First Haircut!!!!

So, I felt it was finally time to get Mackenzie her first haircut. Her hair has grown out amazingly evenly, and it wasn't even a necessity at this point, but I thought getting it trimmed up would be good since it had never been cut in almost 3 years! And she is just all about getting pampered and being a princess, so I knew she'd love it. Both sets of grandparents were in town for Keelyn's baby dedication (post on that to come.....) so I enlisted both grandmas to come along, leaving the little one with the granddads. She had a blast at a little hair salon for kids. And I got a nice little keepsake of her little blond locks :) (Oh - and I took a lot of pictures......)










Our little priss waiting on her turn at the salon





















Fixin' Belle's hair in the waiting area :)
















Ready to go in her firetruck seat














First snips......














Love this - watching her hair get braided!
















All done, getting jewels added to her braid!





















We were quite the paparazzi! I love this picture - you can see Granmommy in the mirror taking a picture of Meemi with her camera and me holding mine!
















With her hairdresser :)
















With Meemi & Granmommy














Ta Da!! Love that little hand flip she did in this pic!

Our Carnivore

Mackenzie just loves meat. Pretty much all kinds. She's our little carnivore. And recently, she's had the opportunity to try some chicken wings. Not surprisingly, she loved them!

Puffs.....Oh How I've Been Waiting for You!

We've had a couple recent firsts around here lately..... First, Keelyn is now sitting in her high chair. She looks super tiny in it (but maybe that's because she IS super tiny!). But she does look super cute. This was her first time in it about a week ago. Then, a couple days ago, I started her on eating puffs when I put her in the high chair. Keeps her occupied for a good while. Oh, how I've been wanting to get to this stage! I wonder if I feed her too many??? Nah....

The other first was Mackenzie got to go to her first sleepover at Aunt Natalie's house. Here she is all ready to go in her swim outfit (the first activity of the event was the pool!) with her own little suitcase. She was so excited. And, not surprisingly, she didn't really want to leave when I picked her up the next day! We didn't even make it to the car before she told me she missed her Aunt Now-Wee. And has periodically repeated it since them. (Mostly when she's in trouble with mommy, guess she knows she doesn't get in trouble at Aunt Natalie's house nearly as much!) We (ALL) can't wait for the next sleepover!

Up Early

Gone are the days of sleeping in when at the beach..... Here's some pics when I was the first one up with the girls one morning at the beach. I miss my sleep, for sure. But mornings are fun when no one is tired yet & everyone starts off the day so fresh :) Good memories!

A little hair brushing (with a toy shovel!) in the princess nightgowns :)














Keelyn mesmerized by the big girls :)





















I got MK to smile at me, but Mackenz just wants to watch her!














Now Mackenz is looking at the camera, but MK is checking her out!














Still watching the big girls! Although she managed to pull the towel on top of herself!





















Mady Kay LOVES Keelyn! Almost as much as she loves the first McKay offspring!

Couldn't Resist.....

One more set of beach pics.....last year & this year with the best little buds, M & MK..... (And we thought they were SOOO big last year! Now I look at those photos and think they look like little babies still!).

Memorial Day Weekend 2010





















Memorial Day Weekend 2011

Memorial Day Pics

We couldn't resist a few pictures of the girls in their red, white and blue outfits on Memorial Day :)

We tried for a picture of three smiling girls. Didn't quite happen.....














Not bad, but Keelyn is on the verge of tears :P














So, we settled for a good pictures of the two best buds!














Wow, what a difference a year makes.....

Beach Pics Day 2

Day 2 was just as much fun as day 1. Don't think I mentioned this yet, but the weather was amazing! Warm but not blazing hot. No clouds. Slight breeze. And the water, cool, but not cold. Perfect. Both days. Just what we needed before life got all kinds of crazy busy when we got home (and it was crazy busy before we left!).... More pics:

What mommy enjoyed so much this year......independent play! Hours of it :)














Keelyn got another couple hours nap in the ergo carrier.....this time on daddy :)














The closeup





















Mommy & Keelyn (and a little photo bomber in the background splashing & having a marvelous time!)














Keelyn was a little less neutral on day 2. Here she is crying with a death grip on me, basically begging me to pick her up! Notice our photo bomber again!














The girls & Ali enjoying the waves














Doesn't that look like a kid who's having a grand time??





















Keelyn's first dip in a pool. She was not the biggest fan. Tolerated it as long as she could hold on with a tight grip to mommy! The floatie was a no-go.














I loved this picture of Brian & Mady Kay. Brian had created a little shade for himself with the baby floatie.

Beach Pics

So, I'll try to limit the pictures, but we had so much fun & so many good pictures! Reliving the fun we had as I go through the pictures tonight...... Here's some from our first day at the beach:

Endless fun for these two! And we couldn't believe it, but totally unplanned they had matching swimsuits!!!














The McKay girls (Keelyn is conked out in the baby carrier.....where she slept for over 2 hours!)














Woke up (finally!) and chillin' with mommy!














Keelyn's first dip in the water. She tolerated it. Didn't love or hate. Just neutral!





















Mackenzie had a great first day at the beach this year!!! Couldn't keep her out of the water even after putting on her cover up! Only stopped when we all started leaving!

Memorial Day Beach Trip

So, Friday night after my cousin's wedding, we left for the beach! We had been planning to go before we knew the wedding was that weekend, so my crazy, night-owl husband said, we'll just leave after the wedding. And I was somewhat okay with this idea b/c a) the girls would sleep the whole time & b) HE would be the one driving at 2am! It was actually a really nice ride. He stocked up on energy drinks & we even had a nice (uninterrupted!) conversation once the girls were asleep. Then, I slept a little. But I stayed up most of the time b/c I didn't want him to get too tired :) I did feel a little nostalgic (or maybe old?) b/c I remembered riding with him to the beach when we were so much younger.....and dreaming to myself about when we would drive to the beach with little ones in the back - and now here we are.....

Anyways, I am SOOOOO glad we decided to still go to the beach. This was the first time since Mackenzie was born, that I found the beach to be a relaxing adventure :) She's old enough now to just sit and play in the sand without mommy's help & could walk to the water to fill up her bucket while we sat in our chairs watching her. Keelyn slept like a log in her little baby carrier with the breeze blowing. Our friends, the McCormicks, went too (we made it a little annual thing) and Ali & I got to actually TALK without interruptions for like over an hour the first day at the beach. Amazing! (Can you tell how much I love uninterrupted conversations these days!?!?)

Anyways, we took a TON of pictures. I'm sure I'll spend the rest of the week uploading them to the blog. So many good ones, so hard to choose......

Wedding Fun

On Friday night of Memorial Day Weekend, my cousin got married & it was a kid-friendly affair, so we got to take Mackenzie to her first wedding. And she did great. I had high hopes since she is currently entralled with all things princess, and a girl in a wedding dress is like a real-life princess in her world! She sat very still & quiet during the ceremony. Then, she jammed it up at on the dance floor afterwards (no surprise there!). Fun times :) I wanted to upload of her dancing, but after about 5 failed attempts, I determined that it's not meant to happen today! Anyways, here's some pics.....

My cousin, Katie & her groom





















G-mommy & Brannon doing a little dancin' too





















She worked up an appetite! Eatin' a little dinner with G-mommy & G-daddy

Catch Ups & Random Pics

Another post of random pictures of what we've been up to.....

Enjoying the warm weather a few weeks ago with our friends for a little dinner on the deck. Mackenzie looks really happy that I'm taking her picture, huh???












Keelyn's big enough for the high chair at restaurants!! YAY!!! (Although, she has to be in the mood for it.....)












I helped with the end of year party at Mackenzie's school. Here she is with her class eating their last lunch together












Thoroughly enjoyed their party lunch of pizza and a cookie! And she was so excited to have me there that she was giving me all sorts of smiles for pictures :)












And a picture with her wonderful teachers, Ms. Elizabeth, Ms. Susanne, and Ms. Angela (from L to R)