Happy Birthday Little Hippie Chick!

Sunday afternoon we celebrated Savannah's 1 year birthday with a groovy hippie party! Her actual birthday is today though!

Good Morning Birthday Girl!












On our way to church - tie-dyed church attire.












Benjamin on our way to church and not happy that it's not HIS birthday!












We found out that a way to keep Savannah entertained for a super long time is to tie balloons to her high chair. She absolutely loved it!













Cousins Abby and Andrew.












Peace Andrew!












This is the best shot I got of Benjamin in his tie-dyed shirt. He was not interested in having his picture taken that day.












Benjamin's girlfriend, Riley.

















Savannah, Mommy, and Benjamin













Grandmother and Great Aunt Cathie

















Grandpa and Savannah












Savannah with her groovy glasses on.












Savannah's tie-dyed birthday cake. Thanks Grandma Nancy for making it!












Nancy and Savannah












Time to change outfits!

















We can't forget about Frederick.












Melanie and Savannah

















Happy Girl!












Love the hat girlfriend!












Nancy and Kelly












Time for bed sweet girl.












Night night my love.

Disney on Ice

I just find it so fascinating to witness how 2 children can come from the same parents and be so different. We met up with Benjamin's new girlfriend today and her parents to see Disney on Ice. I was pretty hesitant to take Savannah but decided to take a chance. First of all, when Benjamin was her age, there was no way he'd be able to sit through even 2 minutes of a show before he was ready to go and do something else. Savannah was just amazing! For the first 30 minutes all she did was clap, smile, laugh, clap some more, laugh some more, and keep on grinning from ear to ear. After the 30 minutes she did get restless so I took her on a walk outside to enjoy this wonderful weather around American Airlines Center. Benjamin and Daddy stayed to watch the show. It was a nail biter for Benjamin. As you can see in the picture below, his fingers stayed in his mouth the entire show and he literally sat on the edge of his seat the whole time.

Savannah having an absolute blast!













It was a nail biter for Benjamin!












Savannah clapped at all the right times.












Benjamin's favorite! Mickey Mouse!












Ben's new love....Riley.












Riley came over the night before to play and they both got to take a bath together. After bath time they had a BLAST jumping on Benjamin's bed.

How do the McKinneys Celebrate the First Day of Spring?

Christmas pajamas, Thanksgiving bibs, and snow! Because that's just how we roll.....

Benjamin's response to the snow this morning was "Mamma! It's Christmas Eve!"

Chinese

I'm giving the cartoon "Ni Hao, Kai-Lan" credit for this one. While in the study the other day Benjamin looks up and sees this hanging on the wall. He says to me "Mamma, that's Chinese". He's close, it's actually Japanese. Good job!

Being a Christian Snob

Something in my head just went off like a light a few days ago. I'll be honest. I'm not very self-aware and "in-touch" with my inner self. I actually consider myself quite shallow when it comes to analyzing myself or being introspective. Considering I graduated with a Psychology degree I find it quite surprising that I'm not that way. Odd, right? Anyway, back to my point. I'm shallow in that I don't do a lot of soul searching like others do. Okay, just wanted to preface my following thought so here goes.

For quite some time I've been a "Christian snob". I see other people's sin and look down my nose at them because certainly "my" sin isn't as bad as their sin. Ignorance, self-righteuosness, pride, lack of humility...yes, there are many ways to describe how I've been acting and I'm certainly ashamed. I see people make choices everyday that cause them to sin, and I would judge them. But you know what? Maybe they're struggling just as I am and do ask forgiveness for those particular sins everyday.....JUST LIKE I DO!

I had typed up a very long blog with lots of examples but decided to spare you. The point is, I choose to not judge anymore. I choose to love. There's no love in judging and anyway judging...well, it's not my place. It's not in my job description. That's for my heavenly Father and I gladly, willingly, and respectfully turn it over to Him.

Whew! Glad to not have that on my plate anymore!

The Most Scared I've Ever Been over 55 Cents

This afternoon Benjamin was playing with some coins that he found in Daddy's change bucket. As he was playing I could tell he had a dirty diaper so I had him follow me to his room so I could change it. As I picked him up and laid him on his back on the changing table I could suddenly tell something was wrong. He had coins in his mouth (which I was completely unaware of) and he had gotten choked on them. Never in his life has he EVER put coins in his mouth. I immediately see he's choking and grab him and first start hitting his back seeing if that would work. Then tried holding him with my hands in his chest trying to press it hard enough to dislodge the coins. Even tried turning him upside down. At this point, I become hysterical. He's now walking around the house fighting to take a breath. I'm shaking so bad it took me several tries to dial 911. At the same time I call David and tell him to come home immediately. Thankfully, as I was on the phone with 911 the coins came up. I have never in my life felt what I felt for those few moments. Panic, fear, weakness, and hysteria. Once the coins came up he was fine - didn't even cry! I, on the other hand, well, it took me about 20 minutes to return to normal. After I had gathered my composure I went to see how many coins came up. It was 2 quarters and one nickel. Thank you dear Lord. Thank you. Time for some first aid classes.

On a lighter note, I thought today was St. Patrick's Day. So we celebrated it this morning. While we were at a playdate this morning I busted everyone (well thought I was busting them) for not wearing green. Much to my chagrin, they informed me it's tomorrow. Duh!

New Orleans and the Indigo Girls

David and I took a mini vacation to New Orleans for a few days last week. Thanks Grandma Nancy and Grandmother for watching the kids. We had an amazing time and it was so refreshing to have the break and the two of us just be together. We also met up with an old college friend that I hadn't seen in almost 13 years (thanks to Facebook). The highlight of the trip was the Indigo Girls concert. They're one of my favorite bands and they put on an incredible show. It was just the two of them with their guitars and that's it. It was just General Admission but we got there early enough to get really good spots. We were just feet away from them.

For the entire trip there was a sense of longing for the kids though. When it was time to come home we were so excited to see them. When we walked through the door Benjamin couldn't stop giving us hugs and Savannah would just squeal with delight. The feeling is mutual my sweet darlings!

The Indigo Girls.












Long lost college friend, Hilari.


















This was from an above ground cemetery that we visited. It's one of my favorite pictures that we took. Precious.

Bedtime Battles

Lately bedtime has been dreadful at our house. It's a battle to get Benjamin to stay in bed and fall asleep. It will literally take us an hour, sometimes more, just to get him to stay in bed and finally fall asleep. It's exhausting. We've tried putting him to bed late, thinking that if he's so tired he won't put up a fight. Doesn't work. We've tried skipping naps hoping again that he would be so tired that he would want to go to bed. Doesn't work either. We've tried spankings. We've tried bribing. I've even tried countless times to fall asleep with him in his little toddler bed. But that doesn't work either because all he wants to do is talk if I'm in there with him. He's learned that if he keeps asking for something that it works in his favor. "Mamma, I need some water". Well, I certainly don't want to deprive my child from the basic need of thirst so I get him water. "Mamma, I have a dirty diaper". I don't know how he does it but he can make himself have a dirty diaper at that time but the silly kid won't sit on the toilet and do it for me when I want him to to save his life. I know this too shall pass, but after watching some of these "Nanny" shows and seeing 10 year olds act this way...I have a feeling that I'm seeing my future for the next 8 years. Is it bad that the word "restraints" keeps popping up in my head? Wouldn't actually do it, but see how it could totally work.

First Night away from Savannah

Now that Savannah is completely weened I actually got to spend the night away from her for the first time in 10 1/2 months! I met up with a good friend of mine that I met at Baylor 16 years ago. She lives in Ft. Worth so it was nice to get out and see what all good ol' Ft. Worth had to offer. We had a great time reminiscing about our college days at the Mexican restaurant Gloria's and then decided to go across the street for a glass of wine at a really quaint wine bar. This is so embarrassing, but by 8:30pm we were exhausted and decided to just go back to her place to watch Twilight for the upteenth time (well for me)! Okay, so we started feeling guilty that it was 8:36pm and all we wanted to do was put on our pj's and watch a movie so we made one more stop for about 30 minutes with some good girl talk. We were back at her place before 10pm and then put in the movie. It was a great weekend. Thanks Nat for your hospitality!

Nat and me at Ten Cellars Wine Bar

















Savannah....she looks thrilled that I'm taking her picture doesn't she?