Where has the time gone?

I haven't posted anything this year and feel really terrible. However, anyone that has 2 children will tell you how busy they become and how impossible posting on the internet can be. When we aren't busy with the girls, Jason and I update around the house, try to have a great yard and more importantly, try to catch up on sleep. I don't know how we manage but we do. I can assure all of you that we have been extremely busy this year. We had so many wonderful things happening this year already that we can't wait to share with you. Although it appears I don't post often, I do manage to capture fabulous times on my flip video that I will be sharing with you.

Kennedy was 2 on November 6th and she is so smart. She definitely blows us away by her vocabulary, what she remembers, and her imagination. She thinks she is the next American Idol by the way she sings. She loves being outdoors, she loves socializing (imagine that) and loves going to spend time at her Nana's and Papa's. She is even spending the night there with her big cousin Kelan. I think her favorite thing to do outside is get dirty, but asks to go to the park almost every weekend. The one thing we haven't managed to conquer yet is her fear for the BIG jumpy castles, but we are trying. She has been to a few big girl birthday parties and is having a blast eating cake and singing happy birthday. It is definitely the little things in life:)

Savannah was 1 on March 23rd and is completely opposite from Kennedy. She is a healthy baby who wants to do everything in her own time. She is stubborn and looks just like I did when I was a baby. However, her crazy faces that she makes, make her look just like David's little boy Kelan. Jason likes to call Savannah the holy terror as she doesn't want to play with Kennedy, but she would just rather antagonize her.

They are both really funny and we never have a dull moment in our house. We are gearing up for Easter and the big Easter egg hunt. I am going to get some recent photos taken of them and mailed out so be looking for those. I will try to post some videos in the next day or so along with some pictures.

We hope everyone is well and we wish all of you a blessed Easter.

Love,

Jen, Jason, Kennedy & Savannah:)

End of another year!

We wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We hope everyone enjoyed 2010 and has already thought of the resolutions for 2011! One of mine will be to update the blog regularly. Over the last 12 months, we have made fantastic memories, shared tears of joy and sadness along the way, and have been extremely blessed by the hand of God. A look back at 2010 for the Gardner's.

Jason and I were so exhausted at the start of the new year that we didn't even watch the ball drop for 2010! It was a sign of we are getting old LOL! We celebrated friends and families birthdays, engagements, anniversaries, weddings, and even had a few tricks up our sleeves.

Savannah was born on March 23rd by a scheduled csection and she weighed in at a whopping 8lbs 13oz. When we brought her home, she weighed 8lbs 10oz. So much for losing a little weight. She is our very own CHUB a LUB (is what I call her) and such a sweet baby! She has been really good for us and has slept all night since 3 weeks. She is stubborn as hell and only cries when she is hungry or tired! Imagine that.

Kennedy also has excelled really well. The tubes that are in her ears are really working perfectly and we are showing no signs of issues there. After taking the summer off, we moved Kennedy to an "in-home" daycare/school with kids her age and older. There are only 7 kids total (including Savannah) and Kennedy is learning so much. At age 2, she is potty trained, she can count to 10, she knows her colors and her body parts, and her vocabulary is beyond amazing. I am a proud mama and it may sound like bragging, but this was at her 2 year old checkup and her pediatrician's words, not mine.

We have received emails from Santa, I had a 30th birthday, I got my job back teaching 6th grade math at Hobbs Middle School, we took our first family trip to Walt Disney World and even saw Shamu. We saw old friends, hung out with new friends and even watched Audrey graduate with her Masters degree this December. We have had an amazing year and we can't wait to see what 2011 has in store for us. Here are a few pictures of what we have done this year!

Jason and Kennedy after the Shrek ride at Universal Studios.

Auntie Audrey and Kennedy posing as princesses!

Mama and Kennedy at the Gulf Breeze Zoo on a very hot day!

Kennedy and Savannah being too cool for school with their sunshades on!

A little pool time with Daddy.

Kennedy as a princess on her 2nd Birthday!

Savannah having a bad hair day!

