'Signment Shopping

Last weekend was our annual consignment sale with my MOPS group. Such a busy week helping to put it on, but surprisingly always a lot of fun! I love working the register & watching the folks get lots of good deals! And volunteering to help always means the ability to shop early. This year, I took Mackenzie with me b/c last fall she did not wear some of my picks! My style does not equal her style I guess! She did really good and we scored a bunch of spring/summer clothes for a fraction of the retail cost - Oh yeah!

On a side note, today, Mackenzie was wearing a spring dress (it was mid-70s here!) that her Aunt Natalie had given her. I asked her if she knew where we got it & she said, "yeah". I'm wondering if she remembers since it was about 4 months ago, and then she says, "the 'signment sale!". HA!

The fashionista admiring her new sandals from the sale (and couldn't resist wearing them with tights in the month of february!)

I couldn't resist buying this cutie a couple outfits of her own (not pictured here) though she certainly has plenty of hand-me-downs! It's nice to have some things that are just hers :)

They also sell toys & such, but I ran out of time to get to much of that, but we did score a princess DVD sing-a-long and a princess puzzle for a grand total of $2!!

Tricyclin'

Mackenzie has been slow to jump on her riding toys alone. She's been pretty happy to have me push her tricycle until recently. While we were shopping at our MOPS consignment sale, she was testing out some of the toys. She found a tricycle for sale and got on it and pedaled all around. She did NOT want to get off. So, I said - we have one just like it at home that you never ride...... Well, fast forward a couple hours til we got home and she immediately wanted me to take the handle off her tricycle so she could ride it alone! She hasn't looked back :)
And how about this AMAZING weather in February!!! It's been in the 70's alot this past week. Hard to convince my hot natured child to keep a sweater on! And we are spending so much time outside it's crazy!!! I hope summer isn't miserable.....I'm just praying it's a really long spring & not a really long summer as a result. At any rate, we'll enjoy it for now :)

Princess Visits

We've been slowly getting to know some neighbors in our new neighborhood. Since this is a more established neighborhood than the new construction one we used to live in, we have a good number of older neighbors with grown kids and they have grandkids Mackenzie's age. One such neighbor has a granddaughter just a little older than Mackenzie. So, of course, she has some fun dress up clothes at her house for when her granddaughter comes over. Well, we stopped by on a walk last week, and Mackenzie asked if she had dress up clothes, and she said yes. And, of course, having no boundaries when you're three, she immediately asked, "Can I wear them???". And not too surprisingly, she indulged us. I happened to have my camera with me and shot a few pictures - which on a side note, there was amazing lighting in their house!

Chill-axin'

With Daddy (she's a bit more of a snuggler than her sister)

On her bean bag, with her beloved goldfish

Rain Boots

I take so many pictures these days of this cutie in others' shoes! Yesterday it was sissy's rain boots. Love how they come up to her knees! And she was doing her best to walk all around in them.

And no day is complete without going through the tupperware!

Hook-ups

Today, Mackenzie and I were relaxing on the couch and she had a little case of the hiccups. She informed me, "Mommy, I have the hook-ups.". I didn't correct her because I thought it was so cute :)

Climber

One thing I've learned in parenting.....if you think 'my kid doesn't do that', then they surely will! I had this thought recently as I read a post of a friend on FB about her child climbing out of her crib. I thought to myself, 'Wow. I've managed to not have a crib climber with either child." And sure enough a few days later, I see Keelyn on the monitor trying to lift her leg over the ledge. We've been monitoring her closely and seems she didn't have the strength quite yet and has given up (I'm sure only temporarily!). So, I've got to figure out how to handle this new territory. Her big sister STILL doesn't get herself out of her big girl bed. She wakes up and yells for us to come get her...... These two couldn't be more different!

Here she is displaying her climbing skills in our playroom - climbing into Mackenzie's doll sized high chair!

Outside Girl

There are so many things I just love learning every day about my little one year old. I love this age when their little personalities are just blooming! And her little personality is so sweet - I could just eat her up! A couple things we're learning about her:

1. This girl is an outside girl. She LOVES to go outside. If you're going outside, you better take her with you or expect a meltdown to occur! She says, 'ow-side' (or simply 'side' for short) many, many times a day. It's so nice that the winter is so mild this year so she can actually go 'side' so much - and even with out a coat on many days :)
2. She loves her sissy. OH how she loves her. When we get her up in the morning, she almost immediately starts asking 'Sissy?, Sissy?'. (Mackenz is a better sleeper, so I always have to tell her she's still sleeping!). But when she hears Sissy on the monitor, it starts up again...."Sissy! Sissy!" and is so excited to greet her. She also asks for her immediately upon waking from her nap. I just love it. And on days when Mackenz is at school and Keelyn is with me, when I'm ready to go, I just say, "Let's go get Sissy" and Keelyn excitedly heads for the door (of course, saying 'Sissy! Sissy!'). I just LOVE it.

3. She can SING! A couple weeks ago, she started singing something that sounded like the ABC's. Something like "A, B, E, E, E, Eh, G". But it was to the right tune, more or less. I got Brannon to listen too and he was impressed. I still thought it was something only a mother/father could interpret. Wrong! I picked her up last week from MOPS and the teachers asked me if I taught her to sing the ABCs?? They said she kept singing it! I said, I sing it to her some and she has some toys that play it, but I hadn't purposely taught it to her. She's gonna be a musical girl, I think! She now tries to sing all the way to 'P'. Love it. Need to get it on video, but knowing my children's camera shyness, it may or may not happen! (Here she is listening intently to a Valentines card that sang a princess song!)

Mackenzie-isms

So, I think these were from my non-blogging period a couple months ago, but I wanted to record them here on the blog....

Mackenzie to Mommy, "You're the BEST Mommy in the Whole Wide HOUSE!!". (Hmm, I think that was a compliment? But I am the ONLY mommy in the whole wide house, so not much of a competition there!)

During story time before bed, we were reading her children's Bible:
Mack: "Mommy is that Ikeas?"
Me: "Yes, that is Zaccheus."
Mack: "Just like the store!"
Me: "What??"
Mack: "You know, the store called Ikea!"

While playing together on the floor in their playroom, Mackenzie walks up to me, looks at me and says: "Mommy, when I grow up can I have wrinkles like you??" while pointing at my forehead." Thanks Kid!

V-day Then & Now

Always fun to post the difference a year makes.....they grow too fast......

V-day 2011

V-day 2012

Valentine's Day

We've had a very busy Valentine's Day this year (I'm worried this is a sign of years to come!). It was a lot of fun, but I was sure worn out from all the fun. It started yesterday with making Valentine's cookies, then last night with making our class Valentine's (I blame Pinterest for making me want to do more than the simple grocery store Valentines!), then pink heart pancakes for breakfast (note to self: fancy breakfasts are not recommended for people who run late even when they have yogurt for breakfast!), and then finally ending with the school party (which just so happened to be the school party I was helping with - all parents must help with one during the year.....). But, now as I sit on my couch, I'm so glad we had a big day. I love my Valentine's & though I can (& do I think!) show it each day, I like having some extra special fun on this day!

Decorating cookies is serious business.....

Love the sprinkles on her lips as she enjoys
the fruits of her labor!
Keelyn enjoying the treats too! (this girl has LEARNED

what a cookie is!)

My heart shaped pink pancakes :)

With her class :) and their Valentine's hats they made!

Holding her Valentine's from school (don't I get a nice
smile when I say, you can't open your loot until I get a good one?!?)

Sporting her Valentine's outfit!

I think these two are each other's #1 Valentine!

Shoe Fetish

I think I've talked about this before, but it's worth discussing again. My one year old has a serious shoe fetish! She loves to put shoes on, is not happy getting dressed until they are on her feet (saying 'shoe, shoe, shoe' until they are!), gets upset when they come off, and now has decided to try wearing other family member's shoes!

First, we try sissy's shoes!

Next, we try Daddy's shoes!

And this is what happens when you get mad that shoes that are like
20x too big won't stay on your feet!!

Stair Steps

This weekend we went to visit our good friends, the Gardiners, who just had their second baby, little Hayden. We have been alternating having babies for the past 3 years! Now, we have quite the little crew when we get together & they are perfectly stair stepped between our two families - Mackenzie, 3, Jackson, 2, Keelyn, 1, and Hayden 0 (well 2 weeks). Mackenzie enjoyed getting hold baby Hayden - the first time she's shown much interest in holding a newborn, but then, this is our first close friend to have one that is a girl :)

More V-Day Goodies!

A day after G-mommy & G-daddy's package came, we arrived home to another package on our doorstep. This time we got a fun Valentine's surprise from Meemi & Poppee! These girls are definitely loved & clearly their grandparents #1 valentines!!

Excited to find out what's inside.....

Apparently, opening packages is hard work......

The little cutie enjoying the loot

Making some valentines with new stickers and paper!

Sacked Out

This doesn't happen often, but I love it when it does...... Last week, Mackenzie was supposed to be cleaning up her playroom while I put Keelyn down for a nap. Apparently, she was also ready for a nap!

Valentine's Treats

Today we came home to find a Valentine's package at our front door from Granmommy. Mackenzie was excited.....she could hardly wait for me to change Keelyn before we opened it (but changing her was completely necessary to be done first, if you know what I mean!). Oh - and while I changed Keelyn, Mackenzie decided to put on one of her fancy dresses! What a kid!!

Hmmm.....what is this we have here??

New jewelry and a nightgown (on a side note, she no longer will wear pajamas, just night gowns.....I mean that's what princesses wear to sleep right??)

Candy in a Valentine's purse? Two of my favorite things!

Of course, the little one found the scissors I used to open the package and she was more interested in playing with the item that could cut her!

Dinner Fun

On the first Tuesday of the month, we meet our community group out for dinner. Always a crazy time considering how many kids we have these days in our group!! I think we are up to....8?? (Tonight we had 6 of the 8). And since I hadn't taken my daily picture today, I took my camera along. It has been a while since we've done a group shot. They're getting so big! This restaurant had a nice bench at the door so it made for a decent shot!

Our sweet girls.....we have definitely got a lot of cute girls!

We added in baby Charlie, but Mackenzie decided to leave the shot! Oh well, 6 out of 6 was a long shot!

Paparazzi and Pigtails

This shot of Mackenzie today just reminded me of a Hollywood star shielding herself and her baby from the paparazzi! Too funny :) I also love her outfit she put together - Christmas dress with bumblebee barrette, purple scarf, princess purse, and sunglasses. What can I say......the girl's got (her own) STYLE!


And...... how fun are pigtails on miniature people!??! Love her!

Daddy Daughter Dance

This weekend, we had great plans. A trip to Lake Lanier with our community group. Renting a lake house. And on Saturday night, the daddies would take the big girls to a daddy daughter Valentines dance. One dad looked long and hard for a dance that wasn't just in a school gym. This one was at the Lake Lanier Grand Resort. He even bought scroll invitations from the "king" to the ball for the girls. Too cute. But, as is life with little ones, 2 out of the 4 families was struck down with illness. (luckily, our family was not one of them!). So, while we had to cancel the lake house, the daddies still drove up for the dance on Saturday night and had a marvelous time! It was so fun seeing the girls all dressed up for their date. I think this may become an annual thing (and hopefully all the girls will get to go next year!). A few pictures:

Looking so pretty (I couldn't resist dressing Keelyn up a little too for the pre-dance pictures!)

Ready for their date!

At the dance

Belly Buttons & Gold Fish

Two thoughts from today:

1. My girls LOVE goldfish. Particularly Keelyn. That girl is so happy when she has her little goldfish cup walking around like a big girl. And anytime Keelyn has some, you know who asks for her own!


2. Keelyn LOVES finding her belly button. Usually she has a onesie on, so she can't feel it. But when you change her diaper, her hand immediately goes down to find it. Today, it was pretty warm (70!) and I didn't think she needed the extra layer. So, all day you would find her pulling her shirt up and finding that good ol' belly button! Funny Kid!