I've been . . . what?

Apparently, there's a few games floating around the blog community, and I just got "tagged" by Laurel! I feel so privileged to be a part of a "picture tag." So . . . I was supposed to go to my personal pictures file, and grab the 3rd picture out of the 3rd folder . . . I think?!? The 3rd one was actually already on my blog - so I grabbed the next one, and I got this picture. It's Chloe in her natural state - wearing her famous yellow polk-a-dot bikini under a dress that's 2 sizes too big (but that she thinks is just fabulous), and covered in some sort of cookie-residue. I usually try to only show the "perfect-Chloe" pictures so that nobody will know what we're really like, but here you go! We are a mess over here, and this picture illustrates that perfectly!

So, I tag Alysha, Jen, and Melissa!

Oh, my heck! High school was a blast!

A few weeks ago, I went out with my best friends from high school (minus one adorable friend - Christy. Guess we'll just have to do another GNO very soon!). I don't know why it's so hard for us to get together more than once every other year! We had so much fun catching up. So much has changed since high school!

First thing I saw was Melissa's belly! Congratulations, Melissa! After 2 darling little girls, you'll like having a little mama's boy/rebel running around!
After dinner, we decided to all go out like old times. Melissa H. asked if the BAY was still open, and I had to giggle! We settled on visiting a "dueling piano bar" called KEYS ON MAIN (because now that we're older, we need to frequent more mature places). Alysha couldn't find her keys, of course!
Luckily, Jen (like always) was ready to offer a helping hand.

We even got a surprise guest! Spencer joined in on the fun! I really don't think I've seen him for almost 10 years! How did time go by so fast? He looked like he was a very popular "ladies man." It was so great to see him - the nicest guy ever!

Since most of us have been married for most of the past 10 years, we really didn't know what to do with ourselves. So we just sat on the couches and unsuccessfully tried to have a conversation. We tried to dance, but being the only sober ones there, it felt a little forced!

Alysha and I tried to summon the courage to put in a request (from Spencer) for the Sesame Street theme song for the piano players, but in the end, Spence was the only one with the guts to do it. Such a brave guy!
I know Michelle is going to kill me for this picture, but I just love her so much and I just know that she is going to laugh just as hard as I did at this picture! Honestly, staying up super/crazy late was all worth it - just for this one shot!
Melissa consoled Michelle saying, "Don't worry, Michelle. Funny faces happen to all of us at some time in our lives."
I thought I'd throw these in. Just in case something special gets rekindled!!!! We're all hoping it does!




Nearing the end of the night, I started in on my "deep thoughts," and I asked myself, "McKenzie . . . how did you get so lucky to have such wonderful friends in high school? How can it be so easy to just pick up where we left off, just like high school never ended? Is it possible that some friends come into our lives for certain reasons, and they affect your life so profoundly that no matter how many years go by without seeing them, you still love them as much as you did when you were all together everyday?" I'm so DEEP late at night!

Alysha checked her clock, and realized that we were out way past curfew, and we weren't going to be functioning mothers if we didn't get our butts to bed! So we said our goodbyes, and promised to call and keep in touch. I hope we do this again soon. Thanks, you guys! I really love all of you!

It's Official!

I bake. Yep . . . these are breadsticks made FROM SCRATCH! No, really - no mix involved! It's possible! This is before letting them rise (in case you were thinking this was the sad final product. I wanted to take an "after" picture, but they were still steaming when my boys dove in to sample "mom's new cooking thing." Usually dinners have to be made in an hour or less . . . ot they just don't get made. However, it's kind of nice to have something special once in a while. I was so proud of my accomplishment, that I almost totally forgot about the horrible mess I had to clean up after making them! Almost.

Oh, yeah! And it's no big deal, but I "can" now. Yeah, it's easy! I'll let you in on my little secret . . . . this is what you do: buy a crap-load of fresh peaches. Buy the jars it requires. Talk on the phone to your friend who knows how to can everything under the sun, and complain about how sad it is that you feel so overwhelmed with trying to figure out how in the world those peaches are supposed to get into the jars! Before you know it, your fabulous friend is at your house, with her adorable baby boy as a friend for your baby (to keep eachother occupied), and she'll just start right in - throwing peaches in the air, doing a little spin, and catching them behind her back fully peeled, sliced, and ready to be tossed into the jars! It's amazing how it happens, but I'm really glad I knew who to complain to! Thanks so much, Kim!!!! They're already almost gone!
Here's Jake with his buddy, Jack (Kim's son). They're both licking their lips at the very thought of those savory peaches!

I wish . . .

I saw the frost up here in Morgan last week when I woke up. I got really sad because the winters last an extra 2 months up here! I am not a "winter person." In fact, I think about the snow and winter and it makes me want to plan a few vacations. If I could just skip right over winter and go directly from fall to spring - I would be as happy as my 10-month old is eating a sucker! My whole body would just spaz out in excitement!!!! But since it's coming and no amount of complaining can do anything, I'll just look at some of my favorite pictures from the summer . . . .
Morgan is such a cute place to live - there was a craft day for kids at the park every wednesday. Any time I can let my kids paint what they want somewhere other than my house, I'm all game!
I know my boys think they're tough, but I'm just not sure if they can really pull it off in a picture . . . no matter how hard they try.
We went to the park with the Hurd family and had a great time doing crafts. After the crafts, we would let the kids play on the playground and in the sand and have a picnic.
Chloe dances for anyone who'll watch - this is one of her "grand finale poses."
Jake has a little buddy named Jack Hurd. They like to yell back and forth at eachother and share toys. He's only a week younger than Jake - so they'll probably grow up together! I love that idea that they could be buddies for the next 20 or so years, and I'll have the pictures to tease them with of when they were babies together!!!
My mom retired this summer! I have been waiting my whole life to have my mom all to myself, and now that she's finally retired . . . . my Dad finally has her all to himself. I'm not giving up, though!!!!
Chloe got a new hat. Of course I need to take pictures of her in it. We do that of every cute outfit, right? Luckily, she'll pose for me all day long!
She is just the sweetest little girl, ever. I just love spending time with her! Don't get me wrong, boys are hilarious! They are so wild and crazy and silly, but this little girl just melts my heart.
This is Jake's look of determination. He is so attached to his mom, that just being a foot away is too far. He has a NEED to be on top of me at all times. So I grabbed this shot of him climbing up my legs on his way to tackling me.
This is my adorable husband. Isn't he cute holding babies?

Jake is mobile! uh, oh!

My baby is growing too fast! I think that it feels like every milestone takes forever when you have your first baby. I was able to just lie on the floor and play with my first little guy (Colten) for hours when he was a baby . . . but the daily "to do" list gets longer and longer with each child! Jake's my 4th, and also my heaviest - so it's tough to carry him around everywhere. I still take time to sit and just play with him, but I almost have to schedule it in! He already thinks he can walk (even though he can't), and to put him down and make him crawl to the places he wants to go is an insult to him. It seems like every time I turn around, he's grown an inch and hit a new milestone! I guess it'll be a relief for my back when he's walking on his own, though.
This is Jake in the bassinet that my mom was a baby in, that I was a baby in, and that all of my kids were babies in. I kept meaning to take a few pictures of Jake in it, and now he almost doesn't fit in it! When he was born, he was so tiny and it looked so funny to put him in the gigantic bad, but whoa! Babies grow fast! It's like that poem - "Quite down cobwebs, dust go to sleep, I'm rocking my baby, and babies don't keep."

Okay, Ladies! I know what you're thinking! "What a hunk of burning love!" Yep, that's my Jake! He's such a sweetie! He's kind of a "linebacker" baby - so tough and healthy, but there's a softer side to him. I just discovered that our little Jake is afraid of . . . . . dolls. Yep, that's right! Dolls. Cabbage Patch Kid dolls, barbies, little cinderella dolls - you name it. At first, he was kind of interested in getting a closer look to see why that toy looks so much like his big sis, but upon closer inspection, he realized how frightening they are and did his own version of a panicky-scream while crawling away from the dolls as fast as his knees could take him. I tested this theory to see if it really was just the dolls that freaked him out, and now I feel bad for testing it, because he got so freaked out and panicked so badly, that he couldn't go to sleep very well tonight. Poor baby is going to have nightmares about scary Cinderellas all night long!
Jake's favorite game is "peek-a-boo!" I like to hide under his highchair and jump up to suprise him, but I think he's figured out where I hide.



Jake has a friend named Bracken Saunders. His big brothers and Bracken's big brothers are best friends, so naturally, they are great friends, too! Sometimes they fight . . . .
. . . . But they always make up in the end!

Chloe got sick!!

It was so sad! My sweet little, always happy and giggling little girl fell asleep at noon one day. I was thinking, "How sweet! Now I can sweep the floor without having to share the broom with anyone!." Then, at 3:00 she still hadn't gotten up, and I was getting a little worried about her because she normally doesn't even take naps! So, when I sat down by her to check on her, she woke up a puked all over me! As a mother, that's not gross, just very troublesome. I tried to think about what she could have eaten, but all I could target was the bowl of innocent cheerios that morning. So, after I cleaned her all up, she was asleep again! After 20 minutes, she woke up, threw up the sprite I had given her, then immediately fell back asleep. She repeated that process 5 or 6 times. I was getting very worried!!! So, around 6:30, I called the doctor and since she couldn't keep clear liquids down, she needed to be seen immediately. So, I had to pawn the other kids off on the neighbors, and race down to the hospital. She was so dehydrated that she had to stay overnight at the hospital! Now, I've never had a child so sick that they needed to stay in the hospital - so this was very frightening. It all happened so fast, that my mind was just reeling. I couldn't figure out what I had done wrong - sprite, no sprite? crackers, no crackers? I still have no idea! That night in the hospital was very dramatic - apparently a child who is dehydrated has smaller veins than normal, and she had to haver her blood drawn. The first few times they took her blood, she was so out of it that she didn't even notice (which was so scary!), but then they could find the vein. The nurses had stuck the needle in her arm, but couldn't find the vein, and instead of, oh, I don't know . . . maybe trying the OTHER arm, they decided to keep the needle in and just dig around for 8 or 9 excruciating minutes before finally giving up and just drawing it out of her hand. She felt that one.







Needless to say, she is all better now, and the hospital stay was actually fun! After the scary night of being hooked up the an IV, she woke up and the first thing she said was, "Hi, Mommy! I feel better! I want a chocolate cupcake with pink frosting!" So, I ordered her a pancake. Joe stayed home with the other kids while she and I watched every princess movie ever made. The ladies in the hospital were so great! They checked in on her, made a fun sticker-potty chart for her, brought her any toys she wanted, and around lunch-time, they brought in a 12" chocolate cake with pink frosting and a big rainbow on top - made just for her by the kitchen! It really made her day and I just loved them for it!