Hiatus

Sorry for the absence of posts lately...busy world in the Kenney household.

Katelyn's birthday went well and she enjoyed it over several days!  She had a couple friends over for a sleepover the 1st day:

They had a good time and giggled late into the evening and stayed until early afternoon on Saturday.







Saturday evening Katelyn opened up the gifts from us and the rest of family. 

I was in Florida (Panama City) last week on a TDY. I got home Friday afternoon and we enjoyed a bit of relaxation Friday night while we packed up for our trip to DC on Saturday. Katelyn had her gymnastics sectional meet in ChantillyVA Saturday night. She did very well but came up .55 points short of State qualification.

We stayed overnight in a hotel Saturday night in the Chantilly area.  Had a good time with the other parents and kids with pizza and snacks in the hotel morning breakfast area for dinner after the meet!  In the morning we had breakfast and visited a bit more with some of the other parents and kids.  We let our kids swim in the pool for a short time before we left

From the hotel we went to the Air & Space Museum by Dulles Airport.  Everyone had a good time seeing all the planes, space shuttle, and of course the gift shop!

sun in the eyes!

We left DC in the late afternoon and made it back home Sunday evening, after a quick dinner at Cracker Barrel! 

Whew...it's been busy.

At the Dr

Nicholas had his 5yr physical today...5 shots, a vile of blood, and pee'd in a cup!  He was great and such a BIG BOY!  He cried a bit on the shots...all given in his legs, but only said "owe" then watched them take the blood.  He's walking around now a bit like Frankenstein though! Mumbling "ouch, ouch, ouch" as he walks.

What a trooper.

House of Pain Update

Katelyn & I stayed home the past 2 days!  Tuesday we were both sick, yesterday she started off with a fever but was feeling fine. However, cus of the fever she can't go to school.  I felt ok yesterday and would've gone to work, but not sure they would have enjoyed it.  Today so far I'm feeling pretty good, Katelyn is good and was doing the "happy dance" because she gets to go back to school, BUT now Emma has a fever!  I think we need to shuffle these kids off to a grandparent for a week or so.  :)

House of Pain

I'm pretty sure if Angie & I were horses we'd have been put down by now.  We've both have some sort of bug that has had Ang down since Saturday and me since Sun morning.  I feel somewhat better today, but still pretty achy and woozy.  Ang is still down pretty hard.  Good thing it was a 3 day weekend!

The kids have been troopers.  Hardly any complaining and they've done a great job of entertaining themselves.  I'm going to try to work up the energy to take Emma to the bookstore today so she can get a magazine she's been wanting.

Collision

Have you ever felt a collision in your life?  There's a song I like that goes:

Strip this away if it’s what it takes
I’m ready to break
Lean forward, I’m bracing for collision
Run faster, I’m chasing Your collision
 
Now, I'm not ready to break but I do think I'm either bracing or chasing a collision.  We all seem to put barriers & walls around our discomforts, our inequities, our shamefulness, our sinful nature.  What if we stripped those away?  What if we could truly be ourselves, talk about ourselves, share our deepest feelings without the fear of being discounted or judged?  What if as the receiver we just listened without judgement? My CG had a moment like this the other night when true feelings of "stripping it away" came out.  It was wonderful to hear everyone express true, emotional feelings.  It was also personally difficult to hear in my own selfish way; as the CG facilitator the "what if" I did this, said that, read that, etc kicked in my head.  I know none of it was directed at me and I had some of the exact same feelings, but those discomforts and feelings of inequity kick in. 
 
So, I'm praying for a collision.  A collision with my God.  I'll look to him for wisdom.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding (Proverbs 3:5)

No Sympathy

I don't post on the blog very often, but I am this evening for three reasons:

1. I warned him before I left for my Cooking for Life meeting.  I even asked Nicholas if he felt like he was going to throw up.  Why?  Because a mother just knows these things.

2.  I think he's gotten off pretty lucky considering this is child #3 and we have been doing this for 11 years and he's only just now discovered that human hands are not nearly big enough to catch all of the puke that comes out of a child's stomach.  Why?  Because a mother just does those things.

3.  I think my children are blessed to have a father like him and I'm blessed to have a husband like him.  One that automatically stuck out his hands to try the catch and didn't call me in the middle of my meeting and demand I return home to clean up puke.  Why?  Because this mother appreciates these things.

Bigger Hands?

Nicholas wasn't feeling well today and spent most of the day at school in Angie's building sleeping I guess.  He came home and pretty much crashed out in the recliner chair.  He would whine and whimper when he would get up, but couldn't really say what was wrong.  He drank some water and seemed to be getting a bit better...then...

I need bigger hands

...he began to cry so I went down and was rubbing his head and asking what hurt.  He couldn't really say, then out came everything in his stomach!  Reflex's kicked in and out went my hands to "catch" it.  Oh happy joy joy.  Have I mentioned I'm a sympathetic puker?  So here I am with puke in my hands, Nicholas continuing to heave so it's overflowing all over me and him, and I'm doing all I can to keep my stomach contents where they belong.  Oh, and the girls are watching saying "ewww"!  They did help by getting me some towels and such.

Off to the bathtub he went.  He seemed to feel better and actually played in the tub for a bit and then I put him to bed.

I need bigger hands

1 Hour Delay

Aww, sweet words that are aren't as nice as "snow day", but I'll take it!  We've got some wintery mix (as the news stations like to say) in the area with threat of sleet & freezing rain.  So, most of the schools and government offices are opening 1-2 hours late to let the sun come up and warm things a bit.  On Saturday we had a brief snow storm that was something else...huge flakes and just dumping out of the sky.  Everything was covered in about 10 minutes:

soon after the snow stopped the skies cleared and the sun came out...everything melted in about 30 minutes!

Nicholas likes his new bike and all 3 of the kids had some fun on Sunday outside

Gobbledegook

Lots of random thoughts, but nothing specific...

1) a great funny video from our lead pastor during our Christmas Eve service

not the expected huh?

2) One of my favorite bands right now is Disciple.  I was listening to it (on the loud side) the other day in the truck when Emma was riding with me.  She looked at me and asked if it was one of my "weird hard rock christian bands"!  :)  I changed it out and put on Silverline. An awesome experience of joyful singing with my daughter...


3) The kids had their Christmas program at school today...a bit delayed thanks to the 12" of snow we had when it was suppose to happen.  Not quite the same experience as normal, but they still did great!

Birthday Boy

Nicholas is 5!  The birthday boy was pretty full of himself today.  Had a good day at school, Red Robin for dinner, then presents, cake/ice cream, phone calls and skype.  A full day for him.

phone call with Gramy

hmm...what can I eat now?

riding in the house!

New bike

I'm excited!

what a ham!