A Visit from Katie and John Deere Tractors

'Here Evan let me help you!' 

Maddox skinned up her knee pretty badly last week!! Warranted a big band aid which she was thrilled about. 

'Hey Dad, Mom wants to take a picture of me!!' ( check out KTK's feet....crossed at the ankles as usual....his favorite position to sit in)

'If I lean forward a bit more I might just be able to reach out and touch Dad taking the picture'

Just reminding everyone I'm going to be THREE.....

....but I"m still TWO! 

Cashed out after a long day with the tractors.....belly full of ice cream!

It is MONDAY, my normal day to update and today is a special day because I had an extra set of hands to help me out around the home and to do some FUN STUFF! Thank you Eric.  We had a great weekend.  Saturday morning one of my best friends from college came with her family. Evan is almost 4 and didn't let me get too many pictures of him. Mackenzie is about 18 months and gave me some great smiles. We played in the backyard with bubbles, chalk and on the swing set Saturday afternoon and then Sunday morning all the kiddos woke up early ( compliments of our resident early riser named KENNON) so we headed to the Y to the indoor pool. We had a great time. It was nice to see the kids interact. Mackenzie definitely has a mind of her own while Evan is quiet and with an attention span that goes a MILE. Maddox did fairly well sharing her toys although luckily there were enough adults on point to break up the little squabbles. Boy, I sure am glad we don't have 4 kids!!  It was nice to see the Cwikla's.  We appreciate them making the trip over.  THANK YOU CWIKLA'S. Today we decided to do something special.  Ed, Katie's husband had mentioned going to the John Deere Pavilion while they were here. Unfortunately I didn't think ahead enough on that project and the Pavilion hours didn't match up with the time that we had available.  So,  Eric and I decided to take the kids this afternoon. We will definitely have the Cwikla's back to go with us again sometime. It was a BLAST!!  They recently re-did the pavilion for John Deere's 175th birthday so they have lots of great interacting exhibits as well as the HUGE tractors to climb up in. Maddox ran from tractor to tractor.  Kennon sported his John Deere tractor shirt compliments of Becky Nightingale, my good friend from Orion...!! Thanks Becky! He just watched the people and got pretty upset when I wouldn't let him get down and crawl around on the hard marble floor!! Not the most crawler friendly place but just wait a few weeks and he'll be upright and walking I do believe.  After the tractors we walked over to the big Mississippi ( Maddox is able to say that word with no PROBLEM....I am amazed at her vocabulary most days). We saw a few boats and then headed for ice cream!  Kennon devoured what seemed like a ton and then cashed out in the car seat on the way home, still tired enough to let me transfer him to the crib for his 2nd nap.  The little stinker continues to get quicker, more sneaky, and smarter. We had to finally put up a third baby gate this past week. He is like LIGHTENING on the steps and as quiet as a mouse.  He can get up to the landing in no time and has this great ability to be able to sense when someone accidentally leaves the gate open!! Last week he went back to devouring table food but then this weekend has been liking baby food more than table food again.  He always keeps us on our toes.  He is still an early riser as I mentioned above.  We have been giving him a bottle when he wakes up at 4.30 or 5am and then putting him back down but he is not really sleeping much after that. He will be solely on whole milk by the end of the week! He and Maddox have been fighting a bit ( or should I say bothering each other and getting into each other's space).  Only this week Kennon is much more annoyed by Maddox. He sort of just tries to get into her stuff but when Maddox takes a toy he has he definitely lets her know he isn't happy about it and waves his arms out at her in disgust. It is really funny right now but not so sure that will be the case in the coming months. This week at school starts Kindercare's summer programs. Maddox has this special calendar  where they are doing different activities each day of the week that are special for the summer. Every Tuesday is going to be WATER DAY where they bring their swimsuit and do water activities. Then one day the Niabi zoo brings animals, another day they go to DQ for a treat etc. So I"m excited for her to experience all the cool summer  activities. Kennon is LOVING his teachers at Kindercare.  When I pick him up I often just stand at the door and watch him interact with the ladies. They adore him and it is evident he loves them.  Not sure what they have in store for the infant room for the summer but I am literally amazed at all the cool activities he has already gotten to experience ( the soil table, the water table, finger painting, painting with feathers etc). We continue to be happy with Kindercare. Let's see what else. We tried to get Kennon's hair cut today as it is really getting scraggly and a little mullety in the back but all the places were closed. But stay tuned for the new and cool headed Kennon in next week's update. Today I was talking to Maddox about FLYING to Uncle Tyler's this summer in Colorado. She said ' And to Aunt Brooke's and Carter's?'  I said 'yes'. She said ' I like Carter, Carter is my friend'!!! How sweet. I can't wait till the Knowles' move back a bit closer.