Thursday, June 30, 2011

Swimmers!

Swimming lessons have started! They are ready! Today was the second lesson...
Kenna is completely fearless and totally in love. Brooks is true to his character...loving it, but cautious too.
Everyone thinks they are twins.

She loves being under water
He will barely put his face in, he prefers to be "up" and not "down", as he puts it.
Brooks, getting ready to leave: Thank you teacher, I had fun
Coach: I'm glad you enjoyed it honey, you did so well!
Brooks: Thanks. So did you.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Bedroom

We've been doing a lot of organizing and re-arranging around here! We're trying to get Kenna's room all set up. It's requiring lots of furniture moving and work! Her old bed is out, and the new bed, bunk beds, are on their way. We needed new dowel rod thingy's to stack one on the other, but we have 2 twin mattresses, ready to go! Here is her first night sleeping on her new bed. The bottom part anyway. Once we have the bedding and the painting done, I'll post pics of the whole sh'bang!

This is the bedding I'd like to get!...that is subject to change as I shop around, but it seems pretty perfect as far as what I was picturing!

Monday, June 27, 2011

Beachin' - Video

Lleyton Grey, a little skeptical of the waves at first
Janessa, diving through/under a wave
Tricky evasive maneuvers are needed to avoid letting the water touch you...
Kenna, riding some waves on the boogie board. She is a true enthusiast. She proudly told me today that she went "way way out", "tried to breathe under water", and "almost drowned-ed". She's never had any fear of such things!
A Dairy Queen break!
Brooks: Hey Ma, what's that stop sign?
Oh Cuss.
Grey is somewhere in between Kenna and Brooks in his fear levels. At the same ages, Kenna would march out into the sea unafraid (and drown), Brooks would scream and literally shake like a leaf from fear. Grey strikes a balance in the middle. He is timid of the water at first, perhaps its the temp that he doesn't like, but then he warms up to it and gets wet. Here he is avoiding the water, and then giving in to it!

Saturday, June 25, 2011

15 months old! - Video

This kid is so cute. He completely cracks me up!

I think I've seen Bono strike a similar pose. Releasing his inner rock star.
"and I love you too, random citizen"
He was trying really hard, and having a really fun time trying to get my sunglasses on his face.

It's fuzzy. But those eyes pierce right through.
Why is it just so hard to do?


A semi success!

Friday, June 24, 2011

Walks - Video

We took a walk today...to McD's for lunch. It's a good way to burn off the extra calories you consume there:-) It's just around the corner from our place, so not far at all...but it feels further in the heat! Brooks is our runner. He runs everywhere. And he's fast. He can run for miles (almost literally) without getting tired or out of breath! We'll have to get this boy into track & field for sure! Anyway, on our walks he runs ahead to the next street, where we'd cross and waits for us:-)

He's a runner!
Lovin' the playplace!

Brooks (complete with ketchup on his cheeks), and Janessa
Kenna's always the climber!

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Little Project

I took on a little project this week. I kinda have a million little projects going on, really (stay tuned for Kenna's bedroom redo!), but this was a quick one, done in 2 days!

A friend found this school desk for me at a thrift store. She texted me a picture, and I said, I'll take it! The colour didn't scare me too much. I could tell it was cute, and perfect for Kenna for school this year.
I choose two colours for the paint (without her help:-), but she approved.
All done! Spray paint makes everything super easy. The hardest part was waiting to flip it over and do the undersides.
Done. Easy. I love it! (so does Kenna!)

Monday, June 20, 2011

Water Fun

Getting buried

Couldn't be any cuter than this:
Splash pads! Grey's really into them now!
A Butterfly Boy!

