Mackenzie being totally goofy while we were packing for Colorado.
Early Christmas morning.
Fixing Christmas breakfast!
Our white Christmas.

Well, I'm finally going to try and catch up on Christmas pictures! We have been having a great time out here in Colorado. We actually drove straight through - 14 hours - that is the first time we have attempted that with Mackenzie in tow. She did GREAT. She is such a fantastic little traveler. We left about 4 in the morning and she slept for the first couple of hours. And we had packed a few new videos and other early Christmas surprises for her. She was really really good.
The week before Christmas we just relaxed and finished up a few last minute things. We went to a Christmas party and my mom's work, which Mackenzie loved. Matt ran the sound system for my parents, and he also went out and got the sled run all ready!
On Christmas Eve we went to my aunt Aleda and uncle Jim's house up in Nederland. We had a very loud and exciting white elephant gift exchange - Matt ended up with a multi-purpose tool that he loves. Christmas morning was so much fun, except dad ended up having to work for awhile because it SNOWED! It was gorgeous, but there is always the drawback of him having to work. Mackenzie helped stir the eggs for breakfast, we had a huge feast and then opened presents. Mackenzie of course was totally spoiled! She got a shopping cart that she loves, a rocking horse that she really likes but is scared to get on right now, a new dolly, wood food, puzzles, a toddler lap top, new jammies.... I could go on and on! We all were very blessed, though, and we were just thankful to be with family on Christmas. I will post more pics, I promise!

Mackenzie absolutely loves hot chocolate. Except it has to be warm chocolate since she is very sensitive to things that are even remotely hot.
Here she is doing some gluing for a Christmas gift. We had a lot of fun and a lot of mess!
We got Madison and Karlee a tunnel for Christmas, and it was a huge hit will all three girls.
Mackenzie got a new trike from Nanny and Papa. She loves it, but it is going to take some practice to get the hang of the pedals!

So, I have some catching up to do! I can't believe how busy the past couple of weeks have been. We are all doing fine, aside from Mackenzie's never ending snotty nose and stubborn rash around her mouth that will NOT go away. Tonight we had our Christmas with Matt's family, and on tuesday we leave for Colorado!

Our cat Greyson died on wednesday. I posted a couple of months ago that he had FIV and I'm sure it was related to that. He went very peacefully in his sleep and had not been sick or anything. I miss him like crazy - I was his favorite person and I feel like I'm missing my shadow! Plus he was my napping buddy and lap warmer. He was so good with Mackenzie, too. This is the last picture I took of him and Chloe - they were in the playroom playing with Mackenzie's toys!
Last weekend we went to my inlaw's farm and cut down our Christmas tree. We almost didn't get one this year since we are going to CO for Christmas and will have to throw it out before we leave. But I'm glad we did - Mackenzie loves it and we made some good memories.
Here is our tree all set up next to our fireplace. Looks pretty cozy, doesn't it?!

Playing in the leaves.
Being goofy!
Trying on Grandma's glasses.
Looking very sweet on Thanksgiving
Playing with cousin Madison.

Here are some recent pictures from our house! We have been really busy with Grandma here, then Thanksgiving, and our good friends Bryce and Brenda were also in town this week. We had Thanksgiving with Matt's family in Springfield, MO. Mackenzie had such a good time playing with her cousins! In fact, she was so busy playing that she didn't even eat any turkey. I actually braved the stores on black friday. I don't think I will do that again! It was crazy. Now we are just excited for Christmas!

Some Big News...

Well, if you look way way at the top of the screen, you will see our big news! I am seriously a dork, I just spent 30 minutes trying to figure out how to put that silly ticker anywhere else on my blog, and that is the only place I could get it to show up.

But anyway, we are really excited! Due date is May 22.

Happy Halloween!

Here's our little ladybug! Oh my goodness, she was so cute. For some reason she thinks that it is a turkey, though! Every time she saw it she would say "turkey - gobble gobble gobble". And she screamed when I put it on her. But we ended up having fun. The church had a harvest festival with horse and buggy rides, and lots of games. Mackenzie was too little for most of it, but she loved the buggy ride, and I think she liked everyone telling her how cute she was :) .

Your Turn, Daddy!

Pumpkin Time!

Last night we "carved" our pumpkin. I actually found a kit that had these cookie cutter type things with a sharp edge that you put on the pumpkin and hit with a wooden mallet. I thought Mackenzie would be able to help out more with that than with a knife! It turned out really cute, and she had a great time. She and Matt took turns hitting the pumpkin, and when she wasn't hitting the pumpkin she was wacking the table!

