Josiah's 3rd Birthday!

Here's Josiah with his Diego Birthday cake at Chuck E. Cheese!
Here's Josiah looking out the window waiting for his friends to arrive for his Birthday party.

Josiah, Mackenzie, Rose, and Josie.

Josiah, (Josie), Owen, Rose peering over the booth, and Ethan.

Josiah and Owen. Little Buddies. Precious friendship. It was very important to Josiah that Owen be at his party. In fact, it was so important that I called Owen's family to be sure they were available before planning the party! :) Needless to say, Josiah was very pleased to have his friends, Owen and Rose, at his party.

Rose, Owen, Josiah, and Mackenzie. Josiah surprised me by not want to blow his candle out...so everyone got to help!

I love this picture. Rose, Owen, and Josiah are all enjoying the cake!

Owen and Josiah checking out the cool robot bank that Rose gave Josiah. He did not have a bank. That had been a crisis at our house lately, since Mackenzie does have a bank. Hooray for both kids having banks now! :)

Josiah and Owen checking out the neat Cars Track set from Owen.

Josiah set up his new Cars Track as soon as we got home! You are right, Owen, he loves it. Thanks!

Josiah opened his presents from us here at home after his party. I think his favorite thing from us was the bug houses...here he is opening a bug house.

Josiah and Mackenzie inspecting the new bug house.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Josiah! I am very proud of you. You bring smiles to our faces on a daily basis. You definitely keep us on our toes, too. You love bugs. I mean REALLY love bugs. You live life to its fullest, not missing any opportunities that come your way. You are a smart boy and a good listener. You are a sweet heart. You LOVE to cuddle, and you give your kisses so freely. I love those hugs, kisses, and cuddles. Don't outgrow those too soon, okay? I look forward to every day I am blessed to have with you. You are a special boy. I am so thankful that God created you and blessed our lives with your presence.

He weighs 32 lbs and is 38 inches tall now. Mackenzie is 36 lbs and 42.4 inches tall. To be 21 months apart, they sure are close in size!

Mackenzie Completes Preschool

This is almost a week late in coming...but here are the pictures from Mackenzie's school program and certificate ceremony for completing her four-year-old class. The pictures that follow are actually from last Tuesday, May 19th. Our videographer for Mackenzie's program! Well, Daddy's little helper, anyways. :)
Josiah loved getting to help man the camera during Mackenzie's performance. Well, prior to it, anyways. ;)

She was on stage with her class, as well as the 3's and 5's from the Tuesday/Thursday Mother's Day Out program. They sang two songs with lots of motions! One song was called, My Father's House. The other song was great, too, but I can't remember what it was called. It was about never giving up our love for God even as season's change. Very upbeat and wonderful song!

Mackenzie's best friend, Avery, is standing beside her (picture left). Sweet kiddos!

I love this smirk on Mackenzie's face! She had been so focused on singing the right words and doing the right motions at the right time, that she did not smile during the songs. As soon as the song was over, she gave us her "I did it!" smile. She was obviously pleased with her performance and I think she loved all the applause all the kids got from the very proud audience! :)

Here is her entire class, with their teacher, Mrs. Melinda (picture right).

Here's my snapshot of Mackenzie receiving her certificate and her "badge" as she called it! Again, you're getting to see her pretty proud smile. :)

Here's Avery and Mackenzie checking out their awards/badges!

I had no idea that Mrs. Melinda was going to have a special ceremony for the children in the classroom after the program. It was a wonderful surprise! We now have some pretty neat keepsakes from Mackenzie's time in "preschool." It is hard to believe that chapter of her life is already finished. The next step is Kindergarten in August! Needless to say, I'm thrilled to have the summer to totally enjoy my children. If I just don't think about Kindergarten, it won't happen, right?!? Sigh. I really am proud my my precious baby girl and her accomplishments. I know she will be ready for the next step. I just pray that I'm ready, too!

