Extravadance girl-Taylor Olivia McKay

We had Taylor’s big dance recital last Saturday afternoon. Taylor was super excited about dancing. She doesn’t seem to be phased at all about performing in front of such a large audience. Taylor was lucky to have so many family members there to support her that day! Uncle Keith and Aunt Brandy came with Skyler, Aiden and Ellie and both sets of grandparents were there to watch the entire performance.

You looked so beautiful and you LOVED being able to wear a little make-up! (this was from picture day two weeks prior to recital)

All the girls did a fabulous job! Taylor and Sloane were waiting for their first number and Mimi came back for a quick picture of them...

Taylor AFTER performing three songs and dancing like a star!

Love from cousin Ellie

Taylor we are so proud of you.

After the recital we headed over to Grammy and PawPaw’s to celebrate Taylor’s recital and Father’s Day to four fabulous DADS!

Taylor told Grammy that she wanted a “HOT Ken Barbie Doll” and well that is what Grammy gave her. Not a surprise but check out the hand on the hip; that seems to be Taylor's favorite pose!

GO TEAM WORK!

This afternoon Rob and I took the girls to their first Grasshopper Game for this season.  I am pretty sure the girls had a blast!

As were walking to our seats we were approached by the entertainment guy (Sorry but I don’t know his name).  He asked us if we were all together and where our seats were, well after answering him he told us to follow him because he had the best seats in town for us.  We got to sit on some big comfy Lazy Boy recliners and were on the first level behind home plate.  Lazy Boy was doing some type of promotion tonight at the game.  We got to sit in their chairs and after the third inning the grasshopper media shot the camera over our way and we were on the BIG SCREEN.

The girls loved the action throughout the game.  Caroline was pretty worried about seeing Guilford the Grasshopper and asked for him every 2 minutes!  She was not interested in a picture with him but she did finally give a high five.

Taylor definitely was NOT scared and was upset until we finally got a picture

 

I think she got one BIG hug from Guilford too!

Caroline was the best cheerleader out in the ball field.  She cheered and clapped throughout the game.  She really enjoyed chanting, “GO TEAM WORK!” and cheering for the boys in orange as she kept referring to the Grasshopper team.

 

 

Congrats to Our Grad Taylor Olivia McKay

How is it so that this sweet little baby girl of ours is getting ready for the biggest first day of school as a Kindergartner?!

Seriously she was JUST this small

Now she seems so grown up as she poses for a fabulous picture with her “bestie” Mrs. Kieran!

On graduation morning I had promised Taylor that I would take her for a pedicure. She has been with me before to get my nails done and they have let her sit in the chair and paint her nails although she has never had a “real” pedicure. The place we went had small child size chairs that were equipped with a massage back and a mini DVD player. Taylor was in heaven!! She asked the lady to paint a flower on each finger nail and chose a funky blue color. She was so fancy with her freshly painted toe and fingernails!

We also brought Caroline along for the pedicure…she might still be a little too small and unsure. At first she wanted to sit in the chair that had the pink bear head but once I sat her down so refused to stay and told me “NO, I don’t want to sit because it smells!” I ended up holding her while she got her toe and fingernails painted too!

Village Kids decided to have the graduation at Triad Park. (It was a great idea and would have been absolutely perfect if it wasn’t 95 degrees with HEAVY humidity!!!) It was hot but totally worth every minute! We were under a shelter and were able to watch three classes from Village Kids graduate with high honors from a wonderful Pre-K program. I was really impressed with the graduation. They began by singing and I think that song made every Mom and even some Dads teary eyed! It was just precious. They received their diplomas and then recited the cutest poem ever. Isn’t it completely amazing how smart these little ones are?! Every single child knew all of the words and stood up so proud in front a large group of people.

That night as I was bathing the girls, Taylor looked up at me and said that she loved me and thought I was awesome for everything I did for her today!

WOW!! I love her and loved her sweetness! Totally a special Mommy moment and she was full of them on her special day. Rob was covering Taylor up for the night and he whispered to Taylor that he was proud of her. Taylor so matter-of-fact responded,”Well Daddy, I am proud of you for everything you have done for me in my life.”

Rob and I are beyond proud of our little girl. Taylor Olivia McKay we love you more than words can say and are extremely proud of you.

Proud Grandparents!

Always posing!

Some Cousin Love…

Super excited about going into Kindergarten!

Miss DIVA

Tonight we had Taylor's dance pictures and I was dreading the "hair" portion of the night :)

Last year my attempt to fix her hair was a total FLOP!  Luckily Sloane's Mom (Taylor’s friend from class) does a great job with "up-do's" and she is able to do Taylor’s hair for the recital.  Taylor loved getting dressed up tonight in her recital outfit and looking so "fancy" as she called it!

This afternoon, I got out the small curling iron and went to town with some hair spray and lots of clips and pins!

I actually think it turned out OK...

Practicing her pose

NO CLUE what she is doing with the phone pose, but we both laughed and it was cute!

Lovin’ from Daddy when we got back from pictures

Love these two!!!

