Christmas Time = No Bloggin' Time!

I have been really slackin' when it has come to posting, reading, and commenting in the blog world! Christmas time is always such a fun time, but crazy busy. Here is what we have been up to! We hope you all have a Merry, Merry Christmas!

December Visiting Teaching Message

Bev this one is for you! I wasn't going to make one this month, but since you are my favorite Aunt, I thought I'd show you how much I love you! Merry Christmas!

YEAH! SNOW BOOTS!

Tuesday was the first snowstorm of the year! Kenedy was so excited for the storm! I decided we needed to take a quick trip to Target to purchase some snow boots, so we would be ready for playing in the snow. The whole way there, Kenedy looked out the window and said, "Cool! Rain! Yeah!" I told her it was snow not rain. After awhile she said, "Cool! Snow! Yeah!" When we got home it was too late to play in the snow, but we played dress up with the boots instead! As you can see from the picture, Kenedy loved them! It was fun to see her walk in them! She sure couldn't go very fast. The next day, the snow melted. No playing in the snow for us! However, Friday night it began to snow, YEAH! We put the boots to work Saturday afternoon. Stay tuned for some slippery fun! Doesn't my baby look old?

Life With Kenedy & Thanksgiving

Kenedy's First Complete Sentence: (11/24/07)

"Heidi, I saw a dog!"
Yes she calls me Heidi! It is a new phase she is going through! It is Heidi and Daddy. Doesn't it sound like I am a step-mother or something? I hope this phase ends soon! I waited too long to be a mommy to be called Heidi! Ha Ha!

Kenedy's Obsessions:
Ho Ho Ho
Kenedy loves Santa Claus! Every time we are in the car she asks to watch Ho Ho (aka: The Santa Claus #2) She sits back and screams, "Ho, Ho! Yeah, ho ho! Oh, cute!" She is so funny. On Sunday we had Thanksgiving with my family because we had Thanksgiving with the in-laws on Thursday. After dinner we had FHE and kicked off the Christmas season. We made Gingerbread houses, read Christmas stories and sat on Santa's Lap. I thought Kenedy was going to be in heaven when she saw Santa, boy was I wrong! She just started crying and said, "I scared momma, I scared!"( Yes she does call me momma half the time). She buried her head into my shoulder and cried! It was so sad, however, I enjoyed the snuggle time. Kenedy is such a busy body that I don't get very much snuggle time. She did sit on Santa's lap, but not by choice of course. We tried to tell her it was Grandpa, but she didn't care she hated it! The next day she was walking around with the Santa hat in love with Santa again. She doesn't like the real thing, but she loves to make-believe, read about him in stories, watch movies, and play with stuffed Santa's. Hopefully she will get over her fear so that we can get a good pic of her on is lap this year! If not I will just enjoy the snuggles!

Today Kenedy and I went to the grocery store and while we were waiting in line to check out, a man with a black beard walked by and Kenedy said,"Momma, Ho Ho! Ho Ho! Ohhh Ho Ho!" I think the man was like what? I busted out laughing. It was so cute and a little embarrassing! I guess she hasn't noticed the Santa's beard is always white or maybe she is colored blind!

Babies
Kenedy loves babies! She loves to sit on my lap and we look through all the blogs with babies. If I don't go fast enough, she will say, "More babies, more!" Every time she sees a baby she says, "Ohhhh baby! Rocky, rocky, honey, honey!" It is so dang cute! Sometimes it is hard to keep her from mauling the babies! Mike's brother Scott just adopted a baby in September and his sister Rachel had one in July. Kenedy was in Heaven having two babies around all weekend! She will be a great big sister one day!

Below: Baby Kaylie and Baby Ben
We put our Christmas decorations up on Saturday and I have decided that I am probably going to be thrilled when I take them down because I am constantly trying to keep Kenedy out of everything. So after three trips to Time out, Kenedy and I walked around the house and I pointed out all the things she "CAN" touch. Will this work? probably not, but it made me feel better to say, "You can touch this and you can touch that." Versus: "No! Stop! Please don't! DO you want to go to time out?" I told her she could touch the baby Jesus'. She is so cute, she will pick one up and then get me one so we can rocky them together. She sings her rocking song and kisses the babies. Seriously, could she be any cuter?

