And Then There Were Two!

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-26T07:29:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving 2011. I only got pics from the first part of the day. We had Thanksgiving with my family at the Army Navy Country Club....then that night we had Thanksgiving again at Taylor's parents house.

The above picture is the only one I got of Makenzie and Cora.

Don't worry, Makenzie sprang right back to life when we pulled into the garage....god forbid she take a nap!

Recipe Party Girls

2011-11-26T07:21:00.000-08:00

Each year my friends from highschool and our moms have a recipe party. This year we had the kids join us. This picture is missing Paige and Madelynn...they were too little to join in on the steps.

Pre-work walks

2011-10-05T17:14:00.001-07:00

Our pre-work walks now consist of jackets, hats and blankets....soon gloves will be included!

First Soccer Season

2011-09-17T17:27:00.000-07:00

First picture of Makenzie on her first day of soccer for her first season

In action....

After about 40 minutes Makenzie wanted to play on the giant playground located about 20 feet from where they were playing. Taylor had to run and get her and bring her back....as you can see she wasn't happy.

She then realized that if she didn't want to play anymore that she could just lay down...so that's what she did.

She had a lot of fun, but ran out of steam near the end. The coach was not the best and wasn't really keeping the attention of the 3 year olds. There were two coaches and the group was split in half. The other field had goals and the kids seemed to be enjoying it much better...I think next time I'm going to sneak Makenzie on his field.

2011-09-09T18:58:00.000-07:00

Riley, Brooklyn, Madelyn, Makenzie and Ashley
Madelyn got a little pissed so we had to take her out of the next attempt....

Makenzie holding baby Madelyn.

Bathroom Complete

2011-08-21T05:53:00.001-07:00

We bought everything to re-do our downstairs bathroom back in March when we got our tax return. Everything has been sitting around and we decided to finally conquer the task. If we didn't have kids it would have been done 4 months ago....

The first picture is of the bathroom when I started sledgehammering the floor. The vanity had already been ripped out at that point. The tile and vanity were both 32 years old and just plain old gross. When we took out the old vanity the walls were a complete disaster and needed to be fixed as well. It took about three weeks to complete the project. If we didn't have kids it probably would have taken about three days.

The old shower curtain rod was antique bronzed with plastic shower curtain rings. I moved it upstairs to our bathroom and took the brushed nickel one from our room to downstairs. I would have gone out and purchased a new one, but money is tight so I just swapped it out with ours from upstairs. My mom found this great shower curtain at Walmart for $15.

Here is the new vanity, sink and mirror. It all came together as a set.

Here is the new floor and toilet. I did a little bit of the floor but most of the credit and work goes to Taylor and his dad. We had to lay a subfloor of wonderboard first and then the tile on top of that.

I still need to get a new hand towel to match the shower curtain, plus some new artwork for the walls. I literally want to just hang out in the bathroom and roll around on the floor because I love it so much.

Where's Ashley?

2011-08-19T09:46:00.001-07:00

We were getting ready this morning and I was looking around the downstairs for Ashley. As I walked into the kitchen I was about to close the pantry door when I heard a little noise. I looked down to find Ashley sitting in the pantry. I'm pissed that this picture came out blury, but at least it captured the moment.

Dentist

2011-08-17T16:42:00.001-07:00

Makenzie had her first trip to the dentist today. I had no idea how it was going to go. She was the most perfect child you have ever seen. Makenzie is usually a very hyperactive, strong willed, all over the place little girl....but when she got into the dentist chair she was an angel. She acts this perfect when she's in the haircut chair as well. I think I need to invest in one of these giant sized chairs for my house....

I was sweating the whole time she was getting her teeth checked and cleaned. I knew that if she had any cavities or issues that the dentist would be pointing the finger at me and Taylor since we're the ones that brush her teeth. Luckily she had no cavities!

Princess 1 and 2

2011-08-08T11:49:00.001-07:00

Makenzie loves to put on Princess dresses. She doesn't always love to smile for the camera though.
Ashley decided to join in on the fun.

On the Beach

2011-08-08T11:39:00.001-07:00

I finally got around to posting some pictures from the actual beach when we were at Duck....We did get a family shot, but there was no way I was going to post a full body shot in the bikini!

Duck NC 2011

2011-07-23T10:49:00.000-07:00

Here are some picture from our beach trip. I haven't downloaded the ones from the beach yet, those will come later.

Makenzie got an Ariel kite from Kitty Hawk Kites. We have been flying it from the deck and at the beach.

DIY

2011-07-14T06:37:00.000-07:00

I just submitted our application to the DIY network. They have a show called "I Want That" and they are casting in the DC area. Most shows have their casting calls in LA, New Jersey, Atlanta...anywhere but here. I sent in some pics and a very long laundry list of things that we want/need for our house. The idea of the show is that they showcase a new product by bringing it to you for your family to use/install in your home. Taylor's cousin recently got a WamBam fence for his house. I'm hoping to either get a new countertop or some type of organization system for our garage. We had to send in a picture of the family (taken this morning at 8am) and a few pics of the different areas of the house. Let's hope we get an email or a phone call soon!

Totally unorganized garage. We've organized it probably three times in the past year, but without proper storage, shelving and wall units it just gets all messed up again!

Nasty old fake wood laminate countertops...

Just a few random pics from Mimi's camera...

2011-07-01T13:17:00.000-07:00

Ashley 1st Birthday Picture

2011-06-29T07:11:00.000-07:00

Picture from Taylor's mom's camera. She takes much better pictures than I do....

Ashley's 1st birthday party

2011-06-26T16:45:00.000-07:00

These pics are kind of all out of order. I hate trying to figure out how to get them in correct order through blogger...

Makenzie and Brooke helping to sing Happy Birthday to Ashley.
Pete laying on the floor "enjoying" the party.

Getting ready to cut some of the cake.

Ashley testing out the cake.

Ashley was alittle confused while everyone was singing....

Ashley eating some birthday lunch with Mimi.

Riley, Cora and Makenzie hanging out at the party.

Showing off her red mouth from the icing.

Ashley getting a kiss from cousin Alex.

Talking on her new phone! (Makenzie is crying in the background because she really like the phone too)

Dale

2011-06-13T14:00:00.000-07:00

Ashley's got some snaggletooth action happening. I found this picture of Chip and Dale and she looks very similar to Dale :). The first two teeth that popped through were her two outside top teeth. They have been there for a while, but I haven't been able to capture a good picture till now. Her bottom two middle teeth have since popped through, but there is still no sign of the upper middle ones.

Mak's 3rd b-day party

2011-06-04T15:44:00.000-07:00

We had a "pool" party for Mak's b-day. All her friends came over and we had two kiddie pools out on the deck. The weather was perfect for an outside party. Here are some pics I was able to get...
An Ariel cake made by Taylor's mom per Makenzie's request...

Opening some gifts out on the deck...

Shannon and Brooklyn...

Mak blowing out her candle....Brooke helping from the side...

Makenzie Turns 3

2011-06-03T14:21:00.000-07:00

Today is Makenzie's 3rd birthday. Her party is tomorrow and the weather looks like it's going to be fantastic!

Matching Grandgirls

2011-05-22T04:33:00.001-07:00

I tried to pry the pretzel from Ashley's hand, but she had the grip of death on it....so it's in all the pictures.

Easter Pics

2011-04-25T17:33:00.000-07:00

These pictures are all kind of out of order...I hate trying to figure out the order when putting them on the blog! Then if you accidentally delete one picture the order is all screwed up unless you completely restart the post. Anyways here are some pics from Easter.

Ashley was the best baby ever at brunch. She munched on a waffle the whole time...except for this picture where she is munching on a spoon....

Grandpa Johnie and Grammi with the grandgirls...

Best family pick we could get...

Ashley, Makenzie and Cora...

Makenzie and Taylor...don't pay attention to the black eye....

Happy Ashley...

Makenzie warmed up to the Easter Bunny, as long as we were holding her. Ashley wasn't too sure though...

Cora and Makenzie...
This pic is from when the girls first woke up and Makenzie was hunting for eggs in the house. Ashley loved the rattling egg...

EGGcited about her Egg hunt....

Just some random pics...

2011-04-02T17:13:00.000-07:00

Ashley hanging out with Pete. Makenzie, Ashley and Brooke playing together. Makenzie insists on wearing her mini mouse pajama "princess dress" 99% of the time she's awake.

I guess I should teach Makenzie how to pose in a skirt...

This was my first attempt at getting a picture....she didn't want to and was running away from me.

Sweet Ashley.

Happy St. Patty's Day

2011-03-19T05:27:00.001-07:00

Ashley had a really cute St. Patricks day dress, but it was too cold and I didn't have any leggings or pants that would match to go under it. The dots on her outfit were a pale green though. Makenzie also had a really cute shirt, but she had worn it a couple of days before because she couldn't wait to wear it....so it was dirty and I forgot to wash it. She did have green pants that she could wear though.

Warm weather

2011-03-19T05:19:00.000-07:00

Mak running down the street hand and hand with her neighborhood friends, Aubrey and Kellan. :)

A little behind...

2011-02-28T16:13:00.000-08:00

I'm a little behind on getting some pictures up on the blog...

Makenzie was pulling Ashley along in the horse toy box. Usually when Makenzie does something like trying to pull, push, or let Ashley sit on her she quits after about 30 seconds and says Ashley's too heavy.... :)

Pete was waiting patiently for a drip of ice cream to fall....

Ashley starting crawling on her 8 month b-day (June 24th). She got herself stuck under this end table and isn't too happy about it. I know her outfit looks crazy but it was what she was going to be wearing to bed underneath her sleep sack.

Makenzie got this two wheel bike from Taylor's boss a while ago, but she was too little to try and ride it. We got it back out with the warmer weather that we've had lately and she can now reach the pedals. Most of my shots are from the back because she likes to go really fast and I'm trying to catch up with her. Good thing for the training wheels or she would definitely have ended up in the ER by now.

. If you look closely in each of the pictures posted you will notice a common them in each of Makenzie's outfits. She's a little (um, a lot) obsessed with princesses right now. In the pictures where she is pulling Ashley she is wearing her Tinkerbell nightgown over top of her clothes (she thinks Tinkerbell falls in the princess category). In the next photo of her laying on the couch eating an ice cream cone she is wearing her Cinderella dress. In the last photo's of her riding her bike she is wearing silver sparkly "princess" shoes.

