Stay between the lines?

" I stayed in the lines!" Mack shouted as she scribbled a good inch beyond the boundaries of Elmo's nose. She's opted to color is brown with green dots today. While she isn't quite staying in the lines, her art work sure has changed in the last few months.

Coloring a traced picture of herself:

Mack's idea of coloring in the lines! Instead of coloring the entire page in one color, she now uses every color. If you look at the cat that she colored, you can see that she's trying! :
Mack's very own rainbow!
And look what else she's learning to do! She connected the hearts all on her own to make an "M"!
One step closer to signing autographs ;)

New additions to the Mackenzien dictionary

Bar-B-Sue-Cos: Bar-B-Que-Sauce

Piggy ride back: Piggy Back Ride

Kleenext- Kleenex

Game night

We had our first Long Family game night! Hi Ho Cherry-O! is the perfect game for Mackenzie right now. She picked right up on how to play and even won 2 out of 4 games!
Counting her Blueberries into her bucket:
" I did it!" I think her favorite part was when someone won and she could cheer. Her second favorite part was when her bucket of fruit "spilled" and she shouted " OH MAN! My blue berries spilled!"

Nature hike

Michigan weather has been hard to follow- dropping lots of rain followed by a warm day here and there only to pour more rain ! On one of the few sunny days of May, the three of us went on a nature hike at Kensington metro park. Mack rode in the Kelty carrier for the durations of the hike but walked all over the nature center where she saw huge fish, plenty of turtles and chipmunks and lots of different birds plus a brand new bee hiving swarming with bees. We really had a lot of fun and plan on making this a weekly ritual! Next time we'll bring along the bug spray.

Mike and Mack checkin' out the fish:
The chipmunks sure weren't shy! One even tried to climb right over my shoe.
What a gorgeous hiking trail:
Mike and I both carried Mack in the carrier. She's over 30 lbs now so that made for quite the work out on this hilly trail ( p.s. This picture makes our trail look a whole lot more exciting. Rest assured, I AM wearing a shirt! LOL)l:

Our little musician

When you have a baby, you find yourself thinking about what kind of person they will be and where their interests will like. It's really fascinating to watch Mackenzie grow and to see what her natural talents are. Even at just over two years old, Mike and I have both noticed that she really gravitates towards music.

Thanks to Grammy , Mack has been enrolled in a music class all year. She absolutely loves it. In fact, she knows the days of the week only because she learned that Thursday is music class. She looks forward to it all week long and while she is there, she is fully engaged, mimicking her teachers' ever movement.

She also can pick out different instruments out of songs. She sings on key, can keep time with music by clapping, and makes up her own songs. The other day, she was playing on her piano, going key by key up the scales. Each time she pressed another key, she sang up a note!

This isn't much of a surprise since Mike loves music enough to play the saxophone in the band all the way through college . He also plays a number of other instruments. Grandpa Ralph was also a music lover. I've always been in choir and my mom's whole side of the family is full of people who play various instruments. Mack picked up where we left off! As long as she loves it, we'll find ways for her to expand her interest in it. Here's a picture of her with her "Pinano"

My ever blooming flower...

Mack's bedtime is 7:30. It's now 9:15 and I can hear her trying to avoid sleep, singing to herself.

" Mommy! Daddy! Mommy and Daddy! That's for Moooooommy!" The songs are made up and though I should probably go in and settle her back in for the night, I am a statue outside her door ( as though she knows I am there) soaking up those sweet notes knowing that, before I see it coming this sweet sprite of mine will be gone and in her place a child, a teenager, a woman.

The thought is bittersweet. I day dream about the days to come- jogging together , learning a new language, shopping 'til we drop together....but to get there, I have to give up my rambunctious, sassy, spirit filled toddler. The one who claps after every single trip to the potty and runs in circles around the living room floor shouting " I'm jogging!".

This age has always been my favorite and watching the world through her eyes has been completely exhilarating. Crouching down on our hands a knees , a lady bug magnifying glass grasped in her pudgy toddler hand watching a terrified spider try to escape our focus I find such joy. At that moment, I think of her as that magnificent , long awaited spring Tulip, here today in full bloom, and I want nothing more than to preserve her. I want to call " Freeze!" like Ms. Marie does at music class. I want to beg this ride to stop.

But then an even better thought comes to mind....though I cherish this spot that's ours in time right now, each stage of her life will be another flower with another bloom. Though she may grow to a girl that can actually say the word " yellow" instead of " lellow" I will always have memories to cherish and , though the tantrums will probably always cloud our skies from time to time, I look forward with the same kind of excitement to all the moments to come.

