Message for G-Grandma

Mackenzie absolutely LOVES her Great-Grandma, and going to visit her at her house. Randomly, as we drive down the road, she will point towards the highway and say, "Can we go that way? Down the long road, to G-Grandma's house?" I tell her we can go, but not right then. . .we have to wait until we have some vacation!!

Well, Mackenzie has made a very special message for her G-Grandma. . .

It's in the GENES!

Mackenzie has completely outgrown her "nursery" so we are moving her into a bigger bedroom. . .what used to be known as the "guest" room. The "nursery" will then become the "exercise" room. This process is actually taking us some time. . .we had to first clean out the guest room closet (filled to the brim), under the bed (again, stuffed with stuff), and then decide on how we were going to decorate the new room for Mackenzie. So far, the new closet is painted. . .pink! Boy do we have a lot of work ahead of us!!!

To save some $$ we ventured over to the Home Depot. I heard that they were having a fabulous sale on their lighting fixtures. Matt, Mackenzie, and I browsed around, but didn't see anything that struck our fancy. As we headed towards the exit Matt remembered that he needed a new paint roller bucket thing-a-ma-bob. So he headed towards the paint section, and Mackenzie and I stopped to look at a patio furniture display. It was actually a very nice display of beautiful wicker furniture, with really fluffy seat cushions, and some cute little decorative pillows. Nice, right? Well, to the untrained eye (that would be mine), it looked like an everyday normal display. To Mackenzie's eye, it was a very UNRULEY display. She took about 5 or so minutes to arrange, straighten and fluff each and every decorative pillow. When she would finish with a pillow, she would give it a pat. . .almost to say, "good pillow. . .you are perfect now." When she had finished her self-given obsessive chore, she left the display in search of her father. I watched, mouth wide open, in total disbelief as my child walked away. . .no doubt completely contented with the world now that everything was in it's place. Who does her behavior remind you of??? I'll tell you. . .HER FATHER!!

She may look like me, but she is her father in so many ways! I have another perfect example from tonight. She requested popcorn for dinner. I was actually kinda excited about it because she usually turns up her nose to a fresh bowl of popcorn. So, I nuked some horrifingly-fake microwave popcorn. Hmmmmmm. It was yummy. While she was munching away I endevored to make her a much healthier dinner. Her favorite staple food, chicken nuggets, some raspberries, a tomato, and some skim milk. The popcorn was instantly forgotten when her feast was placed in front of her. Now, being 3, what do you think she ate first?? THE TOMATOES! YUCK! Then the raspberries. . .and then she only ate 3 of her nuggies. . .she is just like her FATHER. . .and I love that about her!!

Entertaining ME again!

Last night Matt and I volunteered to babysit Calvin, the 4 year old boy of some very good friends of ours that happen to live across the street. He is a wonderful little boy, and never gives us any problems. In fact, we love it when he comes over because he totally entertains Mackenzie. And, he does a much better job than I do!!! Anyway, I planned on entertaining the kids by (surprise, surprise!!) baking up some cupcakes. I chose strawberry, well, because they are so tasty. . .and pretty. . .and I just really like them a lot!

I got the cake mix, icing, and three ingredients required (they were box cupcakes after all) prepared on the kitchen island. I scooped the kids up and plopped them down on the stools in front of the island. . .and then got them busy. Their first task was to line the cupcake holders with the little paper thingys. They did a wonderful job!

I let them take turns helping me prepare the cupcakes. They each got to add an ingredient (I handled the eggs), and then took turns mixing the batter. They even posed for some photos for me. . .they were way precious. And they LOVED making the cupcakes!!

After our cooking adventure was over, we started watching "The Incredibles". I love the relationship that Mackenzie and Calvin have. . .they never fight. . .and are rarely jealous of each other. We all had the best time, and I was very glad that our neighbors gave us the chance to spend time with their precious son!

Cliff's Self-Portrait. . .with a dab of GEL

So at work today, one of my co-workers, Cliff, began a story about his wife "making" him put gel in his hair. . .once the product was in, his son (and I am sure wife) started laughing hysterically at him. . .apparently, they were laughing about how thin his hair was. . .or appeared to be. . .Cliff said it looked like he had four little tufts of hair on top of his head. . .

