Seven and Sweet.....

On Friday, Madalyn turned 7. Seems she has experienced a few milestones in the past few months. She has lost a few teeth and recently learned how to ride her bike. We spent the day at Disney as a family and we will celebrate with friends this coming weekend. Like Mackenzie, she received a Disney gift card and couldn't wait to shop. She had been considering her options for a several weeks now as she anticipated her birthday. Notice the above "before" pic and see the "after" pic below:


My girl is decked out!! She purchased a new Minnie hat, those fancy red hair ties, the multi-colored pin strap, a pin, a pen, two necklaces, and a 3 pack of lollipops to share. She is definitely my fashionista, or at least the one who cares more about it and seems to be more intentional about what she wears. Oh, and that is a Birthday button she is wearing courtesy of the Mouse.



Proud of her selections!

She looks so cute in a hat, I love this pic. She is my sweet, tendered hearted girl. She had a bit of an attitude at some point throughout the day. After some dialogue between her and I, she sat quietly. As we headed out of the park, she handed me a note that she had written on the back on the tag attached to one of her necklaces. It said, "I love mom. I'm sary I have ben rood to you. Do you forgif me?" She makes a mama's heart melt I tell ya.

Ok, so her favorite part of the weekend was that I surprised her by taking her to get her ears pierced. Yep, made the leap. She had been asking for several months. At first, I felt like I needed to wait till it was a more important birthday, like 10 or 13. Not sure what I mean by important since all birthdays are special but anyway. I decided it would mean most to her when she was really requesting it so off we went!

The prep.

The after shot, trying to look happy and excited but had just finished crying. I had been preparing for a little while. When I first told her what we were doing, she was excited for about 2 minutes and then burst into tears as she considered the pain. I totally gave her the option to pierce or not to pierce. But after a night's sleep, she woke up around 6:30am asking me if we could leave now to go to the mall. She had made her decision.

And there it is......a sweet pink flower with a diamond-like center. We spent the next couple of hours at the mall and she kept seeing all the grown up earrings and asked me if she could get those. I mean, like, huge, dangley, fancy earrings! Oh boy.....

Stay tuned for more pics and more about why I love her............

Food Friday

It is supposed to be a beautiful week here weather wise. This is the time of the year we live for here and we will spend a lot of time outside. Should be a good week...and I have a girls weekend coming up next weekend. My friends Becky and Tara and I are heading to St Augustine for a couple of days.

Anyway, here's what I have for this week.....

Friday: quesadillas with a variety of fillings
homemade black bean/corn salsa, guacamole and chips

Saturday: we'll be at Disney with friends from our Ethiopian travel group so we'll eat there

Sunday: we have an Ethiopian potluck so they'll be lots of stuff. I'm taking chili and cornbread

Monday: herbed boneless pork chops
mashed taters
cauliflower

Tuesday: tacos with all the fixin's

Wednesday: spicy orange chicken stir fry with green beans
rice
egg rolls

Thursday: Matt's day, maybe hot dogs and tots?

Now back to enjoying the weather................

Mackenzie's 5th Birthday...

This month is probably our busyest every year. So much going on and so much to celebrate that I'm just now returning to Kenzie's birthday. It turned into a birthday weekend really which can be the norm around here. So we had a little party on Saturday to have some cake and open presents. We were supposed to go eat dinner with Cinderella but they lost our reservation for that day. Luckily, after an hour on the phone, we were able to reschedule for the next day. So it gave her time to just play with her new things. My family was here and we went out for Chinese food. She had a great time and really seemed to enjoy her birthday this year. She can be shy and very uncomfortable with lots of attention. But this year, she seemed less embarrased and more willing to be in the spotlight. I really can't believe she is five. While we have Mason, she still seems like my baby. She loves this and probably feeds off my vibe but most days I don't mind. I am acutely aware of how darn fast it goes. Just yesterday, we were picking her up in China.....

She kept reminding me not forget the candles...


Our birthday Girl!


She asked for this particular baby and you can see her joy in opening it...

She is definitely my little mama.

Her new baby carriage given by GiGi and Pap pa. She also got baby bunk beds and a nursery center.

This cracks me up. We were waiting outside of the Grand Floridian and getting ready to eat with Cinderella.

The princess herself....and Cinderella too. While she has a Cinderella dress, she insisted on wearing her Minnie dress....might have been those fancy shoes she bought just days earlier!

Drizella, the mean stepsister.

The mean stepmother!

Looking on as they dance a waltz. I love this pic because it just represents every little girls dream of one day dancing with her prince. My prayer for her is for her heart to always stay tender and allow hope to exist.

Ok, this was hysterical. How could I not post this?

Mama's girl.

The kids with my parents....

Happy Birthday big girl! We love you so much!

Boo.....

So here's my crew. Mason had no problem catching on to how this works. By door 3, he was clearly saying the magic words to prompt the appropriate drop of candy into his bucket. The girls really had fun this year. Matt took them as I am sick with a head cold and they went with our neighbors. Mason's only issue was realizing he couldn't take his "pu-kin" into his crib with him. We settled on sitting it on his dresser so he could see the glow sticks. Now for the dreaded days to follow of trying to limit their candy intake.........


Matt's creation.


My sweet Minnie...


Meow.....


Arrrrgh......


Minnie's loot.....


My black cat satisfied with her stash....

And well, he isn't sure what to think......

Welcome.........