Favorite Stuffed Animal Day at ELP

This was Mackenzie's 3rd day at ELP, and she got to pick her favorite stuffed animal to take with her. She chose "Katie Bear." We had to get her all dressed up for the occassion! Mackenzie doesn't like this outfit at all, but I think it is adorable. She is very opinionated when it comes to what she wears every day! Daddy took her to school this morning and that was a little strange for me. Madison and I had lots to do to get ready for our vacation coming up. Mack loves ELP and I am amazed at how quickly 5 hours fly by! I do miss her a lot though! (I am really not going to take pictures EVERY day before she goes to school, but she is just so cute in that backpack that I almost can't stand it!)

Mackenzie got Katie Bear when she was about 18 months old!

Mackenzie looks like her G-Ma when she was a little girl in this picture! I think its the pigtails!

Off to school, with daddy! (He is going to take Mackenzie to school on Tuesdays.)

Jeep Girls

Fun times in the backyard! The girls LOVE riding in the Barbie Jeep that the Ketchum's gave us. Its a good thing it has seatbelts, because Mackenzie is not exactly an excellent driver yet! Poor Madison gets jerked around a lot, but she doesn't seem to mind. It is so funny to watch these two together! As if the Jeep wasn't enough fun on its own, daddy decided to attach the wagon to the back and pull it along. It didn't really work out that well!

Everybody hold on!!!

Madison likes to pretend that she can drive too!

Off they go!

Garage Sale

We had our annual garage sale this weekend and did very well! Garage sales are so much work, but it is worth it in the end! I never could have done it without my mom...she helped SO much before, during and after! It was a joint effort on all sides...Brian, my dad, Tom & Lyn, Poppa & Louise, Clint...we are blessed to have such a wonderful family! And I can't forget to add Mackenzie and Madison...they were BIG helpers! And BIG shoppers...I can't tell you how many things found their way back into the house, because Mackenzie would say, "Mommy are you SUUUURRREEE we want to sell this?" or "But mommy, this is my FAVORITE!" I kept having to explain to her that if we didn't get rid of some toys, she wouldn't be able to get any new ones for her birthday. That worked most of the time! I was so thankful for the cooler weather...I actually sat out in the garage with a blanket for the first part of the mornings! It did get pretty hot in the afternoons though.

We had a lot of stuff to sell...a dresser, nightstands, curio cabinets, a chair, treadmill, stroller & carseat, swing, LOTS of the girls' clothes and shoes, picture frames, books, toys, toys, toys, and lots of other stuff! It is always so hard for me to sell the girls' clothes, but I just cannot keep them all. I have 7 tubs full of clothes that I have kept so far! We have Grandma's that love to shop for them often! I just tried not to look too close at the clothes as I put them in sacks for people to carry away. We decided to go ahead and sell the pink and grey carseat and stroller, since we won't need a single stroller like that again. And we decided to sell the baby swing, because it is so big. A really nice guy came and bought them both, and when he loaded them in his truck, I thought I was going to cry. It is hard to let go of those things that you used with your babies. We are planning on having at least one more baby in our future, so it will be fun to get new things! (Maybe since we are getting rid of so much pink stuff, we will be destined for a boy!)

Lyn came up on Wednesday and spent the night with us. I was SO glad she was there to help on Thursday! Tom came up too and helped babysit! (I went into the house one time and found Madison sitting in her exersaucer watching a blank tv screen while he slept in the chair! ha,ha! It was very funny! She wasn't complaining...just sitting there!) Then mom came up after school on Thursday and spent the rest of the weekend with us! We were very tired at the end of every day. I love having my brother in Tulsa now! He came over a couple times and had dinner with us.

The grand total on our garage sale was $1300!!!! Thank you, Lord! We are going on vacation at the end of this week, and are planning to use most of the money on that. It was fun to hear people come into the garage and say, "Wow...this is the most organized garage sale I've ever seen!" or "Your signs are fantastic!" I know this is a very lame thing to be proud of, but we tease that we are professional garage salers! We learned from the best..my Grandma Jean! I think she is the reason that I actually think having garage sales is fun! Another fun thing was the "Snack Stand!" Brian brought the play house around to the front yard for Mackenzie to sell cookies out of. She didn't really sit in there for long, but she did sell some cookies, brownies and rice krispy treats! (Mostly to G-Ma and Grandma Baldwin!) A few times, she went right up to people and said, "Do you want to buy some cookies?" It was cute! We always did this at garage sales when we were little...Grandma Jean and mom always bought the pop and water and made the cookies for us! (No overhead cost!) So, G-Ma bought the pop and water and I made the goodies to sell! On Saturday, around 11:00 we started cleaning everything up. I should have taken a before and after picture...I can't believe I didn't. We went from having a garage so packed full of things that you could barely walk in there, to having hardly anything left! We packed everything up, put things back in the shed, made a trip to Goodwill, and pulled both cars back into our garage! You would never know a garage sale had just happened!

On Thursday morning, Mackenzie went to preschool, so Madison got to play all by herself in the Snack Stand! She thinks she is such a big girl!

Friday was a lot slower than Thursday, but we still did really good! I was so glad to get rid of so much stuff that we don't have room for!

"Mommy, are you SSSUUUURRREEE that we want to sell this one?"