Kennedy, Kelan (my nephew) and Savannah all posing for the camera before trick or treating!

Kennedy wearing Auntie Audrey's sweater!

Cowgirl Jessie...aka Kennedy... for Halloween!

Kennedy and Savannah visiting Santa.

Kennedy getting up to something.

Sisters posing for the camera

Kennedy and mama looking like twins!

We hope you enjoy looking through a few of our candid photos for the 2010 year. I will try to post the Christmas photos soon as I need to get them off of the camera. We hope everyone had a fabulous year, a Merry Christmas and will have a Happy New Year. May 2011 be a blessed year for you and yours!

Really.....

So it seems the last time I blogged, we pretended we didn't know the sex of baby #2, which was clearly not the truth. We did know that we were having another beautiful baby girl and we chose to call her Savannah Rose. She made her big debut on March 23rd at 5:45pm weighing in at a whopping 8lbs 13ounces and was 19inches long. Once we announced we were pregnant with Savannah or if we mentioned we were having baby#2, we were always told we were going to be super busy. Again, I am not sure exactly what I was thinking, but BOY OH BOY was everyone right. As to date, Savannah is 3 1/2 months old and we still haven't sent out her birth announcements. Looks like we do not qualify for parents of the year for her this year.....ha ha ha! Hopefully you will be glad to know that we will have those announcements out this week!

A brief, yet funny update on how life has changed from 1 baby girl to 2 baby girls.....

• Truth: We have a choir in our house everyday. Funny part of that is: Savannah starts the crying choir because she is hungry or tired and then her fabulous big sister, Kennedy, likes to join in and the rest is pure harmony.... Sometimes Jason wants to cry along with them......
• Truth: We are working out/lifting weights now. Funny part of that is: If we are walking in the house carrying Savannah (@ 3months, almost 16 pounds), we now have Kennedy wrapped around one of our legs and being carried through the house at the same time. Talk about getting weighed down! ha ha ha
• Truth: My life can't get any better. Funny part of that is: with kids, everyday is a new experience and a new adventure! Both Kennedy and Savannah brighten my day everyday with their loving smile, their big eyes (trust me....), their loving and beautiful nature and make everyday for me better than the day before!

We have all adjusted well, some (me) better than others (not naming anyone here...hahaha) and I wouldn't change it for the world! We live for our girls. We are going on vacation this year to DISNEY WORLD. It will be our first FAMILY vacation and we are super excited. I know what some of you are thinking, but seriously......when you have kids, where else do you vacation? From now on, until they are grown and on their own, they dictate where we vacation. We are still the parents and we make the decisions in this house, however, would you seriously want to take 2 toddlers to Fiji where they are going to be miserable and make you miserable? Not me....I will wait for when Nana and Grandaddy ask for them to stay a week/maybe two and then I will plan that FIJI vacation Jason and I dreamed of for a honeymoon!

Have our lives changed? ABSOLUTELY.

Have they changed for the best? ABSOLUTELY.

Can I talk about anything other than our girls? ABSOLUTELY, but why would I! I love them!

Our girls are well loved and I live my life for them! My priorities have slightly shifted and instead of doing things for myself, I would rather do them for Kennedy and Savannah. So here is the pecking order according to me in the house.....

1. Kennedy and Savannah (in no particular order)
2. ME and at time Jason (I know not grammatically correct but see below for explanation)
3. Jason (yes he is above as well. Explanation: Most of the time we share the priority space in the house, but there are times when I need to put myself first and very rarely do, but I am working on it!)
4. Then my poor dogs....but don't let the number they are fool you. They still have a fabulous life and are spoiled rotten.

So here is my goal: To keep this blog up to date!

Will it happen, not sure but I am definitely going to try. I am hoping to post pictures of both girls soon. Honestly, not sure how up to date I am going to be since I am already behind on my to do list and I am super busy with everyone's schedule. However, we do have some candid shots of both girls but they are mostly on facebook.

I hope it has been enjoyable catching up with us and we hope to post again soon.

Jen and the gang.....

