Daddy's Little Helper!

This past weekend it had snowed only about an inch or so, and Aaron didn't want to get out the snow blower so Mackenzie and him headed out with their shovels. She was really a good helper...she loves to be outside, but she also has seen her favorite show Caillou help his dad shovel snow.


Here is Kate being entertained watching out the window!

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Mackenzie can be so funny sometimes...well lots of times! This morning we were cracking up....Aaron was home sick and she was has been trying to think of ways to make him feel better. I told her if she rubbed his shoulders that it would help. She was all excited and went over and rubbed his shoulders for a whole 30 sec. and then had a light bulb moment....she says"Hey dad, if you go like this (crossing his arms and putting them on his shoulders) you can rub your own back!" What a great idea!!!

Then lately she has been talking about getting a new mom or dad, or having 2 moms and dads, but the newest one today was at lunch telling us a story about what her "old mom" would do for her! It's funny because she always talks about it in positive moments...not even when she is unhappy with us. I don't know where she gets these ideas, but I'm starting to get a complex;)

Praise God!

This is so neat......many of my friends are adopting right now, some have their children already and some are still in the process. I just wanted to share one of their stories with you... my college friends Jeff and Abby have just returned home from getting their son Charlie.....click here to read their story and you have watch their "Welcome Home" video! Make sure you have a box of Kleenex before you start! He is so adorable!

Welcome home and God bless all of you for following His leading!

You are what you eat!

Yes, I am really starting to think that one of these days Mackenzie is going to turn into a fruit! She LOVES fruit...I think some days that is all she eats. Today for lunch along with some chips and part of a sandwich she had applesauce, a thing of pears and half of a grapefruit and still wanted some of mine! I am glad this is something healthy, but not so sure only eating fruit is the best....not to mention it is expensive. The only fruit she is not fond of is the melons and it is probably because I am allergic to them so we never eat them around our house.

Bye Bye!

Last night we said good bye to our black Grand Prix! I got this car when I was in college from my cousin and then Aaron took over when we bought our first car together! It treated us well, but the time had come to say good bye! Aaron listed it on Craigs list and within the first hour we got 2 phone calls and an email...by the end of the day we had about 7 phone calls and 3 emails, or something like that. Definitely the way to sell a car or anything for that matter. Aaron is looking around the house to see what else he can make some money on!
Anyways...the guy...well more like a boy...came to pick it up last night and was going to brave driving it home. It was recommended to us not to drive it, but he changed the oil and he was headed back on his 2 hour trip home. We prayed that he would make it.....haven't heard and probably won't...I guess that is good news!
Throughout the night Mackenzie had made a couple comments about not wanting it to go, but it never occurred to me that should would be that disappointed. The moment he started backing it out she started bawling....and I mean she was really crying....sad crying! She said she wanted us to save it for her to drive when she got bigger! We validated her feelings of sadness, but inside I was laughing that she was so upset by this. She hardly ever even rode in it! She did get over it, but on our side of things....we are so happy to have our whole driveway back!

Happy 50th Dad!

Tuesday my dad turned 50... so this past weekend our family went to a hotel to just spend the weekend together. We thought of surprising him with a party, but that just isn't his style, so we tried to surprise him with a weekend away, but he figured it out. Fun all the same! This hotel wasn't just any hotel, but one with a water park inside! This is actually the place that my dad's side of the family would get together and have our Christmas every year. It's been 4 years since we have been there, so it was so much fun to be back! Of course the girls loved the water park although Mackenzie stayed in just the pool part most of the time.

Dad teaching her to back float....first swimming lessons!

Her favorite thing to do at the pool.....any pool!

Kate enjoyed the water after the first initial introduction. There was so much to distract her.

Then on Saturday we just hung around the pool and played cards, swam and ate! We did some shopping at the outlet malls close by.....let me tell you I got some amazing deals. I need to shop there more often! Then that night dad picked a really nice place for us to dine for his birthday dinner!

Yeah they even wrote in your soup!


Mackenzie HAD to sit by Aunt Amy! I think she is a little mini-Amy!

Then we went back and celebrated with a Coldstone ice cream cake! I brought some toppers along for something festive!




This is what we got my dad...I saw it and I knew exactly what to get him....he really liked it. He already has plans of where he is going to wear it....his annual golfing trip!

The return of the moocher.......she was literally on top of me pushing me over for more cake!

