3.31.2012

91/366

We went to an Easter egg hunt at church this morning. They held an short children's service to talk about the holiday and then followed that with the egg hunt. The girls had lots of fun and were excited to sort through their eggs. We took the girls to lunch, but they requested that we go to a different Chick fil A than the one we normally go to. They both had fun running around the play area. Mckenzie had a movie night with her friends from school. One of the moms invited the little ones over to watch The Muppets and have pizza. Turns out they didn't watch much of the movie, but danced and played dress up instead. Mckenzie had fun and asked when she could go back to play again. We went out to dinner while Mckenzie was at her friend's. We tried a new restaurant and while it was tasty, the portions were ridiculously huge and it felt very wasteful. 026 Mckenzie Mckenzie has started to follow the lens of the camera. So if I angle it downward, she starts looking down and we end up with silly pics like this :) 028 Abby Happy with her Easter hunt finds!

3.30.2012

90/366

Mckenzie had swim class this morning. She is so proud that she can put her face in the water and blow bubbles :) We went to a friend's house to play after lunch. It has been awhile since Abby and her friend have gotten together and they were both over the moon to see each other. Abby had a Daisy's meeting this evening. They discussed fitness and then got to drinks smoothies. The troop leaders said Abby had quite the moves when it came to dancing. Not sure if that was a compliment or not, but if she dances anything like Scott or I, I guessing not :)

3.29.2012

I am linking up with Courtney over at Click it up a Notch for her monthly photo challenge. I had a couple of different pictures in mind, but I finally settled on this one.
004 Mckenzie I just love M's smile in this photo. She is such a goofy girl when it comes to having her picture taken. She really likes to pose, but only holds it for a second and is on to another. Usually it is some sort of dance pose. That girl loves to dance. But I digress.
Click It Up A Notch

89/366

We had friend's over to play this afternoon. Between Mckenzie and one other child, they polished off an entire canteloupe! They must be a match made in heaven :) The kids were running around and playing so hard, it wasn't long before they were sweating! We stopped at the bookstore last night and I bought the girls some mazes and time telling books. Today, the girls worked on them. Mckenzie finished the entire book of mazes (at least 50 pages worth) in no time at all and she wanted to do more!

009 Abby

3.28.2012

88/366

005 Mckenzie She loves to play with her cars.

3.27.2012

87/366

Both girls had a dental cleaning today. Abby did great. She always does :) She was so excited to show her dentist her missing teeth and to find out what he was going to say about that. Mckenzie had a pretty rough visit. She didn't like the flavor of the stuff used to clean her teeth or of the fluoride. She cried. She held her mouth shut and then she cried some more. But, we managed to get her teeth cleaned. It didn't surprise me that she reacted this way. Last time, she didn't like it and lately, she has been having trouble when we brush her teeth. I just hope this is a phase and she grows out of it soon!

Tonight was Dad's night at preschool for Mckenzie. This is the first time he has ever gotten to attend a Dad's night at preschool since he was on a trip both times he could have gone for Abby. Scott and Mckenzie had fun. She was excited to show Scott around the school and pointing out all the details of the classroom to him. They traced their hand prints and glued them to a paper with a special poem and they painted bird houses and had a snack. Oh, and they played with play doh :) Mckenzie loves the play doh.

Abby was a bit jealous that Mckenzie and Scott had a special date. She was acting out at dinner and was grumpy and clinging to me during her choir practice. It took her a good couple of hours before she snapped out of her funk.


004 Mckenzie


008 MCkenzie


012 Mckenzie


016 Scott Mckenzie


018 Scott Mckenzie

Abby wanted a picture with Daddy, but she didn't want to smile.

023 Scott Abby


024 Abby Barb Mckenzie

3.26.2012

86/366

Another Monday :) I got an hour run in this morning while the girls were at school. I guess that counteracts the Chick fil A we had for lunch. We met some friends there and the girls got to play for a bit. I took the girls shoe shopping afterwards. It was fun because both girls kept looking for shoes for me to buy. The ones they picked were very interesting. All very high heeled and crazy patterns or bright colors. They were disappointed I didn't get a pair of purple stilettos. I asked Abby where I could where them since they don't seem like the right kind of shoe to drop the kiddos at school and she said I could wear them on a date :)

Bedtime was much better for Abby tonight. She didn't need to read a dozen books before settling down to sleep. I hope this means she is starting to get used to life without thumb sucking! 036 mckenzie

3.25.2012

85/366

We attended church this morning. It has been way too long since we have been there. It was nice to go and I hope this will help us get back into going regularly again.

