Marissa's First Soccer Game!

Last weekend, our big girl had her very first soccer game!! She was pretty excited about it, but more excited about the fact that her daddy was going to be her coach :) A couple days before her game, she would walk around saying....'I'm gonna play soccer and my daddy's gonna be my coooooach!" It was so sweet!

The game was at 8:30 on Saturday morning...which, for those of you who know us, my girls are not super early risers....I trained them that way :) haha. Seriously though, 8:30 was pushing it for all of us to get ready, but we managed to get there on time and I even made a super yummy, protein packed breakfast to ensure our girl would be ready to play!
Marissa loves to make her very own cinnamon toast, while mommy fixed her some eggs.

Here she is, our 14....uhh, 4 year old. Really, how old does she look right here?!

Of course, Allie had to have her picture taken...and for some reason, she decided she needed a bib that morning.

Marissa and her #1 fan!

That day, we were playing the red team. We are the royal team. They really get creative with the team names :) This was right before they all said a prayer together, it was very sweet.

There are 5 players on our team and the games are 3 on 3 with no goalie. Marissa and her teammate were doing some serious game talking while on the bench...getting ready for their big debut. :)

It was finally her time to play!!

Running after the ball...she looks so cute in her little uniform:)

Throwing in the ball.

As she was playing, Allie would yell, "GO 'Rissa Kate!!"

Time for another water break....this picture cracks me up. I love how the little boy is sitting and how far apart they are...too funny!

Another throw in!

Getting some pointers from Coach Daddy.

Game's over! Time to high-five!

High-fives for Coach Richard.
Such a sweet pictrure of the Coach and his star player:) I'm so proud of them both!!! Go Royal team!!

I have to end with a little story about that day....Russell went on ahead so he could get there a little early since us girls were running behind. So, as the girls and I got out and started walking towards the fields toward Russell, I told Marissa to run on ahead to be with Russell and her teammates. So she had her little bag with water strapped around her, and her little outfit on and she starts running off, then turns around and yells, "Bye Mom, I love You!" Oh.my.goodness. This emotional pregnant momma lost.it. Luckily, I had my sunglasses on so no one else could see what a basketcase I was, but it was just so sweet. It makes me tear up just thinking about watching her running off like that....I know that it won't be the last time, but it was the first time and oh man, I just wanted to grab her and hang on to her forever. My sweet, sweet Marissa...growing up so fast:)

Pregnancy Highlights- 32 weeks!

32 weeks down...only 8 to go!

Pregnancy Highlights...we are in single digits with how many weeks left! I am getting so excited to meet my little guy!

McCoy is about 4 pounds and 12 ounces. I had a checkup on Tuesday and got to have an ultrasound and it was so, so sweet! She took about 15 minutes and went over all his little parts and showed me his heart beating, his "chubby" cheeks (as she called them), his boy parts ("his daddy would be proud" were her words! haha!), his arm was hiding his face, and he is doing everything he should be doing at this point. Moving, practicing breathing, and growing. According to BabyCenter.com, he now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz). His skin is becoming soft and smooth as he plumps up in preparation for birth.

Symptoms: So remember how last update I said I wasn't quite to the uncomfortable stage yet....well, I'm there. Standing isn't comfortable, sitting isn't much better and if I lay down I'm afraid I might fall asleep and never want to wake up! I have some heartburn, which I had with the girls but Tums will usually knock that out pretty quickly. Other than the tiredness, I am doing great and my doctor said everything looks good :)

Baby-Related Purchases: I finally started work on his nursery, so I bought the fabric for his bumper cover and valances from hobby lobby and I took the glider to get recovered. (I will post nursery pics as soon as we are finished!) I also bought some sweet boy clothes from a friend of mine at church who was selling all of her son's clothes.

Maternity Clothes: I really think I can take this category out...pretty much everything is maternity these days. I can still wear a few pairs of jeans as long as they are unbuttoned and unzipped. Haha. Dresses are still my go-to outfit choice.

Sleep: Cannot.Get.Enough!!!! I am a terrible nap taker, but the past several days I have caught myself dozing off on the couch when the girls are sleeping...which is very rare for me. But I just cannot seem to keep my eyes open.... Once bedtime rolls around, I am pretty much in bed within minutes off putting the girls to bed and fast asleep about 2 minutes later.

Fun moment this past week: The ultrasound was definitely a highlight! Being able to hear that sweet heartbeat and see him moving is just so precious! It makes me so, so ready to see him and hold him!

Food Cravings: Still nothing in particular....sorry, I'm not very exciting with this one. I mainly just eat whatever is quick and easy and drink lots of cold, cold water!

Gender: The ultrasound confirmed, definitely a boy!!

