Big Pool day!

Today was a BIG day at the pool for Taylor. I knew by the end of the summer she would be a pro in the pool (well at least good for a three year old!). She has proven me right too. She is fearless these days in the water. This afternoon she decided she was ready to jump off of the diving board. The first trip up on the board she still wasn't 100% sure. Taylor walked to the end of the board but was a little unsure. She walked back off, had a little pep talk with Daddy and then back up she went and then...drum roll!...YEAH Taylor jumped off of the diving board all by herself!! She had a small cheering section as Lissa, Leah, Kristen, Caroline and I were over there yelling and screaming for her. My girlfriends came out to the pool to hang out this afternoon with the fam. Of course someone asked where the camera was....I am SO BAD as I again didn't have it with us! I need a new camera that I like to use and one that I actually keep with me at times a good photo op is an option!
I am going to work on the picture thing!!!!

New Bike...

Taylor loves her new bike from Grammy and PawPaw and I love at the end of this video clip she had to get off to give Mommy a hug :)

Check-ups

Last week I was busy party planning and celebrating and then this week I was at the Dr. office with the two girls for their 3 year and 1 year well check-ups.  I must first say that I am SO GRATEFUL to leave the Dr.’s office with a clean bill of health for my girls.  I read more and more lately about sick babies and children that I thank God for my wonderful family and my healthy sweet girls!

Caroline’s visit was on Monday and thankfully she had a great report.  She seemed to be developing well with a weight of 19 lbs and 7 oz (24%) and 29 inches tall (38%).  Her ears looked clear of any fluid or infection so that was a relief considering the past month we battled double ear infections!  We have successfully gotten her off of the bottle (except when Daddy gives her one in the mornings when I am teaching a fitness class!) and she is loving the whole milk.  This little girl can certainly EAT.  She will eat just about anything you give her and will cry/scream if she wants more.  I am not sure how she gets all down without choking sometimes since she still only has her two bottom teeth.  Finally this week the top front two teeth broke through and coming down .  She is still working on forming more words to add to her list of vocabulary.  Caroline does say “DaDa'”, “MaMa” and then babbles all the time.  She has been furniture walking for several weeks now but within the last week or two she has gotten brave, stood up by herself or taken off walking without holding onto anyone or anything.  Caroline is always so happy and proud of herself when she walks.  She just turns to look at us with a huge smile and sometimes a sweet little laugh that makes me smile every time!  When I went in today to pick Caroline up at daycare I saw her walking across the room!  I was shocked and excited.  Her teacher Myniah said she had been doing that all day.  It is all so bitter sweet.  I definitely want Taylor and Caroline to hit all of their milestones but I get sad thinking they are not babies any more.  Can’t they stay like this forever? :)

Taylor had her three year well visit on Wednesday.  She too left with a good report.  We have a tall one on our hands….hopefully Caroline will inherit the McKay genes as well and be tall!  Taylor weighed 37 lbs (85 %) and is 39 inches tall (95%).  I feel like the list will go on and on if I let you know everything that Taylor is doing these days.  She makes me laugh all the time.  Her vocabulary is amazing and she talks all the time.  She loves to sing, dance, play “pretend”, ride her bike and is really into arts and crafts.  Really is she three already?  I can still remember bringing her home from the hospital and wondering how I was going to take care of this life?!  I think Rob and I have managed to make this all work.  We Love Taylor and Caroline with all our hearts and really understand how fortunate we are to have them with us, as healthy as can be!  God is good!!

More pictures!

      

Can you tell that Caroline really liked her mini cake?! Oh and YES she ate just about half the cake. 

More birthday pictures....1 and 3!

Mimi helped with some last minute deails...THANKS!

I was so proud of the dum-dum tree that I almost hated to take it
apart and give out the candy :)

Caroline enjoyed the big bounce house too...all Smiles!

The fun begins for Caroline now...

The two C's-Caroline and Crawford...such cuties!!

Our good neighbor and the girls' buddy--Mr. Dennis

Cousin Ellie is such a good big helper.

My good friends Meredith, her little girl Kennedy and Laura (we must have scared Ellie the week before when they came to visit b/c baby Ellie didn't make it to the party..ha!)

McKay Sweet Shoppe, 3rd & 1st Birthdays!

So with all this preparation and FINALLY the big birthday bash was here! That morning I was freaking out a little bit because of the rainy weather. Seriously I didn't have a plan B and it pretty much stormed all morning long. The bad part is that we had gotten a bounce house for the kids and planned for everyone to be outside most of the party. Luckily after lunch the clouds started to lift and the sun came out. The weather turned out to be sunny but HOT and HUMID! I would take that though for sure. My stress level started to lower—thanks goodness! The party started at 3 and we got in a good hour before the sky turned completely black and we had yet another big rain storm. Fortunately this one only lasted about 30 minutes or so and it really didn’t stop any of the birthday fun. We ended up bringing the girls inside for cake. Taylor ate the candy and icing off of one cupcake and then asked for another. Caroline just sat back and leisurely ate her personal cake…she LOVED it! The rain let up, the sun came back out and the kids went back out in the bounce house and played outside until everyone was exhausted from being on the GO! and eating LOTS and LOTS of candy. I hope the girls enjoyed their special day. I thought the decorations and the whole day turned out well. I must say I got stressed here and there the past few weeks about all these little details but it was all worth it. I enjoyed doing it and would do it again for my precious girls! Love you both to pieces!!

Sweet Caroline!

Since my parents were out of town this weekend, we also watched their dog Sammy. The girls really love Sammy and enjoy chasing him around. Poor Sammy, he is getting too old for these kids to bother him but he had a good weekend over all too.

Taylor's best friend Jacob was able to come to the party too with his parents and his new baby brother Alex. Taylor and Jacob are such good friends and play so well together. I love to watch them interact with one another as they make me laugh; so darn cute! These two were on the GO the whole time. There aren't many pictures of them since they wouldn't sit still that long!

Caroline's little tush...We are working on our ABC's already :)

I am pretty sure Caroline LOVED her cake!

ALL the kids loved the various candies. That is seriously ALL Taylor ate on Saturday; no meals just CANDY!

Party gifts...Swirly Pops and candy!

Can you believe that I actually made these cupcakes?!!

DORA!

Caroline got this Dora toy for her birthday. Taylor was so nice to help her open up the big package…not sure who was more excited about it since Taylor immediately asked if she could ride it first. I think it is a great gift! Caroline can push it, ride on it, climb on it and play with all the gadgets attached. Thanks Mimi and Popie!

Mini cupcakes for Caroline

I didn't get too many smiles from these little ones as they were busy trying to eat up their mini cupcakes and graham crackers (another favorite food for Caroline!)

Jonas lost his icing but seems to like the cake

Brandon is enjoying snack today!

Garvey is not so sure about me and the camera!

Caroline and Brooklyn shoveling it ALL in! Oh YES...Caroline likes that icing!

I had off on Friday to try and get ready for the big birthday party. I cleaned most of the morning and then ran a few errands before going back to Village Kids for Caroline's mini party with her class. Caroline is the youngest in the class so all these little cuties had already indulged in yummy birthday cake for their special day. The first time Caroline had cake at VK, her teacher said that she cried when the cupcake was all gone because she wanted MORE! I think that is already a favorite food for Caroline; she already has a sweet tooth.

ELMO

Taylor and her classmates are patiently waiting for some cake.

This is Taylor's best friend Jacob. He was diving in for some yummy RED cake!

Rob, Grammy and I headed over to Village Kids on Thursday afternoon for some cake with Taylor's class. I assume someone must have had an Elmo cake recently at school for their birthday because when I asked Taylor what kind of cake she wanted to share with her friends for her birthday she kept saying an ELMO cake. She doesn't talk too much about Elmo so she must have seen this somewhere. Of course Grammy wants to grant most of her wishes and she helped us by finding this great Elmo cupcake cake. I was a little nervous about ALL of this red icing. The kids did a great job though at not making a huge mess. Hopefully Ms. Jessica and Mrs. Kieran (Taylor's teachers) were not too mad about the clean up!

Happy 1st Birthday Caroline!

Has it already been a year since my sweet Caroline was born?! I can hardly believe the year has gone by this fast! This time last year I was struggling to make it through Taylor's birthday dinner on 8/20. We had all the grandparents over to celebrate Taylor's 2nd birthday and I pretty much knew the time was coming for Caroline to make her appearance. I held on until about 2 am that night....YES I made it to the next day, 8/21/08! The two best days in our lives, Taylor and Caroline's birthdays.
Caroline you bring us such joy every day and we love you so much!!

HAPPY 3RD BIRTHDAY TAYLOR!

I cannot believe that we are celebrating Taylor's 3rd birthday. We had a fun filled afternoon of Elmo cupcakes (YES with RED icing) at Village Kids, fun time with Grammy, then a nice visit from Mimi and ALL with lots of goodies. Taylor (and Caroline) are having a week long birthday celebration. I will have LOTS to post this weekend.
Happy Birthday to my baby Taylor who is not a baby but a 3 year old toddler now!!!
I Love you sweet girl and can't imagine my life without you!

The girls...

Here are some pictures of Taylor..can't leave her and her silliness out!

Caroline has recently started to take just about any object and put it to her ear as if she is talking on the phone. I think she gets that from seeing her Daddy :) I think it is so cute. When she does it I usually say "HELLO" and she just laughs and does it again and again. That might be a new favorite game with her?! I hope so as she still really enjoys the "Uh-Oh" game....you know where she will drop something on the floor, look for it and expect you to pick it up for her. Of course I pick it up, give it to her and then there it goes, "Uh-Oh!" She loves it and does it over and over.



This weekend we also got to visit with one of my best friends Laura and her daughter Ellie (who will be 8 months on Thursday!) The girls had a great time together. Ellie just looked around and took everything in. She was very content. Then we had Taylor and Caroline who were like wild women; they were all over the place with their toys, talking, dancing and trying to play with sweet Ellie. Hope we didn't scare them off too much and Ellie will come back for the birthday party this weekend!

I thought this look from Ellie was funny...almost like she is planning her next move.

Ellie starts daycare this week. I have a feeling she will be able to hold her own...watch out Caroline; just kidding Ellie is so sweet and low key.

See taking it all in with those pretty blue eyes.

Ellie and Laura