The McKay Family

Extravadance girl-Taylor Olivia McKay

2011-06-26T23:00:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-06-26T19:04:00.001-07:00

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

2011-06-12T19:37:00.001-07:00

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

2011-06-07T18:37:00.001-07:00

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!

2011-06-05T19:31:00.001-07:00

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

2011-05-14T19:50:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-05-06T19:39:00.000-07:00

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…

2011-05-01T19:10:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-04-04T08:24:00.000-07:00

Ella is growing like a little weed!! She has some new tricks too. She can sit all by herself, waves bye-bye, and is trying to crawl! She is doing the whole army crawl thing. Ella is so close to putting it all together. She still gets up on her feet, doing a downward dog or a great plank! (I am telling you she has always had the strongest abs!!) I have been working the furniture market the past week so Rob has had a lot of alone time with the girls. He and Ella hung out Sunday while the older two went to spend the afternoon with Grammy. Rob said Ella was getting even closer this weekend. I know she wants to move along with her busy sisters but am I ready for her to crawl?! I would prefer that she just walk. I know that isn't easier to keep up with but then she isn't on the ground, hurting her little knees, picking up dog hair and anything else that lands on the floor that I can't quickly get to. Either way, my baby is growing up and I know I am not ready for that :)

Rob took some pictures of Ella sitting watching TV...I think that is her Daddy's favorite thing!

First Beach Trip

2011-04-04T05:59:00.001-07:00

We made it to the beach a couple of weekends ago for a weekend get away with my parents. I had to wait until Thursday night to tell the girls we were going to the beach on Friday. I knew they would be extremely excited and would ask me every 20 minutes if it was time to go yet?! Friday afternoon we headed to Ocean Isle for the weekend. Needless to say, it wasn't a pleasant trip in the car with Caroline! Whew, terrible two's are just not fun in the car for FOUR LONG hours. (Although I will say that Sunday's trip back wasn't nearly as bad! Friday she did not have a nap and was fighting sleep the whole time we rode to the beach; I am sure that did not help matters!)

There was a good amount of sunshine on Friday and Saturday but the temps could have definitely been warmer! The girls loved playing on the beach and running into the water. If we would have allowed them to put on their bathing suits, they would have loved it and gone all the way in the water. The cold temps didn't seem to even phase them!

So who do you think was VERY excited about the NEWS of heading to the beach the next day?!

Oh and Ella just can't beleive it :-)

These girls were in heaven going walking on the beach with Grammy in hunt for some seashells

Now how funny is this picture of Caroline?! She is REALLY into her sunglasses!

Ella's first trip to the beach...

Some girls love the beach in any type of weather... Taylor told me she found shark's teeth?!

El- Next year you will be running with them too!

Rob and I were impressed that Taylor took this good picture of us; maybe we will have a future photographer on our hands!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

2011-03-17T19:43:00.001-07:00

So did you wear your green today so you wouldn’t get pinched?!!!

Well the McKay’s were decked out in their GREEN!

Ella and I tried to have a photo session right before we left for daycare and work…

Looks like she was doing a little dance for me

She certainly is a HAPPY baby girl. (Although we have been battling a double ear infection and I think some teething too! Slightly fussy little girl, but she still gives us BIG smiles.)

Now we go about 8 hours later; after lots of crafts, playing and partying at Village Kids.

Can you tell Caroline was very proud of her St. Patty’s Day hat?!

Tried our best to get them all looking and smiling at the camera!

So we have two of them…

(and I just thought this was sweet)

Now all three, but let’s sit together nice and calm; is there such a thing?!

Much better!

The only way I could get Caroline to take off her fabulous hat was to tell her that Grammy wanted to see her pretty hair and hair bow. She thought that was a great idea! Plus, I got them to smile by telling them these pictures were to send to Grammy and they yelled, “Hi Grammy!!!” and SMILED!

Sleepover?!

2011-03-11T19:26:00.001-08:00

So my little girl is having her first SLEEPOVER at a friend's house tonight. How can it be?!?! I mean it seems like just yesterday she arrived and we were heading home:

And she was this tiny and precious!

Well she is still absolutely precious but growing up too quickly! Taylor’s Daisy Troop went to the Natural Science Center tonight for a Girl Scout “Almost Over Night” event. Afterwards, 7 of the 8 girls were going over to Alicia’s house (the troop leader and mother of the triplets!) for a sleepover.

Taylor was BEYOND excited about the big night. When I told her about it last night, she jumped up and down with excitement and told me that she was going to be “Grown up!”

Hopefully the girls behaved well and had a blast! Most importantly, I hope Ms. Alicia and Ms. Lori survive! (and we don’t get a phone call in the middle of the night to come and get her :-)

Taylor, my little Tater Bug, you are growing up WAY TO FAST!

LOVE YOU!

Taylor

2011-03-09T08:00:00.000-08:00

The girls say some of the funniest things to us….well Ella not yet, but soon enough I am sure!
Sometimes I can hardly believe how smart they really are and they are still so young.
This morning, I had to laugh at Taylor’s comments.

Rob usually leaves his cell phone on the side table next to the bed at night and just about every morning, Rob asks Taylor to bring it down when she makes her way
downstairs. That was the case this morning and Taylor then asked me why Daddy asks her ALL the time to get his phone. She said that he is responsible for his own phone and needs to keep up with it better. I wanted to laugh out loud, but just told her she was right and needed to talk to Daddy about it….Of course she did!
On her way downstairs, I heard Taylor saying the same thing to Rob.I have no clue how the conversation went with Rob, but I got a little laugh. Taylor is a funny and smart little girl

SIX Months

2011-03-03T19:52:00.001-08:00

I can not even believe that I am writing a post that Ella just turned 6 months old on Feb. 16^th!!! Has half a year already flown by?!

Ella went in for her check up on Feb. 23^rd with Dr. MacDonald and had a wonderful report. Dr. MacDonald said she is growing perfectly! I know that is what every parent wants to hear.

Stats:

Weight:14 lbs. 4oz (25%)

Length: 25 inches (35%)

Again, I like to compare the measurements to Taylor and Caroline at the same age.

Taylor was 16 lbs. 5oz and 27.5 inches long

Caroline was 13 lbs. 4oz and 24.5 inches long

Ella was right in between the girls! If you take a quick look at Ella, you will be drawn right to her cheeks! She has the biggest and cutest, rosy red cheeks that I have ever seen. When Aunt Kerri came to visit last weekend, she couldn’t get over how big Ella had gotten…later she admitted that Ella’s cheeks just didn’t match her petite little body.

Ella is growing up too quickly! She is sitting all by herself for a minute or so before she starts to tumble forward or to the side. I think she almost has it! Although I am not 100% sure she will be sitting too long. Just like her older two sisters, Ella is a mover and a shaker and wants to move!! As I have said before she will have the strongest abs of any baby! If you lay her down, she comes up as if she is doing a crunch. She is a strong little girl for sure.

Photo Shoot with Dad…

Ella is rolling all over the place right now and gets up on her toes like she wants to move!?! She absolutely LOVES to smile and laugh. Those little baby belly laughs put the biggest smile on MY face. She is also talking up a storm with her baby talk and I just love all of it!

MOVIE STAR!

Here we go ROLLING…

And we ended back where we started :)

Updates!

2011-02-28T19:37:00.000-08:00

Last time I wrote that Ella was being introduced to solids and she wasn’t that “into” them….well just as I thought, her taste buds woke up and she is loving all of her baby food! I must say she doesn’t seem too fond of green peas though as she will start to gag on those! I also gave her some of these…

She just LOVES these Mum Mums! The other night after she finished one, she decided to rub her hands through her little bit of hair though. Let’s just say that once they dry, they become extremely hard and even more challenging to get out of a baby’s hair!!!

She is waiting patiently with her toys for her dinner!

The week after Ella turned 6 months, Grammy and I took her to get her ears pierced on Feb. 21st. We went to Merle Norman at Friendly Center where we took both Taylor and Caroline when they were 6 months old too. Actually the same two ladies have now pierced all three girls’ ears. They are wonderful and I highly recommend them to anyone! As for Ella, she did great too. She only cried for a few seconds and then was fine. She went right back to smiling and laughing like normal and looks just precious with her tiny earrings.

I also finally changed out Taylor and Caroline’s earrings too. My sister informed me that Taylor definitely needed some new bigger ones since you could barely tell she had her ears pierced. I must agree that my sister was right and the newer bigger earrings look much better in the older girls’ ears!

So I TRIED to get a picture of Ella and her new earrings but she wouldn’t sit still! She would move her face in the direction of the camera and I couldn’t get her earrings in the picture! Of course, when you want them to look at the camera they WON’T!!! With the help of Caroline as entertainment, I was able to catch her ears in the tub.

Last month, Taylor had her first meeting as a Girl Scout Daisy! Ms. Alicia and Ms. Lori started Troop 1937! Alicia’s triplets go to school with Taylor at Village Kids and Ms. Lori is actually a teacher at VK. All of the kids at VK have developed a strong bond with one another and it is going to be sad to see them separate next year when they go off to Kindergarten. Alicia had this great idea to start up a Daisy troop to keep some of the girls in contact with one another while also starting a great program for them! Taylor has been so excited about the meetings and the fun activities that they have been doing over the last month. We even got to sell Girl Scout cookies too! I was absolutely amazed at how easily those expensive little boxes sell!!! The troop had their first meeting on Feb. 12^th, so we were a little late on getting started on selling (Other troops had sold in January and picked up their cookies in Feb.) Taylor did a great job though and sold 70 boxes!! After we got the cookie sheets, Taylor begged all night Saturday and Sunday morning to go selling. After church Taylor and I went to a few neighbors to see if they were interested in any cookies. I am sure it is hard to turn down an adorable little four year old; but Taylor did great as she sold to everyone at least 2 or more boxes!! She also could not wait to go and get her uniform- or as she liked to call it, her “costume”! We went the following week to the Girl Scout store to get her apron, pins and various badges. So far the girls have earned the center part of the Daisy patch and one petal. They are all so excited about all the fun activities that Ms. Alicia and Ms. Lori plan every other Saturday morning. I thought it was so sweet when the other day Ella was fussing and I heard Taylor start singing the little Girl Scout song to Ella…I immediately recognized it, “Make new Friends but keep the Old, One is Silver and the other Gold…”

Daisy Troop 1937 making/watering their new garden of Daisy’s!

Yummy treat THANKS to Ms. Alicia!

As for our sweet Caroline…she is POTTY TRAINED!!!!!!!!!!!! She is doing so well and we are very proud of her. Daycare had told us one day last month that they decided not to put a pull up on Caroline that day. She did great her first day and only had one accident. We had been putting her on the potty at home but not actually “potty training” though. I didn’t want to push it at all and figured she would let us know when she was ready. I think it did help seeing Taylor going all the time. She wants to do just about everything that Taylor does too. She really has done a great job with it as we have only had a few hiccups here and there over the past month. I hope it continues to go smoothly as having ONE in diapers is WONDERFUL and much better on the wallet of course!

