Kennedy Directing Her School Sign Language Club Signing Rudolph

Today was the holiday show at Kennedy's school. Each Monday, she and her interpreter run a noon hour sign language club. They had been practicing the song, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and performed it today. It's a great video but since Kennedy is directing, we mostly just see the back of her! They did a fabulous show and I'm so proud of all of them. Way to go!

Kennedy Presenting Charge Syndrome To Her Classmates...

Many of you have seen this on Facebook or through the Charge yahoogroup but I know some of you follow the blog only so I'm reposting this video that Kennedy did on Charge syndrome for her classmates. Some of the terms were changed/simplified and some things didn't go too far in depth - it was more of an "intro" for her classmates to help them understand Charge. This was orignally set up for a sign language club that Kennedy & her interpreter are running at the school, to introduce why Kennedy uses sign. Another teacher of the other grade 6 requested her to do it for her class and finally her own teacher had her do it for her homeroom class.

Kennedy Presenting CHARGE Syndrome from rykykk on Vimeo.

Health Tests - October 2009

This post is to celebrate Kennedy's continuing great achievements in middle school. Her tenacity, great attitude, and willingness to try hard at school is just a testament to what an amazing person she is. There is, however, another reason why I'm writing. It is because of so-called professionals who are ignorant about CHARGE syndrome giving out bad information to families who have young babies or children with a recent diagnosis.

Twice this week, there were messages on the CHARGE listserv about bad information. The most recent was that a hearing specialist told a mother of a 13 month old girl that most people with CHARGE never talk and that they don't progress cognitively beyond the infant stage. As the parent of a child with CHARGE, I was so offended; I can only imagine what individuals with CHARGE think about comments like this. Those of you who know me can imagine my response to this: I was outraged!!! I gave the mom a lengthy response but I'm just so offended when "professionals" give out information like this to parents when, in fact, they really haven't done a modicum of research on the topic. I asked this parent to ask the hearing specialist where she got that information; I'd love to see the reaction on that.

This just really underscores the need for more public awareness about and more accurate information out there about CHARGE syndrome so no parent has to hear ridiculous prognoses like this. In that vein, I will post these 2 tests that Kennedy has taken in Health on the male reproductive system and on puberty changes between males & females. The first shows how she had to learn to accurately identify all parts of the male reproductive system; the second is deciphering which puberty changes occur in both females and males. She had to read and do these independently. I challenge most men to accurately label their own reproductive system and Kennedy worked very hard to study and did great, scoring A+ on both. Secondly, I will leave a link to our 2nd Annual Charge It for CHARGE campaign, which helps support the CHARGE Syndrome Foundation and its mandate to help families, assist research, and provide (correct) information to professionals about CHARGE. If you would consider making a donation to our family donation page, it would be greatly appreciated.

*Note: You can click on either of these photos to enlarge them.

Male Reproductive System Test (she also knows what each part does; that test is next Friday):


Puberty Changes: Male & Female (read and identify which occur in both):



Click here for our 'Charge It for CHARGE' Team Donation Page - Thank you for your consideration of this worthy cause.

Happy Early Halloween!

Jib Jab is the best...ha ha ha...
Enjoy!

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First Test of Middle School

Ahhh...if only everything could be spelling. (you can click the picture to enlarge it if you can't see it well)



This kid can spell like nobody's business.

Maybe it's genetic?

(Me, with very large hair, in grade 12, as part of the St. Vincent's High School winning spelling bee team...yikes)

New School Year

Well Ms. K is settled into her new school and doing fabulous. She loves being in middle school, going to the cafeteria to buy french fries, changing rooms for classes, is excited about upcoming first dance and esp. loves her new teacher, her first "boy" teacher.

Her team at school really wants to understand what's going on with K - they had me in to do a little CHARGE 101 presentation yesterday and had lots of good questions. As I told them, I'd offered to do this multiple times in the past and they were the first school to take me up on it, so that's a great start. All signs are pointing to positive so far. Of course there have been some kinks we've had to work out, but these are minor in the grander scheme of things and if these things are the biggest issues we need to deal with this year, then it's going to be a great year.

I just feel that because I was able to go in and do a proper session on CHARGE, its complexity and how that relates to Kennedy, complete with pictures and explanations, that they will 'get it' better than others who've worked with her before for a long time. When I say 'get it', it's not just in terms of her possible limitations but with the fact of how hard she does work to be where she's at and in terms of everything going on in her little body 'behind the scenes' that you don't see/think about because she does compensate so well.

I am really happy and hopeful that the open communication, questions, problem-solving, and overall quest for understanding & working together to facilitate K's success at school, continues.

Alice in Wonderland - Pics and Video

I'm not sure how many of you readers of the blog are not also Facebook friends but just in case, I'm going to post the video here of "Alice in Wonderland", in which Kennedy played the Queen of Hearts (as well as part of 'the black hole' and the Jabberwocky gang in other scenes...but the Q. was her main part). It's about 44 minutes long; if you're looking for K's main scene specifically, skip to about the 25 minute mark. If you have time, though, to watch it all, it's pretty darn cute. (I know, I'm biased.)

If you are a Facebook friend, I apologize for the redundancy but I can't help how cute, wonderful and talented these kids are!!

Pictures I took at the show can be found here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=149270&id=587985427&l=3778778a89

Alice in Wonderland - IACT August 22, 2009 from Lisa on Vimeo.

Theatre Festival This Weekend

Well after three weeks of theatre camp, Kennedy's theatre company summer camp group is ready to perform its rendition of "Alice in Wonderland" - a Cirque de Soleil-inspired "whimsical" rendition, as one of Kennedy's camp leaders, Sarah Butler, put it on a radio interview the other day. I saw a sneak peak last night as the group performed a teaser show at the Public Library for the closing ceremonies of the Summer Reading Program and am very excited to see the whole thing tomorrow at 1pm at the big tent at Long Wharf. She is in several scenes doing a variety of parts but her main part is the Queen of Hearts and she has a fair little chunk of lines that she knows very well. I am so proud of her and she certainly is the Queen of MY heart for sure. The show is actually part of a bunch of activities which will take place over the next three days for the Children's Theatre Festival being held here in the city.

This theatre company, InterAction Children's Theatre Company (IACT), has just been the best thing for Kennedy. She absolutely loves it there and can't wait to go every single time to practice. I think it really does help build on her confidence and is just such a great way for her to express herself. Seeing her deliver her line emphatically last night at the preview show on bended knee, with arms spread out wide, "Come to my arms my beamish boy!" was one of the cutest things I've seen her do. I can't wait to see more when she does her Queen of Hearts scene tomorrow. I'll try to get some video so I can post it here.

She told me yesterday after seeing herself in the newspaper in a picture with the rest of the gang for the Alice show that it was the best day of her life. I think that pretty much sums up how much she loves it. She's done a year of Musical Theatre classes but now wants to take the Acting I class, which focuses more on the acting aspect. I couldn't be happier, it is money well spent - if you live in the Saint John area and have a child, I highly recommend you click the link above and check out this company - they all have so much fun (kids AND staff); the people who work there and the performances they get out of these kids are just phenomenal.

Kennedy's Performance

For folks who aren't on Facebook, here is Kennedy singing at the first ever Conference Idol last Friday night (07/24/09). As I mentioned in the video description on Facebook, she only got 1/2 way through and folks started clapping thinking it was over but she was okay with it and it was still super cute.

9th International CHARGE Syndrome Conference

We are back after an amazing conference in Bloomindale, IL. It'll take a couple of days to really process and digest all that went on at the conference: new friendships made, old friends reconnected, information learned, joyous events and people celebrated. It really was a great conference of firsts as Brownie Shott, our conference chairperson, pointed out in her address to the group: online registration, conference idol, professional day, and more. It was so exciting and really an honour to be a part of it, both in the planning & execution of it as well as to be there with my family, taking part in it all.

Today I'm uploading pictures and splicing video clips (and doing a gargantuan amount of laundry) but I will put my thoughts down a little more in depth very soon. For now, here are some of my photos I uploaded this morning:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=142098&id=587985427&l=d8fe284026...Enjoy!

I have some more pics, but am saving some for the CHARGE conference edition newsletter, especially of the awards presented, etc. If any of you have photos, stories, quotes about the conference, etc, you'd like to submit, please send them to me. The more the merrier! Click here for my email: Email Lisa.

