Happy 5th Birthday, Mackenzie!

Mackenzie officially turns 5 years old today at 3:21 pm!  Her Christmas birthday party on Sunday was a huge success.  Thank you to all of the grandparents and aunts and uncles that made sure she was surrounded by her family!  This is the first time that she had all of her cousins with her and she revelled in it.  She loved her presents and is wearing a dress that her cousin Lauren gave her to school today.  We have watched the Mickey Christmas movies that her grandparents gave her numerous times and have done some crafts with presents from her cousins.  Many of the toys have been played with by her and Isaac.  I am very proud of how well she has been sharing her new toys.  I would like to think that 5 years is the beginning of the "easy" parenting, but I am trying not to fool myself.

Mackenzie chose to take marshmallows as her treat to school today (mostly because I totally forgot to bake something).  She really was excited about it though, so I am going to let the mama guilt go. 

Isaac is a typical 2 year old.  He will climb on anything he thinks he can and then jump off of it, he loves to run around and scream, and he wants to do everything himself.  He is starting to dress himself and to use the potty (big yay!).  He also has started telling people he loves them, which I find very enduring. 

A few weeks ago when we were still at Grandma and Grandpa's, Isaac was laying in his crib and Mackenzie was laying in one twin bed while I laid in the other, for bedtime.  My rule was that I would stay in the room with them as long as they laid down and were quiet.  Isaac told me he loved me, and I told him that I loved him. Then he said "Kenzie, I love you."  I like to tell myself that Mackenzie did not respong because she was following my rule.  Isaac said it 5 more times and I finally told Mackenzie that she should respond.  She then told Isaac she loved him too.  It was dark in the room, but if they could have seen me, the kids would have seen the biggest smile my face could produce.