The McPherson Family

Portraits

2012-01-29T20:40:00.001-05:00

The girls and I went to Richmond this Saturday to visit Mimi and to do a little shopping. While we were there, we took the girls to get their pictures taken. I have been remiss in getting ANY pictures of the three girls to document this fall/winter...so, Mimi was able to fit us in on the schedule at a local photography studio. I will say, despite the antics of a particular, strong-willed two year old (who will remain nameless....), the pictures turned out pretty decent. I did throw in some out-takes just to show you what the poor photographer was up against....oh me oh my...everyone say an extra prayer for me tonight

there must have been a spot on that clean, white backdrop...there must have been...

oh yes, the return of the "cheeeeeeese"

little miss bright-eyes sitting up for the camera (with a little help from the pillow:)

heeeeeey pwecious:) - as Kendall says every day when we get MC up from nap

my smiley little beanstalk

yes, yes she did

there we go....thats 1 for the photographer....100 for Kendall

peek-a-boo

sweet big sister. She was so good at posing the way she was told:)

yes, we had lots of appearances from the tongue...she must have thought it was her best side...

MC is trying to escape the craziness but is trapped on all sides:)

no, we'd never make it through a photo shoot without Kendall sucking her thumb and trying to rub MC's head...MC was just too quick for Kendall this time;)

Okay, the younger two were done...Kendall was done the moment the photographer came in...

Talk to the hand girl, don't touch the head;)

smiley

happy happy girl

you would never know she was just crying her eyes out a second before this picture...she amazes me!

Okay, not so successful on group shots, but I think we did pretty well on individuals. Good thing we are scheduling out door shots for the spring! Hopefully Kendall will have calmed down enough to at least be kind to the photographer!! Whew...Mimi and mommy are exhausted!

Kendall is 2!!

2012-01-22T19:45:00.001-05:00

Kendall celebrated her 2nd birthday this past Friday....where has the time gone??!! I can't believe she is already 2 (even though she's been in her "trying 2's attitude" for awhile now!). We have loved watching Kendall grow and learn. She and Alley are complete opposites in almost everyday...including looks!

Here the girls are before the party. They made a boat/bus/house with their chairs, blankets and stuffed animals...it was so cute to hear them play. They were actually playing nicely...no fights, yelling, or anything for close to 30 minutes. It was amazing...I was even able to have a very pleasant shower without having to deal with their shenanigans:)

K being cheesy and just plain cute:)

this was the best shot I could get with Kendall in her birthday shirt and smiling...I know, she's a tough cookie;) She's in her "boat" and way to occupied for a photo break

As you could see by Kendall's shirt, we had a Minnie Mouse themed party. She looooves Mickey and Minnie...oh heck, she loves the whole Mickey Mouse gang. Just ask her to sing the intro song to the Disney show, Mickey Mouse clubhouse. It's just so darn cute..."Mickey Mowse, clubhouse....". Anyway, here are the cupcakes we had for the party...quite delicious:)

a close up with Kendall drooling in the background. She was super pumped about the cupcakes, having pizza and she could not keep her hands out of the veggie tray and the popcorn bowl...she's a mess!

Excitedly waiting on the pizza and "friends"

hanging out on her new see-saw...let me tell you, little see-saw has been in time-out a TON over the past three days...we might need to give it a break and put it in the shed until spring arrives...hopefully by then the girls will be sharing slightly better...oh who are we kidding!! we'll just put it up until they can fight outdoors;)

let's take a birthday pause and check out these two cuties! Our good friends are in the process of adopting this handsome little boy and we are just totally in love with him:) As is MC...they are almost 3 months apart and seem to be very interested in each other's hands and faces. Check out MC's soaking wet arm and red marks next to her mouth...she is really in to sucking on her arms and it's causing a rash next to her mouth....oh well...

MC wanting to get a better view of Kam, of course Kam is like, "woman, get off me..." ;)

Kam wondering if MC's arm is as good as she claims it to be...or, Mc saying, "dude, talk to the hand..." ;)

Okay, back to our regularly scheduled program...PAAARTY!

We all started singing Happy Birthday...including Kendall

Her face when she heard everyone else singing with her

Her face when she heard everyone sing her name...she thought it was the best! I don't think she realized everyone was really singing to her:)

Digging into her cupcake

she would not let go of her candle...even while eating

What a great evening with friends and family. We love our little spit-fire!!

Granny's Birthday Party

2012-01-15T14:03:00.000-05:00

This weekend the girls and I traveled to Richmond to celebrate my grandmother's 89th birthday. Andy just so happened to be gone this weekend, so we were able to spend some much needed (and enjoyed) time with Mimi and Papa.

Alley and I received an invitation to Granny's birthday earlier this week and that has been ALL Alley has talked about. She kept reminding me that she was invited to the party and not Kendall and MC. On a side note, she thought it would be fun to hide from Granny and then jump out and yell "Surprise, Happy Birthday!"...hmmmm, not really a great idea for this party;) Too cute though.

Friday FINALLY arrived and we all traveled to Richmond. MC and Kendall got to spend the afternoon with Papa and Uncle "Booce". They got to experience Kendall in full form as well;) Papa had seen it before, but Bruce got the full effect! All the while, us "ladies" were having a wonderful tea party. A few of granny's friends came from Farmville to help celebrate this wonderful occasion. A wonderful time was had by all!

Alley did so well at this party. Mimi had a princess coloring packet as a party favor for her and she was in heaven! Here's my big girl getting ready for the party

the birthday girl and her HUGE eclair "birthday cake"...it was so big that she split it was another of the party guests.

Mimi, Granny and little Alley

4 generations

we were sitting near some decorative hats and Alley was just itching to try one on. So, I decided that if she was going to do that, then I should at least get a picture of her in one. This was the least decorative one..of course I didn't get a picture of her in the others...ugh!

when you're stuffed from lunch, what better thing to do (especially when you can't just lay out and nap...) then to color!;)

Thanks for including us Granny in your wonderful celebration! We love you!!

School spirit

2012-01-12T08:41:00.000-05:00

Here's my little model and her new HSC dress. She was super proud to wear this dress and decided that she needed to have a little fashion show...more like dance party with a little sass;)! Here she is with her dress and home-made crown. (Yes, this a numbers line she made at school that she felt would be the PERFECT crown...so resourceful!). Anyway, check out this pose....

Crates and dresses

2012-01-06T14:35:00.000-05:00

Apparently we have new uses for the stackable crates in our house....

I walked into the living room to find this set-up...she must have been using her pterodactyl voice and the sisters got scared and caged her up;)

now THIS is really what should be happening;). THIS child needs the confinement.

Another use 9which I like a whole lot better)...lounge chairs for reading...thata girl;)

I love Pinterest. I am a huge Pinterest follower and have enjoyed seeing the many projects and things out there that people are trying. Upcycling is one of those "new" trends. So, I decided to give it a go. Here are three upcycle projects I did yesterday....

Excuse the attitude of the model...apparently I wasn't photographing her good side;)

This was on old beach shirt that just fit a little too snug on me (sniff, sniff). It was the perfect length for K, so I turned it into a summer play dress.

Front

Back

With having 3 little girls, you are bound to have duplicates of items. For us, it's pink shirts...I mean, who would have thought;) Anyway, I had a spare pink shirt and some extra fabric from a dress project I did last year, so I made a t-shirt dress. I added a little ruffle at the bottom just because a girl needs some ruffles in her life....and I love ruffles:)

third project...my husband had this fleece pull-over that he wasn't wearing anymore and was ready to get rid of, so I snagged it. I cut it down to make a little dress for A...and of course, ruffles were added;)

I really enjoyed up cycling and think I will definitely be doing this in the future!!

Christmas Craziness

2011-12-26T18:36:00.000-05:00

We started a new tradition this year for Christmas. Normally we go to my parents house for a few days surrounding Christmas, but with three little hooligans, we decided it was to the best interest to all parties involved that we spend Christmas Eve at our house. It's hard to break traditions...it's hard to not spend the holidays surrounded by family...so whats the next best thing to do?!! Surround yourself with friends! That's right, since we couldn't celebrate at my parents, we invited 22 friends to join us for hor'dourves on Christmas Eve. We had the best time! I truly love entertaining, so this was a great excuse to bake and spend time with wonderful friends. I sadly didn't take any pictures (story of my life these days!), but I did capture a picture of the food table...I mean, the food was important, right?;) Actually, I took a picture of it so I can remember next year what I did for this year...yes, my memory is that bad...

Here's our yummy food table...

a view from the other corner...I'm beginning to drool again...

After our guests left, we all scooted off to church to celebrate the coming of the greatest gift given to us. We then decided to keep one of our family's Christmas Eve tradition...we went to dinner at McDonald's. Yes, we sure did;) Some traditions just can't be broken...mom...;)

After bathing the girls and trying to calm them down enough to get to sleep, I realized we hadn't taken a family picture...tomorrow, right? With all the kids finally snuggled under their covers and fast asleep, we were able to start setting up for Christmas.

Here's Andy working on the dollhouse for the girls. Oh man we couldn't wait until Alley and Kendall saw this! Alley wrote a letter a day to santa telling him she really wanted a doll house:)

The girls left santa some cookies, chocolate milk and the reindeer got puppy chow...which we decided should be called reindeer chow;)

this is the view Christmas morning before the girls got up

the moment the girls first saw their dollhouse...I love Alley's face:) and yes, we all got dressed before we came down...to my defense, we did it because we were going to be leaving pretty soon afterwards so we could get to Mimi and Papa's house. We have to travel over little Miss MC's nap time since she is not to fond of the carseat.

okay, sadly, this is the best picture I got...but, we had Jesus' birthday party before we started with the presents and santa...I mean, Jesus IS the reason we have Christmas....so we partied hard for Him:) And yes, the girls were super excited to have cake first thing in the morning! I won't lie, I was too;)

playing with their doll house while breakfast is being served

Kendall checking out her stocking...she still is a little confused about this whole Christmas thing...

We headed over to Mimi and Papa's house about midmorning and were able to see our relatives from New York (who we miss seeing thorough the year). It was different traveling on Christmas day, but I wouldn't trade time with family for anything!!

Alley just enthralled with her gift

chilling on her chair with her panda:)

Kendall "sitting" on her new chair...that's about how her sitting always looks. You won't catch her down for more than a second or two...she wears me out...

sweet, tired MC...sitting so pretty in her chair

MC telling John all about her day

what mom? Why are you looking at me??

The girls in their Christmas jammies...I think this is the best one we got...oh, the life of a mom with three little ones...

playing doctor on MC...I have no clue what they were doing...apparently when you tell them to smile and look at me, this is what happens...

I just realized, we didn't get a family photo at all...the whole Christmas...I am going to have to work on that one next year!!
I hope everyone had a wonderful and merry Christmas!!

Getting ready for Christmas

2011-12-23T22:49:00.000-05:00

This week was Alley's last week of preschool before her Christmas break started. On their last day, the parents were invited to a Gingerbread house making party. All the kids got to wear their jammies to school (which thrilled Alley to death!) and then decorate their house.

Alley is super serious about putting the frosting on.

the twins...soooo cute:)

little miss just hanging out on the floor. She's been rolling like crazy recently, but the hilarious part is that when she goes to roll over, she has to scream while she's doing it! Not like a cry scream, like a yell scream...it's too funny.

hello sweet thing:)

Okay, so my dining room has been a work in progress for about, oh, um, say 5 years....I know, I know...I've just had plenty of other things going on. This summer I finally found fabric I liked for the curtains and once that decision was made, everything started to fall into place and get done. I made the curtain panels this summer and just last week I started making slip covers for the chairs. See, our 2 seater kitchen table just isn't cutting it for a family of 5....Anyway, Here are the slip covers...I think they turned out pretty nice:) Please overlook the clutter on the table. I am preparing to have 22 people over to our house for a Christmas Eve party...so I've got everything laid out on the table.

I know, you're thinking, "What?!! Why would she make them white?! Is she crazy?!"...the answer is, Yes....and no. We all know that I am crazy, but that's another issue for another time;) And No, the slip-covers are made out of cheap sheets and white matched the decor. So there. If one of my incredibly neat children (note the dripping sarcasm here) spill and I can't seem to get the stain out...then I just toss it and make another. They literally took less than an hour to make...

