Ten on Tuesday

This is the Mackenzie is 20-months-old on July 1st edition.



1. Mackenzie's still pigeon-toed. Still falling as evidenced by her nose, but falling less thankfully. Although this day she did fall twice, scratching up her nose and forehead. She's too fast for her feet.



2. She's loving corn-on-the-cob. She's had it before, but Sunday she was really into it. Although she kept eating it like an popsicle.


3. She loves the slide.

4. She loves playing with Emma. Just loves Emma actually. When she doesn't see her, she'll walk around calling her name. When she does see her, she runs up and gives her a hug. She does whatever Emma is doing, she's quite the copycat.

5. Still climbing.

6. Loves to tackle. And tickle. Gets them confused sometimes, we'll say "tackle daddy!" and she'll tickle him. But still more tackling than tickling. Plus her tickling is a lot like pinching. Which hurts.

7. Loves to push the stroller and shopping cart up and down the sidewalk and around the house. Also likes to sit in the shopping cart, although I don't yet have a picture of that. And see her pink Crocs? She loves them. LOVES them. Loves shoes in general. She's always wanting to put shoes on, even if we're just in the house. She's always bringing us shoes to put on, too.

8. Gives us this little stinker look all. the. time.

9. Is finally talking. A lot. She's adding new words every single day. She loves to way and say "hi" and "bye" as she's doing in this picture. Her other new words: bowl, Bree, Milk, Juice, House, baby, monkey, binky, ball, bucket, play, ride, bike, Daddy, Mommy, Emma, book, read, more, eat, please, Grandma, Benny (from Dora), shoe, Croc, help, here it is, hello, and her version of thank you. That's all I can think of now. They'll be a new word tomorrow. :) Which is so cool.


10. Is still Mommy's girl. Always wants me to hold her. Gives me kisses and hugs all the time. Sits with me. Hugs me. Clings to me. I love it.

Scrapbook Sunday

Marie's in town, so Wednesday we're all scrapbooking at Missy's and I'm hoping to be super productive. Meaning I have a goal of two one completed page. Because let's be honest, I tend to do way more talking and singing than scrapping at crops.

I did get two pages done this week though.


(Not sure about the blue paper and can't find the tear strip; pink/red paper is Basic Grey; American Crafts Thickers, Accent; Scenic Route chipboard circle)


Just a peek at this page, but you can see the rest on Wednesday when the July gallery goes up at Write. Click. Scrapbook.

What I want to know is...

When does the climbing phase end?



And yes, that's my almost 20-month-old with a binky in her mouth, while in her bathing suit, outside. For the record, I didn't know she had it, she finds them everywhere. And I took it away. We've really got to start working on the weaning-the-binky thing.

Ten on Tuesday

1. I signed up to be a bone marrow donor last night. I saw a thread on 2peas about the registry and was able to register for free. Now I wait for my kit to arrive, swab my cheeks and send it back. If you're interested: go here. I know in the Cleveland area right now there's a donor drive where with a promo code you can register for free. Check your area and you might have one too. Even without the code, it's not very expensive, especially considering you could save a life.

2. I signed Emma up for a program offered through our parks and rec program. It's a crafts/music class for 3 - 7 year-olds and today was the first day. First time I've dropped her off somewhere. She didn't mind one bit. Just said "Bye Mommy!" and went to play. Looks like preschool won't be a problem this fall.

3. Went to the pool this evening. Going back tomorrow morning. Love the pool. Don't love chasing Mackenzie all over. If only she'd stay in the pool instead of running around it.

4. The sickness is finally leaving our house. I'm the only holdout with a sore throat. It's much better though. I'm working out tomorrow for the first time in a week (b/c of VBS and the sickness) and I can't wait.

5. Father's Day. Didn't go quite as planned with some of us sick. But still a good day. I made Michael a mini-album (the one I posted Sunday) and we got him a slider grill pan. Makes 9 mini-burgers. Pretty neat. Did you know you can now buy slider buns? Saw them at the grocery store today. Happy Father's day, Michael!


6. We had a garage sale at my mom's this past weekend. I made $40. Might not seem like a lot. But compared the the $3.50 I made at the last one, it was a killing! lol! Mary and Hannah came over to visit. Really, Emma had fun playing with Hannah. Not that you can tell by the look on her face.


7. My birthday. Not only was Sunday Father's Day (did you notice this is not in anyway in chronological order?) it was also my birthday. The big 33. As I mentioned in #5, didn't quite go as planned. If possible, the day would've gone like this: nursery duty at church (only Michael and Mackenzie made it), lunch, pool, rest time/nap time, cookout with Michael's parents, ice cream cake. Still, it was a good day. A day with my girls and husband is always good. :) As was the cookie dough Blizzard DQ cake. Yum. (Hee hee, the cake says Happy Father's Day and B-Day. Not a lot of room, lol.)

8. My niece Shelby has a job. Her first. At an ice cream shop. She's so cute. We went up for ice cream Saturday after the garage sale/dinner.

9.I know I've mentioned Mackenzie and her climbing. But check this out.

Yep. She was trying to climb over the back of her high chair. Now where she thought she was going to go, I'm not sure.

10. Made chicken wraps for dinner tonight. Made them for the first time last week, recipe was on the back of a package of Kraft shredded cheddar cheese. (Tried to find it online but couldn't.) Super easy. Marinated chicken in italian dressing, grill it, put it in a wrap with diced tomatoes, red onion and cheddar cheese. Recipe also called for bbq sauce which Michael used but I left off. For me, italian dressing and bbq sauce just don't go together.

Scrapbook Sunday

This is the mini-album I made Michael for Father's Day. The last few pages still need pictures. I'd planned to take some today, but instead I'm waiting until Emma's pink eye is gone. Doesn't exactly make for pretty pictures. :)

ETA: I took new scans, minus the rings and they're much better. :)


x6 album)


(Fancy Pants and Basic Grey papers; AC alphas,;7 Gypsies label stickers, accent sticker)


(Sandylion (stripe), AC (yellow), Crate Paper (green) papers; 7 Gypsies tags, accent sticker)


(Fontwerks (green), Adornit (apple), Chatterbox (blue floral) papers; 7 Gypsies corner and accent stickers)


(Basic Grey (floral), SEI (circle and chevron stripe) papers; 7 Gypsies corner and accent stickers)


(Basic Grey (paisley) and Love, Elsie (blue) papers; 7 Gypsies word stickers)

Fame

Just saw the trailer for the Fame remake. I think I might have to actually go to a theater this fall.

What a week. And it's only Wednesday.

So it's Vacation Bible School week here. I'm teaching 4-year-olds. Mackenzie's in the nursery and Emma's in mini-VBS. Or rather that's how it should be. Mackenzie stayed home with Michael Monday and Tuesday because she had pink eye. Emma missed today because she's sick. The strep test came back negative, but some nasty virus has made her throat break out in white spots, given her a fever of 101.5 - 103.5, caused her to lose her appetite and basically feel terrible. She'll be missing the rest of the week. Michael's got basketball camp this week in the afternoon, which means while he can be here with the girls while I'm at VBS, I have to leave early to get home so he can leave to go to camp. Did I mention the garage sale at my mom's this weekend? Yeah. Friday and Saturday. After VBS, before I knew Emma's throat was a mess, we took over my garage sale stuff. She wasn't feeling great, just a low-grade fever, so I took movies and the plan was for her to lay on the couch while I would sort, price and organize everything with my mom and sister. Then I decided to check her throat after lunch and immediately made a doctor's appt. And it's only Wednesday.

New Glee promo

I so love this show. Have you seen the new trailer? I laughed out loud multiple times, but especially during the driver's ed scene. Watch and enjoy.

Scrapbook Sunday

This whole Scrapbook Sunday thing is working - because I did my first page in about three weeks last night so I'd have something new to post today. And actually, I just finished it because I forgot to put a title on it last night.

