Swim and a Salad

Sophie and Dad in the pool.

Yesterday was a hot and humid 90 degrees so we decided to take Sophie for her first dip in the pool. The water was so warm it wasn't much of a shock to her. It was a fairly short swim since she is a red head and it was quite sunny, but I think she enjoyed herself. He he.

Chicken Salad with Apple and Basil

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

4 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp black pepper

1/4 cup fresh lime juice

1 T. white wine or rice vinegar

2 T light brown sugar

4 scallions (white and green parts) thinly sliced

2 granny smith apples diced

1/3 cup roasted peanuts, roughly chopped

2 T. thinly sliced fresh mint

1/2 cup thinly sliced fresh basil

We had this for dinner with some pizza. It was really good but to make a larger amount for a potluck or bbq you could add a spring mix of lettuces or ramen noodles (have you ever had a sald with broken up ramen noodles- not cooked) either would be good and make the salad strech more. You cook the chicken with the salt and pepper and put it in the fridge to get cold, cut into chunks. The lime juice, vinegar, sugar and a shake or two of salt and pepper makes the dressing. Add everything else and stir to cover it all with dressing. It was fresh and yummy. We didn't add the mint and did cashews instead of peanuts because its what we had.

Kennedy, Kaitlyn, Katie and Fiona- after their performance.

Kennedy in her butterfly costume and fancy make-up ready for the big recital.
"Okay mom I think that is enough pictures!"
BBQ at Casey and Erin's house with London, Dallas, Kennedy and Tyler.

Today was the big ballet recital and I couldn't be happier to have it over with. I was way more nervous than Kennedy was, she was as cool as could be about the whole thing. It was held in a huge Baptist megaplex and the tiny little ballerina girls just looked so small as they danced on the stage but Kennedy just looked straight ahead and did the whole dance (I was so proud I was beaming). Ken and one other girl were the only one's who remebered the dance, the other girls waved into the audience and threw a few ballet steps in here and there...it was super cute!
After her dance she came back in the audience with us and watched other girls dance and would go into the isle and dance dramatically whenever she felt inspired. I was giggling the whole time. After the recital we went to a BBQ at our friends Casey and Erin's and had yummy food and hung out friends. Ken was in heaven playing with her little friends too! We wish we could just pack up our ward and move them all out to Denver with us! I am going to miss all the women so much and their adorable kids who have become such good friends to Ken.

And the winner is...

Because we have a new baby at the house, we have watched a unhealthy amount of reality television lately (instead of the raging parties we usually attended before the kid tied us down). We were especially into Dancing with the Stars and American Idol. I just had to give my two cents to the results. Dancing with the stars bugs because Kristy Y is a figure skater with some dancing background so that doens't seem fair when she is up against football players etc. I was sad to see cute little David Archuletta lose since he is a Utah boy but David Cook is a babe and seems like a nice person after these weeks I have spent watching him I feel I know the guy so kudos to him. I would like to state for the record that I did not call in to either show to vote so I feel that I have still maintained some sense of a life. We did teach a valuable lesson to Kennedy while watching Dancing with the Stars, when the girls came out in their dresses I would always say- "that girl needs a little more fabric" so now when Ken sees a scantily clad girl she always says "mom I think that girl needs a little more fabric". I just hope she doesn't say it to anyone we happen upon in real life.

Nudge nudge wink wink

Things are going well here at our house. Mike is overwhelmed with estrogen and emotional girls but seems to be holding up quite well. He even let us paint his toenails last night after finishing with Kennedy's. Sophie has finally started to cry a bit but usually when she is hungry, which seems to be anytime she is awake. Kennedy is starting to adjust but still hasn't quite mastered how soft we have to be with baby sister. Mike started school again and we already miss having him around to help us out. He has been nice enough to sleep on the couch the last few nights with baby sis by his side in her bouncy so that Mom can sleep and then when she gets hungry he brings her in (she is a loud sleeper). Kennedy has her graduation from her pre-school this week and her ballet recital, we are pretty sad that ballet will be ending soon. Kennedy has been using the "hooter hider" my mom made me (for breast feeding) as a super hero cape. She has also attempted to breast feed her stuffed bunny rabbit- so far there isn't any milk coming out of her "boomers" as she likes to call them. Needless to say we have had some interesting questions and conversations since Sophie has come home.

New Kids On The Block

This morning I was watching the Today show and as luck would have it I happened to be watching the day the New Kids reunited and performed! They sang the classic love ballad "Tonight", you know "La la la la la la tonight". It was too weird to see these thirty-somethings up there trying to dance and sing songs that probably weren't that great even back when I was in elementary school. You better believe that I had New Kids folders for my trapper keeper, trading cards and posters in my room. I can also remember rushing home to my friend Tiff's house because her mom recorded the New Kids on Oprah for us. We watched it over and over and would rewind parts with Jordan talking because hello...he was totally the hottest one! And so for all the other New Kids On The Block fans I hope you are as excited about them reuniting as I am.

