Makenzie's Idol

Miss Makenzie is a Daddy's Girl through and through!  Every time I go to get her out of her crib (either in the am or nap time) she calls for Daddy and ask 'Where'd he go?  Where's Daddy?".  She talks about Daddy ALL DAY LONG.  It's cute, but can be annoying after answering that Daddy is at work for the 100th time.

Matt's after dinner STRETCH! With Makenzie joining in!
(Thanks to this picture I was able to see our pic was crooked!!  All fixed!)

 Since I wasn't feeling good this past weekend Makenzie got a LOT of one-on-one Daddy time and LOVED it.  The giggles coming out of both of them was almost enough to make me feel better.  At the dinner table, when she is done playing with her food, she does what daddy does....

The "Okay, I'm really stuffed" look or "I'm still hungry... do I dare
ask for more" look!

 These past couple of nights Makenzie, already in bed, continues talking to Daddy over the baby monitor for a good hour before she goes to sleep!!  Haha.  Last night she was kind of whimpering about 9 so I went in there to see if she was all right and says... "Daddy, Rock!"  So I called Matt over so he could rock in the rocking chair with her for a few mins.  He put her back in bed and she was OUT.  She just needed that extra few minutes with Daddy last night.

Love, Love, LOVE!

Cookie Disaster!

Like I said last night Miss Makenzie and Matt were in the kitchen making Christmas cookies!  I printed off a recipe that I had Pinned (from Pinterest) and handed it over to him to make.  Very simple recipe, didn't look hard to make at all.  Let me tell you.... WRONG!  It was a disaster!!

 

I was so bummed because it was a spiral cookie and looked really neat.  But as we were following the recipe we were able to quickly tell that our flaky dry dough was not the creamy ball of dough it described in the recipe.  Matt tried all sorts of things to rectify the situation and we didn't really get anywhere.  He was able to smash it all on a cookie sheet and bake it all as one giant heap.

Grrr!  I get SOOO irritated when that happens... especially when I actually FOLLOW the recipe.  I should have known it was trouble right after I noticed it took 2 and a 1/2 sticks of butter and only 2 cups of flour (is that not a rediculus amount!?!?).  It was a mess.  Matt kept his cool, where I would have hucked the dough outside and thrown myself a pity party. 

Haha, Matt, determined to make a decent cookie before Makenzie went to bed, went to work on Gingerbread cookies!  The first batch ended up a little overdone, but they still taste the same... just a little crunchier!!  I'd have to say I think Gingerbread cookies are my fav Christmas cookie! 

December Rain

Anyone realize that Christmas is ONLY a few weeks away!?!?!?  Really???  Yikes! 

Yesterday I pretty much finished my Christmas Shopping, thank you Amazon!  Free shipping and online... can ya beat it??  I also wrapped all of Makenzie's birthday presents and Christmas presents yesterday... in peace and quiet!  Matt and Makenzie went out to meet the rest of the family and cousins for dinner while I stayed at home sick.  Let me tell you, when you don't feel good and have a toddler it is VERY nice to have quiet alone time.

We had our first Christmas party today.  And I stayed home sick :-(  If my numbers are right this side of the family has 4 Kids (the aunts & uncles), 9 Grandkids, and 13 Grandkids... 2 people created 26 lives!!  Incredible isn't it!  So with that many grandkids it's fun to see them all play and I'm sad I missed it.  Instead I sat at home in bed catching up on Parenting and Family Fun magazines. 

Since November I have been fighting bug after bug and am sick AGAIN.  So even though Christmas is coming I'm just not in the "mood" like I usually am.  I LOVE this time of year.

Maybe if it we could have snow on the ground and a  snowmen or two in our yard, it'd get me more in the mood. 

Or having an abundance of Christmas cookies coming in and out of the oven....

Well today we had SOME snow, followed by a LOT of rain.  And making cookies sounds exhausting and I have no appetite. 

But... right now, as I type, Matthew and Makenzie are baking away in the kitchen making some Christmas Cookies!!  :-)  That's love right!?!?

Guest Posting: Mesothelioma: The New Generation

A few days ago I received an email from a woman that had told me she wanted to share her story with me and my blog readers!  After reading her story I was amazed.  Her name is Heather and here it goes....

When I was told, "you have cancer", I felt fear down to my very core. The dreadful news came at one of the best times of my life, as I had become a new mother three months earlier. The only thing more shocking than those three words was that the cancer, called pleural mesothelioma, was brought about by exposure to asbestos. When I told people about my situation, the first question was, "isn't asbestos banned?". This was followed by speculation on how and where I could have been exposed. Asbestos is not banned and as it turns out, my exposure was secondary. My father was a construction worker whose main duties were sanding and taping drywall. The dust that resulted from his work was in his car and all over his clothes. It seemed innocent enough as a byproduct of a hard day's work, but it contained millions of tiny fibers that would eventually make me ill.

