family traditions...

last year when we were in ohio we talked about doing a gingerbread house every year with kennedy. of course last year she was too young, but this year was a whole new story. ;-)

nana and the girls trying to put the chimney back on.

the finished product!

here is to many more years of house making!

Turkey day!

we had our annual photo shoot on thanksgiving. this year we all wore white shirts with denim. i have decided this is a great tradition, seeing as though any other time of year, family pictures don't seem too important.

buck and robbie

marci, rebekah and robbie

thomas, me and kennedy

this picture was one of the best ones of just us. kennedy was not exactly cooperative so we had to settle.

thomas' mom came and stayed with us for thanksgiving. this was her first time meeting my family and i think it all went down without a hitch.

robbie and bekah

mom and dad with lily bean and sport

buck and earlene with mitchell, gavin, kalei, kenzie and chase

me with robbie and buck. i had already changed out of the HOT white shirt I was in. ;-(

and alas, the family photo. ;-)

a little bit of this and a little bit of that

in what started as an attempt at getting 2 year pictures, i have come to conclusion that i need to accept the fact that i am never going to "always get a good shot". Uncooperative is not even the word when it comes to trying to get kennedy to stand still for five seconds, let alone smile. as a result, i am going with the excuse that even though she may not be smiling (mother) it is still a good picture. ;-)

things around the house are about the same. next week is my last week of classes for this quarter so to say i am looking forward to the break would be an understatement. i added a specialization to my master's degree; forensic counseling. it was really a no-brainer... two extra classes and i add a specialization... needless to say, i signed the forms pretty quickly! ;-)

and alas, a smile-- even if she was not looking at the camera.  ;-)

trying to get a good picture for christmas...

Happy Birthday Kennedy!

we celebrated and partied it up on kennedy's birthday. we had a slew of family and friends come to town to help us get down. somehow, i managed to not get a very good shot of K on her big day. i am blaming the stress of leaving for minnesota! ;-)

this is ethan rockin' away and a great shot of ada and megan

this is megan and kennedy dancing and playing with the bubbles. i think of all the miscellaneous

stuff i bought, the bubble machine was by-far the best!

kennedy and megan sharing some yummy bacon early in the morning. these two were like peas and carrots!

aunt marci and uncle robbie giving k lots of sugar...

this shot turned out really good. megan is turning two on the 15th of this month and i am going

 to blow this up and give it to ada.

wordless wednesday...

all from scratch...

thomas decided he would make a pinata for kennedy's birthday. i will be the first to admit that I really didn't help all that much. to be totally honest, i put about 15 minutes into it, and made sure to capture it on camera!

when he first mentioned making a pinata, i wasn't sure how it would turn out. i googled "pinata and paper mache" and instantly had 20+ websites telling me how to do it.

see, here is where I helped for a few minutes and then made sure to document it so when thomas said i didn't help, i could prove him wrong! ;-)

i think the finishing touches took the longest to complete. it took three layers of paper mache and then two additional days to dry. it held $40 bucks worth of candy-- which reminded me that every year candy will be super cheap b/c of halloween. lucky for us!

the birthday girl got the first whack at it... then we let the kids hit it in order of their age. it worked out really well b/c the oldest boy, Daniel, got the last whack and then the candy came falling down. it is something that we will do for all of kennedy's birthdays in the future. ;-)

This was taken about a month and a half ago when Kennedy had a little cold. As you can see from this picture, we kept her rubbed down in baby vicks. ;-)

ballerinas and dirt...

isn't this a great picture? she looks so sweet and clean and pretty...

and here she is sitting all nice and quiet...

and here she is happy as a pig in you know what... because she was outside rolling in the dirt!!! poor outfit!

workin' the broom...

thomas taught Kennedy how to work a broom recently. While he was putting the gloves on the her hands, he told her she had to do a good job so that she would make her uncle dean proud. ;-)