Kaden's baptism

My nephew, Kaden, got baptized this last weekend...on Halloween! The poor kid ended up having to get dunked twice but was a real trooper. He's showing off his CTR bracelet in this picture here.

Halloween 2009

Landon as Optimus Prime.....look at those muscles!!!

Mackenzee as Princess "Auwowa" {Aurora} aka Sleeping Beauty :0)

Landon and Mackenzee anxiously waiting to go Trunk or Treating....

Checking out their loot....actually, Landon was trying to convince Mackenzee to trade her gum for his chocolate. I told her to take the trade...she totally got the better end of the deal. :0)

The kids had a great time trick or treating this year, and Jaysen and I were thrilled it didn't rain on us this year. I think I have eaten just as much of the candy as my kids have :0(

Now...Kenzee wants to know when Christmas will be here. Sigh....sooner than I'd like!!!!

Costume Parade

This year I knew that I couldn't be as involved in the class parties at Landon's school. As the years have progressed it seems like there is less time to put towards these kinds of things. This year I didn't sign up at all to help out with the Halloween party at Landon's school. I figured I could lend a hand during Christmas and Valentine's instead. Well....when Landon found out I wasn't going to be in charge of the party this year he was more than a little disappointed. {Which secretly made me feel REALLY good. I mean...come on...my FOURTH grader wanted me to come and hang out in his classroom STILL!!!!} He asked me if I would still at least come and watch him do his costume parade. How could I turn him down? The parade was at the same time as the class party, so I was able to sit in on a little bit and poke fun at all of his friends. Mackenzee came too {in her Dorothy costume}.

All of Landon's friends from his classroom {excluding girls....OF COURSE!}

What a handsome kid!!!!

Like last year, Landon was super excited to take Mackenzee with him as he paraded around the school. Mackenzee ate up the attention, and I think Landon enjoyed showing off his sister too. :0)

Our neighbor Whitley was in the parade too....isn't she a scary witch?

Genea dressed up as a witch this year too...

I don't know what's more scary....Landon's "gun" {he was pretending his hand was a gun}, or Mackenzee's finger up her nose....

It was a fun afternoon for all of us. I am still beaming over Landon wanting me to be a part of his school activities. I figured by now he'd be embarrased to have me hang out with him. Instead, he made sure all of his friends knew that I was his mom. I've still got the title "Landon's mom".....FOR NOW anyway. :0) I'll take it as long as I can get it!

Halloween dance party!!!

Mackenzee's dance class has a new policy this year where parents are only allowed to watch their kids practice on the last class of each month. This is so that hopefully the kids will actually pay attention to their teacher instead of show off for their mommies. :0) For the month of October the girls learned a Halloween dance to show the parents on the last class of the month. Kenzee was so excited to show off her wicked dance moves. The first half of class was for dancing...the last half was for a short Halloween party. This was the first time I let Kenzee put on her Halloween costume...

This is her dancing to their Halloween song "Witches Brew"....it was really cute and the girls had so much fun doing it in their costumes. {A lot of princesses in that room....let me tell ya!}

Here are all the girls in their Halloween costumes, including Miss Amanda {the teacher}.

Amazingly Mackenzee and Maggie showed up wearing similar costumes. :0) Pink and gold!!! Although Mackenzee was Sleeping Beauty and Magge was Barbie. Gotta love it!

The Gun Show...

I have been wanting a punching bag for a while now...
I know...random...
Anyway, after months of poking at Jaysen he finally consented to the expense. :0) He even bought me some boxing gloves to go with it. Nice huh?

Don't I look so fierce? I'm hoping to not only let off some steam with this baby...but to maybe get some actual muscles in my arms. It could happen.....

The kids were so excited about it too. :0) They had so much fun punching and kicking at it. They even went so far as to get their winter gloves on to pretend they were boxing gloves. {BTW...Landon does not usually wear his pants inside out....it was for Red Ribbon Week}

I don't know if you can tell from this picture...but Landon is flying through the air. :0) He had some good kicks going on....of course, when he asked me if I would do a double kick for him I didn't back down from the challenge. Unfortunately....I'm not as quick as I thought I could be and I totally biffed it. Did you know there was concrete underneath this carpet???? Yeah....my tailbone was bruised for a few days afterwards. So much for trying to be cool for my kid...

Mackenzee needs to grow a few more inches in order to kick the actual punching bag...but she sure did try her hardest anyway. She's got some mean punches in her though. :0) Do you see her pink boxing gloves???

(October 2009)

Happy Birthday Mackenzee!

My baby turned four this year. It's crazy how fast time goes by...
Because Mackenzee is obsessed with the color pink, it seemed only fitting for her to have a Pinkalicious birthday party. What is Pinkalicious you ask?

This book is one of Mackenzee's very favorite and she can tell you the whole story word for word. :0)

The storyline is that this little girl eats too many pink cupcakes and ends up turning pink herself. At first the girl is thrilled that she is so pink, but after being diagnosed with 'Pinkititis' she is forced to eat lots of green things to make the pink go away.

Of course this meant we all needed to eat lots of pink cupcakes too. Thankfully, nobody turned pink at the party. :0)
Adara, Mackenzee, Maggie, Meili, Ambree, and Lili

Of course, her favorite part about her birthday this year was that she got a big girl bike. She is now a professional bike rider and, if given the opportunity, will ride off into the sunset. :0)

Happy Birthday Kenzee! We love you so much!

(October 12, 2009)

Dance

Mackenzee started back up in dance classes this September. She has been so excited to have her best friend, Maggie, in class with her this year. Of course, they now have to be separated in class because they talk too much about their dance outfits....but at least they're together right???

Mackenzee has a new teacher this year too. I think she was worried about it at first because she loved Miss Cassia so much last year. But, Miss Amanda is so much fun and Mackenzee has warmed right up to her.

We were also surprised to find out that Mackenzee's friend, Libby, is also in her class. It's like a party every week for her now. :0)

She tells me that she can't wait to get on the stage again with all the lights and dance for everyone....

Definitely a dancing queen!