5 on Friday-Christmas Edition!

 

This is going to be 5  things about our wonderful Christmas. I hope yours was as good as ours!

1. On Monday, my dad, my sister and brother came over for lunch and to open presents. We usually do this on Christmas Eve but my sister had to work this year. Nick made his famous deer meat chili and I made chocolate eclair pie for dessert. I was super excited that my sister got Kennedy this movie:

 

We used to watch this movie all the time when we were little. I had an old fashioned bed like this one, complete with bedknobs and after watching it, we would go in my room and pretend to be on the flying bed. Fun times!

2. Monday night, we went to my in-laws to bake and decorate Christmas cookies. This has been a Kaune family tradition since Nick was a kid. We have participated in years past but this year was more fun for obvious reasons!

Kennedy with cousin Lexie.

Daddy helped with the cutting out part and Mommy helped with the decorating!

3. On Christmas Eve, we always go to Christmas Eve service at church and then to Waffle House to eat. Nick and I started this tradition during our first Christmas together in 2009. I think this picture is HILARIOUS! Kennedy looks like I used to look in family pictures when I was a teenager, bahahahaha.

But then of course, she was all smiles for Daddy! Side note: Nick is slightly obsessed with this Georgia Santa hat his mom gave him. I begged him not to wear it to church even though our church is contemporary worship and very casual. No such luck....sigh.

I didn't get any pictures of us at Waffle House. Unfortunately, we had to go to THREE different Waffle Houses before we could find a table and Kennedy was very hungry and fussy so the only thing that was on my mind was feeding her and getting home. It was very odd because every year we have gone to the Waffle House right by our church and never had any issues but I guess this year other people started up the same tradition! When we got home, we put out cookies and milk for Santa and then read the Christmas story from Luke in her children's picture bible.

 

4. Christmas morning was so much fun! Kennedy was so excited to open presents.

Her favorite by far was her new pink car!!! She loved it! Later that morning, we facetimed with Nana and Spike (my mom and stepdad) in Oregon. The car has drink holders so Kennedy had her sippy cup and was driving around drinking from her sippy. So of course Nana and Spike were cracking up that we were already going to have to have the drinking and driving talk, bahahaha.



5. That afternoon we went to Grandma and Paw-Paw's house (my in laws) to open more presents and eat Christmas dinner. Kennedy had a blast playing with her cousins. Lexie unfortunately couldn't be there long because she had to go to her dad's house, but Aunt Gretchen, Uncle Ben, Tabatha and Marley drove in from Columbia and Aunt Rachael, Uncle Jon and Tristan were there. It was so cute watching Kennedy try to keep up with the "big kids." I know next year will be even more fun!

My in-laws gave me a Kohl's gift card and a hot pink Duck Commander sweatshirt. They know me too well! Can you tell how excited I was??? I have already spent my Kohls gift card!



This was about the best picture we could get of the cousins. 

I will leave with my family. I love these two more than words can say. Hope you had a Merry Christmas!



 

Some Christmas Firsts and Some Randoms!

The past couple of days have been so much fun. Thursday night, we took Kennedy to Lights of the South, a giant light display in Georgia. We could barely get her to look at the camera because there was so much to see! She had a blast! She wasn't a huge fan of the hay ride but only because she didn't want to sit the whole time. She just wanted to walk around and look at everything! 

 

Friday morning we took her to see Santa. Guess what? She did great! No tears at all! I think the ugly Santa statue Nick insists on putting up by our Christmas tree helped because she seemed to recognize Santa and had no issues with sitting on his lap. :)

 

 Are selfies completely blowing up your newsfeed on Facebook like they are on mine? I don't really get the obsession but I decided to take my first ever selfie with Kennedy in it, does that still count? I thought it turned out great.

When I was little, my dad would always win me stuffed animals out of those crane machines. He has started doing the same for Kennedy and she is absolutely obsessed with this green monkey he won her. It is so ugly but she carries it around everywhere!

 

I must say I have always loved Christmas but having Kennedy makes me love it so much more. It has been so much fun! Up next is cookie decorating at Grandma and Paw-Paw's Monday night! Can't wait! Hope everyone is enjoying their holiday season as much as we are. 

