Welcome Home!!!

Buck finally made it back home for R&R!!! After a long, exhausting day of waiting, he's finally here. Mackenzie went right to him and said "My Daddy!". We will definitely enjoy the next 2 weeks.

B-day party

Mackenzie's friend Madeline had her B-day party yesterday at a local gymnastics place. It was so neat! There was so much for the kids to do there.

Jumping on (one of) the trampolines.


Mackenzie and mommy in the foam pit. This was so neat. They had trampolines right next to this huge foam pit so you could jump into it. Mackenzie really liked this!

This is one of my favorite pics of Mackenzie and I!!

Girls Night Out!

This weekend, Mackenzie and I both got a girls night out! My friend Kerri and I went to a free Christmas concert given by a local symphony and then out to Olive Garden. We used the same babysitter and the girls got to have a sleep over. They had a blast, as did Kerri and I.

I love this pic!

School Pic

Here are some miscellaneous school pics of Mackenzie. As you can see, she really loves going to school and is making a lot of new friends.

These next two are from their Teddy Bear Parade.

Campfire Time

NE trip

Here are a few pics from our trip to NE last week.

Enjoying the trampoline. Buck, I think that we're going to have to get one of these some day, she had a blast!

Mackenzie with some of her cousins. They all really helped out a lot. She had so much fun playing with them. I think they enjoyed playing with the playdough more than Mackenzie:)

Brock, Shelbi, and Mackenzie had a good time "decorating" Missy's hair.

Mackenzie thoroughly enjoyed going in and out the doggie door:)

ABC's

Here is our little angel (if only she was this cute all the time). Anyways, her two new favorite songs are the ABC's and Wheels on the Bus. We sing them everyday. I'll have to get Wheel's on the Bus on video sometime. She's done the ABC's better, but as soon as I get the camera out, she doesn't do it (as well).

On a side note, please keep Mackenzie in your prayers. A couple of weeks ago I took Mackenzie into the doctor because I was concerned about her weight. The doctor did a bone age test on her (x-ray), and determined that right now her bone growth is at the rate of a 7-month old's. He is convinced that she has a hormone deficiency, we just have to figure out which hormone it is. She's had her blood work done, we just have to wait for the results now, which will take up to 2 months. I'm not trying to worry about things. I trust that the Lord will provide for us and that whatever is wrong with her, her doctors will be able to fix in this modern day of medicine. The extra prayers won't hurt though. Physically (besides her stature), she has no abnormalities. She's as healthy and playful (and moody) as any 2 year old comes. I'm so blessed to have a happy, healthy little girl who gives me so much love.

Trunk or Treat

This year our church held a "Trunk-or-Treat" for the kids. About 20 cars decorated their trunks and handed out candy to the kids. There were also games and food. Mackenzie had a great time.

Mackenzie did the bean bag toss (kind of)

She played musical shapes (kind of like musical chairs) about 50 times. She loved running around in a circle. She would've stayed all night if I let her.

This is Her Majesty, Princess Mackenzie (actually wearing her tiara). She only wore it for about the first 10 minutes, and then it was off. Good thing I took a picture right away!

This was the pumpkin sweep. She attemped to sweep the pumpkin down to the finish line.

Good news for Steph!

The Lord has blessed us so much this year. I just wanted to let you all know that I got my acceptance letter to start the nursing program in January! Praise the Lord!!!! The program is a 2-year program (ADN), so I should graduate in December 2010. My sister just recently got accepted into the nursing program (in St Louis) to start next fall, so we'll both be in nursing school at the same time! Kind of cool. Anyways, I just wanted to share my good news.

Socks

One day when I was folding laundry, Mackenzie decided she wanted to put on my socks. She picked two completely different socks then put her shoes on with them and walked around the house with the whole ensemble. It was hilarious!

Stylish!!

She thought that I needed to wear socks too.

The Circus

Tonight was Mackenzie's first circus experience. She was a little scared at first from all the loud noise and lights (brings back memories of July 4th), but as the night went on she started enjoying herself. She really liked the elephants, although I think that riding it would've traumatized her. Maybe next year with daddy's help!

These are Mackenzie's friends, Madeline and Emily, that we went to the circus with.

Mommy and Mackenzie

Mackenzie really liked the elephants.