March madness.....Part 1

The month of March has just begun and already it has been a wild and wacky month. We thought baby #2 was going to be born on March 4th as I was having contractions and ended up in labor and delivery. Apparently a false alarm as we are now gearing towards the middle of March and we are still very pregnant. However, we have started our weekly visits with the doctor and baby #2 is scheduled to arrive early morning on March 23rd.

Work is going well for us. My last day of school will be March 19th and then the maternity leave will begin. I am planning on returning around April 19th and finishing out the school year. I have been a busy bee with nesting, planning for my students while I am away, preparing for a substitute, attending doctor's appointments, and keeping up with Kennedy. She is definitely into everything and on the go 24/7. The only time she seems to slow down is when it is nap time or bed time. At least she is wearing herself out during the day and sleeping the entire night in her own bed! It is what a parent dreams of sometimes, right?

Kennedy has been extremely entertaining to everyone that is around her and is such a ham for the camera. She is always dancing, doing a funny face, trying to fix her crazy hair and now either singing or playing a musical instrument. We were fortunate enough to catch her in the kitchen pretending to play her Backyardigan's saxophone that Uncle David, Aunt Tiffany and Kelan bought her at Christmas. She loves to put a little booty dancing into her music as well.

We will definitely keep you posted with the new arrival of the baby and Kennedy's progress with the baby. I am excited to see her reaction to the new baby and I know she will be a big help!

Enjoy the video and we will speak to you soon.

With Love,

Jason, Jen, Kennedy and baby#2.

Singing Sensation.

I am still trying to get Kennedy's Single Ladies debut on video, however, I think I have caught the next best thing. This video clip is of Kennedy in the kitchen listening to "Single Ladies". But you have to watch the entire video and make sure your volume is turned up. She has decided to sing along with Beyonce. I think I have the NEXT AMERICAN IDOL in training already! Maybe I should send the video to Simon Cowell? Hmmmmm, just kidding. Anyway, we hope you enjoy and I will try to continue posting more videos of her as we discover much more fabulous things!

With Love,

Jason, Jen and Kennedy.....

Dancing the night away.

On our previous blog entry, I talked about how Kennedy would dance to Beyonce's "Single Ladies". Well we tried to get her on camera for what seems like ever and we have not been successful thus far. However, on Saturday night, we were in the kitchen listening to my ipod and Fergie's "Glamorous" came on over the speakers. Here is what Kennedy thought of the music.......

We hope you guys enjoy this dance-fest as much as we have.

With Love,
Jason, Jen and of course, "the Dance Diva" aka. Kennedy!

Starting 2010 off right....

The year 2010 has just begun and part of my New Year's resolution is to maintain our blog and definitely dedicate some time to keeping everyone involved in our lives. For those of you that may or may not know, we are definitely expecting AGAIN and baby Gardner #2 is scheduled to be here in March of 2010. That means that Kennedy and her baby brother/sister (as we don't know the sex of the baby) will only be 16 months apart. We are super excited and can't wait to have another Gardner running around. As much as we LOVE being parents, Jason and I are definitely out of the baby making business. Two babies is all we need and NO MORE!

A few weeks before Christmas, Kennedy's Godfather (I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse.....ha ha ha) Thomas arrived to spend the holidays with us (and of course his wife). We mailed out our Christmas cards ( a collage of Kennedy) during the week of Christmas. Our apologies if they didn't get to everybody in time, but with a 1 year old, and another baby on the way, we were just swamped and Christmas Cards were the last things on our minds. The next major event would be Christmas. As usual, we celebrated Christmas Eve with the Jurey's and then a few hours on Christmas day with the Gardner's before the Jurey's came over to join us for a wonderful Christmas dinner. We are all about Family during the holidays! I have posted some fabulous photos of these great times on my facebook page, so look me up and you can see the albums. Trust me, there are too many of the pictures to post on the blog.

