Phoenix Botanical Gardens

We did this awhile ago, when it wasn't quite as hot as it is now but I have been forgetting to post it.  We went with some good friends who had some passes to the Botanical Gardens.  It wasn't as much garden as it was cactus.  But that's what you can expect living in Arizona.  We all liked the little nature hikes we went on and the cool plants we saw.

The kids standing in front of a huge Saguaro 

 Looking at the wildflowers.

 Kensley and I hanging out with the catcus

 More catcus...

 They also had a butterfly exhibit which was the best part.  We went into a greenhouse where butterflies were everywhere.  They would fly all around us and sometimes even land on us.  This was the favorite part of the day. The kids just loved it!  We went through twice. Too bad I didn't capture much of it.  

Sahuaro Ranch Park

A year ago my friend Aubrey and I took our kids to Sahuaro Ranch park.  Such a fun park with tons of space to explore, a few different playgrounds, cool settings for pictures and peacocks roam around! We took these pictures:

Then a couple of weeks ago, (almost exactly a year later) we went to the same park and took the same pictures!  We didn't even realize it until we were there taking pictures again!  How fun to see the difference a year can make.

 And now the younger siblings are in it too!

Easter

For the first time, we actually tried to teach Austin the true meaning of Easter.  It was pretty funny hearing him try to say "resurrected."  I'm not sure he really understood all of it but he was sure worried that Jesus died and was glad to know that he came back.  I didn't get any pictures of Easter Sunday (but sadly I didn't have anything matchy and new for them to wear anyway...) But I did get some pictures of the Easter Egg hunt we did at Matthew's school.   

 Don't be fooled by Kensley.  She is not quite walking yet, but she is sure close!  This was her standing for a minute.

Going through the goodies.  Kensley loves ducks and when Austin found one in one of his eggs, he gave it right to her. :)

Picture with the Easter bunny

For the first time since we have lived in AZ we went to the Mesa Temple Pageant.  We swapped with another couple to watch kids and made it a date night.  We picked up Cafe Rio on the way and ate on the lawn while it was waiting to start.  It was a great pageant and told of the life of Christ. It was a great presentation.

This was another egg hunt we went to.  I think we actually went to 3 this year!  Austin totally ran and searched for eggs but Kensley was content to pick up one egg, put it in her basket, pick it back out, open it and play with the candy inside.

I think in every single pictures my kids are majorly squinting.  Darn that bright AZ sun!  But as least we had a very nice and warm Easter weekend.

Playing Together

I love it when my kids play together.  It doesn't happen very often so I try to capture it when it does.  Usually Kensley just destroys whatever Austin is building/making/playing with and he gets really frustrated about it.  It's also hard right now to play with both of my kids at the same time.  They have such different needs right now when it comes to playing so it's so fun when we can all do something together that they both enjoy.  It's the littliest things that count right?

Playing with their blankets! They were giggling with each other. So cute

Playing with chairs and making faces

Playing with water.  We all got soaked but spent a good hour here playing!

I 

What We've Been Doing

It's been a while since I have given an update of what we all have been doing:

Austin: He is just getting to be such a big, smart and fun little boy.  He is really into being silly right now and loves to give goofy faces and make up words.  He still loves cars, trucks, and trains and loves to play traffic (setting up cars in a big long line bumper to bumper).  He has just transitioned to stop taking naps.  This has definitely been hard for me! Without that little time to myself I feel like by the end of the day I get very impatient quickly and run out of things to entertain him. But we will adjust.  He is such a good big brother and loves to play with Kensley.

Austin's preschool group.

Kensley: She is also transitioning with naps She is doing down to one nap instead of two.  This has been much easier for me since now we have our mornings available to do anything! At her recent check up we learned she is 90% for height and 50% for weight.  She usually just wants to be doing whatever Austin is doing.  This girl can also eat!  She usually out eats Austin during dinner and always takes snacks as if she hasn't eaten in days!  She is such a fast crawler but hasn't even thought about taking a step on her own.

Loves the iPad

 Loved the water painting at the children's museum

Matthew:  He is in rotations right now.  Most of them have been podiatry but he has also been in a neurology  rotation and currently he is in a general medicine.  These have given him lots of experience and he is learning lots but it's also quite draining for him.  Sometimes he has long hours and other times he surprises us by coming home early.  His 4th year rotations start in May.  These month long rotations are an even bigger deal than this past year of rotations because these will basically be month long interviews for where we want to go to residency. And they are also nationwide. We are preparing for a crazy 4th year of med school.

Shanna:  Keeping busy with 2 cute kids, daily cleaning and to-do lists and a calling in young womens. I have also been doing some crafting and sewing when I can fit it in at night.   And no pictures of myself because I am usually the one behind the camera!

