First Day of School/ "Pre" Pre-K.

Makenzie's First School Michael-Wayne Wood. I was happy to see Makenzie's Cousin's attend school with her. He is SO cute!!!Makenzie in Class. This is the point when tears started.

Mimi talking to Makenzie's teacher, Ms. Williams

Kenzie's birthday chart. She shares the month with her cousin Hannah. Hannah is in Makenize's class. That was exciting to see!!!!

Hannah's name tag at her seat (same class as Makenzie).

Makenzie, putting her lunch in the fridge

Kenz, checking out her class

Makenzie's seat

Makenzie's cubby

Standing by her cubby

Mimi and Kenzie

Papa, Oma, and Kenzie

Daddy, Kenz, and Mommy

Mommy and Kenzie

Daddy and Kenzie

"dis thing is heby"

All of her school stuff

Mimi giving Kenzie the blanket she made for nap time.

Her Ba-bee backpack

Where has the time gone? Did I really have to wake my sleeping baby this morning to get up and get ready for school? I cannot even believe it!!

Kenzie was not happy about having to get up at 7:30 am, but she did it. We got dressed in a new outfit Katie gave her for her birthday. She wore it with her "rock-star" flip-flops (as she calls them). They have stars on them and they are purple. I put her hair in a half french braid. She had a cup of milk for breakfast and a chocolate donut. We were going for powder donuts but she changed her mind last minute and decided on Chocolate. We made our way to Grace Baptist Church in Bryans Road where Kenzie will attend school. There, waited Daddy, Mimi, Oma, and Papa for a "first day of school" photo Op.

She had her Barbie book bag Kelly got her for her birthday (she received a lot of nice things for her birthday if you haven't noticed), her Dora lunch pale Uncle Greg and Aunt Becky gave her, and a pillow and blanket for nap time that Mimi hand made from some of Makenzie's Great Grandmother Wood (Me-Maw's) items. It is VERY special and I know Makenzie will charish it. It looks so comfy, I wanted to curl up with it. Inside of the home made blanket was Makenzie favorite blanket as a baby. I know she felt right at home during nap time.

Makenzie was not shy or sad to be left at all. I had to hunt her down for a kiss good bye. Not one tear out of her. Now as for me... I was sobbing. Not that I wasn't happy for her to have a new experience, but... you know what I mean. Just yesterday I was bottle feeding her, holding her little tiny body in my arms, rocking her to sleep, and now she has class, with a teacher, her name plate at a desk, packed lunch, book bag on her back. It is just A LOT to take in. Not to mention she has been in VERY good hands the past three years. Thanks to the special care and love of Mimi and Papa (thank you would NEVER be enough to express the gratitude Jared and I have for the two of you, but THANKS, SO MUCH!!) I know she is in good hands now with Ms. Williams, but there is NOTHING like leaving your child with a grandparent (if you have to leave at all). Thank goodness for sunglasses, as you will see in the pictures above. It helps cover the tears. It was a bitter sweet yet special day.

Nags Head 2009 - We are back!!

This year's Nags Head vacation came and went. As I had mentioned, this is Kenzie's 4th year going. She has been on our annual vacation every year since she was four days old. Every year, I watch as she enjoys Nags Head/Beach/Vacation more and more. This year she did a little more in the ocean. She had a few "wipe outs", as she would call them. She would get up and get back out there. She made small sand castles. She loved making them but more so loved smashing them. She flew a kite for the first time and it was REALLY high. She did well. We stayed out on the beach until 9 pm one night and did glow sticks with Katie. She met a new dog, Beau (Mike Robey's dog). She LOVED him!!! She held a sand crab. She and Katie went "jelly fish hunting" and made up a very cool song to sing while finding them. It goes (if I can remember correctly):

"Hey Mr. Jellyfish, come out of the ocean. I got your baby, come find him"

It was VERY cute! She loved singing it.

She also made up two invisible dogs. One was a boy and one a girl. They came to the beach with us every day, dressed in their "baden-soups" (bathing suits). One dogs name was Melissa. ; )

She swam all by herself in the pool (with the help of swimmies).

Bill hit one day and the adults went bowling. Daniel was on his way, so I decided to leave after dinner Friday night. Kenzie slept the whole way home. We got back about 2:30 am, Saturday morning. I just wanted to be on the safe side. Also, I did not want to sit in evacuation traffic.

We had a really great time, as usual, and cant wait until next year!!

Katie and Kenzie

Guess who is flying this kite???? KENZIE!!! All by herself!!!

Running? I guess? LOL

Diva! I have no idea? She did this on her own. LOL Too bad there was no scope guy!!!

Brave girl. Probably right before a "wipe out".

Washing off her hands

Kenzie's foot print

Chasing Seaguls. She wanted to hold one SO bad. She would yell "it's awe-white, I won't hut you"

This bathing suite is adorable! She had her scoop. She was giving out, fake, crabby patties and icecream to everyone. She would also make birthday cakes out of sand and then sing "Happy Birthday"to chosen person.

Off to make more icecream

Cheese

Sun in the eyes

Her little chair. So cute!

Running to the Ocean

Kenzie and I, jumping the waves

Sand Castles

Playing

Kate and Kenzie

Kenzie, Katie, Lorri, Oma, and MommyEvery year, we pick a them for our Nags Head crew and wear matching shirts. Past years consisted of... tie dye, animal print, sports teams, TV shows, Funny sayings, etc. This years theam was "Mad Gab". One of my favorite board games. This is a picture of Kenzie and Jenna. They had the same shirt. Can you guess what it says?

Silly girl, watching TV before bed

Mommy, Uncle Steven, Kate, Ryan, and Kenzie

Kenzie picture. She does VERY well. She took a picture of Jenna and I.

