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.