Hoppy Halloween!

Here are pictures of our Halloween festivities:

After Mackenzie's nap, we headed out to Northville to take a peek in Aunt Meg's treat basket:

Next, we headed back to South Lyon to have dinner with Grammy and Aunt Janet:

Pizza and salad for dinner:

Aunt Janet peeking through Mack's bunny ears:

Smiling with Grammy:

And a then a quick stop over to say hello to Hal, Jeanette and Ben:

Finally, we walked over to Wilson's for trick or treating. Mack was so excited, she actually ran most of the way from Grammy's to Wilson's ( a future jogger?!).
Mack and Olivia are excited for some treats:

Run, girls, run!

With all the running Mack had done, she was tired after about 45 minutes and asked to go home. We stopped in to say good night to Grammy and A. Janet and headed for home where Mack counted her loot, took a bath to wash off her whiskers and went to bed:

Boo at the zoo

The Toledo zoo hosted a preschool trick or treat last week so Grammy and I decided to take Mackenzie. Since this was an event specifically for the preschool age group, there wasn't a lot of things to do but we didn't mind since Mack wanted to ride the carousel and visit the aquarium, too.

There was a line to enter the zoo but it moved quickly. Mackenzie waited very patiently:

Not a sight you see every day!Mack and Grammy walking over the bridge toward the preschool area of the zoo:
Mackenzie sure liked the inflatables but with so many kids jumping around, she was more than ready to get down after a few minutes:

A special treat! The carousel that was on the side of the park we were on was up and running so Grammy treated Mack to a ride:
It was a fun trip to the zoo and we were glad we could spend a warm, sunny October day there with Grammy.

Rhyme, slime!

My little rhymer girl has really taken to this whole rhyming thing. Rhyming is a great way to build a foundation for future reading and we think it's also pretty fun ( even if she says differently in the video below!). Last night , after I put Mackenzie to bed, I could hear a steady stream of rhymes coming from her room. The monologue went something like this:

" Mars, stars? That's right! Tree, spree? Of course! Fox, socks. Table, splable...." and so it went for over an hour before her room fell silent ( my-lent) It was so endearing and heart warming to listen to, I stood there for five minutes listening and trying not to sneak into her room and join the fun.

Here's a short video of Mack showing her rhyming skills ( and a sampling of two year old patience ( or lack there of) at the end):

Hey Taylor!

My niece, Taylor, is always coming up with the cutest ways to paint her nails so this post is especially for her her.

Mack couldn't decide which color she wanted so we painted with " All of dem ( motions in circles with hands)! " . Mine are painted maize ( ish) and blue with faithful hopes they will bring good luck to our beloved Wolverines today:


What a great daddy! Mike let Mackenzie paint his toe nails ( clear) since mine were still wet:
Mike gets the gold star of the day. He helped me turn my orange nails into jack-o-lanterns!

Thank you, Grams!!

Grams has been busy! She made each of the girls ( Taylor, Brooklyn and Mackenzie) tu-tus. They are so cute and frilly that Mack couldn't help but twirl around and around and when she fell down, the tu-tu provided just enough padding to break her fall.
It's been so long since I posted video of Mack and I promise, I am working on posting more. For now, here's a quick video just for you, Grams:

Happy Birthday, Olivia and Griffin!

Olivia and Griffin celebrated their 4th and 1st birthday's with a party last weekend. The Wilson's are such great and special friends to us and it's an honor to be apart of the milestones of their family.

Our little family of M's wasn't in the best party shape since Mike had worked the night before and Mack was teething and short on sleep but we still enjoyed ourselves!