July Update

As usual, it's been a while since I've updated the blog. Here's what's been going on in our lives:

*In late June/early July, I spent two weeks at Perkins School for the Blind (Deafblind Proram) doing a teaching internship. It was amazing and I met a lot of super cool kids, a lot of whom had CHARGE. While I was there, Kennedy went with Nana & Papa to their trailer for two weeks. She had a lot of fun swimming, throwing rocks at the beach and, of course, shopping.

*We've been spending a lot of time doing stuff together since I got home because I missed her like MAD...watching movies (last night we watched Ghostbusters - too fun), shopping, and most of all preparing for the big CHARGE Syndrome Conference in Chicago next week. She is super-excited, especially about Conference Idol, taking place Friday night. She is going to sing "The Climb" by Miley Cyrus. She wanted highlights in her hair for the big performance so we did that this week and she also picked out a new dress & shoes to wear. I'm happy to report that Dad & big brother Kyle will also be coming and that Kyle has volunteered to work in childcare both days of the conference.

*Tonight, Kennedy & I, along with my good friend Jill, are heading down to Maine to our pal Courtney's trailer to have a girly camp-out this weekend. I know, kind of crazy right before conference but it'll be a lot of fun and I will still have Monday to get ready.

*After I arrived home from Perkins, Kennedy & I went to visit my beautiful granddaughter and Kennedy's sweet niece, Taylor. She is getting so big, four teeth now, standing and walking holding onto things, eating a bunch of different foods and just becoming a real big girl. I forgot my camera so was only able to grab a picture or two with my Blackberry. Here are the girls:




More to come with better pictures after conference. Hope your summer is going well and everyone is healthy. Please keep Cheyenne in your thoughts next week as she is having surgery.

Eyes/Corneas/Colobomas/TV

Sorry about the length of time between posting, folks. Between me graduating from University and starting a full time music teaching job, getting Kyle ready to graduate high school and Kennedy to transition meetings for going to her new, humungous middle school, things have been busy. I'll post more about these events soon. I want to talk eyes today.

Since the last post, Kennedy had a visit to the IWK Children's hospital for ophthamology. They said she is doing fabulous, her corneas look wonderful (surprisingly, they said, with her facial palsy and one not closing all the way for all these years), they gave her a new prescription (minor changes) and took some WICKED pictures of her optic disc, showing her two colobomas (these are the areas in white in the pictures below where there is incomplete tissue development). I am going to post the picture here but also on her main web site as I think it really speaks to the resiliency and ability to compensate that our children display. To think there's that much missing and she manages to see and do as well as she should with not only the vision issues but everything else going on in her little body - well I think it's just unbelievable. Yeah, I know. I'm biased.
Here is a picture of those colobomas (you can click on it to enlarge as well)


During the time we were down there, we had an opportunity to have a visit with dear friends Jeanie & MacKenzie. As some of you know, Kennedy & MacKenzie have been friends since they were babies. MacKenzie was named as this year's Champion Child for the IWK Children's Hospital for the Children's Miracle Network Telethons that take place last week of May/first week of June. She has been quite the little celebrity, on TV, going on trips in Canada & the US, doing various interviews and attending other functions. We are so proud of her and happy to see CHARGE syndrome awareness increasing because of this amazing little girl.

So they had a visit at the hospital as MacKenzie had an appointment the same day, but they also had to go to the TV station for Mac to do an interview. Kennedy was SO excited, asking a million questions, etc. MacKenzie had done enough of this in the past little while that she was as cool as a cucumber. Kennedy was asking, "Do we say 'Action!'?" and telling everyone she was an actress. It was really cute. The director gave her a 'director's' chair to sit in and told her that she would get to say, "Action!" when it was time and he counted down to her. She was just tickled.

After the interview the host of Breakfast Television, Jayson Baxter, took us all around for a tour of the newsroom set for CTV Live at Five and the news at 6, and introduced us to a bunch of folks we see on TV every night. Kennedy thought it was great (so did I to be honest!). I just want to say that the folks at CTV were generous and kind, giving up their precious busy work time to do a little something special for the girls. As we were leaving, Jayson grabbed a camera operator outside and said, "Kennedy, we're going to get you on TV" and taped a short spot with her telling everyone her name, where she was from, and to watch the IWK telethon. It meant the world to her and she was so excited to see herself on TV the next morning.

Here are a couple of pictures from our visits with MacKenzie and from the TV station visit:

Kennedy and MacKenzie - at the IWK, the first place we ever met...


