2 pictures, 2 stories

First, the pictures:

We went to the outlets Tuesday evening. Emma likes going there because of the ducks and the rides. Although this is the first time she actually rode them. Usually once they start she wants off.
 
 


Second, the stories:

1. At the outlets I bought Emma a pair of jeans from Osh Kosh. That night, I couldn't find them. I was showing Michael what I got and trying clothes on the girls and I couldn't find them anywhere. The next day, I looked in the car, the stroller, all over our room and finally called my mom. I asked her if she had them in her bag but she didn't. That's when my aunt suggested I check my receipt because she didn't think I bought them. See where this is going? Sure enough, I never bought them. Idiot. I then remembered what happened. My mom and I were trying to decide which color leggings t went best with the shirts I was getting Emma and I set them down on a display table next to us. And never picked them up. I apparently blocked that all out because I was positive I had them and then lost them at home.

2. Tonight I made banana bread for Michael. I had to make buttermilk though and following Betty Crocker's recipe, I made a cup of it. When I was combing the ingredients, I just dumped in the milk, not really thinking about how much it was. Then later, after I'd added the bananas - the only bananas I had - I realized I only needed 1/2 cup of buttermilk. Argh. I finished it anyway and let's just say it's short (totally didn't rise while baking) and really moist.

Scrapbooking

So now that our basement is done, although not quite put completely back together, I scrapped last night. Finished two pages I started on Sunday when I was scrapping with Marie, Shelly and Missy. I haven't been scrapbooking too much lately, only some assignments. It felt good to scrapbook just for fun.

My new favorite page of Emma:
 
(Sassafras and October Afternoon papers; American Crafts new Subway Thickers and Sweethouse chipboard shapes.)

And of Mackenzie:
 
(Rusty Pickle and Basic Grey papers; American Crafts new Chit Chat Thickers and Subway Accent Thickers; Making Memories flower.)

One day, I'll get back to regular posting.

But for now, another catch-up post.

Mackenzie's finally eating puffs. As in picking them up, putting them in her mouth and swallowing. Not just playing with them. Granted, many still end up on the floor, but it's an improvement. Maybe this means she'll start eating table food. She'll suck down a bottle in 60 seconds and a jar of baby food in 2 minutes but actual green beans or bananas? No thanks, mom.

We went to the fair Friday. Emma was in heaven. Animals, rides, her cousins and ice cream. Nice garbage can in the picture with us. It's the perfect match for the photo of that random guy's butt.


Mackenzie just chilled in the stroller.


Emma's favorite ride, hands down, was the roller coaster. When Rachel tried to get her out when it was over, she started to cry. They immediately got back in line and rode it again. And then 3 more times. And would've rode again but it was time to go.


"I can't. I'm running in circles." That's what she'll say if ask her to do something while this is occuring. Don't mind the huge mess in the background. Our carpet was being installed when I took this and that's some of the stuff from the basement. I've since moved it. It's now sitting in a big pile down here. :)


We made cupcakes last week and I let her lick the spreader after icing them. Took some convincing to get her to try it but once she did she kept asking for more. For the record, she liked the chocolate. The vanilla - not so much.


This one climbed to the top of the stairs. (bad parenting alert) We didn't realize it until Tattletale-Emma said "She's climbing up the stairs! Mackenzie's at the top! She is!" For once, tattletaleling (pretty sure that's not a word) was a good thing. See, she gets excited and stands up and then falls. So far, we've been there every single time to catch her. But the gate has definitely come out of hiding.


Sigh. I love this picture.

Catching up AKA a really long post

So last Tuesday I sat down at the computer to do my Ten on Tuesday post and had no Internet. And that continued until Friday afternoon, thanks to a supposed "network outage". Super annoying. And while it's been back up now for a few days, I just haven't gotten around to updating the blog. I've been spending a lot of time in the basement though. Painting. Lots of painting. We're getting carpet down here (yay!) Thursday so I've been preparing for that. Tonight, packing some things up, putting up new switch covers and doorknobs on the closets. Tomorrow my neighbor Larry is coming over to help me move the bigger furniture pieces out of here. Then I'll mop the floor tomorrow night and by Thursday afternoon will have carpet! Then the fun part, getting everything moved back in and organized. Oh, and then we have to put together the other Expedit shelf we got a couple weeks ago. And hang things back up on the wall. And get a curtain. And then it will finally be done. After all that, I'm tackling the family room bathroom. Woo hoo for more painting!

Here's a quick recap of the last week.

Sunday night we went to a free concert in the park in a neighboring city. We hadn't planned on it. We were just stopping at the park so Emma could play after dinner and the concert was going on so we stayed.



Nice butt, eh? Michael kept waiting for this guy to stand up and move so he could get this picture and me and Emma listening to the music but the guy never left. Well, eventually he left. But it was after Emma got restless and stood up.


Finally took Mackenzie's picture in her 9 month shirt on Saturday. She was actually 9 1/2 months old, but really, let's not get technical. These are as good as I could get. She wasn't much in the picture-taking mood.



But she was all smiles a little later on. That's because she was standing, and we all know that's what she does, and likes, best.


Emma's turning out to be a pretty good drawer (is that a word?) at 2 1/2, if I do say so myself. Know what this is?

