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!!!



iPhone love!

Well I have finally entered the iPhone world and gotten rid of my Blackberry.  I absolutely L.O.V.E. my iPhone and the best part is the video camera!

While my mom was gone on a trip, Mackenzy sent her a message and thought it was so amazing that she could see herself on the phone.  It was the cutest thing ever!

I tried to catch her counting, but she was unable to focus because she was looking at herself...  Enjoy!

Mackenzy's World

"Hi Everyone!

My summer is going great!  I'm almost 22 months old and I love to talk, sing, and dance!  Mommy bought me these cool "goggles" (aka: sunglasses) from our favorite store, Target, and I really love them!  Please excuse my nakedness in the picture, but I'm to sexy for my shirt! 

You can't tell, but in this picture I'm sitting on the potty!  I was doing so well at telling Mommy and Daddy that I needed to go pee pee and poo poo and asking them to change my "bye-per" (aka: diaper), that Mommy thought we should try potty training.  I decided during that week that I wasn't ready to wear big girl panties and I couldn't seem to go pee pee in the potty so we took a break from using that silly thing.  Mommy says we are going to try again in a few weeks so hopefully I'll get it right this time!  I'm looking forward to wearing big girl panties!

 When I grow up I want to be just like mommy!  I paint my nails like Mommy; put on powder like Mommy; put on "eye" (aka: eye shadow) like Mommy; and I even like to wear Mommy's shoes.  Mommy always wears this strange thing on her head at night and I decided I wanted to wear one too!  I'm not sure what it's called, but I like wearing it around the house!

 On July 4th, my "J" grilled corn and his friends house.  I missed the cookout because I took a 3.5 hour nap that day, but Mommy was nice enough to bring me some corn and sausage back!  I really liked that corn and ate the whole thing by myself.  I even tried to eat Daddy's corn when I was done, but Mommy said that Daddy had already eaten his.

I also LOVE any kind of pasta!  My favorite kind of pasta is "macronicheese" (aka: macaroni and cheese) and I could eat that every day with my favorite veggie "bean bean" (aka: green beans).  Mommy says I can't eat "macronicheese" every day because I need to eat lots of different foods to be healthy and strong.  As far as I'm concerned "macaronicheese" covers all food groups and I should be able to eat it all day!

In this picture, Mommy brought me leftover pasta weezie from Carrabbas.  It was delicious except for the shrimp in it... When Mommy wasn't looking, I put the shrimp down in my highchair.  Don't tell her I told you that!

Mommy and I were cleaning out my closet and getting my old fall clothes ready for consignment.  I really wanted to help Mommy so I knocked over the clothes bin that had all my clothes in it, but Mommy wasn't happy.  I had to go to time out and I learned not to knock over boxes because I could get hurt.

After cleaning up my mess I realized that Daddy wasn't home yet and I really missed him.  I kept looking out the window saying, "Dadda, where are you?  No Dadda".

I'm very busy this summer learning, growing, and sleeping late!  In the fall I'll begin pre-school and I'm very excited, althought Mommy says I don't get to ride the "schoo-bus" (aka:school bus).  I'm a big girl now!  Bye bye!"