Miss Peculiar

Mackenzie's new favorite word  is " peculiar" . She tosses it into every day conversation and I find it so fitting because Mack IS peculiar!  As her fourth birthday creeps days closer, I find evidence of her peculiarity every where. She's particular about how her things are and her decorative style, be it creative, is with out a doubt, peculiar. Here are just a few things that I've happened upon in our house over the last two days:

                                              

Mack's sock, decoratively hung from the lamp

One of Mack's chores is to put away the silverware and, though it looks like this is a hurriedly done job, she placed each of these  pieces of silverware exactly where it lies.

Mack's peculiar ways can even be found in the way she sleeps. Every night I check on her before I go to bed and each night I find myself tip toeing from her room, giggling at her antics. Whether it's that she's found a way to hang every stuffed animal from her curtains or how she's arranged her bed, it's clear that she wrings every ounce of energy out of her day before going to bed. Last night, I found her like this, her feet and all her other pillows tucked into her pillow case, sound asleep.

The countdown is on!

Mack and I made her birthday countdown today. She is especially proud of the cherry on top ( and that she dressed herself and brushed her own hair, in case you couldn't tell) !

Now that's using your noggin!

Annie's step daughter, Makenzie, was off from school because of presidents day and spent the day with us. The girls played anything and everything under the roof before their playings brought them to the "I bet you can't " game. After several turns at hopping on one foot and trying the splits, Kizzie bet Mack that she couldn't spell the word "off". Mackenzie thought about it, sounded it out, and came to the conclusion that it was spelled " O-F " . This didn't sound right to Kizzie who questioned Kenzie. Mack ,
who's always wearing her thinking cap, jumped up, ran over to the light switch, and matter -of -factly said " It's O-F-F and on is O-N." I was so proud for her and her ability to figure out the resolution of a problem , creatively, and on her own.

Mack, being a silly girl, shows off her ducky lips:

Sweet Ellie

I snapped this sweet picture of Ellie sporting her best puppy dog eyes and thought it was too cute to pass up;

We started a " thing"

With out actually meaning to, we've created kind of a " thing"....an "M" thing. It began almost ten years ago, me under a pile of wedding thank-you's , wanting to be sure everyone knew how we'd appreciated their wedding gift by getting the notes out in record time. I began signing the notes " M&M" which carried over to signing emails and letters the same way which lead to other people referring to us as M&M and ...well, this is how you get the start of a " thing".

Fast forward five years and I am pregnant . Like every expectant couple, we talked endlessly about names. We both had already agreed easily that a girl would be Mackenzie Claire but we were stuck on boys names, unable to agree . As it were, Mackenzie Claire was born and the name game was put to rest. With me, under a similar pile of thank you notes, we naturally transitioned to the brand Mx3.

As Mike and I planned on another baby, the topic arose but this time we realized that we had really started a thing. Now known as Mx3, we couldn't imagine not adding another " M" to our trio. A little girls name was easy but we were still stumped on boys names. And when multiple ultra sounds revealed that we are , in fact, having a boy, the topic needed to be addressed.

I loved the idea of somehow honoring Mike in our baby's name but we both knew we didn't want a Michael Thomas Long Jr. So , after kicking around a few ideas , we have happily settled upon the name Mason Thomas for our boy. I adore Mike and it is so special to both of us to know that Mike and his son will be bonded from the start around a name they share. And though Mason isn't technically " here" yet, he is already a part of our family and so, it seems fitting to add him to our little spot on the the blogosphere.
I was thinking I would do something ceremoniously, introducing him with a cute , squishy faced newborn picture under the brand new blog title of Mx4. But...I'm not that patient. And I realize I likely won't have time to spare on my blog for a few weeks, potentially leaving me with a heap of guilt for not having added our boy sooner ( after all what if he READS it?!) . Yes, I really am that overly analytical !

So , rather uneventfully, though with such joyous anticipation, we share our name , and soon, our baby, with the virtual world. And unless four ultra sound techs, two radiologist, a doctor and many " obviously boy" ultra sound screen shots are wrong, Mason Thomas will be joining us before we know it!

Valentine's day continued

Mike and I have never been big time celebrators of Valentine's day. We usually spent our evening at home with take out and a chick flick . Since having Mackenzie, though, we look forward to the opportunity to buy her little trinkets of our affection and color all her food with red food coloring served atop a fun Valentine's day plate. This year was no different ( remember that post about " toots" from earlier? This love note made Mackenzie's whole day!) :
Mike took Mackenzie on a Valentine's date to Chick-Fil-A and came back bearing gluten-free , double chocolate muffins and Oregon Chai tea ( my favorite!) .

Mack loved these little balloons and used them to decorate in very creative ways:
We three Valentine's enjoyed a dinner of " Fancy" pasta dressed up with salami and special cheeses, a dish Mike came up with a year or two before we had Mackenzie .

Though it may be true, Valentine's day may just be a commercial holiday, but I'll take any excuse to smother those I love in kisses and candy and eat inhumane amounts of chocolate.

My Valentines ( part 1)

A Valentine's day message from Mackenzie: ( click picture to enlarge)

My loves sharing the love on Valentine's morning: