San Diego....Oh how I love you. Oh how I love that just 5 months into the year it is warm enough to drag out the kiddie pool that we put away when it got "cold" last...I can't remember when it got cold....December maybe? Come May it is time to fashion our home made water slide and send the pictures to our cousins who are busy putting their jackets and snow boots away...hopefully for good.
This stud muffin of mine was sweet enough to accompany me to the "Boys Bash" at their school. It is one of those events I have totally been looking forward too. Letting my little boy take me, his mama, out on a date. With how sweet and loving and affectionate this little sweetheart is, it is hard for me to imagine a day that he might not want me going with him to a mother son dance. I'll just keep telling myself it will never happen. And I will always remember this day. I will remember Kellen telling me I looked beautiful. I will remember him wanting to hold my hand while we walked around. I'll remember him being shy about dancing, and that it sort of surprised me that he would not, and I mean would NOT dance to anything upbeat at all. But he did slow dance with me. He even wanted me to hold him while we slow danced. And that was enough for me. I'll remember feeling completely loved and lucky beyond my wildest dreams to have this sweet little boy that stole my heart and calls me mom.
Our picture from the dance. Can this boy be any cuter??
The two little amigos. Twins separated by a couple of years.
This big girl looking and acting way too old for my liking. If memory serves me correctly, I think this was the first time I went to take a picture of Carys and she smiled, as in she Knew she was supposed to smile a big cheesy smile for the camera. Cutie pie!
Of course as his Mom I have always known that Conner was a stud. I also knew very early on that he was going to be a very athletic little boy. But even knowing that I didn't quite expect him to be just as athletic as he is. While still technically 3 years old, this kid learned to ride his bike without training wheels! Between his natural athletic abilities and his practice on his balance bike, teaching him to ride unassisted was really not all that hard. We tried a few times here and there. He would get frustrated with needing help getting started and then we would end up putting the training wheels back on. And then one day, just wanting to give it a go again, I took off the training wheels and something clicked and just like that, he was off. As if he just decided, yup, I'm going to do it now, and he did. I was amazed, he was proud, Makenna was squealing because she couldn't believe it and couldn't wait for Dad to get home and see....who was also equally proud! Way to go Conner!
This boy deserves the biggest thumbs up you can get!
Side story: When Conner learned to ride a bike, he learned fast! Most kids take their time. They learn to go with the help from a parent. They take it slow and steady for awhile and learn their balance. Over the course of days and weeks and months they gradually build up their skills and confidence and learn to ride faster and do new things and take sharper turns, etc.
Well, not Con. That boy goes from zero to 60 in no time at all! Once he could balance and pedal his own bike, he was off. Pedaling as hard as he could go, taking sharp turns, riding through grass and off curbs, anything he could try out. And you could tell he was Loving every second of it! Relishing in the new found mobility and freedom without the training wheels. Maybe a month after riding on his own we went to a park that has a nice big circle and a gradual slope when you come back down. The kids love taking their bikes and riding there. Its a great park for it. However, in another part of the park their are a few steep hills that lead from the parking lot down to the playground. Really steep. I had seen Makenna attempt these steep hills once or twice and gave me a heart attack and I told her to stay away from them. Especially because then her less experienced brothers will try them as well.
So we are at this park and I am doing a headcount and suddenly I realize that Conner, who was riding around the playground, is suddenly almost at the top of the Really steep hill. I run over there as fast as I could to tell him to come down, but it is too late. He is on his bike and just beginning his decent down the hill. But he is not just sitting there letting gravity do it's job (which would have been scary enough). No! He is pedaling....As Fast As He Can!!! Those feet are pedaling fast and hard and within seconds he is FLYING down the hill! It was like watching it all in slow motion. I was convinced in that moment that there was No way he wasn't going to crash. That I better get ready because we are heading to the ER for stitches and probably broken bones within seconds. You can see on Conners face that he realizes he is going Way to fast. And right at that moment he hits a piece of sidewalk where it is a bit uneven. His bike catches a bit of air, his front wheel comes down and starts to wobble back and forth and you can tell he is starting to lose control. And then somehow, but some Miracle, he skids out his back tire, regains control and comes to a controlled stop at the bottom of the hill. I of course and FREAKING OUT and run over to him terrified and (I am sure with a terrified face) start telling him how he almost crashed and would have gotten Really hurt and how he never goes down such big hills, especially not peddling to go faster. Well, my freaking out scared him a lot (which s probably a good thing) so he cried and we both sat down to recover from the near crash. Once I was breathing again I told him I was just scared because he could have really been hurt. I explained again what was dangerous about what he had done. And then I told him what a total Stud he was for having been able to correct and save himself from a crash like that. Of course a small smile came back to his face at that. Boys. I will blame all my gray hairs on my boys!
