The Mac Kinnon Family

We ended up with about 10 inches of snow, it stopped during the night. It was such a beautiful sight to wake up too, the sun was shining and glistening off the snow, what a wonderful sight. After breakfast we all got geared up in layers of clothing and went out to play, and shovel (thanks John)! Emily enjoyed looking at the snow but didn't care for playing in it too much, she kept falling down, it was hard for her to get around and she did not like snowball being thrown at her! Mac of course loved it, his friend from across the street joined him to play. Emily was done after an hour or so but Mac stayed out until lunch time and went back out for a few more hours after lunch. They built a snowman and had a great time. We love the snow but I've got cabin fever. Hopefully I will get out to the gym tomorrow, of course Mac's preschool is closed!

We ended up with a snow storm, it started snowing in the wee hours of the morning and is still snowing. We've got about 8-10 inches of snow on the ground and it's wonderful. We spent the day inside for the most part. John and Mac got to enjoy the snow for a little while, Mac loved it even when John throw snow at him! Emily has another cold that's in her chest so we'll wait until tomorrow to take her out to enjoy it. It's supposed to stick around for a few days, I'm sure the town will be paralyzed tomorrow too! Yeah for snow!

A friend called me early this morning, she was out of town and due back this am. She realized she booked her plane ticket for PM not AM and was in a bind to have someone watch her kids, her husband had to work today. So Julia and Ollie (their dog who can't be left alone) joined us for the day and Mac was thrilled. The kids played well all day today and Mac was sad when she had to go home. The played all kinds of games, read books, dug for "treasures" in the back yard and watched a movie. It was a fun day for all of us!

Willie is one good kitty that tolerates alot from the kids. Emily loves Willie and always wants to hug and kiss him. A few evenings ago she was sitting on him, gently, kissing him and hugging him. He was irritated, ears were back but the poor guy tolerated it. This didn't last too long for both their sake, so I only grabbed a quick pic with my phone. Willie is one good kitty!

For the past three night/mornings Emily has woken up between 4:30 and 5:30, normally she doesn't wake until 6:30 or so. This morning it was 4:45 am and she would not go back to bed. She fell asleep in the car at 10 am, I couldn't resist a picture! I hope she kicks this early wake up call pattern soon.....

We've been working with Emily on potty training so there's been lots of cheers and candy for going potty. Mac loves to help cheer Emily on and always wants a skittle, M&M or whatever she's getting for going on the potty. I told him that he needs to work on something too like Emily. He's been working on reading some, so I told him when he gets through one of his little "learn to read" books he too can have a piece of candy. He worked really hard today to get candy and actually did well. He tries to read by figuring out the picture but he's learning and were glad he seems interested!

As I had to clean around the crib and toddler bed in Emily's room yesterday, I decided it was time to try the toddler bed again. Emily still has issues with going to bed in the toddler bed. I moved her crib out of the way, put the bed there and she has anxiety about going to bed. Her crib is tucked away in a little out cove so she can't see much and I told her that all her friends she sleeps with (Dora x 3, boots, mickey mouse and dolly) no longer wanted to sleep in the crib so they can't join her. She didn't care, so she went to bed in the crib. John and I moved her to her bed last night and she was happy when she woke up. Hope it changes soon, I'm tired of having two beds in her room....we may have to tuck the toddler bed away for a few more months!

John and I don't get out on a date often, so tonight we thought we'd try a movie night. I figured Emily wouldn't nap since she's be rejecting naps, so we'd have the kids down by 7 and we'd have a nice romantic movie night.....guess we shouldn't have planned it because it didn't go as we hoped! Emily was a bit fussy, John took both kids to the dump since I had to deliver a meal to a friend. Emily fell asleep in the truck and was very grumpy after they got home. After dinner, the kids got a bath and ready for bed. 7 pm teeth were brushed and were saying our prayers when Emily wants to go on the potty, we can't say no so she sits on the potty for 15 minutes, by this time Mac's story was done and he was ready for bed. Finally she's done and we get her into bed, she screams at the top of her lungs, we forgot Dora and Boots, then she ok for a minute, then screams bloody murder again. So we get her out of bed and we take her to watch the movie....

Oh boy, I finally gave in and let Mac join one of his buddies at the skate park today for a play date. Mac had so much fun, they primarily rode their scooters, I only let Mac use his skateboard on the top of the bowl. I wasn't ready for him to try it down that big bowl! After a few hours at the skate park we went and had hot chocolate and cookies, the kids had a blast. Emily had fun too, playing with hats kept her busy a while. She wasn't allowed on any of the scooters or skate boards!

For the past week or so Emily won't nap. She sits in her bed and plays, talks to her dolls then after about an hour or so she'll start fussing. I'm so not ready for her to give up naps, she just turned two! Oh boy, I hope this is a temporary thing and will pass......

We got home from swim lessons today and found a package waiting for Mac from Grandma Cheryl, Uncle Mike and Aunt Christina. It was a tackle box filled with goodies and Mac was delighted. He asked John if they could go fishing tomorrow! Mac also had his 5 year old check-up today, he's 47 pounds and 43 inches tall, growing like a weed! He got two shots and was extremely brave, didn't cry a bit for either shot. He did say his arm hurt for a while but he was tough!

Mac disappeared this morning and when I found him he was redefining what "going to the library". Mac likes to have some reading material when he's going to be on the potty awhile, but this took it to the extreme today, he moved a table in there with 5 or 6 books......

Emily got these cute jammies from Holly for Christmas. This was the first time we put them on and she looked darling in them. She's becoming such a big girl!

We've had cupcakes around since Mac's birthday and tonight the kids ate the last two. Normally Emily isn't into them so much but tonight all she wanted was the icing.....

This afternoon as we were fixing dinner the kids were watching Dora, this picture was too cute to pass up!

I think the kids reached their burnout point today. With our vacation and the craziness of the past few days with Mac's birthday and settling back into home the kids are just exhausted. We had meltdown city tonight...thank goodness both kids are fast asleep...hopefully they will get some much needed rest!

I don't know where the past 5 years have gone, it's amazing how time flys. My little boy is now 5 and not so little anymore. What an amazing young man he is becoming. Mac woke up as John was leaving for work today, we surprised Mac with balloons this morning. He was so excited to see balloons, we sang to him and I put a pin on him that said it was his birthday, which he was tickled by. At preschool today they celebrated his birthday, he got a birthday book which all the kids made a picture for him, he got to be the line leader, prayer leader, etc during their activities. I brought cupcakes so everyone sang and enjoyed the treat. This evening we had some good friends over for dinner and to celebrate. Mac wanted fish for dinner so John made some striper. Mac enjoyed the food and having his friends over. Unfortunately John got called into work for an emergency and had to leave just as we were sitting down to dinner. After more cupcakes, Mac opened up all his wonderful gifts and wa...

Last night we were chatting with Mac about going back to preschool today. He said he was excited to go. He then said, "I think I'll be bad today so I can go to the treasure box on my birthday (which is tomorrow)". At his preschool they get a sticker every day they don't misbehave and when they get 5 stickers they get to go to the treasure box which is filled with dollar store goodies and candy. Mac had 4 and if he was a good boy today he would get to go to the treasure box. John and I told him that he was going to have enough presents on this birthday that he probably should try to earn that sticker! It turned out he did and went to the treasure box today.

We have had a wonderful vacation. It was so great to spend some quality time together and with family. After our adventure in Florida, we departed from Cape Canaveral, FL last Saturday. Everyone was very excited and our first two days were at sea. We explored the ship, swam and ate, ate and ate some more. You definitely never go hungry on a cruise! On Tuesday we were in St. Maarten, what a beautiful place. We toured around and learned some history then spent the afternoon on the beach. Wednesday we were in St. Thomas, John and Mac spent the day in Tortola swimming with dolphins (hopefully will upload a video later from that) and Emily and I along with Grandma Jan toured the island and saw some amazing sights. The water is just absolutely beautiful. Thursday we were at sea again and Friday we were in the Bahamas on Disney's island "Castaway Cay". This was our favorite stop, we got to ride bikes, snorkel and hang on the beach most of the day. Everyone had a blast, ...