Potty training

Kenzie and I made a potty chart for her the other day and so far it's going good. She loves any sort of praise so it's kinda easy to make her happy. This sticker chart is highly exciting for her at this point in time. We also do treats when she goes potty. She'll be happy to sit on the potty if she gets a piece of toilet paper!! This is the first evening we put it up and now there's lots of stickers on it...even a few on the potty side :) We're getting there, slowly but hey we're gettin' there!!

Her dolly even has a potty :)

Walk time

Usually we all go for a walk every morning and on this day I decided to let Kenzie walk her dollies in the cart....it was quite the expedition on my part keeping her focused. She usually ends the walk by pulling the boys in the wagon....she will NOT let me help! It's cute. Most of our walks consist of Zach being attached to me in the sling and Kenzie and Jude are in the stroller or wagon, so we can go faster :)

Happily frollicking (sp?) along with her dollies :)

Me in the middle

Zach and Jude bringing up the rear

Schneider Summer Reunion

We attended the Summer Schneider Reunion in the Nokomis area this past Sunday....it's the first time I've been to the summer one and it was great!!! First off, it's outside :) It was one of the more humid, sticky days but we all managed to get thru it. Zach was a bit cranky but there was an air conditioned place to go into every now and then. Zach was entertaining the adults at this table with his cup tricks.

Kenzie decided she wanted in on the action

This swing was SOOOOOO fun for the kids!!!!!!! It fits 3 kids across and goes in all directions and very high!!! What kid wouldn't like this!!! I'll post the video's on facebook. Kenzie is on the left, Zach in the middle and Ethan on the right. They loved this thing!!! On the second time of pushing we didn't know if Zach was going to hurl or fall asleep.....by the end I decided he was going to fall asleep, his eyes were getting droopy.

This is the updated picture of me and Bobi-Jo, there's one from last Christmas. Our boys are 4 days apart, Ethan was born on October 1st and Zach October 5th :) We call our kids twins because Lily and Makenzie are only a few months apart as well....and all kids are very cute!!!

Kenzie wanted them all to hold hands, too cute!! On the left is Ethan, Kenzie's in the middle and Lily is on the right.

MMMM...ice cream on a hot, humid day...what could be better....oh yeah, playing in the icey, watery cooler with squirt guns :) On the right is Lily, middle is Kenzie and I don't remember the little girl on the left.

Surprise!!!

I went to a surprise baby shower for my dear friend Jenni on Saturday and it was quite the amusement when she came walking around the corner!!! She's not a huge fan of attention and we all knew she'd want to kill us but hey, she's getting free, girly baby things. Her very words when she walked around the corner were "I'm going to kill all of you." She's the preggie lady on the right in the picture. This is her second little one, she's the mamma of Rowdy and is now about to have a little girl :) I also know she's gonna kill me for posting this on my blog.....love ya Jenni!!!

Ripley boys

On Saturday we had a visit from Lacy, Vincent and Anthony....and a little boy in Lacy's belly :) They all had fun in the pool and jumping likey monkeys on the bed!! I think Vince is the calmest boy I've seen Kenzie play with so far....well, that's above her age.

Ballerina

We were playing dress-up on Saturday and she kept dancing in circles when I put this on her....too cute :)

Silly girl

Another spot I found her in after naptime :)

Cubis shirt

The Fukudome Cubs shirt has now been passed down to Zach. Made me laugh after I took this picture of Zach. It looks almost identical to the one I took of Kenzie last Father's Day!!! The above picture is Kenzie and the one right below here is Zach.

Elmo chairs

Grandma Fulkerson found these chairs for the kids while we were on a garage sale fun morning last weekend. The kids love them and Zach now uses them to crawl onto the couch :)

Reclining is the best way to use them....until sis pushes you all the way over because she likes to do it so apparently you have to also :) Zach's not so keen on that idea yet.

