Day at the Park

Have you ever had one of those summers where you have to skip vacation in order to be frugal? Well that was us this summer... Oh joy! I don't like have to be frugal skip vacation years!

We took a couple of days off right before our anniversary to go out of town overnight, but before we did that we wanted to spend some QT with the kiddos. Since we were being frugal we were trying to find things to do that didn't cost any extra cashola.

Go figure at the same time, its 500 degrees outside and the only decent park in town  was having work done. But regardless we took our picnic lunch and went and sat in the shade, and then attemtped to get the kids to eat. M wanted to go play and D didn't want to eat anything but his Wheat Thin Stinks and play with his Capri Sun.

I'm trying to eat here people!!

Cheese!!

My precious boys!

Weeeee

eeeeee

eeeeee!!!!!

Can you guess who didn't feel like playing on the playground??

My Favorite People in the World

Mommy Heart

My Mommy Heart needed this today... Especially the very last line. And no that's not a Sunday School answer, its the honesty of a Mommy who never thinks she can be good enough or do enough.

I tend to forget alot that I don't have to be enough...

What Every Mom Needs

Game Night!!

Mackenzie informed me on Monday, that Monday night is game night! Every Monday! I said ok baby! And thought to myself, now I have a bargaining chip at dinner time! (I HATE dinner time in my house... that and bedtime are such a fight!)

On another note, my sweet girl is totally in a stage where she HATES to have her picture taken! So I was totally pumped when I got these precious pics of us playing Chutes and Ladders a week or so ago.

Family, Christmas Cards, and Free Stuff

I don't know about you guys, but those are three of my favorite things! And guess what! I have the opportunity to roll all 3 of those things into one great package this year! (and so do you!)

One of my favorite sites to order cool cards, stationary, photobooks etc is shutterfly.com. I have ordered Christmas cards, Dylan's birth announcements, thank you notes, photo books, and more from this site over the years. They always seem to have new cool designs that fit my design aesthetic. (If I have one... Ha!)

This year they are giving away 50 free cards to bloggers just for talking about it on your blog. So why not?!?!

Every Christmas I LOVE to get Christmas cards! I love seeing the families of my friends, especially the ones I don't get to see on a consistent basis. And I'll admit, I always pick the "cutest" ones and display them in a prime spot on my fridge! (I'll never tell where that spot is in case you happen to be involved in Crazy Kennebeck Land in real life!)

This year I can't wait to do our Christmas cards, because we get to showcase our new addition, ok not new any more... but new since our last Christmas card! (The fact that he was a teeny tiny growing human being in the last pic doesn't count since nobody could see him!) I don't know what picture we're going to use yet, and if it will be a lucky shot I catch or if it will be a shot that a "real" photographer will take, but I do know where I'm going to get my cards!!

Now comes the hard part... Which one to pick???

OH MY GOODNESS!! I wonder what I'd have to do to get my kids to look up like this? This baby is precious but mine are GORGEOUS!! (Yes I'm biased!)

If I can't pick out just one pic, this would be a great one. And it says Merry Christmas! I refuse to get a card that doesn't say Merry Christmas! I just can't take Christ out of Christmas especially on my Christmas cards!

I love this one!! It's so cute and different!

How can you go wrong with a black and white card?



The message on this one says it all!

Man, now I don't know if I'm going to be able to sleep... I won't be able to stop looking or playing out all the options in my head! Check 'em out to see which one you like!

Shutterfly, how I love you, but even more so when you give me free stuff!!

Stomach Bug 2010

In case you're wondering, we all survived. We all had it. It was fun. SARCASM. Some had it worse than others and in different ways than others.

If you know somebody with it run screaming the other way!!!

That's all I have to say about that...

Now I'm off to finish up my 2nd can of Lysol in less than 48 hours and to finish putting clean sheets on every bed in the house.

Battle Weary but Still Kickin'

Ladybug and Dragon

For Halloween I had a Ladybug and a Dragon!! I must say they were the cutest kids I saw all night!!

I just love these kiddos!!!

My little ladybug!

 

My Happy Smilin' Dragon! He didn't get upset with his costume once! 

This ladybug's eyes kill me everytime!!

I just want to pinch those cheeks!!

 On Sunday night we had our Fall Festival at church. There were games Mackenzie got to play, and after each game she got candy. There was a hayride and face painitng too. We had a blast!

Mackenzie got her face painted by some of the girls in our youh group. She sat there so still and sweet while they painted her face.

She loved the ladybug she got!

Pumpkin Golf!

Bowling

Life is so tough when you're a dragon chillin' at the Fall Festival!

How precious!!!

Impromptu Picnic (and recipe)

It's amazing the joy an impromptu picnic and family movie can bring to a 4 yr old! While we were cooking dinner, Brian asked if we could eat in the sunroom. I wasn't totally pumped because if I cook I think we should be sitting down as a family to eat together. Well Brian came up with a solution that would work for both of us and thrill Mackenzie at the same time... a "picnic" while watching "The Blue People Movie" (aka Avatar). (For some reason Mackenzie LOVES the movie... however we only let her watch it on rare occassion and fast forward thru the scary part.)

Notice the sheet BK put down to protect the freshly vacuumed rug. (Good man!)

For dinner we had one of our favorite meals. A good friend of ours brought it for dinner one night right after Dylan was born, and it has become part of our "rotation". It's pretty easy to make, especially after you figure out the timing to make sure all the pieces are done right before the pasta. And it makes a TON!! Its a great meal to make if you want leftovers (it's just as good the next day cold from the fridge) or if you're taking food to another family.

Bacon Chicken Pasta

3 to 4 chicken breasts

Lemon Pepper seasoning (to taste)

Olive Oil

1/2 to 3/4 c parmesan cheese (the real stuff)

1 package bacon (I prefer thick cut because it holds up better)

1 lb bowtie pasta

Toasted pine nuts (optional)

Marinate the chicken in lemon pepper seasoning and olive oil for 4 hours. (The longer the better.) Season with lemon pepper to taste, I season the chicken pretty heavily because some of the seasoning will get lost in the marinade and some in the pasta. Use enough olive oil to barely cover the top of the chicken. (Olive oil is expensive so why waste?)

Grill the chicken. (We cook it on our inside grill but you can  never go wrong with a charcoal grill!) Cook the bacon. While both are cooking, grate the parmesan cheese and boil the pasta. Cut the chicken and bacon into bite size pieces. Combine all ingredients. (See my tips below)

So here are my inside tips that I've learned making it numerous times...

Start the chicken grilling and bacon cooking at the same time. (I HATE cooking bacon, so BK is sweet enough to do this part for me.) About 5 minutes after starting the bacon and chicken put the pasta water on to boil. While all the other pieces are beginning to cook, grate the parmesan cheese. (Use the real stuff... trust me! It's a little pricey but lasts for thru about 4 recipes) The earlier you do this the less likely you are to get rushed pulling the other pieces together. By the time the water starts boiling the chicken and bacon should be about halfway done. As the chicken and bacon finish, cut them into bite size pieces. Cook the pasta until it's al dente, so it will hold up to the "mixing". Strain the pasta and immediately put into a large mixing bowl with the parmesan cheese. (This allows the cheese to melt before adding the other ingredients) Add olive oil to the cheese and pasta. (Not sure how much... 3 or 4 quick times around the bowl.) Mix a little more. Add the chicken and bacon and mix to combine.

Like I said this is one of our favorite recipes and is great hot and just as great the next day straight from the fridge. Hope you all enjoy!

Don't be jealous!

Don't be jealous... My kids have the best Daddy in the world!! Sorry if it makes you jealous... but its the truth. :)

I knew when I married the man he'd be a wonderful Daddy, but seeing him in action is a whole different story! Just seeing him with the kids is enough to make my heart melt! (Except for when I hear him teaching Mackenzie the words "Chinese Barking Spider"... if you don't know, don't ask...) I could sit here and list the reasons why he's such a good Daddy but it would make me cry and make you vomit, so just trust me... He is the best Daddy ever!