" ...how I wonder what you are!" Now she's applauding herself, nearly two hours past her bed time. I think this time I'll quiet that mommy voice in my head and go in for the encore performance .

More pictures of our little ray of sunshine:

After a few days of nothing but rain, we were on a hunt to find some worms! If you look closely, you can see her shovel, rake and magnifying glass in her back pack:
Since mommy and daddy both had their glasses for reading, it's only fair that Mack would have hers:
She got a peek at her Halloween Costume for this year. When she looked in the mirror at herself, she couldn't stop giggling:

I feel pretty! Oh so pretty!

Mackenzie found a tube of my tinted chapstick. The pictures speak for themselves:


Sharing her lips with me:
A pink cheesey smile for the camera ( I have chapstick on my cheek)

Bigley's big ouchie

Bigley has been very well loved. So much so that he needed a restuffing! Dr. Grammy, Aunt Meg and Nurse Mackenzie took the challenge head on:



And Bigley is back in commission!

May I take your order?

Mackenzie's new favorite game is pretending like she's ordering from a drive thru. We honest to goodness don't go through the drive thru much but it must be a highlight for her. Here she is playing drive thru with Mike:

" I want Mac n' Cheese for Target ( we learned means Noodles and Comp) with white cheese and beef. Spiral noodles and milk!"

Mother's day part 1:

Mike has to work on Mother's day so he took today to celebrate ! It worked out perfectly because the necklace that we had made for me came in the mail.

This is my mother's day present. It was made by a small business owner I found on e-crater.com. She was so kind and she designed this around my needs/request.It turned out just how I imagined. I LOVE it! She even said that , when we add another "M" to the equation, she's got several ideas in mind on how to reflect the addition. ( http://silverdiva.ecrater.com/)
And I got a new hair cut:
Back view:
Later that day, we headed to Ann Arbor. Seems I needed to pay a visit to the secretary of state so I could take care of my reverse birthday present ( I needed to buy my new tags and registration). Then we headed over to Noodles and Company ( a family favorite) before going to Borders to spend the gift card my sister sent me for my birthday. It was such a fun day spent with my family. I feel very, very blessed to have such sunshine in my life.

We are looking forward to more celebrating of the mother's on Saturday when Mike will cook dinner for Mary, Meg and me before he goes to work. More to come....

Josie

A month before I found out I was pregnant, Mary gave me a doll that she made herself while visiting Shipshewana. Not only did she make the doll, but she made 13 different complete outfits to go with her. I secretly prayed for a little girl then so that I could one day pass " Josie" down to her.

Now that Mackenzie is 2 and has shown interest in dolls, I couldn't wait any longer. Here are a few pictures of their first REAL introduction ( she's played with a little before):

Picking out an outfit:
A drink for you....
and one for me:
And now a stroller ride:

It's raining, it's pouring!

The last week of April has been cloudy and rainy but that doesn't stop Mackenzie:

And look what it does to her hair! I sure hope these curls stick around!

A whole lotta nothing in particular

I wish you could taste some of the food Mike has been making lately. But since you can't, I shall just tempt you with pictures. He is such a natural in the kitchen!

I finally gave in and broke in my replacement pair of running shoes. Last summer, I was treated to running shoes and wanted to make them last. I've been wearing the old pair for about 6 months. By my approximation they've carried me for about 600 miles! You can certainly see it when they are next to the new pair:

The Village

Mike , Mack and I made our first trip of the season to Greenfield Village. It's fun to watch Mackenzie noticing different things each time we go. Last year, she was a new walker and was constantly a " flight risk" . This year, she walked with us and took the time to explore things she was oblivious to last year.

It was bitterly cold, barely out of the 30's, the day we visited but we still had fun!
A trip to the Village isn't complete until you nearly lose your picnic lunch on the carousel:

Mx3 bed and breakfast

After a really busy week where we were rarely home, I treated Mack to "breaskiss" ( breakfast) in bed.

" Let me tell ya 'bout my best friend"

After two years, the cats have finally accepted Mackenzie into the family. In fact, I think they may prefer her! Or perhaps they just realized that she isn't going anywhere so they may as well get over their "Cat-itude" lest they find themselves cold and alone. In any event- here's visual evidence to support my theory:

You can see why cats are so grouchy. Their life is extremely stressful.