5 on Friday

 Happy Friday ya'll!

Linking up with these fabulous ladies once again!

Here's what's been on my mind this week:

1. Nick had his last class in his Master's program on Tuesday! He graduates on May 10th with a degree in Educational Administration and Leadership. Next step is applying for assistant principal jobs! I am so proud of him and his amazing accomplishment!

2. Anyone been watching 16 and Pregnant? I have not had the chance to watch this week's episode (soooo behind on the DVR) but I did watch last week's. I was really annoyed by that Maddy girl! I know she's young but good grief, she was so lucky that her baby's daddy and his family wanted to be so involved and spent all that money on her daughter's room. I thought she was very rude! It always seems like the girls that have significant others that want to be involved end up pushing them away! Tsk tsk!

3. I am so excited about making a new "mommy friend." Jessica lives around the block from us, goes to our church and her daughter Janna goes to Kennedy's daycare. We went for a walk this week with the girls and we really clicked. We have a lot in common! She and her husband Joe have invited Nick and I to join their small group at church. We have been wanting to join a small group for awhile now but Nick was so busy with school. Now that he is done, we are very excited to join in the fellowship! Janna is a year older than Kennedy and they had so much fun "chatting" while Jessica and I were chatting during our walk.

4. I love to read but during the school year it's really hard to find time. During spring break, I read this book. I have read other books by John Hart and he is an amazing author especially if you like a good suspense/mystery book. This one did not disappoint, however, I still think my favorite by him is The Last Child. The only book by him I have not read is Iron House and I can't wait to have the time to start it. Summer, please hurry up!

5. Kennedy is developing such a strong personality! She loves to talk and we are starting to understand more words she says. She repeats a lot of the things we say, such a little parrot. She is  such a Mommy's girl, everything is "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!" She also loves to help. She always helps me put away her clothes and loves to clean up her toys. Her teachers at daycare say that she is helpful at school too and that everyday, she helps put away the nap mats. We shall see how long this "helping phase" lasts especially the cleaning up her toys part! I can't believe our little princess will be 17 months old on Monday! 

Back in my Day....

I am linking up with Suze from Straight on the Ground for this one time linkup!

I was born in 1984 and graduated high school in 2002 so I consider myself a 90's girl. All of my pictures of myself are in a box in our garage that sooner or later I am going to go through. Luckily my friend Jennifer posted this awesome picture on Facebook last week. Jen and I were in 7th grade and we still played with our American Girl dolls. I had Molly and she had Samantha. We went to a special tea that was for girls and their American Girl dolls. I remember showing up to Jen's house the day of the tea a little embarrassed because I had braided my hair like Molly's but Jen was wearing makeup and had straigtened her hair and had no intentions of looking anything like Samantha! I fit in more with her younger sisters, Brittany and Laura than I did with Jen! LOL.

Let's talk about movies! Here were my favorites back in my day:

I still get chills when I watch Rachael Leigh Cooke come down the stairs in the red dress and "Kiss Me" is playing!

"I can't feel my legs! I have no legs!!!"

Best movie soundtrack ever!

This trilogy started my obsession with scary movies!

What kind of music was I jamming to back then? To be honest, a little bit of everything. I definately got teased for some of my musical choices. I went to high school in Portland, Oregon, so I attended a lot of concerts. A lot of people couldn't understand how I could be at a Hanson concert one weekend and the next weekend be rocking out at a Blink 182 show.



What was it about getting your Delia's catalogue in the mail and feeling like you just had to have everything??? Most of my clothes came from either here or Gap. Looking back now, their clothes were not even that cute!

I found this online and I think it's hilarious! I remember all the "old school scents" from Bath and Body Works. Plumeria was definately my fav! I don't think it would trigger memories of making out at the mall but possibly some flirting at the food court and teenage angst!

I have to give a shout out to Fruitopia. My middle school had a Fruitopia machine and it was always such a big deal to get one at lunch. The kiwiberry-ruckus was my favorite. YUM! RIP Fruitopia!

Last but not least, you could always find me glued to the tv on Wednesday nights watching this show! Back in my day there was no DVR so I remember having a meltdown one time because I was out somewhere with my mom and it didn't like we were going to be home in time for Dawson's Creek! Oh the horror!

Thanks for taking this trip down memory lane with me! What was it like back in your day? Link up with Suze and tell us!

Happy Easter!

He is Risen! Happy Easter everyone!

 

 We had a low key but great Easter! We didn't really do the Easter Bunny this year because Kennedy is a little too young to understand. We do plan on incorporating the Easter Bunny into our Easter traditions, however, we also want to make sure Kennedy knows the real reason for Easter. We read her the Easter story from her children's bible this morning and when we said prayers at nighttime we thanked Jesus for his ultimate sacrifice. We also do not plan on going overboard with her Easter basket like half of the people I saw on social media. Good grief! Waaay too much!