After Christmas, came the new year. We had big plans and great intentions on hanging out at the Jurey's (as they were having a mild New Year Party), but we never saw 10:00 p.m. Jason, Kennedy and I were all passed out before we even got started. We don't mind though, when you have a child that sleeps through most of the night, you take what you can get when you can get it! So not ringing in the bells this year was quite alright with us. There is always next year and the many years after that! We were pleased to hear all about our friends and families stories though! Good times!

January 4th brought back the work week for both Jason and I and Kennedy back at daycare. Kennedy is all grown up. We celebrated her first birthday on November 7th (the day after her REAL birthday) with a Backyardigans themes birthday party. It was a blast. We had a pinatta for my nephew, Kelan, and had several different things set up to entertain the kiddies (even though there were only a few in attendance). Nonetheless, Kennedy had a fabulous time and received way too many presents, but what are birthday's for! She now eats ALL table foods and is really becoming Miss Independent. She is on the move and there is no slowing her down. She is walking all over the place (without holding on or holding hands) and is always chasing after the dogs. She is all about music and her favorite thing right now is DANCING to Beyonce "Single Ladies (put a Ring on it)" and it is hilarious. However, every time I try to record her doing it, she stops and goes on to something else. Trust me when I tell you the funniest thing ever. She even slaps her hands on her legs and squats, shaking her ghetto booty (or lack of in Kennedy's case)! I will keep trying to get in on camera, so keep looking for the clip. We go back to the doctor on January 5th for a check-up on Baby Gardner 2, and no we don't know the sex of the baby, and if we do decide to find out, we ARE NOT telling anybody. It seems as if we have so much to do and so little time to do it in.

With the loss of both of my grandmother's (now having no grandparents alive) and an Uncle, we sure could use a bit of a break. However, God does work in mysterious ways and even though it isn't always what we want or ask for, it is what is best in his eyes. We do have high hopes that this year, 2010, brings us fabulous memories, great times, and a million moments of happiness. I know for Jason and I, nothing is taken for granted anymore and life is way too precious to be missing out on such blessings. We hope you and your family ALL have a fabulous year ahead of you!

Been a while.

It has definitely been a while since we have blogged last, but here is a small update. Kennedy has 2 teeth, has had a sinus infection, a double ear infection, and has not been having the best of fun. However, Halloween is getting closer and when we get a costume, we will be sure to take her picture and especially a little video clip of Kennedy trick or treating. I will be sure to post all of those as soon as it happens.

We are on the countdown to Kennedy's 1st Birthday. I have already begun planning her color coordinated themed birthday party and trying to accomodate for the Older kids (adults) things to do. I did want to help Kennedy feel better, so Jason put her swing that she got for Christmas 2008 (from Uncle Thomas and Aunt Audrey) up today and also got the wagon that Kennedy received (before she was even born from a fabulous friend of mine, Sonya) out today and put it together. So we have a few video clips of her 1st time in the wagon and her 1st time on the swing. The swing will be a daily adventure, weather permitting of course and the Wagon will be used for everything now, especially Trick or treating.... We can't wait....

We hope you enjoy the clips and we will be sure to post later.

With Love, Jen.

On the move........

Kennedy has made fabulous progress within the last week. She has a TOOTH on her bottom gum that is coming through and has become speedy gonzalez as she is now crawling all over the place. If Kennedy is crawling, she will stop to hysterically laugh as the dogs come around to see what she is doing. She even tries to sit in-between them while they are eating their dinner. Here is a video of her crawling. I hope you enjoy. By the way, she listens so well when we tell her no! Ha ha ha!

With Love,

Jen......

BIG NEWS.....

A ton of things have happened since we blogged last. Kennedy took her first trip to Mcguire's and had a good time. We were there for Grandma Gail's birthday. She danced when she heard the Scotland bagpiper play "Scotland the Brave", however, when he came over to our table, it was a wee bit loud for her sensitive ears. Uncle Thomas (her godfather) came into town on August 3rd and is planning to return to Scotland on August 17th. So needless to say we have been extremely busy and he of course had to have non-stop princess love from Kennedy. We have been everywhere it seems over the last 2 weeks. I am posting a few pictures of our adventures while Uncle Thomas has been here on vacation.

