Temperature in North Las Vegas today: 103

Yes, it’s hot. There’s no getting around it. Katie and I (yes, Andy’s writing tonight) cannot remember the last time we saw a sprinkling of rain. So, with the heat, we did our best to stay indoors as much as possible.

As many of you know, our time here in the desert is getting shorter. No, we still do not know specifics, but hope to be making our way back east in a few more months. So, we decided to indulge this weekend in a Vegas tradition – the BUFFET. Actually it’s not as much of a tradition any more, at least not in the areas that most tourists see, but there are some great ones for local folks. Plus, we had a two-for-one coupon and Maggie eats free.

Katie and I have been trying to be more conscious of the food we eat, reading labels, etc. So, the buffet was our chance to throw all of that out the window. Maggie had a dinner of watermelon and cornbread—true to her Southern roots. I, on the other hand, had a mixture of boiled shrimp, cheese pizza, some sort of Asian beef dish and corn. You’ve got to love a place where it’s so acceptable to be weird.

After the buffet, we made our weekly trip to Whole Foods to marvel at the culinary delights (due to the prices, we don’t buy many of our groceries there, we just go and drool).

On Sunday, Maggie had a birthday party that had a gymnastics theme. She had a great time. Not much else this weekend. Again, it’s just hot! Oh, and as you will see from the video, Maggie has started helping with the laundry. Unfortunately, she hasn’t picked up on color sorting yet.

Have a good week.

~Andy

Memorial Day Weekend

What we did on Memorial Day weekend 2007:

1. I took Maggie to her first movie (Shrek 3).
2. We finished swimming lessons on Friday.
3. We cooked and ate a big, southern dinner on Saturday.
4. We had a fun time with some friends at a cookout on Monday!

A video of Maggie on her last day of swim lessons:



Maggie eating her southern dinner.














Maggie enjoying herself at the cookout on Monday.

Swim Lessons, week 1

Maggie started parent/toddler swim lessons this past Monday. We were a little unsure about how she would react since she hadn't yet been in a big pool this summer.

She had a blast (and that's an understatement). She learned how to put her face in the water, kick while on her stomach and on her back and how to jump off the side into Andy's arms. The first week ended on Friday night with all the kids putting on life jackets and trying to float without being supported by their parents arms. Yeah, Maggie wasn't to thrilled with that idea so she chose to not participate. Better luck this week.

Here are some pictures and videos.

Katie

Happy Mother's Day

We had a great Mother's Day weekend together. Friday night we decided to go eat at Panera Bread (a favorite of ours) and then we treated ourselves to some Ben and Jerry's (yummy).

Saturday, Maggie and I went to the gym while Andy went to work for a few hours and then Maggie and Andy ran some errand together. I thoroughly enjoyed my hour or so in the quiet. Andy and Maggie came back and gave me my Mother's Day gift from Sur La Table which is my new favorite store. The gift included two restaurant-quality cookie sheets (which I needed terribly...all mine are rusted), two silpat sheets :) and a case for all my cake decorating tools. I was so excited.

Today was a very relaxing day for me. I took a two and a half hour nap!!!!! After Maggie woke up from her nap (yes, she is back on track with naps), we surprised her with a pool that Andy got to put on the patio. She LOVED it. It took her a few minutes to get in (the water was pretty cold) and she cried when it was time to get out.

I hope everyone had a great weekend and Mother's Day!

Katie









She did this all by herself while I was on the phone one day last week. Seriously...she got it off the bookshelf and sat on the couch and was reading it. Genius.

Put me in time out

Okay, so put me in time out. I didn't take any pictures last week or over the weekend, sorry. Hopefully, these will give you your fix until I take some. It's getting increasingly harder to chase after a two-year old and still get pictures taken.

Maggie in May 2005 (one month old)


















Maggie in May 2006 (13 months old)

It's Party Time

Maggie went to a friends 2nd birthday party on Saturday. She had a BLAST!!!! A lady came who made balloon animals/characters and painted faces. Maggie came home with a balloon kitty cat and a heart painted on her face. I think her favorite part of the afternoon was playing in the play house with all the other kids.