(OK so the picture above of Caroline just makes me laugh! We have had some really nice Spring like days. The other afternoon, we were off to jump on the trampoline and it was about 75 degrees! Caroline insisted that she wear her winter gloves!?! Oh AND she picked out that fabulous outfit!! :-)

Caroline is always making me laugh with the little things she says and does (well really all three of the girls do!), but her newest and sweetest thing is coming up to me and saying, “I Love you Bunches and Bunches!”….seriously melts my heart each and every time.

Yummy!!

2011-02-05T18:11:00.001-08:00

A couple of weeks ago we decided to start Ella on some solids. She had just turned 5 months old and her teachers at Village Kids thought she was ready. Me; well I am in no rush :-) Ella is the youngest in her class though and most of the other little ones are eating a few times a day. She must have been getting jealous of her friends at school! We started out with cereal and she seemed to do OK. I think she preferred to grab the spoon and just chew on it instead!

We have been gradually introducing all of her veggies and fruits. So far, doesn’t seem like she has a favorite one yet!?! I can barely get her to take in three or four bites before she starts gagging and spitting up. I am not sure what it is, but we will keep trying. I believe Caroline was the same way when we first started her on solids and I don’t think it lasted long! Soon she was lovin’ some good baby food!

Taylor decided to take some pictures afterwards. I thought she did pretty well with these…

Tickle MONSTER

SISTERS

2011-02-03T19:58:00.001-08:00

Taylor and Caroline are wonderful big sisters! Ella is one lucky girl as she has two older sisters who just dote on her. Ella thinks Taylor is absolutely hilarious! I am going to try to get video of it soon to post, but Taylor can talk or act silly in front of Ella and she will just laugh. It is the sweetest thing ever!!

The girls are also a big help for me too.

Just this morning, we had to get Ella’s bottle ready and put her down in her swing. She really was not feeling the swing at the moment and started a little pitiful cry. I asked the girls to go and talk with Ella. As soon as they went over there, Ella stopped crying and started to smile at her two sisters. I think she is really going to look up to Taylor and Caroline.

Taylor loves to hold Ella. I have to be careful though because Taylor is now into picking Ella up and walking with her?! Oh no, that makes me nervous so that is off limits unless I am walking with them :-) I try to encourage the girls to hold Ella while they are sitting in a nice secure place!

This morning as I was getting ready, Ella was sitting in the papasan chair and Caroline decided she was going to “read” to Ella. She went and got her bear counting book. She did a good job and was actually even pointing to some numbers and saying the correct ones. Caroline was doing so well with the counting. She got up to eleven and then she said “Forty” as the next one?! We are still working on it!

It was just precious though to watch her read and try to show Ella the pictures in the book. I think they are all going to have a special bond.

Right now, Rob usually takes Taylor and Caroline to school and I drop off Ella. I am usually still getting myself ready when they are leaving. Caroline comes up to me and Ella too before they leave to give kisses and hugs, then she ends by telling me and Ella to have fun with our friends today! Makes me laugh and smile every time!

I just LOVE these girls.

Ok so normally I don’t let Ella just hang out in her bathtub but it is easy to put her there when I am giving Taylor and Caroline a bath! I thought she looked too cute not take come pics!

Ella thought her sisters were so funny! She just enjoys watching them all the time. (they are pretty entertaining!)

Tangled

2011-01-25T17:36:00.000-08:00

My Mom and I had been promising Taylor that we would take her to see the movie Tangled about Rapunzel. We were supposed to go over the Martin Luther King Holiday but unfortunately Taylor lost that privilege that afternoon. She has gotten really good at NOT LISTENING and showing us all of her sassiness! Rob and I are not always super consistent concerning punishment for the girls. I think it is so hard to discipline although it is something that really needs to be done and followed through by both parents! We are definitely working on it together. Rob and I agreed that we needed to stick with our threat of taking away Taylor’s movie privilege if she continued to misbehave and eventually we did. Fortunately after she realized that we were serious and there was not going to be a movie that day, she was on her best behavior and earned the privilege back the following weekend.

I was not sure if Caroline was really ready for an hour and half movie. She really doesn’t have much interest in the TV yet. She will say she wants to watch a certain show but I don’t think she has sat down and watched more than 5 minutes, if that! I should have seriously considered all that information before deciding to take Caroline with us to the movie. To be honest, I just hated leaving Caroline out!

My Mom (Grammy) and I took Taylor and Caroline to see Tangled the following Sunday afternoon. They were both extremely excited! Taylor kept telling Caroline that they could get a drink, popcorn and some yummy fruit snacks while we watched Tangled. (Taylor went with her Mimi last year to see her first movie, The Princess and the Frog and she totally remembers what she got as her movie snack!)

I wish I had my camera, because it really was cute watching them walk into the theatre and sit in those big seats with their little kid movie pack. I think what I saw of the movie was very cute! Taylor did great, although she did ask several questions during the movie. Now as for Caroline, that is a whole different story!!

Let me start by saying we have been potty training Caroline and the half water/half pink lemonade was not the best drink decision for the movies! We went to the bathroom about 4 times in the hour that Caroline and I lasted there. Three times she actually did use the potty and the other visit was just that…a visit! She wanted to wash her hands again and use the hand dryer! Then she suddenly had an obsession with the trash can?! She wanted to throw her popcorn away, then her drink and then I had to put a stop to it when she wanted to throw each napkin away individually!! She played musical chairs the whole time too. She went from the chair next to Grammy to the chair next to me and then eventually on my lap- well and then down again to let the whole cycle start over! I had finally had enough and thought she had too, so Caroline and decided to leave. Taylor and Grammy stayed to watch the end of the movie. I just laughed though as Caroline and I were leaving because she turned to me in the most excited voice and said, “Mommy I LIKED the movie Tangled!”

Hmm Hmm I thought because she could have fooled me :-)

Sickness GO AWAY!

2011-01-17T18:22:00.000-08:00

So I guess ‘Tis the Season for nasty colds, ear infections and coughs! I think we have all been passing it back and forth. I hated though that little Ella was getting so sick. Ella started off with one horrible stuffy nose and nasty sounding cough. Rob and I were both a little concerned so we decided to take Ella in on Wed. The Dr. said unfortunately it was simply a nasty cold that we would have to let run it’s course. I was happy her ears and her lungs were both clear but poor Ella didn’t get any better as the week went on. On Friday afternoon, daycare called to tell me that Ella had nasty yellow/greenish stuff coming from her eye. Of course we thought it was pink eye (especially since she has already had that four times!!) and started the drops. By Saturday morning, her left eye was swollen shut and she just looked completely miserable…not to mention we had not been sleeping well all week long! I took Ella back into the Dr. that morning. We saw Dr. Walker at the after hours clinic in Kernersville and he helped Ella on her road to recovery. She didn’t end up having an ear infection or pink eye but she developed an infection in her sinus cavity causing the red puffy eye. Ella got one of those awfully painful antibiotic shots in her leg (well I have never had one but he nurse and other people have told me that they are really painful!) and then a round of antibiotics. Luckily by the middle of the following week, she was feeling better.

I will say that one good thing that came out of all of this was getting to see Ella ROLL OVER from her back to her belly!!!! We were waiting for the Dr. to come in and I was letting Ella play on the long table. She had been trying to do it at home but I never saw her get ALL the way over until this day! If the nurses heard me, they most likely thought I was crazy since I was clapping for her and what not. I am not sure if she has done that before at school, but I just pretended it was the first time :-)

Baptism for Ella Kathryn McKay

2011-01-09T19:38:00.000-08:00

A child is a precious gift from God
and baptism is God's gift wrapping.

Today we placed our child in God’s care forevermore.

Ella Kathryn was baptized this morning at the 9 am service at Saint Pius X in Greensboro. My sister, Kerri and brother, Keith agreed to help guide Ella in her faith by agreeing to be her Godparents. Kerri and Keith, both hold a VERY special place in our hearts. They are wonderful people, ones I have always looked up to throughout my life. I am confident they will be wonderful role models for my girls as well! Thanks to both of you for sharing this special part of Ella’s faith with us!

We had a good family weekend. My sister and her family are awesome! They took a long weekend and DROVE down here for this special occasion. Rob and I really appreciated this as I know making the trip a couple of times ourselves…it is really a LONG drive, especially with kids! THANK YOU!!!!

Ella was perfect during the church service and whole baptism. She had fallen asleep right before the actual baptism so I am sure it was a big surprise to her to be woken up by water pouring over her head! Again, she was wonderful as she only jumped a little and then lifted her head, looked at the congregation and just smiled! Just precious.

We went back to my parents house with some close friends and family and spent the morning/afternoon together. It was a perfect day!

Jake LOVED his baby cousin and was so sweet to Ella…

I am pretty sure he was trying to give her a kiss :-)

Christmas 2010

2010-12-25T22:00:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Christmas! Taylor and Caroline were SO excited to see all of their presents. The girls came into our bedroom around 6:25 am. They usually like to come and lay with us for a little while before we all get up for the day. So that is just what they did today too. The only exception is that a few minutes after they came in, Taylor sat up in bed, she paused for a moment like she was thinking of what or how she was going to say this to me… “Mommy, I JUST peeked and I THINK Santa may have come and left us presents??!!” It was so cute! So a few minutes later, the girls and I went into the bonus room to see if Santa really did come; and he DID! Since Rob was still “resting his eyes”, we decided to go and check out the stockings downstairs. Taylor and Caroline were beyond excited. Only a few minutes later, Grammy and PawPaw arrived to help us open presents and celebrate! We are lucky that both sets of grandparents live in town. They came over bright and early to share the whole Christmas morning experience with us. As soon as Mimi and Popie arrived, the girls started unwrapping. I think they were overwhelmed but totally excited about all of it.

The best part for me was how Taylor kept saying, “Oh my gosh, I got exactly what I wanted!”

After we jumped on the NEW trampoline (THANKS Grammy and PawPaw) and played with all the new games, toys and BARBIES! we got ready to go over to my parents house for a night full of fun with our families. During this time, we were blessed with a WHITE Christmas. It snowed for the rest of the day and through the night. It was beautiful!

Just a little glimpse of the craziness Christmas morning…

Only a few hours later!!!!

Heading to Grammy and PawPaw’s House

Lovin’ from Aunt Brandy

The girls had a BLAST spending time running around with their cousins.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T19:16:00.000-08:00

I just ADORE these three little girls. They might make me lose my mind here and there and act a little nutty myself, but I am ever so grateful God gave them to us as healthy angels, full of personality. They help me remember why Christmas is such a wonderful time of year. I know we all get caught up in the commercialized part of this Holiday but I want my girls to know what the true meaning behind Christmas is all about.

