Our Blessing

As I gear up for my second semester of "doc" school and get my mind ready to teach my little kiddos, I have to remember that on this beautiful  60 degree December day...

Every paper I read and write,

Every sacrifice we make,

Every early morning,

Is all for this little one.

2012 here we come!



Christmas 2011 x 3!

Hi Everyone!

This was my 3rd Christmas and I had the best time!  Even though I don't quite understand the entire concept, I can recognize Santa, reindeer, and elves in a picture and I know that it's Jesus' birthday!  I also love the Christmas tree and asked mommy to turn in on everyday after we decorated it!

Christmas day is always a busy day because we have to visit every relative in one day.  I woke up around 8:15 am to Mommy aiming a camera at me and I willingly posed and said "cheese!"

First, Daddy had to open his presents...

Then it was finally my turn!  I thought every present was for me and wanted to open all of them, but Mommy gave me the presents that had my name on them!  I am much better at opening presents this year, even though I wanted to tear the paper one. piece. at. a time...

A pair of Nike's!  Yay!

Here I am getting lessons from Daddy on how to open presents from the side of the box so I can get in to them easier!  This box had a pretty pair of dress shoes in them!

You can't see in front of me, but it's a picture of my Tiana doll and a matching dress so I can dress just like her!  On a side note, did you notice all the hair I have on my head now!  Mommy and Daddy are very excited that my hair is filling in!

In the middle of taking pictures, I asked Mommy to take a picture of Nicholas!  He got a Christmas bath and smelled powder fresh!  Smile Nicki!

After opening presents at our house, we went to Mimi's house to have brunch and open more presents.  I played Santa and handed out the presents to Mommy and Daddy before opening mine.

Mimi bought me some new pajamas and a new hat and gloves!  I'm growing so fast that all of my clothes are getting to short and we still have a few months left of winter!  She also got me a Dora the Explorer memory game that I'm already learning how to play!

By this point I'm getting sleepy and grumpy, but we went over to Nana and Pop Pop's house to open even more presents!  Mommy even caught Pop Pop on camera!

When Mommy wasn't looking, I decided to take a picture of Nana all by myself!  Say "cheese" Nana!

Here I am doing my sleepy roll on the floor... Opening presents is hard work!  Mommy and Daddy took me home so that I could take a power nap before going over to Aunt Eveline's house.

When I got home, I had present overload and decided to play with all of my toys at once.  I rode my bicycle from my birthday, wore my new hat, Tiana dress, and new pajamas, put my new Dora doll in my bike, and I even had pieces of my memory game in the basket.  Please forgive my snotty nose, I have a cold.

My Mommy is really silly!  She got in the Goodwill delivery box and Daddy took a picture.  At one point we were both in there with all of my toys!  She told me not to tell you this, but Mommy got stuck and Daddy had to help her get out!

 Christmas was wonderful and I got to see the majority of my family all in one day!  I can't wait until next Christmas!

I Survived!

I'm finally finished for the semester!  It's strange to be sitting on my couch, watching tv, and RELAXING.  I have nothing to read for class, no topic to research, and most of all, no paper I should be writing!  I loved every minute of last semester because I'm a dork and I love school, but I am definately happy to have a little bit of a break!

To celebrate the end of my 1st semester, Ray and I packed up Mackenzy last weekend and sent her to Nana's house.  Get this... Ray and I went on a date!  Awesome!  We went out to dinner at Carrabba's and browsed our favorite store, Target, before heading home to watch a movie.

While Mackenzy was out at Nana's she decided sleeping was for babies and stayed up til midnight!  That's 5 hours past her bedtime...  Plus she only took a 30 minute nap the following day.  When we picked her up, she had bags under her eyes and was running around hysterically- something she does when she is tired...  Needless to say, she payed for lack of sleep later when we picked her up and didn't even make it until 6pm!

This face is the very reason why Mackenzy goes to bed at 7pm... Pitiful!

Cute Pictures!

My mom and Mackenzy went to a birthday party at the Children's Museum about a month ago and I thought these pictures were to cute not to post!  Enjoy!



First Pre- School Pictures

Mackenzy's school had their pre-school pictures about a month ago.  We just got the proofs and since I wasn't able to purchase every pose, I thought I would scan them for our memory!  The 1st picture is the one that we purchased.  She looks so cute and grown up in the picture!



I had to keep a copy of this picture!  This is the typical "what on earth are you telling me to do" picture!



We thought this picture was cute too.  I really want to know how they got her to turn her head to the side!



And picture number 4...  There's not much to say about this picture.  She just looks lost!

Overall, I think they got some pretty good shots of her.  She's very photogenic, but very hard to catch sitting still and looking at the camera.

On a side note, Mackenzy loves pre-school.  Her teacher says that she is far more advanced than her peers, is the classroom helper, is very verbal for her age, and is doing a great job telling her teacher when she needs to go potty.  I'm glad she is able to spend a little time in a structured learning environment.  They do say the foundation for learning and education happens by age 6 right?

Skylar's Birthday Party on the Farm!

This weekend, Mackenzy and I attended Skylar's 4th birthday party on the farm!  The farm is located in Gibsonville, NC and had very cute farm related goodies to play on!  We went on a hay ride, played in a corn pit, crawled through tires, and rode the cow train.  We had a great time!

This is when she first spotted the cow train!



Finally riding the cow train after waiting 15 minutes in line.  She wasn't happy waiting but was ecstatic when we finally got to ride.  She didn't want to sit with me and wanted her own cow to ride in.  Such a big girl.

She was determined to grab the balloons.  I think the balloons won though!

Swinging on the big swings and ignoring the camera...

Finally got a good picture!  She was driving the tractor made of hay!

2 years old!

So I'm a little late, but....