My diagnosis did not fit the usual profile of someone with mesothelioma. I am 36 and female, while the typical patient is an older male trades worker. Men who worked in jobs such as mechanics, plumbers, electricians or were in the military were often exposed to asbestos. The wives of these men became sick after laundering clothes that were covered with dust and fibers. Some women who taught or otherwise worked in school buildings that contained a lot of asbestos were found to have the disease.

I was the beginning of an alarming new generation of mesothelioma. More young people in the prime of their lives are turning up with this illness. They were children who could not wait to hug their fathers when they returned home or wear his dusty jacket so they would not get their own coat dirty while feeding a pet. These children liked to hang out with their dads after they spent the day wrapping pipes with insulation, never suspecting the health hazard. The more time I spend in the mesothelioma community, the more young patients I meet who are just starting out with jobs, marriages and children. Their lives are brought to a standstill in order to fight the disease. There is good news, though. Many advances have been made in mesothelioma treatment, which has led to a much higher survival rate for patients in every age group.


 Hearing that I had cancer was devastating, but along with many others who have mesothelioma, I have hope. Our community was formed to support, share experiences and feelings, and to celebrate victories together.

I am telling my story because I want to increase awareness about mesothelioma and bring about change. If sharing my experience can help someone cope with their diagnosis and be less fearful of the outcome, then I have made the right choice.

Imagine having a 3 month old and having to fight for your life!  Thank you so much for sharing Heather!  Here is a link to Heather's blog to learn more: www.mesothelioma.com/blog/authors/heather

Crayola Chaos

Sunday night we had a dinner at church.  To entertain Makenzie during this we had crayons, which ended up in Matt's pocket, which ended up in the washer than melted all over everything in the dryer!! 

Go figure Matt's work pants were in there.... he's so tall they have a nice price on them and so this ended up being a VERY expensive load of laundry gone bad.  My mom Googled for me and said to spray the spots with WD-40 then clean off with dishsoap.  I said that's for the birds!  I would have been there ALL DAY doing that.  SO I let them soak in really hot water for almost a whole afternoon.  That seemed to have helped a lot and THEN I did the WD-40.  It really worked!  On most stuff that is... now... our clothes smell like WD-40.

Lesson of this story: CHECK ALL POCKETS BEFORE YOU DO THE WASH!

Time for Dicipline!

Check this out.....

Makenzie was obviously hungry and taking things into her own hands!!  Ha!  She was SOOO proud. 

Sorry Girly, the fun is over!  Timeouts have taken up a good chunk of time at our house lately.  We're hoping that she starts listening better, but she's got that I can do anything mentality, so she totally ignores us!  So we'll see how the time outs go!  So far it's gone very well!

As you can see she drags the kitchen chairs around so she can get to whatever she needs to.  Now our chairs are huddled in a corner so if she starts dragging one we can hear it and catch her.  It took a few days this week, but she hasn't done it in a few days now!  I tell ya, she is a quick learner!!

(Just so you know... I half blame this on my SIL Mandi!!  Who said this weekend while we were on a wagon ride... "Wait until she gets on the chairs to get onto the counter!!"  Haha :-)  Well, I think she heard ya!)

Oh Christmas Tree!

I haven't been feeling very well this week!  (Hence, no postings!)  This past weekend we went in search of a Christmas Tree!!  The whole fam met up for breakfast and then we headed to the tree farm.

Love the smiles!!  Notice that most eyes are looking
in a different direction!!  Hmmm... maybe to the tractor??

 Things can get kind of complicated.... Matt and his brother Brian tend to wander without really "looking" for a tree.  The kids are running all over having a blast.  And then there's the wives trying to keep track of the kids, look for a tree, and keep an eye on their husbands. 

It was pretty chilly and I wanted to pick out a tree and go.  Once Matt was done wandering and got down to business he found a really nice tree that our nephew Caleb cut down (with Uncle Matt's help of course!).  Caleb thought that was a BLAST!  "I think I'm going to dream about this tonight" he said!!  Haha.

We loaded our trees up on the tree wagon and waited for our tractor to come and pick us all up.  By time we got back to the farm the farmer told us that he lost our tree en route!!  Ooopps!  So off he went to go find our tree.  Thought that was pretty funny.  Luckily he found it.  I was a little worried because I know how long it takes the Mr. to pick out a tree!

Makenzie loved watching the tractors and riding on the wagon with the tractor pulling us!! 

