School : ) Part 2

Today was Conner's first day of school. : )  I have somewhat been dreading this day because he is so attached to me and I didn't want him to be crying and holding onto me or anything like that.  Just let me tell you, that it is now August and he has been going to Primary for 8 months of this year and he just barely started going in alone and not crying.  Needless to say, he has separation issues.  

Conner seemed to be really excited to go to school, but I wasn't going to hold my breath that it was all going to go well.  I went downstairs this morning to wake the boys up and it started.  Crying and screaming because he said he was too tired to go to school.  I was thinking that it was going to be rough, but he finished his temper tantrum (over his socks not being comfortable in his shoes) and then came up and had breakfast, we brushed his teeth, and took some pictures and I walked him to school.  We got there and he put his backpack away and sat down at his desk and started working on the little project she had ready for them.  I asked him if it was okay for me to leave now and he said,"Yep" he gave me a kiss on the cheek and I walked out.  No drama, no nothing.  YIPEE!!  It was exactly what I was hoping for, minus the tantrum this morning.  Let's hope that his first day was a fabulous one and that he will want to go back everyday from here on out. 

Conner ready for School

 Ready to walk with his brothers.

 Miss Gervais.  She is even cuter in person and so very young!

 Just outside his classroom

 His desk area

 Conner at his desk waiting for everything to start

I LOVE this redheaded boy!  I am so glad that he is growing up and becoming independent!  Here's to hoping that he comes home today with a good report and excitement for going back tomorrow. : )

School : )

Just the sound of this word makes me smile.   I know that I must be the worst mom in the world because I dread when summer comes, but I love it when school comes around.  I just get really tired of hearing that the kids are bored and that we have no schedule whatsoever.  I love getting back into the swing of things and the kids are learning something. : )

This year Caitlin started 7th grade.  We went to the school a couple of times to work on opening her locker and getting used to her class schedule.  She had the toughest time with her locker.  She could open it once and then couldn't open it again for like 20 to 30 times.  I was really stressed.  She was really stressed and so there were some tears.  I was just really worried that she was going to have this awful experience and be lost and not know what to do.  The day before school actually started, they let all the 7th graders go for about 3 hours to learn the layout of the school and open lockers and such.  She did fantastic and it was probably because I wasn't there with her stressing her out. : )  Her first day was great and I hope she has a really good time in Jr. High.  I hated it myself.  I have tried to forget those awful years.

She was really happy to finally get the first day over with.

By the way, last year in 6th grade, she received the TERRIFIC kid award from the Kiwanis club.  They chose one boy and one girl from each 6th grade class and Caitlin was chosen from her class.  She really is a terrific kid and I will miss her because she is such a great help to me.

Collin started 4th grade, and football.  I am really excited about football.  I never was a fan of football until Collin started playing last year.  I have become somewhat of a competitive Mom which is annoying to me sometimes.  I know that Collin can do really great things in football, but sometimes he is lazy and doesn't try.  It frustrates me.  This year we decided to keep him in the 3/4 grade division instead of bumping him up to 5th grade with his team from last year.  I really thought that his coach last year was really good for him because he pushed really hard and got them to perform, which is why they went undefeated last year.  Coach was a huge yeller which bugged me, but we did see results.  So I thought that keeping him in the same division with a different coach was a huge mistake.  When I went to the first meeting the new coach told us that he wasn't going to do conditioning, running, push ups and very little contact.  I was floored!  Why wouldn't you do those things in tackle football?  The kids aren't going to learn anything and they are going to get killed by the other teams.  After much venting to Michael, we decided just to try it out and see how it goes.  I joked that the old coach spit fire and this new coach poops rainbows because the first practice was so happy and carefree.  I was like is this football or a dance camp?  The next practice was much better.  He is really teaching them the fundamentals (which Collin didn't really get last year because most of the team had already played a year and knew all of that stuff) and Collin is learning so much and having a ton of fun as well.  He never complains about going to practice and because he is basically the only one on the team that played last year he knows what he is doing and he gets a lot of play time.  Enough of that,  I just can't wait until games begin!

Collin with Mrs. Gregory.  She seems so nice and Collin really likes her so far.

Corbin is starting 2nd grade and is really growing into his own.  He still throws a temper every now and again and we even thought of starting him in football this year so that he can take his anger out onto the field, but he just isn't ready yet.  He has a real issue with winning and losing and when things don't go his way he just sits down where he is at and pouts.  I didn't want him doing that on the football field in front of his teammates and coaches.  So I told him that if he worked on good sportsman like behavior this year that he could play next year.  We are going to put him into basketball this fall though, he really needs something to do.  Corbin absolutely LOVES Colby.  He is so sad when Colby is not awake to say goodbye before he goes to school and runs in and kisses him when he gets home first thing.  What a great big brother he is!

Corbin with Mrs. Condie.  She really is cute as can be and he really likes her!

