McKinley at 11 months

Trying to take these pictures were a nightmare!  McKinley wouldn't hold still for anything!  I tried to get her to sit down but she kept crawling towards me so I tried standing her up on a stool but she still kept trying to crawl towards me.  Finally I moved one of Dyer's drums over and that helped a little bit but she still kept cruising around the drum over and over again which made it difficult to take pictures.  Once I got a couple decent pictures I realized I forgot to put her 11 month old sticker on...So of course I had to try and get some pictures with her 11 month sticker on.

She's still nursing even though she is still biting me.  Part of me wants to stop because lets be honest it sucks when a baby is biting you but on the other hand it's always a goal of mine to nurse until my babies turn one.

She definitely likes to eat and she can pack a lot away too!  So far she doesn't seem to be a fan of cheese and eggs.

Nathan and I have been busy painting the inside of our house so at one point we had to take the baby gate on the stairs down.  McKinley loved that she could climb up the stairs!  Now we are in trouble because every time the kids forget to shut the gate McKinley makes a break for it.

McKinley taught herself to fold her hands during prayer.  So cute!

She is working on her two top teeth.

McKinley's "talking" a lot more these days.

She definitely LOVES her blanket.  She actually has three that she loves but I think this one beats the others just slightly.

McKinley is now blowing kisses!

She still LOVES to dance!

Blair got in trouble and made McKinley sit with her.  They started making raspberries.

McKinley climbing up the stairs.

This girl LOVES music!  She's constantly "playing" Dyer's drums and Blair's piano.

I finally figured out a way to get McKinley to crawl on her hands and knees....put shoes on her!  I don't know why it works but most of the time when she has shoes on she'll actually crawl correctly!

My baby's got talent!  

I'm not sure how it fits in there but somehow she manages to get a golf ball in there.

Fun times

Sunday nap!

Dyer reading a bedtime story to Blakely.  I just love moments like this.

Surprise a selfie of Blair!

Riding on a Barbie airplane!

Watch out world...I think we have found the next Jackson 5!

Haha!  The kids didn't have to go to school this day because of possible freezing rain/snow.  This is what we woke up to...I guess it is better to play it safe, but I think the kids could have gone to school no problem.

Christmas

McKinley started us off with the gifts!

She had more fun with the wrapping paper

Blakely got a fun Alicorn tire swing!

Dyer finally got a rifle gun from Uncle Blake and Aunt Chandra

Blair got a target.  I think she was a little confused by this at first...

Easton got Pokemon from Uncle Blake and Aunt Chandra

Blakely got Barbie Mermaids from Uncle Blake and Aunt Chandra

Dyer opening his Chewie mask

Dyer sure LOVES his little sister but unfortunately I'm not sure that McKinley reciprocates those same feelings.

Now she's excited!  She finally got the bow she's been asking for.

Easton was a little disappointed...the two neighbor kids he plays video games with both own a PS4 and mindcraft so when he got an Xbox mindcraft game he wasn't sure how he was going to play it.  Haha!  I think he thought that his parents weren't that smart!

Blakely and Blair both got Barbie mermaids from Uncle Blake and Aunt Chandra

Dyer and his love for spiders...yes, he got a stuffed animal spider.

Easton was really excited to get the Star Wars game at first because neither of his friends own that game but once it set in that it was an Xbox game and not a PS4 game he was really bummed.

Another Barbie mermaid from Uncle Blake and Aunt Chandra

McKinley got this monster ball thing to help her crawl.  She loves the balls.

Finally the kids opened the Xbox and Easton was super excited that he could put his games to good use.

Blakely got a stationary/journal set from Grandpa and Grandma Earnest

Dyer got a Star Wars action figure from Grandpa and Grandma Earnest

Blair also got a stationary/journal set from Grandpa and Grandma Earnest

Easton got a Star Wars action figure from Grandpa and Grandma Earnest

The kids got a mustache game from Uncle Brandyn and Aunt Jacqui

The kids also got movie gift cards from Grandpa and Grandma Whiting.

Valerie of course spoiled the kids but I was too busy video chatting her so she could see them open their gifts that I didn't get any picture of that.

Dyer trying out all his Chewie accessories.

McKinley got a new swing for Christmas.

McKinley trying out her monster toy

I got some camera lenses for my phone.  I was trying one out on Blakely.

Blair trying out her new bow

Sorry this one is sideways but Nathan needed to get in on the action too!

I had a really cute video of Blakely seeing her Alicorn for the first time...full of squealing and running as fast as she could to get on it and then "woohoos" as she was getting pushed on her swing by Nathan, but unfortunately the size of the video was too big.  

Christmas Eve

We had a great Christmas Eve.  We went to church for just over an hour.  Later that day we went over to a friend's house to eat dinner and play some games.  The kids had fun hitting a pinata and getting even more CANDY!!!  Between Halloween, Christmas parade, pinata, and Christmas the kids had way too much candy.  We ended up throwing away about a 1/3 of a trash bag full of candy once the kids went back to school because it was way too much!

Christmas letter picture

Grandma Gretch sent the kids a Christmas Eve package.  The kids had all kinds of fun activities to keep them busy.  

The kids putting out glow sticks and reindeer food so the reindeer and Santa could find our house.

Playing matching games.

Dyer finally learns to ride his bike!

Honestly I think I should have Nathan write this post because he would have a better perspective on this than I would.  Dyer is probably our most stubborn kid!  He easily could have been up and riding over 6 months ago but he fell off his bike and refused to get back on it.  He always had an excuse why he couldn't go out and learn with Nathan.  Finally Nathan bribed him with Bippy's (frozen yogurt) if he rode around the circle twice (one time around the circle is about 1/2 mile).  The first half of the first lap was a nightmare.  Dyer kept arguing with Nathan about everything.  First it was that he couldn't ride, then it was that he didn't need any help from Nathan because he could do it himself.  Then Nathan wasn't holding Dyer the correct way.  And then Nathan was holding him too much or not enough...I'm sure you get the drift that Nathan couldn't do anything right!  I went outside about 20 minutes after they left hoping to get Dyer on film riding his bike but after about 40 minutes I was getting nervous that something bad happened.  I started walking the opposite direction and eventually ran into them.  I got a little glimpse of what Nathan had to deal with with Dyer for the last 40 minutes.  I don't know how Nathan kept his cool but he deserves a metal for enduring that!

Starting out

End of first lap

Now that Dyer is riding a big boy bike, Blakely was finally able to ride Dyer's old bike with training wheels.

I didn't want Blair to feel left out so I took a video of her too!