Birthdays

What a week.  We started to settle in a bit after celebrating Kennedy's birthday party back in Amarillo.  There is no shortage of toys in our house.  We're not sure that Kennedy knew which way to look.  She'd push the grocery cart that her Puma and Pops got her and then she's go slide on the slide that her Grandma and Grandpa got her.

Tuesday was Kennedy's actual birthday.  We celebrated by going out for dinner.  Before that, we wend to the doctor's office for Kennedy's one year checkup.  Jason had to hold Kennedy when she got her three shots, one in the leg and one in each arm.  Boy she didn't like that at all.  Not fun, but it will pay dividends later on.

In case you are wondering, we went to Macaroni Grill for dinner.  Kennedy had the Mac and Cheese.  Well, she also had a bite of crayon that the servers use to write their name on the paper tablecloth.  Oh well, no harm yet.

After dinner, we went to the botanical garden in Grapevine.  Kennedy enjoyed running around with Mom chasing her.  It was pretty difficult to get her to sit still for a picture so we have plenty with her on the move.

On Thursday, Kennedy got a new cousin.  Lynsey and Tyler had a baby boy, Brody Jake, on Thursday evening.  Brody weighed in at a healthy 9 lb, 7 oz.  His parents are pretty proud, as they should be.  We wish Tyler and Lynsey the best as they transition into their new lives as parents.

On Saturday, we continued to work on the deck.  Woo hoo, all of the footings are in and we started the framing!  Kennedy even came out for a bit to help.  And boy did she get muddy.  That's the fun part though.  Oh, and she even ate some mud... Yikes!

That evening, we headed over to Matt and Courtney's new house.  They were in the process of moving into a new house in Keller.  It is a very nice house.  Kennedy enjoyed getting to play with Addison.  They even got Kennedy a Cozy Coupe for her birthday... and yes, it is a big hit.

And one more special note:

Kennedy,

It's your dad.  You are turning a year old as I write this and I want to do something special to reflect on your first year of life.  Accordingly, I am writing you this letter to share my perspective of how you changed my life for the better.  Many things that I have to say may be considered cliche, but they really are representative of how I feel.

When you were born, there was so much excitement in the room that I didn't hardly know what to think.  After a few minutes, the commotion started to settle a bit.  The hospital staff made sure that you and your mother were good and safe, so they left the room to give us a few moments to ourselves.

It wasn't until that point that I could start to feel the magnitude of what had just happened.  Your mother was laying in the hospital bed and you were laying on her chest.  I knelt down next to the bed to be closer to the both of you.  I squeezed your mother's hand and looked her in the eye.  It was that moment that I felt my life had truly changed.  My hands were trembling with excitement, love, and pride all at once.  I also had tears of joy in my eyes.  I can't quite put into words how you made me feel at that moment.  I hope that you will also get to experience that moment one day.

And your mother, I saw her in a whole new light from that day on.  Although I had always loved your mother, my love for her had reached a new depth.  She had sacrificed much of herself to bear this little gift for the world.   Seeing her interact with you in the first couple of months, she carried herself as a gentle, nourishing caregiver eager to meet your every need.  She also had a strong side to her as she was willing to take on new challenges to fight for what was in your best interest.  Seeing these qualities magnified, I couldn't help but to draw comparisons with my own mother who has the same qualities.  I've always had a very special place I my heart for my mother.  It may seem strange, but perhaps that is why your mother physically became more beautiful to me.  There is just something primal about seeing the woman you love caring for your new baby.

You have impacted me over the past year too.  When you were first born, your every need was met by your mother and I.  It was a bit of an adjustment for us, but you gave me a deeper purpose in life.  Oddly enough, I enjoyed the little sacrifices we made to meet your needs.  They say that in life, you only get out of something what you put in. Maybe that's why I don't mind as much getting up with you at 4:00 in the morning to feed you a bottle and rock you down.  In fact, rocking you is one of the experiences that I will miss the most.  I love getting to rock with you on my chest. In fact, I am rocking you down as I write this note.  There is just something about holding a sleeping angel in my arms that strikes a tender spot in my heart.  There is no doubt that I will one day miss those little moments that we had together when you were an infant.

And how could I not mention how beautiful you are.  Sure, every parent thinks that their child is beautiful, but you really are a beautiful young girl.  I'll always remember how random strangers would stop us in public to tell us how pretty you are.  They were always captivated by your big blue eyes.  I just loved taking pictures of your striking eyes.

I feel a great sense of responsibility to give you a guiding hand so that you will have a nice future.  There are many bad influences out there just waiting to lead you down a more challenging path in life.  I look forward to serving as a positive male influence and guiding you through those challenges.  Although there will no doubt be some challenging times ahead, I often dream about the good times during my commutes home from work.  

You are such a special young lady and in the coming years, you will have so much to offer the world.  I look forward to witnessing your development and being part of your journey.  I love you more than you know.

Kennedy's First Birthday...Party!

This past weekend we celebrated Kenned's first birthday a few days early with a party in Amarillo. We took off Friday so that we could spend a little more time preparing for the big party as well as give us more time to visit with family.