The rest of the night we hung out and played some games......good ol' family bonding time!

Sunday my brother had events all day so the rest of us just hung out at the mall in the kids area, did a little shopping and then after lunch we took our 2 girls to a children's museum while others ice skated. It was so much fun and I wish I would have know how much stuff there was there, because we could have easily spent the whole day there. We were just pushing Mackenzie along so she could just see everything. We'll know next time!

We had such a good time, but it wasn't long enough.... it never seems to be!

Happy Birthday Dad! We love you!

Iowa Winters

I just had to post for the record that last week we had accumulative of a FOOT of snow and wind chill temps in the -40's....yes that is a NEGATIVE. The actual temp was still like -26 or something like that. I don't remember the last time I have even heard of those numbers or seen that much snow. I can honestly say that I still don't know what that temp actually feels like as I didn't even think of attempting to open the door!
It was so cold that we couldn't even go outside to play in all the snow:( Mackenzie really likes to be outside and Aaron is so good about taking her out and playing with her. We have such big snow piles right now that they climb to the top of the "mountain" (notice in the picture in front of the big buildings) and slide down, or he gives her wild rides on the sled! The cold doesn't even seem to faze her.

The craziness of it all was that today is was in the 40's....but I'm not getting too comfortable because tomorrow it is supposed to drop almost down to single digits again and I think more snow is in the forecast! This is exactly why Aaron is currently looking for real estate SOUTH!

Kate!

Kate has just seemed to grow up so much this past month! I have to write this stuff down or else I'll forget. I'm not doing so well with the second child putting things in her baby book!
Some of her new things are saying "uh-oh!" It was so cute watching her learn to say it. You could tell she was really concentrating on what she was doing with her voice. I don't know if you would qualify it as a word, but if so I guess this would be her first!
She waves and softly says bye bye...well anything that starts with a "B" such as baby or ball....she will very softly make the "B" sound! Another thing that she yells is "DAAA" when she wants her dad or if she is playing with a phone she always says daaa.....I think she must get that from me when we talk on the phone to him during the day. She does know what she is saying!
She does not want to have anything to do with baby food. She is pretty good about eating anything and I have to say she can out eat her big sister! You should see her shovel the food in!
She cruising around everything! She would much prefer to be in the standing position versus crawling. She will even stand on her own for a little while. it might not be too long before she is walking. Her new favorite is to crawl up the stairs and she is getting really fast!
She gives kisses when you ask and then gets so proud of herself after she does it! They are the good ol open mouth ones.... sometimes the tongue is out.
A couple things that she has done the past couple days that I was just shocked at were....it was just me and her sitting on the floor playing and I noticed one of her socks was off. I said "where is your sock?" She looked at me, picked up the toy between her leg and picked up her sock that was underneath of it and handed it to me! I couldn't believe it...you just never know what they really understand. Then yesterday I was reading her a little kids songbook and I started singing "If your Happy and you know it" and she started clapping her hands. So we finished and I put the book down...well she wanted that book back and she flipped through it until she found the "If your Happy and you know it" page and started clapping again. I have to say I was just so proud of her!
We try and teach our kids a little sign language to get by till they can start talking. I think I did better with Mackenzie, but Kate has caught on to the sign for "more," but she would rather use her ear piercing scream to get more food! It is more of a discipline for us than them to remember to use it.
Another thing that just gets more fun the bigger she gets is watching the girls interact with each other. Tuesday nights seem to be our only night home together as a family and this past Tuesday we just has so much fun making cookies, watching American Idol and just sitting in the living room all together. The girls were laughing so hard at each other and then Mackenzie introduced Kate to Popsicles! She was tackling Mackenzie for another turn at sucking on it. She was a like a little puppy begging at her feet! This is a picture of Kate hugging Mackenzie!


I just keep telling Mackenzie how they will just be "Best Friends!" It is fun to watch that friendship form even at Kate's young age!

Off with the Old, On with the New!

We knew the day was coming, but not quit this soon. The day we left for Christmas as Aaron was pulling his car into the garage it started smoking....not a good sign. Not that all the signs before were good....the horrible noises, and the heat going out! So when we got back we took it in and the prognosis wasn't good. Let's just say the car wasn't even worth THAT much! Aaron had been driving the rattle trap back a forth to work a good many years. I guess it was time to let go!

