My baby turns 12!

*****CLICK ON THE PHOTO TO MAKE IT BIGGER! :)

I can't believe Mackenzie is 12. Actually, she seems so much older than that. She is super responsible, has a great fashion sense, and is just a delight to have in our family. We love you Kenzie! Happy Birthday!

Mackenzie's Birthday Cake

Last night I made Mackenzie's cake. I am getting this cake thing down...this one only took me 2 hours! :) We went for a "springy wishing for summer" sort of theme using her two favorite colors...adding a bit of orange in for a contrast!

Alex in Solo/Ensemble

Alex had Solo/Ensemble this weekend....he did fantastic of course! I couldn't help but snap a photo of this handsome young man as we left the competition! :)
Kennedy being as sweet as can be!

TJ being, well, just TJ!

Mackenzie was entertaining TJ in the car, from the front seat. I promised Kennedy I would sit with her in the far back, so I had an opportunity to capture this cute moment with Mackenzie!

Our Anniversary Dinner

Tonight we celebrated our anniversary with dinner. Usually we go out, just the two of us, but this year we did something a little different and it ended up being really fun and special. At Family Home Evening on Thursday night we assigned different parts of the dinner to the kids. Mackenzie had the appetizer, Brian had the main dish, I had the side dish, and Alex had dessert. The three little ones were in charge of setting up the table. What a great idea! We might just do this every year!

Brian's crockpot apple chicken

Mackenzie's deviled eggs

My broccoli salad

Alex's ooey, gooey, Rocky Road Ice Cream Brownie White Chocolate Chip sandwiches (with creamed marshmallow topping!)

Provident Living

Make sure your scroll down to the right and PAUSE the IPOD so that you can hear this beautiful message!

Mackenzie's Birthday Invite

My first born baby girl is turning 12 on March 30th. I just can't get over what an awesome spirit she is and she brings so much joy and happiness to our family! We love you little Kenz! :)

Exercise, Children & Funny Conversations

So I decided since I didn't have a scheduled jog/walk with my good friend Melissa yesterday, I would take my 3 littlest munchkins out for an evening walk while daddy was at scouts and the horse barn with the older 2 kiddos. Hmmmm...all that walking proved to spark some interesting conversations.

It started out with TJ:

Mommy: Say bye to the chickens! (expecting TJ to wave)

TJ: Bock, Bock! (at the top of his lungs)

Mommy: (excitedly) What did you say? (I know, most parents wouldn't be this thrilled that their almost 2 year old said a repetitive word twice, but this child is as stubborn as can be and REFUSES to talk)

TJ: Muhhhhhammmmm.... (pointing at chickens)

Mommy: Come on TJ, say "Bock, Bock"

TJ: (doesn't say a word. Laughs, smiles, and sticks his tongue out).

Lovely. Just Lovely. I give up.

We get about 1/4 mile into our walk with just the normal "Look Mommy! It's a red robin!" sort of talk. Then Kennedy pipes in:

Kennedy: Ewhhhhhh....it smells like Cow Poop!

Natalie: (rolling her eyes) Kennedy, but there isn't a Cow Poop Farm around here!

Kennedy: But it's stinky!

Natalie: Don't you know there are fields that grow cow poop, Kennedy! Look, there isn't any here.

(Kennedy looks thoughtful, and then must have agreed with the advice of the "know-it-all" big sister, because she quits being insistent about the cow poop smell)

About 50 more yards later.

Kennedy: I have to go potty.

Mommy: Kennedy, that is why I told you to go potty BEFORE we went on a walk. Now you are going to have to wait until we get home.

Kennedy: Mommy, your butt is big.

Mommy: Excuse me?

Kennedy: Will mine get big?

Mommy: Um, yes. When you are a mommy.

Kennedy: But I like little butts. When I go potty I almost fall in. You have a big butt. How do you go potty? You not fit.

(And...what do you say to that?)

She must have been on a roll with baffling me. Couldn't have been 2 minutes later:

Kennedy: Mommy, look, this is a fish (looks up at me from the stroller and gives me fishy lips).

Mommy: (Laughs) cute!

5 minutes pass. She must have been really thinking about this one.

Kennedy: But Mommy, I not a fish.

Mommy: No?

Kennedy: I am a girl. Her a girl too. (points to Natalie)

Mommy: She. Kennedy, She's a girl.

Kennedy: TJ is a boy.

Mommy: Yep!

Kennedy: Because him has a potty like daddy.

So glad we have taught our kids to contemplate the cosmos. Or at least the male/female genitalia.

I decided to start quizzing Natalie on addition problems for the remainder of the way home. Seemed like a harmless subject.

Green Waffles and Mint Brownies

So not only did I serve Lucky Charms for lunch, but dinner was green waffles and Mint Chocolate brownies.
Kyle had green waffles with us!

Love the "Deer in the headlights" look Alex!

Look at that HAIR after jumping on the trampoline all day????

Kennedy...she is just so sweet!

Why use a fork when stuffing it in by the handfuls works just fine??

The big kids and GREEN galore!

Alex came running across the yard when he came home and says "Look Mom!" And he does a running front flip. He actually landed it. Good thing.

Kenz dressed from head to toe in green. She is so trendy! :)

And when Alex isn't flipping around, he does become quite a handsome and distinguished young man! :)

The family that EXERCISES together...

I thought this was so cute. I turned the corner with my camera in hand, just in time to get pictures of Natalie and Daddy doing situps together! :)

Happy St. Patricks Day!

We had Lucky Charms for Lunch (yes, lunch, not breakfast). Natalie informed me that she has never had Lucky Charms before. Have I really been such a parent as to deprive my children of all the Lucky Charm goodness??? Geez....

Don't worry. TJ is just crying because I made him come inside, and he just wanted to play with the chickens.

Bellin Run!!! In 3 months! :)

I am so excited! I got my Coporate Team Challenge captain jacket in the mail today! YIPEE! We are officially sponsoring a Corporate Team this year for the Bellin Run, and encourage everyone and anyone to come out and join us! If you would like to register with our "team" you will get a free t-shirt and we will also be starting practice runs on March 28th. Oh- and there is also a walking division too! Come on and help bring in the summer with getting healthy and exercising!

Go to http://www.bellinrun.com/ and click on "register now online". When you get to the registration page, register as a TEAM MEMBER for either the 10K walk or 10K run. For the drop down box of corporations, choose SIMPLY ORGANIC ENERGY. Our online TEAM PASSWORD CODE is 863. Regardless of your anticipated race time, register for the 10:00-10:59 minute pace, so that we can all start in the same wave! You will be registering as a FRIEND OR FAMILY MEMBER. I will then get you a training schedule. What a great accomplishment to try and do for yourself this year!

Can't wait for the training runs to begin!!!