Peter

Hi Family!! This morning I thought I would update our update on the family 
website. First of all, I think this e-mailing to keep the family in touch 
is a great idea. Especially when we all break up a little more in the 
summer/fall. Our little, but growing, family is holding its breath. Peter 
re-takes the GRE a week from Thursday on the 22nd of February. Please keep 
us in your prayers. Each of the Universities are holding the applications 
until we call in the score that very day. And about two weeks after that we 
should know if they're interested or not. Even Laureana and Christian know 
that when its their turn to say the prayer they say ' help daddy do well on 
the GRE.' I'm so proud, it's going to be hard to break them of that habit 
after the fact. Anyhow, we'll let you know how it all goes.

We blessed our little teddy bear -aka Gabriel - a week ago Sunday. We call 
him our little teddy bear because he still, indeed, has little hair tufts 
growing on the back of his ears, yes, not his head, his EARS. I found out 
this week that Anna, Peter's sister, had the same thing when she was a new 
born. We missed Jake and Jen, Joe and Heidi and their little families at 
the blessing.

The only real update I have for the kids is that Christian's new favorite 
movie is 'Young Frankenstein' - he likes to carry it around when he's not 
watching it. He likes to ask everyone how old they are usually by saying 
'what old are you, or what number you are' I try to correct him, but that's 
the grammar of a 3-year-old. And then when the petitioned person answers 
him with their age, he laughs and laughs and laughs, regardless of what 
they say - I have no idea where he learned this. Laureana is my little two 
year old, very much a girl, she'll let me put curlers in her hair, and if I 
ask her what she wants to wear, she'll pick out a dress. Her official nick 
name of Garbriel is 'Babe-Briel.' And last but definitely equal - our 
little bud, a very good baby. His cry has started to change from an infant 
cry to a baby wail! He eats like his older brother did - lots and lots. And 
he loves attention from Christian and Laureana, flapping his arms and 
grunting every time they come around.

As for me and Peter. We can't wait to see what the next month will bring as 
far as Grad school goes. That's about all that is on our minds right now. 
We're healthy and happy other than that. Hope you all are doing well, I 
know Tricia is! Please let us know what's happening in your lives.  I've 
included a couple pictures. You'll note as you see below, some body loves 
his swing!
Love, michelle

Okay, finally an update from us! And all the thanks be to Brittany who put
us under fire to finally get it done - I owe you carmel cinnamon rolls
Brittany. Peter is in the middle of applying to six graduate schools,
Michigan, North Carolina, Washington, Washington D.C., Virginia and
Minnesota, and probably won't hear from any of them for an interview until
February. We're all extraordinarily anxious to have this baby - I'll be 39
weeks on Thursday, Laurie came at 39 weeks, so we're wondering if this one
will follow the trend or not. Christian and Laurie are a pact made in
heaven, stealthily discovering all of my 'buttons' so to speak and then
pushing them all at once! You'll notice that one of the pictures on the
family website is of red paint all over the carpet, couch and a dozen books.
Thankfully it was washable paint, but that's my two in a nutshell. Laurie is
speaking volumes, and speaks as well as Christian. I finally got her in pig
tails and she loves those - always thanking me for putting them in her hair,
she always wants to play along when I put on make-up or paint my toenails.
She's my little girl. And she LOVES horses and dogs. Not an ounce of fear in
being on top of a horse, even alone. When we take her off, and I'm not
kidding, she'll cry and throw a tantrum for a good 5-10 minutes, it's almost
unbelievable. Sharmain and Mike have two horses, so if anybody is interested
in horseback riding, just let us know. Christian could care less about
horses and dogs. He's very meticulous when he paints and colors, he enjoys
fantasy shows like the Wizard of Oz, Harry Potter and Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory. Frequently he'll perform made-up songs or songs he
learned in primary, SOLO for all of us to hear, and he loves to put things
together, and yes, everything is still Thomas the Train right now. Every
night he'll tell me what he wants to dream about, like pirates or carebears
or going fishing with Grandpa and every morning he'll tell me about his
dream, usually different then what he wanted, but he remembers those types
of things and I'm amazed. Peter and I are doing really well. I can't wait to
be thin again, or at least thinner. Please pray for us going into Grad
School. I don't know what we'll do if we have to live in this tiny house for
another year - its bursting at the seams! Our two little feeder goldfish say
hello - they've lived a record three years. If you know of any great fiction
novel authors, please pass their names along. We look forward to hearing
from the rest of you.
lots of love,
Michelle and Peter Kennedy