First Ponytail

Yes, I grow up wearing these big, huge bows in my hair and always told myself that when I had kids I would never do that to them. Well, I guess I was wrong, because I love putting pretty bows in both kids hair to match their outfits for the day. So, of coarse, I couldn't wait until McKenna got enough hair for me to do something with. She still doesn't have a ton of hair, but it's enough for me to do something with.

 

It's not much of a ponytail, but it's something and I think it's down right adorable!! She's such a cutie!!

 

 

 

5 Years

Courtney and I just celebrated our 5 year anniversary and even though at times it can be hard being married to a military man, I wouldn't change any of it. He is my best friend, and I know that on my hardest days, Courtney is going to be by my side no matter what. I am very thankful to be on this journey of life with him, that I am sure of.

 

Now, Courtney and I have never been big into giving each other presents for holidays, anniversaries, etc. Even before we had kids, we were never big on gift giving, just cards to express the special event. So, I was incredibly shocked when Courtney came home on our anniversary with a present for me. I wasn't expecting anything other than a card, so seeing him carry a bag inside kind of brought tears to my eyes, not going to lie, even though I had no clue what it was.

 

So, after getting the girls to chill out a bit, they get excited once daddy walks through the door, I sat down and opened my present. To my shock it was a new camera, a Canon EOS Rebel T3i. I have been wanting a new camera for a long time now and recently started looking around. I never thought my husband would be walking in the door, surprising me with one. I was in total shock but so excited to be able to start taking some awesome new pictures of my girls and our animals of coarse.

 

So here are some of the pictures that we've taken throughout the last few days with our new camera

 

 

I can't believe how beautiful these pictures turned out. It's amazing what a difference a new camera can do for your pictures!! I'm in love and can't wait to play around even more with my new camera.

 

Tea Party

On any given day, both the girls are going from here to there around the house playing around. So, when McKenna finally decides to go down for a nap, McKaila usually just wants to relax and watch a movie with mommy. But on this day I had something special planned for my oldest little girl during her sisters nap time.

A TEA PARTY

I had everything laying out for her that morning when she woke up, but I told her that we couldn't have our tea party until her sister fell asleep. She was very excited and through out the morning, she kept asking if it was nap time yet. And once McKenna did fall asleep, she was right there putting everything on the ground so we could have our tea.

 

Our tea was just water and we had a little snack to go with our tea, vanilla wafers. McKaila would pour our "tea" for us when our cups were empty and offer snacks when our plates were no longer full.

 

Can't wait for our next tea party Bug

Grandpa and Grandma Nancy

This past weekend was full of lots of family time because we were lucky enough to have some visitors, Courtney's dad and step mom, aka Grandpa and Grandma Nancy.

 

All McKaila could talk about leading up to the weekend, is Grandpa and Grandma Nancy. She loves when they come and play with her, especially Grandpa because he'll go out back and push her on the swings and watch her go down the slide over and over again. But, now that we have a trampoline, the last thing she wanted to do was go out and play on the play ground, she wanted to jump.

 

McKenna also enjoyed her grandparents. I believe this is the first time that McKenna wasn't so clingy to her mommy and was able to enjoy playing with her sister and grandparents. Grandpa and Grandma Nancy were really shocked at how much she's grown in such a short time. We went to visit them in San Antonio right before Christmas and McKenna was just starting to roll over, now she's cruising all over the furniture and crawling every where.

 

It was also great for Courtney and I, because the grandparents watched the girls while we could go out and enjoy some adult time together. I love my girls dearly, but it was nice to enjoy a nice dinner without the girls trying to take our food or with either one of them on our laps. We enjoyed an amazing lunch at Half Shell Oyster House in downtown Biloxi. It was great to get out and enjoy some time with out the girls, but after a few hours of being away from them, no matter what I'm doing, I'm very eager to get back to them.

 

Besides playing with the girls, Grandpa and Grandma Nancy got to attend McKaila's soccer game, which wasn't much of a game because no one decided to show up and plus it was pretty chilly for the kids, so the kids just ran around and kicked the ball. On Sunday, it was really nice, so we decided to show them the Biloxi Visitors Center and walk along the beach.

It was great to have the grandparents here and it's always too short, especially in McKaila's eyes. Luckily, they live a lot closer to us now, then ever before, so I'm sure they'll be more visits, with them coming here and us traveling to San Antonio.

Valentines Day 2014

Happy Valentines Day!!

 

The girls are spoiled by their Grandma and Papa and Valentines Day is no different. A couple days before Valentines Day, the girls received packages in the mail from Grandma and Papa, along with packages from Great Grandma Holtgeerts.

 

Normally, I would wait for the girls to open their presents until the day of, but McKaila wanted to open hers so badly, that I caved in and let them open them.

 

 McKenna's first Valentines Day

 

First Soccer Game

For the past month, every Wednesday evening they have soccer practice. Most of the time, practices are only about a half hour because it's been too cold and windy for the little ones to be outside, but they still enjoy kicking around the ball and just running around. There is not much you can do other than have some fun when it comes to 3 and 4 year olds.

Time for practice

 

This past Saturday was McKaila's first soccer game. It was technically the second soccer game of the season, but last weekend, McKaila was still fighting a cold, and with it still being chilly outside, I didn't want to risk it getting any worse.

 

McKaila was really excited for her first soccer game. It's all she could talk about with the days leading up to it. That's how it was last week too and was really bummed when I told her she was too sick to go. The morning of her soccer game, she was very anxious to get her new uniform on and go kick around her pink soccer ball.

 

Once getting to the soccer fields, McKaila seemed like she was all ready to get in there and do some business. She started warming up by kicking the ball around with daddy and scored some goals. Once game time came around though, she wasn't too impressed. She started out really good, but once someone tried to kick the ball away from her, she had enough. Courtney would try and talk to her and get her to go get the ball, but she wasn't having it. She would go for it if it would come near her, but if not she just stood there. Oh well, hopefully in time she will get over that and have a little more fun with it. They have games until the end of March, so she has plenty of time to start understanding the game a little bit more.

9 months old

McKenna Grace

9 months old

Weight: 20.2 lbs

Height: 29 inches

 

 

 

These last 9 months have gone by so fast and I expect that the next few months leading up to McKenna's first birthday is going to be just as fast. It feels like in a blink of an eye, McKenna has grown so much. She started crawling and pulling herself up on everything she could. And she talks so much. Mostly just dada and baba, but she'll say it over and over again, even though it's not mama, I still love hearing her little voice.

Now that McKenna has been on the move, she is every where and any where. She loves to follow her big sister where ever she goes and most of the time, McKaila really enjoys that. McKenna and McKaila's favorite thing as of lately is playing with the kitchen set. They could spend all day playing with the play food while McKaila asks McKenna to try what she made. I just love how well they play with each other.

 

A part of me is sad on the inside, that McKenna has become a little independent now that she is mobile. She used to be all about wanting her mommy. Now, she just wants to play. Even though it's sometimes hard to see my little baby growing up and becoming her own little person, it's nice for me because I don't have a baby at my hip while I'm trying to prepare lunch, dinner or anything really. McKenna still will follow me from room to room, but as soon as McKaila says "McKenna, come play" she turns around and crawls over to her sister.

 McKenna is going to be that kid that has to have her blankie with her and I love it

We had to purchase McKenna a new car seat because she was getting to big for her other one. I think we can say that the new car seat is a hit with McKenna!

 

 

McKenna Grace is one happy baby and her smile brightens up the room and will make anyone passing, smile back. She's a cutie with lots of love to give and I feel so honored to be able to call myself her mommy.

 

McKenna Grace

I love you yesterday, today and tomorrow too