Tonight when I was cooking Father's Day dinner I kept hearing Mackenzie coming in and out of our bedroom. I knew BK was in there watching the US Open after putting up some laundry, and I also assumed Dylan was in there after I was in the middle of cooking when Dylan needed a diaper change. So I went back to investigate and this is what I found...

Mackenzie informed me they were watching baseball. I said "Baby, it's golf." She said "Golfball". I decided not to push the issue. Thought it was so sweet to see them all laid up on our bed "watching golfball"! Mackenzie was even sweet enough to share her blanket with Dylan, because "we have the fan on because you're not in here and we need to see". (According to Mackenzie.)

We love you Brian! So blessed to have you in our lives!!

Our Lives Changed Forever... Version #2

On February 11, 2010 our lives changed forever... for the second time!

Dylan Thomas Kennebeck was born at 12:31 pm on February 11, 2010. He weighed 8 lbs 10 ozs and was 19 1/2 inches long.

Ever since the day Mackenzie was born it was a joke how much she did NOT look like she belonged to us... So you can imagine how funny it then turned out to be when Dylan was born and he looked EXACTLY like you'd expect a Kennebeck Kiddo to look like. He had a full head of dark hair (which we later discovered was dark brown with lighter highlights like MINE!! Finally something my kids got of mine!! Ok other than Mackenzie acting exactly like me...) and looked so much like Brian! We even started getting jokes asking if we were sure he was ours since he looked so different than Mackenzie. Hey when you have kids that look so different you can't win!

We were so thrilled to have him here safe and healthy!! And SOOOOO thankful that we got to have him here 10 days early!! Had Dr. Watson let me go all the way to my due date I would have given birth to a 12 year old! Trust me! I have a really funny story of the day I asked how big she thought he was, but there is no way to tell it that makes it blog worthy so trust me... it's HILARIOUS! What can I say? We grow 'em big in our house!

Proud Daddy!!

Mommy and her baby boy!

But MOST importantly, Mackenzie the Big Sister and her Baby Brother! She doesn't look proud does she??

I'll admit, and anybody who was was around during my pregnancy can attest too... I was totally freaked out by the whole boy thing! I can handle a girl, hello I've already done it once and know what to expect. But a boy... freaked me out! We'll just say I was most freaked out by the little detail that makes boys and girls so different... (How's that for wording things carefully?) I knew in my heart I would be totally fine... I'm a big girl I can handle it but it was honestly more than a little scary to me... Even though I was freaked out I was so excited for Brian to get "his boy" because I know all Daddy's secretly (or not so secretly) want a little boy to play catch with and teach all the boy stuff.

Disclaimer: I know without a shadow of a doubt that Brian would have been 100% at peace had we had another little girl because he loves his baby girl with ALL his heart and is the BEST Daddy to her! 

Over the last 3 months I have been amazed by how much you can love not only one child but two! (And at how I can handle baby boy stuff... When it becomes big boy stuff it becomes Daddy's problem! Ha!) God has blessed us so much with not only Mackenzie but now Dylan as well! One of my most precious memories is one night when he was a few weeks old I was sitting on the couch getting ready to put him in bed and I just had this overwhelming sense of peace about how our family was complete. It made me start crying because I knew even more than I already knew that God had given us a precious little boy for a reason and I could not have been happier!

I got the inspiration for a post to catch everybody up on what we've been doing from my friend Ashley (Thanks Girl!), and decided this would be MUCH easier than trying to go back and post thing after thing after thing... : )

August

The most important thing that happened to us in August was that we finally told Mackenzie she was going to be a big sister! We told her by giving her a Big Sister bracelet that Nana made for her. We kept this pregnancy very quiet until I was into my second tri-mester because of the miscarriage we had earlier in the year.

Before Mackenzie started 3 yr old preschool in late August we decided to have a before school blow-out. So we went to Little Rock to the zoo and then to Chuck E Cheese. Needless to say all of us were worn out by the time we finished!!

