Black Friday

Mommy and Kennedy got up and left the house at 5am for Kennedy's first Black Friday shopping experience.

Mommy used to go with Gramm every year early Friday morning to see what all the greatest deals of the year were.

It was so fun to get our box of cracker jacks or special ornament with percentage off coupons inside at the department stores.

Mommy is so lucky to have TWO girls to share this mother-daughter tradition.

Daddy stayed home (in bed) with Madison while Mommy and Kennedy met up with Mindy at Walmart and Toys R Us. It was a zoo and fairly unfruitful for us, fun none the less.

We made it home in time to get Madison dressed in her special Charlie Brown t-shirt and piggie tails, get Daddy off to work, and head to the Oaks mall. We walked and looked around at all the crazy shoppers.

Madison played at the fantastic indoor play place.

The entire time we were at the mall she said, 'Wuk Mommy, see the bear, see the bear'. Well I did NOT see the bear and thought she was crazy....until we were walking back toward the car and stopped to nurse Kennedy.

Madison pointed to the Build-a-Bear sign (which we conveniently stopped in front of) and said, 'SEEEE Mommy- the BEAR!'. Since she was such a great sport on her first REAL black friday experience (she spent her very first one in a baby bjorn in Florida when we met up with Daddy and Uncle Daniel who spent the night at Best Buy- crazy!), we went in to look around.

Did you know you can build a bear (or other animal) for as little at $10?! It's all the accessories that make it crazy expensive.

Mommy let Madison pick from a few of the basic 'bears' and make one to take home. She chose the orange kitty and named it 'Hello', just like her special bandaids. 'See the kitty Mommy? her name Hewwo.'

She told me she loved her kitty and hasn't left it out of her sight since we made it.

Thankgiving 2008

This was Kennedy's first Thanksgiving. What a great Thanksgiving it was.

We started the day by watching the Macy's parade. Madison LOVED the big balloons and fun floats.
While the parade was going in the living room, Daddy was playing with Tom the Turkey in the kitchen.

Kennedy was being cute. She started the day in her Thanksgiving onsie (seen in previous posts) but ended that quickly with an early morning diaper accident.

Every year Daddy does the turkey and Mommy makes everything else.

We are a good team.

This year Madison helped Mommy in the kitchen.

She had to wear her 'person', aka apron.

At one point she went missing. Anyone who has seen our house is laughing right now.
How does a 2 yr old go missing in 1,000 sqr feet of house? She doesn't

She can't get out of the house, but my heart always sinks when she doesn't answer right away and stays quiet behind doors.

She thinks it's great fun to hide.
I went from room to room searching for her.

When I found her in the girls' bathroom she looked at me as she grabbed a towel and said, 'Hi Mommy, I washing my hands'. Could she be any cuter with her purse over her shoulder and her apron. Guess she felt her hands were not clean enough to play with her toys.

Mommy decided to use up orange, black, and white Halloween marshmellow ghosts for the sweet potatoes this year.

Madison admired the turkey with Daddy when it came out of the oven.

Mommy made yummy giblet gravy.

She stirred

and stirred (like her Grandma Lackey taught her)

until it was JUST right.

Daddy carved the 22.40 lbs of turkey- (no we were not feeding an army- just us- don't ask!)

and it was time to eat

Kennedy fell asleep on Mommy's lap during dinner/lunch (what do you call a 3:30pm meal?)

Madison was great right up until we sat down.

She threw a huge fit and hid under the table for most of the meal.

When all was said and done Daddy rocked a screaming Madison to sleep while Mommy took a cat nap with the wonderful, sweet Kennedy (can you tell who won the child of the day award?)

Most of all this Thanksgiving we are thankful for our beautiful, healthy girls, our family, and all the blessings God continues to bestow upon us each and every day!

Thanksgiving craft time

The week of Thanksgiving Madison and Mommy had fun making some turkey crafts.

We traced her hands to make turkey feathers and she helped me color them, glue them together, and make a turkey.

Then we made Madison an Indian (Matt says Native American, but frankly- Columbus thought he was in the West Indies, so Indian it is!). She was running thru the house with her hand banging on her mouth saying 'oooooo' (think elementary school indian sound)

We are looking forward to Christmas crafts next!

Kids say the funniest things

Madison has been cracking us up lately with the things she says.
Here are some of our favorites:
-When we rock Madison at night we sing to her. Recently I was singing one of her favorite lullabies and she stopped me, "No, no, no das not a good song, how bout...twinkle widdle staw". I almost fell out of the chair!
-A week ago, after everyone was up, bathed, dressed, and happy Madison went back to her bed and asked to be covered up. She laid in bed and said, "Madison's bed" then pointed to the crib, "Kennedy's bed", then pointed to the glider, "Mommy Rocks". Yes folks...Mommy Rocks!
-When she finds something interesting in the other room we need to see she says, "Wuk Daddy (or Mommy)", then reaches for a hand and leads us down the hall, "Come on, Daddy- I show you".
-A few weeks back I asked Matt for his Christmas list and he said, 'More money'. We didn't think Madison even had a clue what we were talking about, but she ran in the other room, grabbed her cash register, opened it, pulled out pretend coins and took them to Matt saying, "Here you go, Daddy".
-Yesterday she started calling me Miss Mommy. I call her Miss Madison, so now she calls me Miss Mommy. Seems fair.

