birthday party weekend

Kendall, so in association "WE", had a busy birthday party schedule for the weekend ... she was invited to 5 parties for this weekend, but we could only attend 3 of them! I know kids are born all year long, but this was a busy weekend.

Saturday morning, we drove to Ridgemar Mall for Tyler's 3rd birthday ... it was a train theme and Kendall had a blast! We enjoyed the awesome playscape & fun train rides through the mall. Chick Fil A nuggets & fruit was served for lunch, along with a train birthday cake ... which Kendall sampled & loved.

Kendall with the birthday boy Tyler

the Odom sisters ... "girl-Ashleigh", Kaelynn and Rylie ...

Happy 3rd Birthday, sweet Tyler!  We were so happy to join your celebration!

Sunday, we partied all day long with 2 birthday swim parties!  After church, we went swimming in our own pool with Grams (who was visiting us for the weekend) before she had to go back home ... Kendall had to skip her afternoon nap (which actually worked out just fine), so we could attend (girl-)Ashleigh's 8th birthday party ... at Keller Pointe.  It was a great swim party ... it's a great facility with lots to do for all ages ... indoor pools & slides and outdoor ones, too.  Although we don't love running around in our swim suits, Fritzie & I had a great time riding all the slides with several other moms, too.  We stayed an extra 1.5 hours after the party for more swimming ... with the Odoms.

Daddy "boy-Ashley", Kendall & the birthday
girl ... Ashleigh.  With 2 Ashley/Ashleigh's in
the family, we had to start distinguishing
between them, so boy- and girl- have stuck.

Happy 8th Birthday, Ashleigh!  We can't believe you are already 8 years old and so grown up!  Thanks for inviting us to your awesome party! 

Then, we had just enough time for Kendall to take a nap in the car and eat dinner before heading to our final birthday party of the weekend ... Sarah's 4th ... at Bedford Splash!  They had rented out the park after hours and had a huge, double party for her & her brother Jacob.  Sarah was in my preschool class this past year and Kendall loved playing with her!  There were lots of families there but we had the whole thing to our party, so it was awesome!  They have several different swim areas/pools/slides so there was lots to do.

These orange slides were one of Kendall's favorite things ... she slid 100 times in our 2 hours we were there ... sometimes by herself, sometimes with Daddy or Mommy, sometimes with one of my former students ... she loved it!

There were several kids from our preschool there ... and several girls from our class ... here is Leslie, Sarah and Keira (with Kendall) ... with several attempts for a good picture.

Happy Birthday, Sarah!  Thanks for inviting us to your big party!  We had a great time splashin' around!

We had a fun weekend ... with Grams here visiting us on Saturday and 3 fun parties! 

Now, we are getting ready for more fun with company ... Huni & GranGran arrive on Wednesday for a quick visit before flying back to the Ukraine on Friday ... this will be our last time to see them until January!



Today ... 2 years ago

2 years today, we finally ... after spending 8 weeks in the NICU ... got to bring our sweet baby girl HOME with us!  That was a VERY special day ... as we got checked out of the hospital, loaded up everything in our SUV and arrived home, for the 1st time, as a family of 3!

In 2 short years, she's gone from THIS ... 5.3 lb ... 38 week (gestational) old ... sweet baby girl

to THIS ... 22.5 lb  ... 25.5 month old ... sweet little girl

and we are soooo beyond thankful for God's miraculous gift to us ... and what He has brought her through to grow her body & develop her into this funny, caring, smart, sweet, (maybe a little) dramatic, talkative, sensitive, loving little girl!  We are overjoyed to be her parents & to get to be with her every day!

Swimming Lessons 2011

Today, Kendall started swimming lessons ... her 1st session. We signed her up for a "Mommy, Daddy & Me" class ... it's 2 weeks Monday - Friday ... 10 30-minute sessions. We weren't supposed to take pictures today, but it's her 1st day of her 1st swimming lessons ... so I took just a couple ... I was far away, so they aren't that great, but at least I got something.  Her swim instructor is Rachel and the swim assistant is Thom ... they are both really sweet (and young).

Kendall looooooves swimming and she's already made great progress from her 1st time into the pool this season on Memorial Day weekend ... where she only wanted to sit on the step! We're not sure how much we'll get out of these lessons, but I'm excited about learning some techniques to get her comfortable in the water & start to hold her breath under water ... maybe?

Happy Daddy's Day 2011

HAPPY

DADDY's

DAY!

from your girls that LOVE YOU very, very much!

