Gingerbread houses taste better when eaten quickly...

...at least that's what Adara believes (and I tend to agree). Nana Juls and Grandpa sent us this sooo cute gingerbread house (there were some casualties in shipping but I was able to piece it back together). Since it was a little fragile after putting it back together I went ahead and built it and then let Adara decorate it however she wanted. We had tons of fun but the best was when we tore it down and ate it!

Gingerbread House

Play dates Rock!

Adara and myself met our friends Amber (the mom) and Juliana (her daughter) for a play date at the McWane Center in Birmingham. We had so much fun and nobody wanted to leave. The only way we could get the kids to go was to tell them that their daddy's (who work together) had ice cream and cake for them back at the office. Then after our ice cream/cake sugar rush the dads had to get back to work (haha) and we took the girls shopping to get all the ingredients for pizzas. They played while we made dinner and I have to say it was the best day we've had in a while!

Adara and Juliana

Thanksgiving

These are just a few from one of Ollie's favorite days of the year.

Thanksgiving

Silly Willy....I mean Adara

I've been going through our photos and realized there are so many that I haven't put up on the blog. I've really fallen behind lately. So here's some of Adara just being goofy.

Cute Kid

Doodles and Tattoos

Adara was honing her artistic abilities, unfortunately she choose some interesting mediums such as her body, the bed sheets, and well she did draw the person on paper so I guess it's not too bad.

Adara's creativeness

Under $2.00

This is mostly for my lovely west coast family. We miss you but we don't miss gas prices. This was Sunday, November 16. Just down the street, on Saturday, the gas was $1.95. I honestly didn't think I'd see it below $2.00 ever again. Pretty nice :)


And because I've been posting like crazy (for some reason) today here's Adara's new sign that she has finally mastered (I love you). I'm so proud of her.

The Death of Lady Mondegreen

I've always thought it was cute the way kids hear words and repeat them. Mostly because they're almost right but not really. I was reminded of this today when Adara told me "I'm so cold. Oh no, I got chill-dumps!" And last night she was asking for her "poke-a-lots" blanket (which would be her polka dots blanket). I've been trying to remember others that she's said but I just can't (which always happens when you really want to remember something). But my mom gave me a great one, we were talking and Adara asked Nana to beat-box (funny in itself I know) and Mom said something like, "Sweetie I'm not good at bebopping." Of course Adara thought this was hilarious and got Nana to say it a few more times before I told Mom that it was "beat-boxing."

So this got me to thinking and I found that these misheard words or phrases have a name! How cool is that. They're called Mondegreens, and they way they got the name happened when writer Sylvia Wright coined the term in an essay "The Death of Lady Mondegreen." In the essay she described that as a child she misheard the final line of the first stanza from the 17th century ballad ""The Bonnie Earl O' Murray." She remembered it as:

Ye Highlands and ye Lowlands,

Oh, where hae ye been?

They hae slain the Earl Amurray, [sic]

And Lady Mondegreen.

The actual fourth line is "And laid him on the green." As Wright explained the need for a new term, "The point about what I shall hereafter call mondegreens, since no one else has thought up a word for them, is that they are better than the original." What's really cool is that this word has been accepted as a new word officially by Merriam-Webster since there was no word to describe this occurrence. You can even submit your favorite mondegreen to the Merriam-Webster folks for their collection.

Edit: we've added another to the list, chicken casserole is now known as chicken castle.

Princess hats rock

Adara wanted to say thanks to Grandpa and Nana Juls for her awesome new hat! She's super cute in it and loves to wear it.

Princess Hat

Happy Halloween

Adara was Tinkerbell for Halloween this year, when asked what she was she would say either a pixie or Tinkerbell depending on her mood. I had the hardest time getting her to look in my direction so I could snap a few photos. And the ones I do have of her looking at me are mostly blurred because she was trying to turn her head. She's so sweet.

From Happy Halloween (2008)

Before heading out to trick-or-treat with Mom:

From Happy Halloween (2008)

After going with Mom and about to head out with Dad:

From Happy Halloween (2008)

Drinking Fairy Juice at Aunt Karen and Uncle Randy's house:

From Happy Halloween (2008)

And the full album:

Happy Halloween (2008)

Perfect Fall

The last week here was amazing. So Adara and I took advantage of it, we played and I finally got caught up on some pictures of her. Here's some of my favorites from the front yard, early in the morning.

From Fall Fun

From Fall Fun

From Fall Fun

From Fall Fun

And these are my favorites from later that day, in the back yard.

From Fall Fun

From Fall Fun

From Fall Fun

The full album is here.

Fall Fun

Lazy Dayz

These past few days have been very lazy. We've been doing nothing but hanging out and enjoying the weather. It's been beautiful here, especially in the morning. I also cut Adara's hair again and I'm happy to say it turned out great.

Picture Update

Here's some totally random pictures from the last few days.

Random

Grandma and Papaw's House

Yesterday we went to Grandma and Papaw's house for the day. My Uncle Tracy and Aunt Catherine were there with their boys, Nate and Ethan, and Adara hadn't met them yet. We had a blast! There's was even homemade ice cream and orange sherbet.

When we first got there Adara and the boys went into the playroom with their flashlights. They played in the tent and jumped on the bed with Grandma.

Then it was time to go outside for a bit. Papaw worked his charm again, kids love him. Wherever he is they have to be as well.

After that we perfected our golfing a bit. Adara, Nate, and Ethan are getting good. Maybe Auntie Kim can design Adara's Golf attire when she turns pro.

And here's the full album.

A Day at Grandma's

Uncle Trevor's Birthday

We had so much fun eating cake and playing around. Uncle Trevor is 14 years old now, and Adara thinks she is as well.

Here's the full album in slideshow form. Including our beautiful blue teeth and tongues.

Some Old and New

Some Cal Some Bama

Here's a few old ones I found on my SD card along with Adara playing in her new pool.

Bubble Shooter

Adara got a new toy today, a bubble gun! Nana and Pop took Adara to the store where she must have talked Nana into getting her some goodies (not that it takes much persuading). She also got a bunch of beach/park toys since there's a great park literally right behind the tree line of the house. So enjoy the cuteness, we love you!

Bubbles

From Here to There

Leaving California

We've finally got all our pictures uploaded and our Internet set up (thank you Ollie!). I kinda-sorta organized them so you can see what's going on. These first ones are before we left California, spending time with the people we love (although I believe Nana Juls has ones of us when we were at their house, our camera was packed).

First few days in Alabama

Now we have some of our first days here in Alabama. Lot's of pool time, family time, and work time. There are so many kids around for Adara to play with. She's loving all the attention!

4th of July

So I only got a few pictures on the 4th but we had a great time. We went to Aunt Peggy's house and Adara spent the whole day in the pool.

New Toothbrush and Cute Hair

Finally lil miss princess and her new toothbrush just like Mommy's and Daddy's. She HAD to have one after she "borrowed" mine. I think hers is cooler though, it has Dora on it.

Long-Time-No-Post

Recent days in Bama

Here's a few pictures from the past couple of days. The ones from the 4th aren't on here but I'll get them up soon. So have fun checking out our awesome new tans!

We love you

Very Quick

So this is a super quick update...

• Ollie starts his job tomorrow...YAY!
• Adara is having a BLAST down here with all her aunts, uncles, and cousins.
• Mommy is having a blast down here with all HER aunts, uncles, and cousins.
• Daddy is still trying to adjust to all the humidity but he's having a wonderful time (especially because everyone likes to feed him).
• The Kenney clan is getting a GREAT tan! Princess Adara is tanning quite nicely and her hair is turning white-blond.
• Our stuff is here in Birmingham today but we'll be unloading it tomorrow. Hooray!!
• Oh and one last one that coincides with the tans...everyone has a pool or lives in the lake so we've been swimming everyday.

As soon as we get our computers off the truck we'll do some picture updates as well...there's tons of them.

We love you

Itsy Bitsy Spider

This is a quick clip of Adara singing Itsy-Bitsy Spider. We hope you all enjoy!

Adara Video

There's 2 more short videos at the link above.

Update

New Update on the Update
Today ( May 29) George is going into the hospital so the doctor can start "aggressively treating him" with Chemotherapy and Radiotherapy. They can't do surgery on his lungs, where the cancer started (from smoking). After the first round of treatments are over they will do some more tests and decided on their next course of action. So far George is in excellent spirits even with everything that's going on. So thank you and please continue to keep him and the family in your prayers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So here's a quick update on my Great Uncle George. The doctors found the starting point of the cancer, his lungs. It's spread to his lymph nodes, spine, and finally his brain. They originally thought he had a stroke and that was how they found the cancer in the brain. On Monday he will be going back in to discuss a treatment plan to begin immediately. Please continue to keep him in your prayers.

More Artwork

I added a few more to the Adara Art Album.

She's getting super good!

There's more in the Album.

Adara Art

Adara Art

Adara just loves playing on the computer. This is one of the ways we encourage it.

Alterations

More fiddled-with photos.

Alterations

Prayer

I just found out that my Great Uncle George (my Papaw's brother) has brain cancer. He's been sick for a long time. The problem is the doctors said cancer doesn't start in the brain, it starts somewhere else and moves to the brain. So they're going to have to find out where the rest of the cancer is. Please keep him in your prayers and I'll update as soon as I find out more.

Wonderful Saturday

Yesterday was so great! We got to see Kim, Zach, and Declan and then a whole bunch 'o Kenney's. It was lots of fun to see the cousins playing before we move to Alabama. So here's some pictures.

Declan and Adara

Picasa

I thought you guys might like to see some of the more artsy pictures I've been working on lately. I've been inspired by my friend Megan to actually start posting these.

Artsy-Fartsy

My New Hair

So I figured I'd put up the pictures of my new haircut as well.