Train tracks. She has us draw train tracks on her DoodlePro all the time. Very basic. We just draw two parallel lines with lots of lines going across them. So Saturday evening while I was trying to take Mackenzie's picture she drew her own. I'm impressed. She can also draw a pretty good circle and smiley face.

We also babysat Claire that night while Marty and Abby went to the Indians game. To say the enjoyed themselves would be an understatement.


Check out my city I drew for Emma on our driveway.

Complete with park, library, school, grocery store and Kid Park at the fitness center.

Not real sure what she was doing with this stick, but I like the picture anyways.


Wednesday night Emma insisted on sleeping in her "yellow flower dress". Not sure how that's more comfy than pj's, but she went right to sleep.


The night before that, she insisted on wearing these too-small fleece one-piece pajamas. For the record, it wasn't cold out. And she put them on at 6:30 pm. And I found her like this around 1am:


I'm sure I've mentioned how she's not real into me taking her picture. But last Tuesday she actually asked me to take her picture, said cheese, and I got this:


Mackenzie and her beloved piano. She's actually not pulling it down on herself anymore, thank goodness.


And the 9th was our anniversary. Thanks to my mom for babysitting while we went to dinner.


And that about covers it. I've still got some pictures to post from when two of our babysitters came over for lunch/dinner before heading off to college. Once the carpet is in and and things are back in order and I'll get those up.

I love this picture

So we got this picture in the mail yesterday.

It was taken at a graduation party last month. This my life. Mackenzie doing what she always does - stand. Emma hugging me, something she's been doing lately. She'll just randomly hang on to the back of me. And me laughing and happy. I love my life. :)

Here's Michael's new air cast he got yesterday. Bye-bye OSU cast. He's still on crutches for 3 more weeks, though.


And on Tuesday. (pardon the mess) I went to the library and grocery store and when I got back this is what I found.



She was so tired but wouldn't nap and while I was gone fell asleep on Michael. He can't exactly take her up to her crib, though, so this is where she slept. When I picked her up to move her upstairs she never even woke up.

Ten on Tuesday

1. My new IKEA Expedit bookcase. Love it. Still some rearranging to do but it's up and I love it. Did I mention I love it?


2. I also got one in white for our basement. (Our basement is finished and that's where our computer and my scrapbook area is.) It isn't yet put together. We're going to paint and carpet (right not there's tile) down there and then we'll put it together.

3. My still-on-crutches husband put the bookcase together for me. I helped with lifting and bringing pieces over to him but he did most of the work. I was impressed.

4. Saturday morning before going to Ikea we went to the Twins Day Parade. So cool to see our town full of so many twins.



5. This is Caroline with Emma. She lives across the street from us and we've become good friends with her family. Emma and Caroline love each other. They're so cute. I love the friendship I have with Beth. It's great to know you have someone right there you can count on.

6. After the parade (and still before IKEA. Obviously, I put this post in the wrong order but I'm too lazy to change it all) we stopped at Step 2. They're having a big tent sale and Marty and Abby wanted a wagon. So we picked one up for them. And one for us, too.

7. While Abby and I were at IKEA, Marty and Michael put their wagon together and Marty took the girls for a ride.

8. Wednesday, Michael has his check-up. Hoping he gets a walking boot.

9. Hmmm, what else...I'm actually running out of things to mention. Oh, I'm on the American Crafts design team for another year, which I'm very happy about. :)

10. And lastly, I'm leaving shortly to go vote for our library levy. Love our library. Hopefully, it gets a good, supportive turnout today.

9 months today

This cutie pie is 9 months old. She's getting to be a handful - in a good way, of course. Is very mobile, still doing her funky crawl (pushing off with one foot while using the other knee) but it works for her. Her favorite activity is still standing. She'd rather do that than anything. The baby gate is definitely coming out tomorrow. She's already attempted to climb the stairs, thankfully it didn't work. She has no desire to eat table food. Spits it all out and makes the funniest faces. But she'll eat any baby food you feed her. She's noisy, like her sister. They love each other. When they're in the car they laugh and giggle and talk to each other. Well, Emma talks and Mackenzie makes sounds. Bathtime is the best though. So funny seeing them together. Mackenzie weighs about 18 lbs, 6 ounces and has her check-up on the 8th. She's getting to be a little chunk. :) Her hair is starting to lay down in the front, which makes me a little sad. But it's still so very blonde. She loves the music and activity play table and the piano - because she stand with them, of course. Plus any toy Emma has. LOL. She gets excited when she sees us. She dances to music with the funniest little bopping music. She can throw things pretty well - especially her bottle when she's finished. She's getting her second tooth (bottom right). She's in a big girl car seat, although still facing rear for a few more months. She's just amazing.




Tonight after dinner we went back up to the Step 2 tent sale to get some blocks for Claire. (We went yesterday and got some fantastic deals on their Soft and Sturdy blocks and a fire house play set.) Then we picked up some ice cream and headed to the square. Emma first gave a little concert on stage by herself (video coming soon) then I joined her for a duet.

We were singing "Go Go Joshua" and doing the motions that go along with it.

"Go go Joshua, lead your army go..."


"...Blow the trumpets up to Heaven"

"...All around the walls fall down."


Then we practiced jumping.


Michael was one are only fan, as Mackenzie was a bit busy...


She crawled under the bleachers and kept trying to climb up them but that wasn't really working for her. She kept getting stuck either standing up or sitting like this. Then she bumped her head and fun time was over.

I love you, my little munchkin.