Kennedy is 3 months old

Is it time to have another baby yet?

Kennedy is only 3 months old, and it already feels like an eternity since she was in my belly.

She just fills a void in our family we never realized we had. Kennedy is happy to hang out and play with her toys if Madison is having a needy day, and quietly sits with Mommy or Daddy when he are winding down at night. Her cries are few and far between, and she is sleeping fairly regularly. Mommy gets 5-6 hours at night before Kennedy wakes up for a snack.

She LOVES her new toy (one Mommy forgot we had from Madison) and cranes her neck to see all the attachments.

Sometimes she plays so quietly she just falls asleep. No crying. Thats not to say she NEVER cries but it just doesn't happen much. Lately, when she gets upset and cries it sounds like, Mmm, MMmaa. Guess she's already figured out who to call for. tee hee

Though she prefers being on her back to her tummy, she is SO close to rolling over. Her little body is always twisted with her opposite knee almost to the floor.

She is still enjoying her built in toys (those fabulous hands) and particularly likes putting them in her mouth (as you see in previous posts too).

Her drooling has increased and she is showing signs of teething, though we can't feel any teeth poking thru the gums yet.
About a week ago she found her tongue. She rolls it around her mouth and chews on it with her gums. It's funny to watch as her little mouth moves and lips smack (another of her favorite things).

Kennedy weighs 15 lbs and is 24 inches long. She's still wearing 6 mo clothes but is almost out of the 6 mo sleepers. She is just SO long! She still loves being swaddled in her special Miracle Blanket like a burrito and is nursing like a pro.

She is particularly fond of her sling and likes Mommy to carry her around in it everywhere.

She spends most of her day watching her goofy sister prance, dance, and sing around the house.

Last night she found Sierra, too.

Now we are gearing up for Kennedy's first holiday season...Thanksgiving here we come!

Oh, and all these fabulous shots- no they are not hard to get. She shines these fabulous smiles ALL the time. We just can't get enough!!

Happy God

Sunday when Daddy went to get Madison from the 2 yr old nursery after church she had a picture. This is not unusual as she colors something almost every Sunday.

She showed her picture to Daddy and said, 'Wuk Daddy- God is SO happy!'.

The picture was of a biblical character with his arms stretched wide.

Guess she decided it was God, and he looked happy!

She's been telling us all week 'God is SO happy', every time she sees the picture.
What a funny girl.

Grandma and Grandpa Shemenski

On Saturday, November 22nd Grandma and Grandpa left for the airport to go see Uncle Dan and the girls' cousins. We had such a nice time visiting while they were here. We hadn't seen them since Madison was as tiny as Kennedy is now!

(Wow that was a long time ago!)

Daddy enjoyed hanging out with Grandpa and smoking cigars in the backyard. Mommy, Grandma, and the girls had fun visiting with so many old friends all around town. Most of all, the girls were just thrilled to spend time with their paternal grandparents. We were sad to see them go- but boy did they go out with a bang.

Grandma brought Madison a cool ladybug umbrella.

She immediately asked Daddy to make it rain (ie turn on the sprinklers)

The umbrella was a great way to distract Madison from the sad departure.

We are looking forward to many more trips and playing in the future!

Baja Girls

Grandma and some of her great California friends LOVE Baja Fresh, so Grandma dubbed these fun, crazy ladies the 'Baja Girls'. Mommy and the girls finally got to meet all these great ladies they have heard so much about for years.

Grandma and Grandpa got Madison some cool twisting crayons and a princess coloring book to keep her busy during our visit.

She ate Rice

And Beans

and hung out with Grandpa (Kennedy did, too).

Once she discovered the money in the bottom of the fountain it was all over.

Everyone dug through their change purses to find pennies for Madison to throw.

Kennedy had a great time being passed around

and cuddled.

We had so much fun with the girls and can't wait to play with them all again soon!

SANTA

Thursday, November 20th the girls and I went to Breakfast with Santa at the Oaks Mall. We skipped the long line for breakfast and went straight to the good stuff!

Mrs Claus (aka Mommy Santa-as Madison calls her) was there telling stories and helping Santa pass out crayons and coloring books.

Madison had fun coloring in her special book with some of the other kids.

Kennedy just had fun!

When the line died down, we went to meet Mrs Claus and Santa

and take some pictures



Mrs Claus LOVED Kennedy. She wanted to take her home to the North Pole for more snuggling. :)

Then headed off to lunch with Grandma and some of her friends at Baja Fresh.