The Big 3-2 :)

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

Help

***I don't normally post back to back posts, but I couldn't pass this up!***

Today I tried to get the house tidied up and "tried" to clean a bit. Of course I say this all casually because I got some "wonderful help " from my two busy bodies. Let's say whatever I did was quickly messed up again by someone who was desperate to help. I heard a lot of , "no mommy, my do it". Suuuuuuure....

this is what sweeping the floor looks like with Alley

"mommy, my do good job. My helpin. My like sweeping."

"Yes sweet heart, you are doing a great job. Why don't you sweep on the floor where you are suppose to."

"No mommy, da wall needs it. It dirty and needs me."

"(sigh) ok"

Check out her styling outfit;)

Oh look, the glass door must need her too!

Well, good thing I've got Kendall to help vacuum the floor, because our vacuum keeps dying on me! She just scoots around on her belly and moves the dirt to wherever Alley is "sweeping".

I must say, she is a pretty darn cute vacuum;) If only I could get her to stop trying to eat the dirt and dust...I must be asking too much...

*** side note, pardon the graininess of the pictures from today and yesterdays post. I am having some issues with taking pictures! They look completely fine on my camera and on the computer when I touch them up...once they are posted, they look extremely grainy...so over look it;)***

Life interrupted...

...I can't say I mind the interruptions. Sometimes routines get too monotonous for me. I'm always ready to spice everything up (as long as I'm still comfortable!) and try something new or break out of the chains of everyday ho-hum. I will say though, the whole family getting sick at one time is not my idea of a "fun interruption"! Last weekend, since Andy was going out of town with the football team, I had planned a great "girls weekend". There was going to be quality time at Mimi and Papa's, a trip to the zoo with a best friend, and lots and lots of shopping. My visions and excitement came to a screeching halt when I received a call, right before dismissal, saying Alley was throwing-up (or as she called it "spitting out"). Not a few seconds later did Andy text saying he's done the same thing....Bummer...not my idea of a fun interruption. Needless to say, we are all better and have rescheduled our "girls weekend" for another time. I just hope we have better success in our adventures next go around;)

Here are some pictures of the girls enjoying the beautiful weather.

getting in position to crawl

almost there...detour...the blanket tastes too yummy!

striking a pose...

yummy blocks...everything still goes straight to her mouth

windy-windy

helping out. Check out that wild hair! I can't get it to do anything but curl like crazy and do it's own thing when it wants.

more block tasting

talking to the squirrels

cheesey cheese:)

such a sweet thing

8 months....really?!

Yes, I'm still in denial that Kendall is actually that old. It really doesn't seem like its been that long, but at the same time, I don't remember what life was like without this smiley little puff-a-lump. She has changed so much in the last month or so!

• She has two teeth right now and they seemed to come out of nowhere! She didn't even let us know she was teething...apparently these next teeth are more annoying because she has decided that she needs to chew on EVERYTHING and fuss about it.
• She is still a great sleeper! Her day-time naps have been touch and go at daycare recently, but she still naps like a champ at home:)
• You will rarely see Kendall without a smile on her face...she will even smile mid-cry
• She has been sitting up for awhile now and is trying to pull up on EVERYTHING! She can only get to her knees but man does she keep trying.
• She is crawling!!!!!! she's fast with the army crawl (which she'll throw in a roll here and there) but more like an inchbug with "real" crawling...it's hilarious to watch!! Her knees go under her, her bottom goes up, she pushes up on her arms and moves forward, then goes back to her chest, and her bottom and knees go down...then the cycle repeats...she's our little inchbug:)
• She has started taking baths with Alley. I can't decide who is more excited about it, Alley, Kendall or me! They have a blast together...it definitely gets loud and wild in our bathroom around that time.
• Kendall is desperate to eat real food...she's over her jar food and will lunge after any food she sees. I can barely get jar food in her mouth because she's straining so hard to watch Alley eat. I think I'll stop pureeing the food and just chop the food into chunks now. She devours any and all finger foods you place in front of her.
• She is a pound heavier than Alley was at this age, but she is also taller.
• She looooooooves it when you sing. She will stop everything, smile like crazy and squeal along with you while banging her hands on the floor, table or on her toys.
  
