Mommy and Daughter Garden Party

My friend Cyndi is kind of like Martha Stewart (without all the drama). 

She is a great cook and a wonderful decorator

 and she throws parties like it's her job. 

And the craziest part is she makes it all look so effortless.

She's definitely the Hostess with the Mostess.

A couple weeks ago she threw the cutest Mother/daughter garden brunch. 

I mean seriously. 

We should be in a magazine.

There were raspberry lemon baby cupcakes with lemon curd hidden inside.

(I'm sure they have a much more fancy name)  

Yum! 

And rosette cakes pops. 

Of course. 

And bunting

and banners and flowers for decor. 

Mason jars are my fav

Is this not the cutest idea? 

Oh yeah Cyndi is also a garden master. 

I forgot to add that to the list. 

We ate and played games and did fun Mommy and daughter stuff.

It was so much fun!

Someone slow down time a little! 

How are our babies getting to be so big?

In 10 years Mackenzie is going to be driving. 

Stop it, I can't even go there. 

Kenzie and her friend Bella. 

Check out the height difference (they are 4 months apart)! 

I'm so thankful to have such a beautiful, godly little lady as my biggest girl

 and I'm so thankful for friends who throw such fun and special parties. 

100 day project

Mackenzie just celebrated her 100th day of kindergarten.

And to celebrate, everyone in her class had to make a project using one hundred things.

One of the kids in her class glued 100 sea shells to a poster board that was painted to look like a beach.
Someone else stuck 100 monkey stickers onto a tree. 

But Mackenzie had bigger plans. 

She wanted to make a stuffed animal butterfly. 

With 100 different fabrics. 

So that's what we made. 

Go big or go home people.  

It only took us 6 nap times to make but it turned out super cute and Mackenzie helped me every step of the way. 

The front of the butterfly had 100 different fabrics cut into various shapes. 

Then we sewed the 100 pieces on and quilted the wings together with batting in the middle. 

I accidentally sewed the fabric for the back of the butterfly on the wrong way. Opps! 

So we decided to work with it and added the pattern on to the back. 

And I let Mackenzie draw some designs on with a fabric marker. 

The middle section is stuffed with stuffing and the face is drawn on by Mackenzie. 

We also used ribbon to make antennas for the butterfly. 

a close up of one of the wings 

ta da! 

The finished product! 

Our labor of love.
Mackenzie told me that she was going to keep it forever or at least until she was really old. 

I love being able to craft and sew with my big kindergartener. 

Pancakes and Pajamas Party

Mackenzie turned 6 (way back in the beginning of December...yikes where have I been) and I'm finally getting around to posting some pictures from her Pancakes and Pajamas party. 

It was such a fun and easy kid party. 

There were pajamas and pancakes. 

And fruit loop necklaces. 

And decorating pillowcases.

And funfetti cupcakes (obvs). 

The party was on Saturday morning. 

The kids all showed up in their favorite pjs and we ate and crafted and celebrated. 

We kept it simple with pancakes, fruit and OJ punch for breakfast. 

When the kids arrived we started on craft number one...Fruit loop necklaces.

The kids had fun stringing the Fruit loops into necklaces and enjoying some pre breakfast snacks. 

After breakfast the girls got to decorate their own pillowcase with fabric markers.
I wish I would have taken an after pic.
They all turned out so elaborate and cute! 

It was a great day celebrating our big 6 year old girl! 

It still feels weird typing that...six years old! 

Crazy! 

How has your December/January/ February been??

Ours has been crazy busy but good. 

Hopefully I'll have an update soon. 

And by soon I mean in the next month. 

Happy 6th Birthday Mackenzie

Six. 

Today my baby is six years old. 

Mackenzie Grace,

Momma is so proud of the woman of God you are growing to be. 

You are the tallest (and I'm pretty sure smartest) girl in you Kindergarten class.

You love school more than anyone else in the world and are a social butterfly.

You are silly and have a playful spirit.

You love to make people laugh but you do not like people laughing at you (two very different things). 

You are so little yet so grown up. 

You are definitely a firstborn. 

You are the best big sister and little momma to your siblings. 

You are nurturing and loving and very helpful. 

Lately you have been loving on Huddy all the time. 

You love to hold him and take care of him. 

 You love going out on Mommy and Daddy dates and we love to spend one on one time with you. 

I love to hear all the things going on in your little head. 

 You love wearing dresses and being fancy. 

You are a soccer stud and scored a bazillion goals at each game. 

All of the other teams didn't believe you were only 6. 

 You are our girly girl but you also love adventure. 

When everyone else wanted to leave the fishing place you begged to stay longer and asked that we bring you back again. 

 You are brave. 

(picture taken right before you broke your arm)

 You are a good, loyal friend with a sensitive heart.

You are kind and caring and a joy to be around. 

I'm so thankful that you are my daughter. 

What a blessing you are to our family!

We love you baby!

Happy 6th birthday!

How did this happen!?

Yesterday Mackenzie started Kindergarten. 

You would think I was sending her off to college or something. 

I was so dreading this day. 

Dreading the beginning of the end of these little years. 

But she loved it. LOVED it!

And I didn't cry (praise the Lord) but I did count down the hours until she was home again. 

The other kiddos were pretty lost with their leader (boss) gone for half the day. 

The dynamics of our house were just off but I'm sure they (we) will get used to it soon. 

Oh and I left the kindergarten parent meeting as Room Mom! 

I still have no idea what that means but I'm excited to be a big part of whatever is going on in her class and at her school. 

Because this is where God has us for now and this is our mission field. 

I'm praying that 2013/14 would be a great year filled with lots of fun and learning and most importantly that the Lord would use us to be salt and light to those around us!

Have your kids started school yet?

Memorial Weekend

We have had quite the exciting weekend. 

 Tuesday night during our family photo shoot, Mackenzie broke her elbow.

She was running and just tripped and fell the wrong way. 

Poor baby definitely inherited my clumsy gene :( 

Then on Wednesday we went to see an orthopedic surgeon (they weren't sure if she would need surgery but for now it looks like she won't) and got a hot pink cast.

And then super early on Thursday morning we left for Zion and Bryce Canyon. 

It was a great vacation! 

Utah is so beautiful!

Can't wait to show you all the pics and fun we had (post coming soon). 

How was your holiday weekend?

Little Girls Night Out

The other night we had a little girls night out. 

A few of Mackenzie's closest friends and their Mommy's got together for a fun and fruitful evening.

We had some yummy cookies and dessert at a local restaurant and spent some time talking about what it looks like to be a good friend. 

We used verses from the Bible and a lot of examples of what "loving your neighbor as yourself" actually looks like in every day life (as a 5 year old).

The Mommy's even put on a couple skits for the kids to act out different scenarios that they might encounter at church, school, etc.  First we acted out the wrong way to handle the situation, we talked about why it was wrong and then we acted out a better way to handle it. 

The kids LOVED this!! 

They thought it was soooo funny to see us Mom's putting on a show and I think it really helped drill home all of the things we had learned.

After our heart training session was over we headed out for some fun! 

The girls rode the carousel and had so much fun just hanging out together as big girls (without any of their other siblings around).

What a great night of fun and fellowship!

I'm so thankful to have good friends in my life who I can journey through parenthood with! 

Because this raising kids stuff can be tough

and with such an important job of training and molding little hearts towards Jesus I'm so glad that I'm not in it all alone. 

Soaking them up

With baby Hudson coming any day 

I'm trying to soak up every last minute with my babies before our new baby is here. 

Yesterday afternoon I pulled the camera out to document each of them at this stage in life. 

Maddie is talking up a storm and is silly and loving

and getting a feisty side to her.

Wesley is our comedian. 

He is always making us laugh and is a crazy, energetic, curious boy.

Mackenzie is 5 going on 15.

She is smart and helpful and emotional.

She loves to talk and to be creative.

I can't wait to meet our new little man and see how his unique personality will fit into our family. 

I'm so blessed with the kids God has given me!

Preschool

My kids go to the best preschool.

Well at least I think so.

It's only one day a week on Fridays so I get to enjoy my kids at home Monday-Thursday (because let's face it once they hit kindergarden they are in school for the rest of their lives) and then they get to go to school to learn, and craft, and be trained and loved on for a few hours on Friday (and I get to enjoy running errands with only one kid). 

It's also a co op model which means that I get to help out a few times a year and get a peek into what they do during their day at school. 

Helping in their classes is one of my favorite things to do (and my kids LOVE it too).

  I love watching them interact with their friends, and seeing them participating and learning.

Last month I got to help in each of the kids classes and I of course went picture crazy. 

Here is Kenzie with her amazing teacher Mrs. Vorrell. 

Hooking different color links together during her listening skills time.

Each week the kids work on a letter of the alphabet, a coordinating character trait and bible verse. 

This week the letter was L and the theme was ladybugs so we made lady bug snacks (ritz crackers, red peanut butter and raisins)

and a lady bug craft. We read The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle,

and the kids got to release 1,500 lady bugs into a garden outside the preschool. 

It was so cool to see so many ladybugs and to be able to hold them.

During snack/recess we got to see Wesley and I snapped a picture of him with his awesome teacher Mrs. Yartz.

Me and my babes. 

2 weeks after I helped in Mackenzie's class I got a chance to be in Wesley's class.

He was so excited to introduce me to all of his friends and for me to see him in action. 

Recess fun.

This week the letter was N and the theme was nests. 

Wesley's teacher made these adorable nests out of chocolate and pretzels with jelly bean eggs inside. 

So cute!

and yummy!

We made these cute little nest crafts together, learned all about Narwhals, read "Are you my Mother by P.D. Eastman",  counted eggs in nests, learned about being Nice to one another and more. 

So fun!