Kensi's 1st Bday

I am just now getting around to posting some pics of little Miss's Bday Party. It has been a crazy few weeks. We had her party with both sides of our family at a nearby park. It was a great evening celebrating Kensi's first year of life. She is one loved little girl! Here are some pics from her big night...

Papa & Kensi

Kensi and Parker....its so fun to have a cousin so close in age!

A little B-ball action for the boys





Just look at these party people! :)



Kensi was loving life. Aaron let her have some of his lemonade and evidently she liked it. Just look at that happy face. :)

Getting all sugared up! She was loving that cake.

Sharing with Daddy...how sweet!




Balloons, swinging, playing with tissue paper...what a party!



Let me just tell you the story behind these photos. Aaron had just finished playing basketball and was, um, pretty sweaty and stinky. When she saw him walking over to us she reached out for him and he took her and I guess as she was hugging his neck she must have tasted his sweat. UGGHHHH! So what does she do?! She goes in for more and kept licking him....how incredibly gross and disguisting, but pretty hilarious at the same time. So we did what any responsible parents would do and let her keep doing it until I got some good pics of it. :o) I am sure she will appreciate this little story when she is about 16.

She was one tired little girl after a day of partying. I just love pics of her while she's sleeping...so peaceful and angelic!

What a great first birthday!

Thunderstorms

We had thunderstorms off and on all day today and Maddie HATES when it thunders. She will automatically burst into tears and stick her fingers in her ears. Its sad, but kinda funny because she will literally walk around for about 20 minutes after the last clap of thunder is heard with her fingers sticking in her ears and whimpering. Tonight as they went to bed, it started thundering again. So after about 10 minutes I went in her room to check to see how she was doing. Here is what I found...

Hahahaha...thats my girl! Sound asleep, but those fingers are not coming out of those ears anytime soon. She is hilar! :)

One year ago today...

...our precious, little girl came into the world! June 13 at 8:56pm. How is it possible that a whole year has passed? Time is playing tricks with me. It seems like just a few weeks ago. My heart is just so overwhelmed when I think about this past year with her. Such an amazing year and it has been so awesome to watch her grow and learn new things and to get to see her sweet personality develop. Its so crazy to look at this big girl and think just a year ago she was this itty bitty baby.

Some things I want to write down for my own memory's sake...

During month 11 she has started doing so many new things that keep us all so entertained...

~Like when the phone rings she will put her hand up to her ear and say "Hi" in the sweetest, little girly voice. It is so cute and we keep making her do it over and over and she happily obliges. Perhaps this is a glimpse into the future...talking on the phone so soon. :)

~She has perfected her "more" sign this month. A funny little story that goes with that. When we were teaching her the baby sign for "more", every time she would do it we would say "good girl". Well she caught on to that, so now every time she wants something or wants more, she does the sign and at the same time says "good girl". Its so funny! And if we don't give it to her quick enough she just keeps doing it over and over and says " good girl, good girl" again and again. What a ham she is. She also has gotten better with the "drink" sign. But thats about it as far as signs go.

~Also this month came the arrival of the "closed mouth kiss" which is new. She has been giving kisses with her mouth hanging wide open....nice and sloppy :) She has started blowing kisses this month. When she blows a kiss she makes the sound, "Mmmmwah." Sooo sweet.

~Some things she is saying are "Hi, bye-bye, good girl, ni-night, uh-oh, dada, mama" and I think thats about it. I love the way she says mama. It almost sounds like a spanish accent.....mamaaaaa. :) I have also noticed for the most part (there are a few exceptions) when she is playful and happy she usually likes to play with daddy and will call out dadadada. But when she is sad, hurt or tired she calls for me. So funny how that is. I think that is a pretty common thing, for the dad to be the playful, fun one, and for the mom to be the "comforter". Don't get me wrong, I play with her and Aaron comforts her, but generally speaking she loves to play with her daddy (who happens to be completely and utterly wrapped around this little girl's finger) and wants me for comfort.

~She is crawling and "cruising around the furniture" at lightning speed. Its so funny, if she sees something she wants, she puts it in high gear and crawls so fast to get it, it looks like she is on fast forward. She is not walking yet and not really even trying to stand on her own. If she holds onto our fingers she will walk all around, but nothing on her own yet.

~Another new arrival this month was a pretty incredible temper! Ha! She has started doing that "girl scream" when she can't have something she wants or if another kid takes a toy from her, she lets them know she isn't happy. hahaha. It is pretty funny because she has been completely laid back and now she is definitely starting to get an opinion on a few things. Especially when it comes to her toys. :)

~One of my absolute favorite things she has started doing is when she wakes up from her nap or when I lay her down to go to sleep and she wants to get back up, she will just stand in her crib holding on to the bars and keep shouting, "mamaaa, mamaaa". It is so funny, I can't help but laugh. And when I go into her room she gets this big grin and says in her girly voice, "Hi". Hahaha...she has quite the personality. Aaron keeps telling me that when she does this when we are laying her down to go to sleep that Super Nanny (Aaron's hero) says after you go in and lay them down twice and say goodnight, if she keeps doing it, you should not say anything at all when you go in and just lay her down and walk out. But I find it pretty impossible to not respond to that sweet, little "hi". :)

~Her spunky, adventurous side has made its appearance this month. She seems to be afraid of nothing and will pretty much try anything. She is not one to just sit around and play with one toy. Nope, she needs to experience everything herself. She needs to get into everything, climb on everything, under everything, tear things off shelves, pretty much pull out anything she can get those sweet chubby hands on. Climb up the stairs and then turn around and laugh because she thinks she's so sneaky. Ha! I am on to ya little girl...I know your type! You have so much spunk!

Here are some fun photos from the past 2 months...


Who needs those baby sippy cups? This is the way to go!

Doing a little swinging with daddy


"Surely there must be a way to get out there." ( I always joke that she is a frustrated 4 yr old in the body of a 1 yr old the way she tries to keep up with the older two).

This is one of my all time favorite pictures. So sweet. I love how she is looking up at him.

Just singing with daddy.

"I hope my hat looks ok."

Look at this big girl just a swinging!

Daddy hooking her up with a banana...

"And now for my next trick, I will attempt to fit the rest of this banana in my already overstuffed mouth."

What a precious girl.




What a year it has been. We have treasured every moment of it, sweet girl. Part of me wants to stop time, turn it back and just enjoy it all over again because it feels like its all going so fast. And the other part of me is loving seeing you grow older and really becoming a little girl. You are a ray of sunshine. I love your happy go lucky approach to life, you are such a content, happy little girl (accept when someone takes your toys:) ). To say you are a blessing seems like such an understatment to explain how we feel about you. We are all crazy in love with you and continue to thank God for choosing us to be your family. You, Kobe and Maddie have caused us to experience a love more deeply than we have ever known. I love being your mama. We cherish you, Kensi. You are priceless. Irreplaceable. One of a kind. And we treasure every day with you.

Happy 1st Birthday my little angel.

Last Day of School - WOO HOO!!!

The kids left for their last day of school this morning! Crazy how fast the year has flown. So you know I had to get some pics this morning. I was just looking back at the pics of their first day of school and can't get over how much bigger and older they both look.

Here is the first day of Kindergarten for Maddie and 2nd grade for Kobe...



And here are some pics from this morning...


I can't believe how much older they look! (Maddie was doing some serious posing:)) They just keep getting bigger and looking more grown up even though I keep telling them to stop. Life is just going to fast and I wish we could slow things down a bit. ;)
And just because this one is so cute...

Feelin' the love! Maddie was so excited and kept saying, "When I come home I will be a first grader." Kobe, of course, played it cool not caring too much about next year, just excited to be out for the summer.

You can't tell she loves having her picture taken or anything can you?! :) She always has this look of "don't you want just one more pic, Mom?" And you know I do!haha

Looking forward to a relaxed, fun-filled summer with all our little munchies! Not sure who is more excited, us or the kids! Here is to long days at the pool, no schedules, staying up late and sleeping in!!!! Let the good times begin...