Doggies
Everywhere we go Kendy can find a puppy! Sometimes it is the littlest picture and she still spots it. The other day she said, "Daddy, doggie pleeeease!" How can Mike resist that? He can't, but I can because I will be the one that has to take care of it! What a mean mom I am. I was feeling bad about my selfishness so I got her toy dog and tied a string around its neck and Kenedy takes it for walks. We even made a new game where we pretend we are puppies. We walk like them, talk like them, pant like them and even wiggle our tails like them. I really need to video Kenedy doing it. It is a must see! This new game gets us from the bathroom to the bedroom to get dressed, from the family room to the bedroom for bedtime and from the bedroom to the bathroom to do hair. This is alot more fun than chasing her around the house! On Thanksgiving the Hemmings brought their dog. Kenedy spent the first hour sitting by the window saying, "Ohhh doggie! Ohhh cute! Ruff, ruff!" We had to pull her away to take family pictures and she was not happy about it. The Thanksgiving vacation she spent looking at the dog or trying to escape outside with the dog, which she accomplished a few times. I was sick of washing muddy shoes by the time we left! I think Kenedy needs a dog! What do you think?

Thanksgiving:
This year we spent Thanksgiving with The Bird's on Thursday and then with the Webb's on Sunday. We traveled to the Speir's new home in Idaho for the Bird Family Thanksgiving. We ate lots and lots, played games, caught up, and laughed until our stomachs hurt. Speirs, your house is amazing! Thanks for letting us come and visit. On Sunday, with the Webb's, we ate some more, made gingerbread houses, and talked with Santa. Lots of FUN! Lots of FOOD! Best of All: LOTS OF FAMILY!

Adoption Update:Kenedy is such a joy in our lives! I Thank my Father in Heaven countless times throughout the day for the cute spirit he has sent to us. I can't wait to see what little spirit we get next! I am almost done with the paperwork and I will let everyone know when it is finished. I just have a few more things that I hope to get finished within the next couple of weeks! YEAH!

My Top Ten Gratitudes

Since Thanksgiving is in a couple of days, I thought it would be fun to make a list of my top ten gratitudes! When I was making this list, I had a hard time narrowing it down to ten! Isn't it great that we have so much to be thankful for?

#10 The Dust Buster

Without it, the chore of cleaning up after Kenedy's meals and snacks would be an all day project!

#9 Chips And Salsa

In Heidi world, every meal would begin with them!

#8 Good Friends

They make life so much fun!

#7 The Sacrifice of Adoption

It makes my life worth living! Thank you to all the sweet Birth mothers and their giving families. Placing a child not only effects the birth mom, but the aunts, uncle, cousins, grandmas, grandpas, etc. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!

#6 The Land Of The Free
We are so blessed to live in such a wonderful place! To live with so many Freedoms and to live without Fear! Thank you to all the the Men and Women that make this possible!

#5 My Family

My family is everything to me! There are always there for me and I love spending time with them! I have been blessed with an incredible family and amazing in-laws!

#4 Kathleen (Our Sweet Birth mom)

Without her, we would not have Kenedy. She is the most unselfish, giving person I know. She amazes me continuously! Every time I put my arms around her and tell her thank you, she puts her arms around me and says thank you back! I always ask, "Why are you thanking me?" Her response is, "Look how happy she is! You gave her what I couldn't!" She truly is an amazing person!

#3 My Two Best Friends: Kamie and My Mom

I can not imagine my life without these two wonderful women! They are there to listen to me laugh, cry and complain! Thank you!

#2 The Gospel

Where would I be without it? I love the gospel and the blessings I receive from it! I love knowing that I am stuck with the people I love best FOREVER!

And the #1 Gratitude is:

My Little Family
Mike and Kenedy are my world! Mike is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me. He is an amazing father and husband! He is hardworking, smart, spiritual, and funny! I love you Babe! Kenedy is the joy of our lives! She definitely keeps us on our toes, but I wouldn't want it any other way! She is the sweetest little thing that has filled my hear with joy and my days with laughter and smiles! Kenedy, I love you more than life itself!

Home Alone!

Well yesterday we had an interesting thing happen, Kenedy locked us out of the house! I was unloading groceries from the car and she reached up and turned the lock on the knob and locked me out. I tried to talk her into unlocking the door, but she couldn't figure it out! I didn't freak out yet because I knew Mike would be home any minute with a key. Well Mike got home about 1 minute later, but he didn't have a key. Don't ask me why my husband doesn't have a key to HIS house on HIS key ring! Well we tried for several minutes to talk Kenedy through opening the door. She tried her hardest, but she couldn't seem to do it. Mike started working on the door with a credit card while I checked windows and doors. But since I am such a freak about things being locked, nothing was unlocked and my precious little baby was beginning to get frustrated with the fact that we would not come inside. So while Mike continued on trying to find a way in the house, I went around the back and played with Kenedy through the glass doors. She thought it was funny for about ten minutes and then she was done. She started crying and saying "I want you!" over and over. Which made me start crying, but I kept a smile on my face so that I wouldn't freak her out more. I decided I was done watching my daughter suffer so I headed to the neighbors to get a phone book so I could call a Lock Smith. When I returned I found Mike crawling through the attic. We have an attic in the garage and in the hallway of our house. Mike army crawled through a small hole that connects the two attics, pried the attic covering open with a grill tool, and jumped down from the ceiling to rescue our precious K! He was covered in insulation and a had a few cuts and scratches, but he got us inside the house with our baby! You would not find me crawling through dark, small spaces! I am so afraid of small spaces, bugs, and rodents! Thank you Mike for doing being such a smart, brave hubby, you are forgiven for not carrying a house key on your key ring! No this is not a picture of Kenedy inside by herself. I couldn't take a picture because: A: my camera was locked inside with her, B: she did not look this happy, and C: when I did get inside all she wanted to do was hug me, poor thing! Moral to the Story: Put a hide-a-key in the garage!!

Life With Kenedy!

Well Jonna gave me a good idea, to print these posts and glue them into my cute, empty book I made! Jonna, have you tried to print yet? Does your whole blog background come out also? Is there away to print just the text? If not I can just cut in paste into word. Anyway here I go!


Baby #2? Will I be sane by the time it gets here?
Friday our case worker was coming over to the house to do our final interview! Yeah, we are almost done with everything for our next adoption! I have been planning all week so that I made sure everything was ready for her. Thursday was my get scrapbook page finished so I can hand in on Friday. I got the first page almost completed, after two hours, when Kenedy came in and decided it was time for me to get off the computer. She climbed under the computer and turned it off before I could save and erased everything! I was soooo mad! I had to stick her in her room so I didn't loose it! After I calmed down, I had a good talk to Kenedy about how this is how mommy and daddy get babies to come to our family. She was so cute, she threw her little arms around my neck and said, "I sar (short for sorry) mommy"! I was done being mad at the very moment and got back on the project! I headed to my moms that night to find some more pics of Mike and I before Kenedy. Since we have been married for six years, only the last few years are digital, which means scanning pictures! We don't have a scanner because Mike thought it was cluttering the office and threw it away, so I needed to use my mom's. I searched for pics for 2 hours and by 11:00 p.m. was ready to scan when I discovered their scanner had broken yesterday! Are you kidding? I arrived back home by 11:30pm decided that I was giving up on the idea that my scrapbook page was going to get finished by Friday! However, I couldn't go to sleep until 3:00 a.m. obsessing that I wasn't going to get it done! Why stress when I already concluded this was not going to get finished? Who knows! So of course the next day, I was tired due to the lack of sleep and could not get going. Even though I knew I had a lot to do. I finally got up and got to work. After a couple of hours I realized I was making good time getting the house cleaned and prepared for our caseworker and Kenedy was taking an extra long nap, thank goodness! I thought maybe, I will get my page done! Yes! The the doorbell rings and there stands the little boy I tutor! I had totally forgotten! He usually comes on Tuesdays, but he had rescheduled due to a vacation. So I tutored him during the last hour of Kenedy's nap, which meant she would be awake while I finished cleaning! Once again the page got thrown out! After he left, I got back to work! I was making good progress and Kenedy seemed to be behaving! All the sudden I realized, Kenedy behaving? It was too quiet, what was she doing? I found her in my bathroom covering herself and the entire bathroom with lipstick as fast as she could! Anyone ever tried to get lipstick off a baby skin? Yeah, it doesn't come off. Into the tub she went while I started scrubbing the tile, walls, rugs, and her toy dog! I was very surprised how fast the lipstick came off of everything except the stuffed dog of course. However, I could not get it off Kenedy. I scrubbed with soap, then with a washcloth, then with a towel and finally with wet wipes. FYI: Wet wipes take lipstick off of baby skin! I was freaking out when I was scrubbing because the color of the lipstick made it look like she had bruises all over her body! Just what I needed, to have my little girl covered in look alike bruises the day my case worker comes over to see if Mike and I are fit to be parents! While I was cleaning up I called my sweet mom and asked her to come and entertain Kenedy while I finished cleaning. Good news, I did get the house all ready to be inspected, but I did not get the page finished. All I can say is, "Oh Kenedy I love you! And Thanks mom for saving me!!!!" Deadline: Everything will be finished in 1 week! Hopefully!!!!

Messes
Kenedy is the queen of messes! I think she can make the biggest messes ever until Trace comes over. Let me state the truth: Kenedy and Trace make the biggest messes ever! They feed off each other! How does anyone raise twins? Every time he comes over it goes something like this: I promise myself not to leave them alone and then the phone rings or the door rings or I need to take the laundry out of the wash. It only takes a second and the house is destroyed! They start in the playroom. Everything gets dumped, thrown and knocked over. While you clean up that mess the start another in another room. The whole time they are together all I do is clean up mess after mess! Well today was the worst one of all! They went in the playroom and started their usual dumping and then discovered I had left markers sitting on my table in the playroom because I was working on FHE packets while Kenedy played. BIG MISTAKE! They not only dumped them everywhere, but the opened and colored themselves, my FHE packets, and the carpet! Then They took a glue stick and dug out chunks and smeared it on the door and all over her tent. Then got up on the my craft table and continued throwing and spreading everything off the table including my eight million flowers and my scrapbook ribbon scraps! I know you are thinking, why do you have your craft stuff in her playroom, but I have situated it so that she most if it is in the closet and it is high enough she can't bug it. So I thought! I informed Mike today that the basement finishing project is going to start in the next couple of weeks. We need a separate playroom and a craft room with a lock! While I was cleaning up the mess, they headed into her bedroom because they were banned from the playroom for the day, and pulled books off the shelves and all the toys out of the bin in her room. I conned Tanner and Tyler into coming and helping me by giving them a dollar so I could get ahead of their messes and have things put back together before Kamie got there to pick them up. I wanted her to think I can handle four kids! I sent Tyler into the bedroom to tackle that mess while Tanner and I started in on the playroom mess. While the three of us were cleaning and Mike was studying for his test, Kenedy and Trace wandered into the bathroom and climbed into the bath with their clothes on and turned on the tub. By the time Kamie got there, Trace was soaking wet and covered in marker and Ketchup. Sorry again about his new shirt Kamie!!!! I hire out for babysitting, anyone want to hire me, I am so good at it! ha ha ha! Here are a few pics of their messes!

It is so worth the messes to watch these two interact! They have their own language, it's as if they read each other's minds! They love each other so much! Most importantly, they are so happy when they are together! Trace please come back soon, I love you!

