Happy 4th Birthday Emma! =)

Happy 4th birthday to my princess Emma! I can hardly believe 4 years has gone by since she came into our lives. She's such a sweetheart and she's truely one of my best friends. I love spending time with her.

Her morning started off by her daddy bringing her home pink roses. She LOVED them to pieces! She has been saying how much she would love to get roses and today was a perfect day for her to receive them. She had a Strawberry Shortcake Princess party. I made her a strawberry Oreo crust ice cream cake and strawberry cupcakes wtih strawberry icing. We all enjoyed a very yummy brunch... gorilla bread, egg sausage breakfast casserole, banana bread, and Emma's favorite french toast. We played pin the jewel on the princess which was a hoot... all the kids were blindfolded and they had to stick the sticker on the princess. The kids had a blast with the princess crown pinata too. She received many wonderful gifts... dolls being the main thing she was very happy to receive from several guests. She had a wonderful day! I'm so thankful for the 4 wonderful years my Emma has been in my life and another fun birthday party I was able to put together to celebrate her!! =)

Happy 2nd Birthday Wyatt!! =)

Happy 2nd birthday to my sweet silly Wyatt! We had a fun day celebrating the day of his birth. We started off the day with him being silly by eating his oatmeal in his high chair (per his request) (he usually sits in a booster at the table with us). We enjoyed a fun game of Disney Yahtzee. After his morning nap and lunch we headed to the park for a fun hour of play. We had a great time running all around and being silly with our little guy. The four of us (minus Dakota who was in school) enjoyed swinging together and just having fun playing at the park together. The weather was a great fall day and we had the park all to ourselves. =) Following the park we went and got him 2 birthday balloons which he just loved! =) After picking his big brother up from school we headed to Bob Evans for a yummy dinner (he enoyed his pancakes and sausage link). He opened a few presents from us (a dinasour that roars, Wac-A-Mole, and Go Fish...there is a fishing pole that suction cups to the fish and you have to find the right color to win... a very fun game). He needed a little help from his big brother and sister to open his gifts. We'll open the rest of his gifts from family on Sunday at his monkey themed party.
He enjoyed a yummy frosted brownie covered in sprinkles for his birthday dessert. =) He was so cute blowing out the candles and a bit fast for mommy taking the pictures so he got to blow out the candles a few times. His birthday was a lot of fun!! I can hardly believe 2 years have already passed since he came into this world. I'll admit he can be a very challenging child at times but he is still a true blessing from God! I thank God for giving me such a wonderful son!! I love you Wyatt!!! =)

Dakota's 1st day of Kindergarten =)

Dakota has been in Kindergarten for almost a month and he enjoys school a lot. I took MANY photos on his first day and these are just a few of my favorites from that morning. He's such a good boy and was so patient with me and my many photos of him.

He enjoyed a yummy breakfast of cinnamon toast french toast, sausage, and raspberries put in a smiley face. =) His request for his 1st day of school breakfast.





He looked very handsome and cute with his hair all done and in his Spiderman shirt and shoes. He loved his 1st day outfit. =) His Mimi McGee bought him the shirt, backpack, lunch bag, and his jacket. He enjoyed a fun day of school shopping with her and his cousin Hannah a couple of weeks before school.

We walked him to the cafeteria as he started his 1st day on the 2nd day of school because he was sick with a cold on the official 1st day of school. We felt so bad for him. We dropped him off to his teacher and as we turned around I started crying a lot. I gained my composure as we walked down the hall. We missed him A LOT that first day. David cleaned our barn out which was very messy to keep his mind off of his little buddy at school. We couldn't wait to pick him up that afternoon and thankfully the day went by quickly for us all!!

Almost a month later we have adjusted to carpooling, busy days without our sweet Dakota, making lunches, checking his folder nightly, and enjoying our evening together. I have greatly enjoyed all of the cute songs that Dakota has learned at school. He does not like music though (not sure why but he hasn't enjoyed music from the 1st class). He's made a few friends and has had great behavior. I am so proud of my little guy!! I cherish the morning devotions, the prayer, and the songs we sing about Jesus (I've got the Joy, joy, joy, down in my heart... his favorite) before he leaves for school everyday. I wanted to start his day off with Jesus and send him off on a happy note everyday but I have enjoyed myself the change of the words of "the devil sitting on a tack to the devil sitting on an arrow." Ha ha!! He is my little hunter! ;) I wanted to do daily devotions before school with him because I can remember my own father praying with us as he would drive us to school and since I carpool we get to do the devotions before carpool arrives in the mornings. Hopefully he also will remember these special morning devotions too. =)

Letting go of my son has been hard but I see him thriving in so many new ways!! He's such a blessing to my life!! =)

Emma's incredible Slip-N-Slide photo

Many of you know I LOVE photography. I decided to take some photos of the kids going down the Slip-N-Slide and I captured this incredible photo of Emma. I wanted to post it so I will always have a memory of the awesome picture. =) A definite YES moment and thrill as a photographer!! =)

What has our little ballerina been up to this summer?

