We’ve Moved!

Hi All,

We’ve moved our blog to http://thebrazilebrief.blogspot.com ….Check us out!

Thanksgiving, aka Grease Lightning and such…

Hello All!

I suppose I should have posted all about Kenn’s Thanksgiving in Florida, but being the slacker that I am, I am just getting around to it, so here goes:

Snapshot1: we arrive at my grandmother’s house to cook, and I’m immediately steered away from the kitchen. Kenn allows everyone to get within an inch of her before she yell bloody murder…She finds a place of peace near the coffee table, where Casper the Pomeranian approaches her nicely only to be smacked in the face by Kenn and called all kinds of sissy’s by my grandmother before he’s sent to time out.

Snapshot 2: Favorite auntie arrives and baby girl cousin comes in not too long afterward. We hug and catch up before baby boy cousin (both these cousins are technically adults now!) comes in, shouts ‘Daddy’s Home!’ and is greeted like the prodigal Marvin Gaye. Baby girl cousin stares in awe before muttering ‘REALLY?’, since they go to the same college and pretty much travel together! Baby girl cousin wins Kenn’s affection with sweet bread, while baby boy cousin reaches out his arms and Kenn gladly hops in, furthering the belief that my child is HOT!

Snapshot 3: While baby boy cousin holds Kenn, I figure its my chance to get into the kitchen and show the women in my family what I’ve got…Favorite Auntie points me to the hand sanitizer. Upon attempting to squirt some into my hands, I accidentally get some sanitizer in the onions and celery that is to be used for my grandmother’s infamous seafood dressing. OOOPS! I whisper to fav auntie what I’ve done, and am immediately exiled from the kitchen, but not before I show her where the sanitizer landed. It’s occuring to me that I don’t feel so well.

Snapshot 4: Its Thanksgiving Day, and I’ve been assigned Sweet Potato Souffle. I feel miserable, but refuse to miss out on some cooked food, so I endure. We eat. The itis kicks in, and things slow down. Me, sis and mama pile into her room to watch the Real Housewives Marathon!! I’ve been telling big sis about the Atlanta wives and can’t wait for her to see (separate post).

Snapshot 5: The annual great grandkids pictures are to be taken today. Every year, I am amused at what my sister and cousins go through to get this picture for my grandmother. This year, I am terrified as we added two new kids to the mix…Kenn and Papa aka Bonnie and Clyde. Clyde decided that morning to hurl a sippy cup full of milk at the back of his big brother’s head. I scolded him, and he teared up…It was so darling that I ended up apologizing.  We get to the place, and all the kids look adorable in their red tops and jeans…Bonnie and Clyde commence to walk off the picture. We bribe them with toys, andsomehow get them all in the photo at once. Kenn, who hasn’t taken a liking to ANYONE since we got to Jax, falls HEAD OVER HEELS for her big cousin Caleb. This is the least likely candidate for her affection, as she has an older girl cousin. After we take pictures, we go to Cracker Barrel, and Caleb feeds Kennedy, as she blows kisses and says ‘Mmmm!’ every time he feeds her! HOT I tell you!

Snapshot 6: I love my mother. She has endearing way of making mistakes that worry you and make you laugh all at once! We’re watching the Housewives Finale, and I feel horrible! She comes back with vitamins, and these blue cold pills that are supposed to cure me…Five minutes after I down all of these pills (mothers have so much trust! There really were 6 pills!), I hear her say ‘Oops!’ Everything starts moving very slowly as she confesses to giving me nightime Tylenol by accident at 6pm in the evening. My last memory is her asking if I’d already taken them. She was smiling. That’s the endearing quality I love about her. Only she could drug you, and not get you upset!

Snapshot 7: We’re leaving for North Carolina on what would end up being the trip from hell…rain..accidents and traffic! ugh! But, not before I collect (count ‘em) 3 jars of grease for my child’s hair. Kenn’s hair drinks oil, and my aunts think that means I need more grease…so, all of them, in their own way, tell me I don’t know what the heck I’m doing and gift me with jars of grease. Favorite Auntie even gave me a jar of Royal Crown…not to be confused with Crown Royal. Royal Crown is a red jar of grease with a silver tin lid. My family swore by it as kids and apparently still use it. She whips it out and oils Kenn’s hair before I leave. I love her so much! Favorite Uncle (by elimination) made the absolute best pound cake ever! As favorite auntie greases my child up, I EAT!

Good times were had by all!

