My child the dog wannabe.

there are so many things wrong with this picture.

First, let me mention that our hallway painting project STILL isn't done.. without mentioning any names, ANDY, I am waiting for the ceiling and edges to be done.

Next, let us talk about how Kennedy insists on carrying the easter basket around still. I tried putting it away. Then there was a war about it.  She won.  I am just going to assume that she has some trendsetting idea in the works and baskets are the new purse??

Oh and if you haven't already figured out what the hell is on my child's head, well let me tell you.

This child has headbands, she has necklaces, she has hats, she has bows, she even has a crown.

BUT at the end of the day she simply prefers the dog's collar.  Ew.

She pulls it over the dog's head and then puts it on hers. Oh and the tags you see? She strategically places them so they are on her forehead.

It's safe to say she received a good shampooing afterwards.. in the yard, with the hose.

hey.. if you want to act like a dog?

The things that entertain my child. 

Disclaimer: So I don't end up on CPS's "check-in list"..please find comfort in knowing that Kennedy did not get bathed outside with a hose, rather she had a nice warm bubbly bath just to her liking. ;)

Kennedy's 1st Car!

Kennedy got her first car well before she was 16.

these two sweet little neighbor boys came over to our house yesterday while we were out in the yard doing some things, pushing this little car.

They asked Andy if "his baby would like this" and Andy told them he would bet that she would love it but asked if it was ok with their mom, to which they replied
"she's the one that made us bring it over."

They may or may not have been upset that they had to give it up, but they were way too big for it.

Nonetheless, it was a very sweet gesture and baby girl is in love with it.

aka. she screams if you try to take her out.

to-do list.

I have a crazy amount of projects on my to-do list.
My husband may kill me.

I feel like everyday I find something new that I would like to do, or re-do for that matter.
I think it's safe to say I am indecisive.
Oh and have I also mentioned that I am an "instant gratification" type of girl??
Ohhhhh yeah, that's my husband's favorite characteristic of mine...

I'm trying to work on it.
Ok, maybe I'm thinking about trying to work on it, let's not get ahead of ourselves now.

One of the big projects that we are doing currently is painting all of our doors and trim. Talk about time consuming! This is taking foooorrreeeeevvvveeerrrrr (in my best squints voice from the sandlot). Our doors we have to paint a coat of primer on one side, let it dry, do the other side, then do the same thing with paint x2. Hopefully we can get it finished before we retire...

Also, we are currently trying to begin the process of finishing our basement & knocking out a wall upstairs to open the house to the basement. One of the reasons that we would like to do this is because we have no room to grow.  On our main floor there are 3 bedrooms, but one of the bedrooms is on the smaller side and is currently Kennedy's toy room/ my craft room.  No guest room. No future nursery room.  When we finish the basement their will be 2 more bedrooms, a family room with a toy playing part to it, a workout room, another bathroom & a place to stash my wine (obvi.) That will open up a TON. I can move Kennedy's toy room down in the family room, have a guest bedroom down there, and have my craft room down there. That means the other upstairs room can be what it should... another nursery. ;)

I will be sure to share pictures along the way of our progress.

Wish us luck!

xo,j

Chicago Update 1.0

I feel like I could write 10 posts on just how amazeballs our Chicago trip was.
Three days with Becky and her family is just not enough.
Seriously, it didn't even feel like we were meeting for the first time.. it was like I was just seeing one of my bestfriends that I hadn't seen in awhile. It was so comfortable.
Thank God she wasn't a creepy old man. That definitely would have been awkward.
The girls loved eachother. And eachothers' toys.

The husbands had an instant bromance.

And Becky and myself?

Well.. it was pretty much love at first sight. (although we have seen eachother before on skype & such).

(photo taken by Becky)

Our families are so alike it is ridiculous. In a lovely sort of way. We had the time of our lives together.

We must do this again.... very soon.
I hear Marquette is beautiful in the summers....just saying.

Also during the trip one of the days while the girls were napping in one room, us adults decided to have some drinks and play cards in the other. Well.. this girl didn't have a clue of how to play euchre. I do now, so that's pretty sweet! The funny thing about playing with them was that Andrew takes the game very serious.. he means business. And Becky? Well every BLL she consumed, it got a little harder to get her to concentrate on the game as she turned her focus to making sure I was keeping up with her..consuming alcohol. ;)

There was plenty of laughing, drinking, playing, walking, shopping and picture-taking but most of all there was a bond built between friends that I am confident will last a lifetime. 

Stay tuned for Chicago Update 2.0 where I will overload you with an abundance of pictures from our adventures! Right after I edit them.

 Cheers to great times with even greater people.

j.

Canon Rebel what?

my husband is amazing.
well he always is. But today my friends, he is extra amazing.
it's safe to say he is going to get lucky tonight.

I am not easy to surprise. To be quite honest, I am almost impossible. I get really embarrassed with surprises in front of a lot of people so I am always eavesdropping if I suspect something to make sure I am prepared.

Today? My husband surprised me. Hands down.