Sometimes she gets so worked up about putting Princess stuff on that I would really like to just throw it all away. She'll get in a mood where she'll twirl and say that her dress "isn't working". One day I think she said it literally like 500 times in 10 minutes. I won't really throw all of her princess attire away, but I'm very tempted when the 2.5 year old devil mood comes out!

Happy Valentines Day!

2011-02-14T12:45:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentines Day!

Love, Makenzie and Ashley

Not a whole lot

2011-02-05T07:19:00.001-08:00

Not a whole lot going on around here. Just two quick pics of Makenzie and Ashley.

I asked Makenzie to smile and this is what I got...
Ashley is always smiling so I didn't even have to ask her to....

Snow Day...#3

2011-01-28T17:23:00.000-08:00

We had off of school Wed, Thurs, and Fri. Mon and Tues are teacher workdays. It's awesome....however we got an email from the County today informing us that our Presidents Day holiday on Feb 21st has been taken away to make-up one of the snow days. Seriously, why do they have to burst our bubble....

Anyways, here are a few pics of Makenzie and Cora playing on the snow day. Makenzie wouldn't look at the camera for any of the next three pics, but Cora was looking and smiling the whole time.

Really!?!?!?

2011-01-15T16:44:00.000-08:00

This is what our fridge looks like right now....really, no joke. A family of four are living off of this fridge as we speak. Contents include milk, 4 yogurts, applesauce, 1 half eaten container of baby squash, 1 diet pepsi, 1 redbull and some condiments in the side door. I'm not sure how this happened, but it did....guess I need to hit up the grocery store.

Sharing clothes....

2011-01-15T05:54:00.001-08:00

I was getting some hand me down clothes from Makenzie out of some bins for Ashley to wear. Everything was from the 9-12 month range. Makenzie noticed that they were her old clothes and wanted to put them on. This onesie is a 9 month onesie with 12 month pajama pants underneath. The onesie is a little tight in the crotch, but that's only because she has pants on underneath. Ashley fits snuggly into this same onesie....

Sisterly love...

Money Not Well Spent

2011-01-09T05:21:00.000-08:00

I've made a few purchases over the last week that have turned out to be a bust. The problem is...each purchase was made online or on craigslist, so I can't do any returns. The first purchase was the Woombie. $30 swaddle blanket from Woombie.com. Ashley has been a swaddle sleeping baby since day one. She outgrew the regular swaddle and I found an awesome Miracle blanket that she's been in for a while now. She recently started making her way out of that one and waking herself up. I searched online for something that came in a size for bigger babies. I came across the Woombie and bought it right away. Well....the next morning after buying it online I went in Ashley's room to get her and found her on her stomach. So....now the Woombie wasn't going to be an option. It holds the babies arms in kind of across their chest, not down by their sides, so there was no way she could be zipped up in it if she was going to be rolling. $30 Woombie down the drain.

Next, I decided to try and stop swaddling Ashley and put her to bed in a sleep sack. Horrible...she cried all night. So the next night I decided to try and go back to the barely fitting Miracle blanket, but I bought a movement sensor so when she rolled over swaddled I wouldn't be worried about her smothering herself. I went ahead and found one that day on Craigslist bought it right away for $45. So that night I set the whole thing up and put Ashley down in her Miracle Blanket swaddle. The first night went well, but then the second night was terrible. She kept rolling over and then would wake up all ticked off that she was on her belly and couldn't move. So....I decidedfor good that the swaddling needed to stop. So....$45 movement monitor down the drain.

Next, we have been turning a fan on in Makenzie's room for white noise so she doesn't wake up when Ashley is crying. Since it's winter time and about 20 degrees in the middle of the night her room gets kind of cold with the fan running. So again I went online and found a Conair sound machine. It came a couple of days later, I plugged it in, turned it on and after 60 minutes the stupid thing shut off. Little did I know that this particular sound machine only runs for short periods of time and is meant to only lul someone to sleep, not stay on all night. So.....$30 sound machine down the drain.

All the purchases were kind of impulsive, but when it comes to sleep, or the lack of, I can get pretty anxious.

I guess I'll just try and re-sell everything on craigslist and see how much I can get back......

First Haircut

2010-12-30T09:36:00.001-08:00

Makenzie finally got her first haircut. Taylor was very anxious, but I thought it was time to trim up the mullet. We took her to cartoon cuts in the mall...$15 for a 2 second haircut. We did get a little certificate filled out with her name, date and location for her "first haircut" and there is a little baggie of her hair stapled to it. Next time I think I will just spray it wet with water, clip a little off the back and save us the $15! She sat there expressionless and didn't move a muscle. It was the quietest and stillest (is that even a word?) that she has ever been in her life. It really doesn't look too different because Taylor only let them cut off about a half inch from the back and the tiniest trim ever on the rest. We're trying to help the top of her hair catch up to the back to make the mullet dwindle out. I think it's going to take at least another couple of months though.

Finished product!

Once the cape came off she was back to her normal self. I think I should borrow that cape for my house to get her to chill out once in a while!

