Swimming Fun

Here is Katherine and Sebastian having fun in Grandpa's pool.

Picture of Kate

My goal in starting THE KENNEY NEWS was so friends and family could read about Katherine and Sebastian's daily activities and view pictures of them. I know many of our friends and family love seeing pictures, so this is why I am always posting pictures of the kids. Another reason is that I think Katherine and Sebastian are the cutest children in the world. Sorry if some of you parents disagree!

I do hope Katherine and Sebastian's smiling faces bring you a smile when you open this site. They bring many smiles to me.

Bedtime Routine

Wes and I decided when we moved Katherine from her baby crib into her toddler bed at about 18 months old that we would do our best to establish a regular bedtime routine. For Katherine's first Christmas her Aunt Julia and Uncle Scott had given her the book Goodnight Moon. Wes and I began tucking her into bed, reading Goodnight Moon, and saying a prayer with her. It wasn't too long before she could quote every word of Goodnight Moon along with praying with us. Her prayers were as follows: "Dear God, Thank you for my mom, my dad, and my George."(George was our golden retriever) We still continue this bedtime routine even though she has outgrown her toddler bed and now request other more grown up books. However, the prayer hasn't changed all that much. She now quotes: "Dear God, Thank you for my mom, my dad, my George, and my brother." We no longer have George, but that doesn't stop Katherine from praying for him. She has begun to pray for her friends just recently too. The first time she prayed for all the friends in her Sunday School class and their siblings, I just melted. It really touched my heart! I am so proud that my daughter wants to pray for the people she loves.

We have started reading Goodnight Moon to Sebastian now as we tuck him into bed. Katherine loves to help, and it really has brought back memories of our time with her. I know it won't be long until Sebastian is quoting every word of the book also. He already starts saying "moon" and pointing to the book after his bedtime bath. I know it won't be long until I am writing about Sebastian praying for his friends. Wow!

Sebastian Moments

Being a mom is most wonderful job in whole world! However, there are days that those precious children can and do drive me crazy! Read on and Enjoy.

Sebastian is my sweet and loving little boy. When you pick him up he will usually lay his head on your shoulder and give you a hug. Sometimes he will rub or pat your back too. He will crawl up and sit in my lap, and I deeply cherish these times. When Sebastian wakes up in the mornings he will come into my room and sweetly say "momma". It is such a precious little voice! He will nod his head yes and say "uha" while running into the kitchen when I ask him if he wants breakfast. At times he will stop playing and come into the kitchen and just smile at me before heading back to play. These are all precious moments, and I try to tuck them away in my memory.

Sebastian has accomplished the challenge of opening doors. He can open all the doors in our house including the pantry door. More than once Sebastian has decided he was hungry and gotten into the pantry dumping whatever he was eating onto the kitchen floor. So far I have vacuumed cheerios, kix, rice chex, and nilla wafers up. Sebastian also loves to climb. Apparently, the dining room table looked like a good challenge for him, and he accomplished it. My very accomplished son loves to take baths. I discovered that he can climb into the bath tub on his own. He was sitting in the bath tub with a couple bath toys and his shampoo bottle. He was attempting to shampoo his hair. Needless to say, he did get his wish for a bath!

As I look back on these moments and tuck them away into my memory, I realize what a wonderful gift I have been given in being Katherine and Sebastian's mom. There are days when everything flows wonderfully and others where I wonder if I will make through the next hour, but I would not trade being a stay at home for anything. I am very blessed to have Katherine and Sebastian and oh how I love them so!!!

A Summer Evening

Last Thursday while Wes and I were in Tulsa the high reached to 116 degrees. That is just hot! Katherine and Sebastian love to play outside, but it has been so hot that we have been staying inside. We do spend some time outside in the evening, but it usually still in the 90's and sometimes in the 100's. On Monday evening it was really hot, and Wes put up the water slide. Sebastian and Katherine enjoyed being outside and getting wet! They had a blast and were then wore out for bed! A plus for all! :-)

More birthday?

On Friday, August 11th the kids and I celebrated Katherine's birthday with her grandma, grandpa, and uncle in Muskogee. Katherine had a blast opening more presents and eating even more birthday cake! Grandpa and grandma also have a pool which Katherine and Sebastian love. We decided not to go to the lake on this trip, but we still spent plenty of time in the water! We all had a wonderful time visiting and celebrating with Katherine!

I think this was the last birthday party for Katherine until next year! Three a year seems pretty good to me!

