The McKowns

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIS!

2008-09-29T08:00:00.000-07:00

While it's still only the 29th here, it's the 30th in China, so I thought I'd write a Happy Birthday post for my sister, Carrie.

HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SIS! I have admired you for so many reasons all of my life. You are strong, independent, wise and more caring than most. You are sensitive, loving and supportive. There is no one in the world that I would rather laugh 'til I cried with than you. It is so comforting having a sister, and especially one that you know cares so deeply for you. Growing up I tried to be just like you (notice I said be not dress like you ;)!! I always envied your discipline and strength. You use to enjoy planning out the next 5 or so years of my life and lay it out for me. Have I told you how much I miss that? Maybe I just threw you for so many loops that you gave up.

I love you, Carrie, and while I will let some tears fall today because you are so far away, I will be praising God for your life and your heart. You're the best!

ALIVE AND KICKIN!

2008-09-16T09:56:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone-I finally got onto the internet today because Casey's office miraculously had power!

Ike came ready for a fight, but we're still standing. It seems the "panic mode" that everyone was in before the storm has only intensified, though. As gas stations get power one by one, the lines to the pump stretch on forever and frozen water is all of the sudden as valuable as gold. We stayed with the kids at my parents house during the storm since they have a gas grill. Oddly enough, we've eaten better in the past few days than most other times, grilling every last morsel of meat from our freezers so it doesn't go to waste. Saturday night's meal was a virtual buffet of turkey burgers, pork tenderloin, potatoes, corn on the cob, followed the next day by a mountain of chicken nuggets. Each evening it's as if we've jumped into a time machine, and at once we hunker down by candle light to sit around and listen to the radio until we head off to bed by ten o'clock.

It's been an interesting few days, to say the least. We spent the better part of 9 hours working to restore my parents yard to its former glory and our house is just a few more hours short of restoration as well. It's clear that many people were not as fortunate, though, and we are thankful to be safe and sound.

I hope everyone in the area is alright and recovering!

yIKEs!!!

2008-09-12T06:51:00.001-07:00

It's Friday and apparently there is a hurricane on the way. I was sure that when I woke up this morning and turned on the news that they were going to say that it had turned and wasn't coming our way, but it looks like it is. People are freaking out. The lines at the grocery store were a mile long yesterday, almost every business is closed today, gas is running out... Casey and I, though, are solidifying our reputations of making light of heavy situations. Maybe it's our way of dealing with the situation, I don't know, but I can think of nothing more amusing than watching everyone scramble around like the end of the world is upon us.

Don't get me wrong, though, we know that this is a serious storm and that there are many people near the coast that are in immediate danger, but we feel pretty confident that, short of a bunch of fallen branches, some minor damage, and a power outage, we are safe. But, lest we be considered reckless, we stocked up on booze and twinkies. Just kidding. They were out of twinkies.

TOO FUNNY NOT TO MENTION...

2008-08-17T18:13:00.001-07:00

I did one of the posts a while back, about things that Aiden has said that made me laugh, but I haven't done one in a long time and a post on one of my friend's blogs reminded me that I needed to do another one.

These are things that Aiden has said in the past three days that put a smile on my face:

While going to check the mailbox:
Me: "Hey Aiden and Pierce, do you want to walk to the mailbox barefoot?"
Aiden: "ooo, yeah-you guys walk barefoot, and I'll walk kittyfoot!"
Me: "No, it's barefoot, Aiden, not BEARfoot"

When I caught Aiden shoving Pierce down:
Me: "Aiden-why did you just shove your brother??"
Aiden: "But Mama, sometimes I just get so frustrated with him and then I my body just can't help it!"
Me: (thinking) I know buddy-I feel your pain

When trying to decide what to eat for breakfast:
Aiden: "Mama, I want beans for breakfast"
Me: "No, I don't want you to have beans for breakfast, how about eggs?"
Aiden: "But why don't you want me to have beans for breakfast? Because then I will toot all day?"