"But mommy, this one is my FAVORITE!"

(They were all her favorites!)

Coloring in the snack stand!

"G-Ma, wanna color with me?" (We hear this question a lot these days!)

Mackenzie helped decorate her sign...she is very artistic!

Madison kept sneaking in and grabbing cookies and brownies!

I wanted a picture of them selling their goodies, and right when I was trying to take it, Mackenzie decided she had to go potty...like NOW! It was really funny...you can tell by the look on her face that it was serious!

These pretty little girls are Priceless!

"Yes, I stole sister's cup with 100% apple juice...what are you gonna do about it?" (She does this all the time...who wants the watered down stuff?!) I love her expression!

The donut girls!

Madison LOVES donuts...and she takes the biggest bites! I have to make her stop after 3 or 4 donuts...there's no telling how many she would eat if I let her!

Mackenzie wanted G-Ma to ride on a broom with her...G-Ma asked her, "What does this mean?" and Mack said, "It means we're witches." It was very funny...you just had to be there I guess!

Madison is very good at having fits these days! It happens often.

All of a sudden, Mackenzie wants to write her letters all of the time!

This is what we did in the evenings...G-Ma is very brave!

First Day of Preschool

Well, we (I) survived Mackenzie's first morning at preschool! She was very excited & not at all worried about it! Before she woke up, I went and sat at the end of her bed and prayed that God would bless her and be with her in a special way today. It was a very sweet time as I watched her sleep. It brings me great comfort and peace knowing that even when I am not with her, God is always there! Her first day of preschool is a very emotional thing for me...my baby is growing up and I don't like it! I was doing okay, until Brian asked me what shirt he should wear. As I was looking through his closet, I came across the shirt he wore on the day she was born...not good at all! Major melt-down in the closet! Brian had to remind me that it wasn't like she was going to college...I'm not sure that helped! I was really hoping to at least take a few pictures before the tears started, but that just didn't happen!

When Mackenzie woke up, she climbed into our bed and watched Dora like she always does in the mornings. Once I pulled myself together, we got her dressed. She was very happy about wearing her Hello Kitty dress that G-Ma and Pa bought for her! She kept looking out the window and asking if it was going to rain...this little girl doesn't like thunder at all. After taking a bunch of pictures (this IS a monumental event in her life...I had to take a lot of pictures), we got ready to load up. It was POURING down rain...she looked so cute standing on our porch with her backpack and lunchbox, holding a little umbrella! The rain was actually a really good distraction to help us through the morning I think! Before we left the house, Mackenzie said, "Mommy I am going to miss you." Well, I was trying really hard not to let her see any tears from me, so I sucked it up and told her I would miss her too, but that it wouldn't be long and I would be coming to get her! (Then I went in the bedroom and cried again!)

When we got to the church, the rain was coming down so hard...things were a little chaotic! We got checked in and walked down the hall to her room. In the craziness of getting inside in the rain, I guess my camera got wet, and it didn't want to take pictures...I was very frustrated! When I am already emotional, I tend to become even more frustrated! Thank goodness for Brian's iphone! While I signed her in, he took a few pictures of her and in she went...no hugs, no kisses, no goodbyes really. I was very relieved, actually, that it happened that way! She was completely at ease and excited about being at preschool! I can't imagine what I would have done if she would have cried and had a hard time. I made it back to the car before I had my last meltdown!

So, Madison and I took a trip to Chick-fil-a and then went shopping at Target! I told Mackenzie that I would probably have a surprise for her when I picked her up today. She said, "Is it going to be a dress?!" So of course, it was a dress! Actually, two dresses, a puzzle, markers, a notebook, crayons, and new things for her lunchbox! I may have gone a little overboard, but I felt much better after that! Poor little Madison just got a few new books! She didn't care though...she loved them! I am very excited about having some special time to spend with Madison one on one! I have never really had that with her, so this will be good for us! Right now, she is sleeping and the house is very quiet. I have a long list of things I wanted to get done today, but so far I have accomplished nothing except looking at the pictures from this morning and blogging! I can't wait to hear all about Mackenzie's first day when I pick her up! I know it will be good!

I am glad that ELP doesn't start until 9:30, so we can still cuddle and enjoy our mornings like this!

We are so proud of our little girl!

Mackenzie is my little friend...I know ELP is the best thing for her, but I will really miss her!

So, so glad Daddy is right down the hall!

Madison won't know what to do without her playmate around!

G-Ma went shopping...cute, cute, cute!!! (Madison needed to look cute for the first day of school too!)

Showing Daddy what all we put in the backpack!

She took a Lunchable, apples (I had to peel the outside off), fruit snacks and a Capri Sun! She asked me if she could share one of her cookies with a friend...she has the sweetest, kindest little heart! I love that!

I told Mackenzie I would put a special little note in her lunchbox...she was very excited about it!

Ready to go to Preschool...in the rain!

So exciting!!!

Putting her name in the school house! I had planned to be there early, but the rain kind of delayed us.

Madison is a happy girl about spending time alone with momma! She did look over at Mackenzie's carseat, like, "Where did she go?"

Everyone should have presents when they come home from their first day of Preschool, right? Well, that's the way we do things around here!

The house sure is quiet, and way too clean!