Fathers Day

We had a very nice Fathers Day. I was singing at church in the morning, with Ben (music leader). We sang this song, and did a pretty decent job in the end, I thought. Although, it remains difficult to be objective when you are the one doing the singing:-)

After church we headed to Neighbors Pizza for lunch, it's one of Brian's top 3 fave pizza places. Yummy. Then we came home...and we got grout, baby! The shower is officially grouted and now (24+ hours later), ready for use. YES! We will still have to be careful of the water...the floor will be grouted next, whenever Brian has some more free time.

After another Brian fave for dinner (bacon, eggs, cheese & spicy mustard on a bagel) I ran to redbox to rent a manly movie for the evenings entertainment. True Grit. As I was pulling into the 7-11 redbox location, I noticed a sign in the window..."retro candy, .98" Immediately a conversation from a few weeks prior sprang to mind.

I wonder if they have Nik L Nips? Brian and Chae (family friend) were talking about these "amazing" childhood treats, and I had never heard of them. Chalk that up to being Canadian. They were raving about the gooey insides and the wax chewing.

Well sure enough, they had them!
They do taste good...buuuut...well, the wax chewing is a little weird (and is recommended, as you can see by the slogan on the package). You bite off the top...suck out all the juice...
sucking out the juice

...and chew the wax. I guess I don't get it. It was exactly like chewing on the wax they gave me to protect my mouth from my braces. So a little odd, I found.
chewing wax
This wax chewing habit seems only slightly more cleanly than a tobacco chewing habit. We needed a spittoon!
all the chewed up, discarded wax.
Retro candy fail, I suppose. But it was really fun to eat and experience something Daddy did when he was little.
Out cold, snuggling with Daddy while Mommy makes dinner.
Happy Fathers Day to Brian, My Dad and my Father in Law! I love you all!

Friday, June 17, 2011

Bathroom Update

Look what I came home to! It's really coming along! The tile is up (still needs to be grouted) and the drywall has mud on it (still need sanding). I was really impressed at all he got done while I was gone!
The sink works like a charm. It is really super cool!
New shower area, with mosaic. I LOVE it!

Travertine is down on the floors. One little mistake. He started laying the tile on the floor and forgot to cut the corners off for the mosaic inlay on the floor too. He is debating if he can try to do it now, and I say to just leave it. It looks amazing and I don't want to risk ruining it. That is what happens when men do projects without their bossy wives looking over their shoulders I suppose:-)
Mirror needs to go here:

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Kennedy Concert

On Friday night after the rehearsal & dinner, in true Kennedy style, there was a concert:-) It was such a fun time. There were about 50 people there, and Logan wanted to entertain the crowds. I didn't sing - no time for practice or anything. Here are just a few very short clips. If you are really interested in more (meaning, you are related to me), you can find all the video I took of that night on the family blog, along with pics of the evening too.

My brother, Logan and his fiancee Kari singing Broken Heart, originally by Carolyn Dawn Johnson


There is a Fountain. Lead sung by the incredibly talented Christa Tyler, main harmonies and piano by Logan, and group harmonies by Kari and my Dad. Beautiful arrangement!


This one is a true classic. I've heard my Dad do this song probably a million times...it's Johnny B Good!! My Dad on lead vocals and guitar, Davis on bass, Logan on guitar, Kaden on drums (some of my bros!). Check out this link for a Old Time Rock n Roll rendition!

Wedded Bliss

Well, it's anniversary time again. EIGHT years. Wowsers. It seems like yesterday, and yet at the same time feels like it was ages ago. It seems like I've posted a few little things about our wedding in the past, like the song that our friend wrote for us, and the wedding book (was also the program) we gave to the guests, and also a video of our kiss.

This year I thought I'd do some video again. Videos are great for helping remember every detail of your special day! Even when you were married in the dark ages, and have your wedding tape on VHS, like me. I need to get this converted somehow! Anyway, this works for now...a family friend videotaped the ceremony for us, and also the reception. He did a little "bonus" for us, which we didn't know about until we watched the video for the first time.

