Today....

"A voice is heard in Ramah,

lamentation and bitter weeping.

Rachel is weeping for her children;

she refuses to be comforted for her children,

because they are no more."

Jeremiah 31:15

I am having a rough day today. We stopped by the cemetary and it kind of opened the flood gates again. While the 3 of us sat in the car waiting to leave the tears started. I just sat there thinking, 'Here we are the 3 of us when it should be the 4 of us. My son should not be out there in the ground. He is supposed to be tucked away in his little infant seat in the van next to his sister.' So, it has been a sad afternoon for me.

For those of you who didn't know, Samuel was buried on his great grandmother's plot. She was cremated which left room for Sam. I know it has brought a lot of peace to many of Jeff's family members to know that Sam is resting with Grandma Helen. I wish I had known her.

"My eyes will flow without ceasing, without respite."

Lamentations 3:49

Easter is Coming!!

Oh yes.....Easter is just 2 days away! And Kennedy has already had 3 Egg Hunts!!!!! (Spoiled you say?!)

Last weekend we went to one here in town. It was inside the mall and a total bust. It was supposed to be for 2yr olds and under. But parents were going nuts and knocking over little kids to get to the candy! Even older kids were running out there! I was so disgusted at people I just stood there with my mouth hanging open! You would have thought the eggs had keys to new cars in them instead of candy! Kennedy only got about 4-5 eggs. All the eggs were snatched up in less than a minute and a half. No joke. So needless to say, we won't go to that one again next year. What is wrong with people?!?!

(Below is Daddy trying to help Kennedy gather some before getting trampled) Yesterday XenoTech, Jeff's employer, held a kid's Easter Egg Hunt. Oh my goodness it was magical for Kennedy!!! The Easter Bunny himself was there!! And she was in love! She gave him nearly a dozen hugs, pulled his tail a bunch, hopped after him all throughout the building...she thought he was the best!!! She also enjoyed finding eggs tucked away in cubicles and offices! It was a joy! But that wasn't all! The CEO invited all the kids into his office to see his gynormous fish tank! Kennedy was entralled! THEN, he opened a drawer and pulled out wrapped presents for each child! WOW! Kennedy got 2 dinosaurs which she didn't put down for the rest of the day!

Here she is posing with the Bunny!

Oops - a little milk chocolate melting accident!!!

Last Sunday we went to an Easter Egg Hunt put on by the City of Leawood and a bank. It was rather chilly as you can see by her winter coat. But she still had a great time!!!!!!!!!

Checkin' out the goodies!

This is just a recent picture I adore of her that I wanted to share!!!

And I forgot to share this one last time! It was Kennedy's first dip in the hot tub! Uncle Ryan and Aunt Lindsay hopped in with her! She loved it!

And yesterday, after the XenoTech egg hunt, Kennedy, Grandma Lori and I had to make a stop at Starbucks! The whole way there Kennedy sang "We're going to Starbucks LaLaLa!" And she knew right where it was - she knows the Starbucks sign! How embarassing my almost 3 year old loves Starbucks! It just happens to be a treat when Grandma is around - I promise we don't normally go there! Kennedy always gets the Strawberries and Cream drink! DELICIOUS!

Just being silly here!!

And I had to get a shot of our 3 drinks and Kennedy's dinosaurs from Dr. Parkinson!!!We have had an enjoyable week. We hope you all have, too.

Easter Blessings to you all!!

Kennedy

Just wanting to share more uplifting photos of our last week here.

Kennedy is into dressing herself lately. And I think she does a mighty fine job!!!

Kennedy, myself, Aunt Kate and Cousin Elijah went to open gym at Debbie Howard's last week. I know this shot is blury, but I still love it! Kennedy got to wear her new leotard! She and Elijah had an absolute blast!

Gotta love the tumble tramp and jumping into the pit!!!!

Kennedy's flower girl dress finally arrived! We tried it on in the store to be sure it fit right! She was in love with it and was soooo disappointed she couldn't wear it all day! I can't wait for the wedding!

For a few days we had some gorgeous weather - in the 70s!!! But we woke up to a dusting of snow today! :( But we took advantage of the great weather. Kennedy helped Jeff in the yard quite a bit! She is such a fabulous helper!

I will likely post some more Sam photos and stories later in the week. And hopefully I will find the energy to scrap again soon! :)

Meet our Angel Samuel

This is our precious little angel, Samuel Jeffrey. We miss him so already.

I had a long post ready to share about Sam's birth day, but I just don't think I am ready to share yet. As most of you now know, Sam was born Tuesday, March 4th at 7:11am via a scheduled c-section. There were complications and he was transfered to the Children's Hospital in town. We eventually learned that he would not be able to live without the support of machines. He passed away that same night at 7:33 pm.

