Happy Birthday, Sweet Alissa!

This summer we celebrated a very special birthday.  Alissa turned 5!  I can not believe how quickly she is growing up. It serves as a very serious reminder to make sure my days count because they are precious and pass by quickly.

Alissa is such a blessing to have in our lives and a constant source of joy in our home.  She loves all things girly:

changing clothes (too many times a day)

painting her nails

wearing my high heel shoes

chocolate

jewelry

and the list goes on and on.

We absolutely love you Alissa and are grateful that God has blessed us with you.  He is so good to us!

For Alissa's birthday we kept things simple and sweet. I tried my hand at a "naked" cake, it was really much easier than I thought it would be. A quick call to my mother-in-law was needed for instruction on how to get the cake out of the pan without tearing it apart, otherwise it went fairly well.

 Alissa and I made a banner for the top of her cake using leftover paper from checkbook covers I have in my shop.  Can you tell which banner she cut out? I was very tempted to remove that piece of paper from the banner.  I am so glad that I didn't! True beauty and joy were found in the process of working together to create something special for her big day...not the end result.

We enjoyed pink lemonade in pretty glass cups that were passed down to me from my grandma.  Although you are not able to see them clearly in these photos, they have a beautiful "P" etched into the glass with a sweet laurel branch around it.

These "pinterest" inspired Minnie Mouse Oreo cookies were a hit - despite my poor icing skills!

All in all we had a wonderful day with family and friends.  We are truly blessed and can't wait to see what the next year holds for our little (but getting bigger every day) girl!

Blessings,

Angie

The Circus

Isn't it amazing when something happens at just the right time?  Well, we had one of those moments happen a couple of weeks ago.

We were just finishing up a unit study in our homeschooling that was dedicated to The Circus when I found out that at the end of the week there was going to be a circus coming to town.  My mom (Grandma) had told me about it, and even had some passes that allowed the kids to get in free!

Grandma and I took the kids, and boy did she spoil them.  They feasted on popcorn and snow cones, had their faces painted, got a new coloring book and a balloon each (a snake for Jordan and a pony for Alissa), and they had a blast.

I am sad that I didn't get any pictures of the circus performers but it was really dark in the arena so I couldn't get any good ones.

Alissa had her face painted to be a fairy.  She said her favorite part of the circus was the elephant.

Jordan had his face painted to look like Spider Man.  The white around his eyes played tricks on me.  It made him almost unrecognizable.  He said his favorite part of the circus was the dirt bikes that rode around each other in the sphere.  I have to admit it was really amazing.

I think the circus lived up to all they expected it to be and then some.  I'm glad we got to see it.

Blessings,

Angie

Just a Swingin'

Angie and I were little girls when John Anderson's {Swingin'} hit number one on the radio. 

I remember trying to get our porch swing as high as it could go while singing "Yeah, and we'll be swingin'. (swingin'), Yes, we'll be swingin'. (swingin')"  at the top of our lungs...

  

...When our dad {John Kennedy} started making this porch swing, I couldn't help but let these fun memories flood my mind. He is an amazing craftsman and sells wonderful things out of his workshop.  

If anyone in the Northwest Arkansas area would like an heirloom quality swing {or any other custom item} just convo us and we'll get you in contact with our dad!

Yeah, and we'll be swingin'. (swingin')

Yes, we'll be swingin'. (swingin')

Little Charlotte she's as pretty as the angels when they sing.

I can't believe I'm out here on her front porch in this swing,

Just a swingin' (swingin')

Family Vacation 2011

We are so sorry for the lack of posts lately, but we have been on vacation!

Dad and mom treated us to a family vacation this year to Panama City Beach, FL.  It was a blast!!  We feel so so blessed to be part of a family that enjoys spending time together and is able to share the same house for a week and still come away loving each other.

Panama City Beach is absolutely stunning.: beautiful white sand, emerald green water, and the perfect wave {enough to move you and possibly even knock you down, but not enough to take you out to sea}.

One afternoon we rented a pontoon and headed to Shell Island.  This was a highlight of the trip.  You are able to dock on the island and hunt shells.  We found a lot of shells but most of them were being inhabited by crabs.  We came back with a few...we attempted to find some without crabs in them and bring those home.  Jordan claims that this was his favorite part of the trip, he loved hunting crabs.  Sounds just like a little boy to me...

Jeremiah and Amy spent one morning doing some deep sea fishing through Captain Andersons Marina.  Jeremiah had always wanted to take a deep sea fishing trip and said it was everything he thought it would be.  They caught a lot of fish, enough to feed all 9 of us for dinner one evening!  Thanks for sharing Jeremiah and Amy!

Now we are home and back to reality, trying not to be discouraged  that we had to leave....longing for sand in our toes and some seaweed in our bathing suits {well, maybe that is stretching it a little}.