Today we celebrated Father's Day!  We hope all you Dad's had a very happy Father's Day!  I also want to wish my Dad "Pops" and my father-in-law "GranGran" a very happy Father's Day ... for being great Dads to their children, amazing grandfathers to their grandchildren, and faithful, providing, serving husbands to their wives, our moms.  They have both been awesome family leaders & followers of Christ ... and continue to leave us a wonderful legacy to follow in!  We love you both, so very much!


We had a great service at church this morning and Kendall made special footprints for Daddy in her Bible Class.  (I feel the same way about her footprints as I do about her handprints at Mother's Day ... to see what she came from at 2 lbs 6 oz, these footprints, 2 years later, are huge!  It is amazing how much God has grown her once very tiny body into this 2 year old "big girl", as she likes to call herself!  We are so thankful & amazed at what God has done and continues to do in Kendall & in our family!)

After church, we enjoyed lunch out at Daddy's choice ... Logan's ... and we just had the best time with Kendall!  In the afternoon we went swimming and just enjoyed family time at home ... the 3 of us! 

Happy Father's Day, baby!  We hope you had a fun day ... we sure enjoy celebrating you on this special day!  We are so grateful for your hard work ethic in providing for us & spending as much as time together as a family, as possible.  You always put us first, before you & your own needs.  We love all the time you spend with us ... and being here & present with us.  You are the BEST Daddy to our Kendall and it just keeps getting more fun, at each stage that she grows into!  Thank you for all that you do for your family!  Love you more!

Summer Spectacular 2011

Post Warning ... Loooong post with Lots of pictures!

This week was our church's summer Vacation Bible School "VBS" ... as it was called as I was growing up.  Our church calls it Summer Spectacular ... and spectacular it was! 

Ash & I have helped with SS before, but it's been a few years.  This was Kendall's 1st Summer Spectacular & our 1st one as a family ... and it was awesome!  They say to "expect the spectacular" and it really was spectacular!   The church building is totally transformed from ceiling to floor in the theme's decor ... this year it was Noah:  God Keeps His Promises ... so there was the ark, animals, a rainbow decor.  As you are welcomed in by happy greeters to direct you, you see a huge floor-to-ceiling end of the ark ... and in the inside of the building, there are pairs of animals {stuffed, manikin-type, and real ones too!} everywhere!  Kendall was in hog-heaven with all the animals everywhere and enjoyed calling out their names &/or sounds that each of them make ... she loved it all!

In the Early Childhood wing ... these were our decorated walls ...

some of the EC staff ... Kamalynn, Tiffany
& MaryAnne

We'd signed up to help out in Kendall's 2's class and it went really well ... I wasn't sure just how she'd be with us in her class room, helping her & other kids, but she really did good.  Summer Spectacular has gotten so big, there are now 2 sessions of 3 nights each.  We were there for all 6 nights, so Kendall should really know the story of Noah, now ... ha!

We had one hour of Bible class time ... signing songs, learning the story of Noah, doing 3 centers/craft projects & enjoying a snack, before the kids were picked back up.  Some of Kendall's little friends were in class with her (some were in different classes, they had to split the 2's up into several classes) and she made some new friends, too ...

Dre Reed (Gracie's son), Carter (in the back table) ...
and Kendall sipping on her water

James Bankes & Kendall ... sweet James is 9 days younger than Kendall
and he is such a cutie-pie!

 

Kendall with Walker Unterbrink ... his mom Emily & I knew each other
growing up from Turnpike CofC ... they named him her maiden name, Walker.
I love last names as first names!  He is 2 months older than Kendall and
is the sweetest thing!  They had fun their 3 nights together in class.

(Just a side note here ... for my own record-keeping purposes ... This was Kendall's 1st time to wear her hair in a ponytail ... it's probably been long enough for a little ponytail for a while, but we tried it out this week for the first time.  I like it but I think it just makes her look like a big girl ... I guess she is becoming a big girl ... being 2 and all, now!)

Then each of the 3 nights, everyone went to the auditorium for the 3-night/act Musical production of Noah ... it was unbelievable and Kendall LOOOVED it!  We got to see a special VIP showing of it before SS began ... to check it out, click here.  It was nice to not have to stay each night for the Musical, so we could get home & Kendall ready for bed pretty close to her normal bedtime.

The 2nd & 3rd nights of both sessions, there was a nice-sized petting zoo inside the church building ... of course, Kendall LOOOVED that, too! Unfortunately it wasn't open to walk through until after the Musical act was over (after we had already left), so she just got to see the animals through the fencing ... but she still got to pet most of them (thanks to her Daddy) ... and we took a few pictures!  She really wanted to pet the bunny rabbit, chickens and goat ... and she got to, so she was really happy about that.

We all had a great week at Summer Spectacular and can't wait to help out in the next one!