Sweet Prayers

Our church is building a new sanctuary, and today was "First Look Sunday" which meant after church everyone could look at the progress of the new part of the building. Even better, they gave us Sharpies as we entered so we could write prayers on the walls and the floors before they get covered with paint and carpet.

McKenzie and I had really been looking forward to doing this for several weeks. She was so disappointed we couldn't write our prayers last Sunday because we had had so much snow during the week that the construction hadn't been completed. But today was the day...and even though the wind was blowing like crazy...she wanted to keep writing and writing and writing. When I finally told her we HAD to go she told me she wasn't finished writing prayers because she wanted to write a prayer for everyone in our family. Of course we didn't have all day to let her stay and write, so I told her she could write more prayers on the floor in the basement before we get the carpet replaced, but as you can see here, her first prayer was for everyone she loves.

As always, McKenzie amazes me. And this prayer made me realize that what I'm going through right now ISN'T all about me. This prayer broke my heart.

When McKenzie was first born, she was just such a peaceful, loving presence...she was just so precious that I really felt like God had sent an angel down to me in the form of McKenzie. I had no idea what I had done to deserve this little angel, but I was so very grateful she was mine. She was such an amazing gift. I remember telling Scott shortly after she was born that he would never need to give me anything ever again because McKenzie was the most amazing gift I had ever received. (Then she turned 2, and I realized she was NO angel, and I started making birthday and Christmas lists again!) But so many times she does something that makes me start to think that maybe she is that angel I thought she was 7 years ago...like these prayers:

By the way...the prayer above says "Make Beautiful Days Happen", not"Make BUTT-ful days happen." I don't know about you, but I've got enough "Butt-ful" days!

And here were my prayers:

And of course Madison shared her prayers too (the orange scribbles to her left):

And I can't end this post without saying THANK YOU and I LOVE YOU to all of you for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers...for that I am eternally grateful!

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lisa

Happy Birthday, Kenzie Boo!

Happy Birthday! We love you!

"Hola, I'm Dora"

Breakfast this morning...
Madison and McKenzie were sitting at the table eating breakfast (well, let me clarify...Madison was eating her breakfast and taking things off McKenzie's plate, and McKenzie was dancing around, singing, and doing everything BUT eating breakfast...as usual!). Scott came downstairs and said, "Hola!" to which Madison quickly replied, "I'm Dora!" Funny Bunny!

So McKenzie finished the Pennies for Patients week with "Crazy Hair Day" on Friday. I definitely think she qualified.

And this is Madison before McKenzie woke up Friday morning. She's got that devient look on her face because she's watching Sissy's movie player, and she's not supposed to be. This kid is

definitely TROUBLE!

And here's McKenzie holding up her new Easter dress we bought yesterday. The plan was to get the girls matching dresses at The Children's Place, but while we were at Macy's looking for coats for next year, she saw this one and begged me to let her try it on. Once she did, she just had to have it. After all, it has a sparkly belt for crying out loud. How could we NOT get the dress with the sparkly belt???
And this little skirt is what we found for Maddie-Boo. Oh my goodness, this kid is cute! (And, oh by the way, she's sitting beside me as I write this asking, "Where Madison go?" Then saying, "Oh, there she is. I give her kiss." (Then she leans over and kisses her picture on the screen!)

Happy "Looks-Like-Bill-Won't-Have-To-Shop-For-A-New-First Lady-Wardrobe (or a new set of dishes) Week!"

Happy Valentine's Day!

We started this morning trying to take a family snapshot to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day by having Scott hold out the camera, and after we got this...

then this... we finally just asked Scott to take a picture of the girls, and we got this.

Happy Valentine's Day from Mom and the M & M's!

