MacKayla's 5th Birthday!

January 4, 2005 our beautiful little girl came into our lives. We had hoped for her for 7 years. Now she blesses us each and every day. She is so fun! She loves to be busy, loves crafts, loves friends, loves playing, loves laughing. We are so grateful to have her in our family!

For MacKayla's birthday dinner she chose to have pancakes. It was pancakes or Mac 'n Cheese. I'm glad she choose pancakes. Grandma Penny, Grandpa Mark, Aunt Marie and cousin Mack came over for dinner. It was fun to have them all here!

MacKayla had a present frenzy even though Christmas just barely left the house. She got a new beta fish, named Mr. Blue, a new Build-A-Bear kitty, named Paulie and 4 Webkinz, among many other things.

My mom picked up this cute little cake
(just enough for everyone with no leftovers).

It was a fun day!

Christmas Day 2009

Christmas Day was such a fun and relaxing day for us. Usually we're so rushed...rushed to get the presents opened, rushed for breakfast, rushed to get to grandma and grandpas, rushed to get home. This year we took our time with everything .We enjoyed every minute of the whole day. MacKayla was so excited to see that Santa had eaten the cookies and milk and the reindeer had eaten the carrots. Plus she was thrilled to see so many presents under the tree.

For me, the expression on MacKayla's face is why I love Christmas. The excitement that kids have for Christmas makes everything all worth it. It wasn't even a real American Girl Doll, thank goodness she doesn't know the difference yet.

This was us Christmas morning opening presents. We were opening the presents that Kayla made for us at preschool. She was so happy that we loved them! I wore her bracelet all day.

After we opened all our gifts we had breakfast with our little family. Then we headed off to my mom and dads house for more presents and lunch. This is a cute little picture of JoeJoe and Thomas. They decided to read a book together. My brother strategically placed their arms around each other but it was so cute.

Then there was a massive tornado as the presents were unwrapped...I think it'll happen differently next year.

It really was a fantastic day. I'm so grateful that we got to spend it with our little family.