 

Nick's mom did get her a small Easter basket with Cinderella eggs, a Noah's Ark bath toy and a new Minnie Mouse toy. Of course, I forgot to take a picture. Here are some pictures I did get from the weekend:

 

 This picture was taken on the way home from church, Kennedy's first photobomb! Haha!

 We usually do an egg hunt at Nick's parents house the day before Easter with all the grandkids but the weather was miserable Saturday so we did a small Easter egg hunt at our house for Kennedy on Sunday. She LOVED it and was obsessed with finding the eggs and putting them in her basket. She wanted to do it all over again after she found them all. I think she is really going to have fun next year with all of her cousins.

 Love how these pictures turned out even though Daddy's deer stand is the background!

 Again, she did great with the Easter Bunny, no fear at all! So far we have had great luck with Santa and the Easter Bunny. Hopefully that will continue.

How was your Easter???

Fancy restaurant with a toddler?

My grandparents have always had a love for fine dining. One of the restaurants they love and that we have been going to for years is a restaurant called Jonathan's in Lexington, Kentucky. We have always had SUPERB service there. And the food? YUM! I usually get the shrimp and grits for my entree and we always order a variety of appetizers and salads. The desserts are always wonderful as well.The picture below was taken at one of the best meals we ever had there. It was a happy occasion because I was 6 weeks pregnant with Kennedy and had just told the good news to my family.

 

We went to Jonathan's over spring break. The last time we brought Kennedy she was 4 months old. We carried her in her carseat/carrier and she slept most of the meal. I left once to go nurse her. This time was a different story, as she is now 16 months old.  Nick and I knew she would get restless and were prepared to take her out of the restaurant if need be. We definately are not the type of people to let our child fuss and disturb other people's meals. When we got there, the waitress brought out the high chair. The strap was broken on the high chair. We left Kennedy sitting in it ( we were watching her carefully) while the waitress went to get a new one. Before we knew it, Kennedy had slid down in the high chair and had gotten stuck! It scared me to death! My step-dad and Nick were able to get her out but I was in tears and she was in tears! The waitress finally came with the new high chair but did not seem very concerned about Kennedy. I took her outside to calm down and checked her all over. She was fine but I was still a little peeved.

 

Went back inside. Kennedy was content with eating bread and playing with toys I had in her bag. Our appetizers came. We quickly realized that the boiled peanut hummus we ordered was amazing, however, there was not enough pita bread for the amount of hummus they had given us. We wanted to ask our waitress for more pita bread but she was MIA. We waited and waited for her to come back and she never did. Finally my grandmother went and asked the hostess if she could please find our waitress. The waitress came and we told her we needed more pita bread. FIFTEEN MINUTES later she finally returned with the pita bread. As Nick said " I guess she had to go to Greece to get the pita bread."  Hahaha. The waitress brings out Kennedy's food. Kennedy is entertained by eating her food while the adults are talking and drinking wine. However, I keep hoping they will hurry up and bring our food so Nick and I can eat while Kennedy is preoccupied. Kennedy finishes her meal and still, no food. I pull out some banana cookies from her bag. She eats those, still no food. At this point we have been waiting on our entrees for over an hour. Meanwhile since she brought out Kennedy's food, the waitress is MIA again. Kennedy has finally had enough and starts to fuss. The entire wait staff gives us the evil eye.I give them the evil eye right back, we have been waiting for almost 2 hours! Nick takes her outside. Our food comes and the waitress makes no apologies for the wait. I eat, then swap with Nick so he can eat.

 

We arrived at Jonathan's at 5:30. By the time we were done eating, it was 7:45 and we had a 45 minute drive back to Carlisle. When the waitress asked if we wanted to see a dessert menu, I could have slapped her. I love their dessert and would have loved some dessert but did I have time to wait? Ummm no! I felt bad because my grandfather has a sweet tooth like me and I know he wanted dessert but he was understanding about the fact that it was past Kennedy's bedtime and we had to go. He told the waitress "honey I wish we could but we can't risk waiting  that long again." Again, the waitress offered no apologies. Nice...

 

I guess I just feel like they could have been quicker and more accomodating to the fact that we had a toddler but I got the feeling that they were not accustomed to having kids at their restaurant and they didn't really care to have kids at their restaurant. For the most part Kennedy is very well behaved at restaurants but expecting a toddler to sit in a high chair for over 2 hours is just ludacris!

 

What do you think? Have you been to a fancy restaurant with your kids? Do you think it's silly to even attempt a fancy restaurant with a toddler? Do you think we should have known what we were getting into?

 

Trip to Kentucky Recap

 Last week was our spring break and we headed up to my grandfather's house in Carlisle, Kentucky. My parents flew in from Oregon and my stepdad's mom flew in from Pennsylvania so it was a great week with family. On the way up, we split the 8 hour drive in half and stopped in Tennesse. Of course we had to make a trip to Nick's version of heaven, Bass Pro Shop. Kennedy had a great time for the most part, near the end she got a little tired and cranky. She was not so sure about the moose.

