A Favorite Visitor (More Easter Pics....)

Continuing with my pics of Easter weekend, Aunt Natalie came over after our egg hunt to hang out & dye some eggs. My first attempt with Mackenzie to do this activity - which I figured she'd love, given her love of doing "art". Next year, I'll get a little more fancy, this year, it was pretty much just dip them eggs! Still fun for her first attempt. Keelyn oversaw the activity.....though she is much happier in the pictures than she was in real life with the activity :P

So excited to see Aunt "Now-wee" & gets into chatterbox mode :)














Check it out Aunt Natalie!














Amusing her Aunt Natalie














The little one posing for the camera





















Dippin' the eggs in the dye














Writing on her egg with a crayon














Our little cutie observing the activity














We have finally found a use for her pacis......they are now used as her teether of choice :)

WMV Hunt Pictures

The next few posts are going to be mostly pictures for my own documentation of our busy weekend. First some pictures & videos from the big egg hunt at Whittier Mill Village:

My favorite of the day with her loot :)





















With her daddy






















Here they are last year, what a difference a year makes..... *sigh*















Pony Ridin'

Easter Fun

We had a big, fun Easter weekend. Didn't really realize how exhausting it would be! We went to the annual egg hunt at the park near our old neighborhood. (Remember the craziness from last year). And this year was much better than last year. No nausea for me (last time I was in the 1st trimester for the hunt). It was very pleasant weather (last year was BLAZING hot). And no tantrums (the best part!). In addition to the egg hunt, they had a petting zoo this year & a pony ride like last year. Mackenzie had a BLAST :)

We then came home and rested & then Aunt Natalie came over to dye some easter eggs. Our first time :) We kept it pretty basic, but Mackenzie seemed to really like it. Then, after some dinner, she got to search the house for her Easter basket.....Daddy was playing guitar at the two Easter services at our church, so he had to leave by 6:30, so I wasn't about to wake up to do it before church! So she found her basket and dug in. She was pleased with all her goodies, but the best in the basket was her Dora chapstick ("Yip-stick as she calls it!) which was an easy find at the Target $1 area :)

Then, we went to church on Sunday to a great Easter service. Keelyn even went in the nursery the whole time. Since we had two services, instead of our usual one, the times were different and we went to a later service. This allowed me to feed her before the service started instead of during the service. Which was GREAT! She was done, & I went in and was able to focus on worship for a full hour. That was a huge blessing on Easter for me :)

AND lastly, we came home and our community group came over for lunch & an egg hunt at our house. Maybe I put too much on myself with that, but we have a GREAT backyard & are moving in a couple months (have I posted that??) so I figured this would be the only year we'd have this big of a backyard to hunt in. We also are going to start a tradition to do a egg hunt with our group each year for those folks in town. It's a great idea that one of our group members said she had growing up & I think it will be fun for our kids to have these traditions to do together through the years :)

All in all, such a great weekend. So busy though. I'm hoping next year we can find a way to make it a little bit less exhausting with more time to reflect on the holiday.

Belly Laughs and Best Friends

Something happened while I blinked my eyes..... Keelyn now finds her big sister quite hilarious & is thoroughly enthralled with watching her. It's like she was a bit timid/scared of Mackenzie's antics one week, then Mackenzie went to visit grandparents, and she came back and Keelyn thinks she is the funniest thing ever. I can get Keelyn to smile, but only Mackenzie can get a good hardy laugh out of her. And does it quite frequently! I have to admit, Mackenzie is a bit more humorous to watch than normal ol' mommy! Here's a good video I caught of some of her first laughs at big sissy - while watching Mackenzie dance to her new favorite song ("It's a Beautiful Day" by U2 - which I downloaded for her after she kept telling me it was a BEEE-YOU-tiful day mommy, whenever the sun is shining!). It's one of my favorite moments with the two of them. Although the laughs were much stronger before camera appeared, as it always goes, and Keelyn gets mesmerized by the camera about midway through.....but you get the idea :)

Go Braves

Keelyn got to experience her first Braves game a couple weeks ago. Not bad for a 5 month old. We took advantage of Brannon's firm's seats that he gets about once or twice a season & went for it with our good friends, the McCormicks. It was even a 7pm game. Not something I'd do often, but since it was free, what did we have to lose. All in all, the girls held up quite well. We were late (shocking!) and only stayed for about 4 innings, from about the 4th through the 7th. They were losing (that's about all I remember of the actual game) when we left. But the big hit was that the bigger girls & their daddies got a shot on the jumbo tron. I've gone to many games since living in Atlanta, but that was a first! But really, who could resist putting our sweet cuties on the big screen for all to see!?!!?

Either Keelyn wanted to give me a kiss, or she was getting hungry at this point!

Happy Easter!

We hope everyone has a wonderful Easter and remembers the real reason for the holiday in the midst all the bunnies & easter egg hunts. This Easter is the first holiday where I feel like Mackenzie can start understanding the bigger picture. Recently, she has become quite interested in her little story Bible, asking me to read stories from it at night "about Jesus". Love it. It is amazing how their little hearts are so open to matters of faith. I think it builds our faith to see how easily they can believe.

As I was reading from this story Bible recently, I read the story about how Jesus said to let the little children come to Him. I told her that Jesus loves all the children & she looked up at me and said very proudly, "And Jesus YUVS ME too!". Love it.

And with the recent interest in the story Bible, I had been saving the Easter section of the Bible for reading tonight on Easter. We have been surrounded by the commercial side of Easter today, so I wanted to make sure we had at least a little time to focus on the real meaning. Mackenzie was very curious about why people were mean to Jesus & I kept telling her that they didn't like Him because they didn't believe Him when He said He was the Son of God. She responded with, "I'm not mean to Jesus, I YUV Him!". Love it. I hope she always feels that way.

Happy Easter All!

Roly Poly

So, this video is about 3 weeks old, but this was when I finally got Keelyn rolling over. It's at the beginning of the video and then I waited awhile because she had sometimes rolled back, but not in this one. She just gets mad and end of video!

The Fun Side

Because there is so much difficulty in the two year old years, I hope I manage to also to record the fun side of being two - because there is plenty of that too! Brannon loves to tell Mackenzie stories, particularly at bedtime, though now she asks for them from him all day long whenever he is home! She'll say "tell me a story BOUT....." and list something that she is currently into. As soon as he starts to end his story, she comes right in with "one more story BOUT....." when the last one of the story is told.

Anyways, today in the car she said "Mommy, I wanna tell you a story BOUT....." then she mumbled something - she'll use random syllables & sort of mumble when she doesn't know what she wants to say. I guess she knew she wanted to tell me a story but didn't know what it should be about. So I said, "okay, tell me your story". And then she said "Once upon a time.....I BURPED". I asked is that it & she laughed & said yes. I replied with "Good story!" and a laugh!

Things You Might Get to Do......

Here's some photos of some things you might get to do on a trip to Granmommy & Grandaddy's house.....

Play with new toys

Go high flying

Do special art projects like glitter glue on fairy masks

Make blue pancakes (you might ask for pink pancakes, but sometimes only blue food coloring is available!)

Run back & forth across a bridge like 30 times

Learn how to ride a seesaw

Pass out from sheer exhaustion on the couch

Go grocery shopping (for all healthy snacks, I'm sure....)

Get to eat a BIG cookie from the grocery store!!

And.....Look like a big girl talking on the phone with Mommy

Five Months

Hello World!