In other news...We took Ashley for her 6 month wellness appointment. She weighs 19lb 130z which is still in the 95% for weight. I looked back at Makenzie's wellness appointment sheets and she weighed 18lb 3 oz at 1 year old....and this is why Ashley can't really wear her hand-me-downs....

Christmas 2010

2010-12-27T13:22:00.000-08:00

Mak and Mimi
Mak and Papa

Grammi and Cora

Grammi and Ashley

Makenzie and Cora. Too many toys to stop and pose for a pic.

Have you ever seen two sisters look more different?....
I'm very happy that Ashley starting sitting on her own right before Christmas...that way she is able to play with her toys much more easily...

Pete helping Ashley open her gift...

She had Christmas pj's on, but of course she had to change into these shorts. I guess she was wishing for Christmas in Florida...

Yes, we have a leg lamp...and it sits proudly in our bay window during Christmas time....it's a major award!

Under the Tree

2010-12-21T13:53:00.000-08:00

Where's Makenzie??? This is what happens when your 6 month old is the same size as your 2 year old..... Little better......

Finally got it! They aren't dressed up by any means, but they were both in a good mood so I decided to go for it.

Decorating the Tree

2010-12-12T05:45:00.000-08:00

Of course I couldn't get her to look at the camera while she was putting up ornaments.

Ashley and Pete had the same idea of how to help....eat the ornaments....

The inevitable.....

The bottom half of our tree always remains bare. Makenzie takes off all the ornaments she can reach and puts them in a bag. If I put them back on, without fail, she takes them back off. She thinks that the ornaments are better off in their boxes than on the tree.

Makenzie and Riley

2010-11-26T14:08:00.001-08:00

Sometimes its not even worth it to me to try and get a posed picture...

(yes, we still have a tube tv. we actually are finally going to move into the 2010's....we bought our first flat panel at hhgregg online thanksgiving day. 50 inch for $599. we can pick it up at the store this weekend)

Check out those baby blues...

2010-11-26T14:05:00.001-08:00

Ashley at 5 months. She decided to roll over today from back to front. She's only done it once though. She's also started trying to roll from front to back, but gets hung up on her side.

Human Apple Peeler

2010-11-24T17:15:00.000-08:00

Makenzie doesn't like the skin on the apple. Instead of letting me peel it, she had to pull the two year old, "I'll do it myself". I should have taken a picture of the pile of apple skin that she was spitting out on the coffee table, but Taylor threw it out before I thought about it. I'm not sure if she actually ate any of the apple.

Fall Day

2010-11-20T12:21:00.000-08:00

Taylor took Makenzie and Pete to his parents house for a little bit this morning, so it gave Ashley and I some time to go outside and clean up some leaves. Our neighborhood is titled, "The Woods", so that should give you an idea of how many leaves we deal with during the fall. Ashley sat nicely in her stroller while I worked on getting the leaves out of the yard and into the driveway.
I swear I'm not feeding my baby butter.....she's just big boned :).

Proof that I wasn't just taking pictures and that I was actually cleaning up leaves. We've been raking and mulching leaves for a couple of weeks now. The picture below is just from about half of our front yard for this weekends clean-up. There are still plenty of leaves waiting to fall so we'll be out again next weekend...and the weekend after that....and some more after that too.

Makenzie and Brooke

2010-11-01T09:36:00.000-07:00

Take one....
Take two...

Take three...

Take four....

One day we'll get a picture where they are both interested in smiling and looking at the same time.

Happy Halloween 2010

2010-10-31T18:12:00.001-07:00

Makenzie wanted to be a bunny for halloween. I got the costume off of ebay for $10 including shipping....can't beat that. I barely got any pictures of Makenzie. She is always too busy running around crazy to stop for the camera. Usually any pictures I do get are blury because I don't have a hightech camera that can capture a picture of something while it's in motion.
Ashley and Grammi.

Ashley and Dad (aka scarey bunny man). Most of the little kids were seriously scared of him.

Ashley and Mom.

Pumpkin "Patch"

2010-10-24T17:11:00.000-07:00

I didn't get that good of pictures from the pumpkin patch. She was more interested in playing than posing.... Sticking her face through the castle window.

Riding the carpet slide with dad.

This is what Ashley did the whole time we were there.

Porch Pictures

2010-10-24T17:06:00.001-07:00

Not interested in smiling and/or looking at the camera.
For some reason Pete always looks like a giant wilderbeast when he's in pictures....I guess that's what happens when you are a 85lb boxer.

At least they are both looking in the same direction in this picture.

In the tub

2010-10-15T18:02:00.000-07:00

Chubby McChubster :). Ashley is just shy of 4 months and is basically busting out of 6 month clothing.

I think that every kid has a picture like this one....

Raggedy Ann and Andy

2010-09-27T08:26:00.000-07:00

Spur of the moment

2010-09-25T05:47:00.000-07:00

We were at Taylors parents and his mom whipped out the camera....we actually got a family picture where everyone is looking at the camera, almost impossible with a dog, two year old and 3 month old!.....too bad I had just taught spin class and was a little on the sweaty side.

Ashley 3 months

2010-09-23T08:27:00.000-07:00

What is this baby eating?

2010-09-08T19:17:00.000-07:00

Ashley is seriously the biggest baby ever. She weighs 14lbs at 11 weeks. She doesn't fit into any of Makenzie's summer hand me downs anymore, even though they were both born during the month of June. She is wearing 6 month onesies...any 6 month onesies that Makenzie had were all long sleeved because she wasn't into that size until winter time. She doesn't get any formula....so I'm not sure how in the world she is so big. She's also sleeping 8 hours straight through at night so she's getting all her milk just during the day time. ( I never thought I'd have a baby that slept 8 hours straight, but I guess that's what happens when they are 14 lbs!)

Bethany Beach

2010-09-07T11:12:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of our vacation so far. Ashley has been doing a great job sleeping so the vacation hasn't been as exhausting as when we brought Makenzie as a baby.....

Mak posing for a picture...
Watching the people play in the water....

Standing with dad....Taylor is wearing a sweet sunglasses holder....it is the lamest thing I have every seen...

Ashley chillin on a blanket in the shade...the shirt she is wearing is 18 months, it's a little big, but it pretty much fits, she is a huge 2 month old baby!

Playing in the sand...

Taylor had the whole crew with him on the loveseat....he still managed to read his book though.

Sitting around.....

Icing her head after Taylor flipped her onto the arm of the couch....dad of the year.

Smiling

2010-08-23T12:52:00.000-07:00

Here is a pic of Ashley smiling. She smiles a lot now. I don't think Makenzie smiled as a baby until she was about 9 months old, up until that point if she was awake she was crying. Ashley can be awake and not crying which is astonishing to me....

She's a little on the pudgy side (I use the term little loosely). Taylor wanted to know since she's "pudgy" and jolly can we call her Santa. :) We have her two month check-up on Thursday so we will find out just how "pudgy" our little Santa is....

Fancy Feet

2010-08-14T10:42:00.000-07:00

Makenzie decided to decorate her feet with all her stickers. I didn't take a picture of 15 minutes later when all of the stickers were all over me instead of her feet.

All of my pictures of Ashley seem to be while she's sleeping. I guess the only time I can manage to get the camera out is when she's asleep!

Summer Showers

2010-08-06T12:30:00.000-07:00

A few recent pics of Ashley...

2010-08-04T09:18:00.000-07:00

Here are a few recent pics of Ashley. I swear she looks different depending on the angle of the picture.

I think that this picture below looks like Makenzie as a baby.

Nap time

2010-07-28T13:43:00.000-07:00

Mullet

2010-07-28T13:33:00.000-07:00

I just broke the news to Taylor that Makenzie's true father is Joe Dirt. Not sure how hair literally grows into a mullet without any help from a haircut, but hers is managing to do so. It's pretty much straight in the front and very curly in the back. By the look on her face in the picture I think she knows that I'm messing with her....

Who's that doggie in the mirror?

2010-07-23T07:54:00.001-07:00

The Whole Famn Damily

2010-07-16T07:21:00.000-07:00

My friend Shannon stopped by to say hello and she managed to get a pic of the whole famn damily!

Christmas in July

2010-07-16T07:15:00.000-07:00

Apparently Makenzie thinks that 100 degree July days call for winter hats and gloves.....

Squeeky Clean

2010-07-07T05:43:00.000-07:00

Makenzie and Ashley

2010-06-29T14:25:00.000-07:00

The first pic below is my favorite so far. Makenzie is actually smiling for the camera and Ashley has her eyes open. I'm not sure yet if they will look alike, I guess we'll just have to wait and see. We tried to get Pete in on a pic with them, but it hasn't worked out yet. Things are very calm right now. I'm just waiting for 2 weeks from now when my soothing hormones wear out of her system and Taylor is back at work. That's when I'm thinking the "s" will hit the fan.

Makenzie loves baby Ashley

2010-06-26T13:34:00.000-07:00

Makenzie loves hanging out with the new baby and gets as close as possible as often as possible.

Everyone was sleeping!

2010-06-26T13:27:00.000-07:00

Makenzie has never fallen asleep on the couch. She fights sleep more than any other kid I know. We got home from the hospital about 6pm the day after Ashley was born. Makenzie had been with both sets of grandparents for two days and was exhausted from fun. I thought it was going to be a circus coming home, but instead I was just sitting on the couch with two sleeping kids and a sleeping dog. I'll take that!

Ashley Taylor Dixon

2010-06-26T13:21:00.000-07:00

Ashley got here a little sooner than planned. Here are some pics from her birth and right after. We were dischared 24 hours later and everything seems to be going good. So far she is less active then Makenzie was as a baby so maybe we've been blessed with an easy sleeping child....not getting my hopes up just yet!

Trouble

2010-06-21T17:33:00.000-07:00

I've been having some trouble trying to get some of our latest flip videos posted. I've done it in the past when it snowed and it was really easy.....but for some reason I can't get it to work again. When I try and post the video it either takes FOREVER to upload or it doesn't upload correctly and play. Guess I should just go back to posting pictures.

2nd B-day

2010-06-09T15:49:00.000-07:00

Makenzie turned 2 on June 3rd. Here are some pics of her b-day party.

