John, Larkin, and Reagan had a busy month. They enjoyed spending a weekend with New York friends and they were excited to have Santa come to their house for Christmas.
Andrew and Terese drove down from New York to spend a weekend with the adorables. 
The Consentinos were very close friends with Jamie and Terese was virtually on the same pregnancy schedule as Jamie for both of their pregnancies (both deliveries less than one month apart). All five kids got along famously! After the initial hour of shyness wore off, John, Larkin, and Lia were racing around the house, cul-de-sac, or downtown Franklin Street. Reagan and Ali had a food eating contest or two and Ali won the prize for the calmest 16 month-old to stay up late. It was very bittersweet watching all of the kids play together (a goal/dream of all of ours ever since Jamie and Terese were pregnant the first time together). The adorables can’t wait to see Lia and Ali again, and Paul truly enjoyed the quality time he had with Andrew and Terese. Thank you for driving all the way to NC! Continue Reading →
John and Larkin turned 3 years old on November 17th. Paul had a relatively small gathering for their birthday with family and friends. John and Larkin enjoyed their many gifts, including their new (craigslist, gotta love it) train and lego table, and the adults enjoyed some great food, courtesy of Costco (shrimp cocktail, sandwich rolls, spinach salad) and some great 7 layer dip by Kathryn, corn dip by Sase, and salad by Nana. 
The kids enjoyed (yes, this includes Uncle Pete) playing baseball in the backyard with J & L’s new bases, and John enjoyed using his new baseball glove. I’m not sure who had the most fun; was it Conner Collicutt smashing the ball around the yard or was it Uncle Pete playing target practice while throwing out the runners going to home plate. Seriously, Pete went something like 12 for 14 on beaning the runner while they ran from 3rd to home and this was like from 40 feet. Kathryn made delicious cupcakes for everyone (blue for John, and pink and purple for Larkin – as requested). Alex, John and Larkin’s cousin, was also celebrating a birthday, his 4th birthday, and he is a speedster. He sprints from activity to activity and rarely stops to take a breath. Go Alex! Give that boy a baton and he’s going to make a name for himself.
The Kindem family enjoyed an early Thanksgiving meal at Nana and Bapa’s house the Saturday before Thanksgiving. John, Larkin, and Reagan enjoyed spending time with their extended family members. Nana’s sausage gravy is out of this world good and the families enjoyed good conversations, watching football, and playing with the kids.
Paul and kiddos made the trek to Philly for Thanksgiving this year. It was an easy decision because Jamie’s high school teammates organized a 5k run/walk in Jamie’s honor the Saturday following Thanksgiving and Paul really wanted to spend time with Doug, Nessa, and baby Aiden. It was a truly amazing event and I encourage everyone to see the family update (soon to come) about this event. Continue Reading →
The month of October has brought some challenges to the Kindem household. Paul tore his ACL and meniscus in 
his left knee for the second time. The meniscus tear was called a bucket handle tear because one side of the meniscus had flipped over to the center of the knee. This type of tear can cause serious damage to the cartilage in the knee and therefore had to be operated on immediately. This was a very unwelcomed injury and Paul really wasn’t sure how he was going to get by after surgery, but the O’Brien-Kindem families reassured him that they would be there to help him recover and to make sure the household kept on track. There is truly no replacement for having a good family and good friends. Continue Reading →
Doug, Vanessa, and Baby Aiden visited NC for a full week. 
It was wonderful having them down here and we were very sad to see them go. John, Larkin, and Reagan adored Baby Aiden and Larkin made sure to hold him numerous times each day. Whenever Larkin would hold Aiden, she would either smile brightly or have a proud but cautious look on her face. Aiden is very good at telling his parents when he is hungry or needs a diaper change and he seems to training to be a boxer. Aiden trains hard by throwing many right jabs and left hooks all throughout the day. Doug and Vanessa are doing such an amazing job as new parents and already seem so comfortable in this new role. Continue Reading →
As we mentioned in the July update, we celebrated Reagan’s first birthday on August 10th, the anniversary of the day she came home from the hospital. The O’Brien-Kindem families celebrated by cooking kabobs on the grill, playing in the backyard or in Paul’s two playrooms, and Reagan enjoyed her first cake. Reagan was the star of the show as she opened her presents, with the help of her brother, sister, and cousins. Reagan received many great gifts but her favorite was a purple car given to her from her aunt Stacey and uncle Tom. Reagan stepped into the car the moment daddy finished assembling it and she showed an immediate look of determination and delight as she zoomed around the house. John and Larkin demanded their turns on the car as well, but they were kind enough to allow Reagan to sit on their laps.
On August 27th, the SAS inside sales team (Jamie’s old department and colleagues) hosted an event in honor of Jamie and her children. The goal of the event was to spend time with the Kindem-O’Brien families, especially ‘the adorables,’ but also to raise money for the fund set up for John, Larkin, and Reagan. It was a highly successful event, and Paul and the family were deeply touched by this thoughtful gesture. The event included an organized corn hole tournament (72 participants – 36 teams), a raffle drawing for prizes where John, Larkin, and Reagan picked the winning tickets, and many good conversations. The most entertaining prize was a $100 gift certificate to Adam & Eve. A young woman won the prize which brought much muttering and laughter throughout the crowd. Paul and Pete were teammates in the corn hole tournament and made it to the final game, but were outmatched by two of SAS’s finest bag throwers. John, Larkin, and Reagan enjoyed practicing their bean bag tosses, eating off other people’s plates, playing skeet-ball, and meeting many new people. Continue Reading →
The biggest news of the month was Doug and Vanessa welcoming their baby boy, Aiden Christopher O’Brien, to the world. 
