Kennedy in Boots

Okay be honest, could possibly ever say no to this face? We sure can't!

Getting Ready for Church

We set out Maddox's clothes (pants, collared shirt, and a sweater) for Church one morning. When we go in to check in on him this is what we found. You can't help but love this boy.

Father of the Year Award

We thought about writing a lengthy submission for Father if the Year, for Milt but this picture really says it all.

We finally got around to finishing up Maddox's Star Wars bedroom. The lettering took about 4 hours to put up, but it was totally worth it. The only problem is Milt wants to trade rooms with Maddox now.

Sledding at Valley Forge

We had just enough snow this morning to take the kids sledding at Valley Forge.

They had a great time, but then they got a little tired....

Happy Halloween

McKinley (Giselle), Kennedy (Dorothy), and Maddox (Darth Maul).

Fun With Dad

The kids had some really fun outings with Dad this summer.

Shopping at the outlet mall. We had to take a pic in front of these purple flowers because they reminded them of Nana Jacki

Camping at French Creek



Hanging out at the park

White Powdered doughnuts and orange juice. The true breakfast of champions.

And at the Liberty Bell (note Kennedy's shoe selection- clear proof this was a Daddy outing with no input from Mom on wardrobe selection).

"I Han Solo"

I noticed the fridge door was ajar yesterday and when I went to try to close it, look at what I found inside. Maddox standing face-out with his arms up. When I asked what he was doing hiding in the doorway of the fridge he replied, "I Han Solo" (like I was absolutely clueless for not realizing this immediately). Oh, how I love this boy! Trying to freeze himself in carbonite in our fridge.  Moments like these are why I should strap a camera to my arm to be ready at any moment!

PARENTING DISCLAIMER: Yes, we did later explain to Maddox that it is dangerous to try to get inside a fridge or freezer to play, besides which it's not a real great idea to want to be frozen in carbonite either. I'm always amazed at how this boy thinks (or occasionally forgets to think).

Easter 2012

We had a lot of fun this Easter season. We dyed eggs on Saturday night (Maddox was very excited about this since he looooooves eggs), and the kids all really liked staying up late to coloring them (since we might have had to make an emergency Target run to get more food coloring...whoops!)

The next morning we woke up and had a family devotional on the true meaning of Easter and watched a great video together on the last week of our Savior's life. It was a good reminder that the candy and egg hunts aren't the true reason for Easter, and it was nice to focus on Jesus Christ before getting all the Easter traditions started. The kids were very good and listened well, so we followed up our little devotional time by letting them each find their Easter Baskets before we went and got ready for church. McKinley was glad she got the movie Hugo, Kennedy loved all her fashion stuff, and Maddox was very happy with his Star Wars Transformer.

After church, we came home and hid the Easter eggs in the yard for the kids to hunt for, and we followed that up with a nice little family dinner. It was a great day, full of what is most important on life, along with fun family time.  We sure love these kids, especially the fact that Kennedy managed to wear just about everything from her Easter basket for the day (the scarf, necklace, bracelet, dress, shoes, etc) and Maddox now thinks that Angry Birds are an essential part of Easter (eggs & birds I guess?).  And Milt had a little too much fun hiding McKinley's eggs places she could never reach.  Aaaah, the beauty of messing with your kids just never gets old, I guess.  Hope you had a Happy Easter!

Good Things Come in PAIRS

Drum roll please. Our dearest little kindergartner Kennedy just got glasses, and she couldn't be happier about the whole thing. She loves being just like her big sister McKinley and having a new fashion accessory to enjoy (being able to see is only an added bonus - it's all about the fashion). Now we'll just wait and see how long the excitement lasts!

Over the last few months we had been noticing that Kennedy couldn't see the TV from the couch when we would be playing Mario Kart as a family or watching a movie.  We made her an appointment at the eye doctor and low and behold....her eyesight is almost the same as McKinley's (who is on her second prescription of lenses.)  McKinley didn't need glasses until 2nd grade, but Kennedy just had to beat her sister and get a head start.  I'm sure glad I had LASIK last year, so we only have to worry about having two girls in glasses for now!

Our good friend Craig Hope owns an eyeglass shop and Kennedy got to pick out two pairs. Then he was nice enough to even bring the glasses to our house and adjust them to her cute little face. What service...and two different fun colors!



Lovely Pair #1 (Purple)



Lovely Pair #2 - (pink)



Along with Kennedy's new specs, McKinley got a stylish new purple & blue pair too....

And of course, not to be outdone....Maddox got a pair of sunglasses (courtesy of the dollar section at Target), and he didn't even notice they weren't just like the girls' prescription glasses for over a week (when he all of a sudden looked down at his and said, "hey, these are black inside!") Very observant!

So here are our four-eyed beauties.  We're very glad they can see!

Spooky Times

Halloween is such a busy time of year at our house.  Having two October birthdays, plus Halloween parties and Milt traveling this year...it was just craaazy!  But fun as always! 

First of all, choosing costumes is such a big, important decision for kids.  I think we hear about it ALL year long! This year McKinley had an extremely hard time deciding what to be, (including changing her mind back and forth multiple times between costumes) but she finally settled on being a pirate, and was very happy with her choice.

Kennedy is an ANGEL? Most ironic costume ever (it made me laugh every time I thought about the horns she had to hide to get that halo on!) Thanks to my friend Kristin for lending us the costume. What a beautiful dress!

And my favorite part of Halloween was the fact that Maddox just wanted to wear his Darth Vader costume again! Every time we'd ask him what he wanted to be (showing him pictures online), he would pick out the Darth Vader one from the pictures! We were totally good with saving some money and re-using the costume...until the girls tried on their new costumes and he realized he was missing out on getting something new! So Milt and Maddox found a great Captain America costume at the Disney store, and Maddox decided that Captain America is pretty cool too (even though he couldn't quite pronounce it properly!)

Here are some pictures from our church Halloween Trunk or Treat  (where the kids got WAY too much candy!)  I got to be a witch once again....but of course I am always a good witch! ;) It makes the kids so excited when I get THE HAT out!  And Milt was actually at the BYU-Texas Tech game in Dallas on the night of our church  party (when I dressed up).  So we gave him a pass this year on a costume.  Although he did have some great "Jimmer" themed ideas....maybe next year. But the highlight of the night was Maddox/Captain America running around with a lightsaber.  I guess we should have stuck with a Star Wars costume!

And last but not least, here is the proof (I mean the pictures) that we got to go to THREE different Halloween Parades at the schools. Here are a few pictures of the kids at the parades, plus a picture of me with Kennedy after we saw McKinley parade on by.  Fun times!