9 MONTHS- Update!

I must say I think we are getting BUSIER as the girls get older. Rob and I were just talking tonight and asked ourselves; what did we used to do before the girls?! Right now we have busy times but great times filled with lots of laughs and tons of memories.

Ella went for her 9 month check up on May 24th. WOW little Miss had a big growth spurt! Ella was 18lb. 14oz. (53%) and was a little over 28 3/4 in. tall (78%)!!!! Dr. MacDonald asked me if she wiggled at all during her height measurement because she had grown so much from her 6 month check up. We laughed because that was actually the ONLY time that Ella stayed still as the nurse Susan did that first. Ella was still checking Susan out and wasn’t squirming’ all over the place yet during that measurement.

I always like to compare where the other two girls were at this age too.

Taylor, 9 month check up was on May 22, 2007

Weight, 18lb. 11oz. and Height 28 in.

Caroline, 9 month check up was on May 21, 2009

Weight, 16 lb. 11 oz. and Height 27 3/4 in.

Ella is ONE HAPPY baby though. She LOVES her big sisters and just LOVES to laugh!

Taylor dotes on Ella all the time. As you can see Ella is really into grabbing a hold of your sunglasses…

And…PULLING HAIR!!

Taylor is really into “posing”

Wild lady Caroline. This picture of Caroline makes me laugh! She is such a character.

Picture time is NOT easy, ever!

I just give up! I will do individual shots for a while and try to sneak in a group picture. I still (as Caroline says…) LOVE YOU BUNCHES AND BUNCHES girls!

**Now Ella stop growing so fast! I am NOT ready to plan a first birthday party :)!!!

Mother’s Day

The girls were so sweet with their cute artwork that they made at school for me. I was able to enjoy a nice cookie snack with Taylor and her friends at VK and then muffins with Caroline’s class. I had a wonderful Mother’s Day and so grateful everyday of my three sweet girls!

I also wanted to give Grammy and Mimi a special gift too from the girls. These two ladies have been great Mother’s and now fabulous Grandmother’s! They definitely deserve a special day. I bought some finger paint (washable—thank goodness!) and some construction paper and made some keepsake artwork for Grammy and Mimi.

The girls loved this arts and crafts project!

(I just decided to take Caroline’s shirt off to avoid an even bigger mess!

We just hope the Grandma’s enjoyed the finished product!?!

Scariest Moment as a Mom!

I had the scariest moment as a Mom on Wed. with Ella. She woke up that morning with an awful sounding cough and didn’t seem quite like herself. I got a call from daycare around 11 saying she had a temp and was definitely not feeling well. Since Ella didn’t have a good night as she was up a few times (that is not normal for her either) I decided to make her an appointment with the Dr. for 2:30 that afternoon. Once I got to school she seemed very lethargic with a high temp and no appetite. By the time I got to the house her breathing was extremely labored and it was almost like she couldn’t breathe?! I called Rob in a panic thinking I should head straight the ER. Rob talked me out of that and suggested that I run up to the Pediatric office. I was so hesitant because I knew the Dr.’s office was closed for lunch. Well I was beyond panicked at this point so I ran into the office like a crazy Mom. I was crying and apologizing for running in during their break. I explained that Ella was not breathing well and didn’t know what else to do. They were AWESOME! They immediately took Ella back, evaluated her, gave her a strong steroid shot and set her up on a breathing treatment. She had croup and WOW was that just scary! The Dr. explained to me that croup in young children attacks so hard and fast. An infant’s airway is already as small as a straw or smaller so if that is inflamed and swollen then really it is extremely difficult to breathe.

Of course Ella hated the shot and hated the breathing treatment even more! She screamed and screamed—which was helpful to get the medicine from the breathing treatment in her—and screamed until she finally gave up and fell asleep! Whew!! I felt horrible for Ella. I was trying to hold her down in this tantrum while administering the treatment. I was sweating bullets and still trying to get a handle on what had just happened within the last hour. After the shot and the breathing treatment, her breathing was still not 100%. As precaution, Dr. MacDonald sent us over for some chest and throat x-rays to rule out more swelling or pneumonia. Luckily that all came back normal.

Ella was on oral steroids and breathing treatments for another 4 days. Finally on the following Monday you could see a significant improvement in Ella although all this junk turned into a bad cold that lingered for several days.

I am SO THANKFUL Ella is ok and appreciate all the hard work and dedication there is at the pediatric Dr.’s office!

Love this little girl!!!!

Back to April, Easter…

We had a wonderful Easter weekend. The girls pretty much had a FULL CANDY FILLED Easter week and they just loved it! By Easter Sunday they had their egg hunting skills down pat and racked up at Grammy and PawPaw’s house.

Grammy’s friend made this fabulous cake!

The girls are on the move for some serious egg hunting!

PawPaw helping out just a little bit

Next year sweet Ella you will be right out there with them!

We had a wonderful time celebrating such a special time with our family. I tried to explain to the girls the true meaning of Easter. They listened although I am hoping next year at least Taylor will have a better comprehension of it all…well if anything hopefully they won’t think the only meaning behind this special Holiday is the Easter Bunny that comes with goodies!