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!

Looking sweet, about to leave for church on Sunday.
Last weekend at the Clothesline Festival.
Kenzie likes playing with play doh, and she has only tasted it once or twice!
She loves to help me bake.
Poor Greyson. We are really trying to get her to stop laying all over him, but he just sits there and takes it.

I have been such a terrible blogger lately! I'm sorry. I will try and get better. Here are a few pictures from the past week or so. She and I have been a little under the weather all weekend, and she is still really crabby and whiney. But other than that we are doing okay! We are about to get really busy as all our fall stuff starts up on Wednesday.

Wiped out but still glam!!!
Popping out of the cabinet
Reading books with cousins Madison and Karlee last night at Daddy's birthday party!
Looking at a calf at the fair today!
Matt shooting his bow - he is so excited for deer season.

So that's been our week so far! Mackenzie went number two in the potty this morning (oh the things you get excited about when you have a toddler...). Matt's birthday is tomorrow, so we had his family over for a little birthday party last night. We took Kenzie to the fair today - she loved the rabbits most.

Sportin' the diaper look!
So sweet - I never get sleeping pictures anymore cause I'm scared I'll wake her up!
Henry
Mackenzie the magpie.

So, I have pretty much been terrible about blogging lately. The only real excuse I have is that it's been so incredibly hot here that I'm sure my brain has melted into complete mush. That and there really isn't a whole lot going on! Mackenzie has had several traumatizing experiences lately and that is about it. Last week we had her 18 month well baby visit (18 months! Can you believe it?!). She did her usual scream-every-time-the-doctor-enters-the-room thing, even though she hardly had to touch her at all. She is doing really well, weighed in at 19 lbs, 12 oz, and is 30" tall. So she actually hasn't really grown much in the past few months, but she is healthy and happy and thriving, so no one is too worried about it. She did take another nasty fall on her mouth, the same spot that she fell on last time, so her doctor wanted us to take a trip to the dentist. That was also tons of fun, as you can imagine. He said her mouth looks good, though, so that's good news. Today I took her to get some 18 month pictures taken, which was A COMPLETE DISASTER. I'm positive the employees at Portrait Innovations will be talking about us for weeks to come.
As you can see from the above pictures, we have a new little member of the family. His name is Henry. He is a fantastic pet - Matt likes him better than the cats! He is very laid back and quiet, actually he pretty much just sits there and occasionaly does a lap or two around his cage. Mackenzie likes it when he runs around, so she sits by his cage yelling, "WUN, ENY, WUN!" (translation - run, henry, run). And she loves giving him treats.
Her other new hobby is collecting things. She will push around her stroller or find a bag and fill it up with all kinds of treasures. Last night when I cleaned out her stroller I found a sippy cup of water, her sunscreen, Matt's watch, one of my cookbooks, and a doll. She also likes to say "mommy" about 10,000 times a day for no apparent reason. If you stop by our house you are likely to hear this conversation:
Kenzie - "MOMMY"
Me - "Yes, Kenzie?"
Kenzie - "MOMMY!"
Me - "What Mackenzie"
Kenzie - "MOMMY!!!"
Me - ignoring her nicely
Kenzie - "MOMMY? MOMMY! MOMMY!!!"

You get the picture. It can make for some long days, but it is so much fun to be able to (sort of) have a conversation with her.

Wow, its been a long time since I have put up a new post! Mackenzie and I just got back from 10 days in Colorado while Matt took a group of kids to Mexico to build a house. We had a great time! Top picture is Mackenzie looking at the airplanes before we left. She is such a good flyer - everytime we fly everyone around us says what a good girl she is. She is quite the charmer, too, waving at everybody and saying "bye-bye!"
The next picture is Grandma and Mackenzie going down the slide together. Her favorite thing at the park is the swings, but she will go down the slide once or twice!
She loved trying on Grandma's hat - we are trying to find her one like it because its so darn cute on her!
The next picture is Mackenzie begging for some cake from Grandpa! She has a little bit of a sweet tooth :) .
The last picture is Mackenzie trying out little rocking chairs at Cracker Barrel when we went out to lunch the day before we left.

We have been spending a lot of time outside in the pool this week, as it has been very hot! The other day I asked Mackenzie if she wanted a drink - I meant from her sippy cup, but she thought I meant from the hose, so she just started slurping away! Oh well, that's one of those things you just have to do as a child, I guess!
Mackenzie took this picture herself! I actually think its very cute.
Here is Kenzie talking to Grandma on the phone. Doesn't she look like she's about 15 years old?!
For some reason, Mackenzie prefers to color on her skin rather than paper. I made the mistake of giving her markers instead of her usual crayons to color with. I turned around for a minute and this is what she did. You can't see, but it goes all the way around her neck and down her side. We think maybe she has a future as a tattoo artist!

Well, as you can see we have been busy with lots of summer fun! Mackenzie is changing so fast. Her favorite activities right now are pushing things around the house (top picture), like the laundry basket, her leap table, or her doll stroller; and practicing new words. The other day at breakfast she said the word "apple" over and over again for two minutes straight. No, seriously. "apPLE, apPLE, apPlE, apPlE..." When I was telling Matt about it at lunch she started up again. She has also started walking around the house yelling for Matt - but she calls him Ma. With kind of a screech in her voice. "MA!!! MA!!! MA!!!" Matt is not too thrilled about it and told me that maybe I need to check my tone when I am talking to him =) .
A few days ago we had a rainy day, so I got Kenz some play dough. She really liked playing with it, and only tasted it once.
Today we went to this drive through zoo thing and petting area with our MOPS group. She had a great time and spent the whole drive pointing out the window saying "wow, coo!" She also liked the petting zoo a lot!

We went to Sonic last night to get ice cream, and daddy wanted to get Kenzie her own! She made a huge mess, but had a lot of fun.
Mackenzie and her cousin Madison swimming on the Fourth of July at Nanny and Papa's house.
Mackenzie was just lounging around watching Madison jump in and out of the pool.
Destiny found a lizard and Matt brought it over to see what the little girls would think about it. Madison wanted to grab it, but Kenz just kind of poked it once or twice.
Happy Fourth of July!