Merry Christmas 2014

Kindergarten Winter Performance 2014

I love my Louie!

Louie has been having some health issues lately which is hard to watch. He is 8 1/2 so he's not super old but being a bigger Boxer he's heading into the 8-12 year lifespan range.  The left side of his face (eye & jowels) is slack and his balance has been a bit off.  But his tail is still wagging and he is still mobile and functioning well in spite of his challenges.  These are some recent photos taken right after the 4th of July this year.

 

Happy Father's Day!

Spring (in a nutshell...)

 Out for a walk (January 22)

 Brrr...I'm glad I have this cozy sweatshirt!

 Louie hanging out at our little neighborhood park (February 11)

 Yaya brought me the best little tea set when she came to visit! (March 31)

Hanging with my Papa! (April 5)

 Playing the guitar takes lots of practice! (April 6)

 Happy Easter! (April 8)

 I went egg hunting at my school with Mama! (April 15)

 Being an artist takes lots of practice and concentration. (April 17)

This is my first school photo! (May 9)

 This is later after my school photo...

 My Papa made me the best swing when we went camping! (May 18)

It was sooo much fun to swing on my swing!

 My Papa showed me how to roast marshmallows - YUMMY!

This is my family - TEAM KENT!

...and Happy New Year!

We spent New Year's Eve in the camper-home up at Mount Baker. We woke up to nearly a foot of new snow on the mountain the morning of the 31st. Then we got to enjoy a bluebird afternoon. Certainly a wonderful way to end 2011 and begin 2012!

Big girl Maddie getting dressed to play in the snow.

Snow Bunny!

It didn't take her long to warm up and bravely jump into the deep powder... Looks like one happy girl!

R & R!!!

Mama and Maddie - happy girls!

Papa and Maddie - true love!

TEAM KENT!

Merry Christmas...

PAPA!! MY BIKE, MY BIKE!!! Maddie gave a perfect response to this special Christmas surprise from Papa. It's still a little big for her to ride, but we know the bell works...

Future Rock Star! Maddie has been wanting to help Papa play his guitar so we decided to get her one of her own to strum along with him. "Good Night Mount Vernon!"

This gift from Yaya was definitely Louie's favorite. He loves to chase the battery-run cars even more than Maddie!

Rob's boyhood dream come true - remote control airplane!

Mama and Maddie with matching pinafores - ready for cooking!

Maddie's favorite activity - reading with Yaya and Baby Stella.

Surprise!

Marnie and I surprised our Mom for her __BD by flying to help her celebrate! I surprised everyone by bringing Maddie with me!

We began our adventure by taking an earlier shuttle to SeaTac so I could try to get Maddie to take a nap before our two flights. The Pea Pod worked like a charm! This is Maddie's little "nap-site" in the terminal where she slept for just over 2 hours.

Here we are on the airplane from Denver, about 10 minutes before landing. Maddie fell asleep about 5 minutes later.

Scott, the mastermind behind the entire BD celebration.

Papa Frank with Louden - the chef who helped make it all come together.

The party was a huge success but the Pace Family was happy to finally take a break to rest together on the couch. Love these guys!!!!

The Birthday Girl and some of her family. The kids had been asleep for 2 hours (pretty much most of the party), and had just woken up. It was awesome to see such a wonderful Mom enjoying the love and attention she so deserves! Love you, Mom!!!!

Louden! My favorite (almost) 1 year old nephew! I love him now even more than when I met him as a 1-day old baby!

I have to admit that Maddie practically lived with a paci in her mouth the whole weekend. She had a cold and a low-grade fever, so it was the best thing for all of us...

Happy cousins!!!

Maddie showed Louden the ropes of how to play with cars.

Birthday Girl Gramma with her two youngest grandchildren. Priceless!!!!!!

Bath time was a big hit for both kids. This was the secondary reason for the trip - blackmail bathtub shots together!!

So the trip home was nothing like the trip there...Here is Maddie being occupied in Jackson while our original flight was delayed (then cancelled altogther).
The good news was that we were stuck in Jackson! So we got to have a whole extra day with Gramma and the Pace Family! (This, of course, also meant plenty more rounds of "Wheels on the Bus...")

The next day our 7am flight was delayed, so we missed our connection in Salt Lake City and had to wait standby. The good news (again) was this allowed Maddie the time to take an epic 3-hour nap! The Pea Pod saved the day again!