The girl with the sassy hair

For some time now McKena has been wanting to grow her hair long and donate it to locks of love. I am not sure who first inspiried this (I think Isabelle in Iowa) but we have since seen many of our friends doing it. So if has helped McKena to be even more determined. Last Spring she was pretty close then her and one of her friends decided to give themselves a hair cut. So now finally a year later she is ready. I was a little sad to see her hair grow, but very proud of her for being brave.

Here she is with her new sassy haircut. She loves it. I do not think she is able to pass a mirror with out tossing it and smiling at herself. The guy at the beauty school said she was so good. He claimed to be uncomfortable around children, and said McKena made him feel so comfortable. No surprise there McKena can certainly talk to anyone. We love the cute new do!!

Here is the animal and his sister.

Soccer has come and is almost done for this year. This is McKena's second year playing and she improved somewhat. I still think she may be more well suited for something like dancing or gymnastics. However I think it is good to have her playing sports as well. On Friday they had their banquet. I have mentioned about how wonderful my neighborhood/community is. Every year they hold a sports banquet that is also for all citzens. It is so wonderful to see the people that don't even have children playing sports out to support the community. There was good food and dancing. I was actually excited that the kids got medals this year instead of tropheys.
Mason was known as the animal of his team. He would just get in there and go after the ball, often getting a little pushy. He didn't care if the other kids were taller than him (let's face it they always were). I loved to watch him play. He became so involved stating "I want to be the best soccer player ever" This was especially good for him because he often has a hard time being in front of others. When I signed him up he did not want to play because originally McKena was not going to play. I would say "but Mason you love to play soccer" to which he would respond "only in my backyard, mom." He really opened up.

McKena had a fun year and really began to attack the ball. She was always smiling. People would always ask if she ever stopped smiling. She loved to cheer her team on. At one point her coach told her she had to wipe that smile off of her face, and get her tough look on. We worked on her tought look for awhile but she just could not do it. I am grateful to have such a happy little girl.

Buns, Buns, Buns

So in case if you are wondering. . . .yes, McKena did go back to school. I will not go into how heartbreaking this was for me. A month later I think I can say that I still do not feel over it. Not to mention the fact that McKena is not the same little girl that she was this summer. Just changing I guess. For her first day of school she requested cinnamon rolls (buns). What a yummy start to a sad day (for me).
Here she is ready to leave with her cute little hair buns.

The third buns comes from me working mine out that day. I work out once a week with some other girls in my ward up at the church. That was a great work out day. Just tell me this DOES IT GET ANY EASIER? (the letting her go to school I mean)

Cinderella hard at work

Today I come in from hanging my clothes out on the line (which I still love by the way), and I find this. McKena is Cinderella for the day I guess. She is still desiring to earn a castle that I got for her (free on the side of the road) so I guess she took it upon herself to mop the floor. Luckily this actually needs to be done and that is one more thing I can cross off of my list of things to do today.
I am not sure if you can tell from this picture the amount of soap that she thought she needed is about 5X to much.
Did I mention it is lunch time, I have a cranky Devon, I am still in my pjs, and in desperate need of a shower. Unfortunately the kitchen is where I need to be or go through to take care of any of these things. So how long does it take a 6-year old to mop the floor is the question at hand!!

McKena turns 6

It is official. May 12th has come and McKena is another year older. She has been talking about her birthday since Nov. when Mason had his. It seemed so far away then and now it is here. Like everyone says I cannot believe that my little girl/boy is 6 already but it really feels true. I love the adorable person that she is becoming. She is so helpful some days I do not know what I would do without her. She is doing really well in school and I love to watch her learn, it has been really fun for me. Here is the birthday girl.

Here are some of Mckena's favorite things at the age of six.

PRINCESS - Sleeping Beauty

FRUIT - Grapes

STORY - Strawberry Shortcake

THING TO PLAY WITH HER BROTHER - cars

COLOR - Pink

THING TO DO AT SCHOOL - Make crafts

ANIMAL - Horse

VEGETABLE - Carrots

SONG - Love One Another

Happy Birthday to our sweet girl. We love you!

Wacky Wednesday

Last Wednesday at school McKena had wacky day. We took great effort to find the wackiest outfit possible. I think it turned out pretty wacky. I also tried to fix her hair wacky with two braids in the front and two braids in the back. I was disappointed when McKena arrived home and declared that her hair was not the wackiest. Seliah (a girl in her class) had a bun on top, a braid on the side, and a poof in the back. Who knew hair could get so wacky!!!!!

Here comes the dirt.

We have had a few beautiful days lately. I am sure most of you are experiencing the same changing in the weather and the random spring days that are popping up. We had a great day on Saturday. We started off the am with a little Easter egg hunt at a friends house. In the morning it was chilly enough to need jackets however by the time we got home at about 2pm it had warmed up quite a bit and the kids played outside for the next 3 hours. What a blessing for a mom that needed to get some stuff done. We even took time for a short little bike ride because it was warm enough to take the baby out without bundling. By the end of outside time we had two very dirty peds on our hands. I am not sure if you can tell from the picture, but I often wonder how their faces get so dirty. It is all worth it and nothing that a bath can't take care of.

Our poor children

I am not sure how it is for all of you, but out here in the east we have oil to heat our house. As you can imagine oil is not at a low price right now. Now let's combine this with the fact that Ryan grew up in a house where you wear your coat indoors. What do you get, not the warmest house you may come across. My poor parents we had to make some adjustments when they visited. Anyway to the picture. My kids always love to sit by the heater when the fan is on. The other day they actually decided to have a slumber party in front of the fan. Needless to say you may not want to visit the Pedersons in the winter.

The nicest neighbors

One thing that I love about our new home is the neighborhood. From the day we moved in people have been so kind. I fill like it is my second ward. When I had Devon a neighbor brought me some frozen dinners and another took my older two kids a few nights when Ryan was working late. Our neighborhood also has parties in the park, a soccer team, a playgroup in the park and a flag football team for the guys. Our neighbors one each side of us and across the street have been especially kind. They give our children treats for every holiday (this is not always good because you know it is not McKena or Mason munching on cookies at 8pm, my cute winter clothes may have to wait until next year) and will randomly drop off other gifts such as workbooks, crayons, marbles and other random things. Anyway how does all of this pertain to this picture? The other day I was in the shower and the kids were having quiet time when McKena comes in to ask if her and Mason can go for a sled ride with Gary (of course we did have a talk about answering the door when mom is not right there). They got all bundled up and Gary pulled them around the park on a little sled ride. They loved it and it was fun to see them having so much fun on a snowy day. We are so blessed!

Snow

We have really been able to enjoy the snow this year. Recently we had freezing rain and the whole yard was like an ice rink. The kids wanted to try and ice skate. They only had on real shoes of course, it was still not very successful. McKena fell and got a scrape on her hand right away. Mason learned it was much more fun and less dangerous to just slide on your belly. I didn't get any pics of the ice. These are pics of the fun snow.
Even though I don't think Spencer moved from this spot the whole time he was not very happy when I tried to bring him inside.
Here Mason is ready to pounce McKena.

Iowa we miss you

Last year at Christmas time McKena's wonderful sunbeam teachers dressed up all of the little kids like the nativity and took a picture. They put it into a frame and gave one to each of the kids as a gift. McKena has hers up in her room. Last night we were singing "Away in a Manager" and McKena started to cry. When asked why she replied, "That song makes me miss all of my friends in Iowa" she then referred to her picture. So to all of you good friends in Iowa (and those of you that have moved on), just know how much you are missed.