Madison Ann

My big 5 year old! We have been blessed with 5 years of affection, entertainment, and love with you. You are my cuddly girl, you've always slept best when you are with one of us or your sisters. In fact, many nights I wake up to find you on my feet! I cannot believe it is almost time for you to start kindergarden, but I know you will love it, because you have fun no matter what you do! I look forward to watching you grow into a young lady, and am very proud that your lifelong goal is "to be a mommy." I love you, sweet thing!

And this concludes our birthday posts!!!

What did you learn at school today?

Kenzie: "That Jesus dieded, but then he got back up, so he isn't dieded anymore, does that make you happy?" Madison: "Mary came down from heaven and gave me a cross, you know, the Mary that knows Jesus really good." (She has a little embroidered cross, I'm thinking a lady from the church named Mary might have given it to the kids at school.) Happy Friday!!!

Kenzie Lola,

Happy Birthday Kennedie! Our little fire alarm, a bit smaller than our other girls were, and quite a bit louder too. I can't believe you are 3! The beginning of this year, we had a little scare with you. When we were camping, Nana noticed some bumps on the back of your head that felt like rocks, a quick call to Aunt Laurel put us more at ease. I took you to the Dr. the next day thinking she would just explain that the bumps were due to you fighting off an infection. Instead, our easy going Dr. looked at me and said "these really make me nervous, they are hard and aren't moving, and don't feel like regular lymph nodes, I need you to go for blood work immediately." She then asked me about our family medical history, including any cancer etc... We spent the entire day finding a lab that could get you in. When we did find one, you were such a little trooper. Daddy held you and you sat there watching the blood come out. A few days later the Drs office called to say your white blood cell count was low, they said it could just be you were fighting off an infection, but they couldn't be sure. We needed to wait another week and take you for more blood work. We did that, and then a week later got the call that you are as we thought, a very healthy little monkey!

You have brought fun and spunk to our house, as only a little girl born on April Fools Day can do! Happy Birthday Princess.

And here are a few pics of you with your favorite things:

You and your lunchbox, ready for preschool!

You and Madison, you love your sisters!

And last; you, a swing, and a pretty dress!

My Rylee

Rylee Kendall,

Eight years ago (well, as of last Sat...I lost the camera cord until today:)), your daddy was whispering to me "we're about to meet our daughter" as we were in the hospital waiting (26 hours) for you to make your arrival. You captured our hearts from the beginning. Happy Birthday Big Girl, we love your list-making, organizing, conquering self!

Shared Party with Jamison at USA Gymnastics

Can You find all of your friends??????

Beautiful, inside and out.

Happy Birthday TJ!

Todd is 35! It's impossible to find something to buy this man. It seems like if a man wants something, he just buys it. If he can't afford it, he saves for it. If a woman wants something, we go to the store and have an internal battle over if we should buy it or not, then we end up buying more clothes for our kids or 30 things from the Target Dollar bin and head home without our original prey.

So this year I decided just to do, instead of buy. I asked T to go to my parents house in the morning to help my dad move a tree. He was of course thrilled to death. I packed up our stuff while he was gone and then headed up to my parents. I walked in and told him we were going to run errands. Then we went to Rent-a-vette. I had reserved a corvette for the weekend, but when we got there T asked if they had any Porche's. The man took us in his garage of Bentley's, Vette's, Escalades, Porche's and historic cars and said to pick what we wanted. So T picked a little Porche convertible. We took of riding in style, enjoying the AZ air and headed up to Scottsdale for lunch and shopping. After that, we headed to Talking Stick Hotel and Casino to hang out by the pool and enjoy a full nights sleep with no little people having bad dreams or having to go potty....ah, heaven!

Happy Birthday TJ, it was great having you all to myself for a couple of days!!

Pray for Kate

If you haven't read this website, you must. A little girl named Kate who was diagnosed with brain cancer, which went into remission. It has now returned and her family is asking for prayer as they face hard decisions ahead. Reading their online journal is heart-wrenching, but their faith is amazing.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/mcraekate

We'll miss you buddy!

Poncho,

You were such a great dog! Now, great is relative for a dog who ate a sofa, a bag of paintballs, my wedding ring, and about 100 pairs of shoes. You were such a lover, and would get thrilled to death when we walked out of the bathroom (after 1 minute of being in there) like we had been gone all day. You slept on my feet for 10 1/2 years, and if your brother tried to take that coveted spot on the bed, you just layed on top of him. You would only listen to dad, and if I told you to go in your room, you rolled over with your belly up and refused to move. I just left you, because I never really wanted you away from me anyway. You let our babies play doctor on you, sit on you, and pull your tongue out over your head. You watched as we brought 3 babies home, and sat next to their swing in the living room each time. One of your favorite things to do was to take the trash out with me, you would "heel" all the way to the trash can and back in the front yard, quite an accomplishment for such an excited boy. You were so in love with everyone in our family.

We cried with the kids last night, and are so sad for your brother who is looking all over the house for you. You are greatly missed already my friend.