Julia Grace Kenney - October 3, 2014

Julia Grace Kenney is here!  Julia was born on October 3, 2014 at 11:30am.  She weighed 8 pounds, 1 ounce and was 19 inches long.  She was 11 days(!) overdue and I ended up having to be induced, but she was worth the wait.  My labor was relatively short and she was here before we knew it.  She has already brought so much joy to our family and Caroline has been a sweet big sister to "Baby JuJu" and it has been fun watching the girls interact together.  It is our prayer that these early years will be the building blocks for a lifelong friendship.

 Caroline meeting Julia for the first time

Feeding her own baby...so serious!

Our new family of four!

Little mommy

Julia with her namesake

Summer 2014

Our summer still feels like such a blur...  moving, going to the beach, living at both of our parents' houses, going to the river, trying to see friends, etc.  I have to give a huge shout out to both my parents and Curt's parents for hosting us for the summer (and part of the fall too!).   My majorly pregnant self was less than helpful and Curt was usually gone either applying to jobs or interviewing.  This left my mom and Mabel to chase Caroline around and keep her entertained.  I did what I could, but they were truly lifesavers for me.  Thank you!!!


No caption needed...

4th of July weekend at the river

 Another failed attempt at a family photo...

A trip to JMU

Celebrating Ben's 6th Birthday (how did that happen??)

ummmm...can you tell she adores him? 

Celebrating our 4th anniversary!

At Maymont with Nana 

At the zoo with Nana and Daddy

Watching "Frozen" (Side note:  This picture is completely candid.  I swear, Curt loves this movie as much as Caroline does...and that's a lot!)

Vacuuming with Mimi

 Labor Day Weekend at the River

Playing with cousin Isla...

The Beach!

We always start off the summer by going to the beach with the Edmonds family.  We have such a fun time with the Edmonds, Janney, and Sanyour families.  Each year we add more kids and more craziness.  It is a week we look forward to all year long.

Caroline and Mary Ellen 

Celebrating James's 1st birthday 

 Cousin triplets!

Hanging out in our jammies 

Caroline and Pop Pop 

Sweet baby James 

Most of the babies - love Margaret's face!

The Edmonds Family

Our attempt at a family picture...

Saying Goodbye to Boston

After four years in Boston (3 years on the North Shore at the seminary and 1 year in a tiny little apartment just outside of downtown), we packed up our things and headed back to Virginia.  It was such a bittersweet move for us - we were excited to be moving closer to our families, but we were leaving friends behind that had become like family to us.  We were also heading into the unknown, as Curt didn't have another job lined up at the time, but we were trusting God to provide a full-time job for him.

Here are a few pictures from our last weeks in Boston...

 Gabrielle and Arielle - some of Caroline's (and our) favorite friends from our church

My view walking from my school to the church office (a weekly trek) 

Our tiny (and lovely!) apartment 

Caroline loves sweet Stephanie! 

Our wonderful friend Lauren (LoLo) and Caroline's nanny  

Our last visit to Crane Beach 

Caroline getting a helping hand from sweet Penny girl (our pastor's daughter)

Catching up...

Both of my babies are asleep right now (hallelujah!), so I thought it was time to catch up on this little blog of mine.  Our family has been through A LOT of changes in the past few months so bear with me.  Some of those changes include:

- a big move from Boston to Virginia Beach
- a new job for Curt - he is the Pastor for Families and Youth at Virginia Beach Community Chapel
- and a new baby! - Julia Grace Kenney (born on October 3rd)

Since this has become like a family album/scrapbook for us, I want to take my time and give our recent events their own posts on the blog.  But in short - God has been so faithful to us to provide for our needs at exactly the right time and place.  We are very thankful!

Easter in Richmond

My Spring Break fell on Easter this year, so we were able to come home and spend time with family in Richmond.  Caroline had a blast playing with her cousins and Curt and I enjoyed relaxing a bit and hanging out with family.  We also had a few meetings with churches in the area that were very fruitful.
We are thankful for a fun week.  Here are some pictures from our time at home:

Easter Brunch at the Commonwealth Club with Julia and Bobby

Cousins!  (Caroline was especially excited!)

Easter Brunch with the family