Terriffic Threes!!

I cannot believe that I am writing another birthday blog for McKinley. It has been one quick year. This little girl is definitely a joy to have and to be around. She lights up a room with her fun personality. She is just happy to be wherever she is. McKinley does take a little bit to warm up to situations, but once she is confident she bounces all over the place. McKinley loves books and babies. She will spend long periods of time pulling books off her shelf and "reading" to herself. She also likes to retell a story to me by looking at the pictures. Her prized possessions are her baby dolls. She likes taking them with her everywhere. She enjoys pretending to take them to the doctor or putting them to bed. Her most favorite person is Abigayle. She adores her!!

Here are a few pictures that tell of her last year.

Hamming it up during our family pictures.

First Day of School

Decorating her pumpkin for Halloween.

Getting her Whoo Hair done.

Our resident Copy Cat!

Being adventurous with Daddy.

Enjoying beautiful Bluebonnets.

Being silly with best bud A.

Being Coy

Little Fashionista

Cosmetologist in training??

Being bashful with Bryn

Goofing off

More silliness during School pictures

My sweet McKinley!!! Your personality has really blossomed this last year. You were a girl of few words, and once your sister went to kindergarten you decided you either had to talk for yourself, or could finally get a word in. You were a joy to potty train. Once you were ready it was so easy and it was quickly mastered. You love playing with friends and are also perfectly content playing by yourself. You are a small girl in statue but have a giant personality. You are a girl who loves routine, especially at bedtime. You love reading books and saying prayers each night. You also think it's hilarious when you get into a fit of giggles. You've turned into quite the little shopper. You like going from store to store doing some major shopping. We love you dearly and thank God for you every day. I look forward to see how He continues to grow you into a Godly young lady.

59 more days or 31 weeks

This week Miss Caedance is the size of 4 navel oranges. And let me tell you I believe it. She is one active little girl. She is starting to not only keep me awake at night, but when I do finally go to sleep she wakes me up. I guess she's just preparing me =) According to my pregnancy app she is not only gaining weight, but putting on fat! That is extremely exciting to me. I LOVE fat babies, and yet I've never had a fat baby before. I love the ones that have the sumo wrestler look. You know where you can't see where the wrists and arms begin or end. We generally have long skinny babies. There is nothing wrong with them either, but a girl can hope for a little chunk.

I did go to the Doctor last week. The previous appointment she asked me if I felt as though my shots were helping. I didn't quite know how to answer that. How would I know if they were doing their job? She said that some women notice fewer Braxton Hicks. I wish this was the case for me. I don't have a ton of them, but they do happen about 3-4 times throughout the day. And of course they always go right over the fibroid cyst I have. That is super uncomfortable. Because Chris was leaving for Colorado she went ahead and checked for dilation. I have started dilating, but am only at 1cm right now. She said this did not concern her. There was no other signs of progress, so we'll see how I am at my next appointment (which is next week). She was so calm about this that I didn't feel like I needed to worry. And at this time last pregnancy I was already dilated to a 3. So, I'm clinging to that lack of progress =) The only disappointing thing that she said no to was we had thought about going to the beach with Chris' family next week. She was not to excited about this since I would only be a week or so away from when I had Aby. I was bummed, but did think about how uncomfortable the long drive to South Padre would actually be. So, we'll just plan on doing that next year.

This pregnancy has actually been neat because I know so many women who are pregnant too. There are 5 women on my street that will have fall babies. It's been neat to have a look into other pregnancies and how similar and different we all are.

Here I am with my close friend, Angela. She just had her sweet baby H yesterday. She of course is one beautiful little girl. I cannot wait to meet and hold her. I have to say that there has never been a time that I have been more jealous of Angela then right this second. =) This is definitely a catch 22. This is the last time I'll get to experience the lovely parts of being pregnant, but at the same time I am ready to be finished. If anything the delivery of baby H makes me realize that I really don't have that much longer. This is very exciting and "scary" at the same time.

Here I am with another one of my preggo buddies. Ali and I go waaaaay back. We are due within days of each other. It has been fun getting random texts from her and sending my own to her about how it's going. We finally got to meet up just a few weeks ago. She is having a sweet baby boy. I can't wait to see what his cute little face and personality will be like.