Another successful sale.

2010-05-25T08:39:00.000-07:00

Tires: Taylor got these brand new tires from someone who wanted them hauled to the dump. Cost to us $Free$. Sold on craigslist $125.

Future Mia Hamm??....

2010-05-17T12:32:00.001-07:00

Not that I'm sport biased......but I think she looks good in a puma outfit and soccer ball.

Craigslist Junkie

2010-05-05T16:55:00.000-07:00

Over the past 1.5 years I've become a craigslist junkie. I've gotten some great deals on items like our microfiber living room couch for $120 and our espresso bar height kitchen table and chairs for $160. My favorite thing to do is sell stuff. I've acquired several items for free and have profitted off of them by selling them on craigslist...it's awesome.

Hot Tub: Was on the deck of our new house. Sold $80 (I didn't even have to clean it off)
Stove: In the laundry room (yes, laundry room) of our new house. Sold $80

TV: Taylors boss wanted it out of her house. Sold $50

Dryer: Also given to us by Taylors boss. Sold $60

Breastpump: Also given to us by Taylors boss. Sold $45

Crib/Toddler Bed: Someone around the corner was giving it away on craigslist for free. We decided we didn't want it. Sold $40

Porch Swing: My parents got new porch furniture so they wanted us to take this off their hands. Sold $80

Ottoman: Came free with a couch that we bought off craigslist. Sold $20

Under the cabinet CD/radio: We purchased this a long time ago and decided to wait till we bought a house before we would install it. Our house has a radio system/intercom system with speakers throughout so we don't need it. Sold $80

Table: My friends mom didn't want it so we hauled it away for her. We got a new table from my parents for our sunroom. Sold $50

Breastpump: Purchased this one but was given a better one from my sister-in-law. Sold $45

Jogging stroller: Got this jogging stroller but the front wheel doesn't swivel so it was incredibly hard to use. Sold $80 (purchased a front wheel swivel stroller that was much better quality from somone else on craigslist for only $90)

Home Theatre Seats (not pictured): Found on craigslist for free. Sold $145

....Taylors truck has allowed us to make lots of money on craigslist. When someone wants something big out of their house they just call us and know we'll come and take it off of their hands for them. They get it out of their house quickly, and we make a little $$ off of it. Win -Win.

Makenzie's day off with Mimi

2010-05-05T16:46:00.001-07:00

Putting on make-up.
At the park.

Actually smiling for the camera....rare.

Family pic from Easter

2010-04-09T09:48:00.001-07:00

We haven't had a pic of all of us together in a long time. I hid my belly in the back.

Easter Pics

2010-04-09T09:40:00.000-07:00

Makenzie on Easter. Notice there aren't any pictures of her smiling at the camera....still can't get her to do that for me....

Dying eggs that morning....she loved it and didn't want to stop dunking the eggs into the colors.

Pics from the egg hunt the weekend before Easter. There were so many eggs on the lawn of the conservancy, and they were all gone in about 60 seconds.

Walking the dog...in the house

2010-03-30T18:00:00.001-07:00

Poor Pete....

Warm Weather Pics

2010-03-24T12:14:00.000-07:00

Makenzie is very anti-camera. She will be doing the cutest things and making the cutest faces, but right when I get the camera out.....boom, nothing. Anyways, here are a few pics from the back deck over the weekend. Taylor decided to put crab grass poison on the front yard at about 12pm on Saturday so our front yard playing was cut-off for the rest of the weekend!

Last winter coat pics for the season....

2010-03-10T08:32:00.000-08:00

Hopefully these pics are the last ones of the season where Makenzie is wearing a winter coat. The weather has taken a turn for the better this week and I'm hoping that it's permanent through summer...

Hoarding...

2010-02-10T06:54:00.000-08:00

This cabinet is in our kitchen. Makenzie loves hanging out inside of it. Last night I opened it and found lots of things that she's been hoarding in it. Here is a list of the items inside:
1. Wooden push toy
2. Pete's semi-deflated basketball
3. blanket
4. container of plastic spoons
5. paper plates
6. necklace
7. purse
8. slinky

Sledding Video

2010-02-07T12:01:00.000-08:00

Human Measuring Stick

2010-02-06T07:45:00.001-08:00

We used Makenzie as a human measuring stick in the snow this morning. The snow is scheduled to continue on till about 8pm tonight.....we'll have to dip her in again in the morning to see the final snowfall total.
Makenzie and Pete quickly got sick of the crazy amounts of snow and wanted to go inside. They watched Taylor shovel the driveway from the kitchen window.

Potty Training

2010-02-01T10:17:00.000-08:00

Makenzie is completely obsessed with the bathroom. We're excited because she is going on the potty much more and going much less in her pull-up or diaper. Most of the time she tells us that she wants to go, but sometimes when she's too distracted by something she'll forget. Anyways, sometimes she likes to sit on the toilet and get on and off, on and off....over and over and over again so it can be a little annoying. Yesterday she went upstairs and things were quiet so I went to check on her. I found her in the bathroom sitting on the big person toilet telling her baby to go pee pee on the little toilet. Here is a picture of the event.....
This is just another picture I decided to add since she is kind of smiling. I still can't seem to capture a really good smile. Every time I hold the camera up in front her face she turns her face into a mug shot look.