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE EVE:)

Behind

2011-12-21T09:47:00.000-05:00

That's the story of my life right now...behind. I feel as though I am always trying to catch up. Everything is put on hold for when I can give it my attention. Of course, my attention right now is on what is important...my family. Here are a few snap shots of what our family has been up to recently.

the sister twins...man do they look so much alike! Andy and I found some pictures of Alley when she was MC's age and if we didn't know better, we would have thought they were MC.

about a week or two ago, Granny gave the girls a gingerbread house kit. The girls had so much fun decorating it:) Of course Kendall spent more time sneaking the candy then putting it on the house;) as she says it, "I neeky, neeky"

Andy helping out with the decorating

that might have been the only piece of Kendall's to have made it on the house

Alley had so much fun "designing" the decor

caught!!

hilarious, this is the best picture I had of the decorators...nobody looked at the camera or smiled at the same time...but, this is typically what goes on in our household...nobody is on the same page;)

if you walk into our house, you will be asked to read a story...these girls are passionate about reading and it sure makes my heart happy:)

big girl wanted in the camera action

Alley pretending she was Mary

This past weekend we al traveled to Richmond to celebrate my birthday and to have Alley participate in my prints church pageant. Mimi upholding the tradition of painting cookies...Alley was in heaven! She looooves this tradition.

working on the dough to make more cookies:) Day two of cookie making

getting in on the rolling action. She loved doing this special tradition with Mimi, all by herself:)

Kendall enjoying my birthday celebration...this girl sure likes cupcakes;)

the girls trying their hand at piano playing. They loooove music and will stop everything if they hear a song they like and they sing and dance like crazy. So mimi brought the piano out to the porch and the girls had at it:)

what a ham...she is NOT as innocent as she looks..."neeky, neeky"

a quick family photo...minus the youngest...I knew we were missing something;)

Kendall and her pockets. This girl is OBSESSED with pockets! Every morning, when she gets dressed, she asks for pockets. We pretty much have to walk around with a coat on if her outfit doesn't have pockets...what is it with pockets?! She imitating Mimi in this picture:)

I'm working on being more punctual with my posts and actually taking pictures...but I can't promise anything;)

A little late

2011-12-07T21:09:00.000-05:00

I don't have much to say about the happenings in our household...a lot has been going on, but it's not really that blog-worthy (kinda mundane stuff). The run down, quickly....we are busy getting ready for Christmas and preparing our hearts for the arrival of our savior (yeah for advent and how it helps us prepare for Jesus), MC turned 4months and has started baby food...(this is my third, pardon me if I over-look the rice cereal...it's pointless anyway!), Alley and Kendall have really fallen in love with play-dough...we play it at LEAST once a day for over 30minutes, I've been sewing a ton and feel so far behind, and Andy has transitioned from football straight into basketball...I think we can make it until March;) Soooo, in a nutshell, that's what we've been up to. i will leave you with some random pictures from the past week or so...

MC eating applesauce for the first time

she is my first child to act like it's incredibly bitter. She would close her eyes and get a shiver whenever she ate it...of course she kept coming back for more (better yet, she would have a huge grin on her face after she'd take a bite and do her "shiver")

the girls showing off their Christmas dresses...I am in the process of trying to teach the girls how to smile...how in the heck do you do that??!!! this was the best of them all...

here are our cheese-balls after their bath...aren't baths suppose to calm you down and get you ready for bed?! Not with these two!!

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-29T15:24:00.000-05:00

Our house has been crazy over the past several weeks. I'm not sure we've even surfaced for air yet, but I know we are trying;) We jokingly call our family the circus (and if you know us well, then you know how true it is!). So, since we are already crazy and wild, why not have 13 people to our house for Thanksgiving?!...I mean, come on, any smart person would do that to themselves...right?!! HA! Actually, it fit our circus perfectly. The food was delicious (we fried our first turkey and we are ALL alive to say that it was fabulous!) and I must say, we were smart enough to decide Thanksgiving was going to be a potluck...whew, that definitely saved this ring master! We are still trying to collect ourselves and we hope we didn't scare anyone off by our antics, but we had a great day.

HAPPY (belated) THANKSGIVING to everyone!!

our circus performers sitting down for a second

oh my, did I catch a sweet tender moment between all three?? Say it ain't so...

(it totally didn't last long!)

Sing sing sing

2011-11-21T21:20:00.000-05:00

Alley absolutely looooves singing ( as does Kendall) and especially loves singing in the children's choir at my parents church. We were a little hesitant at first to let her go due to the fact it would require us to travel to Richmond most weekends...but it's actually worked out quite well for us. We haven't made it to every practice, but Alley has been able to learn the songs and learn all the other things they are teaching the young kids. I am actually really glad that we decided to do this. Alley has made some great new friends and she's learning so much about music, not just singing. This past Sunday, the children's choir had their first "performance" of the year. Alley had been talking about it for weeks and was so excited about it. I was secretly wondering if she'd even make it into the choir robe when she truly realized what they were expecting her to do. Alley is our reserved and shy child. I was pretty sure she wouldn't even go up front, let alone sing during church...boy did she prove me wrong!

HEre's the whole group practicing before church...yes, it was absolutely hilarious watching a bunch of 3-6 year olds singing (or staring at each other)

Alley making up her own words I'm sure;) She kept telling me the words to the song were "please me oh shepherd, please me..." - ooooookay

her best bud, Jack...Alley loves getting to see Jack at choir. Apparently they get a little out of hand sometimes and forget they are suppose to be listening during practice...I think I hear Andy cleaning his gun....

Alley all dressed and ready to perform

My sweet cherub;)

She did wonderful during the performance and sang the whole time. I can't say she got every word, but she did awesome for someone who only went to a few practices. Besides, someone had to blow kisses to Papa during the whole song;) Such a sweet loving little girl! I can't wait to see how it goes next time! Papa, get ready for some more kisses;)

Party, Party, Party

2011-11-15T20:17:00.001-05:00

Sunday we celebrated Alley's 4th birthday with a little party. Alley was so excited that every second for the past week she asked, "is today my birthday?". The funny thing was that Alley kept calling her birthday party a party AND a playdate. We kept correcting her but she'd get so mad and say, "it's a playmate too!". Okay Alley, I wave my white flag;)

We had a blast! We did it very simple this year. We had pizza, fruit and cupcakes:) The cupcakes were decorated with sprinkles and little flowers...Alley couldn't decide what "theme" she wanted this year and frankly, I wasn't quite on the ball this year, so we settled on a "flower" theme:) Alley had tons of fun with her two friends, Ava and Virginia. Alley has missed them so much since leaving daycare...

These two are putting their party faces on...yoo-hoo, let's get this party started...

a sisterly squeeze...minus the tiny one (she would have been squished!)

patiently waiting for her party to start...I hated to tell her that she had several hours to wait...so we just had a photo session instead;)

Alley decorated her cupcakes...

The party has begun and the food is being devoured;) You go birthday girl!

all the little ones eating at their "little" table

the three musketeers:) Oh how much fun they have together!!

Alley got this fun hat from the WA Alley's...we love how it resembles Abby's hair from Sesame Streets "Abby's flying fairy school". Too cute:)

Kendall had to get in on the action;)

as did Garrett...but he doesn't look to happy wearing it

as did Papa...we actually put it on him while his hands were full;) Muahaha..

This is basically the face Alley had every time she opened a present...I felt like she was saying, "This is my favorite, I've always wanted that!"...:)

Time to sing and blow out the candle

Kendall is obsessed with my mom! She wants nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with any of us when Mimi is around. It's hilarious...here she is trying to be Mimi:)

Our little chunk has been all grins and coos recently. Here she is just hamming it up

Oh so serious

If she's not smiling, this is what she is doing...we can't be teething already?!?!?!!

Just a picture to show you how long this thing is. She goes on for miles!!! She is fitting into the length of 6 month clothes, but they are swallowing her in all other ways. Man, I thought my other two were tall!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my sweet, wonderful and grown-up little girl!! We love you!

4 going on 14

2011-11-13T19:59:00.000-05:00

Wasn't it just yesterday I was holding this little one??

When did she turn into such a big girl???

Wow, four years have flown by...I'm scared to think how fast the next several will blow by! Alley has turned into such a sweet, caring, helpful, empathetic child. She just amazes me every day (and frustrates me too;) ). I absolutely LOVE this child!! Here are some "stats" about Alley at age 4:

You can spell your first and last name, (and you like to do it every other second...."mommy, ask me if I can spell my name") as well as write it without any help
You are super tall....your waist is a 4T but those legs go on for miles, so we've put you in 5T
Your hair is WILD! You have a head full of spiral curls but a thin layer on the top that refuses to do anything but frizz...I got so fed up with it that I chopped it off over the weekend and now it's chin length and just adorable:)
You love to tell people what to do....I have no idea where you got that from;)...and then "help" them accomplish what you just told them to do
You are a sweet older sister and both younger ones just light up when you talk to them and/or play with them
You LOVE school
Your favorite color changes daily
You are becoming a little picky about what you will eat...the only problem is that one day you'll eat something and say it's your "favorite" and then the next day say you don't like it...not cool...
You are very empathetic, which sometimes makes you a little more emotional than others...but it's such a great gift that i know God will use for His glory in the future
You do NOT like clothes that are "tight"...socks, pants, long sleeves, bathing suits, shoes...okay, whatever touches your body! But after I force you into the clothes, you are fine...I know, I know, I'm so mean;)
You look sooooooo much like your daddy that it's crazy!
You love to dress up and dance to your music...but won't do it in front of others...oh you are so my child;)
You think I sing like Alison Krauss...oh I just love you;)
Right now your favorite foods are fruit snacks, yogurt, raisins, grilled cheese and pizza
You tell us you're going to marry Ethan Sterling...I am sooo all about that arranged marriage, even though he is 6 years older;)
You hate it when daddy goes to work and always asked if he will stay
You are amazing on a horse...and act like you've been riding longer than you've been alive...and you keep asking us to buy you one...uum, I wish we could!

We all love you Alley and can't wait to see what this year brings!!

Smiles and giggles

2011-11-04T14:54:00.000-04:00

Mary Cate has been giving us plenty of sweet smiles and giggles recently, but I haven't been able to get them on camera. Well, today I took advantage of Andy being home for lunch and got some really cute smiley pictures of our resident squishy:)

Earlier today, I asked Alley to hold MC while I got snack ready...she acted like a pro and pulled MC into her lap and held her like this the whole time...sniff, sniff, she's really turning into a big girl!

when daddy got home, the fun began

check out the size of those eyes...beautiful blue:)

I'm feeling cheated here...Alley and MC look like Andy...and Kendall looks like my little brother...what??!! I get nothing for carrying and delivering them??!! (sigh...)

Alright, now that's what I call a happy puff-a-lump!

so maybe she takes after me with the size of her cheeks...but nothing else;(

still grinning, even after being hit in the head by her big sister...

checking something out

We definitely have another McPherson baby on our hands...my dad said that we'll just have to have a fourth and hope it looks like me....uum, yeah, I don't want to talk about that!! Oh lord save us...

I did it again...

2011-10-26T19:35:00.000-04:00

I've been out of touch with the blog world. I never can find time to sit down and update everyone on what we are doing...and when I do have a moment, I have no clue what to tell everyone. We are here...just here. Nothing special is going on. We are just enjoying life minute by minute. Here are some pictures I've taken over the past week (or two....or three....)

The girls

another fun one

Alley constantly wants to hold MC. Here she is trying to calm a crying MC after the whirl-wind Kendall blew through and upset MC's peaceful moment. She is such a good big sister:)

Gee-maw and Jim came in town this past weekend for a visit and they brought some wild dress up clothes. As you know, our girls LOVE to dress up and dance and sing. They were in heaven;)

Alley convinced Gee-maw to color with her in the playroom...they were so quiet

hard at work

MC got baptized on sunday, so we all headed out to Richmond for a fun filled day of family and food:) Pictures from the baptism will be coming at a later post! Here the girls are wearing their fall dresses for the first time. I made them a size too big so that they could wear them next year:) They are reversible...one side has a pumpkin and the opposite side (with the polka dots) has a turkey. I ended up making MC one at last minute. I totally guessed at the pattern since I didn't have one for her size.

Here are the McPherson girls (well, we are all looking at the camera but I can't tell you what the girls are doing or thinking!!)

Here is a closer look at MC's little dress...I even made a diaper cover and monogrammed it...I think it turned out pretty well;)

My three girls....poor MC!

Uncle Will holding the cat so Kendall could give a kiss...oh I think Kendall is loving Will right there because we would never let her kiss the cat...even though she follows the poor cat around either yelling, "pat, pat" or "kiss, kiss"...all this with her thumb in her mouth. Silly girl!

MC was soooo over her party...."it's my party and I can cry if I want to".....

MIA...

2011-10-15T18:16:00.000-04:00

...but for a good reason, I think. I believe it's finally setting in for the girls that mommy is not going back to work. They are stuck with me day in and day out from here on out. (cue the music...) I'm not too sure what they really think about it all but, man, have they sure given me a run for my money this week. So, the reason for no posts...I've been putting kids in time-out, breaking up fights, saying "no" (an awful lot more than I'd like to admit), RE-teaching that your mouth is not for hurting (or tasting) your sisters, trying to enforce nap time so our attitudes get better (little miss just doesn't think it's important right now!) and trying to keep the sanity in our household. BUT, we've also had some sweet and wonderful moments....

MC has become a little chatterbox. She has been smiling a ton and even coo's at us

Just a little bit of sweetness in the midst of the chaos

the girls are obsessed with daddy (I mean, who wouldn't be...I surely am;) ) and can't wait for him to come home for lunch and play with them...here I was able to pick up my camera and take a photo of them. They all wanted in his lap and we almost had drama and tears over this...oh the joy of raising girls;)

Oh my...we have a new love! They loooove sitting at the table coloring. I love that they love it and will sit longer than 5 seconds doing something. Of course, they do fight over the coloring pencils...and yes, I have tried to give them both their own box but they think the grass is greener on the other side...

I LOVE how Kendall is trying to color like Alley...she immediately grabs a color, lowers her head, holds the paper with her arm and starts to lightly color. Too precious!

Okay, so there you have it. Life has been crazy here in our household, but we are still alive....for now;)

Time is flying by...

2011-10-04T15:46:00.001-04:00

Mary Cate...I can't believe she is already 2 months old. It seems like we had her just yesterday. She has changed so much since we brought her home from the hospital.

you are smiling more and more each day and you love to give us big wide open grins:)
you sleep great at night, but have become more difficult to put down.
You LOVE to be held...thus the issue on getting you to sleep...you'd rather be held and wake up the moment we put you down.
You HATE your carseat and the car:( I am deaf because of your screaming in the car...what happened to the third being a "go with the flow" child?!
You are super long and are slowly "puffing" out (95% in height and 60% in weight).
You love to stretch out on the floor and look around.
You have a love-hate relationship with the binkie...I still can't decide whether you want it or whether I should get rid of it..it changes each day;)
You don't want anyone to hold you laying down, you must be up on their shoulder so you can look around...you nosey thing;)
You have been having serious tummy issues over the past month, which has caused some unhappy times, but overall you are calm and observant.
You are a great eater...sometimes I don't think I can keep up with you!!

We love you so much little MC and are so glad you have joined our family!

Tea time

2011-09-28T19:37:00.000-04:00

Alley called me into the playroom yesterday morning to join her and have a tea party with her dolls. This is what I saw...man, she even had a table-cloth:) What a good hostess...

The invitation is open...anyone who wants to come to tea is welcome:)

It's time for some football!

2011-09-20T14:15:00.000-04:00

Saturday the girls made their HSC football game debut. It was the second home football game for the Tigers, but the first home game for the girls. My parents just so happened to be in town, so I roped them into coming with me and helping out with the girls:) Aren't they so sweet!;) It was a dreary and chilly day, so I was happy when one of the football coaches offered his office for us to watch the game from. It was a perfect set-up. The girls could watch a movie on the tv and we could watch the game out the window...not bad at all:)

the older two in their game day outfits - I finished them just in time for the game:)

This is what happens when you ask the girls to smile - Alley plasters this deer in headlights look on her face and Kendall looks away...go figure

all three girls...it looks like MC is trying to get away from Kendall...she's like, "don't touch me!"

Kendall has an obsession with patting and kissing MC....it's a non-stop pat on the head but usually she has her thumb in her mouth too.

GO TIGERS:)

(the girls must have been good luck because HSC won by a huge margin!)

Play date

2011-09-17T08:59:00.000-04:00

Okay, so I was a little brave on Friday. Ever since Alley left daycare, she has been missing her best friend, Ava. We've had several play dates over the summer, but nothing since school started. So, we invited Ava over for the whole day this Friday. In reality, Ava is just like another daughter. She blends in so well and all the girls love her:) Yes, we have our sisterly fights, but they don't last long. The only issue I had was that I had to come up with an idea for nap time. Ava naps religiously but not so much for Alley. We solved it by getting a movie and some books from the library. This way they could watch the movie and Ava could fall asleep whenever she got tired.

Here they are, Alley was more interested in the books than the movie...Ava was more interested in the inside of her eye-lids;)

Next hurdle, how to make sure Alley doesn't wake Ava up!! I didn't get a picture of this, but Alley snuggled up to Ava and then proceeded to wake her up. I asked her why she woke her up..."because I missed her". Enough said;)

We had a great day and even ventured out to the playground, had a picnic, visited an old friend at Daddy's work and went to the library. Whew, fun but exhausting day!

dancing...

2011-09-14T21:21:00.000-04:00

So I thought I would show the blogging world what Kendall does during the morning while Alley is away...

check her out...she is looking sassy;) Awesome outfit Kendall, awesome...fairy costume not put on all the way, rocking the cloth diaper and new sneakers....sweet!

Dance girl, dance...yes this is what we do ALL day...dancing and dressing up. You can't have one without the other

our dancing queen wore herself out...

not only do we get a dance party, but Kendall also sings along with the songs...and let me tell you, she sounds hilarious!! Here she is mid-song and dance...

go, go, go, go...(she was running in place and flapping her arms)

Yes, in our house if you say the word "music", both girls throw off their clothes and run to the play room and grab "dancing clothes"...Lord help us if they still do this in their teens;)

School and check-ups

2011-09-06T17:16:00.000-04:00

Today marks the first day of fall for our family...yes, I know fall doesn't officially start until the end of September, but I always associate the beginning of school with it turning from summer to fall. Sooooo, today was Alley's first day of Preschool! Of course she will be attending Preschool for two years because her birthday conveniently is a month after the cut-off for starting school. Regardless of that, she thoroughly loved school today! To hype up her excitement, I made her a special outfit for her first day. I made an applique shirt with her monogram and I also made some red flowy gaucho pants. She couldn't wait to wear them:)

Here she is sporting her "first day of school" attire...she's just so cute;)

Even though it was raining, I had to take some pictures of her leaving the house.

Oh she's such a big girl!

Of course it had to rain today, so I didn't get to take all the pictures I wanted, but it's probably for the best. I also had to leave the camera behind when we left to go to school. I could barely juggle MC and her carseat, Kendall, an umbrella and Alley let alone a camera! Sigh...so I didn't get any pictures with her teacher or her class...I guess a plus with her being in Preschool twice is that next year I can do all that stuff and just pretend that it was her first time;) hehehe...

Like I said earlier, it was raining out today. I don't mean just a little sprinkle, I mean a down pour for most of the day. Of course it would do that because I had so much I had to do today...not only did I have to take Alley to school with all the girls in the rain, but I had to take MC to her 1 month check-up. For some reason today the doctors office parking lot was jam packed as well. So we had to park all the way in Alaska and walk (in the pouring rain with 2 kids, a diaper bag and umbrella) to the office. Can I tell you how fun that was...I don't think I've dried out yet...

Anyway, MC had a great doctor's appointment! Her jaundice level has risen so she had to get some blood work done. We should find out soon whether she needs treatment or not. She is 75% in weight (10lbs) and 99% in height (23 inches)...she is one long lean machine;) So she is doing great. We are still having some issues with her not wanting to eat, but as you can tell, it's not hurting her weight;) She is sleeping pretty much through the night (I feed her at 10pm and she will wake up at 3:30 to eat and then I wake her at 7am to eat again)...she's awesome!;) She did develop baby acne pretty bad, but I still think she is as cute as cute can be. She's staying awake longer and would prefer to be held all the time (can you blame her??!!). Kendall lovingly calls her "baby" or "Mar-Cape"...and both sisters just adore her. We are doing well as a family and just enjoying every moment we have.

normalcy...??

2011-09-03T09:11:00.000-04:00

Normalcy...what is that? For the past four weeks I've been trying to find our family's new normal. But it's quite an elusive character that normalcy. The moment I think we've gotten a good routine, or "normal", something happens...someone gets sick, someone has a growth spurt and thinks I'm a 24hour bar, someone has a rough night and keeps getting out of bed, or everyone has one of those days that we all need to be locked in our own padded room...yes, normalcy, you are quite an elusive character in the McPherson household.

Yet life is still good. We are coping with the best of them and learning how to survive and live one minute at a time. I can't believe Miss Mary Cate is already 4 weeks old. She has been complete joy. From the moment we brought her home from the hospital, she has been so wonderful. She's a great sleeper during the night (she sleeps for over 6 hrs straight before she wakes up to feed at night), she looooves to cuddle, really only likes to be held up on your shoulder, and is not too sure about the binkie but will take it if she is hungry. She is super long and is busting out of newborn clothes because she's long, but the 0-3 month clothes are just huge on her:) She has developed colic, which is frustrating because she is so amazing the rest of the day. When she turned 3 weeks she suddenly started having serious tummy issues and was projectile vomiting. We got a sonogram done of her tummy and she was full of gas and had lots of poop in her that she was having a hard time eliminating it. Anyway, the doc said she had colic and it should go away by 4 months...only 3 left to go;) Over all, her colic isn't extreme. It's frustrating, yes, but it's only temporary. Her cuteness and sweet disposition far out way the colic she has!

Here are our three girls playing so nicely...it didn't last long until there was screaming and the words "mine" being yelled...but it was sweet while it lasted;)

So this isn't a good picture at all, but I had to show it because of Kendall. Andy got out the camera and she immediately started saying cheese and getting right up into the camera lens. Andy told her to go sit down and she started posing. She was hilarious! Here she is in one of her poses saying "cheese". Alley isn't impressed...

So MC has huge feet and a really really long body...just a pick to show how long her feet and toes are:)

Mimi, Papa and Uncle John came on Monday (I know, I'm running a little late on this blog entry!) because they had no power due to hurricane Irene. We found a book at our local library that we had to get for Papa to read..."Old McDonald had a Woodshop"...PERFECT! Here they are reading the story.

Uncle John relaxing with a very relaxed MC

chatting it up

Alley wanted to hold MC...I thought this was cute. It looks like MC is staring at Alley:) And so it begins...the youngest looking up to the oldest...

I am going to try and do a better job at taking pictures and posting them...now if only I could find that normalcy...

That wild and crazy night...

2011-08-15T22:07:00.000-04:00

Since her actual due date is tomorrow, August 17th, I thought it appropriate to tell how excited Mary Cate was to arrive and what excitement she caused in the hospital.

The fun really began Tuesday afternoon the 2nd of August. I went into the hospital at 7pm because first, Mary Cate hadn't moved at all that day. Second, I thought my water might have broken (I had very little amniotic fluid so it was determined I wouldn't feel much) and third, I was having contractions. I was put in triage (the ER of the Maternity wing) and was hooked up to monitors. Of course, within 5 minutes Mary Cate started moving and I stopped having contractions...go figure! The nurse came in and checked and we found out my water had not broken...yeah, I felt like an idiot:) Anyway, the nurse said that my doctor wanted me checked again in 2 hours and then they'd determine whether to send me home or keep me for monitoring. Two hours later (9:30pm) and the only thing that had changed was that I was 5cm dilated and I was having some minor contractions that were far apart and very sporadic. The doctor decided to keep me overnight in triage for monitoring and then in the morning, when he got in, he would get my labor started. So, I called my parents and asked if they would come down and stay with the girls so I could have Andy with me in the hospital. At 10:15pm the decision was made and Andy went home around 10:30 to wait for my parents. It all went downhill after Andy left. At about 11:15 my body was rocked with a contraction that registered 91 on the monitor. So I went from the 20s straight up to the 90s. 3minutes later it registered 102...yikes! I pressed the call button to get a nurse to see what was going on...no response...I tried again...again, no response. This went on for about 30minutes until Andy got there at 11:45pm. Mind you, the maternity wing was packed. There were no rooms available and they seemed to be short staffed. Anyway, I sent Andy out to find a nurse because I was feeling the urge to push and was in serious pain (which I thought was crazy because I figured I was just 6-7cm dilated). A few minutes to midnight, my nurse finally showed up...all the while I'm barely holding my own. Poor Andy was holding my legs together because he was afraid I was going to push...looking back, it's pretty hilarious, but at the time I was not finding any of this funny!! I was then checked and the nurse was shocked to see that I was 9cm dilated because I was still in triage and earlier I had had no signs of labor or any indications I would go into labor. She left to call the doctor and the moment she walked out the room, my water broke (midnight). I finally told Andy to let go of my legs and that I had to push...luckily my nurse walked in at that moment and was able to catch Mary Cate on the next push (12:02am)...whew, that was ridiculous! I will say that it was the worst labor (imagine going through your worst contractions in a room by yourself and not being able to get anyone to help, then when it's crunch time, not having anyone around until you push the baby out...yeah, not so fun!), but it was the best recovery...I had not been admitted to the hospital at the time of delivery (due to being a triage patient), so I had no IVs, no epidural...nothing. Once I got that bowling ball out, I felt great:) The bad thing was that I delivered in a room not set up for deliveries and it was pure chaos after I delivered (I didn't see a doctor for 2 hours after I delivered and MC wasn't weighed or cleaned up/weighed/checked for 2 hours either). With all that said, All I can say is thank goodness I was kept for monitoring or I would have delivered MC in our living room! I will definitely take my triage delivery experience over my living room!

our sweet little thing who decided to come early and quickly

the sister twins

she found her thumb:)

so this is how she likes to sleep (when we don't have her swaddled)

such a thinker:)

Despite the crazy, wild delivery, it was a wonderful experience. I couldn't have had a better nurse caring for me during the delivery (even though it was only 45minutes from first contraction to delivery!!!). We are happy to have MC in our lives two weeks earlier than scheduled:)

Amateur photo shoot...yikes!

