Merry Christmas

Today is Christmas and every year I find myself looking to the previous year. Last year we spent Christmas day with the Whitsitts, and moved shortly after. It is hard to believe we have been in North Carolina for nearly a year now. Thinking about last year, I went back and looked at some photos from Christmas 2007 and thought I would post a few, along with a few from this morning. I hope Santa was good to everyone reading this, did you track him online last night??

We all slept in until about 8:30 this morning and Kennedy opened her gifts right away. She seemed to enjoy opening her presents, as she opened them she said OOOh!! We are having people over today around 4, so I had better start prepping!!

trying to track a few new things

It has been a while since I have blogged, so I will try to make this quick.Kennedy is now 16 1/2 months old, the time is going by so quickly, it will be summer before we know it! Pardon all of the listings, I use the blog as a point of reference when doing my scrapbooking... She is doing lots of new things now, she is blowing her nose (we were all shocked when she started), she is starting to say new words (icky, hi, no, uh-oh, roar,baby, and a few others). Her favorite foods these days are still anything with cheese, graham crackers, bananas, dried strawberries, yogurt, spagetti. She really loves chasing the dogs around these days, although sometimes she gets a bit too rough and they start running away from her.

For those of you that we have not seen we do have some news... Pete will be returning to Iraq in August of 09. It will be similar to the deployment in 04-05 and he will be there for about 6 or 7 months. His job will be different this time, working indoors as a "clerk", so he should be relatively safe. We are going to try to get a house on base before he leaves so that Kennedy and I will hopefully find some other familiies with little ones her age.

My work also comes to an end this week. Its hard to believe it is here already, but I will say I am looking forward to having some time as just mom. Kennedy is so busy these days, and sometimes it is really tough to do both at the same time. I did find a posting for a position on base that I am going to submit my resume for, it would mean that we would have to find a sitter though. Otherwise, I am still planning on starting my scrapbooking business, first on ebay to see how things go.

well, I think that is enough for now. I will try to blog again soon.

play time

These are some photos I took today of Kennedy and her buddy Joey. They had fun at the church nursery. I was very suprised that Kennedy was going down the slides all by herself!! They had a good time together.

having a good time visiting

We kept busy while visiting family and friends in Ohio. We had good luck shopping on the day after thanksgiving, getting a few people on our list done for christmas. Kennedy is having fun with all the dogs, and visiting with her grandparents. Her favorite toy at Nana's seems to be a dictionary, I took some pictures of our "little genius" studying her dictionary.

brrr.....

We have all been frozen all day long. It has been so cold here, and our heat on the lower level of the house doesn't seem to be working properly. This morning it was extremely cold when we woke up (even though the thermostat was set at 71), I turned it up even higher, hoping that it would kick on while we were at gymnastics with Kennedy. we returned and it was 58 degrees in the house!! I currently have the thermostat set at 74 and it is still only 62 in the house. They are sending a tech out tomorrow morning, needless to say we are all sleeping upstairs tonight where it is warm.
I hate cold weather...

puppy love

I was putting Kennedy's shoes on and the dogs jumped up to sit with her. These opportunities do not come often.

lots of love to go around

pucker up!!



Kennedy was handing out lots of kisses and hugs tonight and I thought I would try to capture the moment.

15 month visit

We had Kennedy's 15 month check up this week, I have been meaning to write about it on the blog and kept forgetting.
Weight 20 lbs 9 oz- still 25%, the doctor said that it is common for their weight to drop off and sometimes they remain in that category until puberty, but eventually will catch up to others her age.
Height- 31 inches, this was still 80%
She seems to be doing very well for her age, and is still on track developmentally. We have been working a lot with her on her words, animal noises, and eating with her spoon, today she actually did quite well using her spoon to eat applesauce. She loves to play with her big playground and beach balls and is learning to catch. We have had to implement time out recently, which she does not like so much!

WHOOOOOHOOOOO!!! I must say I am very excited about the results of this election.

NC Zoo

Amy, here is your fall photo assignment, The Fall colors at the zoo were beautiful



we went to the NC Zoo yesterday. It was a very nice zoo, I wish it was not so far away. It took about 3 1/2 hours to get there, we met some friends from Pendleton there who are stationed in Winston-Salem, NC. Kennedy loved watching the animals and all the people. They were having "Boo at the Zoo" so the kids wore their halloween costumes.

I voted...

working off of Amy's blog last week; I went and voted today, and suprisingly I got right in! There was no real line to speak of, like the ones they had been showing on the news last week. I hope anyone reading this is planning to vote if you have not already, regardless of who you may be voting for.

halloween maze at gymnastics

Kennedy's gymnastics class had a fun day today. They made a maze and let the kids go through it for the majority of the class. They also had fun playing with a parachute, here are some pics and video from this morning. She also found a new friend, an older gymnast, who she attached herself to.

prayers

I normally do not do this, but I would like to ask that you keep this family in your thoughts and prayers. They recently lost their 9 month old daughter to a disease called spinal muscular atrophy or "SMA".
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/hannahcampbell
http://www.legacy.com/TOLEDOBLADE/Obituaries.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonID=119090825

Taxes

big girl bath

Kennedy took her first bath in the "big tub" tonight, she seemed to enjoy herself. Her teeth are still moving their way up, but her mood has been much better lately. here are a few new pictures.

pumpkin patch

Today was a very eventful day compared to others we have had lately. Our day started with Kennedy going to her gymnastics class and then from there we went to a local farm (http://www.mikesfarm.com/ )that was having a fall festival and pumpkin patch. It was pretty fun, they had a small area with farm animals, a live band, gift shop, bakery and restaurant, in addition to a hay ride, and pumpkin patch. Kennedy LOVED those animals!! she would get upset each time we tried to lead her to the next stall. They had goats, sheep, chickens, turkeys, peacocks, and bunnies. A bit later, while on the hay ride, we saw some pony's and a few cow. We spent most of the afternoon there, and then went to dinner at pie sano's. once we arrived home, Kennedy went right to bed, she was exhausted from our busy day.

She was trying so hard to pick up this pumpkin.