Chase

This is McKenna's new favorite game and the reason she can't wait for Daddy to come home every night.

"Here Ducky, Ducky"

Picnics with a Happy Meal in hand are the best!
And they're even better when you get to hang out with your brother and about a hundred ducks!

I thought that black one was going to get her, but he didn't! Thank goodness!

Christian had to tell me the story about how Nathan fell in this duck pond over and over again. He was even about to reenact it at one point. I'm glad I can laugh about that story now because it sure wasn't funny at the time.

And yes, McKenna did say "Here ducky, ducky" over and over and over again. She LOVED feeding those ducks.

Desperation

You know things are getting bad when all the sudden your baby doll's binkie seems appealing. Ha!
She might look happy here, but it's been a little rough giving up the binkie. She seems to get frustrated very easily these days and we've had lots of major discipline issues the past several days. And that's just not like my McKenna. Usually she's the easy one. So this is a hard transition, but I haven't given in even once! I'm proud of her. I know she can do this. And next up she'll be moving to a big girl bed. And then potty training again (...we gave up on that because of some medical "issues" she was having). She might not like "big girls" but she's becoming one!!

"Finkle, Finkle"

My McKenna

McKenna being silly!

McKenna just started talking baby talk. It's so annoying. I'm not quite sure what to do to get her to stop, so I just ignore it. I've addressed it a couple of times but it didn't do much good, so I let it go. We took away the binkie last Friday. And Friday was a very bad day. She was so upset that she hit me several different times, which made for some very sad times for her. Not fun. But she's doing great now. We are still letting her have it at bedtime, because I'm selfish and like my sleep. But we'll get there. It's huge for her not to have it in the car or when she sits on the couch and watches TV. She loved that binkie sooo much. But she's being a big girl about it, even though she tells me daily that she doesn't like big girls.

Nate "The Fearless Wonder!"

The following events took place at my Aunt Betty's house on the bay, last weekend! Enjoy!

I think the last one is my favorite!!!

Treasured Moments

My Aunt Betty is in her late 80s and has a beautiful home on the water, just off the Cheapeake Bay! Our extended family got together for a party at her house this past weekend.
And McKenna was so sweet. She came over to me and said "I want to sit with my friend" and she pointed to my Aunt Betty. So I sat her on Aunt Betty's lap and she sang songs with her and talked to her and hugged her and I even heard her tell Aunt Betty that she loved her. I just about cried because I could see God using my little two year old to share His love with my precious widowed aunt. It's totally uncharacteristic for McKenna to sit in the lap of a complete stranger and love on them, which made it all the more sweet!

Marriage

Christian: Can I get married when I'm fifteen?
Me: I think you can get married when your 25.
Christian: Okay. Do I get to pick who I want to marry?
Me: Yes, you get to pick. Mommy and Daddy don't decide that.
Christian: You don't??? Wow...I can pick anybody I want to marry?
Me: Well, sort of.
Christian: I'm going to marry Abby! (Keep in mind, she's a cousin...not going to happen).
Or maybe I'll marry Kya or Kiki (girls from church). Or maybe Emma, but I'll bet she's going to get married before me since she's older. Or maybe Hannah or Elizabeth (cousins again). I know, I'll marry McKenna!
Me: Good choice buddy!


And that was the end of our first conversation about marriage! Hilarious!

My 2 Year old...The daredevil

Who would have thought that McKenna would love Carnival rides! We started her out on something rather tame, just to test her, and she LOVED it! She's riding with her cousin Elizabeth in this picture!
And here's Christian and Hannah (with Elizabeth and McKenna in the background).

Of course, it hasn't rained for weeks and it started raining about 5 minutes after we got to the carnival. ((sigh)) So we did three rides and then headed home.

Christian and Elizabeth (The girls are my brother's twins! Aren't they adorable?!)

McKenna and Hannah

And then we put them all on a mini-roller coaster!

Elizabeth and Christian were thrilled!!!

Hannah and McKenna liked it once they got going!

It was a fun night, even though it was short. Christian really wants to go back again, so we'll see! He was a really brave boy at the dentist this morning!

You can pretty much assume....