Some of our recent events:

Getting stickers while grocery shopping

Playing with iPads one morning

Valentines Day.  Matthew's parents happened to be in town for that one day and Matthew had a later shift. We were able to go out on a nice morning date and then he came home with flowers. :)

Went to the pool for the first time this season.   The water was quite chilly so we played in the sand instead.

 Snack time at the little table.  Austin loves to help feed Kensley and she loves to be involved in whatever he is doing. 

Going for a walk. This is a daily event. We all love to get outside right now while it is so nice out.

Nothing too exciting but that is what we have been up to.

Birthday Girl

Kensley turned one on January 29th.  I can't believe my little baby girl is one now! Matthew was still out of town for her birthday but Austin and I celebrated with her.  Austin helped her open presents in the morning and then later in the day we made cupcakes together and decorated them with frosting and sprinkles.  We sang happy birthday to Kensley and let her have her very first one.  She really had not had any type of sweets until then so I wasn't sure what she was going to do with it.  At first she just poked at the frosting but once she realized she could eat it she dug in.  She loved it and wanted more once hers was finished!

 I feel like she has just grown up so fast these last few weeks.  Here are some of the things we love about her right now:
-She's always willing to give us hugs.
-She loves books and always begs us to read to her
-She has the craziest baby teeth I have ever seen. They are all so crooked! I mean really crooked. And I'm not sure if she has 7 or 8 teeth because two of them are conjoined. Two of her bottom teeth are connected. The dentist says he sees that in babies about once a month or so.  It could mean that she might only have 3 permanent bottom teeth instead of 4.  When she gets a little older we will be able to tell in an xray.
-She has been learning sign language and can sign more, all done, water, ball, sleepy and cat.
-She is a super fast crawler. She loves to walk along furniture but hasn't even thought of trying to let go and walk by herself.
-However, she is a climber! Austin wasn't much of a climber but this little girl can get up on anything.
-Some of her favorite things to do are peekaboo, dancing to songs, and putting things into a bowl.
-She gives a cute cheesy smile that we all love!
-She takes two naps during the day and is sleeping through the night perfectly!
-Most of the time her priority is to get whatever Austin is holding or playing with.  Poor guy, always trying to play until she comes and wrecks it all.
-She loves ducks and always points them out when she sees them.
-Her first words are duck and dada.
-She always giggles when we take off her clothes and crawls to the bathtub. She loves bath time and is a splasher.

Pointing to the ducks

 So glad this little ball of joy is part of our family!

January

For the whole month of January, Matthew was in Washington doing a podiatry rotation. So with me and the kids being in Texas for New Years, we decided to stay awhile.  I am not a fan of being a single parent so staying with my family was a great distraction.  Austin loved having new and different toys to play with, Kensley mastered going up and down the stairs, and I got to hang out with my parents and little sister.  We were able to chat on facetime with Matthew most nights.  I really didn't take that many pictures, but really we mostly played and enjoyed our time with family.  My parents were so nice to help out when I needed it.

A couple of days it warmed up enough to go and jump on the trampoline

 If that wasn't fun enough, we then got to fly to Kansas to spend some time with Jenna and her family. We, of course, had a great time and the cousins had a blast.

 Making sugar cookies!

 Practicing some baseball with Jenna

Then after a month of being gone we finally came back home.  The process however was not a fun day.  Two flights with a layover in between and flying alone with two kids was not my favorite.  Kensley screamed and fussed the whole first flight and Austin had an accident on the airplane right as we were landing.  I had extra underwear on hand but no pants and he was wet to the knees. My only saving grace was that our layover was in Dallas and my dad planned on meeting us there to bring us some dinner.  Thank goodness for my dad. He saved the day.  He helped us get to our new terminal, got us dinner and found Austin some new pants at a Dallas Cowboys gift shop.   With two tired kids, I was dreading the next flight.  But luckily both kids fell asleep for most of the flight.  When we finally got home around midnight, Austin saw all his Christmas toys and decided that he needed to play with them right now!  

We still spent about 10 days or so without Matthew, but tried to keep busy and distracted.  We were all so happy to have our Daddy back!  The kids definitely missed him and Austin would ask almost every day when Daddy would be coming home.  I don't even want to think about this summer when he will be gone for 3 months straight but for now we are all glad to be together.

Black Family Pictures

Over the holidays when we were all together we took some family pictures!  My good friend Alexi took them and we love them so much!

 Original Black Family

My how we have grown! 

 Grandparents with grandkids

 Had to throw one of these in here!

Sistas!

*Notice a new guy face in some of them? My sister Ciera is recently engaged to Adam.  Woohoo! Welcome to the family.