Merry Christmas!!!

I just love our Christmas card this year. Enjoy!

Happy 5th Birthday, McKinlea!

Today we celebrated McKinlea's 5th birthday. We had wonderful day. It is hard to believe that this time 5 years ago, I was holding my sweet miracle. We had prayed so long and hard for a healthy baby, and though it took us quite a while, we were blessed with McKinlea. She has brightened our days and brought so much joy to our lives. She loves to sing and dance ( I have not idea where she gets that from...ha, ha). She has a huge heart and loves to help others. I pray that God continues to work on her life and bless and nurture her tender soul. We look forward to many more days of laughter and love from our sweet girl. Happy birthday, McKinlea.

Love, Mommy and Daddy 

It's Christmas Time!

McKinlea sang in church today with the "Wee-Joice" children's choir. She did a great job. It was a very special day. I remember my first time singing on the very same steps of the church. I can not believe that she will be 5 in a week and already has such a love for Jesus and "her" church (as she likes to say). John and I were very proud of her.

 On Friday night, McKinlea had her Christams muscial at church. They got to wear their Christmas PJs. She was so excited to get to wear PJs to church. She picked some out with a red skirt on them. She sang her little heart out. I will post video soon. We are in full swing with birthday and Christmas around here. McKinlea recently told me how awesome she thinks it is that she and Jesus were born the same month. It made me smile!

Fall is in the air!

The girls got their Fall pictures in the other day. I think they turned out really great this year ( I might be a little partial). Enjoy!

My Little Pilgram

McKinlea had her Thanksgiving celebration at school on Friday. Here she is with her precious "girl" pilgram hat that she made. She shared a Thanksgiving Feast with another class. McKinlea's class were the pilgrams and the other class were the Indians. They each had songs that they had learned and she was so cute. She informed me the other night that she would like to be a "Real" pilgram someday.....What do you say to that??

Silver and Gold

McKinlea got to dance on Friday at the Chrismas Market at 2nd Baptist Church. She did a great job and watching me perform reminded me how quickly time goes by. McKinlea loves dancing and singing....hmmm, wonder where she gets that from. Below are also some pictures from the dance along with some of McKinlea and Emily. McKinlea just adores Emily and sees her as a "Big Sister." Emily danced right before McKinlea and she was so precious. Going to the market sure makes me want to get ready for Christmas. I love this time of year!

 Notice my little one on the front row....can you tell she loves to have her picture taken :)



Halloween 2010

We had a wonderful Halloween. McKinlea was "Thumbelina" and Kennedy was a "Garden Gnome.". They helped Daddy clean out the pumpkin and they picked Noah's Ark for the design. It was really cute, but the pumpkin did not last very long in the heat. McKinlea loved sticking her hands in and helping clean out, while Kennedy wanted nothing to do with getting her hand dirty. She would pick the seeds out one by one. We cooked the pumpking seeds and they actually liked them.

Our church had a "Slime Time" on Halloween night so we took the girls to it. They made bouncy balls and played science games. We then headed over to Nana Margaret's house for hotdogs. Uncle Scott and Aunt Jennifer joined us. 

 We finished up our night with our annual trick or treating with Emily. The girls are like sisters and I love watching them together. It is like Marisa and I all over again. Kennedy was able to trick or treat with the big girls this year. She even hit a few houses before them. I will post thise pictures soon. Overall, it was a great day by all and I can't wait to see what they will be next year.

My precious Gnome :)

Wonderful Wednesday

With Halloween just around the corner, I had to quickly add the last of the Halloween Photos. The girls are looking foward to Trick Or Treating this weekend. They both have fall parties this week at school. What wonderful memeories!

Halloween 2008

Little Bo Peep and Sheep: Halloween 2009

Stay tuned to see what this year brings.......

Thankful Tuesday: Part Two

Halloween 2007: McKinlea 1 1/2 years old

 She was much harder to take pictures of this year.

Minnie Mouse was already into the candy.

