We had a fantastically blessed Christmas. Kennedy got more than she wanted or needed. She is so blessed to have so many people who love her beyond measure.
Jt and I were able to spend the holiday with family and friends. Here is a sample of the photos I took. (click the collage to see it bigger.)
If you look at the top row of photos 4th one over you can see that Kennedy WROTE HER NAME....i am super proud of her. She is so smart and determined. Santa brought Kennedy the only thing she asked for, a Pink Princess Castle. Midway through the opening of gifts she stopped and said in the most disappointed voice ever, "I asked for a castle." We told her the gifts weren't over but sometimes Santa can't bring all the things we want. She was super excited to get the castle. It was the best feeling ever for me. She also got some princess dolls and a real camera.
I have so many fun Holiday moments to share and not enough time to blog so I may blog some individual photos later.
Hugs.
D

We had a very exciting week. Jt was off and we had lots of things to do. Tues. Kennedy had her last music class and directly after we went to the fire house with a group of kids from church. The kids were really excited. JT went with us. Kennedy was so happy to see her dad there. The fireman talked to the kids about fire safety including not to be scared of firemen. I got to wear the fireman gear. Its totally heavy. Kennedy was made a Jr. Firefighter and she got to get on a fire truck. All in all very fun experience.

We also went to Santa's Magical Kingdom and light show. Kennedy loved that. She didn't want to leave.

The rest of the week we spent time together as a family. We prepared for the big day...Kennedy's Birthday. Jt and I gave Kennedy the gifts from us first thing after a blueberry pancake breakfast. She loved the card we got her. It sang "Under the sea. We also got her the game "Don't spill the Beans" and a V smile learning system. Kennedy got a dance/exercise mat with her vsmile. It is very cool she loved it. She also loved the Karaoke feature on the vsmile. We had fun all day playing with all the new stuff.

Kennedy had an under the sea/Ariel party. It was adorable. She and her guest painted unbaked cookies with brightly colored paint. They had a lot of fun. Even Uncle Nate joined in the fun. He is such a big kid and Kennedy just adores him so it was really cool. Then a friend was gracious enough to help with the baking. Kennedy loved her Ariel cake and she received so many nice gifts. I think her favorite was the bouncing ball that Aunt Amy and Fam. got her.

To make the birthday complete Kennedy even got snow. She was just so excited. I think three will be very memorable.

Making Christmas Cookies
It''s totally a family tradition for us. When I started dating my husband my now brother in law, and sis and Jt and I would all make Holiday cookies together. I think mostly N8 and mom did the work...any way now we have passed that super fun tradition of Holiday baking on to our children. The girls totally look forward to it and it is so fun to see how they have grown. I remember when grace was the only grand baby and Mom just let her play in the flour...now she is going to be four! My baby is reaching her 3rd birthday on Friday...its just crazy. Anyway I am getting off track here. The girls made spritz cookies while Braden was in the pantry helping himself to goldfish (yes i do have pics of him but its just to incriminating to post...I don't want him to get a spankin' :)...we don't spank him really...he is too cute.) and then we all joined in for cut out sugar cookies and sprinkles. By the time we got to sprinkles it was way past nap time and we had to make an emergency exit....I think Kennedy ate enough dough..she didn't miss the cookies. :)
Merry Christmas!

And you thought you had fashion sense!!!!

Kennedy has really started to enjoy playing dress up. It is very very fun. As you can see she doesn't stay exclusive to one fashion line...she likes many designers.

We are back from Denver and settled in to the holiday. I have so many photos and short stories to share so I am gonna jump right in.

The airport was a nightmare for me, there was so much to juggle and worry about. We did get through with minimal problems, then it was just a waiting game. Kennedy did well and waited very patiently. We boarded the plane and a lovely and extremely nice flight attendant helped get to my seat and wrangle Kennedy, who was just in awe of the entire experience. She thought every passenger on the plane was going to see Mama Mary, who lives in the sky. Good logic for a 2 year old (lol.) Kennedy didn't have a problem flying at all. She didn't even think we were flying she kept saying "Let's go!,". I on the other hand wasn't so keen on the experiecne. When we were fairly close to DIA an message came over the flight intercom. The pilot announced, "IF there is a MISS KENNEDY on board Papa Burt says HI!" She was just floored she had such a huge smile and she just kept saying "That's ME!!" that moment was just priceless. When we finally got through DIA my mom was there to great us, Kennedy totally recognized her right away. I think that made my moms year!!! And off we went on our Denver adventure.

My mom started with the gifts the moment we arrived. She had gotten Kennedy an orange CO. bear, like a beanie baby. Kennedy also got bath crayons, oh and I don't even know what else. When Papa got home from work she got a smart cycle. Can you say spoiled? Kennedy and Papa put ti together with daddy's help. She thought it was pretty cool. I don't know who had more fun Papa Burt or Kennedy.

We also got to go to the Downtown Aquarium. I tried to stay back and just let Grandma and Grandpa enjoy the time with Kennedy. I have to say I was quite impressed with the aquarium. It was set up by bodies of water and world regions. So we first saw fresh water animals such as trout and otters. My mom and Kennedy watched this crazy otter preform tricks for at least five minutes. It was too funny he just kept flipping over and over again. They are very neat animals to watch.

As we went on we went through the rain forest and gulf seas. That is where i got to see these lovely star fish. They are so vibrant. The whole time we were there I just kept thinking how awesome God is to have made such a diverse and beautiful world, really these ocean animals show off his talent and creativity. God is cool that way!

Kennedy found a tank full of "Nemo" and "Dori". She was so excited, but there was more than one so she kept asking my mom witch one was Nemo. It was really funny. Then we saw this totally scary eel like Jetsam or Flotsam from the little mermaid...eww. But I had to take its pic, cause it totally freaked me out. I think the highlight of the trip for me was the sting rays. Burt bought some minos and He, Kennedy, and Mom all fed them. The stingrays were wild! They actually jumped out of the water for these thing. It was amazing and a bit frightening. Kennedy was open to the experience but one stingray got her wet and she was done. She just hates to get wet.

I won't bore you with a bunch of animal photos, but Papa and Kennedy went to the Denver Zoo and had a spectacular time looking at all the animals. They had so many animals that our zoo doesn't have. The zoo was different but very nice. We get spoiled having the one in St.Louis. I really liked the Denver zoo because you were able to get very close to the animals. They had a monkey like Rafiki from the Lion king..i couldn't get his pic, but it was way cool to see. The gem of the day was this pic of Kennedy holding her Grandpas hand. I am just touched by how much Burt loves her. It touches me because Burt is not my dad, but he just loves Kennedy like she is his blood granddaughter. This is just further proof family isn't about blood...its about who you love.

Jt and I took Kennedy to the Rocky Mtn. National forest in Estes Park Co on one of the last days of our visit. We had a nice time. I got some fantastic photos. Love That!!!

Kennedy really wanted to see snow. It was unseasonably warm while we were there, mid 70 most of the week, but we were able to find a small patch and Kennedy and Jt has a blast throwing snow. Btw, dont you just love love love those boots, What a find. Papa and Mama bought them for her. Thanks Papa!

Well that is all for now. We had a nice visit, but it was so good to come home. So now we are planning someones third birthday! How fun!