The rest of the weekend was spent decorating the tree... we have VERY few ornaments on there because Miss Makenzie is into tearing everything apart.  So, we didn't put a lot on and everything on there is toddler safe!  Hopefully next year our tree will be back up to a normal looking Christmas tree :0)

For the Birds!

 

Last night Makenzie, Matt and I collected pine cones to make little bird feeders for our birdie friends!  Once dinner was done we pulled out the peanut butter, pine cones and the bird seed and got to work!  Makenzie had a blast helping... she even had her own little knife! 

Poison Control: 2 Strikes Again!

Wow.  What a day I have had... and Makenzie... and my parents!! 

Normally I get up and take a shower before Makenzie gets up.  Since I've been sick for the past week and a half I decided to sleep in until she woke me up.  She got up, we ate breakfast and I pulled out some toys she hasn't played with in awhile, got the baby monitor and hopped in the shower.  Mistake #1!  That girl is too sneaky and too quick to be left solo, EVEN tho I can hear her! 

While taking the shower I could hear her playing with blocks... sweet!  When I got out I thought about just letting her play nicely so I pulled out my hair dryer out of the drawer and then decided to go see what she was building.  Mistake #2.  SHUT THE DRAWER!

Makenzie was not playing blocks in her room. She had pulled a kitchen chair up to the kitchen counter.  Climbed up to my spice cabinet, pulled multiple spices out, opened them all up and dumped them from container to container to container.  None of my spices were in the right container and were all mixed!!  I asked Makenzie are you cooking for Mama!?!  Uh huh!!  Too cute.  While I am cleaning that up all of a sudden I hear her start screaming!

I run to the bathroom and see that she had nail polish (from the hair dryer drawer that I left open) that she was putting on (in) her eyes.  Holy you know what!!!!!  I immediately turn the faucet on and hold her under it so the water can rinse the polish out of her eyes.  She was screaming so bad that as soon as I saw it clear I scooped her up and gave her cuddles.  Her eyes looked great at that point.... the blue polish was out of her eyes, they weren't red and she was going about normal business.  I called her Dr's office to tell them what happened and see if there was anything else I needed to do.  They said no, but to call the Poison Control office to be sure.  (Between Matt and Ruger I have already had that number stored in my phone!) 

I call and they panic that it's been almost a half hour since it happened.  They said that her eyes immediately needed to be flushed with water for 15 minutes!  Do you have any idea how long 15 minutes is in the toddler world?  Do you have any idea how hard it is to hold your 2 year old down while you are pouring water on her face and she's thrashing all around so water is going up her nose and being swallowed and choking on it??  Wow.  Thankfully my parents came to the rescue and helped me hold her and flush her eyes out.  There was no way we were making it to 15 mins, but we did it good enough. 

It was torture for not only her but us.  The look on her face just broke my heart.  She was crying... I was crying... my mom was crying.  It was bad. 

Thankfully she is doing just fine, her eyes look great.  She's got a new pretty blue dot on her forehead as well as one on her eyelid. 

Like I said yesterday, she sees everything mom and dad do and thinks she can do it to!!  She sees me everyday put makeup on my eyes.... she sees me every day open those spices up while I'm cooking. 

This happened hours ago and my heart rate is thru the roof.  I left for awhile to go restock my spices and bring home a few pizzas.... thinking that would calm me down.... not yet.

Trouble with 2

In 2 weeks Makenzie will be 2.  T-W-O.  Along with 2 comes the Terrible 2's, right?  I was well informed (by a woman with her masters degree in early childhood development) one day sitting in the dr's office waiting room that the terrible 2's actually start around a year and a half.  I agreed.  Makenzie was about a year and a half when I met this woman and she was definitely starting to throw temper tantrums.

She still throws temper tantrums, not as much, and not as bad... knock on wood!!  But the trouble with 2 is that she can now do it all.  She sees how something is done and will try to do it.  Nothing deters her... she can reach everything by moving the kitchen chairs around the house.  She can open everything in a flash.  She knows what she wants and what she doesn't want.

The trouble with 2 is that when she doesn't want to listen she doesn't have too!  And having her LISTEN right now is NOT happening.  During a half hour span today she was in time-out 2 times for 2 mins!  I get down to her level, tell her why she is sitting in the corner, and let her sit for 2 mins.  Normally after that she does exactly what I had asked of her to do.  Today... nope.  She wants to read... not get a diaper change... or take a nap.  Back to time-out we went. 

My 2nd trouble with 2 is that all her favorite food she doesn't like anymore!  What gives??  Getting Makenzie to eat dinner is a major challenge and she has been going to bed hungry many times. 

