Winter Wonderland

When we woke up Sunday morning at my parent's house, the trees were so beautiful. If anyone has seen "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe." The trees kind of looked like a scene from that movie. My dad snapped a few pics for me since it was a little brisk outside that morning...

The evergreen tree below actually has a little story behind it. I received this tree when I was in the 3rd grade from McDonald's for Arbor Day. At that time it was maybe 3 inches tall. Well, as you can see...it has grown a little since then. I keep telling my parents someday the White House is going to call them and tell them the tree has been picked for the National Christmas Tree. So if anyone has anyone connections. . let me know :)

Christmas: Chapter 3...The Final Chapter

Well, we successfully celebrated our last Christmas this past weekend at my parent's house outside of Nashua, IA. It was a quick trip up and back, but lots of fun and pretty relaxing. We even managed to sleep 12 people in the house, with only one bathroom! Here are some pics from the weekend....

The kids playing Twister. ..oops Connor got a little too twisted.

John couldn't resist getting in on the fun.

It's 4-wheeler time!

Austin getting pulled in the sled as Jeremey and Alexzandra man the machine.

The grandkids...there will be one more next year:)

Jaydin faces the tickle machine.

Olivia was more interested in the wrapping paper.

The chaos begins.

Connor and Austin playing with Hotwheels.

Jake finishing opening his gifts.

Happy Birthday John!!

This is John when he was in 1st grade. One of my favorite childhood pictures of him. . doesn't he look so innocent?? Today he celebrates his 33rd birthday.... Actually, he didn't do much celebrating. He still has the creepy crud he's been dealing with all week. So for his birthday we went to Arby's and then to a pre-admission appointment at the hospital. Sounds like a real fun birthday, huh? Hopefully he'll be feeling better by tomorrow.

Christmas: Chapter 2

Last night we decided to take a picture of ourselves before we went to church for Christmas Eve. You'll have to excuse the crookedness, we set the the camera on the stairs and put it on timer. After three takes, I decided this was just going to have to work because I was out of breath from running back and forth from the stairs to the fireplace. Anyway, notice all the cards hanging on the fireplace...we totally scored this year :)

So far we've had a quiet Christmas Eve and Christmas Day....literally. John started getting a tickle in his throat yesterday and by the time he woke up this morning, it was a full blown sore throat. The morning started out by me going over to the 7-eleven and getting some Halls for him to suck on today. Luckily they were open! He's been napping off and on and trying not to talk too much. I've just been kind of hanging out doing some things around the house. He did muster up enough energy to open gifts this morning though. Santa was good to us this year!!

We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!!

Christmas: Chapter 1

We just returned from Sioux City and the first of our Christmas celebrations this year. We left on Thursday and spent some time with John's parents that evening. On Friday, John was able to reconnect with some friends that live or were visiting the area. Saturday was the big Kennedy Christmas celebration, starting with the Annual Kennedy Bowling Tournament. It just wouldn't be complete without a little Kennedy competition :) The winning team this year was Roy, John, Norine and Jeremy. High score went to Josh, and low score went to Roy's mom, Tonya. High kid's score went to Stephanie. After the bowling tournament, we headed to Dick and Dana's new house for good eats and lots of gift opening. The big event of the evening occurred when Roy popped the question to Sarah in front of the whole family! (Good job, Roy...welcome to the family!) They are already busy planning a wedding for this coming summer. On Sunday, we went to church and then had a nice brunch at Dick and Dana's before heading home. Below are a few pictures from the weekend. . .

Ben playing tag with Wrigley

Angie and Joe

Roy, Dick and John watching as someone bowls a strike

Cara keeping herself content

Roy and Sarah

John strutting his stuff(notice the "X" on the computer)

Norine not happy with her throw(she did however have 3 or 4 strikes this round!)

Jeremy and Mason with a chest pump

Diane waiting to see what happens with her throw

Brennan pretty happy with his form

Maddy with the bowl, Mason and Cara with the assist

Lizzie posing for the camera

Gone Fishing...

I just had to post a picture of this. We received a package in the mail from Mom Kennedy this week and inside were some fun baby gifts. (Thanks Norine!) This was one of them! As you all know John loves to fish and I enjoy it as well. How fitting the baby already has it's own tackle box. It is made of terry cloth material and the fish makes a squeaking noise.

Although it would be nice to be out fishing this weekend...that is only wishful thinking. It started snowing late last night and it is still going. I think we've had maybe 4-5 inches of snow. It's not a bad snow though. In fact, it's kind of pretty and it is allowing us stay in and relax after a busy weekend so far.

