Mackenzie's party

I do big fun birthday parties for the kids up until age 8, then I tell them they can invite 2 or 3 friends out to a restaurant of their choice and that will be in place of a party. Well....of course Kenzie picked Chuck-e-Cheese. The kids LOVE that place (Bart and I despise that place). I let her pick that place this year and I'm crossing my fingers she'll pick a different place next year.

I love my sweet Mackenzie. She is super exuberant and full of energy when she is around her friends and family. And can be sweet, demure and shy around anyone else. She still has an amazingly contagious laugh that I have loved since she giggled her fist laugh. She has spirit and spunk and she adds color to our family dynamic. I think she is a dynamite kid and I'm glad she had fun and felt special on her birthday!

Davis Family visit

Bart's parents, Dennis & Sue, came into town to visit us in February and be here for Mackenzie's baptism. I don't think they ever want to come to Minnesota again in the winter! We had a huge snow storm and it was bitter cold some of the days they were here. But we just enjoyed their company and had fun hanging out indoors with them. Here are a few pictures from their visit.

At the Como Zoo conservatory

Mackenzie loves her new blanket Grandma made for her.


Cutie Summer fell asleep snuggling with Grandpa.

Thanks Dennis & Sue for the fun visit!
Sorry about the weather!!!

Mackenzie's baptism

Mackenzie turned 8 on February 26th and she also got baptized on the same day. It was a really nice baptism. We love our sweet Mackenzie, she looked so pretty in her white dress and we are so proud she chose to get baptized.

Grandpa Peterson with Kenzie and Bart

Grandpa Peterson, me & Kenzie

Grandma & Grandpa Davis with Mackey

Ainsley, Mackenzie & Summer

Ainsley's solo

On Thursday evening we went to see the 2nd grade and 4th grade music programs at school. Mackenzie's grade did some funny cute songs and she got to do the hand jive to Miss Mary Mack with her friend Elle. Ainsley had a solo in the song De Colores. Here is the video of her solo.
(She's the 2nd singer.)

Mackenzie and her friend Elle after their performance.

Disney World Pictures

January 31- February 6th ~
We got to get away from the bitter cold of MN and took a very memorable trip to Disney World in Orlando, Florida. We surprized our kids by meeting up with our good friends, the Amotts there. They all stood shocked and speechless when we "ran into" them. It was pretty funny.

We experienced beautiful weather, great food, fun parades, shows and thrilling rides.

The kids LOVED seeing all the characters. The Tangled characters were a favorite for everyone. (I have to admit...Flynn's smolder made me a little weak in the knees.)
Ainsley & Summer got picked to do a small part in the Lion King show.

And everyone loved the Mount Everest ride at Animal Kingdom. (Except Summer who was too little to go on it.)

We did and saw so much! I narrowed down my 600+ pictures to a mere 58 to create a slide show of some of our highlights.

What you will NOT see in the slide show is a picture of Kenzie's 5 stitches she got on her leg our 1st night in the hotel room. Her leg slipped between the bedframe & the mattress where a sharp metal plate was connecting the bedslats to the frame. Bart & Kenz went to the ER that night in an ambulance (which Disney paid for) and didn't get back until 2:30 AM. But that did not slow Mackenzie down one bit. We love her and she was such a trooper! (But don't mention that you know about it to her. She's a bit embarrassed by it.)

Enjoy the slide show!

Create a free slideshow

Fancy dress pictures...finally

Most of you know my mother-in-law, Sue, always buys the girls the most lovely fancy dresses every Christmas. We all love them and the girls always wear them the Sunday after Christmas and I usually get pictures of them then. However, that Sunday after Christmas we had an unfortunate shoe incident which caused us to not get pictures before church.

(And you all know you cannot wait until after church because everyone looks so dissheveled by then.)

So I decided to wait. Summer has worn her fancy dress every single Sunday since Dec. 26th. However, Ainsley and Kenzie have not. Well today I finally convinced all girls to wear all their new dresses all on the same day so I could get some pictures before church. Here they are. I think they look beautiful!

Skating on our Lake

On the Monday after Christmas Bart went down to the lake and began shoveling and snowblowing an area on the lake for the girls to ice-skate on. The girls had a lot of fun. They have an awesome dad who is creative, hard-working and loves them so so much!

Christmas Eve day

The girls have been taking skating lessons so we decided to try out their new skill and go skating downtown St. Paul. There are rinks all over the place but we thought it would be fun to skate at Rice Park right next to the Landmark Center. I remember skating here as a kid but the rink was actually in front of the Landmark Center instead of beside it. The kids did great and we all had a lot of fun. Afterwards we went and ate lunch at our favorite downtown restaurant Cossettas. MMMMMMM Yummy!

A good 'ol Minnesota winter

This is how I remember winters being when I was a kid. Lots and lots of snow. So much snow that we would make tunnels, and forts with a whole stock pile of snowballs waiting to be thrown. I remember snow piles so high we could barely see the houses across the street. I remember the snow being so deep that our moon boots would get stuck. We would try and follow in each other's footprints so we wouldn't end up waist deep.

I've been loving all the snow we've been getting this year. It's so pretty and sparkely when the sun hits the snow. It looks like diamonds have been strewn around. And I love it when the trees look like they have frosting on them.

As we woke up Christmas Eve day the snow was falling again. I went outside and took some pictures of our house in the snow.

Summer's dance class

Summer took a dance class at the beginning of the school year. She decided not to continue the class even though she did had fun in it. She told me that doing plies was boring. But she still loves her gymnastics class and has chosen to continue with that. They did a little performance on their last day of class which was on November 18th. Grandpa got to come and watch. Here are some pictures from that day.

Boston

This was all Bart's idea... he told me near the beginning of October that he had a few more days he could take off of work. So he took a couple of days off at the beginning of November and told me that my dad and I should go to Boston to visit my sister and her family and he would stay home with the girls. How awesome of a husband is that!

It was so fun hanging out with my sister.

One of our favorite things we did was visit the Louisa May Alcott house. (pictured above) I took that picture through the wet car window. That's why it looks wavy. We all love her books, my dad included, and the tour was filled with lots of neat information about the Alcott family. Most of the items in the house were owned by the Alcotts. And May Alcott's drawings are literally all over the house. Her framed art work but also her drawings are actually right on the walls, door frames and window frames. We also saw the desk that Mr. Alcott made for Louisa in her room where she wrote Little Women.

In Salem, MA we went to a Witch Trial museum and the House of Seven Gables. (above) I read that book just recently for book club so it was neat to actually see the house Hawthorne was writing about. And nearby was the house where Hawthorne was born.





These ocean pictures where taken in Marblehead, MA.

The New England towns are so charming and cute. And even though it was past peak season the fall colors were still amazing!

My sister, Tanya, her 4 yr. old daughter Reagan and me.

We also went to a really cool art museum called the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and went shopping at some awesome consignment shops right by my sister's house.

It was really great just hanging out with the family, playing games and having time to relax!

Me and my sis!

Love you T! Thanks for the fun visit!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

From~ Dorothy, Vampire and Black Cat