Post Election: Nephew Will weighs In…

So, now that nephew Will’s favorite candidate (and person in general) has won the election, he has decided that he also wants to be President. When asked about his platform, his answers were as follows…As President of the United States, he will:

* Play basketball, much the way President elect Obama does on election days….

* Run…you know, the same way Barack RAN for President.

* Have wars. Not real ones, but pretend wars…with good people! He doesn’t agree with real wars with bad people.

* Allow Barack Obama to have his own football team! No mention of perks for Mom or Dad.

So, in listening to his platform, I deduced that he has indeed been listening, and following to the best of his 4 year old ability. Its impressive, really, that he understands on a very basic level what’s going on. I’ve assured him he has the vote of his doting Aunt Joscie….good luck with getting his brother’s support!

A More Perfect Union…

This morning, I fell asleep with the realization that life, from here, will never be the same. An African American is President. Barack Obama is President! Five hours later, I woke up with the same chilling notion and the realization that this was not a dream…but then again it was.

As a student at Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary, a predominantly Black public school on the North side of Jacksonville Florida, we studied the preamble to the Constitution yearly. It was a lesson I greatly looked forward to each year, although  never expressed such outwardly out of fear that suddenly, my fascination with the political process would me me somehow less like everyone else or not black enough. Inevitably during these lessons, the birth of an idea would form in one student’s thoughts the he, or she, would be the first Black President of the United States. Although I never aspired to Presidency, on some level it occurred to me how fundamentally flawed the notion was that in the 35-40 years that would lapse between childhood and presidential eligibility, there would not be a person who looked like me in that position. Jesse Jackson never convinced me that he was either capable or a plausible candidate, and the hope that he could accomplish what no other Black man had before him escaped me, a cynical child with a fondness for coffee and race-related topics.

But then at 23, I came across a man who did give me hope; an unassuming state Senator who was uncommonly common…so much so that he was frequently mistaken for the help in many of the Chicago political circles. Barack walked with the people, and lived the life of the common American. His message has long inspired us to believe in the value of education and hard work. That despite the obstacles my husband and I faced as Bush era graduates, to stay the steadied course and believe in something greater than ourselves. In doing so, we would fulfill a dream that was ours to dream and fulfill and not to defer for another day. So, we worked. With a shared passion for public service and education, we threw ourselves into the academic sector and worked voraciously to build a foundation on which our daughter would one day stand. We joined the Barack brigade to put Barack Obama in the national senate where his brand of politics could be more effective for the American people. We trusted the American principle that education is freedom, and that anything is possible. Even in our darkest moments when we didn’t believe, we stayed the course.

As I sat and watched history unfold on the eve of the single greatest fulfillment of our ancestors’ dream deferred, I wept. I wept at the possibility that life for our daughter holds endless possibilities. She will see little girls that look like her running through the White House and know that impossible is nothing. She will see the image of a sound African American family, and relate to it. She will reap the positive trickle down effect of African American images in the media and consider it the norm and not the exception. She will look in the face of opposition and obstacles and rather than shrink away, she will confront each challenge with three simple words: YES I CAN.

But, this isn’t just about her. This race has challenged us to be better Americans and actively participate in the rebuilding and reform of this great country. Our invested stake in this now leveled land of liberty is higher than ever before. And so, we accept the higher expectation that as fellow American citizens, we can stand on the shoulders of those who came before us and aim higher and reach further than ever before. We do this, not as African Americans or Democrats, but as Americans, because we know that:

“

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

”

Drama, Drama, Drama…

Last night, we thought it a good idea to take our little girl to Hooter’s. I wanted chicken, and KB wanted to catch up w/ a buddy that was staying near by…harmless, right? WRONG, TERRIBLY TERRIBLY WRONG!

When Kenn began to get antsy, our fantastic server brought her a Hooter’s bear. Recognizing that taking home Hooter’s paraphernalia went directly against that education we’ve promised her, we thought there would be nothing that could TRULY happen to derail our efforts to be good parents. That’s until super fantastic server took it upon herself to parade my daughter around the restaurant to grumpy old men who looked as if they might have had to put the sexual offender sign on the door on Halloween! As Kyle and I looked at one another in a visibly uncomfortable panic, I could see him flipping through his mental Keep My Daughter off the Pole manual to figure out what to do. I prayed. IT was around then that fantastic server released our daughter from on the job training, and sideways asked about babysitting her! Yes, I know…I couldn’t make this ish up if I tried to.

In an effort to thwart her bedtime routine, Kenn faked a seizure last night! Just to clarify, she was in her dad’s arms when sh began to raise and drop her head over and over in an unresponsive manner until we completely freaked out! Recognizing that this is the same child who frequently fake cries and then bursts into laughter, we decided that before we grabed a spoon to keep her from swallowing her tongue, to stand her upright and see what she does. She promptly let off a sly grin that clearly said Gotcha! and then walked to my side of the couch ready to play again!

So the drama!

Kennedy’s Pumpkin Parade…

more about “Vodpod Firefox Extension for WordPress“, posted with vodpod

The Big One…

Oh my goodness, my little girl is one year old…and feeling every bit of it. On the morning of her first birthday, she got up- cheery as ever- but it was like she KNEW the day was a celebration, and all about her! My parents wished her a happy birthday, and out of nowhere, she gives them a I’m on a float queen of the world wave. Hilarious.

At every turn, I can’t believe the amazing little girl she’s becoming right before our very eyes. A walking, talking, smiling, acrobatic, bath loving socialite who loves all things girly. We got her a doll for her birthday that looked eerily like her. She kisses her, and does her hair, andl last night, she put her finger to her lips and said “Ahhhhhh” the same way I do her when we brush her teeth!

Her birthday party went remarkably well. She played, and of course, ate! When she got her birthday mega cupcake, she ripped into it with reckless abandon…stuffing fistfuls of cake to her mouth over and over until all there was left were cake crumbles and my mother demanded we take it from her before she gets sick.

I am so looking forward to the conversations we’ll have in the next six months; the milestones to come, and the shift my little girl’s generation will experience with changes to come!

Operation Backyardigan…

Kenn’s costume has been located and ordered…YES!!!

A Peculiar Little Habit…HELP!

So, Kenn has developed a habit of going into momma’s purse and pulling out momma’s debit card and credit cards!!! No kidding, this little woman reaches in my bag at the grocery store and hands me my debit card at the counter. Once, she even handed it to the cashier. We may be in for trouble here…

In other news, my sister’s dream of seeing my kid in a tootsie roll costume for Halloween has been foiled by the fact that my child is now walking and needs her legs! The bottom of the costume is bunted, meaning the legs are inside of it. Sorry Joi! So, after going in and out of every store w/ in a 15 mile radius of our house and being reminded by Supermom Aja that I should have ordered it weeks ago, I went home and hopped onto the internet where I discovered that Kenn’s favorite show – The Backyardigans – has costumes, sort of. You see, there are Uniqua costumes in circulation that are cute as a button, BUT all the soccer moms scooped them like six months ago! So, I have Supermom/ Internet Guru Aja on the case. Take that Palin supporting Soccer Moms! And just so you know what you’re up against, THIS is what Supermom Aja did with a little help from the internet…you’ve been warned!

Pictures of my baby’s pumpkin parade pictures where she’ll be parading as Uniqua the Backyardigan pending.

11 months, 6 words and 5 teeth later…

The countdown has officially begun for our little one’s first birthday, and I can hardly believe it. As I reel myself in from what could mount to be the world’s first block party to commemorate a first birthday, I also fight tears as I think about how fast she’s grown.

At 11 months, she’s left the pacifier behind, and although not too happy about it at first (I think if she could talk those screams directed towards me might have been expletives), she is doing okay without it. Having moved onto to some pretty tasty table foods, whole milk and sippy cups…she is surviving quite nicely. Her surge in appetite has called for mac n cheese and veggies and potatoes! She and her cousin (Papa) are particularly crazy about mashed potatoes with turkey bacon and cheese crumbled on top!

In addition to eating like a champ, she’s walking like one too! That’s right, the munchkin is virtually unstoppable in her Stride Rites at school! It’s unfortunate that once she’s home, she lapses into this role of pretending she can’t walk (we know your game Kenn!)

So, the party plans call for a cupcake themed bash at our house consisting of friends older than her (her girlfriends live in other cities, so they probably won’t make it). We gave her a practice run of what red velvet cupcakes taste like, and I’m pretty sure she’s ready for her own cake! Ever the glamour girl, she loves momma’s gloss, hair, nails and all, so we’re thinking some doper walking shoes and a cabbage patch kid for presents. Of course, her grammy and pops are coming to kick it with her and they’ll probably try and buy her a pony or a bike to outshine us…that’s what grandparents are for!

Ooh, before I forget, Kenn also gets her teeth brushed in the morning and before bed! She loves her teeth (ALL FIVE OF THEM), so she loves having her own toothbrush!