After a quick lunch and a little deer sighting in our neighborhood, we headed to Philly for the afternoon. We have been meaning to visit the Franklin Institute for quite awhile now and we finally made it there today. What an interesting museum! We all really enjoyed it and I hope we made time to visit again. We watched an IMAX film called Tornado Alley that portrayed storm chasers. Abby really enjoyed it and loved pointing out all the tornadoes as they formed. Mckenzie was full of funnies during the movie. Before the movie started, they announced that no photography was allowed. Mckenzie looked at me, dead serious, and said "I know you like to take photos, but not here!" Then when the movie started, she looked around and said "Why are we moving? We are moving!" I think it took her a good bit of time to realize that we were not really moving but it seemed like it since the screen practically surrounds you. That girl makes me chuckle. There were so many things to see and we didn't even get through all the areas. One of the girls' favorites was a large heart that we walked through. It shows how blood flows through the body. Very cool. There is a sports arena that the girls enjoyed too. 006 deer Our deer:) There were at least four of them hanging out in the trees across the road.


039 Ben Franklin


010 Abby


The dinosaur exhibit was amazing!


020 dinosaur


022 dinosaur tooth


031 Abby Scott


030 mckenzie scott


027 shaq's shoe


034 mckenzie

3.24.2012

84/366

Mckenzie had dance this morning. I was a little disappointed they didn't ask us to watch the kids perform. It was so cute to see them do it last week. Scott took Abby to a princess roller skating birthday party today. She really enjoyed skating. Maybe I will buy her a pair of roller blades if she keeps doing so well on giving up thumbsucking :)

We took the girls for a ride to the beach this afternoon. We were hoping the boardwalk would have been a little busier, but it still is the off season so none of the rides were running. The girls still had fun watching the waves crash into the shore. They wanted to take their shoes off and run in the water, but it was way too chilly for that!

We stopped for dinner on the way home. The girls were good, but I think it helped that the food was delivered very quickly and there were a lot of big tvs to watch.


002 mckenzie abby


004 rocks


007 bird


011 beach


013 Abby


015 mckenzie


026 beach


029 Abby Scott Mckenzie


035 beach


mckenzie scott abby

3.23.2012

83/366

Mckenzie had fun at her swim class again. I just enjoy watching her. She is growing more independent all the time and I am so thankful for that. I did get in trouble at her class though today. At the end of class, I walked to the side of the pool to give Mckenzie her towel and apparently, the teacher doesn't like that. I was politely told to wait on the other side from now on. Oops! I just wanted to see if I could keep Mckenzie from freezing since it takes her the entire drive home before she starts warming up. I will have to figure something else out I guess.
Abby came home from school with a note about head lice. Apparently one of the children in the afternoon class has it and the school was nice enough to inform the morning parents too. YUCK. I really hope Abby doesn't get it. She also had some class gossip to share. A couple of the kids in her class have been so naughty lately that they are no longer able to sit at the tables with the other children. They have been given desks of their own. I am so glad that Abby isn't one of those children. She is most definitely a rule follower. She may not like following the rules and will whine all day about doing it, but she likes to do the right thing. I hope that lasts forever!

3.22.2012

82/366

Mckenzie was excited to be leader in her Chef class today. There are only a handful of kids so I didn't have to stay today. Instead I came home for a quick run and then I headed back to school for the last half of her Chef class. She got the biggest smile on her face when I walked in the room. Today they made pigs in a blanket. Mckenzie peeled away the breading before eating the hot dog. She refused to eat the bread, but was more than happy to eat grapes and strawberries dipped in ketchup! She sure has interesting taste. Last night she dipped her apples in sour cream!

Abby had a friend over this afternoon and the squeals that came from upstairs were so fun to listen to. They had a blast playing together! They dressed up as princesses and played with the race cars.

We went outside for a little bit this afternoon, but we didn't stay for long. My allergies started acting up again :( I love spring, but I loathe it at the same time!
Great news! Scott finally got a bib for the Broad Street run so it looks like we both will be running! Yippee!!!