Despite the heat I'm feeling pretty good. This past weekend I put some loose ends of the nursery together and gathered a few more things that we were needing to complete our baby stash. I feel good about where we are, we are more than prepared. I just have bags to pack. And it may sound neurotic since I still have at least 7 weeks left til I'm full term, but I do that early so I'm not caught off guard. With Aby I wasn't prepared for a week long stay in the hospital, and I swore to never have that issue again. I've also felt the need to have everything set up and ready so I have nothing to worry about and can focus on moving into fall activities (such as school starting) and just hanging out with my 2 big girls!!!

Our 9th Anniversary

(This blog post is a few months overdue, but at least it's getting written.)

Back in March, Chris and I celebrated our 9th Anniversary. We decided to book a weekend away. We looked all over at different places, and we landed on the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine. What a fabulous choice that was.

We pulled up to the Resort and were blown away. When we got to our room they had set out a nice tray of speciality strawberries and a bottle of champagne. Obviously I was pregnant, so I got to toast to bubbling sprite =) There is a river that winds through the hotel and part of it was turned into the River Walk complete with a Mexican Restaurant. There were several shops to browse through and a variety of restaurants to choose from. One night we chose to eat at the steakhouse. They served the best steak I have ever eaten.

We spent time at the Grapevine Mall, watched a movie, and just hung out. Saturday night we hunted for a comedy club to go to. We ended up finding one that had GREAT reviews. The "club" was housed out of a hotel lobby. We were a little nervous about what we were getting into. We walked into the room and it was literally about the size of our hotel room. They packed about 30 of us into this room. Of course they sat us up close to the front. Which is fine, but the stage was so close to the front row that we could literally see up the comedians' nose. It turned out to be really fun. They cycled through about 15 different comedians. Some were really good, some not so much. But we had a great time.

Here we are on our balcony.

Views from our room.

Here is Chris hanging out as we wait on the doors to the Comedy Club to open.

It is amazing how I can remember our wedding day so easily, and all the emotions that were surrounding that day. How I thought that day would never come. And now it's been almost 10 years since that day. We've definitely been through a lot these last 9 years. We have experienced joy in the birth (even though both difficult) of our 2 precious girls and great excitement surrounding Caedy's birth, and sadness with the passing of several grandparents at once. We've experienced joy and relief in job changes and big life changes like moving to a new city. I am excited to see where God will take us as He completes our family of 5 in just a few short weeks, and then how He'll shape Chris and I as parents to take care of 3 sweet little girls. I'm enjoying the way God is molding Chris into the man he is as he is living out day to day who God created him to be. I'm very thankful for the last 9 years, and can't wait to see where we'll be in the next 9!

Showered with Love

This past Sunday my friends gave our family a baby shower. I was really looking forward to it and also was a little sad because I knew that it would be the last baby shower I'd have. (Please don't mistake this for me saying we are having more children after this one. I know for certain I am done. But there are a FEW things I'll miss)
My favorite party planner opened up her home (yet again) to throw another magnificent party. She did a very elegant Owl themed shower. It was just perfect. She goes through a lot of trouble when she throws parties to make sure that each event is perfect for the person she's throwing it for, and that each one looks completely different. Here are a few pictures of her set up.

This feathered friend held my favorite candy, chocolate almonds.

The 2 Big Sisters

Here I am with my super gorgeous friend, Angela. She is due any day now with a sweet baby girl that I am dying to meet. I have really enjoyed sharing pregnancy woes and accomplishments with her. We had to snag one last preggo pic together since this is her first one and my last ;)

We all dined over many appetizers, chicken salad and super yummy Tortilla Soup by the ever wonderful Pioneer Woman, prepared by my VAFF (Very Amish Friend Faith) You will see that she is not even close to Amish. She is just the most Amish person we know! =)

McKinley definitely enjoyed the orange icing off her cupcake.

I was soooo happy to get to spend time with my Bestie Lisa at the shower. We didn't get to be with each other during the last showers we each had since we were miles apart.

Sooo many sweet girls at this shower. (Cousins and Aby's bestie)

Here is the Hostess with the Mostess. Jenny is always up for a fun party at her house, and this was no exception. Big thanks goes out to her. She throws herself into every party she plans and it always comes out perfect!!!

