Busy Party Planning!

I just finished four events within the last five days where I was responsible for providing food for groups of people! It has been so much fun but it has also worn me out!  haha .....Last Saturday night, we had all of Zack's co-workers over to the house and their families!  It was so fun to watch all the kids play together inside our house and in the backyard.  We had leftovers so we have been eating yummy food all week!  On Sunday morning, I was responsible for breakfast at church.  Donuts, fresh fruit and juice made for a successful breakfast!  We celebrated Great Grandma's 88th birthday after church with a yummy lunch and cupcakes... thanks Grammy!  You will see pictures of the great grand-kids with Grandma below.  On Tuesday, I had to get food for our staff while we had a parent conference event.... pizza, salad and Halloween candy made for a yummy dinner between conferences ;)  Finally, last night we had a baby shower for my sister and Baby Kennedy.  We prepped meals in anticipation of Baby K's arrival, knowing that Linds won't want to cook or plan meals while she is tending to the newest addition.  She took home 15 meals that will be stored in the freezer until my niece or nephew's arrival.  We had tons of fun chatting while we mixed ingredients.  The perk of using Dream Dinners was that the staff did all the cleanup and all the cooking equipment and utensils were provided!  They also added some of their own specialty dishes to the snacks that Sarah and I brought, which made for a delicious dinner!  This made for one of the easiest parties I've ever hosted and has gotten us even more excited about the upcoming months and the Kennedy Family of Four!

A few pictures of the kids as well..... Zander is doing great spending time with friends and entertaining himself while I finish my work responsibilities in the afternoon... here he is with some of his first grade classmates while all the mommies had a meeting.

Zack and I had a date night Friday night.... we had the most delicious sushi and I absolutely loved the presentation of the food!

Grammy and I took the three kids to my school playground on Saturday morning while the Kennedys were at a football game and daddy was getting everything ready for his work party.  We had a blast and enjoyed the unseasonably warm temperatures!  There is a joke (and video) about Linds and I on a seesaw growing up.  I was not giving her a fun ride as I bounced her up and down using my larger size and weight!  It make me smile and chuckle to watch my boys on a seesaw! Zander was much more kind to his brother than I was to my little sister!  ;)  Burke also got to go for a ride to get his nails trimmed on Saturday.  I love watching him hang his head out the car window and that his ears flap back and forth due to the wind.

Weekend in Charlotte!

Before I discuss our fun weekend... how cute is Maddox before picture day last week?!  I have no idea if the gel stayed in his hair for pictures.... he looked a little disheveled by the afternoon.... but I love this sweet boy no matter how the picture turns out!

Ya'll...... I've been having a rough time physically lately... see picture below.... haha!! First of all, I've been dealing with some sort of head cold since the beginning of July.   It keeps me up at night sneezing and unable to breathe...... even my voice has sounded like I've had a head cold for months.  After two rounds of antibiotics, trying nose sprays, allergy medicine, etc.,  I went back to the doctor.... I got a steroid shot this time and flonase.  In 10 days, if I'm not "healed", we will do a CT scan and possibly follow up with an ENT referral... stay tuned.  Also, this past week I fit in a mammogram and breast ultrasound for a place they were concerned about.... I can enthusiastically say that all is good and I won't be going back for those tests until 40!  Finally, I took Burke for a walk on Thursday night.  A gnat went into my eye and scratched my eyeball in two places so while I was at the doctor on Friday getting my steroid shot and flonase for my head cold, I had them check it out! Turns out I got to sport a pretty cool eye patch for a bit.... haha!  Hoping this week is less eventful or Zack might trade me in for a younger, more reliable model.... HAHA!

On Saturday, we went to Charlotte to see daddy's alma mater play some football.  It was so much fun walking around campus and having Zack show the boys where he had classes.  I will always remember watching the boys run around the large grass areas which are always a favorite spot of mine when I'm on a college campus!   The kids had fun and we watched the 49ers successfully defeat UMass!

 On Sunday, we attended a family reunion in Charlotte with Zack's family.  It was great to see all of our family members and it worked perfectly since we were already in Charlotte the night before to make it a weekend away for our family of four!  We got to stay at Zack's aunt and uncle's house which the boys thought was a nice treat!

A little early for these pictures but the boys have decided what they want to be for Halloween and I just love them trying on their costumes and hope they will always have a passion for serving and helping others like our fire department and police department do for us!

Getting Into a Routine!

I can confidently say we are into the school routine which consists of early wake up calls and long days before we crash in our beds in the evenings.  It seems like the days go by fast because they are so packed with school, after school meetings and activities and then dinner, baths and bedtime.  Here are some of the fun things we have been up to when we aren't in our normal Monday through Friday routine.  We had a three day weekend last weekend due to Labor Day.  On Saturday, we went for a nature hike where we were able to climb rocks and get our feet wet in the creek.  We also fit in an afternoon of swimming with friends and then dinner at the park with the Williams family on Sunday.  On Monday, we took a trip to the science center.  The boys are not really napping these days.  I did happen to catch one afternoon where Zander went to lay down with Maddox and rest.  Neither boy really slept but it was the cutest thing to watch on the monitor!

Last week, my school was able to celebrate that we EXCEEDED growth which is always a huge accomplishment calling for a sweet celebration!  We got to have the most delicious ice cream sandwiches from the Ice Queen Parlor!

I love when I can get pictures of my big boy in class.  My assistant principal sent this to me one day last week while Zander was working on his number line puzzle.

 On Friday, Grammy and Grandpa fit in TWO grandparent breakfasts!! Maddox had his breakfast at 7:00 a.m. and Zander's was at 7:30!  So they quickly ate breakfast at Maddox's preschool and met Zander at our school for round 2!

My grandparents are here from Florida!  We got to stop by and see them on Friday after school.  We are excited to see them more this week while they are in town!

 Daddy has been out of town since Friday and will be coming home today!  While he was away, I took the boys to a birthday party for Maddox's best friend, Mollie.  The boys had a blast with the birthday girl!  Then, we headed back home to see Granny V, PawPaw, Grannie and GranDan.  We got to play ping pong, shoot pool, water Grannie's flowers and watch a movie!  It was a fun weekend visiting some of our favorite family members!