Topsy turvey!

I moved out the couch and the coffee table and spread out a blanket to let Mack have the floor to herself. Watching her somersault and roll around makes me think she's fit for a gymnastics class!

"Could I BE wearing any more necklaces?"

I am a huge " Friends" fan and when Mackenzie came out wearing TWENTY FIVE necklaces and head bands around her neck, I could hear the Friends character (Chandler's) voice in my head saying " Could I BE wearing any more necklaces?"...Trust me, though, if there were more necklaces to be found, she would be wearing them.

Bring on the turkeys!

Or at least projects about turkeys! Mack and I were bored with pumpkins so we moved on to Thanksgiving projects.

Mackenzie tearing up tissue paper for " feathers"
Her favorite part- the glue stick ( "ga-lue sic" )

Her not so favorite part-getting stuck to the the tissue paper:
I cut out tracings of Mackenzie's hands and , after she put the feathers on, trimmed the paper to match the hands.
It was a lot of work but I think he's pretty cute!

A Halloween treat!

Aunt Janet stopped by as we were finishing up bath the other night. What a fun suprise! As if her visit wasn't surprise enough, she brought Mackenzie a great book-Elmo's Trick or Treat. It's equipped with a special "trick or treat" doorbell sound effect. Each time Mack presses it, she shouts " Who's there?!"

Wrapped around her little finger

I happened upon this sight the other day and it was too funny to not post:

Music class hosts a Halloween party

Miss Marie, Mackenzie's music teacher, hosted a Halloween party open to anyone in her 6 ( or so?) music classes and their friends. We attended the first party and had so much fun! Miss Marie did an outstanding job. Not only did Mackenzie have fun, but Mike and I did, too!

The worlds fastest lady bug goes speeding by:
There was a scavenger hunt and each clue lead the families to a big cauldron of candy, fruit snacks, crackers and pretzels. Each child could pick three treats from each cauldron. Mackenzie's treat bag consisted mostly of Dum Dums.
We played musical numbers. When Mackenzie landed on the winning number, she picked out a long beaded necklace, bubbles and a ball:
There were steps leading up to a box and the kids were supposed to knock on the box. When they did, a zebra popped out with a treat in his mouth. Mackenzie made friends with this zebra and made several trips back to visit:
This pictures just screams " What in the world is THAT thing?"
The merry-go-round was a big hit!
Next was cookie decorating! The woman dressed as a chef is Miss Marie. She played the part very well and even carried around huge trays of freshly baked muffins and cookies!

Mackenzie liked the frosting part but her enthusiasm fizzled after that. The finished product was a group collaboration. Mackenzie needed a sip of apple juice after all that candy corn, I mean..work:
And the witches hat cookie, cute as it was, met it's demise:

Pumpkin Carving

It is a well known fact in my family that I am a horrible , horrible pumpkin carver. Every year I have these great ideas about how I'm going to carve/decorate my pumpkin. I always envision a perfectly decorated pal who is so well done that it's nearly impossible to toss it out after Halloween. Let's just say, it never happens that way. Thankfully, Mike is a really good at pumpkin carving and he agrees to fix the mess that I have made . This year was no different. At least mine turned out slightly better than Mackenzie's....is that really even something to brag about?

Mackenzie finger painted her pumpkin. Good news! She only took one lick of her paint covered finger. This is a big deal for a child who licks lotion off her hands.
She even got in some sensory play by burying her hands in pumpkin guts. In this picture, she's holding a glob of it:

Mike was very focused on getting his pumpkin just right!

Here are the finished products:

Mackenzie:
Missy: ( I can hear my sisters laughing from here)
And best of all, Mikes! I have no idea why his "daddy" pumpkin always had things sticking out of it's head.But a great job none the less!
The " family" now greets guests on our front steps. Notice that Mike managed to salvage the " mommy" pumpkin yet again:
Mackenzie isn't sure what this pumpkin business is about but I think she likes it anyway!
R.I.P Pumpkins. You sure are tasty:

A new play space!

Mary had been working on getting her basement reorganized so that there was a play area for when Mackenzie was over. She had made a lot of progress on the basement and I didn't have anything to do during nap time so between the two of us, we transformed the basement from a storage area to a play room! Check it out!

I didn't take any " before pictures" but here is how it looked after we spent just two hours reorganizing:

View from the other side:


After a impromptu trip to Ikea for toys bins and that cool run, we headed to our house where Mike had soup simmering. Later, we took Mackenzie to see the new and improved basement.

She approves! As she stood in the middle of the floor taking it all in, she said " WHOA!" and off she went!
Go ahead, laugh at the outfit!

Pumpkins!

We braved the biting cold wind and dodged a few stray rain drops as we headed out to Three Cedars Farm to pick out a pumpkin for Mackenzie. Even thought it was bitterly cold, we had a great time and there was so much to do! We are even hoping to go back if the weather warms up later this week.

She thought she was big stuff sitting on those BIG pumpkins!
Big difference from last year when we had to prop her up against the pumpkin for a picture:

Donuts and hot cider to follow ( man do I miss donuts in the fall!)!
" A TRAIN!" she exclaims:

Here's the winner! Oh! And the kind farmer gave Mackenzie the gourd to take home, too.

Mail call!

Mackenzie loves to check the mail and runs to the door the instant she hears the word " mail". So she was very excited to get two cards in the mail this week!

One from Auntie Nikki, Uncle Ben, Taylor and Coley. She was so excited and had it opened before she got in the house:


The second is a really neat card from Aunt Meg. The little characters in the pumpkins are actually finger puppets!
Thanks Meg and Nikki- you sure know how to brighten up the day of a little girl!

Potty!

Mackenzie's been following me to the potty every day for the last week or so. Since she had been showing heightened interest, I usually talk to her about the potty at diaper changes and ask her if she wants to sit on hers and most often she does sit on the chair but doesn't " produce" . I do this simply so that she starts to see the association between going potty and her potty chair. Tonight as I was getting her ready for bed, she said " Potty! Toilet!" so I asked her if she wanted to sit on her potty chair. She said " Yes!" . She sat on the chair for a few minutes before she stood up and said " I pooped!" When I looked in, she had peed! We did a little dance and celebrated with a sticker. While I do not anticipate full out potty training for a few months, it was great to see big steps in the right direction.

As , as is customary for any new parent, here are potty pictures:


And I do mean, actual potty pictures! ( This is what is commonly referred to as TMI- too much info)

Legos

The Henry Ford Museum is hosting the Lego's exhibit so we headed over to check it out. It's amazing all the things they can do with simple Legos! Mackenzie had a great time wandering throughout the exhibit. There were several things that were meant just for her age, which was great! Mike got to explore a bit and even tried his hand a castle making.

Mack walking to the car with Daddy:
Michigan falls are so gorgeous! The Henry Ford Museum:
Admiring the tiny pieces:
Making a castle of our own:
Whee!
Amazing! That whole thing is made of Legos
And this, too:
Mike and Mack both loved these. They are made of rubber!