Just paintin' my nails, she said.

Saturday morning, Mackenzie wakes up about 7:45. Michael's downstairs so she goes down with him. I fell back asleep until about 8:15 when I heard Michael calling her name. He came upstairs looking for her, but she hadn't come up...so where was she hiding?

In the living room, against the wall between the piano and end table so you couldn't see her if you just glanced in. The real question is why was she hiding? And why didn't she answer Michael when he called?

Answer: Because she was busy painting her nails. And her foot. And her knee.


And her face, and nightgown too. Amazingly, though, not the carpet.


She seemed to be mighty proud of this, as she was all ready to say "cheese" and smile for me.


We've learned it's never good when Mackenzie's quiet.

20/21/22

6/20 Father's Day

Emma picked out Michael's card at the mall last week. It was a little boy making noises with his armpit. It had sound. And the picture moved when you turned the card, so it was an action card. Tooting sounds + moving pictures demonstrating said sound = a very giggly 4-year-old.


Mackenzie was very excited for Michael to open her Blue's Clues card.


Posing with the rock paper weight Emma made in school. We got Michael a new tent that will actually hold all of us, plus 6 or so. And a new Bible with his name imprinted on it. Oh, and some Buckeyes. We went out to breakfast then church, then napped. That evening we headed over to his parents for dinner.


6/21 The start of VBS. And my birthday. I didn't actually take any pictures on my birthday. Although now I realize I should have taken at least a belly shot. I've been pregnant 3 out of my last 5 birthdays. I could've made a cute little scrapbook page!

6/22 Mackenzie, Emma and Caroline at VBS. Notice the missing decorations behind Mackenzie. I've tried resticking them, but they just keep falling down. So I gave up. My room is now only half-decorated.

Emma had t-ball that night. She got a little silly at the end. As in chasing Cody in circles. According to Michael he was pulling her her pony tails earlier. Which just makes me giggle for some reason.

My mom, sister, brother-in-law, nieces, nephew and Michael's parents came to watch.

And then we went back to our house for cake and ice cream. Emma chose the colors - pink and purple, of course. I should've taken a picture with the candles on it: a "1" candle, plus two single candles. Yeah, we couldn't find the actual box of candles. Nor could I find the "3" or "4" candle which would've been the easiest way of putting 34 on it. Regardless, it was yummy.

Ten on Tuesday

1. Last Wednesday I had a date with this man. Dinner at Hyde Park. No kids. Absolutely delicious French Onion soup and the most tender filet mignon. And the gruyere potatoes. Yum. Yum. Yum. Bonus: an hour and 45 minutes to eat - no rushing, no cutting up my girls' food and getting them ready before I could eat, no interruptions. It was awesome.


2. 25 weeks along tomorrow. At my appointment last week my doctor told me that after my next appointment (@ 28 weeks) I'd be coming in every 2 weeks. Huh. Already that close. It's going fast, but that really reminded me just how close we're getting.

3. Anyone else have low blood pressure when pregnant? I'm always right around 120/80, but this pregnancy I've been around 110/60. I asked the nurse about it last week when she told me 112/62 (which was 2 points higher than the month before) and she said it was fine, that they don't worry until you're in the 50s. I thought, "Um, yeah. Almost there." Of course, my this could just be the same as my last two pregnancies and I just don't remember. It also could be normal and very common.

4. At the pool last week.



5. T-ball tonight. More sliding in to home plate.

6. Also some dancing in the outfield.

8. Emma has ballet camp this week. Which is actually jazz and tap. Thank you to my friend Noelle (and Missy!) who loaned me tap shoes since it didn't dawn on me until 10:30 Sunday night that she needed them. Okay, so it didn't actually dawn on me. I never would've thought of it but Missy gently reminded me. Thanks, Mis.

9. Ballet, er, jazz and tap, camp means I haven't been to the gym this week. Of course, as Michael said, I could get up early and go or go late, but....I'm more a 9/10/11am workout kind of girl. Since I worked out 5 days last week, I'm not worried about skipping M-W this week. I'll be there Thursday and Friday though. Oh, and Zumbathon Friday night.

10. I think I've solved the mysterious brown stains on clothing. I cleaned out the rinse dispenser and ran some Clorox washing machine cleaner through it and so far, no more stains. Now if only I could get rid of the stains on the girls' clothes. The count stands at 9 items stained. Annoying.

corn on the cob

Tonight Emma helped me shuck the corn.


And while they both love eating it, Mackenzie made an extra special mess of it tonight.




I can't quite figure out where the dirt on her belly came from. I'm thinking she will need to eat corn on the cob in just a pull-up from now on. Her clothes would've been a mess!

Ten on Tuesday

1. T-ball tonight. It was hysterical. Lots of kids randomly running around. Emma said she wanted to stop halfway through the first inning, but that was short-lived, she got in to it again. At the end she loved it, said she had fun. And I did catch the glove on her butt on at least two occasions. Don't know if the song went along with it or not. Oh, and she slid in to home her second time up. On her knees. It was too funny.




2. So this past Wednesday Emma decided it'd be a good idea to climb on a cozy coupe at Kid Park (fitness center), then just let go. This resulted in a face plant on the floor. Which we thought resulted in just a scraped up nose. Turns out there was a GIANT goose egg hidden under her bangs, although I didn't see it until 2 1/2 hours later when I caught her touching it. She never mentioned it once. She only told us she hit her nose. After the tears, we went to the library - she was fine. Then the grocery store - she was fine. Never let on about her forehead. It was big and squishy and purple. Ugh. She held some ice on it, and never said it hurt. But Thursday night it had flattened out, Friday she had a black eye, and on Saturday night it'd spread over to her other eye. Here's how it looked on Monday.


When she told me how it happened, "I climbed on the car and then just let go and I fell." I said, "well maybe that's not such a good idea and you shouldn't do that again." "Yeah, you're probably right, Mom." Yeah, I think I am, Emma.

3. We went to the Akron Zoo yesterday. Great thing about the Akron Zoo - it's small. And only takes a couple hours to go through. Compared to the Cleveland Zoo which is too big to do in one day. Perfect for the girls. And also one certain pregnant lady.

Jelly fish are weird. Yet fascinating. And in this picture, strangely pretty.


The girls liked the tiger. Related - Mackenzie did not like the bear that was right up in the glass. one habitat over. She hid behind me.

(Emma, Mackenzie, Ava, Bree)

Me and Lisa. Had the girls take some pictures of us, but let's just say the angles weren't the most flattering.


Me and my girls. And Lisa in the reflection.


4. Friday (yeah, totally not going in order, here) we had lunch with Missy, Maya and Laney at the park. Where the highlight (for the girls) was playing in the mud puddles. For the moms, the highlight was sitting in the pavilion watching: seats + shade + not having to chase small children = a good morning.


5. That evening we went to the pool. Where both girls had meltdowns when it was time to leave. That's always fun.



6. Hmm..where am I..oh, Saturday before Memorial Day. Blossom Time. Got the girls bracelets for the rides. Turns out the only thing Mackenzie would ride is the train once and the Merry-go-round twice.




7. And the Friday before that, went to my sister's to swim. Love the Target dresses. And the pigtails. And the almost identical faces they're making. Have I mentioned Mackenzie's freckles are coming out? She has three. They're cute.


8. And the Wednesday before that, planting pumpkins and flowers with Grandma. So far we're 2 for 3 - the pumpkins and Mac's flowers are showing, Emma's are MIA.



9. In an effort to stop the night-wakings, Mackenzie is no longer napping. It's great that she sleeps through the night (finally!) and therefore I get more and better sleep. Not so great is the fact that she's pretty cranky/clingy/rotten most days from 3 - 5ish. Also, she is prone to falling asleep in the car if we're driving in the afternoon. Kind of like here, when one minute she was watching a cartoon, the next the was asleep. Shortly after I had to wake her up for dinner and it was ugly.


10. Speaking of Mac, she still hasn't grown out of the color-with-marker/use-stamps-all-over-my-body phase.


Bonus - Fun jumping shot of Emma, Bree and Mackenzie.

And with that, I'm sort of kind of caught up. A little. For now.

And so it begins...

Emma's first t-ball game is tomorrow. Michael is the coach. And Emma had her first practice on a field Sunday night.

First up, a lesson on bases.


Followed by running the bases.


Batting practice.

They played catch.

They also practiced fielding the ball, catching grounders.

Then came the silliness. Such as "My glove is stuck on my butt! It's stuck on my butt" with lots of giggles. My varisty baseball head coach husband's reply? "I won't last. I'll quit after the first game."

And then this, after running the bases one last time, "Dad? Can I go swing now?"

I can't wait to see how this game goes Tuesday night!