Christmas Eve

McKenzie has the good fortune to celebrate Christmas three times each year (four when Dustin's mom is up from Florida) and this year was fantastic.  We started with Christmas Eve at the Ricci's.  It was a relaxing, Italian-food filled day.  When it was time for the kids to open gifts Dustin volunteered to play Santa.  I thought that we had at least one more year before she was a part of the present opening frenzy, but I was wrong.  Dustin had his hands full fending her off.  Every time he turned his back to hand someone a gift Kenzie was busy ripping into whatever was in front of her (regardless of whose name was on the tag).

What do you mean they aren't ALL for me?

After the gifts were open, however, she calmed down a little and enjoyed some time with her family.

Grandma Karen, guarding the stairs.

Auntie Heather gives Kenzie a ride on Joshy's new skateboard.

Uncle Matt knows how to show a girl a good time.

Nice Sister?

Kenzie got a baby doll from Santa at a party at Dustin's school earlier this week.  Should we be worried about bringing a real baby into the house?

 (P.S. that is a balloon animal that has come undone in the background...don't be getting any ideas)

Christmas is in the house

A tree?  In the living room?  This is a crazy holiday.  Every morning, when Kenzie remembers that we have a piece of the woods decorated in our home, she says excitedly,"tee, tee, tee!" (translation: "tree"...and yes, she always says things at least twice, usually more, with a great sense of urgency).

She enjoyed the hunt for the perfect tree, especially because it included a tractor ride up the mountain.

Sad side note: I lost that absolutely adorable hand-me-down puffy vest from LL Bean while shopping earlier this week.
I am so disappointed in myself.

I know she loves the holidays because she gets to do things that we never let her do, like eat handfuls of candy while making a gingerbread cottage.  We had intended this gingerbread-home-making session as a photo opportunity for our Christmas card, but we weren't able to pry the candy from her death grip and every time we asked her to smile a mouthful of purple/yellow/orange drool leaked down her chin.  Not exactly what we had planned.

Her hands and mouth are full of candy.

Her chin isn't always that color.

Halloween: Quack Quack

Without a doubt, McKenzie was the cutest duck in the pond on Halloween.  While I was hesitant to take her trick-or-treating because she can't even say "trick-or-treat" yet, we decided that she would enjoy the experience and it turned out to be pretty fun for us too.

At the first house the owner placed a bowl full of candy at Kenzie's level and she just stared at it in amazement.  The woman put FOUR pieces of candy into Kenzie's bucket.  As Dustin and Kenzie walked back to the bottom of the driveway where I was waiting she couldn't stop looking into her bucket.

They just gave this to me?  I didn't have to beg? Didn't have to whine?

At the second house, as soon as the bowl of candy was in reach, Kenzie dug her hand in and grabbed a pack of Nerds before anyone changed their mind.

This is crazy! 

By the third house, Kenzie was leaving Dustin behind as she ran up the walkway to the awaiting bowl of candy.  

Come on daddy!  There's chocolate up there!

We only went to five or six houses, but she got plenty of loot.  She also enjoyed checking out some of the other kids in their costumes.  I'm sure her favorite part of the night was the mini Twix bar that we let her have on the car ride home.  We can hardly wait for next year.

Halloween: Pumpkin Guts

Dustin and I waited until the last possible moment to carve our pumpkins because we had a hard time finding a time when we would be able to do it together as a family.  We were so excited to see Kenzie's reaction when she dug her hand inside the pumpkin to feel the slimy, juicy pumpkin guts.  Boy were we disappointed! She refused to go anywhere near the guts with her bare hands.  She kept holding out her arms and indicating that she wanted to touch the gooey stuff, but when we tried to hand it to her she ran away.

Next year I'm hoping she'll dig right in.

Halloween: Picking the Perfect Pumpkin

A Tough Year for Squirrels

I fear the squirrels will have a difficult time making it through winter because of the stores of acorns we are bringing into the  house.  McKenzie has made it her personal mission to collect all acorns found lying in our yard, and there are a lot. I've tried to convince her that they are best left outside, but she insists on bringing them inside and keeping them in various cups and buckets.  I've recently resorted to hiding them from her in hopes that she will forget about her new game  "Put an Acorn in my Mouth Then Run Away from Mommy."  She's very good at this game.