9 months!

A letter to our girl:

Mackayla, at 9 months, you are still such a happy baby! The only time you fuss is when we're not fast enough with your food, or if you need a clean diaper. Of course, if you had it your way, you'd never wear a diaper! You love being naked, and laugh when you play the drums on your tummy. Your favorite playmate is still your big sister, Mackenzie. Even in the middle of a cry, her face or voice makes you stop and smile. You are sleeping 10-12 hours every night, in your room. You love Rafi, your stuffed giraffe that keeps watch over you while you sleep. You are the easiest kid in the world to put to bed. After your bedtime diaper change and bottle, we simply put you in your crib, hand you Rafi, turn on your music and humidifier, tell you we love you, and walk out of the room. We don't hear a peep from you until the next morning. You take several small naps during the day. Lately Daddy has been working 12 hour shifts, so your Grandma Joyce has been taking care of you and Mackenzie in the afternoons while Mommy works, too. You both love going over to her house. You went to your first movie a few days ago, to see "The Princess and The Frog". You sat in your stroller and talked to yourself and chewed on your socks during the first 20 minutes, and then slept through the rest, waking up just in time for the credits. You don't like solid food yet--anytime you taste something you don't care for, you gag until you throw up. Mommy doesn't like that so much! You are definitely an old pro at sitting on your own now, and scoot on your bottom a little. Soon we know you'll be crawling, but for now you are content to scoot or roll to get where you want to be. You are saying "Da-Da" more clearly, and love to sing and dance in the car---I think you like Miley Cyrus the best! My favorite thing you do is something you've done for the past 6 months. Whenever you are being held, all I have to say is "Bonk", and you lean in and bonk foreheads with me!!! It is the cutest thing, and makes us both laugh. A few days ago you were in your Jump-a-Roo and wanted out. When I picked you up, you grabbed my face and bonked me, and then wouldn't let go. That was one of the sweetest hugs I've gotten. You are also shaking your head, which cracks all of us up. I can't believe 9 months has gone by. Happy 9 month birthday, sweet girl!

Kristen's 5th Birthday!

On a cold, windy Saturday we celebrated Miss Kristen's 5th birthday! She is an awesome kid, with awesome parents that I'm glad to count as my friends. It was a combined party; Kristen's 5th birthday, and her cousin, DJ's 6th birthday. It was a costume party. Well, since I couldn't find Phineas or Ferb costumes, Snow White was the next choice.

The kids played several games. Here they are doing the limbo!

Two proud papas with their sons. Ooops, one of them is only dressed up like a boy!

Mackenzie loved pretending she had a little brother. Hmm, maybe one day!
Having a blast during the dancing contest :-)

Sweet girls (the only pic I got of Kenzie and Kristen together!)

Kenzie dancing her butt off!

Happy Birthday, DJ and Kristen!!!

My little boy and my princess!!! (Kenzie was not happy--I'd just told her it was time to go!)

Kenzie and Dorian, Kristen's little brother

PARTY!

Miss Katie's 5th birthday party was on a rainy, cold Friday night, but we all stayed warm keeping up with the kids at Chuck E. Cheese's.

Michael, Jennifer, Kyle, and Katie (and baby #3 on the way!)

Jennifer is one of my best friends--we've been friends over half our lives!!!!

Happy Birthday, Katie!!

Let the games begin!

I just had to throw this one in of my hot hubby!

Whee! On the roller coast with her favorite guy!

This is one of my favorite shots of Mackayla. I adore the face and hand gestures she's making. She was so happy, and grinning non-stop.
Silly girl :-)
Of course we had to do the "cheesy" photo booth!

Kenzie, with her current photo smile.

Me and my sweet monkey!

(Geez, what kind of smile is THAT, Kenzie?!)

Last, but definitely not least, me and the love of my life. :-)

Gymnastics

Kenzie is still really enjoying her gymnastics class. She is doing very well, and getting more confident with each class.

This is what Mackayla does every Tuesday morning for an hour. There are a few other siblings of Mackenzie's classmates, and she loves watching them play, too.

Kenzie on the high beam. When she first started, she wouldn't let go of Ms. M's hands, and she would hold on so tight, you could see her hands turn white (from the observation room!). Now, she walks with very light support (which is mandatory for the 4 year old class). Oh, and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the hand on her hip!!!!

Jumping :-)

On the low beam, jumping over sporadically spaced obstacles.

Working on the bar.

Music and floor time (complete with drumsticks).

Jon's (not so much) fun adventure

At the end of January, Jon had his annual car accident. Just kidding, but in the last 4 years, he has had 3 January wrecks! This was by far the worst. On a Friday night, I was at work, the girls were at my mom and dad's, and Jon was on his way home. He was on a two-lane, in a no-passing zone. Someone, going the opposite direction, decided to pass the car in front of them. They got in Jon's lane--headed for a head-on collision. Jon had to swerve off the road to keep from getting hit, and ended up plowing into an abandoned car on the side of the road. Of course, the person who caused the accident didn't stop, but thankfully Jon wasn't hurt--nothing that a chiropractor can't work on, anyway! The man whose yard was housing the abandoned car happened to be outside when it happened, so we had a witness who was able to corroborate Jon's story for the police. Jon called me, and I went to the accident site to pick him up, and we watched them tow his car away. We have an awesome insurance company (GO NATIONWIDE!) who covered our rental completely until the claim was closed, paid off the car (IN FULL!!!!!) and they were really great to work with. We are really blessed that Jon wasn't hurt, and that the girls weren't with him that night.

I can't stand looking at these pictures--he really could have been hurt worse!

Playing catch-up!

A quick recap of January 2010:

Jon found an awesome vacuum cleaner (ours had bitten the dust) and surprised me with it one night when I got home from work! It took me a second to see the vacuum, because of this sweet girl hiding with it in the closet!

Mackayla, again, doing what she does best (she IS my kid, you know!).

At the World of Wheels in Atlanta.

Mackenzie and Olivia at the World of Wheels.

After the World of Wheels, two tired little girls!

One NOT so tired little girl.

"Ma, come on, stop it with the camera already!"

Another day, we went to a local jumpy place and had it completely to ourselves. We stayed for over 2 hours, and I did an impromptu photo shoot (This is where I took the photo on the top of the blog).
Kenzie really got into posing, even though I was aiming for natural shots. I guess I'll take what I can get!

This one doesn't even have to be told what to do when she sees the camera!
Again with the posing!
More cheesing.

Trying something new :-)

Since I have such a hard time uploading videos to Blogger, I have started uploading them to YouTube. Here is a cute video of Mackayla. I'm not sure if I'll continue to do it this way, but here goes!