The Babies :)

McKenzie LOVES to try on my glasses :)

Kylie playing with the cash register.....

Yes, that is my girl in "triple threat".......Ahhh....so, so proud! :)

We have had a busy week last week. We are still adjusting to Rob's schedule switch, but the past three days he has gone in at 6AM (gotten there) because a robot has been broken. It's been tough. McKenzie is giving us a run for our money in the 2 year old 'tude department, but we're holding our own and hopefully the light at the end of the tunnel will get brighter and brighter :)

Kylie is starting to grow in strides.........she is crawling like a madwoman :) She is also trying sooo hard to pull herself up, and when we help her up, she is ALLLLLL smiles. She loves standing! :) It's sooo cute. I'll have Rob post a video later :)

Last weekend, we went to my parent's house in J-Town for my sister Sara's baby shower (she's due December 11th). On the way there, I visited with my favorite high school teacher (who is now my friend!), Steve and his wife Becky. They are so awesome and seriously like family. I love them...and so do the girls. :) It was a great visit! And the shower was nice too ;)

We are looking forward to the rest of this fall season. We put a tent up in our living room so that McKenzie could go camping last night. We had a campfire in the fireplace and we all snuggled.

If you could be praying for our family regarding my handling of McKenzie's tantrums, and Kylie's waking at 2AM for attention/feeding/diaper changes, and my overall handling of life in general that is going well...just can always use prayer ;)

More Apple Pickin' Pics and Fun Times...

Down the slide! :)

Three beautiful kids, but who's driving? :)

Look Daddy! A BABY GOAT! :)

The "pickers" :)

I got this one, Daddy!

Apple Picking...The Zoo...and Our Little Girls :)

Sisters :)

The BEST ever of daddy and his little girl :)

Family shot...we had to tackle McKenzie on her way to another toy :)

Me and the girls on the way to apple pickin'

Rob.......or Adam????? :) Ha! Ha!


We love our girls so much :) Of course, you already know that. But....we had so much fun yesterday. It was my birthday (31...yikes!!!) and so we decided to go to a Cider Mill/Apple Orchard in Romeo. We went with our friends Meg and Mike Novak and their kids, Ally and Holden. What fun!!! We had a blast. On Friday, I also took the girls to the zoo (yes, again.... because we've got to get our money's worth from our membership!) and got the BEST picture of them together.... (see below). Things continue to go well around here and this week Kylie sat up all by herself and has learned to play while sitting up. She's soooo awesome :) Here's some pics... Enjoy! ;)

Love Dare, God-Story

Okay, this is one of these times that you know that God is looking out for you...

Kelli and I are reading the Love Dare book together. Day 3 says to buy your "honey" something that says that you are thinking of them today. So, I stopped by Dynamic Flowers on my way home from work and saw the mums right away. I'd been wanting to get some because they are so beautiful, and they are perennial, meaning that they come back year after year. Being probably too much on the practical side I don't like to buy cut-flowers because they'll just die in a few days, which is a depressing waste of money for me. So, the God part of the story is that the district manager, Mike, was in charge of this particular store this particular night and was happy to hear that I was planning to give my wife one nice mum and plant the other one. He said that he was expecting a shipment of 50 more mums the following day, and had all of these others on hand that he probably wouldn't be able to sell because they needed too much help. I offered him a 20 to give me whatever he thought was fair. He started loading me up! 13 mums total including the really pretty one that I picked out for Kelli and I was stunned and blessed by God. Amazing! Just as I was finishing loading the 13 mums into the Mountaineer (took a lot of space you know?), Mike came out of the store with another big suprise for me! He gave me a bouquet of a dozen wrapped roses for my sweetheart. He said they would only last a day or so anyway... Kelli loved the roses, and I planted all the mums except for one that we gave away, this morning before work. Yes, this is a God-story. God is amazing and kind beyond understanding, even answering our prayers when we don't know what to pray for. He used a nice man named Mike to bless our family.

You want to hear the funny part that really tells you God was in it? Kelli went shopping for me during the day and almost bought me a mum for my present :-)

Marley and Everything Else

Well...Marley was taken back to Ohio yesterday to live with a family with kids that were older. I know this is very sudden to most of you, but it is something we had to consider for our family. We LOVED this puppy soooo much, but unfortunately, in all of his puppy-dom, we had to choose Kylie over him :) He loved to lick Kylie and he loved to be played with so much, and with three others already to care for in this house, he was not getting the attention he deserved. And every time Kylie was on the floor (because she LOVES to crawl), Marley was there. It was a very difficult decision for our family and it almost feels like we lost another pet, but it was definitely the best decision for our family. He is with an 8 year old now who will love on him to no end. I am sad, but I know it was the right thing to do.....

Rob's work schedule has changed from 7-4 to 11(am)-7(pm). It's been a big adjustment for the family, but a huge blessing on his end in so many ways. He gets to see the girls more, his drive which was taking 1.5 hours with all the construction is now back down to 35-40 minutes, he gets to work w/2 shifts and feel more involved, so all around it's great! :) The tough part for me is that when he had to work at 7AM, I slept through the first 1-3 hours he was gone. Now, I am up the whole time with the girls from about 7:30/8:00AM until he returns home at 8PM. It's been a big transition for me.

McKenzie went to the doctor today. She was diagnosed with strep on August 28th and ever since then, she's been battling a cold, too. Last week, she developed a nasty cough and yesterday, she said her back hurt when she coughed. I took her in, but there was nothing found in her lungs...praise God! :) So, I guess it's just something that has to run its course.

We also started the companion book, called The Love Dare, to the move Fireproof. We are on day #2 :) I'll let you know how it all turns out. I am excited to see where this may take us in our next step of marriage. :)

So....I think that's all. We are going to Emmy Wolo's 1st birthday party on Friday night....and Saturday is MY birthday :) Since I will officially be "over" 30 this year, I have just decided to stay 30. Is that OK? :) We are going to Panera (my favorite) to have a turkey sandwich with potato soup, then we are going to Olive Garden to have black tuxedo cheescake (at least that's what I call it :) ) I think there's a fancier name :) So...it should be fun :)

Ok..gotta get ready for Sylvan and pack the girls up to meet Daddy there. Have a wonderful week...hope to post more pictures soon :)

Just because she's soooo cute :)

We were swinging outside together yesterday while McKenzie took a nap. :)