McKenzie is 6!

Today McKenzie turned 6! She was so happy this morning as we decorated and set up for her party. "Mom, this is just the best birthday ever because it has decorations!" I'm glad she's still so easy to please.

Parker kept telling Kenzie, "It's almost your birthday!" He sat around and watched us. When the actual party commenced, he watched a Curious George movie downstairs and only came out to have a cupcake, so that worked really well for me. He's a good kid.

McKenzie used her new watch to tell me the time every 5 minutes or so as she waited for 1:30 to arrive. I was starting to regret suggesting her grandparents get her a watch! An in-action shot of the princess dress-up race. They liked that one.

Finally opening presents. McKenzie liked playing games with her friends, but didn't understand why we didn't open presents first.

I really liked this one. Future divas. (Or maybe not so "future") Then it was time for her to open the presents from her grandparents and great-grandma. Her old Barbie car was taped together (it used to be mine) and finally I got tired of re-taping it. Barbie will be relieved to ride in style again! Such a spoiled kid. Try though I might to convince her of something different, she still picked McDonald's for her birthday dinner. Then we took her to pick out our present to her (a new bike!), we watched a movie, and she went to bed very tired, but happy. I think I'm even more tired! Happy Birthday Kenzie!

First Sleepover

Last week McKenzie had her first sleepover. Her cousin Camille came over, we had pizza, roasted marshmallows, they watched two movies, and played quite a few rounds of Pretty Pretty Princess. First thing in the morning, they were back to playing. My favorite quote from the experience came from Camille who pointed out, "Yeah, we played Pretty Pretty Princess. I think Parker won."

Kenzie's Birthday Party

McKenzie will be 6 (going on 16) on Wednesday, so yesterday we had her cousins, aunts and uncles, and grandparents over for a family party.

At least making that goofy face made her laugh! Funny kid. She was so happy for it to be her turn to be the one opening presents. I was just glad the weather was nice. Our house is not meant for 30 people! Utilizing the backyard helps a bit.

The littlest kiddos hung out at the picnic table. I think Parker had two bites of watermelon and about 45 Pringles for his dinner.

Let's just have some cake already!

You can thank me for not singing while making the video. Waiting for presents on the deck. (There are two piles since her cousin Annie's birthday is the day after Kenzie's, so we added her to the party as well). The rest of the photos were in-action shots. She got some money, stick-on nails (we put those on first thing this morning), lip gloss, Tinkerbell coloring books, a Barbie movie, and three watches. I tried to tell McKenzie she could take back one or two watches, but she wouldn't hear of it. She was thrilled with all of them. (A girl's gotta accessorize, after all).

It's Really All We Do

Eating. It's apparently all we have done lately, based on my recent photos. Here are the kiddos at our picnic lunch with Daddy. It was finally nice enough to sit outside. Welcome the end of June in Utah I guess.

And ta-da, my new patio table. I would like to point out that I assembled the chairs myself. (This is not a feat for most people of average skill. I, on the other hand, spent a very long time staring at the instructions wondering if I really was on the English side of the paper.) Anyways, I was very proud of myself. And now we can sit outside and eat!

Splash Pad

Last night McKenzie's little soccer team got together at Rosecrest Park to celebrate the end of their season. I had fun trying out the blur-reduction setting while Parker went down the slides.

Also, we've had an incredible development in the world of Mr. Picky Eater - he willingly ate almost an entire hot dog last night! I am always thrilled to know there's another food he'll eat (and he's so skinny it's okay if the food is 99% fat). Parker loves his Spiderman swim trunks, and was interested in the splash pad, although only from this distance. He stood on the fence for awhile and then went back to the regular slides.

Kenzie, on the other hand, was quite busy running around and screaming with her little posse.

I think summer is slowly arriving!

Hayden's Birthday Party

Aww. So cute. Yesterday the Arnolds got together for Hayden's birthday. Since I brought my new toy (my camera) and since I'm trying really hard not to be the downer in the family all the time, I managed to take a picture of everyone with the fish-eye setting. I'm sure everyone loved the results! It was pretty funny: Basically, everyone's face came out looking like this. We got a good laugh out of it. "It's a big head. It's funny!"

This one was by far my favorite. You're welcome, DL!

I'm also fairly confident that if we had suddenly realized, "Oh, no! Hayden's not really turning 17, only 7!" not a thing would have needed to change. His gift scavenger hunt made me laugh. Hayden was trying so hard to be cool as the little kids bounded after him, watching him locate his presents.

End of Soccer Season

Kenzie is now done with soccer, but it sure was entertaining to watch. I don't have much to say about her last game, since it was the only game I had to miss, but since Chris took some pictures I figured they needed to be posted.

The trophy has been admired over and over and over again already.

"But Mom, I just like soccer!" For sure we'll have to sign this kid up again. She did a lot of twirling and a lot of blabbing with her friends, but for the most part she seemed to have a knack for it. We were quite proud!

My Birthday

Thursday was my birthday, and I turned 28. Funny that last year I thought 27 was old and it sort of bothered me. This year I don't feel 28 gives me enough credit - I sure feel much older.

Anyways, I had to take a picture of how McKenzie dressed on my birthday. "Mom, can I strike a pose?" she asked. (Did I have a choice?)

Parker wanted a picture, too, but since I still get him dressed we were pretty safe there.

Anyways, it was a pretty low-key birthday. Chris couldn't take the day off work, so I ran a few errands and then spent the rest of the afternoon avoiding cleaning anything. (You can't clean on your birthday, after all!) And here is the last picture taken on my old camera (because I got a new one! Hooray!). I had taken 6297 images with my old camera (which we got right before Kenzie was born), and it was getting worn out. I kept complaining how long it took to focus!

Just to show the contrast, here is the first picture with the new camera! Same room, just more pixels! I'm still figuring out the settings, but I had fun playing with it...

...and taking a bunch of random pictures at Chuck-a-Rama. I really wasn't joking about being older than 28. We went to Chuck-a-Rama for my birthday dinner. Not at 3pm, granted, but only because Chris had to work!

Yep, another picture with my new toy. Brace yourself! I've gotta beat my record of 6297!

Post 501

Random trivia, but I noticed that the last post of mine was number 500 for the blog. I pointed it out to Chris and he said, "And you didn't think you wanted a blog!" Amazing how I manage to still keep babbling about nothing.Anyways, this needed to be shared. Here is Parker on his third birthday.

And here is his father around age 3 or 4. Sometimes a person who doesn't know Chris will tell me, "Your son looks just like you!" but I can only laugh.