Happy 9th Birthday, Mackenzie!!

Today we celebrated Mackenzie's birthday. At 1:37 a.m., nine years ago she made her debut in this earthly world. At 6:30 this morning she came in to let me know it was her birthday, like I forgot. You know I can't get her up on a school before 8:30 a.m., of course today was different because we cancel school for birthdays. There hasn't been any dull moments with her the last nine years, and I wouldn't expect her not to surprise us, challenge us, or amaze us while she is herself over the many years ahead.

Happy Birthday Mackenzie!!



Okay, one of our family traditions for birthdays, besides canceling school, is the kids get to pick what they want for their birthday home cook meal. Cassie always picks grilled steak kabobs and Zack always asks for stuffing and mashed potatoes. Well, Mackenzie asked for her traditional mac n' cheese, but surprised us when she also asked for creamed spinach and beets. What kid eats creamed spinach and beats? Oh yeah, mine.



The palm trees didn't hold up on her cake . . . so we decided to surround the monkeys with tiki torches (they're just her candles).

This was the one gift Mackenzie has been asking for. So this was her gift from us. She knew, or at least thought, she was getting it so all morning it's all she kept asking about. When I told her we still hadn't wrapped her gift, she asked why bother since she knew it was a camera. So, we gave in and gave it to her after lunch and all day all she did was take pictures.

She got a snow globe, among other cool things, from her Grandma & Grandpa Schmitt. She loves snow globes. It's the one thing she collects. Thank you for sending her gifts, they obviously arrived today - perfect timing.

After she opened Grandma & Grandpa Schmitt's gifts, she opened her gifts from Grandma Karen & Grandpa Doug. Now one of Grandma Karen's traditions, as the kids get older, is to take them shopping so they can pick out their gifts. So ultimately, they know what they are going to get. However, she alwasy sticks in a few surprises . . .

A sock monkey for our little monkey. Mackenzie showed this to Grandma Karen, but didn't know she was getting it.

I loved this box. Isn't it just so cute, and so fitting for Mackenzie.

I hope Mackenzie had a good time today. It's so hard to believe she is 9 years old today. Our baby is growing up so fast. A huge thank you to everyone for the gifts and cards.