On a side note, Maggie has decided to stop taking naps. She has taken two naps in the past eight days. Oh, and she's also getting up earlier too...usually somewhere between 5:30 and 6:30. I am trying to change the time I put her down for her nap (usually 12:30 or 1) to see if that is the reason. If anyone has any suggestions, please give them to me or Andy!!!!

Here are some pictures from the party.

Katie

A Quick Trip with a Lot of Fun

I am going to let the pictures do most of the speaking for our quick trip to north MS over the weekend. We all had a great time and none of us, especially Maggie, were ready to come back to the desert. Thanks Meme and Pap!!!!


The land has started being cleared for the new Toyota plant in Blue Springs
Originally uploaded by kennedytales.

Andy’s parents house…they have to be moved out by August 1st
Originally uploaded by kennedytales.

Pap and his girls on the four-wheeler
Originally uploaded by kennedytales.

Maggie’s donkeys, Juicy and Fruity (just a few weeks old)
Originally uploaded by kennedytales.

Andy, Maggie and I after dinner
Originally uploaded by kennedytales.

Pap and his girls after a catfish dinner at Malone’s
Originally uploaded by kennedytales.

Andy gets a chance to feed our new nephew, David
Originally uploaded by kennedytales.

I get my chance at feeding David
Originally uploaded by kennedytales.

David is awake after his big lunch
Originally uploaded by kennedytales.

I get some advice from Anna and Maggie on feeding David
Originally uploaded by kennedytales.

Maggie and Anna hug goodbye at the airport…they both got upset when it was time to say goodbye.
Originally uploaded by kennedytales.

Meme and Pap, are you ready???

Meme and Pap should heed our warning: hide your toilet paper when Maggie comes to visit this weekend!!!!! The episode below happened in about 10 seconds while I was on the internet this afternoon trying to book our plane tickets.

This was the aftermath:













During the destruction (sorry there isn't any sound other than my cell phone ringing...Maggie was very focused on what she was doing):



Yes, we are heading to north Mississippi on Thursday for a last minute trip to visit Andy's hometown. Toyota recently announced that it will be building an assembly plant that is going to significantly change the landscape of the community in which he grew up. Meme and Pap's house is part of the site, so this will probably be our last trip to their current house, as they will be vacating later this summer.

Friday the 13th

Usually, I don't even notice when the 13th day of the month falls on a Friday. I noticed this one. The day was going smoothly...Maggie was nice at playgroup and at Wal-Mart (which can sometimes be a disaster), the weather was nice...a good day all around, until...

Friday night all the moms from playgroup decided to go out to eat at P.F. Changs for a Moms Night Out. Now, for some background information. The last time we had a MNO was in February and I went, not realizing that I had the flu, and had to get one of the moms, Allison, to bring me home 30 minutes into the movie. It gets worse; it was Allison's first MNO to attend. I felt horrible and still do about having to make her leave early. Now fast forward to Friday, I had offered to pick Allison up and drive to the restaurant and she agreed. We both thought that bad luck couldn't happen to us twice.

Wrong, dead wrong.

We had a blowout. The only median was on the left side of the highway/interstate...traffic was flying by us only a few feet away from the passenger side. Yeah, pretty bad. So, Allison called AAA (my VW roadside assistance took their sweet time answering the line and AAA could be there in 30 minutes). To make the long story shorter, Allison was a sport with all this drama that tends to follow me around and we made it to P.F. Changs eventually and ordered margaritas before we could say hello to all the other moms.

THANKS ALLISON!!!!!

The rest of the weekend has been very relaxing and drama-free. Here are some pictures of Maggie, Jack Pete and the cake I made for a birthday at Andy's office this week.

Katie

A View from the Top

Six years ago today I just thought I was in Paris for a nice weekend with my boyfriend who I hadn't seen in almost 4 months. I had spent my last semester of college in London on a study abroad program with 29 other students from my college.

But as the sun set in Paris and I was looking over the view from the top of the Eiffel Tower, I noticed Andy wasn't standing behind me anymore. I turned around and there he was, on one knee with a beautiful engagement ring.

I'm not real sure what happened after that but we did manage to make it back down to the bottom of the tower without my ring falling off my finger (It was pretty cold at the top).