Pumpkin Patch 2010

This free slideshow design generated with Smilebox

Thankful Tuesday

I have to say, I love this time of year. I think Fall is one of my favorite seasons. I love the smell of pumpkin pie, the precious pumpkin patches, and the cooler weather. I also love that soon we will get to spend some time with our families. The girls are having a blast getting ready for Halloween and Thanksgiving. We have our fall table cloth on, the pumpkins and ghost lights up (McKinlea calls them friendly ghost because they have smiles), and halloween costumes ready. As I was getting things out for Fall, I thought back to some the Halloweens and Thanksgivings since we first had children. McKinlea was 10 months old when she had her first Halloween. She was a ladybug that year and it was so cute. We also took her to her first pumpkin patch. We go every year to our church and take pictures and pick out just the right pumpkin. The girls have grown to love it. I plan on every week posting pictures of past Halloweens and Thanksgivings. Make sure and check back to see what pics I post. The first one is of McKinlea.

 McKinlea's First Halloween: October 2005

 These two have been trick-or-treating together since McKinlea was born....they are best buds!

 McKinlea was not sure what to think of all the candy she got. She was very excited.

As you can see, I decided to label this post "Thankful Tuesday". These pictures are timeless reminders of how thankful John and I are for our family and friends. Stay tuned next Tuesday for another very "Thankful" post!

Just for Fun!

I know that I normally blog about the girls or what is going on in our lives, but I thought I would share with you what I was up to last week at work. I was Mother Goose for the kindergarten kids. In the spirit of Halloween, I gladly dressed up. It was so much fun and the kids actually believed that I was Mother Goose. I am loving my new job and every day I am learning new things. Stay tuned for some fall pics.

Girls love church!

 McKinlea asked me the other day if she could start going to Sunday School. I was so excited. I remember how much I loved going to Sunday school and learning about Jesus and forming lasting friendships. She then informed me that she would pick out her own dress and shoes. She even added some jewelry. She was so precious. As I took this photo before heading into church, I could not believe how big she is getting. I pray that God will continue to mold her and shape her into a beautiful and loving young lady!

Miss Kennedy made her debut in church on Sunday. She normally goes to the nursery during church, but I wanted her to take communion with our family. She wore a dress that McKinlea wore (from Gigi) when she was 2. It was surreal looking at her and just how big my precious children are getting. While sitting in church, I thought back to when John and I first married and starting talking about children. We knew that God would be a vital part of their lives, but to see it come together is amazing. I look at them and I know that they are gifts from God and it is our job to raise them to have faith and love.



We are "Cast" Free!

As you can tell from the pictures above....we are offically free of our cast. Kennedy got her cast off about a week ago. The x-rays showed that her tibia (sp?) was even stronger than before she broke it. He told us that it might take a day or two for her to get the hang of walking on it again. I was prepared for that, but when we got home (and after I washed her stinky leg) I put her down to walk. She was a bit timid at first and wanted my help. After about 3 steps, she was off and running like nothing had ever happened. She is doing great and we are so thankful to everyone who helped us out (especially Gigi) and said prayers for Kennedy's healing. We are blessed to have such a supportive network of family and friends. Hopefully, we will not have to go through this again, but you never know :)



Kennedy was very proud to show off her leg post cast!

One very happy 2 year old

Good as NEW!

School 2010

Kennedy was finally able to start her first day of preschool this week. Her leg is getting better every day. We have one more week with the cast. The girls love going to school together. McKinlea's favorite thing to do is to show off her "fancy" bag that she and Gigi made together. Kennedy's bag has CareBears on the other side, but she would not turn it around :)

We have mastered putting one of my ankle socks on her foot and then her walking boot. This seems to keep her foot pretty clean. Good thing I got the bright colors for working out :)

Every morning before leaving for school they like to brush their teeth together. This picture reminds me how lucky we are to have such sweet daughters. I have learned to cherish every minute that I have with them. I am very excited to see what the school year brings for them.