Last night we went to John's office Christmas party. They had it at the Marriot downtown. The food was really good and it was fun to meet some of his co-workers. We even got a little gift bag with AMC movie tickets in it. We stayed for awhile, but headed home kinda early to rest up for the big Saturday event. This morning we woke up early, grabbed some breakfast at Einstein Bros and then headed to the hospital for an 8 hr birthing class (that was the big Saturday event). It was very informational and we both learned quite a bit. It got a little long, but it was nice to get it done in one day and we ended up getting out an hour early(bonus!).

TSO

Every year, John and I try to do something fun to get in the spirit of Christmas. Two years ago we went to see "A Christmas Carol" at the KC Repertory Theatre and last year we went to a play called "All the Christmas Stories Ever Told" at the American Heartland Theatre. Yesterday afternoon we braved the icy elements with our friends, Tom and Laura, and went to the Transiberian Orchestra at the new Sprint Center here in Kansas City. We allowed enough time to get there with the weather and crowds, only to find ourselves waiting outside in the cold for the doors of the arena to open. When they finally opened the doors, it reminded me a little of "black Friday" as people were flooding to get in out of the cold. We made it in, grabbed some hot chocolate to warm up and got settled in our seats for the concert yet to come.

For those of you who have not heard of Transiberian Orchestra, this is a group who plays Christmas music with a twist of rock thrown in the mix. A few of their songs are played on the radio during the holidays. The show was really cool. I had never seen such a light show before. At one point there were actual flames coming out from the stage and we could feel the heat of them from the second level. The show lasted about three hours. In the first part of the show, a narrator told a story and the group would intermittently break out in some of the more of the recognizable Christmas tunes. The second part of the show was a full-on jam session. They really had some amazing musicians. I decided the baby might come out as a metal-head after that part of the show. It was definitely moving around when the music got loud. After the show we made it back to Overland Park and went out to eat at J. Alexander's...yummy. Below is a picture of the concert that I grabbed off the kansascity.com website. I didn't bring my camera, but wanted to give you a taste of what the concert looked like.

Deck the Halls..or the Kennedy Household

Here's what the Kennedy Household looks like this Christmas season. Actually, the tree has looked the same for the last three years. . it's just at a different location(other than my old apartment). So just in case you forgot what it looked like...

I must note the Nativity scene (thanks Mom/Norine!) and the little stocking for the baby-to-be (thanks Teresa!). Hope everyone has a fun holiday season!

Thanksgiving 2007

We had a fun and relaxing Thanksgiving 07. We started out our Thanks-fest by getting out of work early on Wednesday(can't beat that!). On Wednesday Teresa, Jeremy and Maddy(John's sister and family) came into town from Des Moines. We ordered some pizza and started a cozy fire. Joe and Angie(John's brother and wife) stopped over with Wrigley(the dog) and we just relaxed and hung out.

Thanksgiving morning started a little early. We decided to throw the Turkey in the roaster, to give it a good 5 hours to cook. Then John, Teresa, my friend Michelle, and I all participated in a 5k run/stroll. John and Teresa ran, Michelle and I strolled. It was a balmy 26 degrees out on Thanksgiving morning, so we had to bundle up a bit. The Turkey Trot was pretty fun. There were over 4,000 participants! Michelle and I were under the impression the stroll part was going to be about a mile or so. At about mile 2.2 we realized we were actually walking the whole 5k. It was too bad that John and Teresa had finished their run about 30 min before we finished the walk part. I think at one point they contemplated to come looking for us to make sure we were all right. It was a close race at the end, but Michelle and I did a little speed walking and beat the clock, coming in at a time of 59min and 59
sec!

John getting ready to place the turkey in the roaster

John, Maddy and Teresa posing by the bird.

Teresa and I trying to keep our teeth from chattering.

John and I before the Turkey Trot.

John, Teresa and I
Michelle and I getting ready for the big stroll.

When we arrived home from the race, to much of our surprise the Turkey was already done. It only ended up taking about 3hrs in the roaster to cook. We turned it on low to keep it warm, got showered and fixed some appetizers to hold us over while we finished preparing the other side dishes. John's friend, Alex, arrived in the afternoon sporting his favorite Christmas sweater to share in the Thanksgiving festivities. Dinner consisted of: Turkey(of course), cheesy potato casserole, sweet corn, stuffing, apple/walnut salad and rolls. For dessert: pumpkin cake and pumpkin pie. We sat down to dinner about 2pm and in about an hour and two bottles of wine later(water for me), everyone was completely stuffed. The rest of the afternoon/evening consisted of sitting around watching football, napping and grazing the leftovers every now and then. Sarah and Roy(John's sister and boyfriend) stopped over in the evening to say hello and get a game plan for Sarah and Teresa's early morning shopping expedition. Yes, the crazies did make it out on Black Friday at 430am! I have to say, I was pretty impressed they actually made it.

