I went on a FIELD TRIP!!!

So yesterday I volunteered to along with Mackenzie's class to the Butterfly House. I love going to the Butterfly House, and of course the whole "photo op" thing had me excited as well. Upon arrival to Mackenzie's school I was assigned another student to watch in addition to Mackenzie. His name was Ryan. . .and he was an angel the ENTIRE trip. Seriously. He deserved the gold star for the day!! Mackenzie on the other hand. . .not so much an angel. I am not sure if she was just overly excited that I was there, or jealous of Ryan, or just in a bad mood, whatever it was, she was determined that she was not going to let either of us enjoy the trip.

Have you ever been in the Butterfly House?? If not, you must go, but be warned, it feels like it is about 90 degrees w/100% humidity. Seriously. They spray water out every now and then to keep it humid for the butterflies. So it's HOT and HUMID. I was wearing my work clothing (basically meaning pants and a polo), carrying my purse (overly heavy), AND my camera bag (VERY HEAVY). So that, in addition to trying to pay attention to one very good little boy, and one onery little girl (who kept running away from me!), had me sweating. Literally. It was so gross. So needless to say, there were lame threats about punishment, and the limp threat about leaving. Mackenzie of course thought leaving was a great idea. . .so that ended up being more of a reward than a punishment. GRRRRRRRR. She did loose cartoons for the evening. At least I got to relax last night!!!

All in all the trip was fun. But next time, Matt is going with me!!! Here are a few pics. . .

Local Flooding

Although Matt and I haven't been affected by the flooding here in the Mid-West, we have witnessed some of the damage first hand. One of the local levees broke near the highway we take to get to and from work. The amount of water is simply shocking.

Here is what we see on the way home from work nowadays. . .the lakes you see now aren't ususally there. In fact, the first night after the levee broke, they had to close the highway - due to the high volume of deer and frogs trying to get to higher ground. They opened it the next morning around 6am. . .just in time for rush hour.

Matt took these from inside our car while I was driving. . .






Unfortunately it doesn't look like things are getting any bettter! Today when we got to our daughter's school, we noticed road closed signs just beyond the entrance to the school's parking lot. We inquired within and discovered that the river water was still rising in areas and they had to shut the road down for saftey. I know there is a mobile home park a little way down the road. I am definitely praying for EVERYONE affected by the current flooding!!!

We did some Landscaping!

Apparently Matt and I don't know how to relax. . .ever. We constantly find things that HAVE to be done. This past week-end wasn't any different! On Sunday, since the weather was cooler than it had been for a while, Matt decided he was going to plant the Magnolia tree that we purchased back in early May. After watching his progress for a while (ok, ok, I was peering out of the window without him knowing) I wasn't sure if he was going to just plop it in hole, or actually set up some landscaping. At first it appeared he was going to follow the "hole-plopping" plan. . .SO, I mentioned that maybe we should go ahead and do the whole job since we had the, um, time. Yeah, that's it, time! ALRIGHT, I admit it! The tree looked weird by itself in a corner in the backyard.

Matt had actually already had an idea of what he wanted landscaping-wise, and planned everything out right after we bought the tree. His entire concept sounded wonderful and I couldn't wait to see what his creative mind was going to come up with! I was also excited to get the tree planted and a little bit more landscaping in our back yard.

First he plopped the tree in the hole, then he dug up the grass in the shape he desired, we all went to Lowes and bought stone, dirt, and some fancy grass. We came home, outlined the grassless hole w/stone, filled that with dirt, and then headed back to Lowes. . .for more stone and more dirt.

Monday after work, Mackenzie and I went to Home Depot to get the flowers to finish off the project. All in all, we think it turned out pretty well! I love Matt's and my projects. . .he builds, I decorate! It's wonderful!!!

Without futher ado, here are the pics. . .


Mackenzie was running in the neighbors sprinkler while we put the finishing touches on the landscaping. She was a soaked mess, but I LOVED watching her have so much fun. I will even to admit to running thru the sprinkler a few times myself!


Here is the tree that started it all. . .

I love the Vincas. . .I think they are so pretty!

Playtime!

I am really getting a kick out of the birthday presents Mackenzie received this year. They are cool, exciting, and not just for four year olds! In fact, I LOVE it when Mackenzie asks me if we can play!

Today we played with a gift from Aunt Cindy, Uncle Kenn, and Emmy and Carter. They gave her a paper doll book - but not just ANY paper doll book, it contained three of Mackenzie's favorite Disney Princesses! Aerial, Cinderella, and Belle to be exact. Here is what they looked like before they were clothed. . .

Here is Mackenzie dressing Cinderella. . .meanwhile I was dressing Belle. Mackenzie then took care of Aerial. TaDa! How do they look??? Beautiful? Glamorous?? Didn't we do a fabulous job?!?!?
Aerial is visiting Belle in her small library.
Here are the three girls together in Cinderella's Garden! Aren't they lovely??

