4 Years Old!

My little girl is turning 4 tomorrow! I just looked at her last night and I couldn't believe how big she has gotten! She is not my little baby anymore! Mackenzie is such a joy and we thank the Lord that He has given us the blessing of raising one of His children! She has grown from a little 7 lb 2oz little baby to a fun, sweet, beautiful, energetic.....and may I say at times ornery little girl! Here are some pictures we got taken along with all the rest......she did so good I thought I would share a couple....ok many with you!







This year it actually works out to have a real birthday party for her. I always feel bad with her birthday being so close to Christmas. So tonight we are having a friends and family birthday party at a "fun center" and then tomorrow on her birthday we'll go to one of her favorite places to eat and do the whole cake and present thing with family after church! I'll be posting those pics later!

Happy Birthday Mackenzie!
We love you so much~ Dad, Mom & Kate

Family pictures!

We got our family pictures taken a couple weeks ago and thought I would post just a few of our whole family together!

Winter = Cold = Snow!

Yes...winter is here and that means lots of snow for us! Last year there was continuous snow on the ground from November to March...not joking! In our house that brings a mixture of emotions from everyone. Kate....is checking it out(see video)! Mackenzie.....excited! Me.....really don't care, just try and stay warm! Aaron......means he gets to use his snow blower, but really he would prefer to move south. The moment the temp even starts to spiral downward he is already complaining. Today was the first day Mackenzie really got to go out and enjoy the snow for the first time this year. It wasn't our first snow, but first big one.....5 in.

Honestly I didn't know how she would do sending her out there by herself. She played for a while and then wanted to take her coloring books out...... instead I got this idea from a friend...I gave her bottles filled with colored water to color in the snow!

Yes, she is eating snow.....but don't worry it isn't yellow! Mackenzie had came in the front door and Kate found a piece of snow that had fallen off so she had to give it a try. We thought it was so funny, so I gave her some clean snow and let her have at it!

Sorry again for the lighting....my video camera broke so I am resorting to my camera's capabilities!

First Christmas Program

The children's sunday school was a part of the worship service last Sunday at church. This is the first year Mackenzie has been old enough to be in a Christmas program....I can't believe she is THAT old! Here is a couple videos from my camera..... sorry for the lighting! If you only want to see one, you have to watch the second one!

Here is Mackenzie with several of her best friends....from the left Julia, Maddie and Cooper!





Yes that would be my daughter...the one looking around not paying attention...I don't know who she gets that from! I'm not quite sure what her friend was trying to do either....I'm guessing trying to give her a hug! Every time I put that sweater on her she complains of it hurting her in the inner elbow area.....don't know what that is all about, but it must be the reason she has her arms crossed the WHOLE time!

It was one of those moments....you know, when your child is up there on the stage and your not sure exactly what they are going to do....but I have to say I was a proud momma!

9 month pics!

Here are Kate's 9 mo. pictures that I said would be coming! A friend of mine was so kind to take pictures for us....and she did a great job! We had a marathon....Kate's 9mo, Mackenzie's 4 yr, family and Christmas pictures! They did pretty well considering.....

Family Christmas Traditions!

It's been awhile since I have posted.......it's been a little busy around here with the spirit of Christmas, Mackenzie's birthday coming up and all! I told myself I couldn't post until I got my Christmas cards done.......well their almost done, just a few left to get out! We've been having a lot of fun around our house lately with the traditions we are continuing and starting with our girls. Here are a few of them!

Decorating the Christmas tree together as a family! Mackenzie wanted to put the star on, so as to reach the top she got a little boost from Dad!

The finished product! I would just love to change it up every year, but not it's too practical!

This year we started something new....I got the idea from a friend a couple years ago. I take all of our Christmas books and wrap them up. Then every night Mackenzie gets to pick one and open it for her bedtime story! It is so easy and she looks forward to it every night!

I was out shopping the other day and found this little Christmas tree for $5 and then picked up a few mini ornaments for Mackenzie's room! She had so much fun decorating her own tree. I thought about putting it on the front porch, but she enjoyed it too much!

This year I am starting something else new.....Christmas baking! I didn't necessarily grow up doing a whole lot of baking at Christmas time, but is something that I have been in the mood for and Mackenzie really likes to help me out in the kitchen. We aren't doing anything fancy, just some fun and easy treats to start with. Mackenzie is dipping little Christmas pretzels in this picture.

We did some pretzel rods!

Covered Oreos, gingerbread cutouts, caramel popcorn puffs and we plan on doing some cutout sugar cookies sometime! Of course the favorite part is the sprinkles...more sprinkles the better!

Our neighbors had brought us some treats so Mackenzie was so excited to return the favor! If anyone has any more fun and easy Christmas favorites we would love to try them out!

We can't wait till next year when Kate can really join in on the fun!

To pass the time!

Mackenzie is really into crafts right now! She would color, cut, glue and write all day long if she could. Last week she got to do a couple fun things that I thought I would share. They are very easy projects for little kids to do..... I am not gifted in the crafty/creative department. The first was not my idea, my friend Wendi (she on the other hand is extremely crafty) did with Mackenzie and her little girl the other night while she was watching her for us.... Gumdrop trees!

She just bought a styrofoam tree and gumdrops......fairly inexpensive right.....and it keeps them busy for hours!
Oh, don't forget the toothpicks to hold it all together! You break them in half and stick the broken edge in the gumdrop. (it just works better that way)

And there you have it.......your very own gumdrop tree! It was funny........Mackenzie brought it home half finished so we were finishing it the next day and I asked her if she knew that these were candy..... she said no and tried one, but immediately spit it back out. Who likes those spice ones anyway?

The other one is an oldy and one that I had been wanting to do for a while with Mackenzie. I always feel so bad for her having a birthday so close to Christmas (Dec. 21st) This year I am excited because it falls on the weekend before and it will just seem more separated, normally it is the day we go to my parents for Christmas. This year we are actually having a party and family is coming here! Anyways.......we made a Birthday countdown chain.

I just typed up the number of days until her birthday and made a line of the numbers and then I cut it the width way to make the links. (look at the picture below for more sense of my explanation) I alternated numbers because I used 2 different colors. Then every morning she tears one off and has to tell me how many days till her birthday....see it can be an educational thing too. While we were making it she put the numbers in order and read the numbers to me.....those 'teen numbers are hard to learn!

Her favorite colors.....blue and green!

Not that it is at all hard, but I already have the template made and can email it to anyone that would want it. It would be fun for Christmas countdown as well!

9 Months

My baby was 9 months last week.....I can't believe it! We are enjoying this precious little gift so much. Kate has such a sweet tempermant, very laid back and over all a very happy baby! She is now crawling and starting to be a little more vocal! When they are this age they are constantly doing something new.....we are really enjoying these baby stages. I feel like with Mackenzie we were always ready for the next thing, but with your second I think you enjoy the here and now a little more.

I'll have her 9mo. pics to post soon, so check back!

"I don't have any legs!"

Or "I don't have any arms" is Mackenzie's new sayings! She must believe that if she doesn't have arms or legs that she gets out of doing something. That would be correct if it were true, but in the same sentence she is stomping her feet or fly her arms around. For example: "I can't pick up my toys because I don't have arms," or "I can't go get that for you mom because I don't have legs!" It must be a 4 yr old thing....... has anyone else experienced this? I try and not play along with her "game" and explain how she should be thankful that she actually does have arms and legs that do in fact work! She can be quit stubborn sometimes.......I don't know where she gets it from :)'