Happy Birthday to My Princess!

Despite an impending snow storm, McKenna had a fabulous birthday!

She started off the day with some Cheerios (I took her for donuts on the way to school!)


Then she got all dressed up in her cute little birthday outfit and headed off to school:
She took Hannah Montana cupcakes in to share with her class and got a big surprise when Grandma Brenda showed up at school to eat lunch with her!

After school we had planned on surprising both kids with a trip to Build a Bear, but since the nearest one is an hours drive and we we having a big snow storm, we decided to stay close to home!

We let McKenna pick were she wanted to go for dinner, she picked The Outback: where she had her favorite dinner, Mac and Cheese! The Outback servers sang a fun happy birthday song to her and brought her some yummy ice cream! And of course we got Chase some too! (Who doesn't like to eat ice cream during a snow storm???):

Then we headed off to Chuckie Cheese where we just happened to run into Uncle Kyle, Uncle Kody, Kyerstin, Kya and Amy. The kids had a blast playing with their cousins


We even let McKenna stay up late! She normally goes to bed at 8, but we let her stay up until 9:30! Fortunatly, I didn't have to deal with her being grumpy today because she got to sleep in since school was cancelled because of all the snow!

She had a fun birthday, but is really looking forward to her party on Saturday...more pictures to come!

She's 6!

Well, not at this exact moment, but in just a few short hours...4:30 in the morning to be exact.

I can't believe how incredibly emotional I am over her turning 6. Maybe all moms are like this, I don't know, but I just keep thinking about how quickly she is growing up and how I wish I could slow time down, even if just a little bit. Before she fell asleep tonight she told me that no matter how old she was, she's always be my baby!

There are so many memories of my sweet baby girl that keep replaying through my mind...from the moment my water broke...6 weeks early in the back seat of our car on the way home from a trip to Canada, to the very first second I layed my eyes on my precious baby and fell head over heals in love with everything about her, to hearing my husband say, "Honey, we have a daughter!" and realizing that she wasn't a boy (we didn't find out what we were having and I thought for sure we were having a boy!), to seeing all of her many firsts...and knowing there are many more "firsts" to come!

And now, for a McKenna update:
McKenna is still a little peanut! She weighs 35 lbs and is 42 inches tall...only 3 inches taller and 2 pounds heavier than her little brother. She's doing great in kindergarten...she blows me away with her reading ability. She loves school and has made a lot of really good friends. She's in her 2nd year of competetive cheer. This season she's doing a duo with her friend Emily and is also doing a group routine with her Twinkle Team. She really likes tumbling and can do a great cartwheel and bridge kickover. She's getting good at her round offs and is really close to being able to do a back walkover. Oh, and you should see her splits!

She loves reading(especially things I'd rather her not read...today in line at the grocery store she was reading the magazine covers and giving the couple behind us a few good laughs...), writing stories in one of her many notebooks, drawing pictures, arts and crafts, telling time, counting by 2's, 5's and 10's (she does this all the time in the car!), High School Musical, her Nintendo DS, music, Webkinz, playing with her friends, cheering, dancing, tumbling and her I-Pod.

I love you baby girl! Thank you so much for being the sweetest, most wonderful, loving little girl a mommy could ever ask for and thank you so much for giving me the most wonderful title of all...thank you for making me a mommy! I love you all the way to the moon and back!

He's a Big Boy Now!

Just a quick blog before bed to let everyone know that Chase is officially potty trained! He's been wearing big boy underwear for 2 weeks and hasn't had any accidents since the 3rd day of potty training! Yayyy Chase! He's so proud of himself...he wants to show everyone his undies - LOL! Today he ever asked me to close the door while he was going potty, because as he said, "it's how sissy goes to the potty!"

So, no more diapers for us...this is one milestone that I'm not sad to reach!

Bracelet Love!

I posted recently about my new addiction...buying Troll Beads for the bracelet that Jason and the kids got me for Christmas. I started out with just 4 beads - forutnately, there's a store that sells them only about a mile from my house, so I've made a few stops! LOL!

Anyway, here's a picture of my bracelet: (if you click on the picture you will see a bigger picture of it)


I only have a bout 4 more beads to go before this bracelet is full, then I'm going to start collecting black and white beads for a more neutral look...and maybe a couple of reds to throw in for more color.

Who needs a fancy playroom?

It may not be the nicest playroom in the world, but the kids sure do have fun there! Where else can you go on a day when the temperatures are in the negative 30's - yes you read that right - and still have so much fun??? ...and best of all, never leave the house, or even get out of your pj's!

Who needs Chuckie Cheese?

They can play pop a shot:


Or shoot some hoops...they like to jump off the mini trampoline to slam dunk!



McKenna loves to create new artwork...

...to hang in our fancy-schmancy art gallery!


Where else can you go on a cold winter day and ride bikes...

...or scooters...

...or horses and sit and spins...

...or teeter-totters?


Oh, and I can't forget the kid's absolute favorite thing to do in the "playroom"...
Is this not the coolest train/plane set?



For those of you with toddlers, preschoolers or early school-age kids I highly recommend this toy. It's the one thing that can keep both of my kids playing together without fighting and entertained for hours at a time!

Oh, and if all of that isn't enough...they can cook dinner in the mini-kitchen...
...or build potato-head families...

...or play with the millions of other toys that inhabit our "not-so-fancy" playroom!

Happiness Is...

...watching your husband play Pretty, Pretty Princess with your little princess!


(Nice earrings Jay...and those are some great shamrock socks, McKenna!)

Where did the last 6 years go???

I'm planning McKenna's 6th birthday party...yes, I said 6!!!! Gone are the days of Elmo and Dora...she's all about wanting a High School Musical birthday party this year!

Can you believe that my precious baby girl is going to be 6? I absolutely cannot fathom that idea! It's a good thing that I still have a couple of weeks to get used to it!

Anyway, I was looking back at some old pictures tonight, just remebering what she was like as a baby and ran across a few pictures that I just had to share. These are very grainy because they were taken on my 35 mm camera - in the days before digital! - and scanned in, but they are some of my favorites from her first year:

Our princess is born. This is the first photo taken of McKenna. Our OB was holding her up for us to see as Jason said, "Honey, we have a little daughter!" I'll never forget that moment, because I thought my whole pregancy that I was having a boy. I figured that I would never be lucky enough to be blessed with a little girl!


Look how tiny she was! She was 6 weeks premature, 5 lbs, 11 oz. at birth. This photo was taken around 2 weeks old:


Could she be any cuter? This is one of my alltime favorite pictures!


Look at my little baldy! She lost all of her hair and then it didn't grow back until she was 2!


Okay, so I couldn't just stop a her first year! Here are a few more of my favorites!

Swim lessons at 1 1/2 years old:


Playing dress-up at 2 years old:


McKenna meeting her baby brother, Chase for the first time. She was 3 weeks away from turning 3 years old. The first thing she said when she saw him was, "He's absolutely perfect!" How sweet is that?


All dressed up for Easter - 3 years old:


My little ballerina - 4 years old:


Beach vacation - 4 1/2 years old:


Her first cheer competition - 4 1/2 years old:


1st day of kindergarten - 5 1/2 years old:


My little DIVA - Christmas - almost 6 years old!


And...stay tuned for a picture of my big 6 year old...just 2 weeks away!

Thanks baby girl, for making me a mommy and for giving me so many wonderful memories. I can't wait to see what the next year brings for you. No matter how old you are or how big you get, you will always be my little princess!