The other day, I was talking with Taylor and Caroline and we got on the subject of toys…this seems to be a HOT subject in this household lately :)

Both girls were telling me about the Barbie House that they wanted Santa to bring on Christmas Eve. We talked a little about gifts and fun stuff before I decided to have a more serious conversation with them. I told them that it was great to have this time of year where we were able to tell Santa certain things we wanted as gifts but I then asked them what Christmas was really all about. Taylor quickly responded, “It is Jesus’ Birthday!”

I explained to both girls, that it is wonderful that we are able to celebrate Jesus’ birthday every year and get such nice gifts from Santa but really everything was all about Jesus and his birth. I don’t want any of us to lose sight of that!

With that said, the girls were very excited to make Jesus a birthday cake on Christmas Eve. I pretty much let Taylor and Caroline make the cake from start to finish (with a little assistance of course!) They were so sweet helping each other pour in the ingredients and mix up the batter with the electric mixer. To be honest, Taylor had to coax Caroline to come back into the kitchen once I brought out the mixer. Caroline gets scared easily and was not too sure about the mixer at the first sight of it!

I wish I would have taken a picture of the cake, but like usual I forgot! I think the cake was a big hit on Christmas night over at my parents’ house. I didn’t try any myself but the girls and their cousins Ellie and Aiden really enjoyed it!

Four Months and Double Ear infection!

2010-12-22T18:56:00.000-08:00

Ella is already four months! Seriously time flies by even faster with the third child. I remember with Taylor I couldn’t wait for her to start talking, crawling and walking (and she actually did all three very early!). Caroline I didn’t push it or want that as much and now with Ella, I just want to freeze time! I want her to be able to sit up but that is about it. I know I can’t hold her back from doing all these things but I see how fast things go and I hate to rush this time away. I definitely want Ella and the other two girls to be on track developmentally but it is hard to let that happen. This time period is bittersweet! I love watching the girls learn new things and doing more and more on their own like “big girls” but it is a reminder to me that are not going to be babies for long.

Ella went in her for four month check up on 12/21/10. She weighed 11 lbs. and was 24 inches long. (35% for weight and 50% for height)

I like to compare the stats with Taylor and Caroline. Taylor was 25.5 inches long and 13 lbs. 4 oz. Caroline weighed 11 lbs. 14 oz and was 24 inches long too. I am hoping they all continue to get their Daddy’s tall genes and I better watch out because if they do, they will be towering over me in a few years!

We also found out that poor Ella was suffering from a double ear infection. I kind of knew something was wrong with her before we took her in that morning. Ella normally sleeps great but the past couple of nights she had been waking up several times throughout the night. I remember that was a tell-tell sign that Caroline had an ear infection. Luckily Dr. Bramley gave Ella an antibiotic and we hope to get this infection knocked out very soon!

Ella is a great baby! She usually always smiles at you when you talk to her. She loves to laugh and it is one of the sweetest things I have ever heard. She rolls over from her belly to back and really wants to move more! I think she would be in heaven if she could sit up by herself and I don’t think it will be long before she is doing just that! She adores her sisters as she is always intently watching them. Taylor and Caroline enjoy acting silly in front of Ella and getting her to make a little laugh or a big smile! Ella is so laid back, but then again I guess she has to be with a two-year and a four-year old constantly talking, screaming, singing, dancing and crying.

Sweet Ella on 12/21, right before her check up

VK Christmas Program 2010

2010-12-13T17:32:00.000-08:00

This is Taylor’s second year involved in her daycare’s annual Christmas program (they start participating when they are three at school). She and the rest of the children did a wonderful job! It amazes me how well the children perform in front of such a large crowd and how they can remember all of the songs and little dances.

Taylor has been practicing at home since November. She loves to sing and dance; plus it is so cute that Caroline was able to join in too since she knows some of the songs as well! Taylor is definitely a little performer as she loves attention from everyone! Taylor’s class performed a couple of silly Christmas carols and then did an amazing job of singing Silent Night along with sign language. It was the sweetest thing ever!

I tried to get some group shots but the kids were far too interested in the arts and crafts Mrs.. Kieran and Ms. Renita brought for them.

Taylor’s class was the last group to perform. I must say they did an awesome job, being patient and then performing just like little stars!

It was so hard to get pictures of the performance. The auditorium was extremely crowded and then I was also holding Caroline. Poor little Caroline wasn’t feeling well. She seemed to get progressively worse as the day went on. We soon found out the next day that she had a nasty sinus infection that made her feel just rotten. Rob did however tape the whole thing so we will be able to look back on it.

Ella thought Popie (Rob’s Dad) was pretty funny!

Ella is almost FOUR months already!!!!

Thanksgiving Feast

2010-11-28T19:59:00.000-08:00

For the Thanksgiving Holiday, we were able to spend the evening with lots of friends and family. Almost every Thanksgiving my Aunt Kathy rents out her clubhouse in her neighborhood and we all get together for good food and good times for the special holiday. Seems like every year, the family grows even more! This year we had two new additions. My cousin Tim and his wife Leigh had a little girl, Julia in October and she is absolutely adorable! Ella is only three months old, so this time next year they will be crawling or chasing after one another. It was the year for girls…well and the last four years of girls for Rob and I. :-) The kids had a great time with one another. They played hide-and-seek, tag and just about anything else they could think of to do!

Everyone is doing great! Ella is growing so much and so quickly. She really wants to sit up and look at what is going on around her. If you lay her on her back, she will try and sit up! It looks like she is doing a perfect sit up…well I have been working with her on that when I am going over my fitness routines at home (totally just kidding!!) Seriously though, for such a little peanut, Miss Ella is a strong little girl, just like her older two sisters.

Taylor and Caroline absolutely adore Ella. They love talking to her and making her laugh. Now Rob and I are just trying to make Taylor and Caroline understand that Ella can hear and see them just fine and there is really no need for them to get right in her face!! I know on occasion I use just a little bit of a different tone of voice when talking to Ella. Taylor has really picked up on this and does quiet an extreme baby talk voice with Ella!!! It is a little much and we have asked to back down from it a bit, although I must say Ella thinks Taylor is hilarious. Taylor usually gets a big smile or a sweet laugh from Ella. It is just priceless.

Caroline, Ellie and Ella

This might be the one and only picture we have of Uncle Adam and the girls. We were so glad he was there to celebrate with us. Wish Taylor had her eyes open in this one. She is at that stage where she likes to be really silly for pictures though…still a sweet pic

Caroline and Aiden

We REALLY tried to get a picture of the three girls…not a good framer but a keeper :)

Just some random pictures from this month.

This one just makes me laugh!!!

Ella is doing so well sitting in her Bumbo and thinks Mommy is so funny too!

Busy Times and SO MANY decisions!

2010-11-28T17:50:00.001-08:00

Every year at this time, I feel like I am stressed with all of the Holiday festivities, parties, presents and the list could could on and on. Of course in the midst of all this madness I still want to send out Christmas cards to our families and friends. I am always excited to see whose card we will receive each year and then I always LOVE it when it is a photo card! I mean, sometimes that is the only time I will see some of them. With all that said, I usually like to send out a picture of at the least the kids for our Christmas card too.

Again, that just adds to the business of everything since we have to get our pictures made, decide on the picture, and THEN narrow down what card we will use. There are a TON of fabulous cards to choose from from all different sites. I am impressed with the various options on Shutterfly and I just KNOW I will have a hard time on this decision. A blogger friend of mine told me that you can also receive 50 FREE CARDS from Shutterfly…Find out more HERE. These are a couple of my favs….now I just have to narrow down our pictures and narrow down which card!!!

These are ONLY a FEW of the ones that I like of the flat stationery cards…the list goes on and on! There are so many, so you have to go check it out NOW. I have go back to make sure which one I really want to use!

Shutterfly also has other products that I just might use as gifts for some family members. Grandparents especially adore pictures of their grandkids. Well with three girls, that we think are precious and have totally stolen the hearts of their Grammy, PawPaw and Mimi, Popie we might be choosing from Shutterfly’s gift ideas. You need to check it out too.

Now if you are a blogger, go ahead take this opportunity to get FREE CARDS this year!

Picture updates

2010-11-21T11:09:00.001-08:00

Caroline often asks me take a picture of her. She was waiting to go to school.

Ella 9 weeks…

Taylor picked out the perfect pumpkin

Caroline is not so sure about all this corn

Although I am pretty sure Taylor enjoyed it!

Ella 10 weeks wearing my favorite hat (although Rob is not a big fan of it! He doesn’t say too much anymore though since this is the third time around he is dealing with ALL this GIRLY GIRL stuff!)

Ella’s new tummy mat…Thanks Grammy :)

(Ella 11 weeks)

Silly girls

A couple of weeks ago, we had a weekend of birthday parties. Morgan and Quinn turned 4 the first week of November. Morgan invited the girls to Sparkle Plenty where they got to dress up, get their hair fixed with LOTS of glitter, wear lots of make up and even paint their little nails. Since we had Quinn’s party afterwards I was able to steer Caroline away from the salon and she just dressed up and danced her little heart out with the rest of the party girls. It was a fabulous place for a little girls’ party.

She was being SO STILL that I think she almost fell asleep

These girls love to dance and the big stage!!

With the birthday girl…

One tired little girl…we hadn’t even made it into Quinn’s party yet. Sorry we took Ella to Quinn’s Super Hero birthday party and didn’t have time to take pictures. We all had a great time though and both girls were worn out from the fun busy day!

Halloween 2010

2010-11-11T18:41:00.001-08:00

We had a very busy and fun Halloween. On Sunday morning we went to the NC Zoo with our neighbors, The Weaver’s. The girls absolutely ADORE this family. Whenever we are outside and Dennis or Layne come home, Taylor and Caroline go running over to their cars to greet them as they open the door. The girls really enjoy playing with their two boys, Luke and Grant. They always have a good time so Taylor and Caroline were very excited that we were ALL going to the Zoo together on Halloween morning.

Once we got home that afternoon, the fun didn’t stop! Both sets of Grandparents came over that evening for dinner and the Halloween festivities. The girls were plain exhausted from the busy morning at the zoo and then on top of all the excitement building up to the night. They didn’t really want anything to eat except for CANDY. My goodness it was a crazy. While all of the adults were eating dinner, Taylor was so excited to hand out the candy to kids that stopped by our house.

After dinner, the grandparents were so nice and helpful (as usual) and they cleaned up the dishes and enjoyed some quiet time with Ella while Rob and I took the older two out trick or treating. The girls loved it! Between the two of them, I have never seen so much candy.

Poor little Caroline most likely ate WAY too much candy as she got sick ALL over the place that night. Once she got all that sugar up though, she was fine! Taylor told me later that morning, “Mommy you were right about the candy!” I had told the girls if they eat too much candy their belly will hurt really bad and they might get sick! Taylor said she was “right too” because she is a big girl and she already knew that she shouldn’t eat anymore candy and that is why she didn’t get sick…gotta love these little ones and what they say! :-)

Taylor JUST has a lollipop in her mouth!

Caroline LOVED and I mean LOVED the Zebra bus that took us from the Africa side of the park to the North America side.

Taylor and Caroline had so much fun on the little playground too that we had to bribe them with candy to head to the next stop.

Luke and the girls on the Merry Go Round!

Caroline with her buddy Grant

The Gorilla and the girls :-)

Our Little pumpkin Ella (11 weeks old); She got to spend some QT with Grammy and PawPaw while we went to the Zoo

The “good” witch and Sleepy Minnie Mouse (Promise Caroline wasn’t asleep although I am sure at this point she wished she was fast asleep in her comfy bed!)

Caroline LOVES Mr. Dennis!

Story Time

2010-10-18T08:40:00.000-07:00

Taylor loves to read and loves an audience even more. She was so excited to read Ella her bedtime story.

Professional Pictures

2010-10-17T13:12:00.000-07:00

When Ella was a week old, we went to a studio in Winston Salem for some newborn and family shots.
Julie was great to work with during our session. She has the patience of a saint to get these sweet newborn shots! As for Taylor and Caroline, they just loved playing with all of her props and were running all over the studio pushing strollers, pulling little wagons and playing with tons of fun things!
Here is a sneak peek at just a few of the precious moments Julie captured of the girls. I wish we could have ordered all the pictures as it was so hard to decide which ones we wanted to buy. We had a hard time narrowing them all down!

Check out Uppercase Photography's blog:
http://uppercasephotography.com/blog/?p=1246

More and More Pictures

2010-10-17T10:00:00.000-07:00

PLEASE enough pictures MOM! (Ella 5 weeks)

What a mess but so CUTE!

Ella 6 weeks…she looks like she has just had enough :)
I thought this picture was funny with Ella just not so happy!
Oh YES Caroline loves the camera and is now starting to refuse to sit in her booster seat!
Ella (Almost 7 weeks)
Sleeping Beauty. Ella, 7 weeks
Ella, almost 8 weeks
I love it when babies sleep like this!
Looks like she is already giving us the finger :)
Ella 8 weeks with her Little Big Sister Caroline
Sweet little kisses
I TRIED to get a picture of them all together. The girls want to hold Ella all the time. She is so loved and has two great big sisters!
Ella and her Big Sister Taylor.
This photo shoot was a little interesting. Still makes me laugh :)

Picture OVERLOAD!

2010-10-16T19:03:00.001-07:00

Ella week one old with her big Sis Taylor

Taylor is a HUGE helper. She is always asking to help me with Ella! She couldn't even wait to get her hair dried before holding his baby sister.

Ella's second week..loving her new swing! This is the BEST thing ever as you NEVER need batteries!!!! I think Rob loves this the most too b/c of the whole no battery thing :)

Caroline is being a great big sis too...she is "looking over" little Ella for us!

Ella 2 weeks old

Sweet Ella at three weeks!

Already 4 weeks!! I am dying to get some bows in her hair.

Ella loves to hold onto little blankets or lovies. Thanks Maire and Jan for these precious zebra blankies....they are so cute and Ella loves them!

This little one loves to have her picture taken. I bring out the camera and she automatically says CHEESE. Love her; my sweet Caroline with cereal bar crumbs all over her mouth :)

More pictures to come...

Check Ups--ALL THREE!!!

2010-10-16T12:47:00.000-07:00

Taylor and Caroline had their well check ups a few weeks late this year. Well in my defense, I was a little busy that week having another baby and throwing their birthday party!
Rob and I realize that we are so blessed to have three healthy little girls. God has entrusted them to us and we are ever so grateful!

Taylor Olivia McKay; 4 years old
weight 40 lbs (85%)
height 41 in. (90%)

Caroline Avery McKay; 2 years old
weight 28 lbs. (65%)
height 35 in. (80%)

They both checked out perfectly. I think the only bad thing was that they had to get a few shots and the flu mist. I am not sure what age is worse to watch get their shots; a baby has no clue what is going on but still figures out that it hurts and cries uncontrollably but then again a 2 yr old and a 4 yr old know what is happening and the look in their eyes about breaks your heart too! Both girls were NOT happy about those nasty shots but things finally calmed down when Nurse Susan gave them a lollipop and a princess sticker!

Ella Kathryn had her 8 week check up on October 12th. WOW I can't believe she is already 8 weeks old. The third time around seems to go by even faster!!
She had a good check up as well! She is sleeping well, cooing and smiling up a storm.
We have successfully transitioned her over to formula. She seems to be doing really well on it too! Here are her stats:
weight 9lbs. 8oz. (18%)
height 23 inches (76%)
(I looked back at Taylor and Caroline's stats from their check up at this age. All three girls were 23 inces long. Taylor weighed 11 lbs and Caroline weighed 9lbs. 12oz. I thought it was interesting that they were all the exact same height. Hopefully they got their Daddy's height!!)

Ella is a great baby and is loved by her proud big sisters!

Funny things

2010-10-16T12:34:00.000-07:00

The other morning Taylor was in the bathroom. Rob went to check on her and asked if she had gone #1 or #2. She replied to him, "Well Daddy I think it is more like a 5 or 6!"
I have just laughed and laughed about that one!!

Taylor says some of the funniest things. She is so smart and very inquisitive lately too. She wants to know what everything means. Kids definitely are just like a sponge because she and Caroline remember everything!

Caroline is scared to death of vacuum cleaners...well at least she gets scared when they are turned on. She gets upsets when she hears the loud noise. The funny thing is that anytime we go into Target or Wal Mart and she spots the vacuum cleaners, she will continually ask me to go and look at them?!
Caroline is also SO EXCITED to see school buses. Every time we pass one she will start to scream, "Bus Mommy, bus Mommy" Typing it doesn't even do it justice as it makes me laugh every time. She says it so fast, with so much excitement and with such a high pitched voice. Rob said she must have been in heaven yesterday when they drove by NW High School and all of the buses were lined up. It wasn't a quiet ride home for Rob! :)

Keeping up

2010-10-16T11:25:00.000-07:00

So about a week after I had Ella, we decided to take Caroline out of Village Kids. Taylor had just started a pre-K program at VK and since she had been there since she was 11 weeks old, we decided to let her stay with her friends and amazing teacher Mrs. Kieran!
I am not 100% sure how we are going to make the school/daycare thing work with THREE kids now. We are still trying to figure it all out!
Once Caroline left VK, we put her in a church pre-school. She goes to Kernersville Wesleyan Academy every day from 9-12 and is in Mrs. Jaime and Mrs. Deborah's 2 year old class. The first couple of weeks were hard. I know that change is never easy and with everything we had going on then I guess it was only natural for this transition to be a little hard on me and Caroline. Caroline cried when I left her the first day at pre-school and then I had to rush out of there as well so I could ball my eyes out in the car! We are so comfortable with Village Kids; all the teachers know my girls and me so I always felt at ease there. There wasn't any particular reason we took Caroline out; we are definitely trying to budget these days, and thought while I was on leave we could definitely save a little by putting Caroline in this other pre-school. Plus Kernersville Wesleyan Academy has been highly recommended by several friends.
So for the first couple weeks drop off was a little hard but just as anything, things got better. Just last week when I took Caroline in, she ran into her classroom to give Mrs. Jamie a hug and didn't even turn back to tell me "Good Bye!"
Of course that broke my heart but then again I was so excited that she felt happy and at home in her new school. Every week they go to Chapel and have music. Caroline LOVES Chapel and often shows us how she dances in Chapel every week. She told me the other day she had fun and wanted to go back tomorrow! Gosh just as we are getting into a new routine and our new "normal" things are going to change again since I have to go back to work on October 25th!

As for Taylor, she is doing so well in the Pre-K program at Village Kids. Her favorite thing is getting her homework assignment on Mondays. She is really excited and eager to get it done AS SOON AS WE GET IN THE DOOR. I have had to explain to her that we can't do it at that very moment every Monday as I am usually trying to get dinner ready, get everyone settled and trying to feed a hungry baby! On most days she accepts that we will do it later when things settle down for all of us.
Rob and I just adore Taylor's teacher Mrs. Kieran. She is wonderful with all the kids. I know she really cares about them and only wants the best for them. Everyday as Taylor is leaving and we are saying our good byes, Kieran comes up to Taylor gives her a kiss or a hug and tells her that she loves her. Seriously it is so sweet and so nice to know that someone that truly loves Taylor is with her all day! Since I have been on maternity leave, I have picked Taylor up early on most days. I know she really likes school when she gets a little upset to leave sometimes. She enjoys playing and learning with all her friends. She keeps talking about how she is going into Kindergarten soon and she just can't wait! Goodness where is the time going?! I mean I feel like just yesterday Rob and I were bringing our first born, Taylor home from the hospital. We were proud and nervous first time parents :)

Well we were definitely proud parents again 8 weeks ago when we brought Ella home...we weren't quiet as nervous the third time around but just as excited! Ella is doing so good. She started smiling around 6 weeks. Goodness I had forgotten how sweet that little grin is and how it melts your heart! Ella still isn't awake much as she is living the life of eating, sleeping, pooping and grinning....usually in that order too :)

Pictures to come...

More Birthday celebrations?!

2010-09-05T10:55:00.000-07:00

The birthday pool party was on Caroline's actual birthday which is 8/21 and Taylor's actual birthday is 8/20. For Taylor's special day, we had both grandparents over for dinner and cake to celebrate. The girls were so excited about opening their gifts from all of us. They loved it all so I am not sure what was the "favorite" present for them. A big THANKS again to Grammy, PawPaw and Mimi, Popie for all the nice gifts!!

Here are just some pictures of the girls on Friday 8/20. (Please note it was Pajama Day at daycare and that is why Taylor is sporting her PJ's!)

Happy Birthday to ALL my girls!

2010-09-04T19:45:00.000-07:00

It is like Christmas in August for the McKay house since we have ALL three birthdays in August now and even in the same week. Whew...goodness how did that really happen?! Promise it was NOT planned that way, but looks like that is how God saw it fit for us and we are truly blessed. We have three healthy little girls and I would not change a single thing!!!

I will say though that I would have preferred not to cut it so close to delivering a baby and having a birthday party for the older girl(s) every two years :)

Yes again this year, I had to pre-plan a lot of the girls' birthday party since it was scheduled for August 21st and I was due August 16th with Ella! This year we did a pool party and I tried to keep it simple but still cute. At least I had a few days in between the delivery and the party. Again this year my in-laws and my parents were a HUGE help with the party. My mom helped me all week get prepared with all the last minute details and my in-laws helped set up that Saturday afternoon in the HOTTEST time of the day...thanks again to ALL of you!

Thanks to one my friends, we had this awesome Birthday Banner! Mandy, you did a fabulous job and I REALLY appreciate you letting us borrow it. It matched perfectly!! I promise I will send it back soon. I keep forgetting to get it in the mail :)

Taylor, our big 4 year old

Thanks Uncle Keith for helping Caroline...Yummy icing!

Loving some cake and ice cream!

Working on holding up TWO fingers to show her age...still working on it!

Taylor LOVES to jump off the diving board!!!

And she is doing so well swimming.

Silly cousin Ellie!

Getting ready to pack up and end a great day at the pool. Our families were a huge help! Little Ella actually sat in her car seat the whole time just a snoozing!

GO DUKE!

2010-09-01T19:54:00.000-07:00

As most of us know, Rob's favorite team of all time is DUKE. Our good friend Shannon gave the girls a Duke shirt for their birthday. Tonight Caroline picked her PJ's out and insisted on wearing her pink DUKE shirt and then Taylor wanted to be "twins" with Caroline and wear her Duke night gown. This was Rob's perfect opportunity to take a couple of shots of the girls.

Thanks Shannon...great gift!! :)

Baby shower...LATE posting!

2010-09-01T19:49:00.000-07:00

So back in July two of my closest friends, Meredith and Laura insisted on throwing me a baby shower for baby #3. Rob and I were very hesitant since this was our third child and yet another girl but Meredith and Laura insisted so I gave in...to be honest it was really nice to get some new things. As we all know little girl items are TOO cute and you can never have to many things in pink, big bows and sassy outfits!!!

I am so fortunate to have such caring and thoughtful friends and family. Thank you to everyone!!!!

Sweet Ella

2010-08-30T19:45:00.000-07:00

Still working on downloading pictures and finding time to do things on the computer!

Ella Kathryn McKay is here!

2010-08-29T19:30:00.001-07:00

We are now the McKay party of FIVE!!! We welcomed our third baby girl on August 16, 2010. God blessed us with another healthy angel. Ella Kathryn McKay was born at 9:28 am; 7 lbs. and 2 oz., 20.5 inches long. It was an easy, quick delivery. I literally pushed twice and Ella was here!!

We are all doing well and working on getting settled with our newest addition. There are lots of changes around the McKay house, but things are good! We are so fortunate and truly blessed. These healthy little girls bring so much joy to our lives. I will be the first to say things are challenging at times and our patience is tested ALL the time, but I would never change my life or my family as I love it all!

Welcome HOME Ella...

Still here...

2010-08-29T19:23:00.001-07:00

So we really are still here. WOW I have been so slack about updating this blog. I am not sure who actually checks this site, but I really like to have some type of journal or record keeping of what is going on in our lives and the little things the girls are doing. Time goes by so quickly and I can already forget the cute, funny little things they do and say. I want to cherish every moment and have something for them and us to look back on.

Gotta love these cute little faces...

Florida Trip 2010

2010-07-06T19:29:00.001-07:00

I am a little behind on some posts but things have been crazy..you know, the whole song and dance story :)

We took a mini family vacation to St. Augustine Florida this past weekend to visit some good friends of ours, Anthony and Shea Stewart. We both went to high school with Anthony and Rob and Ant were college roommates at ECU. Ant and Shea have two little girls too; Morgan who is the same age as Taylor and then Bailey who is 15 months old. They are two precious little girls who were so good at sharing ALL their toys with Taylor and Caroline! We had a great time and appreciate the Stewart’s having us for a long weekend.

We went to the beach on Saturday for part of the day. The weather was a little unpredictable. It was sunny for a few minutes and then it would rain for a while. Despite the crazy weather, we all had a good time out on the beach. The girls squealed with excitement running back and forth from the sand to the water, jumped over waves, made sand castles and played tag with Anthony.

I believe the girls were worn out from our busy weekend. They both went right to bed on Monday night and slept in Tuesday morning! We all had a fabulous trip; good times with good friends! THANKS AGAIN to the Stewart Family who were wonderful hosts. Since they are moving to Orlando maybe we will be invited back to see Mickey :)

You can see and hear some of the excitement from Saturday’s beach trip. I would definitely say that the girls LOVE the beach!

Caroline is starting to become a little bit of a Daddy’s girl!

Funny that these two guys have two little girls :) I think they both LOVE it and are really good Daddy’s!!

When we got home Monday night, Ant had left the girls a little treat in the car…Sparklers! Caroline was already asleep on the 4th when we did the sparklers and fireworks so she got to experience them for the first time last night…along with some yummy popsicles!

CHEESE Caroline!

SILLY Taylor!

2010-06-09T13:54:00.000-07:00

Taylor has been taking tap and ballet with a group of girls from her daycare all year. Their teacher from Extravadnace is Ms. Erica. Ms. Erica has done a fabulous job throughout the year. As I mentioned in the below post, their recital was last week and the girls did an awesome job! I really wish I had video to show you but no cameras or videos were allowed. All 13 girls were really good. Usually there is always one or two girls in the group who gets a little shy and stage fright once they get up in front of the BIG crowded auditorium....WELL NOT THIS GROUP! The girls were all so eager to get out on the stage and perform. I was really amazed. There wasn't one girl who just stood there, sucking her finger or messing with her hair. They all were doing their dancing thing on stage and they LOVED it! I think they were the best 3-4 year old group in the whole recital (but yes I am a little biased!)

I was a back stage Mom along with Sloane and Isabella's Moms. The girls were all so good backstage too...especially seeing how the recital lasted almost 3 hours!

Lily, Taylor and Sloane passing the time by doing a little princess art work.

Seriously I could eat them up! Isn't Taylor's hair adorable?!...well I do owe a HUGE THANK YOU to Sloane's Mom, Kristina for doing that for us. I tried the night of pictures and it was a total mess!

We were trying to line them up to go out on stage. Taylor and Sloane were very excited to be the youngest in the class and were the LEADERS :)

Ms. Erica presented them with their individual trophies and the girls were beyond excited!

Dance 2010

2010-06-07T18:40:00.000-07:00

Taylor took dance this year at Extravadance in Kernersville. Their pictures were taken two weeks ago and then her recital was this past weekend. Taylor absolutely LOVED dance this year. She is quite the performer too. She really enjoys singing, dancing and putting on "shows" for us. I hope to update tomorrow with some recital pictures.

Visit from TX

2010-05-17T18:41:00.001-07:00

My best friend from growing up, Marie was in Charlotte a few weekends ago for another friend’s wedding. I haven’t seen her in almost 4 years! Rob,the girls and I made a trip into Charlotte to see them. She was with her husband Joe, their little girl Sydney who is 4 and her Dad and step Mom. Unfortunately I didn’t get to meet her little boy who is 9 months old. He stayed back in TX with Marie’s Mom.

We met them for lunch in downtown Charlotte before they had to catch their plane back to TX. It was so nice to see them and I only wish we had more time to hang out. Taylor and Sydney hit it off immediately. We walked to lunch and the two girls chatted, giggled and held hands the whole way. We tried to get a couple of pictures but we weren’t too successful!

Oh yes, Taylor was in this picture but she just tried to hide behind me! I had a lot going on…trying to get Taylor to get in front of me AND trying to get Caroline to hold still, all while being 6 months pregnant!

Miss Caroline- AKA Miss Diva!

2010-05-17T18:31:00.001-07:00

This picture was taken around 3 weeks ago when Caroline was sent home from school with the nasty Hand, Foot and Mouth Virus. Poor little thing was just miserable. At first we thought she was just teething because she had a low grade fever and she was drooling like crazy. After a miserable afternoon and evening, I decided to take Caroline to the Dr. the following morning. Little Caroline had multiple ulcers under her tongue, throughout her mouth, throat and most likely in her esophagus too. Luckily she didn’t have any bumps on her hands or feet but she was suffering from the pain in her mouth! She would not really eat anything for almost a week and really only wanted to drink. She became a BIG fan of the Roaring Waters Capri Suns . I tried everything from her favorite yogurt to even ice cream which she has only had a couple of times but would normally eat ALL of it and ask for more. Rob and I felt horrible for her. She has been attached to her “paci” since birth and she would not even take that during this whole virus. She would say “NO!” to the paci and throw it if we gave it to her.

These were her favorites…

MAM

NUK

I mean I thought taking the pacifier away from Caroline was going to be a horrible experience. She loved her Mam and Nuk pacifiers. Since Caroline was obviously NOT interested in the paci, Rob and I thought it would be the perfect time to take it away from her. We hid all of the pacifiers that week. She didn’t ask for them until that weekend once she started to feel a little better. We would just tell Caroline that she was a “big girl” and didn’t need the paci anymore. To our surprise she didn’t cry even once for it?! So far it has been 3 weeks or so and we are paci free. I will say that going to sleep isn’t quite as easy for her since I think she is missing that comfort she found with the pacifier. She will cry and put up more of a fight at bed time. Rob and I are holding strong and trying not to go back in her room (at least not too often); she usually settles down after several minutes and puts herself to sleep.

Thankfully she is feeling so much better now too. The vicious virus lasted around 7 days! I hope we never have to experience that again with Caroline or any of our other children!

YAY….look who is growing up! Caroline is such a big girl, giving up her paci at 20 months!!! (Makes Mommy a little sad; not only because that means she is not a baby anymore but also because that pacifier was so nice at times too..haha!)

Go Wildcats!

2010-05-17T18:26:00.001-07:00

This is Taylor’s second year at playing soccer for the Spears Family YMCA 3-4 year old league. This year she played for the Wildcats.

Here is the whole team with Coach Marc. He has been great with the kids. He is so patient and never over the top about the game. He believes that they are all there to just have fun. He actually owns two of the Cold Stone Creamery stores in Greensboro—a GREAT connection for Taylor’s sake :)

Actually after last week’s game, Marc treated the whole team and their families to some yummy ice cream on a really hot afternoon! That might have been the highlight of the whole season for Taylor. She actually did play in the game that day. Her new favorite thing to do is play goalie. She keeps telling us that she only likes to play soccer when it is just the red team because she doesn’t like the other teams. She is really good playing at home and in practice but it is something about running up and down the field chasing the ball during the games with all the other kids that bothers her. I don’t think she likes it when someone else gets the ball from her. She is definitely still learning and figuring it all out. Overall I would say she has done great and come a long way from the first game when she refused to play.

Just for FUN

2010-04-17T19:26:00.001-07:00

An afternoon at the park and playing outside at home. The girls had a great time! Can you tell Taylor is into being “animated” in her photos right now?…

Taylor’s first soccer game of the season

2010-04-17T19:25:00.001-07:00

Two weeks ago Taylor had her first soccer game. She is always so excited when we talk about going to soccer practice and the games but once we get to the games she isn’t quite as interested in it. She whines and says she doesn’t want to play?! Rob and I try not to get upset about it but it gets us both a little fired up. I just don’t understand why she changes her attitude once we get to the game. Here are some pictures from the first game. Taylor was insistent on taking some photos…

PawPaw was there as usual showing his support

Chris and Quinn (Taylor’s little buddy who doesn’t care about playing either for the game). These pictures all make me laugh

Hey at least we did get them on the field :)

Taylor #11 AND Quinn #4

The kids did a great job. We actually played the blue team and they were pretty serious! Actually it was their coach that was OVER THE TOP! I mean she was hard core and took the whole game pretty seriously. Our kids are just out there to have a good time and try and get the whole game concept…I mean they are only 3 and 4 year olds! The other teams cheer at half time went a little something like this…

Coach said, “Whose House?!” and the kids on the blue team responded, “OUR HOUSE!!!”

