The Mac Kinnon Family

Emily took some time yesterday to check out the flowers.....

I had a meeting today that I needed to go without kids in tow, so John took a day of leave. When Mac heard that Daddy was going to take him and pick him up from school he was so excited. On Sunday when John asked him what he wanted to do after preschool Mac exclaimed "go on a picnic by the goats and horses" (which is in colonial williamsburg). John had a lunch packed when he picked Mac up and they went on their picnic, which made Mac's day. It was a beautiful day here, sunny and breezy. The wind blew Emily's hair all over, I promise it doesn't hang in her face all day!

I love John and Mac but sometimes living with boys has it's moments...from typical boy stuff to "aiming" issues at the toilet some times they drive me a little batty. Today my son "pants" me in the kitchen and was laughing hysterically and of course John thought it was funny too...I didn't find it as funny as they did but realized I have many more years of "boy" humor.......

Today we had a surprise for Mac, we've kept him guessing for two days with what "special" thing we were going to do today. His last guess today was "going to pick up trash on the beach so the animals don't get hurt". I was so proud that he would even think of this and then to think it was special was wonderful too. Although we could have gone and picked up trash, I had gotten us tickets to Disney on Ice, which the kids just loved. Mac had a permanent smile on his face for most of the show, the only time he got a little bored is when they did all the "love story" characters. Surprisingly the show kept Emily's attention for the 2 hours which was fabulous. It was really a great show and it was a great family day!

Yesterday it was a rainy, mucky day here so I broke out the Mr. Potato Head, the kids had a great time and Emily loved the "eyes" (her word for glasses)!

John and Mac both have a new interest in soccer and soccer jerseys. John has been able to pick Mac up some from his trips, these are their favorites and it happens to be Uncle Mike's favorite team too (Liverpool in case you are wondering)..... John picked him up a jersey too..... might be a new material for the Mac Kinnon clan!

Mac has been very envious of a few older boys in the neighborhood who have skate boards. Yesterday one of the boys gave Mac a skate board that he first learned on. It's tiny and had big wheels but Mac was so tickled. All he wants to do now is "practice" on his skate board. I'm freaked out of course and want him to wear knee pads and a helmet of course. Oh boy........

Holly was here for dinner tonight and we were chatting about her friend Brian who was picking her up to take her to Portsmouth for her conference. This turned into a conversation about cousin Brian, then somehow got on to ages, who's older vs. younger. We went from Brian and Mac to Jim and John and then Holly says explains that she was born before me and asked Mac who was older...... Mac replies Mommy. Holly said no she was born first, Mac says "but your shorter?" We all were cracking up, Mac didn't understand why we were laughing. Guess in his mind since Holly is shorter than me, that she was younger......

John got home late last night, Emily woke up shortly there after (she's got another cold) and just leaped into John's arms and fell asleep on his chest. Then shortly after that Mac crawled into our bed and curled up with John too, soon after that he was stuck to me. When I woke up this morning I said to Mac that I didn't sleep very well between John, Emily and Mac. Mac says "me neither Daddy kept waking me up". I chuckled and asked how, he said he was snoring........ We had a great day today, Aunt Holly is back in town for a day, everyone is tired and ready for bed!

The kids were really cute this morning, Mac was playing his "ukulele" which he thinks is a guitar. After a few songs, Emily started singing and "playing the guitar" too, both were too darn cute! I took them with my cell phone so the quality isn't great, but there are 3, the first two are Mac and the last is Emily!

This afternoon we went for a bike ride, being that we have a keypad to open our garage door I didn't take my keys with me. We got back and Mac was eagerly waiting by the garage door to get his scooter while I was getting Emily out of the bike seat. I plug in the pin to open the door and the door tries to open but seems stuck, I soon realize Mac had turned the handle on the garage door, causing it to lock manually. Oh boy, now I have to figure out how to get into my house. I lock it up like Fort Knox so I knew no window or other door would be open. I head over to one of my neighbors who's husband was home to see if he could help. He tried to pic the lock, but had no success. So I figured it was time to call a locksmith. I found someone very local and within a half an hour and $30 later I was in my house. All the while Mac was playing with his friend...... My neighbor now has a key.....

