Birthday Cake - a pictorial

Macy's first experience with cake...

Birthday week-end

The whole week-end was a celebration of Macy's birthday. Friday while I was at work, Kennedy prepared for the party - she went to the store with Grammie and Pamp and bought a chocolate cake mix, pink vanilla frosting, and got two balloons. Then she and Pamp made the cake, which we enjoyed after dinner (and again on Sunday night when we shared it with the rest of the family.) Macy loved her first experience with cake, although it took her a while to figure out that it was something to eat, much more than Kennedy did on her first birthday - this deserves its own post. It looks like this girl has her mama's sweet tooth.

Earlier in the afternoon, Jake and I took the girls to the aquarium, one of their favorite spots. Macy was fascinated with the fish and I think she would have watched them all day. But, we had to keep up with Kennedy and her excitement to keep moving. Macy got to open her present from us, a Little People town set. Both girls loved it, and Macy was very nice to share with her big sister.

Saturday we cleaned and shopped to get ready to host dinner at our house. It was a joint party for the April birthday girls, Macy and Aunt Beth.

The weather was so nice, so we grilled hamburgers and ate outside. The kids had a blast playing on the swing set and with Kennedy's Jeep. Eliza was the only one who really got the hang of steering the Jeep, so she gave her brother and cousin rides.

Eliza also brought a game that involved some sort of cross between keep away and Simon says. It was quite entertaining to watch the "big kids" play this one, especially when it evolved into tackle football. Macy was excited to have more cake, a mini banana cupcake with chocolate frosting from our favorite cupcake store, and knew just what to do with it this time.

She wasn't too interested in opening presents, but loved playing with them once they were unwrapped. She got some great new toys: a see 'n say, popper, ball and hammer set, and Little People grandma and grandpa; and some cute clothes: a cake dress to match Kennedy's, blue sun dress, shirts and shorts, sneakers, and hair clips. Beth was great to play kitchen with the kids up in the girls' room. Kennedy never gets tired of playing with her kitchen, and loves to show it off to everyone that comes over.

Sunday we stayed home and took care of a few more week-end projects. Jake mowed the lawn for the first time this year. Kennedy and I played gymnastics and ladder golf in the back yard and dug in the dirt with her tools. Macy and Jake took a long nap on the couch together; she's had a cold for the last few days, so I think she really needed this nice rest. They woke up just in time to get ready for dinner at Grammie's and Pamp's. Kennedy fell asleep almost instantly in the car on the way there, but she woke up when we arrived and was mostly in a good mood.

Macy opened a few gifts before dinner, a personalized my first family photo album and a car and track set. Macy really liked the pesto chicken and vegetable casserole that Grammie made, and the cake, of course.

Then she finished opening her presents - money from her great-grandparents to start her bank account, a bucket full of sandbox toys, and a tent/ball pit for the girls to enjoy together (Kennedy already assumes that all the toys are for them both to play with!)

It's been a great week-end. Thanks, everyone, for helping us celebrate with Macy!

My goodness, Macy Sue, where has the time gone!

Happy first birthday to my beautiful Macy Suzette. Your birth - the whole day, even the whole pregnancy - was the most amazing experience, and even with my terrible memory, I remember it all just like it was yesterday. Everything about it was perfect. You made our family complete. This year has been very special, and I will always treasure it. There are some advantages to being a second child; I was able to relax and enjoy things more because it wasn't all so new and overwhelming. And you sure made things easy by being such a good baby. You are so good natured, and it almost seems like you adopted a sleeping and eating schedule that worked for all of us right from the beginning. Now you're ready to take the first steps (we expect any day now - your're so close!) into the next stage of life, as a toddler. A few of the many things I love about you right now:

You fill my heart with joy...
when you see me and your face lights up as you shout "hi!"
when you wrap your little arms around me and snuggle into my neck.
when you delight in the new things you see and do and learn every day.

You make me laugh...
when you put your tiny feet in other people's shoes.
when you giggle as you try to escape from dad's tickling.
when you collapse on a pillow and pretend to sleep.

You have changed so much over your first year...
when your hair changed from thick and dark brown (like dad's) to fine and light brown (like mine).
when you went from your sweet, toothless smiles to a five-toothed wide grin.
when you moved from swaddled bundle, to sitting by yourself, to crawling, and now you're standing, cruising and climbing the stairs all by yourself!

I'm so excited to see what's in store for you over the next year! Macy, I am so lucky to be your mama, and I love you very much! I know your daddy and sister feel the same way, too!

Happy Earth Day

Kennedy has been learning about Earth Day at school and from her new Fancy Nancy book. After dinner last night, we decided to celebrate by walking over to the school to play and fly kites.

