So long for now...

48 weeks and counting...this good-bye was tougher than a month ago.  We had the Christmas visit to look forward to but now we'll have a long stretch before his two weeks off mid tour.  It's hard to believe he was just sitting at home with us yesterday.

This is a self portrait of the four of us before he left (in case you couldn't tell...) Chris and Kennedy had a good laugh about my one eye that made the picture :)!

Chris and Kennedy being goofy.  I had a hard time getting a good shot of all three at the same time.

  We dropped off the girls at Russ and Lori's while I took him to the airport.  Here they are waving their last good-bye through the front window.

MeRrY ChRIstMaS 2010!

We had a quiet and relaxing Christmas this year; just the four of us.  It was a little strange not getting together with any family or having to be somewhere at a certain time but I'm thankful we had the weekend for ourselves.  Chris was home on a four day pass so it was only appropriate we stayed close to home and made the most of our short time before he left again.  Kennedy was interested in playing with each gift before moving on to the next so it took a while to get through her little pile.  The Criss Cross Crash was an absolute hit along with the dress up clothes and all the other surprises.  Here are a few pictures from our 2010 family Christmas!

 This is the famous Criss Cross Crash.  There was such excitement when she opened it I didn't even get a picture so this is actually the next day...we were still playing with it! 

 We are having a tea party after opening the tea set.

 Don't you wish you woke up this happy everyday??

 Transforming from footie PJ's to Sleeping Beauty

We love our Christmas pajamas!

Checking out the goodies in each stocking.
We hope you all had a wonderful holiday with the ones you love as well!

Ho Ho Ho

We have no fear of Santa at the Running household!  After waiting in line for about 45 minutes Kennedy was quick to get up on his lap and tell him she wanted a Matchbox Criss Cross Crash race track, princess dresses and princess shoes.  Her wish list has been consistent for a while so Santa knew exactly what to get Kennedy but Santa had no idea what a hot item Criss Cross Crash was this year!  I helped him check all the websites including Target, Toys R Us, Wal-mart, Mattel, Sears and Shopko along with combing the toy aisle during each trip to Target the past couple weeks.  "Out of stock" and "currently unavailable" was all we could find until...it dawned on me we hadn't checked Kmart.  Honestly, I forget Kmart is still around.  Well, Kmart is now one of my favorite stores because they had Criss Cross Crash and for the small price of $16.80 in shipping Santa will deliver on 12/24.  Thank you Santa and thank you Kmart!  Not only was the Criss Cross Crash rough but finding a Disney Princess Dress-Up Trunk wasn't easy either!  I could spend $20/outfit at Target but I stumbled on this $19.99 trunk containing THREE outfits in a Shopko ad but everyone else in Omaha must have spied it as well.  Again, no luck online until a link for Mills Fleet Farm popped up (for my NE family and friends that have no idea what Mills Fleet Farm is; think of a cross between Tractor Supply and Menards with a lot of hunting stuff).  I sent my dad on a mission to the Mills in St. Cloud and he scored Kennedy a Disney trunk.  Thank you Grandpa Harvey!
Marissa did great on Santa's lap as well.  We'll see how she feels next year but I hope she follows in her sisters footsteps.  When I asked Kennedy what Marissa would like for Christmas she said Marissa would also like to play with Criss Cross Crash.  I bet I know what Chris and Kennedy will be playing with on Saturday morning. 

Cooties

Kennedy - "Mom, boys don't like girls because they have cooties."

How does a three year-old gain such wisdom?  Preschool.  Along with learning the days of the week and the alphabet of course.

