Kennedy's 5th Birthday

Turns out the cupcake frenzy was only the beginning of my madness. I am not a big fan of big birthday parties because I feel like it can give children a sense of entitlement, like they deserve a bunch of presents etc. So Nathan and I had decided long ago that we may do a few milestone birthday parties but other than that we felt that family was fun enough. I don't know why I decided to invite 2 of Kennedy's friends then...I don't know why I did a lot of things for her birthday, really. We were all really tired on Sat. because Nathan had arrived home late the night before and we all stayed up to hang out with him. And after spending some 4+ hours on cakes -a castle cake and then my own creation, the Cinderella cake to go with the castle- I was feeling like I had put more work into things then a 5 year old could be expected to appreciate. By the time the get together started Kennedy was already showing signs of being tired- her manners weren't in tip top form. We did have fun though. We played pin the Tiara on the Princess, then they spent some time whacking away at a Nemo pinata (which I finally exploded open on my 2nd hit, thank you very much) before opening presents where Kennedy did have a few moments where she opened a present and her reaction was, "Oh cool! (chuck present to the side) Where is another present?" While cringing inwardly I tried to keep in mind she is 5, not 15- and this could actually be a good teaching opportunity. Anyway, the Bell's are the best. They all showed up to help Kennedy celebrate which is really very nice, I was grateful. And my mom tuned in via Web Cam so it turned into quite the little get together and in the end I learned several valuable lessons that made a lot of my hassles worthwhile. At any rate, happy birthday Kennedy!

Kennedy's First 5 yrs

Cupcakes from H-E-Double Hockey Sticks

Making 3 dozen cupcakes with homemade frosting and decorations for a bunch of kids who will lick the frosting off and then throw away the rest...what was I thinking? With all of the interruptions it ended up taking ALL day to finish the project. And when I was finished all I could think was, "these looked so much cuter in my head."

The Mighty Sword

This is one of Kohen's chosen methods of being armed. I find this particularly funny because for as clever as it may be to put the sword down the back of his shirt, watching him try and get it out is pretty hilarious. Let's just say that if the sword was real he would have killed himself the first time he tried to take it out. And it would have been a slow death cuz it took him like 3 minutes to get the sword out. His other way to carry it is to stick the sword down the side of his pants- but that becomes a problem because he can't bend his knee to walk; makes a quick gettaways difficult. So his best option is to wear a 'seat belt' (what he calls his belt) and then let the sword hang on it on the outside of his pants. Sometimes I daydream he is the inspiration for a SNL skit and pretend he is some character who goes around carrying his sword just as unthinking as Kohen but the characters sword is real. You know, I picture the sword hanging from his belt and he turns around quickly to answer one person and obliviously mows down the guy standing next to him etc...maybe that is only funny in my twisted mind...Anyway, the truth about Kohen's sword is that he can't resist whacking someone with it for very long and the sword usually spends 98% of the day in time out. But he just loves it so much I keep letting him earn it back. Geez. That seems like really weak sauce parenting when I write it out like that.......

Wonder Woman

No, I will not shut up. Sorry, I just picture either of my sisters seeing these pictures and shouting, "Shut, up!!!" So no, I will not. For homecoming week at Kennedy's school they invited the preschoolers to dress up each day with the high school students. Thursday was Superhero day and I put together this little Wonder Woman outfit. When I went to take a picture I asked her to pose and the first picture was her first pose and I seriously cracked up- she had 5 or 6 great poses, all looking very Superhero/Save the world- ish. Side note, the cape is blue, but the under side is black so in the pictures you can't see the bright shiny blue very well...and yes, this was probably more fun for me than anyone else :)