My husband and I have been astounded at the generous support we have received from our community. Especially from our church family at Life Church and Jeff's work Xenotech. Words truly cannot describe the gratitude we feel nor the depth of comfort we have received. And of course our families have been our rock. You all have surrounded us and lifted us up; and we will never be able to do enough to repay you all. Please know we offer our deepest heartfelt thanks for all you have done for us over the past week.

Over the next months I will likely share more pictures of our dear Sammy with you all and some stories or memories. But this is really all I can do at this point.

And I don't want to forget I offered an RAK for correctly guessing the closest measurements for Sam. Unfortunately we never got "real" statistics on his height and weight. We were told by one person he weighed 5lbs 1oz and by another that he weighed 6lbs 5oz. From holding him I would assume he was on the heavier side. And we think he measured 17 inches. Regardless, there was still one person who was closes to all those measurements.

JAN: I hope everything goes well for oyu!! YOu have a beautiful family!my guess is a boy7 pds 6 oz20 3/4 inches longGood luck!
1:03 PM

So Jan, please go to the site I know you from and PM me your addy....your scrappy goodies will be on their way to you soon!!

Again, thank you to everyone who has offered your thoughts and prayers during this last week. We would love to individually thank you all. So please know we appreciate you.

Catch Up & an RAK!!!!!!!!!

So.....I just can't shake a the sickies this winter. :( I spent the last 4-5 days with the nasty flu. So much for last minute plans before the baby arrives!!!! But such is life, right?

Just wanted to share some layouts I was holding back. Hoping for publication but I have hit a major dry spell. So it is time to share them!

You will see I am in love with Making Memories products lately!

This one was really just for fun...lots of pink, a cute photo of my girl and lots of hand sewing!

I just had to document Kennedy's dinner prayers. I really need to videotape it as well...she squeezes her eyes shut and whispers her prayers...beyond adorable!

These photos have been waiting to be scrapped for over a year! Finally found the perfect papers for them!!!! I am loving these circular papers!


This one was more about the song than anything. I just LOVE the song Gracie by Ben Folds. (Thanks Ryan for burning the song for me!) I cried the first time I heard it and thought of Kennedy. So everytime I sing it I change Gracie to Kenna! Just wanted to document it so I never forget!
And just a fun one with the KI Lace - yum! Kennedy LOVED hanging from this bar at the pool last year...lil dare devil!


AND.................
I decided to do a little RAK!!!!

I was just RAK'ed twice in the past few weeks. Once by my scrappy friend (and new momma) chickypie a.k.a Emily! Thanks for the scrapping goodies Emily!!!!
And another time by the talented and super sweet Wendy Reed. I am so psyched I get one of her hand made bracelets!!! You have to check out her Etsy shop, Sweet Me Designs...she has THE cutest things! Thanks Wendy!

So, I have decided to have my own little RAK to spread the love!!!

But you have to do a little guessing first!! Since we don't know the gender of our little baby I decided I would have you all guess the gender as well as the weight and length!! Whomever gets closest will get some fun scrappy goodness from me! :)

Just post your guesses for GENDER, WEIGHT, & LENGTH here! I will likely not check back in again for about a week - but I will announce the winner here on my blog!!

And I thought it might be nice of me to tell you what Kennedy was when she was born, just to play with your mind! She was 41 weeks mind you! But she was 21 inches 8lbs 5.5oz!

LET THE GUESSING BEGIN!!!!!!!!!!

Things are a changin!!

Oh my! Nesting mode has hit me HARD!!! I have torn the 2 bedrooms upstairs apart and am "kinda freaking out" according to my husband!! I didn't nest like this with Kennedy so it has taken us both by surprise!!!

But first, here is my latest card. I am pretty pleased with it! I am loving the Making Memories Noteworthy line!

And I just have to share this rather creepy photo of Kennedy. Over the last few weeks she has been into making this face. And she even wants to do it to Jeff and my faces! She said "You're eyes are bleeding!!!" Where she picked this up I have no idea!!!!!

Also, I have gotten out all the old infant onesies and jammies Kennedy used to wear and washed them! Oh memories!! I also got a few new onesies and made a few cute lil shirts. Just used some fun iron ons! You can see them below! I hope they are gender neutral enough for either sex!!!

