APRIL

In April there was A LOT of puppy love going around! The kids were on spring break for a couple of weeks, so little Toby added a great element of entertainment for the kids. I have to admit that at about week 3 I was feeling quite overwhelmed with puppy duties. I had my moments where I thought "WOW, we let the Easter Bunny make a big mistake!" But you know what, we worked through it and I am happy to report that we are all in love with Toby! He has become SUCH a good dog. He has a great little personality, is amazing with the kiddos and is a very sweet pup! I am Very happy we let the Easter bunny bring him to our family. 

Carys started solids at 6 months. I thought that she was ready. She was staring at food, really wanting to get her hands on it. And she was starting to not sleep as well. So we got the baby food out, gave it a go, and then had a big let down. She would swallow one or two bites and then be done. For a few days I got her eating carrot baby food. And then she was over it. She would clench her jaw shut or use her tongue to forcefully push the spoon back out if you even tried to put it in her mouth. And then one day she was watching me eat a banana while I was holding her. I put it up to her mouth and she immediately went for it. So I broke off a small piece. She scarfed it up. She ended up eating 1/3 of my banana. And that is when I realized she was just like her older brother Kellen....she wanted Big people food. Non of this "baby food/pureed stuff"! She wanted to chew. It took her a bit to learn how to do it well, but now she is eating off of my plate all the time and eating just like one of the big kids. Silly girl.

Makenna lost her first tooth (well, naturally that is!) It was exciting to have a tooth fall out on its own. It had been wiggly for months and months. And then finally, during spring break it started to get really loose. I could tell it was ready to come out but Makenna was nervous about giving it a good pull. So I took a tissue, took a hold of it, told her I was just going to test it and then out it popped. She didn't even realize it until she saw the tooth in the tissue. It was so cute! And yes, the tooth fairy came and left a shiny gold coin. 

Papa came down to spend the day with us during break. We had a really fun day. We grabbed some pizza, went over to Santee lakes and played and ran around and had a blast at the park. Papa showed us how to do a good handstand on the grass. We tried flying his kite, but the wind wasn't strong enough. He showed us a special seed pod that falls from trees that when you throw it in the air it spins down gracefully. The kids loved it. It was a beautiful day!

As we were getting ready to leave the park Makenna was trying to show off and climb a big tree. Papa saw the opportunity, took off his tennis shoes and was up in the tree in a matter of minutes! If tree climbing is a hidden talent then it is certainly one of his!

Toby and Makenna have a good bond. She adores him and is a natural pet lover. Reminds me a lot of the way her mama was as a kid. I was always the one with a dog or cat in my bed growing up. And sure enough, Toby can often be found at the foot of Makenna's bed when I go to tuck everyone in before going to bed at night.

There are never too many trips to the zoo!

Then again, I practically live at a zoo. My crazy kids. LOVE This Picture! A good representation of my children!

Toby lovin'

Grammy and I took our annual trip up to Time Out For Women. It was a really great conference and a break I really needed. It's so important to take the time to strengthen and rejuvenate yourself. I really hope this is a tradition my mom and I can keep up for many years to come!

Carys at 6 months! Sitting great and cute as ever!

Carys started sitting on her own at the beginning of April. It makes Such a difference in their ability to self entertain once they can be vertical! I would say she was mighty proud herself as well!

Cuddling a sleeping baby....pretty much the closes to a piece of heaven you can find on earth.

The Highlight Reel

As much as I hate the idea of speeding through the months and only posting the major events, even more so I hate the thought of falling so behind in my blog that I am never able to catch up. I love the way that this has become a family journal in a sense....documenting the daily happenings of the family and watching the kiddos growing up in bits and pieces. So since life has gotten away from me and I am falling behind, we are going to play a bit of catch up with each months major events...and maybe a tad more.

Which brings us to the end of MARCH

Easter in March seemed weird, but we did it well! Of course plenty of eggs to dye. It is fun watching the kids get bigger and their egg designing becoming a bit more complex. 

Grammy usually throws her annual Grandkid Easter party at her house each year. But this year Grammy's kitchen (and entire house more or less) was under construction and in no condition for Easter festivities. So we took the kids to the ceramicafe and had them each pic out something to paint and went to lunch. Such a fun day!

You can tell Makenna is growing up - she picked a squirrel and when it was all done it truly looked like a squirrel. Very different from the multi-colored puppy she painted there a couple of years prior. Its happy and sad all at once. 

Part of our Grammy day consisted of taking a pic with the Easter Bunny. Conner was a bit concerned (evident by his worried smile), Kellen was over the moon and poor Makenna had a touch of innocence taken when she saw the assistant pull down the bunny's sleeve to cover his manly arm. She looked at me with huge eyes and I just motioned for her to be quiet and later explained that we didn't want to ruin the fun of it for Kellen and Conner. Thanks a lot easter bunny!

Kellen, sweet Kellen, wanted to surprise the Easter Bunny himself with a little hidden gift. It was complete with a sign which read "Happy Easter, Easter Bunny" and a picture of him and the Easter Bunny together, as well as a small note, a picture and some candy and plastic jewelry hiding under the desk. That boy loves to celebrate and make things special. It melts my heart every time.

Easter Morning didn't disappoint anyone. Baskets for all, eggs for everyone and even the Easter Bunny found Kellen's surprise and took his candy.

Easter Best 2013

And of course a close up of the babe, seeing that it was her first Easter and her dress was just too cute! She looked like a huge flower and I loved it!

After church we arrived back to the house only to find an extra surprise left by the Easter Bunny. On the Garage was instruction for us to go into the house where we would find an extra surprise that didn't fit in our baskets that morning. We went around back, the kids walked up to the sliding glass door and suddenly Makenna was shrieking....

Puppyyyyyy!!!!!!!!

On a bit of a whim the Easter Bunny decided it would be a good idea to give the kids a puppy. A small little Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. A dog that could be an inside dog and a bit more of a daily companion. Someone that could cuddle them on the couch and sleep in their bed. And give them the opportunity to have the experience as young kids to get to have a puppy. Silly Easter Bunny.

Meet Toby. 

Surprise Bowls

If you are part of our family you know exactly what the term "surprise bowl" means. I am that mom that gives my kids a small treat every night after dinner. Some nights it is something bigger. Most nights it is just something small. One night a couple of years ago Kellen was wanting candy so I made him a bowl with an arrangement of goodies and called it a surprise bowl. Well, the term stuck and quickly became Kellen's treat of choice. Conner has also embraced the surprise bowl and it is a common request in our household. Kellen will often take a surprise bowl over almost anything else. Conner has helped take surprise bowls to a whole new level. He likes to cover his eyes while I make the surprise bowl and then we sing "happy surprise bowl to you" as I pass them out to the kids. Yeah, we are weird. But I imagine it is one of those silly things the kids will always remember and maybe even do with their own kids some day. 

Little Fishies

These little McKamey kids are little fish. They would gladly swim every day of the summer and stay in the pool until it gets covered up for the winter. Well, as soon we saw swim suites out at Target the kids wanted to know when they would be in the pool. I kept trying to put them off and tell them that we would be waiting until the pool was warm enough, once it was summer time. I explained many times that the pool was way to cold to be comfortable and that if I took them swimming they would be freezing and unable to enjoy it. 

They disagreed. Over and over again they told me that they would not be cold. That they would be fine and would have fun, even if it was freezing. So, in an attempt to pull off a good Mommy "I Told You So!", I decided to take the kids on over to Grammy and Pa's pool and let them try it out.

Some pre-swimming photos. I love what you get when you ask kids to pose... 

 Kel and Con - Very happy with their superhero bathing suites

 Makenna - yeah, I am not so sure. But what a wirey looking girl. 

 All ready to go

 Kellen and Con were the first ones in. MUCH to my surprise Kellen was shrieking with joy. Conner however quickly kicked his way back to the stairs as fast as those legs could get him there.

 I guess my "I Told You So" moment sort of backfired...

 Crazy girl!

 This is how she really felt about the water temp. But these little smarty pants kids were so set on proving me wrong that they managed to stay in the pool for a good 30 minutes or so. They did however require a very warm bath when swimming was done.

Conner is apparently my only smart one and stayed safely on the side and observed with mom. Good boy!

Gardening and Big Girl and a Cute Baby

 One of the things I love most about Todd and Kellen's relationship is the way they love to spend time together, out in the yard, working side by side. They just love to be with each other. Kellen loves to help him work and get him drinks and learn what Daddy is doing. And Daddy loves the companionship....makes the time go by much faster. They just melt my heart!

 Well, Daddy was a stud and built the family some raised garden boxes! We were All so excited to get out there and start planting. Even Conner was totally focused on the job at hand. Each of the kids got to pick some plants that they were in charge of planting. It was fun to see them each taking ownership over something and being enthusiastic about watching it grow. 

 Makenna was our Garden Pro because of her experience at school planting their 1st Grade garden. It was cute to hear her tell me all she had learned and watch her give me a step by step run down on how to plant and care for the crops. She is getting so big!

 Makenna very proudly brought her family with the open house this year where she got to show off her room and all the fun things that they do. She has just LOVED being in first grade. And she Adores her teacher, Mrs. Balough. 

I was honored to be selected by Makenna this year to come to her school for the VIP lunch. It is so neat to watch Makenna at school, to see her show me around and teach me what the rules are and what she does. I love watching her interact with her peers and see the way she behaves socially. It is so fun to watch her growing and maturing and really coming into her own little person. And I am so very proud of who that person is. She is adorable!

 Carys at 5 months old! Starting to get so big! This is when your little baby starts to leave you and a big baby starts to replace them. At 5 months old Carys could sit with some help or support, but was well on her way to sitting alone. She was a very happy little girl! Quick to give a smile to her mommy, daddy and siblings. Strangers on the other hand....she does not smile for strangers. She has to size you up before she will start handing out little grins.

She had finally embraced tummy time and was getting really good at rolling both directions any time she wanted to. She was getting better at putting herself to sleep and was starting to prefer sleeping on her belly. She also started using her jumper, which she loves! She still wouldn't take a bottle at all, but was a great nurser. She just likes to make sure she stays close to mama.

 I just can't get enough of this happy, smiley girl. I mean, just look at those cheeks!