When discussing Santa Claus: (this may be controversial, I understand. Yes-we tell our kids that Santa is not a real person)
Aiden: "I wish I could go meet Santa Claus"
Me: "Well, you know that Santa is a character, and when we are playing we can pretend that they are real and use our imaginations. Kind of like Superman and Thomas the Train."
Aiden: "yeah, and like Dora, and Batman, and Chinese people!"
****note to self: don't be surprised when Aiden wets himself the first time he visits his cousins in China****

*My Favorite* While picking out what to wear:
Me: "Darn it, this pretty shirt doesn't fit you any more-I loved that shirt on you"
Aiden: "Why did you love that shirt on me?"
Me: "Because it has bright colors and I think you look handsome in bright colors"
Aiden: "Yeah! And do you know what? God thinks that the clouds look handsome, too, so that's why he puts bright colored clothes on them when it's a sunset!"

Despite his constant questions and endless antagonizing of his brother, He has such a sweet heart and can say some darn cute stuff sometimes!

Are you there, God??

2008-08-08T08:35:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! I couldn't resist showing this to you guys. Yesterday, Aiden wanted to make a little video on the computer, so I pressed record and this is the little snippet of our day it captured. Let me set the scene: After pressing 'record' I turned to see where Pierce was. I found him in my parents bathroom (we are house sitting at the moment), with a twizzler in his hand (movie snack), and his hand elbow deep in the toilet-stirring the toilet water with his twizzler, with a roll of toilet paper unrolled all over the floor. This lovely event is what you hear going on in the background. Aiden, who is accustomed to these sort of antics from Pierce, is unphased and proceeds in his conversation with God and Jesus.

If you listen carefully, at about the 48 second mark, you can hear me adding a rule to Pierce's ongoing list of random rules (like "don't take the poo out of your diaper" and "stop body slamming your brother").

2 cool to be 2!!

2008-08-03T18:03:00.000-07:00

Our little man, Pierce, turned 2 today! It honestly feels like he should be turning 1-I don't know where the past year went! We have been trying all weekend to get him to say he is "two", but every time we ask him how old he is, he says something like "my daddy", or "aiden two", and when we insist, he smiles a sly little smile and says "naaaggghh I not two". oh well. With all of my family out of town, we decided to keep it low key and the five of us had a little cake (well, Grae had the milk, minus the cake). Pierce blew out his candles and immediately leaned over and took a bite without using his hands, and then devoured a huge slice. I remembered at the last minute to grab my camera, so these are the only two shots I got. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Pierce!! You are a constant source of joy, energy, smiles and fun for us. We love you little buddy.

not enough hours in the day...

2008-07-18T15:07:00.000-07:00

I am so very backed up with editing right now, but I thought everyone might forgive my poor blogging if I just posted a picture of Grae. She is ALL smiles these days...

...and cheeks, apparently!

eventually, they all fall...

2008-07-10T15:43:00.000-07:00

After a fun morning of swimming with friends, and a missed nap by Pierce, I found the boys like this when I came to tell them their dinner was ready. Bonus: it will be an early bedtime tonight!

Happy Fourth on the Fifth!

2008-07-05T17:35:00.000-07:00

We hope everyone had a great Fourth! We celebrated by grilling out with family at my parents house. My cousin, Kristin, and her boyfriend, Brent, came in town, too, and it was great to see them! Kristin, Brent, Casey, Aiden, and I all shot off a few fireworks and I got them all to spell things with their sparklers so I could take pictures. Oh-and Hillary Clinton made a rare appearance! From the looks of things, she hasn't taken not receiving the Democratic nomination well.

HAPPY GOLDEN BIRTHDAY TO ME!!

2008-06-30T12:48:00.000-07:00

I turned 28 on the 28th this year! It was such a wonderful, low-key birthday. I got an A-mazing birthday gift- a new iMac computer! It is so beautiful. I've been wanting one for a long time and we got a really good deal on it. It's going to be so much better to do my photo editing on-I'm just a little excited, if you can't tell ;)

And...check out the cake Casey had made for me! There was a girl on the hiking trip that Casey went on recently that makes cakes, and she made this one for me-it looks exactly like my camera, and she even put one of my pictures in the viewfinder! And the craziest part is that she is only 14!

he's never short for words...

2008-06-24T13:01:00.000-07:00

So Aiden has been quite the chatterbox lately. It has resulted in several headaches for Mama. He seriously does not stop talking the entire day unless he's eating. He wanted to send an email to Casey's parents to thank them for some surprises they sent in the mail, so he dictated a letter to me. If you know him, you'll appreciate the letter more, because you can hear him saying the words! It's best read at a continuous speed, because that's how it was dictated (I actually had a hard time typing fast enough to keep up with him). (note: Mermie is Casey's mom, GramDad is Casey's Dad. Doggie small is a what Aiden named a little stuffed dog that he carried around for months before leaving him in Austin at his cousin's house.)

