i'm 9 months old today!

oh my. 9 months old. time just won't slow down! you are so amazing. your smile melts my heart! you are done with baby food and eat dinner with us. you love food! you love your bottle, but are getting better with your sippy cup! you LOVE cheetos, bananas, yogurt, and all kinds of fruit! you love to play, but manage to find whatever is in the room that is NOT a toy . . . an electrical outlet, a piece of lint, a stray elastic. . . and it all goes straight to your mouth! you are still not sleeping through the night regularly, but every once in awhile you do! :) you try so hard to keep up with your big sisters. you crawl really fast . . . and have even taken a step here and there. your sisters just adore you. they love you so much. you are getting to be a bit more independent and can play by yourself for a bit. you love books, well, you love to eat them! :) you love to be outside and play in the grass and you love to watch the animals and birds outside. you are an amazing little guy. i love you so much!

your nine month stats . . . 28.5 inches long and you weigh 20 lbs. 9 oz

TROUBLE . . . again!

left alone for just a minute . . . there was a while roll of tp on the floor. . . and a very proud baby! :)

b.c.'s first mower ride

when i heard the mower start up i took b.c. outside. he was so excited - flapping his arms and yelling. . . it's loud, but he wasn't scared. he kept waving to bailey until he came over to get him! it was so cute to see him riding around the yard . . . of course EVERYONE had to have a ride after that! :)

ken's first sleepover party

this is ken as she headed out the door to her first sleepover party . . . 6 girls all night long! :) she packed her stuff friday when she got home from school! she couldn't wait! i kept telling her that if she needed me g's mom could give me a call . . . she would just kind of sigh and say "mom, i'll be fine!" . . . little miss independent! she did great! they stayed up late, did a cool craft, danced, watched a movie, ate a lot, and were just goofy! :) ken was beyond exhausted when she got home . . . okay, it was more like an emotional train wreck . . . :)

creative kids

the girls are constantly creating things . . . mostly with the "treasures" they find left behind from the people who used to live here! :) their newest construction projects . . . "a castle" - complete with seating! . . . and a "snail hotel" complete with a slide and a bath tub! the snail hotel even had it's first occupant . . . which someone accidentally smooshed a bit with a rock . . . so the girls found another shell and were trying to get it to move into the new one! :) ken has so many amazing ideas for building things . . . and mck and kam will go along with almost anything she wants to do! :)

5th birthday celebrations!

well, we are about partied out! mck had a great past few days . . . from build-a-bear and an early birthday dinner and cake to todays' whirlwind donut breakfast (complete with candle and song!), cupcakes at school (complete with purple icing and glittery sprinkles), cookies at ballet class (nothing special, but super yummy!), mc d's for dinner (yummmy!), and ice cream cake for dessert . . . we have partied hard over here! mck had a wonderful day! lots of b-day wishes from friends and family, a fun ballet class, and a few small presents at home (i have to say to was funny to watch the girls zhu zhu pets run all over the floor!)! can't believe mck's five. if i think about it too long i'll start to cry.

i'm five today!

my sweet little kenzie! you are so wonderful! you are so beautiful and funny, so talented and smart. you can light up a room! you love to dress up, play babies, and dance. you have a contagious laugh and a huge smile! you are sooooo not a morning person! you love school and have a great time playing with friends! you are an amazing big sister and a cool little sister too! you are so loving and sweet . . . and still want to cuddle. you love to hang out on the floor and look at books! you love tinkerbell and fairies and princesses! you are all girl! and i love it! happy birthday sweet mckenzie. i love you so much!

sweet baby mckenzie

april 13, 2005 * 6 pounds 15 ounces

our princess mckenzie today! a beautiful, healthy 5 year old!

a room fit for a princess!

after arriving home from build-a-bear, mck got her big birthday present . . . a room of her own (she was sharing with kam!). she chose the color months ago . . . but didn't know what it would look like! she was in love from the second she saw it. she really felt like a princess . . . from the canopy to the ballet bar, the room is really "her"! it was so fun to work so hard on finishing the room and see her be so genuinely excited! happy birthday sweet girl! :)

a birthday trip to build-a-bear

mck and little miss c headed to build-a-bear to celebrate mck's b-day a couple days early! mck has been counting down to her b-day treat for days! :) she couldn't wait! she was a great sport when they were out of the bear she had her heart set on and chose a super cute girly bear! :) the girls had so much fun stuffing, washing, and then dressing their new friends. we traveled up and down the escalators and elevators several times, got some snacks, and checked out the candy machines. the girls were so happy! :) now we're counting down to the big b-day trip! :)

bluebonnets . . . round two!

kam's sweet friend a had a party at the park today. it was COVERED in bluebonnets! so, we had to take some pictures . . . again. (this may not be the last time either! we didn't have the good camera!) the kids had a wonderful time . . . the weather was perfect and ms. j. did an awesome job on her little guy's party! the kids had so much fun . . . especially helping with gifts! :) what a perfect afternoon!

first ford family fun day

we attended what we (almost sadly) realized will be the first of many ford family fun days! :) the kids had an amazing time. inflatables, games, prizes galore, junk food, stuffed animals, hair painting, and more junk food . . . what more could a kid ask for! what a great fundraiser! ken and mck were rather competitive with the games . . . and sweet little kam would try to keep up . . . inching closer and closer to each game. the moms thought she was cute and let her get away with cheating on almost everything! :) what a fun start to the weekend!