... that when there is a lack of blogging during the summer that it's probably because there are extra kids at my house. This week it's 2 little blond headed twins! We love having cousins come to visit. Nothing better than lots of laughing and a messy house. Okay, I could do without the messy house, but we are having fun. Yesterday we did some painting, swam in the pool and had a special movie night. And this afternoon there's lots of excitment about the carnival tonight! Yippee!
I've got to go. A "show" is about to start on the fireplace hearth! Complete with fake microphones and three little girls singing. I can't miss this!!

From my yard

Kindness

We were in Target today.
The disobedience was rampant.
Meltdowns were happening right and left.
I do believe that there was a five year old who actually threw himself on the floor kicking and screaming.
The two year old kept taking off her shoes and throwing them (until I took them away).

It was not pretty.
If you looked closely you might have seen steam pouring out of my ears.
It was all I could do to keep control.

But I was not going to leave.
Disobedience doesn't win.
I was going to get what I came for if it killed me.

In the process Christian lost his Wii privileges for the day.
Then he lost his four wheeler privileges for the day.
Then I even took away Tom and Jerry (his favorite show).
All the while I knew I was punishing myself more than I was punishing him.

And there was this sweet older lady who kept crossing our path.
I felt embarassed everytime I saw her.
And then she stopped me and told me that I was doing a good job.
She said it made her happy to see me being firm with my kids and she said she hoped I followed through and didn't let my son have his Wii or his 4 wheeler or his favorite show.

I think she had been stalking us :) since she knew every single thing that I was dishing out as punishment.
But I was so thankful for her words.
They made the lies satan had been whispering to me about what a lame parent I was disappear.
So thankful that dear lady spoke some truth into my heart at just the moment I needed it.
And she helped me stick to my resolve! NO Tom & Jerry or Wii or 4 Wheeler!!!!

And the next time I see a mom about to have a melt down right along with her kids I'm going to do my best to speak some truth into her heart too!

Too funny not to share

Okay, this story took place over a month ago at Christian's preschool graduation, but I just had to share. I mainly want this recorded so I don't forget and it's definitely one of those stories that could be shared at his wedding one day just to embarrass him.

The night before preschool graduation we were at my parent's house. I was helping my dad with a few things and before we knew it, it was past 9:00pm. I knew we wouldn't have time for baths when we got home, so my mom gave the kids a quick bath at her house. She sent Christian home in a big t-shirt since she didn't have a change of clothes for him. When he got home he put on some pjs and went straight to bed.

The next morning we were in a hurry!!! I laid out Christian's clothes and he got dressed by himself. We were out the door and arrived at the program just as Grandmom and PopPop were getting there. Christian found his seat in the front and Ryan arrived just as the program was starting.

Christian was thrilled to have a whole row of people there to support him and when he went up on stage he kept looking at us (not his teacher) and he kept wiggling around. He kept "adjusting" his pants and quite frequently put his hands down his pants. I was about to crawl under my seat. What I really wanted to do was run up on stage and tell him to keep his hands out of his pants, but I couldn't really do that during the program. Then a light bulb went off in my head and it occurred to me that he might not be wearing underwear.

A few whispers down the row confirmed that my mom did not put underwear on him the night before because she didn't have any. She figured I would put it on him at bedtime, which I did not. I didn't know he didn't have underwear on so I also didn't lay out any for him to wear on the morning of the program. Now you would think that a four year old would realize that he was missing his underwear, but not my son!

So instead of listening to Christian's sweet singing voice during the program, I was mentally willing him to please keep his hands in appropriate places. Ugh!!! Only I would put my son up on stage in front of a crowd of people with no underwear on! It was not one of my finer moments. Hopefully all the other parents were too busy watching their own kids to notice what my kid was doing!

And next year, I will be doing an underwear check before leaving for any event which requires Christian to be on stage!

The end.

Well that was a fun fourth!

Happy 4th of July!!

Guess what we're so excited about????!!!!! It's the fourth of July, which mean TNT Fireworks! Yippeee!!!
Look how much fun it is to buy TNT Fireworks!!!

I mean seriously...this stuff is amazing!

Even little girls can find a pink firework among all the big scary stuff.

Check out that grand finale!!

Yahoo!!! 4th of July here we come!