WOW, right?! We are working on getting our team members to kick the ball in the right direction and not touch the ball with their hands in the middle of the field. We are making progress and they are all so cute in the process of it all :)

Easter 2010

2010-04-05T19:14:00.001-07:00

So finally an update! We had a wonderful Easter weekend. The sun has been shining since last week and the weather is SO NICE and WARM. It was actually HOT this weekend. I am a little nervous that we are supposed to hit 90 degrees tomorrow and it is just the beginning of April! I am not sure this pregnant body can take it again for another summer! :)

On Sunday we went to church and breakfast with my parents. It was a nice start to our day. Once we got home the girls played outside, we washed both cars and let Taylor run through the sprinkler when Caroline went down for a nap. We all came in to wash up and head over to Grammy and Pawpaw's for an Easter Egg Hunt and Easter dinner. Rob’s parents (Mimi and Popie) joined us as well. We had a wonderful afternoon. The girls got lots and lots of goodies from both sets of Grandparents…YES they are a little spoiled! Taylor loved the egg hunt but Caroline was not too interested. Grammy and Pawpaw got her a new swing for their backyard and that kept Caroline’s interest most of the afternoon. We had a yummy dinner and even a surprise desert...a big birthday cake for me and Rob! Rob’s birthday was 3/31 and my birthday is today (4/5). We are lucky to be able to celebrate with both of our families!! (Thank you guys!) Hopefully Rob enjoyed his special day last week. The girls and I went to get him a yummy dinner from Fresh Market and a little cake. He walked in from work with the girls singing HAPPY BIRTHDAY to him; they had been patiently WAITING on him to get home so they could have some cake!

Today was a good birthday for me. Rob had the luxury of having off work today,so he was so good to clean up around the house and start on the laundry while I was at work. He even took me to lunch and had Taylor make me a sweet homemade card. All in all it was a great day…or rather a great weekend!

Here are some pictures from Easter..Beware picture overload!:

SAY CHEESE Taylor!

Sisterly LOVE

Taylor "posing"

I am not sure what they were looking at but they definitely thought it was interesting...plus I liked this picture of them

Caroline was cheesing it up for the camera!

Caroline loved her new swing!

Hopefully next time Mommy will remember to bring their Easter baskets over so they don't have to use a plastic bag for the hunt!

One more blessing...

2010-03-18T19:54:00.000-07:00

Rob and I are so excited to tell you that we are expanding the McKay family and expecting our third child in August...yes ANOTHER August baby and we JUST found out today it is ANOTHER GIRL!!!!!!! :)

It is so funny how things work. I mean it took us almost a year to get pregnant with Taylor and then several months with Caroline. We actually were not "trying" to get pregnant and this one was a big surprise for us but a huge blessing. God has his own plan and we are excited about the next McKay!

I am almost 19 weeks and my expected due date is August 16th. YES that is the same week as the girls' birthdays. August will always be a busy month for us but definitely one of the best months of the year to celebrate our little angels! We have seen the little one four times on ultrasound and the she looks perfect. Even the third time around, it is all still so amazing to me; to actually see the little biscuit and hear her heartbeat is breathe taking!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2010-03-17T17:42:00.000-07:00

As their shirts say, "Daddy's Pot of Gold"...Rob's two little sweet hearts!

These two girls are growing up way too fast. It is hard to believe they are 18 months and 3.5 years old! They are really starting to interact with one another; lots of laughs and good times. Sometimes it does end up with some yelling, pouting and on occasion crying, but they do love one another! Silly girls...

My Valentine's...

2010-02-14T18:02:00.000-08:00

Hope you all had a HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! We had a great family filled heart day and I got to spend it with all my Valentines!We spent the morning cleaning up around the house and then met Grammy and PawPaw at the circus. Taylor was so excited about going to the circus and told me she couldn't wait to see the silly clowns and all the animals. I think the two girls really enjoyed the show and we all had a great time together.

Sweet Taylor

Silly Caroline

I love my Dad and Taylor sure loves her PawPaw!
Crazy child :)
So hard to get Taylor to sit still and take a picture...we tried!

CIRCUS TIME...Caroline was so excited. She kept pointing, waving, clapping and laughing. I am pretty sure she enjoyed her first circus!

Enjoyed our day with Grammy and PawPaw. Taylor loved her new elephant light up toy. She had to go to bed with it tonight--Hey whatever it takes these days :)

So sweet

My three favorite people...although poor Caroline looks pretty uncomfortable and not into this picture.

Too funny...is that belly full Caroline from all that you ate today?!

Happy Valentine's Day at VK

2010-02-14T14:14:00.000-08:00

On Friday the girls had Valentine's Day parties at daycare. I went to Caroline's first and of course my batteries in the camera died after about 5 minutes!!! I didn't get any of Taylor's class and really hate it because so many of them were dressed up for their party and Valentine's Day dance. They all looked adorable. Hopefully I can get some copies from other moms. The daycare clears out the cafe and puts up a disco ball. They turn out the lights, turn up the music and let the kids shows us their dance moves. It is always so cute. Again I HATE I don't have pictures or a video to share with you. We took Caroline with us into the dance and she even showed us some of her new moves too :)

The kids must LOVE these parties since they basically get to eat LOTS of junk food...(good times for the parents!!)

Caroline was asking for "MORE" even though her plate was still full!

Snow days!

2010-02-02T18:35:00.000-08:00

Well we haven't been hit hard in a few years with a good snow storm until this past weekend. We got about 8 inches of snow and ice...LOTS for us in the triad! Of course in NC, that means everything shuts down for a week to two :)--Well almost that long!
The girls loved it and I liked it for about a couple of hours. The snow was pretty but I just hate that it takes forever for it and the ice to melt away! I am not usually one that likes to be stuck in the house. Although as much as I do love to be out and about, I do have to admit it was a little nice to just lounge around the house all day on Saturday. We all had some good quality family time and I even got some MUCH needed cleaning done. Once the snow and sleet stopped we were able to go out and enjoy all the snow and some good sledding with our neighbors on Sunday.

Taylor checking out her snazzy boots on the way out to play!

Taylor was playing with the boys in the cul-de-sac and one of them put ice down her back...she couldn't wait for me to get it all out!

Caroline wasn't too sure about the sled at first. So I decided to show her it was fun...

Oh YES she was trying to push Mommy along on the sled!

Taylor was helping Daddy shovel the driveway. Always such a good helper!

Caroline was a little upset that the jeep was "stuck" and not moving well in the snow!

Follow up

2010-01-26T18:49:00.001-08:00

Thanks to everyone for the well wishes and little prayers. Caroline's minor surgery went well. She did great! She was very groggy coming out of it and got sick on the way home but by this afternoon she was back to herself. Hopefully these tubes will be good for her!

Sweet Caroline

2010-01-25T17:48:00.001-08:00

Poor Caroline has been battling ear infections for over a year now. We went to the Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) Doctor at the beginning of the month and he highly recommended us putting tubes into Caroline's ears. Tomorrow is the big surgery day. I am a little nervous about the whole thing, especially putting her to sleep. I know that tubes have become very routine among little ones and most kids seem to do remarkably well. I am hoping she will finally get a little relief and feel better.
I am sure she will be fine but any extra prayers are always helpful.
We appreciate it!
Say an extra prayer for this sweet little girl...

Kids say the funniest things...

2010-01-23T18:00:00.000-08:00

At our house Taylor usually demands the TV to be on "her" cartoons. When she watches Nick Jr. she is exposed to LOTS of different commericals. Lately she has asked Rob several times if she can have a Pillow Pet. She usually goes back and forth between the ladybug and the frog. I guess this is the first of many commericals that are going to draw her in!
So on Friday night I had just gotten Taylor into the shower and Rob had just gotten home from work and came upstairs to change. Taylor heard him come upstairs so she opened the shower door and said, "Hey Daddy! You know what; the Pillow Pets are EVEN machine washable!"
We were both caught off guard and had to ask her what she said again. She was so matter of fact about it. She is seriously into this Pillow Pet so I guess it is on her mind a lot :)
We have made a deal with her...if she is good girl at night and actually goes to sleep without getting up 100 times and making a big fuss then we will consider ordering her a Pillow Pet.
I just thought it was hilarious that she told us that the Pillow Pet was machine washable and that she is already "working" on getting things she wants.
Of course she hit up Daddy first because he is the push over with his little girls :)

I guess it is hard to deny these two sweet little girls!

Random...

2010-01-18T18:25:00.001-08:00

These are just a few random things from the past couple of weeks...

On New Year's Day Rob's Aunt Liz, Uncle Stephen and Granny came for a visit and we all had a wonderful dinner over at Mimi and Popie's house.

Taylor "tried" to help Granny out with this large puzzle but I am pretty sure she messed a few of the pieces up :)

Uncle Stephen and Granny were trying to be interested in Taylor playing her new Leapster...her look already reminds me of a teenager!!!

About the age, 16-17 months Taylor started to refuse sitting in her high chair. I guess Taylor and Caroline are a lot alike. This past weekend Caroline refused to sit in her high chair too. I am sure since Taylor sits at the table that Caroline wants to be just like her sister and sit there too. We are experiencing a lot of that...Caroline wants to do what Taylor is doing or wants whatever toy Taylor has! Sometimes it is not a good ending as someone ends up crying or throwing a tantrum for not getting her way!

The other night Taylor asked for pudding...for some reason I don't think it is as bad if it is sugar free :) Of course Caroline screamed "MINE" until I gave her some pudding too. Rob walked in from work saw her messy face and went straight for the camera. She definitely enjoyed her pudding and got very mad at me when I took it away.

Birthday parties and Good times!

2010-01-02T19:03:00.001-08:00

One of my best friend's, Laura Hockman had a little girl a year ago. We were there to celebrate with Ellie on her FIRST birthday a couple of weekends ago! She loved the new shopping cart but wasn't too sure about the whole cake thing!!

Caroline all smiles as usual!

Taylor decided to take most of the pictures during Ellie's party. She captured a sweet photo of my good friend Meredith and her little girl Kennedy.

Of course she just had to take a picture of Mommy!

Caroline is a little giggle box! She loves to laugh and it is so contagious when she does it. Looks like she was on a mission here!

Again Taylor LOVES to take pictures and this is one of her recent photos of Daddy. It makes me laugh :)

Our Little Diva!

Christmas!

