You Only Turn One Once...

McKenzie's first birthday party was on November 1st, the day before her birthday. She hung out with some of her best buddies...

opened presents (she's in there, I promise)...

and had some cake. Her Aunt Jamie made her a fun garden cake with cupcake flowers and everything!!

We had a Graden Picnic in November. Everyone brought their blankets and some brought lawn chairs...some played frisbee, others took naps but everyone had a good time.

Maybe too good of a time....

After lunch, everyone headed to the Pot a Plant table where they all filled a cup with "mud" (pudding) and planted flower cookies, gummy worms and gummie bugs that had guts goosh out when you bit into them...YUM!!

Kenz tasted her cake in little bits but didn't really dig into it...she decided that painting herself with frosting would be much better that stuffing her face with cake.

First Halloween

McKenzie had her first Halloween this year. We started the evening with some door to door Trick-or-Treating with a few of her cousins. Kenz spent most the time in the wagon. When the kids would run from door to door she would just giggle!!

Then we went and got some more candy and Grandma and Grandpa Hennessy's Trunk or Treat. There we met up with most of our Hennessy cousins to see all of their costumes and loads of candy.

Kenz got a glow stick at one of the trunks and wouldn't put it down the entire night. It started to rain so her, daddy, Noah (cousin) and Uncle Dawson took cover until the rain blew over.

Finally, at the end of the night, Kenz got her first taste of candy. Her eyes got wide and she looked at me as though she had just dicovered the most incredible thing ever!!

Wide Vocabulary

Kenz started talking at 9 months. Her first word was "booh" (book). Immediately after, she started saying da-da, pah-pah (for patty-cake), and bye-bye (while waving). She also started signing "more" by clapping her hands together.

At 10 months she added "k" to her vocabulary which resulted in her being able to now say "bake" for patty-cake, and "duck" (which is what she called me until this week). She says "hi" and waves. Now she calls me "me-me" and says "na-na" when she wants to take a nap or go to sleep. She blows kisses and says "bow." She also runs her fingers through her hair when I say "pretty." She can now sign "please" and holds her hands out with palms up to say "all gone." McKenzie loves to talk and gets very routy in sacrament meeting.

Last night, at Young Women's she was introduced to a microphone by the bishop...I fear we have an entertainer on our hands....

Bonk!!

I started working at LDS Family Services the first week in September. Much to my surprise, my second day there I got a page that I had a visitor at the front desk. There stood my husband. When we went outside, he explained that there had been an accident. He turned Kenzie's car seat towards me and I saw this huge goose egg on her noggin! She bonked on the coffee table and had battle wounds. Daddy felt terrible!! We kept her awake (hard because she had NO nap that day), made sure she kept food down...all that fun stuff to make sure she wasn't concussed. The bruise is gone now but she still has a crease in her forehead when she raises her eyebrows.

Frozen Fish

Grandma and Grandpa Hennessy's ward had a swimming party that we went to. Kenz is starting to feel very comfortable in the pool and loves to splash with her feet.

Ironically, it was one of most windy nights of the summer! After about 3 minutes in the pool, we both snuggled up and watched all the other Popsicle children enjoy the evening.

Our Little Girl is Growin' Up

McKenzie has mastered the sippy cup. At first she would just chew it but now she acutually seems to be getting liquid out of it into her mouth.

Her favorite drink treat is apple juice, something she hated as a baby. She only gets is every now and then because of the two brand new, white and shiny teeth she's grown. Man, we have a beautiful baby!!

Happy Pioneer Day!

We went to Grandma Hennessy's house to have some dinner and a fireworks show. It was the first time that Kenz got to watch fireworks up close.

Once they started, she couldn't take her eyes off of them. She'd look back at me every once in a while to make sure that what was hapening in the road was ok. We had a lot of fun!

But You Don't Have To Take My Word for It...

While getting ready for church last Sunday, McKenzie decided to play Reading Rainbow. She loves to look at books and help turn the pages. Her favorite book is 'Harvey the Helping Bee.'

Once her bink falls out she always takes scriptural advise to heart and begins to 'feast upon the word.' She hasn't really seemed to catch on that books aren't for eating.

Practice Makes Perfect

A few weeks ago our family got the chance to practice life with two kids. We got to babysit Kenzie's cousin Sam. His mommy has watched Kenz a ton so I was glad to repay the favor.

Kenz was a tickle monster, doing what older cousins do best.

We ended the day with a nap...my favorite way to end the day! Kenz loves the way Sam's hair feels. I'm hoping she grows out of this before he gets too old...

Reunited...

This afternoon I was holding McKenzie and walked past a picture of Christ that we have downstairs in our home. As I walked by I thought that this would be an amazing teaching moment for her and so I pointed to the picture and said, "McKenzie this is Jesus." She looked at me with a huge grin, turned to the picture and for the first time, waved. I then asked, "Kenzie, do you remember Jesus?" She turned back to the picture and waved again. Today I thought I would teach my baby about her older brother and instead, she taught me that they have been friends long before today.

The First Family Birthday!

When we were young, we had a tradition with my Mom's family to have a BIG birthday party in the summer for all the kids. We decided to carry on the tradition with our children. Yesterday we all met at a community pool and started off the festivities with lil' dip. Kenz had 3 swimsuits but had never been swimming before.

When she first got in she was pretty unhappy...dad sure thought it was funny though.

After a while, Chicken Little realized that the sky wasn't falling. She started to splash around and had a blast!!

We were terrified that we'd have a little lobster by the end of the day but luckily, the 4 layers of sunscreen protected our little Snow White. After swimming, we went to my sister's house, ate a bunch of food, opened presents and ate birthday cake.

My brother's wife Jamie is a Master Cakeswoman and made this awesome Roller Coaster Cake for all the kids. Very impressive!! I've already booked her for Kenzie's 1st birthday.

Our little family had a blast and can't wait until next year!

McKenzie's First Fourth

Yesterday was McKenzie's first 4th of July. The day was full of family and fun...and a ton of food. McKenzie even got to have her first cracker.

The texture made her gag a little but once she got the hang of it, we couldn't get it away from her. Now, she feels like she should get to eat what everyone else is.

After her very formal cracker tasting, she played a little Nintendo 64 with Uncle Jacob. She was more interested in putting the control in her mouth than anything else. When we got home from the day's festivities, she dozed off to the sounds of firecrackers outside her window...and slept like a log.

Our Lil' Olympian!!

We've decided to have Kenzie begin training in Thumb Balancing. At about 7 months, Kenz started to balance anything that she could (braclets, toys, binks) on her thumb. She finds it to be quite hilarious and giggles about it until you acknowledge her talents.