I really, really enjoyed his story. So much so that I told Cliff that from now on he needed to: 1) take a picture and 2) BLOG about it. . .for all to see. Seriously! If life is that fun, SHARE IT WITH EVERYONE. He didn't share my view. He didn't get it. . .he just didn't understand the power of the blog. He did, however, draw me my own little picture of what he looked like. And now I am sharing it on MY blog! (click on pics below to make them bigger)

While I was at it, I thought that I might as well share some drawings that Mackenzie made last month. . .January 13th to be exact! I was quite impressed with her artwork. . .she did these all by herself. . .she picked the subject. . .then drew to her little heart's content!

Oh, and in case you are wondering. . .she was a perfect angel at school today. No write-ups or SLAPPING!

Not MY Mackenzie!

It's happened. . .it's happened before, and I am sure that it will happen again. . .but it is still so shocking! When I walked into Mackenzie's classroom today to pick her up from school, I noticed that she was tucked under one of her teacher's arms while they read a book. I thought to myself, "Oh, what a sweet child I have. . .and I am so glad that her teacher's love her enough to cuddle." My sweet thoughts were cut short by the other teacher in the room, who came up to me and said, "I think Mackenzie might have a behavior report today." That was her nice way of saying that she knew Mackenzie had a report, but that I needed to check her mailbox. When I peeked inside, there it was. . .the dreaded behavior report. . .awaiting my signature. . .my admittance that my child is far from perfect.

So, you ask, what did she do??? Well, apparently she wanted a toy that another child had. He used his words to express that he didn't wish for her to take (most likely by force) his toy. So, she in turn used her. . .well, um, hand. . .to. . .um, slap him across the face. Now, believe it or not, I did ask for a "gentle" demo when we arrived home. Trust me, even though she didn't physically smack me, her demo was enough to prove to me that she, well, slapped the other child. . .hard.

Now, you ask, what was her punishment???? First we had a "chat" in the car. She hates chatting, despises them in fact. I remember how much I hated chats from my childhood, so it's the one (of a million) things that I share with her now that I am a parent.

When questioned, Mackenzie didn't have a reason for slapping the boy. . .other than the desired toy. So, during our drive home, I had time to think of a suitable punishment. No cartoons, in fact, no TV!!! Did you hear the protesting???? By the time we actually arrived home (about 1 1/2 hours after picking her up. . .we stopped at Lowes for a while), she was starting to become a wee bit disobedient. So. . .in addition to no TV, she also got a bit of room time. . .alone. . .

Her behavior reports are few and far between, and usually consist of some weird way that she has physically harmed herself. Last time her hand was pinched under a chair that she decided to crawl under. So I guess we are lucky. . .so kids are written up weekly, the really bad ones are written up daily.

That being said, face slapping is totally unacceptable!

Entertaining Mackenzie. . .and Maybe Mama too!

I always feel bad if we leave Mackenzie for a day to enjoy a little "adult time." And since Matt & I left her yesterday to go to see Body Worlds 3, I was feeling twinges of guilt this morning. So, I devoted the entire morning to her. . .no TV, no phone, & no COMPUTER. The first thing Mackenzie wanted to do was play with her mazes. She loves mazes, and if I do say so myself, she is very good at them! (Click on any picture to make it bigger. . .notice that she has started posing. . .she is lovin' the camera these days!!!)

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After what seemed like 20 mazes, she grew a bit bored. I asked her what she wanted to do next. . .her immediate response: make COOKIES! Now we had to decide what kind of cookie to make. Daddy voiced his opinion on the matter. . . "we" decided upon soft and chewy Molasses. YUM! Mackenzie and I set up to make daddy some cookies. Mackenzie mixed the dry ingredients, and I mixed the rest (actually, my stand mixer mixed the rest). I dropped them on a cookie sheet, then baked them for about 10 minutes. . .and voila! Perfect cookies. Daddy must have agreed - he ate FIVE of them.

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Once we had cleaned up our cookie mess, Mackenzie decided she wanted to paint. We broke out the washable paints and a strip of butcher paper. Her heart was only half into painting, and about 10 minutes after she started, she was finished. She hopped down and ran around for a while. . .

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For as long as we can remember, any time Mackenzie is deeply concentrating, she sticks out her tongue. She did it during all three of our projects this morning. . .take a look. . .

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After the paint mess was cleaned up, I looked at the clock. It was nap time. . .for both of us! I still needed to catch up from last night. So, Mackenzie and I read some books and then took a (LONG) nap. In Fact, that is where she still is. . .peacefully sleeping off her morning! I can't wait to see what the rest of the afternoon brings!

Body Worlds 3

Yesterday Matt and I, along with my parents, Matt's cousin, Terra, and her boyfriend, Anthony, went to see Body Worlds 3. It was simply amazing!!!! The lines were incredibly LONG, and the Science Center was packed with people, but it was totally worth it! If you get the opportunity to go, take it! In fact, buy your tickets online NOW, and GO!

The human body is complex, beautiful, fascinating, and amazing. It's fragile, yet strong. And I can't tell you how many times I said, "Wow!" or "Look at this!" or "I didn't know that!" Usually it was the latter statement. Anyway, GO see it!!!

After Body Worlds 3 Matt and I had some dinner, and then joined Terra and Anthony for some coffee and chai tea at our local Barnes and Noble. We had the best time, and talked forever. In fact, we had no idea how late it was until we heard the announcement that they store was closing. Yikes! Poor Aunt Kathy was watching Mackenzie, and we didn't mean to abandon them for so long!!

Mackenzie was already in bed by the time we got back to Aunt Kathy's house. . .so, we stayed and talked with Aunt Kathy for about another hour!! We always have the most wonderful conversations w/Aunt Kathy!

All in all, it was a most wonderful day!!!

A Message for Grammie & Papaw

Mackenzie has a little message for her Grandparents who are currently away from us . . .enjoying a little THREE MONTH vacation!!!

Laundry - A La Mackenzie

For as long as I can remember, Mackenzie has always performed the "Laundry Dance". Basically, while sitting on the floor, I would sort our laundry into piles. Mackenzie would then dance (jump up and down) on all of the clean clothes. It was ok when she was like 18 months, but now that she is getting closer to 4. . .well, quite honestly, it's kinda annoying.

Now, that being said, she is usually a HUGE help when it comes to doing to the laundry. She sorts the socks, undies, and towels. She helps put hangers on our shirts. OH! And, she is awesome when it comes to folding towels and washclothes. And she actually ENJOYS helping! Bonus!!!

Today however, we were washing sheets - KING SIZE sheets. I was putting a new load into the washer, and she was taking a fresh one out of the dryer. To help me, Mackenzie carried the basket into the family room - our favorite place to sort. Well, I guess she decided playing in the sheets was much more fun than folding the sheets. . .she made forts, a bed, stacked the baskets, and did a dance on the sheets. . .take a look. (click on any photo to make it larger.)

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This is the "Laundry Dance". . .

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Here Mackenzie is using the clean blanket to make a bed inside of two little bitty laundry baskets.

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We keep the socks that are missing their "friends" (you know, the socks that no longer have a mate becuse the dryer ATE it) in a small laundry basket. I add a couple of socks every load or so to the never ending pile. I get the basket down every now and then to see if by some small miracle one of the socks may have reproduced, or had it's mate added to our collection. Anyway, Mackenzie decided she needed to use the sock laundry basket, but had no need for the contents. Those poor, lonely, single socks ended up on the floor (admist pillows and sheets used for the forts).

Latest Maternity Session

Here are a couple of images from a maternity shoot that we did a couple of weeks ago. Matt and I had the best time! Mom was very easy going, and willing to do most anything. . .not an easy feat when you are 8 months pregnant!
This shoot was being done as a surprise for her hubby, so we are going to keep mom's identity a secret. We got some wonderful images, and can't wait to meet the new addition to this family!!