Autumn and KenzieReading before dinner

She loves Uncle Steven AND being silly!

Still don't know what her shirt says???? "Rotten to the core"Playing her "bataur" Uncle Steven and Jamie got her for her birthday. She loves to play the guitar

So, as you can see; good times!!! We are excited for OBX 2010!! Minus hurricanes, please!!

We're hitting the road...

Kenzie and I are leaving today to join the rest of the family in Nags Head. We are packed and ready to go. I am taking my laptop and camera with me in hopes to be able to update the blog while I am there. We will see if there is internet capability. I sure hope so. Please pray for us. I am hoping Makenzie back doesn't "hurt" her on the way down. She ALWAYS says this when we are traveling farther than she would like to sit in her car seat.

Getting ready for vacation...

OBX 2009 is fast approaching. Makenzie has been every year since she was 4 days old, so this is her 4th trip. We are very excited and cannot wait to join the rest of the family on Friday. Oma, Papa and Uncle Steven have been there since Saturday. This will be Makenzie's 2nd trip to the beach this summer. She is a lucky girl.

Makenzie starts "Pre" Pre-K when we get back from Nags Head. She has a physical on Monday August 31st (this was supposed to be her first day). Sept. 1st she will head into school. She will go half a day 9:30 - 12:30. She will eat lunch there and then Mimi or Papa will pick her up, depending on the day. I cannot believe she is off to school.

Some updates on Makenzie...

Whenever she gets mad or frustrated she says "I QUIT". I always tell her "No, Makenzie you can't quit you have to try..." etc. However, I think it is so funny.

She has an imagination far beyond what I would ever expect from a brand new 3 years old. The things she comes up with or the stuff she uses in place of the real thing is amazing.

She is a singer. I know I have said it in previous post but she really loves to sing. She is always making up new songs or singing the songs she already knows. Constantly singing or dancing. She makes up little dances too.

Aunt Becky and Uncle Greg came over last week to give Makenzie her birthday present. They were out of town on her birthday and had not had a chance to give it to her yet. She got some really cool stuff. She got a purse with lots of things to go in it. Make-up, camera, phone, money, brush, mirror etc. She has been taking the purse everywhere. It's funny, she takes the cell phone out and uses it to take fake pictures of people instead of the camera. She sees me, Daddy, Mimi and others using there cells to take pictures so she does it too.

She also got a glove, bat, and ball. She is very good at making contact with the ball. She is good a catching it too. T-ball, here we come!

This is Kenzie after licking the butter off her toast Saturday morning.

taking a picture of me taking a picture (with the camera this time). new sunglassesputting her items in her new purse

opening her present

She's Back!!

Makenzie got back from Ocean City a day early. Jared called and said she wanted to see us and brought her over around 11:30 am. I was so excited to see her. So glad she was home and in my arms. I missed her so much. She gave me a big hug and kiss. She was in a good mood. It didn't take her long to go searching for Oma and Papa. Unfortunately they were not home. They were in SC helping Uncle Steven move back to MD. She wasn't too happy about that.

Here is a picture of Makenzie sleeping after her long drive home.

Saturday was also Uncle Steven's birthday so Makenzie called him and sang happy Birthday to him. Happy Birthday Uncle Steven!! Sunday was a VERY busy day. We had to move Steven's furniture and all his other items back to Oma and Papa's house. Thank God for C.J. and Jimmy Steinhauser (our very cool cousins who we love so much). They are professional movers. ; ) LOL They moved our furniture all around and got it all done in about two hours. It was amazing. They are so sweet to help us. Makenzie played all day with Papa yesterday and was hiding when I got home from work. I had to find her. It is so funny. She thinks if she covers her face up with a pillow she is hidden. It is so cute. She gets so excited when "you can't find her" and throws the pillow and says "BOO!" Oh, Also, Makenzie has been potty trained for awhile now, however, she is now waking up in the middle of the night when she has to pee and coming and waking us up and we take her to the potty. I am so proud of her. We are officially off pull-ups at night. No more peeing the bed.

As Promised... Wood family Beach Pics...

I just spoke to Mi Mi (Laurie) this morning and Ladies and Gentlemen... WE HAVE A GOLFER. MiMi said that Makenzie out did some of the adults last night in mini golf. She got a hole in one on her FIRST PUTT. Then she went on to get two more through her round of mini golf for a total of THREE hole in ones!!!! That is AMAZING to me! Immediately after I got off the phone with Laurie I called Dad (PaPa). He didn't even say hi when he answered. He said "how is my granddaugter?" He misses her so much also. Anyway, I told PaPa about Makenzie's golf experience and of course he was amazed as well. He said that he has an extra putter and that Grandpa (Carson C.) is going to shave it down to make it Makenzie's size. Papa is going to start taking her to hit golf balls. What if she becomes a professional golfer????

Other than that, Makenzie is haveing a wonderful time with all of her cousins swimming, playing in the sand, etc. Here are some pictures. Hopefully there will be more to follow. : )

Makenzie and Hannah

Wood Family (minus a few) Kenzie, Daddy, Mimi & Pappy

*Thanks for sending the pictures Mimi!!! : )

Wood Vacation...

As you all know, Makenzie is in OC with Jared for the week. She got there safe and sound Friday night. I spoke to Jared this morning, about 11am, and Makenzie was out at the beach with MiMi. I asked Jared to send pictures of Makenzie this week at the beach. He said he would. Once he does, I will post them so you can see what she is up to this week. : )

I miss her SO much and I have NEVER wanted Sunday to come so fast. I know she is having such a great time. I just can't wait to see her.