Happy Halloween
Kennedy dressed up in her ballerina outfit (a gift from Aunt Gayle) for her preschool halloween outfit today.
When she got home, she changed into her Princess Belle outfit (from Disney World).
We joined our neighbors Joe, Jan and Zoe (Snow White) and some of their friends (Darth Vader) for pizza and salad before heading out to trick or treat.
The kids were so cute and they had some good fun trick-or-treating up and down our street. When we got home Susan, Kennedy and I watched The Great Pumpkin while Kennedy enjoyed one of her pieces of candy.
Labels: Bean
Grandparent Fun
Grandpa Anderson did his fair share of standing in lines and riding rides with Kennedy. This elephant ride was one of Kennedy's favorites.
Kennedy continued to show her fascination with the troll game. She coaxed her Grandpa into playing the troll question game whenever we crossed a bridge.
Here are Grandma Anderson and Kennedy at the Animal Kingdom.
Labels: Bean
More Firsts at Disney World
This was Kennedy's first time to ride a train without a parent. It's not that we didn't try to get in there with her, but the spaces were all filled up!
This is Kennedy's first time to ride a carousel horse all by herself with no parent standing beside her.
Labels: Bean
First Roller Coaster
We're home from Florida and as wonderful as the trip was, it's nice to be here. Sorting through the pictures will take a few days, but here is a fun photo of Kennedy's first roller coaster ride with the Grandparents Anderson.
Grandma and Grandpa Anderson were in Orlando at a conference. They stayed a few days and explored the world of Disney with us. Here they are with Kennedy in the Magic Kingdom in front of the castle.
Labels: Bean
Where Dreams Come True
Blogging today from about as far away from our home as possible while still remaining in the US. Greetings from Florida where the sun is supposed to be shining. (Why, oh why, is it raining here and sunny in Oregon?!?)
Anyhow - we're here on the quintessential family vacation to meet Mickey Mouse and princesses galore. Our first stop was the Magic Kingdom.
The first celebrities that we met were Alice and the Mad Hatter. The real coup was that we all rode the Teacups ride with them before getting an up-close introduction.
Kennedy has been having a blast and her favorite part of the vacation so far has been meeting Cinderella and the other princesses.
Air Intake Art Supplies
Kennedy spends a lot of time on art projects. To our dismay, when she's done with her coloring or painting or marker work, she often puts her supplies into the air intake. Neighbor Jan said we should take a picture just to show Kennedy when she is older how creative she was. Ha.
Labels: Bean
Tinker Bell and Baby
Here are Kenney (aka Tinker Bell) and her baby. She's shown a good deal of interest in the baby ever since she found out she's going to be a big sister.
Here she is showing her silly face.
Labels: Bean
Tinker Bell
Kennedy is having so much fun with the tinker bell outfit. As soon as she hits the door she wants to put it on.
She is also enjoying her new piano (pictured here) and the coordinating electric guitar we got her for her birthday.
Labels: Bean
Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes
Susan made
ice cream cone cupcakes for Kennedy's birthday party. They're fun and easy to hold. Plus, it was easy for Kennedy to help Grandpa put the frosting on them though I think Grandpa did most of the work because Kennedy was in birthday prep overstimulation mode.
Labels: Bean
More Party Photos
Kennedy had 5 friends over for her birthday; this is 2 more than the recommended 3 for her age but you know how it is, once you start inviting it's hard to stop. I think we actually did pretty good keeping the event as small as it was. Still, the crowd got a little overwhelming for Kennedy at one point so she and her friend Luci went into the kitchen for some quiet time.
We leveraged the halloween theme and had a pumpkin painting activity.
They all were so creative.
Gift opening was a lot of fun.
All the guests pitched in and helped open the gifts in one way or another, as usual, so did Elle the cat.
Labels: Bean
Blowing Out Candles
Nice action photo (taken by our friend Adrienne) of Kennedy blowing out her birthday candles.
Labels: Bean
Signing Time and Party Prep
Kennedy had a "balloon" theme for her birthday this year. We went to
the Lippman store and picked out a few dozen helium filled balloons in all different colors.
Her pre-school made a sign for her and gave it to us, so we put that up too. We asked Kennedy who made it and she said "Brittany" and "I forgot to tell her thank you and I need to do that." Sweet. We've been working on saying
please and
thank you.