Kennedy & MacKenzie with Jayson Baxter from BT (super nice guy!):


Kennedy & MacKenzie with Steve Murphy, long-time host of the Evening News at 6 (and native Saint Johner):


Kennedy & MacKenzie with Liz Rigney, who works on CTV's Live at Five:

Surgery #20

Well, after a couple of weeks' wait, we made our way to Toronto on the 3rd of May so Kennedy could undergo surgery May 4th early in the morning. We arrived around noon on the third and our good friend Amrit picked us up. We spent the afternoon at his house - talking & visiting while Kennedy played with his son, Aman. It was a really nice time. In the evening, our other good friends Phil & Margaret drove into the city to visit with us at the hotel. After a long day of travel and visiting with friends, we hit the hay early as we had to be at the hospital at 6am.

Around 8am, they took Kennedy into the O.R. - I accompanied her inside until she was 'out'. About 2 hours later, the doctor came out to tell us that things were done. It didn't go optimally because he was hoping to be able to fix the original abutment that got kicked in the schoolyard. Unfortunately, when he tried to straighten it out, the whole thing fell right out of her skull. He warned us that the gap that was left looked like, "the grand canyon". He said it was extremely rare for him to see something get hit that hard to be knocked out of someone's skull after having been there for three years. This was upsetting to us to imagine the trauma that her head took from that kick to dislodge it so completely. So, he ended up having to bring the spare screw up that was implanted in 2005, put a new abutment on it, make a skin graft to cover the big hole and insert a new back-up screw. It was quite a bit more involved than we'd hoped. The good thing is that Kennedy bounced back in her usual super-girl fashion.

She has a large foam pad and a healing cap on until Wednesday of this week but overall, she is in good spirits and able to hear somewhat with her softband hearing aid on until we can use the new abutment.












We actually took her the next day to the Ontario Science Center as we had the whole day before flying out at 8:20pm and she was feeling well enough. She had a great time. I have posted all the pictures on Facebook, but for those of you who don't have it, here are the public links to our Toronto albums:

Toronto Album 1
Toronto Album 2

Thank you to EVERYONE who kept us in their thoughts. It certainly was not the best outcome and it's upsetting it had to happen at all but at least she's doing okay and hopefully there will be no further complications from the added work that needed to be done to her head.

Schoolyard Accident - Take Two

Well, it's spring so time for another installment of phone-call-from-school-because-Kennedy's-hurt-on-the-playground. Except, this time, it's much worse than last year's broken arm incident.

This past Wednesday morning about 11am, I had just picked my father up after his surgery at the hospital to take him home. We were on the way to his house when my cell rang - it was the school. Kennedy had an accident outside and her hearing aid got knocked off; they were still trying to locate it. I thought to myself, "Well they better find it, the darn thing costs thousands of dollars." They said she was fine but asked if I could come over. I asked Dad if he was up to it and he was, so we turned around and headed back to K's school.

When I got there, they reported they had found her aid, which had landed inside her coat. I was relieved for an instant, until I pulled up her hair that covered the area where her implant goes. The titanium screw that is affixed to her skull to hold her hearing aid implant on was driven back out of its normal place and dislodged halfway from her skull. It was a bloody mess. I had to sit down, not from the blood, but from the immediate sinking sensation that I knew she was going to have to have surgery to fix this. I'm just so glad she was in good spirits (thank goodness for high pain thresholds). She asked if she could put her BAHA back on and I signed/said, "No, we need to call the doctor first to see if it's okay." Then, the floodgates opened, "I DON'T WANT ANOTHER SURGERY MAMA!" she gasped in between sobs. My heart was breaking for her. I don't blame her a bit; after 19 surgeries, she deserves the right to be upset at the prospect of another.

We did eventually get her calmed down, got home, cleaned the area well and called the surgeon in Toronto who'd implanted her BAHA back in '06. He called back and said to keep it covered and the earliest we could get in was May 4th for the O.R. We also have to put her on an antibiotic for ten days because of the risk of infection and keep it covered, especially at school. We dug out her old softband (headband that the BAHA can snap onto, usually worn prior to BAHA implant surgery). Her BAHA started 'buzzing', however, so we had to send it away and wait for a loaner to arrive. So no hearing at all for the weekend until the loaner arrives on Monday.