Little Ms. Muffet

As I was helping Kennedy find her shoes while we prepared to leave for school she suddenly stops and calmly calls my attention to what she is observing. I too am calm until I realize what she is looking at. A spider. Huge, black, hairy, with monstrous fangs...okay... maybe not the fangs, but how do you know if he didn't have them? Exactly. I wasn't taking any chances. I hollered at Kennedy (who was strangely unmoved by the arachnid) to "GET BACK!!" and then I stood there panicking and sweating trying to quickly think of a solution. As I look back on it now it is almost comical how the spider just sat there on the floor completely still as if hoping we hadn't seen him and the hollering wasn't about him, and maybe in a moment or two he would discreetly make his escape. Not likely since he was seriously the size of a quarter. And he wasn't all long skinny legs either. No, he was very...thick. He looked like he'd had the same trainer as Marion Jones; and I am pretty sure he wanted to eat me. Anyway, there were a plethora of shoes about (good cuz I could theoretically smash him, bad cuz had one of those shoes been his home??? Ughh) but I didn't smash him for several reasons. He was on my carpet and I imagined some huge gory stain and also because when I was in 5th grade I was at my friends house and we tried to kill a giant spider with a shoe but realized too late that trying to smash a spider with soccer cleats is less than effective...still traumatized by that...Anyway. I frantically threw a shoe box over him and then bolstered my insanity plea by balancing a big Halloween bin on top of the shoe box, as if the spider might bench press the box off of himself or something. At the time it seemed like a reasonable threat. I quickly evacuated my children to the car and once we were safely on the road and in the rear view I didn't spot a shoe box with a big orange bin on it chasing us- I took a few breaths and called who I always call when I am in a pinch here in VA...Rosie. I asked her if she would please come kill the spider...Oh yes, I did. Thankfully she had taken care of my 'situation' before I arrived back home. I can't believe I was such a wuss I had to out source a bug squashing. I can usually kill spiders no problem. But I do have size restrictions. Pretty much when they start looking more like wolves than spiders, I'm out. I was so unbelievably grateful to Rosie for fulfilling my ridiculous request that I had to get her a little something as a thank you. Aren't you all glad you don't live closer so I wasn't calling you for help???!!!

Sarah Jane

I am in love with this art work! I came across this artist Sarah Jane on a website and I adore her work. It is simple and yet has depth as well, she is so talented at capturing the spirit of childhood. I even emailed her because the picture of the little girl coloring is on her banner to her website and I loved it so much because it reminds me of Kennedy and a specific time she was coloring- and Sarah Jane emailed me right back and graciously posted the picture. I think these would be great in any childs room. And her prices are very reasonable which is a plus I think. Anyway, here is a link to her site, enjoy!

Aly Cat

The title is Aly Cat which is my most recent nickname for Alyssa. It kind of started because of a line in a Beyonce song where she says "shake it like that alley cat" a couple of times and Aly loves music and to dance around so it is fitting. Anyway, two random pics. The second one I was trying to get a picture of her first official hair do and she picks up the pancake she was eating and starts chatting into it like it is a phone...yada yada yada :)

Preschool @ the Woods

My baby went to preschool today! (sniff) I can't believe it. I know it is only preschool but still, I feel like once children enter school it is all over. And in times like these I am prone to think Kennedy was born just moments ago- and if almost 5 years has flown by so quickly...you know the rest. But how cute is my baby?! She was so excited to go she could hardly stand still to take the pic!




At the High School Briar Woods (where Kim and Katie Bell are sophomores this year) they have a preschool program called Preschool @ the Woods where there is a teacher and then 10 or so student teachers. The attention is very one on one and the curriculum is great. They even have a playground right outside of their class room. They also have curbside pick up and drop off and since I am still gimpy I opted for that choice. Above is Kennedy walking in with one of the student teachers (there were 3 girls at the drop off and they had a dispute over who got to walk Kenna in...if they were trying to flatter me by fawning over her it totally worked...) and then she was off and she didn't even look back...(sniff, again).

Kohen had wanted to be in a pic too so I thought this was pretty funny, Kenna is trying to help him look at the camera...and yes, he does need help. Anyway, her first day was great and so far I have no complaints except that Kennedy is growing up way too fast.

Cowboy Kohen Rides At Last!

This outing happened right before we left Boise but I just now have the pictures and can I say that this was a dream come true for Kohen? My s.i.l. Tara knows this family who has all of these miniature ponies and arranged for us to all go out there and have a ride. Since we had been in Boise, especially since he received his cowboy boots, Kohen has been talking about 'his' horse and how he does this or that when he rides him. Then he would ask when he could ride him- so I knew this experience would be a great surprise. They brought out the first pony and Kohen could hardly contain himself. He got to ride first and as you can see from the pics he is pretty much about ready to float away he is so excited. He of course didn't ever want to get off but we were able to talk him into taking a ride in the buggy pulled by a pony while we rotated some more turns. In the picture with Aly you can see how the saddle actually had a seat belt on it- how cool is that? Cowboy Kohen rides at last!!!

Another Broken Bone...