(Jenny you should def use this picture for the cover of your book)

Me, Jenny, and Faith

These 2 keep me laughing all the time. And they most certainly make me step out of my comfort zone all the time =)

Marissa, Grace, and Lisa

Leasha (Chris' oldest Sister), Stephanie, and Lisa

My 2 "Old" Friends, Melinda and Val =)

HA JK

These two ladies are a hoot to be around

Aby and the 2 best Grandma's in the World!!!

My kids are soooo lucky

Gina, Alicia, Nell and Bonnie

Faith and her sweet youngest sister, Rachel.

Two of the sweetest lil girls in the world!! (Both wonderful big sisters)
I am in LOVE with this picture!

Angela, Brittany, and Alison!!!

Hannah (the best babysitter and my girls' "fake sister") and Eileen

The girls did a great job of sharing the responsibility of opening gifts.

Gomer was a great help. She had the job of picking out which present would be opened.

Caedy was definitely showered with lots of love and thoughtful gifts. There were a few handmade gifts that I just had to share. Mrs. Eileen made me a diaper bag which I LOVE and a cute purple dinosaur embroidered with her name on it. My wonderful friend, Jessica made a super soft purple hat (that I forgot to put in the grouping) and the owl you see there. And of course it matches the room perfectly. Lisa made a gorgeous poofy bow to match the outfit Caedy will come home from the hospital in. And Faith sewed and hand embroidery a sweet pillowcase dress with owls and her initial. These all had special touches that will always be treasured.

I left Jenny's after the shower was over the other night feeling very loved on and overwhelmed. I know that parents instantly feel that special love for their own child, but to physically be able to see and feel love for an unborn child from people who aren't blood family is still astonishing to me. It shouldn't be. These are the people that we choose to spend our lives with. These are the people that we chose to move from Temple to Georgetown to be closer to. And these are the people that love us and our children unconditionally. It truly is amazing to see and experience God's Kingdom here on Earth. And to think that all that feeling and emotion came from something as simple as a Baby Shower. =)

It was a perfect, last baby shower. Thank you all!!!

Independence and a lota fun!

We had a crazy-wonderful 4th of July this year. We started the morning off by heading down to Kerby Lane Cafe. We've never been there, and we had no idea what we were treating ourselves to! I can't believe that we've lived so close to this restaurant and have never been. We will definitely be going back in the near future =) Aby even said we needed to go back for regular food =)

Aby tried out their plain pancakes while Mac tried their Chocolate Chip. They both walked away with full bellies. I had the Lemon Poppy Seed pancakes that were to die for, and Chris tried a Mexican plate piled high with Migas and pancakes. None of us walked away with any excuse to not be full.

After a trip to REI and naps for everyone we headed over to our friends, the Phillips, House. They are the best party throwers. You never know if something will be blown up or caught on fire. We had no idea what type of entertainment we were in for =)

A water slide was rented for the kids, a kiddie pool was available, there was a giant sand pit and a trampoline and swing set. Of course the water slide was high jacked by adult men.

Here some of us are braving the heat and hanging out.

At one point a large portion of the kiddos wound up in the sand pit. They are of course also covered in water and mud. But they were having a ball.

Then the real entertainment began. The men decided to empty the kiddie pool and use it as a "sled" to go down the water slide. Now, these are not small men, and they all tried fitting in the "sled". How do you think this turned out?????

Is this what you thought???

Looks a little painful. But don't be mistaken. They were very proud of themselves and yes huddled around to watch the video =)

In the past we've made our way to Temple to watch fireworks with family. This year not many places were holding fireworks because of the drought. Georgetown did have some, but we knew it would be super crowded. So, we just decided to skip them this year. We could hear the booming from the house, but unfortunately couldn't see them. Chris did remember we had some leftover sparklers and he and the girls waved those around.

(if you are curious as to why Mac only has pj pants on it's because she informed us that she was going to sleep like Daddy sleeps that night =) Who knows where kids come up with the stuff they do!!!)

We definitely had a wonderful time hanging out together and with friends. I know Chris and I are super appreciative of all families who sacrifice and who have loved ones that sacrifice for us so that we can celebrate on days like this one. We are especially proud to be close friends with and to live life with several of these families.