Click On The Picture to Enlarge!

Going Out
Tonight we went out with Jeff and Beth Hunziker. I was so excited to see Beth since I use to get to see her every day and now I never get to see her! I told Kenedy that she needed to be super good and show the Hunzikers what a nice girl she is! Well since we had quite the adventure with her and Trace today, she did not get to take a nap before we left. So let's just say our daughter was a monster at dinner. If Jeff and Beth were thinking they wanted kids, I think they have now changed their minds! When we first got there we had to put her pigtails back in for the 14th time. This is a big sign that she is exhausted. Then we go to sit down and the waitress had to bring us not 1 but 4 different highchairs. Are you kidding me? Time to invest in some new highchairs Pizza Factory! You see all of the buckles were broken and Kenedy will not stay seated if she is not buckled! In fact she can even figure out how to got out when she is buckled half the time. So from the very first we looked like a three-ringed circus moving from one chair to the next! Each time fighting Kenedy to even get in the chair. Then during dinner she dumped her drink eight million times causing her pants to be soaked, threw everything you gave her to eat and let out numerous high pitch screams! Right before we left she decided that she hadn't already made a big enough mess on the floor and she threw a plate on the floor. Yes it shattered into a million pieces causing everyone to stare at our adorable little girl! Mike and Jeff hid their heads while Beth and I just laughing! When we got back in the car we decided that it was time to call it a night. Kenedy screamed all the way back to Beth and Jeff's house and was totally rude to them. The ride home for us from their house was not much more fun! The poor thing was so tired she couldn't fall asleep! When I got home, I first put my sweet girl to bed and then read my emails. I had the sweetest email from Beth telling me how cute Kenedy is. Yeah Right, but thanks for making me feel good Beth, I worried about how terrible she was all the way home! I hope we can make it up to you guys, next time she won't skip her nap, I promise! Thanks you two for being so nice and putting on a smile through that embarrassing dinner! We love you two!

The Count Down To HALLOWEEN!

Halloween Started Thursday night and went until Wednesday. We started it off with a family tradition called "Witchalena". Witchalena is when a witch visits and leaves clues for us to find a special treat every night with the help of the scriptures. This is the first year we did it with our little family and it was so much fun to watch Kenedy run from one place to the next to find her special treat! Friday we did Witchalena again. Saturday we went to the pumpkin walk. Sunday we had our Witchalena dinner, Witchalena FHE, and carved pumpkins with the Smith family. Monday we had our annual Halloween party at grandma's house. We ate yummy food, played games, decorated pumpkins, made caramel apples, and hung out with our family. Tuesday night we got vampire teeth from Witchalena and Kenedy thought it was so funny! She put them on the next day to scare her cousin, Trace. Mission accomplished, he told her to take them out because they were scary and she just laughed! Wednesday we went to the neighborhood Trunk - or - Treat, then to the Grandmas to Trick - or - Treat and get loves, and finally home to eat Applebee's and watch a scary movie! We are now recovering from stomach aches and looking forward to the next holiday, THANKSGIVING! We hope you all had a HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Pumpkin Walk

Friday night we went to the Syracuse city pumpkin walk with our good friends the Yeates. There were over 1000 carved pumpkins on display. We dressed the kids up and along the pumpkin path the city had Trick-or-Treating. There are some pretty talented pumpkin carvers out there. We were very impressed! This is going to be a new tradition for us, we had so much fun and Kenedy loved the candy! Thanks for the invite Yeates family!

What a cute butterfly!

Waiting in a long line!

Dad and K!

Mom and K

Our little Butterfly flyin'!

Our little "Tree Hugger"!

After the long wait, we got to enter the pumpkin walk! The pumpkins were carved to spell WELCOME! So cool!

Sooo cute!

Kenedy's Favorite pumpkin!

Heidi's favorite pumpkin! My favorite was the "Cars" Scene they had, but my picture didn't turn out that well. The Cars scene was the scene from the movie where Lightening and Mater were tractor tipin'. They had all these pumpkins carved liked Tractors and then they tipped the pumpkins. They had Lightening and Mater there as well. It was so cute! These pumpkins were so cool, they are just lightly carved, so the light comes through, but there is no actual hole in the pumpkin except for where the top is cut off to pull the seeds out. What will they come up with next?

Mike's favorite, Halo of course!

Cute Yeates family getting warm by the fire!

Our cute family tryin' to get toasty!

Good Night!

The Treehouse

Every Wednesday, My friend from the ward, Gaby and I get our girls together for a play date. Kenedy and Julia are 3 weeks apart so they have so much fun together. Last week we took them to the Treehouse in Ogden. The Treehouse is so much and it keeps us entertained for hours! CLICK ON THE PICTURES TO ENLARGE!

Vampires, Wolves, and Romance! Oh My!

So I followed the pack and finally read the Twilight series! It took me a little longer than everyone else. I read them in three weeks versus three days. I loved them and I am sad that they are finished until next year! I have to admit that during the second book I was a Jacob fan. I kept thinking why does everyone love Edward so much? But I fell in love with Edward during the third book and Jacob drove me crazy. It will be interesting to see what feelings the next book will bring! I need to find another good read. I want something that is as addictive as these books! Any suggestions?

Funny Things!

Kenedy is the funniest thing ever! She make us laugh everyday. I tell myself I will never forget every little story, but I do. So I made this cute little journal to record all her funny things and stuff I love about her so I can give it to her one day. Of course the journal is empty sitting in my cupboard. So I decided since I'm on the computer all the time I will start sharing them with you and then I can go back later and write them in the journal when I get a second. I decided it was better to write them somewhere than nowhere. So hear are a few things that made us laugh today.

Babies
Kenedy's favorite thing lately has been babies! She loves to rock them, kiss them, feed them, drop them and then soothe them. It is so funny to watch her pretend. When she plays with her dolls I always have to be involved. She is the mommy and I guess I'm the big mommy. Anyway she always wants me to kiss the baby and rock her also. So she handed me the baby and I was kissing her and then I said, "I want to kiss and rock this baby." And I pointed to Kenedy. She looked at me with the most disgusted face and said, "No, baby!" and pointed to her baby and said, "baby"! She thinks she is not a baby anymore! I asked her if she was a big girl and she said yes. I asked her where my baby was then and she pointed to her doll. It is official she is no longer a baby. Sad, but so much fun!


Prayers
Saying prayers is so much fun around our home now because Kenedy takes a turn. So on Kenedy's night to pray she gets a huge smile on her face and repeats the words you tell her to say. When we say "Thank you for. . . she repeats and then does sign language for food. It is so funny, I almost burst out laughing every time. Even if you are going to say, "Thank you for our family, she always adds food, but does it in sign. Kenedy is very grateful for food and she wants to make sure her Father n Heaven knows it, so just in case her Father in Heaven can't hear her, he will be able to see her! What a funny girl!

Farm Field Trip

Today Kenedy and I went to Black Island Farms with my mom and her class. When we first got there we got to go on a "hay ride" but there was no hay, I'm not really sure why they call it a Hay ride. However, Kenedy loved it!

We stopped on our hayride at the pumpkin patch and got to pick a pumpkin. We stopped at the corn field also and learned about different kinds of corn. Did you know that there is a new kind of corn called strawberry corn? It looks like a strawberry with the skins of corn. Pretty neat!

After the Hayride we went back to the courtyard and watched pig races and ate lunch. While my mom's students headed into the corn maze, we headed off to have some fun playing on and in the toys!

Sand Box full of corn!

Slides made out of Haystacks!

Pumpkin jumping house

Train made out of plastic barrels. We had so much fun today! I took a bunch more pics, but I am tired of uploading them sorry! We also played in a mini maze and looked at the animals in the petting zoo. We had so much fun! Thanks for letting us tag along mom!