I am very proud of Kennedy right now! After a very long and tiring day of trying to entertain a sick child and get her to nap (unsuccessfully at that), we had a break through at dinner tonight! I made some very yummy and greasy shepherds pie; my new favorite right now. And to my surprise, Kennedy ate a whole plate full, almost as much as I ate! Lately she has been refusing most foods and we never know what she will eat. But, that isn't even the best part! She finally drank her milk out of a cup today! She drank almost all of it! Normally the only time she drinks milk is from her bottle, so hopefully this will be the start of kicking the bottle habit! So, I feel much better about today than I did a few hours ago! Good job Kennedy! I am sad that Ryan missed it.

Looks like we have a bitter!

This is a picture of our little fairy on halloween. So cute and innocent.... apparently not so innocent! Last week I got a membership at the Y and took Kennedy with me. She went to child minding (as they like to call it there) while I went swimming. When I came to pick her up, the first thing that the lady said to me was, "So she's a bitter eh"? I was like oh no know (knowing full well that she actually is a bitter), did she bite someone? And the lady just pointed to this cute little girl who couldn't have been older than 1. So that was embarassing. But atleast now they know to look out for it! Later that day when I told Ryan what happened and then showed him Kennedy's Y pass card - we couldnt help but laugh, because, well honestly she looks like a bitter!

Our Trip to Galaxyland!

Yesturday Kennedy and I were lucky enough to have Ryan home for the day! It's always nice when he has a day off to spend with us. So we decided to do something fun! We were originally going to go to the park and have a picnic, but it was too windy out for my liking, so we remembered that Galaxyland was free! Kennedy has never been on any of the rides there and we were really excited to take her for the first time. She was a little confused on some of the rides - mostly on the merry-go-round, but in the end I think she had a lot of fun! It was also nice to get out and do something different for a change.

On the car ride

Merry Go Round - she didnt know what to think of it!

On the train with daddy

Hot Air Balloons with Daddy and Mommy

Mess Up Time!

Today I was running out of things to entertain Kennedy with, so my solution was to give her a jar of baby food and dump it out onto her tray. I made sure to give her the peas and carrots kind just in case she ended up eating some of it too - otherwise she would not eat peas and carrots. This seemed to entertain for only about 10 minutes, but it was just long enough for me to do some dishes!

Kennedy's One Year Photos

Here are just a few pics from Kennedys photoshoot yesturday. I love things that look old and worn out. So that is the look we were going for. The leaves are perfect right now and it was a great time to get some pictures done!

Thanks to the person who did not want this super cute chair anymore, as my sister found it by her dumpster for me! It was the perfect chair and I just love it!

My friend Michelle was the photograper of the day, and that a trooper she was! She has 4 little kids all under the age of 6 not to mention a 4 month old. They all came along for the adventure! Near the end, Im pretty sure they all had enough. So, a big thank you to Michelle for doing this for me despite some crying kids! The pictures look great and I cant wait to see the rest of them!

Picky Eater

I always said that my child was not going to be a picky eater - I would make sure of it! Well, that didn't happen. Much to my dismay, Kennedy is now a picky eater. I make her food that I think she likes (times past she would eat it) only to find that it ends up on the floor or not touched at all. So, I throw that meal out (thinking - what a waste!) and proceed to make something else. Sometimes that gets eaten, sometimes it doesn't. I just never know anymore. I know one thing though, she LOVES animal crackers! I can always count on her eating those. Or, of course, eating whatever myself or Ryan is eating, just never her own food. So, like I always do when I need some answers about rasing a child, I went to the internet and came across this article from Dr. Sears - and it made me feel a whole lot better about this picky eating buisness. So here is the link for those who may be in the same boat as me: http://www.askdrsears.com/html/3/t030800.asp

I found it very helpful, hope you do too!

Life as Kennedy

Here's a look at what my munchkin does all day:

She gets into the treat cupboard

She carries things around in her mouth - leaves her hands free for other toys!

She plays/talks to her bunny

Has a nightly bath

Makes funny faces while playing with daddy

Plays at the park

And poses in the grass any chance she gets!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KENNEDY!

I can hardly believe that my little girl is one already! We are so lucky to have such an amazing daughter and have enjoyed everything about this past year with her.

We celebrated her very first birthday with family and close friends. We had a great time and sure do appreciate everyone who came out!

