14 - How many sleeps until Grandma comes to visit...

Four!

13 - Just a lazy Saturday morning...

...checking out the flyers

12 - Ho Ho NO!

McKenzie visited Santa today. Her look seems to be saying, "REALLY?! AGAIN!" She is not Santa's biggest fan yet.

For those of you that got a blank email from me today this picture was supposed to be on it but it did not attach to every email. Don't know why. Sorry about that.

11 - someone's birthday is coming up

Here's McKenzie driving her little car. In this picture she is backing up...she backs up better than I do!

She likes to stand at one of the house with the car and yell out 1...2...GO and race to the other end or until she hits something and then laugh hysterically.

Bought a table at Ikea for my craft area and McKenzie decided to "help" me put it together this afternoon.

While she was napping I moved most of her toys to the basement and set up her new table and chairs. Technically they are her birthday gift from Mike and I but they would be a little hard to wrap anyway and she won't know the difference.

Enjoying her "birthday" present.

10 - How to...

A little too cold to go to the park? Really want to slide? Don't wait until it warms up kids...use the stairs!

This easy to follow step by step guide will show you how to effectively slide down the stairs.

Step 1 - go to the bottom of the stairs.

Step 2 - crawl up the stairs

Step 3 - Straighten out your body

Step 4 - Slide down the stairs. Shoulder check every now and again to be sure you know when the bottom is coming.

Step 5 - Stick the landing for a perfect 10.0

9 - I love New York

Mike's Aunt Mary brought this shirt back from New York for McKenzie. It was so cute I could not wait the few years it would take for her to fit it, so today I put it on her with a pair of leggings and a long sleeve t-shirt and Voila! We have a shirt dress.

This evening McKenzie was determined to play with Harley. Here she is showing him how to draw.
Here she is trying to play BOO with him which involves running at the person/thing you are saying it to and yelling BOO. I am sure you can all guess HOW MUCH Harley LOVED this game.
Since that did not go over well she reverted to showing him her drawing.

She kept trying to hug him too but she comes toward him so quickly that he doesn't really like that either. She is determined though so I think she will win in the end.

8 - Wish I could read her mind!

Oh to understand the mind of a 2 year old. Why did she pile most of her lunch under her plate? Your guess is as good as mine.

Here she is using a piece of cheese bun as a car. "Driving" it all over the table with vroom vroom sound effects!?!
After lunch we looked at my old sticker books. I have one page in there that has some gumballs making faces. McKenzie chose to mimic the faces for me and tell me what emotion it was if she knew how to say it.

Here is scared.

Here is sad.

Here is laughing.

She is such a ham. We did not do any Remebrance day activities as I am fairly certain she cannot stay silent for 1 second let alone 1 minute. Maybe next year...or 2015ish.

How much would you pay...

...for one of these?

United Way Bake Sale tomorrow and since I am organizing it thought I had better make some stuff. Made these cupcakes earlier and forgot to ice them. Bed time now and too tired to make icing. Cool Whip, strawberries and melted chocolate...voila! I also made icebox cookies and will be offering up Christmas baking for hire that can be purchased and redeamed in December. Hopefully it goes over well. Wish me luck!

7 - Thar she blows!

Instead of helping me make cookies and cupcakes tonight, McKenzie found this wine pump and decided it would make a great telescope.

Here's how it works, mom. You pull the scope out.
And then put it up to your eye...oops...or your third eye in the middle of your forehead.

6 - Craft nook

My little piece of heaven here on earth!

The baseboards were all painted in my craft nook today so this evening I got to set it all up. I have a lot more stuff than I thought I did!
Still a work in progress but it is so nice to see all my stuff after it has been packed away for the last few months. McKenzie and I went to a stamping party this afternoon too so I got to make cards and get those creative juices flowing.

5 - Taking my act on the road...

Apparently, I should take this act on the road. McKenzie was in a silly mood tonight and was laughing like a loon over me playing with her little dog toy. Mike got a bit on tape.

Sorry it is poor quality...light was low and afterward I noticed that someone (not to name names but this someone is not yet 3 ft tall) had touched the lens so it is a little smudgy too.

4 - Happy Halloween!

Getting ready to go to Mommy's work on Friday.

Ever the ham!
Eating her first treat...a Rice Krispy Treat.
Scared of Mommy when she put the vampire teeth in. After her initial fear she started playing with them and pretending that they were eating her candy.

Trick or Treating at Mommy's work.

Trying to figure out this pumpkin thing.

My friend Jenien made this and all the costumes for our social committee whom dressed up like crayons.

The Crayons.

After a quick costume change at lunch I competed with our management team for best group costume/decoration. We were the Thriller video. We did the dance too...well part of it. I have it on video but am having trouble getting it to load.

Halloween night. McKenzie stayed home and handed out candy. She got so excited when the kids came. Here she is looking out the window and calling "Kids...where'd you go!?!"

She did so good handing out candy and I think she really had fun. I was suprised by how many 8-10 year old boys told her how cute she was. When she opened the door she got a lot of AHHHHH's. She was a little scared of a few costumes. One boy actually took his mask off for her so she wouldn't be scared...there are some great kids out there.

Hope you all had a great Halloween...ON TO CHRISTMAS!

3 - Lunch date

Mike took this picture the other day. She insists on wearing her sunglasses around the house but they have so many finger prints on them that it is almost impossible to see out of them, never mind the fact that it is fairly dark inside. To counteract this when she wants to see something she will peak over the top of one side.

I decided to take McKenzie out for lunch today since Mike was working hard in the basement and both her and I have the sniffles and haven't been out much.

Here she is looking very pretty as we get ready to go. She even asked me to put on her bear necklace that she got for her first Christmas. Today is the first time she has worn it I believe.

Big girl eating lunch all by herself.
I know, I know. Wendy's does not make for a balanced meal but it was to be a treat of sorts and she did really well and we are on a budget so Wendy's it was. It was a fun time and she is getting to be so grown up. Where has my little baby gone?!?

3 - Big Marshmallows

What do you mean I wasn't supposed to shove the whole thing in my mouth??!!??

2 - A chip off the ol' block

Yesterday morning Mike wasn't feeling so well. He went to lay down. A little later McKenzie decided she had to find him. When she couldn't she grabbed his hat instead and started carrying it around. I plopped it on her head and she left it there for quite awhile.

She was having a little trouble figuring out how to pick up her magnets without losing the hat.

But she got it eventually.

Last night McKenzie had her first sleep over away from home. She stayed with the wonderful Chibry family. Apparently she behaved herself and did well. Even better, so did mom and dad. We had a nice time without her but missed her a lot. The house just feels empty without her in it. Thank you so much to the Chibry's.

1 - Winner, Winner, Turkey Dinner!!

Turkey dinner number 2 is done. Yum yum. Had a good time visiting and eating.

My cousin Duane and his kids. His wife Carol works at Costco and joined us after her shift was done.

Ummmm are you done with picutres Mom? That food looks good!

I managed to get the butterflies and flowers hung up in McKenzie's room yesterday and to take pictures today. I wished I had a camera when she first saw them as her face just lit up. She now enjoys counting them with you.

Side view.

McKenzie's view from her bed.