I Have a New Toy

This may not be the most interesting blog I've ever posted, but I wanted to share my latest excitement for home care. I just bought myself a steam cleaning machine and I've been having a LOT of fun with it. I was shopping in Costco last week and it jumped out at me and said "You have to buy me because your house will be so much cleaner if you have me helping you!" With that, I couldn't resist so it jumped in my cart and I brought it home. I must admit, it has been pretty fun. There is an attachment for grout and I've been using it on the kitchen floors. I thought the grout in our new kitchen was supposed to be dark grey, but much to my surprise (and disgust) it's actually supposed to be light grey. Yuck! Here are the before and after pictures.

This is what my floor looked like before steaming the grout.

And this is what it looked like after. Isn't it amazing?

Here is a shot where you can see what I've done and what I haven't done in the same picture.

This machine is basically as close as I can get to a power washer for inside the house (and you all know how much I love my power washer). It also came with attachments for windows, floors and wallpaper removal.

No, I'm not selling them, I've just spent my entire day using it and liked it.

If anyone has yucky grout I can clean for you, just let me know. :0)

Monster Jam

We live in West Virginia now, so we felt it was our duty as good citizens of the great state of West Virginia to attend a monster truck rally. It was tons of fun and except for the noise, I have no complaints.

This picture was taken right about the same time that Joseph's jaw dropped open with shock in the amazing spectacle he was beholding. Joseph has long been a fan of big trucks, so it was as if the mother ship had called him home. He was in heaven!

Ben loved it, too, but thought it was a bit noisy so he used ear plugs. What a cutie!

Ben ended up falling asleep towards the end (with all that noise-I was shocked, but then again, he's always lived with a lot of noise). When Ben woke up on the way to the Metro, he was sad that he'd missed the end, but felt better when I told him I'd video taped the end so he wouldn't miss it. It was a fun night out as a family. Our next adventure is going to be taking the kids to the Circus. They saw the signs all around while we were at Monster Jam. I remember going several times as a kid to see the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus, so I just can't resist when the very same Circus will be coming next month. I can hardly wait!

I Love Word Girl

Word Girl is a show that my children like to watch on PBS, and thanks to Word Girl, I just heard Joseph say the greatest thing.

Joseph: Do you know what 'depulsive' means?

Emily: No

Me: Do you mean 'impulsive'?

Joseph: No, 'depulsive'-it means "awful, horrible, or unpleasant"


I then realized that he ment 'repulsive' and also found a new appreciation for television that instead of turning my children into zombies stairing at the tv, actually teaches them some great things! Yeah PBS!

A Very Kennedy Christmas and A Happy New Year

We've had so much fun lately, I haven't even had time to post an entry. Christmas was great! My mom, step-dad Ron and my little sister Libby came for Christmas. It was really nice to have them here! Ron made me the most beautiful set of blown glasses with a matching pitcher. I love them!

This next one is the quintessential Christmas morning picture of all the kids on the stairs before going down for presents. Ben wasn't happy that we woke him up (it didn't matter what reason), Jenna's busy fixing her hair for the picture, and Joseph is already asking to see how the picture turned out (but I'm sure none of your children do that:-) We did end up with a very nice picture of Emily holding our "Santa Bunny." Jenna bought our pet rabbit this outfit for Christmas and couldn't wait to torture her with it:-)

The wrapping paper was as much fun to play in as the toys!

Our New Year's Eve was a lot of fun, too. My brother, Tom and his wife Megan came to visit with their 4 children. The cousins all had a wonderful time playing and spending so much time together. My dad, the Pop-Pop, had lots of fun with getting to see his grandchildren all together. The kids LOVE their Pop-Pop, and they LOVE each other, too. Here is Jenna with her cousin Beth.

New Year's Day also brought some fun. We had a huge housewarming party to welcome all of our friends, both new and old, to our new home in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. It was so fun to have so many of our wonderful friends come up from Maryland, and it was great to see them.

We hope you all have a happy, healthy and safe New Year!