With the decision made to move on and not fix it we started looking around town. We didn't know if we should just get a car for Aaron to drive to work or bite the bullet and look for something bigger for the family.... if there should ever be any more Musselman children the Jeep would just be too tight! Yes the dreaded words mini-van was mentioned, but I am not totally convinced yet. From the day Aaron and I got married we said we would never get one......but Aaron is starting to go practical on me! I agree...they are extremely practical and would be very nice to have room wise. I just can't bring myself to be driving one yet......I have to say they are improving in the looks department!

Anyways.... we decided to just look for something for Aaron to drive back and forth to work, nothing fancy. As we were looking around we saw a Sebring and Aaron was curious, so we knew our good friends have one, so Aaron gave him a call to see how he liked it and if it was a reliable car. The answer was positive so we started focusing on that. The next day our friend calls ...the one that has the Sebring that we called the day before...and says that him and his wife are wanting to get a "mini-van" and wanted to know if we would like to buy their car!!! He said it would probably work out better for both parties beings what they would get for a trade in and what we would get at a dealership....WOW! God is so faithful..... in our lives He always seems the most clear when we are purchasing something big such as a home or car! We knew that they take extremely good car of their cars and it would definitely be a step up for Aaron...well I guess that wouldn't take much...but we just felt this is what we were supposed to do! In the meantime Aaron was test driving some Sebrings around town and realized that he wasn't fitting so well in them...his head was scraping the top, unless he put the seat back ganster style! We got a little discouraged realizing that this might not work out. Oh no.....Aaron talked with them and they have power seats...not to worry! Another confirmation.....so with all of this to be said and all of the final details worked out, we went and picked up our car this past weekend.

We made a weekend out of the trip and stayed with family and then the other night with our friends. As we were talking with them about their new van my friend mentioned to me that they were hours away from not getting their van. A lady(after driving several hours to get there) came into the dealership a couple hours after they called to hold their van, to buy that exact one!

On the way home Aaron was grinning from ear to ear in his new ride. He made the comment "this is just too nice for me to drive to work!" Poor guy....he's been humbly driving that rattle trap for years and now he gets something nice! God is so good!
Thanks Heronemus(s)-- how do you pluralize your name? We promise to take good care of it!

"Get use to it!"

This past Sunday Aaron was all perturbed that he couldn't get into either of the bathrooms upstairs to do his hair. I mean come on.... you are living with 3 girls now..... I do realize they are under the age of 5, but you need to get use to it! He grows up with 4 brothers and he now lives with 3 girls. Just an FYI...there was plenty of room in our bathroom as I was just using half the mirror to do my hair! I told him all you need to do is just ask kindly and if that doesn't work...push us out of the way! With his passive nature he resorted to going downstairs to use that mirror. I love you babe for all your patience!

Moocher!

On Christmas day Kate was going around mooching everyone's dessert. She knew what she wanted and she was going to go get it! My dad made his famous shakes for us and she got one bite of it and she wanted more.

Beggin!

Ha ha...I've got him wrapped around my little finger!

I mean how can you resist that face!

I promise I do feed her!

I had to post these pictures of Kate in her Christmas pjs! I saw them in a magazine and I had to get them.....she needed pjs anyways!

Christmas 2008

Here is the rundown of our Christmas craziness! Like my friend put it.....This is going to be a long post and I know you probably don't care about the details but this is my "scrapbook," something my family will look back at, so here it is!
Christmas Eve we headed to my parents house and had our Christmas dinner....I always enjoy this part the most...the whole family sitting around the table having dinner and conversing! My second favorite is still waking up at my parents house Christmas morning, picture on the steps (tradition), doing the stocking/present thing and then a yummy breakfast!

Traditional picture.....the comment was made that we are going to need to add more steps pretty soon!

Kate gaurding the loot! It looks like she already found her favorite gift and she hasn't even gotten to the tree yet!

Mackenzie has been wanting an umbrella and she got to use it right away....who would guess....rain at Christmas?

Kate showing how big she is getting!

Aunt Amy and Mackenzie multi-tasking....hanging out in the new tent...watching the new Wiggles movie....and probably checking FB!

Christmas day was a great day of just hanging out with the family....it was actually our only relaxing day! We played a lot of "Things" over Christmas. It is a game that I was introduced to by some friends and I told my mom she HAD to get it for the boys for Christmas. I explain it as a mixture of Balderdash and Apples to Apples. Lots of Laughs!

