Happy Birthday Uncle Jeffrey!!

Happy Birthday to Uncle Jeffrey! Today is Jeffrey's birthday! He is celebrating his very first birthday in Africa! Jason was able to talk with him this morning but I have not been able to reach him yet today.

It is a beautiful day here today and very hot! McKenzie played in her pool on teh back deck for about 2 hours after lunch. We have a big umbrella that shades her pool so it makes it very nice for her to play in. She loves it! Enjoy the pictures!

I hate this hat!

McKenzie loves the water!

I got my ball!

McKenzie after a chocolate chip cookie! She loves them!

Goodbye for Now

Hey everyone! I guess I need to catch you up on the happens of life for us lately. We returned from our cruise safely very late Thursday night. It was so good to see McKenzie. She looked so big to us.

Saturday morning we got an early phone call from Jason's cousin Karen, she informed us that her sister Kathy "Sidda" Ewing had died. She just never woke up Saturday morning. It has been a whirlwind since the phone call. Kathy and Karen both live in Heflin, AL about an hour from us. We immediately got ready and went on Saturday to be with Brent, Kathy's husband. They have one son, Connor, who is 11. He was on a deep sea fishing trip in Gulf Shores until Sunday night. When he returned Brent told him the news. He has been such a trooper through all of this. Last night was the visitation and over 400 people signed the book. There was an amazing amount of people there to support Brent and Connor and Karen and her son, John Russell. The funeral was today and then of course the graveside service. It was a beautiful day here today.

Of all the people who were close to Kathy, Jeffrey, Jason's middle brother was the closest cousin. As you all know Jeffrey is serving the Lord in Africa until 2010. He was debating coming home for this but Brent told him to stay in Africa. However, we know Jeffrey, he was not going to do nothing in Africa so he wrote Kathy's entire eulogy. Jason's youngest brother Jared read it. Jeffrey wrote the most beautiful message and Jared had the most beautiful delivery. They both did such an awesome job. I am so proud of them!

Please keep Brent, Connor, Karen, John Russell, Grandmother, and Bonnie in your prayers. Kathy was only 35 years old. It is so hard not to question why. The coming days will not be easy and I just ask you to please lift these people up in your prayers.

Kathy with McKenzie the day after we brought her home.

We're Leaving on a Jet Plane

Hey everyone! I just wanted to update that Jason and I about to leave for the airport! We are super excited about our trip. These trips are amazing and we get treated like royalty!We will fly all night and land in Portugal around 8:30 am there Thursday. It will only be about 2:30 am here on Thursday. They are 6 hours ahead of us. We will spend 3 days in Portugal and then fly to Rome. We will be boarding a cruise ship there and cruising the Mediterranean for 5 nights. Then we will fly home out of Rome for a 10 hour flight back to NJ and then a 3 hour flight back to GA! It should be an awesome trip!

We had to say goodbye to our precious McKenzie yesterday afternoon. She will be with Jason's parents for this trip. She did fine. Much better than we did! She did not cry at all which helped me leave. It is just a long time...9 days! However, we are looking forward to some time together! Baxter left us this morning. Sweet Grandaddy came and got him. He will be staying with him and Granny for the time we are gone. Baxter was so excited to see Grandaddy, he did not even care that we were leaving!

We hope that you all have a great rest of your week and a great on next week. I'll update the blog when we get home.

Bye-Bye Inchworm, Hello Penguin

McKenzie is no longer an Inchworm in the church nursery! She has moved right up to the Penguin classroom. Now that she walks she is too grown up to be an inchworm! Today was her first day in her new room. She cried when I dropped her off but then she stopped soon after I left. When I went to pick her up today I was stopped by the preschool director and she handed me an accident report. McKenzie had fallen her first day in her new classroom and bumped the side of her head. She has a big bump. Poor thing...first day in her new room and she comes home with an accident report.

We are in for a very busy week! Tuesday, Jason and I have to take McKenzie to meet his parents. We are dropping her off for 8 days and nights. I know that Grandma and Papa cannot wait to get McKenzie for that long but Jason and I are having a little bit of a hard time. Eight days is a long time! However, we are very excited about our Mediterranean Cruise. We leave Wednesday! It should definitely be the trip of a lifetime. Jason's company really knows how to plan extravagant trips. We do things on these trips that we could never do otherwise. We are really looking forward to some great time together. It is also really fun to see everyone from years past and catch up with their lives.

We hope you have a Happy Memorial Day Weekend and a great, safe week!

Mom's Little Helper

Hey everyone! I hope you are all doing well! We are doing great. Time is just flying on by and at 13 months McKenzie has turned into quite the little helper!


She loves to help me cook dinner...

When she can decide what to make!

And she loves to fold the laundry or maybe just ride in the basket...

When we are in the laundry room and I have put the clothes from the dryer to the basket, McKenzie climbs right into the laundry basket all by herself. It is so funny! So, while I am putting the clothes from the washer to the dryer, she is siting in the laundry basket waiting for me to carry her to our bed and dump her out! She is so funny!


McKenzie had her first black eye this past week. She fell in the bath tub on Friday night and bruised right above her eye. It turned black and blue immediately and swelled up a little. She cried for just a second and then went right back to playing in her bath!

McKenzie also has her first ear infection. I took her to the doctor on Monday because she has had a runny nose for a week and I just wanted to make sure it was nothing more. Well good thing I took her, she has an ear infection. She never ran a fever and still has not. So, she is now on Amoxicillin for 10 days. Poor little girl! She is up to 24.4 pounds though! She is loving the real food!

That is about all going on here this week. I have lots of things to get done before Jason and I leave for our cruise next Wednesday. We will be meeting Jason's mom to get McKenzie on Tuesday and we fly out Wednesday.

We hope you all have an excellent week!

A Polar Bear...In Georgia?

I have to share what just happened to me. (It has been raining here all week and being inside is getting pretty boring!) I was folding up the blanket on the back of the couch and I just glanced out the back window of our house. This is what I saw....my first thought was A POLAR BEAR...in Georgia?!

Then I looked closer and it moved and I realized it was just the biggest dog I have ever seen. I went out onto the deck and zoomed my camera in as far as it would go. I was not getting any closer to that dog! He or She was HUGE!

This dog is bigger than the middle part of our gate in the back. Wow...what an exciting day for a stay at home mom!

By this time Baxter had seen him and was going crazy. He was in total protection mode! Little did he know, he would have only been a snack for this dog! Baxter stayed inside with McKenzie and me!

Worth the Wait

I just wanted to share with you all my Mother's Day present. It came UPS this morning. Jason was upset it did not arrive by yesterday. When I heard him at the door this morning I called Jason at work and asked him if I could open it. He said I could so here is what I found in the box!

It is a canvas of McKenzie's 9 month picture! I am so excited! I love it! Thanks honey, you did a great job! What a perfect Mother's Day present!

Today for snack McKenzie was eating graham crackers. She acted like she was tired of them but still hungry so I offered her a blueberry nutri- grain bar. She ate the entire thing! Look at her face!

She was smiling so cute, showing off her teeth, but closed her eyes!

A full little girl = a happy little girl!

Happy Mother's Day

Before church this morning we took a picture for Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mommies! Mother's day just has an entire different meaning when you are actually a mother. I have always celebrated Mother's Day with my special Mommy but being a mom, it is just even more special! I have the world's best mom and I am trying everyday to be like her to McKenzie! I see all the things that she does for so many different people and I just sit back and wonder how she gets it all done? I'll tell you how...my mom does not require sleep! God made her special and knew that she had lots to do so He created her so that sleep was an option. God had a different plan for me, I must get sleep and I must get it every night! So, thank you mom for being such a great mother, so that in turn I know how to be a great mother to my baby. You truly are the best!

Today in the nursery at church McKenzie made me a picture with her hand prints. Here it is! I scanned it in to share with everyone. I was so excited! It was her first real piece of artwork!!

Today during church we had baby dedication. There was a special bulletin for the dedication and there was a poem in it about children. It was so sweet I wanted to share.

THE GIFT OF A CHILD

God has blessed the union

Of a husband and a wife

With a beautiful little baby

Bringing joy into their lives

For children are blessings

Sent from God above

A precious gift heaven sent

An expression of God's love

On the foundation of this love

May this child truly grow

Discovering the truths of God

And to one day come to know

That Jesus Christ is Lord of all

And He has an awesome plan

A destiny only they can fulfil

As they take Him by the hand

And walk with Him every day

With God's vision for their lives

And godly passion to fulfil

The commission of Jesus Christ

By M.S. Lowndes

We went to Young Harris on Thursday and came back on Saturday. We went to visit Jason's family. On the way to his parent's house we went by Young Harris College! We love to go back there and walk on the campus. It is so different now. When school starts back in the fall, Young Harris College will a four year school. That is some different than when we went there. There were 600 students in the entire student body when we met at YHC! There are two new dorm and the little store and student center are totally different. However, the one this that stays the same is the feeling when you walk onto the YHC campus. It is just home to us. That is the only way to describe it. This was the first time that McKenzie had been to the college. It was fun to explain to her that it was were her mommy and daddy met. Not that she understood a word we were saying but we told her all about it! Here are some pictures from our visit!

YHC Sign

McKenzie and me in front of the Susan B. Harris Chapel!

Close up!

This is our brick! Jason gave it to me for Christmas 2006!
It is in front of the chapel! All of our classmates called us "The Loves"

because we called each other "Love"

McKenzie playing in the grass at YHC! She fits right in...barefoot!

Bye-Bye Ba-Ba

Well, it has happened! McKenzie is no longer using a bottle! We have gone two whole days with no bottle so far and now the bottles are in the basement. There is no looking back now! It is amazing how much room on the counter bottles take up. She has done just fine without a bottle or formula. She gets a sippy cup of milk before bed and if she wakes up in the night she gets water. She has done fine with this the last two nights! This has really helped with her eating as well. McKenzie has really started to be a much better eater. I guess her body is finally realizing that she eats during the day and sleeps at night.

We had a very busy week. Jason was in Hilton Head, SC from Tuesday-Friday with his work. He had his Presidents Council meetings. He was one of twelve advisors from the company to go. It was based on production for the year and he was number eight! While he was in HH I took the kids (McKenzie and Baxter!) to Madison. My mom was on spring break last week so it just worked out so well! We crammed so much stuff into 3 short days! One of the things we did was get McKenzie's one year pictures taken. For her last few shots we gave her a cupcake and let her eat it! Those pictures looked so cute! I can't wait to get them back! Granny and Granddaddy came to Madison on Thursday night and had dinner with us. Then they got to come and watch as McKenzie got her pictures taken! We also got to play with Uncle Steve. He helped give McKenzie her bath and rocked her for a while after playing with her. It was great to see him!

Today, Jason went to church alone. McKenzie had a fever through the night and still had it this morning. She got that MMR shot last Friday and her doctor told me she would probably get a fever from it within 7-10 days. So, she did. However, she is acting just fine. McKenzie knows that she will have to go to time-out if she touches Baxter's food dish. (Yes, she now goes to Time-Out! She has to sit on her flower on the dinning room rug.) So this morning she was playing in his dish and I put her in time-out. Some times she sits there real good and other times she just crawls away. Well this morning she sat there and I went back into the kitchen and just waited a second and then turned the corner to see check her and I heard her crawling just as fast as she could back to her flower! It was so funny! She heard me coming so she knew she had better get back to time-out! I laughed right out loud! Then she smiled and we went out to swing! She loves her swing...she spends so much time in it! She loves to be outside!

We hope that you all have a great week!

The Weekend

Another weekend has flown on by. Friday night I had a girls night out with Katie! It was a blast. McKenzie and Daddy had a date night at home. They were both fast asleep when I got home. Saturday we hung out around the house and played here. Jason hung up McKenzie's swing and she now has a new favorite thing to do...swing! She wants to swing all the time! The weather has been so beautiful her that she has had lots of time to swing. Sunday we went to church. McKenzie wore her new dress to church yesterday that she got for her birthday from Granny and Granddaddy. She looked so cute! However, she will not wear her white sandals. It is so weird. I tried to put them on her Saturday with her cute little capri outfit and she screamed bloody murder. I let her wear her crocs instead! Sunday morning same thing...she would not wear those white sandals. She wanted socks and her black church shoes! She is so funny and definitely has a mind of her own!

McKenzie ready to go to church!

McKenzie will not leave bows in her hair any longer. So sad...

Playing with the wind chimes

Swinging in the backyard!

McKenzie is letting her doll ride this time!

McKenzie and her stroller...she loves to push her stroller but throws her dolly out!

Eating a fresh cookie with Daddy when he got home from work!

Sunday Night Play Date

Last night we went to our friends, Brooke and Brad's house for a cookout. They are the couple from our life group that we hang out with most often and they have Brock, McKenzie's little "boy" friend! They were so cute playing in the backyard yesterday. Brock has a big play set and McKenzie loved it! Brock also has a big red wagon with deep seats. McKenzie loved riding in that too! When we stopped puling her she bounced and wanted to keep moving! However, she really liked Brock's slide! She watched him go down it a few times and then she was ready to try. Brock had gone down sitting up right...well McKenzie decided that she was going to go down head first! Yes, Jason was at the bottom to catch her! She loved it! We had a great time and Brock was so sweet to share all his toys with her.

Sweet Brock holding McKenzie's hand. He wanted

her to come and play and she wanted to keep riding!

This is how we roll!

A bubble lawn mower! McKenzie was
very excited!

McKenzie was feeling the grass on her legs for the

very first time. She did not know what to think!

Brock found a stick!

Brock's play set has a very cool window in it. McKenzie was
reaching through the window and Brock went in for the kiss!
So sweet!

The cute little window with the cute little kiddos!


They were looking out the window!

Brock was busy cutting the grass!

Kenzie and the slide...head first!

McKenzie's slide video! She loved it!

1 Year Check Up

Well... the stats are in!!! Today at McKenzie's 1 year check up she weighed exactly 22 pounds (50-75%), 31 inches long (95%), and her head circumference is 47 cm (90%)! By all accounts she is a healthy, growing little girl! Thank the Lord! Our appointment was at 11:45 this morning. McKenzie was not very happy to see her Dr. today. She was very tired from missing her morning nap and hungry because it was lunch time. What a bad combination! After McKenzie's Dr. left the room, I got her all dressed except for her pants. She had to get three shots in her little legs today. When the nurse came in carrying the tray of needles McKenzie just started to scream. She knew what was about to happen. She did a very good job!

New Things That McKenzie Can Do:

• No more bottles before bed after our formula is gone! McKenzie will start to get a sippy cup of milk before bed instead of a bottle!
• No more baby food! McKenzie has gotten to a point now where she will not eat any baby food and is very selective about what real foods she wants. Her Dr. told me today not to worry about it. She will eat when she is hungry and stop when she is full. I just need to offer her all the food groups at every meal.
• McKenzie will remain sitting backwards in the car. He Dr. said that this is the safest way for her to travel. She will remain backwards until she reaches 28 pounds. That is what her car seat says is the safe weight to be turned around. Every car seat is different!
• McKenzie can now wear sunscreen and bug spray!
• No more bottle in the middle of the night! She will just get some water and go back to bed.
• The Dr. was very excited that McKenzie is walking! She was also excited to see her point to objects already.

It is so amazing what all happened in one year. McKenzie was born and drank only bottles, then onto rice cereal, then baby food, now real food! First it was rolling over, then sitting up, then crawling, and now walking! It is just so fun to watch her grow!

We hope you all have a great weekend!

Happy Birthday Cookie

We just wanted to wish Cookie a very Happy Birthday today! We hope it is great! We love you tons and can't wait to see you! :)

On the Move

Hey everyone! I just wanted to let all of you know that McKenzie is officially on the move! Jason and I went away for a long weekend and got home last night. To our surprise McKenzie is a walker! We were so excited...as you can hear on the video! I did not know that if you take a video holding the camera up and down that it will be sideways. If there is a way to change it, I have no idea how. So, I am sorry that the first video is sideways, but you can still see her showing off her walking skills after her bath last night.

Jason and I had a wonderful, relaxing time in Destin, FL over the weekend. We went with a couple from our Life Group, Brad and Brooke. The weather was amazing! However, the ocean was very cold and the wind was blowing very strong along the beach. It made it very chilly to be on the beach. However, we were for two days! The third day we were all sunburned and spent the majority of the day at the outlets after sleeping in! It is so funny, when you have the chance to sleep in your body will not let you. We did not take children on this trip so McKenzie went to the mountains to stay with Grandma and Papa. She had a great time! Baxter went with her! We got her back yesterday and we were very excited to see her. She looked so big to us and her hair looked so long and curly. Yes, her hair is very curly! She has big, blond curls!

Brooke and Brad

Us

McKenzie goes to the doctor on Friday for her 1 year check up. I know that it was supposed to be last Tuesday but her doctor called and rescheduled it for Friday. I will post her stats after we go.

We hope that you all have a wonderful week!

Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone! The good news is...He has Risen! We had a great Easter! We stayed at home until Sunday morning so that we could go to our church for Easter service. It was very nice because our church decided to do a Saturday night service so we were able to go to that. Sunday morning we got up and went to Madison to spend the day with Nana and Papa T. It was a beautiful Easter day. The weather was just perfect! McKenzie and Tate got swings from Nana and Papa T for Easter. They loved them! They swung and swung and swung! Then they went for a ride in the wagon. They also had an egg hunt and their own baskets with their names on them! The bigger kids had an egg hunt too! As always, it was lots of fun!

We hope that you have a wonderful week! McKenzie has her 1 year check up tomorrow so I will update to let you know how that goes! Yes, she has to get shots...yuck!

Tate and McKenzie's Easter baskets at the farm

Names included!

Tate loved hunting his eggs!

Handsome boy!

McKenzie wanted to drive the car to hunt her eggs!

Huntin' eggs!

Playing

Tate in his Easter suit. Precious!

McKenzie in her Easter dress!

Wagon ride!

Tate and his new swing!

McKenzie in her new swing!