Emotions

My Baby Boy is 3 Years Old Today! I enjoyed every moment of the day. Then I cried as I carried my sleeping "baby" to bed. Something about my baby boy turning 3 and my baby girl heading to Kindergarten this fall has gotten me all emotional. Sad is more like it. Sigh. I love them. I will miss the hugs around my legs and the random kisses all over from "my babies." I just want to freeze time, and yet I want more sleep (ahem, Josiah--sleep through the night boy!) all at the same time. Sigh again. Can anyone relate? Silly, I suppose, as I really do want them to grow and be healthy. I am thankful for their health. Truly, I am. Yet I still want to keep things just the way they are! Okay. Enough for now. Just had to get that out.

I'll post the "Happy Birthday, Josiah" post sometime tomorrow...with pictures and everything! :)

Uncle Zac's Visit

We were delighted to have "Uncle Zac" visit us this past weekend. Thanks to our season passes (courtesy of David's parents) we had an extra coupon to get a friend in for free! We totally enjoyed being able to take Zac to Dollywood with us. As you'll see from the pictures below, the kids totally enjoyed their Uncle Zac! Josiah driving the car at "Watson Motor Company." (I was his passenger!)
Just behind us was Mackenzie driving Uncle Zac in the blue car.

I love the way Josiah was looking up to Uncle Zac, literally! :)

This one's pretty sweet, too, with Zac glancing down to check on Josiah as they walked hand-in-hand.

Hmmm, who stole the show for the weekend..."UNCLE ZAC!" He really is a natural with the kids. They obviously love him dearly. And David and I totally enjoyed the extra adults help for the weekend. Thanks, Zac!!! :)

Mackenzie and Uncle Zac riding the Scrambler.

I love this picture! It's great of Zac, and hysterical of Mackenzie...all you can see is her pink sock and shoe sticking out!

This sums up the weekend. The kids enjoying time with their Uncle Zac...and totally worn out! (Notice Josiah totally conked out on the couch in the background?! He was actually asleep.)

Backyard Fun!

Warning: This post contains 14 pictures! :) Mackenzie had her school program today, and she chose to wear a dress. I loved the way she looked from the back, still in her dress and pigtails, watering the garden!
Kinda makes me think of a little pioneer girl. (Except she's using a water hose instead of carrying a bucket full of water from the nearby stream. Ha.) :)

Complete with the bare feet!

This picture gives you an idea of how our garden is doing. We are excited about it! We've even eaten three salads picked right out of the garden this week.

The two kiddos.

Mackenzie offering Josiah a turn with the water hose. (Aaaww.)

Water the garden? What? I wanted to water Mackenzie, Mom! (She actually loved it!)

Josiah watering the garden...in a gun-like fashion.

They are great little helpers.

I love the water droplets spraying in the air in this picture.

Our two garden boxes...growing well, so far!

The nest in our maple tree. We have totally enjoyed watching the Momma bird build her nest this week. As of right now, there are no eggs in the nest. I'll keep you posted!

This is a random pic of our back yard, just to give you an idea of how GREEN it is!

Another view of the back yard...we're so happy that we have grass growing now! The kids are able to play in the yard without getting so muddy, and the yard is much more level, too. We had dirt brought in and the yard seeded a couple months ago. We are so thankful for the grass and user-friendly space! :)

Bunny, Worms, and Mother's Day!

So. I'm WAY behind on my blogging. Here's 3 posts in 1, with more to come in the near future! :) Our wonderful neighbors found this teeny, tiny bunny rabbit in their back yard! They called us so we could go see it, too. Mackenzie just LOVED it. We really appreciate our neighbors and are grateful they think of us so often.
I love this picture of Mackenzie holding the bunny.

Tiny little thing.

Here's an attempt at a picture of the kids and me on Mother's Day. Classic, as Josiah has his tongue out. :)

This one turned out pretty good, too. Josiah is smiling in this one as he has his "pet worm" clutched in his fist...but he just didn't look up at the camera. Oh, well!

Josiah proudly displaying his worm.

The kid LOVES worms. I love hearing Josiah say, "Mommy! I think he likes me!" Well, of course he like you, Josiah. Who wouldn't like you?! :)