more trouble . . . the stairs

i walked away to do a load of laundry. it was way too quiet. i came back and found this . . .

yep, b.c. has mastered the stairs. now, nothing is safe! watch out!

chicks raising chicks!

we took the "plunge" after months of talking about it and got some chicks! the girls had fun picking out their own chick . . . okay, so did i! ken and kam got black and white chicks . . . they will look cool when they are big! mck and i got the ugliest chicks you have ever seen, but they are so cool . . . naked-necks! they are chicks only a mother could love . . . awesome! we've set up their temporary home (they'll move to a coop in 2 months) and the girls have named them . . . "pants" (kam . . . too funny not to just go with that name!)" fancy" (mck) and "nancy" (ken)! and mine is "scrambled"! (i tried to get everyone to go with the "ways to eat an egg theme", but no one was with me! the girls have been sitting outside talking to their chicks for 30 minutes laughing at the funny things they are doing . . . too fun.

can i just say that 8 years ago if you'd told me i'd have 4 kids, a dog, 2 goats, 4 chicks, 2 acres, and be a stay-at-home mom i would have told you you're crazy! now, i can't imagine anything else.

a sneak peek!

yea! :) ken's recital costume is here! :) soooooo fun! :) we tried them on last night! we had glitter everywhere! :) gotta love it! :) she is dancing to anchors away/in the navy! now i can't wait for the recital! :)

precious moments

today kam, b.c., and i spent at least twenty minutes staring out b.c's bedroom window . . . watching two squirrels and several birds playing and eating in the trees. it was like they were glued to a television set, but we were watching nature. i just scooted back and watched them watching nature! kam gave a running commentary and made up a little story about how the squirrels were a mommy and a baby and they were looking for the daddy squirrel! she got so excited when they jumped from the tree to the roof and then back again! b.c. just loved every time something moved . . . letting out ear-piercing screams! i love moments like that!

bluebonnet pictures 2010

we're loving the bluebonnets in our own backyard this year! there are more and more everyday! sooooo beautiful! it's tempting to go out everyday and take more pictures . . . tempting, but then you realize that getting all 4 kiddos to take a good picture is near impossible! :) there are bluebonnets everywhere around us . . . so i think more pics this weekend is a must! :)

easter 2010

we had a wonderful weekend! it was so nice that my family came to spend easter with us this year! we played outside almost all day yesterday . . . croquet, bocce, jumping on the trampoline, playing on the playscape, coloring easter eggs, having a confetti egg fight, and even an early easter egg hunt! it was wonderful! grammy made a great dinner too! then we celebrated mck’s birthday a little early with tinkerbell cupcakes! it was nice for everyone to be together!

the morning was crazy but wonderful. we had an early start to the day with b.c. up before 6 and the girls following shortly thereafter. we opened baskets . . . well 4 each to be exact! one from the bunny, one from us, one from grammy and grampy, and one from tim and missy. . . . can we say spoiled kids? we all went to church service together. the service was really nice and the kids were wonderful. then we had a yummy lunch at monument café . . . a local place. (sooooo glad we opted for simple instead of the fancy place we were planning to go to . . .) it was great! we couldn’t have asked for a better weekend! thanks fam for coming! :)

bunny breakfast

the kids had so much fun at jungle java . . . meeting the easter bunny (who we determined was a person dressed up like the bunny so that the bunny could get stuff done!), eating pancakes, and playing on the playscape! they even did an easter egg hunt! ken, mck, and kam were all over the place . . . climbing up and down and going down the slides! they were pretty worn out when we left! and b.c. took quite a snooze on the way home! he loved playing in the baby area! what a great way to start the weekend!

on the way home we stopped to check out the easter chicks at the farm store. . . yes, they were dyed easter colors! too cool! the kids were in love . . . i think a chicken coop is in our future! :)

mck lost her first tooth!

oh my goodness. mck and I were making faces at b.c. when she suddenly spit something into her hand and asked “mom, what’s that?” i freaked out! i was so excited for her! her first tooth! it was so little . . . too cute! she was so excited . . . not sure if it was the idea of the tooth fairy coming or the fact that she has beat ken in the “tooth loss dept.” by months (because yes, everything is already a competition! and it’s nice to see mck win every once in awhile!)
we quickly put the tooth in the pillow and put it on her bed (reminding her of course not to play with it because it could easy fall out. . . .) well, she went to read some books in her bed and came out about 5 min. later very upset saying she lost the tooth . . . so ken helped her write the tooth fairy a nice note explaining what happened (along with some great questions for her and left that instead. what a lucky girl . . . the tooth fairy came! Leaving her a pack of sugar-free bubbalicious and $2.00!

grandparent lunch surprise

grammy got an early start to the morning and drove to g’town in time for ken’s grandparent lunch today! ken had no clue she was coming. i even told her I might not make it. she saw me and kam and gave us hugs. then looked up and saw grammy. she was so surprised and happy. what a great treat! we signed her out of school and went to play for the rest of the day!