That's my trouble with 2.  Thankfully I don't have 2 to go thru 2 at the same time!

Tis the (OUCH!) Season!

5:50 last night I happened to be on Facebook and had read a message my aunt had sent me about a local Christmas parade going on at 6:30!  I instantly decided that we were going.... why??  Especially since I was sick and in pj's all day and we had 40 mins to eat dinner, bundle up, and GET to the parade route.  But, I had never been to a parade at night and knew Makenzie would LOVE it.  I had made us each some hot cocoa and off we went bundled up and ready for the 35 degree temps to watch the lighted parade.  What F-U-N!  Seriously, I loved it, Makenzie loved it, Matt loved it!!  On top of that the houses that are on the parade route are VERY old and kept up SO well and were SOOOO beautifully decorated.  I felt like when we were walking thru there I was in a story book.  It was just amazing.  I LOVE CHRISTMAS TIME!!!

The parade lasted longer than I thought it would, we were just starting to get cold when it ended.  We went home and rounded up all the trash to take down to the end of the drive for trash pickup and Makenize was playing on her bike.  (She could barely move between having on her winter coat and snowpants and boots!)  Something got caught on her bike wheel and Makenzie ended up flipping over the front of the bike and faceplanting it into the cement.  Her hands were stuck on something because she didn't even put her hands out to brace her fall :0(  I picked her up and saw blood and pretty much threw her to Matt!  We headed inside to check out her bloody lip and thankfully the candy from the parade was an excellent distraction for her while we iced her lip.  I feel for her.... 3 molars coming in at once and now a big fat oowy lip! 

Showing off her Boo Boo

2 suckers right before bedtime!!!  Lucky!

Thanksgiving Weekend Pictures

My cousin and aunt had us over for a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner!  Here are pics of that as well as a surprise visit from Uncle Santa Bob! 

Feeding "fishy's" on Aunt Kelli's phone!

Meet Uncle Santa Bob

Kelli demonstrating what a "creeper" does in a picture!

Over the weekend, Makenzie and I worked on untangling all of our lights, as well as sorting out what lines work and which don't!  She would take frequent dance breaks....

 And then up the lights went!!  It was definitely a Thanksgiving to remember... after we were done eating it started storming!!!  I wished hard that night for snow and by Friday morning it WAS snowing!

Last Week's 411!

Last week, Matt had off of work!  Makenzie and I were supper excited about it until we saw his "To Do" list (made by HIM... not me!).  I couldn't believe everything that he had to do, and he got most of it done.  It was one of those vacations that you need another vacation after that one because he worked so hard.  And Makenzie and I would like it because even tho he was off of work for a week we really didn't spend anymore family time than what we did when he was working.  :0( Bummer... but that's life. 

Our Kitchen got done!  I already posted on that.  That project went way smoother than either of us thought it would.  I even got in there and helped install the tiles too.  Loved it! 

We did some Christmas shopping one morning last week, got some great deals!!  Came home with a VERY cranky husband.  (He does NOT like to shop and tagged along with us because he needed to go to one of the stores I had to go to!)  Seriously... he is WAY worse than taking any child shopping I swear.  LOL!  And he always wanders off and can never find me again (which gets him upset too).  I can easily spot the 6'5" hubby but he seriously walks right by me... inches away!!  (No joke...) 

Friday Matt spent most of the day at his parents house and hunting while Makenzie and I enjoyed our time at home.  My sister ended up coming over with her dog and kept Makenzie and I entertained for awhile!  Then I pretty much kicked her out when I saw how much her dog was shedding!!  Let me just say it was insane.  I had mopped the floor (for the second time) and about tipped over when I saw all the hair... Katie too!! 

Makenzie was an absolute GROUCH Friday and Saturday.  I've had a cold since Tuesday and thought maybe she was getting that??  But who knows.  I don't think Matt and I have ever seen here that cranky and naughty.  Sunday too actually!  Between me being sick and having all 4 of her 2 year molars in I'd assume one of those things is bothering her.  She seems to be in much better spirits today. 

Another project we did was bought all new Christmas lights for the outside of the house, bought and hung! And we rearranged our living rooms (yes, we have two).  We don't have enough furniture to fill up both rooms nicely, so now the room that was full is empty, and vice versa.  Now we are in the LR with the fireplace.  It will make it nice and cozy in the winter, and pretty with the Christmas tree and decorations.  But having the other living room.... at the front of the house.... where I walk by a hundred times a day be empty.... drives.... me....crazy!