Not much else has been happening. I have been unsuccessful in getting another teaching job this year due to budget cuts. It isn't the best situation, but here is always believing that everything happens for a reason and hoping that someone (GOD) could hand me an outline or slip me a note or something that tells me what that reason is... ha ha ha.

Kennedy is crawling now, but only when she sees something that she really wants. She is standing on her feet, but her hands are also on the ground as well. She hasn't figured it out yet how to let go.

NOW FOR THE BIG NEWS: Kennedy had her first sleepover on Saturday night, August 15th, 2009. Nana and Grandaddy Jurey had a sleepover and Kennedy was the guest of honor. I know what some of you are thinking, how did Jason and I do? Well, we did really well. We went out with Audrey and Thomas to Hemmingway's and had a fabulous time. We even got to come home and have a GOOD night's sleep. Don't get me wrong, Kennedy does really well sleeping through the night, but she does have wimpers which break our sleep. So a FULL unbroken night of sleep was fabulous on Saturday for me. I don't know who was more excited, Nana or Grandaddy. When we went over on Sunday morning to pick her up, my mom said at one point, Kennedy was in the guest room (smaller bed) with her and my dad and they were all just hanging out. watching some tv. Boy does she have them wrapped around her finger already. They are already planning her next sleepover. It might sound crazy, but I think that is all they talked about today, was how much fun they had and how excited they were at just hanging out with Kennedy. For me, It doesn't get much better than that!

I have rambled enough. Here are those fabulous pictures of Kennedy and we hope you enjoy. Be sure to read the captions, they explain so much!

With love, Jen.

Jason and I at Hemmingway's for Thomas' last weekend in Pensacola!

Kennedy and I at McGuire's.

Kennedy and Jason at McGuire's.

Kennedy and Auntie Audrey trying on her party hat. Don't you just love it!

I've been caught RED HANDED!

Funny Story.

Audrey and I decide to go out for a little while today and ended up eating lunch at Ruby Tuesday's. As usual, Kennedy starts off really well in her high chair, but just as we are eating our meal, she gets fussy. So the procedure is to take her out of her high chair, and whoever is almost done first (usually Audrey) takes Kennedy and entertains her to keep her quite. So today, Audrey took Kennedy when it got about that time. However, Kennedy is such a big girl (or so she thinks) she sits by herself in the booth (with Audrey holding her at all times). So she wanted to be entertained and had already thrown all of her toys on the floor (several times) that she decided she would look through Audrey's purse and see what she could get her hands on. I did have my camera with me and decided to snap a few photos. I hope you enjoy.

Jen.

Bath-time & Play-time

Another week has passed us by with so many great times and a few pictures to document. Kennedy is too big for a baby bath now and she is in the big bath during bathtime with toys to play with. She does have a mat that has fishes on it so she doesn't slide around. She enjoys bath-time as we let her play for a little while and then we bathe her, all before bed-time. Check out the pictures of Kennedy druing bath-time this past week.

Also, Kennedy can not be in the Bumbo seat any longer. While we were in Scotland, Kennedy would sit in the bumbo, but leaning to one side. She would push with all of her weight off of the floor, arching her back and trying to get out of the bumbo seat. So now, when we have play-time on the floor, it is with a blanket and she sits there playing. Sometimes, she even tries to catch the dogs and give them a quick grab as they stroll by. At least they are getting smarter, when the dogs see Kennedy on the blanket, they run by instead of a casual stroll as they are afraid of getting grabbed. So here are a few pictures of Kennedy playing on the blanket on the floor.

Again, not too much to report this week. We have done the usual, shopping, the beach, and just hanging out. Nothing new for our ordinary but fabulous lives. We are excited because Uncle Thomas will be here on August 3rd and that will be a fun 2 weeks. We can't wait.

We hope that you enjoy the updated look to the blog and also the pictures that we were able to post. Enjoy your week and be safe!

With Love,

Jen.

Sneak Peek of Kennedy's 8 month pictures.....

