One More Pair of Eyes in the House

Mackenzie's dream has finally come true.. she's got glasses! We picked them up at Sam's Club today. Thankfully, Ben wasn't as upset this time around as he was when she picked out her frames. He really wanted glasses too. He tried on a pair of frames, looked at me, and said, "now I can think."

She picked out some really cute frames. They're black on the front and pink behind. They weren't my favorite pair, but I like them fine and they're not going on MY face so I tried to keep out of the decision-making as much as possible.

Isn't she adorable!?!

On a side note.. when I went to take her picture, Ben decided to photo-bomb it:

...so then when I went to take Ben's picture, Mackenzie reciprocated. It's easier to see the pink on the frames in this shot.

Now she's all ready to start school on Tuesday with her new glasses so she can see the board from anywhere in the room!

Muir Beach, 2 July 2011

The kids and I had fun at Muir Beach on Saturday. It was a crazy crowded parking lot and pretty busy at the beach, but we really liked it there!

The day would've been practically perfect if we hadn't gotten lost on the way home. Got home at least an hour after we should've. Once I remembered Mr. Man has a TomTom in his car (thanks, Colleen!!) we made it home almost u-turn free!

Anyway, here are some pictures of the kids having fun at the beach.


She really wanted to take this home and was bummed when I wouldn't let her. I told her that sea things belonged with the sea. Mean old Mama. She got to play with it for about an hour before we left, though.

Mack and I dug a hole for the boy (would've been deeper, but we encountered some big rocks at the bottom) and built up the sides so he could have a monster truck track. It didn't interest him as long as we'd hoped, but it was fun to make.

Mack and Ben making the previously mentioned monster truck track.

This was just before Ben decided Mack made a perfect "driving hill." After that, I buried him too, but wasn't able to get a good picture of the two of them together because right after I finished, Mack got sand in her eyes.

Yay for beach fun!

Piggyback Ride

Okay so I'm horrible and haven't posted anything in forever. To hopefully appease you (at least a little), here's a picture of the kids taken this month.

They say it's your birthday!

The kids with their birthday presents. Can you believe she's eight and he's going to be TWO? Eeek!

Halloween 2009

Cyclops and Bamm-Bamm had a great Halloween. Hope you all did too!

4th of July in Virginia

In Virginia they still have the metal sparklers.. you know, the real kind???

Vacation!

We had fun on vacation in Virginia! Here's a picture of our two rug-rats hanging out on the front porch.

Sorry!

How horrible am I, huh? I'm going to try to update this a bit more frequently.. stay tuned for updates!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Here are some pictures from Halloween. It cracks me up that the kids match, because I totally didn't plan it that way. I think Mack is just the cutest punky pumpkin EVER.

Swinging!

I put a little video on YouTube of Ben's first swing at the park. Here's a link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMrUErbolA8

Teefisses

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Ben has two teeth now! If you want to check them out in person be wary.. they're very sharp and, mistaking you for a Cheerio he might chomp down on the end of your index finger, leaving two disturbingly deep and painful little indentations. He will also get upset when you yell, "OW!!"

Extreme Toothy Close-Up

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Hot Rad Soccer Action!

Our girlie is just loving soccer! This is her first time playing and she's having a blast. Her first official game is Saturday.. can't wait to see her in action.


Here are some pictures from the "seeding tournament" they had a couple weeks ago. It was like five hours in the heat.. pretty brutal. Thanks to Becky we didn't have to worry about keeping the baby happy the entire time. Yeesh.

Okay, TOTALLY need this dog!

Oh man.. I love this. I can't stop laughing.

New Baby!

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Welp, we're a family of FOUR now! I've been too sleep-deprived to post.. sorry. Here's a link to the place where I plan to keep putting pictures:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23107309@N07/

To complicate matters, my computer died (don't worry, we expected it to happen) so I'm not on my normal computer with my normal programs. This makes me WAY worse about posting things. Sorry!

Hopefully this little video of the baby will appease you:

Vacation!

Disneyland and California Adventure were fabulous! I took lots of pictures as usual, and will try to get more detailed soon. In the meantime, check out this little slide-show of Mackenzie getting her face painted:

All she wants for Christmas is a new front tooth?

Yep.. goodbye, baby tooth #4! She's growing up WAY too fast. Jane, get me off this crazy thing!

She has been playing with the new gap.. breathing through it, whistling, etc. I showed her how she could close her teeth with a straw going through the hole.. she thought that was pretty cool.

She has another loose one, too. She decided to save her Tooth Fairy dollar until she gets her next one and then she plans to buy the Barbie dress in the "store" (the 'Mommy subsidized' box of goodies).

I can't believe she's almost six!

Finally, the long anticipated Halloween Picture!

Mackenzie was Cinderella again for Halloween this year. She even wore the same costume! That's three years in a row (not counting modifications to make it fit).. how economical!! I don't know if it'll work next year. Maybe she'll get a new Cinderella costume or maybe she'll actually decide on something completely different!

Either way, she'll be adorable as always.

MIT, here she comes!

The 4th was the first day of Kindergarten. Mackenzie was very excited and had a wonderful time.

She's doing great, enjoying herself and staying out of trouble.. or she hasn't been "found out" yet. She likes her teacher and has a couple friends from Preschool in the class with her.

Not too much homework yet. They say it'll average about 10 minutes a night, but I think some of that is class work that kids don't get done in class and so far she usually finishes hers up.. unless she decides that instead of coloring the graph squares with one color, she's going to make each one a fantastical array of rainbow stripes. Gee, don't know anyone else like that. ;)

What is it and how do I defeat it if it comes for me??

Oh my.. Mackenzie has been drawing lots of pictures lately and having me help her sound out the words she wants to write on them. She's adding so much more detail lately! Here is my current favorite. It's a picture of "Scary Daddy." Everything is done by Mackenzie. I especially love the staring eyes and the jagged mouth.

Click here to have Mackenzie explain her picture: http://youtube.com/watch?v=X-yRttYUKnU

They're mostly of happy things, but I (of course) like this bizarre one best.

Hi Valerie!!

I hear Valerie is wondering why there aren't any pictures of her on here.. well I'll just have to fix that!

Here are a couple pictures of Mackenzie and Valerie from March in the grassy area. It was fun having Valerie and Maggie over a lot during the Spring months!

Doesn't this picture make you wonder what's on the ground in front of them? It does me, and I was taking the picture!

I really love the one below.. they're so fabulously goofy, aren't they? It was so great to watch them wander around exploring nature.

Come play again soon, Valerie!