Now, Graeme and I are planning on an unexpected trip to Toronto on May 3-6 now for surgery to have it fixed and the area on her head closed. For those of you who don't know the geography - Toronto is 18 hours away from us, so we need to fly, etc. It's very stressful figuring all of this out, with it being an unexpected trip to Toronto and worrying about infection between now and then, etc. I know I am biased but I would not think it was good judgment to have three other kids spinning her on a swing (doing a 'twisty') with about 200 kids running around. Someone's foot came up and hit her in the head (obviously pretty hard to dislodge a titanium screw/abutment from its place that's been there for 3 years). I know accidents can happen but I think sometimes Kennedy is overestimated in terms of safety and she shouldn't be; between last year's broken arm and now this much more serious injury, I think it's time to go in for a little chat about safety, etc with the school. Just one more thing to do.

Anyway, we are plugging along and Kennedy is doing very well, she is much less worried than we are...

Almost April

Time for another long-overdue update, I can't believe it's been so long since I've written. It seems like I get (or make) time to do this about once every 3-4 weeks, I'm not a very good blogger. Things are going well around here - Kennedy is getting toward the end of grade five now and getting psyched for middle school. The biggest issue right now is what school she's going to be attending. The one she is slated to attend is up on the chopping block to be closed but the government has not made a decision yet. Apparently we're supposed to know by next week. I don't really have a strong opinion either way. The one she will attend if the original closes is closer in proximity to our home, but will be HUGE in terms of student population; the other is in an area of the city that is really rough and known for drug busts, etc. The school, staff, etc, is good, it's just the periphery that is worrisome. We shall see and whatever happens, Kennedy will adjust and do well, just like she always does. I always worry more than is necessary, but I'm getting better.

March has been fairly uneventful - she's had lots of school work and projects to do so that's kept her busy. This Friday she has two big projects due: one on floods and a 'Wanted' poster for a character in a book. She has been working hard on those. I have been supply teaching a lot and also got a second interview for a teaching position at a private school so I've been preparing for that this week.

In March, Kennedy also went to the endocrinologist, who found she was happy with her growth in terms of height (that had been a concern). She still is around the 5th percentile for height but has remained on her own curve and her growth velocity per year is fine. Other issues we are watching for now involve puberty; we had a blood test done to look at some things so hopefully all will be moving along in that area when her body is ready.

Last night we had a family date to go see Monsters vs. Aliens, which was very cute. Kennedy actually let me dry her hair with a diffuser to really bring out its natural curl. Since it happens so infrequently, I captured the look with my camera. Here are a few shots - I love her curly hair! She is wearing her favourite shirt in these photos - it's her grade five graduation shirt from her school. They have a tradition of having everyone sign their name and putting it on the back of a t-shirt in the year of graduation, with the school crest on front. Cute keepsake!

Front view: my little girl is growing up.



Back view: I love these curls!


Side view: Little button nose :)



Typical pose: I wish Kennedy would open her mouth and smile more for pictures but she has it in her head now to keep her mouth closed. It's still adorable, but I miss her open-mouth smiles. At least she lets me take pictures, I remember my boys did NOT like getting their pictures taken at this age!

Another March Break has Come and Gone

Random musings on March Break '09...

Well today is the last day of March Break. Kennedy had a fabulous week - the first weekend of March Break we had Taylor home all to ourselves for the weekend for the first time without her Mom & Dad. I had a ball being the doting Nan and Kennedy loved helping out with everything as the ever-loving Auntie. She helped me give her baths, feed her, hold her, change her bottom, play with her. It is so beautiful to see the two of them together. I am so proud of how responsible she is becoming.

On Monday, she began to go to theatre camp. She asked to go for the whole week so we signed her up and she went on her own each day. There were different themes for the days, such as 'Broadway Bound' and 'High School Musical'. She came home so happy and excited every day. It was not as fun for me as we usually have the whole week together and didn't this year but she's growing up, expanding her interests and I think it's great she wants to do other things.

We did catch a movie together on Tuesday night: Jonas Brothers 3D. It was a lot of fun; those boys have a LOT of energy. Kennedy loved it! Friday night, after theatre camp was done for the week, we had a girly spa & movie night, complete with a full massage, bubble bath, manicure, and movie. Oh yes, we also had fun playing 'Guitar Hero: World Tour' together. Graeme actually joined in for that. Kennedy's score beat ours almost everytime, no matter if she was on drums or guitar. She loves that game so much and is so cute to watch. She is her mother's daughter - loves the 80s music - we often hear, 'Eye of the Tiger' and 'Beat It' pounding away down there.

