Leif, Marie and Chloe (Part 2)

We are sooooo glad that we were able to get together again with Leif, Marie and Chloe. This time, we met at Aunt Meg's for yummy salads. Leif has been working hard on projects around the house including new porch steps and fancy new siding for the back deck! Meg had a previous engagement so Marie stepped in as hostess and did a great job! Here are some pictures from our visit. When we see them again next summer, Chloe will be keeping up with Mackenzie!

A very awake and alert Chloe!
Hanging out on the porch! I am sure Mike and Leif never imagined this is where they'd be in 28 years when they were kids!

Just the girls! I really enjoyed Marie. I can't wait for next summer when we will have more time to get to know each other!

Chloe and Marie:

Gigi

My mom sent Mackenzie a Gloworm for Christmas and Mackenzie has rediscovered it in the last few days. We named her " GiGi" and if GiGi gets out of sight, Mackenzie roams around saying " GIGI! Where are you?!". Here's a short video of her with Gigi. In the video, Mackenzie was rocking and consoling Gigi after she'd tossed her across the room:

"Ha-loo"

Mackenzie is a " do it yourself" kinda girl these days so I put a little step stool in the bathroom so she can brush her teeth with out being held. I heard her in the bathroom and so I snuck in to take a picture:
She goes in several times a day to brush her teeth or her hair or just say "Ha-loo" to the smiley girl in the mirror:

Cuddle time with daddy!

Impromptu dinner date!

Mary, Mackenzie and I were heading out when we noticed that Hal and Jeanette ( who live across from Mary) has a new camper parked in their drive. We, being the nosey neighbors we are, had to stop and check it out! Mackenzie and Ben( who is almost three months older than Mackenzie) had so much fun playing in the camper! They bounced around back there until they were red in the face and sweat! Soon, dinner plans evolved and Mary and Jeanette set out to prepare some grub! Hal and I supervised a swim session with Mackenzie and Ben. Here are a few pictures from our dinner date!

Mackenzie on the inside looking out
They are wild I tell you!
Sippy break!
This picture is not for the faint of heart...or stomach! The kids were playing so hard, that Ben ended up with a stray booger on his forehead! We still aren't sure who's booger it was but rest assured that it was properly disposed of. If the parents have their way and these two end up married, I solemnly do swear to show this picture at their wedding!
The the water was freezing, the kids had a blast playing in the pool! Jeanette pushed the little slide up to the pool and the kids climbed up and slide down into the water to their hearts content!

They sure worked up an appetite
Just one more slide before it was time to go home:
The adults laughed at how our evening was " a little bit redneck" but what a good time we had!

Mackenzie and "Fe-Fe"

Grandma Mary has two big cats, Felix ( Fe-Fe) and Fonzie ( Fonie). Felix really loves Mackenzie and the feeling, of course, is mutal as evidenced by these pictures:

Mackenzie sharing her sacred snack ( cheese) with Felix:

Checkin' out the train together:
Felix and Mackenzie have lots in common: Their love of cheese, their love of small, fur covered fake mice and they weigh about the same!

Castaway Cafe

"The Girls" ( Grammy, Aunt Meg, Aunt Janet, Mackenzie and Missy) headed off one morning to Castaway Cafe: an indoor jungle gym with lots of things to climb on and hang from. Mackenzie had been there once before with Grammy and me but having Aunt Meg and Aunt Janet along made it even more fun!

There's a special toddler section but Mackenzie doesn't hang out there much. She likes to climb all the way to the tallest slide and go down. She also loves the HUGE bouncy balls that are bigger than she is although I think her favorite thing is being around the other kids. Here are pictures from our day!

She's always ready to go!

Mackenzie and " The A's" in the back seat..."A" Meg brought yogurt parfaits!
There she goes!
Nearing the top, she had to stop and wave to her adoring fans!
Mommy and Kenzie in the slide, ready for take off!
Grammy climbed up the slide to try to help Mackenzie down. This is the view from the bottom. It was so cute , I couldn't resist!
Slide shot
At the top with "A" Janet
The Peanut Gallery
I was about three seconds late for this shot. Mackenzie was following Aunt Meg through the tunnel and they were in sync!
After an hour of running and climbing, a very thirsty Mackenzie waved goodbye to Castaway! The rest of us took an Aleve and wished for our pillows!
But, the pull of the outlet mall ( which is about a mile from the Cafe) got the best of us. After a bit of shopping and a bit of lunch, Grammy pointed the car toward home. What a fun morning!

A visit with Leif, Marie and Chloe!

