One Year Ago...

We were checking into the hospital to be induced! We had shopped for cars all day, because I decided to wait until the day I was being induced to try the 3rd carseat in the car....it didn't fit. We shopped for a car all day, then checked into the hospital at 8:00pm to get things started. Miss Kennedie Lola was born the following day, April 1st at 4:00pm, weighing 6'13! She is named after one of the most beautiful women, my grandma Norma Lola, who passed away in 2001.

Sweet, affectionate, spunky, squishy-faced smile....that's Kenzie! She is very quite, crawling through the house doing her own thing until she needs to be heard, then she pops up on her knees and screams as loud as she can, she is definitely going to give her sisters a run for their money!

Why did we spell her name so funky!?!? Well, we had a really hard time deciding on names. One night Todd was at work, and he texted me "how about Kennedie?" I, being an emotional, very pregnant female, thought "wow, he thought of a name, and even came up with a cutsie little spelling, it will be so sweet for me to tell her that her daddy came up with that!" So we named her. Then my brother asked (in his ever so tactful way), "why did you have to spell it wrong?" I explained that Todd wanted it to be unique and more feminine, to which Todd replied "huh, I thought that was how the President spelled his name?" Oh well... so Todd can't spell, but I do like the spelling anyway!

Here are some pics of our 1 year old princess

(PS....there is yet one more birthday post to come in a couple of weeks.....we are (were) freakishly fertile in June and July and managed to have a little girl 3 out of 5 springs!)

Why?

Why do children stick things up their noses? I am grateful that we have never gotten anything stuck up there, but honestly, I feel like its just a matter of time. Maddie snuck upstairs the other night when we were all watching a movie. She came down screaming. I recognized the smell. She had put fingers full of Ben-Gay muscle rub up her nose. That's some serious menthol up there! Poor kid, I tried to clean it out, but then she was off the charts hyper all night......related....or just Maddie....not sure.

6 years ago today...

Our first baby was born! There is nothing more exciting or special than having that first baby. After 25 hours of labor, 3 hours of pushing, and vacuuming her out....Rylee Kendall was born. She is an amazing, bright, creative, responsible and organized girl. Some of her favorite things are: writing, making lists, making chore charts, organizing her money, shopping, and eating Ramen noodles. She is incredibly driven and I can't wait to see what the future holds for her. In fact, in talking about how we will handle buying cars for 3 kids, Todd came up with a plan that he will match whatever they save for their first car. Then he said "Let's not tell Rylee, she'll start saving now and I'll have to buy her a Bentley." It's true, she is one motivated kiddo! Rylee is the kiddo that asked me one day on the way home from preschool (when she was barely 3) "why do kids even bother coming to school and coloring if they can't stay in the lines?" Affectionate, caring, and sweet as can be, we are humbled that she is ours!

Happy 6th Birthday, Big Girl!

Camping

We just got back from a great camping trip to Sedona. We went with two other families who have kids around our kids ages. Yesterday we went to Rainbow Trout Farm. For 1$, you rent fishing gear and get to catch trout (for about 10$, you get to keep them). After you catch them, you pay 50. for a lady to chop the heads off, clean them, and pack them in ice. The kids watched her do this.....Their reactions: Rylee got really quite and teary-eyed and Todd ended up talking to her about the purpose that Jesus has for fish she stayed sad and refused to eat the fish for dinner. Maddie asked "Is she going to cut my head off and cut me up too?" I explained "no" to which she asked, "but why not?" To which I responded "you are not a fish, you are a little girl, we don't cut little girls heads off or eat them." To which she responded "Aw....alright." Here are some pics:



















This is the warning sign
by the fish cleaning

A very Skateland Birthday

Rylee had her birthday party at Skateland today. She had never skated before, but had heard that Skateland is the coolest place to have your party so was set on having it there. She actually did a really good job! We had pizza, cake, and no broken bones!! Quite an accomplishment with 19 kids there. We actually had some parents just drop kiddos off and leave them, with a quick "he's never skated before, so here's my cell phone number..." Wow! I was also amazed by the 50-60 year old men there, still wearing silk shirts and pants from the 80s, skate-dancing. I think those same men were there when I had my school skating parties there in 1988, they must be very tired by now.

Getting ready for the party Maddie

took her own snap-on skates and

threw a good-sized fit when they

suggested that she wear their

skates.

Daddy skating with the

birthday girl

I wouldn't put skates on, but led the kids in the line cha cha dance....woowoo raise the roof! I thought we were all dancing together, but now that I look at the picture.....maybe they were

all just looking at me like I was crazy?!?! Oh well, I thought we had fun.

Maddie skating with Nana, she skated and screamed "I awesome!!" the whole time (Maddie, not Nana).

What do you want for your birthday?

We are in the midst of birthday season (Todd 3/5, Rylee 3/20, Kenzie 4/1, Maddie 4/26). So I asked my kids today the question that every child is dying to answer:

My most-responsible almost-6 year old Rylee answered:
"A new wallet with a matching purse. My wallet is nice, but there's no place for the change, and I need to save that with the dollars."

My most-eccentric almost-3 year old Maddie answered:
-"Some orange toys"
-"Some new food to eat"
-"Superman," shocked that she even knows who Superman is, I ask "like a Superman doll or something?" She answered, "No, silly, like a person to lay on the ground and lift me up on my belly and sing do do do doooo do (Superman themesong). I answered "huh, that's different" to which she says "yup, I pretty amazin."

So, looks like we might get off with a pretty cheap b-day season b/w the wallet and playing superman!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Happy 33rd Birthday to....

My girl's favorite person!

And...............









My Favorite International Man of Mystery....yah baby!

The third child

If you've read the BirthOrder Book, you probably know that the youngest child is the one who is usually irresponsible, entertaining...."the clown." The first born is organized, a go-getter. The middle child is the peace maker. I believe it can all be traced back to how you let your kids play in the sand :)

With Rylee (1st born):

We rarely ever just set her in the dirt. We offered age-appropriate outdoor toys like walkers and little ride-on toys. If we sat her in the dirt, we sat on either side of her to ensure that she didn't eat it.

With Maddie (Middle born):
We were excited that she interacted with Rylee, and offered them things to do together outside like a can of bubbles that Rylee could blow and Maddie could pop. Age-appropriate toys had been handed down, washed for her use. She played in the sand, but with Rylee helping to monitor her.

With Kennedie (third born):
We were so thrilled that they were all entertained, that we

plopped her in the sand and the mud left from the sprinklers.
When she ate sand we thought "oh well, what goes in will just

come out." Ride on toys are now in the side yard, covered in

spiders and not ride-able. Her entertainment is sitting in the

grass when wet and eating sand.

She did, however, get a shower....with the hose.