I had decided I would try to be a good mom this morning and make the girls heart-shaped pancakes so I bought some heart-shaped cookie cutters at Target earlier in the week. I figured if I put them on the griddle then poured the pancake mix into the cookie cutters, that I would have perfectly shaped heart pancakes which therefore would also set me up to be nominated for mother-of-the-year. (I'm pretty sure heart-shaped food on Valentine's Day, bunny-shaped food on Easter, Santa-shaped food on Christmas, etc., etc.,etc., are minimum requirements for nomination for the coveted award.) Anyway, on with the story, I figure I've got this pancake figured out and these are sure to be the best looking, best tasting heart-shaped pancakes ever. What I didn't realize was how these things were going to rise. And rise they did, and I do mean R-I-S-E. They started rising a little, and I didn't think anything about it until they started rising up ABOVE the sides of the cookie cutters. By the time they were ready to flip, they were as high as a biscuit. When McKenzie saw them she couldn't believe it and in her "oh-so-smart-I-could-have-done-this-way-better-than-you-Mom" fashion, she said (with complete love and respect, I'm sure), "Mom, why didn't you just make the pancakes like usual then cut out the heart shapes with the cookie cutters?" To which I replied, "Oh, yeah, good idea." And, oh, by the way, that's the way I made all consecutive batches this morning. Take my advise, it works WAY better that way! Anyway, here's one of the pancakes from the first batch (they fell a little after I finally figured out a way to finagle them out of the cookie cutter they were stuck in (something else I didn't think through completely when I came up with this brilliant idea.)

Big as a biscuit or not, McKenzie loved them.

Madison, on the other hand did not. After she finished the first one, I asked her if she wanted another, and she said, "No. I want Chocolate Cookie." Got to love the sheer honesty of a 2 year old.

As I told Mom about this breakfast fiasco today, she said, "Well, Lisa, you should have just made those pancakes "as big as that skillet." If you don't know this story it has to do with Ashley Amos when she was about 8 or 9 and Louise, the Amos' maid. Ashley's mom, Jean, wanted Ashley to lose a little weight, but every morning when Louise would ask Ashley what she wanted for breakfast, Ashley would say, "Louise, make me a pancake as big as that skillet," to which Louise would reply, "Ashley, you don't need no pancake big as dat skillet." So Ashley would say, "Then I want an omelette with lots and lots and lots of cheese." And Louise would say, "Ashley, you don't need no omelette with lots and lots and lots and lots of cheese." Thanks for reminding me of that story, Mom. I hadn't thought about that in years!

Here's Madison in her new Valentine PJ's. I've been trying to catch this look on film for forever, and I finally got it tonight. She's definitely the queen of funny looks, and this look is DEFINITELY 100% Madison.

After teasing her for a little while, I finally got this little smile.


And here's another cute picture of her before she left for school this morning.

In other news, McKenzie's school has been collecting money for Pennies for Patients this week. Everyday they could participate in some kind of fun activity, and on Tuesday it was Fashion Disaster day. She and I raided her closet and basically tried our best to make her look like a fashion disaster. Then we decided we needed to do something with her hair, so we got every barrette we own and put it in her hair. I don't know about you, but I think she ended up looking a little more like a flashback to the 80's than a fashion disaster (but come to think of it, weren't 80's fashions the epitomy of a fashion disaster?????) Anyway, I guess no matter what she wears or how her hair is fixed, she's still unbelievably CUTE!


She decided she wanted to make a sign that said "Fashion Disaster" so she could pin it on her back. So she did...

But here's what it really said.

If you can't read it, it says "Fason Dusaser." So cute!

Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day! We love you!

My Little Cheerleader

Since before McKenzie turned 3 years old, she's wanted nothing more than to be a cheerleader. When they built a new Gymnastics & Cheerleading Studio by her daycare, she asked me every single day for weeks to go sign her up for Cheerleading classes. So when they finally opened for business we went to sign her up only to find out that you had to be at least 6 to take cheerleading. She was so sad and of course asked me how long it would be until she turned 6. I didn't have the heart to tell her it would be another 3 years.

Fast forward almost 4 years, and McKenzie finally got to to live out her dream of being a cheerleader. Douglas County High School sponsors a yearly cheerleading clinic, and even though it was only for a few hours last Saturday, she had a blast. She was in her element. Even t hough they were only there for 3 hours, it's amazing how much she learned! She was even doing hurkies. ("What the heckie is a hurkie?" - A line from Hannah Montana...if you don't watch it incensently like we do at our house, you won't get it, but to us, it's funny.)

I know I'm partial here, but she really stood out in the huge crowd of kids. She was enthusiastic and jumping and really, really enjoying herself. She LOVED it, and she was really great at it!

They performed for the parents on Saturday right after the clinic, then after their performance they sat down on the gym floor and watched the high school team perform their routine for competition. There were so many kids, Madison hadn't been able to see McKenzie until she sat down, and once she saw her she started crying to go and see her. I expected McKenzie to ignore her and tell her to be quiet, but she did just the opposite. She waved at Madison and motioned for her to come over then she held her in her lap until Madison wiggled away and sat on the floor beside her. I tell you, this kid has a heart of gold and she is so in love with her little sister. I was so very proud!!

The cheering pictures above are from Tuesday night when the little girls got to perform at half time of the high school basketball game. McKenzie thought she had died and gone to heaven she was so happy about getting another chance to perform. We got much better pictures that night because we got a spot right in front of where she was standing. I'll try to learn how to upload the video because it's priceless!

Happy Friday!

Happy You and Me Day!

Happy Anniversary, Scott! Eleven years ago today we started out on this crazy journey together. In those 11 years we have...

Had the 2 cutest little girls on the face of the planet

Moved from Atlanta to Colorado

Lived in 4 different houses

Built 2 houses from start to finish

Bought 9 cars (yes, that's not a mistake...1 Sebring Convertible, 1 Jeep Grand Cherokee, 3 Volvo
Cross Countrys (2 Ash Gold & 1 Black), 1 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo, 1 Honda Ridgeline, 1 Honda Element, and 1 Chevy Silverado...see, I told you that was 9!

Taken 2 Cruise vacations - one really fun, one not so much fun

Learned to Scuba Dive - that was WAY FUN...we should have done that more!

Run 2 marathons together...Rock n Roll in 2000 and Disney in 2004...and subsequently had 1 kid the year following each marathon...there must be a story there somewhere!!!

I've had 2 jobs - Hawaiian Tropic & Indulgent Foods, and you have had 6 - Hav-a-Tampa, Talbot, Safelite, Rickenbaugh, Ralph Schomp & Rickenbaugh again

Visited Canada together

Whew...no wonder we're exhausted!

So today, in honor of You and Me Day, our special day, the day just for celebrating you and me and the life we share together, I just wanted to tell you, I've loved every minute, and I love you more today than I ever knew I could 11 years ago. I'm so happy and so grateful I've gotten to spend the last 11 years with you. Can't wait to see where the next 11 years takes us!

I love you!!!!!!!

Love, Hugs & Kisses,

Lisa

Happy 66th, Dougie!

McKenzie made this birthday sign for Dougie (which Madison proceeded to rip the top off of, but that's a whole other story) because she wanted me to take their picture holding the sign so they could wish Dougie a Happy Birthday "in person."

See Madison's smile? This is about as good as it gets these days. She sees the camera come out, and she looks up with closed eyes and gives me the big fake smile. YUK! See this? This is what I'm talking about. (Although, I must admit...this is a pretty cute one.)

When we were in Atlanta this summer, I slept in late one morning, and Dad got up with Madison (that's usually what Mom does, but for some reason, Dad got up with her.) She was in her "I only want my mommy phase" so she had been really stand off-ish with everyone especially when I was around. But that morning, Dougie started playing peek-a-boo with her, and they instantly bonded. And when we saw Mom & Dad again in Florida in September, Madison hadn't forgotten that Dougie was her buddy. She immediately went to him and started playing peek-a-boo again. I don't know if it's because they are both lefties or what (see below), but they are big time buddies. She loves her Dougie.

Anymore, the only way I can get her to stay still (at least a 2-year old's version of still) and smile for a picture is to say, "Dougie wants to see a pretty new picture of you." See these results? Here she is last Thursday... And here she is yesterday morning...

Yes, this is my new favorite skirt of hers. These look like "Little McKenzie outfits" (the pink shirt was McKenzie's). I think that's why I like them so much...they remind me of my big girl when she was an itty-bitty too. :(

And here's my cutie McKenzie. She FINALLY got the science bag at school (of all weeks...it was the week I was out of town Monday - Thurday) so just another thing Scott had to do that week. It was something to do with adding baking soda to vinegear to make an explosion. Scott couldn't find the baking soda (by the way...it was right in the front of the spice cabinet) and had to call the neighbor to see if she had some, and even after all that, he still remembered to take a picture of McKenzie in her science goggles. Isn't she the cutest?

Ok, so I have a lot more catching up to do, but I need to get the kiddos ready for bed.

Until tomorrow.