In July when we went to Hershey Park Emily got a "Dora" doll. She loves this doll and is usually has it with her at some point during the day. During our last trip Mac found a "Diego" that was a match for Dora. Emily of course always wants both dolls and often there is an argument. About 3 days ago Dora disappeared. I couldn't find her anywhere. I searched both our vehicles and all the normal places I would think she would be. Since Mac still has Diego there as alot more fighting since Emily wanted it and I had to explain it was Mac's but didn't have Dora to give her. Mac and I decided she ran away from home! Since I was tired of them battling for Diego I searched one more time and just as I was about to give up, I found her. Hidden in a corner behind some stuff in Emily's room. I don't know how she got there, Mac swears he didn't hide her......I'm just glad she's found. Emily's sleeping soundly with Dora tonight!

After Tuesdays, "not so great experience", I've been trying my best to have Mac give it a second chance. I explained how sometimes we don't like something the first time we try it and when we try it again we may like it. I tried all kinds of logic but he was dead set that he did not want to try a long day again. This morning when he got up I asked him, he almost said yes, then said "no way". I decided that I need to pick my battles and since having him do a longer day a few times a week is what he wanted and we don't need to do it, I wasn't going to force the issue.

was a bust. He didn't like it at all, poor guy. He was so very excited and when I picked him up he was so sad. He said that he had to "rest" (quiet time), which I knew and Mac has long given up naps, he does have quiet time at home but he can read books, etc. But at preschool he had to rest, secondly he said he didn't get to eat lunch where he wanted. He was one grumpy boy. I asked him to please try it again one more time and if he doesn't like it he doesn't have to do long days. We were doing it for him because he wanted to stay so bad. He LOVES his morning time and teachers so I find it strange he had such a bad afternoon. We'll see if I can convince him to try it one more time.....

Tonight at the table Mac was jabbering about stuff and said, there are two girls and two boys in our house. I said you are right Mac but we actually have 3 boys if you count Willie. Mac said Willie wasn't a human, I said sure he was, he was part of our family! Then the questions began. It went something like this: Mac: Mommy how do you know Willie is a boy? Me: Just like we tell us apart boys have boy parts and girls have girl parts. Mac: But where's his pee pee that sticks out? Me: Kitty's have a pee pee like that but you can't see it. Mac: But I could see Harley's when he was here. Me: I know but Kitties are just different than dogs, their parts are hidden. Mac: Mommy I don't understand. Me: That's fine you don't understand, it's quite complicated. You'll understand more when you get older. Mac is one for great questions, sometimes I can see a train wreck before it happens and derail it, but I was caught off guard on this one......

We will be full swing into our normal routine this week with preschool and all the kids activities. For the past week all Mac can talk about is how excited he is for Tuesday. When you ask him why Tuesday he'll tell you....because I get to stay all day at preschool! Last year Mac wanted to do some longer days to stay and have lunch and join in the afternoon program at his preschool but I wouldn't give in last year. This year I agreed he could have 2 long days out of the 4 he's there, so Tuesday and Thursday will be those days. It will help him get ready for kindergarten next year, they go all day here. He is just tickled that he'll be staying until 3:30 and will get to learn a little Spanish and get to do some of the fun things they do in the afternoon. Hopefully he'll enjoy it....we'll find out!

Mac has been bugging me for a while now to go to the zoo. He was such a good boy yesterday I told him we would go today, he was thrilled. My friend Kim and her daughter Gabby joined us at the Richmond Zoo, it was such a great time. Emily is in to monkeys right now and there were plenty for her to see, of all types! We saw a cool tiger that came up to the plexiglass and Mac was so excited he looked at him! Mac got to feed the giraffes, of course Emily wanted nothing to do with getting too close to the animals! I didn't realize how long a giraffes tongue is! Gabby got a great "kiss" from one, it was too cute! Mac also fed a variety of animals, saw penguins, we took a sky ride over the zoo and a "safari" ride and saw lots of animals. 2 pairs of Llamas were "hugging", fortunately Mac didn't ask what they were doing (I didn't post any pictures of that)!

let Mac grow! We were outside playing today and Mac was on his scooter and all of a sudden is trying to "jump" with the scooter, do a wheelie, etc. He fell (no injuries), I bit my lip and decided I can't always be there to tell him not to do it, and it's something he's going to do regardless of what I say. He is a boy and sees the older boys in the street doing this so he bound to want to keep "practicing" stunts. The same thing happened last week when we were riding bikes and John was showing him how to do a "wheelie"! It is so hard as a mom when I see a potential accident coming his way, and it's hard to keep my mouth shut and not tell him to stop! UGGG....

don't need baths according to Mac :)!