I can't believe it has been 8 months (on July 6th) since Kennedy came smiling into our lives.

We have been extremely busy this year that we didn't even take the time to document Kennedy's life like we had hoped or wanted to. With everything that has been going on (read previous blog) and Kennedy growing up so quickly, you really need to have a camera strapped to you at all times and constantly taking pictures. So I had made a vow to myself that after these pictures, I would take a picture of her every day and write what she is doing (new or old) for that day. So I think I will be swamped, as if we weren't already.

So at 8 months, what is she doing? Well, she is trying to cut teeth (still) and wants to chew on everything. She is not crawling just yet, but she can start in the upright sitting position, throw her legs back, and be on her tummy in no time. She can also push up on her arms from there and get 1 leg up, as if to crawl, but as I said earlier, we aren't quite there yet. She can spin herself around and is pulling the blankets (that are on the ground) towards her so she doesn't have to move much. We like to say she is a lazy lump.

She of course is saying the usual babble, DA DA DA and started to MMMMMMMM, but to my sadness (clearly not disappointed) there is no MAMAMAMAMA. So Jason likes to say she is calling for him, but we all know she is DEFINITELY a mama's girl. We will just let Jason think what he wants to. She is laughing so loud and so much now it is great. She loves the dogs whiskers, and cracks up when Delilah wants to sniff/lick her feet.

She is a genius though . (Don't all parents say that!) She has definitely gotten a few things figured out. Those things being, if she puts her hand in her baby food, then hangs it over the side of the high chair, Tess will come and lick it off her fingers for her. Again, hysterically laughing. She also knows that if she is in the car (whether 5 minutes or an hour) that is the best time to catch a snooze. She knows that when we go to a restaurant, asshe is normally fed first, then she is quiet while we eat, and then she gets a little dessert on her pacifier afterwards. And the last thing is when she doesn't want me typing anymore on the laptop, she tries to type for me and then that is over. If only she knew I was typing for her! Oh well. She is great and I wouldn't change anything for the world.

Kennedy loves playing peek-a-boo and often hold the blanket up over her face for several minutes at a time until she is ready to pull it down. Sometimes, it is so bad that Auntie Audrey has to pretend to fake cry for Kennedy to pull the blanket down. Again, hysterically laughing the whole time. She has grown out of her carseat carrier, so she is now in a big girl car seat. No worries though, we bought 2 carseats that adjust from 5 pounds to 100 pounds, so we just convert them (break them down) accordingly. Also, since we are no longer in the carrier, we ride like a big girl in the shopping cart (with our cover of course) and sit in a big girl high chair when we are out to eat. Did I mention our favorite game is the DROP game?

I have posted a few pictures of her throughout this blog. We had them done at Sears and these are just a few highlights. I hope you all enjoy and speak to you soon.

With Love,

Jen

My sincere apologies

Let me begin by sending out my (our) sincere apologies for not keeping up with our blog lately. As many of you know, Life happens when you are least expecting it. Not to mention, we do have a baby, so our time for doing things that we want to do is limited to when Kennedy is sleeping. So let me catch you up to speed.

April 2009 - My cousin, Martin, his wife Maria, and their 2 girls (Maddie and Mia) all came for a visit. I believe I posted some pictures of them in my last blog, but we had a fabulous time. We went to the zoo, shopped til we dropped in Destin, and had dinner at La Hacienda (my favorite). We had to say our goodbye's (which were rather sad for me) and wish Maria well as she is expecting baby #3 (a healthy baby is all we ask for, but secretly wishing for a healthy baby boy) and realizing that the next time I see them, their family will have expanded, yet again. My mom left somewhere around the 20th to go back to Scotland as my Nannie was ill. Once my mom left, we put Kennedy in daycare. It was definitely not something we planned on doing when we had her, but when you are left with no choice, you quickly see the light on the other side. Kennedy adapted to daycare after a few days. It helped that she already had a few friends in the same room as her. It took me a little bit longer to get over the fact that I put Kennedy in daycare, but I definitely survived.