Dear Mermie and GramDad,

Thank you for this train book and the other book and the picture book that you sent in the mail. And thank you for letting me be at your house SO long! I really liked playing with all of your toys and the sand pile for I can put the hose on it and make a river. I wish you could come to my house and play with me and Pierce. Well, I am tired right now because mama and me went to pick blueberries this morning but it was really really really really really early and even everyone was asleep in their beds!! But I picked a lot and a lot of blueberries and I ate a lot and a lot of blueberries too! Mama and me are going to make a pie with all those blueberries that we got today. Pierce didn't go to pick blueberries, but he stayed at home with Daddy and Grae.

I know! Maybe when you come to my house we could go to pick blueberries! That would be fun, ok? And then we could make more and more and more pies for EVERYONE! And do you know what? My Daddy brought me a NEW doggie small for a surprise. Well, he doesn't look like doggie small, but I will still call him doggie small. He is so cute and fuzzy, and Pierce got a hippo, but the hippo is blue, but doggie small is brown. I love my new doggie small so much. But I know that God is taking care of my old doggie small, but he is lost, but now I have a NEW one! Well, I don't have anything else to say, so I love you Mermie and Gramdad. bye.

Love Aiden

Summer is here...

2008-06-08T09:01:00.000-07:00

It's not officially summer yet, but you wouldn't know it in Houston. I don't know if it's because of the amazing Spring that we had or not, but it has been CRAZY hot and humid the past few weeks. It's been way too hot to be out with Grae for very long, and anyone with boys knows that you can't really get through the day without playing outside. Thankfully, we have the pool to cool us off!

shades of grae

2008-05-29T12:18:00.000-07:00

oh the boys are back in town....the boys are back in town...

2008-05-29T06:11:00.001-07:00

That song was playing on the soundtrack to our weekend. Casey's parents brought the boys back and our house is once again a noisy circus. Somehow, though, we had to admit that we missed the chaos that two boys create.

Along with Casey's parents, his sister, Kristen, and one of her daughters, Gwennyth, also came for the weekend. Aiden had so much fun playing with someone other than Pierce, who just tagged along, mimmicking their every move.

The boys have been great with Grae! Aiden is, of course, especially interested in her and has been loving on her non-stop.

what's in a name...

2008-05-05T17:30:00.000-07:00

We thought we should also explain our sweet girl's name and where it came from.

Grae Cecile McKown

Grae--is pretty much just a name that we both love. A friend of mine had met someone with a little girl with the same name and ever since I heard it I loved it and it topped my list of names. We decided to spell it a little differently, though. So there's not really any big symbolism, we just love the name. We found out after she was born, though, that Casey has a great grandmother who's last name was Gray, so I guess there's somewhat of a family link.

Cecile--Ever since Casey and I got married we knew that if we ever had a daughter we wanted her middle name to be Cecile. Cecile is a dear friend from Belgium that I met while she was an exchange student when I was in High School. We have remained good friends and she was at our wedding in Italy. If you've met Cecile, you probably don't need an explanation as to why we love her so much. Cecile has many qualities that we want for our daughter. She is intelligent, independent, fun, sensitive, committed, curious about life, spontaneous, honest and quite possibly the funniest person either of us has ever met. I could go on and on. We love you, Cecile, and we can't wait until you get to meet Grae!

how it went down...

2008-05-05T06:01:00.001-07:00

Some of you wanted to know some more details about Grae's birth, so I am happy to oblige.

I went into labor on Friday, the 25th. It was bad timing. Casey had left early that morning to go out of town for the weekend. He was at a Bachelor Party weekend for a great friend and was over 2 hours away. Luckily, the boys and I were staying at my parents house just in case I needed help. I felt sick and out of sorts all day, but wasn't having any contractions. My mom and I watched some TV that night and she and my Dad went to bed early. Within 30 minutes of them going to bed I started having contractions. It was like someone flipped a switch, so I timed them and immediately they were 5 minutes apart and over a minute long. After a couple of hours I woke my mom up and called my doctor, who told me to head to the hospital because I was already over 4 cm dilated at my last appointment, and we wanted to be sure Casey could make it in time for the birth.