2010-01-02T18:59:00.000-08:00

We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

After lots of discussion, Rob and I finally made the decision to travel to Connecticut this year for Christmas. My sister lives there with her family. She has two little boys that are the same age as my girls. My parents had been planning on going up for the Holiday and after my sister invited us, I knew it would be wonderful to all be together on such a special day. So on Wednesday before Christmas we woke up very early and headed out for the LONG drive. I was very nervous about the ride as I wasn’t too sure how the girls would behave in the car for that long. To our surprise, they were great! With the frequent bathroom stops and some food pit stops, we made it there in about 12 hours. Taylor was super excited about going to see her cousins. When I went into her room that morning around 4:30, I figured she would be her normal groggy self. Nope she hopped right up, changed clothes and was ready for the trip. She did however ask after 7 minutes in the car if we were there yet?! Poor thing. I had to tell her that we had a very LONG way to go! She did ask often if we were there yet, but was awesome the entire trip! Once we got into Connecticut we hit major traffic. We were all so ready to be there and out of the car. Little Caroline had lost it by then and had a meltdown. I felt horrible for her but seriously there wasn’t much we could do to help her. She just wanted out! I can’t blame her, because I personally would NOT want to be strapped in a seat for 12 hours!!!! Once we got there, the kids were beside themselves. They were running every which way and so excited to see their cousins Mason and Jake (and Aunt Kerri and Uncle Jimmy too!)

We had a wonderful trip and a fabulous Holiday. My sister Kerri has an awesome extended family. Her husband is one of nine children and all of them live in CT except for one of his sister’s and her family. The LeBlanc’s have always been so welcoming and loving. They make our visits fun and memorable and we really appreciate them sharing their traditions with us and always being so generous. A HUGE thank you to my sister as well. She always does a great job as a hostess in making everyone comfortable and happy. I admire her for that since I really don’t have to be a hostess much to out of town guests. When my sister comes into town they usually stay with my parents. Kerri was a huge help with getting some of our gifts for Christmas morning. She was a fabulous cook (and bartender) throughout the week and made the trip relaxing, fun and total worth it!

On Christmas morning the kids totally made Christmas! From the looks on their faces and the many shrieks of joy, it made all the fuss and craziness of shopping totally worth it! Now don’t get me wrong, it was pure chaos that morning with the gift opening. Santa brought Taylor this Princess keyboard vanity which was quite the hit among ALL the kids!

Santa brought Mason and Jake a train table, new cars and a “guy” kitchen. These were the only gifts that were unwrapped. So once the present opening started it was just crazy. I think they were all overwhelmed. Jake and Caroline were too funny. They didn’t care to open their gifts and just wandered around. Mason and Taylor were happy to help in opening the little one’s gifts though. There were so many toys I don’t think the kids knew where to start. Taylor got this guitar, microphone and amp set from Santa as well. We have lots of clips of the cousins playing in “their band”

Oh yes these are priceless moments!

Even as we are home now I feel like the girls get out something new everyday that they got from Christmas. They must have been two very good girls!!

The four cousins right before church on Christmas Eve. There are several photos as we attempted to get all four looking at the camera and smiling…yeah right, not going to happen not at the age 3 and 1!!

After Christmas Eve partying…getting ready for bed and lounging with Grammy and PawPaw.

Crazy yet FUN Christmas morning. Not too many photos but I do have video to post!

More pictures from the Christmas Program

2010-01-02T18:23:00.001-08:00

Taylor and Jacob weren't quite ready to get off the stage. Mr. Chan had to help hurry them along.

This is Taylor's best friend and "boyfriend" Jacob. They have been best buddies since they started at Village Kids when they were only three months old!

Say Cheese Taylor!

Mrs. Keiran (her favorite teacher) and Taylor

Little Caroline was SO hot in the gym...not sure if the AC was on there! I just loved her face here

Yes we are here...

2010-01-02T16:21:00.001-08:00

I really have NO excuses as to why I haven't posted in over a month!!!! Things have been busy with the Holidays and just life in general. Lately I have just been so tired and have a million things to do when I get home from work. I know you are all JUST as busy and again there are no excuses! I am going to post more and try to keep this blog updated for the New Year.

So no new camera for Christmas :(
Well really I didn't expect that expensive camera at all but gosh what a nice surprise, right?! My big present was being with my family over the Holidays!!!
I tried to take more pictures of the girls, but we have just gotten BAD at taking our camera with us. We did however get a new video camera for Christmas so I have been pretty excited about that new addition. The clips below are from our regular camera with the video option. They are not too clear but gives you a good look at Taylor's Christmas program. Seriously how cute are these clips of the kids?! I thought they did a wonderful job. I am totally amazed at how well 3-4 year olds can memorize these songs. Taylor is still constantly singing these Christmas carols as well as the other songs performed by other classes. I guess all the classes practiced together at times so they ended up learning more songs. It is priceless!
This was the Christmas program put on by the 3-5 year old classes from the girls' daycare the first weekend in December. Each class sung 2-3 songs. It was one of the cutest things I have seen in a long time. I loved it!! It was a great start to a wonderful Christmas in 2009.

Christmas with Mimi and Popie

2009-12-21T18:57:00.000-08:00

Since we were going to Connecticut for Christmas we had a nice Christmas dinner with Rob’s parents on Sunday night (12/20/09). Mimi brought over a delicious meal and there were lots of nice gifts for everyone as well.

Here are some pictures of the girls.

Caroline was NOT interested at all in opening the gifts. She spent that time going from toy to toy in the bonus room and loving every minute of it! Taylor was so helpful and was able to open Caroline’s presents. What a nice big sister :)

I wish we had this on video…Taylor got a piano book and Popie was the only one who agreed to read/sing the songs for Taylor. Priceless!

How sweet...

2009-11-22T10:45:00.001-08:00

I just peeked into Caroline's room to check on her during her nap and found these two...

Seriously, HOW SWEET is that!!!

Just melts my heart!

2009-11-16T18:21:00.000-08:00

The other day we were all busy running around trying to get ready for some family pictures that my good friend Emily was taking for us. Of course I was crazy over getting the girls' outfits ready, coordinating it with something Rob and I could wear as well and just getting to Winston on time. It was a crazy morning and I am sure I seemed a little stressed...I know you are saying, "Not Kristen!" :-) Actually I wasn't too bad, but enough for my sweet Taylor to notice and take time to brighten up my day. We were finally all in the car, seat belts on, outfitted from hair bows to boots, and ready to go...Whew! Then all of a sudden Taylor said to me,
"Mommy, you really are a good Mommy!"
I mean seriously, that was the sweetest thing I have heard. It just melted my heart!!!!

Fun at the Zoo

2009-11-03T18:15:00.001-08:00

Rob and I took the girls to the zoo a couple of weekends ago and I completely forgot to post about our family trip. It was the weekend of “Boo at the Zoo”

We didn’t dress the girls up in their costumes but we sure did see some cute and interesting ones throughout the crowd. We had a great time visiting with all the animals, riding the tram, the “grounded” helicopter and the carousel.

Taylor said her favorite animal of the day was the gorilla and I am sure that Caroline’s favorite was the dog :-). Caroline loves dogs and every animal we saw she would point and say “DOG!” I thought it was pretty funny when Caroline and I were looking at the sea lion along with another family and she yelled, “DOG!” The people around us, just turned and looked at us funny. Not sure why I felt it necessary to explain to them that my 14 month old thinks everything is a dog right now. I thought it was funny but they didn’t seem amused.

This was the closest thing to a pumpkin patch that we saw this year…

Caroline was ready to fly!

Pilot Taylor all ready to go too.

Quick picture with Daddy

Taylor was excited about riding the gorilla

One day we will get a shot of them looking at the camera and smiling at the same time.

Yummy!

2009-11-03T17:28:00.001-08:00

SCORE! Caroline loves to use her fork and spoon ALL BY HERSELF! It definitely leaves more for Mom to clean up though.

More fun pics...

2009-11-01T04:20:00.000-08:00

Our first and unsuccessful attempt to photograph the girls together

Taylor is still a little rough...
Mom I am just not too sure about this thing on my head!

Prettiest Princess on the block!

Caroline's first trick-or-treat was from Mr. Dennis who the girls just adore!

Love the back of this costume!

What is this candy stuff and why won't Mommy let me have any?!

Helpful Taylor and sweet Mrs. Kristen for giving them ALL the good candy

Hapy Halloween!

2009-10-31T19:50:00.001-07:00

Hope you all had a very Happy Halloween. I know it was a BIG two days for our girls. Yesterday the girls had parties at daycare and Taylor got to fill up her Hello Kitty Halloween basket from trick-or-treating around the different classes at Village Kids. Seriously I haven't seen so much candy come from one little Halloween bucket. Taylor's was filled to the rim and it wasn't even Halloween night yet?! This morning we were planning on going to a pumpkin patch with a hayride and a mini petting zoo...well that didn't happen because of the nasty weather. It rained most of the morning putting a damper on our original plan. Once Caroline went down for a nap, Taylor and I headed out to get some errands done and then the next thing we knew it was almost time to get dressed up for round TWO of trick-or-treating!
I am thinking that this is Taylor's favorite Holiday. She LOVES candy and let me tell you it has NOT BEEN EASY trying to keep all of it away from her. We did a good job of keeping candy out of her diet for the first 18-24 months but she now knows exactly what it is and just can't get enough. As soon as she wakes up in the morning until the last minute she is awake she is asking if she can have some more candy because her belly is hungry. Seriously?! I think her belly is saying please no more candy. She must be confused or just hasn't figured out that those are not hunger pains :)
As for Caroline, she only got to do a little trick-or-treating tonight. Poor Caroline is still fighting that ear infection from two weeks ago! We had to take her back in on Tuesday as she had pink eye again and ear infections in both ears. The Dr. gave Caroline a medicine that didn't really agree with her little body and she ended up refusing to take it. We were back at the Dr. on Friday for another check. Her ears were still infected and they put her on a different med and said the next step would be to see the ENT since she has had so many infections within the last year. With all that said and with the rainy weather, we didn't keep her out too long. Plus she was totally ready for bed and was fast asleep by 7---now that sounds like a good night to me! :-)
The girls looked adorable in their costumes and better yet, these costumes were already paid for!!! Taylor was insistent that she be a PINK princess. Luckily we already had a "dress up" princess outfit that Taylor could use and Caroline wore the giraffe costume that Taylor wore two years ago. Hard to believe that it has been two years Taylor fit into it? Can you see the resemblance? I put a pink bow on the giraffe this year for Caroline. She totally didn't get the whole trick-or-treating thing but she still looked adorable as did her big sis all dressed in pink!

Taylor Halloween 2007

Caroline Halloween 2009

Caroline was definitely infatuated with the candy in the wrapper...

Not sure if we got a SINGLE one with both of them looking in same direction?!

End of Soccer Season

2009-10-28T10:30:00.000-07:00

This is several days behind schedule, but at least I did finally post something!!! Taylor had her last scocer game a week ago. I think she had a great time. We met some nice new friends (and their sweet parents too), the kids all ran around a lot, picked some flowers during the games (practice too!), visited the port-a-jon several times (NOT sure WHY that was a fascination!?), and even improved some soccer skills :)
Overall it was a great experience for all of us. I know Taylor had a good time and has been a little upset that the whole season is over.

