American Idol

At the same conference we had to go to a banquet, where the entertainment for the night was a concert from several American Idols from the TV show! It was so neat - I think everybody enjoyed it. They do have incredible voices! I forgot my camera and didn't take any pics of may be our future stars, but I did take the program and posted the program introduction. (Kennon who you can see in the background, stayed with his Grandmother Denise at our hotel room, and he did well! I was so happy since he is getting over his stage where he wants mama all the time now.)

Drinking? Already?

Last week we were at one of JK's business conferences and Kennon and I went out several times to a cafe to get some lunch. Well, this time uncle Graham, who also came to the conference, came along with us since he had an hour break in between the sessions. It was a great help since Kennon is not a good eater! Uncle Graham had to distract him while mom put a spoon of soup into his mouth. It worked every single time, and we overfed Kennon at the end and I felt quite bad. But Kennon surely enjoyed a measuring cup that uncle Graham gave him to have some water, which doesn't really look like a measuring cup at this angle :)

Baby Noah

A couple of weeks ago our friends from church asked us to babysit their son Noah, which was great fun and a great opportunity for us to introduce a real baby to Kennon before our baby comes. We had such a good time, especially Kennon. Well, I started getting Kennon ready for the new baby to come about a month ago and he is very excited about it. I bought him a book, called "The New Baby" and it is one of his favorites. After reading the book, I usually ask him if he would like to have his own baby and he gets all excited and squeals raising his fists up in the air smiling. He also likes to show how much he loves his new baby by hugging and kissing mama's belly :). Well, when Noah came, Kennon ran to him hugged him and gave him a kiss too. It was so sweet and made me feel so good that he likes babies. Most of the evening I spent holding Noah and Kennon had no problem with that at all. He'd come, hug mom, look at Noah and run away to do his things. Since he did so well, it makes me feel good at this point at least :). And now Noah is his favorite baby. About a week after we had Noah, Kennon woke up one Sunday morning asking for Noah!!! I asked him if he would like to see Noah and Kennon got super excited. So, it was good that it was Sunday - about an hour later we got to see Noah. But ever since that experience with Noah, Kennon never misses any baby that we pass by in the street or the store. He points to him/her and says, "Baby." Of course, we still have some time to keep getting Kennon ready for the new baby, but at least I think we are on the right track, especially with Noah's help!

Comparison

Here is Kennon at 14 months old and at 10 days old!!!

It looks like we shrunk!!!

Family Photos

Here are some family portraits. As I mentioned earlier, Kennon is quite an affectionate guy - so he decided to kiss mama in the middle of us taking pictures. I have to admit - I didn't mind that at all and it was very sweet!

Kennon with his Russian Grandparents!

Professional Photos

Last September we did another photo shoot for Kennon's 1st birthday - I know it was a little late - but it's better than never. So, here are some of the pictures that we wanted to share with everyone.

Halloween

For the Halloween, Kennon was a cowboy with a mustache! We went to 5 different nursing homes to "trick or treat" elderly friends and employees. We started pretty early, around 9 am, to make sure to be back home for Kennon's nap on time. Kennon had a lot of fun in the beginning, especially when he saw that he was receiving lollipops, since it was the only sweet thing that he knew of from me having Prego lollipops when I felt sick in the first trimester and shared some of them with him. Other candies he wasn't so excited about. And we managed for Kennon not to have any sweets that day - amazing! But I did give into his desire of cookies! - Just 2, I think :). He was so cute when he said it - I couldn't resist. In the second half of our journey, Kennon started to get tired and we hurried up and came home for a long-wanted nap at around 1 p.m. And in the evening we went to our church to "Trunk or treat." That was fun too, especially seeing Kennon love the bouncy "blow-up" thing. So far, bouncing is Kennon's favorite thing! So, we stuck around for a while and still had some tears when leaving...

JK is the only one missing a hat!!!

"Lollipop!!! Yum!!!!!"


With one of the employees :)

At the church with a pirate!

Quincy Time with Grandmother Vickie

We went to Quincy for about 5 days for the Harvest Festival. It also happened to be during all the fires in Southern California, so it was nice to be away from the smoke and ashes for a while. It is always so nice to be there. Kennon had the greatest time of all. He rode a horsey, chased chickens, hugged, kissed and patted kitties, played in the dry leaves, rode in a wheelbarrow and had a wonderful time with his Grandma Vickie! We can't wait to go back again there for Christmas. (Ira, of course, enjoyed the cold weather and the beauty of autumn).

Kennon is a very affectionate guy - he hugs, kisses, and shows how much he loves someone with no problems. Here he is showing how much he loves his grandma.

Chrystal Lake

We went to a Chrystal Lake for a little bit with the whole family while in Quincy. It was so beautiful and nice. Time of relaxation and admiration of God's creation is always wonderful. Danyelle, I hope you remember this place :)
We both sort of closed our eyes here :)

Auntie Anna with Kennon!!!!!!!!!!

Kennon loved playing with rocks and sharing them with mom!!!!!! And he surely had a hard time leaving the place.

"But mom, I don't want to take a picture!!! I want to play!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Horsey

"I'm a horsey. Get out from my precious way!"

San Diego Fires

I was able to capture a couple of shots of the San Diego fire about a week ago. It was quite scary to even look at that.