Conner starts Kindergarten next week and I will post about his first day then.  He is bored as can be without his brothers and doesn't know what to do with himself.  Which is weird because he has never had a problem with entertaining himself.  He is such a cute boy and I have been overly concerned with him going to Kindergarten because he never wants to be away from me.  When we went to meet his teacher he really thought she was nice and said he can't wait to go.  We will see.  I hope there will be no tears...

Just a cute picture of my redhead!  Love this boy!

Colby is still Colby.  That boy doesn't really grow fast.  We just took him in for his 9 month visit and he is 18 lbs in the 10% for weight still.  I feed him like crazy and he just doesn't put on the pounds.  He has a really fast burning metabolism.  He is 27 inches tall in the 75% for height so he is tall and skinny.  He is just about to walk.  He has taken a few steps without support but will sit down immediately when he realizes he has nothing to hold onto.  We are working on it.  No teeth yet either but he is a pro at gumming things down.  He brings a lot of spunk to our household.  He is really hyper sometimes and does the cutest things.  He loves to smile and play chase, and he loves to play with any type of ball.

 This picture is a little old, he is not as chunky anymore.  I have great pictures but they are all on my phone and as soon as I can figure out how to get them on here, this is all I've got.

Colby with his new baby cousin Kyson.  He was very cute with him.

Michael and I are doing great.  Some things might be changing in our lives soon, hopefully for the better.  I will keep you posted, hopefully.  I need to do better about this blogging thing. : )

Collin's Birthday Party

This year for Collin's birthday, I gave him a choice. I asked him if he wanted a friend party or a really great gift from us. He chose the great gift. Surprised by his answer I asked him why he didn't want a friend party to which he replied that he didn't really have any friends to invite. I was floored and saddened by his answer. Caitlin confirmed my fears because she said that he really didn't have friends. I started thinking about it and he never goes to anyone's house to play like Caitlin does nor does he get invited to go to a friends house. I really had a hard time believing all of this because Collin has always made friends wherever we have lived. He has a really great relaxed personality so he gets along with everyone.

After speaking with his teacher at school (only because parent teacher conference was the Thursday before his actual birthday, not because I was so freaked out) it turns out that in their classroom this year, they are all friends. Mrs. Cox said a lot of parents had mentioned the "friend" thing to her because no one is making "clicks". They all play together and are really nice to each other. I was happy with that because we all know how annoying clicks can be.

I talked with Collin and convinced him that he should try a party so that the boys in his class could get to know him outside of school. I was really worried that no one would show up and he would be left friendless at his own birthday party, so I told him to think of 16 boys from church and school and invite them with the reasoning that you usually get about half the amount. So we did. We invited 16 boys and as the days got closer to his party we were getting RSVP's from a lot of the kids. I was petrified that we were going to have all 16 show up and it would be a mad house, but I was going to be okay with it no matter what. Turns out that 13 kids showed up. 13! We played a get to know you game and then a bunch of minute to win it games. All these boys loved it! I was happy when it was over! It was so worth it. Just a couple of days after his birthday Collin brought home one of the kids from the party and played and then a couple of days after that Collin was invited to go over to another kids house that came to his party.
I asked Collin if he was happy with the choice that he had to be talked into : ) and he said that it was the best birthday he has ever had! Love that kid!

Collin with all the boys from the party


All of his loot

All I can say, is sometimes Mom's can be right!

Good Morning!

This is what I get to wake up to every morning. Colby determines what time morning is around here. Sometimes it's 1:30 and when I am extremely lucky sometimes it's 7:00. The latter has only happened to me once. Fluke?? I think yes. Anywho, I feel really blessed to wake up to this face no matter what time it is because he is such a cutie! Makes me fall in love with Michael all over again everyday because I think that they look a lot alike. Right now, I only function on Colby time, but I LOVE it!

Kennedy Happenings

Hello, all! I am such a slacker and I just get really overwhelmed at the thought of everything that I need to blog about that I just put it off until it has been 7 months since my last post and boy you better believe a lot has happened.
First off, we had our cute baby boy COLBY JAMES KENNEDY on Nov. 7th @ 3:23 pm. He came by C-section because of complications. Needless to say I am very happy to be alive and have a very healthy baby. I believe that Michael is happy with the outcome as well. I couldn't imagine him having to raise 5 kids on his own. : ) Colby was a complete peanut weighing in at only 6 lbs. 13 oz. I have never had a kid this small and it was quite foreign to me. No worries though, at his 2 month check in, he gained 5 pounds and now is 11 lbs. 11 oz. I love it! He is starting to get really chunky with fat rolls and all.
Colby James Kennedy

On to other news:
We had a great Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. Time totally flew by. I feel like I am a new Mom all over again and I have forgotten what it feels like to have a newborn. The exhaustion has taken over and I feel like I am in robot mode. There is so much I want to get done everyday, but when I sit down to feed little Colby, I fall asleep and wake up feeling even more exhausted! I keep telling myself that someday it will get better and to just hang in there until then.

