"moothie time"

Today I had a hankering for a smoothie and since Hailey's always willing to oblige, we had a "moothie" for a late afternoon snack! :) (moothie is what Hailey calls a smothie and it just sounds so much cuter than what I call it that I can't resist) :)

I didn't have any juice, so they were a little thick for a true smoothie and we had to eat them with spoons, but we enjoyed ourselves, nonetheless! :)

even Jackson got a few bites and then it was a struggle to keep him away...I think he's hooked, too! Good thing they're made from fruit and yogurt or I'd feel worse for having two little "addicts" on my hands! :)

It's kind of nice to have a Saturday where we have nothing to do and no plans so that we can have little treats like moothies for a snack! (and, it's great to have Papa around all day long!!) :)

where's the baby??

oh, there he is! :)

Jackson's been doing the army low crawl around the house a lot these days and getting himself into quite a few "sticky" situations!! Including, somehow getting himself tangled up in the blanket! :)

Happy Resurrection Day!!

I love Easter! Not only is it a great day to remember and think about how wonderful and life changing the resurrection is, but it's generally a more relaxed holiday and doesn't have the "hype" that Christmas has. This year was even more fun because Hailey was big enough to sort of "get" what we were celebrating and a little bit of why. We tried to do a little bit each day to talk about Jesus and what His dying on the cross and rising three days later means to each of us. So, instead of letting her get her Easter basket on Sunday, we gave it to her on Saturday, so that she could watch her Easter movie and read her Easter books with her babysitter that night. She definitely enjoyed her Easter basket! (thanks to Lyn Scharping, who gave it to her) :)

here she is showing it off this morning...before our big Easter egg hunt!

Isn't she just the sweetest thing?? I just love this adorable little face and I was so happy to get a picture of her all dressed up before church and before she messed up her hair or got her dress dirty! :)

this morning we woke up to find our house "easter egged" and these two cute easter baskets sitting by our front door. Thanks to our "secret" easter bunny.

Hailey had so much fun picking up all the eggs. She pretty much just ran around our yard skipping and laughing while grabbing all the eggs!

then, she and Jackson both enjoyed digging into their baskets and checking out all their goodies!

Jackson even got to check out some of Hailey's stuff, when she wasn't watching! :)

after church, we headed to Grandma and Grandpa K's house for lunch and some outside fun!

Hailey and Grandma had a great time blowing bubbles and playing in the sunshine!

we even managed to get a family picture today! (that's definitely a good day) :)

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for your willingness to take my sin upon You and die such a horrible death upon the cross and thank you, even more, for conquering death and rising on the 3rd day! "Because He lives, I can face tomorrow, Because He lives, all fear is gone, because I know He holds the future. Life is worth the living just because I know He lives!"

best friends...

The other day I asked Korey, "how do we make our kids each other's best friend?" And, the more I thought about that the more I thought- there's nothing I can do to make them best friends, but there's a lot I can do to foster that friendship between the two of them and all I have to do is look back at the things that I enjoyed doing with the siblings that I'm closest to! :) (and, no sharing clothes is not going to be one of the things Hailey and Jackson are going to get to do, so don't worry, Fysh, they won't have to fight about that) ;)

Honestly, I think that one of the things I was the most dissappointed about when I found out that Jackson was a boy was that they weren't going to be able to share clothes, share a bedroom, share bathtime, share deep dark secrets and all that sort of stuff that my sister and I got to share growing up. But, I've found that there are plenty of things that a little boy and a little girl can share and for now- bathtime is one of them! I absolutely LOVE giving them a bath together. And not, because there's always water on the floor and you end up basically taking a bath with them-I just love how they enjoy playing together in the bath.

It seems like their age gap gets smaller in the bathtub for some reason...

Hailey loves to swim on her belly and show Jackson how it's done and Jackson just loves to laugh and giggle at her.

They both love it when I put all the bubbles on their heads like crowns and decorate their faces with bubble beards and bubble mustaches.

Hailey doesn't even mind getting her hair washed, as long as she gets to help wash the baby's hair first.

The worst part about giving them a bath together is that more often than not, if the bath drags on for too long, one of them poops in the bathtub and then I end up having to re-wash both of them separately! But, I guess that and spending a 1/2 hour cleaning the bathroom when we're done is a small price to pay for how much fun they can have together while they're in there!

a dancing party

This litle girls LOVES to dance!

And, we love to oblige her. It's so fun to see how excited she gets! (and how excited her Papa gets- I really think he was using it as an excuse to stop helping me empty the dishwasher, but they sure were cute dancing together) :)

she just couldn't stop messing with the radio, though, she either didn't like the music or it wasn't loud enough or something, but she was constantly stopping her dancing to go over and fiddle with the dials on the radio

here are some of her moves...yeah, she's definitely a Konietzki! :)

I think she was trying to do th eworm here...

and, to round out the night- some slow dancing with her papa! I can barely look at this picture without tearing up- it's just so precious!

On Sunday night Korey and I were laying in bed talking about having more kids and he said that he'd rather have another little boy because Hailey's so special to him that he just wants her to be the only little girl in his heart forever!! :)

"baby Jack"

that's the name that Hailey has affectionately chosen for Jackson and it kind of stuck witht he rest of us...I find myself calling him baby Jack all the time, now! :) It is a rather cute and catchy name...not sure what he'll think of it when he's 10, but maybe we'll be done calling him that by then!! ;)

Isn't he a great helper?? He got up early this morning, so he helped me get the laundry out of the dryer and folded! I'm so thankful for my little helper.

this little baby of mine is already 7 1/2 months old and I feel like the time has gone entirely too fast! He just isn't the same tiny little infant I brought home from the hospital- actually, he's way better than that infant! He doesn't have a billi blanket this time and he smiles, chatters away, and can even stand for a little bit if he has something to hold onto!

we took our baby Jack in for a little checkup the other day and found out that he's only 14lbs. It seemed like he hadn't really been gaining much weight, lately, and I guess my hunch was right- he hadn't been! In fact, he gained about 1 lb in the last 3 months! :( (definitely not good, according to the doctor) So, we're doing what we can to beef up our little man, but I really think that it has more to do with how active he is than him not getting enough food. If you've ever seen him eat, you know that he can eat more than the average baby his age, so your guess is as good as mine as to why he's not as big as a house! I know that I've been making baby food almost every day, because he goes through it like water!! We're not worried at this point, but we do have another appointment in a month just to make sure that he gained something between now and then. So, if you happen to see our baby Jack out and about put a little bit of food in his mouth! (just kidding...he can't really eat "real" food just yet) :)

my sweet little family

I like it when our family is cute and fun, instead of crying and screaming and throwing fit after fit! We did have plenty of fits in Texas (and on our way), but I really tried to keep them to a minimum so as to not ruin Hailey and Jack's vacation. (hahaha...just kidding, I don't throw fits- not as loud or as obvious as Hailey, anyways) ;) Honestly, I'd have to say that as tired, sick and as "thrown off" of her routine as Hailey was, she did fairly well. And, baby Jack did great. He started getting his first tooth on the way home, so that wasn't too much fun, but before that he handled his cough and runny nose like a champ! As far as Korey and I, I'd have to say that we handled ourselves very well, too, we didn't fight- I barely complained when Jackson was up all night (ok, I guess I'm complaining, now) ;)- Korey drove almost the whole way there and back and did great, we didn't get lost, we made great time, and no one got carsick- we basically enjoyed the sunshine in Texas and loved our trip there and back! (ok, maybe not the car ride itself...but, everything else was really fun) ;)

We didn't have room to bring our stroller, so Bill and Carin let us use theirs and Hailey enjoyed riding on the front of it...until Jack started kicking her in the back, that is! ;)

we tried really hard to get a great family picture...but, I guess we'll just have to settle for ones like this for now! :) Apparently our kids have a really hard time looking at the camera...and I guess they both really have a fixation with putting things in their mouth- I have no idea what Hailey's chewing on here, but I do think Jackson is chewing on his shirt! :)

I guess this ones ok...I'd have to say that our kids did turn out pretty cute!! :)

cousins

Jace and Cole are Hailey and Jackson's only two cousins and they had so much fun with them last week!!

Hailey and Jace are about 1 year apart...

but, Cole and baby Jack are only about 3 months apart, so it was really fun to see them interact and think about how much more fun it'll be in a year or two when we get together!

Grandma and Grandpa really enjoyed snuggling with the two little ones

Hailey and Jace have a little more energy, so snuggling wasn't really high on their list of favorite things...but, playing in the sandbox together is!! I practically had to drag them out of there when it was time to go and the first words out of Hailey's mouth each morning were "Jace" then "outside" :)

My little brother's wife will be having a baby in July and I'm so excited to have some cousins a little closer, but Jace and Cole are definitely one of a kind and my kids truly enjoyed their time with them!! :) Hailey's still talking about the two of them.

driving, driving, driving...

here are my two incredibly cute little car riders! (ok, one rider and one driver)

Grandma and Grandpa K even squeezed in the backseat with Jackson!

everyone got "stretched" a little while on this trip...Grandma's big accomplishment was that she learned how to change Jackson's diaper while he was still buckled into his carseat- is she amazing or what?? (even Grandpa helped...he held the bag so she could throw the dirty diaper in it)

Hailey really liked listening to the music on my Ipod...between her listening and Korey playing killer zombies I barely got a chance to read the book I downloaded for myself! ;)

as fun as all the driving was, Hailey couldn't wait to get out of the car...and when she did she went through a little "grabbing spree" and just picked whatever she could get her hands on!!

All the driving really wore Hailey out...isn't she cute, here? :) She was just exhausted and a few seconds after this picture was taken she fell back on the pillow into an exhausted sleep!

It's great to go swimming in April!

And, that's what we did in Texas this last week!! Every day that we were there we were able to do some swimming and it was soooo much fun! :) Hailey loved it most of all. I practically had to drag her out of the water each time...

here are some pics of her enjoying herself in the water!

this is a little splash pad they had by a small shopping mall. We weren't completely prepared to have her swimming, so no swimming suit, but she enjoyed it none the less!

Jace had a little slip 'n slide that they set up in the front yard and he loved it...

Hailey, not so much...until I got my swimming suit on played with her, then she loved it and had so much fun!!

we also got to go to Discovery Green and play in the splash pad there...it was so exciting for us to have so much "water" time so early in the spring!

Hailey really enjoyed swimming with her Aunt Kelly the best!

(actually, she loved everything about her Aunt Kelly) :)

Jack even got to enjoy some of the water the day before we left! He loved it, too!!

(and, judging from the pictures, I think Grandma K had a good time playing in the water with her two Konietzki grandkids)

Unless we head to Texas again next year I don't think we'll be able to go swimming in April, again, but it sure was fun this year!! I can't think of a time when I enjoyed the sunshine and the water so much...it must be the fact that we had two kiddos to enjoy it with this year! I just LOVE these two little ones and watching them enjoy life is such a great joy.