Kenlee's 7th Birthday

7? Really? Where did that time go? Every birthday for this little cutie seems to leave me in disbelief. I love the little lady that she is becoming. She is sweet and helpful. I can count on her to be my big helper as I juggle things with the other kids. I know that she will be an awesome helper when Baby Bean arrives.

This year was a fun first for Kenlee. She had her birthday while in school! School started 2 days before her birthday but she still got the chance to celebrate her birthday at school. Her teacher this year sends home a bag for her to put things she loves in. Kenlee loved filling the bag to show her class! We also had to quickly fill out a All about Me paper for Kenlee and send it back to be used on her birthday. This helpful little paper is how I found out that Kenlee was hoping for Jelly Beans for her birthday, something she hadn't really told anyone. Man was I lucky.

Jordyn, Tytan and I hit the store and found 7 Kenlee items for her 7th birthday, including Jelly Beans! We picked out an Aggie shirt, bermuda shorts, jelly beans, starburt minis, "kid lipstick", gel pens and a glitter notebook. It was so fun and Jordyn was really into coming up with the ideas for the gifts.

This years theme was school. We decorated in all the colors of a crayon box. Her cake was a little crayon box too. Kenlee was thrilled. I always love waiting to see what she is going to come up with for her birthday theme, she is always so creative!

A few days before her actual birthday we took her out for her birthday dinner. She picked Pizza Pie Cafe this year which everyone loves. We had such a great time! Kenlee loves the salad bar and on our way back to the table a lady stopped us just amazed at her plate of veggies, especially the broccoli. She just came that way, always eating her veggies!

We had a lot of family come for Kenlee's birthday this year. It was so fun to have a full house and 6 little kiddos running around playing. It was definitely loud and busy but so so much fun!

Grandma Tuke spoiled Kenlee with fun school supplies. Kenlee was so excited, she actually told me a week before that she was worried that because school started before her birthday that she might not get any school supplies... What a girl!

Grandma and Poppa got her a pet salon Friends lego set. She had looked at this set several times and was very excited.

Karlee, Colton and Livi know our girl so well. An artbox set! She can't wait til she gets a chance to play with it all.

Grammie and Poppy gave Kenlee this adorable Minnie shirt and her first pet. She received her first beta fish in an adorable Finding Dory tank. Because of its deep blue color she named her Dory.

Hannah, Mitch and Leila brought some adorable new school outfits for Kenlee. So CUTE!

Great Grandma and Papa sent a very cute school outfit for Kenlee. It is so freaking cute!

First Grade Here She Comes

Tuesday, August 23rd was Kenlee's back to school night. We went and met her teacher, Mrs. Knight, saw her classroom, checked out her desk and gathered information and paperwork. The two things I had been stressing were lunches and bus pick up, so once we got home I took Kenlee through her lunch menu and soon discovered how picky she was going to be. I have always known that she doesn't like "little kid foods" and this just proved my point. In a month and a half she would only like 13 school lunches..... I hope this changes a little once she actually can see what the lunches are and not just hear a weird name and make a snap judgement.

This is the first home lunch of the year.... mayo, pickle and cheese sandwich, goldfish, applesauce, skittles and juice. I hope she and I learn to make this easier and tastier.

School started the next day, August 24th. She was out of bed before I could get upstairs to her. She had picked out her outfit and was ready to go! She has to be on the bus around 8:27.

First Day of School hair do!

Waiting for the bus!

This year she is riding the bus to and from school. She made me promise to let her try it and honestly I am doing OK with it. She is on a bus that has several kids I know and I am not worried (to much.) It's also strangely empty, I am not sure they even fill half the bus. Another relief that its not crazy and full. She loves school so much and is excited to go every day! Jordyn and Tytan miss big sister but it is so sweet to watch them run to her when she gets off the bus for a big huge!

It's a...... BABY!

We are so excited that we are having another little baby. We found out in April and decided to keep it quite from the kids until we were ready for other people to find out. I was originally due December 9th. I had our first appointment on May 19th and after our ultrasound found out our due date was off. This was new for me. All three previous pregnancies I kept my original estimated due date so I was a little shocked. I am now due December 4th. Blake wasn't able to come with me because someone needed to keep the kids and we didn't want to be suspicious. I was so excited to report that baby was strong, had a great healthy heartbeat and I was even farther along then we had thought. We decided to just take the plunge and hurry and tell everyone because for some reason this time I was so nervous. Crazy hormones. We told all our family that evening and everyone was pretty excited. The girls were bouncing around and asking all kinds of questions. Now they tell everyone that will listen about the new baby coming. I am so glad they are excited. We are working at getting Tytan to understand the best he can. He does love babies in general which I hope is a good sign. We decided that since we had baby things for both genders that this time around we were going to not find out the gender. This freaks out a lot of people which I am finding hilarious. Each time I tell someone we aren't finding out I can't wait for their reaction, especially from the younger generation that have always had the option of knowing. The only thing about not finding out that bugged me was that we call baby IT. I didn't like that. So we decided to call it Baby Bean. This has helped with a lot of the ITS.

First Picture of Baby Bean!

18 Weeks

20 weeks

We had our ultrasound the Thursday after Brady came home. It was so amazing to see how clear things were even from Tytan. Another anomaly happend for me. All three previous pregnancies my placenta was on my back. This time its on my front. This made it very difficult to get a good picture of Baby Beans cute little face, plus Baby Bean lived up to the name and was binging around every where.   The tech told me that the placenta placement would make it difficult to feel baby. So far I feel it regularly and strong. This little baby is a very active little one. After our appointment with the Ultrasound tech we met with our OBGYN. Dr. Craig said almost everything looks great. There was a white spot on it heart near an opening that she is pretty sure is just a glare or something from the ultrasound machine but just to be sure we get to have another ultrasound around 32 weeks to check things out and make sure nothing has changed. She told us that she sees this all the time with the new clear pictures and to not worry. Of course I still worry a little but hopefully things will be ok. I am excited to see our little one again at 32 weeks, we have never done that before either.

21 weeks

23 weeks

Surprise, We are going to the Zoo!

We had decided the beginning of the year that we were going to get the kids to Hoogle Zoo and see the "big animal." We a talked about maybe going down the day before, get a hotel and make a trip of it. Things just didn't seem to be lining up so we just set a date to go to the Zoo. The Sunday before our trip Blake found a great deal at our favorite hotel in Bountiful and we quickly made all the arrangements for a mini vacation. We didn't tell the kids what we were doing. We spent Monday morning doing laundry and packing, all the while the kids were getting excited about what the surprise could be. Once Blake got off work we finished packing the car and headed out.

Once we got to the hotel, Blake went to check in and I told the kids what our plans were. Jordyn's face was priceless. I am so glad I had my camera ready.

We got settled in and then headed out for a quick dinner at Carl's Jr. After dinner we got everyone ready and headed to the pool. We spent a few hours swimming and jumping into the pool. With 2 parents and 3 none swimmers it was a bit of a balancing act but the kids a great time. We successfully wore them out.

When we got back to the room and we were getting the kids in the tub I noticed Jordyn's eye looks weird. Sure enough she had someone gotten a black eye at the pool. She had been having so much fun she didn't even know it had happened so your guess is as good as ours. Silly girl!

The kids loved eating at the continental breakfast at the hotel and then we were off to the zoo for the day.

Three very excited kids ready to see the animals.

Tytan loved to see the lions. This big one was laying right up against the glass. Tytan tried to pet its mane through the glass. He was enamored!

It was a pretty warm day and the zoo had their mist fans running. The kids thought they were the best things ever!

Kenlee! Your heads in a lion!

Tytan checking out the elephants nose....

We accidentally caught the elephant show. It was so amazing to watch! We saw the elephants play with toys, paint and stick their feet out to have the pads of their feet checked.

Jordyn didn't really become comfortable until we reached the sea lions. They won her over quickly!

The orangutan baby was playing with a leafy stick and we all couldn't get enough! So cute!

By the end of our trip the girls legs were tired so they both sat on the back of the stroller. Good thing daddy is so strong.

What a trip! It was the perfect mini get away, even if we didn't get much sleep. I love to see the kids reactions to all the different animals! Pure joy!