Sunday, January 18, 2009

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!

7 comments:

hannah m said...

Happy, happy birthday Kennedy! Wow, 11 years old!

Kennedy, seeing pictures of your adventures always makes our family smile SO BIG! We can't wait to see the fun adventures this year brings you!

With love and happy birthday wishes from three of your biggest fans,
Hannah, Vince and Vivian

Leslie, Arlin and Katie Kauffman said...

Kennedy, I love all your birthday party pics! What a cool phone!!

Lauren said...

Hi Kennedy and Lisa! I just wanted to leave a little note (depending how emotional I get about it will depend on how long the note is ;) saying happy birthday, and congratulations on all your achievements in the past 11 years!

My name is Lauren, and I live in Brisbane, Australia. My little sister lives about 10 hours drive north from me in a town called Mackay, and she has CHARGE as well. She turns 20 in February, which is amazing. She, unfortunately couldn't attend mainstream school, but she was school captain last year, and she made many leaps and bounds in her schooling life. We are now transitioning into post school life this year, which will be interesting in itself, as the government has only allocated her 12 hours per week of assistance. This is because she needs one on one care, as she wanders, and doesn't have a sense of danger. She might be almost twenty on the outside, but inside she's about four or five.

But she loves music, and dancing, and playing on the computer. She's also recently started this eating orally journey too - she had her gastric tube put in when she was about three (before that she had a nasal tube), and in April 08, she decided that she didn't want to have her lunch through her tube, and allowed herself to have about half a dozen spoonfuls of her liquid lunch orally. She's gone from that to now she only has her dinner in her tube (I think just out off habit - Dad feeds her after she's gone to bed, around 10pm), and the rest of time she is having Weetbix (not sure if you guys have that though!), yogurts, pureed fruit, and soups. The next hurdle is to figure out that chewing thing, because anything else she gags on.

Anyway, I couldn't go past this journal without leaving a little note and insight into my life with CHARGE. Caitlin's health prospects are quite good though - she'll probably have to have some more heart surgery later on in life (they've stitched the hole in her heart up once, but it didn't go to plan...) and she's had been on hormones to kick start puberty. Mum and Dad just need to find new doctors now, as she can no longer see the pediatrician that she's been seeing all of her life, and she needs to find new ophthalmologist as she had been seeing one at school. It's good though, as I live in the capital city of our state, so there are a lot more opportunities down here for her.

Kennedy, you're a beautiful girl, and I am very happy to see that you are having such a wonderful life! Congratulations once again! (and lots of love to you all!)

Crystal M. said...

Happy Birthday Kennedy!! What a wonderful party and wonderful gifts. You are one amazing little girl and we love checking in on you.
Hugs,
Crystal and Eva

Maeve said...

What a great party and great presents! Kennedy looks fabulous as always!
:)
Happy Birthday sweet girl.

The Claytons said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR KENNEDY
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!


Hope you have a wonderful day today!

The Clayton Family

Kristi said...

Happy 11th Birthday, Miss Kennedy!
It's hard for me to believe you are already 11! (I bet it's harder for your Mommy and Daddy!)

Lisa, she looks so "tween" and not a little girl... it just blows my mind!

Kennedy, you have always been an inspiring little girl... and now you have grown into an inspiring young lady!

Happy Birthday to you!!!!

Love,
The Swanns