Leif, Marie and Chloe were in town visiting and we got together for a BBQ at Aunt Meg's house. It was so nice to be able to visit with out ....oh wait...I was about to type " with out interruption" but then I remembered that there were two busy little girls around! We must just be used to those interruptions! Anyway, it was nice to visit with out any big plans other than just catching up and getting to know each other! I didn't take many pictures at this visit but hope to catch up with Marie and Chloe again next week ( Leif has to return back to work but Marie is staying an extra week!). Here's a picture of sweet Chloe!

I'm peekin' at Chloe over Marie's shoulder. Chloe is SUCH a happy girl, even when she isn't familiar with her surroundings!


Grandma Meg soakin' up her time with Chloe!

More pictures to come!

Update time

We've been really busy although, for the life of me, I can't quite recall WHAT we've been doing in specifics. So here are a few pictures from the last few weeks.

Mackenzie finds her shadow!
Check out these curls! Her hair gets curlier by the day.
This is a really horrible picture ( quality wise) but she looks so grown up and so much like her cousin Brooklyn that I had to post it!
And a blooper picture- we have this bird in our beach themed room and Mackenzie likes to point out his eyes, nose ( "noise" in Mackenzien) and head. This picture was just snapped at the wrong time. She's got wild hair because it's just before bed time.

Mack and I went on a hunt for wild flowers. Mackenzie really liked being able to roam freely and pick the flowers ( instead of hearing " Those are for smelling, not for picking." ) . Our hunt carried us closer to nap time than I expected , so by the end of it Mackenzie was looking wild and her flowers weren't lookin' so good. We did manage to get some really beautiful wild flowers and I am trying my hand at flower pressing with them!
Mackenzie and I watching Sesame Street. Neither of us were feeling good at the moment!

Free range

There are soccer fields near our house and Mackenzie loves to run free on the grass. There are few things in life better than running barefoot in the grass!

Videos galore!

I'm sure it's a tough life for Mackenzie- expected to perform at the slightest whim! Here are a few videos I captured today:

This is Mackenzie playing with the Leap Pad that Nikki sent her. Over the last few weeks she's really started to pay attention to the stories and follow the commands. Here she is reading from " Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can you? " I love how she whispers " Lellow!" at the end.



We play " Crib Volley Ball" at our house. I toss the beach ball into Mack's crib and then she throws it back out. It's one of Mackenzie's favorite things to do. Here's a video of her playing in her crib.



And one more crib time video ( This one's for you Brooky!) . Mackenzie is so silly and I have no idea why she kissed the crib..hehe.

Mackenzie humming!

This is a short video of Mackenzie humming.

It's truly amazing how much she can learn. We sing the alphabet song several times a day and Mackenzie will sing along with certain parts of the song. "Q" and "G" are her favorite! She has also learned several numbers but, unless I'm counting with her, everything is either 2 or 7. She is so much fun!

Best friends

Mackenzie and Olivia will be best friends, whether they like it or not! Mike and Will have been friends since kindergarten and Erin is one of my best friends so it's only natural that Mack and Olivia would follow suit!
Sharing a seat!
I can't wait to show this picture to them when they are teenagers! They just giggle together and it's soooo heart warming!

Mackenzie's first carousel ride

Mackenzie took her first ride on the carousel today! Mike rode with her , and though she looks scared in the pictures, she actually really liked it. She kept saying " NEIGH!" because she thought the horse she was riding on was actually a cat. After the carousel ride, we walked around Greenfield Village for a little while and stopped for a tasty treat before heading home.

Waiting in line:
"Whee?"

And this one's for you Nikki and Tayl0r ( who say they never see enough pictures of me)

A great day!

On Tuesday, Mike had his first day off in a while so we decided to take Mackenzie to the petting zoo. Michigan has been really cool the last few days and the weather was just perfect. So much so that we decided to go back to Kensington after nap time for a bike ride and to let Mackenzie take a dip in the lake. We packed dinner and made an afternoon of it. It really was a great day!

It was a great day to go. We had the whole farm to ourselves and Mackenzie could roam free!
Here she's calling " baaaaaa" to the lambs

We even squeezed in a quick trip to one of the many play grounds at the park. Who says mommies don't like to slide?!
After nap, we loaded up the car with our bikes, the bike trailer , a picnic dinner and swim suits and headed back ( thankfully, the park is only ten minutes away).
Here we are at the start of the bike ride:

And here's Mack at the end! Poor girl- her helmet slipped over her eyes but she never cried so we aren't sure how long she rode that way!
Since it was later in the day, Mackenzie went into the water for just a few minutes before dinner time.


We all had so much fun and can't wait to get back to Kensington. But we'll have to let our butts recover before we take another long bike ride! By the way, Mike had an ever better work out then me because he was pulling Mackenzie!

Here's a video of Mackenzie "baa-ing at the sheep: