Thursday, December 16, 2010

Puzzles and Pop-A-Lops

Since my cousin Stacy and her family sent the girls a clown puzzle after Jackson was born Kennedy has really gotten into puzzles. Uncle Andrew and Aunt Jennifer sent her a cool tractor puzzle for her birthday. Pop-A-Lops helped her put it together the day after Thanksgiving after we had finished decorating the house for Christmas.
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Does life get any better than this?
Putting a puzzle together with Pop-A-Lops is a riot! lol :)
Thinking hard about where the next piece goes
Found the spot!
Boy is putting a puzzle together hard work or what?!?!?!?
Thank you to Uncle Andrew and Aunt Jen for the cool puzzle and thank you to Pop-A-Lops for helping Kennedy get it put together!

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Thanksgiving Day 2010

We spent Thanksgiving in our home again this year. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and I love entertaining and having family join us. Thank you to everyone who traveled and came to spend time with us!
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Kennedy helping me prepare a festive holiday punch
Our traditional Turduckhen
Pop-A-Lops carving our bird(s)
Our fantastic dessert table included a Pear & Apple Buttery Pie, Pumpkin Pie, Pecan Meringue (splg?) Pie, and a Chocolate Pecan Cheesecake - all of it was super yummy!
I was so impressed when Belle (aka Reagan) volunteered to write everyone's name out on their place cards. I can't believe how big she is getting!
Jackson loving his special time with Grammy! :)
Smiley Jackson getting entertained (and entertaining) Great Aunt Jolene

Getting some good love and attention from Aunt Dorothy
Sweet cousins (and best friends) :)
Reagan loves Heidi sooooooo much!!!
Our Thanksgiving Feast and Family - Thank you to everyone for all you brought! I still feel like a bum over how little cooking I actually did for this meal! You all did an awesome job!
Daddy and Kennedy going back...
and forth
Happy Heidi with her Grandpa (Great Uncle David)
Happy Kennedy enjoying dessert with Pop-A-Lops! lol :)
I'm not sure what the thumbs up was about (maybe that we were eating dessert for supper?!?!?) but I love this picture in comparison to the one I took of them earlier in the day. They are derobed because they were busy playing dress up in various princess and fairy costumes all afternoon which is a favorite past time of theirs.
One of our family traditions is to watch one of our favorite holiday movies "The Polar Express" Thanksgiving evening. We drink hot chocolate and enjoy the movie together as a family before bed.
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Grammy leading the crew in a sing-a-long while waiting for the hot chocolate to be made and the movie to begin
Aunt Jolene chasing Holden up the stairs before the movie
Pop-A-Lops not only carved the Turduckhen but also made his delicious hot coco for everyone to enjoy during the movie.
Three sweet girls ready with their popcorn, caramel corn (especially made by Grammy - I think this is going to need to be added to our tradition!) and hot chocolate to watch "The Polar Express" and officially kick off our Christmas season and festivities
Our three sweet kiddos who we are so thankful for every day! Love you! :)
Thank you to our family who made our day so special by sharing it and our family traditions with us! We are so thankful for all the special people in our lives this Thanksgiving Day! :)

Tangled

I know these pictures are a bit out of order, but since I'm a bit behind anyway... I decided to keep Kennedy's birthday pictures together and the general Thanksgiving weekend holiday festivities together. We kicked off our Thanksgiving weekend celebrations by seeing the recently released new Disney princess movie, "Tangled." Grammy took us and Great Aunt Jolene, Aunt Dorothy and Heidi joined us. It was a great movie and super cute! I would highly recommend everyone take the opportunity to enjoy this fun movie! :)
Reagan wanted to pose directly in front of Rapunzel and Flynn - for someone who once hated the camera she has become quite the little poser lately lol :)
Grammy and Missy K ready for the 3-D movie
Grammy and Mommy didn't realize the Blue Margherita (splg?) was going to be quite this size when we ordered, thank goodness we were sharing it!
Great Aunt Jolene, Aunt Dorothy and Heidi
The grandmas and their girls
Thank you for the special treat Grammy! :) Reagan was especially appreciative of the three bowls of ice cream she was allowed to order during the movie and Kennedy enjoyed her two bowls very much as well! lol :)

Kennedy's "Green Purple" Birthday Party

When we started talking about Kennedy's birthday the end of October/beginning of November she told us she wanted a "Green Purple" party. We weren't sure what that meant but she stayed completely consistent in her request for a "Green Purple" party. After purchasing decorations for her party I told Tim I don't know if it's what she has in mind but it will be green and purple! lol :)
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Meanwhile, Nonna had to create a green and purple birthday cake. My only suggestion was to do something with a take off of Kennedy's love for the color brown along with her love for chocolate, M&M's and suckers as well as green and purple of course. With those vague suggestions in mind Nonna came up with this amazing birthday cake creation! Grammy thought it was her favorite birthday cake so far and I have to say it might be mine as well. Regardless it was incredible and very much appreciated!
Kennedy enjoyed helping us out Saturday morning by throwing all her green and purple balloons downstairs for birthday decorations

My happy guys!
Aunt Annette and Uncle Barry are Kennedy's Godparents. Katie and Lauren are our amazing baby-sitters. The girls, especially Reagan, simply adore Michael. Their family is extremely special to us and we are so fortunate to have them living so close to us again here in Lexington!

I was getting things set out on the counter for lunch when I saw this cute little hand reaching up into the chip bowl - "Self" is a very busy little girl sometimes lol :)

Kennedy checking out her birthday treats as well as getting ready for lunch
Katie and Lauren were such good sports to eat at the small table with Kennedy and Reagan!
I need to find out what the story behind this picture was because Kennedy was obviously having a blast with Katie
Kennedy and Reagan playing with Katie and Lauren (I think they were playing giddy-up horsey as well as blasting off - not quite sure which direction they were headed before or after this picture but as you can see they were having a great time)
Kennedy loved her new large Minne Mouse from Nonna but she really loved the Minne Mouse card from Nonna that sang Happy Birthday. She carries this card all over the house saying "Minnie Mouse sing Happy Birthday to me!"
Kennedy opening her American Girl Doll (whom she has named Kennedy) from Grammy and Pop-A-Lops (sorry I don't have a picture of them - they were at the party and their presence was very much appreciated -but unfortunately Pop-A-Lops was sick and somehow I didn't get very many people pictures this year)
After presents we had cake and ice cream. Just like on her birthday day Kennedy needed to blow out the candles several times. lol :) Reagan and Heidi (or rather Silvermist) had fun helping her blow out the candles too. :)
The girls couldn't wait for Nonna to start cutting the cake so they could eat some of those yummy chocolate suckers Nonna made for the cake
Kennedy was also excited and ready to dig in to all those green and purple M&Ms in the middle of her birthday cake!
Enjoying every bite of her wonderful birthday cake
Great Uncle David, Aunt Dorothy, Great Aunt Jolene and Daddy enjoying cake and ice cream
Uncle Dan assisting Holden eat his slice (or two) of cake :)
One totally wiped out 2 year old girl after her party sleeping with her new Angelina Ballerina (from the Hamlins), her new Kennedy doll (from Grammy and Pop-A-Lops) and Minnie Mouse (from Nonna). Thank you everyone for the snuggly gifts!
Thank you Grammy, Pop-A-Lops, Nonna, Uncle Barry, Aunt Annette, Katie, Lauren, Michael, Great Uncle David, Great Aunt Jolene, Uncle Dan, Aunt Dorothy, Heidi and Holden for sharing in Kennedy's birthday celebration. The day wouldn't have been the same without all of you to share it with! Thank you also for the all the wonderful gifts! We are so blessed to have you all in our lives and appreciate everyone's efforts to share these special days in our children's lives with us!