Some Devotions To Remember

Tonight we had some devotions that I am sure none of us will forget anytime soon. I had to leave the room twice, TWICE, because I couldn't quit laughing. I am sure it won't seem nearly as funny just reading it, but I wanted to write it down anyway so we can remember it. The kids said the funniest things. I love how they think...so innocent and honest.

We are going through this new Bible Story book called The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name. Side note: This is an absolutely awesome book. My friend recommended it to us because her boys loved it so much and we got it and our kids LOVE it, too. So I would HIGHLY recommend it. The stories are told in such a great way that the kids totally get it, not to mention it is beautifully illustrated.

Ok, back to my story now. So tonight we were reading about when God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. I am sure you can tell where this is going. :) With some of these Bible stories I feel like I just need to pray for wisdom because they can be downright scary and scandalous.:) So Aaron starts reading the story. He is sitting in the middle of Kobe and Maddie on the couch while I am on the floor playing with Kensi. (I only say this just so you understand I had a great view of all of them and their facial expressions.) So he gets to the part where God tells Abraham to sacrifice his son and in unison both Kobe and Maddie's jaws drop and they get a horrified look on their face. And they are like, "WHAT? Thats Bad," and on and on. They were completely mortified. Meanwhile, Aaron keeps saying lets finish the story guys so you can see what God was up to. I am trying so hard to not laugh and Kensi was just tearing the living room up not caring at all about the horrific news Aaron had just read. So he goes on with the story and gets to the part where God provided a ram and how God wanted to see if Abraham would trust him. And once again, Kobe is completely hung up on how awful it is to kill a poor ram, the rams don't like to die either, and that it is just mean. Aaron explains about how it was before Jesus died on the cross. Kobe then says, "Well, couldn't they just sacrifice a Praying Mantis instead?" :)

So Aaron finishes up the story and we are just talking about how sometimes God calls us to do things that we just don't understand, but even if we don't understand it we should always trust God and do it. To which Maddie emphatically replies, "Well, I am NOT going to kill a person if He tells me too. I don't care if He tells me too, I am NOT going to do it because that is bad." She was so matter-of-fact and adament about it. I couldn't take anymore, I literally had to run out of the living room because I was laughing so hard tears were in my eyes. Aaron completely held it together and kept talking and explaining away. Why can't I keep in control like that? :)

A few minutes later I came back in the room and he was talking to them about how God will trust us with small things and then once he sees he can trust us with the small things, He will start to trust us with the bigger things. To which Maddie said, "like a LOT of bubble gum and candy?" and Kobe said, "No, like a motorcycle." :) And again, of course, I had to run out of the room. I am worse than the kids, I think. (even as I type this, I am still laughing so hard I have tears in my eyes.)

Man, I love these kids. They are so innocent and honest and just precious. What amazing gifts they are and what a huge responsibility we have to train them in the Lord. They are growing up into such amazing little people and I just feel so blessed and humbled to be their mom.

Can't wait for devotions tomorrow night. ;) AND I can't wait to get their thoughts on Sodom and Gomorrah. :)

Baseball Season is over!

Kobe played his last game of the season tonight! Yay! He did such a great job and has really started to get the hang of it! He doesn't even sit down in the out field anymore after a couple minutes of no action! hahaha. What a change. He did an awesome job tonight and really had a fun season.

So the verdict is in......I asked him tonight if that was the last game of his baseball career or if he wanted to play again next year and it was a resounding YES, he wants to play again. Who woulda thought?

Tonight he had some extra people there to cheer him on. Besides it being ridiculously hot, we all had a great time. Here are some pics of Kobe's personal cheering section. And I really mean that. They were cheering so loud and chanting "Kobe is the best", that we had to tell them to turn the volume down more than once due to some, uh, "friendly" stares from other people. hahaha. They were so cute though.



The cheerleaders in action!

And this is the adorable Hayden. She is so yummy! I want her. Don't let her mom know, though. :) (not to mention I am going to steal her name if I ever have another girl. Hayden....I likey!)

And we celebrated by all going out for ice cream! Yum!
Way to go Kobe on a great season! We are so proud of you.