Funny, again.

OK, I know I do a lot of posts

about London,

but she's just

so funny

sometimes.

Tonight, I was getting her

ready for bed.

After I brushed her teeth

and washed her face,

I picked her up.

She looked in the mirror,

smiled at her reflection, and said,

"Hay que fabulosa!"

Sorry, but I just can't help it.

Pancakes, by Jordan Kennedy

Last Thursday night, Jordan asked
if we could have pancakes for dinner.
Sure, what the heck. I'm always up
for a low-effort dinner. Especially one
I know the kids will love.
So, I started making pancakes.
Next thing I know, Jordan has grabbed
the camera, and is snapping shots
of the process. I said, "What are you doing?"
She said, "Mom, it's for the blog!"
So, here it is.
From Jordan's perspective,
Pancake night at the Kennedys.

Midnight visitors

Some visitors

came to our house

last night.

They left
evidence
behind
that they
had been
here.
Although
we see
them in the
neighborhood
sometimes,
they don't
make their
way to
our house

too often.

So, when they do,

we get a little excited.

Merry Christmas!

Santa found
our house yesterday!
We had so much fun
finding what he brought.
London's rocking horse
is so cute.
It sings and talks!

Austin received a cool

chess set from

Grandma & Grandpa

in Poland.

And Jordan has

so much fun

with the

string puppet doll

they sent her.

She wants

to collect

them now.

Santa kind of spoiled us, though,

when he brought us a

It didn't matter

that it was 20 degrees

outside, and

2 inches of new snow

was on the ground.

We bowled, played baseball . . .

tennis and golf . . .

and jammed to some

tunes with Hannah Montana

and on

Guitar Hero.

We had a great time

down in our

family room,

playing games

and spending time together

all day long.

A little giddy

2 nights before
Christmas,
I found the girls
in their room,
rocking from
side to side like bells,
and saying,
"Mer-ry Christ-mas,
Mer-ry Christ-mas"
over and over and over,
like it was a song.

They said it started
with London.

No surprise there.

Whoosh!

We went



over to


the


Rifle-famous


sledding


hill


today.











It was such

a blast.

Even

London

absolutely

loved it.

This was

her first

time

(that she

remembers,

anyway).

She couldn't

get enough

of it.

Jordan

hadn't been

for a

couple of

years,

and was

nervous

at first,

but tried

it once,

and then

couldn't

be stopped.

We had
3 sleds
and 4 kids,
so
some
sharing
was involved,
but hey,
that's
more fun
anyway, right?
Thank goodness
for the
hay bales
at the bottom
of the
hill.

London

enjoyed

eating the

snow

almost

as much

as she

liked

sledding

on it.

Almost!

Technology

When it comes to new devices and
gadgets, sometimes I think my
kids know more than I do.
This is our printer/copier/scanner/...
oven!

Whenever I
go to print
something out,
London thinks
I am
"cooking"
the paper.
She will always
grab a blank
sheet and ask
if I will "cook"
one for her.

How adorable
is that?

This morning she
grabbed Doug's
old palm pilot
and used it
like a flip-phone
to call me,
her friends,
and their moms.

Oh, what waits in store for us

about 12 years down the road??

You gotta love it.

Sweet

Last night

we found something

special

underneath the

pillows on our bed.

How do you beat that?

Kids make life

so amazing,

and definitely

worthwhile.

Snack time

This morning

it got quiet,

and I realized

that London was AWOL.

It only took a minute

to notice her bedroom door

was closed.

When I opened it,

I found her with the

marshmallow ornament.

You know, the kind

kids make in school,

by poking straight pins

through sequins, then marshmallows

and into a styrofoam ball?

This one is probably

3 or 4 years old.

Apparently that wasn't

an issue for London.

She thought they tasted great.

I convinced her that maybe some

fresh ones might be better

and got her a bowl of them.

So she decided to put

the marshmallow ball

back together,

the best she could.

Last year it was frosted cookie ornaments,

now this.

It appears we have a trend going.

Guess we better be more careful

of what we hang on the tree.

Just enough

When we woke up

this morning,

there was maybe 1" of snow

that had fallen last night.

The girls wanted to go play in it,

so I said sure.

I never imagined it was

enough snow for them

to make a snowman!

Oh, sorry,

Snow gal!

Her name is Sally,

isn't she cute?

They both made the snowballs,

and Sydney gave

her her face and dressed her up.

We'll enjoy her while she lasts!

Bedtime ritual

They say rituals help kids
to feel more secure.
London has one every time
she takes a nap or goes down
at night.
It never varies.

It goes like this:

I lay her down on top

of her fleece blanket.

Then her favorite one

goes on top.

She'll say,

"I want mom sing a bird."

That's Blackbird.

So, I sing it.

Sometimes, she sings it

with me. Word for word.

I close the blinds

and she asks for her

cup. One last

drink of milk.
In the summer she

would ask me at this point

to turn on the fan.

Sometimes she still does,

just to make me laugh.

I tickle her a little,

then say goodnight.

She turns over,

puts her favorite

2 fingers in her mouth,

plays with the

fringe on the blanket,

and drifts. . .

off

to

sleep.

Lightheaded

Once we got over

the initial

shock

of having taken off

a total of

13 inches. . .

we were so glad we

did it.

They love the ease

of no more tangles,

and styling their own hair.

And I have to admit,

that was a big attraction

for me, too.

Now, if we can just

sell their dad on it . . .

Decking our halls

Yesterday was the day
the kids had been waiting for
for quite awhile.
We got out all the boxes
of Christmas decorations
and put up our tree.

And even though

they're the same

ones we always

put out,

to the kids,

their magic

is never lost.

They always love

getting those

boxes out,

and open them up

every year

like they're

brand new.

Then comes the fun

of deciding where

everything should

go on the tree.

It's by no means

a "designer" tree.

It contains lots of those

homemade ornaments, created by the kids

at school, church or home. Those are the

ones with special meaning to them, and

can never be left off the tree.

Doug gets the honors

of putting the

star on

top.

But our favorite part of decorating for Christmas

is when we get to put out the Nativity scene.

It has a special place on top of our piano and

helps us all to remember the real meaning of this

wonderful season.