We watch
Signing Time on Oregon Public Broadcasting and last week they had a birthday show. It was perfect. We learned how to sign Happy Birthday, hat, cake, wish, candle, friends, game, etc. Here's Kennedy showing her doll the sign for "game."
I took this pic of Susan before the birthday party. Isn't she lovely? It was a fun party. We'll have more about it in our upcoming posts.
Labels: Bean
Happy Birthday Kennedy
Today Ms. Kennedy turned 3 years old. It's hard to believe that it's been three whole years - on one hand - and yet, it seems like yesterday we were in the hospital holding a new creature who instantly captured our hearts.
The theme these last few months has been dresses, and princesses, and girl-stuff, oh my! Most days Kennedy comes home and strips off school clothes in order to don one of her many princess outfits. Needless to say, this has been keeping the washing machine busy between rotations of princess outfits and school dresses. Here's Kennedy ooh-ing and ahh-ing over a Tinkerbell card from Mimi and Papa Clark.
Kennedy received this matching Tinkerbell costume from Mimi and Papa and instantly wanted to put it on. She has, several times today, informed us that she *is* Tinkerbell - not Kennedy.
Funny things Kennedy has said today...
- (While resting at naptime): Is it still my birthday?
- (While holding down her large balloon): Stay, Stay, Stay
Labels: Bean, Clark Family
Name Game
We are officially accepting name ideas; so leave us a comment if you have one or two to share. Kennedy has provided a few names so far, one of which we really like and are holding on to (not publishing). She also gave us Morrison and Hawthorne. Locals will recognize these as two of our city's bridge names. C.K. has offered "Speed" and thrown out other names for consideration like Peter, Benjamin and Parker (all Spider Man names). Tevor has suggested Everett. Susan's friend Dean has offered "Dean." What names do you have for us?
Labels: Bean Too
I Like Art
Kennedy woke up last night and spent the hours from 2:00 to 4:00 a.m. saying things like "I like art" and telling giggle stories. She also has a cold with a stuffy nose which is probably what woke her up in the first place. Needless to say, mommies are tired today.
Labels: Bean
Perfect Pumpkin and Updates
We didn't have the camera out much this weekend. Here's another photo of Kennedy at the perfect pumpkin sign.
It was a busy weekend for us; we managed to get a stump ground down, yard debris packed in the truck and hauled away, the front porch swept and cleared of spiders, etc. Another photo of Kennedy and the pumpkin sign.
We've had some cat woes of late. C.K.'s little cat Matchstick passed away a few weeks back. Very sad. She was such a sweet cat. C.K. has a great story about finding her at Emo's (now a condo) when he lived and worked in Houston. Our own Elle has had some teeth and gum issues and had to go in for some extractions today--molars--on this, her 3rd birthday.
C.K. came over for dinner on Sunday night and said he felt like a kid again as we had fish sticks and macaroni and cheese for dinner.
Labels: Bean, C.K.
Sauvie Island Pumpkin Patch
We got up early and headed out to the Sauvie Island pumpkin patch this morning. Kennedy was excited that Jake met us there.
These two are about a month or so apart. These photos are from the hay ride out to the patches of pumpkins.
One patch had really big pumpkins.
Another patch had pumpkins that were just right. Kennedy was really focused on finding a pumpkin small enough for her to carry. Here's her perfect pumpkin.
Labels: Bean
Boy oh boy
So, we had the anatomy ultrasound today. When we left the house this morning we told Kennedy we were going to the ultrasound to get an update on the baby's growth and learn whether it is a boy or girl. She said "Why? It's a boy." Right she was!
Labels: Bean Too
Taco and Candyland
C.K. has a lead role in a short film; it's available for viewing on You Tube and is called
Taco. Go C.K.!
Here's a photo of Kennedy and Uncle C.K. playing the Candyland game.
Labels: C.K.
Coming up on 18 Weeks!
This Friday will be a big day for us; we'll be reaching the 18 week mark for this new little bean - or sprout. Parents typically get an anatomy ultrasound done between 18 and 20 weeks which measures key areas of the baby to ensure proper development. This is also about the time that the sex can be determined if the parents choose.
Sheryl and I certainly plan to find out if we're having a boy or a girl (the Type A in me wonders why other parents would choose to wait considering all of the decorating and clothes decisions that could be made). It's no small coincidence that we're going for our ultrasound on Friday; the absolute earliest day that the lab would take us developmentally.
It's funny, how different this pregnancy is from when I was pregnant with Kennedy. With her, I had some nausea and was very sensitive to strong smells (no - you can't cook with garlic, Sheryl!). This time around I had very little nausea and the sensitivity to smells was pretty mild. I'm also cold all the time - with Kennedy I was hot all the time. While this could be a result of seasonality (I'm shifted about 6 months exactly from with Kennedy), I find it odd that so much is different.
Labels: Bean, Bean Too
More Costume Play
This time Kennedy dressed up as Snow White. We've been practicing naming the seven dwarfs. We always remember 6 and have to look up the last one. Tonight we remember Sneezy, Happy, Dopey, Grumpy, Doc, Sleepy and that's it. What's that last one? Kennedy says it is "bathtub".
Labels: Bean
Clothes from Mimi
Mimi sent Kennedy a box full of clothes. Kennedy is enjoying the beautiful dresses. She's showing a lot of patience in posing for pictures too.
Labels: Bean
Pizza
Kennedy and her pre-school class cooked a spaghetti dinner for the parents. Turns out there wasn't much cooking involved. Her class made the sauce by adding seasoning and stirring. Kennedy wanted to do it all by herself and was disappointed about having to share the cooking responsibility. She anticipated a bigger role. All week she had been telling us that she was going to cook us a spaghetti dinner. When we arrived she looked sad and said "I didn't cook it." She's done a fair amount of supervised cooking activities with us from looking and cooking beans to scrambling eggs to making chicken and dumplings. We decided that we would organize another home cooking activity (pizza) for Kennedy and we invited Uncle C.K. to join us too.
Kennedy picked out black olives, pepperoni and cheese as her add ons.
We selected spincah, tomatoes, mushrooms, feta and a few other items. Kennedy spread the sauce out and then put all of the ingredients on top. Then, Uncle C.K. took it to the kitchen and piled a lot more on top before cooking it up. Mmmmmm....
Labels: Bean
Dresses
Kennedy has requested cupcakes for her birthday party. Last Halloween she got cupcakes as treats from our neighbors Thomas and Sarah and Kennedy's favored cupcakes over cake ever since.
You know how it's kind of nice when Fall comes and now that summer is over you imagine you'll have more time to start taking care of your indoor projects, watch more movies, and spend more time at home. That's so not reality! We have been able to see C.K. more though, and that's been great.
Kennedy and Susan are out with friends at a 50 family re-sale event. They're looking for some more dresses and tights for Kennedy since she insists on only wearing dresses now.
Labels: Bean
Dinner Out
We had dinner with my folks at a new favorite restaurant,
Giorgio's in the Pearl District. We were all fortunate that on this particular day, Kennedy had a looooong nap and was in great spirits - even into the late evening. Here she is sporting a sweet smile with Grandma and Grandpa Anderson.
Speaking of sweet smiles, today we picked up Kennedy's school photos. This year it was not hard to shovel over the hard-won cash; there were three poses and she was absolutely an angel in each one of them.
Last Friday marked the 16th week of development for the newest Anderson - we're all on pins and needles to find out a week from Friday if this one is a boy or girl. Either way - we'll be so excited!
Labels: Bean, Bean Too
A Weekend at Mt. Hood
The Friday before Stacey and Robin had to go home, we decided to make the trek up the mountain in our backyard - Mt. Hood (or Mountain Hood, as Kennedy calls it). We left in the afternoon on Friday and arrived at Timberline Lodge in time to take advantage of the swimming pool. Kennedy was adorable in her suit and hooded robe.
Kennedy loved the water - we're set on getting her into lessons soon! After swimming we headed to dinner at the Lodge's restaurant. Totally underwhelming. Despite that, we managed to have a good time before heading out on Saturday morning for a little mountain fun. Here are Stacey and Robin in front of Timberline Lodge.
One cool thing about Mt. Hood in the summer is Ski Bowl's summer fun offerings - this trip we decided to take advantage of the Alpine Slide.
This was a first for Stacey and Robin - so Kennedy had to show them what it was all about.
Kennedy's first trip down the mountain was with Stacey.
After insisting that Stacey go 'faster, faster', she decided to ride with Robin.
All in all - a great day on the mountain.
Labels: Bean, Sanford Family, Vacation
