Free Day Today

Today, I got all of this for FREE!!! I love to find a bargain and get stuff we actually use and need for free. I even got free flowers!!! This totals $48.30 worth of stuff. I also got lots of other stuff for close to free: 5 boxes for cereal for $3, Propel fitness water for $.24, 3 pk. of soap for $.50, hand soap $.62, 4 rolls for Aluminum foil for $3, paper towels $.54, toilet paper $.74, beans $.39, I even had coupons to save $1.68 on Mother's Day cards. I also got $23.50 in coupons off my next shopping order and a coupon to get 3 more bars of Johnson's Buddies soap for the kids for free. They have 18 bars of soap in the cabinet, which I've never paid for any of them, and each time I redeem my $3 off coupon at the grocery it prints another $3 off for my next shopping trip. Bruce laughs and says, well at least the kids will be clean for the next year :o). To top my free day off, tonight Ben and Jerry's had free scoops of ice cream and tomorrow Baskin Robins has cones for $.31. Anyway this may be of no interest to some of you, but I was so excited to get lots of good free stuff. I also just wanted to add that after I posted this, I went to check http://www.freebies4mom.com/, and they had an offer for a free Planet Hero's video, with free shipping from Mattel, that I just ordered for the boys!!! LOL The door bell just rang, and the UPS man handed me a package with a can of free formula, blanket, photo book, and 9 coupons for more formula. Score this really is a free day. (giggle giggle) I just discovered a coupon in my wallet for a free movie rental at Blockbuster, so I think we will go by Blockbusters after ice cream since they are right next to one another and let the boys pick one. HaHa

DOC Band Calendar

Here is some of the potential pictures that I'm going to submit for the 2008 DOC Band calendar. I took them at Bennett's dojo and by the way I made the little gi that he is wearing. Which picture do you like the best? This one is cute to as he has his little hand on the trophy. He has his eyes on the prize! Sensei Jasmin is holding him up by the belt. This one is Bruce's favorite.

Looks like he is punching and kicking :o) I think this is my favorite.

Again looks like he is punching and kicking :o)

2 years and 7 months!!!!

Well today marks the 2nd year anniversary of our move to Arizona. As I think back to 2 yrs. ago I remember feeling very sad, yet full of excitement for all God would provide for us. And provide he has. We are so blessed with our church, small groups, preschool, school for Bennett for next year, our house, and much more. In our free time the kids enjoy Teacher Lynda's swim school, Asian American Karate, Mommy and me playgroup, Parents Day out(my 4 hours a week for myself without it I would be crazy) and great friends to hang out with. Today our youngest baby boy turns 7 months old as well. He sure is a delight and brightens our days.

This looks like a great spot to rest said Baylor. He was fussing and Bennett offered to hold him for me, I checked back a few minutes later to find him fast asleep on his Big Brothers stomach. As comfortable as it was for Baylor, the weight of his head with the band was too much for Bennett to maintain for the duration of his nap, so I moved him beside Bennett on the couch. You sure are loved by your big brothers Baylor, they delight in making you laugh and watching you learn new things.

This is a picture of Baylor in his outfit I made for the DOC Band calender. We went with a karate theme, and I made this little karate gi for him to wear in the picture. I just took this picture to see what it looked like all together. I still want to get better pictures for the calendar at Bennett's dojo. Anyway here is what his band looks like all decorated.

The bling is a little skull and cross bone, I could not resit it!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Your schedule at 7 months is wake up around 7am and have a 6 oz bottle

nap around 9am

10am you have oatmeal, fruit, and 4 oz bottle

small cat nap before lunch

around 1pm you take a 6 oz bottle and go down for a long afternoon nap

4 pm you eat rice cereal, veggie, and 4 oz. bottle

since you are wearing your band for 23 hours a day, we take your band off around 6pm and give you a bath and clean your band.

you take your last 6oz bottle around 7-7:30pm and are off to dreamland. You have been sleeping through the night and only occasionally wake, but will fall back to sleep on your own.

You spend your time when your not asleep jumping in your jumper, playing on the floor with your family, you still love your swing, you love stroller rides and just being out and about!

You are able to roll from your tummy to your back and can sit with just a little help. You love to just stand being held by mommy and daddy. You are fascinated with your hands and everything you touch goes right into your mouth. Still no teeth yet though.

You eat both rice and oatmeal cereal

All first fruit and veggies and have added some second foods. Your favorite veggie is sweet potatoes, and your favorite fruit is bananas!

You are such a joy and we are so happy to have you for our son! We love you Baylor.

Our National Karate Champion

Thursday March 27th we left for Albuquerque, New Mexico for The United States Karate Alliance National tournament. Bennett had placed 2nd in kumite for the state of Arizona, and was going to compete for a National title.

This picture was of Bennett on Saturday morning just before the tournament began. You would not want to cross this little boys path in a dark alley :o). Look at the karate face, quite fierce don't you think?

First up was his kata(forms). He performed Kihon Kata #5. This was by far his best performance of this kata, as he has been taking 2 hrs. of class along with an additional hour private class for the past 5 weeks.

This is quit a big accomplishment for kids. There was about 2000 people total in the room and he walks up to the judges to speak to them giving his name, dojo, kata, Sensei's(teacher)name, and asking for permission to begin. Bennett always has a very strong loud voice and the judges always tell his Sensei how well he speaks. He is never nervous and does not seem to notice all the people watching him. I think this is so great for him as hopefully he will never develop a fear of public speaking. He placed third Nationally for his kata. His friend Carson from his dojo placed 2nd for his kata.

Let's get ready to rumble!!!! Next up was kumite. (fighting)

Look at Bennett landing the punch to the boy in the white. He has fast hands and a long reach. He won this particular fight and they saved the 1st and 2nd place fight for the Tournament of champions that same night.

Carson on the left and Bennett taking a lunch break, waiting for the evening session to begin.

This was one of the only pictures I got of the fight for 1st and 2nd place that night. I was too busy cheering my baby on as he pulled out the win for the 1st place National title for his age bracket.

Bennett posing with his 1st and 3rd place trophies.

Mommy and Daddy with Bennett just after the evening session. We are so proud of our boy!!!

One happy little karate champion!!!

A picture of most of the competitors from Bennett's dojo. There are a couple of kids not pictured that were still competing at this time.

I also got these cool molds of all the kids hands at the tournament. There was a man there that made these casts of Bennett's fist of fury,Brayden's hand, and Baylor sweet little chubby hand . I had to wait for Baylor to fall asleep and he dipped his hand in this gel type material and kept it in for like 30 sec. and pulled it out and then poured the white plaster in and after it dried, he cleaned it up and mounted to the base. I'm so happy to have these molds of their sweet little hands, as they will never be this small again. They are so realistic and it's amazing to look at all the detail of their hands. I love it!

And last but not least is Baylor modeling his new cranial band. He got his band on Wed. before we left and has done quite well adapting to it, minus a red spot over his left ear. I'll call on Monday to see if they need him in before Wednesday to make the adjustment. I now have to get it decorated and take my picture for the Cranial Band calendar.

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!!!