The girls huggin' in out:
Erin tried her hand at cake decorating and did a fantastic job! This doesn't like a first timers cake. It must have tasted just as good because Mack asked for more dino cake all day long:
Olivia's princess cake made by Will's mom, Diane:
Olivia loved the dress we got her. We thought it was perfect for our favorite little blue eyed princess:
Mack watching Livy open her presents. I think she was doing the mental math countdown of days until her birthday:
In Griffin's world, every day is a party so this day was really no different apart from that yummy cake! As a special ( and early) gift to his parents and sister, Griffin learned to walk two weeks before his birthday.

good news/bad news

Mackenzie has learned to dress herself! Each morning, I give her the clothes I want her to wear and leave her to it. This is primarily a good thing, however; this afternoon she went into her room fully dressed in day time attire and came to me five minutes later dressed in footsie pajamas and no undies. So it begins...how many extra loads of laundry do you think this means for me?

Wild child

Mack and I have been working on rhyming and one of Mack's favorite rhymes is " wild, child"
( esp. since it's been a nick name of hers since she learned to walk). " Wild child " is the first thing that came to my mind tonight when I took her pig tails out and combed through her hair.
Check out how long it is in the back. It's even longer when wet:

A really big pumpkin patch post

Mack was given the choice to a) take a nap or b) skip said nap and play at the pumpkin patch all afternoon. Her answer came a split second after I asked for it- " YES! Of course! Let's pick a pumpkin! " she said in her little voice. So off we went to the pumpkin patch ( With a pit stop at Kroger to buy Mike's and my pumpkins at a fraction of the patch cost) .

Nice choice, Mack!


After the pumpkin was picked and cider and donuts were had, it was time to play!
Check out this " crib" full of corn!

This was not her first nor was it her last of this pumpkin top:
Mike asked Mackenzie what kind of face she'd like on her pumpkin. She said mad and then covered it with every color paint available which resulted in a Hulk-ish type pumpkin. Next, was some sensory play with the "guts" of the pumpkins. Maybe we have a surgeon in the making?
Or a really good Operation player?


The end result. Mike carved all three pumpkins but his ( far left) is my favorite. He's so creative!
Check out "tiny" Mack from last year ( 19.5 months)
Mack learned to trace her own hand so we made this card for Grammy. Can you see that she's learned to write "MACKEN" ? ( you have to look at it through the eyes of a 2 year old or the parent of a two year old. The "A" is overlapping the "M" and the "C" is backwards)

Rules of two

Noticing a theme here? We are really learning the landscape of Twoville here. If you wanna make it through this teary and trembling land, there are some things you must know:

- Rain boots go with ANYTHING and glitter of any kind is considered a neutral color.

- It's customary to dress yourself at least twice in the morning. The first time the clothes have to be inside out, backwards or ...something else.

- Two bite maximum at at least one meal a day.

- Absolutely no substitutions to the bedtime routine.

-It's all about the sound effects.

-When entering the bathroom with someone 4 ft tall or below, allow them to turn on the light. If you don't, the light must be turned off while everyone exits the bathroom. Re-entry is allowed only after the appropriate person has switched on the light. ( The same procedure should be followed with flushing the toilet and slamming down the lid.)

- A request for help is almost always followed by the " I can do it by myself !" Declaration. Don't be alarmed.

-Hopping is a valid mode of transportation.

-Condiments. Enough said.

-In Twoville, the hard way IS the only way. It's not acceptable to simply go from point A to point B. For instance, when making a torn paper pumpkin, why use your hands to tear the paper when you can use, lets say, your mouth?

Just a few things to make your trip here a little easier to navigate. I'll add more rules as they are made up.

P.S. I'm told that the terrain in Threetown is very similar to that of Twoville only with elevated attitude.

Acting her age....

So it was bound to happen sometime.It is the right of every two year old to act...two. And Mackenzie has, in fact, been two for 7 months. But the last few weeks she's definitely ACTED two. Sometimes I look at this tiny toddler dictator and feel like I'm talking to a teenager trapped in this sweet girl facade. None the less, I love her for it. It's good for her to test her limits and see that they are sturdy. It's good for her to have an opinion but also learn how to express it. It is a long process and there are, indeed, so many rules. We'll get through it ( even if it takes the next 16 years) and one day I'll look back and miss this sassy sprite of a girl. So I don't laugh ( or cry) alone at some of her recent spoutings, here a some examples of Mack's " two-ness". Keep in mind that I'm not new to the two year old game and her big talk doesn't ever get her very far. Doesn't keep her from trying, though.

" No, Mama, I won't eat my brestkist ( breakfast in Mackenzien) . This is MY life!"

" I can't believe this!"

" Don't love me!" ( Mike was trying to kiss her) ( This is also interchangeable with don't : see me, smell me, taste me, touch me, pet me)

Despite all of mood swings, tantrums, drama , and tears ( ohh so many tears!) that come along with those in the 2 year old age bracket, it is my very favorite age. For every sassy comment, there are 10 sweet or funny things said. To watch someone reach out and taste the world for the first time is a gift that I could never put a price tag on.Just last night ,as I kissed her good night, she whispered in the sweetest voice " I love you sweet girl Mommy".

"C" is for cookie!

We spent a day with Aunt Meg making Halloween sugar cookies. What a perfect day for it. After all the cookies were baked and dinner was had, we spent a few minutes at the park to use up some of that cookie energy!

Flour, though it looks like sugar, does not taste good plain. Now that it's in, what to do with it?:
Roll it on out, girls!
Cute aren't they? And they tasted even better ( the gluten free variety for me, of course)

Friendly days

Mack had a friend-filled week last week! Griffin, Olivia and Erin were here on Tuesday followed by Gage and Jillian Wednesday and Thursday. It's on those days that I can say with 100% confidence that I am glad we've decided to spread our kids out! Having three kids under the age of four in the house for three days in a row was a lot for this ex-preschool worker! But it was fun and , for the most part, the kids all played well together with out much direction from me.

We made a marching band. Mack and Jilly loved playing their recorders ( much to the dismay, I'm sure, of our neighbors). After this, we made "Halloween People" , a much quieter project.
Who doesn't love a tea party?

Surprise parade!

I can't imagine what it must be like to be Mackenzie. Yesterday she was sitting in Grammy's living room reading when suddenly she's told she gets to see Aunt Janet AND a parade all at once! She must think we throw parades just for her. In truth, this parade was to celebrate home coming.

The parade went right past Grammy's house. Mackenzie and Aunt Janet wanted to get the best seats:
It was a great day for a little parade. Far better than the last in which we got rained on!

See how she grows!

Ok, ok, we all know that kids grow at lightening speed. I have heard from countless people " Don't close your eyes, she'll be a teenager!" And I know it's true. It just never gets old for me ( and I hope not for you) to see the difference in Mackenzie in just under 365 days!

Oct 16th 2009

October 15, 2020
In just a year, Mack's gone from size 2T clothes to 4T, She's gained 4.5 inches ( but only about 2 lbs), her feet have grown three sizes and she's grown 4 teeth. She's out grown her crib and moved to a big girl bed, learned to dress herself and has been potty trained for more than 6 months among countless other things learned. This is all just amazing. I love watching it all from my front row seat!

Art Project

Just for you, Grammy ( with the photo version, you won't have to sweep up falling leaf crumbs hehe) :

The leaves are a souvenir from our nature walk last week. We did this same project last year and I love it because it uses hand tracings for the trees. This year Mackenzie was much more involved and she placed darn near every one of those leave crumbles. I love fall for lots of reasons, least of all it's easy projects!

Here's a quick pic of Mackenzie's rainbow and sunshine. She also loves to draw lady bugs and has started to draw people, too!

Fall 2010

If you ask Mackenzie if we took a walk yesterday she'll tell you " No. Not a walk. A NATURE walk." And she's right. We took time out as a family yesterday to walk the trail, taking in the sights of gorgeous fall day. We gathered leaves and acorns to use in art projects and for decorations around the house.

Start the day off right- a sugar pumpkin!


We're getting plenty of use out of our 99 cent bucket! We were really hunting for leaves and acorns but Mack wouldn't pass up a nice stick.

She and I ran home while Mike followed with the stroller. Mack yelled " I'm jogging! I'm jogging!" the whole way: