Drool is cool!

Recess!

Each day  when I pick Mack up from school, I do my best CSI type run down to get the low down:

-How was your day?
-What did you do?
-Did you learn anything?
-What did you eat?
-Were you a good listener?

Mack's pretty good about answering evenutally but , after an afternoon as school, she is tired and a bit irritable until she gets home and gets a snack and a cold glass of water. After that, she pours out the info and I eat it up , picturing her day as she describes it. Before the snack/water combo, I have learned to simply ask her "What was your favorite part of school? What was your least favorite part?" Her answers are funny and somewhat confusing, as her new-to-school brain tries to make sense of the goings on in the preschool world. Her one consistent favorite is ...recess.

Look at her go!

Everyone say " Preschool!"

 That's what Mack shouted during each obligatory " first day of school" picture I took. She was so excited that she woke up, got herself dressed, stuffed some toilet paper into her Cars 2 lunch box ( in case she sneezes) and was ready to go in a matter of minutes. It was a pretty long wait, though, since Mackenzie is in the afternoon preschool class. But when it was time to go, we had one excited little girl!

Mack's teacher is Mrs. Vazquez, the wife of my mom's co-worker! She is a quite woman, about my age, with a very sweet disposition. Her aide, Ms. Mandy, is a bubbly, out going personality who remembers every child's name on the first day! Both teachers paid a visit to Mackenzie at our house where Mack dazzled them with her dancing skills and Ellie covered them in a few ( not always welcomed) kisses. We were glad they came for a visit and are certain their visiting each child in their own surroundings is why there were very few tears shed in the preschool classroom today ( at least not by the children) .

The gang outside Mackenzie's school

She found her cubby!

With a quick " BYE!" she was off and
didn't look back.


What an exciting day! I tried my best not to think of the fact that this was the tiny first step in Mackenzie forming a world all her own, one that Mike and I won't have constant access to. Though she is ready, I don't think any mother ever really is. Even still, I am so excited for her to have a chance to experience a little section of the world on her own ,and am pretty glad it's just for three hours a day four days a week. Mommies need baby steps, too.

For now, it's nearly time to go pick up my girl from school! I can't wait to find out how her day went and hope to post a video update from her later today!

One final farewell

To summer that is. Not according to the calendar, but with the start of preschool for Mack fast approaching, it's easy to feel like summer is over as all attention is directed toward school.  Determined to get in one last bit of fun, Mike invited Mackenzie to an end of summer camp out! Excitedly, they made plans and Mackenzie wrote a shopping list which read like this:

                                                        Dinr ( dinner)
                                                        hot dogs
                                                        wood
                                                        smoors ( s'mores)
                                                        chips

Shopping list complete!

After a trip to the store, they set up camp. As tends to happen, things didn't go exactly according to plan but they had fun none the less and even managed to spend the whole night sleeping in the tent. Here are some pictures of the event.

Thanks to the  relentless Colorado sun and heat,our grass is as dead as it can be and we didn't have to worry about  ruining it. So Mike sprayed it down and made an impromptu fire pit in the yard.Unfortunately, with the extra smoke from our tree branches and Mack loudly singing
" We're burning our grass! We're burning our grass!"  for all to hear, we decided to put the
fire out and go in a different direction, lest we alert the attention of the fire department

This is a bit safer

Some of us were less excited than others

We don't need much of an excuse
to pull out the footed jammies around here!

Morning comes pretty quickly , doesn't it Mike?

My Sweetie

Mike took Mack out for errands and a lunch date the other day and returned with these! I love these " just because" flowers!

The hanging lip

We got together to celebrate my Grandma Joann's birthday this past weekend. It was the first time most of the family had met Mason . One thing every baby should know before attending a family function is that my dad's side of the family LOVES babies. It's nearly impossible to escape with out being loved on by everyone . Mason wasn't so sure but, though he threatened to cry , he actually did pretty well. Here he is with my Aunt Jenny and Aunt Janis.

Juicy Orange

4 months for Mason

16 weeks!

16 weeks have come and gone, leaving behind no trace of that little newborn baby delivered to us 4 months ago. We now have a sweet little infant with a bit of short temper but an infectious laugh and his daddy's dimples.

4 months marks the " all clear" to begin baby cereal. Mason had been receiving rice cereal in his bottle while I was still breast feeding so we knew there were no allergic reactions and felt comfortable feeding him that. He's also tasted oats, which he seemed to prefer though he whines either way when the food doesn't come fast enough. This is the time Mack has been waiting for and asked immediately for a turn feeding her brother. She did a fabulous job, chatting softly to him all the while passing spoonful after spoonful into his mouth.With summer in full swing, I have been stocking up on seasonal fruits and veggies to make into baby food for the coming months! We're all excited to see what Mason thinks of all the different tastes.

