Family Wedding!

The last weekend in June, Kenna and I got the chance to go to my cousin's wedding in South Carolina! Unfortunately, Matt had to stay home and work, but that meant we got to take a little road trip with my brother, sister-in-law, and their kids! I didn't get very many good pictures, but here are a few to remember the weekend by. It was a beautiful wedding, and a great chance to see long-distance relatives who we don't get to see often and most of whom had never met Kenna and the little cousins.

We arrived just in time for the rehearsal dinner, where the kids got busy playing in the mud and throwing rocks into the creek... how is it kids always know where to find mud? Luckily, there were lots of extra adults eager to supervise!
The wedding was in a beautiful chapel on Furman University's campus in SC.
I almost deleted this picture of Jordan coming down the aisle, but then thought... looking back... that's how a wedding feels. A day you plan for and wait for for so long, and then it's gone in a blur!
The happy couple's first dance... congratulations Nathan and Jordan!
Our fellow road-trippers who were gracious enough to make room for us in their van... Uncle Jason, Aunt Alisa, Evan and Emerson!
Kenna chowing down on the delicious reception food- she had just eaten a strawberry down to the stem!
My mom's cousin Paul got this great picture of Grannie and I watching the little ones dance at the reception... I hope someone got a picture of them because it was completely adorable. It was SO good to see Grannie and get to spend some time together! We all ate breakfast together both days, and it was such a treat. Kenna and I also stayed in the same hotel room with her and after Kenna decided to stay up all night after not napping all day (!!!) she was wonderful to sit and rock with her some in the early morning hours so that I could get an hour or two of sleep. We love our Grannie!
Overall, the kids did really well in the car, but I won't say we weren't super happy when they all conked out on the way home:
The night before we left, we had a big family dinner at Cracker Barrel (per family tradition!) Jason, Alisa & I sat with our extended cousins that we rarely get to see. It's so funny now that at the "kids' table" we are all married and there are 3 kids in the next generation! We took a big group picture outside the restaurant:
What a fun time with a growing family!

Wordless Wednesday: Little Swimmer

New Words... exciting stage!

Kenna has come into some new words these past few weeks, and my memory being what it is, I wanted to record them here before I forget what they are. It is still surprising and hilarious anytime she imitates what we say and it is actually recognizable!

Her new words are:

-Bible

which she only says when she is holding some sort of bible! Amazing to us because we have no idea how she knows the difference between a Bible and any other book yet.

-All gone

said with her arms out wide the same way we do.

-clean up

which sounds more like bleen lup and is adorable.

-hot

usually said when we put her in the car seat.

-shoes!!!

always said in exclamation

-okay

said in the classic little rascals otay, and surely the result of me responding to her constant oh nos with it's ok!

-no no

which really is new, and said very emphatically!

-off

which sounds like opfh and is used interchangably for 'off' and 'on' which is confusing sometimes.

And she is starting to understand the power of sentences, which is lots of fun... especially "I poop." Typically from her crib we hear:

"maMA! maMA! uh oh. uh oh"

"what's uh oh Kenna?"

"I poop."

"did you poop? or pee pee?"

"Yep. I poop."

and upon inspection, we find her holding out a poopy little finger, which she has stuck inside her diaper to determine that it is, in fact, poop. Thank you, Kenna. Needless to say, we come running to find out what "uh oh" is.

I guess it is truly time to start potty training! All tips, suggestions, and success stories are welcome here!
(Obviously we will start by opening the lid- hah! And she climbs up like this all by herself!)

Bathing Beauty

We've been at the pool quite a bit during these past 2 weeks or so of 100ish degree weather. I can't get enough of my big girl in her swim suits. She's had a blast splashing in anything she can find (including our neighbor's flower-watering water) and likes to help me water our plants on the porch. Some days I just give her her own little bucket of water on the porch to play in.

She looks so big to me these days, especially walking around in her little swim suits.

classic Kenna face.

She loves walking up to the pool in her little crocs. She thinks she is so big, and is starting to look the part. She's gotten so tall that even 2T and 3T bathing suits are just barely long enough (unfortunately, soon she'll have to look for long torso bathing suits like her momma!).

Happy 4th of July!

We had a great, full 4th of July weekend this year. It was the first year that Kenna could really interact and know what was going on with the fireworks especially. We stayed in town and had a really great laid back couple of days at home.

On Saturday, we had ate barbecue on our back porch and then headed out to see the fireworks!

Star spangled underpants!

More barbecue please!

It's always a long, slow wait in the summer for it to get dark enough for the fireworks. We sat on a hill with lots of other families with very antsy kids, and waited and waited and waited.

We called Granddaddy and Nana B. to tell them we were excited!

We even tried to take a family picture... this is what happened when we told Kenna to look at the camera.

Just when we were ready to pack up our really tired wee one and take her home, the fireworks started! Kenna was completely amazed!

Check out that excited face!

I love this picture of Matt and Kenna- we lived near D.C. when I was little, and my family would go see the fireworks on the lawn of the Capitol. We have lots of pictures of me sitting on my Daddy's shoulders like this. Love it that we have one of our baby now, and are starting new traditions!

On Sunday, after Matt taught Sunday school, we went to his parents' house for a delicious lunch of homemade ribs and veggies fresh from Granddaddy's garden... squash, tomatoes, cucumbers, and green peppers!
We made one more attempt at the family picture, but it's so hard with a squirmy toddler!

Today it was so hot that we took our popsicles straight to the pool and hung out there most of the day. Ironically, they must have added water to the pool because the water was freezing cold! I thought Kenna's little swimsuit was just perfect for the 4th of July... rumor has it that it was mine when I was little.

What a great weekend... happy 4th of July!