Prayer and Play Group

Today was really special... we got to have our play group HERE! 4 other mommies with kids drove all the way out here to spend the morning playing, and praying, with us! We tried to pray together with kids clunking each other in the head and taking toys from one another... it was quite the experience! We did get a few prayers lifted up on each others' behalf before we decided to call it quits and go outside and look for Easter eggs. Yes, I know it is 6 weeks till Easter, but I was trying to think of something fun for the "big" kids (as in the 2-year-old boys) to do and it was the only thing I could think of. As you can see on the video, they all had fun! Mackenzie really seemed to get the hang of it, she understood putting the eggs in her "basket" (i.e. purse) and definitely understood that there was candy inside the eggs! The weather was perfect for an Easter egg hunt too! Then we all ate lunch together before everyone went home for naps... it was a great day!

This afternoon when we were waiting for Daddy to get home she insisted on putting on my shirt... she strutted around the house thinking she was the biggest deal ever! It was so cute!

Playing Mommy

Yesterday I cleaned out my closet and Mackenzie inherited 10 purses and 2 hats. Here she is "helping" me... she thought she was big stuff! This morning she was convinced that she was tiny enough to fit inside her diaper box. Here are her attempts...

After bath time, she tried again... she got closer this time, but then she couldn't move.

To distract her from the box defeat, we started to play babies. I told her the babies would fit into the diaper box and she liked that for a while. She was being so cute with the babies that I decided today was THE DAY to give her the baby and the diaper bag from Lizzi that I've been holding onto since her birthday. I wanted to wait until right before Aubrey was born so Mackenzie would feel like she had a baby to take care of too. She LOVED it! She played so well for close to an hour... taking care of her babies, giving them juice, changing their diapers (I had to keep convincing her not to go get her diapers, but to use the ones in the diaper bag). She loved giving them "shewsh" and thought it was funny when she drank out of their bottles. Then we had lunch and she and the babies went down for their nap. I can hear her fake crying in there and giving the babies juice to make them stop... it's SO cute!

I love the above picture b/c you can see her lips saying, "shewsh"... her favorite word other than "baby."

So nuturing...

I love the "delicate" way she handles the baby =)

Lord, thank you for my little girl! Thank you that she has a nurturing heart at only 17 months old, I marvel at how you made her. I pray that Aubrey would be a new adventure for Mackenzie, that Mackenzie would learn how to help without hurting her little sister. I pray that Aubrey would love her big sister right from the start and that she would be happy whenever Mackenzie is near. And Lord, please help Aubrey to survive with such a little "big" sister "helping" me! Amen

Bath Time Escape

Two things I love about bath time: 1) When I say, "Mackenzie, do you want to take a bath?" she emphatically says, "Towel, towel!" So we grab her towel and do the whole bath thing. 2) After her bath, she tells me she wants to get out, I go to get her and she crawls to the other side of the tub saying "nope, nope" (she's sooo tricky...) When I finally do get her out, she runs down the hall dripping wet in her princess towel! Today I got a picture of it... she's so cute!

Another "trick" she learned today is that she can throw just about anything in the kitchen trash... great! I was typing an email and every other second she'd come running over saying, "Uh-oh, uh-oh" and I'd have to rescue whatever it was she had just "accidently" thrown in the trash! No wonder I haven't gained 50 lbs. this pregnancy... I never get to sit down =)

Valentine's Day and Lauri's Shower

Valentine's Day started very early for this mama... but then I got to go back to bed and daddy did a turn with the baby girl and brought me breakfast in bed a little later! He made these really cute heart shaped blueberry muffins and sprinkled them with sugar all by himself! We put Mackenzie down for an early nap and we got to eat breakfast in bed together... something that probably won't happen for a few more years once Aubrey comes!

Later that night, Mackenzie and I decorated the kitchen and livingroom with all the decorations she made on Monday and lots of candles. She thought she was pretty big stuff helping me!

Then we all got dressed up and Mackenzie held both our hands and we walked out to our candle wonderland! We had crab fondue for dinner and that was it, per my Valentine's request... no salad, nothin! Then we had pound cake for dessert... his favorite! He loved all the cards and decorations Mackenzie made for him and he liked the cards I got for him. I love the card he got me... it was perfect!

After dinner and dessert we had our special dances with daddy. Mackenzie danced with her daddy to the song "Cinderella" again... it's their special song. Then we danced to our song and Mackenzie was so cute... she let us dance for a while, and then she insisted on holding our hands and dancing as a family! She loves dancing!

