Mission completed

I think I was pretty clear in describing how I feel about carrot cake. That craving was unrelenting and I had no choice but to give in. The store closest to us doesn't carry a gluten free carrot cake mix so this carrot cake needed to be made from scratch.
Notice how the picture is blurry? That's because I couldn't take the time to get a good , clear picture before I devoured this poor piece of cake. And can I just say, this cake was FABULOUS ( even if there were a shard or two of stray egg shells that escaped the site of my little helper). I am sure you'll notice how well the carrot is shredded, thanks the skillful hand of my mom.

Cozy little house

It's ginger bread house time! This year Mack had a plan in mind for how she wanted the house to look so she helped pick out candy to bring her vision to life. I have to say, I think it's my favorite ginger bread house yet:

This years' house came with it's own gingerbread man. Mack's got her eye on him but I told her she had to wait for a taste until Christmas:
Caught ya, Mack! :
Long Family, 2011:

20 weeks

Half way ! It's not the best picture ( although it is a nice shot of the spots I missed while dusting yesterday) but it's a picture. And that's the best I can do these days!
I went from craving WATER to craving a long list of sweets. How does that work? Carrot cake tops my list of " must eats" . Poor Mike, can't keep up but tries every day by asking " What does baby want?" (He'll do just about anything to ensure the arrival of a strong healthy boy in April)
How about:

-raspberry zingers ( who else but pregnant women and children under 8 eats them? And WHY don't they make a gluten free version? )
-brownies. And I can't decide if I want the gooey middle or the chewy outside. Either way, lots of chocolate, please!
-banana bread. An easy fix. I whipped up a loaf. I should have doubled the batch.
- salt and vinegar chips- Mike doesn't come home with out them any more.
and of course...
carrot cake- With melty cream cheese frosting and chopped walnuts, oh, more frosting. I'm not even sure there has to be carrots in it. Just lots of melty frosting, nuts and more frosting. In fact, after I write this and clean my dusty mirror, I am going to the store .

In other pregnancy news: I think I said before ( I can't be sure since all I think about is the above list it seems) but we'll be getting repeat ultra sound in the high risk ultra sound lab because little one got a little uncooperative at the end of our last and the doctor wasn't happy with the blurry shots. So January 9th is the day. I've heard my fair share of things to eat and things to do to make an uncooperative baby cooperate. I'll give them a try and see what comes of it!

I took an afternoon and got the nursery all set up. Now it's just missing the " boyish" touches to make it the perfect space for our little guy. We're thinking of doing a train theme. Mike and Mackenzie are both very excited at the prospects of adding another train lover to the mix here. Here are a few snap shots of things as they are now:

We are so, so thankful that Mary sent out ALL of our baby stuff ( I think it was about 9 boxes worth ).
This bumbo seat is the only gender specific baby item we got for Mackenzie. Baby boy will have to endure purple. Perhaps it will encourage sitting up a bit faster?
The funny little guy in the bassinet is Zany. He is a " cat keeper-outer."

Zoo!

"Where are we going?" Mack asked as I triple layered her socks and fastened the straps on her boots.
" We're going to the Z-O-O ." I replied, knowing she'd know the word I spelled.
" *gasp* The ZOO?! " and suddenly the room was abuzz with lists of " who to see" and " where to go's" .

A few of Mike's co-workers made plans to check out the Denver Zoo's " Zoo Lights" and we couldn't wait to go! It was definitely a chilly night, though not so much so that we didn't have a great time. There wasn't a great turn out, but three of " the co-workers" ( as Mack referrs to them) and their kids made it out. We made our way through the zoo, seeing light displays of wolves chasing bunnies, monkeys swinging in trees, and fire flies with their wings flapping in trees, to name a few. Mack's favorite was the lights that chase each other down the tree branches, making it feel like it was snowing!

These pictures were taken by my old point and shoot ( the " big camera" is too bulky to use with gloves on) and at night making them doubly bad, but you get the idea:

M's waiting for the gang to show up:
The gangs all here! It was nice that the indoor animal areas were still open and kept extra toasty- perfect for a quick warm up before heading back out for more lights:
Train ride by Christmas light-
Who can even think to skip the carousel?
It has been harder than I thought to " uproot" our Michigan traditions and swamp them out for Colorado ,especially because things in Colorado are so different so it feels somewhat like starting from scratch. Little by little, though with all our Colorado peeps excited to have us back, our Colorado traditions will fit like a nice and toasty glove.

Light it up!

Mackenzie and I attended our first Colorado light parade in Brighton with a whole crew: Annie brought Kizzie , Emily brought her three boys and my mom brought Brooklyn and Kaleb! Thankfully it's wasn't exceedingly cold although the wait for the parade to start with 7 kids did seem to last twice as long as it did in real time:

Mack and her cousins waiting for the parade to start:
Mack insisted on wearing her sunglasses well after dark:

Annie holding Irvin ( 4) and sneaking in some cuddle time:

Special Treat

We received a box from Northville, Michigan that contained, amoung lots of other things, one of our favorite Christmas treats!

Pistachio ( mistachio in Mackenzien) turtles:
Thanks, Aunt Meg! You brought a bit of Michigan to our first Colorado Christmas as a family!

Grammy comes to town!

Grammy came to visit for a week. Mack had a long list of things to do with Grammy. Here they are checking a few things off that list:


Board games:
Lots of chatting:
While Grammy was here, Mack caught a brief stomach bug that left her feeling pretty crummy. She was very tired from so much " throw up-ing" and had a nice warm couch buddy to catch a nap with:

We got some snow during the week and , as always, Mack was ready to get out in it as soon as her eyes were open!

She calls this " my tiny tree" . Indeed, it is.
She brought out one of our old mixing spoons turned play toy and shoveled in snow as fast as her little mouth would let her:
Mack's list also including taking Mary to all of her favorite places. We visited both the aquarium and the butterfly pavilion and didn't make it to the Children's museum or the zoo but those will be good for warmer weather, anyway.

Bug watching at the butterfly pavilion:
Mack knew the names of a few of the butterflies from her favorite books so it was really fun to get to see them up close. I don't think she intended to one as close as she did when it landed on her head! :
Everyone who hangs out with us HAS to go to the Downtown Aquarium for some sting ray feeding.
Mack showing me how you hold your fingers so the sting rays can get the fish: