A day at Lake Samammish

HI Everybody,
We went to lake samammish yesterday with our neighbors. The kids played in the leaves and I was lucky enough to get a picture where both of the kids were smiling at the same time, so I thought I would share. Ok Take care everyone.

What a great Halloween!

Daisy and Minnie, Woody and Buzz

Our Neighbor Amanda (Glenda the good Witch), Her girls Lyla (Scarecrow) and Aubrey Jane(Toto) and her niece (Tin Man).

Rosie and Matty at her Halloween Party

The kids sung "5 little pumpkins sitting on the fence"

Pumpkin carving is so much fun

Hi Everyone,
We had a a great Halloween. We started out at Rosie's Preschool for a very cute Halloween party where the kids sung songs and trick or treated around the school. Then I took the kids out to Matt's office for more trick or treating. Next we came home and had a Halloween party for the kids at our Neighbors (Bill and Amanda). The kids had a blast and so did Matt and I. We decided to all dress as Disney characters so me and Rosie were Daisy Duck and Minnie Mouse and Big Matt and Matty were Woody and Buzz Lightyear. I hope your Halloween was fun too.

New story

Hi everyone,
I promised my cousin Eileen that I would start posting more regularly. She is getting married in November and I just saw her at her wedding shower last weekend. It was good to see you Eileen. I don't have much news except for that Rosie has just started soccer. I do not have a picture yet, but I assure you it is very cute.
I will leave you with a cute story. The other day we had some friends over. I heard Matty yelling something at our little neighbor girl in the playroom. I yelled up to make sure everything was ok. I said "Matty, are you being nice to Kayah?" He, of course said "Yes Mommy." I then said "Kayah, is Matty being nice to you?" Then we hear Matty squeal in a high pitched voice "Yes." Should I be concerned that he didn't even stop to think about it? He just responded trying to fool me into thinking he was Kayah.

Rosie's first day of preschool

Rosie started Preschool on Tuesday. She had a serious fit on the first day but the second day was better. She really likes it now. She has been able to make some friends and we have an extra set of eyes on her because Debbie is the school therapest at her school. She is having a lot of fun.

Rosie is 4!

Rosie turned 4 yesterday. We had a party for her at our house. Lots of fun! She got some great stuff and had a great time hanging out with all her cousins and friends.

We're back from Louisianna... Just in time!

First plane ride!!!!!

The Happy Couple

Cutest Flower Girl EVER!

Bachelor Party in The Bayou

Had to eat at an authentic southern Waffle House

Georgette's Church! It was amazing! Built in the 1800's

Hi Ya'll,
We had a fabulous time in Louisiana. For those of you who don't know, we went to our good friends Brett and Georgette's wedding. They got married in Georgette's home town, Donaldsonville, LA. and Rosie was the flower girl. Matt was also a Groomsmen in the wedding. We had a great time and we are so happy for Brett and Georgette. Here are some pictures from the wedding week.

So much has happened this summer!

I have not posted in a while. We have been crazy busy. Here is a list of all the things we have been up to.
Went for a day to the Briggs family cabin near hood canal.
Had an awesome fourth of July!
Mimi got a new puppy. Her name is Olivia and the kids are in love with her.
Sold the old house and bought a new one.
What a great summer - so far. Lots more to come.

Happy fourth!

Hi Everyone,
I have not posted in a while because I lost the cord that I need to load the pictures onto the computer. We have done a lot of fun stuff since the last time I posted. The kids are doing great and Matt and I are too. We just spent the evening at Matt's parents house. We watched the various fireworks shows going on around the area. We had a great time.
In other news... As long as we don't get struck by lightning in the next week or so we should be moving into our new home. Unbelievably it all worked out. We got someone to buy our home for what we needed to make the new home work. We will be moving out for the next week and hopefully we will be sleeping in out new home by this time next week.
I will update you all when we close on the home. I will also look for the cord in need to add more pictures.
Take care y'all
Carolyn

Go Matty!

After a good surprise spray down from his sister, Matty got a hold of the hose and sprayed her back for about 5 minutes. It was quite enjoyable to watch from a safe distance.
Also...
More randomness from Rosie,
1. I wish I had a pancake costume, no... I wish I was a pancake!
2. Mom, how do you say airplane in Swahilli?

Fun at the beach

Hi again,
We have been swamped these past few months but now that summer has come around again we will have a lot of new things to post about.
Last week when it got warm out, I took the kids to the beach. They always have so much fun at the beach. They are just best friends and they love to play together. I feel really blessed to be their mom.

Happy Mothers Day

HI Everyone,
I have been so bad about taking pictures of the kids lately. I have not posted in a while. Happy mothers day to all of you moms. I will be taking the kids out to the beach later this week when it gets warmer. I will take pictures and post some of them.

Update

Hello everyone,
We have been super busy around here so I have not had a chance to post for a while. Everything is going well. Both the kids just got over ear infections in both ears. They were so sad. It is so hard when your kids are in pain and there is nothing you can do. That is the worst feeling in the world. You don't really ever have to deal with that type of emotion until you are a parent. Just one of the many changes that happens when you have kids. Their ear drums were infected so they were in a tremendous amount of pain until the ear drum ruptured, then they were fine. I guess that is the silver lining. A whole lot of pain for a short time. They are both doing really well now. Back to playing and having fun.
A lot of people are wondering about the house. We have recently dropped the price, but still have had very little traffic. We just have to be patient and know that everything will work out how it is supposed to. We just know that we did all we could to make it look great and now it is going to take the right buyer at the right time.
I hope all of you are getting through the cold/flu/allergy season OK.
Take care,
Carolyn

It's a mystery

Today I was cleaning the bedrooms upstairs when I heard the kids rummaging through the refrigerator. As I was coming down to check it out, I heard Rosie say 'Hurry clean it up, I hear mom". I come down and there is about 2 pounds of shredded mozzarella cheese on the floor. Rosie ran to try to stop me before I got into the kitchen while Matty is feverishly trying to put the cheese back int he bag. I asked Rosie what happened, she said, "There is a mysterious mess on the floor".

Ahhh.... Spring!

Well... what can I say. It's Washington. The whether is unpredictable to say the least. It started snowing at about 6 last night and it snowed on and off through the night. We got a couple of inches and it was a lot of fun for the kids to wake up to. We were out playing even before breakfast.

Happy Easter

Get out of our way! We've got eggs to find.

Easter Cuties!

Happy Easter! This Easter my oldest brother David and his family were in town. His wife Katie is pregnant with their 3rd child "It's a girl". They live in Colorado and we don't get to see them very often so it was good to see all of them. We celebrated Easter on Saturday with my side of the family and Sunday with Matt's family. We had a fun time. Here are some pictures of the kids in their Easter cloths and at my Mom and Dad's for the Easter egg hunt.

Happy Birthday Matt

Hi Everyone,
Sorry it has been a while since I last posted. Matt turned 27 yesterday. We have had a full weekend of activities with friends and family. Matt is currently playing "Guitar Hero" which he got for his birthday from his parents. It's a lot of fun.

More deep thoughts by Rosie and Matty

The other day, Rosie and Matty were being so sweet together. Rosie started telling Matty about what he was like when he was a baby. She put her face right up to his and said, "Matty, when you were a baby you were squishy and mushy and you smelled like a kangaroo." Matty responded by saying "NO ROSE, I'm not a kangaroo, I'm Matty Boy."
I think I laughed for about 5 minutes straight.

The things they say

Rosie and Matty were playing yesterday and Rosie wanted Matty to do something, but he didn't want to so she called him a "Sly Dog". Where she got that, I do not know.

The Kennedy's as m&m's

Congratulations Kelly and Adam Schakel!

My good friend Kelly had her baby boy yesterday. Congratualtions you guys. Baby Brett is so Cute!

Holy Cow!

I was getting Matty ready for his nap when Rosie decided to play in her room. When I got Matty down, I went into Rosie's room and she had put together a 35 piece puzzle by herself. I could not believe it. I just stopped and asked her "did you do this?" I think she thought she was in trouble. It was pretty amazing to me. I don't know if 3 year olds can usually put together puzzles but this was the first time she did, so I thought it was cool:0)

Snow day!

We just got a light dusting of snow where we live but we had to take advantage of the opportunity.

Our house is for sale

Hi everyone,
Our house is finally finished! We have done a ton of updates like new floors, all new appliances, new 6 panel doors and white mill work, tall wainscoting in the kitchen, new interior paint in the whole house and several new lighting fixtures. So we have been busy; correction MATT has been busy. I won't claim that I have done much except try to contain the kids when it is work time. So the house looks great and these are some pictures. I'll let you all know what happens.

Congratulations Brett and Georgette!

Some of our very good friends are engaged! Brett Venn who Matt went to college with recently proposed to his girlfriend of about 4 years. Brett and Georgette met in Louisiana, where Georgette is originally from. Brett was teaching for "Teach For America" and happened to be placed in the school where Georgette taught first grade, and the rest is history. They are both living in Spokane right now. Georgette is teaching and Brett is finishing up Law school at Gonzaga. We are so excited for this wedding and their marriage. Matt will be in the wedding as a groomsmen and Rosie will be the flower girl. Rosie asks me every night before she goes to bed, "When I wake up tomorrow, will it be time to go on the airplane to go to Brett and Georgette's wedding?" It's going to be a long 7 months.
Congratulations you guys!

Matty's Birthday @ The Bouncy Place

We had so much fun at the Bouncy Place last weekend. The bouncy place is just a big warehouse filled with those huge inflatable bouncers. Our room had 4 bouncers for the kids (& Adults) to choose from. We had lots of family and friends there. The kids loved being able to play in such a fun place and the adults had a great time too. Thanks to everyone who came to the party.

Matty's Birthday Party Pictures

Naomi, Rosie, Parker and Dan going down the big slide

Dan, Parker, Rosie, Naomi, Grandpa, Matty and Amber

Warren Briggs- Look mom, no hands!

The Incredables
Amber, Evan, Merissa, Randy, Naomi, Parker and Little Linnea

Matty and Grandpa

Mr. Incredible

Happy Birthday Matty!!!

Yesterday, January 13, was Matty's Birthday. Its hard to believe he is already 2. Such a big boy. We just had some cake and presents for him at our house after a long day of working on the house. He got to go to the zoo with Papa and Aunt Meghan. His birthday party will be next weekend. I will put up more pictures then.

A few funny stories

Matty and Rosie are literally the funniest people I have ever met. That might mean I have a juvenile sense of humor, or that they are just hilarious.
My first story actually happened last Saturday. We have been updating our house little by little with hopes to make a few bucks. One of the things Matt and I decided to do was to replace all the interior doors to the 6 panel doors. We had a painter come in and paint them white and they look really great. Well, the painters method was to stand all the doors up so that he could spray the front and back quickly. He nailed a long board to the top of each of the doors to support them. Well, as Matt was getting the doors ready to install, Matty snuck out to the garage and pushed on one of the doors. As you can imagine, it caused a domino effect and all the newly painted doors came crashing down. Matt quickly ran to catch the two doors that Matty was standing between, and as he did that, the board with all the nails in it swung down and one of the nails embedded itself into big Matt's thigh. So I go running out to make sure everyone is ok. I see Matt holding up the doors with a nail in his leg and there is Matty sitting on the floor between them. As I quickly go to grab him he says, "No Mommy, I helpin".
Yah thanks buddy. Good news was only one of the doors broke.
The second story happened today as the kids were playing with play dough. I was totally exhausted and laying on the kitchen floor next to the kids and the play dough mat. So Rosie rolls out some dough with a rolling pin and says, "There its flat", then she puts the rolling pin on my stomach and says, "Now, let me see if I can fix your tummy". Ok, the diet officially starts right now.
Sorry for the long story, I just think my kids are hilarious. Take care and Happy new year.

More deep thoughts by Rosie

A few days ago, she said very sincerely...
"If you don't give me candy, I am not going to let you be my mother anymore.....ok honey".

Merry Christmas

Hi everyone, We hope you all had a great Christmas. We had a great time. We go from Matt's parents to my parent's then back to Matt's parents. It is busy but a lot of fun as long as the kids will hold up. We spend Christmas eve with Tom, Debbie and Meghan. We had a fabulous dinner which we all contributed to. We had prosciutto wrapped scallops, French onion soup, Salad, Garlic mashed potatoes, Prime rib and pie for desert. Am I making you Hungry? We then went down to the basement and surprised the kids with a giant Christmas tree filled with presents. The kids were so excited. It was awesome. Matt and I also got a Wii, so we will have to have a tournament after the new year. We ended up staying over at Tom and Debbie's then woke up early to go back home so that the kids could see what Santa brought them. Then we promptly left to go to my Parent's house. It is a lot of fun when the whole family gets together. I have 4 other siblings so when their spouses and children are all there we end up with a lot of people and a lot of noise ans chaos. The kids had a great time. We opened more great presents and had a wonderful brunch. Then we went back to Tom and Debbie's for a Christmas party. Tom is still good friends with they guys he went to college with so every year they have a party and invite all of Tom's friends and their families. The kids played but started to lose it early so we took them home around 8. Despite all the jumping around, we had a wonderful holiday season. Have a happy new year. Also, congratulations to my cousins Chris and Lena Eagan. They had a baby boy on Christmas morning. Little Michael is still in the hospital but should be home soon.

Deep thoughts by Rose Kennedy

Rosie says the funniest things sometimes, so I have decided to start keeping a record of the things that she says. This will be the portion of the blog that I call "Deep thoughts by Rose Kennedy." You all might enjoy hearing what I hear from day to day.

~ Mom, I think my stomach might be a boy.
~ I think I'm going to go put on my Belle dress..... Oh wait, I DON'T HAVE A BELLE DRESS!!!!
~ Come on Matty, lets make Mommy grumpy.
~ Do you like that song "All Night Long?"

These are just a few of the things she has said in the past week. More installments to come, I'm sure.

Ouch

Matty has 4 teeth coming through right now. Poor boy is not sleeping well and very cranky. He is the worst teether in the world. His teeth sit under the surface for months causing him pain before they finally come through. Thankfully this is his last set for a while. He is such a sweetheart.

She is her fathers daughter

Two little monkeys jumping on the bed. One pulled down her pants and mooned the camera.

Happy Thanksgiving

Hi Everyone,
I have not posted for a few weeks. We have been busy with home improvements and of course, Thanksgiving. We hope you all had a good Thanksgiving. Here is a new picture of the kids. Take care.

Sometimes you just gotta say...

Anyone remember Risky Business? Matt and I love the movie and Matty inspired me to take this picture after his bath tonight. He was wearing his diaper and put on a pair of Rosie's sun glasses. A white dress shirt and some tube socks finished the outfit. He is a perfect "young", young Tom Cruise.

Happy Halloween!

What a fun night. We started at Microsoft. Everybody loves the kids there. Then we headed over to Tom and Debbie's house in Renton for more trick-or-treating. The kids had a blast. Rosie was Sleeping Beauty and Matty was a fireman.

Carving Pumpkins

We carved the kids pumpkins yesterday. Rosie and Matty had the task of removing the pumpkin guts. Their faces say it all. Happy Halloween!

Playing in the leaves

Here is a pretty picture of Rosie playing in the leaves. It is fun to watch them get so much joy out of something as simple as fallen leaves.

I love sgetti

He wasn't quite ready to give up his spaghetti meal. He was trying to lick any remaining sauce off of his face. It was pretty hilarious.

Cute picture of the guys

Matt and Matty were playing in the foam pit at the YMCA. Our Nephew Randy recently had his 6th birthday party there. We all had a great time. This picture was just too cute not to share.

Remlinger Farms

Matty and Rosie going into the farm house

Rosie and Shelby riding a pig

Matty, Jordan and Rosie

I took the kids to Remlinger Farms in Carnation today. We met Rosie's Friends Shelby and Jordan and their mom's Susan and Darleen. We had a great time. The kids rode on rides and went through a petting zoo and at the end they got to pick out a pumpkin. Good times.

Break for me, Zoo for the kids

I had a little break from the kids on Sunday. Matt and Tom took the kids to the zoo, while Debbie and I went shopping. It's good to have a little time away. The kids had a blast at the zoo. Here is a picture of Tom with the kids on the carousel.

Kennedy family Laundry Basket Derby

So... we put our kids in Laundry baskets and throw them down the stairs. Not exactly responsible parenting, but now that Rosie and Matty both weigh the same (35 lbs) we had to see who would win in a laundry basket Derby. We did about 20 trials and they ended up about even 10-10. It was great.

Matty's helping out

We are replacing our front door and my dad came over to help out. Matty, like always, wanted to get in on the action. I just thought it was a cute picture.

Matt's a fan of the Wii

We recently met up with one of our good friends Brett Venn and his family. Matt went to college with Brett and we try to see him everytime he is in town. We went over to Susan and Tim's (Brett's aunt and uncle) beautiful home in Gig Harbor. We had a great time and we always feel so welcome when we are included in the Venn family festivities. They had a Nintendo Wii set up and Matt and Brett got to play it. It was pretty hillarious to watch. Matt is now loves the Wii. Don't tell Bill Gates.

Cheeeeese!

I took the kids to get their pictures taken today. I like to get the kids photos taken on or around their birthdays. Rosie is 3 and Matty is 20 months.

Finger and face and body painting

We painted yesterday. Why does it always turn into this? They made a big mess and had a blast doing it. They crack me up.

On another note... Good luck on the upcoming school year to all my teacher friends and family members.

Rosie's birthday bash

Matt helping the kids with the Pinata.
Matt wrestling with Parker, Randy and Matty.

Princess Rosie! We love you so much.

Rosie had a great time in Saturday at her Doodlebops/Princess/butterfly birthday party. It was great to see family and friends and the weather was perfect. The kids had a great time swimming and playing in the sand at Newcastle Beach Park. These are some photos from the big day. When I figure out how to make an album, I will post the rest of the pictures.

This is the happy couple

Here is a great picture of Matt and Amy. I stole it from Brian Soigon's website (Matt's brother-in-law). For more pictures from the wedding go to his web page. www.cougarandhuskey.com

Congratulations Amy and Matt Jurgensen

Some long time friends of ours, Amy Hyytinen and Matt Jurgensen, got married on September 1st. It was a beautiful ceremony at the Rose Garden in Point Defiance with a really fun reception at the Tacoma Yacht Club. They did a great job. Amy looked beautiful and Matt very handsome. My Matt was a groomsmen and also looked very handsome.
Rosie and Matty came too. They actually did really well. They started to get tired right at the beginning of the reception but when the music started they perked right up and were cutting-a-rug. All of the kids were adorable and had a lot of fun.
Sorry no pictures. I wasn't crazy enough to bring two toddlers and a huge camera. Just take my word for it...it was beautiful!

Happy Birthday Rosie!

We can't believe that Rosie is 3. Where does the time go. She had a good day and loved being princess for a day.

Pictures from the zoo

We got some cute pictures of the kids at the zoo. Just wanted to share them with you.

Rosie and Matty at the carousel

Matt and I took the kids to the Woodland Park Zoo last weekend. The kids got to ride on the Carousel. We got some cute pictures and they had a lot of fun.

Fun with finger paint

Ok... I soooo don't have the temperament for finger painting with two toddlers. Shortly after this picture was taken all heck broke loose. Paint everywhere, both kids crying; those who are parents know the drill.