Thought of the Week

"Guard well within yourself that treasure, kindness.
Know how to give without hesitation, how to lose
without regret, how to acquire without meanness."

~ George Sand

Christmas again, yeah!

We were really good and Christmas was extended by a day. Dad & Mary came up Saturday and spoiled the kids pretty good! Emma looks way to old in some of her new clothes! The teenage years are getting close I'm afraid.

Snow, Hampton Roads style

We did finally get a little snow...and I mean a little! It did come when Karen & Archie were visiting from Florida though...he he he! I guess it was their little taste of winter before going back to daily sunshine!

Christmas over?

Wow...hustle and bustle...you blink and it's over! We had a great Christmas with lots of activity in the Kenney house. Since I'm a "new" AF civilian with no leave time built up I had to work a half day on Christmas Eve. I got home and we all got ourselves ready and went to the Ferguson Center for church. We all went to the 3:00 service and then Ang & I volunteered at the 5:00 service. All together Waters Edge Church had about 4,200 people come celebrate Christmas at one of the 3 identical services! After church we stopped at Wendy's (crazy huh!) for some hamburgers...that's what everyone was craving. We came home and opened up our Christmas Eve tradition presents (PJs and movie). We got the kids in bed and eventually started wrapping presents. Around midnight the Christmas tree fell down! This was the 2nd time this year! I definitely need to get a bigger tree stand. I spent the next 45 minutes getting it back up and put back together. I think we were up till around 2:30 AM. At 7:00 AM sharp (the "not before" time we told the kids) the kids were at our bedside getting us up!

It was a great day, and we all got great goodies! Nicholas' favorite toy was the little cell phone in the picture above, Katelyn's was her Ipod Shuffle, and Emma...probably her DS games or books! We pray everyone had a great Christmas too!

2 more days...

Only 2 more days...everybody ready???? We're not! Wow is time sneaking up fast. We're getting our babysitter tomorrow night so we can get our last minute shopping done...hopefully!

I had some firewood delivered last night. I managed to get moved to the back and stacked. Now we can have a fire on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! Yeah! You mid-westerners, feel free to send some snow our way. :)

Thought For The Day

“Happiness is the only good.
The time to be happy is now.
The place to be happy is here.
The way to be happy is to make others so.”

~ Robert G. Ingersoll

Snow storm?

The news lies! They kept warning us how bad the storm was going to be...not here in Newport News. We are getting a little snow and sleet, but nothing like up in D.C. Maybe it will kick in over night while we're sleeping! It it going to be cold in the morning setting up outside at church though. Brrrr

Our Christmas tree fell over AGAIN this year. It happened to us 2 years ago too. I think the back branches were finally relaxing and dropping against the wall and pushed it over. It had been up a week before it fell. Lots of broken ball ornaments, but nothing too special broke. I got everything back on but it just doesn't look the same! Finally got the remaining Christmas decorations out today and put a few more lights outside.

The kids Christmas program was Thursday night. They were great! They were also blessed to have Papa Archie and Grandma Karen here for it and to enjoy over the weekend. Poor Papa Archie...he gets no break from Nicholas!

Dec02...

Wednesday

More time, more time! That's what Ang & I need. The house is almost decorated for Christmas, but there are boxes and stuff everywhere right now! Katelyn's gymnastics allowed parents inside the gym last night so Ang got to see a bit of it before she had to come home and get the other kids so I could go do some volunteer training with church. Our church is getting ready for an awesome Christmas Eve service(s) at the Ferguson Center.

Tonight brings our Christmas party with our Community group. It should be a great time. Hopefully before and after that we'll manage to finish the house up. The kids are all looking forward to Thursday since that's their Christmas program at school and Papa Archie and Grandma Karen get in town to visit!

Nicholas is starting to wear big boy underwear thru the night. He's been really good lately with keeping his pull up dry at night so last night he wore underwear. Just a tiny bit wet in the morning...it seemed like that's what woke him up. So all in all really good! Maybe we'll be done with pull ups real soon!

Weekend

Wow the weekend went by fast. Yesterday was a blur...we finally got our real Christmas tree for the family room. We have it up but nothing is on it yet...hoping to at least get the lights on tonight. We had family game day yesterday too...it was alot of fun...good friends, good wine, great food, and lots of fun all around.

We've spent today doing some house work and getting Christmas stuff out. It's been raining all day so during my 11 o'clock volunteer time at church I got soaked! I was a wet rat by the time it was all over. Had to completely change clothes when I got home. I also had Emma deliver most of the peanut order around the neighborhood tonight too...only 1 house left.

TGIF

Yeah, it's Friday! The computer says it's only 31 outside right now...crazy to think that 2 days ago it was in the low 70s.

I have one of my work computer accounts up and running, and people have started to realize that I'm back. On one hand it's like I never left (since I know everyone and the job) on the other it's different (since I'm not in uniform). I still struggle with answering the phone and not saying "Sgt Kenney"!

Ang & I are ready for the weekend...we still have to get our real Christmas tree for the family room!

Is it Friday yet?

Wow...it's been 10 years since Angie & I both worked at the same time. It's going to be an adjustment for all us until we get into a new routine. Last night flew by...no more nights off relaxing for Ang & I...stinkin kids! :) Angie took Katelyn to gymnastics tonight and the other two are going with me to church. I have some team leader "training" to prepare for the Christmas Eve service. One of these nights we might get some Christmas decorations up in the house!

The new job is going okay...kind of in limbo a bit right now until I get all my accounts and stuff back/turned on. Going to take a few days to get used to picking clothes out to wear each morning...that was one good thing about the uniform!

Emma's Day

Emma got to pick the activities for today...she started with french toast for breakfast. From there we went to the roller rink! Yep, I think it's been 20 years since Angie or I have had roller skates on. Anyway one of the local rinks had a 12 and under only (with parents) skate going on, so we went there. Nicholas gave up after about 10 minutes! The girls kept at it...but struggled. Some of my "skills" came back...I guess all those hours at the rink in Galesburg paid off! This is a little grainy...but...

From here we went to the movies and saw Planet 51 at the Movie Tavern in Williamsburg. We came home for awhile and then we went out for Italian for supper! It was one full day!

Emma's Camera Corner

Some pictures from Emma using her camera she got for birthday. The one of Nicholas is great!

Video of Week

Pics of Week

Employed

So my retirement is almost over...I start work on Monday! Lots of activity today by my previous bosses to get the package approved and thru the wickets. I'm happy...and have let a big WHEW out. What a process this was! I have to remember how to work that stinkin alarm clock again. :)

Emma's 10!

Today is Emma's 10th birthday...how did that happen? We gave her balloons and pancakes this morning before school. Plus Angie made a huge choc. chip cookie for her to take to her class today. She'll get her presents and cake after school.

I got the estimate on the truck yesterday...about $1300. Not too bad for a deer hit. Now I just have to figure out when to take it in...they estimated about 2-3 days in the shop to repair.

December 1st

Today I'm officially retired from the Air Force after 22 years, 3 months. Life is full of change isn't it?