Colorado Trip

My mom had some flowers set out, and Mackenzie was walking around letting everyone smell them and saying "mells good. mells good." It was funny, because they actually didn't smell good at all.
We took Mackenzie back to the butterfly pavillion. They have a big tarantula (I have no idea if that's how you spell that), my mom and dad were brave enough to hold it, and Mackenzie really liked watching it. She likes bugs.
They also have star fish that the kids can touch, which Kenz thought was way cool. She is a brave girl.
Also at the butterfly pavillion.
Here is a big doe that was in my parent's yard one night when we got home.
One night we went up to Estes park to listen to the elk bugle. You can see a big field of elk in the background.
Another day in Estes we found a pond with ducks to feed. Mackenzie got a big kick out of throwing food at the ducks.
Mackenzie on the porch swing.
Playing with uncle Tristan.
With great-grandpa Tom. He was showing her how to put the lid back on the water bottle.

So that's a little snapshot of our trip. We had a great time, and got to see some of our family that we haven't seen for a long time. We sure miss grammy and pepaw, though!

Well, I am using colored font to try and make this post more interesting because I don't have the camera cord to put pictures up! Mackenzie and I are actually in Colorado! My mom usually comes to see us about this time of year, but they just moved into a new house in the mountains. They have been doing a ton of work on it, so she really didn't want to leave right now, plus I wanted to see it!
We flew out on thursday, Mackenzie was perfect on the flight, as usual. On friday we got to see Uncle Tristan. He came up to the house and we drove to Estes Park to see the elk and listen to them bugle. It was really cool. Saturday... hmmm. I can't remember what we did! But anyway, my aunt also came up from Kansas to help my mom, so they have been getting a lot of painting and whatnot done. I have mostly been chasing Kenzie around since there is A LOT of stuff for her to get into right now. Oh, and yesterday we went down to Estes to do laundry. While we were waiting for it to dry we found a pond with fish and ducks to feed. Mackenzie LOVED it, I will post pics after we get home.
That is about all. Just wanted to let you know that we haven't dropped off of the face of the earth! Oh, and GO ROCKIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey, I'm going to be pretty excited if this works! I tried uploading a video of Mackenzie dancing. She loves the Dr. Jiggle Veggie Tale (its on the Snoodle Tale disc). She dances and claps whenever he gets through dancing. It is too funny. So hopefully this will work for your viewing enjoyment!

The other day when we went to the park there were huge spiderwebs everywhere. I mean, like hundreds and hundreds of them. It looked like they had come through and decorated for Halloween! It was kind of creepy.
We are thinking that Mackenzie going to be some kind of scientist. She will walk around at the park and pick up leaves, touch trees, and poke at bugs. Its kind of funny since she really doesn't like getting all dirty.

The other night Kenz picked up the camera and said "smile!" so I took it and told her to smile. I thought it turned out pretty cute!

At the park the other day. I have yet to find some sunglasses that will stay up.
The other day I was cleaning off the table when I heard a curious noise. I turned around and this is what I saw. Kenz had tried to feed the cats, and had dumped a half of a bag of cat food all over the kitchen floor! She was really upset, so I had to try really hard not to laugh.
Mackenzie's cousins came over to play the other night. This is Kenz and Karlee, who will be one next week. Every time we see them I realize that Karlee keeps growing, while Kenzie.... doesn't!
Matt and I had to tape Survivor on Thursday night, so Mackenzie couldn't watch her Little People video on the tv. I set up her little dvd player on the end of the couch - she thought that was pretty cool!

Mackenzie's Room

I know I posted a long time ago that I was painting Kenzie's room. I wanted to do her room first, because she had the sweetest room in Illinois that she never even got to sleep in! So I couldn't wait to do her room again. It was really fun and I am happy with how it turned out. Three walls are yellow and one wall is pink. I stenciled random flowers and butterflies on the yellow walls and did a long vine all the way across the top of the pink wall. For the pictures I found a children's book that I loved, and I cut it apart and pasted it together, then framed it. My mom had made the curtains for her old room, so we were able to use those again. We also had the letters in her old room, but I repainted them pink. I got her bookshelf at a garage sale and painted it white. She loves to sit on her floor and pull bunches of books off, but she also reads them, so I can't complain! You can't see it too well, but there is a rug on her floor that all of my aunts and my mom helped to make. They each made a few squares and then one of my aunts put it all together. It is soooo soft, and a really special gift. So that is Mackenzie's room! Now I am ready to move on to another part of the house, but I'm not sure what my next project will be!