And The Winner is.....

Tonight the girls were in a beauty pageant. This was McKenzie's 6th pageant, while it was Kennedy's first experience with being on stage alone, in front of an audience, staring at very bright lights. We all predicted what would happen, but no one really knew.

I love pageants because it's great mother-daughter time, and this time I got to do it with both my girls so it was even more special. I don't care if they win, and I try to instill that same thought into them. I just want them to experience trying something whether you win at it or not. McKenzie did great, as always, and got top 3!!!

Now, what most of you are wondering about, how did Kennedy do?? When she first walked through the door in the parade of beauties she was wiping away tears. So, of course, I got a little nervous. As she walked across the stage, she smiled and looked at the audience - just liked we practiced. I could take a sigh of relief. A few minutes later she came out for her individual walk. She was supposed to walk to a middle X, then over to stage right , do a turn, walk to stage left, do a turn, and walk back to the middle. Then she was supposed to wait for her escort to escort her off the stage. Of course, if you know Kennedy at all, things never go like they are "suppose" to. So, here's what really happened. She walked to the middle and stood there and stood there. She had a very confused/I'm about to cry look on her face. For a moment, she smiled really pretty. You could see the look on her face like she was thinking "Oh, yeah, I'm suppose to be smiling." Then she went right back to the confused look again. Someone off stage motioned her to go towards stage right to do her turn. She went towards the right...and kept walking....right off stage. So, they shooed her back on stage where she walked back to the middle. Her escort walked up to meet her to escort her off stage, and she ran off leaving the poor lad by himself. Needless to say, she had the whole audience cracking up.

It was a really fun night and a great experience I got to have with my girls. McKenzie was proud she got top 3, and Kennedy got a crown for participation so she has no clue she did anything wrong (which is how I like it).

Peasant Dress

Tonight at sewing class I made this little peasant dress for Kennedy. It is purple with little owls all over it. It has a green bow on the front. I think this dress is adorable (the pictures do not do it justice). I can't wait for her to wear it Sunday.

Halloween Costumes

So, this past weekend was Halloween of course. Kennedy went as a bumblebee while McKenzie dressed like a punk rockstar. I made the tutus for both their outfits. Those tutus were really easy and fun to make, not to mention too cute!!! We went trick-or-treating at the mall and along Kimberly Drive in Laurel. We had a great time.

Bow Holder

Haven't posted in a while, so here's a short one. This is a bow holder that I made for Kennedy's bows. It matches their new room.

Downtown on a Saturday Afternoon

This past Saturday we took a leisurely stroll downtown and visited a few educational places. Our first stop was to the Laurel Jones County Library so McKenzie could pick up the next book in the "Series of Unfortunate Events" series by Lemony Snicket. I'm so glad she's found a series she likes. Bo and I read a book with Kennedy then she played with the blocks and built a house. Next we walked through Leontyne Price Park (mainly just neat because it's named after Leontyne Price). After that we went to the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art. We each had a favorite part of the museum. My favorite was the display of paintings that were chosen by the workers of the museum. A small card was displayed by each telling why they chose that particular painting to be displayed. Bo's favorite was the old silver (funny, I know). McKenzie's favorite was probably the gift shop, and Kennedy's favorite was the suit of armor. At first she was a little scared of it, but after we explained what it was she kept wanting to go back to it. After the museum, we shopped a little at The Emporium at the Reserve where McKenzie found a North Face jacket she had been wanting for only $30, so Christmas came a little early for her. Then we went to our favorite downtown Laurel spot - our apartment - had a nap and watched some movies. It was such a leisurely day, and we had a really good time. Below are some pics, including a sign I found behind the Methodist church downtown.

"THE" Small Group

This is our bible study group that meets at our house on Wednesday nights. Instead of having Wednesday night service our church has "small groups" at different houses in different parts of Laurel and Hattiesburg. The idea is to be involved with an intimate group of people to share joys and sorrows and to discuss God's Word. It's a really awesome thing and we love it. Anyways, our group used to be bigger, but some people have moved off and some can't come because of school, so now we have dubbed ourselves "The" small group because we really are the smallest group. Our associate pastor asked all the groups to take pictures for an upcoming event at church, and since one of our group members has taken up photography professionally we had to take a great picture. Since we meet at our house in downtown Laurel we decided to take our picture at Pinehurst Park around the fountain (a little reminiscent of FRIENDS don't ya think? Well, minus being in the fountain). It was really fun, and I think our picture turned out great!

GRRRRR

I really don't know how I'm going to survive getting Kennedy through school. She is so headstrong and stubborn. Doing homework with her is a nightmare. Today, she got in trouble because she doodled ALL over her paper instead of writing her capital G's lowercase g's and 7's. She had to stay in from recess, was scolded (by her teacher, her dad, and me), didn't get to watch TV, got at least ten spankings, and still hasn't finished her work. She will start doing it and then I'll look over and she's doodling on her paper again. Then she wrote her name on her paper completely backwards - I'm talking mirror image! And don't think "Oh, she might be dyslexic"...NO, she is just being Kennedy - stubborn! She will do things just simply to be stubborn. If she's not supposed to do it, then for some reason she feels that she must. McKenzie was nothing like this. McKenzie has always done what she was supposed to, for the most part (I mean she is human). And then, we look over and she has fallen asleep doing her homework. I mean, what are you supposed to do with that.

I love my little curly headed Kennedy, but goodness, she's going to turn me gray before I'm 30! She just better be glad she's so darn cute!