We Can Be Spontaneous Again!!!

We've had a busy summer. Really busy. We bought a house. Brannon worked & traveled ALOT. We did a major home renovation on the house while he traveled. We moved into a partially finished remodeled home. All this with a baby and a two year old. Busy. So, when Brannon had a little break (over a weekend, mind you, which working on weekends has been a large part of the busy summer!), where he actually didn't have to work that weekend like a normal person. And we could be a normal family :)

So, he came home that Friday and we had dinner and were done eating and cleaning up by like 6:30. Pretty early for us. We were trying to decide what our plans were for the weekend. I wanted to go up to a big pumpkin patch in north georgia on Saturday. He said, why don't we just go ahead and drive up there tonight so we can have the whole day to do stuff up in the mountains. I couldn't think of a reason we couldn't do it......So we just started getting ready, bathing the girls, packing, and he looked up places to stay and what to do. And by 9pm, we were on the road with girls in their pjs ready for sleeping in the car!

His research online had led him to decide that we should head on to Chattanooga since it was only about 30-45 minutes further than where we would be in north georgia. And he wanted to go to Ruby Falls and Rock City. We had a great time. I was totally impressed with Mackenzie because each place required about a mile walk. She did it no problem! And Keelyn, of course, just chilled in the Ergo carrier! It was fun to take our first little family trip. I look forward to many, many more adventures with my crew in the coming years :)

Mommy & Mackenzie Outing

A few weeks ago, they were having a free Toddler day at the High Museum of Art. So, I decided that I'd let Keelyn go to her MMO and take Mackenzie by herself to the museum. We had a lot of fun.....like old times - hanging with just my big girl again!

Posing next to a BIG painting!
















About to watch a little showing - and loving the rare mid-morning treat of popcorn!
















Pointing out the answers! Such a good student :)

Recent Randoms Worth Noting......

A few pictures and a few things I want to record :

• A big week for Keelyn - first steps (though she seems in NO hurry to make this her main mode of transportation!) and now first sign! Last night she signed "more" while eating at her high chair. When she started whining (loudly), I asked, while signing, "More?". I went to get some more cheerios and when I walked back she was making the "more" sign! She did it later for friends who came over! She's also sort of trying to do "All Done!"

• Sleep talker.....Mackenzie appears to be a bit of a sleep talker (this shouldn't surprise me really, given her love of gab!). The other night, she was sleeping with us while we had grandparents visiting & using her bed. She started crying & I thought she was waking from a bad dream. She then said, "I don't want any meat!!". So, I told her she didn't have to have any meat and then she was quiet. Never opened her eyes! Another night that week while grandparents were here, she started in her room and then we moved her when they were ready to sleep in her bed. When Brannon went to move her, she turned to him and laughed and said "That's SILLY!!!!". Then, nothing. Dead asleep. I heard over the monitor and thought we had an awake child, but Brannon told me she just said that in her sleep!

• Keelyn will now put one (and only one) pacifier in her mouth. Not so much to soothe, but as a novelty I guess. It just so happens to be our GT paci :) Guess she's a fan. I bought some 'similar' ones hoping to get some use out of them. Nope. Just the GT paci..... Funny kid. But I was happy to get a picture of her with one in her mouth. Something cute about a baby with a paci. Although with Mackenzie, I was always desperate to get a picture of her withOUT one in hers. My how times are different!!

• When Brannon is out of town, sometimes I will sneak in Mackenzie's room and sleep with her so I can have a warm body to cuddle :) Then other night, she woke up when I got in bed with her. So, I hugged her and told her I loved her. Then, she said "I love you too mommy!". Sweet. Then, she added, "I think Keelyn loves you too!". Double the sweetness! Guess we can't tell for sure since Keelyn can't talk, but she 'thinks' she does! I love it. Such sweetness you get to witness in that sleepy state!

Keelyn's Growing Up!

Well, I think I'm pretty much in denial of how close my baby girl is to turning one..... But today, that denial is getting harder & harder to keep up because she started taking her first steps. She had taken one or two last weekend when going between two places to pull up that were very close together. But when I tried to stand her up and reach my arms out to her, she would just lean forward and collapse in my arms. So, I didn't push it too much. But today while we were just hanging out around the house. I noticed at one point she had stood straight up with nothing to hold onto in the middle of the floor - which I thought was interesting that she could balance from a squat to standing on her own. But then she sat back down and crawled. A few minutes later, she was standing up again without anything to hold onto anywhere near her, and she just took about 2 or 3 steps. Then, sat down and crawled. I got my camera all ready to video her & then she hasn't done it again! Probably just a matter of a week or two and she'll be walking all over the house!

Another fun thing she has started to do is mimic us a lot. She likes to talk on the cell phone, brush her hair, give kisses (complete with the "mwa" sound!), and pretend to eat & drink! She is way more into mimicking than I remember Mackenzie being. One funny story is that Brannon was holding her one night while eating nuts out of can. I look over and she is chewing on something & I'm worried she's picked up a nut that he dropped or something. So I do the finger swoop through her mouth and find nothing. So I watch her for a few seconds, and she reaches over to the can like she's grabbing something (but didn't) and then acted like she was putting it in her mouth & chewing! So funny :)

She's started saying a few words. Of course, just like her sissy, she loves to say da-da. She'd been saying it a while, but over the last few weeks, she is definitely associated it with daddy. He'll come home and she'll repeat it loudly & proudly! She also has started to say 'uh-oh', but pronounces it like her sissy did when she was little....'uh-uh'!

She loves to clap & if she hears you saying 'YAY!!', she'll start clapping her hands with this big grin on her face! And when she stands up on her own, we will start saying "YAY!" for her and she just claps and is so proud of herself! She just started waving too & really enjoys being able to wave and see you wave back at her!