Kennedy, of course, loved being the center of attention (as she always does), and eating her first piece of chocolate cake! She got really great presents and was more than excited to see them all!

I really wanted Kennedy to have a little party dress, so I made one for her and I thought it looked pretty cute on her!

I also made mini bundt cakes for the guests and a mini chocolate cake for Kennedy. My mom and Sharon were a big help when it came to decorating the cakes, and then I just made little letters to stick in them to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY.

Olsen Family Reunion & The Cabin!

What an action packed week we had! Who can imagine going to a family reunion and then topping it off with a trip to the cabin? Well, as crazy as that sounds, we did it!

The Reunion

Last Friday was the kick-off to the Olsen Family Reunion! We get together every 2 years for a few days of awesomeness! This year our reunion was held at Payne Lake Lodge just outside of Mt. View, Alberta. The Lodge was perfect! I would recommend it to anyone else hosting a large family gathering (would be so nice for a Christmas get together)!

Friday was low key, with everyone arriving and then eating dinner. We played a few crazy games and hung out by the campfire. Saturday morning started off with a delicious breakfast to get us ready to take on Bears Hump hike in Waterton. Now, I have done Bears Hump a few times before this, and my mind always remembers it as being fairly easy; children do it all the time, how hard can it really be? So becuase of this memory I decided that I would be perfectly capable of carrying my 23Lb daughter up it in my carrier. Well, either memory did not serve me correctly or I am rediculously out of shape ( I choose a mixture of the 2), because not even 10 mins into the hike, I had to trade Ryan for the backpack instead of Kennedy. That was one tough hike, and a big congrats to everyone who did it!

Saturday's other highlight included the famous talent show. I am, admittedly, not one for talent shows. I like watching them, but really do not like being in them. There are lots of very creative families in my family (if that makes sense), who were fantastic! Some sang, some did skits, some did tricks and jokes, and my favorite was Grandma Olsen's story.

Sunday we went to church in Mt. View and then we took some pictures at the Cardston Temple. Thank you to Kimmy and Bo for coming with us and for taking great pics!

All and all, it was a great weekend and it was so fun to see everyone and to see all the new little (and some big - like new spouses) additions to the family! Thanks everyone for coming and see you in 2 long years! .....hopefully sooner!

The Carter Cabin

After my family reunion, we headed up to Rocky Mountain House, where we got to spend a few days with Ryan's family at their cabin.

It is always a fun time there, and for the first time, Kennedy got to go! And let me tell you, she loved it! She loves being around her cousins and being outside, so this was perfect! She had a lot of firsts there - she ate her first cheesies, ate her first ice cream cone and went on a boat for the first time! Yes, I let her have cheesies and ice cream and she very much enjoyed them, maybe a little too much because she ate pretty much all of my ice cream cone and who knows how many cheesies she fit into her mouth.

Other things we did - in short:

1) went tubing

2) ate lots of treats!

3) layed around

4) went to the petting zoo - Kennedy loves animals!

5) tried wakeboarding and failed

6) went to the beach

7) Kennedy ate the sand there

8) Ryan built a sand castle

9) played games

10) watched the Bachelorette finale - couldn't miss that!

11) ate some more treats!

12) took Kennedy on her first bike ride - and she hated it! She cried the whole time....it was sad.

We had a fantastic time there! Although it was sad to leave, it sure is nice to be back home!

I finally gave in!

I am now the newest member of the blog family! I never thought I would do a blog. Mostly because I didn't think anyone really cared what went on in my life all the time (really, does anyone)? Hopefully someone does, because it is official! I will say this though, don't expect anything extraordianary from me. As you can probably tell already, I am not the best writter and I have the worst grammer. Thank goodness, though, I have a very cute and very funny daughter to entertain you with on here!

How about a few introductions to get started:

I am Jenn Carter and I love to do do crafts, sew, play soccer, and run (running came much easier before I had a baby and got super lazy)! That's all you really need to know about me, espcially becuase you already know me if you are ready this. Lucky people!

My husband is Ryan Carter, from Lacombe Alberta. He is currently in school for Nursing and has a mere 2.5 years left! Sure hope that goes fast! He works hard all the time and most importantly, he puts up with me!

Finally, there is Kennedy! What a blessing she is! She will be 1 years old in just 5weeks! Can you believe that? She is the cutest little girl out there! She loves to entertain people, shake her little bum, and play with other kids. We could not have asked for anything more than what she is.

I hope you enjoy my blog from here on out!