This day he actually ate better for Mack than he did for me!

 

           

Denver County Fair

Mike, Mack, Mason and my mom outside the fair

Mike scored some discount tickets to the Denver county fair so Mx4 along with my mom all made our way to Denver for a day of fun. The fair is at the National Western Stock Show complex and it 100% indoors ( even a few carnival games!)  and with well over 30 days in a row of 90 degree heat or above, that sounded good to all of us!  Here are a few snap shots of our day:

This girl finds worms wherever she goes!
Mack exploring compost

Mike and Mack watching the dog show

Mack working on her dog training skills. Pretty good, little girl!

Mack watching the magic show

Mack , carrying the food cup, had a "herd" following her all around the petting
zoo. One even tried to eat her shirt!

Mike and his new friend

Mason did so well! He was awake most of the time and happy!

Mack IN the magic show!

She had to wait patiently for it, but it was worth the
wait to get this balloon puppy!

Mack's turn

A few days ago I posted a " discussion" I had with Mason. Now it's Mack's turn!


And part 2:

Busy Body

Each night before I go to bed, I check on each of my babies to make sure they are covered up and warm, snoozing soundly in their beds. Mason is basically immobile so there are no surprises with him. Mackenzie is a different story. It takes her a little while to wind down after a busy day and so I am never sure just what she's doing in her room after kisses are " pinged" , good nights said and the door closes. I usually get a little glimpse of her busy work, though, on my pre-bed checks. Take a peek:

She was tucked into bed at 7:30. Inside that
sleeping bag, she's wearing two pairs of
heavy polar fleece socks and an exra pair of
underwear.

Mackenzie dressed up this little guy in her princess
cape

A lot of times I find that Mack's made beds for
random stuffed animals

Mickey needed a cast. I have also found Mack wearing
this doll blanket as a sock on several nightly checks

Ladybug got a late night hair do

Mack's been watching us closely as we swaddle
Mason.

Whether it's finding her wearing extra clothing  or listening outside her bedroom door putting someone in time out only to find six stuff animals crammed in her sock drawer the next morning, I find it impossible to be upset with her.After all,  I know I can't just lie down in bed after a busy day and fall right to sleep. It takes a while for my brain to turn off and the same has got to be even more true for such a busy little mind. Mackenzie has never once left her room with out my permission. For that reason plus the entertainment value that her "late" night antics provide, I look forward to seeing what she's been up to and try to conceal my laughter at what I find until I quietly close her bedroom door for the night.

Toes

Ever since Mason discovered his toes, he's been infatuated with them. Every chance he gets, he wrangles them into his tiny little grasp, always trying to guide them into his mouth.It won't be long before he actually gets them there:

His own worst enemy

 Despite the fact that he is tightly swaddled before bed, when little Houdini squirms to get an arm free, he always seems to wake with an extra battle wound where he somehow manages scratch himself ( even with the shortest of nails!). What a cute little bruiser he is!

Striking resemblance

People tell me all the time how much Mason looks like Mackenzie. Maybe it's because their personalities are so different, but I just couldn't see it. To satisfy my curiosity, I went looking through pictures of Mackenzie and here's what I found. Both kids are 3 months old in their picture. What do you think?:

A striking resemblance, indeed

Along those same lines, I had a bit of a flashback the other day as Mason sat in his exersaucer smiling away at the sunshine figure on it. It hardly seems like four years ago that I sat watching Mackenzie doing the very same thing. So on my hunt for " look a like" photos, I found these:

Mack checkin' out the sunshine

Mason's turn!

A few minutes with Mason

Mason's up to some new things: He can direct his hands to touch things that grab his attention. He can also grab a hold of things like rattles, hanging toys,clothing , blankets and HAIR! He is determined that he will get his toes into his mouth but so far, he can old lift then up to his belly and then he opens his mouth as if willing the toes to go in! Though he is still Mr. Impatient and wants what he want when he wants it, he is a lot of fun and is still one of the sweetest babies I know! His little laugh is contagious and it leaves us all looking a fool to try and coax a few giggles out.

On top of that, he has a pretty set routine which includes waking about the same times twice a night and naps that are so predictable, you  could set a clock by them. His current routine isn't quite so ideal for Mackenzie's upcoming school schedule so we're working on tweaking that a bit to ensure plenty of time for getting to school and back as well as sufficient nap times for Mason.