Surprise dinner for Aunt McKenzie

Saturday was McKenzie's birthday, so we surprised her with dinner at Beth and Ira's house. The kids had a great time playing together, even if Kennedy was a little bossy. When we got to the house Kennedy noticed that they still have up their amazing 12-foot Christmas tree, so she said, "Beth, Christmas is over!" Beth told her that she needed help taking it down, and that she should mention it to Ira when he got back from the store. Of course she did saying, "Ira, you need to take that tree down right now!" She gets a very serious look on her face and even does a bit of the finger wag. Even though it is adorable coming from such a little girl, all I can think is do we do this to her all the time? I don't think so, but maybe I'll have to watch myself.

They played hide and seek, and when Ira found them giggling inside the pantry, he knocked on the door with a "Little pig, little pig, let me come in." Kennedy answered, "Not by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin!." Kennedy also directed some playtime in her cousins' bedroom, taking care of their sick babies. Then Jake made them into a "cousin sandwich." Huck wanted to be in the middle and shouted, "I want to be the cheese!" Kennedy, Eliza and Huck all took turns being the bread (top and bottom slice) and the cheese.

Eventually Kennedy just needed some time to herself and she settled down on the couch to read. Macy loved all the attention from her aunts and grandma...until the end of the night when she let everyone know that she was ready to go home and go to bed. It's hard to get her to wind down in an unfamiliar place.

Earlier in the day, Kennedy was taking charge at her Little Gym class too. She felt it necessary to run halfway across the room to tell Maya that she needed to get off the red mat while the air-track was being set up.

Macy also gets it from her big sister every now and again. "Mace, you need to eat your food!" - and then after dinner - "Mace, you are all messy. You need to take a bath!" Kennedy is even getting down on the floor trying to move Macy's arms and legs to teach her how to crawl. When Jake and I were laughing about it later, I told him that being a leader is a good quality that will serve our daughter well in life.