• She cannot get enough of Alley. She hangs on Alley's every word, wont take her eyes off Alley when she is in the room and will laugh hysterically at Alley when Alley makes faces at her.
  

I love watching my two girls grow closer together with each passing day. This has to be one of the best parts about being a parent...besides the wonderful hugs and kisses from your children:)

"Daddy's wook"

Alley and "Daddy's wook, Hammen-Cidy Caw-leg" seem to be fast friends. Inseparable even. We can't get into the car, see a sports commercial, see boys, read about tigers or talk about daddy without her saying "my like football, daddy's wook, not tigers, day scare me". What goes on in that child's mind is anybody's guess! She certainly is daddy's little girl and absolutely loves football and going to daddy's work. She even will show you her Phalangies, Patella, and Metatarsals if you ask her...she's been around "daddy's wook" a lot;)

This past weekend, HSC had their first home football game. I tried to get some pictures of Andy working, but quickly realized I needed a zoom lens for that one! Oh well:) Some still turned out decent enough.

Here's a view of the field from where we were hanging out

watching the game

hmmm, must be some serious watching

Daddy's #1 fans

I can't tell you how thankful I am that the girls can now bathe together! It was tiring to have to go through everything twice each night by myself. This past week I ventured out and decided it was time the girls started doing some things together. I could not have asked for a better turn out! Since putting them in the bath together, there has been less fussing and crying going on in our evenings! Whew! Tonight I was able to catch some of their bath moments on camera since Andy was home to help out!

All smiles

enjoying the time with big sissy and sucking on our fingers

staring at daddy...uh-oh...looks like sissy has something not-so-nice up her sleeve!

Wham! Took her by surprise!!! Afterwards Kendall just squealed with excitement and splashed even more...no tears! This is one tough chick who wont let anyone or thing mess up her good moods - I need to learn from her;)

I look forward to many more firsts with them...I guess the next big move would be them sharing a room...um, yeah, I think we'll wait on that one for awhile!!!!

Busybody

...and I'm not talking about me here! Kendall now has figured out that she can move around and get those "mom-probably-put-far-enough-away-thinking-Kendall-wouldn't-be-able-to-get-them" items. Yeah, we are so there! She is rolling all over the place now but has recently just started scooting herself on her tummy to grab those tasty items as well. We are in for another busybody in the McPherson household!! I think I'm going to go lay down and rest right now...

Look who I found rummaging through her toys looking for that "perfect" item to lick and chew on...
I caught you red handed

so proud of herself...next step is to teach her how to clean up after herself;)

What did you say mom?? Clean up after myself...haha;)

taking a break from the toys to roll over and visit mommy

Speaking of busybody...Alley may very well look like Andy's twin, but there is no denying she is my child and takes after me. After she finished playing with her Noah's ark that Papa built, I told her she needed to clean it up and put it away...here is what she did

ummm, yeah, that's my girl;) Each animal is laying on top of the other matching animal, the house pieces are separated by color and Mrs. and Mr. Noah are standing up next to each other...enough said;)

Routine

Routine has now entered our life again...welcome back! We are beginning to flow better now that you have returned. Even though we enjoyed not having you around, sometimes it's a a breathe of fresh air when you come back. Now that school is back in session, we all have our demands; toys need to be taken out and thrown on the floor because we missed playing with you all day while at daycare, tantrums have to be thrown because mommy has not been around to enjoy them, pictures need to be colored because we definitely didn't color enough circles and crosses at daycare, pots need to be banged and taken out because they would feel left out if we didn't visit with them, the fridge needs to have it's doors opened and closed 10,000 times because we didn't open it all day while we were at daycare, we need to run around the house in circles over and over and over again because we certainly didn't get any exercise at school and the floor might have missed our loud feet, and the stool must be dragged around so that we can climb up to anything and everything "just to look mommy" because...I don't know, just because.

No, I wouldn't trade our new routine for anything...well, maybe for an extra pair of hands;)