Birthday & Easter Festivities

We had a wonderful weekend with lots of family, food, and fun.  It was McKay's birthday so the grandparents and aunts came up to help us celebrate.  We had an Easter Egg Hunt, went swimming, played at the park, took naps, and just had fun together.  McKay was royally spoiled as 9 adults helped him find his 10 Easter Eggs!  He had a host of cameras shooting him and he lived it up!  He loved having new people to swordfight and play catch with (I loved having a break too!).  We are so blessed to have such great family.  Thanks for making the LONG and BORING trek to Wyoming to celebrate with us.  Now for the picture overload...

 It is a good thing he was the only kid on this Easter Egg hunt- at each egg he found he had to tell everyone the color, open the egg, and then tell everyone the color of the candy inside.  Only then would he consider moving on to find another egg.  It wasn't a speedy process!

The traditional Rowley Brown Bag Hunt came to Wyoming too.  We're glad the prairie dogs didn't get the bags first!

McKay wanted to show everyone HIS park and how to go down the "beanstalk" (slide) while calling "Fe-Fi-Fo-Fum".  He has quite the imagination.  His aunts having fun playing on the playground.

 Grandma even tried out the playground!

All the family- Thanks everyone for coming up!

McKay and Aunt Katelyn

Curious George!  He opened this present and got the biggest grin on his face- his very own Curious George!

McKay making silly faces for his faithful audience

For his birthday dessert I wanted to do something fun but McKay is such a picky eater I had to work with foods I knew he liked and would eat...so I came up with dirt- a little boy's classic:  Pudding, oreo cookie crumbs, and gummy worms.  He loved it!

Riding the new trike!

Happy Easter!

 McKay's wall of cards!  He is a very loved boy.  All week long he got at least one birthday card from cousins or great-grandparents.  He would get so excited to get "McKay's Mail".  Thanks everyone who sent fun cards!

The proud 2-year old!  McKay has mastered crawling out of his crib so we had to turn it into a bed.  He has done pretty good so far and is very proud of his "big boy bed".  He has been telling me all day, "Mommy, Kay a big boy."  Time goes by too fast!

We hope you all had a Happy Easter Weekend!  Now back to regular life again...

Picture Day

A few days ago I took McKay to get his 2-year pictures taken.  Now for those of you who know my son know that he isn't the most sociable in new situations (understatement of the year!) so I wasn't really expecting this to be a fun adventure.  I just wanted to get one semi-happy picture.  I packed every snack, candy, and bribery items I could think of and headed out.  We walked into the store and a kind grandpa said hi to him...meltdown.  I coaxed him with a fruit snack to cheer him back up and entered Sears Portraits.  He was nervous and clingy (like always) but after a few minutes he warmed right up and started cheesing it.  He was living up the attention and was just a little ham- it was so funny to watch.  The pictures turned out adorable and I had the hardest time picking the ones I wanted!  Now why can't he act like that at church for nursery?!  Here are a few of my favorites- they have the copyright thing on them so they aren't the best but oh well.

 

I couldn't get this one to rotate so just turn your head.  Ha-Ha.
We are looking forward to Birthday/Easter Celebrations this weekend with our family.  Yah for visitors!!  We are excited!

Precious Moments

Being a stay-at-home Mom can be a  hard job some days but then there are moments like these that make all the frustrations and tears worth it...

-Last night as I was getting McKay ready for bed I started telling him about one of the pictures on the wall.  It is a picture of Jesus hugging little children.  I told him that Jesus loves him and would give a hug if he was here.  McKay looked at me, grinned, threw his arms around my neck and said, "Jesus loves Mommy and McKay".  Then he gave me a big hug and kiss.  It made my day.

-Matt brought a balloon home for McKay last week.  You would have thought Matt had given McKay a million dollars not a $1 balloon.  He walked around clutching that balloon for two days before the helium went out and wouldn't "fly" anymore.  He would just look up and grin at it.  It was so sweet.  He didn't even know what to say he was so happy- and that is saying something since my little man talks 24/7, literally.

-McKay found this pink sticky note and put it on his head.  When I asked what he was doing he looked up at me and totally cheesed it and said, "McKay wear pink bow Mommy."  Matt about died when I showed him the picture and will probably kill me when he finds out I didn't delete it...  So my little boy loves Cinderella, but he loves Peter Pan and swordfighting too so I figure he's just well-rounded!

-My Supermen!  I love these boys and am so excited to have another superman in August.

Spring Break

Matt had a week off of school for Spring Break so we headed to Utah for warmer weather and time with family.  It was hard to come back to the Windy City but there is a hint of Spring in the air here too... a hint.
I carried my camera with me the whole week so now you get an overload of pictures!

 "Grandpa Rowley Peach Shirt" + Doing the dishes = A happy boy!  Two of his favorite things.  He lets me know when this shirt is dirty- he'll take it to the washing machine and tell me "clean shirt Mommy".  He wears it at least twice a week.  It is getting well-used!

We spend a lot of time playing games right now.  McKay enjoyed playing games with people besides Mommy and Daddy.  Playing dominos with Grandpa Rowley was a favorite.

Peter Pan and Captain Hook sword fighting...it gets very dangerous sometimes!

 We had really good weather and enjoyed playing outside everyday.  McKay played in the sand, dug for worms, cleaned out flower beds, and of course- jumped in every mud puddle in sight.

McKay with his cousins

This was so sweet- we were getting dinner ready and I went to check on the kids.  Usually one or two of them play together and the others are pestering them or fighting over a toy...but this time all four of them were playing together.  Talking, laughing, and getting along long enough for me to get the camera and take a picture.  Precious moments!

And McKay's favorite- being outside in the mud.  He is all boy.  He went through the orchard gathering rotten apples and throwing them in the mud puddles.  He'd just laugh and say "Eww yucky!"  and then go get more.

Fishing in the mud puddles with his new horse boots.  He ruined a few pairs of shoes before Grandma Rowley broke down and bought him boots- Thanks Mom!  While she was watching him one morning, he was splashing in the puddle and jumped right out of his boots.  I don't know who got more covered in mud, McKay from jumping in puddles or my Mom from having to pull him out and carry him home!

Cuddling up and sleeping with Grandpa Wright

I know you've all been waiting for this picture...It is my yearly spring crocus!  That means spring is coming!!!  Don't worry- this is my mother-in-law's in Payson.  It will still be a while before we see color here but it gives me hope!  Happy Spring Break!