Special Day

We had a very special day Saturday.  We took our little family to the Louisville temple and had Kennedy sealed to us.  She was so precious in her little white dress and stole the show during the ceremony.  We are so grateful for all the friends and family that came to support us on such an important day.

We feel so blessed to have Kennedy in our family and are so grateful to her birth family for entrusting us with her.  She is a little ray of sunshine in our lives and we love her so much.

Our little girl

 Our little girl is growing up so fast.  She is such a joy to have in our lives.  She is very happy and silly and constantly makes us laugh.  Currently she likes to make silly faces, put socks on her hands, take off all her clothes (including dirty diapers), and put diapers on her stuffed animals.  She is a little nurturer and loves to give kisses and hugs.  Here are some flowers she picked at grandma's house.

 Here she is putting diapers on her bear.

This last pic is of the day after we returned from our visit to Cali.  At about 7:30pm she conked out on the couch.  She has never fallen asleep like this before.  Nate had to catch her before she fell off.  He was able to get her in her pj's and put to bed all while staying asleep.  I have a bunch of pics to post of our trip in the next few days.  We had a great time.

Severe Weather

As many of you may know we had some major severe weather last week.  There were five confirmed tornado's in our viewing area.  The damage and loss of life has been extensive but we were lucky close to the city not to have been affected much.  

The map shows the beginning and end of the tornado's in our area.  If you blow up the map you can see the star where Nate's parents and extended family live in Grant's Lick.  Eyewitness reports show that the funnel cloud lifted off the ground for the few miles right over Grant's Lick.  Boy was Nate's family lucky.  If it had stayed on the ground there is no doubt that their homes would have been in the thick of things.  We feel very blessed that they are all safe and our hearts and prayers go out to those in our area who were not so lucky.  Here's hoping we do not see anything like this again in our area for a very long time.   

Carter's Birthday

 Carter had a great birthday this year.  He got to take treats into preschool and go out to dinner with Mom and Dad.   Then a couple days later he had his party with a few friends.  It was a Wild Kratts party and I made the vests they are wearing (Creature Power Suits).  It was a big hit.  We then headed to Chuck E. Cheese for cupcakes and games.  I think everyone had a great time.  Carter makes sure he has his vest on everyday at five o'clock when Wild Kratts comes on PBS.

This ended up being a Nano bug birthday.  Carter had asked for some "bug tracks", for his nano bugs and ended up getting a ton!  Thanks Me-maw and Uncle Ben.  Both of the kids love playing with these bugs.

Here is a close up of the vests.  Way too much craftiness for me.  I'll have to remind myself that next year.  Thanks to everyone who made Carter's birthday special!

Carter's Prayer

quote from Carter's prayer tonight: 

"Dear HF, thank you for this day............Please bless that if something happens to Daddy or Jeremy that me and Brayden can use the guns when we grow up..........Amen"

Seriously, where do these kids come up with this stuff?  I'm sure that Nate and Jeremy(Nate's friend) can be assured that their assets will be in good hands since our five year old is so concerned about them. Remind me why I decided to stay in Kentucky again?

Nails

Okay, so my nail polish obsession has continued.  I had to show a picture of my "finalization nails".  I did them special for our court appearance.  Dedicated to Kennedy they look a bit heavy metal, but I was thinking more along the lines of angel of my heart.  I know it is cheesy, just go with it.

A big thanks goes to Nate for making me my own homemade light box for Christmas.  My photos have improved immensely because of it.  I may just start my own blog here at some point.

Finally Final

We are so excited to report that Kennedy's adoption is finally final!  We went to the courthouse on Mon, Jan. 23rd.  It was a very formal affair ending with the kids hammering the gavel and the judge giving Kennedy the bear she is holding in the pictures.  We are so happy to have all the paperwork finished.  Adoption has been so wonderful for us, but the paper pushing side of it has been quite a nuisance.  It was a really great experience and Carter insisted on wearing his suit (on which he was complimented by the attorney, the guardian ad litem, and the judge).