It's been a while....

2010-01-23T16:00:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I last posted. I was having camera/computer trouble. I couldn't get my camera's USB cord to connect to the computer. Turns out there was a little piece that came out of my USB port from my computer and was stuck in the USB cord from the camera. Anyways, I pulled the piece out and it works now. One of our USB ports is out of commission, but there are two so it's no big deal. Anyways, here is just a random picture of Makenzie after eating some pizza. She put Taylors black snow hat on her head so she looks like a little hoodlum. I can't seem to ever get a good picture of her though....she is anti-camera. Every time I get it out she closes her eyes or turns her head.....

Christmas 09

2009-12-28T11:33:00.001-08:00

Pete with his new candy cane bone.

Makenzie on her new tricycle.
Makenzie with her new Mickey Mouse doll.

Taylor raising the roof in his snuggie. His arms are totally free to do whatever, yet he is still covered up by his blanket.... :)

The disaster of a living room after all the present opening.

Old Man Warmth

2009-12-20T05:39:00.000-08:00

I don't have pics of Makenzie yet playing in our massive snow storm.....15 inches...but, I do have a picture to prove the theory of "old man warmth". This theory started when we moved into our new neighborhood. Over the fall we had tons of leaves to rake. Our neighborhood is called Natick Wood so I should have gotten the hint about the trees and leaves when we moved in. Anyways, Taylor and I would go out to rake leaves and work on the yard in sweatshirts and jackets because it was cold. We have a lot of older neighbors around us and the men would always be out in t-shirts doing their yard work. That's where the "old man warmth" theory began. Well, it was taken to the extreme yesterday. We were out all bundled up shoveling the snow. The snow was still pouring down and the winds were gusting. I looked across the street and our neighbor was out in his t-shirt and no gloves shoveling. What the hell! I had to take a picture to prove it. It's not a good picture because I couldn't be too obivous, but if you look in the upper left hand corner of the picture you will see a man in his t-shirt shoveling snow.

Side Pony Tail

2009-12-20T05:37:00.000-08:00

Mel, try this side pony tail with Molly's hair. I get sick of always sticking Makenzie's right on top of her head so sometimes I pull it back and to the side a little.

Pony Tail

2009-12-04T08:14:00.001-08:00

I put Makenzie's hair up into her first ponytail. It didn't all really fit, but it look pretty good in the picture. I guess we'll stick with the pebbles and pigtails for a couple more months...

Day after Thanksgiving

2009-11-27T12:18:00.001-08:00

I didn't get any pics on Thanksgiving, but here are some from the day after. It turned very cold outside so Makenzie had to sport her new winter coat and hat. She kept the hat on for about 10 minutes before ripping it off....

I can't seem to get a good picture of Makenzie and Pete lately. In this one Pete has his eyes closed. How often do pets have their eyes closed in pictures....???

Halloween

2009-11-02T11:23:00.000-08:00

Below is a picture of Pete at the end of the night.

Here is a pic of Makenzie before she got dressed up in her costume.

Below is a pic of Makenzie dressed up and ready to go. She was Little Einstein. We hairsprayed her hair all crazy and drew a mustache on her face. I thought it was funny that she picked up this toy to carry around....like it was her brief case and she was getting ready to go to work at the science lab. We only went around to 3 houses in the court because it started raining. We spent the rest of the night sitting in the garage handing out candy to the kids that didn't care that it was raining.

Pumpkin

2009-10-22T08:05:00.000-07:00

In the spirit of Halloween I thought I would post a pic of Makenzie with some pumpkins. We're planning on dressing her up as Einstein for Halloween....hopefully there will be some pics to follow.

Gotta support the team...

2009-10-21T18:17:00.000-07:00

Makenzie is supporting the team even though they really stink right now. The weekends haven't been as fun since the Skins can't bring home a win...and even if they do, they played so bad that it still feels like a loss.

Petting Zoo

2009-10-06T18:21:00.000-07:00

There was a Fall Festival last weekend that had a petting zoo. Makenzie loved all the animals. I only got a few pics because there were so many kids running around everywhere that it was hard to get a shot of Makenzie alone with an animal.

The goats were very friendly and licking the kids in their faces.

Below is a picture of Makenzies new camera pose....eyes closed. I think she's sick of the flash going off in her face so now she likes to close her eyes every time I get the camera out. Hopefully she'll grow out of thisphase soon or we'll end up with a whole bunch of Forrest Gump shots!

see what I mean.....

Rainy Day

2009-10-01T17:12:00.001-07:00

It was raining the other day before I had to leave for work, but Makenzie wanted to play outside anyways. We put her new raincoat on and she walked around the driveway and sidewalk staring down at it as she walked. She thought it was pretty cool. She doesn't usually like to wear hoods, but I guess since it was a raincoat and made out of funny material she didn't mind it. :)

2009-09-25T08:47:00.000-07:00

I wanted to show a before and after of our sunroom. Unfortunately when I uploaded the pics I didn't realize that I should put them in the opposite order that I wanted them to post....so the after pics are the first two and the before pics are the second two.

