It's Here! It's Here:) Hip Hip Hooray!!!

We got home from a BBQ on Saturday evening to find THIS beauty in our backyard! Kennedy was ecstatic! She loves it sooo much - we played on it the first night until 8:30 pm, when it was getting too dark to play anymore, and then the first words out of her mouth Sunday morning - "Let's go see my swingset!" So, we were out bright and early playing away:) Thank you, Papa - you did GREAT!

This is Kennedy's first sight of the play set. She's making a bee line for it:)The rock climbing wall!First trip down the slide!Weeeeeeee Haaaaawwwwwww!!!!!! Made it:)

Swingset???? Is it coming????

Kennedy has been very excited for her new swingset that Papa is building! Every day when she wakes up (remember, she is NOT a morning person), she rolls over, wipes her hair out of her eyes and then says, "You want to go see my swingset? It's not finished yet, Papa is still working on it?" and then she drags you downstairs and insists on going outside to play.

Even in the rain. Yesterday, she had on her rain boots and went out with her little Dora umbrella. Then she came and asked Daddy for her rain hat: "Dad, I need my rain hat! It's really special!" Dad's response: "Mom, where is Kennedy's rain hat?" I then had to tell him that she didn't have a rain hat, to which I hear him tell Kennedy: "You don't have a rain hat, we'll have to get you one at the store." Isn't that the best answer? We use it ALL THE TIME:)

This is her playing with the steering wheel that goes on the swingset. She insisted on opening it so she could play with it. Now it is called 'steering wheel pants'.

Here is a pic of Kennedy 2 weeks ago; Jon was in Chicago and we needed to get the grass mowed. Kennedy didn't want to stay inside, so she chose to swing. I would push her as I walked by w/ the mower. Then about 1/4 into in, I walked by and she was FAST ASLEEP. I kept mowing the rest of the yard and she had a nice nap in the swing. Looks comfy, right?

Going to Grandma Fae's!

Cute little peanut w/ a PONYTAIL! Yes, her hair is getting long - not that it stays in the pony, but it starts out that way and is super cute!

Maggie's 7th birthday was 4/4; however, this was Easter day, so we celebrated on the 5th. Kennedy advised me in the car that morning that Maggie would need party hats and candles to blow out and make a wish. I got the hats, then decided to stick candles in Maggie's Frosty Pay (dog ice cream treat) and gave Kennedy a dish to have some ice cream as well. Kennedy helped Maggie w/ the candle, but who knows what the wish was!

Saturday morning, Kennedy came rushing into our room at 6:30 in the am(!) saying, "Mom, Mom! Mom, you have to wake up now! We have to go to Grandma Fae's!" Because she doesn't have a concept of 'tomorow' I made the mistake of telling her as she was going to bed Friday night that after she woke up, we would go to Grandma Fae's. Well, she didn't forget!

This is her "magic ball".

Pre-Easter Weekend:)

Last weekend there was supposed to be an Easter Hunt on the baseball field. With a cool forcast and possibility of rain, it was moved to the rec center gym. This is what it looked like. Candypalooza all over the floor. And the kids were expected to stay behind the black line and let me tell you that lady "policing" it was brutal! NO TOES OVER THE LINE! Even parents couldn't cross for a few picture ops...

Pre-candy hunting...Post candy hunting. The jacket had to come off:)

Picking up candy to put in her elmo basket. I tried to get her to pick the LARGE elmo basket w/ floppy ears, but she wanted this dinky one. Oh, well, less candy I guess...

Chillin before the hunt with friends :) Caden has that big Elmo basket I was trying to get K to want. See the size difference?

After the Hunt w/ more friends!!!

Here are the eggs we colored! We started w/ 18 eggs, after hard boiling and dying, Kennedy took 2 of them and tapped them on the table. Like we were making cookies, she thought you had to tap the eggs. It was cute, but those ones were gonners.

We went to the Mall of America!

Last weekend Jon, Kennedy and I took a road trip to the Mall of America. We drove up on Friday morning and left on Saturday morning. Just a quick trip, but it was very nice! Kennedy was sooo good at the mall, they had this huge Nickelodeon Universe in the center, which had a sorts of different Nickelodeon rides and games, all of her favorite characters! She didn't realize that she could actually ride on the rides, which was good b/c she was actually too short for most of them. She very much like to look at everything:) And of course, we did have to get a stuffed Ho Ho monkey from Ni-Hao Ki-Lan!, a Wonder Pets cape and a Dora tshirt. I am surprised we didn't have to leave with more, but she was satisfied with all of that (and her bubble gum ice cream)...

Dora and Boots - HUGE FERRIS WHEEL!Daddy and Kennedy, taking it all in:)

That is the Diego Rescue Rider:)

Kennedy and I:) Here is a purple elephant at Rainforest Cafe! And, you may have to look very hard at this one, but it is a crocodile. Mechanical, yes, still very scary. It would sit very still, making no sign of life, when out of no where, lights come on and the thing raises from the water, mouth open with this evil growl. If that doesn't scare a 2 year old, idk what will! Testing out our Wonder Pets cape. Kennedy got to "choose" this one. I held out a Linny, Tuck and Ming Ming cape and she said, "Let me choooooosssssse." As you can see, she chose Linny. And she LOVES it!

Watching TV w/ Daddy in the hotel. Looks comfy! Lastly, they were filming a movie in our hotel! That truck says A Mark Scott Company. The movie is called The Convincer w/ Greg Kinnear. We got to see Greg, but we didn't see the other actors; there were some other big names like Billy Crudup and Leah Thompson. So that was kind of neat!!!

Spring. Welcome!!

The weather is turning around! Minus the snow that we came home to on Saturday, the weather has been very Spring-y this past week. Kennedy had a great time jumping on the trampoline. She liked to lay on it and "sleep" more than she did jump, but she thought it was pretty cool!


Here she is having a tea party outside! It was a teensy chilly in the shade, but she still wanted the tea party.

This is about the coolest thing ever! Barb made these IHOP menus and Kennedy can play restaurant with. She loves to set up her tea parties; giving each person tea and soup and a piece of fake food. Except herself. She requires real food on her tea party plate. She has recently started to set up a "restaurant" by sitting behind her stool on a chair and peeking through the stool, asking, "What you want?" Now she can pass out her IHOP menus and customers can place their orders! LOVE IT! This was the first day she played with them, we were at Grandma Julie and Papa's house, so she didn't have her stool restaurant, but not to worry, she still knew to lay them out for everyone to order....

Shake you butt!

So. Our friend Addie is one of the best little dancers we know. Boy, can she move! I'm not talking about jumping in place and waving her arms, but she can wiggle her little hips and shake her booty! We have "dance parties" in our kitchen (think, 1993, where you all circle round and have dance offs in the center. Those forming the circle chant, "Go ____, Go ____, Go ____ Go!"). I am always trying to get Kennedy to shake her booty.

Well. At our surprise 30th birthday party (yes, 30, I know...) for our bff Darci, Kennedy had a ball with the touch tunes juke box. Here she is, saying, "Mom, shake you butt!" as she crouches down bending her knees and waving her arms. It is adorable!

Playing dress up in her costume. Not complete without the boots.

A new favorite - the clipboard! Who would have ever thought this thing would be sooo cool. She loves to carry it around saying, "What you want?" She is taking your food order, in case you were wondering... So, if you see her w/ clipboard in hand, you had better get your order ready!