And I got a "little" crafty! I sewed some buttons on Kennedy's shirt in the shape of a heart! I know, I know...not very impressive - but I was proud of myself anyway!!!!
And some of you have been asking to see photos of Kennedy's new big girl room! It is still definitely a work in progrees but here are a few peeks.
The dresser below is identical to mine as a kid...we just used pink knobs instead!!!
I bought lots of organizational stuff for her closet! I love organizers! These pink and green ones match her walls perfectly!!!
And here is a shot of one of her walls and her new sheets. We hand painted the scallops! The Princess is a rub on I found at Target! Love Target! And I am in love with her polka dot sheets! She has the matching duvet cover but her comforter is being dry cleaned right now. What do you think???
Just over a week until our new little one joins us! Hard to believe we will soon be a family of four!!!

SuperStar!!!

Kennedy sure thinks she is a super star!!! As of late she has wanted to perform nightly! And we happily oblige her!!! Below she was singing and dancing with her karoke machine for Papa Lou! She was singing to Ralph's World - and the girl knows every stinkin' word!!!!

Speaking of Ralph's World...here is a layout I did about Kennedy's concert experience!!!

On Sunday, MiMa brought over Daddy's old trumpet! Kennedy knew what it was right away and was WAY excited to try it! It took only 2 days for her to figure out how to blow correctly to produce a REAL trumpet sound! I was quite impressed!

Our kitchen is on phase 2 of remodeling.....here are some peeks!!!! LOL!

I do have some small fun scrappy news to share! This is copied straight from the Zest Blog:

At Lime Tart we don’t like to endlessly taunt and tease with our new and upcoming products. Our sneak peeks are normally not so sneaky. But, I am sorry to say that this time around we are just so excited that we are bursting at the seams and simply must tell you about our newest kit about to hit the site for purchasing.
We’d like to introduce you to our new Lemon Myrtle Tart!
Lemon Myrtle is a native Australian tree with clusters of creamy, white flowers and strong lemon scented leaves. Its leaves are used to add a citrus flavour to both sweet and savoury food products. It’s the perfect name for our newest addition.
So exactly what ingredients will be in our Lemon Myrtle Tart? Why all things Australian of course! This Tart is going to be a generous assortment of embellishments, stamps, chipboard, flowers and many more things created or designed by Australian companies and artists.
We have some wonderful guest designers coming on board to create with our new kits. The following list of people were selected from our latest design team call and we look forward to them joining us in the very near future to see the fabulous blends they produce with the luscious Lemon Myrtle Tart!
Erlia Abdullah

Wendy Sue Anderson

Laura Davis

Anna Eyjolfsdottir

Trace Geworsky

Danielle Holsapple

Lisa Houpt

Sarah Humphries

Gretchen Schmidt

Emeline Seet-Ng

Kandis Smith

Virginie Wurtz

I was VERY excited to see my name on there!!!!

Not much new....just preparing for Baby #2 and working on the kitchen!!

Hope you all are well!

A tag....

I was tagged by my friend Molly....so here goes!!

A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
C. At the end of the game the player tags 5 people, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment letting them know they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

Where were you 10 years ago:
It was my junior year in college so I was in Ames, IA. Still living in the sorority (Kappa Delta) Taking lots of classes. Working as a tutor, as an assistant in an educational research center and as an assistant to my pysch professor.

Five things on my to-do list today:
1. Get gas.
2. Go to the post office.
3. Grade about 60 Spanish tests.
4. Finish bagging our Valentine's goodies.
5. Do laundry.

Five snacks I enjoy:
1. apple cider
2. hot cocoa
3. cheese sticks
4. ice cream
5. cereal

What would I do if I were suddenly a billionaire:
I would pay off our debt, help my family with medical bills and debt, buy us all new homes and land, plan a huge vacation for us all, give a bunch to my favorite charities and relax!

Four of my bad habits:
1. Procastination
2. Picking at my fingernails
3. Snacking when I am not really hungry
4. Rolling my eyes

Five jobs that I have had:
1. Spanish teacher (jr high and high school)
2. Gymnastics coach
3. Pool manager
4. Lifeguard
5. Retail sales

Five things people don't know about me:
1. I hate my toes - I mean REALLY hate them. Actually my feet in general.
2. I am painfully shy in new social settings and situations.
3. I wish I was a SAHM. (well, some people know that!)
4. I studied in Spain for a summer.
5. I abhor talking on the phone. I am almost scared of it!

Now I must tag 5 people! I tag....

1. Ashley
2. Monica
3. Charley
4. Danielle
5. Emilie

Not much new....

We still have the sickies around here. Not much new.

We have a snow day today so I am playing with my actions!!

Here is Kennedy rocking out on her Barbie guitar!!!!

Lately she has been REALLY into brushing her teeth...she wants to do it alllll the time!!! I guess it is a good habit!

And just some sweet photos of reading with daddy!!!

Hope you all are well!!!!!