Mac has been a handful this week and is not listening well at all. He sometimes goes through these phases when John leaves but it's usually short lived. This time were almost a week into this and it's very challenging for me. Today I asked him why he isn't listening to me and doing what I ask him to, his response "I ignore you mom because I'm having more fun playing"......

I was cleaning up in my room this afternoon and Emily was hanging with me. She comes into my room and says "shhhh" holding her finger to her lips. I didn't know what she was doing then I glanced up and saw Mac's door shut. I asked her to show me and we go to Mac room and I open the door. She has wrapped one of her babies in a blanket and it was going "nite nite". She was too darn cute. She closed the door again and said "shhhh". Later she put two of her babies in a time out......poor babies.....

Mac was so excited to go to back to his preschool today. John and Holly both called him this morning early to wish him luck which tickled Mac. He got to meet his teachers and about 5 kids who were in his class last year are in his new class, he was thrilled, especially to see "Addison" ! He and Addison were inseparable in the spring, he was so excited to see her, we'll see if they "reconnect"! Too cute....... He'll be doing alot of cool stuff this year, learning to write letter, start reading, etc. He is also going to stay for the afternoon two days a week and they teach some spanish on those days so were all excited about that too!

I came to the realization today that summer is over. We have had a great summer doing alot of fun stuff and spending some great time together. Tomorrow Mac starts back to preschool and next week the kids will be full swing into our normal routine of preschool and activities. Where did the summer go?

We have had a busy few days! Yesterday we caught up on a few errands then hung out with our neighbors for a "block" party. It was a great and fun evening, the kids were up past their bedtime but had a great time, aside from being eaten by mosquitos! Of course they wanted to sleep in this morning but we had to get up for church. After church we headed to water country since they are closing this weekend for the winter. Our neighbors joined us, Julia is 5 and TJ is 8, they were great buddies for Mac. Both kids played hard and Emily fell asleep in the stroller on the way to the car. Mac was beyond tired, Emily seemed to be reenergized from her 20 minute catnap. I couldn't resist this picture of Emily zonked!

Gran sent Mac a watch a year ago, with a regular clock and he also had an inexpensive digital one. He would go back and forth with his interest in wearing them, they would sit for a while, lately his interest has picked up again. Both watches had broke, he got them wet, etc. but he still would wear one or the other even though they didn't work. Yesterday I was at Target and I needed a new watch as my band had broken. While I was picking mine out I noticed Timex makes a kids watch. They were waterproof to 30 meters and had a nice velcro strap. I thought he really might enjoy it, so then I debated between the ones with a regular clock vs. digital. I finally decided on a digital to help teach him time "lingo" first before we work on the whole clock concept which can be confusing. When I showed it to him he was delighted. Not only does it tell the time, it has seconds, says am or pm, has a date, an alarm and stopwatch. His favorite thing is that it lights up in the dar...

Mac is sure glad the Indian didn't come to the house tonight! As we were eating dinner tonight, out of the blue Mac says "I'm glad the Indian didn't come to the house tonight". John and I looked at each other puzzled then I asked Mac what made him think about that. He said he didn't know. I asked if he saw or heard something about Indians today, which he didn't. Later he mentioned a story John told him about and Indian coming to the house and a boy in the closet. John tells Mac some tall tales most evenings but hasn't told one like that in a while. Who knows...... I'm always amazed at what Mac remembers, even months later!

Today as we were leaving the gym Mac asked if we could go to the park before we hit the grocery store. It was a beautiful sunny and cool day here so I agreed but we wouldn't be able to stay long since we still had to get to the store and get home for lunch so Emily could get a good nap. I told him we'd have 20 minutes and when I said it's time to go, I didn't want him to argue with me. He agreed. Then I hear him begin negotiations with Emily, like she even understands what he's doing. He tells her first that we'll go to her area for a few minutes then to his area for the rest of the time. Then he tells her that this time they'll just play in the big kids area, then next time we go we can spend some time in the little kids area and the big kids area, OK Emily? She had no clue but it was very interesting to listen to him try to negotiate with her....... wait till she's old enough to figure that out, I can't wait to hear that conversation!