We spent another two days in Paris before returning to London and then to Jackson. However, the rest of our time in Paris was a little blurry. I remember deciding on a date, October 13, while eating the best quiche I will probably ever have. I remember the street markets that we walked through, a church with stunning stained glass, oh and the very expensive box of chocolates that we bought with the intention of bringing them home...those didn't even make it back to London.

Here are a few pictures that I dug up from that wonderful weekend in Paris. We have talked about going back to Paris in 4 years for our 10th anniversary and I hope it happens so I can soak up all the culture, food and chocolate that I didn't six years ago.

Katie

A Quick Funny

I saw this on an email signature yesterday and it made my Monday.

"Notice: Due to recent cutbacks and until further notice, the light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off."

Have a good week.

~Andy

The Birthday Weekend

What a weekend!!! Maggie had a great birthday weekend and all of it's activities. Friday we celebrated her actual birthday with a big birthday dinner ending with being sung to by the wait staff at Red Robin, and ice cream of course. Saturday was the big party day and Maggie enjoyed riding in her wagon (otherwise known as "The Birthday Chariot") and hunting for Easter eggs, even though all the candy had melted in the sun.

She decided to end her birthday weekend with a bang. Maggie had been running a fever on and off since Thursday. I had taken her to the doctor on Thursday and Maggie got a clean bill of health. So, when she got up from her nap on Saturday, she was burning up and her face was swollen. We took her temperature and it was 103. After a call to the doctor's office we were off to the emergency room. You've got to love getting to do that on your birthday weekend. To make a long story shorter, Maggie's fever was actually 104 by the time we arrived at the ER. After some tests and a big dose of Motrin we were sent home. Maggie has some sort of virus, not the flu, and is feeling much better this afternoon and evening. Andy and I couldn't have asked for a better pediatric ER staff than we had working on Maggie.

Anyway, here are the pictures and we hope everyone had a great Easter weekend.

Katie


IMG_1715Maggie loves playing with her cook cook
Originally uploaded by kennedytales.

IMG_1732Maggie doesn’t realize that the singing she hears is coming for her
Originally uploaded by kennedytales.

IMG_1738 Maggie enjoys a great view of the sunset on Daddy’s shoulders
Originally uploaded by kennedytales.

IMG_1744THE CAKE!!!!!
Originally uploaded by kennedytales.

IMG_1754Maggie awaits her entrance to her party in her birthday chariot
Originally uploaded by kennedytales.

IMG_1762Enjoying a bite of lunch before hunting for Easter eggs
Originally uploaded by kennedytales.

IMG_1775 Maggie loved hunting for Easter eggs
Originally uploaded by kennedytales.

IMG_1795 Bailey, Jake and Maggie playing with the wagon
Originally uploaded by kennedytales.

IMG_1816 Chloe and Maggie get taken for a ride in the wagon (aka- The Birthday Chariot)
Originally uploaded by kennedytales.

IMG_1791Maggie blows out her candles on her cake
Originally uploaded by kennedytales.

Happy Birthday Maggie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maggie's 2nd birthday is here and we cannot believe it. Andy put together her birthday present from us last night and the video below shows just how excited she was. We were afraid she wouldn't go to bed but thankfully she did.

Maggie has a big birthday weekend planned for herself. Day one festivities will include Daddy staying home from work to play, an egg hunt with playgroup and a special afternoon activity that has yet to be decided upon. Day two will be the big party with all her friends including yet another egg hunt and lots of cake.

Enjoy the video.

Happy Birthday wishes also go out to Papa and Andy's grandfather, Papaw who both celebrated birthday's yesterday!!! Happy Birthday!!!!

Katie

Maggie's Birthday Week

Maggie has decided to be a big girl since her second birthday is on Friday. So, we threw her pacifiers away. I think I was more worried about this than Maggie was, but we knew it had to be done. Monday was the big day and it went better than I expected. She took a little time to go to sleep on Monday night but slept all night long and went right to sleep last night. However, naptime is not happening. I don't know why but this is day three of no nap and it's not fun.

Maggie did take a trip today to the Lied Children's Discovery Museum with playgroup. She had a lot of fun playing in the bubbles.

I'm off to do some cleaning and more party preparations.

Katie