2011-08-09T09:36:00.004-04:00

So the other day I decided I wanted some cute pictures of little Mary Cate. It's not like we had anything going on, I mean the house was totally quiet and I definitely didn't have another child trying desperately to get in on the pictures...no, not in THIS house! Anyway, In the midst of chaos, we had an impromptu photo shoot.

sleepy little one...

too cute of a face to pass up:)

check out how long little miss thing is!

I could eat this face up...:)

chunky little cheeks...yup, she's definitely ours;)

sweet little grins

I think she is dreaming about eating...

Poor little Mary Cate had to endure her mothers wishes;) She did great and I think we got some pretty cute shots for an amateur photographer with no editing software! (I will admit, most of these pictures were taken by Andy!)

She's Here!

2011-08-07T15:08:00.000-04:00

Mary Cate McPherson

Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011

at 12:02am

7lbs 3oz

21 inches

the happy sisters...what a bunch;)

All are doing well and accounted for....I think;) I promise I will get up more pictures and also tell the very wild delivery story, as soon as I find my head. It is now zone-defense...and boy is it a wild game over here:)

Water Day

2011-08-01T06:57:00.000-04:00

Saturday was dubbed Fun-Filled Water Day in the McPherson household. It signaled the end of summer camps for Andy, so it was a day we celebrated being a whole family once again....of course, football preseason begins in little over a week, so we are trying to take advantage of every opportunity to be with him!

The day started off with a walk to McDonald's for breakfast...could it have started off any better;)! There we discovered cinnamon rolls....what?! How did I miss that McDonald's had cinnamon rolls?! Oh they were delicious and absolutely gone in seconds...I still don't know if the girls even saw them;) Anyway, with that confession on the table, we finished up our walk and then spent some time playing a reading together. Alley had her last swim lesson on Saturday morning, so we all went out to cheer her on and see how much she has learned. This girl has LOVED swimming lessons! She has improved greatly and I look forward to her taking more lessons. This was just a beginning to swimming, where they learn just to be comfortable with the water, going under, kicking and floating. She has started learning how to breathe while swimming and it's hilarious! We need to get this girl some more lessons;)

Here she is waiting for her turn

"breathing" and "kicking"

You should have seen her face when she'd come up from the water to breathe...hilarious!

After lunch and nap time, we all ventured to Longwood's fountains to play in the water. It was incredibly hot outside and we felt the girls needed a little change in routine. They have been begging to go outside the past few weeks, but let's face it, I am not going out in this heat! I will confess, this fountain is two blocks from our house and I JUST remembered it was there! We would have been doing this all summer if I had remembered it was there. Oh well...the girls just loved playing in the fountains!

Investigating and totally unsure

following the leader

Oh yeah, we are loving it!

running through all the spouts of water

hmmmm, what was I doing?!!

The water got me!

Kendall's favorite thing, trying to sit on all the water spouts...she's too funny:)

checking it all out

We had a great time and all slept extremely well:) We might just have to do this again!

Are we ready?...

2011-07-10T15:34:00.000-04:00

Yesterday we got out the car seat in preparation for Mary Cate's arrival. It might seem a tad early to some since I still have just over a month left, but if we were on "Kendall time" she would be arriving in a little over a week. I'd rather be prepared than surprised:) Anyway, I'm not sure everyone in the house is ready for the new arrival...it looks like someone thinks they need to try it out first....

Not to be out done, Kendall had her turn in it as well. Hopefully when Mary Cate comes she will be the only one getting in and out of this car seat! I'm not banking on it though!!

Visit with Mimi and Papa

2011-07-08T21:24:00.000-04:00

Mimi and Papa graciously kept the girls for me one morning so I could make an "uneventful" trip to the fabric store and do some other shopping while Andy was at work. I greatly appreciate their willingness to keep my wild little ones, but they seemed to have done extremely well...mimi and papa that is;) Just kidding, my girls thoroughly enjoyed themselves! Mimi took some pictures of what went on while I was gone...it looks like Kendall and the cat had quite a morning:)

Kendall "being nice and gentle" with the cat...oh I bet she was in heaven...Kendall that is;)

Kendall has this strange obsession...whenever she sees or feels anything soft, she immediately puts her thumb in her mouth and tries to snuggle and lay on whatever it is that is soft...she doesn't care if it's moving, alive or not...

still desperately trying to get a snuggle

so so close...I can hear her saying it now..."wanna snuggle kitta-kitta? It fun!"

Alley had a blast too. She played with the toy farm with uncle John, went up to Papa's church and played on the playground and in the sunday school classrooms. I don't think they could have had a better morning. I think there was some disappointment when they saw mom;) I guess Camp Mimi and Papa will have to happen again....darn;)

4th of July

2011-07-06T08:40:00.000-04:00

Doesn't everyone wish they could spend their fourth of July relaxing in a hammock? Believe me, it was only Kendall and Alley that got the chance to "relax" on Monday. We had a very typical day, which is always busy busy in our house with two little girls. Mimi and Papa graciously invited us over to their cabin for a cook-out that night. We enjoyed ourselves immensely...as you can see, the hammock swing was a hit! I heard "higher", "faster" almost the whole time!

Kendall showing off her 4th of July beads...think she's excited?!

setting up a game of bowling. It was so funny, the first time we told Alley to throw the ball at the pins she drop kicked it and it knocked over every single pin!! That's my girl;)

very seriously considering her next move

um, wrong sport sweet-heart....

Our girls love corn on the cob! Kendall will sit there and suck on the cob forever! Both girls were ecstatic to help Mimi "shuck" the corn.

Kendall even helped...until she grabbed a piece and took a big ol' bite out of it...yuck girl!

showing Kendall what to do

yes, it was so hot and muggy outside...we decided to feed the girls ice cubes. At least they were in the spirit of the day...they had star-shaped ice cubes:)

oh yummy

Alley doing some last minute relaxing before the big storm blew in

um, I don't think she was very excited about this picture...check out that pout!

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July!!

New adventure

2011-07-03T00:39:00.000-04:00

Now that I've been a stay-at-home-mom for exactly a month, I am realizing I need a creative outlet. With all the sewing I've been doing for my girls over the past several months, I decided that maybe I should try and create some clothing and baby items for other people. So thus began my dream...

My hope is to continue to do what I love, creating personalized clothing items, but for other people not just my girls. Come check out my new website, you might find something you like:)

www.sewsweetgiggles.blogspot.com

New Dresses

2011-06-27T09:15:00.000-04:00

I am ashamed to say I've been working on these dresses for weeks now...okay, let's be honest here, I think it's actually been months. I am still learning all the wonderful things my sewing machine can do (and let me tell you, it has some really wonderful things it can do!!), so it's taken some trial and error on my part to see which stitches are best for what project. Let's take shirring for example....yeah, big learning curve...but I got it (after I realized that the elastic thread only went on the bobbin...so I had just wasted a month or so fighting with the machine and the elastic thread!)! Let's just say if I had read all the instructions correctly on-line about shirring, these dresses would have been done long ago...oh well:) Anyway, they are now complete and ready to wear:) I made this without a pattern and only looked at some other dresses that were made like this, so I think it turned out pretty well. I already know of some things I'd do differently the next time I make these dresses.

Aren't they perfect for summer! My two "ecstatic" models...;)

Oh Kendall just looks too excited...

poor thing had a rough night last night with her teeth so just excuse her pout

Wait a minute! That was my seat...

Next project...3 smocked dresses. Currently I'm fighting with my pleater (isn't this becoming a theme here with my sewing projects???!!), so I think these dresses might take a little bit longer than expected. Let's just hope I'm done with them before Fall is over;)

Projects and then some...

2011-06-19T20:16:00.000-04:00

It's been awhile since I've been able to complete a sewing project. I've had so many ideas in my mind but with life going by at 100 miles an hour for the past 2 months, my projects have just been completed in my head. May was a crazy month at work for me and I think I barely slept during those 4 weeks...so the projects definitely didn't happen. I've also had a hard time getting to Richmond to go to a decent fabric store. Why can't they just open a Jo-ann's fabric store in Farmville?! Anyway, coordinating a trip to a fabric store with two little ones is quite a feat...and ridiculous. Let me tell you about a trip to the fabric store that ~~I took~~, I mean one of my friends, took recently with her two kids. Everything started out decent, except for the fact that the youngest decided to skip her nap on the way down and just cry the whole 60-some odd minutes to the store. Once in the store, all seemed to be going well. ~~I was~~, I mean my friend was able to gather stuff for one project she had dreamed up and was beginning to pick out the embroidery floss for 3 new smocked dress for her girls. It only took a second for chaos to erupt...my friends head was turned for just a second when her oldest thought it would be fun to get into the cart by climbing over the side of the cart...needless to say, she was NOT successful. The whole cart fell over on top of her and her little sister, who was sitting noisily in the front, came tumbling over the side. Several employees came running over trying to help, wanting to call 911 and looking at her like she was such a horrible mom. All the while, her two kids were scared to death and just screaming their heads off....I'm sure that if 911 would have been needed, the fire station would have heard all the screams before they got the call from the dispatcher. Yes, it was a disastrous trip...one my friend will not be taking frequently unless her kids are safe and sound being cared for by someone else. Poor friend...that would NEVER, EVER happen to me......no, not at all....

Okay, so back to the only project I've been able to complete in the past month or so...I decided to make my dad, for father's day, two outdoor pillows to go on the bench he made for the cabin. I must say, they turned out extremely well for never having made pillows, appliqued or done any of it without a pattern:) Here is the finished product.

Some other projects I have in the works are:

2 shirred, knit sundresses for the girls
blackout curtains for the girls room - because I was in a hurry to get them up, I just cut them and threw them up on the window for the time-being....but I do want to "jazz" them up a bit:)
decorative laundry baskets to go under Alley's bed to hold shoes, laundry and cloth diapers
3 smocked dresses....and I have to make the dresses as well....

I am truly excited about each of these projects, but it's difficult to finish them all because of the lack of a fabric store when you need one....blah!

...more of the beach:)

2011-06-17T17:36:00.000-04:00

As I sit here writing this blog, my suntan is fading, my leg, which I burned, is peeling and I'm hot because it's 90-something degrees today. All that is to say that I wish I was back at the beach! All the signs of the beach are beginning to fade away...so I guess that means it's time to go back;)! Here are some pictures from the second half of our trip:

Alley caught a "fish" and proudly held it for the camera (all the while yelling "it's moving!")

we took an afternoon off from the beach and went to the pool. Alley absolutely loved getting to swim in the "big pool". Kendall was very upset to not be able to go in it because of a silly rule about kids with swim diapers not allowed in the pool...oh well:)

Mimi reading to Kendall before bed. Kendall had a word explosion this week while at the beach! She was constantly bringing books over to people and saying "boook, boook". She also identifies turtles ("a-tur") and is constantly looking for them, she points out birds ("buuuurd"), and asks for her milk by name ("miiik"). She also calls people by their name pretty well and several other words too:)

must be a serious book about animals;)

lounging in her beach chair during morning snack...aahhh, this is the life

Alley playing hop-scotch....or more liking jumping around all over the place in Alley's world

Kendall trying to play

this is pretty much how Kendall spent her time in the sand...rolling around and right in the center of everything!

breeching the wall of the fort...watch out world!

she apparently wanted back in and threw herself over the wall...which she thought was hilarious and kept doing it over and over again.

Kendall's new favorite thing...sitting on Alley. I can't say it's Alley's favorite, but she was a trooper for sure!

lounging and telling everyone to "shhh"....what? are we being too loud out at the beach??!! ;)

hanging out with Uncle John after a long day at the beach

trying to get a picture of the two...which was extremely difficult!

apparently Kendall thought it was a good time to take a quick cat-nap on Alley

my mini-me

An attempt at a family photo...can I tell you how many shots we took and we still don't have everyone smiling or looking at the camera...go figure;)

taking a break from life;)

Mimi and her watermelons...so cute

Andy and his mini-me

story-time again in the beach house...oh Mimi is certainly loving this!

Mary Tanner getting a turn at reading stories to the wild ones

Yes, girls, we all feel like this when we finally get home after a full day of traveling....duuuuhhhh....I wanna go back!!

We are off to re-adjust to living without a pool nearby and without the ocean beckoning us every morning. Oh, believe me, it still beckons, but I think I'm going to have to wait until next year...

Kiawah 2011

2011-06-16T07:55:00.000-04:00

We had so much fun last week at the beach. We look forward to this vacation every year and it was so wonderful to be able to go early this year. Usually we all go over July 4th, but due to my pregnancy and not being able to travel that far that late, my whole family graciously changed their schedules to accommodate me. Yes, I do have a fabulous family;) Anyway, June is the time to go! It was beautiful, the water was amazing and there weren't a lot of people there. I'm advocating for a June beach trip again...maybe I'll just have to be pregnant again..Haha! Wow, did I just say that??!!

The girls absolutely looooved the beach. We were able to spend more time out at this beach this year because we cut out Kendall's morning nap (which we have now had to add back in...grumpy thing;) We had loads of fun running and splashing in the waves, belly-flopping and just plain rolling around in the surf. I believe my children are half fish...not that I minded at all:) I took so many pictures this year that I'm going to have to do a couple posts to get a small portion of them up! Here are some from the first couple of days.

Wearing her hat the first day...and looking oh so serious at something...probably staring at Papa or daddy while they do something silly

Kendall just enjoying the view and the waves...she absolutely loved getting hit by the waves...it was hilarious!

waiting for her next wave to come...oh the anticipation is too much;)

begging Uncle John and daddy to take her out deep

oh the joys of splashing

I just got hit by a wave and it was awesome;)!!

laughing at something...this was definitely something we all did lots this week

her hat kinda looks like a cowboy hat now

whatcha doin....

watching with daddy

I got my purse, are yall ready to go?!

fine, if no one will take me out in the ocean, I'll take myself!

ooooo, a snail! I can't tell you how many times Kendall would go dig up a snail and bring it to me...oh the joys;)

Oh I looooove getting hit by waves! This is too much fun!!! Check out that face:)

my three favorites having fun in the waves

Kendall had a new obsession. Whenever Alley would sit down or even look like she was about to sit down, Kendall would run over and sit in her lap...it was too funny

bathing beauty...also waiting for a wave to hit her...

a game of tag in the surf

she found the joys of mud baths...she just loves to get dirty...whose child is this;)

playing nicely...I hope this becomes a trend...SOON!

my little mermaids

our favorite activity right now...acting like dogs, or "buppies" as Kendall calls everything!

I thought this was hilarious! I have no clue what she is doing but I captured it:)

another crazy/cute face from the week

Stay tuned for more pictures from the week:)

Summer has begun!

2011-06-13T13:57:00.000-04:00

Woo-hoo! Summer vacation officially started at 1pm on Friday June 3rd for the McPherson family!! It couldn't have come any sooner;) Friday was my last day at work...and when I say last, I don't mean just for 2 months...as most of you all know, I resigned from my position to stay at home with the girls. It was a very hard decision to make since I enjoy what I do, but my family comes first and this is what Andy and I felt was best for our girls. So, to kick summer off right, our beach trip was moved to the day I officially finished work...and man, what a way to kick off summer vacation!! We had a blast! I have so many pictures to go through so it'll take me some time before I can get a good beach post up, but I thought I'd leave you with a few from our first day.

Here's the whole crew going down to the water

my big girl enjoying the waves

cheesy thing...but oh how this girl LOVED the ocean!

Stay tuned as I will be posting more pictures of the beach over the next few days!:) Happy summer to all!!

Watermelon

2011-05-27T12:05:00.000-04:00

"Watermelon, Watermelon...

how it drips...

up and down the elbow, up and down the elbow...

spit out the pits, spit out the pits."

Oh summer is almost here! We just had our first watermelon of the season and we all loved every minute of it! Summer will officially begin next Friday for the McPherson family!!!

Mother's Day

2011-05-11T19:51:00.000-04:00

I couldn't have had a better Mother's Day this year. The weather was beautiful, we got to spend a lot of time outside enjoying each others company, we got to worship and spend a morning with close friends at church and then we got to celebrate the day with a wonderful dinner with my role models. Who could have asked for a better day?! It seems like each year just keeps getting better and better...I guess it could have something to do with the fact I seem to keep having babies;)

My first "baby" - little Andy

MY baby - little Catherine:)

Momma and her girls...all three of them

looks like we have another one with those beautiful curls...yippy!

sweet big sis playing hard in the yard

having a sisters meeting at the magnolia tree....hmmm, I wonder what transpired between those two...or, maybe I don't want to know!

4 generations...I wont tell you how many pictures we had to take before we got a decent one with all of us looking...;)

Happy Mother's Day to all the women out there...but especially to my mom and grandmother who have inspired me and taught me so much. I love you two and feel so incredibly blessed to be called your daughter and granddaughter!!!

Road Trip

2011-04-27T21:01:00.001-04:00

Road trips...I always seem to need a vacation after returning from a road trip. Especially our annual Spring Break trip to Arkansas where we drive 12-13 hours straight through the night on the way and way back...whew, poor Andy;) We always start off the trip with adrenaline but by the time we leave, adrenaline can't be found anywhere...he must have jumped ship with all the tornadoes and storms we had in Arkansas this week...Since adrenaline couldn't keep up with us, we decided that we could break up the return trip into two days. That way we all get rest and return home in better moods...HA! Those were famous last words! We should have NEVER stopped...nobody got sleep and we were even more cranky upon arrival in Farmville. Whew, what a trip! But I must say, we did enjoy our trip while we were there:)

Kendall, our self entertaining child. We all heard this noise and went into the bedroom to find Kendall playing with the door stop. It was hilarious!! She was soooo intense about it:)

We took a trip out to visit Andy's dad in the cemetery and change out his flowers. Here Alley is helping out.

Kendall...I wont say whether she helped or hindered...I'll let you decide;)

Afterwards we went to feed the ducks at a nearby pond...apparently none of the ducks were hungry...what's up with that?!

my determined duck-feeder....they WILL eat....

We all gave up and went to the playground to lick our wounds...I think it worked

oh I loooove swinging...

Kendall working on her baby-care skills

um, yeah, that's definitely not helpful Kendall...no licking or biting the baby

We had a fun and early Easter morning. The girls were excited about diving into their Easter baskets...okay, Alley had a small clue but Kendall was clueless and looked at us like, what in the world is this?! Still, they caught on fast and enjoyed seeing what the Easter bunny left.

Alley wearing her new ears:) Maybe she will hear better with these...in my dreams, right?! ;)

Kendall and her new set of ears

cheesy girl

"buuuuup-pppy" did I ever tell you that this girl loves her some puppies?? EVERYTHING, and I mean everything, she likes she names a puppy. She's hilarious:) Imagine walking in her room first thing in the morning and her pop her head up over the bedrail and yell "buuuupppp-pppy" right in your face.

Daddy and Alley reading/listening to the book Mimi and Papa sent - I think we heard this book a gazillion times while in Arkansas...she loved it!

sharing...did I just catch those two sharing and actually get it on camera...say it aint so! Let me have a moment to soak this up....

Alley showing off her new Easter dress

Daddy and his girls

classic picture, Alley trying to keep Kendall down and Kendall fighting to escape

the family...can I tell you how hard it is to get a decent picture of the whole family??!!! Oh and I am sure it wont get easier...

big momma and her babies...

Alley hunting for eggs after church

Kendall watching Alley and carefully calculating the moment when she can steal the eggs from her

gotcha...now Kendall, who's bucket is that?

going for a ride in the fabulous wagon...yes, everyone needs a wagon, it subdues all problems

look, we even picked up another baby...Alley helping out with her younger cousin...she kept saying, I'm gonna help mommy with Mary Cate like this....

sharing again...oh man, Jesus definitely did return from the dead;)

Alley helping again

We had a wonderful trip and thoroughly enjoyed spending the time with extended family. Now if only we could have brought family back, not the horrible weather!

Projects

2011-04-19T21:41:00.001-04:00

...and I have a lot of them going on at once. It's become an obsession, a healthy one, but it's still consuming. I can't get enough of it:) I just finished two different dress projects for the girls. The first project, which has taken the longest, is the smocked dresses I was making for Easter. They are done, with 5 days to spare...whew! This was the first time I smocked it all on my own and actually made the dresses from scratch. Um yeah, sewing a bishop dress (let alone 2!!) is not an easy first smocked dress to do. My grandmother, a home economics pro, was a wealth of knowledge and I definitely couldn't have done it without her guidance!! Here is the finally product:)

Both their dresses...

it's on super small blue checked fabric and the butterflies are two-toned pink.

closer look

even closer:) Dress #1

Dress #2

I mentioned before that I had several projects going on at once...Not only did I just finish 2 smocked dresses, but I also finished two more reversible dresses. I tweaked this pattern as well and made it a button closure at the top instead of ties. I have yet to follow the pattern completely...maybe one of these days I'll follow it;) But for now, it's fun to experiment and make it your own. Here is the final product.

This is the reversible dress, only one is pictured, but I made two:) I just loooove this fabric!!! I have enough left to make a little bubble outfit for baby #3...can't wait!!

The other projects I'm working on are knit sundresses for Alley and Kendall, plus a matching bubble for baby #3....and a knit, long dress for me that I can wear pregnant and afterwards. I will post pictures as soon as I complete them:) My next smocking project is for the fall (yes, I'm totally giving myself ample time to complete this 3 dress project!!). It's an adorable EI-EI-O pattern with farm animals...its just too cute. Anyway, I'm going to be trying out another style of smocked dress on this go-around. Keep your fingers crossed;)

Tubes

2011-04-08T19:02:00.000-04:00

Today Kendall got tubes put in her ear...let's all breathe a sigh of relief! Oh I can see a happier, ear infection free future:) Our sweet little mess has been quite sick lately, as I am sure you read in my last post, and we were unsure she would be able to go for this scheduled operation. Low and behold, despite being seriously sick last week, she was completely, and I mean completely, healthy! Can I get an AMEN! Wow, so off to Richmond we went for the glorious tubes.

Alley had gotten tubes when she turned one, so we knew how wonderful those teeny, tiny colored tubes were and we couldn't wait. We woke up bright and early and headed off to see the surgeon. Kendall, in her sweet little way, charmed the socks off of every nurse and doctor there. She flirted with the anesthesiologist (who seriously couldn't have been older than 26!!!), and when Dr. Hickman came in, she walked right up to him and grabbed his leg in a big bear hug and laid her head on his leg and sucked her thumb. Can we say precious!! I really wish I had gotten a picture of that, but I'm not one to bring a camera into surgery;) Maybe next time I should...no, no, no, I take that back, there better not be a next time!!! Kendall was all smiles and snuggles with the anesthesiologist when he came to take her away as well. Let's just say she knows how to pick them;)

We proceeded out to the waiting room and had just finished texting our family to say she had gone back, when Dr. Hickman came out to say they were all done...wow, I had forgotten how fast it really was! We went back to see her and by the time we got out of the waiting room, she was back to her normal self. She had a super quick recovery and was back to her charming self in no time. Of course it helped to have Mimi, Papa and Uncle John around to get attention from;) And boy did she soak it up!

Okay, side tracking a bit...remember I said I didn't have pictures from Kendall's hospital stay...well dad reminded me I could text them to his Blackberry and he could e-mail them to me...so, viola, I've got pictures;)

Check out her paddle! She finally found her thumb with that big contraption weighing her hand down

sleeping with her glorious thumb

her hand/paddle was too heavy to stay in her mouth once she drifted off...hilarious;)

Fun in the sun

2011-04-06T19:47:00.000-04:00

Kendall was finally cleared to go back to school, but while she was out, she milked her time for all it was worth;) On Monday she spent the afternoon with Mimi and Papa at their cabin. I honestly think this child was born outside. She is completely obsessed with being outside. Periodically throughout the day, she will grab her jacket, throw it on her head and go lean against the door saying, "pup-py, me-ow". She is the happiest when outside:) Of course, after the winter we had, who wouldn't prefer to be outside enjoying the beautiful weather?!!

Here are some fun pictures Mimi took of Kendall enjoying her"sick days" outside;)

waving "hi" while eating watermelon...or is that a raised hand saying I want more now...please;)

"soooooo big"

relaxing in the hammock with Papa...doesn't she look laid back?!