Just a little background. We moved into a foreclosure that needed a lot of work. The sunroom was definitely one of our longest jobs so far. The floor had nasty smelly carpet that was glued down and the walls were a dark brown. The doors were all filthy as well and needed a fresh coat of paint.

We very happy with the way the room turned out. Now instead of walking through a disgusting room to get to our backyard we can walk through a pleasant room instead!

Big Baby!

2009-09-21T07:40:00.001-07:00

Our friends came over the other day with their 4 month old. Makenzie really want to sit in the infant seat in the stroller...

Poor Pete!

2009-09-15T17:03:00.001-07:00

Makenzie thinks that Pete is her jungle gym. I feel really bad for him sometimes, but I guess if he didn't enjoy it he could get up and leave the room!

On another note, this pic shows a good view of Petes tail, or lack there of. Any way, the other day Makenzie was behind him and he didn't know it. When they are both standing up her head is even with his butt. His tail (nub) was sticking straight out and she decided to take a taste. He's usually quick with the trap door and puts it down, but he didn't know she was there so she was able to get the whole nub in her mouth.....kind of gross!!!

Shoe mania

2009-09-04T10:07:00.000-07:00

Makenzie loves to wear shoes. Here is a picture of her wearing a pair of shoes plus a croc that she found laying around. She walked around for about 2 hours wearing the pair of shoes plus the croc.

Recovered vacation pictures

2009-09-03T11:08:00.000-07:00

Above is the last picture that I took before my camera broke. She didn't like the water at the beginning of the week, but by the end she was all about it and loved going in it....up to her feet only!

Taylor got Makenzie her first ice cream cone and it was a hit. She just sat there and shared it with Taylor until it was all gone.

Vacation comes to a crashing end............

2009-08-22T06:01:00.000-07:00

You will notice that this post is without pictures. Here is the story from beginning to end.

We decided to drive to Ocean City on the afternoon of our last day of vacation, it's about 30 minutes away. We put Makenzie and Pete in the car and started driving. Makenzie was screaming the whole time and Pete would not sit down in the back seat. After getting into Ocean City we realized that there wasn't a whole lot of places to stop where we could get Pete out of the car and walk around.....so we decided to turn around and head back to the dog beach near Bethany (which is where we came from). Makenzie was still screaming and I we didn't have any snack in the car to give her. We stopped at the dog beach and I was going to get Makenzie some crackers from the snack bar. Taylor said to just wait until we were on our way out so she wouldn't get everything all sandy on the beach. We walked out to the beach and there were way too many people which would have been no fun for Pete since he wouldn't be able to run around. So we decided to try the next dog beach, but first I was going to go to the snack bar. The time I we got to the beach and saw the snack bar open it was 4:37pm....it was now 4:45pm and it was all of the sudden closed. What place decides to close for the day between the times of 4:37pm and 4:45pm????? So no snack and Pete still hasn't gotten a chance to play. So we are back in the car and Pete still won't sit down and Makenzie is still screaming. We stopped off at Happy Harry's (convenience store) on the way to the next dog beach. Taylor jumped out and ran in to get Makenzie a snack. He came back with Popcorn which is not a very good snack for a 14 month old to eat in the back of the car.....he didn't know that popcorn is very easy for kids to choke on. So during the car ride Taylor spent the whole time biting off pieces of the popcorn and giving them to Makenzie so she wouldn't choke. We finally get to the next dog beach (at this point we've been in the car for about an hour now). We get everyone and everything out of the car and head onto the beach. The water was really rough because a storm was coming, but we were just staying where the water would only get our feet. Apparently that was still too much for Makenzie because she lost her footing and went face first into the wet sand. Taylor picked her up and she dropped her shovel, which then got taken down the beach a little by the water. Taylor tells me to take Makenzie while he runs after it. She was all wet and I had my camera so I didn't want to take her from him. So he chased after the shovel while carrying her. I had my back to the water while I was watching him chase the shovel. All the sudden a big wave comes and take me out, fully clothed and camera in hand. My camera got drenched and my flip-flop flew off. So now I have a broken camera and Taylor is still holding Makenzie but now he is chasing my flip-flop instead of the shovel. He got the flip-flop. So now we're standing on the beach, I'm soaked, Makenzie is soaked, my camera is broken, Pete has no idea what is going on, Taylor and this old man sitting nearby in a chair are cracking up laughing.

So that's why this post has no pictures............

Bethany Beach 09

2009-08-20T05:50:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pics of our beach trip so far. I'm not a very good photographer and it always seems like Makenzie knows NOT to pose when I have the camera out. Here are a few that I managed to get.

$10 steal

2009-08-13T17:08:00.001-07:00

Amy will like this one....here is the $10 light fiixture we purchased for our kitchen. It almost perfectly matches the chandelier that we already had in our dining room. $10!!!!!!

Curly Sue

2009-08-13T17:02:00.000-07:00

I finally got some good shots of Makenzie's curly hair. She gets it from Taylor! I think I'm going to have to start google searching "How to style curly hair" so I can help her out when she gets older. :)

First post: Makenzie loves dogs!

2009-08-12T17:11:00.001-07:00

Makenzie is obsessed with dogs. Here are a few pics of her with her canine relatives.......