My handy man

I was thinking of letting Mike write this post but he wouldn't give himself enough credit. Over the last few days, he has rid our home of the horrible carpet that was here when we moved in and replaced it with brand new Washington Cherry laminate flooring. He'd try to tell you that it's easy, but with all the cutting and measuring and engineering he did, I don't think most people would have had the patience or skill to pull it off.

Here's the room before:
Here's how it looked after the carpet was removed:
Here's my handy man working:

While Mike gets most of the credit, he did have two lovely assistants!
As Mack would say " TAAAA DAAAA"
The hallway was the hardest because it required Mike to customize so many of the planks. He did a great job!
Mike and Mack enjoying a dance on the new floor:
Mike worked tirelessly to get this floor done quickly to appease his overly anxious and slightly compulsive when it comes to cleanliness wife and I really love it! But not nearly as much as I love him!

Marching through March!

I find it hard to believe that we have nearly made it through March! Between Mack's birthday, Mike's birthday and home improvement projects, it seems to have snuck by. Here's what we've been up to!

Check out Mack drinking her milk with her winter gloves on ( it was about 60 degrees that day):


Last weekend we took a break from DIY home updating to attend the church talent auction. In short, it's a long standing tradition where those who are willing donate their time and talents and an then fellow church members bid on them in an auction. Mary donated lots of things like cakes, bread pudding ( a hot ticket item!) and a baby layette. Aunt Meg donated her highly sought after mittens. The proceeds are used for mission work. It was so much fun and we can hardly wait to go again!

This years theme was "Tail gating" so everyone wore their favorite team gear. Here's Mack in her U of M gear. She loved the auction because of the applause after each item was won. Notice her kitty shoes. She hardly goes anywhere with out them:


Mack enjoying the festivities:

The next morning was "New member Sunday". I've been attending South Lyon First United Methodist for a few years now but finally took the leap and joined the rest of my family as a member. Here I am after the service wearing my "new member" corsage, name tag and United Methodist pin:
Later that day, Mary treated us to Thai food at our favorite restaurant to celebrate Mike's birthday and my joining the church.
Mack loved the noodles!

This and that

Here are a few odd pics I couldn't pass up.

Our little Irish girl loves to eat potatoes RAW! If a bag of potatoes gets left with in her range, she tears into it and helps herself to a snack. Here's what I found after putting her down for a nap. Can you see the little bite marks?
During craft time, Mack and I were working on marshmallow clouds. Mack has gotten really good at applying the glue but is still a bit clumsy with it. In this picture, she's frustrated because the marshmallow is glued to her hand.

An outfit for every occasion!

Here's a quick glimpse of Mack's budding fashion sense:

8 am Up and at 'em! Toddler on the Go:
There's no time too early for rain boots! ( By the way, that's amoxicillin on her onesie. We were just about to change her when I snapped this picture)

11 am Always ready for fun in overalls!
2 pm Stomping puddles and looking great!

Under a shady tree!

The title of this blog is the title of one of Laurie Berkner's songs. Laurie is Mack's favorite artist so we listen to her all day long. One or more of her songs is constantly running through my head. Today , it's "Under a shady tree" and it's the perfect title for this post!

With warmer weather arriving, Mack and I headed to Grammy's to look for new plants and flowers. While there weren't any just yet, Mack did climb " Under a shady tree" to hunt for pine cones. She found more than she could carry!

Duck! Duck! GOOSE! ( and a heron, too!)

Before we moved to South Lyon, Mike and I ( and eventually, a very tiny Mackenzie) lived in a townhouse in Ann Arbor. The townhouse was near a wild life reserve and I used to take Mack on walks there every day- sometimes twice a day. Last Thursday Mack was sick and we couldn't go to music class so we went to feed the ducks at the nature reserve instead. What a fun experience. I had just as much fun as Mack. Here are some photos from our outing.

We stopped at Kroger on our way out of town to grab a loaf of their almost out of date bread. 49 cents a loaf- what a steal! As soon as we showed up, the ducks paddled over to us. Next came the geese and lastly, a lanky gray heron-all a very captive audience.

Mack winged full pieces of bread as far as her little arm could.