What I miss: I am definitely ready to get back into my old clothes. I miss being able to wear whatever is in my closet...we are going to a wedding this weekend, and I have lots of fun dresses...but none of them fit. Blah. Not to mention, the selection of maternity clothes these days is terrible. They all look the same, are way overpriced and well...just no fun. Ok, I will stop whining now.....but, hey, you asked. :)

Weight Gained: 29lbs...don't think I am going to miss that 3olb mark with this one like I did with the other two.

What I am looking forward to: Finishing his room!!!

Moments to Remember: This has nothing to do with McCoy, but my dad was watching the girls for me yesterday morning and he said Allie was doing something silly....as usual :) And Marissa looked at him and said, "She just makes me laugh all day long!" This was so funny and sweet to me! Marissa and Allie are really two peas in a pod these days....they play together so well and (most of time) are so sweet with each other. They played up in their room together for about an hour while I was cleaning house yesterday...it's so nice to see them getting so close and having so much fun with each other! I pray it will forever be that way!

That's all for now! I will have another check up in about 2 weeks, so I will keep you posted! :)

Weekend at the Lake

Several weekends ago, the 4 of us along with Papa and NeeNee packed up our stuff and headed for a fun couple of days on the lake! A friend of Russell's was kind enough to let us use their lake house and boat for a wonderful, relaxing weekend! I'll let the pics do most of the talking...
Russell was excited to get his fishing gear out...it's been a while. And the angel (aka Marissa) was by his side the whole time! She loves fishing with her daddy. (On a different note...the angel wings were found in a closet and she wore the pretty much the entire weekend. :) )

Our little angel diggin' for worms.

This was the very cool zip line that Russell and Papa tried out several times! (videos of that to come later!!)

Allie loved diggin' for worms too...my girls showed their true tomboy spirits this weekend!

Just after lunch...we headed out for a little boat ride. I knew it was getting close to nap time so I was hoping Allie would fall asleep just like I used to when I was little! My parents had a boat that had a special little cubby hole and I remember crawling in there and falling asleep almost every time I got on the boat :)

Me with my little water-dog, Marissa. She had so much fun in the water that morning with Papa! She was very excited about the boat ride...

...So were the guys!!

This was the position she was in the entire time! She was loving it!!

It didn't take long for Allie to fall asleep...she had silky, NeeNee and the boat rocking her...what else could a girl ask for? :)

There were, however, no naps in this girls future! She was too excited to sleep:)

We made a little pit stop to do some swimming!

After dinner, it was time for a little "fishin' in the dark". (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, anyone?) :)

Allie was more into fishin' for worms, than fishin' for fish.
Marissa was doing a great job fishing and having lots of fun!

The next morning, I walked outside to this precious sight. Daddy and his girls doing some early morning fishing. This picture of Allie's belly cracks me up:) I love that little belly.

Sweet daddy and daughter time!

Reeling it in!!

Getting her worm to bait the hook...her favorite part!

A girl and her worm. Pure bliss:)
Marissa perfected her cast.

NeeNee joined in on the fishing fun!
One of my favorite pictures of the weekend. So, so sweet:) I don't think there is any place these two would rather be.

And she got one!!!!

Little sister came over to check it out...

Nothing like a little swim in the lake to work up a little appetite for a snack :)

Best swimming buddies!

These 3 were worn out....trying to get a little shut-eye on the dock to bring an end to a wonderful weekend on the lake!

Pregnancy Highlights-28 weeks.

Pregnancy Highlights: reaching my third trimester!! I was 28 weeks yesterday. If this pregnancy is anything like my first two--this last trimester will FLY by...which is a little bit scary b/c we are totally not prepared for him. We have a lot of work to do these next 12 weeks.

Baby is the size of: By this week, your baby weighs two and a quarter pounds and measures 14.8 inches from the top of his head to his heels. He can blink her eyes, which now sport lashes. With his eyesight developing, he may be able to see the light that filters in through your womb. He's also developing billions of neurons in his brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world.(info from babycenter.com)

Symptoms: I'm not quite to the uncomfortable stage yet, which is good. I am feeling pretty normal-just a growing belly.

Baby-related purchases? nothing this past month. Nana and Pops sent us a few sweet boy things last week and we got blue elephant towel and some blue washcloths from a friend. I have everything in mind that I want to do/buy for his nursery...I just have to do it!!


Maternity clothes? um, duh. Dresses are still my go-to for this pregnancy, so easy, comfortable and still cute. It's a win-win.


Sleep: Well, I've had a little bit of a cold the past few days, so sleep has been a must. I'm super tired by 9:00, especially Mon, Wed and Thur nights which are the days I get up at 5:30am to teach boot camp class. Last night I was in the bed at 8:45 and asleep about 2 seconds later. This momma is t.i.r.e.d.