 When we arrived in Kentucky, we spent a lot of time catching up with family. Kennedy is very lucky to have her great grandfather and great grandmother in her life. Below is her and her great grandfather!

 Kennedy and my mom (Nana)

 The next morning we went for a walk in the town cemetary. Some people may think this is odd but my mom and I have been doing it for years. Most of our family is buried in this cemetary. My Nana passed away in 2007 and I miss her so much. Taking Kennedy to visit her grave is very important to me.

 This is our family cemetary plot, the Kennedy family. This picture warms my heart. Harry Kennedy was Kennedy's great-great grandfather.

 That afternoon, we went shopping with my mom and Grandma Pat in Lexington. I discovered a new favorite place, The Bluetique. Seriously ya'll, if I was rich, I would have bought everything in that store, so much cute stuff! Grandma Pat bought me this adorable maxi dress and a pair of pants very similar to these. I couldn't find the picture on their website, but mine have a little more pink in them than this pair. If you do not own a pair of pants like these, go get you some! I know they look a little odd, but they are super cute on and soooo comfortable.

 

 We went out to dinner that night in Lexington at what used to be one of our favorite places, Jonathan's. The food was amazing as always but unfortunately we did not have the service we are accustomed to having there. Part of it was they were not very accomodating to Kennedy. I plan on doing a separate post about this soon. Anyone have good/bad experiences with going to restaurants that are more on the nice/fancy side with kids?

 The next day we finally had some nice weather so Kennedy had a blast playing outside. We have a picture of me on this same goat statue when I was little! We are not sure where it is, need to find it! Grandma Pat also passed down a china doll that was hers when she was little to Kennedy, which was very special.

 An attempt at a family picture...gotta love the toddler stage...

 Before we knew it, it was time to go home and go back to reality. We drove the whole 8 hours on the way back. It went well until the last 3 hours when the portable DVD player died. Those last 3 hours seemed like an eternity. We sang songs, read books, played with toys and ate snacks to pass the time but eventually we had a full on meltdown. I say "we" because Mommy was almost in tears too. It was a fun week with family but there's no place like home!

 Kennedy with Nana and Spike

Kennedy with Nana, Pops, Mommy and Grandma Pat

 

 

Have you had your spring break yet? If so, how did you spend it?

5 on Friday

Happy Friday and Happy Spring Break to me! Finally!

1. I am so ecstatic that it is spring break. You have no idea.  My third graders are ready for it as much as I am and it shows. Some of them have about lost their minds. Here are just a few things that have happened this week at school:

Situation 1: Student comes in with homework done in someone else's handwriting. After confronted, she admits her aunt did it for her but "she didn't ask her to." Ohhh well now that you told me that....

Situation 2:We are in the computer lab. While the rest of my class is completing the assigned activities in their Compass folders, one of my students is on the Disney Channel website playing some sort of guitar game. SMH...

Situation 3:Several students come and tell me that a child is throwing rocks on the playground. Child is confronted and the comeback is "they weren't rocks, they were stones." One of my other students says "Seriously? Stone is a synonym for rock!" Atleast I know I have taught synonyms well, right?

2. After this week's episode, I am officially over Revenge. It just seems to be getting more and more far fetched and some of the storylines are just downright stupid. I hate it, because it started out so good. My hairstylist Elizabeth told me she heard it may not be getting renewed for another season and I can see why. Nick says he doesn't understand why I feel Revenge is too far fetched but I was completely obsessed with Desperate Housewives and watched it all the way to the end. My answer: the humor and the characters saved the show. Revenge has no humor and not even Nolan (my fav character) can save it for me now. 

3. Am I the only one who is completely addicted to those stupid quizzes on Facebook? I never got into Candy Crush so I guess this is my vice. I find myself taking every quiz I come across from "which fairy tale describes your life?" (Red Riding Hood) to "Which Full House Character are you?" (Uncle Jesse) to "Which animal is your spirit animal?" (bear) When I was in middle school, I always took the quizzes in YM and Teen magazine so I guess I am just reliving it all over again!

4. Nick and I are going on a date night this weekend just the two of us which hasn't happened in awhile. We usually do double dates so we had to stop and remind ourselves to take some time for just each other. Dinner, a movie and shopping is on the agenda. We are planning on buying Kennedy a few new toys to keep her entertained on our 8 hour drive to Kentucky. Any ideas on good toys to play with in the car for a 16 month old?

5. Kennedy is becoming so much more independent. I am not so sure how I feel about it. This past week she has been really into this bus that we got her for Christmas. She loves to open and close the door and load the little people on the bus. When I watch her play, I feel like I am watching a kid not a baby.  She has also been repeating a lot of words we say, so her vocabulary is expanding more and more. The older she gets, the faster the time seems to go! Love this little blessing so much!