Happy Birthday Kenzie!!

This morning my little girl turned 2!! I can't believe it, she is my baby! She was born 6 weeks premature and was in the NICU for 11 days. She was a tiny 4lbs 8ozs and 18 inches long when she came home. Oddly enough she was the same weight coming home that Alex was, the difference is that that was pretty much her birth weight, where as Alex had actually doubled his. Crazy to think of them being that small. She is such a spunky, opinionated little girl, she keeps me on my toes, and she can definitly hold her own with her 2 big brothers.

So, happy birthday Kenzie!! We all love you so much!! :-)

This is Kenzie a few weeks ago

This was Kenzie at her first birthday party a year ago, what a difference a year makes!!

Update

Things have been busy around here, but good. Luckily Alex got over his strep throat pretty quick, and tolerated the antibiotic very well. And it managed not to spread to anyone else in the family. He is also doing great at school, and really enjoys going. A new little girl just joined his class, so now there is an even 3 girls, 3 boys in his class. On the 8th he has picture day, and on the 16th he has a field trip to Ridgefield Farm, which is a pumpkin patch and orchard. He will get to take a school bus for the first time on that field trip, so I think he is gonna have a blast!

Collin and Mackenzie are doing very well too. On monday Mackenzie turns 2, yay!! I can't believe my baby is gonna be 2! We are having her party next saturday the 10th, which should be fun, hopefully it will be a nice day.

Today I think I am gonna take the kids to a local orchard that is having a fall festival type thing today, and then probably go to the store to start buying things for Kenzie's party. I know, my life is just sooo exciting. LOL. But I have to say I am so glad it is fall. October through New Years is my FAVORITE time of year. I just love the holiday season, it brings back so many wonderful memories of my childhood, and now having kids of my own I get to do all the fun kids stuff all over again and experience it from their eyes.

My one goal for this fall, learn how to make an apple pie that doesn't turn to mush. Seriously, everytime I make an apple pie it tastes good, but turns so watery it barely respembles a pie. Anyone have any great tips for making an apple pie that holds together well?

Ok, well, better get my day going. It is beautiful here, like 65 and sunny, better go an enjoy the day! :-)

The Joy of Germs

Well, my track record has been tarnished. After 4 years of being a mom I was proud to say that my children had never had to have an antibiotic. But alas, poor Alex has been diagnosed with strep throat and is on antibiotics. I have nothing against drugs, but I myself am horribly allergic to just about all of them, so I have always been very selective and careful about them in general. But the poor guy is just miserable, I have struggled just to get him to drink anything, let alone eat. And getting him to take his medicine was a process in itself. It didn't help that he had a horrible experience getting his strep test at the pediatricians. At first he opened his mouth, but when she went to swab him he batted the swab away and touched it, so she had to do it again. Well, he wasn't having it and clamped his mouth shut, it took another very nice nurse to get him to open his mouth long enough to get a good sample, then he promptly threw up on the floor.

Oh well, I guess I will just have to get used to this, now having a child in public school (germ central!). Hopefully he will feel better soon and be able to eat again!

Catch Up

Yes, I know it has been a while. I have no excuse for not blogging other than, well, being lazy, so here I am catching up. So, what has happened in the last few weeks? Alex started school on the 1st. He is still in pre-k this year, but now he is in a Title 1 class at his elementary school. So far he really likes it, there have been no fights or break downs yet. His class is really small, only 5 kids, so he gets a lot of individual attention, and I think he especially likes eating breakfast at school.

Our little Collin has finally potty trained, yay!!! So, no more pullups. Though he is still learning all the finer mechanics of it, he is doing very well both day and night, with just about no accidents for the last few days. And now Mackenzie keeps asking to sit on the potty. I don't know what I will do when I don't have to buys diapers anymore, do a little happy dance I think. LOL.

And as for Mackenzie, she is a little bundle of energy, she just runs everywhere. I gotta get on the ball too, because her second birthday is in a month. I think the theme is gonna be Tinkerbell this year (with a little halloween thrown in there since it is in October, I can't help myself, we are Halloween freaks around here :-) ).

And as for me, the excitment in my world? They just opened a Target in Martinsburg, woohoo!! That means Starbucks! And Frappuccinos!! LOL. I am just sooooo easily amused. :-P So anyway, here are some random pics from the last few weeks. I promise I will be back sooner this time!. :-)




Yes, this is Mackenzie in her Halloween costume, I just bought it this past weekend and couldn't resist putting her in it, she is just too cute!!!

and this was just precious, Alex and Jasper asleep together. Amazing to see Jasper laying down, he is definitly the psycho kitty!

Our Newest Addition

So here he is, our newest little addition. My very sweet sister-in-law drove all the way to Fredericksburg (Like an hour and a half drive) to pick this little guy up for me. He is 10 weeks old, very playful and very friendly. I decided to name him Jasper (Jazz for short). Why you ask?? Well, I am a total dork and love Twilight, so I went through all the male Vampire names from Twilight and settled on Jasper because, well, I think he looks like a Jasper. So far our other cat Riley has tolerated him, and Sophie our dog has just about completely ignored him. And it is a struggle to get the kids to leave him alone, they are constantly wanting to pet him, pick him up, or just follow him around yelling "JASPER!!" at him. But I am sure after a week or two the novelty will wear off and they will back off some.

So, welcome Jasper, to our loving, slightly insaine family. Hopefully you weren't looking for calm and peaceful, cause you won't find that here. LOL. :-)

Collin's 3rd Birthday Party!

Well, I don't know quite how it happened but some how my little boy is turning 3! His real birthday is on tuesday the 11th, but we had his party on this past saturday. We decided to do a cook out and spent lots of time sitting outside, enjoying the day. Thank you to everyone who came, we had a wonderful time, and were so happy to share the special day with you!

Collin threw a little bit of a fit right when we wanted him to blow out his candle because it meant that he had to stop playing with his new trucks.

It was hard to keep Alex from trying to open collin's presents, but in the end he was very good, and Collin really got into ripping the wrapping paper into little tiny pieces.

We were lucky that a good friend of ours, Beth, and her two boys were able to come to the party. In this pic is my hubby, Mackenzie, Jack (Beth's youngest), and finally Beth. The animals are always a big hit with the kids. :-)

And finally, this is the cake I made. Over all it turned out ok, the 'building' ended up almost falling off the back of the cake, but luckily it held up. And, it tasted good, and that is the important part.

Busy August

Ok, so I haven't posted in a while, simply because, well, things really have not been that exciting. Just the usual everyday joys and sorrows of screaming children, house stuff, work, blah blah blah. But, now that August is here, the tempo should pick up, A LOT. First, on the 8th we are having Collin's 3rd birthday party, which should be fun if it doesn't rain (it better not, and even if it does we will still have fun, :-) ), then the 11th is his actual birthday so I gotta figure something out to do on that day. Then the 15th is my birthday (I'll be 26, woo hoo, not too exciting) and we are alos having a yard sale at the local flea market that weekend. On the 17th Collin has his 3 year check up and on the 24th his first dentist appointment. And finally on the 26th Alex starts school (still preschool, but it is at his elementary school). So, this month should prove to be interesting.

Oh and a big birthday shout out to my Dad, today is his B-day. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!! All these August babies, I think I read somewhere that more babies are born in August than any other month, all that November-December happiness I guess, LOL.