Fun moment this past week: going to the lake with Russell, the girls and my parents! We had a blast and I got to lay on my tummy on a float in the lake. There's not much better than that :) So relaxing...which is what we all needed!


Movement: Still moves a lot!! Russell and I laid in bed the other night and watched my belly move for a solid 30 minutes....so now the big question is...is this a sign of things to come? Or is he just getting all his wiggles out now so he'll be all nice and calm when he gets here?! (I know all you mom's w/boys are laughing at me right now...) :)

Food cravings: still nothing in particular. Which is the same as with the girls...I never craved anything when I was pregnant w/them and it's been the same so far w/this pregnancy. I just need water--and lots of it. And it has to be COLD!

Gender: still going with boy! :)

What I miss: Honestly, I miss working out. I try to do some w/my boot camp classes, but my body just can't keep up with them anymore...soooo-I try to remind myself to enjoy the break. But...6 weeks after McCoy gets here....I will definitely be ready to GO!


Weight gained: HA. So far...25 lbs. Yikes. (see previous answer....like I said...I will be ready to GO!)

What I am looking forward to: The nesting stage. I have a lot to "nest".

Moments to remember: As we were walking up the stairs to go to bed the other night, Marissa said..."Mommy, does he have toys to play with?"
"Does who have toys to play with?"
"McCoy. In your tummy...what toys does he play with?"
(trying not to giggle) "Well, Marissa, he's not quite big enough to play with toys, but he is kind of swimming."
"When he gets bigger, I can show him how to jump off the diving board."
"That sounds great, Marissa!"
Such a sweet big sister already:)

Until next time....McCoy and I are going to relax while the girls take a nap. :)

July 4th Weekend-McKinney Family Reunion

We spent our 4th of July weekend with lots of family that had not been all together in a very long time! It was wonderful to see everyone...we had family drive all the way from Texas and fly all the way from Nevada. My parents were there along with my dad's two brothers and his sister and most of their extended family. In all, there was about 30 or so people there! The reunion was in Georgia at Eddie and Allison's house. Allison is my dad's niece, so my second cousin?! Anyway, the girls were so excited to see their cousins, Sadie and Holly, again and the 4 girls played great together!! Luckily, my sweet cousin Rachel did a wonderful job as photographer for the weekend, so all the pictures you see are courtesy of Rachel!!

Sweet Allie and her sun-bleached blonde hair :)
They had a slip-n-slide which was definitely the hit of the weekend!! 3 out of the 4 girls LOVED it!! Here is Holly giving it a go! Marissa thought it was hilarious!

Next up was Marissa.....

She loved it!!

The one that didn't slide....I made her go down it once and boy oh boy...that was a BIG mistake. She was so mad at me....I'm pretty sure Russell has made that same exact face at me before....sorry Allie.

A great action shot!!

Luckily, she didn't stay mad for too long....but she still wouldn't slide.

So she just made silly faces for Rachel.

And sweet faces :)

The girls ventured in the house and played in the playroom....

And on Holly's Dora bed...which Marissa abosultely LOVED!!!

While the family was outside chatting and catching up...telling old stories and just enjoying some long overdue time together.

The next day...Eddie said there was a dock within walking distance where they could jump into the lake...so a group of them walked down there. He said it was a pretty long walk, so Allie and I stayed behind. But from the stories and pictures...it looks like they had a blast!! Marissa is our little water baby!

This is the funny part...as they were walking up from the dock, Russell had this wierd look on his face and everyone was saying...Marissa jumped off the dock!!! So, Russell came up to me and said he and Marissa jumped off this 15 foot dock together and that he really didn't want to do it. (Russell's not so big on heights...) He said he would say "1....2....3....are you sure Marissa?!" about 5 times before they finally jumped. He told me, "I couldn't back down in front of my own daughter and look like a wuss." HAHA! Daddy defnitely took one for the team. Marissa ended up jumping 3 times with her daddy and 1 time with Papa! Our little daredevil.

Jump #1....

There they go!!!

Safely to the water with Papa looking on!!

Not sure if Marissa is hanging on to Russell or the other way around....haha. :)

Ready to go again! Such a cool picture!

Having a blast!!

Once everyone was dried off, it was time to play some late night corn hole. By this time...we were already back at the hotel in bed. Between all the playing and no naps...the girls were d.o.n.e. by 8:30. But, the party went on into in the wee hours of the night...

Go Papa!

Marissa found this Dora hat in Sadie's room and wore it pretty much the entire weekend.

All the cousins (minus Holly, she wasn't in the picture-taking mood.)

Our patriotic picture...without Daddy. He had to go back home that morning to check on the golf course..

Silly, silly girls.

To all the McKinney family, it was wonderful to see everyone again!! And to Rachel...thanks for taking such beautiful pictures--you are so talented!! See y'all next time!