Mars & Macks

Three years ago today

my life was totally changed. Marley made me a Mom and Tre' a Papa and our world would never be the same. She is one of the greatest gifts that we could ever have hoped to receive. In these three short years, she has taught us so much. It is amazing to me to think that just three short years ago she was a beautiful little helpless baby, who depended on us for every little thing. Today she is a remarkable little girl that we can depend on to always brighten our days.

She was an enchanting little baby. Always laid back and easy going, she could always bring a smile to my face. Her laugh was and still is completely infectious, and when she finds something truly hilarious her dimpley smile melts my heart!

At one she was curious and calm, patient to quietly explore the world around her. She loved nothing more that to entertain herself with a few books or toys. Almost always content, she was very friendly and could bring a smile to most any one's face, and she did indeed!

Two proved to be tenacious. The tyrant was born and all of the parts of her personality that included impatience and hot temperedness developed so those are definitely in place now. But it seems that her softer side is slowly prevailing. At two and a half she became a big sister and all of the sweetness and tenderness has returned to the surface. With her baby sister she is most always kind and patient, she has a genuine concern for her well being and is even pretty good at sharing - but only with her Kenzie Cake, she is still a toddler at heart!

We can't wait to see what this third year will bring, but one thing is for sure - we will feel blessed everyday that we get to be a part of this extraordinary girl's life!

Happy Birthday Gracie Girl! We love you to the moon!

Junkin on Sunday

The girls and I spent Sunday garage sale hopping with Aunt Amanda. The junking was mildly successful, but nothing exceptional. Our second stop was a garage sale in a courtyard on Royal Street in the French Quarter, this sounded very promising, right. WRONG! It was like someone picked a few items out of the trash and threw them on a table. We spent so much time parking and walking that we decided to spend a little time meandering through the quarter. Kenzie relished all of the sights, sounds, and smells of her first trip there.

As we were standing in front of St. Louis Cathedral to get this shot, Marley kept repeating "where is Cinderella", one of the fortune tellers was delighted when she realized that Mars thought that the cathedral was a castle! So of course we had to go in to see if we could find her. As a native of this fine city I am embarassed to say that not only was this the girls first time in this beautiful church, but it was mine as well. And as many of you know, it did not disappoint!

The architecture is stunning and the frescos are breathtaking. Truly a gem in our fair city!

The girls took it all in for a moment -

but then we continued on our search for Cinderella. That princess is quite elusive - kind of like a fabulous garage sale!

Lou-way, Lou-way!

Louie loves to lay in the sunny patches of floor that dot our house in the morning. Macks loves Louie. She especially loves it when she can scoot up to him on the floor and he stays there. But sometimes he kisses her and it is at that point that she can no longer contain her glee!

He also whispers really funny jokes in her ear and they chuckle about them together, never sharing the punchline with the rest of us!

Little Swimmers

While Marley has developed a newfound fear of "the big pool", Mackenzie has been eyeing it up for quite some time. She is a BIG fan of the bathtub and her feelings for the pool were only amplified by it's size and the fact that it was filled with her best cousin, Parran, and Papa! Can I just say that it should be a law that all baby girls MUST wear bikinis at all times that the weather permits - you know you wish that you could reach out and pinch that round belly!

At this stage in the game, Marley is MUCH happier swimming in a pool where she can touch the bottom. Also if she can fill it with tiny pieces of grass as she climbs in and out, well that is just a bonus! Yuck!

These shots are from our low key Fourth that we spent at Nonnie and Poppie's, hanging out in the backyard in the kiddie pool. Marley had a great time teaching Kenzie the joys of the little pool. Kenzie was just thrilled to get some one on one time with her favorite girl!

Checking out the pictures on the pool was pretty awesome too!

This swimming thing IS pretty great! I, however, am still intoxicated by the smell of sunblock and the abundance of baby rolls just begging to be squeezed!!!

Elephant!?!

Earlier this week the girls and I enjoyed a wonderful day at the zoo with Nonnie and Uncle Jessie. The heat took a little break and there was a slight breeze.

Kenzie took her very first picture with the effalant,

I got to ride the carousel with Mars,

and she got to pet a giant tortoise. Later that evening we went to visit Grammy, and Marley was telling her about all of the animals that she saw at the zoo - the monkeys, the camel, and the elephant. Me: Marley WHAT did you see at the zoo? Marley: The ELE-phant. Me: WHAT? Marley: The ELE-PHANT. Me: Marley say elephant. Marley: Elephant. Me: Great!!! (sarcastically). You see, my sweet Marley has always called the elephant effalant, much to my enjoyment. I thought that I had at least two more years of effalant, but no, Marley wants to go and grow up on me and pronounce elephant perfectly! Don't worry I have learned my lesson, I will NEVER say ele-phant to Kenzie!

Marleyisms

When Marley was a baby we tried the whole sign language thing, she knew the sign for eat and, well, eat is a very important sign when you have not developed language skills! Now that her vocabulary is larger than ours we thought that it was still important that she knew some basic sign language so we taught her the most important ones. She still has to peel up the fingers into the desired sign.

It's a little hard to see - but here is PUNK ROCK! Very useful at concerts especially during the encore. This is also necessary to identify yourself to other punk toddlers. Pop-pop thinks this one will be most useful when she starts school.

Here we have HANG LOOSE! Most popular among surfers but also useful with skaters. One day, we hope to perfect this on the North Shore of Oahu.

We call this one papa's favorite. It means I Love You. If she ever uses this to wave good bye to her teenage boy-friend we will break her fingers - and his.

This one is three - for those of you with less than stellar math skills, like myself, it is how old she will be in a few short weeks and I still can not believe it! There is one sign that we haven't taught her yet, and it is the most useful for expressing yourself. But she is still too young to use her middle finger, we'll probably teach her that one for her fourth birthday!