May 2009 - Audrey left us for about 10 days, so she could also go back to Scotland for a quick vacation. Jason, Kennedy and I took great care of my dad while everyone was away, and we just did our usual thing, piddling around the house and enjoying life. We were checking in with my mom once a week, as she was incredibly busy. Jason was working NONSTOP, but it was at least keeping him busy. We were leading very busy lives and it seemed as if we hadn't really stopped to smell the roses. Kennedy was still enjoying daycare. She adapted to her surroundings quite nicely and was picking up things the other kids were doing. She was already a smart baby when she started, but she definitely became a genius while she was in there. As the end of May approached, we did have to tell daycare that she was going to come out for the summer, so we could definitely enjoy our beach weather.

June 2009 - I will be glad when this month is over and hopefully a little bit more cheer will be in our lives soon. On June 1st, my nannie in Scotland died. She was 82 years old. We received a phone call at 5:30 a.m. with the news that she had just passed. Audrey and I quickly made arrangements to get Kennedy's passport, book our flights, leave the country, and be sure to be back in Soctland for the funeral, asap. I missed my Granda's funeral almost 10 years ago, I was not going to miss my Nannie's funeral. So on June 4th, Kennedy made her first trip to the big easy, NEW ORLEANS. We had to get her passport the same day at their passport office. We left Milton at 330 that morning and arrived to New Orleans for our appointment at 7ish. We had to wait on the passport, so Audrey and I took Kennedy to eat at the Court of Two Sisters. Kennedy was so pleased at the choice of food (Fruits only for her) that was on their buffet, as were Audrey and I. We had some great stories about the waiters there, thinking Audrey and I were twins and then the crazy 350Z driver on the interstate on our way back in. We arrived back in Milton about 6 that night, called Jason and met at La Hacienda for dinner. Audrey, Kennedy and I were leaving for Scotland at 9 the next morning, so we had to get our mexican fix before leaving for the next 2 weeks. On Thursday, June 5th, we left Pensacola and were Scotland bound.

Audrey and Kennedy at the Court of Two Sisters in New Orleans, LA.

The 3 stooges at the Court of Two Sister, NEW ORLEANS BABY!

Scotland - Kennedy did really well on the flights on the way over. She slept from the time each plane took off, until the time the plane landed. Luckily for us, we booked flights during her nap times. We arrived in on Friday morning, and the funeral was Saturday morning at 9. I didn't have anything to wear to the funeral that fit my post baby body, so we had to go shopping. We also had to greet family, have a small mass on the Friday night, when they brought my nannie into the church, and do a million other things. It was a crazy few days, but we seemed to manage by just fine. After we said our goodbye's to my Nannie, we had a little bit of time to catch up with the family and relax before we were headed back to Pensacola. Kennedy is quite the jet-setter. She adapted to Scotland's time change with little problem. She enjoyed her time there. As you will see in the pictures, she did all of the tourist things. She even did the tour bus, but fell asleep. We were definitely missing Jason, the beach and ready to get back into our routine, especially the summer vacation. The weather was good while we were there. The highest temperature we reached was around 65 degrees. I know what you are thinking, must be nice, but it did beat the 100 degree weather Florida was having at the time. However, our tans were quickly fading.

Kennedy in the middle seat on the airplane. What a big girl!

Kennedy deciding if she should wear a hat to the funeral or not. Hmmmm...

Kennedy asleep after the funeral. What a tiring day for everybody!

Audrey and Kennedy (asleep) on the Glasgow City Tour Bus.

Uncle Thomas and Kennedy on the Tour Bus. Yes, it was cold!

Kennedy's first stay at the Crown Plaza (in Glasgow) but hanging out on the KING size bed!

Kennedy and her GodParents at Sanino's in Scotland.

Kennedy, Audrey's arm, and her new BFF, SULLY. Again, yes you see her in a winter coat in June because it was that cold!

We arrived back in Pensacola on June 17th. Jason missed us and my dad did as well. Jason was probably loving the piece and quiet in the house without Kennedy and I there to harass him. However, he did mention that the house was too quiet, something I wouldn't know anything about anymore. So we are back into our routine. Kennedy is trying to finally cut teeth and it seems to be painful. She is eating everything, including the furniture.