Kate's Day

Today is my precious girl's 4th birthday. Katherine had a party with several of her friends last Saturday, and today she has celebrated with her mom, dad, and Sebastian. She has spent the day playing with some of her new birthday presents. She will again celebrate her birthday this weekend with her grandparents and uncle in Muskgoee, Oklahoma. She is very excited to be four, and she's loving all the parties!

Arctic Edge Highlights

Highlights of Vacation Bible School at Trinity Baptist Church in Valliant, Oklahoma.

Birthday Flashback

Tuesday, August 1st was a big day in our house....Wes had a birthday! I decided to remind him of a childhood memory. The kids and I gave him an atari flashback! Yes, you can go back to the 80's!! The "new" atari flashback comes loaded with several games. I watched as my husband sat on the floor with his children on either side of him playing his new atari. All three were glued to the TV! It was a sight!
For those of you who might not remember the atari, please don't tell Wes. It will just make him feel older!

VBS Week

The last week has kept Wes, the kids, and I very busy. We had vacation bible school Monday through Friday at our church from 6-8:45pm. There were not as many children as we would have liked, but those that did attend had great time! We closed out the week Sunday night with Parents Night. I was worried that no one would show up for the parents night, but I was pleasently surprised. There was probably only one or two kids who did not return. The week ended very well.

Brown Family Visit

On July 17th we were blessed to have Jaime (Wes' sister) and her new family with us. We were able to meet Jaime's husband, Jessie, and their new baby girl, Maya. The visit was rather short, but it was great to visit with them. Maya was the star in our house. Katherine couldn't wait to see and hold her. It was all about Katherine's cousin Maya! Katherine beamed love for Maya. Sebastian had a different take on Maya. He was fine with having a new baby around as long as his mom had nothing to do with her. I was able to hold and cuddle Maya, but Sebastian was always right there with me. Katherine was usually right there too. As I said earlier, we were blessed to have time with Maya, Jaime, and Jessie!

Jentes Tradition

Being a Jentes means certain things. One of which is you MUST enjoy ice cream. (Eating corn especially corn on the cob is another, but that's also another topic!)

I remember on Saturday mornings my dad letting me eat ice cream for breakfast. Keep in mind by the time I got up for breakfast my dad would have been working outside for several hours, so it wasn't really breakfast time to him. My dad says now he doesn't remember the ice cream for breakfast, but he will tell you I would page him on his work voice pager(remember those?) around 4pm just about every other day to bring home ice cream. It wasn't just any ice cream either...It was Blue Bell ice cream!

One of traditions at the Jentes reunion is to eat ice cream. There was homemade ice cream, but of course, it was devoured quickly. Not a problem, there was more store bought ice cream in the freezer. Both Katherine and Sebastian had eaten some homemade ice cream earlier in the day. After swimming, it was time for a second round of ice cream. This time Sebastian missed out, because he was sound asleep in his stroller. Katherine is pictured above eating her ice cream with her new family friends. (I think they are distant cousins.)

By the way, can you tell which one is Katherine? Those girls looked like twins. It was amazing to see them together. I wish I would have gotten a better picture of them!

Flying

Katherine had a unique experience while visiting in Ohio. My Uncle Charles owns a Moony airplane in which he took Katherine flying. She loved it except for the landing! Now, the actual landing was smooth and not really the problem for Katherine. She didn't like the landing, because she was not ready to get back on the ground. While in the air we flew over my aunt and uncle's house and the farm where the reunion had been held. Katherine was able to see the swimming pool where she had been swimming just days before. She thought that was really pretty cool. I must admit that one of my very first memories is of my uncle taking me up in his plane, so I am thrilled that this will probably be one of Katherine's first memories also! Wes however was really jealous of Katherine! It was a great experience for her and myself as well.

New Cousin

Maya Brown was born on June 22 and shares a birthday with her great grandpa Kenney. Maya's proud parents are Jaime and Jessie. Katherine is already in love with her new cousin. She loves her and can't wait to see her. Sebastian isn't all that interested. However, someday I bet he will be playing with her and his big sister at their grandparents!

Reunion

The kids and I left on Tuesday, June 28th for Little Rock, Arkansas. There we spent the night at Dean and Diane's before heading off to Wooster, Ohio for the Jentes family reunion. The kids and I left our van at Dean and Diane's, and we loaded up with my dad in his truck. After a long ride in the truck, several stops, and a short hotel stay, we arrived in Smithville, OH at my Uncle Charles and Aunt Elaine's. The kids did great traveling! It helped that their grandpa Homer had a DVD player for them to watch movies on too! However, we were very ready to be out of the truck!!!