Now that she's three

Kennedy went to see Dr. Ormsby yesterday for her 3-year-old check-up. She loves going to the doctor's office, and when she's playing with her own doctor's kit at home, Kennedy pretends to be Dr. Ormsby. Here are her measurements: height - 37 1/2 inches (60th percentile), weight - 31 pounds (55th percentile), BMI - 15.5 (45th percentile), blood pressure - 103/59 (the first time this has been checked, as far as I know) and pulse - 95. She still has both ear tubes in place. And, she doing exceptionally well in all areas, which I of course know, but has now been confirmed by a medical professional. Kennedy and Dr. Ormsby had a cute conversation about which Disney princess was their favorite, and also one about Dora because Kennedy explained that she has a Dora bike helmet, bell, and book, but she's never seen the Dora the Explorer TV show.

Kennedy also got hold of the clipboard and took Macy's medical history, making little notes on her chart as I answered the questions. "What is your baby's name? (Macy) Is she allergic to any medicine? (No, not that I'm aware of) Does she like shots? (I thought she asked does she like socks! No she doesn't like shots or socks) Does she like socks? Does she wear shoes? (No, she likes to be barefoot.)" The nurse was very impressed and just about offered her a job on the spot! Kennedy was very brave for her one shot, and didn't cry at all. When we play doctor, we like to talk about how shots hurt, but just for a minute, and then you get a fun band-aid...and a sticker! Picking out a sticker is probably her favorite part of the appointment.

Today my dad reported that he and Kennedy had this conversation after school:

Pamp: "We're going by the Z-O-O."

Kennedy: "My name starts with K-E-N-N-E-D-Y."

This is the first time that she's spelled out her name. I sure think she's brilliant, even though she will sometimes disagree. She must be thinking of Fancy Nancy's other definition of the word - shiny and bright, which I also think fits her.

More

Last night I was in the girls' room getting them ready for bed. Kennedy was on the floor reading herself some books. Macy was sitting on Kennedy's bed playing with a few toys. I started singing to them. Macy looked up at me and smiled; she babbled along a bit. Then when I finished the song, she started doing the sign for more! Really, you want more? OK, I'll sing some more. So I sang another song. "More!" she signed again. We repeated this process over and over and over, just about exhausting my knowledge of entertaining kids songs. Then Jake came in and joined the sing-along. It was great to see that she totally understands the concept of "more" and that she knows how to express this desire. It's also great that she doesn't mind my off key singing.

Here are some pictures of The Mace from dinner at Grandpa Ray's on Sunday. I don't know what it is about these shots, but I just love them. Macy was so cute sitting on this little booster seat, just giggling and swinging her legs. Then she found the curio cabinet and was fascinated by the objects inside and her own reflection looking back at her. How can it be that my baby is almost one?

Gardening

We did some planting over the weekend. Hopefully this summer we'll be able to enjoy some beautiful flowers in the front of the house and a small vegetable patch in the back. The garden has been sadly neglected, but we all helped turn the soil and mix in some peat moss - even Macy! She loved using the little tools Kennedy got for her birthday. Unfortunately we weren't fast enough to stop her from eating a handful of dirt.

Kennedy picked a bouquet for each of us and ingeniously thought to use her small glasses as vases. She loved that the flowers were just growing in the lawn, and she was especially excited by their purple color and fancy name - "drape" hyacinths.

Fun run

This week at school Kennedy did a fun run to raise money for two service projects: Children of Ethiopia Education Fund and Navajo Adopt an Elder Program. Each year her school sends money and yarn to three Navajo grandmothers and provides tuition assistance for seven girls to go to school in Ethiopia. The kids all run laps in the gym for 15 minutes and earn money based on flat donations or an amount pledged per lap. Thanks to all of Kennedy's generous sponsors, we collected $185. It's great to see the values of service and philanthropy taught to kids at such a young age.

The night before the run, we carefully selected her "most speedy sneakers" and some comfortable running clothes. She was so excited about the whole thing. As soon as she got home from school she called me at work and said, "Mom, guess what. I ran 20 laps. I was faster than everybody else!" I was sorry to have missed it, and I hope someone got a picture.

That night we went out to dinner at a Japanese hibachi restaurant. I thought it would be fun to get out and combine an evening of food and entertainment, since the girls had both napped until 6:00pm. Our chef kept asking if we thought the baby would be okay with the fire, and we assured him that Macy would be fine. And she was...it was Kennedy that was terrified by the flames right there at our table. After hiding her eyes for a few moments, she became interested when the chef starting twirling his spatulas and throwing eggs up into the air. Kennedy's favorite moments of the night were when the chef built an erupting volcano (the fire was more acceptable this time) out of a stack of onion rings. He then turned the volcano into a steam train, complete with clanging from the spatulas and choo-choo sounds. She also loved it when the chef threw shrimp through the air for us to catch in our mouths. I almost had it, but the shrimp bounced right out and landed in Kennedy's booster seat. Macy seemed to enjoy the whole spectacle. It was a fun night out.

Incidentally we went to the track a few weeks ago to jog, and Kennedy ran one full lap and then most of a second lap. I'm not sure that she's a future track star, but it was fun to get out and exercise together! One of us would jog, while the other kept pace with Kennedy and pushed Macy in the stroller.

So sweet

Kennedy gave me the sweetest compliment. I'm not exactly sure what she means by it, but it made me so happy because it's such a pure expression of her love: "I love you mama! You're the softest mama in the whole wide world." And I love you too, babe!

Easter

Kennedy was along with me when I did all the Easter basket shopping, but I did manage to sneak a few things into the cart without her noticing. I thought she would be excited to hunt for her baskets, but she was quite upset when I said that dad and I would hide them for her. Kennedy had in mind that she would hide them herself - so much easier to find that way! So we compromised and just left them out on the table.

Grammie, Pamp and Grandpa Ray came over to our house for a brunch of aebleskivers, bacon and sausage, fruit, yogurt and hard-boiled eggs. Macy slept through the meal, but she woke up in time for the baskets to be opened. Kennedy loved all her Easter surprises - she got such fun things (and hardly any candy because most of her eggs were filled with cashews and goldfish crackers): Fancy Nancy and Dora books, a pinwheel, carrot seeds, Minnie Mouse underwear, and markers. Macy got some teething biscuits and a cute stuffed lamb, which she immediately gave a big hug and then showed everyone that she knows what a sheep says, "Baaa!" Grammie also made each girl a bookmark and decorated a hard boiled egg with stickers for them. We took everyone downstairs to show how well our vegetable starts are doing, and Grandpa Ray was very interested in all our workout equipment. He tried everything - the bosu, spinning bike, universal gym - pretty amazing for an 89-year-old!

We had Easter dinner at Grandma Sue's and Grandpa Brent's house. I made a green bean casserole to go with the ham and potatoes. After dinner the kids went outside for another egg hunt. They each filled up a bucket, and then after everything had been found, they divided the eggs into "K", "M", "E", and "H" piles.

Next Grandma Sue had a charades game ready for them to play. The kids acted out emotions, animals, or songs that were whispered to them and the moms/aunts tried to guess (even though most of the time we couldn't help overhearing the topic.) They were all so cute doing the actions to "Wheels on the Bus" and "I Had a Little Turtle" or acting like a frog or a monkey. My favorite was seeing them do "grumpy" - it was hard not to smile at those scowls.

Easter eggs

Saturday morning started early (as usual because these girls don't ever sleep in) with an Easter Egg Hunt at the park. We thought the cold day would scare off a few people, but there were still tons of kids.

We found the four and under area and tried to coach Kennedy on a strategy. When the fire truck's siren sounded to start the scramble, Kennedy seemed to panic and almost started to cry. Jake helped her navigate through the other kids, and eventually she got two eggs for her bag.

I picked up one for Macy to play with, so she wouldn't be left out. The whole thing was over in about 30 seconds. And, there wasn't even good candy in the eggs - it was tootsie rolls (which Kennedy tried and then asked for permission to spit out) and rock hard caramel. Oh well, we did it for the experience.

That afternoon Macy got to watch from her highchair as her sister and cousins dyed eggs at Grandma Sue's kitchen table.

This will be her first Easter. Last year we were at The Club, eating the buffet, blowing bubbles on the golf course, and waiting (11 more days) for Macy to join our family!

After all the three dozen eggs had been colored, and a few eaten because they cracked, we cleaned up the table for the next project - taffy pulling! I don't know if it was fun, or just entertaining. It was a big, sticky mess! After coating our hands in butter, we squished and stretched the packet of taffy base, which was about the consistency of honey, until it started to turn white and more solid. No one had much success. Kennedy thought she was helping, but she was really just finger painting the table with butter. She had a great time, and I'm so glad Grandma Sue didn't mind the coating of grease everywhere. The kids also talked Grandma Sue into some play dough time.

We finished out the night with a trip to our favorite hamburger place. Eliza and Kennedy insisted on wearing white dress gloves and carrying purses, filled with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I can't believe that Kennedy chose PB&J over the chance to have a hot dog!