Emily’s Birthday

My sister Emily turned 25 on July 1st.  I remember feeling like that was a rather big birthday (turning a quarter of a century)….that was until I turned 3o!   In any case, it was a really big birthday for my sweet sister.  I was so happy that we were able to celebrate it with her.

First of all, I fell I must give a bit of a preface before you see all of the amazing pictures in this post.  My sister Laura has takes GREAT pictures and was kind enough to share them with me.  She is so gifted!

On her actual birthday, Emily’s husband had to work late (life of a PhD student), so we had a small celebration at our favorite Mexican restaurant.

Mikayla was a complete angel throughout the entire dinner.  Gavin, however, was not!  He did not want to sit in his chair or eat anything, so he spent most of the dinner in my lap.  Good thing he’s a cutie!  At this restaurant they sing to you on your birthday while you wear a sombrero.  How fun!

On, July 3rd, Morgan joined us and we celebrated, in full family style, at our favorite Chinese place.  (Yes, the McKinney family has a favorite restaurant for every type of food that you could think of) The Birthday girl with her beautiful family.

After dinner, we went back to my mom’s house.  The kids spent some time just running around outside.  We have had some crazy heat this summer, but that weekend we were given a little reprieve and had pretty comfortable temperatures.  I know my kids enjoyed getting to spend some significant time outside in it.     These boys had so much fun together.  As Andrew gets a little older and more on Gavin’s “level” they are really starting to actually play together.  I know they will just be best buddies as they grow up.    Mikayla likes to play in Papa’s rock pathway.  She is always collecting interesting looking rocks to bring home with her.   The swingset was a big hit with all of the kids. So after some playtime, we had some cake!  Does the birthday girl just look beautiful? (I think so!)

Now I can’t think of a better way to wrap up a near Fourth of July birthday party than with some fireworks.  The boys got together and put on a great show for us.  They seemed to really enjoy working together.

Mikayla and Gavin had a nice time watching them together.

The fireworks in all their glory!

That is a picture of me trying to make a heart with a sparkler.  After the fireworks, Jeremy went home and took Gavin with him.  Mikayla was sad about him leaving.  She didn’t want to leave either, though.  I guess that is the kind of thought process you get after staying up past your bedtime two nights in a row.     Well, can you think of any better way to cheer up a little girl than with some frosting on her finger.  Sounds good to me!! ;)

Anyways, we had a great couple of days celebrating my sweet sister.  I hope she had as much fun as we did!  Love you, Emily!

Pre Fourth of July celebrations

Our city typically holds their Fourth of July celebrations on July 3rd.  With the Fourth falling on a Sunday this year, they opted to hold them on the 2nd this year.  We had intended to go watch fireworks in the city with my in-laws and some friends of ours, but it rained most of the day. We were a little worried that the field where we watch was a going to be too wet so we decided to invite everyone to our house for our own celebration.

We had a hot dog cookout and then let the kids play outside until it was dark enough to set off the fireworks.  They had a lot of fun.

Amy and I also decided to make some brownies for some very yummy brownie sundaes.  Afterwards, we decided to let the kids lick the remaining batter.     Finally, when it was dark enough, we set up the camping chairs and Ryan and Jeremy went to work on a really great fireworks show.  The kids had so much fun!      Mikayla, Matthew and Gavin watching the show.

The excitement is practically pouring out of her face, isn’t it?

Gavin kept saying, “Boom!” whenever the firecrackers went off.

He also tried to blow them out afterwards.  :)

Amy and Ryan have a new baby girl, Madelynn.  She is three months old and is absolutely adorable!  She did so great during all of the commotion and noise.  I think she was mesmerized with all of the lights.

The guys did a great job on the firecrackers and even had a nice little “finale.”                   As you can see by the kids reaction, the night was a total success.  We even think they were may change our normal pre-fourth tradition into this one.  We had a great night and would love to do it again. :)

New two wheeler!

Well, I guess it is technically a  four wheeler since it has training wheels.  Mikayla got a new bicycle this summer and she has LOVED it.  She is still having to work at getting going, but once she is off, she is all over the place.   I can’t wait until the weather cools down a little so that we can be out more on it.  ( I am a wimp and do NOT like to be outside in this 95 degree weather unless it is by the pool!) Gavin has now inherited Mikayla’s tricycle.  It is so cute to watch him ride around.  He tries so hard to keep up with his big sister…so cute!

A day in Athens

My sister, her husband and nephew moved to Athens a year ago so that my brother-in-law could complete his PhD at the University of Georgia.  I have SO enjoyed having my sister close by.  It only takes us an hour and a half to go see her now (as compared to 8 hours when they lived in North Carolina). 

Shortly after school let out, I decided that we needed to go out and visit my sister.   To entertain all of the children, we took them to Athens Memorial Park.  It is a free park that has a Wilderness trail that you can walk.  Along this trail are several animal exhibits for the kids to enjoy.  We had a great time.  It wasn’t terribly hot and we even had some light sprinkles, but thanks to the great tree coverage of the trail, we didn’t have a lot of problems with the rain.

My sweet little Gavin.  Yes, he is wearing a harness and leash, and no, I am not ashamed to admit it.  Gavin is not a big fan of strollers anymore and I didn’t want to risk him running off.   He liked where Elmo! :) Mikayla had a lot of fun, too.  This is my sweet nephew, Andrew.  We got to the zoo right around the start of his naptime.   Other than being pretty quiet and just taking everything in, he did great!   These are some pictures of some of the exhibits at the park.  I was pretty impressed with what they had to offer.  It was a great free activity for the kids. 

For those of you that have little children, you may be familiar with the NickJr show,  The Wonder Pets.  Gavin really likes this show and was so excited to see “Turtle Tuck” at the zoo.  I just love the mind of a two year old (well, most of the time at least!). After we left the zoo, we went to downtown Athens to have some lunch.  On many of the street corners downtown, there are bulldogs (for the UGA Bulldogs) that are all decorated in different themes.   We definitely had to take opportunity of the photo op!

After lunch, we let the boys take naps and then we went to the pool in my sister’s townhome complex.  Unfortunately, I have no pictures of this.  I wish I did, because the kids had a great time playing with each other.  We had a great time with my sister and nephew.  I am so thankful to have them so close and to have the opportunity for these cousins to grow up together.

So Behind!

I can’t believe it has been over a month since I have blogged.  We have been having a lot of fun together this summer. I am going to try to catch everyone up over the next couple of days, so please bear with me.   For your viewing enjoyment, I will leave you with some pictures as to why I have been so busy this summer.  I just love hanging out with these kiddos.  I can not believe that in one month from tomorrow, Mikayla will start Kindergarten.  I still am not ready for it!

Gavin eating an ice cream cone.  It’s a huge mess, but totally worth the smiles.

Playing in the sprinkler in the backyard.

Swimming at the pool, with friends,  in rain…

(no thunder or lightning…just a quick summer rainstorm)

…or shine

Playing at the park with friends

(Yes, Mikayla decided that Bryce needed help smiling.  Thankfully, he didn’t mind the help.)

Riding our tricycle

and our BRAND NEW bicycle!!   We have also been escaping the unseasonably hot temps by just hanging out inside and coloring. 

It has been a great summer so far.  We have had a lot of fun memories made with family and friends.  I promise to post pictures of those adventures soon!

A little late…

So, I know I am a little late with this post, but I was having to wait for pictures from family members, and well, I have been enjoying summer vacation with the kids some!

Mikayla graduated from Preschool on Thursday, May 20th.  They had a great little program that they presented to their families.  I just sat their so happy for my sweet girl, but also a little sad.  She is growing up so fast and I just feel like my years with her are just flying by.  I love watching her grow up and develop into a little person, but I just wish it would happen a little bit more slowly.

          My sister, Laura, made this cute little graduation announcement that we gave out to our family.  I thought it was a fun way to commemorate the day.  The picture was taken by a company that came to Mikayla’s preschool.  I thought she looked so precious! This is Mikayla as she came down the aisle of the Sanctuary for her program.  As you can see, she was so incredibly happy to have her family their to support her.

I know these aren’t the best pictures, but I thought I would still post them for my own documentation. Mikayla with her family right after her graduation.  As you can see, Gavin was just about done after having to sit for nearly 1 1/2 hours.

After her ceremony, I had our family come back to our house for a little dessert.  And yes, I did decorate Mikayla’s cake to match her dress.  I am a little OCD like that sometimes. :)

Mommy and Mikayla.  I just love this little girl!