On Sunday there was a surprise baby shower for my friend Lauri (who is due on the same day I am!) I love this picture of three of the 16 pregnant bellies in our church!

Lauri got a beautiful blanket from Sherie... nice touch with the brown around the edge, Sher!

Then we played this really fun game where we divided into teams of three and had to cut apart magazines and come up with what we thought Baby Palmer (a.k.a. Madison Grace) would look like. It was a fun game that I had never played before at a shower... the results were really funny too!

This fun weekend ended sad though... Jake woke me up last night because he was shaking so hard. He has the stomach bug AGAIN (third time this season!) and he couldn't get warm and kept shivering and shivering... it's so scary and sad seeing my big, strong husband so weak. We're taking good care of him today, we bought him lots of gatorade and we're chillin' with him watching movies and trying not to bug him. It's hard for Mackenzie to understand why daddy can't hold her and she's cried about it... so that's really sad too! She's making him a get well card right now with her crayons. We've prayed for him twice today and she is so cute bowing her head and saying "Amen!" really loud at the end.

Scroll down to see my post from earlier today...

Trip to the Zoo

Jake was off on Friday and we had a fun day at the zoo as a family plus Stephen! He is such a good uncle and really helped out this tired mommy and daddy! We all got into the zoo for $12 because they have special deal the month of Feb... you only "pay the weather" and since it was in the 40's it was only $4 for each of us (baby girl was free!) We found free parking too... so the whole day was a bargain!
Posing outside a bathroom as a family... I think I visited every bathroom in the zoo that day!

Just thought this was cute... the monkeys are always my favorite. The orangutans put on a little show for us that was fun to watch!

Stephen followed her around the entire tree house... she was hard to keep up with! I never did get a good picture in here!

They were so cute together all day... so chill on this chilly day!

Posing outside another bathroom... I never thought to take pictures until we got to a bathroom I guess!

Two cute videos from the other night. She loves to dance and whenever she hears music she says "Jesus"... I love that she associates Jesus with music in our home! However, I don't know who taught her to dance... surely not these parents!

This video is a little long, but it captures where she is at developmentally right now... getting smarter everyday, but not quite a genius yet!

Stayed tuned for pictures from V-day!

Shh...

Don't tell Jake, but Mackenzie and I were busy today working on Valentine's Day decorations for him. I broke out the paint and glue and we went to town creating special cards and decorations for him! I had fun, and I think she did too... I can't wait for both our girls to get really into making valentine's for daddy in a few years! Here are pictures of our mess... and the booger-nose little girl that helped make it!

I don't know if you can tell from her eyes, but Mackenzie was very sick on Monday. I had to take her to the doc and she had some sort of infection in her chest that required antibiotics and a nebulizer. She HATES the neb, but each time we do it she's crying less. Today she's finally acting like herself again, but she was pretty mellow and clinging for two days... not that I minded... she NEVER snuggles, so I was soaking it up!

Tuesday night we had a doctor's appointment for Aubrey. They were concerned about the location of my placenta and also that I was measuring smaller than I should have been. Everything is fine! She is measuring right where she should be and my placenta "migrated" like it was supposed to and now it is no longer in the way for this little girl to be born! They confirmed again that it IS a girl and they gave us some nice face shots. It's always hard to make things out in ultrasound pictures, but when we were there we clearly saw that this little girl also has her Daddy's lips and Mackenzie's nose. Here are the 3D shots they gave us!

Jake and I prayed together before we went to the ultrasound and I don't want to miss this opportunity to give glory to God for knitting together another wonderful creation inside of me! Everything was exactly as it was supposed to be and we are thankful for God's hand forming this little one exactly the way HE wants her to be... created especially for our family! Only 6 more weeks... yikes!!

Snow Day!!

Today was so much fun! We had our first real snow of the year with enough snow to build a snowman! A few weeks ago we got the purple umpalumpa snowsuit from the Wolfs and just yesterday God provided boots from her friend Sam... just in time for our first play day in the snow! She was so cute... she couldn't get up if she fell over so there was a lot of "up, pees" being said today!

Her first snowman... obviously I had a lot more to do with it than she did... but she was so cute checking it out. We left it up for a surprise for Daddy when he came home!

Here are two videos of her... the first one is 20 sec. of her being stuck and unable to get up... one of her many "up, pees" moments. And the second one is a minute long... it's really cute b/c it has her trying to get up the stairs to come inside and she can't lift her foot more than an inch! Enjoy!