5 on Friday

 

1. I am way excited that I am officially on Christmas break. Seriously, December is such a wasted month for teachers. Everything you say to your students goes in one ear, out the other. I honestly feel like I am a babysitter, not a teacher for this month. No work for me until January 6th! I am looking forward to spending time with Kennedy, sleeping in (Kennedy sleeps until about 7:30, to me that's sleeping in) and enjoying Christmas with a toddler! Nick and I also want to get atleast one date night in over the break. :)

 

2. Work has been pretty fun this week though. We had our Secret Santa reveal party and I found out my Secret Santa is my principal, Mrs. Wilson! She was an awesome Secret Santa! This was my final gift, a cute chevron and hot pink Carolina shirt and a Kohls gift card. Kohls is my absolute fav place to shop so I can't wait to spend the gift card. I was our secretary, Viviana's Secret Santa. I got her a monogrammed jacket and some lotion from Bath and Body Works for her final gift. :)

 

3. We also had our annual Christmas program at school. Each grade level performs and I must say 4th grade stole the show this year with their "Duck Dynasty Christmas" dance. Loved it! My third graders were pretty awesome doing the "Santa Shake" too! However, the faculty and staff performance was amazing! We danced to "what does the reindeer say?" which is a parody of "what does the fox say?"  We had so much fun and the kids LOVED IT! That's my husband Nick as Santa at the beginning. He and our only other male teacher, Corey, of course had starring roles. :) The video is on Facebook. Check it out for a good laugh! See if you can find me, I am the girl with no rhythm in the "jingle group" bahahahaha. https://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?v=10201794503681755&set=vb.1156745140&type=2&theater

 

 

4. OMG...Revenge and Nashville were sooooo good this past week. I cannot wait to see what happens on both of these shows!!!!!!!!! 

 

5.  So what has Kennedy been up to this week? Well she's cutting 4 teeth all at once...yay. They are all on top. Her two top front teeth she has been cutting for the past month. I am ready for them to just go ahead and drop all the way down! She actually hasn't been too fussy surprisingly. She is walking all over the place and loves the ugly Santa statue that we have by our Christmas tree so maybe our trip to see Santa today will go well. One can hope right?!?! I will leave you with this beautiful picture of her. It's one of my favorites from her 1 year old pictures and I have ordered it in an 8x10. Have a great weekend everyone and thanks for stopping by!



 

Who knew personalization could be scary???

When I got married, I was ecstatic about my new last name. I registered for a bunch of stuff monogrammed with a K on it and to this day love anything with my monogram or a K on it. When I found out I was having a girl, I was so excited about getting her clothes with her initial, monogram or name on it. We already had names picked out before our gender sonogram and I was so excited about Kennedy's name. Not only did I think it was just adorable but,  Kennedy is a family name on my side, my maternal grandmother's side of the family to be exact.  My Nana passed away in 2007 and I know she would have been so thrilled about the Kennedy name being passed on. So needless to say, Kennedy has a few shirts, a dress and her diaper bag/backpack that have her name on it.

Sunday afternoon, Kennedy and I were shopping. Kennedy was strapped in the buggy and I had her backpack on my back. A lady approached me and told me that I should really reconsider having my child's name on her backpack because strangers can lure her away by name. I smiled and thanked her for her advice but in my head I was thinking "ugh, seriously, go away nosy lady." But then, the wheels in my head started to turn. Yikes. Never ever even thought about that. I really started to panic. She really upset me. I talked to my mom about it and my mom made a good point that at this age, Kennedy isn't going to be out of my sight when we are out in public so strangers can't really "lure her away." She said the lady probably thought Kennedy was older than she was which happens often because she is in the 80th percentile for height and 90th percentile for weight.  However, I really think this lady had a good point. I don't think I am going to go out and burn all the shirts she has with her name on it but I think from now on we will be sticking to her monogram or just a simple "K." Such a scary world we live in!

Sometimes things don't go as planned....

We had a big weekend planned this weekend. On Saturday night, we were supposed to go with our friends Jessica and Adam and their two boys to Lights of the South, a huge light display in Georgia. However, Saturday it poured down rain all afternoon. Jessica and I talked and we have decided to reschedule our plans for Thursday night, which may end up better anyway because it will probably be less crowded due to it being a weeknight.  I sure hope the weather in 2014 is better than 2013. What an awful year weatherwise this has been. It rained pretty much all summer and it seemed to get cold very early. However, we still ended up having a great Saturday. My Aunt Gail and Uncle Karl were unable to come to Kennedy's birthday party so they came by with their gift for Kennedy, which was a Thomas the Tank Engine train set that she absolutely loved!  We had a great visit with them. Kennedy loves her Uncle Karl and they loved seeing her play with the train set.

Saturday night we ate at Chick Fila and after Kennedy went to bed, Nick and I snuggled up on the couch and watched my all time favorite Christmas movie, Home Alone! It never gets old! Today after church, we had originally planned to come home, eat lunch, put Kennedy down for her nap and then take her to go see Santa. However, my bestie Megan works at the mall and she texted us and said the line for Santa has been INSANE ever since the mall opened today. So, again, we rescheduled our plans. Our last day of work is Thursday, so we decided we will get up and take Kennedy to the mall when it first opens Friday morning. Hopefully the line won't be too long. Then we plan to take Kennedy to daycare for a few hours so we can get some last minute shopping done.  So today will be another lazy day at home, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. :) I love my family and I love this time of year!