Aiden was born on July 19th at 8 pounds, 5 ounces, and 20 inches long. We are so happy to have a new, adorable addition to our family. Dan & Maureen were there to greet him at the hospital and Kathryn was able to visit him the following weekend. Aiden is super cute and his cousins John, Larkin, and Reagan and his uncle Paulie can’t wait to meet him someday soon.
The O’Brien-Kindem families began the month at their Watauga Lake cabin. The entire family, except for Doug and an expecting Vanessa, were able to attend (we missed them very much), so that meant 17 of us were there. Fortunately, our neighbor was kind enough to lend us their cabin for the week, so we were able to spread out a little bit. The week was filled with great food, good conversations, lots of swimming and boating, and just a couple adult beverages (wink, wink). One of the highlights of the trip was John and Larkin learning how to swim on their own. John and Larkin were not afraid of the water, but at first had the desire to be held or in a raft. However, miss independent, Larkin Lu, decided on day 2 that she wanted to swim all on her own. Paul would let go of her and she would swim to one of her other family members. Larkin had an extremely determined look on her face each time she set out to swim to someone, but a huge smile would emerge as she was grabbed by her doting caretaker. What a joy this was to see. It took John a couple more days of being in the water, but around day 5 he worked up the courage and was swimming by himself. John had a smile the size of the Grand Canyon as he swam and by the end of the week, both were staying in the water for hours at a time, sometimes with their teeth chattering. Continue Reading →
The very first weekend of June was spent up in Philadelphia for Paul, Kat, Dan, Maureen, and The Adorables. To make things a little “easier,” we divided and conquered; Reagan rode up with Grandma and Grandpa and John and Larkin rode up with Kat and Paul. According to her grandparents, Reagan was beyond amazing for the entire car ride, even with the famously horrible DC traffic. John and Larkin were amazing in the car as well. Although, no matter how good they behave, managing two toddlers, especially two toddlers who are potty training for a 7 (or turned out 9) hour car ride gets quite exhausting. The kids talked about the big tunnel (through Baltimore) constantly, read books with Ki, colored in their coloring books, ate lunch/snacks, and when Ki and Paul needed a short break, they watched a kids music DVD, which turned out to be a life saver (although I think we had those songs stuck in our heads for weeks after the trip). Continue Reading →
It’s been an especially rainy spring for North Carolina. Typically we are preparing ourselves for a drought, but this year it feels like we are living in London or Seattle. Very strange indeed. However, the weather doesn’t stop us from spending many of our days and hours outside. The trees, birds, grass, and occasional sunshine certainly helps the mind stay at ease & allows the kids to expand their creative minds and very importantly, release their energy. John enjoys getting wet & most of all enjoys jumping in and throwing sticks in the puddles. He gets great joy in walking back & forth over puddles and likes to look inside all of the water valves along the sidewalk in our neighborhood (hopefully a spider won’t get him). Larkin is much less pleased with getting wet and wants a hooded jacket on & finds it quite unacceptable when her shoes get the slightest bit of water on them. Reagan seems indifferent with the weather and simply enjoys watching her older brother and sister play. John and Larkin also love taking turns pushing Reagan’s stroller down the sidewalk. Although it scares us adults from time to time when they refuse to allow us to help, we think little Rea enjoys the competition that ensues over who gets to care for her. As long as Reagan is a part of things, she is happy. Continue Reading →
John, Larkin, and Reagan grew by leaps and bounds during the month of April. More specific details to follow, but in summary, Reagan had her Christening and has started crawling and standing up on furniture; John and Larkin are beginning to speak in complete sentences and both are showing much more interest in using the potty (especially Larkin).
Reagan Roo is totally on the move. She started off a bit slow, but after a couple of days was going after the dog bowl (yes, her favorite item to find and get totally wet), standing up on furniture (often falling over), and trying to steal John’s yellow truck (typically doesn’t end well). Reagan is the 3rd child, just like her father and Aunt Ki, so we have a strong feeling that this trend of her trying to keep up with her brother and sister is one that will stick around a lifetime. Reagan is trying her best to move on from baby food as well. It didn’t take us long for us to figure out when she was “over” basic baby food because she would zerbert (spit it out) each time you gave her food, which didn’t work out too well for our faces or clothing. Grandpa (Dan) must have gone through a dozen shirts before figuring out how to get out of the way. The zerberting might not of lasted as long, but with John and Larkin in the audience laughing hysterically, she was not about to stop. Continue Reading →
We have started referring to John, Larkin, and Reagan as “the adorables” after cousin Ann Marie wrote Dan an email, affectionately describing them as so. We find it quite fitting and cute given their loving nature to one another.
March started off the travel season for the O’Brien-Kindem families. Hap & Nan kicked the month off by meeting Pete & Sase and family at the lake cabin with John and Larkin. All members went to Beach Mountain Resort to do some skiing and sledding. John and Larkin enjoyed the snow, but Larkin kept saying, “cold feet” because her boots and socks were not warm enough for her. Unfortunately, Larkin seems to have her dad’s sensitive feet, poor thing. Their favorite part might have been taking life easy inside the ski lodge, all warm and cozy. Paul stayed home with Reagan and got some much needed one-on-one time with his special girl. Reagan was especially helpful when it came to selecting which photos were going to make the stairwell. Continue Reading →
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