M&M's

I secretly think that Mckinley believes that M&M's were made just for her. That would explain why they have her initial on every chocolate coated piece of wonderful goodness.  Yesterday, she would not anything. Totally not like her. Normally, she eats all of the time. So, I knew that she was not feeling up to her normal self. However, in an attempt to get her to eat something, I handed her a handful of you guessed it M&M's. And she ate every single one of them. Girl after my own heart. No person can ever be too sick for chocolate. EVER.

Inch Worm....

Yesterday, I was listening to the radio, and they were talking about these new shoes available in the UK only (of course!). Anyhow, apparently, they are called inch worm shoes because with the simple press of a button, you can extend them by a couple of sizes. Great idea, especially for kids with feet that grow like some sort of infectious bacteria. 

Even though Chris did not hear this commercial, he still has his own way of implementing this idea into Mac's wardrobe. 

Last night after dinner, we decided to go on a family walk. Chris said that he would get Mac ready while I ran around like a crazy trying to clean up after dinner. While I was in that mode, he came back inside and claimed that it was a bit breezy, and that Mckinley needed some socks (she was dressed in this cute little hawaiian number that offered no protection from any kind of coldness).  I finally finished all of my work, and ran outside to meet them. We were half way through the walk, when Chris said "I turned Mckinley's dress into pants. I stopped in a panic. I turned to look at my daughter who sat innocently in her stroller. Her socks were rolled up to her knees, and her dress was oh so neatly tucked into each sock. 

I am going to call the fashion police. Yes, on my own husband. If you ever hear for some odd reason that I am out of town, and Chris is responsible for dressing our daughter, feel free to come and save her. 

I am not Christopher Columbus....

But, I still feel like I have just made the greatest discovery EVER! The other day at was at Market Street (for like the third time that day), and I just so happened to be on the candy isle. My cart usually ventures down this isle to stock up on Jelly Belly sours or gummy worms (these are Chris' one weakness in life). However, this day was different. I ended up in the dark chocolate section. I have tried so many kinds of dark chocolate, and I have really found none of them to be all that great. But for some reason I was feeling adventurous, so I threw a new Dove dark chocolate bar into the cart. They have just come out with these new kinds of bars (the one I got was called "Vitalize"), and let me just say it is amazing! The chocolate actually tastes good, and it is somewhat good for you. What a wonderful combination!

Today, we have had an awesome family day. We somehow ended up with all of these extra hamburger buns at our house. I was just about to throw them away, and then I remembered..."We could feed the ducks."  So, that is where we went today. Mckinley loves it! Although she thought it would be a lot more fun if she could hand deliver the bread to the ducks...in the water. Chris spent the entire time we were there holding her back, and she kept trying to get closer and closer. 

The whole time I was thinking about how this is so much like our relationship with God. There are all of these things that we want to do, and we think that they look so great and inviting. He sits there so patiently trying to hold us back, and yet we keep insisting that our way is right. Mckinley was so squirmy, and she kept trying to get to the water. Finally, Chris picked her up, and decided that it was time to go home. This is one of my favorite things about being a parent. I am in love with the fact that God uses everything, even a one year old, to show me more about Him and his love for me. How simply amazing.

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Just a splash of color here, there, and....

So last night we went to dinner with some friends. We had so much fun, except I think that they may have decided against kids after spending some quality time with Mac. I have gotten to the point where when we are out in public, most of my time is spent trying to appease Mckinley. Last night fell into that category completely.  Half way through dinner, she decided that she wanted to play with the complementary crayons. So what did I do? Hand them over. All four of them. They were brand new, and they looked perfect. Chris and I got wrapped up in another conversation with our friends, far and away in adult world (sometimes I like to be here, and other times (like around April 15th) I seriously would not mind boycotting adult world). All of the sudden, Mac started doing her dramatic choking/coughing show. This used to freak me out completely, but I have come to know that my daughter does like to put a DRAMATIC twist on things (wonder where she got that from...I am not saying any names... out loud). Chris on the other hand went into the normal freak out mode where he starts hitting her on the back like she is some sort of thief trying to pocket his I-phone. At this point I am thinking: A) my daughter could potentially be choking or B) she is going to be injured severely by her father's tactics in attempt to save her. Well, she did neither. Instead, she looked up and smiled, and that is when I noticed that her teeth were filled with blue, yellow, red, and green chunks of crayon. AWESOME....at least they are not toxic, and no more crayons for us....for a long, long time. 

This picture represents one of Mckinley's favorite past times. She loves the photo booth feature on the MAC. She will sit there for hours and take pictures, of herself of course. Please take note of the chewed up goldfish she is showing off to the world. She loves her some goldfish. 

Her newest game is walking into a room, and shutting the door behind her. She knows that one of her overworked parents will come and open the door, at which point she runs off to hide (all while laughing hysterically). I am afraid that her red hair is really starting to show some of its true color. 

Amazingly, her favorite book right now is the Big Picture Bible. She can't even hold the book it is so big and heavy. She does not like for us to read it to her. Rather, she would like to sit and flip the pages as fast as possible without even taking note of the pictures. Hopefully, one day she will read the words. 

She really is the biggest joy to be around. Some days, I take a step back and try to soak up this precious gift God has blessed us with. She is already growing up way too fast.