Mother's Day and Grandparents

We are enjoying a visit from David's parents this week. It was convenient to get some updated pictures of us all together at church this morning! I was pleased with how they turned out. The six of us together.
Z-Pa and Granna with Mackenzie and Josiah. I love how this one turned out of all four of them!

Here's a picture of David and me that Mackenzie took for us today! Not bad for a 5 1/2 year old! She didn't even have it set up on the tripod or anything. :)

Thanks, Mackenzie, for a great picture.

Here's my two boys. Aren't they handsome?! We have to "catch" Josiah for pictures these days. He's always on the go and seldom stops long enough to pose. :) David scooped him up and we snapped the picture of the two of them laughing. I like it!

And, since this past week was the last full week of Kindergarten, Mackenzie invited some friends over to play. (We'd been meaning to have them over for quite a while, but the year nearly got away from us!) Above is a picture of Mackenzie and Savannah. Sweet girls!

They enjoyed decorating their own shirts.

On Mother's Day (yeah, I'm behind on my blogging) we ate lunch at Sam's Club after church and then went swimming! The evening before David and the kids took me to eat at The Butcher Shop. We figured it would be too crowded to eat out on Mother's Day! Anyways, we had a wonderful day.

And since I had not had any recent pictures with my two precious kiddos, David snapped some for me...in the parking lot at Sam's Club! We forgot while we were still at church with all the nice greenery around us. :)

I like how the quick ones at Sam's turned out, though. :)

David made a collage picture for me, gave me a picture frame that says "Mom" and has the scriptures from Proverbs 31 about her children and husband praising and blessing her. I cried. I love those verses and am so humbled that he found a frame like that and bought it for me! He also gave me some new (really nice!) flip flops and pajamas, too. It was truly a wonderful day. I feel incredibly blessed and loved. (Josiah was too busy playing to come join us for the above picture.)

I suppose my next post will be about Mackenzie's Kindergarten Graduation, which is this coming Tuesday night...followed by Josiah's 4th Birthday later this month! Busy times, but wonderful.

Aquarium

This week was Zearl and Betty's Spring Break, so we were blessed to have David's parents here to visit! Since it was not our Spring Break, we mostly stayed around here and continued with our usual routines. Above is a picture of Granna reading to the kids.
We spent the day Saturday doing some extra special activities. First, Granna and Z-pa took the kids to eat at Cracker Barrel while David and I went to the gym. Then we all went to the Aquarium in Gatlinburg! Most of the pictures I have are from the Aquarium.

Here's Mackenzie near the entrance.

Josiah enjoying the interactive areas.

Josiah in front of the large ocean aquarium.

Josiah and Mackenzie watching the fish go by.

Mackenzie "in with" the sea horses! :)

Josiah "in with" the sea horses. :)

We had a wonderful time and a great week. Thanks, Granna and Z-Pa, for coming to visit!

Last Week

Ummm, I'm way behind on my blogging--Sorry! Here's my favorite picture of Mackenzie and Josiah with David's parents. We totally enjoyed having them here last week. The kids had literally put together a list of all the things they wanted Granna and Z-pa to help them with while they were here! Both grandparents and kiddos survived the long list of activities and even had fun doing them. We enjoyed a day at Dollywood that ended up in a down pour of rain, as well as crafty activities at home and a day at the mall, too! Granna even helped Mackenzie make friendship bracelets. And I got the baby books all caught up, AND I got to sleep in more than once!!! Thanks to both Granna and Z-Pa for their time spent with the kids.

Happy 1/2 Birthday, Mackenzie

February 24, 2009 Mackenzie's half birthday was February 24. She is officially 4 1/2 years old. David and I enjoy celebrating half birthdays with a half of a cake...or a little cake. Mackenzie was delighted with this tiny Tinkerbell cake I found at Wal-Mart to surprise her after her school day on the day of her half birthday.
And she knows that while we don't do presents for her half birthday...Granna & Z-Pa do! She eagerly awaited their arrival...and the arrival of some presents, too. :)

Anytime the kids are expecting company, this is where you can find them...

...sitting together watching out the window. Just precious.

I love Mackenzie's sweet profile in this picture.

Josiah was entertaining for the camera!

Here are two pictures of the kids with Granna & Z-pa (David's parents) that I took tonight. Tonight was the official half birthday party!

Thanks, Granna & Z-Pa, for all the fun gifts and cake, too!

Here is the really yummy Bruster's cake that they brought!!!
Happy 4 1/2 years, Mackenzie Girl!

Granna and Z Pa's House!

Josiah driving the red car his daddy, David, drove as a child! Pretty neat that Zearl and Betty kept it all these years...
He loves it!
Mackenzie running to the playhouse! Zearl (Z-Pa) spent the past two years building this house for the kids. Mackenzie and Josiah love it and spent quite a lot of time playing in it during our visit to Granna & Z-Pa's house just over a week ago.
Mackenzie sitting in the doll's highchair. Pretty funny girl!

We are home from a 9 day trip to Arkansas. The first stop was Granna & Z-Pa's house (David's parents)...more of this past week to come in future posts...

Happy Half Birthday!

Josiah and his new guitar. He is proud!
Learning from Z-pa (David's Dad). Yes, my boy is wearing pink shoes...he put Mackenzie's shoes on all by himself and was quite happy wearing them. Oh, well.
Mackenzie exuding excitement about her new princess stick-on earrings! "I just wanted these!" she exclaimed. "They are just like Laura's!"
Proudly displaying her new earrings.

So, David's parents (Granna & Z-pa) are here to visit during their Spring Break. We are delighted to have them and the kids are enjoying lots of extra attention. Today, after church, Granna and Z-pa brought several packages in for Mackenzie and Josiah. This was a celebration of Mackenzie's Half Birthday, which was within the last two weeks. She is 3 1/2 years old. Josiah is 21 months. Both kids were very excited about this party with lots of presents! They now have several new books, a new guitar, stick-on earrings, a princess dress up set, DVD, candy, and other things, too. Thanks, Granna & Z-pa!