After the before school blow-out came the first day of pre-school. Mackenzie has LOVED school since the first day she started! She could not love her teachers Mrs. Kay and Mrs. Monica any more! That makes it sooo much easier to leave her every day. Brian and I both took her to school on the first day and walked her inside, we had to remind her to kiss us because she was so excited to be there! Made me giggle and made me sad all at the same time!

This last picture is of Mackenzie's "Lil Buddy". Since he "couldn't" go to school with Mackenzie she wanted me to take him to work with me. So knowing my child, I even took a picture to prove he was at work with me.

September

September brought Playhouse Disney in Little Rock. We knew Mackenzie would love it but we had no idea just how much! She was so excited to see all the characters but especially thrilled to see Mickey! Whenever he came out on stage she became enthralled and had to wave at him! As you can also tell from the pics, September also brought an every growing Mommy...

October

In October Brian and I were lucky enough to be able to go watch the Southwest Classic in Dallas at the brand new Cowboy stadium. We had a blast getting to not only see our Hogs play but also beat the Aggies!! It was one of only two football games we were able to go to this year because Dylan was being rough on his Mommy!! Just wait until he's older... we'll give him a hard time for that!!

It's never boring when your 3 1/2 year old believe she has the world's best fashion sense! This day she taught me that a headband really does go with pigtails... And in turn produced one of my fave pics of her!

Since our old house didn't have much of a yard we decided to take Mackenzie to play in the park on Sunday afternoon. Brian and Mackenzie played... I sat at the picnic table feeling just lovely and pregnant (get the sarcasm?) taking pictures of their sweet moments! PRICELESS!!

Being the wonderful pregnant Mommy that I was, not much thought went into Halloween this year... Turned out good since Mackenzie was sick and all she'd asked to be was Ariel for weeks. Lucky for me, we had gotten an Ariel costume for Christmas... talk about easy!

November

Apparently nothing picture worthy happened in November... but there is one VERY BIG thing that did happen to us... We MOVED! We had our house on the market since Feb 09 and were very discouraged that it hadn't sold. We knew when we put it on the market it was part of God's plan for our family, but we also knew with a baby due in February we needed to be settled. One night Brian and I were talking about what we felt God was leading us to do and after much praying decided we'd give the house til the end of November and if it didn't sell we'd take it off the market. We were confident this was the decision God wanted us to make! Well you know how people say God can't do what He's trying to do if you're in His way? Wellllll that is apparently what he was trying to show us! I called our wonderful realtor one day to tell her our plans and guess what... she was showing houses to a couple who had looked previously but never made an offer. Long story short, we had a signed offer on our old house and an a signed offer on our new house by Saturday!! God is Good!!! We knew and still know that God worked all of this out according to His good and perfect will!! The only downside of moving was that we closed the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and I was 5 1/2 months pregnant! On top of that not only was I pregnant but having VERY bad Braxton Hix (and had been for a while) so I wasn't allowed to do anything but sit and watch while my wonderful friends and family packed, moved, and helped clean the old house. After all of our help fell thru on moving day I had a little pregnant moment, but God again provided by sending wonderful family and friends to help! I don't think there will ever be a day I don't look back at that situation and thank God for His provision! Still makes me teary eyed to this day!

December

December is crazy in any house, but ESPECIALLY when you are in a new house with boxes everywhere!! Here are some pics of our first days in our new house. Mackenzie's room was the first room we painted... the day after we moved! And of course even if the rest of my house was in boxes I HAD to put up my tree!! (Pregnant Belly and millions of white lights are not a good combination...)

This year we finally decided we should be "good parents" and take Mackenzie to the Christmas parade. I never cared much about it growing up but thought we should at least give Mackenzie the opportunity... Ha! We went with our friends Nathaniel, Mary, and Lottie Doddridge and had a blast!! Let me just add, it's very difficult to find clothes to keep a big ole pregnant girl warm!!

December also brought a milestone birthday in our house... Brian turned the Big 30!! And yes I was able to pull off a surprise party while extremely preggo and in a new house. Couldn't have done it without my wonderful friends and the help of a lying associate pastor... :) I thought I was busted the night of the party when he drove back by and his sister and one of my friends were at my house, but apparently God allowed me to be able to lie for one night!! Ha! As you can tell he was very surprised!

I decided that even thought I was miserable and pregnant I couldn't keep that from making a Gingerbread house with my sweet baby girl... So we did and it was even messier than the year before! Ha! But ohhhh the memories!! And yes... she's wearing a Belle dress!

Christmas was even more fun this year than it has been in the past because Mackenzie not only got more into Santa Clause but more importantly she really began to understand the true meaning of Christmas! Here are some of my fave pics from Christmas this year.

We made cookies for Santa late on Christmas Eve and Santa enjoyed the cookies! (and so did somebody else...) Santa even left Mackenzie a note telling her how good the cookies were!

While we were sitting on the couch waiting for the cookies to cook, we watched "Prep and Landing" one of Mackenzie's favorite Christmas movies. It's such a sweet memory because she wanted to hold both of our hands! :)

Can you tell she just woke up?? Ha!

Playing with her Ariel baby doll and coloring in her Tinkerbell activity pad with Daddy.

Cooking Breakfast at Nana and Pop's house!

January

I'm not sure if these next pics were actually in January but I know I was on vacation for Christmas so its close enough... Ha!

I made Mackenzie a tent in her playroom one morning when Brian was working because Dylan wasn't being nice to Mommy and I needed to lay on the couch. She had a blast playing in her tent while wearing her Belle dress and sitting in her "comfy place".

Because I was REALLY pregnant at the first of the year we weren't able to go watch our beloved Hogs play in the Liberty Bowl, so instead we stayed home and watched it at our house. I ended up taking down the Christmas tree that day and Mackenzie was a BIG help (seriously), she kept taking the lights to Brian to wrap up. But as is the case quite frequently lately she was dressed "interestingly". She was wearing her Sleeping Beauty dress, her sparkly flip flops and her new Minnie golf clubs. Gotta love her sense of style! Ha!

January

One night in January Brian went to put Mackenzie to sleep and I walked by her room and found a site that melted my heart... No words are necessary!

Ever since Mackenzie was a little baby I would go check on her at night (or even naptime) and never know what to expect... How she would be sleeping or where or with what. I walked by one night and laughed hysterically at what I saw... Just Mackenzie and Minnie... everything else was on the floor. So much for the room we'd cleaned up that day!

After looking for January pictures I realized just how miserable and pregnant I must have been because this was about it! Ha!

One other big thing that happened in January, was my baby shower at work. My sweet co-workers threw me a baby shower. We wanted to bring Mackenzie but thought she might be too shy around all the people and not enjoy it. So we opted to let her stay and play with her friends at school. Here is a picture of me at 35 weeks. YES I WAS BIG!! I realized just how big the day I saw this pic... Man we grow 'em big in my house!! Ha!

February

February was a very important month in our house... it was the month Dylan Thomas Kennebeck was born!! We were so excited for him to finally make his appearance!! (Some of us more than others... Ha!) I was measuring ahead during my entire pregnancy and after Mackenzie Donya knew what to expect plus "they" say your 1st baby is your smallest. I was SOOOO grateful when Donya finally told me that Dylan had dropped enough for us to go ahead and induce. (And thank goodness she did!! But more on that later...)

With our good luck Mackenzie came down with strep throat on Tuesday, and I was supposed to have a doctor's appointment the next morning to hopefully schedule my induction. Thankfully Mom took Mackenzie to the doctor and Brian went with me to my appointment. Needless to say she told us we were good to go! So we set up things to go to the hospital that night to start meds to see if I'd go into labor on my own. That night before we went to the hospital we had some last minute family time just the 3 of us. Here are some precious pics! The first two were of the Tuesday before Dylan was born and the last one was the last pic we got of just the 3 of us!

Just the 3 of us!

Well that catches you up all the way until Dylan was born. I hate to make this post any longer than it already is so I'll cut it off there! Lots of fun stuff has happened since Dylan was born! I'll try to get caught up on some of it, and then move on to current stuff. As always life is Crazy in Kennebeck Land!