ANNOUNCE IT! #7

Announce It! Creatively
At this time in our lives, we had built an addition onto our house and were putting the finishing touches done. OK, well maybe not quite just the finishing touches, we didn't have the 2nd bathroom in the house done! ;) Dave was working on the stair railing at that time. On the day that Kaden was born a new septic tank was being installed. It was quite fitting to use this theme for the birth announcement of #7, Kaden Steven Gregory, named in honour of his Uncle Greg.

The house was drawn by Dave, written and typed by me on the computer, printed on the printer, and then photocopied on blue paper. Unfortunately the scanning didn't pick up the colour.

On Kaden's first Sunday to church (2 days old), Davis said to a lady , "And this is our new baby, Kaden Steven Kadery!" Kadery and Kade have been our nick names for this cheerful boy. Mischief and pestering his siblings were his trade mark. Oh, and eating lipstick. ;) From birth he could sleep in his cradle just a few feet away from the sound of a saw and hammering. Once he was toddling around, he loved to get a hold of Dave's "hammer" and he knew which one it was if we tried to give him another one to hold.  He is an accomplished musician on the guitar, piano and drums. Percussion is his love.

I have been delaying this post for a few days to also say how fitting this birth announcement is with the present timing in Kaden's life. He has bought a house! A house that needs TLC, but will be a great opportunity for him as he plans to live there and rent out some rooms. The future will make it a lovely home!

Kaden has brought joy to our lives with his always smiling face, living up to the meaning of his name "friend and companion".

When...

When ... you are rather late in getting supper started and you discover that you are actually more like Old Mother Hubbard whose cupboards were bare. We had food, but for every recipe considered we were out of something. So dd17 and I came up with this concoction.


We boiled water and got some pasta cooking. We cut up 4 boneless chicken breasts and cooked it in a pan on the stove with a little olive oil. We put about 6C of the above pictured frozen vegetables in a large pyrex bowl and got them heating in the microwave. When the chicken was cooked, we added it to the vegetables along with 2 cans of cream of chicken soup, 2C sour cream, and 2C shredded cheddar cheese. Stirred. We returned it to the microwave to heat through (about 15 min). We drained the pasta and supper was ready!
Everyone loved it and said that we have to make it again. The leftovers today for lunch were scooped up quickly and those that had to eat something else complained. The term 'concoction' has now been replaced with a new 'recipe'!

I am so thankful that the Old Mother Hubbard affliction led to this invention. We have a hit!

Announce It! #10

Announce It! Creatively

#10! By this time, people were not saying to us during those last weeks of pregnancy, "we can hardly wait until you have your baby" but rather, "we can hardly wait to get your birth announcement." Pink or blue had lost it's intrigue! Well, #10 was a boy and we were all so excited. What can I say about this cute as a button baby boy? Cute. Screamed a lot. Oh, so cute! And, did I mention screamed a lot? Despite this attribute we loved him dearly! He was a delight to our hearts even though we joked "it was a good job God made him so cute"! It didn't take long to discover he was also smart, musical and tender hearted. He is now a handsome young man with a heart that wants to do what is right. There is no greater joy!

The front of the birth announcement card.

The inside:
The back:

1998 still had me designing in MicroSoft Publisher. Then, it was a quick and easy print, fold the paper and stuff the envelope. Oh, the time saving gadgets/process to help a mother of 10! :)

My Stick Family

When I first saw stick people on the back of a van, I fell in love. Something about them was just so cute. I wanted to buy some, but my husband didn't quite fall for the price tag, nor the cuteness. He said they'd cover the whole back of our vehicle. I teased that my hopes of ever being a trend setter were now over. I could have been the first in our town!

I am not sure what it is about stick people that I love. Perhaps it is because it is my kind of art....the only kind of people I can draw. So here is my family how they are affectionately referred to in groupings. And without further introduction...my stick family!





My Stick Family from WiddlyTinks.com

Announce It! #8

Announce It! Creatively

Unfortunately I got the brainwave to post the kid's birth announcements after a January birthday and then forgot to post it first. So here is the announcement. She holds the record of being the biggest Kennedy baby! She was the pink that delighted our hearts after 3 brothers in a row!


She is truly God's gracious gift as she almost died at birth. It is a miracle that the doctors got her breathing and that she did not suffer any brain damage as they said she would have. She truly is our sweet Ness!



Her birth announcement was done in Microsoft Word back in the MSdos days! I printed one and then photocopied to make multiples. I used a pink marker to decorate each announcement.

If you would like a birth announcement made for you, just email me at thekennedyklan at gmail dot com or leave a comment.

Announce It! #1

Announce It! Creatively

When I was pregnant with our first baby, I got the brain wave to create a birth announcement. Everyone, in those days, put an announcement in the local newspaper, but I wanted something more. Something personal and creative to mail out to our family and friends announcing our newborn. I came up with this:

I purchased some blank stationary cards.



Now remember in those days, I handed typed every single announcement on a typewriter that did not have an erase feature. Now that I have referred to 1979 as `in those days`, I do remember it as being the most exciting day in my life - a baby girl. Motherhood was a delight and I was back in my jeans by my 6 week check-up. She has provided us with love, music, laughter and delight all these years...well except for her messy room despite my efforts to train her. She has grown into a wonderful godly woman, wife and mother. Happy Birthday to our Darby girl! Read about her crazy life @ darbyjane.blogspot.com.

Throughout 2012, I will share with you all the birth announcements that I did for our children. Oh, how I wish I had had the resources of digital software and graphics at my fingertips! Now you might laugh, but I didn't have enough children to use up all my ideas. I'll be posting those here as well. So if you would like me to design one for you or you would like to purchase one of the ones I already have created just email me at thekennedyklan at gmail dot com.

New Year's Resolves

1. Wash the laundry in cold water.
2. Organize all the film negatives
3. Get all cards mailed out in a timely manner... aka... so they actually receive it in time for their birthday. I've been bad on this for the last couple of years. Not my intent, but I just don't seem to get it done on time.
4. Lose weight so my poor old bones don't have to drag around more than they need to.
5. And most importantly, what is God's goal for me?
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8

So at the end of the first month, I report that:
1. I have washed every load in cold water. I'm afraid my whites are not as white but maybe I am imagining that. I guess I am experiencing a paradigm shift.

2. I had an idea, a great idea! I thought my thought was a good thought, but...... I knew we had a lot of negatives (1977 to 2005) and I was bothered by the piles of envelopes never staying in place in the drawer. I remembered I had this photo album and I thought I would use it as a file cabinet for the negatives. My first clue should have been my numb hands dropping the envelopes twice as I tried to get them into chronological order.



Well, in theory it was a great idea! LOL I wonder what better plan I can come up with ...2 albums? Maybe in 2013! ;)

One positive...my negative album holds all the negatives in chronological order, even if it won't close and believe it or not it is a lot neater in the cupboard than all those pesky envelopes.

I am grateful that I wrote out a list of each frame number and who/what was in the picture for every film all along the way. That made the job a whole lot easier.


3. It is February 1st and I just got the card mailed today for the February 2nd birthday celebrated in the USA. Fail!
4. I've lost 9 pounds. Happy!
5. God is my judge as to whether I have walked humbly, acted justly and loved mercy. It truly is my desire, living life moment by moment in Him!