My Mom and I got to the the hospital around midnight and after monitoring my contractions they admited me around 2 am. I texted my dear friend, Jen, around 3 am because I told her I would let her know if anything happened, but thought she'd just get it in the morning. I should have known that she'd be only half asleep, though, because she is also pregnant. She shocked me and came to the hospital immediately and stayed to keep me company until after 9am so that my mom could be home when the boys woke up. So after getting my epidural around 3:30, I texted Casey and his friend, Seth (also at the party) to tell him I was in labor. Casey's phone was dead, but Seth called me back :) and woke Casey up. They told me later that the conversation went something like this:

Seth: "Casey, dude, wake up-Kim's in labor"
Casey: "Shut up, man"
Seth: "No, seriously, she's at the hospital right now"
Casey: "Shut up, Seth-wait....what??!!"

Unfortunately it was storming really badly where Casey was at, so he waited until around 5:30 to leave. He told me once he got the hospital around 8:45am that he hydroplaned on the way and did four 360's, ending up on the opposite (on-coming) side of the highway in the shoulder. yikes. He made it, though, and after the doctor broke my water at about 10:45 things went into warp speed and she was born at 11:39am.

So there it is...well, the semi-simplified version, at least. We feel so blessed to have had a third wonderful birthing experience and once again we are in awe of God's perfect creation.

Grae slept like this for almost an hour yesterday. The little tongue sticking out just killed me.

She's here!

2008-05-01T19:54:00.000-07:00

Well, here's the first post about the newest addition to The McKown family! It's been such a crazy week, but I managed to snap this quick picture of Grae throwin' the duece to all her new peeps out there!

For those of you who haven't heard, Grae Cecile McKown was born on Saturday, the 26th, at 11:39am. She was 7 lbs. 8oz. and 21 inches long. Besides some jaundice, she is doing great and the boys are adjusting to having a baby sister.

Sorry I don't have more pictures right now, but don't worry, I'll be posting so many pictures of her in the months to come that I'm sure you'll be begging me to stop!

In the meantime, here are a couple pictures my Dad sent me from the hospital...

Too Funny Not To Mention #1

2008-03-28T06:28:00.000-07:00

My sister gave me the idea yesterday of having ongoing posts about the funny things that our kids say. Since Pierce isn't talking much, the material will primarily be from Aiden, but anyone who knows Aiden knows that there is no shortage from him. So, here is installment #1 of "Too Funny Not To Mention".

Yesterday, Aiden, Pierce and I were laying on my bed watching the baby roll around in my tummy when Aiden made a startling revelation.

Mom: "Look, the baby is really moving a lot!"

Aiden: "Mommy! The baby is coming out!"

Mom: "What do you mean, Aiden?"

Aiden: (pointing to my stomach) "Look, I see cracks on your tummy and I think the baby must be coming out!"

*Aiden was, of course, referring the eternal reminder that I have had 3 kids: stretch marks. Thanks for the reminder, Buddy.

to the nines...

2008-03-24T11:39:00.000-07:00

Our friends Kathryn and Jared got married this weekend and Aiden and I both got to be in the wedding. Kathryn's little boy, Hudson, is one of Aiden's best buds. He and two of Hudson's other friends walked with him down the aisle. Aiden was so excited to wear a suit and "look like daddy" for the night! Here's a picture of Aiden and Cadence in their suits. Thankfully I don't have any pictures of my stomach attempting to wear my dress around.

I also got to take Kathryn's Bridal portraits, so I posted a few on my photoblog. I felt like I should have been paying her to take them, though-what a beauty!

like father like sons...

2008-03-17T13:50:00.000-07:00

Casey bought the boys lolipops with lips on them this weekend. I think he was more excited about them than they were. I'm so glad my husband is goofy. Life is way too serious sometimes.

seriously...is it May yet???

2008-03-10T12:56:00.001-07:00

Running around after Aiden and Pierce has made this pregnancy fly by until the past couple of weeks. Now I'm wondering if May will ever be here, because I'm ready to get on with it, already. I loved every minute of my first pregnancy, but the third time around isn't so glamourous. And by the way, it would stink to be the guy that Braxton Hicks contractions were named after. I would hate to know that millions of women would be cursing my name long after my death.

less than eight weeks left...pray for me.

Family visit

2008-02-26T09:58:00.000-08:00

We got to see Casey's sister, Kim, her husband, Pete, and their little girl, Apple, this weekend. They were in town for a short visit from China. Casey and I went to visit them in November and we couldn't believe how much Apple had grown since then. She is the sweetest little baby girl I've ever been around-a little angel. It was great to see you, Craigs! We can't wait to come see you again!!

2008-02-22T04:43:00.001-08:00

Some quick pictures I snapped of Pierce after bathtime last night. This kid loves being naked. After I took this picture I got a diaper to put on him, at which point a lengthy and strenuous (on my part) chase ensued. I'm sad to report that my 19 month old is pretty much faster than me at this point. He's definitely taking advantage of my state, and Aiden is enjoying watching me run/waddle after him like I'm balancing a beach ball between my knees. Only a couple more months to go....

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY FROM US!

2008-02-14T20:08:00.000-08:00

Sorry there haven't been any posts in a while! I wanted to put something up real quick, so here's a couple pictures of the boys with their Valentines Day treats (Pierce enjoyed a little dirt with his, as you can see).

Hope everyone had a wonderful day with the ones you LOVE!!

so sad...

2008-01-15T12:42:00.000-08:00

...it borders on pathetic, really. This morning, without knowing it, our 4 yr. old made a very wise observation about his mother. He had a friend over to play, and this is the little conversation I heard:

Hudson: "Wow, Aiden, where did you get that car from?"
Aiden: "My Mama got it for me from Tar..Tar...from Tar (he is stuttering horribly at this point trying to remember the name)...from Tar...from TARGBUCKS!!"

So I like Target and Starbucks, who can blame me, especially when I've got a Starbucks gift card from Christmas burning a whole in my wallet. It's yet another reminder of how smart and observant kids can be, and how painfully aware they are of their parents vices.

high-chair high jinx

2008-01-08T11:52:00.000-08:00

I forgot to post this a couple of weeks ago. I was at home having dinner with the boys and got up from the table to use the restroom. This was the scene when I came back into the room. I'm still not convinced that his big brother didn't aid in the operation, but he denies any involvement.

2008-01-07T07:55:00.000-08:00

I usually don't make it out from behind the camera to actually BE in pictures, so I thought I'd post this one of me and the boys. Also, some proof of my rapidly growing belly. Aiden took this picture, believe it or not. He got a new Lighting McQueen digital camera for Christmas, but he took this one with my 5D. He seems to really be getting into taking pictures and is actually concerned when they aren't crisp!

fyi

2008-01-03T11:30:00.001-08:00

Hey guys, just as an fyi-I'm back to updating my photoblog-mckownphotography.blogspot.com-sorry it's been so long.
Here's a recent picture of my cousin's little boy, Hudson. He wasn't too thrilled to be the subject, but not many one year olds are.

I'm back...

2007-12-27T09:48:00.000-08:00

ok. I know it's been over two months since my last post. I'm a bad blogger-I've heard it from more than a few people-but unless you have two toddler boys and you are at least 5 months pregnant, I'm not really going to feel bad (she says with extreme "blogger guilt" in her voice). That being said-here's a little update since I saw you last.

We went to China to visit my sister and her family and also Casey's sister and her husband and baby. We were there for 11 days but it wasn't nearly long enough. It was really hard to come back and we are hoping to go back soon.

I got to go to a really cool b&b for one my friend's birthday. It was such a relaxing, wonderful and much-needed weekend. Afterwards, I went up to Dallas to my cousin, Erin's, house. I got to take a few pictures of her sweet family for their Christmas cards. I also took some bridal portraits last month but haven't been able to post any of them until now because the wedding was last weekend. The wedding was so much fun and now I have tons of editing to keep me busy for the next few weeks. Christmas was a lot of fun this year. Aiden loved every minute of it and was a joy to watch!

It's been a fun, fast holiday season so far and we're looking forward to 2008, especially the arrival of a little girl in May!

2007-10-16T16:55:00.000-07:00

Aiden's party on Saturday was a success. He only invited 5 friends that weren't family, and yet there were still over 40 people there all together. That's what happens when you have a big family I guess. The weather was gorgeous, which was good, because my Dad was able to drive the kids on his tractor to the back of his lot where they picked out a pumpkin, then they all painted them later. Casey's sister, brother-in-law, and their three kids came in from Austin, and Casey's parents came from Denton to celebrate, which meant so much to Aiden and to us. It was a fun, fast, jam-packed weekend, and now we're starting to recover.

Pierce LOVES his Grandpa!

Our sweet niece, Morgan. Aiden adores this girl...........The Stones from Austin

WE HAVE A FOUR YEAR OLD

2007-10-11T06:54:00.000-07:00

Aiden turned 4 yesterday. It was the first year that he was aware of what was happening, and it was so much fun to see the excitement in his eyes. He danced all day. Literally-he was almost always doing this little, I guess you'd call it a "jig", from sheer joy. Casey took off work early and we took him to do his favorite things. We played with the trains at Barnes and Noble, we got ice cream, rode the trolley (he got to ring the bell!), went to the library to get some books, and played at the park. It was such a sweet time and all I could think of is what a big boy he has become. He has such a sweet heart. We often worry about how sensitive he is, but his concern for others is so real, and he cares so deeply, that I think we should stop worrying and try to be more like him. I am so thankful that I have a son who still asks me to cuddle and puts his hand on my tummy already to "hold hands" with the new baby. He is a gift. It's hard to believe that 4 years have passed since he came into our lives. We love you Aiden, you are such a big boy!!

We are having a little party with his "big boy" friends this saturday.

I love his little fuzzy head at this age

he still loves his sunglasses!

HERE WE GO AGAIN....

2007-10-06T12:42:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm sure all of you have probably already heard, but we had to make it official on the blog. We're expecting another little McKown! The doctor confirmed this week that there's only one in there (sigh of relief), and that the due date is officially May 8th. This being the third time around, I'm sure I'll be showing a lot sooner than before, so stayed tuned for my expanding waistline! We told Aiden and he is now enthralled with what the baby looks like and what it is doing and wants to talk about it all the time. Unfortunately he has a while to wait, so we'll see how his patience holds up.

aaarrrrgggghhhh!!!

2007-09-21T09:27:00.000-07:00

Aiden got his face painted at a drop-in daycare the other night. He came home and said he needed to take his shirt off because pirates don't wear shirts and they are scary.

Our trip to Colorado with Casey's parents

2007-09-05T12:05:00.000-07:00

I know these are a littled belated, but at least I got them up at all. We went to Colorado with Casey's parents at the beginning of August. Casey and his Dad went on a week-long hike in Pagosa Springs, and his Mom and I took the boys to Durango for the week. Fun was had by all (especially Aiden when he and I took the 3 1/2 hour long train ride!)

girls will be girls...

2007-05-29T18:56:00.000-07:00

i never posted pictures of a trip i took with my bible study at the end of april. it was so great to relax and spend time with great girls. we went on a cruise out of galveston to cozumel.

And upon looking at the pictures i am left with only one question: how come i am the only one who still acts like i'm in junior high....

(THESE ARE FOR YOU, CECILE!)

my little model...

2007-05-27T17:34:00.000-07:00

poor guy. he's too often the target of my neverending picture taking. eventually he just putters out and ends up on the floor like this. little does he know that this is when i like to take pictures of him the most!

it's almost summer....

2007-05-24T20:20:00.000-07:00

the boys and I spent the day out in the front yard. pierce ate approximately 9 leaves and a few pieces of tree bark i'm pretty sure. this is before we got the watering hose out!

water fun!!

2007-05-24T20:19:00.000-07:00

...and this is after we got the hose out!

keep your eyes on the ball in my right hand...

2007-05-21T15:55:00.000-07:00

AND NOW IT'S GONE!!

2007-04-04T13:54:00.000-07:00

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm a horrible blogger, I know! I can post pictures all day long, it's the updating and the stories that are hard for me to get to, so from here on out I'll post pictures and just write brief 'snipits' and if you don't like it...well...call me and you can be my ghost writer.

Aiden and Pierce with our friend, Greenley. I think Pierce already has a crush!

We went to Palm Springs, CA last weekend for a business trip for Casey. We didn't take the boys and that gave us a chance to really relax and enjoy ourselves, even though the weekend flew by! We went to a really great zoo/nature preserve there, and I fell in love with these little birds.
Our flight back got canceled and we had to spend the night at an airport hotel, but we got great meal vouchers and ate in a really cool hotel-top lounge right next the where the airplanes flew in to land. It was amazing!