He bought me a Canon Rebel t2i, which I have wanted forever.

I have been talking about it for about a year now, but never really budgeted to get all the goodies for it. I would always find something else to get for the house or whatever. Well if you follow me on twitter you already know, but if you don't then .. well you don't. We are heading down to Chicago Thursday morning to go on a mini-vacay with Becky & her family. We are so excited about this and have actually had it planned since last year. Up until today I was using a little fancier of a Sony point and shoot. It worked great for what I used it for but ever since having Kennedy, I have really wanted an upgrade.  I never in a million years thought I would talk my husband into letting me buy one anytime soon.

The other day I was talking about how nice it would be to have a new camera to take on our trip. I may have even threw in the phrase "Becky has a rebel too. She could show me some tricks with it while we were down there....". He shot the idea down...or so I thought. He told me not right now but maybe down the road.  I thought he meant business. So I let it go...aka continued to tease him about how great it would be to have. ;)

So we come to today. He kept trying to get me to go to my car for different weird reasons at work. None of which worked to get me out there. That is until he suggested we run up to Target and pick up some stuff we needed to get for our trip. He knew I was planning on doing this after work. Well if you know my husband.. you know the words "lets go to target" never come out of his mouth. He hates when I go there. haha. So I jumped up and was like LET'S GO! Funny thing is, is on the way to the car I kept saying well maybe we can just peak at their canon's they have there. Then he told me we were just going to sit in the car and look online through my phone at cameras and dream about having them. ya. right.

So I walk up to my car & what is sitting on my front seat??? A CANON REBEL t2i, an extra lense, a carrier and sd card... HELLO CLOUD 9!!! I was blown away. Seriously.

I kept saying are you serious???? oh.my.goodness. I can't believe this.

in that order. for about 5 minutes.

He definitely gets a pat on the back  for pulling that one off & basically being the best husband in the world. I am definitely very loved.

thank you hunny!!

Easter 2012.

Kennedy's Easter 2012.. in pictures.

the easter bunny made sure to leave all sorts of goodies, including the "God loves Kennedy" book by I See Me. Oh and the helmet.. the helmet belongs to this.

the easter bunny was sure to pick up something extra special for Kenne, and she was LOVING it.

Then we got dressed for church &brunch (which we hosted)

what a sass.

Grandma(my mom) with her two grandchildren. 

this is what happens when you tell them to say "cheese".

Does this not just crack you up??

then we opened her easter gift from Auntie Jamie (my sister), which was a crown & a tamborine.

Random I know, but she was OBSESSED with wearing that crown all.day.

We had an Easter egg hunt all around the house for the two kids.

This is Kenne putting eggs in her bag.

Then off to my in-laws we went to spend the afternoon and have dinner. 

Gahh.. I just melt looking at that face.

...still rocking the crown.

And we definitely rode the 4-wheeler around on the top deck.

and she finished off the day playing with Auntie Jill (SIL).

Hoping that you all had a wonderful & blessed Holiday weekend as well!!

Did you know?

Did you know that I had Kennedy Marie picked out as my future daughter's name since I was in 5th grade?

oh yeah.. that is definitely me on the left.

betty boop, what what?

Yup. I had three girl names picked out & three boy names picked out since I was a pre-teen. Kennedy Marie was my #1 choice for a girl name, and my #1 boy name is still my future pick (even though Andy disagrees). He'll learn.

I am a name person. I love hearing people's first and middle names & hearing if they were named that for any specific reason. I find names so powerful. Think about it, you were given a name from birth.. something that when your parents saw you, they thought yup, that's his/her name. How cool is that?

I remember when I was pregnant I went along with looking at other names & actually Kennedy was almost an Ava Jacqueline and then almost a Marina Lynn. I even went as far as to announce on here that she was going to be an Ava (Andy loved that name) and then when she was going to be a Marina (another name I have always loved) I went as far as to make wall art with her name spelled out. But both of those were just phases for me. I loved the names but the second that someone would talk about her and call her one of those names, I would freak. Couldn't commit. I always had Kennedy in the back of my mind but for some reason I never mentioned it to Andy because it was a little different and he thought all of the names that I liked were "super weird". Up until a week before Kennedy was born, she was still unnamed. My sister was over and we were just sitting around talking about names. She started going through a name app. on her phone and all of a sudden was like wait, what about Kennedy? You used to love that name. Then I heard the best words out of Andy's mouth.. "I really like that name, I can definitely see our daughter being named that.." WHAT?! REALLY?! I think I may have even jumped up and down.. pregnant belly and all. And that was that, she would be Kennedy Marie.

Kennedy is my grandma's maiden name. Marie is my mom's and sister's middle name.

We didn't tell anyone our name pick except my sister since she was there when we picked it until she was born. When we introduced her to everyone, I got so many "ah ha! you have always wanted that name".

I guess she was destined to be a Kennedy. Did I also ever mention that I used to tell everyone that when I grew up I was going to marry an Andy?  No joke.

Maybe I should open a 1-800 hotline?? I could totally read fortunes. ;)

(photo taken from internet)