Bennett turns 7!!!!!!!

On November 1st, Bennett turned 7 years old. How is it, that 7 years have passed since our first born son was born? Bennett was thrilled to be turning 7, and always assures me, "mom I have to grow up, and get older!" Trust me, I'm happy that he is healthy, smart, talented, compassionate, loving, generous, caring, gifted, and much more. I just can't believe that he is 7 already, it just seems crazy. What you are up to at 7: In first grade and a reading whiz in our parental opinion. Still love karate, boys scouts, video games, computers, family game night, pizza, sprite, Cardinals football, all things football in general, swinging on the new swing set,Lego's, and much much more. You are also 50 inches tall and 50 pounds. We got this Cardinals jersey for Bennett for his Birthday and had it made with his name in it! He thought is was fabulous!!!

He already had this little Build-a-Bear bear dressed in Cardinals outfit, and we found a cute football pinata.

Cardinal cupcakes... This stand was worthless let me tell you. We put it together for the picture, and then they started falling off. We ended up using a different two tiered stand by good old faithful Tupperware..

Close up!

Mason, Bennett, and Koltan with their game face on.

Dog pile!!! From bottom to top: Quinn, Mason, Koltan, Bennett, Gunnar, and Brayden

The huddle...

Baylor running hard, looks like he is saying, "hey I'm open, throw me the ball!"

The kids from L-R: Alison, Sarah, Colin, Emma, Brayden, Baylor, Koltan, Bennett, Mason and Quinn laying down, Gunnar, and Andrew

Making a wish...

Brayden proudly wearing his Panthers gear that day. The Cardinals were playing the Panthers at Univ. of Phoenix Stadium in Arizona. Needless to say the Cardinals stunk it up that day. We were honestly happy either way with who won, seeing as how I spent my whole life in Charlotte, it just would have been nice for the Cardinals to have pulled off a win on Bennett's Birthday! I guess they must have switched Kurt's breakfast that day with Jake's. Ha!

Mommy and her Birthday boy. He wanted his face painted, so Ali our teen helper that day painted flames and smoke on it with the letters Birthday boy on his forehead. :o)

Daddy in his Panthers gear, and mommy supporting the Cardinals. Just call us house divide :o)

Daddy by the balloon bouquet

Brayden turns 5!!!

Here are the famous Zhu Zhu pets!!! Brayden had been wanting a real hamster, and then he saw these little guys on TV and decided he would take the toy version over the real ones which was fine by me. Once I told him he would have to clean hamster poop, and that they smelled bad, he decided this would be a much better option. So for Brayden's 5th Birthday, I was bound and determined to get these little cuties for him. It took me 3 days of arriving at Toys R Us when they opened there doors and hitting 2 Wal Marts to finally get them. For some reason my children always want the hard to find gift?

My little Birthday cutie! He got his hair cut and finally let me spike it up! Rock on dude.....

So sweet and precious! I love his chubby cheeks and sweet little baby teeth :o).

(My camera has now decided it would throw this halo glowing effect, so I got a new little point and shoot, but these were obviously taken before hand. My Nikon D40 is also under the weather and I just sent it to Nikon repair today! Yikes I hate not having a camera that takes good pictures.) This picture was first thing in the morning on Sept. 24th. Brayden opening his Zhu Zhu pets stuff!!!

Yeah, just what I wanted!

The little hamsters even have tunnels and little cars etcetera to play with.

Just before school on his actual Birthday! He wanted a little badge that said It's my 5th Birthday and it had a flashing light. I think he liked the attention he got from everyone!

So handsome :o). Mommy's sweet boy!

For dinner on his Birthday, he wanted to go and eat at Red Robin's! We all had burger's and daddy had a chicken sandwich. They brought Brayden a ice cream sundae and the waiter's all sung Happy Birthday to him. He was smiling from ear to ear!

Bennett had been at karate practice and I took Brayden to his school's open house and we all meet up for dinner. Brayden sharing his ice cream with his brother.

Another family from the dojo also showed up at Red Robin's and this is the boys with Vinnie. Brayden thought they came to eat dinner with him, so we just left it at that, he was so happy that they were there. We sat out on the patio and it was a cool 97. (For Phoenix, that really is nice) It was perfect as we were the only families out there and the kids could be a little loud and we did not have to worry about offending anyone!

Well Saturday 9/26 we will celebrate Brayden's Birthday with a party at Lowe's grow and build clinic followed by lunch at McDonald's with cupcakes. I will update with party pictures from my new camera after tomorrow!!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Baylor

Today you turn 2 sweet boy! How can it be, that 2 years have just flown by? You just 1 day old. Look at all that dark black hair. It could not be any blonder now though. A family friends little boy asked my if I dyed your hair blond. Ha!

Here you are on your 1st Birthday. and today on your 2nd Birthday! You love i-kean(ice-cream)!!!! Your big brother Bennett was making you laugh so cute, even though this picture is blurry I thought it completely shows your fun sweet personality. Right now you LOVE Mel-mo(Elmo) and for your birthday you got an Elmo Live doll. Let's just say this was a huge hit! Elmo sure has come a long way since your brother Bennett got Tickle me Elmo. This Elmo tells stories, sings, hugs, sneezes etc....

Tomorrow is your little Birthday party, so I'll will update again after your special party with your 3 little school friends.

Other things you like right now: Thomas The Train, Disney Cars, trucks and cars, being outside, playing at school with Matthew and Samantha, we call you "The camel" because you would drink non-stop if we would let you! Ha...Playing with your big brothers, dancing and music, bubbles, brushing your teeth, and climbing anything in sight! You still go to your Parents Day Out program at our church on Wednesday from 9-1pm and go to the gym daycare with mommy on other days.

Our prayer for you this year is that you will continue to grow strong, stay healthy, and keep your sweet and loving personality. We love you Baylor and are excited for all the Lord has planned for you. You sure are a blessing to us all!

Tomorrow is your little Birthday party, so I'll will update again after your special party with your 3 little school friends.

Bennett's 6th Birthday

On November 1, 2008 our first boy son turned 6! This is a very special day not just because we celebrate you, but also because God gave you to us 5 weeks early on the day before my mom, your Grammy Angels birthday. I know that this was all a part of his perfect plan, to have you to celebrate at the same time we used to celebrate my moms birthday. We had your birthday party at XRcade, which is owned by the YMCA. It had lots of jumpers, video games, rock climbing wall, and other fun interactive things to do. We also ate pizza, cake and ice cream. You had so much fun spending the afternoon with your friends and got many wonderful gifts! We love you so much and continue to be amazed by you! You are a wonderful precious gift, with a heart of gold, and we thank God for you each and every day. At six years old, you are in Kindergarten at Joy Christian School and love to learn! You are recognizing many sight words, you take Spanish at school and just informed me, that this is your least favorite special. You favorites being gym class, library, and art. Your teacher says that you are her best prayer warrior, however I did not need her to tell me that. Your prayers for a 6 yr. old are AMAZING just like you. You are still taking Karate and are about to be evaluated for your orange belt. Another thing you are enjoying, is learning to ride your new two wheel bike that you got for your birthday. You do quit well, but still need to work on your stopping skills :o). You are quite the genius when it come to all things electronic: computer, XBOX, Wii, Nintendo DS and love to rock it with Guitar Hero just to name a few. You love to figure things out, and don't stop until you know exactly how it all works. I guess that's the engineering side of the family coming out in you. You are also very conscious about how you look and your clothing. I guess you get this from your mom, as you always had to match from head to toe as a baby and young child and still to this day will not wear something unless it's Bennett approved. We pretty much let you choose all of your clothes and I must say you have a pretty good eye for style :o)! We love you Bennett and are looking forward to another amazing year with amazing little you!

Memories...

Yesterday, we celebrated the 6th Birthday of our oldest son Bennett, and today we remember the life of my mother Phyllis. Today she would have been 62 years old. I now know why God gave my precious son to me 5 weeks early. It is so incredibly special to me, to have his Birthday just the day before hers. I'm in the process of uploading tons of pictures from the past couple of weeks including pumpkin patch, Halloween parties, Trick-or-treat night, and Bennett's Birthday. Hopefully tomorrow I can get it all updated.

Baylor turns #1

Happy First Birthday Baylor!!!

Happy 1st Birthday my sweet one! Today at 10:30am MST you turn 1!

I cannot believe it has already been one year since we welcomed you into our family, it's going so fast. We are blessed beyond measure and have enjoyed every minute of having you in our lives. Yesterday we celebrated your 1st Birthday with a little party, and you sure enjoyed all the attention and sweet dear friends that helped us celebrate you! We are looking forward to all this next year holds for you.

Here is a slide show since there were too many pictures to choose from. (There is music to it, so to enjoy turn your sound if you have it up, and some of the pictures have captions. Put your cursor over the picture to pause it and see the caption)

What your up to these days:

You have been crawling since 11 months 9 days and began pulling up about 1 week ago. You have your 2 bottom teeth, and have started trying all sorts of table foods and love everything you try :o). You typically sleep from between 6:30-7:00pm to around 7:00am(sometimes later), you still like to take 2 naps a day when our busy schedule permits. You still love your passy when you sleep as well as you favorite gauze blankets. (mommy went back a few weeks ago and bought the last two they had which were on sale so we would have several back ups) You wear size 18 months clothes and a size 5W shoe. Mommy loves to put an adorable little curl hawk on the top of your sweet little head and you get lots of attention from all the ladies when we are out(even a few of the men comment on your way cool hair). Tomorrow we go for your 1 yr. check up to get your current weight and a few more shots, sorry about those sweet boy, but they help to protect you from illness and disease so they are for your own good.