My adorable little ballerina took her first ballet classes over the summer. She just loved the lessons. She will be continuing in the fall and I'm already looking forward to her recital in the spring. I've been waiting for the day that my little girl could take dance lessons and I enjoyed watching all she learned during the parents viewing the last lesson. She remembered today as I was posting the ballet pictures that she was doing a demi plie (sp?) in the photo. I'm amazed by how much she learned in just 6 weeks. =)


Emma wore a gorgeous "wedding dress" as she called it to my best friend Quiana's Ohio wedding reception. She was a beautiful princess!! She even wore my heart necklace that I wore as a young girl. =) A proud mommom (Emma calls me mommom) moment! =) She enjoyed dancing the night away and twirling all around the dance floor. =)
Emma enjoyed our visit to Amish country and holding the baby ducks. =)
Emma had a lot of fun playing with her cousin Millie during there Ohio visit in June. They were thrilled that they both had Ariel nightgowns. They had lots of fun playing dress-up together, going on a hike, and making there own pizzas. =)
Emma loves her puppies! She does a good job in getting them there dog food. She loves to hold them and pet them. =)

Emma loves to sing. She sings Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to Wyatt almost every night before he goes to bed. She is so sweet because at the end she says "Wyatt have sweet dreams." She is a good little mommy to her brothers! =)

Kindergarten is only 3 weeks away! =(

My oldest Dakota will be starting to kindergarten in just 3 short weeks. Where have the last 5 1/2 years gone to? They have flown by just as my summer has too. I have not posted a blog in months much to my dismay but my hopes are to start blogging more once things calm down from the busy days of summer.

Dakota is not to thrilled about going to school. He would rather home school but for now that is not possible but I will not rule that out all together for our future. His GI Joe book back has been purchased (thanks to his Mimi McGee) and the school supplies just need his name written on them. We are trying to do a few more fun things with the last remaining weeks of summer. A few cute summer photos of my sweet little boy enjoying his last summer before I have to let him go into a world of influence and children I don't know. I will admit it does worry me at times that he will soon be surrounded by so many outside influences but at the same time I know God will be with him everyday. Thank God for prayer and the trust I do have in Him. His first day of school will still not be an easy one. =( I am very excited for him to make some new friends and to have the chance to learn so many new things. I think he will thrive in school and enjoy the learning process in so many new subjects. =)

*Dakota LOVES animals! We've had several pets this summer that he has found in the great outdoors but that will be a story for another blog. The cute baby duck was at a widelife place we visited in amish country. I can't wait to have a homestead full of animals one day and see how he thrives with all of the farm animals. Another story for another blog as well. =)

Dakota lost his 1st tooth! =)

Dakota lost his first tooth last Thursday, June 11th. His tooth had been loose for over 2 weeks. We were all very anxious for him to loose it. Hi finally talked his daddy into tieing some dental floss around the tooth and slamming a door. We did exactly that and IT WORKED!! The tooth bounced away but thankfully I found it in the carpet after David and I searched for it. Dakota was excited and the bleeding wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. He admired his new smile and already has the replacement tooth coming in. Emma had to get a pose in there with her big brother. =) A very exciting day for us here in the McGee household. The tooth fairy made her first visit to our home and left Dakota $3.00. A special treat we told him for loosing his 1st tooth. =)

Dakota is growing up so fast. His school called the other day to tell us the name of his teacher, when his open house will be, and a few other details about the upcoming school year. I can hardly believe my first born will be going to school in the fall (August 31st to be exact). We've been counting down the weeks and we are at 10 weeks from Monday. There will be many tears that day as I already get so emotional over just getting him ready for school. I know I'm not a mom cut out for homeschooling so off he must go. He has to grow up I know but the house will be so different without him around during the day. He is such a sweet boy but why does the growing up have to happen so quickly???

(A side note.... I have not been posting on here and sorry but it just hasn't been happening lately. Hopefully I'll be able to start blogging more often. I'm missing so many things I want to post but I just haven't sat down to post all of those things. )

A funny by Dakota =)

Every morning when we wake up the kids always ask me how did I sleep and "Did you have good dreams mommy?" They ask me "What did you dream about mommy?" I ask them the same thing. This morning Dakota told me he dreamed about hunting lions and cheetahs (he LOVES to hunt and dreams about it often). He told me he got a world record lion in his dream. The lion weighed 5 pounds and 8 ounces! =) Kids are so sweet and innocent. He was thrilled with his world record lion weighing 5 pds. 8 oz. I love when my kids tell me about there dreams from the night before because they always make me smile. =)

My 29th birthday =)

Today I turned 29 and well David had to work on my birthday. I was a bit bummed but I did get to spend the day with one of my closest friends Lisa. She is such a sweetie and made my day really special. We usually do a simple lunch of PB&J (it's not about the food but getting to spend time together and I personally LOVE PB&J) but not today. She made hamburgers and hot dogs and then made some of the most delicious brownies! Yummmy!! She even put a candle on it and I had 3 lovely helpers to blow it out (we did). She made me a very cute smiley face happy birthday sign. We just had a great time visiting despite a boy of mine that a bit of an attitude (Dakota is 5 and Lisa's girls are 2 and 7 months (Natalie and Abby are such cutie pies by the way) so he got bored) and before we left she offered to watch them all while I went to the fabric store. I did decline but to offer was so sweet. She's a great friend to have and made my birthday extra special. The many phone calls, cards, and Facebook and Myspace messages helped a lot too! Thanks to everyone that made me feel so loved and special on my birthday! =)

(Dakota took the pictures of Lisa, Abby, and I... it took him a few tries and a little coaching but he ended up with a great shot.) =) As you can see too all the kids loved the brownies!! =)