Yesterday (Saturday) was a cooking day, she wanted to make cheesecake so we spent the afternoon doing that. In the morning,though, we had to go out and do a few errands, one of which included going to Home Depot to pick up a small light switch. I wish I'd had my video camera because Kennedy began giving us a guided tour of Home Depot. She would walk us over to the kitchens and say, "This is the cupboard, these are some lovely drawers," etc...and would open them and point just like she was little Miss Saleslady. It was so adorable.

On another somewhat related topic, something she is doing a LOT of lately is asking us, "What will I do if I work here when I am older?" She does this at almost every new place we go; she has a real curiousity about working and having a job. She is very excited about this. We spend a lot of time talking to her about different responsibilities of different positions. She thinks she might like to work at the hospital where people register - you give them your Medicare card, they enter your info in the computer and then tell you which way you need to go to get to your desired destination. I think she'd be great at this (or whatever she sets her mind to). She certainly knows her way around the hospital and is excellent on the computer. Time will tell, I just want her to be happy in her life no matter what she does.

Last note about March Break '09 - K got a cheque for Xmas this year that had been sitting on a shelf in our kitchen for going on three months and we decided we better get it cashed. So Kennedy opened her very first bank account yesterday, learned all about getting an account, how much she could take out in one day, got her new bank card, selected her own PIN for the account, asked questions of the bank manager who set up the account, etc. It was happy and sad at the same time - happy to see her taking in the information, getting more independent, but sad because my baby is growing up!

Back to school tomorrow - I'm not scheduled to work tomorrow yet so that's a good thing as Kennedy's big brother, Kyle, is coming home from his high school trip to France at about 1:00am. She is excited to see him as am I - can't wait to go pick him up tonight, Kennedy will have to wait until the morning to see him, though as she does need to wake up for school!

Hope all of my readers had a great break or will have a great break if you haven't yet had it!

Auntie Pictures

It's been a while since my last update but we've pretty much spent most of the winter DIGGING out from the snow. It's the worst winter I can recall in my lifetime. We have 7 foot snowbanks in our driveway and there's a ton more falling today, at least a couple more feet. Yikes!

On a sunnier, brighter, happier, more joyous note, Miss Taylor, my granddaughter and Kennedy's sweet niece, was here for the past weekend and I got a couple of really cute pictures of she & Kennedy as well as she & her Gramp. I thought I'd break up the February blahs (and my long hiatus from posting) by sharing a couple of these pictures.

Sunday morning pajama girls:


Gramp & his girls:

Kennedy As Miley Cyrus

As many of you know, Kennedy got her beloved Disney Sing It for the Wii for Xmas. As promised, here is an early video of her belting out "Start All Over" by Miley Cyrus.

Random January Pics

Here are a few shots of Kennedy in January at her family birthday party, with great grandparents, with her beautiful niece (and my lovely granddaughter!) Taylor, with her cousins, and outside playing in the snow. Did I mention we have gotten a TON of snow this January? There is also a sweet one of her with her dad, who, after almost 13 years of us being together, shaved off his moustache much to my delight. There is a photo near the end of her with her new blonde-highlighted, straightened Hannah Montana hair, which was her last birthday request. What a diva...

If these photos do not start, or say, 'no such photos found' hit the 'F5' button at the top of your keyboard to refresh the screen and remember, it's not us, it's Flickr! ha ha...

Kennedy is almost 11!

Kennedy had her 'friend' birthday party early this year - last night to be exact. The reason we did it was because she wanted a movie party and there were no real 'kid' movies coming out on her birthday weekend so the girls all went to see 'Hotel for Dogs' last night instead. They had a great time and Kennedy was so excited because we straightened her hair and I let her wear make-up. They had a great time and two of the girls, Jenna & Marysa, came back over to our place after for a sleepover. We let Kennedy have her present from us then - a new cell phone. She went CRAZY...it seems crazy at 11 to have a cell but it seems to be all the rage and we look at it as another social tool. She was texting up a storm last night! Here are some pictures from last night's festivities...


We are planning a 'family' birthday get-together for next Saturday, which is closer to her actual birthday, the 27th. Should be lots of fun...oh and we do have a video of her singing from her Disney Sing It! game for the Wii, I just have to convert & upload it!