Wednesday, April 20, 2011

I took the girls to a local "farm" (I think once upon a time it was actually a rural farm, but now it is right in town) for a hayride and egg hunt. Very low key and noncompetitive. The girls had lots of fun. Abby was excited to see real hay, commenting that she had never, ever seen hay before in real life. Once we got to egg hunt area, the kids got to find five eggs each and then trade those in for a bag of goodies. If it wasn't for Mckenzie's laid back, slow moving egg hunting skills, Abby would have been done in 5 seconds flat. After the ride, we had lunch and then the girls played in the play area for awhile and we also checked out the farm animals. The girls really wanted to feed the goats, but they weren't interested in eating. We ended our visit with an ice cream cone and a few more minutes of playing. I was worried Mckenzie would fall asleep the second we left the parking lot, but she managed to stay awake :)

The girls were looking through an anatomy book I have and it was so fun to listen to Abby teach Mckenzie about the body. Abby- "Do you know what this is?" Mckenzie-"No". Abby- "It's your skull. You need it in case you fall down on the grass to make sure your brain doesn't fall out!" Gotta love the things kids say!

Listening to the farmer give the egg hunt directions.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

The girls both slept in this morning which was nice, although I had to wake Mckenzie up since we had *company* this morning :) We met a friend for lunch today and let all the girls play together for a little while. We also got to skype with Scott :) Love talking to that boy! It was sprinkling off and on today so we stayed inside and played. By some miracle, Mckenzie stayed awake all day and went to bed like a champ. And, she didn't use her paci all day!!! She still asked for it, but didn't throw too big a fit when I told her no. The girls got another video of Scott reading to them and they just loved it! Mckenzie drew a picture for Scott while he was reading and tried to give it to him. Poor kid. She also thinks that people can see her when she talks to them on the phone. Abby went through that phase too, but she has outgrown that now. She is getting to be such a big girl! I didn't take any pictures today, but I did post the countdown pictures earlier so I guess that counts for today!

The countdown has begun!

So we have started our countdown. Scott says today is 29 days left. We don't have an exact return date yet, but he has a pretty good idea! Yay! I am so excited!

The girls and I took pictures for the last 31 days and made a photo book for Scott. I will be posting a picture for each day until he gets back to where he belongs. It seems so close, but yet so far away. The girls have been missing him so much lately. It seems like when Mckenzie has a fit, it always ends up in her crying about missing Daddy. She gets this sad look in her eyes and I wish I could take that away. Abby has trouble at night and I have started wrapping her blanket with pictures of Scott on it around her at night so it is like a big hug from Daddy all night long. Her using covers at night shows me how much this is affecting her because she is like a little heater (takes after her Daddy)and hardly uses covers even in the middle of the winter.



This is just a quick snapshot. It is on a pretty busy road and as you can see, the sign was very close to the street. So, even though Mckenzie wasn't looking at me, it was the best I was able to get!

Monday, April 18, 2011

Well our plans to go to the zoo got put on hold this morning. I woke up with pink eye in boths eyes! Yuck! Needless to say, this morning was filled with Chlorox wipes, hand sanitizer, and a trip to the doctor. I hope I can keep the girls from getting it too! Both girls were great about our zoo trip being postponed and about having to hang out at the house all day. We played outside even though the yard is still pretty wet from all the rain we have been having. The kids are tired of spending so much time inside and it's only mud right? That's easy to clean. We also did some craft projects that I had seen on a blog of a really creative mom. I wish I was creative, but since I'm not, I am happy to use ideas from other moms. My kids will never know they aren't my great ideas :)

Sunday, April 17, 2011

We had church this morning and the girls thought it was cool to get leaves for Palm Sunday. The girls went to a friend's house to play this afternoon giving me a little alone time. So, I used my time to get a mani and a pedi and have lunch at Chipotle (the girls don't like eating there so we don't go very often). It was a nice afternoon by myself. The girls had a nice time with their friends and came home with some Easter candy. Just what they needed! We played outside for a little bit and then we took the car to get it washed. It really needed a cleaning to get rid of all the salt from the winter. Mckenzie fell asleep on the way to get the car washed. She didn't wake up when I took her out of the car at the carwash nor did she wake up when we got home. I let her take a little nap on the couch while Abby and I played soccer outside. We had a little movie night and watched Cat in the Hat.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Today was cold and it rained off and on all day. Mckenzie wanted to play outside and she didn't understand why she couldn't go outside because she had a raincoat, boots and an umbrella. We talked to Scott and he finally got our countdown photo book that we sent him! I am so glad that he got it and I can start posting a few pics from it. We needed to pick up some groceries so I bribed the girls with Chick fil A for good behavior at the store. It gave them a chance to run around since we had been inside all day, although they didn't play for very long. There were a few very loud children in there and Abby wasn't liking it at all. She came out of the play area several times to tell me it was too loud and finally asked to leave.

Who needs clothes when you can keep warm in front of the heating vent?!

