Mikayla's Birthday celebration:Phase 1

Today, I got to visit Mikayla's preschool class for her birthday celebration. I brought in cupcakes and other snack food for her to share with her friends. Mikayla was so excited. She was also so gracious. The first thing she said to me when she saw me was, "Mommy, I love you!" She is just the sweetest little girl. I can't believe she will be turning four next week.

Ho Ho Ho!

Last week, we took the kids to visit Santa. Mikayla was very excited, but did get a little shy when she actually got up there. She asked Santa for Elefun the Elephant (it is a game that she likes).

Gavin did so much better sitting on Santa's lap than I could have ever imagined. Our sweet little boy is not overly fond of strangers. He lets hardly anyone other than Jeremy and I hold him. I was truly prepared for a picture of Santa holding a screaming child. However, Gavin just kind of looked at him in awe. I think he was suprised by the fluffy white beard.
I was looking at the Santa pictures from last year. I can't believe how much my children have grown!

Long, but fun weekend

This weekend, we drove to North Carolina to go to my nephew's blessing. It was great to see my sister, brother in law and their sweet little boy. Andrew is growing so fast. He weighed 12 lbs at his one month check up! I think he is definitely going to be built like his dad. Andrew was an angel during his blessing. So far all of the McKinney grandkids have laid quietly during their blessings. Future posterity has a high standard to meet. :) He looked so sweet in his blessing outfit. I got some good cuddle time with my nephew. I have to say that I am REALLY liking being an aunt. You get to experience all of the fun newborn stuff, but don't have to deal with midnight feedings. Check out my sister's blog for some more fun pictures.

We were originally going to stay in Greenville Sunday night after the blessing, but before we left we decided we would leave that night and drive part way. Well, everything tied up a little early and we ended up leaving around 5:30p. Since we were able to leave so early, we ended up just driving the whole way home. We had the kids in their jammies and they slept a good portion of the last half of the trip. Gavin did have one meltdown, but a quick nursing session took care of it.

Ever since we moved Mikayla to her new booster seat, she has had a difficult time sleeping in it. Actually, it bothers me more than her. Her head flops forward and it just looks so uncomfortable. I bought her a little travel pillow, thinking it would help remedy the situation. Well, all it did was flop her head forward more. That didn't stop my headstrong three year old, though. She insisted that it was comfortable - after about 1 1/2 hours of sitting like this, she said that her back hurt (ya' think!). I was able to convince her to put her pillow on her lap so that her arms could rest. :)

This is my little trooper. He did great considering that the only thing he could do was watch the DVD player. I can't imagine how it feels to be strapped in to a seat for 8 hours. I am surprised he let me put him in there today to take Mikayla to school!

Food, Family and Fun

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. We spent time with both sides of our family. Even though I really don't enjoy driving all over the place, I feel so blessed to live so close to all of our family.

Mikayla had fun cuddling with her new cousin, Andrew. She is having a hard time remembering to be gentle with him. We are having to remind her how fragile babies are - it has been a long time since Gavin was that little.

Gavin was also rather intrigued with his new cousin.

I love this picture. My mom holding all of her grandbabies!


The kids went on a Black Friday shopping adventure to JoAnn's with me, my mom and my sister, Emily. Mikayla really wanted to buy something, but with her birthday and Christmas coming up, I told her she needed to use her own money to get something. We found this "pwengin" (Mikayla's pronunciation of penguin) craft kit in the dollar bin. When we returned from the store, Mikayla and I had a nice time, putting him together. I do think that he will have a short life span though. We have already lost a foot and I have had to reglue the face.

Turkey Day Fun

We spent the afternoon at my mom's today. My sister, brother in law and nephew drove in early this morning and we wanted to spend some time with them. While Gavin was napping and I was running some errands, Mikayla and my mom made some fun Thanksgiving cookies. Mikayla loves anything to do with cooking and she loves spending time with my mom so it was a great activity.

Aren't they cute?

Mikayla had a great time.

Indian Princess Mikayla

Mikayla's preschool had their Thanksgiving program today. Last year, Mikayla was a little turkey, but she has graduated to an indian this year. We always enjoy the performances at her preschool. Mikayla even joined in on some of the singing this year!

This is a view of all of the kids.
After the program, the kids had a Thanksgiving "feast"

This is Mikayla holding her acorns that she was insistent on taking home. They were only meant to be table decorations, but Mikayla needed them for her "collection" (of what I am not sure).

Family fun

It has been COLD this weekend in Georgia. Last night, we built a fire and Jeremy decided that we should roast some marshmallows. Needless to say, Mikayla was very excited about this.

Daddy and Mikayla had a great time roasting the marshmallows together.

Mikayla wouldn't touch the roasted marshmallows. She also didn't really like the "black parts." Jeremy would take off the outside of the marshmallow and feed Mikayla the gooey part. She definitely liked that part of it.While Gavin didn't have any of the roasted marshmallows, he thoroughly enjoyed the uncooked version.

We had a great time last night, after our marshmallow roast, Daddy and Mikayla made an indoor tent and "camped out" It was so cute! I wish I had taken pictures, but I was busy keeping Gavin from demolishing the makeshift tent.

First Haircut.

Okay, so these aren't great pictures, but Gavin had his first haircut today, so I had to document the occasion.

My baby looks like a little boy!

Time for a party!

Our family came over Saturday night to celebrate Gavin's first birthday. We had a wonderful time with each other and the kids had a great time as well.

I made this birthday banner for Gavin. There are pictures hanging down of him on his first day, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months and his first birthday. I think we are going to do the same thing for Mikayla's birthday. I think, though, that we are going to have to make it Kayla, otherwise it won't fit on our wall.

This is the cake eating viewing room/ our dining room all decorated. We moved the chairs out and broke down the table so that there would be plenty of room for everyone to file in and watch Gavin dive into the cake.



Gavin was not into opening his presents. He just wasn't interested at all in the bags or the paper. Luckily, he has a big sister who was more than willing to step in and help out. Gavin did

enjoy his gifts once they were opened.
This was a riding truck that he got. He hasn't gotten the hang of pushing himself on it yet, but he loves to push it around the room and push the buttons that make noise.

This was a toy remote control that he got. Gavin is OBSESSED with remotes and we were hoping this would deter him from wanting to play with the real remotes. He does enjoy playing with it, but it doesn't have the same appeal as mom's and dad's.

My parents got Gavin this wagon. I see this getting used alot this summer with our trips to the pool.

Gavin liked sitting in his wagon.

Gavin's cakes before the destruction. If you look closely at the smash cake there are little finger marks on the side that his sister put there - the little stinker!

At first, Gavin was a little unsure of the cake. He kind of looked at it for a little bit.

Then, he thought he would test it out a little bit more and see what it felt like.

Then he really dove in!

Gavin REALLY enjoyed his cake.

Either Mikayla really enjoyed the cake, too, or she was a little jealous of all of the attention that her brother was getting from making a mess.

He made a big mess and actually ate a good bit of it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY SWEET BOY!

Commissioned Watercolor Portrait GIVEAWAY!!!!

Commissioned Watercolor Portrait GIVEAWAY!!!!

Wouldn't this be nice to have in your home.