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?