Peyton Marie Bates

My sweet niece, Peyton, was born on May 11, 2012 and I love love love her. She is so cute! I can't wait to watch Wyatt, Kenley, and Peyton grow up so close to each other. They are going to have so much fun. We are so blessed.

The day she was born...

Look how tiny and check out her perfect bow-wearing hair... (it's a funny angle - her feet are not huge)

Just precious.

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6 Months {Kenley}

We finally made it to the doctor for Kenley's 6 month appointment.

At 6 months Kenley is...

16 lbs 10.7 oz

26 in

eating a fruit/veggie twice a day and cereal before bed

drinking about 6 bottles throughout the day

taking a 15-30 min nap in the morning and evening on-the-go or wherever we are

taking a 1-2 hour nap in her crib in the middle of the day

sleeping all night

sleeping in a sleep sack, baby-safe blanket

loving her Nuk-type binky (especially the ones with a handle for her to play with)

loving water (just like her big brother always has)

loving the outdoors

able to drink from a sippy

almost able to sit up and stay up on her own

getting up on her knees and rocking

rolling and scooting all over the place (she is a little gymnast in her crib)

able to copy us and stick her tongue out and make noises

very "talkative" (she will talk to anyone, her toys, Wyatt... she already loves to talk)

loving nail polish on her little toes ;)

all smiles when playing with Wyatt (he holds her down the slide and she giggles)

Kenley has been growing and learning so much that I could go on and on, but the one thing that EVERYONE says when they see her is that she is the happiest baby ever. She truly is. She is so easy-going. Always smiling and giggling. But I have noticed that she already has a bit of drama in her. If she cries, it will be over a silly thing. I've seen Wyatt bump into her hard and her laugh. Then I've seen him barely touch her and her break out into full out drama. Today after her shots, she was NOT happy. She screamed and cried for at least 10 minutes and had huge alligator tears. :( Wyatt would cry for 2 seconds and be done. It's interesting to see how they are alike and different. But one thing is for sure - they LOVE each other so much.



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Our family...

I absolutely love this canvas that Chris got me as an early Mother's Day present. I've been talking about it for months. We love what it says and put it where we would see it everyday. What a great reminder. You can also see my newest decor. :) I had been decorating the TV hutch with holiday stuff and trying to keep it cute. After Easter I wasn't sure what to do. Hobby Lobby saved the day. I made myself a cute bouquet and got a cute metal plaque with a "J" and look how cute it turned out. And all the things I got at HL were half off. Perfect! Chris even said that out of all the decorating I've done here and there that this is his favorite spot in the house.


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Dear Edwina

Saturday morning was opening day for Aunt Sarah's newest play, Dear Edwina. Wyatt loves to watch Aunt Sarah act! Kenley was really good throughout the show, too. Sarah has always been witty, confident, and very talented and she sure does shine on stage.



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Zoo Trip {Kenley's 1st}

Our friends, Cooper and Chancy, invited us to the zoo for Cooper's birthday. This was Kenley's first trip to the zoo. Wyatt went when he was 6 months old for the first time with Cooper, too! Most of my pictures are of the back of Wyatt's head but I simply love watching his get so excited, run up to the fence/window and look at all the animals (or whatever else he found that seems neat). His phrase of the day was "I have an idea!" and his idea was usually about how he could feed or touch the animal we were looking at. He wants to touch everything he sees. Always. Usually when we go to the zoo for half a day we just go to one side and today we went to the Wilds of Africa.

Penguins (yes, penguins that like warm weather)

Not as big as the Emperors, but bigger than the African penguins

Just like her big brother when he went to the zoo for the 1st time, her favorite thing was the trees

Had to play on all the statues

A very nice area for the giraffes, elephants, and other animals

Playing in a Jeep

Monorail ride

Mommy and Kenley on the monorail. Yes! She is always smiling!!!!

Getting ready to head home.

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Lego Store Mini Model Build

My mom had told me that the Lego store at the mall had a building night once a month. I finally got the schedule (1st Tuesday of the month at 5) and we went this past Tuesday. We got to the mall about an hour early and my mom and Wyatt waited in line (with a chocolate chip cookie, of course) while Kenley and I shopped until it was time. Wyatt was sooo excited! This month's mini model was a flower, but Wyatt had NO interest in building a flower BUT once he decided it was a rocket, he was all set.

After building Wyatt played with some other kiddos at the duplo play area. He love love loves to build (and destroy) anything.

It was a fun evening and I'm looking forward to next month's mini model.

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Precious Moments

I've been such a bad blogger lately and there's no way to catch up on everything so I went through my phone and added some of the precious moments I've missed blogging. And, yes, Kenley is 6 months and I just posted her 5 month picture. It's all coming. I'll get that one up as soon as I get her doctor appointment stats (hopefully before she's 7 months).

Wyatt loves to do "crafts." I have this board that I hang his work on, but it's never really a big deal. I usually end up sticking stuff on there when he's not watching after the artwork dries or whatever. We look at it and it's special, but I didn't think Wyatt really cared. Well... this day after he finished he jumped up, ran to the board, and was soooo excited to hang up his work so that "Daddy would see it." I took this picture to send to Chris at work. How cute is that?! And yes, Mom, you still have the "Mom of the Year Award" (I keep trying to steal her award) because I let my child wear his underwear inside out AND backwards. Here are my thoughts. 1.) We are lucky he put them on because he hates putting them on. I always find his undies laying by the potty because he takes everything off to go potty, then only puts his pants back on. Lazy. 2.) He did it himself.

Ignore the mess. Our house always has toys everywhere unless it's nap time. Look at both of my babies watching TV together.

I love when babies randomly fall asleep wherever they are and it makes a super cute picture like this one.

We've been going for walks after dinner when we eat at my mom's house. Wyatt rides his red car. I push Kenley. My mom helps Wyatt get "gas" at every fire hydrant "gas station" using a stick she carries as the pump. Love it.

Another one of Wyatt's favorite things to do at Grammy's is go feed the ducks. She now has a stockpile of crackers in her car trunk just for the ducks. Wyatt LOVES his Grammy!

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