Since the Mud Run was so much fun we absolutely couldn't resist signing up for another race. This one was called the roc race and for me it was WAY more fun! There were hilarious obstacles and a ton of big kid fun things to do. It probably wasn't as physically challenging (in the flex your muscles sort of way) but it was a test of your coordination. It was a blast! I feel so beyond lucky to get to do these things with my mom and hope I am as cool as her some day and get to do this kind of stuff with my kids when they are 30! We ran the race with my cousin Christi who is a total riot and so much fun. Sweet, Sweet Memories! And you have to laugh at the picture of the 3 of us. It was taken in front of a green screen, but I guess our neon green shirts must have blended in or something. Obviously didn't work so well...ha ha!
Me and Mom flying down the last obstacle. It was totally like being a kid again!
We love Aunt Stephanie and all the fun, wacky stuff she sends us for every holiday! Who can forget 5 de Mayo?!!
This boy is awesome....in so, so many ways. Not just because he will only wear basketball shorts. Not just because he can pull off socks with his sandals and make it look totally cool! But because he comes up with rad ideas like cutting out a bunch of squares out of construction paper and taping them on his arms and legs and forehead so that he can be a robot and the squares can be all his buttons. Also, the Con is writing his name Soooo well!
Just one of those days when this little angel looked so pretty and so sweet I just had to keep taking pictures of her. BTW, her eyes are totally changing color. They used to be this bright, light blue like Conners. But now they have become this greenish, blueish color. Totally beautiful. Just surprised at how much they have changed with her being this old! Conner has Grandma McKameys eyes, no doubt. Carys' eyes are starting to look more like Grammy Carlson's. Still crazy to me that we have 3 blond haired, blue eyed kids. Who would have thought.
I bet you can't guess which one has gone to the Dark Side? Star Wars has really taken a hold on the McKamey boys (especially the eldest). There are many, many epic light saber battles in our house weekly!!!
Makenna has never been a doll person. Occasionally she has had a doll she has liked for a brief period of time, but it never really lasts. She is much more into animals. Stuffed animals, animal figurines, etc. But this baby doll here is the one exception. This was my baby when I was little....so appropriately named "baby hard head"....because she has a hard head. Creative, I know. This is actually Baby Hard Head 2nd. The first one accidentally lost a leg when it got stuck behind my bunk bed and my older sister tried to pull her out...but her leg got caught between the bed and the wall and I guess big sister pulled too hard. Yes, I remember this moment clearly....must have been one of those traumatizing childhood moments. Well, I saved baby hard head and was anxious to one day give it to a daughter of mine. So Makenna was the lucky one to inherit her. And I have no doubt that I found her a good home. Makenna sleeps with her EVERY night. She has a permanent spot on her bed. If she ever goes to Grammy's house for a sleepover, baby hard head comes with. She also has me kiss baby hard head every night before I go to bed. I also have a small stuffed bear that was named brownie that I saved and gave to Kellen. He does the same thing. Sleeps with it every single night. He has me give it kisses too and he says that when he misses me he kisses my bear also. Every night I hear him loudly kissing brownie and makes me smile what is probably one of the biggest smiles of each day! I know I will probably cry when the kids stop sleeping with these special toys. But until then I will just cherish the image of my little ones, curled up next to my childhood toys. (And now I am going to go get a picture of Kellen with brownie because I don't think I have one yet...)
Unfortunately we were at Disneyland on the day of Conners Art Show for preschool. But the teachers were awesome enough to leave it up for a couple of days so that the kids who were not there could take their mom in and show her the art one day after school. What a big boy he is becoming!
Those lips....that button nose....those rosy cheeks and that blond hair. Perfection!