One thing that she continues to excel at (and mommy is very happy about!) is that she is really good at playing by herself. She is so content to play with toys and explore a room on her own. I just love this (since I had not experienced this much with her sister - who requires an audience in much of her playtime! Thank heavens that she is slowly getting a permanent audience in her sister in addition to her mommy!).

These pictures are of our baby girl at 10 months. I will have to get myself in gear and get some 11 month pictures soon since she is very (too) close to turning the big 1......

Sand!!!!

Mackenzie got a sandbox for her birthday & she's been enjoying it on some of these amazing, nice fall days. I had debated getting her a sandbox (due to having to deal with sand!), but last year when I picked her up from preschool she was quite frequently in the sandbox & ALWAYS had sand in her shoes, so I know she played in it every day she was at school! I thought about a sand table so she woudn't be sitting in it, but all we could find was a sand/water table & she already had a water table. And on top of that, even if she wouldn't be sitting in it, mixing sand & water seemed like it had the potential to be as messy or worse than sitting in dry sand! So, alas, the sandbox :) Our first addition to turning our new backyard into a "kid's" backyard!

Hard at work!





















Keelyn liked to get in on the action too!














Keelyn may have her mommy's gene where she sticks out her tongue while in deep concentration! I was notorious for that as a kid!














I love this picture of Keelyn

Celebrating 3 Years!

For Mackenzie's third birthday, we had (surprise, surprise.....) a princess themed party. My mom made her the most adorable Sleeping Beauty princess dress & we had the "real" Sleeping Beauty come to the party for entertainment :) I wasn't sure at first if I should splurge on this, but after seeing the "real" Belle at her best bud's party, she definitely wanted to have Sleeping Beauty come to hers! And Brannon heard at some point that if you're going to spend money, a good category is on making memories. When budgeting, don't forget to make memories :) I think this falls into that category! And we were definitely in need of budgeting after our home renovation, but I'm so glad I splurged anyways! She had a blast. And I was so happy to be able to see her have such a great time with her friends! Although (like I say every year), I wouldn't mind a lower key birthday party next year......but by time it rolls around again, I always to celebrate BIG!





The cupcakes! I was so proud - I made them myself this year!





















Mackenzie with Aunt Natalie & Granmommy waiting for the fun to begin!














Liam - braving the princess party in his pirate outfit and getting his face painted














Keelyn - our little sleeping beauty!














Taking a dancing lesson from the princess. They were so attentive. Maybe if I dressed like a princess Mackenzie would listen to me better??














"Freeze" dancing. They were so cute dancing & freezing when the music stopped!














Miniature princesses posing (and I use the term posing very loosely!) with Sleeping Beauty!














Blowing out her candles (with a little help from mommy - it was windy!)














Photo with our big T-H-R-E-E year old!




















"Okay, now that I'm three, I can carry my sister around, right??"














Family photo with EVERYONE smiling, eyes open, & looking at the camera. I call it our birthday miracle!! And girls are coordinating.....couldn't get daddy to wear pink though!

Dear Mackenzie

Where do I start?? I have no idea how we are here already. You are three. Three has always seemed so big to me (though I'm pretty sure next year I'll look back and be telling myself how little you looked at three if history tells me anything!). In some ways it seems so much longer than 3 years because I hardly remember my life before you and we have been through so much in three years and I have grown so much being a mother. But most days, I feel like you just grew up in a blink of an eye. Where did that little tiny baby go?

I love so much about this age. You are now developing your own friendships & are learning to play with friends so well (a far cry from your biting days!). You have such big thoughts and use what seem to me to be big words for a three year old. Tonight a friend visited and enjoyed your talkative self, telling her you wanted to watch another 'episode' after the show you were watching ended. And speaking of talkative. You LOVE to talk. And it always is particularly fun when you talk to anyone and everyone at a store we're at. Yesterday, you brought a pad & pen into a store and were drawing while I shopped. Then, you proceeded to give them to everyone who passed and started up a conversation with them all! These folks enjoyed you, such a precocious little girl!

You are enjoying going to school again this year two days a week. Your teachers said you are doing great! I'm so glad you are enjoying it because a) it gives mommy a little break and b) I like that your getting some formal education because you have very little interest in listening to mommy try to teach you! You'd rather explore on your own it seems. You really do have that independent streak. Sometimes you want to play with friends, other times you like to do your own thing & that's okay and I even think it's good that you are comfortable doing your own thing!

Speaking of doing your own thing.....you truly have an opinion on your clothes these days! You really have an opinion on shoes. You love high heels, sparkly shoes, and anything else really girly/princessy! You have for the past 1/2 year or so, insisted on pretty much wearing only pink dresses! We don't always have one clean, so you do wear others, but if it's clean, you want pink! And if you could, you'd wear your Sleeping Beauty princess dress all the time & everywhere (which I limit you on, and you do not appreciate!). I'm gearing myself up for some clothing battles in years to come......

You are beginning to develop some hobbies. You do ballet/tap and gymnastics at the local community center. And you love it! I can't wait to see how much you have learned at your end of the year performance!

You are becoming such a great big sister. Slowly, as Keelyn is growing, you are starting to play together (or at least playing at the same time in the same room near each other!), and I love to watch that and the beginning of such a great little relationship. You sometimes still smother her with love, but you are learning to obey our cardinal rule......"If she starts screaming, STOP whatever you are doing!". You follow this rule.........sometimes! You have started wanting to comfort her after naptime & love to run into her room and climb into her crib when she wakes up crying! Love. It.

You are a blessing & I pray that I am able to be the parent you need me to be. I can't wait to see where this next year takes us!

Love always,
Mommy