Sandy Hook

Almost exactly one year ago, I was at home on my maternity leave with Kennedy. Kennedy was asleep and my mom texted me and told me there had been a terrible elementary school shooting and to not turn on the tv. She knew how badly it would upset me especially since I was a teacher and a new mom. Well, I didn't listen and turned on the tv of course . I sat there glued to the tv all afternoon, rocking and cuddling Kennedy, crying and just praying for those sweet babies and their families.  I was also so angry and sad that this man felt like he had to kill 2o innocent first graders, not to mention the teachers that were killed as well. I can't imagine the pain those parents and families have felt in the past year. The above video is a film about one of the victims at Sandy Hook, Emilie Parker. Warning: you will cry but it is a must watch. This mother has incredible faith. Evil does not win. God's love reaches for us in our darkest moments. Such a beautiful testament and so incredibly powerful.

This has been an incredibly busy week and we have a busy weekend ahead of us full of lots of Christmas firsts for Kennedy so I am going to skip "5 on Friday" this week but I will be sure to post about our fun weekend on Monday. :) Have a great weekend everyone!

Phi Mu Semi-Formal

 This past Friday was Phi Mu's semi formal. This was the first time the collegiates invited alumnae. We had such a good time catching up and tearing up the dance floor!!!! The alumnae girls requested some old school songs from back in our day and the college girls danced right there with us. Then us alumnae tried to learn some new dance called the "Biker Shuffle?" This girl was lost...hahaha. I think I'll stick to the Cupid Shuffle and the Wobble. Nick of course had to wear his camo dress shirt and camo  Georgia tie. A bunch of the college girl's dates came up to him and told him how awesome he looked. I think he was the branded the "cool old guy" at the party. The next day, my sister Melody posted on Facebook that she had a ton of fun partying like she did in college but that she was definately feeling the consequences. I felt the same way! However, I can't wait for next year because it was worth feeling so tired the next day.

 Ashlee, me and Melody

 Ashlee, me, Melody, Jessica and Jackie, who just had baby Laurel 4 weeks ago! I told her she was my hero because there is no way I would have been able to come 4 weeks postpartum! But apparently Laurel is only getting up once in the night to eat! Wow! At that age Kennedy ate every 2-3 hours so I was a zombie.

 All of the alumnae girls!

 Alumnae and college girls! What an awesome sisterhood!

We spent the rest of the week laying low in our pajamas and finally decorating our Christmas tree (pictures to come soon!) We have had it up since the day after Thanksgiving but only with lights. We just hadn't had the chance yet to put the ornaments on it. Kennedy also tried out her new napmat she got because she is moving up to the toddler room at daycare next month *tear*. It matches her nursery, which is also decorated in pink camo so she felt right at home with it! :) Hope everyone else had a great weekend. :)

5 on Friday

Linking up with these awesome ladies for the 5 on Friday fun!

 

1. God has been very faithful this week. A friend from church and a blog friend who had been struggling with infertility are both pregnant! I have a list of women who I pray for every night who are dealing with infertility. My list is now down to four people. I know there are more out there so even if I get down to zero, I will still pray!  God is good!

 

2.  This was my early Christmas present from Nick! We ordered it from Ulta online on Black Friday for $99.99. I can't wait until it gets here! My hairstylist used it on me a couple of months ago and I fell in love. All you do is pop a piece of hair in the chamber and it beeps at you when it's curled!  I am TERRIBLE at doing my own hair but this is so easy to use and the curls look amazing!



 

3. Kennedy has loved playing with her new toys she got for her birthday which has included some old school toys that Momma is super excited are back in stores:

 

Who remembers the See and Say?!?! I know I had one! Kennedy got this from Uncle Ben, Aunt Gretchen and cousins Tabatha and Marley!

 I had a Popper when I was little but it was definately not as pretty as this one! Our good friends Jessica and Adam and their boys Payton and Grayson got Kennedy this cute pink popper. Kennedy loves to put the balls in, take them out and repeat!

 

4. How bout them Gamecocks? The Carolina/Clemson game was most definately the best game of the season! So excited for a 5 peat! I actually felt really bad for the Clemson fans. Seriously. 6 turnovers. That's a lot. Bless their hearts. It's crazy because the first football game Nick and I ever went to together was the Carolina/Clemson game back in 2009. We won that game and have won every year since! :)

 

5. As usual, I will leave you with Kennedy. I forgot to post all her 1 year old stats and favorites last week. She is in a size 4 diaper and in 12-18 month clothing. Her favorite book is still The Very Busy Spider and she loves to watch Doc McStuffins. She is walking a lot more now but is still not completely on the go. Anyday now....