Taylor wearing #1 on her jersey and so proud of her trophy!

Team United NUMBER ONE!!!

Market Week

2009-10-17T08:52:00.001-07:00

Twice a year I usually take a week of vacation from Polo to work the furniture market in High Point. It is great extra cash for us; like the bonus that I DO NOT get from Polo :)
It is definitely a stressful week at the house though since our schedules are all thrown off and I am not there to help out too much. I swear it seems like every time I work the market someone gets sick too. Last spring I came down with a nasty bug and then unfortunately this week Caroline has been sick. I started on Thursday working at the market and around 9 that morning I got a call from daycare. Caroline had pink eye in both eyes, an ear infection and one nasty cold that seemed like a bad sinus infection. Poor little girl. I felt awful as I just wanted to be with her while she was so sick. Fortunately Rob was able to take Thursday off from work to take Caroline to the Dr. and take care of her at home. We were so lucky that Rob's parents (Mimi and Popie) were able to help us out on Friday. Popie had lots of quality time with Caroline on Friday morning while Mimi was at work until 1 pm.
I got a funny email from Rob on Friday morning. He said Popie just called saying, "Caroline just pooped, how does this diaper thing work?!"
Everything and everyone seemed fine when we got home, so I know she was in good hands!
Thanks Popie and Mimi for helping us out and taking such great care of our little girl. I am sure she had a great time with you two and got lots of loving!

Go Team United!

2009-10-14T18:55:00.000-07:00

Taylor's soccer season is almost half way over so only a few more games to go. Here are team United's pictures. It was raining off and on the day of pictures so the photographer set up in the gym. I think this team photo is cute...not an easy task to get a group of 3-4 year olds to look at the camera and smile at the same time!

Just for fun…

2009-10-06T19:41:00.001-07:00

We don’t have too much to report. The girls are growing like weeds and keeping us entertained and on the go!

Taylor loving on Duke

This is Taylor’s old bike and she was “showing” Caroline how it is done :)

Caroline is super excited about this ride that was passed down from Taylor

Caroline is most definitely on the GO these days! She is a quick little thing and into everything too. She still only has four teeth but will eat anything you give her. We when out to eat last week with both sets of grandparents and we were all amazed at her appetite. She really enjoyed anything that was on Mommy’s plate…salad, mushrooms, broccoli, and the yummy crust of my veggie pizza. She isn’t saying too many words but she sure is trying to chat it up too. She squeals and yells a lot and is trying to communicate to us what it is she really wants. Although with going through the THREE’S with Taylor, Caroline might be learning that screaming from some of Taylor’s out bursts :) Taylor is discovering her independence and learning her boundaries with us. She is one smart little girl and likes to test her limits!

Taylor is learning so much at Village Kids. She came home a couple of weeks ago and spelled her name! We were so proud of her and she is very proud of herself as well. At soccer practice last week, I over heard Taylor telling her coach in the middle of a drill that she could spell her name and then off she went shouting it out!

I am also excited to know that I have a future shopper on my hands. We got the Pottery Barn kids book last week. Taylor sat in the kitchen thumbing through it and stopping at different pages and turning to me to say, “Mommy this is SOOO cute!” and “Mommy Caroline would be so cute in this little Halloween costume. Can we get it for her?” She went on and on. Of course I loved it but I don’t think Rob was too excited thinking about the future shopping trips with TWO girls!

Love my girls and my hubby too!!

Bird House

2009-09-20T18:36:00.001-07:00

This week at school a few parents came in to talk to Taylor’s class about their jobs. On Friday they talked with Aiden’s Mom and had a Home Depot kids workshop. They built their first bird house. They all got those cute orange aprons and then their very own bird house to take home and build. This weekend Rob and Taylor built hers and hung it up out in the back yard. Taylor was super excited about this project!

Great Saturday with the girls!

2009-09-19T19:24:00.000-07:00

Today was a busy day for us! Rob was lucky enough to go to the ECU/Carolina game although those Pirates let us down!! Taylor, Caroline and I had a full agenda. This morning Taylor had soccer pictures and her second soccer game. I am happy to report that the second game was 100% better than the first! Taylor did a a wonderful job during soccer pictures and was really excited about the game (I am not sure if it had anything to do with a little bribe I enticed her with this morning?!) I told her if she listened well all morning, smiled for the pictures and played the whole soccer game then we would get ice cream after the game. (Whatever works, right!)

Getting ready for pictures…

They are all paying close attention to what Coach Robbie has to say

Seriously looking back at these pictures I laugh even more. It is a funny sight to see 3-4 year olds playing an organized sport. I am not sure what little Ian is doing here (blonde hair little boy?)

A real ACTION shot!

Group huddle…GOOOOOO Team United!

Taylor got to be goalie in her soccer game for a little while and did a great job. I think she only let one goal get passed her. We keep telling the kids not to touch the ball with their hands so they are having a hard time understanding that they can actually use their hands though if they are in the goal…yes I guess that is confusing and especially for a three year old! Taylor liked the goalie position, although I think that might be because she could hang on the goal like a little monkey. I had to explain to her that it wasn’t a jungle gym and that she needed to pay attention. Overall she was fabulous the whole game and played the full 60 minutes!

Goalie…

Hey Taylor…You CAN touch and grab the ball as a goalie!

After the game, we had lunch with Grammy and PawPaw and then the girls and I headed to the grocery store. I normally go on Sundays and now I know why; that place is packed on Saturday afternoon! The girls were really well behaved though and that definitely made the trip easier. Taylor was even allowed to pick one prize on our way out. She chose these Tinkerbelle keys that look like regular car keys. I am not sure that was the best decision on my part as she kept asking if she could start the car with her new keys?! Oh goodness, I had to explain over and over again that those were just pretend keys and they should NEVER be used in Mommy or Daddy’s cars. Let’s hope that was noted and understood!! The girls and I came home and played outside with all the neighborhood kids until Rob got home. We had a great “girls day” but sure am glad that Rob is home now too!!

Guess who was blowing me kisses at dinner…

And playing Peek-a-Boo!

My Caroline who is not so petite any more and LOVES to eat!

So cute…

2009-09-18T18:37:00.000-07:00

Ms. Myniah who used to be both Taylor and Caroline’s teacher at Village Kids daycare is expecting her first child. We have all been waiting to find out if she was carrying a little boy or little girl that is due in January. She and her boyfriend found out on Friday and we are all so excited that she is having a little girl! Ms. Myniah decided to wear a white shirt that morning and once she found out the sex she put pink ribbons on her tummy. When I came to pick the girls up this afternoon she shared this story with me…Ms. Myniah went into Taylor’s class with her white shirt and pink ribbon on. Ms. Jessica (Taylor current teacher) asked Taylor what was in Ms. Myniah’s belly and of course Taylor responded “A Baby!” Then they told Taylor to look at the ribbon on Myniah’s shirt and tell them again what was in Ms. Myniah’s tummy. This time Taylor responded, “Oh it’s a baby Caroline!!!” So cute!

First Soccer game-Go United!

2009-09-13T18:31:00.001-07:00

Saturday was Taylor’s first soccer game. Their team name is UNITED and their jerseys are orange. The kids have practice one night a week and then a Saturday game. The first practice was three weeks ago and it was the first time I had seen Taylor SO SHY?! Seriously I was not sure who this little girl was out on that soccer field with her head down and her fingers in her mouth looking really shy. Taylor went out on the field but would not do anything. She barely even looked at her coach when he talked to her. About 30 minutes later they had snack and right after that Taylor was her old self! She was running around, kicking the ball and having a great time. She did the same thing at the next practice; again snack was the whole turning point! By the third practice Taylor started off the practice in full force. She did everything Coach Jose and Coach Robbie told them, she kicked the ball in the goal a couple of times and just had a lot of fun. I thought she was ready for the big game on Saturday. We got there and Taylor immediately started to hold onto Rob. She was acting really really shy?! She was not interested at all in putting on her orange jersey. (Good thing Coach Robbie had called and told us to wear an orange shirt since their jerseys came in and are SO BIG on the kids!) It took Taylor almost 30 minutes to warm up and finally make the decision to go on the field and play with her team. Once she started to play you could tell that she was having fun. I mean it was so darn cute to see these 3-4 year olds running up and down the field after the ball. Next time I will have to try and get a video of them.

See I am not sure when this whole finger-in-the-mouth thing started?!

Coach Robbie trying to give some direction to the kids

After game huddle…GO UNITED! No one won as neither team scored a goal; there are some great goalies :)

Ok so the kids totally did NOT get this whole hand shaking thing with the other team after the game.

Guess who is really excited that snacks are provided after the game!

A couple of the kids weren’t interested in sitting on the team blanket for snacks. There are usually 9-10 kids.

Sorry I know these pictures aren’t the best. Rob and I were trying harder to get Taylor to get on the field. Of course after the game, she was running all over the field and wanting to play…kids?!

One of Caroline….(Ellie too. She stayed with us all weekend and we had a blast. The girls all loved being with one another.)

Park

2009-09-07T19:13:00.001-07:00

This afternoon we went to the park with the girls. Most of the time Taylor and Rob rode their bikes and Caroline and I headed to the playground. She loved crawling/walking all around the play set.

I also had to show you her new shoes. I have never been a huge fan of the converse shoes for myself but think they are precious for the girls. I will have to try and get a picture of Taylor and Caroline in their matching shoes! Love them!!!

Caroline always has on the biggest smile right before AND right after a trip down the slide.

Happy 3rd Birthday Audrey

2009-09-07T19:06:00.001-07:00

On Saturday we went to the Children's Museum to celebrate Audrey’s third birthday. The girls had a wonderful time. Taylor was all over the place that I couldn’t keep up with her. This is really the only picture that I have of her and it’s certainly not a framer :) She seems very confused; I think she was telling us something and I caught her mid sentence. The past few weeks she has become SO CHATTY…I mean even more so than normal?! Taylor is usually telling us a story, telling us what she wants us to do (a little bossy!), or asking any and all types of questions! She has got some imagination these days too. She makes up all kinds of stories and plays a lot of “pretend” too. It is definitely a fun age but extremely challenging at times.

Audrey thank you for having us at your party. We loved your Princess party at the Museum!

Caroline really enjoyed the infant area at the Museum. She took a liking to this little boy too. I thought it was precious that he was kissing himself in the mirror…Caroline was fascinated!

Big Pool day!

2009-08-30T18:57:00.001-07:00

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...

2009-08-30T17:11:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-27T18:58:00.001-07:00

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!

2009-08-26T18:58:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-08-25T19:26:00.001-07:00

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!

2009-08-24T18:46:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-08-21T23:00:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-21T18:28:00.000-07:00

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.