Hunter's 4th B-day Party

Yesterday Matt, Mackenzie, and I went to a birthday party for Hunter. . .he turned four in March, but wanted a swimming party, so his mama suggested that he wait until June when the weather was warmer to celebrate! We all had the best time, and everything was perfect: the weather, food, hosts, friends, etc. It did rain for a few minutes, but that was enough time to get out of the pool for some lunch!

Here are a few pics from the day. . .

This is the b-day boy, Hunter.

Some of the guests. . .that's Mackenzie and Elizabeth closest to the camera.
This is Tyler, Hunter's brother. He is turning ONE this week! Isn't he precious?!?!?
Ms. Elizabeth getting ready to swim! Don't you just love the expression on her face? And you have to admit you totally want to pinch those cheeks!Here's Ms. Mack relaxing with her Daddy. Don't you just LOVE her new swimming suit? I picked it up for her at Target.
Getting ready to blow out the candles!
This was Tyler's cake.
Who needs hands???
Well, maybe hands would steady the cake while you eat it!

School Days

My weekdays are pretty much the same. Get up, get ready, get Mackenzie up, get her ready. . .drive to Mackenzie's school. . .drop her off. . .BUT WAIT, it does get interesting. . .

The classroom where I drop her off (which used to be her class about three weeks ago) has a window that faces the parking lot. I LOVED it when she moved to this class because I got one more chance to say good-bye to her in the morning. For the most part she is always smiling, waving, or yelling bye to me. There are the occasional times when I don't see her at all. . .or the times when she is mad at me for leaving her and crying. It just depends on her little four year old mood at the time.

Lately one of her best friends has been saying goodbye as well, so I made a special point to bring my camera just to catch the girls in the window. It may sound crazy, but it warms my heart when they say bye to me in the mornings.

Seriously, are they not totally precious???

My favorite one is the one below. . .

OLD like you. . .

So today, while on the treadmill, Mackenzie was jumping on the trampoline and keeping me company. She decided that while we exercised we must watch "Semi Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee". If you don't watch it, I highly recommend it!! It's a wonderful show! Mackenzie actually asks us if she can watch it all the time. In fact, when I announced I was going on the treadmill, she immediately asked if we could turn "Semi Homemade" on. Since it is Ti-Vo'd, I agreed. Although, in retrospect, is it really smart to exercise while watching someone make a Lemon-Blueberry CAKE? I think NOT!

ANYWAY, we were watching Sandra (we are on a first name basis now. . .I figure that if my four year old can quote, "Keep is sweet, Keep it smart, Keep it simple, and Always Keep it Semi Homemade" on demand, we are on a first name basis!) make a steak fiesta pizza on the grill. It looked scrumpcious. While Sanda was grilling the steak and peppers, Mackenzie turned to me and said, "When I get OLD like you, I will love to eat that." "Old like ME?" I asked her? OLD? I am sure that when you are 4 and your parents are in their EARLY 30's, it must seem OLD. But, it was still a shock to be called OLD. By your daughter. To your face. It didn't help much when I said, "Do you think Mama is OLD?" She replied, "No, when I get BIGGER like you, I will like to eat that."

Thanks.

I have PROOF!

So, remember a bit ago I told you that Mackenzie ATE spaghetti???!!! And how it was at Matt's mom & dad's house? Well, she did it again. . .for the neighbors! We tried a couple of times in between the grandparents and neighbors, but she wouldn't have anything to do with it. . .until last night! She asked for it. . .by name! Who could resist that? And she ATE it. ALL. And asked for seconds! See for yourself!


The weather had been beautiful all day, so we decided after dinner we would play outside. Mackenzie needed to run off some steam anyway!

While Mackenzie was running around, I noticed this lone ladybug on the grass next to me. It looked so pretty against the green grass. . .I just had to grab a shot!
Anyone for leap frog??
Oh! This is the grass that goes belongs with the chi-a pet cat thing that Mackenzie got for her birthday. Look how much it has grown!!!

Tonight after dinner we ventured outside again. . .the weather has simply been amazing, and we are SO THANKFUL it's not raining! Mackenzie decided she wanted to play with her chalk.
And she colored like a mad-woman!!

3-D Chalk

One of the birthday presents Mackenzie received was container of 3-D chalk. I am not sure who was more excited about the gift. . .her, or me! While she and I were trying to figure out how everything worked, the neighbor kids came over. This excited Mackenzie b/c she could show off her new chalk. Me?? Not so excited! I now had to SHARE! Anyway, look how cute Mackenzie looks in her 3-D glasses!

It's not just the cool chalk that excited me on Mackenzie's birthday. In fact, I am really jealous of some of the gifts my daughter received! One that I totally wanted to "borrow" from her is this cat thing that you paint, and then put a cup of grass behind it's head so it looks like hair. . .a la a Chi-a pet. . .sort of. Now, as selfish as I wanted to be, I wasn't. . .Instead of "borrowing" the gift, I took total pleasure on taking a photo or two of Mackenzie painting the cat.



Here is the first of the grass growing. . .there is a LOT more hair now!