Oh yeah and you totally adore all Baby Einstein videos, you just laugh and giggle the whole time. Your favorite books are any type of touch feel books. You just run your little finger all over the page and explore all of it fully before going to the next page.

As far as words go you pretty much just say mama, dada, baba(for bottle), babble, and you love to clap for yourself! We think you are pretty awesome and last night Brayden asked us if you would just stay little forever? He began crying a sweet little sob when we said no he would get big just like him and Bennett. WE LOVE YOU BABY BAYLOR!!!

Baylor 6 months,Easter,& Betsy's Birthday

Yes, I braved the photo studio once again. I think I must enjoy self torture to continue to do this to myself. Really it is not as bad as I make it sound, it's just kids only have about a 15 minute attention span in which to capture those beautiful memories to last a life time and the lovely photographers really want you the parent to do all the work while they just stand there and snap the picture :o). I've really not found any place that I just love since we moved here to AZ almost 2 yrs. ago, so I stuck with Kiddie Kandids. The prices are reasonable and they will take the picture the way I want, and not stick some stupid prop in and insist on certain backgrounds they are to use. These are what I got along with some pictures of Baylor and myself as I have done this with all the boys so far. Baylor was so happy and delightful for all of his pictures and we easily got his 6 month photo, which was the main reason for the pictures in the first place. Everything else was a bonus!

My sweet, sweet boy. Can you believe he is already a half of a year old? My where has the time gone? This is all three in there Easter attire. At first I was a little disappointed because we could not get the baby to smile and his head is a little more in front of Bennett's than I would have like, but after I got home and looked at it, it captures my sweet little boys and I think it is absolutely beautiful and I'm so glad I bought it. I love my SONS!!! I look at them everyday and say GOD is so good. I also can't help but to think to myself they have the most beautiful dark brown eyes.

Some beautiful spring daffodils I bought at Trader Joe's to place on the counter. They smell so good and I really love looking at these little yellow beauties. This is Baylor sitting in his highchair as we were dying eggs. He loves to be in the kitchen with us no matter what we are doing. If he is able to see us, he is happy! He is such a good baby and such a joy to be around. Rarely does he complain, such a laid back and easy going little soul.

The eggs we dyed. We did some with rubber bands, almost like tie dye. I got the idea from Wonder Time magazine. They we a lot of fun to make. I must admit, I probably love dying eggs more than my kids and a lot of what we do, is based on my love for it. The eggs in the dye, the boys loved to pull them up and see if the right shade had been acquired.

Our finished basket. I bought this basket several years ago at the Southern Spring show. The purple egg with the bands removed, looks like a cross, my favorite egg this year. The boys also had Spiderman tattoos for some of the eggs as well. The little yellow crocheted egg was from when I was a little girl,handmade by my mom :o).

On Saturday we took the boys to IHOP. They had seen an advertisement on TV for these Horton Hears a Hoo hoocakes. Can you believe we let our kids have this for breakfast? They did not eat the sucker for breakfast and had some bacon along with the cakes, we tried to limit the sugar intake :o). They really enjoyed them and it was a fun time.

After breakfast we went to the Easter party at our church. Here are the three boys with the Easter bunny. This has been our tradition for the last three years, with this being one of the first things we did after arriving in AZ almost 2 yrs. ago! Brayden at the egg hunt.

Faith(Lt.) and Hannah(Rt.)Peterson They were our first friends as well when we first arrived here in Arizona. They will be soon adding a new brother being adopted from Ethiopia, named Mathias. The three boys after the egg hunt.

Daddy holding Baylor, and Baylor holding his little Easter Basket :o) Baylor just being a mellow little fellow in his stroller. Mommy and her boys. Easter morning just after service. The boys were soooooo awesome during church. They did not have child care, so we had to bring all 3 in church and we sat on the front row. We did not have to call anybody down the entire 1 hr. and 15 minutes. It was so enjoyable to have them in there with us celebrating Christ's Resurrection. The music was wonderful and the message was perfect. What a great start to the day! Another picture of the McKinstry 5!!!

After church we went to the Musgraves for lunch and the kids had a Easter egg hunt in the greenway just by their house. Here is Brayden stopping to see what is inside an egg he found! Silly boy. He had put several eggs in, and by the time he got to the other end of the greenway, his eggs had fallen out and his basket was empty :o(. Poor guy, he quickly refilled it though. Bennett and Brayden chasing after some eggs.

Looking inside the eggs to see what treats were inside. Brayden saying CHEESE!!! I try to tell him to just smile and for some reason, he always says cheese! I think he has a piece of gum in his mouth from his Easter egg.

At last when we came home Bruce, Bennett, Brayden, and Baylor had gotten me the prettiest cake, cards and a new pair of Coach sunglasses.

This was one of the earliest Easter's in some 100 years. The last time Easter Sunday fell on March 23 was in 1913.

The next time Easter will occur on March 23 will not be until 2160. I don't know about you, but I plan to be watching from from above :o).

Today was such a great day to celebrate my Birthday!!!