Young Party of Four

Today Kenzie is EIGHT! It's so crazy. We have an 8 year old. Only two years away from double digits. A third grader. A girl that is quickly becoming a preteen. There is only a year left (technically) until that is officially the stage we are in. Though I have to say... she acts more and more like an actual preteen every day of her life. She's too much. We often joke that she is 8 going on 28, but in all honesty, she is an old soul and often acts much older than her years. At 8-years-old, Kenzie... - Is still the friendliest kid I know. She loves with her whole heart. She hates to hurt anyone's feelings. The downside is that her feelings get hit hard when someone isn't nice to her. We have had to deal with that on occasion, especially in the last year when we had a run in with a girl that Kenzie thought was her friend but she ended up being not really nice to Kenzie in the long run. We learned as parents that the "mean girl" stage starts early. Kenzie...

Today Will is officially five years old. A whole hand! He is our baby. He isn't supposed to grow up! I'm in denial. At the same time, I am so excited to watch him continue to grow and learn. At FIVE, Will... ... is ridiculously tall. Everyone keeps asking if he hit a growth spurt overnight. He might have. He ate a whole lot and slept 12+ hours a night for a week or two. After that was when everyone started asking if he grew overnight. So, maybe he did. I don't know. All I know is that all of his 5t pants were too short all of a sudden and his shorts had to be cycled through to make sure they still hit as close to his knees as possible. He also went to a size 12-13 shoe all of a sudden. He is around 45.75 inches tall (94th percentile). He also weighs around 40 pounds (44th percentile). Still very tall and thin. ... loves to eat but remains pretty picky. Honestly, he would graze all day if you let him. He gets it honest. That is how I like to eat. He is still pi...

It's official! We have a 7-year-old! Kenzie turns seven today and it is crazy to think that this amazing girly has been earthside with our family for seven whole years now. As I always say... I still remember the moment I held her for the first time. Her and her crazy breech legs that popped up the moment you pushed them down. Still makes me giggle thinking about it. In lieu of the typical birthday letter that I have written to the kiddos in the past... this year we are doing 7 things about Kenzie!! =) Without further ado... Kenzie in a (sort of) nutshell. 1. Kenzie still has the world's greatest outlook on life. Her positive nature is contagious. She loves everything about life and always has an encouraging word when we need it. If you are feeling down, hang out with Kenzie. Life is (almost always) sunshine and rainbows. That doesn't mean she doesn't have her moments and lately we are seeing flashes of the pre-teen/teenager she is likely to become with random...

Last weekend we traveled down to good ole South Florida for about 36 hours. It was a bit of a whirlwind style trip, but we had such a great time that it was worth us to recap it for posterity. We always know we are likely to take a S. Florida trip in early January. Our friends' kiddo is a January baby so we always try to make it down for his birthday party. This year we decided to just stay one night and traveled down on Saturday, the day of his party. We left our house bright and early. As in 6:45am. After picking up some McDonald's breakfast for the road, we were on our way. We made it all the way to Fort Pierce with the kiddos before we had to make a bathroom stop. That was the plan all along so it is always nice when that works out. We were only out of the car for less than 20 minutes then back in for the remainder of the trip down. We set up a movie for the kids to watch and the settled in to watch Descendants 2. Traffic was pretty light so we made it down earlier tha...