Happy Thanksgiving!

Keith and I have been able to spend all 3 of our Thanksgiving dinners out here in Kentucky with good friends. Last year we were with Gosnells and contributed a pie. This year we contributed rolls, pies, stuffing, ham, and potatoes. It was a lot of work, but nice to use the same recipes my mom uses and not feel so homesick for family. No matter that my crescent rolls came out looking like big blobs, they still tasted buttery and sweet, and comforted my soul. 

This year I am most grateful for our new baby Clara. She is the sweetest addition to our family and I can't imagine how our lives were complete without her. I'm also grateful for such a wonderful husband. He keeps busy with school and his calling and yet he always makes time for me and the kids. And today when he clogged our sink with potato peels (because he peeled all 12 potatoes) and I left to go shopping for black Friday with the girls, he put Kenz to bed then pulled apart the sink and bleached it. He's a keeper. I'm grateful for Kenzie because she makes me laugh. She's full of boundless energy and attitude. 

I'll leave you with a little video of Kenz and her buddy Parker. Keith was on-line and this song started playing and they started busting out moves we'd never seen before. We were impressed with Parkers break dancing and Kenzie's booty shaking....must come from those Shaws:)

10 weeks old

This video is from last Sunday when Clara was 10 wks. I'm not lying when I say this girl is so happy! As you can see in this video, I'm not even talking to here just smiling. She's so social, we just love it

My 3 year old

I was just looking over past blog posts and was filled with so many good memories of Mackenzie when she was a baby. Looking back, it's amazing how much of her personality is the same as it was 2 1/2 years ago. She has always been so full of spunk and crazy energy, unwilling to cuddle, independent, and a true daddy's girl. She's also remained a joy in our lives. The ages of 2-3 can be so hard but they are also very entertaining. A few of her latest antics:

* She takes advantage of my inability to properly discipline her while I'm nursing. She will ask me to do something and before I can answer she'll say " No, no I do it by myself." (she usually puts her hand out dramatically in a stop sign, then pulls it to her chest as she says "herself") And then she'll go get her stool and help herself to something in the fridge, pantry, my bedroom, ect.

* I left the room a few weeks ago in the morning to grab something. When I came into the kitchen, Mackenzie was eating a cupcake (9 AM) and said "I eat a cupcake. Mom said no. Muah haha" you know the count dracula laugh-she's totally got it down and sometimes I have to try really hard not to laugh.

*Potty training has gone amazingly well. A couple weeks ago I bought a big box of princess pull ups at Costco for night time. She pulled one out of the box and hugged it to her and was overcome with joy. She said "Princess underwear, I love them SO much!" and didn't want to take them off ever! Naturally, I had to buy her some daytime princess underwear which she decided she couldn't take off at night and I told her she could only wear them if she didn't pee in them. That was a week and a half ago and no accidents yet! That doesn't mean we're clear of bathroom incidents yet though...

*Last night she kept getting up to use the bathroom. Her bedroom is right next to her bathroom so I just kept hearing the doors open and close. Finally I went in to check things out and was horrified to find that she had pooped and proceeded to dip toilet paper into the nasty water, squeeze them out, then throw them away. Not sure what she was trying to accomplish but I was a little upset to have to bathe her and completely sanitize the bathroom and her bedroom at 10 PM.

*On Sunday, she was washing her hands in the bathroom by herself when I heard, "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! What to do? Water everywhere, oh my gosh!" I then heard her muttering to herself and repeating the previous phrase. I didn't want to go in yet it was so funny to listen to her panicking. Finally she says, "Mom! Natalie! I need help, I spilled water everywhere." I went to go see the damage and she had spilled a bit on the carpet and the floor but she had mostly mopped it up.

*She calls me Natalie, especially when she wants me to listen. She tends to just yell "Keith" when she needs him in the exact way I do everytime he frustrates me or I want him to really pay attention.

Family Pictures: 1st attempt

I mentioned in a previous post how we kind of failed at these pictures. It was no ones fault really, it was quite dark when we started pictures and Susan's flash wasn't working so she did her best while editing to brighten them but that ended up really washing us out and blown up to an 8 by 10, the family pics look really grainy. The one of Clara and last of Keith and Kenz were my favs. We tried again on Saturday and I'm excited to see them. Kenz was a little more cooperative and it was a beautiful day.

Ruby

When we first moved to Kentucky, we had very little furniture- a small sofa, a bed, a pack-n-play. I was invited to a bow making party within the first couple of weeks and there I met Amber Gosnell. She was incredibly nice and I knew I wanted to be friends with her. That night I think I mentioned how Keith and I needed to start searching yard sales for a kitchen table and chairs. Within a couple of days, I found out that she had put out a facebook  message requesting a kitchen table and chairs. Someone offered theirs and she drove down to Lexington to pick them up then kept them in her garage so we could paint them. A great friendship was born.

Chairs before we finished them

Last June, Amber called me to ask if I could go swimming. I started to cry and told her I wasn't feeling up to it, that I had just miscarried. At the time, she was the only one who knew I was pregnant and had been trying to have a baby for several months. She immediately dropped her plans and came over to cry with me, feed me lunch and clean my house for me. In September when I miscarried again, she was there for me once more crying with me and making me food and helping with Mackenzie.

Our cute girls last summer

Around that time they decided they wanted to try to have another baby too. We hoped we could be pregnant together and the stars aligned and I found out I was pregnant in December, and she found out she was pregnant in February. It was so wonderful to have one of my best friends pregnant with me to moan and complain to about the woes of pregnancy and share our craving for peanut butter.

At her 12 week appointment she called to tell me they thought there might be a heart problem and I tried to reassure her that all would be well. It turned out that her sweet baby girl did test positive for down syndrome and while they mourned the loss of a healthy baby, they also embraced the idea of such a wonderful baby coming to them and met the challenge with amazing faith.

Amber came to my baby shower with a smile on her face and never once complained to me about the injustice of my having a healthy baby girl. She happily volunteered to take Mackenzie overnight while we
were in the hospital with Clara and texted me pictures of Mackenzie while she had her.
After Clara was born, she came to visit and we cried a little together as she held my baby and we talked about her baby girls uncertain future.

Amber at my baby shower- so sad we didn't ever take a belly pic together

About 7 weeks after Clara was born, Amber's little girl Ruby was born. She was in the hospital downtown and it seemed impossible for me to get down there without the girls and making it work around my nursing. I finally got to hold Ruby's sweet little hand two weeks after she was born. I started to cry when I saw Amber and gave her a hug and being the incredibly selfless person she is, she asked if I was ok and knew it would be hard on me to see her baby like that.

I love my girls dearly but I have never fallen in love with a baby as fast as I did Ruby. She had the most beautiful spirit I have felt on this earth. I asked her to get better so she could be best friends with Clara. That night I went home and snuggled Clara and prayed hard for the Gosnells.

Yesterday, I watched Amber's daughter Rose because Ruby was off of the life support machine and they needed to take the tubes out of her heart. It was her day to sink or swim and I was worried sick for her.
At 12:55 AM, Ruby joined her Heavenly Father. My heart is broken for her parents today but as you can see, she has the most wonderful mother whose faith is so incredible. I love her dearly and am so grateful for the wonderful friend she is to me.

If you want to read Amber's journal entries you can access her website here:http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/rubygosnell.
A video was also made in honor of Ruby you can find here:https://fbcdn-video-a.akamaihd.net/cfs-ak-ash4/353828/1011/10150373030996828_35317.mp4?oh=f03ba76744 
or if that link doesn't work, you can find it on my Faebook profile.

It's times like these I'm so incredibly grateful for the atonement of Jesus Christ and I know that Brian and Amber can have Ruby for eternity. 

We've been busy enjoying the beautiful weather this past week. We've been going on daily walks and as you can see from the pictures below, Kenzie gets as much exercise as me. She's such a natural runner, always has been, and keeps up with me for a couple of miles.

I'm so obsessed with these trees. They look like they are on fire, they're so beautiful. I will definitely miss the gorgeous Kentucky fall when we leave

Clara is just so happy, she's incredibly easy to love! She sleeps about 10 hours at night and wakes up super happy. The rest of the day she can be fussy unless she's being held. This little girl loves attention and I don't mind spoiling her with it when she rewards you with these cute smiles

Our terrible 2 turns 3!

We had a lot of fun throwing a party for Kenz. She requested a Princess party and because I know she hates big groups we decided to keep it small. I asked which friends she wanted to invite and she named off 5 which sounded great to me. Two of her friends couldn't make it so we only had 3 which made it easy for us. Keith stayed home to help me out and I'm so glad he did.

We had the kids decorate cupcakes with pink frosting and princess sprinkles

Then played a game tossing the balloons in the air

Played a little pin the crown on the princess. Mackenzie actually didn't play she just cheered Everett and Lily on

The best part for the kids was opening presents. They all wanted to join in and did really well sharing. After presents we popped popcorn and Keith built a fort for the kids to sit in while they watched Sleeping Beauty.

That night when Keith got back from school, we had our little family party. Mackenzie opened presents from her grandparents and from us.

She requested chocolate cake with chocolate frosting- she definitely inherited that from me. The week before when we were skyping with Keith's parents, they asked her what she wanted for her birthday and she shouted "chocolate!"

I thought this was really cute, my mom got her a nativity scene and she had everyone face baby Jesus without any direction on our part.

So the title's a little harsh, she's not all terrible:) Two was a challenge because of the increased tantrums, the attitude and the testing of boundaries. It was wonderful because of her growing knowledge, increased capacity to love and watching her become a big sister. You bring so much joy to our lives Mackenzie, we love you!

Halloween

We had such a fun Halloween! Kenzie's first Halloween she was too little to go out and last year it was on a Sunday so this was our first time going out in the neighborhood and trick or treating with her. She was so excited all day and switched out of her Cinderella dress into her Rapunzel dress that night to go out in. I didn't get a good picture of either of the girls because Keith got back just in time to go out and I was too busy getting them ready. The night was a little chilly but pretty comfortable.

Clara wore the same kitten costume her little cousin Paisley did. We didn't plan it and I wish they could be closer so we could have taken our girls out together! Clara did great by the way, we took turns cuddling her.

The neighborhood was pretty packed and Mackenzie had the time of her life going up to each door and getting candy. We stayed out for almost 2 hours and by the end she would put her hand up and say "stay here" at the end of the driveways so she could go up by herself. This was one night I was glad again that we're in apartments so that Keith and I could enjoy taking Mackenzie out together instead of one of us having to stay home to hand out candy.