Alrighty, Makenzie is sleeping... and this sick mama is headed back to bed!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

What a beautiful day it is here today!!   Matt is outside right now without a jacket... that's how nice it is!  Sun is shining, it is just glorious!  We got to spend this AM with Matt's family at church as we watched our newest nephew get baptized!!  What a great service to start a great day with!

I hope everyone can spend today enjoying everything they have to be thankful for, count your blessings... BIG and small... each one counts!

And we're DONE!!

We are finally done with our kitchen!!!  It has been totally transformed!!

Drop lighting is gone as well as the vines!

We had the cupboards and counter hired out, then Matt did the rest!  The lighting, sink and back splash!  I LOVE it and can't wait to cook in it tonight!!  So nice to have such a Handy Hubby!

Day's without Daddy

Last Wednesday Matt left until the end of the weekend to head up north and go hunting!  So it was just us gals, and we were ready for some girl time!!  I was kind of concerned as to how the week was going to go... when Matt had been gone for a weekend she would get CRANKY.  This girl needs her daddy time and requires a lot of attention at night, when I am getting ready for dinner, and cleaning up.  So I had quick and easy meals and really everything went great (besides the sleepless nights!).

Wednesday night she was up 5 times throughout the night crying.  She'd cry for a few mins and go back to sleep.  Her crying woke me up and then it would take me forever to get back to sleep (I am a lite sleeper to begin with, and Xtra lite when Matt's gone).  As soon as I would go back to sleep she'd wake up crying again.  That was night one.

Thursday we didn't have anything planned, so I thought we could spend the day together and do something fun!  But as we were getting ready she kept grabbing her blanket and saying "nigh nigh"... uh oh.  It was only 10am!  I decided to take her out hoping it would distract her from being fussy and wanting a nap extra early.  So we headed to a bounce house, there was one other kid there, it was great!! 

"I've never seen so many balls!!!"

She was a little shy at first but then LOVED it!  I was hoping to get a picture of her with Lightning MacQueen going over her... didn't work out... she was freaked!  When we got to the top she said "ready" "GO!" and she flew down the slide BY HERSELF!!  No fear I tell ya.  I was a little scared... and she wasn't at all!  Even after my second time going down I was still a little scared!!  It was a lot of work for me... I came home SOAR.  She had a hard time getting up the steps to climb these bouncy things so I pretty much had to pull myself up and hold her under one of my arms. 

"Nope... not standing there by myself!"

"Ready"

"WHHEEEEEEE!!!!"

 

 

Makenzie was impressed with the glove as big as her!

In the toddler area she met the other little, big, boy that was there.  Makenzie did NOT like him as he kept bouncing balls off of her head.  Then, right before we left he grabbed hold of her head and slammed it into his chest "hugging" her.  Ew.  We left right after that.

"I'm sorry I bounced balls off of your head.  Can I have them back?"

 So go figure... that afternoon... she didn't nap.  I thought I had her TOTALLY tired out.  We went to Lowe's after the bouncies to pick up tile for my backsplash and she was talking about how bad she wanted to go nigh nigh there.  Hmm... it was an early bedtime for her that night!  (Makenzie was up till 1am Thursday night)

As soon as Matt left, I turned the Christmas music on and watched Christmas movies after Makenzie was in bed... it was taking all my will power to not make Christmas Cookies!!  Instead I found a recipe for pumpkin cookies.  My little chef and I whipped up a batch of those... they were DELICIOUS!  Never had a pumpkin cookie before :0)  Makenzie likes to sample everything, so I gave her some pumpkin... oh what a face!

Recipe: http://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/32364
/old-fashioned-soft-pumpkin-cookies/detail.aspx

YUCK!

 Friday night we had Cousin's Game Night!  We had a soup and salad dinner (with Gma of course!), then played a game and watched a chick flick!  Us cousin's should get together more... we were missing 3 girls, so hopefully next time we'll have the whole clan!

Kelli's Ready!!

Makenzie not sure if she wants to share her
bib with Auntie Kelli!

Saturday, my MIL offered to watch Makenzie for most of the day.  I dropped Makenzie off over there after lunch and headed to my friends house to catch up on life and scrapbook.  When I went to go pick Makenzie up oh she was having SOOO much fun!  There are now 5 cousins, 6 and under... all had a blast at Grandma's Pizza Party.  They got to make pizza's, Christmas door hangers, and eat chocolate chip cookies!!  The whole ride home Makenzie just babbled on and on and on and on and on.  Oh how I wish I knew everything she was saying. 

That night after Makenzie had gone to sleep she was awaken by Daddy peaking in to say hello and goodnight!  It was so sweet... all I could hear were giggles and Makenzie saying "Daddy!  Daddy!!".  We were SOOO happy to have Daddy back home!