McKinley's Three!

Well I haven't done very well at updating my blog the past couple weeks. The past few weeks have been crazy. I finally got our baby announcements out, which is pathetic since she is now 6 weeks old. I've also been trying to get caught up on McKinley's scrapbook and babybook so that I can get busy on Annabelles. This weekend is McKinley's birthday party so I spent the past weekend making birthday invitations and birthday games/decorations. Meanwhile I was trying to get McKinley's barbie house painted before her birthday. Like I said earlier, the past 2 weeks have been crazy. So now I'm going to try and get caught up on our blog.
Yesterday we celebrated McKinleys 3rd birthday. I cannot believe she is 3, which is funny because anyone else we meet can't believe she is only 3. When Brett got off work yesterday we took McKinley to eat at the Rainforest Cafe. It is her favorite place to eat and it is so much fun. Then we took her to this place in the mall called "Jeepers" where they have arcade games and little rides. This was her first time there and she loved it. Her favorite part of the evening was riding the carousel.


Afterward we went home and opened presents. McKinley did pretty well for herself. She got some fun new princess jewelry and and high heels. She also got some barbie dolls and a barbie house. While my parents were out visiting my dad made a barbie house for her that I've painted/decorated and Brett put carpet in. It turned out pretty nice. The kitchen even has a tile floor, which makes it nicer than our house.





Her grandparents sent her a blow up princess house that is a ball pit. McKinley loved playing with all the little balls. However I think her favorite present was the little remote control car we got her. It was really cheep and only goes one direction, but it was perfect for her. The car starts driving as soon as you turn it on, so McKinley spent the evening chasing it around the house. Overall it was a great birthday, and it was so nice to be able to celebrate it together as a family. We sure do love our McKinley bug! She is such a sweet little girl. Since we had Annabelle she has grown up so much. She tries so hard to be our big helper. We are so grateful for her.

Best Friends

In the past 6 weeks, since we had Annabelle, we have only left the house a few times. So McKinley has had to find things around the house to keep her entertained. Luckily, her 2 best friends are at home with her; and they would be Anna "Banana" and Hee Hee.

McKinley has loved being a big sister. She is so cute with Annabelle. The other day I was doing the dishes and McKinley was in the living room talking to Annabelle. All of a sudden I heard her run into the bathroom and she came back with the corner of a square of toilet paper. She then leaned over Annabelle and was attempting to blow Annabelles nose. Apparently Annabelle wasn't real excited about it because she kept moving her head around tring to keep her nose away from McKinley. However, McKinley is persistent. She put her hand on Annabelles head to hold it still while she then proceeded to blow her nose. Meanwhile I could hear her saying "Annabelle you silly, hold still." It was cute. What a great sister. We call McKinley our little baby monitor, because we know that if Annabelle fusses at all McKinley will track us down to tell us. She sure doesn't like it when her sister is sad.

McKinley's other best friend is her rocking horse Hee Hee. She has been very attached to this horse for awhile, but since we had Annabelle she has become Hee Hees mom. In the past few weeks she has started dressing her horse in clothes and fixing his hair. Hee Hee sleeps with her and she makes sure that he gets 3 meals a day. She wasn't very happy when I told her that he couldn't sit up at the table, so we have a special place for him on the floor next to the table so he can still eat his meals with us. I've had to keep track of Hee Hee lately because McKinley has this new idea that Hee Hee needs to be taking showers and that he needs to use the bathroom. So far I've been able to convince her not to put him in the tub or the toilet, but we'll see how long that lasts. I must say that I am very grateful for our little Hee Hee because he keeps McKinley company when I'm busy with Annabelle.

Birthdays and Grandparents

On Sunday my parents left our house and headed back to Idaho. It was so nice having them out here. They were so helpful. I was really sad to see them go and so was McKinley. She is still asking where Grandma and Grandpa are all the time.



My parents were such a great help. My dad cooked almost every meal and while he was out here he built some shelves for bretts desk and a barbie doll house for McKinleys birthday. Meanwhile my mom did laundry, cleaned, and helped with McKinley and Annabelle a lot.
We have been so lucky to have so much help since we had the baby. Bretts parents came out the week we had Annabelle to help. All the extra help has been wonderful. Having our parents out visiting made us want to move closer to home even more. We really miss our family.
While my parents were out we celebrated our birthdays. Brett was really excited about all of the great tools he got and I am really excited about my new sewing machine, and having my parents out to celebrate my birthday with me made the day even more perfect.
We got some family pictures while my parents were here. They aren't great, but they will have to do until I am willing to leave the house with Annabelle.


Thanks again to both sets of parents for coming out to help. We really appreciated your help.
P.S.- McKinley has been enjoying the slippers you left Grandpa.

Anna"Baby"

Annabelle turned 4 weeks old yesterday. I can't believe how much she is growing and changing already. Today I tried to put one of her baby outfits on her and it was an inch to short. I knew she had gained some weight, but I hadn't realized she had gotten so much longer. She is such a good baby. We are so blessed to have her in our home.

Our Cute Girls

I haven't been able to update my blog lately. Two children are definately more difficult then one. My mom helped me get some pictures taken of the girls today. It was quite the battle, but we got a few cute ones.

I love watching McKinley with Annabelle. I can tell these 2 are going to be best friends.

Big Sister

For the past few months I've been very worried about how McKinley would adjust to having a sister. She has been the center of attention in our home for a long time. I was afraid that McKinley wasn't going to like her new sister, but I was wrong. McKinley loves her Anna"Baby". She loves her so much that we really have to watch her when she is around Annabelle. We'll find her trying to pick Annabelle up or laying on her giving her kisses. She loves to give Annabelle kisses and she loves to show Annabelle how she does big girl things.


Today we had one of our friends drop off a baby present for Annabelle. She brought her an activity center. We had McKinley show Annabelle how to use it. McKinley was very excited to help Annabelle use her new toy. (Thanks for the fun present Sue)


We've enjoyed watching McKinley step into her big sister role. Annabelle is so lucky to have such a great big sister.

Annabelle Jo

At 4:54 PM on December 30 we welcomed baby Annabelle Jo Maxfield into our family. Everything went very well, and both mom and baby are home and doing well. Well, enough talking, here are the pictures that I know everyone is really wanting to see.