Days leading up to the New Year.

The last time I wrote on our blog was before Christmas. I am now blogging to fill everyone in on what you've been missing over the last few weeks. We have been extremely busy with a billion things it seems, Kennedy's first Christmas, her visit with Santa, having her pictures taken, moving into her new house, and so forth. Allow me to elaborate.

Let me start by saying the weather here in Florida is just ridiculous! We have had spring weather. The average daytime temperature is around 75 degrees and the nightime temperature being around 58 degrees. The humidity is high and we have had a little bit of rain and fog. We have had a few days of cold weather, but nothing too extreme or nothing that lasted very long.

Christmas Eve was spent with the Jurey's over in Milton. Audrey and Thomas are here and were able to celebrate Christmas with us. We ate Christmas dinner at 4 and shortly after that, Santa appeared. Lucky for her, Kennedy was already in her Santa costume. So when Santa appeared, he knew she believed in him. They posed together for some fabulous pictures even though Kennedy was beginning to get upset. I think Santa was secretly pinching her. Her presents consisted of everything you could think of for a baby girl. The top shelf of her new closet is absolutely full of her Christmas presents thanks to Nana & Grandaddy, Audrey & Thomas and David, Tiffany and Kelan. When Christmas was over, we packed up all of Kennedy's new toys, took them to her new house, so we wouldn't have to move them in a few days.

Christmas Day was spent in Pensacola at our house. The Gardner's came over around lunch time to do Christmas presents. It was rather easy this year as we all either wanted gift cards or cash. Kennedy got the learn and groove table that I wanted her to get. It is really cool and will teach her English and Spanish. Around 2, my parents, Audrey & Thomas showed up for Christmas Dinner. Jason's dad left to go and pick up Jason's Great Aunt Marj for dinner. So we had everyone together for Christmas Dinner. We love that! Jason and I are true believers that Christmas Dinner is all about getting EVERYONE together, not just 1 side of the family. We ate dinner around 3. Afterwards, we all made our way into the living room and decided to have competitions on the Nintendo Wii. A little while later, The Gardner's left to take Aunt Marj home and to wrap up the day. The Jurey's/Moore's hung aound for a little while longer and we continued to play the Nintendo Wii. It was a good day.

The day after Christmas, was moving day! Jason and I got up rather early, tended to Kennedy and began to load the vehicles we had. Shortly after, Audrey and Thomas showed up in my dad's truck and trailer. A little while later, my dad showed up in the Tahoe with another trailer. We began to move. We have 5 vehicles, 4 trailers, and 5 drivers to move us to Milton. We did not make the move in 1 trip or in 1 day. However, we did move the majority of the stuff that Friday. By the time Friday was over, the house in Milton was beginning to look lived in. Jason, Kennedy and I stayed the night in our new house that Friday night and loved it.

Over the next few days, leading up to the new year, we were constantly unpacking, moving things, finding things, and so forth. We traveled to Destin to roam around the shopping center, ate the Cracker Barrel for breakfast (or as Audrey and Thomas call it, the COUNTRY KITCHEN) and then returned home. Kennedy enjoyed her first major shopping trip and was certainly pooped when we got home.

New Year's Eve was a low profile event for us. We were planning on going around to my parents house to hang out, since Thomas will be leaving on the 7th, but that changed later in the day. My dad worked and was extremely tired, so he went to bed early. Mom, Audrey and Thomas came over to our house and we brought the New Year in together and playing the Wii. Who knew Lauretta was such a good golfer!

Kennedy is growing like a weed. She has her first cold and went to the doctor for her 2 month checkup and to receive her shots. She weighs 12 pounds and is almost 22 inches long. She is definitely changing more and more. She is more alert, following every movement that anyone makes, smiling (but trying to laugh), making all sorts of noises, and just enjoying the scenery. Her favorite items are Mr. Fan (aka ceiling fans) and Mr. Light (Kitchen light). She enjoys going to La Hacienda to hear the water fountain (which relaxes her and puts her right to sleep). She did also experience her first bowling event on Saturday night. It was Uncle Thomas' going away party, and she did so well the entire night.

So that has been our holiday season for 2008 and the beginning of 2009. Jason and I are both back to work on January 5th, and we are not looking forward to it. You have to remember, I have been on vacation with Kennedy for a little over 8 weeks and Jason has been working 2 days a week for the same amount of time. Luckily though, our plan for not putting Kennedy in daycare is working out well. Monday's and Thursday's Kennedy will be spending time with Nana Jurey while we are at work. Tuesday's and Wednesday's we were hoping she could spend time with Grandma Gardner, but that didn't work out due to her work schedule. So Tuesday's and Wednesday's Kennedy will be spending with Auntie Audrey (since she is here for good now)! The last day we are needing to account for is Friday, which she will spend with her daddy all day! I am extremely looking forward to this as the alone time between daddy and daughter is something they will both cherish. Besides, if he needed anything, help is only a phone call away.

That is what has been happening with us. Very busy as you can see and needing a vacation to recuperate from the vacation we have had. I know I keep saying we will be posting pictures soon, but they are all still on the camera and we haven't officially had time to put them up yet since we have had such hectic lives lately.

Thanks for reading!
With Love,
Jason, Jen and Kennedy.