2006-12-15T07:43:00.000-08:00

I know, I know, I have neglected the blog for too long, and you are going to throw up if you have to look at "mimi's pumpkin patch" much longer. It's been a little crazy in our world since Thanksgiving, and to be quite honest, my daily routine isn't all that exciting to anyone who isn't a mom, but I thought the least I could do was put some different pictures of the boys up. Aiden was obviously showing me his best "i'm 3 and i've got more attitude in my little pinky than you have in your whole body" look. Pierce, on the other hand is happy 90% of the time and eating the other 10%, as evidenced by his gargantuan proportions.

We are heading to Casey's family's ranch this weekend near Austin to celebrate Christmas with them, and then we will celebrate the actual day here with Kim's family. Aiden is having so much fun this year, as it is the first year he really is starting to understand Christmas. Let me add, though, that his version of the story goes a little something like this: "Baby Jesus, Son of God, came from my tummy, and so did Mary, and ALL the presents, and now they live on the farm inside a big barn, with cows and sheep and horses and penguins (we just saw the movie Happy Feet), and the men brought Baby Jesus lots of presents just like me!!" I didn't say he understood it perfectly, but we're working on it. MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

MIMI'S PUMPKIN PATCH!!

2006-10-24T16:46:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures I took of the boys yesterday at my parent's house. Aiden wouldn't put on his chicken costume, but I'm still determined to get a picture of both of them dressed as chickens, so stay tuned. oh, and in case any of you were wondering, pierce IS as big as he looks in the picture!

Potty Wars

2006-09-25T16:02:00.000-07:00

I had to share this little story because I haven't been able to stop thinking about it all day...

Casey and I live in a two story house, so Aiden's room is too far away to hear if anything is wrong in the night and since he tends to have nightmares every now and then, we use a monitor during the night in our bedroom. Most of you are already aware that Aiden loves trains (huge understatement), and very often we hear him in the night making the very realistic "wooo-wooo" sound of the train in his sleep, or saying "the train is coming..." or something else train-related. Well last night I was up in the night feeding Pierce at about 2:30am when I heard Aiden talking in his sleep. I figured he must be talking about trains again, so I turned the volume on the monitor up so that I could have a laugh at his expense. It took me a second to understand what he was saying, but this time he wasn't talking about trains and he sounded VERY distressed. It was obvious he was having a nightmare, and by this time he was screaming. This is what he was saying: "NO Mama-I not. NO! I no like potty. I not go potty Mama!!" He went on a little longer battling his potty-training determined mother in his sleep, before he and his size 6 diaper must have won the fight and he calmed down.

I sat there laughing so hard, and decided maybe I needed to back off the little guy a bit for the next few days. But fear not-I WILL win the potty training battle eventually, Mama always wins!

LET'S TRY THIS AGAIN...

2006-09-18T15:28:00.000-07:00

Okay. Here we go. This has to be the third or fourth time that we've tried to start one of these, so hopefully this time will be different. Our lives seem so crazy right now, but we know that this is a great way to update our friends and family with what's going on with us, so we're going to try it one more time.

I guess we'll start by updating everyone with our most recent exciting event. On August 3, 2006, we welcomed our second son into the world! Pierce Ebeling McKown was born at 12:23 pm, at 7 lbs. 10 oz. and 20 inches. The delivery couldn't have gone any smoother, but it became evident during his first night that Pierce was having some problems breathing. His lungs had quite a bit of fluid in them, so they admitted him to the Newborn ICU at about 3:30am. He spent the next week there, getting worse before he would get better. He was diagnosed with Respitory Distress Syndrome, but thankfully made a full recovery and came home eight days after his birth.

The adjustment from one child to two has definitely been challenging, to say the least, but completely rewarding at the same time. The lack of sleep is much harder to deal with this time around. Getting up in the middle of the night multiple times to feed Aiden wasn't nearly as debilitating or exhausting, knowing that I could take naps the following day with him. This time, on the other hand, my days are spent chasing after a three year old, who conveniently grew out of his own nap time when Pierce was born. It's definitely not all bad, though, not even close. Aiden has adjusted so beautifully to having a baby around. He isn't jealous at all, and loves to be near Pierce, constantly talking to him and singing him songs. I pray so strongly that they will grow closer and closer together as they get older.

So that's the latest update on our little family. Casey still loves his job as a Financial Advisor, and I am enjoying being at home with Aiden and Pierce for the time being. We are really excited about this fall season because of some new bible studies and small groups that are starting up. We can't wait to see what God has planned for this season of our lives!