Look at the camera? What?! There are too many things out here to look at!

When you can't get into the hammock, Papa's arms will do..."swing, Papa, swing" ;)

I'm just glad to have my happy, nature-loving explorer back! Bring on Spring!

Our crazy life...

2011-04-02T10:26:00.000-04:00

I think those three words sum up what has been going on in our family this past week. I sit here at the computer trying to put my thoughts into words while I let my daughter brush my hair for the day. Yes, I didn't brush it and am letting her do it. I also spilled my drink a few minutes ago and she told me I needed to clean it up and not bring drinks into the living room because that's what happens when you do....I think I might have even let her pick out my outfit today, I'm not telling though! Oh yes, this just sums up our life at the moment.
Let me paint the picture for you...imagine being confined to a small room (say an 8x8 or less) for three days and nights with an active really sick 1 year old and nurses coming in and out every 2 hours...sleep?? What is that??!
The craziness all started when Kendall entered her third week of having a double ear infection. None of the medications worked so the poor girl had many rough nights of little to no sleep ( you know what that means too, we had little to no sleep as well). Finally, after going to an ENT and setting up a date for surgery, we thought we'd be in the clear. Whew, things must be looking up right?! It can't get any worse then this...famous last words....Wednesday we called the pediatrician with an issue of possible dehydration and that Kendall's hands were turning blue and purple. She told us to go straight to the ER because that needed to be checked out. In my mind I thought that if it was dehydration, she'd get an IV and we'd be able to go home by evening. Besides, she was acting so happy, friendly and very active...NOTHING could be wrong. Ha! That is when we found out she had pneumonia, RSV, another double ear infection and was dehydrated. So off to the pediatric unit we went. We were released Friday with GAZILLIONS of meds in the hopes that something would help her get over all this crumminess. The funny thing about this whole adventure is that Kendall was amazing. She had the IV put in her thumb-sucking hand (for real, who would do that?!!!) but after she got over being ticked off about that, she happily played, sang, and charmed the socks off the nurses and doctors. The nurses dubbed her the "happy weezer". They say they get two kinds of kids...those lethargic, cranky, not-so-seriously-sick kids....then you get the happy, playful, charming seriously sick kids who they say are happy weezers...that was Kendall all right:) I took several pictures of Kendall while in the hospital, but I can't post them because I don't have a fancy phone that does anything like that;) So, just imagine Kendall in a hospital gown with a huge paddle on her hand hiding her IV needles, hanging out in the hospital crib jumping up and down and saying bye-bye to anyone who walks in and out of the room. She was a pill;) I am just glad we are home and hope all the meds work so we don't have to go back...whew! That is why our life is crazy...we have entered the recovery stage now.
Oh, Alley is now reading the prayer book...I think she knows we need some help and direction;)

Birthday fun

2011-03-24T18:41:00.000-04:00

Here are some more pictures we took of the girls wearing their new dresses. I'm in the process of making new ones and tweaking the pattern even more. Leave it to me to not follow a pattern completely;) I'm excited because I have two projects going on...one is the dress I was just talking about, and the other one is my smocking adventure. I am almost done with the smocking of Alley's dress and then all I have to do is sew the dress...I can't wait to see how it looks when it's done. It's been frustrating at times but I am really enjoying it! I will keep you updated:)

Alley before church

Playing on our neighbors porch

Kendall watching Alley

This weekend Alley and I got to go celebrate Alley's "BFF"'s birthday. We had so much fun coloring, painting and playing outside. Here are some pictures from the day.

the girls coloring with markers, stickers and glitter glue...can we say heaven (for the girls, but not for an OCD clean freak...whew, I survived the glitter)

this decision was a serious one...I hope she made the right one;)

playing in the sandbox

what could be more fun than a huge play gym...they had a blast

the birthday girl and Alley waiting patiently for food

back to the "drawing board"....breathe Catherine, breathe...;)

We had a great time at the party and Andy and Kendall had fun at home as well. We are so glad the weather turned beautiful and we were able to spend most of the weekend outside! It's beginning to feel like spring and we are excited:)!

Oh Wow

2011-03-16T21:05:00.001-04:00

And so we have it...the news we have been so looking forward to!

McPherson baby #3 is a GIRL!

To say we are excited is an understatement!! We have been anticipating this moment for a couple days and have been positive it was going to be another girl, so the news was just what we were looking for:) Of course, maybe this is why Andy works at an all boy school...he gets his fill of boys all day and then can come home to our girlie chaos:)

Baby girl is doing wonderful. She is already so precious and quite the diva...every view of her face she had the back of her hand resting on her forehead like she was about to faint....such a Scarlett O'Hara thing;) Everything is looking good and we are hoping and praying for a normal pregnancy this time around!!

Weekend Away

2011-03-09T20:53:00.000-05:00

This past weekend we traveled to Richmond to spend some quality time with Mimi and Papa. Okay, the real reason was because we had a baby shower for a really good friend on Saturday night, but we will use anything to make a trip to see Mimi and Papa;) We had an added bonus on this trip...Uncle John and Marion were in town as well...yeah, more playmates!;)

My parents were given some hand-me-down outdoor play equipment this past week and they set it up for Alley and Kendall to try out...oh boy was it a hit!! The girls just couldn't get enough of it. They are obsessed with being outside anyway, so this is perfect. Now we don't always have to travel up to "Papa's playground" at "Papa's church" to play outside...whew, we've been saved from the multiple daily trips up there;)

here are the girls when they first got outside...can you tell Kendall is lovin' it?!

this was just too hilarious to pass up:) She was trying to climb through the hole and fell in!

super happy and being goofy

Kendall is so proud of herself

peek-a-boo!

cheesy goodness...Andy was throwing her up in the air and catching her. This is right after he caught her:)

big girl going down the slide...she loved it

weeeeeeeeeeee....

help, I've fallen and I am stuck

I give up, I'm just going to lay here until someone comes to get me...literally, she waited for me to get her!

pausing for a snack break on their new picnic table

inside playing and getting a little education in;)

my job for the shower was to make cupcakes...yummy!

oh man, which one will I eat...I'm mean test....first

Kendall, John, Marion and Alley relaxing after church

Fun, fun weekend:) We are so happy Mimi and Papa can handle the craziness, that always seems to follow our family, and let us come for the weekend;) We had a blast and can't wait until next time...

Projects

2011-03-03T18:37:00.000-05:00

Recently I've started sewing again. I learned how to sew, smock, knit, cook, etc. years ago from my wonderful Grandmother, but I never found time to keep up with it. Not that I have a lot of free time, but for some reason I have been really wanting to sew again.

Back around Christmas, I embarked on the smocking journey. Granny and I worked on matching Christmas dresses for the girls (ok, lets be honest, Granny did most of the work, but I contributed a good amount!) that turned out so cute. We are now about to begin Easter dresses for the girls, and I am even going to make the dresses, as well as try to do most of the smocking myself (it's a pattern with butterflies on it...why do I always pick the hard stuff!?). I will keep you updated on how that all turns out;)

A week ago I found some adorable material while I was in Richmond, plus a fun pattern, and it inspired me to make the girls a dress. I thought it was neat because it was a reversible dress...it can't be hard right?? Okay, it didn't get hard until I decided to stray from the pattern and add some embellishments to the dresses myself...ha, not a good idea to do on the first dress you make all by yourself after years of being away from the sewing machine! All in all I think they turned out very well (just don't look too close please!). I already have new ideas for the next time I use this pattern...oh I can't wait to go to Richmond and buy more material!!!

Alley sporting her new dress

(Disclaimer: IGNORE the wild hair! Yes, I brushed it and even wet it down...).

Kendall getting in on the action. Doesn't she look excited;)

Kendall got tired of getting her glamor shot and decided the toys were more interesting...notice who is excited to finally have the rocking chair;)

Watch out for more of my projects!! I found a slew of fun patterns for the girls and myself!!

ODAC Tournament

2011-02-27T21:36:00.000-05:00

Yes, it's that time of year again! Basketball season is coming to a close and I feel my "single parent" days are wrapping up for the year (who am I kidding...spring football is right around the corner...just let me enjoy this moment please!). Okay, now let's be honest, the real reason I get excited about this time of year isn't because my husband will be home at a decent hour each night (even though I looove that!), it's because we get to spend a weekend in a hotel and eat Krispy Kreme doughnuts each morning! Oh yes, that is where my excitement comes from...the Hot sign that is always illuminated outside the Roanoke Krispy Kreme. We have such a love affair with these doughnuts that we even talked about how great it would be to open a Krispy Kreme store in our basement. It was a great idea until I realized I probably wouldn't be able to fit through the doorway because I would have "tested" too many doughnuts;) Maybe that wasn't such a good idea...Okay, all kidding aside (sort of!), we had a great weekend getting to spend time as a family of four and just enjoy being in a town bigger than Farmville:)

How can you go to Krispy Kreme and not document this monumental moment with pictures;) Oh yes, all you healthy eaters are probably going to want to stop reading this post now...you were warned...I feed my kids doughnuts. Not just any doughnut though, only the best for my babies! I will say they do share their parents love for Krispy Kreme doughnuts...they make me so proud (tear)...

Alley waiting for her doughnut to eat...can you see the excitement and anticipation in her eyes;)

Oh yes, she's a KK lover too...but she was only allowed three bites...see, you don't have to call child protective services quite yet;)!

future KK eaters:)

oh was it yummy!

We are sad that HSC lost, but we are thankful to have been able to go to Roanoke and support our beloved Tigers...by eating Krispy Kreme doughnuts;) 365 days til next visit...muahaha

late Valentine day wishes

2011-02-16T20:26:00.000-05:00

Our church hosted a Valentine's Day dinner on Saturday night. Alley was asked to be the "ice princess" and help pass out the prizes to all the valentine games. Of course, you tell Alley there's going to be food, "a party", and she gets to be a princess, and she is completely on board;) Wayne and Patricia (a sweet couple from our church who ADORE Alley, they also cook all the fabulous meals our church has), brought the ice princess outfit for Alley to sport during the dinner.

doesn't she look cute as the Ice Princess

daddy and his princess

Alley helping draw names for the prize winners...she thought she was THE stuff;)

Alley and her buddy Sierra

Alley and "Mr. Wayne"...check out that squeeze she's got on him;)

Even though Alley had a late night, she still enjoyed herself and we are so glad she got to be apart of it! Happy Valentine's Day to all:)

Little Penguin

2011-02-10T16:36:00.000-05:00

Let's cut to the chase here...we are adding another little puff-a-lump to our rowdy bunch. Yes, baby #3 is on it's way and will hopefully make it to it's due date in August!

I had a laugh out loud moment with Alley a few weeks ago when I told her I was pregnant. I told her that mommy had a baby in her belly and then showed her the ultrasound (I don't know why, maybe I thought she would understand with pictures!). She looked at the picture, then at my belly, then up to me and said (as serious as she could be), "mommy, that's a penguin. You have a penguin in your belly." Whaaaaat?

Well, let's just hope this little penguin stays safe and happy in it's little environment and I don't go through the craziness I went through last time!

Oh the fun we have...

2011-02-06T09:00:00.001-05:00

...when no one is looking.

Kendall wondered off while Alley and I were playing and after a few minutes I realized it was way to quiet. So, I started my search and this is what I found...

Kendall had gotten into our Sam's Club boxes and was just having a blast

check me out - I fit!

relaxed and laidback

pushing the box around and trying to climb back in

I made it;) So proud of myself!

Again I wonder why we even buy toys?! Of course Sam's Club isn't that cheap either;)

Party Animal

2011-01-25T18:32:00.001-05:00

We celebrated Kendall's birthday with the family on Sunday night. Due to everyone's weekday schedule, it was just easier to party-hardy on Sunday evening. I still don't know why I do this to myself every time...why do I plan their birthday celebrations in the evenings??!! Come on, everyone wants to party during "arsnic hour" with a 1 year-old;) Whew...glad that's over! We had a wonderful time, despite some meltdowns from the birthday girl...you just DON'T mess with her schedule.

Kendall has ALWAYS been an extremely smiley baby. So I thought it was completely appropriate to have her first celebration be with smile face cupcakes. Very fitting for this little puff-a-lump:) Here are her delicious cupcakes...

I even found sparkle/glittery black frosting to make it more of a "girly" smile!

the multiple smiles of Kendall

Now the BEST time of the evening was when we presented Kendall with her birthday cupcake. I wasn't sure how she would react to the cupcake since she's never had anything like this before (minus a few bites of ice cream mommy has...once in a while). Alley freaked out on her first birthday when presented with her cake and didn't want ANYTHING to do with the cake. Of course it could have had something to do with the fact that I made a ducky cake and gave her just the head...). Anyway, I gave Kendall the cupcake and the moment I let go of it and started to sing the first words of "Happy Birthday"....this is what she did....

guess she was ready for her cupcake!

she was sucking the frosting off the cake and was so incredibly intent on getting it all!!!

oops!! dropped some frosting...she literally sucked on her arm to get ALL the frosting off. Yes, she had red marks all over her arms where she sucked so hard;)

Oh man was it yummy!!

god-mother (LeeAnn Rasey) and her little man checking out Kendall's eating style. Look at her face...she's like "Garrett, don't you get any closer. It's ALL mine!!"

and more sucking of the arm...notice how she has devoured the whole thing and barely left a crumb!!

Oh, found a crumb...must eat it!

daddy gave her some eye-black....eating her cupcake football-style...all or nothing;)

After some cake eating, we settled down to open presents. Kendall wanted nothing to do with it. I forced her to sit with me for the first present...then I gave up;) Here she is getting her very first baby doll from mommy, daddy and Alley. Alley was so excited about this doll...yes, we are having sharing issues over this doll right now;)

checking out her birthday cards

bathed and ready for bed...so is Garrett...Kendall decided he needed to be rocked to sleep. The look on his face says it all;) Yes, she's an all-or-nothing kind of child! He sure did get a good rockin' though;)

Happy Birthday to our sweet thing!!

...and she's 1!

2011-01-20T19:07:00.000-05:00

Today Kendall is 1...

Day 1, January 20th, 2010

Day 365, January 20th, 2011

I really cannot believe it's been a year already! I feel like just yesterday I was on bed rest wondering when she was going to make her appearance and whether it was going to be at an appropriate time or extremely inconvenient;) She was definitely raring to go and just couldn't wait to see the world. She has brought so much joy to our lives! She is such a smiley baby and generally very very happy. Here are some things she's been up to:

started walking a few days before turning 11months...you had been taking steps all by yourself at 10months, but didn't really take off and take 10 or more steps until right before 11months
You are such a happy baby, but when you want something you definitely let us know;)

you have 6 teeth all up front and haven't gotten another tooth in the past several months
you ADORE your sister and love to be around her...I must say, Alley feels the same way about Kendall too! Whew!

you have completely dropped all your bottles and it went relatively smooth...you now LOVE your milk...at first it was quite a love/hate relationship;)
You have your days or not wanting to nap, but other days you do just fine napping. Amazingly, you nap better at school...what?!

you still have bright blue eyes and blond hair with some red highlights
You are topping the charts in height and weight, but so did Alley (as well as your mother...shhhhh)

you love anything and everything that makes noise. Your current favorite toy is a little kitty that purrs and meows when you pet it...you LOVE it!!
you will walk up to ANYTHING that looks soft and put your thumb in your mouth and lay your head on it. I think it's so cute;) You are a texture girl!

you are babbling like crazy!!! You will say some words and use them at the right time...you say "thank you", "up", "bye-bye", "momma", "dadda", "ball", etc.
Since you started moving at 4 months, you haven't wanted to be held down. You are an EXTREMELY active child...and I mean extremely!!! Whew, you have worn me out!

you will follow your sister anywhere and are the happiest when she is paying attention to you
you look nothing like your sister but so much like your mother when she was a baby...it's about time;)

you seem to have a very tender heart just like your sister
you are happy to be a follower...which is good, because your sister is happy to be the leader;)

Happy Birthday to my baby girl! We are so blessed and honored to be your parents. We love you and your sister more than words can express!

Winter Days

2011-01-17T14:30:00.000-05:00

First off...check out these lashes! Both girls got there beautiful long lashes from Andy...and their chubby cheeks from me;) I could just eat her up! Ok, I digress;) I just thought this was a super cute picture of Kendall in her serious mode.

We've had lots of snow days and plenty of time hanging out inside. Alley is itching to go play outside, so I'm having to find new ways to entertain...in comes the laundry basket! Who would have thought?!;) Here they are playing while I attempt to make dinner...:)

I can't wait to see the friendship the girls are going to have as they grow up! It's already so much fun to watch!!!

Slacker...

2011-01-11T08:49:00.000-05:00

Yes, I know...I am quite the slacker. Life has been going full force sense the end of Christmas and I've barely had time to sit down and breathe let alone take pictures or update the blog...forgive me;) Basketball is in full-swing, so Andy is a busy bee and school started right after Christmas for me and the girls so we've been rolling ever sense. The McPherson household BUSY:)

Let's back track to the Tuesday after Christmas...We celebrated Granny's birthday at the little Bed & Breakfast (which is right next door to us) and had a great time with family. Here are some pictures from our day.

Cousin twins...they never stop laughing when they are together

all the great grandkids - notice how excited Kendall is..."what are we doing guys?"

Mimi, Papa and the grandkids...all smiles:)

Granny and her great grandkids

the dining room where we had a fabulous lunch (thanks Ukrops Bakery!)

watching Granny open presents...they were so over gifts! Too much Christmas;)

Winston "the Great" hanging with the kiddos...yes, he fits right in;) They LOVE him!

sweet snuggles:)

I promise I will try to pick up my camera and take some pictures of our happenings...but I can't promise I'll upload them in a timely manner;) Let's hope I get out of this computer boycott before Kendall's 1st birthday in 1 week!!! (tear)...she's growing up too fast!

Merry Christmas...late;)

2010-12-29T15:21:00.000-05:00

Merry (Late) Christmas! Life around the McPherson-Alley household this Christmas has been crazy! We were in full swing gearing up for this special season at the beginning of Advent and just went full steam ahead right on through Christmas day. What a glorious time of year it is! This season was full of projects (we made our own advent calendar, ginger bread house, Christmas cookies, etc.), friends and family, lots and lots of food and baking:). Here are some pictures that represent the few days we spent in Richmond for Christmas. I will warn you, they are in backwards order...thanks computer;)

Will, Jess and the kids made it to Richmond on Christmas day night...what cuties they are!

Will and Jess with our wild bunch

Owen watching Papa and daddy start Papa's train

obviously Jess needs helping opening her presents...whew, good thing we have back-up;)

Alley trying on daddy's gift

The Alley's youngest Giants fan actually wearing the Cowboys hat...way to come over to the good side Owen;)

John entertaining the kids...choice of toys was interesting;)

baking with Mimi

Alley working hard on the family puzzle...;)

Merry Christmas daddy

This is the plate I found for our Birthday party for Jesus! I love it!!

Alley and I made a cake for Jesus...and it was from scratch...yes, I'm slightly proud of myself;)

Alley and Kendall playing with each others toys

opening presents Christmas morning

Papa holding Kendall

Alley and daddy plying with a gift

Santas cutest helper helping me open my gift...she was so sweet to help;)

Alley playing with her new kitty that purrrs (she called it Cagnie)

opening her kitty

Kendall playing with her stocking gifts

opening stockings

oh look! Stickers! My favorite

Christmas Eve reading Christmas books to Alley before bed

Family photo before the Christmas Eve service - side note, Alley did a fabulous job in church!

cheesy grins at Mimi's

Mary and Joseph decor

the girls checking out their Christmas gifts before we left for Mimi and Papa's

Merry Christmas to all!!

Christmas Fun!

2010-12-14T07:47:00.000-05:00

Christmas is less than two weeks away...where did all the time go??!! My mom and I decided this year that it would be fun to smock matching Christmas dresses for my girls. Knowing us and our schedules, we bought the stuff back oh, say, in August...;) Good thing we did because it took us this long to get them completed! I had to end up getting Granny to finish the last little bit this week so the girls could wear them for the next few Sundays...and believe me, they will be wearing these dresses until the Christmas season has officially ended and the wise men have made it to see baby Jesus! Smocking is hard work! The girls looked just precious in their dresses and we took TONS of pictures...but go figure, these were the only two that they both looked "pleasant" and at the camera. It seems the look now-a-days in the McPherson household when mommy throws a camera in your face, is the deer in headlights look...good grief!

Here are my sweet things snuggling together

Yeah! They are both semi-smiling and semi-looking at the camera! Score;)

On Sunday we invited our good friends three kids to come spend the day with us so the parents could shop and spend some quality time together. We had a blast!! I don't know who enjoyed it more?!! The kids, me or the parents;) We love, love, love this family and their kids so it was a complete pleasure to have them mesh into our family for a day. Our day was full of church, playing, baking Christmas treats, watching Christmas movies, and EATING!!!

Here's the crew in front of the gingerbread house they made and decorated. Good job guys!!!

the masterpiece...notice the finger in the center pointing at the candy she wants to eat..."...and this, and this one, and this one...I want all of it...yum"

We also covered just about everything in my kitchen with chocolate;) Right here we have the strawberry marshmallows covered in chocolate...yum! They taste like chocolate covered strawberries!

Here's a little piece of heaven sandwiched between two chocolate covered DOUBLE-stuffed Oreos;) I'm just going to say that there is nothing left from this baking adventure...;)

Here are a few of the little bakers taking a break and watch Christmas movies

Okay, I am now officially ready for Christmas!! What a fun day we had! Let's do it again tomorrow;)!

Twisted...Tangled...whatever!

2010-12-11T20:23:00.000-05:00

Ever since the new Rapunzel movie came out I have had a really hard time with the title. I keep calling it Twisted?! It's TANGLED Catherine! I have no clue why I can't get it straight. Calling it Tangled makes a lot more sense than calling it Twisted...I just need help...or more sleep;)

A few weeks ago, my mom found out that there was a free showing of Tangled (or if you're me, "Twisted") today. Andy and I decided we couldn't pass up this opportunity. We weren't sure how Alley would do in a movie theater since she just turned 3, but the worse that could happen is that we would have to leave during the movie. And since it would be free, we wouldn't lose any money;) It's a no lose situation.

Today we turned the movie trip into a special morning for Alley. We drove to Richmond and dropped Kendall off with Mimi and Papa (poor Kendall...she definitely didn't get loved on at all;) ha!!).

Here is a picture of Alley and her Rapunzel doll (that she named "Tangled") right before we left

Giving Tangled a good squeeze

She didn't want Raggedy Ann and Andy left out...they had to have a picture too;)

Alley and mommy

Kendall wanted in on the action;)

A side note, Kendall has been taking a few steps on her own here and there, so we should be taking off in no time! Yikes!!

After dropping Kendall off, we headed over to Krispy Kreme to enjoy some Christmas doughnuts before our special movie. Oh how we McPherson's love our Krispy Kreme!! We three could have polished off 2 dozen in no time;)

Alley and her "chosen"

making sure no one steals her doughnut...;)

Afterwards we headed off to the movie theater. The movie was super cute, and yes, we didn't make it through the whole movie. We were so close to the end, but she requested to leave. She did a great job though and I hope we will be able to do this again next year. And I'm totally not saying it because I want more Krispy Kreme doughnuts....;)
The comment of the evening..."I don't like bad grandma, she scare me...I looooove Jesus." Can't get any better than that;)

Portraits 2010

2010-11-27T21:14:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago, we were able to have a good friend take some family portraits of us. They were in town for an HSC football game and to visit their old stomping grounds. They graciously took some time the morning they left to get a few shots in. We are very thankful for their talent and friendship:) Here are some of our favorite shots.

The girls not sure of this whole early morning smile fest;)

the twins

Kendall checking Alley's teeth out...Alley's first dental exam;)

this was just too sweet! I love these two!!

Almost all of us are smiling..amazingly, our smiley girl, Kendall, was very stubborn with her smiles! Go figure;)

making faces

sleepy eyes

sweet older sis

cheesy grin

which pine cone...this one or that one?

sisterly love and squeezes

so much sugar to go around

this picture just captures it all...Kendall is always finding something to put in her mouth and Alley is always trying to torture Kendall

look at me! I'm a big girl:)

no I will not look at you...the grass is more interesting

so serious

peek-a-boo

no, mom, I was not eating dirt...

really mom, don't you trust me?!

she looks like she's got something up her sleeve!

playing with the grass

Kendall trying to steal the dirt and grass from Alley...yes, it's a daily occurrence

sweet kisses for sissy...even if she steals all my toys

We greatly appreciate Courtney Turlington's talent and her willingness to capture our

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-25T21:01:00.000-05:00

I love Thanksgiving, not just because it's a day that I get to eat a huge amount of food, but because it's a day that reminds me of all that I've been given and am thankful for. There is some much to be thankful for. My girls, oh how I can't imagine life without them. They brighten my day, make me laugh uncontrollably, feel deeply loved and seem to also make me so incredibly frustrated;) My husband, for the sacrifices he makes for our family, his giving spirit, his "can-do" attitude, his devotion, and I could go on and on! There is so much to be thankful for!!

Today we celebrated Thanksgiving at our house. I volunteered to cook the turkey...yikes! I got a recipe and went for it...I think everyone was just as relieved as I was that it turned out quite yummy!! Everyone contributed yummy dishes and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Yeah, I'm thankful for turkey:)!!

thirsty, thirsty

mom, I'm trying to eat here...

The girls table:)

We invited our close friends, the Sterling family, to join us for the feast. Alley was so excited to have her "friends" join us for the day. They brought some delicious desserts!!

The guys "table"

They watched football while eating...I think they were very happy about the seating arrangements;)

Our attempt at a family photo...this was as good as we could get...you should see the other photos!! Yikes!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!!!!

The big 3!

2010-11-14T14:40:00.000-05:00

Time sure does seem to fly by. Is she really 3 years old??! Yesterday we celebrated Alley turning 3. What a wild, crazy, fun day we all had. It just so happened that Alley's birthday collided with Andy's BIGGEST football game of the year...THE game...Macon vs. HSC...extreme rivals...we had to win. Of course, to an almost 3 year old, the game meant nothing, except scary tigers and boys;)

Before Andy left for work, we had our own celebration. We opened presents and had birthday doughnuts:) Yummy! Alley thoroughly enjoyed opening her gifts and played with them all morning.

Here is the big playhouse tent she got from G'maw and Jim...it was love at first sight;)

hanging out in the playhouse sporting her new rain boots, which we got her...they are huge on her feet (we really wanted her to have a pair she could wear through the spring....I just didn't realize how huge they'd be!!)

playing in the play room. The adorable shirt was given to her by Mimi and Papa. A good friend of mine from high school makes these kinds of shirts...they are adorable!!!

playing hopscotch

Alley invited Kendall to play in her playhouse...what a sweet big sister;)

My parents came in for the day and graciously watched the girls so I could go to the game. I frantically threw everything together in the morning for the party that evening, praying the BBQ would be done in time for all our guests when they arrived. The game started off rough, but HSC pulled through and beat Macon (whew!) now on to celebrate!

Here are Mimi and Papa with their McPherson grandkids...these girls sure do love their Mim and Papa!!

opening her new pots and pans from the pacific coast Alleys....oh what a perfect gift for Alley!!!! She is in love;)

playing away...she's making cupcakes for her and Ava for the party;)

Kendall enjoying the celebration

Alley so excited about the doll bookshelf...great job Mimi:)

putting all her "important" toys in the shelf...what??!!! She has some seriously random stuff in there...

Granny reading to Alley

Fall fun!!! Kendall loves the leaves:)

Already acting 3;) camera? What camera?

hey-hey!

This year the theme was Alley-gators:) I couldn't resist!

I couldn't find cupcake decorating ideas for alligators anywhere, so I made up my own alligator:) I think it turned out pretty well (minus the melting frosting!)

oh my! Coloring!! She's in heaven

While I was decorating her cupcakes on Friday, Alley was decorating her own. I think she went through a whole container of sprinkles! She decided she wanted to make the cupcake that the candle would go on for her party. She was soooo excited about making it.

Here she is eating "her cupcake"

hilarious...both making the same faces while eating:)

don't let Ava fool you...she already had her own cupcake;) So cute!

It was a fun day for all!! Happy birthday to my big,sweet girl!!! We love you!!!

Project

2010-11-11T20:09:00.000-05:00

Recently Alley has been begging me to do a "project". She is constantly wanting to color, draw something (really she just wants me to draw what she demands!), make something in the kitchen or do something on the computer. She loves projects. For her birthday, her best friend gave her a little "happy". In it was a piggy bank you can paint. Everything is provided for you - oh that is so the best past of the gift;) Kendall had been sick for a couple days and Alley had been so wonderful about giving us space and not being as "needy" ...of course she's making up for it now!;) Since she was being so wonderful, we went ahead and did our "project". I even got a wild hair and let her paint her pumpkin as well!

the beginning

painting away

check out that concentration

making sure she's doing it right;)

the final verdict...so good!:)

Alley painting her pumpkin with her friend, Ethan (that night she said, "momma, my like Ethan"...watch out Sterlings...hehehe!)

this is what Kendall was doing the whole time...she must have thought the toy was a trumpet

singing loud....she thought we needed some music while we did projects...how sweet;)

almost done mommy, please stop taking pictures!

What a fun fall activity...I need to make sure we do plenty more "projects"!!

Halloween

2010-10-31T22:18:00.000-04:00

I can't decide what Alley was more excited about today...playing outside, seeing "friends" (everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, who walked by today she claimed were friends coming to see her!), giving out candy or going to church (which she asks to do everyday). Whatever it was from, it was infectious and we all seemed to have had a good day. Of course my excitement and enthusiasm today could have had something to do with the fact that BOTH girls decided to sleep in until after 7am...or possibly the huge amounts of sugar consumed between Friday afternoon and now...it's anyone's guess;)

After nap we got the girls dressed up and ready for some early Trick-or-Treating. We decided to make it a short and sweet night. Both girls were perfectly happy to just get a small taste of walking around asking for candy.

Alley super excited about seeing "friends"

I just can't pass up her cheesiness:)

It was Kendall's bottle time, doesn't she look thrilled about Trick-or-Treating;)

Leading the way to stop number two, our friends house

She was talking non-stop the whole way...we "might" not have been listening to her...

Here we are at "Uncle Phil and Aunt Jess's" house - we can't seem to get her to stop calling them Aunt and Uncle! Anyway, she adores them and their kids and talks tirelessly about them. So we definitely had to make them one of the three houses we hit up:)

saying "trick-or-treat"

Kendall (much happier now that the bottle has been drained) trying to rack up on candy - sorry girl, not this year!

off to our last stop...Granny's

Alley checking to make sure the candy was still in there...No Alley, mommy hasn't gotten to your bucket yet;)

Kendall showing off for Granny...look, almost no hands;)

Since we didn't have time to carve our pumpkins (which I feel bad about!), I thought we do something fun and seasonal for dinner. Alley and I made BBQ pizza and made a jack-o-lantern face with the cheese:) It's a sad replica of one, but it will do...besides, it was yummy.

After dinner, the Trick-or-Treaters began to come in droves. Alley had the most fun handing out the candy. She absolutely LOVED it!!! I think this was definitely the highlight of the day. She was so excited when people started to come towards our house, she even ran to meet some halfway so she could hand them their candy! But if you had a mask on, you would not get the same reception! They scared her to death. She wasn't about to give them candy until they removed their masks. She started calling out to them "show your face", then after they removed their masks she would give them candy. Too cute:) We ran out of candy fast, so the night was a quick but enjoyable one. I hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween:)

Early Halloween

2010-10-29T20:34:00.000-04:00

Happy Early Halloween:) This "holiday" is not really one I tend to celebrate or think much about. To me it's just the halfway point to Chirstmas;) Just teasing...sort of. No really, I've never really been much for dressing up, going out and begging people for candy. Don't get me wrong, I love the candy part...I can't get enough of M&M's:)...but other than that, not so much a holiday I look forward to each year. Besides, I hate being scared. With that being said, and my opinion of it stated, I have to allow Alley to be a child and enjoy this holiday until she is too old to dress up and beg;)

Andy and I were both able to participate in the celebrations the daycare put on. This morning the older classes at daycare went to Trinity Missions and Trick-or-Treated with the residence. Andy was able to escape from work to capture Alley's first time Trick-or-Treating. He said she was so cute. Here are some pictures of her morning fun.

Alley (a butterfly/fairy/whatever you want to call it) and her best bud Ava (Minnie Mouse) waiting to begin...don't ask who the creepy one is...no clue:)

and they are off...Alley is very unsure of what's going on

looking around and checking out the scene

Trick-or-treat

such a nice man - Thanks:)

Alley and her buddy, Stryder

Cheese:)

After nap time, Alley's class had a Halloween party. I was able to make it for that and even Kendall got to join in. She was super bummed that she couldn't eat all the yummy treats everyone had brought. Next best thing, Yogurt bites;)

Look at our cute puff-a-lump the pumpkin:)

Happy Halloween

Party party...yum-yum:)

Alley and Ava eating "dirt"

our failed attempt at getting the girls to sit for a picture!

After the party, Alley went with Ava and her family to Centra Southside Hospital for their Halloween celebration. She had a blast dancing, getting her face painted, playing in giant blow-up bouncies and eating. Thanks Tibbs family for including Alley in your family!! She LOOOOOOVED it!!
Overall we had a great day of partying and fun. All of us are tired and ready for bed;) Fun day!

Weekend Away

2010-10-25T22:37:00.000-04:00

What??!! A weekend without kids? In a hotel room?? Eating out every meal???!!! Count me in!!!;) Have I ever told you how much I love hotels and eating out?!...;)

Yes, Andy and I escaped and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I have no shame in saying that I needed this time to myself to be with Andy. No snotty noses to wipe, no hurrying around so we don't miss nap-time, no whining because of hunger (well, I might have done a little of that...), no packing a duffle bag just for a trip to the grocery store, nobody clinging to me saying "no, MY momma" to another child. Yes, a break was needed!:) Don't worry though, those two little cling-on's had plenty of fun with Mimi and Papa...in fact, I don't think they even realized or cared that we were gone! (sniff, sniff...)

On Friday, Andy and I went off to Baltimore to take part in a marriage retreat put on by LifeWay. It was a wonderful weekend and we came back completely refreshed and ready to meet the challenges of everyday life. After one day back in the real world...I think I'm ready for another weekend away;)

Here are some photos from the girl's time with Mimi and Papa.

Oh how Kendall loves watermelon! She is DEFINITELY my child;)

Alley patiently waiting to eat

yeah Kendall, you better hold on tight! That sister of yours really likes to rock hard and fast on that rocking horse!

Big sissy showing little K how it's done

sporting their pumpkin hats

Alley waiting patiently for watermelon...she's a melon lover too:)

sisterly love...gotta love it!!

Zoo Fun

2010-10-10T13:26:00.005-04:00

Yesterday we took our first trip to the Richmond Zoo! We've been talking about going ever since Alley was a baby, but we never got our act together enough to make it over there. Finally we made it! Since Andy was out of town on Saturday, we met up with Alley's best bud and her sister and mom and took a trip to the zoo. What a BEAUTIFUL day for the zoo:)! After stuffing our bellies full of pancakes and hash browns, we were ready to start our adventure. We got there right when it opened (which was a fabulous idea!) and were able to really enjoy the sights without many people around. The weather was amazing and cool. It didn't start warming up until we were ready to leave...and that's when the crowds of families starting coming. Kendall just hung out in her stroller and Alley and Ava acted like twin sisters...one minute they couldn't hug enough, the next minute,"mommy, she's touching/looking at me"...they are hilarious!!!! Here are some pictures from the day.

"twins" watching the crazy and LOUD monkeys

all smiles and ready to begin the sight-seeing

whoa! crazy monkeys!!! Aren't they precious;)

umm, mom...what are they doing?

cheesey cheese

helpful big sister and what's up with Alley's face?;) I told her to smile...??!!

Checking out the tigers...right after this picture, the tiger popped up in their face and stared at them...can we say freak out?!!

looking at the "deer"

I just thought this was silly...

okay, this is not a zoom in...I was actually that close. You can feed the giraffes and they are ALL up in your business!

This is what Kendall was doing the whole time...just so content to hang out and play with her toys

"helping" feed the giraffes...they were kinda freaked out by the loooooong tongues

watching the alligators

sweet thing just relaxing

they were all about Kendall...just making sure she is loved on;)

We had a great time! We are definitely going to have to go back:) BUT, the next trip with the "twins" is going to HAVE to be closer to home...yikes! ;)

The Big 3-2 :)

2010-10-08T19:55:00.002-04:00

Andy turns 32 tomorrow! I'm just sayin....;)

Because Andy will be out of town tomorrow on his birthday, we decided to celebrate it tonight with the girls. Friday nights are our traditional "forced family fun night" with pizza and a movie, so we just added a birthday celebration to it. Alley and I made yummy cupcakes for Andy and then serenaded him with a wonderful rendition of "Happy Birthday". We chowed down on the cupcakes and then couldn't hold Alley back any longer...it was time for presents! She is definitely my child...we're all about "helping" the birthday boy/girl open their presents;) Every family needs a control freak...or someone who is perfectly fine with taking charge...;) (I think we have two....)

presenting daddy with our yummy cupcakes

Oh so proud of herself

snuggles before eating

gotta give daddy some sugar:)

"helping" daddy open gifts

Andy, all I can say is that I love you more and more with each day that passes. Thank you for being an amazing husband and father:) I am truly blessed!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY