Chillin by the pool

So at the pool the other day, Mackenzy was very intrigued by the water spouts (?) in the kiddie pool.  Last year she was terrified by them and loved the bigger pool.  This year, she prefers to stay in the kiddie pool near the water spouts and is scared of the adult pool.

She likes to slash on the spouts and try to cover them up...

 And here she is trying to figure out where she has seen a water spout and what else she can do with it...

"Oh!  I remember!  It's just like a water fountain!  Let me drink some!  Yummy!"



21 month happenings!

I am finally on Summer vacation!  This year has been long and stressful, but had plenty of fun times.  I've been with a job, without a job, wondering where my job placement would be, learning where my job placement would be, waiting for acceptance in to grad school, getting accepted, waiting for financial aid, declining an assistantship, working part-time, being a mom, being a wife, and finding time for myself...  Needless to say, by June 15th I was more than happy to take a break from "normal" life and embrace my Summer schedule.

So what have I been up to?  Working summer camp, working out like a mad woman, and enjoying my family!  The good thing about being a teacher is that I get summers off and I get time to be a stay at home mom for a few months.  The summer break almost makes up for the fact that I haven't gotten a raise in 3 years and the fact that they cut my position...  I've been able to sleep in (meaning until 6:30), relax at the pool, and work on getting my "sexy" back.  This year has been emotionally draining and I felt like I lost part of myself along the way. 

I'll post more about that later, but on a lighter note can you believe Mackenzy is 21 months old now?  We celebrated by putting her travel system up for sale and getting her a new lightweight stroller.  She absolutely loves her stroller and I let her sit in it in the house so I could learn how to use it!  Once again, look at those long legs!

Her stats based on my measurements:  She is about 22.5lbs, 33.5in tall, wears a 6.5 shoe, and can wear a 2t in clothes for length but still fits in to her 18mo clothes.  She is beginning to sit still for longer periods of time to watch her favorite dvd and cartoons (Bubble Guppies, Yo Gabba Gabba, Yogi Bear, Tom & Jerry, Team Umizumi, Dora the Explorer, and Go Diego Go).  She understands 1-2 step directions, speaks in 3-4 word utterances/sentences, loves giving hugs and kisses, loves stomping on buggers (bugs) and piders (spiders), and loves coloring.

Most importantly, she LOVES being outside which is hard for me because I'm not an outdoor person.  We'll venture out once a day to get some vitamin D and to play.  If I'm having a lazy indoor day, she'll come an ask me to take a ride in the jogging stroller.

Everyday we walk to the mailbox to get the mail.  After a detour to the neighbors door to play with their pinwheel and to say hi to their dog, we'll get down there and she'll play with the bush...

This particular day we decided to blow bubbles and eat popsicles.  About 5 minutes later she spilled the bubbles all over the ground and on her shoes.  I guess I'll have to buy more bubbles!

Who needs bubbles when you have grass to play in!  Mackenzy will often bring in leaves or "blows" (dandelions) from outside and give them to me or Ray.  We are still working on having her leave the greenery outside...

 This is just a random picture of her playing with her new "goggles" (aka sunglasses).  I tried to catch her with them on, but she kept running away from me!  Little booger!

Little Gym Showcase!

Today was the last class of the spring semester at The Little Gym.  Parents, kids, grandparents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, etc. came to class to watch their "Beastie" show off their skills.  That's right, Mackenzy is a BEAST!  Ha ha!  Below are some of the pictures taken from last weeks class and this weeks showcase.  Enjoy!



 Hey mommy!  Just hangin around!

If you are confused by the next one.  Whenever Ms. Keri brings out the bubbles, the kids flock to her and all lift up their shirts to get bubbles blown on their bellies.  It is for this reason that I make sure to dress her in a shirt and pants on class days and not one piece outfits....

 She was getting sleep and decided to make herself comfortable on the mat and rest her head on the ball.

 Awards picture take 1...

 Awards picture take 2...

 3rd times a charm!  Ms. Kerri even got her to practice her salute!  She is definitely a gymnast in the making!



Mini Gymnastics Reunion!

Last weekend, one of my good friends and former teammates came down to Greensboro to visit!  It was awesome to see her (Denise) and her son (Jeffrey)!  Denise has been "traveling" across the United States with her hubby since she got married and when she does make it over to our neck of the woods Sarah and I get super excited!  Sarah, Denise, and I did gymnastics together for 10+ years and now we are all married and have young babies.  When we do all get the chance to get together it's like a mini gymnastics reunion and this was the first time our kids have all been together!

Jeffrey is probably one of the coolest babies I know next to Mackenzy's boyfriend, Grey.  He's about 4 months old and has the cutest chubby cheeks!  He just went with the flow as we "ooo'd" and "ahhh'd" over him and passed him around on the humid Saturday morning.  He even tolerated mom (aka Denise) putting him in the swing! 

After a while, all of the excitement caught up with him and he took a power nap on his grandma.  Grandmothers have some special power over grandchildren that always makes them go to sleep...  Mackenzy's grandmother's do the same thing and I have yet to learn the trick!

And of course Mackenzy had to play in the sand and attempt to "cook" with a shovel and cup...

Then she had to attempt to climb onto the frog...

Riley must have thought climbing was fun because he came over to join her!  They were playmates all day and Mackenzy was trying to boss him around...  She kept saying "Come here Riley" and told him to stop when he was turning the wheel on one of the toys.

Mackenzy spotted what she thought was a "blow" (aka Dandelion) and tried to hard to blow the seeds off of the flower.  She was very disappointed when the didn't fly like she wanted them to, but she sure looked cute while she tried!

Ok, nevermind the fact that I was caught mid sentence in this picture and Sarah was smiling...  She could have warned me about the camera!  Anyway, about 5 minutes later, Mackenzy was on the swing by herself and fell off in to the puddle underneath.  She was fine, but she had to walk around with a muddy butt until we left...

All of us together... graduated. married. and with our kids.  STRANGE!

Mackenzy and Riley



And for the finale.  Mackenzy finally learned what she is supposed to do when someone says, "Say cheese!"  All you have to do is say the magic words and she'll give you that million dollar smile!

Lazy Holiday Monday

Last Monday was Memorial Day and we took the time to relax and spend it with family.  Jarvis, my step dad, grilled out and made his famous barbecue chicken and ribs, and grilled salmon.  He has this special technique where he sprays the meat with vinegar, water, and a little salt while it cooks and it come out DELICIOUS!  I have yet to perfect his method of grilling out, but as long as he continues to cook like that I won't have to learn it!

While he slaved outside in the hot sun with Ray providing moral support, the ladies of the house stayed inside in the air conditioning and watched!  My mom cooked baked beans, cold slaw, and brownies that were very yummy!  It was nice to spend time with family and even better because I didn't have to cook that day!

Being that it was about 90 degrees outside that day, Mackenzy had on her cute one piece outfit.  I love summer clothes for children because they are cool and easy to put on.  Doesn't she look so cute and grown up with her extremely long skinny legs?

20 months old and the Natural Science Center!

Mackenzy turned 20 months old last weekend and I thought she was long overdue for her 1st trip to the Natural Science Center! Ray hadn't been there since he was in elementary school and was very confused as to why I asked him to buy sunscreen!  The center has expanded over the years and now includes an outdoor zoo portion that I personally think is awesome because the animals are so close!  Ray wasn't so sure about being "up close and personal" with animals...

Our first stop was the meerkats.  Obviously, they were intrigued by the cute little critters and even had the same expression on their faces!

While we were walking, I tried to tell Ray that there are birds that roam the grounds and they like strollers.  As soon as I said that, the turkey came walking right up to us and my chicken of a husband jumped, grabbed the camera, and proceeded to take a close up picture of it!  The turkey must like cameras too because it followed us all the way to the goats...

Ray was not about to go in to the area with the goats.  So I went.  Mackenzy liked the goats and even though she thought they were "doggies" she was yelling "goat" after we left the fenced in area.

Like I said, there are birds all over the Natural Science center and Mackenzy wasn't afraid of them at all!  When she saw the chickens she said, "Ooo, look!  Chick chick!"

This bird sounded like a dog.  Mackenzy barked along with it and Ray walked very quickly from it...

Me: "Hey Kenzy.  Lets take a picture."
Her: "Mommy, cow."

Me: "Say cheese!"
Her: "Mommy!  COW! Go. PPEEEAAASSS! Get"

Ray: "Mackenzy, say cheese!"
Her: "Daddy. Cow.  Mooo!"

 Ray: "Kenzy, lets go see the otters."
Kenzy: "Bye, bye cow..."

She REALLY liked the cow, but we didn't stay in that area long because the llamas were very stinky... 

And yet another bird!  The peacock paid no attention to us when we walked by it the first time, but the second time it tried to mate with Ray!  He got the rare feather spread and booty shake from the peacock!