Baby doll love

This is one way to get the veggies off your plate....feed them to your dolly :) She usually has to have one or both of her dollies with her at all times. This evening daddy took the kids on a walk while mommy went to train a dog and he said Makenzie had to push her dolly in her little stroller too :) Then she put it in the wagon with Zach and strapped her in, then proceeded to pull the wagon and wouldn't let daddy help at all :) She's getting to be such a big girl and it's adorable :)

Tinker Toys

I remember playing with tinker toys when I was little...I loved them, and still do :) When I saw these GIANT tinker toys at a garage sale I passed them up. I couln't stop thinking about them all night!!! I went back to the sale the next morning and they were still there, so I bought them. Kenzie loves them!!!! Along with building they make great weapons and musical instruments :)

Stats

Makenzie's 2 year stats:

Height: 36 1/2 inches (97%) - she was slouching some :)

Weight: 30 lbs (80%)

She's quite the little entertainer now :) She's talking in some sentences and enjoys saying everything you say. She pronounces things very well and remembers almost everyone she meets!!! She's always asking for them later. She's still in the potty training process....going at her speed. She loves her little brother and is teaching him very valuable things, like how to jump in his crib :) She's doing good on her numbers, letters and colors. After MANY months of attempting to read to her, she now enjoys reading books....okay...well, sitting and pointing out what's on the pages but we'll take that!!!! She LOVE her dollies now and takes them everywhere with her. She still LOVES to dance any chance she gets...usually in circles now and falls down at the end....she giggles, gets back up and does it all over again. We finally put her in size 5 diapers a month or so ago due to her height.

Zachariah's 9 month stats (more like 9 1/2 months):

Height: 28 1/2 inches (55%)
Weight: 18 lbs (12%)
Head Circumference: 18 inches

He's a great crawler now!!! He's a fast little booger and is into everything!!! Boys are sooo much different but still very fun :) He's still a mamma's boy. He is jumping in his crib, starting to climb on things (now at 10 months) and attempting to stand by himself. Cruising is his newest fad....he can go fairly fast cruising around the furniture. He's saying "da-da"...i'll let that slide since Makenzie said "ma-ma" first :) Hmmm...what else...he's starting to dance when he hears music and LOVES the Wii Mario starting song. We only play when the kids are in bed so we found it rather humerous that he darts to the tv, sits there and dances to the song...we tried it out one day :) Oh, he has 2 bottom teeth and more coming in on the top. He LOVES his cheerios and enjoys grabbing them all before his sister can find any :) At 10 months now he's almost out of size 2 diapers. He's a crazy little guy that's into everything and we wouldn't change that for anything!!! Both kids are VERY active and I don't know what I'd do if I had a calm child of my own....they definitely keep me on my toes and I love every minute of it :)

Fred

Zach is now a huge fan of clobbering the dogs :) Ours are VERY tolerant of kids....I'm a trainer, I wouldn't have it any other way!!!! Fred was already a good boy when we got him from my brother :)

Where's Kenzie?

She was tired so she thought that going under the table was a good spot :) She only stayed for a few minutes.

I often have to search the room for her....kinda like where's waldo :) This is where she's supposed to be, in her bed. I don't mind if she's sleeping elsewhere, it's fun for me to know that she's having fun traveling around her room sleeping in different spots :) Never a dull day at our house!!!


There she is!!!!!! asleep on the big fluffy pillow in her tent :)

Playdoh

Jude's first time playing with playdoh

She's asking me to make a hot dog in this picture

Thanks to Aunt Beth and Uncle Ryan, playdoh is a new favorite in the house :)

Find Makenzie.....

I see a hand and a foot....and some hair...she's in there somewhere!!!

There she is!!!! She likes to sleep with ALL of her blankies (about 6 of them), her baby dolls (2 of them), a big caterpillar pillow and a small candy land pillow. Yep, she's comfy cozy!!! Don't worry, she rolls over when she's too warm or has lost an item off the bed :)