We arrived in Amarillo early Friday afternoon. After grabbing a quick bite to eat, we headed over to the Kime's house. There were quite a few more Kimes than usual. Duane, Danita, Tracy and Braydon all came in for Kennedy's birthday! We ended up staying over there the rest of the afternoon and evening. It was really fun seeing Kennedy and Braydon interact. They even managed to get in to trouble together. The two kiddos discovered LuAnn's ice maker. They got quite a kick out of pushing the button and seeing the ice coming out. It became evident that Grandma's and Grandpa's house isn't fully child proofed. We only managed to get a few bruises and break a couple of things!

Saturday was the big day. We started out pretty early prepping for the party. Rachel made the cupcakes in the morning and iced them after lunch. Then came time to put together all the decorations we had accumulated over the past month or two. Kennedy took a long nap in the afternoon allowing us time to decorate and pick up balloons. By the time she woke up, we pretty much had it ready to go!

We had such a great time that evening celebrating with Family and Friends. Quite a few people showed up to celebrate our little girl. We picked up some bar-b-q, had lemonade and cupcakes, and had a wonderful time catching up with everyone. She was sure spoiled and we ended up having a car full of toys and clothes to take home! She will be fully outfitted for quite some time!

We had a wonderful time celebrating Kennedy's first year of life with some of the most special people in our lives. It is hard to believe that on Tuesday she will already be 1. Jason keeps saying that if this first year went by this fast, the next 17 are going to pass us in an instant! We are so blessed to have such a precious little girl we get to call our daughter. We Love you Kennedy!

Thanks to all who were able to make it to help us celebrate!

Pictures and Big Adventures

We have a lot to write home about this week.

First off, you may recall that we had some portraits made last Sunday to commemorate Kennedy's first birthday.  We got the photos in this week and they turned out great!  We weren't able to upload all of them, but you can see a sampling below.

We're also sad to report that we received an "incident report" form Kennedy's school.  It turns out that she bit another one of the kids in her class.  They gave her a teething ring to divert her attention.

On Thursday, Rachel signed up to be a Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant. She has been wearing their make-up and using their products for quite some time now. Our neighbor, Amy, had recently become a consultant and had been discussing it quite a bit with Rachel. For now it will just be something on the side, but we will see where it goes!

We also started working on building a deck in the backyard.  After some trouble with hitting a sprinkler line, we were able to successfully pour three footings.  Jason' was feeling pretty sore after all of the hard work.  More progress to come in the following weeks.

Splash Park

We all had off on Wednesday for the 4th of July.  We started off the day by sleeping in and just lounging that morning in our pajamas.

At little later that morning, Kennedy got dressed up in her red, white and blue dress.  We headed outside to try and get a picture of her while she was dressed up, but we didn't have the best of luck.  Kennedy was on the move, so most of the shots ended up being from behind.  When we take her outside, it's getting harder and harder to get photos of her since she's so busy.

For lunch, we headed over to Matt and Courtney's house for little cookout.  The kids all hat a great time getting to run around the house together.  They managed to sit still long enough to snap a couple of photos.

After our lunch settled, we headed over to their community pool.  It has a little splash pool, which is perfect for the little ones.  Addison ended up falling asleep in the car, but we still took Kennedy on in.  As usual, we had to just snap our photos from behind.

In general, Kennedy has been picking up a couple of new traits.  She's started this funny walk where she holds her hands out front as she moves in a pretty wobbly fashion.  We've called it the zombie walk.  She's also learned that holding her hands up means that she wants to be picked up.

On Sunday, we had some one year portraits made of Kennedy.  We met the photographer over at the Grapevine botanical gardens.  The little booger didn't want to smile, but we think that there were still some good shots.  We'll see and post them once we get them.

Fort Worth Family Day

On Saturday, we had a fun family day in Fort Worth.  We kicked it off with a stop by the  water gardens.  Kennedy seemed to enjoy it; although, we had to keep our trip brief as it was getting pretty hot.  Our next stop was to see one of Kennedy's classmates.  Ellie was turning a year old so they were having a birthday celebration.  They had swimming pools setup out on the back yard and all the kids got to splash and have a good time.  Once it was time to go, Kennedy even started to throw a little fit.  We don't think that she was ready to leave.  After the party, we headed over to a new establishment in Fort Worth.  It is a new place called Trader Joe's.  It is like a small supermarket that carries many unique   items.  They are probably most famous for carrying a wine called Charles Shaw.  It is generally regarded a pretty good wine, but it is only $3 per bottle.  We went ahead and picked up a few bottles.  After that, we headed over to one of Fort Worth's new food truck parks.  We sampled some tacos and a snow cone.  By that point, Kennedy was completely worn out.  She slept in her stroller the entire time we were at the food truck park and the entire way home. We had thought about going to the children's museum also, but she was just too worn out.

Sunday was filled mostly with chores. Rachel went over to a neighbor's house for a Mary Kay party in the afternoon. Courtney came over too and the girls got some make overs!

We did have a small "success" with Kennedy this week. We have not been able to put her to sleep yet without rocking her down. Two nights this past week, she was wide awake when she was done with her final bottle for the day. We put her in her crib and after about 15 minutes of crying, she eventually laid down and went to sleep for the entire night. We have tried this before and after 30+ minutes she would still be screaming, so it was a small success that she actually cried herself out. It didn't feel all that great though knowing she was so sad going to sleep...