Michelle, me and Alex preparing the stuffing.

John getting ready to carve the bird.

John and I holding the wish bone.
Michelle, me and Teresa showing off our stemware adoration's.

All in all, I have to say it was a pretty successful Thanksgiving. I've never done so many dishes or changed the garbage so many times in one day in my life, but it was all definitely worth it!! Happy Thanksgiving to all!!

Baby Room Update

It definitely feels more like a baby room now. As you can see in the 1st picture, John did the painting a couple of weeks ago. This weekend the crib was delivered. We ended up having NFM deliver and assemble it. We figured it took them about 30-45 min. to assemble, it surely would have taken us about 2-3hrs, and who knows if it would have been done correctly. It's hard to believe the due date is less than three months from now. John and I were discussing today, the pregnancy has seemed to go much faster than our engagement did. I'm sure after the holidays, the anticipation will grow even more.

I Survived!!

This past weekend was the Annual Kennedy Women's Shopping Trip. Each year the Kennedy women decide a shopping destination and plan a weekend(typically in November) to get together for a weekend of dining, shopping and fun. Basically this is a marathon shopping at it's best. We start as soon as the stores open on Saturday and go until they close. I have to say, I'm really not much of a shopper but I always have a good time. This year...Destination: Omaha. I definitely didn't get the prize for most shopping bags. I think that might have been a tie between Norine and Laura. Teresa gets the prize for the least shopping bags with a total spent of $6.36. She also was the big winner at the casino!! Here are a few other highlights of the trip:

*Free breakfast at the hotel!

*Angie's GPS getting us there and back with ease.

*Really small beds and many people in one room=no sleep.

*Angie and I getting pedicures after hours of walking the malls.

*DQ ice cream and cookies

*The Afternoon store(I think that's what it was called)--totally awesome stuff in there

*Discovering Toys R Us

*Getting a good parking spot at the Westroads Mall

*Did I mention the pedicure?

*Ah yes, and the best was getting about 10 hrs of sleep last night and feeling recovered.

Until next year... Destination: Williamsburg/Coralville

**Photo provided by Norine Kennedy**

Bullet Point Week

Ok, I know everyone loves to read bullet points. Here's a little run down of the latest...

*Wednesday-"Trick or Treat" John and I fought the urge of hiding out in the basement to avoid trick or treaters and decided to go ahead and be neighborly. We started handing out candy about 7pm, and by 745pm we ran out. Apparently I was a little too generous at first. We had about 30-35 kids in all. When the last group of kids came, I only had 9 pieces of candy left. I got a little nervous I was going to have to dig through the cupboards and hand out cans of soup, but luckily there were only 8 little goblins. As soon as they made it to the end of the driveway, I shut the light off and closed the blinds. Hopefully there weren't too many groups following them.

*Last weekend we successfully converted the basement into a spare bedroom. It looks pretty cozy. John is still trying to talk me into spending the night down there to see if it sufficient enough for guests.

*Since we got the spare bedroom moved, this weekend we are going to start painting the baby room. Home Depot here we come! Since I guess it's not good for me to be exposed to the paint, John will have to do the painting. I'll tape though.

*I'm convinced the baby has been doing Tae Bo inside of me this week. Either that, or he/she is practicing dance moves to show up his/her father someday.

*In about an hour or so, we are going to go check out the hospital and get a tour of the Labor and Delivery area. I'm sure it will be an educational experience for all.

That's all for now. Happy November and 7 shopping weeks left till Christmas.

Red October Sky

Ok, so I'm a sucker for sunsets. . .I was watching the news tonight and the weather man mentioned there would be a "radiant" sunset, so I decided to check things out for myself. I couldn't actually see the sun because the trees were in the way, but the sky was amazing. These are a few shots from the park in our backyard.

It was a really nice weekend here. My parents came to visit and we definitely kept busy. On Saturday we started our day off with breakfast at First Watch (by far the best breakfast in town.) After breakfast we made a trip to the Farmer's Market and enjoyed checking out the fresh produce and flowers. I bought a few things for a salad and my mom decided I couldn't leave without a really awesome mum plant. (Thanks mom!) Then John and my dad hit the links while my mom and I hung out. Apparently there was a comment made at the beginning of the golf round from my dad along the lines of "he was really happy John and him could play together and would really like nothing more than to beat him by a stroke." Well, at the end...my dad's dreams came true. He beat John, by yes . . one stroke. In the afternoon we flipped back and forth between the Iowa and the Iowa State football game. Then we ended the day with some shopping at Nebraska Furniture Mart and dinner at Cheeseburger in Paradise. (I just love that place) And yes, John and I made our first baby purchase at NFM. . . a baby crib.