The kids and I were in Ohio for the Jentes reunion, which was held on July 1st at the Earl Jentes Farm. (This farm is where my dad grew up, so he always enjoyes visiting and seeing all the upgrades to the farm.) The reunion was great! I was able to see family that I hadn't seen in a long time, and meet some that I had only heard about or seen pictures of until then. Katherine and Sebastian had a good time as well. Earl and his family have a large swimming pool on the farm, so the kids were able to swim. This was a big hit with Katherine. However, I had left the kids swim suits back at my aunt and uncle's, so we had to do some improvising. Luckily, I had a change of clothes for both kids, so they swam in their clothes. One of my distant cousins even had "little swimmers" pants for Sebastian. At first, Katherine was really upset that she would have to swim in her clothes, but she soon realized it would be okay! All is well that ends well!

My dad, the kids, myself, and Dean (who had flown up for the reunion), began our travel home Monday, July 3rd around 5pm. Dean and my dad took turns and drove all night arriving in Little Rock around 9am. The kids and I spent several hours at Dean and Diane's before heading to Valliant. The kids and I made it home around 5pm on July 4th. It was great to get home!!!

Two Day Vacation

We took a family trip to Muskogee, Oklahoma where the kids had a wonderful time with their grandparents. On Thursday evening the kids went swimming in the pool after it quit raining. Friday we loaded up the kids, food, and wave runners and went to the lake. It was a wonderful time for all. Wes and I played with the lake toys, while grandparents had the pleasure of being entertained by Katherine and Sebastian! I think the grandparents were tired by the time we left. Katherine and Sebastian kept them very busy!

More pictures of our trip and entertaining stories to come. However, tonight I am going to bed!!!

Sebastian story

This was the scene on Monday night when I checked in on Sebastian before I headed to bed. Isn't he cute and precious? And yes, I know!

I must share a funny story about Sebastian and yesterday. When Raeli and Ryan arrived Sebastian was still sleeping. Just after they came inside Sebastian woke up. As he came out of his room he saw me, Raeli, Ryan, Katherine, and Cyndi all standing in the kitchen. Sebastian turned right around and headed back into his room onto his bed. It was almost as if he thought "I don't think so...maybe I should go back to bed!" Cyndi and I laughed at his facial expression and reaction. This is probably one of those moments where you need to have been there to really experience the humor of the situation, but I couldn't help but share it anyway.

Best Friends

Katherine and Sebastian had their friends from church over today, Raeli Jo and Ryan Frunk. Raeli and Katherine think of themselves as best friends most of the time. They are two months apart in age. Raeli turned four last week, and Katherine will be four in August. They are both 'big' sisters, and the age difference between them and their younger brothers is just about the same too. Ryan and Sebastian are three months apart.

I had the four of them today! It was an interesting afternoon. The girls played together in the girls room, while the boys basicly played independently. However, with the girls there was drama all afternoon. One minute they were best friends and the next they didn't want to play together at all. Honestly, Katherine was being rather bossy, so I don't blame Raeli for not wanting to play with her. However, later it was Raeli's turn to return the orders!

All in all the four kids got along rather well, and I think Raeli and Katherine parted as friends. Tomorrow is another day!

Home!!!!

Wes has made it home! Katherine, Sebastian, and I are thrilled that Wes has made it safety back to us. He arrived Friday night around 9 PM, later than we all wanted, but home no less! Katherine and Sebastian had made welcome home signs with my help. We had planned to have them outside in the yard, but since it was rainning they remained inside on the wall. Either way Katherine was proud of her signs for her dad. Katherine kept telling me she wanted to hide and surprise her dad when he came home. However, all Wes had to do was say Katherine's name and she came running! Sebastian was right behind her too! It is wonderful to have us all home!

On the way HOME!

Katherine, Sebastian, and I survived the week without Wes! He will be home today! Katherine, Sebastian, and I are so thrilled that Wes is on his way home. Yesterday he drove from Greensboro, NC to Franklin, TN where he spent the night with family. He took Glen and Katie, his cousin and cousin's girlfreind, out to dinner last night. When the kids and I spoke to him last, he was headed back to go to bed. He should be driving home as I write.

Wes said he had a good week, and seems to be recharged spiritually. I am looking forward to getting all the details of the convention from him and hearing what God has shown him this past week.