Caitlin got her ears pierced as one of her presents for Christmas. She was nervous and a little excited. I was going to wait until she was 12 but she had been talking about it for a few months so I caved and let her do it 6 months early. She has taken good care of her ears. We thought that they were infected at one point but she kept up on the antiseptic and pulled through. I know that you all think that I am crazy for waiting so long, but I wanted this to be her choice and I wanted her to be ready to take care of it herself.

Caitlin right before her ear piercing


After they were done and she still has a smile on her face. I was totally proud of her because she gets scared about everything and thought that maybe she was going to have a melt down at the mall but she didn't even shed one tear.
I love this girl! She is just about the sweetest thing and has totally matured over the past 2 years. She is such a great helper. Most of the time she just takes over for me with the baby when I have WAY too much stuff to do and she never complains.....ok sometimes she complains but it is way better than it used to be. She is just so grown up. It really does go by so fast!

We had some family pictures taken when we were in Mesquite over New years weekend. I am totally huge, but I have to remember that I just had a baby 2 months ago and I never get back into shape for at least a year. I hope that I can look better in about 6 months if I work really hard. Goodbye sugar, we had a nice run there for a while!

This one I think is somewhat the best
What a handsome group we are. I can't believe how big my boys are getting either! They are so much fun, I love them all to pieces!

I guess that is enough for now, because little Colby just woke up from his nap and he is NOT happy about it. I am really going to try to keep up on this blog, I know that I say that every 6 months but it is one of my new years resolutions so hopefully I won't let myself down. : )


Just one more of the newest cutie to join our family

We are just totally in LOVE with this little guy!

Holy Moly!

Yesterday was the day that I announced to the world that we are indeed having baby #5 and it is another boy. I was disappointed for all of 5 seconds that it was not a girl because a girl would have been really nice for Caitlin, but he is very healthy and we are very excited. I never wanted to be a mother of more than 4 kids. Mike would have at least 6 if not more and he has been trying to get me to have another ever since Conner was 1. I was bound and determined to not have anymore and was very clear to him that it was never going to happen. I guess that I should never say never.
About a year and a half ago, I was at Costco with Mike and there was a little tiny baby screaming in his mother's arms and for the first time ever in my life I wanted a baby, like baby hunger. Don't get me wrong, I wanted all of my kids, but I have never been baby hungry. Each child has come to us because it either made sense like spacing 2 years apart or like Corbin, comes unexpectedly. I told Michael how I felt and he got all giddy and said that we needed to have another one. To which I replied, "HECK NO". Only I think that I used a stronger word than that. I expressed to him that having another one didn't make sense. Conner was potty trained and we were free of babies forever and there was no looking back. Then I told him that my heart expressed a different feeling and I didn't understand it. Mike told me that when my heart and mind came together than we would know that we needed to add another child to our family. I just made up my mind that I would never tell him if that ever happened because I was done.
Fast forward to about 6 months ago.
Things really started to not make sense to me when the idea of having another baby was on my mind 24/7. I was constantly thinking about it and I was really upset. If I would be late and take a pregnancy test and it would turn out negative, I would feel really sad. Because of this, I decided it was time to pray about it. I got on my knees and asked if we should add another child to our family and I didn't get an answer. I think that it was because I already knew what the answer was, but I just didn't want to admit it to myself. I was looking for a "sign." A couple of weeks later I prayed about it again, but this time I prayed that I would have the courage to tell Mike that I wanted another baby. I knew that the second I told him we would instantly be pregnant and I really just wanted to discuss it with him and get some input. I finally gained the courage to tell him a couple of weeks later and to my surprise he told me that he was just getting used to the idea that we were not going to have any more and was considering a vasectomy. I told him that he needed to pray about it alone and that we should pray together. Then one night on his way home from work he called and told me that he felt like we should have another and the rest is history.
I have always had my life planned out. So far none of it has happened the way that I planned, but that is life right? I have no control. Heavenly Father knows me and the way things will turn out according to the choices that I make. Sure, I could have ignored all the feelings that I had had over the course of a year, but I could not deny them. They were too strong and I felt that if I did ignore them than I was making a big mistake. There is a reason and purpose for this baby. There is also a reason that he is a boy and not a girl. I may never know what the reason is, but I feel very satisfied that we have made the right decision.
I feel really old this time. I am turning 35 in September and I always wanted to be done with my child bearing years by 30. And I had Conner in April before my 31st birthday. Another plan gone not as planned but it's okay. We are really happy. Now we just need to come up with a name since I have about a million girl names but I have exhausted the boy name pool. It was a miracle that we both agreed on Conner's name. Holy Moly I am going to be a mother of 5 kids!:)