McKinley at this age

McKinley cracks me up!  She has such an active personality and is such an entertainer!!  She loves to put on "shows" and each shows begins with the same introduction:

Ladies and Gentlemen
Please take your seats and start to begin (the show is about to begin)
Girls and Boys
The Show is................... (and she pauses here and comes up with her title)

A.  McKinley singing (insert song here)
Song choices this summer have been either Cruise or Baby get your Shine on

B.  McKinley singing a school song:
*Skid-a-marink
*ABC's
*Squiggly Fish
*Pitter Patter Rain Drops

C.  McKinley replicating Dora or The Fresh Beats and she proceeds to dance and sing here

D.  Something random that she comes up with on the spot and is usually funny!!!

She also has several imaginary friends.  Her BEST Imaginary friend is "Challah".  From what we have gathered, Challah comes from Mexico and has several siblings:  Pilla, Milla, and Nilla.   Sometimes they siblings go camping or get sick often.  They also are somehow related to Pinky.   Another funny is she has two other I Friends named Galla and Ria and they come from the Galleria!!!  They don't make an appearance as often as Challah and her brothers and sisters.  She calls Challah on the phone, has detailed conversations with her and even uses Challah to try and get herself out of trouble (Challah told me it was ok to get out of bed and grab a book, etc).

First Day of Preschool 2013

This day was bittersweet.  This summer has been a lot of fun and a lot of adventures, but it's also been tough and challenging at times.  Trying to successfully parent a 3 year old is quite humbling.  However,
I have high hopes for this school year!  Mac did great, I was prepared for tears but she was a champ!!!  I had a few tears myself as we left the parking lot because she is getting so big and growing so fast!  I love you McKinley Jo!!!!

Labor Day Weekend 2013 part 2

It wouldn't be a fun weekend unless Uncle Matt, Aunt Dani and Papaw were included too!  They came to Cassville on Sunday to spend the day with us  -  actually who am I kidding, they came to see Mac!

Labor Day Weekend 2013

We headed to Gma and Bill's for Labor Day and it was just what we needed.  Gma and Bill live really close to the Roaring River so we headed there on Saturday to cool off.  The water was a tad cold but felt refreshing with the heat!  That night we headed to Steak Inn- one of our favorite places to eat and it did not disappoint!

The Big Girl Bed

Well we've hit another milestone (sniff sniff) tonight will be Mac's first night in her big girl bed!  Her crib converts to a full size bed and we bought and assembled everything today!  McKinley is sooooooo excited too!  We picked out her bedding a few weeks ago and now that it's on and in her room, she is ecstatic!  What a big girl we have!!!!  Here's hoping Abba Bella will sleep with her too!

Summer Adventures at Fair Park

We spent a Saturday a few weeks ago at Fair Park- We rode rides, watched the dog show, ate lots of junk food (well just Billy and I) and had a blast!  Mac did her first bungee jump trampoline bouncy and rode over 15 rides!  She made us ride the Texas Star (the super tall ferris wheel) and both Billy and I were terrified!  I stared at my phone the whole time only looking up to tell Mac to stop jumping around!!!! Billy handled it better than me but we were both so glad when we were safe on the ground!  Now we are even more anxious for the Texas State Fair this fall!

July 4

We spent the holiday at my dads with Matt and Dani.  We camped (well Matt and Dani camped, we stayed in a cabin) and cooked out and swam in the lake for 3 days.  It was so much fun!!!!  Mac caught her first fish and swam in the lake like a trooper!  Cant wait to celebrate the 4th like this every year!

Another great thing about living back in Texas

This has also been a summer of seeing my family!!!  Being much closer now has been such a blessing.  Grateful!

My little baker

This has been the summer of baking!!!!!  McKinley and I bake something at least once a week and sometimes more than once!  Now Mac is not traditionally a sweet lover but she has enhanced her palate.  She loves the process of baking and will try most of the items we bake as long as there is no frosting or icing!  We've baked Dr Pepper bundt cakes, chocolate chip cookies, all sorts of cupcakes, lemon cake, cinnamon/sugar crescents and her very favorite the Rainbow bundt!  This has been such a fun experience for the two of us.  She cracks the eggs, helps me measure the ingredients and tries to take over the mixing :)  Again, I love this for us.

Soccer

Mac started weekly soccer practice in June and she loves it!  The coach is very patient and tries his best to corral the kids- There are 4 girls and 3 boys and it's crazy!!!!  It's really fun to watch and cheer McKinley on.  She really likes it and pays attention (for a 3 year old!).  We practice at home too and she loves to show us her moves!

Half- Birthday

We celebrated McKinley's half birthday on June 20.  I love this tradition and knowing it wont last forever, makes it more fun.  In true Mac fashion, she wanted to celebrate the exact way as her 3rd birthday- at Chuck E Cheese and wearing the same dress ;)

We ended up with many tickets and coins leftover from her party, we just cashed those in and had a ball!!!  In just six months, she was more adventurous with the rides.  It was a fun celebration!