021 Abby


029 Mckenzie


031 tree

3.21.2012

81/366

Mckenzie went on a field trip with her preschool today. I wish I could have gone with, but we wouldn't have made it home before Abby's bus. So, my friend took Mckenzie along with her daughter. Mckenzie had fun, although I think she was more excited about the soft pretzel Ms. Dee bought for her :)

The fish seemed to have adjusted to the water and Mckenzie's fish no longer looks like he has one fin in the grave! Yesterday, he didn't move much at all and today he was swimming around quite a bit more so I am hoping that is a positive sign.

Abby made us laugh at the dinner table tonight. I was complaining that my knee and leg hurt and she came over to my side of the table and with the most serious, concerned look on her face asked " Can I help you stand up Mommy?" I couldn't keep a straight face and neither could Scott. I don't think either one of us expected to hear that from our kids for many, many years!

014 flowers

3.20.2012

80/366

Mckenzie blew me away this morning with her ability to entertain herself. She played all alone while I ran for an hour, only coming downstairs when I had less than 30 seconds left to run! Granted her room looked like a tornado just came through, but she was happy and didn't throw a fit.

The girls played in the garage this afternoon. My allergies were starting to act up so I didn't want to be outside . They had so much fun finding buckets with sand in them and then getting water from the house to make sand castles. They didn't make any sand castles with the tiny bit of sand they had, but they sure made a wet mess of the floor.

I think we may have stumbled on a way to get Abby to go to sleep a little earlier. She was actually sleeping before 10pm and that is a first since she stopped sucking her thumb.

Check out her nails!
002 mckenzie



Crushing graham crackers for the bars we made today! 006 Abby


008 tree


013 flowers

3.19.2012

79/366

I got to be in Mckenzie's classroom today which meant that Mckenzie was the leader. She LOVES to be the leader. The leader gets to line up first and ring the clean up bell. Very important stuff!

The girls rode their bikes to the park this afternoon. Mckenzie was tired by the time we got there. Normally she gets a ride in the stroller, but she wanted to ride her trike. Abby was fine once we were at the park, but on the bike ride, she kept freaking out over bees. She would stop her bike, insisting she just had a near miss with a bee and start sobbing. I have no idea what to do with this kid and her fear of bees!

Abby actually swam today without using a floaty at her swim lessons. It wasn't pretty, but she did it! I am so proud of her for working so hard!

So the fish we bought yesterday don't seem to be adjusting to their new home. They are fidgeting and slowing down. I am afraid that they will not make it through the night. We have a plan so we don't have to deal with heartbreak in the morning but that will only work if they die overnight. So let hope for a quick death or a miraculous recovery!


So in honor of our fish, here they are again.

Mckenzie Grace Riley Lucky Penny
004 mckenzie grace riley lucky penny



Sparkle McKayla Riley 005 sparkle mckayla riley

3.18.2012

78/366

Abby has been very successful with not sucking her thumb at night anymore. I don't even catch her sucking it during the day when she is bored. I am so proud of how hard she is working to break this habit. I know it will be some time before she doesn't want to suck it anymore (don't they say it takes 21 days to make something a habit?) but she has been quite the trooper. So, in order to reward her good efforts, we took her shopping for a fish. She was beyond excited and could hardly contain herself at the store. We let her pick out her own fish (a goldfish) and then Mckenzie picked out hers (a goldfish as well). Abby settled on one right away. She liked how it had a different colored belly than the rest of the fish. The first fish Mckenzie picked out wouldn't get along with a goldfish so we told her to choose something else. She was a little upset and said "But he's all alone." Such a sweet girl wanting to adopt the fish that was all alone in his tank. I see a lot of rescue animals in her future! She settled on a goldfish that was swimming kind of funny because it made her laugh. Unfortunately, the gal at the store said it was sick and we had to pick out another one. Third times a charm I guess!

At dinner tonight, Scott was teasing the girls about wearing earrings. He said he wears earrings when he goes to work. Abby looked to me to confirm this statement. She has learned that Scott teases a lot. Mckenzie, called Scott out saying "You are a liar!" and pointed her finger at him. It was hilarious!

031 Abby

I just realized while editing the photos that the button on Abby's dress popped open!


033 Mckenzie Why shouldn't she wear a crown to fish shop?!


035 fish


036 fish


039 Abby Mckenzie


038 fish


044 fish Mckenzie's has the black on the tail.

Followers