Friday I got to have lunch with Destiny, my best friend from High School. It was so good to catch up with her! Then on to the preparations for the next day. Saturday my parents were having my dad's side of the family for the Christmas this year....all 40 of us were there!

We had it all out in my parents gym...we set up tables on one half, the kids played in the other half and it worked out perfectly...plenty of room! Here is just half of the clan!

It happened to fall on Zach's birthday this year......the big 17!

We got to meet my cousin Jenny's 2 new additions to the family....her husband Shawn and their new little baby Alexander Randall(Xander)! He is so adorable!

Then on to the volleyball match....the was more than enough for 2 teams... I'm not sure who won!

It was so great for all of us to be together.....that doesn't happen every year! So thankful that we all still get together and that my Grandpa was there and doing well! ( he was in the hospital for several weeks around Thanksgiving)

Sunday was off to Aaron's family Christmas! We were all there except Mark's....we missed you! We ate....did the present thing and then ate again (I think it is a theme for the holidays)

Here is Mackenzie and Sophia helping Grandma play Christmas tunes on the piano!

Zach entertaining Kate!

Molly and her cute little present! She stuffed Mackenzie into a sack and gave her as a gift!

Mackenzie enjoyed playing with her cousin Sophia...the only one close to her age! We also introduced the Musselman's to "Things!" We got to stay at Aaron's brother Mike's place....thank you so much for the hospitality.

On Sunday we missed my mom's side of the family Christmas. It wasn't supposed to be this way, but somewhere along the line there was a misunderstanding or miscommunication. My parents were hosting again and my mom was trying to plan around my schedule so I could help her. Oops! We missed seeing all of you!

Then on Monday I got to meet some college friends for lunch! Holli was back from the UK and it was SO great to get together....it has been years since we were all together and we have so many memories together. Some of us have seen each other, but all 5 of us are literally spread across the globe.....UK.... Seattle.... Georgia....Illinois..... Iowa!

Holli, Tara, Bridget, me and Leisa! I thank God for friends like this that after years of not being together you can just pick up right were you left off!

We drove back home then late monday night. So Tuesday was our own little family Christmas. I never want to do it before we leave because well, we just had Mackenzie's birthday and it just seems more separated if we do it this way....and it is always something to look forward to going home after all the hoopla!

Starting the tradition of the step picture with our family!

The girls unwrapping yet another present! I mean really, where are we going to put this stuff?

Kate really caught on to the whole unwrapping process. Of course she really didn't know what was going on except that if she ripped the paper there was something fun underneath!

Well all in all there was much food...laughter... presents.....more food....more good times...more presents....more food.....and even more presents! But I can't end this post without Praising God for what He gave to us....His Son sent here on earth to free us ...and that is the reason we celebrate Christmas!

Birthday Parties!

We're back and finally getting Mackenzie's birthday party posted! It has been a busy last couple weeks.....fun, but busy!

(Click on picture for more!)

Saturday my family came up to celebrate and we all planned on going to a place in a neighboring town that had an indoor "Recess"! The weather wasn't great, but it worked out for most of our friends and family to come and the kids....well all of us....had a blast! There was big blow up things, rides, games, jungle gyms and even Santa was there! Then on Sunday, her actual birthday, we went to church and then to one of her favorite places to eat....Hickory Park! She always loves to hear them sing Happy Birthday, so it was even better when they sang to her!



Went home and opened a few presents....we had to space them all out, or give her practice which ever. Then for dinner we decided on another one of her favorite places which is a Japanese steakhouse. Well the favorite part is the chef....Yummy Harry! We have been there several times and always ask for the same guy as Mackenzie walks around all the time repeating him.... "Yummy, yummy, my name is Harry!" It was so entertaining.....Harry even seemed excited and said that he remembered Mackenzie from before! I loved how he "flipped" her the egg! If you have never been to a Japanese Steakhouse you should go....most of them are somewhat the same in the fact that they cook right in front of you and are very entertaining!



After dinner we went back home to do the whole cake, ice cream and present thing. Since Mackenzie wanted a "Wiggles" birthday and we couldn't take a cake into the recess place the night before I got a small one for the family! Mackenzie enjoyed all her gifts..but most of all thank you to all who came and made her birthday very special....thank you everyone!

I have to put one last video up....sorry it is too cute! It is Mackenzie and Kate dancing to her new Wiggles guitar!