not such a peanut

Kennedy had her 18 month (18 months, how is that even possible!?!) check-up on Friday morning. We switched pediatricians again, so this was our first visit with Dr. Voytas. We really liked him and hopefully this will be the kids' doctor for the foreseeable future. The biggest surprise of the appointment was the big jump on the growth chart. Kennedy is no longer a petite little thing! Here are her latest stats:

Weight - 23 lbs. 11oz. (40%)

Height - 32 1/2 inches (75%)

Wow! She definitely went through a major growth spurt. She's up about 50% in height!

In other areas, she looked great. She's where she should be in all areas other than speech. Still no talking in English...lots of jibberish but no real words yet. We will have an evaluation with a speech therapist soon. The doctor ordered a food allergy test in hopes of finding some cause to her stomach issues. Those results came back negative this morning, so we'll try a few other things to regulate her digestive system before the doc orders any more tests.

Our Kennedy is definitely a strong willed, spirited child. She knows just what she wants and is not shy about trying to get it. Thankfully temper tantrums are few and far between yet, but when they appear you'd better watch out. This girl has staying power! She is fearless when it comes to climbing, jumping, swimming, etc. We have to watch her so much more closely than Carter at this age. She wants to try everything that big brother is doing and thinks she's one of the big kids, I'm sure. She's a good eater, as proven by her newest stats, but not such a good sleeper. She's down to only one nap in the afternoon, but they're not nearly as long as we'd like. Kennedy has also followed in Carter's footsteps with rising before the sun. Our house is usually hopping by 6:00 each morning. That makes for sleepy parents more than anything. She has the most infectious, deep from the belly laugh and loves to be silly. She likes to dance, listen to music, read books and play with her kitchen and her tea set. Really, she's such a sweet little girl and we love her so much.

ouch

I think it's safe to say that I won't be winning any "Mom-of-the-Year" awards for my parental skills this week. And I'm afraid Kennedy's fingers got the worst of it! Our action packed week started off with a bang on Monday afternoon when Kennedy's left hand got caught in the freezer door and her three middle fingers were smashed and bruised. Then on Thursday, her other hand got totally crunched in the car door. There was blood. a lot. of. blood. Thankfully it looked a whole lot worse than it actually was and her three fingers on her right hand are still attached. Just a little battered and bruised. The worst part of these two injuries was that it was me doing the door shutting. Twice. Nice. The icing on the cake was Carter getting a hand on my trimming scissors and taking a nice chunk of blond hair from that cute head of his. He was only trying "to be more handsome, Mommy," and thankfully he only got one good snip before he was stopped. Kyle and I were both in the bathroom, but it was morning and we were both rushing to get ready for the day. As I said, definitely not an award worthy week on my part. Please don't call CPS!

A Look Back...

As 2010 begins, I find myself amazed that we are beginning a new decade. I also took the time to reflect on the past ten years. It is absolutely incredible to see all that has changed and been accomplished in a relatively short period of time. In these past ten years, Kyle and I both graduated from Linfield, started careers, received promotions, got engaged, got married, bought our first home, adopted a dog, traveled the world a little, had a beautiful little boy, sold our first home and bought our second, welcomed another blessing into our family, watched our son start school, saw many friends marry and welcome children of their own and managed to make many, many wonderful memories. I cannot imagine another decade in our lives where we will do so much and be a part of so many life changing experiences. Mind boggling, really.

Here's a look at this past decade in pictures (it was so fun to look through ten years worth of photos!):

2000 - My graduation from Linfield.

Sad to see four fun-filled years come to an end, but thankful to not have to take another chemistry class!

Here are my two roommates, Melissa and Lindsey - man, did we have a good time!

2001 - Kyle's graduation.

We are so thankful to have shared our college experience at such a wonderful school. Too many memorable times to count!

Kyle and his sisters, Val and Stacy

2002 - Engaged!

Kyle proposed in April...

...and we bought our first home in November

2003 - Married!
On March 15th, 2003, Kyle and I committed ourselves to each other in front of God and many friends and family members.
Our wonderful wedding party made this day even better!

2004 - Jake
We adopted Jake from an animal shelter on our first anniversary. He was just about 10 weeks old and we loved him instantly. He's grown from a hyper, mischievous, sometimes destructive puppy to a greying, mellow, tolerant family dog. Even though we may forget it at times, he really is a important part of our family.

2005 - Exploring the world

Kyle and I knew that we would want to start a family soon, so we took this year to see a little more of the world. In March, we set sea with our friends, Kirstin and Tim, on a Caribbean cruise. We were fortunate enough to visit four islands (Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, St. Maarten and the Bahamas) and have a fabulous seven day vacation with great friends.

Then in May/June, my mom and I took an 18 day trip to Italy. My grandma was Italian and it had always been a dream of my mom's to go and tour the country. I'm pretty sure our trip surpassed most of her dreams. It was amazing. We saw so much, ate so much, drank so much and really relished in the adventure together. It is a trip that I will be eternally grateful for. We started thinking about a return trip on the plane ride home...

2006 - Carter!

The single most life changing miracle one can experience. On April 14th, 2006, we welcomed our precious Carter into this world. His birth was not without drama, but once we were home and began to settle in, we knew that our lives would never be the same. I love him to the moon and back and thank the Lord for blessing us with such a sweet, smart and loving son.

2007 - House #2

In a matter of a month, we had put our first house on the market, found a new home, purchased it and moved about 2 miles up the road. We love our house and have truly made it a home. We see ourselves here for many, many years to come.

2008 - Kennedy!

At 12:00 am on July 9th, I felt the first contraction and just three and a half hours later, Kennedy came into our world. She stole our hearts from the first second we saw her and any fear that we had about adding another child to our family was quickly extinguished. She is a beautiful, strong willed, funny little girl who I thank God for every day.

2009 - Carter starts school

2009 was another year of change as Carter started preschool in the fall. It was quite a big deal, as he had been asking to go to school for about a year. He was so excited, not at all timid and has proven to be a good student. He's such a smart cookie and really enjoys his classmates and teacher.

Our family, 10 years in the making!

Pizza!

I decided it would be fun to involve the kids in dinner preparation one evening. Carter loves to help do anything in the kitchen and Kennedy is happy to do anything that Carter is doing. So I figured making homemade pizza together would be a simple dinner to prepare together (no stove, no sharp knives, etc.). Boy, did we have fun. Carter loved having a hand in each step of the process and was so excited to show Daddy our dinner when he got home. It was a little messy and the pizza was definitely not as good as if we had gone to a restaurant, but the experience was what we were after and we had a great time!

As we sat down to eat our meal, Carter proclaims, "I'd like to be a pizza maker when I get big. That and a football player of course." Dream big, my boy.

Rolling the dough

Preparing the dough, rolling the crust just so.

Spreading the sauce

Sprinkling the cheese

Adding the toppings. Take notice of Kennedy off to the side, stuffing her mouth full of cheese. She couldn't get it in there fast enough!

Carter Day

For Christmas this year, Auntie Stacy and Uncle Justin took Carter on a fun filled day, special just for him. He was treated to hot chocolate and a donut, toys at Target, time at Out of This World (which is a super fun jump/play place) and finally lunch at Red Robin. It was the perfect day, tailor made for a three year old, and one Carter will not soon forget. He is one lucky boy to be loved so much and to have such an amazing auntie and uncle.

Here's Carter sporting his super special shirt for "his" day out!

For more pictures, check out my sister-in-law's blog http://simonfamilyfun.blogspot.com/2010/01/carter-day.html

a shot at roses

I'm not sure exactly why we are Oregon Duck fans...perhaps it's because we'll never see Linfield on tv, and lots of our friends support the ducks, or because they were the best team in the Pac 10 when we graduated. I'm thankful my parents love me as much as they do, considering they are both Oregon State alum, or else I might be disowned! Any way you look at it, we like to cheer on the Ducks - so we decked out our family for the *BIG* game on New Year's Day. Sadly, they were outplayed and they went another year without winning a Rose Bowl.

Carter got this new outfit for Christmas and loves it! He was insistent on wearing it the first day back to school (much to my dismay, as I like him to look a bit more polished on school days), because it has easy pants with no buttons. He's a little confused as to who he should cheer for, and it typically changes with whoever is influencing him.

ode to grandparents

Having grandparents in our life is such a joy,

especially for a very lucky girl and boy

We love them dearly,

and should tell them more often than yearly!

What fun it is to love and play,

we wish we could do it every day!

We were very fortunate to spend lots of quality time with grandparents during the holidays. With time off from work and lots of fun excuses to get together, there was an abundance of quality time. I've said it before, but I honestly believe that I can't say it enough, we are constantly blessed with acts of love and generosity from our parents. There is nothing they would not do for their grandchildren and take such pride in watching them grow.