While most of it made it to the water to the attentive crew below, some didn't make it past the bridge supports.
Mack stopped half way for a snack of her own:
And the trip wasn't all work. We left room for play, too:
After soaking up the sun and some fresh air, we munched on crackers and cheese before heading home for Mackenzie's nap. Now that Mackenzie is older, it's so much fun to take her on these little trips. She was truly interested in the animals and the surrounding trees and water. At one point she said " A ducks like the water, eating grass!" I look forward to lots more days spent exploring the world with my little side kick.

Mack's 2 year well child exam

Mackenzie saw Doctor Baker for the first time in 6 months yesterday. As much as we love visiting my old work place, we are thankful that we've only had to visit for well child exams over the last year.

Having said that, Mack had gotten sick last week and we would have ended up seeing Dr. Baker that day if we hadn't already had the appointment. Dr. Baker said that she was getting over bronchitis or RSV and also a double ear infection. He didn't think she needed to be treated so we are watching her for now.

Aside from that, she's a very healthy two year old girl! I asked him whether we should be checking her for Celiac disease and he said that he will usually only check kids for it who's parent has it or who have symptoms. He gave us several options on how to proceed with testing and Mike and I are still tossing ideas around.

She was 28 lbs ( 75%) and 35.5 inches ( 85%) . She was measured standing up for the first time so she's probably actually a bit taller than that but she's still tall and thin!

Great big birthday post!

Here's a big post of all the birthday happenings!

My sister sent a really cool portable drawing board that works with water instead of crayons! Mackenzie carried it around for hours. At one point, she was pretending the little water pens were people and I heard her say " C'mon, Grams!" Taylor sent along one of her drawings as well. Mack hugged it when she saw it. ( check out her kitty shoes)
Grams sent a hand drawn wooden box. As soon as Mackenzie saw it she said " Hexagon!" and she was right! Grams also sent a few outfits, one of which Mack wore on her birthday. We miss our Colorado family even more on such happy days!
We placed these flowers on the alter at church in honor of Mack's birthday. She was still under the weather enough that we kept our germs at home. We were bummed to miss church.

In an early birthday gift, Mary gave me a Cricket paper cutter. I LOVE it! I used it to make name tags for the kids good bags at the party:
Good morning, Birthday Girl! Mack's gifts from Mike and me were waiting for her at the breakfast table. It was hard for her to focus on her chocolate chip pancakes with the distraction of the presents so when it's your birthday, you can break the rules- toys THEN breakfast.
We had a quiet morning since we stayed home from church. We stayed in our P.J.'s until mid morning and then took Mack for her favorite lunch- Mac n' cheese!

Here's the birthday girl standing on our front steps. Mack no longer needs assistance with the stairs. She can do it " allll by self!" and she even cheers herself on along the way. ( Mom does this pic give you flashbacks? I think you have a picture of me making this exact same face!)
How old are you Mack?
Does this face spell trouble?
Here's the birthday girl, where's the party?
There were far too many great gifts so I won't post pictures of them all. Here's Mack opening one of them.

Aunt Janet did a story time/puppet show. I cannot believe that she got all three preschoolers to sit still for the stories! And she says that preschool age isn't her forte...I don't buy it! Here's a pic of her putting on the show!
Ben wearing the hat he made during Aunt Janet's story time!
To compliment the puppet theme, Mary made this puppet theater cake. It's it awesome! And tasty, too. She wanted to use chocolate gluten free cake but since I gave up chocolate for Lent, she used yellow cake mix- still very yummy! It's nearly impossible to feed me these days..hehe
Blow out those candles, Mack! She's been talking about doing this for at least week!
The party was so much fun. While I always miss my family and friends back in Colorado ( and Arizona), I know they were thinking of us and celebrating from afar. We are blessed beyond measure to have family and close friends to celebrate our little Mack with and the memories are so dear to me.

We ended the day having pizza with Will, Erin, Olivia and Griffin. They treated us in honor of their Goddaughters second birthday!
As I type this it is 8:45p.m. and I can still hear my sweet girl hopped up on sugar and singing "Happy Birthday" to herself from her crib. Life is good....

Mack's 2nd year birthday video

Customize your own free photo slideshow

Eye see you....

Poor Duncan

Duncan really has grown to love Mackenzie. So much so that he even sat still while she strapped her bib onto him.

The Doctor will see you now

Mike was the subject of Mackenzie's morning rounds. After she gave him a shot in the armpit and shouted " OUCH!" it was decided that her bedside manner needs some work.

Braids!

Mack's hair is finally long enough to braid!