The 2011 Kennedy Klan Portrait

from left to right:
Janessa, Kaden, Grey, Darla, Chantelle, Keaton, Brent, Marshall, Kari, Logan, Beccy, Dave, Maryn, Liana, Vienna, Jared, Jillaine, Lehman and Davis

*absent from photo: Brian, Kenna, Brooks, Mark, Lauryn, Mattea, Kayla

Sisters - puzzle time

Here are a few pics from puzzle time the other day that I thought were pretty cute and also lets you see the two girls together - I still think they look nothing alike!

This Mattea after being told "No, you can find where it goes all by yourself, you just have to look with your eyes" - so apparently making this face and keeping your eyes like that will help you see where the pieces go!

Time to put the camera down - puzzle time is starting to unravel!

Mattea fall update

Here are a few recent pictures of Mattea. There is not too much to announce in update news for her, as there are no recent Dr's appointments to get official measurements etc. We know she is super tall, and on our scale at home weighs over 33 lbs. She still loves doing crafts and games and playing imaginary games. Her recent facination is with plastic animals (you know the little dollar store kind??) she has a bucket of them and carries them from room to room narrating for them along the way!

Doing one of her favourite activities - finger painting! It took us many tries to get over the fact that it is SUPPOSED to be messy. She kept wanting me to clean off her fingers every time she got paint on them...which with FINGER paints meant she was pretty much missing the point of the exercise! Now that we are officially okay with the mess and that we will be cleaned up afterwards, she loves it!
She is a little TV bug, and although we limit how much she can watch, she has a very good memory and can recite to you all her favourite shows and movies. She also inherited her Daddy's ability to tune out anything and anyone while she is watching!
No, we were not purposely modelling for this shot - I'm not quite sure what she was doing, but I think it was a break from dancing around to her Christmas music! But this is a good picture to show just how tall she really is! She is in size 4 clothes and she is not even 2.5!
Enjoying the 1st snow flurries of the year - we were dressed for a blizzard, which is certainly was NOT, but she didn't seem to care that there were only about 10 snowflakes in the sky! - Mattea said "I yike dis snow, it wooks nice and sparkwey!"
Another small update is that she is now singing! She has been doing nursery rhyme style songs for a while now (like twinkle twinkle etc) but she is now doing worship music from church and memorized all of her sunday school Christmas songs within the first week of having the CD! Now we just have to work on getting her to sing it in front of other people!!! She really is a sponge though when it comes to music and memorizes the words to songs very quickly (almost after the first time hearing something!)

Kayla - 8 months old

Kayla has now turned 8 months old. She now weighs in at 20 lbs 13 ounces, and is 72 cm long, so she is above the 90th percentile for height and weight, so another big girl! But to compare, Mattea was the same height and weight at 6 months old, so Kayla is still "small" to us! She now has two teeth, and is putting them to good use by eating lots of finger foods (cheese being a favourite!) She has been standing for over a month now, and is walking around on furniture. She will let go and balance but has yet to take that first official step - but something tells me, it won't be long! She loves her Daddy, and her "T'ah" and wants to be included in all of their games, and joins right in with their craziness. She is proving to be a real mischief maker- she has a radar going anywhere, touching (and subsequently eating) everything she shouldn't (shredding kleenex, going in bathrooms, opening doors/drawers, trying to eat door stoppers, eating shoes, eating plants - with no discrimination between real and fake:-/) So all that to say, she keeps us on our toes, but she has a grin on her face the whole time, and with that dimple, it makes it hard to keep a straight face when keeping up with her antics!

Her first "snow" - we saw flurries and Mattea insisted that we hurry and go outside to play in the snow. I think it was a bit of a disappointment!
Playtime in Tea's room before bed - usually includes wearing hats and having tea parties (she is holding one of the hats, which she promptly attempted to eat)

Payback time for all the cheek pinching she gets! (and for Daddy and Tea putting this crazy hat on!)

On her way to find something else to do - clearly she is above playing with her toys:-P

The Gene Pool

Playmobil must run in the Kennedy gene pool. How else would you explain the continuation of a hobby and form of play, entertainment and creativty spanning children born in 1979 through 1999. Maryn gave me another edition of her newspaper to read the other day. In her Playmobil world of Eversham (the town) quite the exciting noteworthy happenings have been immortalized.

EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT! (2 links to her 2 newspapers)

Testing the Heights

Liana was coming over to edge the walls in our hall and staircase, so Dad set up a ladder leaning on the wall and pressed up against the stairs. He wanted us to test it out........

Lehman got a little scared.

Dad wasn't nervous at all.




Jillaine didn't go because she has a crippling fear of heights.
I did go up, but we didn't get a picture.



Posted by: Janessa

Jillaine's Decorating Skills

As you all know, Jillaine has amazing artistic skills.....so to make her 'bread' more fancy, she uses those skills.

Posted by: Janessa

Glasses

Lehman and Maryn have glasses! :) There were some sad faces when they heard they needed glasses and they HAD to wear them ALL the time. Lehman needed new frames because he didn't have any, but Maryn kept her old frames and just got new lenses.

Maryn's 'new' glasses. She has only worn these frames like five times in the past year.

Lehman driving home from picking the glasses up: "Man! I can
see like a hawk now!"

I love the side profile

In case you are wondering...they are all dressed up for a band recital. I spiked his hair, and put Maryn's hair in a bun.



Posted by: Janessa

The SNOW is Here!!!

Sunday morning, at like 7:00 am, Jillaine woke up to get ready for church, looks out the window and says in the happiest voice, "It snowed." She ran into Maryn's room to tell her. I jumped out of bed, looked out the window, and instantly felt depressed. It had snowed all Saturday night, and flurries all Sunday.

Piper likes/hates the snow. He is such a wimp! As soon as you send him out, he starts whining and will not stop. But he loves running/bounding through it.

Posted by: Janessa

Kid Kwotes & Kwips - Archive

November 1, 2011
at our yearly eye examinations-
Optometrist: "Do you play sports?"
Lehman: "No, I don't have any brothers, but I try to play as much as I can."

October 24, 2011
Brent: Lets say our prayer, dear Jesus thank you for my day. Thank you for my Mommy and my Daddy and my baby brother Keaton....
Marshall: and Lightning McQueen...
Brent: yes and Lightning McQueen... Please teach me to love Jesus...
Marshall: and Mommy (I guess he needs to be taught that it doesn't come naturally thanks!)
Brent: yes... and teach me to obey...
Marshall: and patience
Brent: and help me to have a good sleep. Please help me to be obedient tomorrow so I can learn first time obedience. Help me to have a good day tomorrow and stay healthy....
Marshall: and, and, and ummmm watching Cars?
Brent: maybe, please protect me and give me good dreams. In the name and the blood of Jesus Christ, Amen
Marshall: Amen... Cachigga!

Marshall: Mommy may I have some coffee? I think not!!!

May 23, 2011
While in a crowded store with Mommy, Mattea spots something that, based on her reaction, she had never noticed before...a very obese man...
Mattea: OH NO!!! MOM!!! OH NO!!! LOOOOOK!!! What HAPPENED?!?! What happened Mom??? WHAT HAPPENED?!?!?!?!Despite Mommy's attempts to quietly address her concerns (and get out of the store!!!), this yelling (combined with wild gestures and pointing) continued long enough and loud enough that both the man and his wife heard and the wife said, "Well dear, you have certainly got someone's attention!" Needless to say, this probably goes down in the record books as MOMMY's most embarrassing Mattea moment - to date anyway!!!:-)

Auntie Kari: Marshall what does a gangster say?
Marshall: WORD! Thanks Kari :P

Background info: Mattea can't say Kayla properly so it comes out more like "Key-ah"
Mattea: Wanna go Walmart?
Mommy: No, today we are going to Ikea
a few moments of silence as she ponders...
Mattea: I-Keyah? Noooo!!! I no wanna go I-Keyah, I wanna go I-Tea! How ‘bout me? How ‘bout Tea?
I guess its just not fair that her sister gets a store and she doesn't!

driving to music lessons: "I like talking to Jared about sports, but then he gets talking about history and geography and sheddin' his knowledge all over me." -Lehman

Lauryn steps on scale to weigh herself, Mattea rushes over to see the results...
Mattea: "TWO NINETY-FIVE???!!! WHAT DA???"
*In Mommy's defense, Mattea has not mastered number recognition yet!:-)

It became evident early on that her mouth was probably going to be the source of most of her troubles!
Mattea 12 months old, reading with her Uncle Alfred
Uncle Alfred: pointing out pictures to Mattea
Mattea: What da heck is dat?

Brooks: How did your running go? Are you skinnier?
Mom: I don't know. Do I look skinnier?
Kenna, glances over: uuuuuh, nope

Family Photo's 2011

Taken in the fall and posted almost in the Albertan winter! We are expecting a good snow day anytime now. We have thoroughly enjoyed our busy fall filled with lots of hunting, fun activities and church business. Brent finally got himself a nice big elk which has been a dream for him for a very long time and also provides us with almost 200 pounds of meat!! I have also started hunting this year but only casually. We go on a lot of family drives with the kids sitting in the back (watching Cars :) and Mom and Dad scouring the hills for wildlife. Brents work is really busy in fact its their busiest year yet and that coupled with new church responsibilities, he has been a very busy man. I am kept on my toes by my two busy little boys and have been doing a lot of hosting and butchering at our house.

Marshall is getting huge and talking a mile a minute. His vocabulary is stretching at a phenominal rate and he astounds me every day with things he has learned. He LOVES to sing the ABC's and spell out his name on his sketch pad. It seems as though he has developed into a little south paw! We are so proud of the sweet, loving brother he has become. Aside from sharing his favorite toys, Marshall is in love with Keaton and continually cuddles and kisses him.

Keaton is crawling and saying "Mama", albeit often when he wants something and only sometimes when he is asked to. His little personality is quite different from Marshall, he seems to have a less intense countenance. His smile is small and sweet whereas Marshalls was wide and he is a lot more withdrawn from other people. As long as Mom is beside you or he knows you well he will be fine to "tolerate" you for a while. Keaton also has a huge temper, enough said!

Yes, we are very proud of our little family. God has taken us down many new and challenging roads but with his grace and strength we are enjoying both the hard and happy times. We are learning a lot about ourselves and seeing some of the fruits of those hard times. We are through Thanksgiving and preparing for (and looking very much forward to) Christmas. Here are just a few of the photo's that Kari took for our family 2011 photo shoot: