Happy Birthday, MIMI!!!

Today is Mimi's birthday! We are celebrating with a nice lunch out and then cake and presents. Kendyll is so happy that she gets her special time with Mimi once a week. We love you very much!

Congratulations to Tracy, Basit, and Sofia!

Introducing Baby Girl Raja! That's right, as of now she still has no name. Tracy's sweet little angel was born Monday, January 12, 2009. She weighed in at 7 lbs, 8 ozs, and was 20.5 inches long. Tracy says that she is a great baby, hardly makes a sound. When I visited, she was wide awake, checking everything out with her big brown eyes. By the time I got around to taking pictures, she was tuckered out. She also managed to scratch her cheek in the meantime. But that scratch doesn't detract from how adorable she is.

How good does Tracy look???

Look at that full head of hair!

What a cute peanut!!

It's Been A While...

Welcome back to Kendyll's Korner! It's has been months since I have updated. Why? Well I found myself using the computer more and more each night, losing sleep, taking time away from a very important little person. After I would update the blog, I would read other blogs, and some more blogs, etc. until I realized that hours would be gone. So I imposed a "sabatical" on myself for a while. Then both of our computers were stricken with viruses and had to be "hospitalized". Mine is still not functioning and I am now relegated to Robert's. Hopefully mine will be up and running soon. In the meantime, I have posted a few pics of my sweetheart. It's amazing how much she has grown in the last few months...



She is into imaginative play. There are bears coming for our blueberries, thanks to Dora and Mimi. We also have sharks swimming in our house, and our safe spot is our rug "island" in the kitchen. I am also Kendyll's "best friend". Okay, here's a funny story about that. Last night, I went to visit Tracy and her newborn baby girl in the hospital (no name yet...). I got home at 7ish. The minute I walk in the door, I yell "Kendyll" and she comes running and greets me with a huge hug, then returns to her daddy and tells him, "You're not my best friend anymore!" Too funny! She is totally a mommy's girl!



Well... here are the "new" pics. Enjoy!


We are going to start a family tradition of making a gingerbread house every year. Kendyll had such a fun time doing this, as did her daddy and I. Look at her focus and concentration! Although I have to admit afterwards she was on a sugar high. She kept eating the frosting directly from the jar... so you can only imagine!

Kendyll and Momma working diligently!

Kendyll and Daddy working on the house.

The finished masterpiece! She could hardly wait to eat it. What do you want from a 2 year old!?! So we put a sticker on the calendar so she would know when the feast could take place. Then daily, we would make "marks" on the calendar to tell when the special day would arrive. We took it to Mimi and Papa's to share with everyone. It was delicious!

*************************************************************************************

Early in December, we took Kendyll on the Polar Express, an event held by the parks and rec department. This is one of her favorite movies that we had to watch over, and over, and over. It was absolutely cold the night we went for our trip. We stood in line with much anticipation and cookies and most importantly, hot chocolate! After we boarded the train, we listened to the story being read with Rudolf walked around with storybook. Then Santa made his grand entrance! We then sang carols together, and Santa handed out gifts to all the children. Kendyll had a wonderful time and still talks about her experience on the Polar Express.

Kendyll got the first silver bell from Santa after the reading of the Polar Express. She was absolutely thrilled!!! And she can hear it ring!

Posing with Frosty the snowman...

Good News!

Tonight Taylor is getting baptized. We are so proud of her for making this wonderful decision that will change her life forever.

Happy Birthday Kylie!

Today Kylie is turning 7! I can't believe she is seven already... where has time gone. We love you so much and hope you have a great day!

Uncle Robert, Aunt Marcia, and Kendyll

The Mall

We spent the day with our beloved Mimi. After helping her walk Rex, we ventured over to one of Kendyll's favorite places, Partridge Creek. She loves this outdoor mall. Mimi treated us to pretzel hot dogs and lemonade, and afterwards, we bought some cookies with sprinkles on them, per Kendyll's request. We made our way down to the play area that Kendyll had patiently waited to conquer. My free-spirited child did not hesitate to go full force on the fruits and veggies. The only one that she stayed away from was the peas (hmmm... is she taking after her mother).

Who knew that these neat little fountains were for kids to run through??? Hee hee! The last time we were at the mall, there were a few kids in bathing suits playing here. Never would have thought it??? As we were strolling back to Parisian, Kendyll wanted to go near the water. Dare I let her out of the stroller? Mimi got me to let her out and see what she would do. Well, what she did was have a blast... with her clothes on! Mind you, this is the same child that would not run through a tiny sprinkler at Mimi's house if one of us wasn't running and holding her hand too! I was quite impressed with my little daredevil. Look at how much fun she's having...

Soaking wet... and LOVING IT!!!

Our 9th Wedding Anniversary

On Thursday, July 24th, we celebrated 9 years of bliss! We always go to the same restaurant every year in Fair Haven. It's the one that we ate at after Robert proposed so it's sentimental to us. This year we had a "third wheel"... hee, hee! Seriously, we didn't mind having our wonderful daughter with us. We would have talked about her anyway... now she just gave us more to discuss. We dined on burgers, chicken strips, french fries, and onion rings. I know, exotic stuff! Afterwards, we walked down to the water's edge for some pictures.

Here's Kendyll posing by the HUGE anchor. I'm sure she's saying, "CHEESE!"

As we walked along the water, this mother swan and her baby kept following us, probably assuming that we were going to feed them. I went back to the car and got out a couple bags of crackers. Kendyll just loved feeding them, and so did I, until the daddy swan came along. He started hissing at us, so I decided that feeding time was over, and we high-tailed it outta there!After dinner, we drove down to New Baltimore to treat ourselves to frozen custard... yum! We ordered up a couple of cones and a blizzard-like concoction (for Robert) and sat down to eat. But...Kendyll could hardly contain herself when she saw the "park". We told her that she needed to eat her ice cream (custard) first before going on the slide. She quickly licked her cone a few times and told me she was all done. Isn't that surprising??? The child who makes and sells imaginary ice cream cones ditches her first love for the "park"!

We had a great evening, and what made it better was spending it with Kendyll.

Playdate at Krissy's

What do you have when you get three wonderful and adorable 2 year olds together? A great day! Today we went to Krissy's house to play with Kaitlyn. Tracy and Sofia joined us too. The girls had a fun time playing outside as well as inside. Kendyll was busy serving up "wee wee" cones to everyone inside of Kaitlyn's playhouse. For the most part, the girls took turns with the toys. Kendyll, unfortunately, had to sit in time out a few times for hitting. I don't know why she does that!?! It's frustrating because I know she plays nicely at day-care. Why can't she do it at her friend's house? Oh well, I guess that is one of the mysteries of childhood.

Kaitlyn is driving the bus while Kendyll is a passenger... I just love imaginative play!
Krissy took her iPod outside, and the girls started dancing immediately. Krissy got roped into the action too! CHEESE!!!

Lunch break! Krissy made mac n cheese for the girls. I tricked Sofia into looking at the camera... the other two didn't fall for it though. Either that, or they are just too hungry! How cute am I in this hat that I borrowed from Kaitlyn? (I think Kendyll has juice down her shirt... oh well!)

Cupcakes

Tomorrow night is my night to teach Vacation Bible School. My mother has graciously agreed to help me again for yet another year. Each year, I say this is my last year, but I always come back. Our theme is "King of the Jungle", and we choose to teach about Daniel in the lion's den. I came across a cute lion cupcake idea, using carmel corn for a mane, and today was the day to make them. It was very difficult to finish them with a 2 year old wanting to help who decided that she didn't need a nap today. Anyway, we made it through and there were hardly any tears.

Of course, I let Kendyll "decorate" her own cupcake. She actually spread her own frosting! Adding the necessary sprinkles... Enjoying the fruits of her labor... check out her lips!!!I tried to upload a picture of my finished cupcakes, but the picture kept loading crooked. Oh well! Take my word for it, they are really cute!

Fun With Mimi!

My mom, Mimi, as Kendyll fondly calls her, came over tonight to spend some time with Kendyll. She must have taken her vitamins because she was using quite a lot of energy tonight. Some people say that Kendyll has the energy of 10 kids, but tonight, my mom did too! She totally kept up with Kendyll. They were dancing, rolling on the floor, and Kendyll actually talked Mimi into doing somersaults!!!! Yes, somersaults!!! I tried to get a picture, but the camera was so darn slow that by the time it clicked, Mimi was done. Kendyll had a wonderful time with Mimi, and was, of course, upset when she had to leave.

Kendyll is copying Mimi's dance moves... adorable!Kendyll and Mimi used to do this when Kendyll was younger, and lighter. Rolling along... Kendyll and Mimi are going night-night. Just pretending!!! A cute picture after all of the excitement!

Painting

We bought this easel at a thrift store for about a dollar a year ago, but have had it in our basement until Kendyll was old enough to use it appropriately. By appropriately I mean not using it as a fort, ladder, or slide! We ventured to Michaels today and bought some washable paint for $0.99 each. I had recently bought some paintbrushes in anticipation of breaking out the easel, finally. So today was the day. I can't tell you how excited she was to paint. I let her do it in the kitchen because we have old linoleum that we will eventually tear up when we redo the kitchen, plus paint can easily be wiped up from it. At first I was going to have her paint in the sunroom, but that room is carpeted.

Here are her first few strokes...
Shhh... artist at work. Look at that concentration! The finished product!

A Wonderful Surprise!

Look at what Kendyll got from Auntie Maggie!!!! Isn't it the cutest thing? Nancy, Maggie's mom, has started embroidering things so Maggie had her create something very special for Kendyll, just because! I couldn't resist taking pictures of Kendyll wearing her adorable hoodie. After I captured these pictures, I literally had to chase her around the house to take it off for fear of it getting dirty. Hee hee! The back view. Nancy put the design low enough so it could be seen since it is a hoodie. A close up of the front... absolutely CUTE!!!
Thanks Auntie Maggie! I love you! ~Kendyll