Keelyn here. Mom said she better let me go ahead and write my monthly update because I'm already 5 1/2

months & I'll be 6 months before she knows it! I've been having a pretty eventful month. I finally started rolling over consistently from my back to my tummy. I started doing it in my crib just before I was 5 months old, but that was the only time I did it so she couldn't see it. Then, about 5 months &

a week, I started doing it on my playmat & doing it enough that she could video it (I'll get her to put that on here at some point, but she's slow these days!). I did have one day of doing two rolls from tummy back to my back, but haven't done it since. Apparently, my big sissy did this over a month before me. But I don't care, I just prefer to be held than to move myself!

Another big milestone this month, I started getting my

first teeth. My first bottom tooth started breaking

through right after I turned 5 months & my

second bottom tooth is starting to come through starting yesterday. This I'm doing a lot earlier than my sissy. She didn't get her first tooth until she was almost 10 months! We're so different mommy says!

I'm doing a little better with my sleeping. I'm pretty

stubborn about the whole situation though mommy says! She decided while my sister was at grandparents' camp that she'd have more energy and could handle having me cry it out a bit at night since I made it about

half the time til 6 or 7am and half the time I woke up at 4:30-5am. So, she decided after my late night (around 11 or 11:30 pm) feeding that she wouldn't feed me until 6am. So, if I woke up at 4:45am,

she'd let me cry. I was pretty determined. She would come in and roll me back to my back, pat my back, then go back to her room & I'd keep on crying. It took a good 30 minutes. Then, I slept. Then, the next night I slept all the way until 7:30am. She thought we were making headway, but I'm still pretty inconsistent. Some morning 5am. Some morning 7am. And now that I'm teething, that's probably making it even harder. She still tries to wait until 6am to get me, but if I get too mad, she comes to get me. I'm still in control of the situation!

The other fun thing this month is that I am really taking notice of my sister & starting to enjoy her and not be slightly nervous around her. Ever since she came back from grandparents' camp, I've just liked watching her more & more. My biggest belly laughs have come from watching her dance and talk to me. She is fun! I can tell she's gonna keep me quite entertained in the coming months/years!!

Well, I guess that's about it for now!

Love,

Keelyn :)

Where Does the Time GO??

I can't believe it has been over a week since I updated the ol' blog.... It is really hard to get time to do this. Surprisingly, life with two in some ways is getting easier, but having time to do stuff for me is just as hard or harder. Mainly because my big girl seemsto be starting to fade out of needing a nap (MAJOR bummer, but she is over 2 1/2.....). She is just not that tired until around 3:00 these days. If we were an earlier to bed family (she goes to bed around 9pm still mainly because that way she has more time with her daddy) she could go with out, but a day or two without a nap is a nightmare tantrum waiting to happen! So, by the time Mackenzie goes to rest time / nap, I feed Keelyn, maybe grab a snack for myself and try to clean something. Then, it's time to lay Keelyn down for a nap & by the time she's asleep it's time to think about starting dinner before Mackenzie gets right back up..... And there goes my only time without at least one little girl taking up my time. I guess that's just the state of my life right now. But it's hard. And I miss my updated blog..... I have all these fun blogs floating around my head during the day & then if I get a chance to blog, all I have the energy to write is just a recap of our events. Oh well. Maybe one day.....

Two Peas in a Pod Couch

We had Mackenzie's friend, Mady Kay (and her parents!) over for dinner last weekend. It worked well because going out to eat, Keelyn is getting fussy/ready for bed around 7:30 and dinner is usually just getting going. So, instead, this time we ordered takeout from a favorite local Thai place and ate at the house & when Keelyn got fussy, I put her down & then we kept hanging out afterwards. It was nice! And M & MK thoroughly enjoyed getting to stay up late and watch a movie together while the parents talked. I couldn't resist a picture (okay pictures!). These two are just the cutest!

Gettin' Bigger All the Time

Got out our bouncy exersaucer about 2 weeks ago when I realized Keelyn was getting close to 5 months old. I remember putting Mackenzie in that thing right at 4 month (the minimum age on the box!) and this time it totally snuck up on me and we were almost 5 months before I got it out of storage :) Oh well......that's the way it goes the second time around! No worries, Keelyn is enjoying it quite a bit and it's one more thing that I can use to not have to hold her all. the. time! Still can't believe she's big enough to do this!!

Spring BREAK!

One might wonder how I am able to post a little more this week......well, the answer is I only have ONE child to watch this week! Mackenzie went to Florida for "Grandparents' Camp." :) I thought a few weeks ago (actually, while she was off from preschool for winter break in February!) that maybe I'd have her go visit her grandparents during spring break because I was really feeling a need for a break from the constant exhaustion of caring for two little ones! So, I checked with my parents & Brannon's, and (of course) they were up for the idea. She spent 1/2 of the week at Brannon's parents & then the other half of the week at my parents.

She has handled it all like such a big girl. She just waved goodbye when she drove off with Meemi & Poppee like it was no big deal (of course, I'm sure she didn't know exactly how long a week would be!). I can't believe she's big enough to just go off like this. Doesn't miss us too much. I think she asks about me in the morning, like where I am & they tell her I'm at home & she's going to be there for a little longer and then she's okay with it! I did give them gifts to give her from us each day so that helps!! But, I'm glad she's had SUCH a wonderful week with her grandparents. I'm pretty sure she knows a good thing when she sees it! We'll probably have to spend a few days next week re-programming her that "No" is still actually a part of the English language! I'm not sure she's heard it much this week. HA!

We've been missing our big girl this week, but it has also been soooo nice to have a bit of a break. Amazing how easy it seems now to take care of just one baby :) Keelyn & I have had some one on one time, which I have loved. Getting to take time to rock her to sleep & just hold her has been so nice & I'm pretty sure she's been loving it too!

On the Hunt

Last week, Mackenzie got to enjoy her first egg hunt of the season! We went with my MOPs group to a local retirement home where we had an egg hunt and visited with the residents. It was a lot of fun to watch her this year because she totally understands the goal of the hunt AND also she was a little social butterfly telling the residents "Happy Easter" and "Look at my eggs!". They loved her (naturally!).

Here's a few pictures from the fun!

These two best buds were so cute, holding hands on the way to the hunt! Love them!!!

And....They're OFF!

Found one!

Keelyn enjoying the fun :)

I love this picture of Mackenzie - she looks like she has a secret & Mady Kay is trying to figure it out!

Sophia & Mackenzie enjoying their goodies :)

Got a better smiling shot of Keelyn at home sporting her cute little bunny outfit!

Four Little Girls

Brannon's best friend from college and his family came over last weekend while they were in town. It is crazy to me that just a few short years ago the four of us with no kids were hanging out & going to the beach and such.....and now we each have two little girls in our families. And they are so close in age. Mackenzie & L are about 2 months apart, and the new little ones are about 1 month apart. And ALL girls. Such fun :) The older girls had a lot of fun playing - though they are more into parallel play than truly playing together, they did warm up and play more together right before time to leave (of course!).We took some pictures of the 4 of them before they had to leave & that was pretty funny b/c Keelyn wasn't too into it and their little one liked to pull on Mackenzie's hair!

It was great seeing them.... Too bad they (or we if you asked them!) don't live closer..... It's always great to have friends who are in the same boat as you are in this crazy world of parenting. For example, both families (unknowingly) took a trip to IKEA on Sunday. Brannon & I were lamenting the fact that Keelyn had a COMPLETE blow out diaper while we were there requiring full costume change. But that didn't seem so bad when we found out their trip to IKEA ended in vomit and a trip to the ER! (She's all better now, but sounded pretty scary!). Like I said, knowing other parents in your boat makes your struggles seem normal (or even not so bad!).....

Here's a few of our out take shots of the 4 girls:

I think Keelyn was a little scared of 4 adults trying to get them to smile! I love how the big girls are looking at her like "what's wrong with her???"

L eating a play pretzel, A pulling M's hair, M is yelling, but miraculously K chilled out due to her interest in noticing the remotes!