I am starting to wonder what I ever did to the Universe because it has been absolutely unloading on my little family the last couple of months. I had hoped that it would all just go away once we were back in VA but alas, it is not to be. I went to the dr. like I was supposed to and though he agreed to take the cast off he only did it conditional to my wearing the b.u.b., non-weight bearing for the next 2-3 weeks. Boo. Then Nathan came home on Friday and for about 24 hours all was right in the world. We were all so thrilled to see each other, the kids wouldn't let Nathan out of their sight, can't blame them for that. I lost my cell phone for about 36 hours; a time wherein I felt detached, lost, and alone and subsequently pondered my dependence upon something the size of a credit card that I tend to keep a closer eye on then my own children! Rosie saved the day by finding it for me at Target, and now that it is back my angst and disconnect have disappeared and I've all but forgotten my inner dialogue chastising my reliance on such a silly thing as a cell phone. I'm too busy texting to worry about it now anyway, lol.
TANGENT! SORRY! Back to the title. Our bad luck streak continued this morning when Aly took a tumble down the treacherous stairs that broke Kohen's wrist not so long ago. It took me a long time to get her settled down and though she would use her wrist she didn't want you putting pressure on it and so instead of waiting 3 days like we did with Kohen, I took Aly in. She fractured her left wrist, poor baby. Fortunately it is a teeny break and the Dr. said it was up to us whether or not we wanted to cast it because it shouldn't take very long to heal. So I passed, though now as she is still trying to keep up with her brother and sister she is crying a lot when she accidentally puts weight on it...I swear, we have been having such bad luck! I'm afraid to even drive!

Photo Shoot

I was trying to take a picture of Kennedy the other day and she was being...difficult. I did get one though. It is interesting to me that if she requests a photo shoot like the one below, she is all smiles and poses. She even tells me what to take pictures of, love it.

All In Her Head

I know what you are thinking. This picture looks a bit like something out of the scandalous Abu Ghraib Prison. But no, it's just Kennedy proving the -'it's all in your head'- theory. Now Kennedy generally eats a huge breakfast and tapers off from there. Tonight for dinner my mom had made this warm, hearty stew and it was so good. But Kennedy took one repulsed look at it and dramatically fighting her gag reflex- declared she wasn't hungry. Then when she learned she had to eat it if she wanted to go for a treat with Papas she began moaning about how she just 'couldn't take a bite' and how it 'looked scary'. Irritated that as usual she was going to draw out the affair for hours I had a sudden stroke of genius. Since she claimed the problem was the stews ghastly appearance, I grabbed the kitchen towel and held it around her eyes and told her we were playing a new game. My parents and I were all stunned when she willingly opened her mouth for a bite and then preceded to eat her entire dinner in about 8 minutes- UNHEARD OF- in Kennedy's world! Who knows if this trick will ever work again but it was fun while it lasted. And I would like to thank Kennedy for proving so vividly the power of mind over matter!!!

Engagement Party

Ashley & Shayn

Engagement Party

Check out the 'redonkulous' decorations. My sister Natalie and her husband Robert (below with my rents) threw the party at Ashley's friends house which had the perfect setup in the yard. Natalie is responsible for all of the decorations and obviously spent a lot of time, effort and attention to detail on the whole event. The effect was charming. Both my sisters have a talent with this type of stuff...where were they when I was planing my wedding...hmmm :) A very fun evening celebrating Ashley and Shayn's engagement!

Beyonce' Concert!!!

I have been dying to write about this night, but I wanted to wait until I got the picture from my sister. So Sept. 10th Beyonce' was in Boise. I went with my sisters and one B.I.L. and several of their friends. We rode in a limo which was fun, and had dinner before heading over to the concert. Okay, if I'm being honest, I felt so stupid. I had my b.u.b. (big ugly boot) on and a dress that would be more at home in Sunday School and I was hanging out with all of these people who looked ready to go clubbing in Vegas or walk the Red Carpet or something. So other than feeling really stupid, I was excited to learn that my b.i.l. Robert had surprised us and upgraded our tickets to front row...FRONT ROW Y'ALL!!! I couldn't believe it, I have never experienced anything like it before. I was front and center in my Sunday school dress and my 'hi! I ride the short bus!'-boot...geez I am such a goob. Anyway, this concert experience was one to remember. Beyonce' sang live and sounded awesome (I still feel weird calling singers by their first names like we're bosom buddies, but I still don't know what else I would write so let's go with it). It was so weird to be so close to her. She would look and sing right to us and wave to us...it was amazing. After, my sister Natalie and her husband Robert and 3 others got to go backstage and meet B. (lol, now I'm pushing it) and said she seemed sincere and was kind and down to earth. My only regret about this night (beside my b.u.b.) is that I wish Nathan could have shared it with me.

One Week!!!!!

It has been over 7 weeks since we have seen Nathan. Words would be useless in trying to express how much the children and I have missed him, suffice it to say- we have. Today marks the one week countdown until we get to see him again and I think the kids and I are more excited about seeing him than if we were meeting Santa Clause himself! We love and miss you Nathan! Can't wait to see ya!!!! xoxo

I Kill Me!

I was trying to take a picture of a fairly uncooperative Kennedy and Kohen when Aly (you can see her on her way in the first pic) comes charging in from the other room for her moment in the sun. She totally high-stepped into the office and then finding herself extremely funny, gets all crouched down laughing at herself. I still bust up every time I look at those last two pictures, I love Aly's goofy little sense of humor.