First Day of...

School for Kennedy. And work for mommy.

We met Kennedy's new teachers and classmates yesterday morning in preparation for today's start of the new school year. I was happy to see a bunch of familiar faces from last year in our class again this year. Drop off went much smoother - she knows the kinds of fun activities they will do, like painting, singing, going to chapel and playing on the playground. But this year she knows mommy is only gone for a little bit but always comes back. I think last year she thought I was dropping her off for good. As if! Anyway it was cute to pick her up and have her tell me all the fun things they did today.

I also began something new today. My friend Jill started a stationary business a while back, Stamped Paper Co., and it has been incredibly successful. I'll be helping her part-time and it was fun to sit and gossip while we did our work. Jill is one of my only friends who enjoys fine television programming such as (but certainly not limited to): Dance Moms, The Bachelor(ette), Real Housewives of Anywhere, etc. 

We both had great first days and I am thinking that is a sign of good things to come!

 Excited to meet our teachers. 

Loves to play in the kitchen. 

How did they know she would want her name tag to be pink!? 

Kennedy and Emily ready for school.  

Happy girls. 

Naptime

Sometimes Kennedy wants to slumber anywhere else in her room but her cozy little bed. When I left her in her room on Thursday for a nap, she was fully clothed and in her bed. A couple hours later she knocked saying, "Mommy, I woke up!" When I opened the door she was in a diaper and had quite the set up on the floor. I don't really mind where she decides to make her bed, whether its in her chair, on the floor or actually in her bed, as long as there is some resting happening. And I was very thankful that she left the diaper on. 

"Mommy, I woke up."  

Almost time to say bye-bye to the paci. 

Moving every blanket and stuffed friend down the hall. 

Ta-Da!

I don't know if the Olympics had anything to do with it, but recently Kennedy has taken an interest in gymnastics. Mostly she thinks gymnastics is yelling "gin-astics" while she is jumping on the trampoline and doing forward rolls in the living room. She started taking classes at a legit gymnastics school and had a great time working on her skills yesterday. She is learning how to swing on the bars and balance on the beam. We were at Kidville for open gym this week and she was pretty excited to see a balance beam set up. She didn't need any assistance since this one is wide and low to the ground, she was pretty proud of herself.

Back to School Party

Kennedy is getting ready to start back at Mother's Day Out next week and most of her little playgroup friends are either starting or going back as well. We thought it would be fun to have a little kick off to the new "school year" with the kids. All the mommies made themed snacks (thank you Pinterest) and dressed the kids in their best "back to school" play clothes. The kids got to run wild outside, which they loved, and seemed to really enjoy all the treats. I am sure the mommies are all equally excited to have a little free time as MDO starts back up!

The party table. Mason's daddy made the awesome table. 

 Concentration. 

 

An apple a day...

 Blowing bubbles. 

School snacks. 

We never get our picture taken at playgroup, so it was a real treat to have Allison from Cirque du Sweet there to snap pics of us and the kids. 

Photo by Allison Loftus

Sitting Still

Sitting still is really hard. Especially for a two year old.

Kennedy got this cute rocking chair for her birthday, and I have been wanting to take her picture in it for the past month. But getting her to sit and stay in the chair hasn't exactly been easy. She loves to sit and read her books in it, but the second she sees the camera, she bolts.

Today I turned an afternoon photo sesh into a little game. I asked her to sit still while I counted 1-2-3. On three she got to run to me as fast as she could.

Sometimes we barely made it to 3. 

Sitting and smiling next to the chair. I'll take it.  

Thinking about her next move.  

 What a little sweetie. 

Messy Mess

I've seen this little treasure box sensory bin on Pinterest and a few friends blogs and decided it was time to make one for Kennedy. The trip to Target to get supplies took more effort than actually making the thing. So yeah, its pretty easy. I told Kennedy there would be a special surprise waiting when she woke up from her nap. In hindsight that was actually not the best idea. All she did for two hours was sit in her bed and tell every stuffed friend she had a surprise when she woke up.

The official recipe calls for 4 cups of rice, 3 tbsp of rubbing alcohol and 2 tbsp of food coloring. I used a 2lb bag of rice for each color and sort of guessed on the food coloring. Put the mixture on a baking sheet and set out in the sun to dry for about 15 minutes.

Anyway, I had fun getting it all ready for her to explore. I knew it would be a little messy but relative to some other painting and glitter projects we've done recently, this would be fairly low on the messy scale. That was until Kennedy wanted to make it rain. 

She loved her "sprinkle box" (it does look just like cupcake sprinkles) and spent almost an hour digging up treasures and reburying them to find again. Each time she would pick something up she would exclaim, "oh what IS it?! like it was the first time she was seeing it. She brought in her pots and pans to cook and liked picking up handfuls of rice and letting the grains fall between her fingers. Eventually she started intentionally spilling it on the rug because she liked the way it felt on her feet. She loved making a "fun messy mess" and I have a feeling we will be playing with this a lot in the weeks to come. 

 Pink and green rice. 

Trinkets and treasures. 

It looks like an entire container of sprinkles spilled on our floor. 

Princess for a Day

As we were readying to leave the house on Sunday, Kennedy found her Rapunzel dress and asked to put it on. I knew once it went on there was no getting it off, so she wore it the entire day. Over her clothes. In 100+ degree weather.

We went to one of our new favorite indoor play places, Coo Coo's, for the third time in seven days. Kennedy practically wakes up asking to go to the "shomping place" (jumping place) and since it is so hot outside, its an easy place to burn off a lot of toddler energy. Plus, I'd be lying if I said Greg and I didn't totally love every time we "have" to take her on a slide or through an obstacle course. The place also plays music Kennedy loves. As in, they play Beyonce and the "move-it" song from Madagascar. When All the Single Ladies came on it was really funny to watch Kennedy and a couple other little girls scream and start dancing with their hands up in the air.

After jumping, we went to a lunch fit for a princess and then home to nap. She wore her dress on our afternoon errand to the bookstore and finished the day helping daddy do a little tidying up.

Rapunzel leaving the tower. 

Uncle Alex Visits Dallas

Kennedy and I got to have a visit from Uncle Alex last week. He was nice enough to come in town and keep us company while Greg was away on a work trip. It was great having him here and I appreciated his help with Kennedy since I found myself under the weather. By under the weather I mean a completely swollen and infected throat and stomach bug. Fun times. After a doctor's appointment and an aggressive antibiotic/steroid combo I finally started feeling better by the weekend for Greg's return.

We had so much fun and packed a lot of activities into just a few days. We took Alex to one of our new favorite bounce house places and he got to see Kennedy in action. The bounce houses are all themed and she prefers to stick to the "Madagascar one," which is basically a jungle obstacle course. We took Alex swimming and out to dinner. We also went to the movies to see Madagascar 3 (our current obsession).

"Shomp, shomp!" - how Kennedy pronounces jump. 

Hanging out with Uncle Alex.  

Movie time. Juice, Kennedy, Alex the Lion

On Saturday we made a special trip down to Taco Joint for the biggest/best breakfast burritos I've had in a while. We dropped Alex off at the airport and headed over to the Pfeiffer's to swim. Our friends, the Williams, were in town for the weekend and I had to miss seeing them on Friday night since I was sick. It was great to hang out with them and we are looking forward to the next time we can all get together.

Swimming with her baby doll. 

Emily, Alex and Kennedy.