I have a hard time using more than one embellishment on a page. I love them, I have quite a collection. But when it comes to making a page, I don't use a lot of them. I love the pages I've been seeing recently that have butterflies (or other cute embellishment) all over the page, strategically placed to look perfect, but I just can't do it. (Examples: this page and this page, both by Stephanie Howell

I tried to do something cool with my snowflakes, but it just wasn't working. And then I decided I didn't feel like wasting any more time pushing them around so I just stuck them down. :) It works for me. I just have a hard time thinking out of the box, and for me, I think that's non-linear. I tend to have everything lined up neatly, usually with everything touching. And as much as I like that because it is what comes naturally to me, I'm getting a bit bored with it. Hence, my attempt with the snowflakes.

(KI Memories papers; American Crafts ribbon, jewel brads, snowflakes, Thickers, journaling spot, pen)

I think I'm going to scraplift a few pages just to get my mind used to thinking a different way when scrapbooking. We'll see how it goes.

On to some other pages. Not new pages, but layouts I haven't posted here yet. See, one embellishment.

(Basic Grey and Love, Elsie papers; American Crafts Thicker; Scenic Route chipboard circle)

I posted this page on Write. Click. Scrapbook last week. Still love it.
(Making Memories, American Crafts and Basic Grey papers; My Mind's Eye overlay; Gin-X rub-ons, Fiskars punch)

Little gardener

Emma's been helping me garden. Let me just say I'm not a gardener. I would like to be. But my deathly fear of ants and general dislike of bugs makes this difficult. Still, I'm trying. Yesterday I actually pulled some weeds and roots without gloves. Seriously, such a big deal for me my mom even commented on it. We're doing some major work to our flower beds this year. Michael has pulled out about 10 dying/generally unappealing shrubs, we're resizing our beds, planting grass and new shrubs and flowers. I'm also attempting to plant some zucchini and squash. Now the odds of these growing big enough to actually produce vegetables are not good thanks to the deer that roam our yard and neighborhood. (It's like a wildlife park, seriously, we've got deer, groundhogs, skunks, raccoons, squirrels, chipmunks.) But I figured I could attempt it since it's only a $4.5o (for plants) and $6.99 (for soil) investment.

Tonight Emma decided to garden and plant - her words. This consisted of scooping dirt into her bucket then dumping it back out. She was working hard. She and Mackenzie even have all the correct tools, albeit they are Dora, Diego, Backyardians and caterpillar themed. Have I mentioned lately what a cute three-year-old I have?

Did you love Zack Morris?

Because I did. I thought he was so cool. Did you catch him on Jimmy Fallon? Not Mark-Paul Gosselaar, but Zack Morris himself, complete with very large and outdated cell phone, bad jeans and high tops.

Here's the story and clip on EW's Popwatch blog. Did I mention there's going to be a reunion?

Ten on Tuesday

1. We went for a walk last Tuesday night. A long walk. An hour a half maybe? With a stop at some friends so the girls could play. Mackenzie rode in the wagon most of the time, she loves it.



2. Then she got out and they ran for a while. I love this picture. Emma was trying to grab Mackenzie's hand but she was just out of her grasp.


3. I kept trying to get a picture of all four of us. Instead I got Michael making faces.


4. But this one made up for it. :)

5. Saturday was our neighbor Baby Jack's first birthday party. So technically he's not really a baby anymore but name seems to have stuck, at least with Emma. And me. While Jack was enjoying his smash cake...

6. Emma was sneaking spoonfuls of icing off his Cars cake.

7. Mackenzie's crazy slide hair.

8. Sunday we went to Columbus for a family graduation party. Emma did lots of jumping. Mackenzie did lots of climbing.

9. I'm so glad I got this picture. This is Emma's explanation face/gesture. Whenever she's telling us something in her serious voice, she scrunches up her shoulders and holds out her hands like this. It's hysterical. Here she was telling us Mackenzie was climbing up the ladder. Just in case we hadn't noticed.



10. Yesterday was Emma's first swim lesson of the summer session. And we missed it. I totally forgot all about it. Never even entered my mind even though it was on the calendar on the fridge which I looked at multiple times. Oops. Good thing she's got 7 more.