The strawberry jelly donut

Grandma Ann Marie and Grandpa Harvey survived three days with the girls!  I'm sure they were exhausted when they got home.  I must admit I was a little worried about bedtime because my mom snored through Marissa waking up the night before I left but I knew she would sleep much lighter once I was gone.  Kennedy is in a phase right now that includes being 'scared' at night and won't enter a dark room.  Chris innocently told her a story about this pumpkin Halloween decoration and described the noise it made.  Well, now she's terrified of a 'pumpkin monster' (she calls it that) that she's never even seen before.  I've installed an additional night light in her bedroom and bedtime takes a little longer.  With any luck she'll forget about it soon. 
I have to share what I think is the funniest story from their time with grandma and grandpa.  Grandpa Harvey was on preschool drop-off and pick-up duty.  I had called school ahead of time to let them know a new face would be there with Kennedy.  Both Kennedy and grandpa like donuts so it wasn't surprising that he fit in a donut stop on the way to school.  She picked out a glazed strawberry jelly donut with chocolate frosting and grandpa let her eat it on the way to school.  Let's think about this for a moment...a three year-old with a messy donut in the backseat in her school clothes.  Once they arrived at school grandpa quickly realized there weren't any wet wipes in the truck.  Luckily, Kennedy is well trained and she knew not to touch anything with her sticky fingers but there was still chocolate and jelly all over her cheeks, forehead and mouth.  He walked her into school and Mrs. Englert (think of her as the door monitor of all the teachers)called over another teacher to help.  First they thought she hurt her forehead but grandpa reassured them it wasn't blood but rather just strawberry jelly donut.  Today when I dropped Kennedy off Mrs. Englert said "Good morning Kennedy!  You don't have donut all over your face today."  Kennedy told her she ate oatmeal for breakfast.
One of the things her teachers enjoy most is how excited she gets about everything they do; whether it be small or large.  She is such a happy kid and I am very thankful for her kind and emotional nature.  Here is a picture my niece took of Kennedy playing with a few dolls before our family pictures.  She also caught some of her expressions of excitement while Kennedy told her about them.  It's a great example of how wonderful everything is in life to a three year-old.  A good reminder to slow down and not sweat the small stuff.

When it rains it pours...or snows in this case

I am flying to Minneapolis for a work trip in a couple days and I've had my parents lined up for months to stay with the girls.  I know it's a little crazy they will be driving down from MN so I can fly up to MN....  Mother nature decided to make things difficult.  Check out this map and all the color!

The red and peach color indicate 12-20 inches of snow and that pretty much covers their travel route.  After many calls back and forth today mom was able to sneak out of work early and they are hitting the highway by 4pm.  Cross your fingers the snow holds off until later in the evening as predicted and they beat it getting out of town.  The other challenge may be my departing flight on Sunday headed directly into the tundra.  It has truly been a dream winter so far compared to last year but it just figures this happens when we have so many plans riding on the weather.  I'm SO thankful for my parents.

At least I was ambitious.

We had a good weekend!  Kennedy spent extra time with Russ and Lori Friday night (no little sister to steal her thunder) at dinner and driving around looking at Christmas lights.  Marissa and I managed to stay busy and met a couple friends at a little craft boutique.  Well, it wasn't so little since the boutique was spread throughout a $1.5 million dollar house.  That was the first and last time I'll spend two hours in that kind of a house.  A family wouldn't even run into each other during the course of a day in a house that big.  I must admit my favorite part was the mud room.  It was the size of my kitchen and dining area put together with cubbies and cupboards all over the place! 
We met another Army wife at a different holiday craft show Saturday then followed it up with play dates.  Stay busy.  That's my plan. 
Our day was full of ambition but now I'm staring at a lot of unfinished projects.  Christmas tree 3/4 of the way up with half that many lights.  Kennedy asked why our tree wasn't big all the way to the top.  I told her it would finish growing over night and to check back in the morning.  Cut out sugar cookie dough is mixed and chilled but won't get rolled, cut and baked until tomorrow night.  I hope tomorrow night at least.  I was able to accomplish my meals for the next week; thank God for a crock pot and a freezer.  Oh, and a babysitter so I could run to HyVee and storage to get all the holiday decorations!  Bring on Monday.  One week down and 51 to go. 

White as a ghost...

Poor Kennedy and poor Lori.  After dropping off the girls this morning Kennedy got sick and it was all over Lori's living room floor.  Ouch.  The empathetic faces of my co-workers with children said it all when I explained why I had to leave.  It's our first flu experience but certainly won't be the last.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised that Kennedy is still in good spirits even though she's white as a ghost and her eyes look tired.  She is a great kid; barf bucket and all.

A very proud moment

Well, the countdown begins!  The going away ceremony was great and it was even better that we could go home afterwards and enjoy time together rather than watch the soldiers load buses for the airport.  The patriot guard lined the sidewalk and entrance to the school and the American Legion riders escorted their buses to the airport yesterday.  The girls and I couldn't be more proud of him!