Happy 2nd Birthday Mackenzy!

Last Monday, September 19th, Mackenzy turned 2 years old!  Instead of having a large party for her, we decided to have a family dinner with just the grandparents.  Mackenzy is a very loved child and all 6 grandparents (yes 6) came over to celebrate her birthday and I cooked for all of them!  We had a yummy dinner of BBQ seasoned chicken, 7 layer salad, sweet potato souffle, rolls, and cupcakes!  I only managed to burn one thing.... the rolls... Luckily Ray went and got some more for us and he toasted them since I apparently don't know how to work the oven broiler...

It was nice having our parents over and thank them for all they do to help us raise our little one!  Mackenzy loved all of the attention and was in awe that all of her grandparents were in one place at once!

Here is the birthday girl!  She messed up the outfit I had her in but outfit #2 was a success!  She woke up when the party started and I didn't have time to change her hairbows, so she didn't match as well as I wanted her too.



 A rare picture of Ray, his dad Frank (aka Pop Pop), and Mackenzy.  They were watching football... need I say more?

Mackenzy and Nana (Ray's mom) playing with her computer and dancing to the music!

Even my stepmom (aka Grandma) came down for the occasion!  My dad (aka Granddad) seemed to like my cooking!  I don't think he's ever tasted my food and he went back for seconds!

Nana and Pop Pop.  Say "cheese!"



Mackenzy isn't big on sweets so this year we just gave her a cupcake.  She blew out her own candle and instead of eating her cupcake, she proceeded to go around the room to make sure everyone got a taste...

That's my girl!  Always sharing!  The cupcakes were delicious french vanilla with cream cheese frosting!  I had to get them out of our house so my students and I celebrated her birthday on Monday at snack time!

Amongst all the presents, Ray and I got her a tricycle, a dog toy she can pull around the house, and a Dora suitecase!

She's all packed up and ready to go for a visit to her grandparents houses!

Lastly, I know my mom is going to hate this picture, but Mackenzy took it herself for I had to post it!  The only person who escaped my camera was Jarvis (aka J).  Don't worry, we'll catch him next time!

Smile Mimi!

Stat Update:

Mackenzy weighs a whopping 22lbs 15oz!  She crept up to the 10th percentile which we are super excited because she has been in the 3rd-5th percentile since 6 months old.  She is 34.5 inches tall, in the 70th percentile for height, and wears a size 7 shoe!  I wonder where she gets that from!  I guess i have a long future of sewing her clothes to make them fit because she is destined to be a tall and skinny child!

Pretty in Pink

I'm having some difficulty uploading my pictures to the blog so for now I'll leave you with this picture of Mackenzy taken last Sunday while Ray installed her new pink ceiling fan.  She had to wear her tutu swimsuit and sit on the ladder...  She looks old in thie picture but don't worry she didn't grow overnight!  I assure you that she is still almost 2!

We're still here!

Sorry for the lack of updates!  It's been very hectic around here since I went back to work and started school last week.  Every free moment I had over the last few weeks over summer break were spent cleaning out and preparing my classroom for my little darlings which left little time for blogging.  We are indeed doing well and I am currently working on my lesson plans for the week...

My first week as a classroom teacher went better than expected.  There are a few changes that need to be made and the lack of planning time makes making those changes very difficult.  My first week of classes went well and I'm very excited about this semester!

Mackenzy ended up with a viral infection and a 103 degree fever the day before I went back to work, but she is doing better now.

Here are a few pictures that were taken over the past month.  Enjoy!

She was getting out of her high chair and got stuck.  Of course I had to take a picture!

Only my child would attempt to wash her hands and her toys in the Le Bleu water dispenser and smile in the process!

 She loves warm towels and has to have one wrapped around her when they are fresh out of the drier!

 This was my attempt to take a picture of her that was suitable for her pre school teacher!  I think I did a pretty good job!  Pre school starts in about a week and she is very excited!

After reading and doing various assignments this week, I was exhausted.  I snuggled up with my stinky and we took a nap.  I love moments like this!

The End of Diapers!

I apologize for the lack of postings over the past few weeks.  In the midst of working summer camp, cleaning out the junk in my classroom, and attending a week long TEACCH Training, we decided to try potty training again... Yes I said again...

A few months ago, when Mackenzy was about 20 months old I decided to try potty training because she was showing all of the signs of readiness.  She was telling us when she was wet, willing to sit on the potty, requesting to change her diaper when it was dirty, and even saying she needed to go potty.  I thought it would be a piece of cake, but boy was I wrong.  Our sweet little girl became a stressed out toddler because she couldn't figure it out and I got discouraged because I  couldn't figure out why she wasn't getting it.  After about a week of no success, we put the training pants away and put her back in diapers and gave training a break.

After waiting a few months, reading a few more books, and waiting for the signs to reappear, I decided to give it another try.  I stocked the kitchen with plenty of drinks, toys, the computer, and her favorite DVDs and barricaded my bottomless child in the kitchen so I could clean up easier.  After a day of trying to "catch" her pee in the potty, she finally went potty right before bedtime!  She was so proud of herself and Ray and I happily did the potty dance!

2 weeks later, Mackenzy is telling us when she needs to go potty, wearing big girl panties, and will pee in everyone's toilet!  We did have a few setbacks on the way: (1) at first she would only use the potty when she was bottomless because the training pants and pull ups felt like diapers to her; (2) traveling long periods of time in the car makes it harder to stay on her potty schedule sowe have to stop more frequently; and (3)  she has had to learn to take little sips because she'll pee every 5 minutes if she drinks an entire cup of drink...

Overall, we are so proud of our Big (22 month) old Girl!  We realize that she's still learning and she may have some setbacks in the future, but we are well on the way to the end of diapers!!!