Spring in our step!

I should just hang up trying to come up with cute names for our blogs! I digress...spring is in full blossom in Michigan. It truly feels as thought we are emerging from the cocoon of winter, bursting into the sunshiney days of spring. Sporting our day-glow skin, and shielding our eyes from the long lost friend, the sun, we are soaking it up!

With the warmer days, Mack can wear regular jammies again. I love this picture. She doesn't look 2 to me in this picture:
We had a cold day last week but that didn't stop Mike and Mack from heading to the park to feed the ducks. Here's a picture of Mackenzie in her " happy place". That girl sure loves to swing:

Mackenzie is trying to lure Sydney into the sun beam on the livingroom floor. Can you see that she's wearing her sunglasses?

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.