Friday, April 15, 2011

Both girls had Spring parties at school today and had lots of fun. The girls got to have an egg hunt, dye eggs, and eat a great feast! It was kind of sad for me because it is Abby's last pre-K Easter, sorry- Spring- party and Mckenzie's first. They are both getting so big so quickly. I really don't know where the time has gone. For the egg hunt, each child was to find 5 eggs. Mckenzie found 4 and lost interest when the swing caught her eye. She could have care less about finding her last egg. One sweet little boy in her class found an extra one and brought it over to Mckenzie. They were too cute together. They were playing catch with a football and chasing after each other. Very sweet. Abby was an old pro at finding eggs and she was done in no time. She didn't realize I was watching her do the egg hunt and when she finally saw me, she got the biggest smile on her face.

We went to a friend's house to play for a bit after school, but we didn't stay long. They still had things to do before going on a trip and Mckenzie was getting tired and cranky. So, we came home for lunch and played inside awhile before heading outside. The wind was so chilly today I didn't really want to go out, but the girls love playing out there. So, we headed to the backyard so I could plant some flowers and tackle the mess out there. It is now a poop-free zone (for a little while anyway until I let Dakota back out there) and the patio has been organized for the summer and the flowers have been planted. I need to get a little more mulch and trim some bushes and there is a little area that used to be a garden that needs some major work. But, I am making progress. Hopefully by fall it will look better!

Thursday, April 14, 2011

The girls were playing so nicely together this morning, I was able to get some laundry started and the house picked up. I love listening to them play together and laugh together. Abby went to a friend's house to play this afternoon and Mckenzie and I ran errands. I needed to pick up some more mulch since I didn't buy enough last time I went. The lawn company came today to do a little spring clean up for us. The yard looks so nice now that the bushes in the front aren't such a mess! They didn't get to the backyard, so I guess the girls and I will have to tackle that. I'm betting it won't look half as nice as the front! We had gymnastics tonight and I didn't get yelled at for a change! The girls had fun and enjoyed getting stamps at the end like always. Mckenzie went right to bed tonight, but Abby is giving me a little guff. She just came out to tell me I forgot to remove all the stuffed animals from her bed and I needed to come and do that! Apparently they are too heavy for her to move! I am boiling eggs for school tomorrow. The girls' spring parties are tomorrow and that it what I have to bring. Let's hope they turn out! I plan on making way more than I need because I always seem to crack a lot of them!


She was throwing a small tantrum and didn't want me to take her photo! I love the way her little lips pout when she gets mad!

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Mckenzie and I headed to Target after dropping Abby off at school. We met a friend at the Starbucks for coffee before doing a little shopping. I needed to get a few things for the girl's Easter baskets and today is the last day I can do that without Abby as next week is Spring Break. Abby had fun in school and was so excited they got to eat hard boiled eggs in her chef class today. They are her favorite kind of eggs. She got to dye eggs too and she brought those home to share with us. Both girls went to bed without any trouble. I was a little worried Mckenzie might have difficulty because she took a 20 minute nap, but she was really good.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Rainy and cold today. I guess that is the price we have to pay for the beautiful weather we had yesterday. It was nice enough out a bit this morning that the kids were able to ride in a St. Jude's Trike-a-Thon the preschool held today. Abby had a great time riding with her friends (you could just see the joy in her face as she was riding and racing with her friends) and loved seeing her teacher outside of the classroom. We are so lucky that Abby's teacher is so sweet and caring. You can tell she loves what she does and she honestly cares about the children. Abby was upset when it was time to go. She had just had a little fender bender with one of her classmates ( & even though her bike fell on top of her, she got right back on her bike and started to ride again! Way to go Abby!) and then it started raining, ending the event. Abby was still crying because she didn't want to go and her teacher ran along side her all the way to the car to make it easier on Abby. Not all teachers would do that! Mckenzie had a blast. Boy can that girl ride a trike! I have never seen her ride so well! Yay Mckenzie! She just took off and was able to keep up with the older kids for the most part. She did have a tendency to stop often resulting in traffic jams with the other kids so I tried to keep her in the area they had set aside for the younger ones. She is a tough little girl too. She hasn't exactly mastered cornering on her trike and so three times she tipped over and her bike landed on her! No tears though and she got right back on each time. I wish I had been smarter and drove Scott's truck to the event because I had to put two wet and muddy bikes into the back of mine. I'm going to have to get the thing detailed one of these days soon! We invited one of Abby's friends over since the event ended early and I knew Abby was still upset about leaving. After they left, Mckenzie was so tired and I could tell her allergies were acting up something fierce, so I let her take a nap. Abby and I read books and pretty soon, both of us were sleeping. I was surprised Abby fell asleep, but her allergies were bugging her today too. Both my girls are walking around with purple circles under their eyes! We had dinner at church and Abby had choir practice.  I really don't know why we eat at the church because every week the girls are hungry when we get home and this week was no exception. So after a bath and a peanut butter sandwich and yogurt, the girls are in bed. It got to be a late night for them, but I think they will be OK considering they both napped today.