Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Mackenzie's First Birthday, March 16th, 2010

Our baby just turned 1! It is hard to believe that it has been a year since Mackenzie arrived into our family. Since the day she was born she has been the perfect baby. Grampy even tells us that. She was a perfect fit to our family and quickly adapted to our controlled chaos. She has endured numerous ear infections and we never knew she had them. She is just that content. Her smiles will melt your heart. Norm and I ask her every day if we can just keep her little. She has recently started to hug and there really is no better way to end my day. Kenzie, as we call her, is walking all over the house. She has great potential for basketball in the future as she has perfected the pivot and at times does donuts on the floor because she can't figure out to pick up the other foot. :) I know it's her first birthday and I should post more recent pictures, but she really was just a beautiful baby. And being our last it has been just a little more difficult to exit babyville.
Mackenzie loves the outdoors and spends a lot of time in this swing still just watching her siblings run and play all over the yard. Of course this is not done without the aid of a snack. She has a VERY healthy appetite despite the single tooth that occupies her mouth. Yep, just one tooth...and she got it back in January!
A photo from her joint birthday party with cousin, Franny, and big sister, Cassie. As you can see the eyes are starting to glaze over. It was 7:00 which is an hour past her bedtime. That's right, she goes to bed at 6:00....and she sleeps until 6:30 in the morning, all night. Like I said before, she is the perfect baby. We couldn't have ordered one better.
The cake was a bit puzzling for her. She looked at us in amazement that we put the whole thing in front of her. She loved the frosting, but really didn't care about the cake.

Like I said, there is nothing like her smile!
Her pretty party dress!
She was pretending to talk on the phone.

One more goofy smile! Time passes so quickly with the kids and as much as we will miss the baby stage and snuggling with an infant, we are eager to be without the diaper bag. I feel bad, thinking that we are wishing away our little girl's childhood. Mackenzie is such a little blessing and we cannot imagine our family without her. She made us complete and perfect. We look forward to her talking because we can only imagine what a sweet little personality she is going to have. The next year will be a fun one as speech develops, her balance and coordination become better and she becomes the fourth child running through the house. I hope her and her siblings are all close and I hope especially that she develops that wonderful sister bond with her big sister. Happy 1st birthday, baby girl!













Cassie's 3rd Birthday, March 9th, 2010


Three years ago we were handed an amazing addition to our family. Cassandra Louise Forrest entered our family and so began the onslaught of PINK. She will tell you that it is HER color and her favorite one at that. We were so excited to welcome a little girl into our family and she has had a grip on our hearts ever since. Cassie is full of life. One of her greatest traits is her laugh. It is infectious. She loves to laugh, even at herself. At times she is all little girl, but has a strong streak of tomboy. Cassie has already made two trips to the ER and for certain will have more to follow. She never slows down and is always just one step behind her big brothers.

Cassie's birthday fell on a Tuesday night which was Daddy's night at class in Syracuse. Mommy was left with a little girl that was pretty bummed about not seeing Daddy. In an effort to make her night a little more special, Mommy gave her a mani/pedi. She loved every bit of it. And, of course, the nails were all painted pink!





Cassie was very excited the morning of her birthday when Daddy wheeled out her new "big girl" bike. She was very upset when it had to be put up for the day so that she could go to Grammie's house. She quickly learned how to ride it. Mommy gets quite emotional watching her on it because it seems like she doubled in size the minute she sat on it.



"Sassy Cassie"...this is the nickname that Aunt Diane dubbed her with only hours after being born. Little did we know that she would hold on to that nickname with pride. She loves to sing and dance and is famous for eye rolls and glares. Sometimes Mommy finds it hard not to giggle at her expressions, just because it's like looking at herself in the mirror. Her famous excuse for not being in bed is "I can't sleep because I just can't keep my butt in bed."

We love his little girl to pieces and look forward to the year ahead. She has become such a big girl helping mommy and daddy around the house, making her bed, and picking up her things. Yet she is still so little and cuddly. Sometimes it is difficult to remember that she is only three. She is getting so smart and is very verbal. Conversations are so interesting with her.
Happy 3rd Birthday, sweetie!