So that is a little bit of information to catch you up on where we are and what we have been doing. It is a work in progress to keep up with Kennedy and this blog, but I am definitely going to juggle things better. So keep checking back with us and HOPEFULLY we will be a weekly blogger again.

Bye for now!

~Jen.

Sring Break Adventures 2009!

We are approaching the end of Spring Break and it is back to work for me on Monday. I am so sad, but definitely enjoyed my week's vacation. We had a ton of things happening. Jason and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary and Jason's 30th birthday on April 2nd. We celebrated with our good friends, Aaron and Andrea on Wednesday, April 8th by watching STOMP at the Saengar Theatre. I had never seen the show before, but if you haven't seen it, it was FABULOUS! The entertainers capture your attention from the moment they walk onstage until the moment the encore is over, all without saying a word! I started Spring Break early by taking off Friday, April 3rd. Audrey and I got dressed and took Kennedy to see the Easter Bunny at Cordova Mall. We then had the Gardner birthday celebration at Horizen that night since Jason and his dad like to combine their birthday dinners. I had told Jason that the Easter Bunny wasn't available and that we didn't get to have Kennedy's picture taken. BOY, was I convincing. So when Jason opened his present from Kennedy (a picture of her with the Easter Bunny) he was so excited and even had a tear in his eye! What a sap! He said it was the best surprise ever! Martin, Maria, Maddie, Mia and baby Teague (my cousins from England) arrived in Milton for a visit on Monday, April 6th. They were exhausted as they didn't arrive until late, so Tuesday was a restful day for all of us and a fabulous day for them to meet Kennedy. They met Kennedy once before, but I was only 4 months pregnant when I saw them in England last summer. So, they actually got to see her in person this time! Needless to say, the day was special. On Wednesday, we all decided to go to the ZOO! The zoo was extremely special as it had been SEVERAL years since Jason or I had been, and no one else (including Audrey) had ever been to the zoo when they visited us before. We had a fabulous time and were able to take a ton of pictures (thanks Audrey, as we forgot our camera at the house)! On Thursday, we enjoyed a full day of shopping over in SanDestin and bought Kennedy a ton of things from Carter. Friday, we planned on going to the beach, but the weather wasn't that great. Instead, we had a small Easter Egg hunt at my mom's house and then we went off to the park. We had such a blast! Friday night, we all met at La Hacienda for a going away party/birthday party for Maddie & Mia. The sad news is that they left on Saturday morning. We always say no tears, but I was sad and shed a few anyway. On Saturday we traveled out to the Strawberry farm in Baker for some shortcake. We made sure Kennedy put on her strawberry dress and sun-hat. We then made sure on Sunday morning, we were up for early mass and then Jason took a few pictures of Kennedy in her Easter dress, right before she was sick all down it.

So here are a few pictures to document what a busy week we had.  

Enjoying her first trip to the park!

Nana and Kennedy watching the bubbles that daddy was blowing.

Woah, this is fun!

Kennedy's first time at the park!

Easter Egg Hunt at Nana's

Kennedy picking up her first Easter Egg.

Kennedy with her 1st cousin, Kelan (on the end) and her 2nd cousins (Maddie-on the left and Mia-on the right).

Kennedy before getting her egg hunt on.

Here is Audrey and Kennedy getting out of the car at the Strawberry Farm (on Saturday) in Baker.  Boy, was she excited!

The Gardner Family on the Strawberry Farm in Baker!

Kennedy after having a little bit of Strawberry Yogurt and Whipped Cream.

Kennedy on Easter Sunday after Church. 

Kennedy on Friday, April 3rd, before going to see the Easter Bunny.  We were playing dress-up with her hair-bands, and this one looked more like a workout headband.

Kennedy is definitely growing and full of smiles! I hope you all enjoy and thanks so much who shared this fabulous week with us!

Have a happy Easter!

Jason, Jen and Kennedy.