He videotaped us during the photography session, and made a little montage of the footage, and put it to music. So special! I love watching this and seeing all the people and all the love. We are very well loved, there is no doubt about that, I am sooo grateful! It is also wonderful to see all three Grandma's here, they have all since passed away. And also seeing my little siblings, many of them younger than my own children currently are. Little Maryn was only 3 years old! Oh my.

It was a day that we planned so carefully. We poured our hearts into every minute detail, and we loved the results. We had the day of our dreams, and it was as close to perfect as we could afford (LOL!)...it truly was everything we wanted when all was said and done. 


You'll have to wait until our next anniversary for some more pretty wedding love!

Monday, June 13, 2011

Slide Show

The slide show at the reception was one of the best I have ever seen. I think that this may be a slightly biased opinion, but it's still where I stand. It was a typical slide show...however...I think it's the only slide show that has ever made me cry.

Logan is the first of the "little kids" in my family to get married. Seeing all those pictures of that adorable little boy, that I loved since birth, was just really shocking. The moments are so fleeting. I'm looking at pictures of him and I, and he is Grey's age. And that seems like yesterday. And now he's a man. It's just so crazy how time flies by, and the moments are gone forever. Additionally, Kari was an adorable baby too! The music that they picked was very well suited to the pictures, so that really added to the emotion. I was crying before Tim McGraw stopped singing (and I hadn't even seen the Logan pics yet, haha!).

Loved it. Kari's Dad put it all together and did a remarkable job. I don't have the actual slideshow, but these were the songs they played (excuse random strangers slideshows on youtube). But if you aren't familiar with the songs, listen if you want to! (don't have to watch)

Pictures of Baby Kari - My Little Girl - Tim McGraw
Pictures of Kari growing up - Cinderella - Steven Curtis Chapman
Pictures of Baby Logan - Masterpiece - Sandi Patty (I sang this song for his dedication at church in 1991)
Pictures of Logan growing up - Little Guy - Gord Bamford
Pictures of Logan and Kari together (dating & engaged) - Smile - Uncle Kracker

Sister Singing - Video

My youngest sister Maryn has become quite the little singer (she is 11 years old). This is the very first chance we've had to sing together. We were all dressed for the wedding and had a moment to squeeze in two songs. This first one is originally called I Don't Feel Like Loving You Today (by Gretchen Wilson), but we've affectionately dubbed it "The Sister Song" :-)

Here is the one and only attempt at the song. We had no practice or anything, so excuse us, we are very un-polished, but it's still cute.


Here's Traveling Soldier, the second song we've sang together. The one and only time! Very improvisational, but again, Maryn is just super adorable!

Cousins!

We had 4 of the eight cousins in town for the wedding. Missing from the family love are Kenna, Brooks, Mattea & Kayla.
Grey & Vienna were the two Kennedy babies born in 2010

Playing together. Mostly he wanted to steal her cool stuff.

Marshall & Grey. Marshall & Mattea were the two Kennedy babies born in 2009.

These boys weren't super impressed with each other.

The newest member of the family, Keaton. He and Kayla are the two Kennedy babies born in 2011.

Dude, whats up with you?

They didn't know what to do with each other.

Via in her fancy wedding dress and pigtails.

Sibling Pictures

Jared & his wife, Liana

Kaden

Davis & his girlfriend, Danielle

Lehman & Lleyton Grey

Kaden & Grey

Brent & his wife, Chantelle
Kennedy Girls. We're a pretty bunch, but would have looked even better with our sister Lauryn. We missed her!
Janessa, Jillaine, Darla, Maryn

 Kennedy Boys. A handsome bunch, if I do say so myself.
The Brothers Trouble: Kaden, Brent, Logan, Jared, Davis, Lehman

Logan & his new wife, Kari
 Mom & Dad have been married 34 years this month!
Dave & Beccy

Liana and her little girl, Vienna.

Grandma, Grandpa & Via

Lleyton Gregory David & his namesake, my Dad.