Happy Mothers Day!

To all the amazing and wonderful moms that I know, Happy Mothers Day! I am surrounded by some of the most talented, creative, inspiring and fabulous moms. Among my friends and family I have many people to look to for advice, support and an example of what a great mom is. Every mom is about a million things rolled into one; a doctor, entertainer, seamstress, housekeeper, cook, entertainer, singer, storyteller, a chauffeur- the list goes on and on. I have been so impressed by all the home made gifts I have gotten from friends and family for our new little Sophie what a talented bunch of women you are! Where we find the time, patience and sanity to do it all I'll never know but it is the most tiring, emotional, rewarding and wonderful jobs out there. I love the recent talk given by Elder M. Russell Ballard in conference about moms. Take your Ensign out of the plastic (ha ha) and read it. I particularly liked the following quote, "The biggest mistake I made as a parent is the one that most of us make...I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of my three children sitting in the grass on a quilt inthe shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and we we talked about , and how they sounded and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing; dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less"
So moms take this day to let your kids run around with food on their faces, leave the dishes in the sink and the laundry all over unfolded (gasp), don't do your hair and just hang out with your kids building forts, playing princesses and making cupcakes with sprinkles and frosting all over.

I feel incredibly blessed to have a brand new healthy little girl this Mothers Day and to have my little Kennedy that keeps me constantly entertained.

Thanks to Mike for the GPS (to keep me from getting lost), our new bedding and the chocolate covered strawberries. I love you!

Thanks Mom!

Sophie 4 days old, Holden 5 months old
Grandma and Kennedy in the sandbox
One of the many funny poses Sophie does (we could watch her all day)
Kennedy and Mike at the pool
Dallas Texas Temple

My mom just left Texas today and was here since Sunday. It has been so nice to have her here to help me out. Two kids is busy when one of them is Kennedy. The baby is still a dream, she is so sweet! We had a great time with my mom here. She brought all kinds of presents from family and friends for Kennedy and the baby. She made an adorable tutu for Ken and we went and bought more toile to make one for Sophie and another one for Ken. She brought a gift each morning for Kennedy and let her get a cute little bunny at Build A Bear when we ventured out to the mall. We went to the Dallas Temple, watched Ken swim, went to Ken's ballet lessons, played at the park and she watched the kids while I caught up on some sleep. It was so fun to have her in town to talk and laugh with. She absolutely spoiled us and the kids. This morning we all went out to breakfast and had a great time. We have also been so greatful for all the help from our ward. We have had a meal every night since we've been home from the hospital and help taking Ken to school or just taking Kennedy to play with my friends' kids. We appreciate all the gifts, meals, diapers and extra help! Mike finished up his second semester with another 4.0 and now has a week and a half off. We may venture out to the beach in Galveston but we still have a lot of things in the area that we want to do so we are glad he has some time off to hang out with us (and to help mom).

Sophie is here!

Baby Sophie born 4/30/08 @ 11:25 7 lbs 1 oz. Proud big sister!

First family picture and below a shot of the red hair!

Sophie loves to stick out her tongue and to play with it.

She's here! I can't believe she is finally here and everything went soooo well. I pretty much gave birth to Kennedy II. Sophie is 7.1 pounds, 19 1/2 inches long and she has red hair- all of which are exactly the same as Kennedy when she was born. We went in Tuesday night to prep for induction and Wednesday morning they started me on pitosin at about 9:00. I started to have some pretty horrible contractions so we called in the Nurse Anesthetist or CRNA, to give me my epidural and for the next two hours I just rested while Mike went to get some food and ended up eating breakfast with my CRNA (which is what Mike is going to school for). At about 11:20 I was dialated to a 9 and ready to go so when my doc arrived I literally pushed twice and her head came out and one more push and her body followed. The actual delivery took under one minute. She was born at 11:25. She was silent and just looked around while I held her and even when they bathed her she was just looking around and sticking out her little tongue (which is her favorite thing to do). She is the sweetest little girl. I know this is the "honeymoon phase" and that she will start to fuss etc. but we never really had that with Ken so it has been really fun to have a cuddly and quiet little thing. She makes little lamb noises and has only really had one scream so far. And so although she and Kennedy have many similarities, they're temperaments so far are quite different. Kennedy is really loving being the big sis and is such a helper. I am feeling great and recovering quite well. Mike is back to the grind of studying for one of his tests tomorrow and he is not happy about it. He would much rather hold Sophie for hours on end. We are thrilled to be home and feel incredibly blessed that we have another healthy little girl and that everything went well. We love you all.