Monster dog

We have affectionately named Ellie " Monster Dog" . She is quite the attention hog and wants to be right where the action is. See?

Peeking under the puppy/baby gate at the top of the stairs. Those are what you call " puppy dog eyes" :
Helping Mack with her bath. It's hard to say who eats more bath bubbles- the girl or the dog:
The cat's don't even get privacy when they go through the cat door:

Wild Fort Lupton

Look who Mike caught playing in the field behind our house:

There's a new photographer in town....

Last week Mack was frustrated. She wanted to take pictures using her Leapster Explorer, a preschool learning toy, but the memory kept filling up and needing to be deleted which is quite annoying when your mind is full of creative photo ideas. So I decided to let Mackenzie play with my old point and shoot camera. I showed her how to use it and off she went! In two days, she filled my memory card with almost 400 pictures. Mike and I both got a kick out f the pictures we found. It was like going on a journey with Mackenzie, she took a picture of everything she saw long the way! Here are a few of my favorites :

Inside of the fridge:
The TV screen:
Inside the dog crate looking out:

And one of many self portraits:
And of course, there were quite a few of her furry friends:

Be thankful that I spared you the pictures of the cat hair ball and my ..ahem...pregnant behind.

Artist

Painting is a well loved activity around here. It's even more fun lately to watch Mack put images she thinks of onto paper and then actually know what it is she painted ( versus the usual " Oh! Look! You painted a butterfly!" followed by " No, Mom. That's not a butterfly. That's an upside down sea star wearing a tutu ( or something like that) " followed by a disbelieving shake of her head)
Here is a very proud Mackenzie with her penguin. Which is a girl. You can tell by it's very fashionable green eye shadow.

Have you seen our new puppy?

Mack has always loved playing " puppy" but she's recently taken it to a whole new level. She LOVES to run around the yard with a toy in her mouth and I find it odd to say that I LIKE playing fetch with my daughter. Who says that? But the excited panting and smile on her face as she chases these toys around the yard or follows Ellie around sniffing things is contagious. I actually find myself cheering " Go get it, Girl!" even though Ellie is lazily watching from the patio. This, indeed, may be the oddest post of my blogging history:

Happy New Year 2012

Knowing that Mack wouldn't make to midnight ( at least not with a hefty price paid bright and early the next day in the form of an ultra crabby three year old) , the new year started at 8 pm in our house. We filled the time before then watching a movie and snacking on Mike's home made potato and tortilla chips ( which were delicious!)
The evenings accessories:
Mack is excited about the poppers:
And the sparkling cider:
Watching Mack dip her cracker in cider felt a little bit like communion:

Old Man Winter?

Did you forget that you're supposed to be freezing our tootsies off? The average temp for this time of year is in the low to mid 40's. Today it was 70 degrees! You can bet we took advantage of this great fortune. The windows were all open, the jackets were stowed away in the closet and we ran around the yard with Ellie , soaking in the sunshine: ( you can click on the collage to see it bigger)