Picture of the Week

Pictures of the Week Celebrating 12 months

October 13, 2013 by erinqmcgee · Leave a Comment

Makenzie’s Birthday weekend was so much fun!

Last weekend was 3 full days of celebration. Denny and I both took last Friday off of work and our entire goal was to enjoy every second of Makenzie’s 1st Birthday. Despite my plans to turn our house into a full-out pumpkin farm, my mother-in-law convinced me it’s better to have the party somewhere else and save myself a lot of stress. Such a good call. So I deleted my Makenzie’s Pumpkin Patch Birthday Party board on Pinterest, and we hosted her party at a fun little place called Rolly Pollies. The kids had fun and we were able to enjoy all of our visitors without turning the backyard into a pumpkinville!

Since then we’ve been able to relax and I finally had a chance to upload all the pictures. It’s hard to believe this is her final month-by-month post!

Take a look…

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Friday, Birthday Day

Checking out the Kenzie Coupe! (Likely the first and last new car for this little girl, sorry Kenz!)

Vanity plates… because what toddler doesn’t need these?

Waiting for cousins Jack & Ryan to arrive!

The Birthday fun begins!!

Makenzie enjoying the new tunnel from Nana and Papa, and taking a minute to check birthday e-mails on Mom’s phone.

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Saturday, Party Day!!

Coasters, bounce houses and cake! Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate Makenzie’s 1st year!

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Sunday, An extra day with Family!

Giggles over pancakes with Mamaw

Hanging out with Auntie Meg, Uncle Scott and Connor

After breakfast picture with Nana & Papa

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We’re so lucky to have so many wonderful people in our world. Thank you to everyone who helped us survive the first year of parenting and who helped us celebrate the 1st Birthday of Kenzie!

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Join the celebration on Facebook

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Filed Under: Uncategorized · Tagged With: Birthdays, Makenzie Ruth, Month by month, Picture of the Week

Pictures of the Week It’s baaaaaack!

July 28, 2013 by erinqmcgee · 2 Comments

It’s baaack! After a very long hiatus my interest in doing home projects has returned. Step right up Home Depot shareholders, your time has come.

In the fall of 2011 we finished a pretty big kitchen upgrade (part of which we did on our own), and I swore up and down that after all the blood, sweat and tears, I was not going to do another home project, ever! Stick a fork in me. I was done!

We got pregnant with Makenzie a few months later (yay!) so I stood true to my no more home projects rule (with the exception of excessive nesting) and we pretty much managed to continue the strike against paint, backsplash and any type of physical work altogether.

But all good things must come to an end… and so is the case with our no home projects rule.

Perhaps it’s because we’re finally getting into a good routine with Kenzie… perhaps it’s because I fell back into the arms of Pinterest … perhaps it’s because we have a very big 1st Birthday party at our house coming up in a few months… but regardless of the reason, my interest in home projects has been rekindled.

This weekend we managed to cross some items off the To Do list. Check it out…

# 42 – Install cat door — CHECK!

According to Denny the cat door installation is purrrrfect!

(On a side note this was my favorite step of the cat door installation. I can’t make this up!)

Hilarious!! But Lex did not think so.

# 63 – Take down broken shelves in kitchen.

#64 – Spackle holes and repaint OR just cover them up. (clearly I chose the latter)

#65 – Find artwork (thanks Etsy). Print artwork. Frame artwork.

#66 – Hang artwork.

Awww yeah, Check, check, check, check, check and check!!!

Pretty cute and all for less than $43!

And finally, we committed to To List Items #81, #82, #83 & #85. Commit to re-painting front room. Select color. Buy paint. Paint. Buy fluffy area rug.

Hooray!!!! It’s not a done deal yet but the fluffy rug is purchased and color samples are on the wall. Which means we either have to move forward with the project or risk looking like idiots with big sample splotches or green and blue paint on a brown wall.

Trying to find some color inspiration!

So that’s what the McGees have been up to for the past 48 hours. Oh yeah, and LOTS of fun with Kenzie girl. Weekends really are the best.

Stay tuned, it’s going to be a fun few months!

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Pick up a paintbrush and join the party on Facebook!

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Filed Under: Uncategorized · Tagged With: Home is where the projects are, Picture of the Week

Picture of the Week Happy Fathers Day!

June 11, 2013 by erinqmcgee · Leave a Comment

Melissa and I grew up with some of the best!

Best Dad, Best Grandpas, Best Families

I can’t say Thank You enough to each of the wonderful men in my world who helped me become who I am today, but Father’s Day is a pretty good opportunity to do it, so here goes.

Happy Father’s Day to…

Grandpa Quilty — He was always full of wisdom & kindness, and he played a mean game of Chinese Checkers.

Grandpa Synk — I wish I was in Cleveland today to celebrate with him. So many fun memories with him from camping in their backyard to games of Sandlot Slugger to trips to downtown Cleveland

Melissa & I with both sets of Grandparents.

Dad – The best Dad ever!! A true Dad of daughters. Dad conquered everything from dance lessons to dance parties with the Grease soundtrack and everything in between. Dad we Love you so much! And Makenzie is very lucky too! She’s pretty excited to grow up having you to hold her hand.

Makenzie and Papa

Dad (in-law, Gene) – Thank you to a wonderful father-in-law for welcoming me to the family. I’m thankful that you taught Denny to be a wonderful husband. And Denny and I are very glad that you are a wonderful Pap Pap to our sweet girl!

I love PapPap too!

And last but not least, Happy Father’s Day Denny!

Watching you become a Dad is better than I could have imagined. There’s no one that can make Makenzie giggle like you can, and there is no one that she looks at the way she looks at you. It’s true love and I consider myself to be very lucky to be able to watch you two together. Thank you for ALL you do to make our world as happy as it is. We Love You so much!

Snuggle buddies

Makenzie and her Daddy! This picture makes my heart smile

True buddies – Makenzie watching her favorite guy

Filed Under: Uncategorized · Tagged With: Makenzie Ruth, People we Heart, Picture of the Week

Picture of the Week! 8 Months Update

June 7, 2013 by erinqmcgee · 1 Comment

Our girl is EIGHT MONTHS old! WOW! It’s crazy to think that we need to start planning her first Birthday. We can’t believe how much happiness she brings to our world. We’re crazy about this little peanut.

I know I saw this every month but this has been 4 of the most fun weeks!! I could type about it, but this month I’ll let the pictures tell the story. Makenzie Ruth is on the go.

Check it out!

On the day after Makenzie turned 7 months, she was Baptized! It was great day because Denny and Cousin Jack were also baptized. So special!

She’s been rocking the backwards hat look! (My guess Is that she snuck out of her crib and caught some old Fresh Prince episodes. She’s so cool!) In West Lancaster born and raised, at Doodlebugs is where I’ve spent most of my days…

Makenzie has been loving the new views of being in high chairs in restaurants!

1st Mother’s Day! I’m the luckiest 🙂

Lots of playing! She’s got my nose

Lots of picnics! And fun times with cousin Jack Jack

Baby’s 1st Memorial Day Parties! She’s pretty excited to check out the bounce house next year.

Baby’s 1st Zoo trip!! She and Ryan had lots of fun. Kenz liked the sea lions but the best part of her day was eating puffs in her stroller.

And the best part of the month is that Kenzie girl is now CRAWLING and STANDING!!!! We’re such proud parents!

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Join us as we countdown to one year!

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Filed Under: Uncategorized · Tagged With: Makenzie Ruth, Month by month, Picture of the Week

Picture of the Week Our Little Water Baby

May 30, 2013 by erinqmcgee · Leave a Comment

One of the items on the McGee Family Fun List for the summer was Sign Kenzie up for swim class.

Makenzie turned 6 months in April which meant that she was officially ready to be in the Shrimp Swim Class at the Y. So I stalked the registration site until non-member registration became available, and bam, we made it into my preferred Saturday 9am swim class group. Heck yeah, check that off the list!

We are now halfway through with our swim classes and it has definitely become one of the best parts of our week. Makenzie has a great time and I get the fun of being her buddy in the pool. She splashes, kicks, and sings songs (well I sing and she gives me that “Mom please quit singing in public” look). And if I toss the little pink starfish away from us, she is great at spotting it and swimming over to it. It could because she is truly a swimming prodigy, or more than likely, because she likes to catch it and chew on it. Either way, we have fun.

And right around the time when she turned 6 months we brought out her big girl ducky tub. She was so proud to sit in it and splash. The girl doesn’t go a day without cracking us up!

Check out the pictures… it looks like she’s turning into quite the little water baby!

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Jump in the Facebook pool and Like Mommy McBlog’s page.

Don’t be shy, the waters warm!

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Filed Under: Uncategorized · Tagged With: Makenzie Ruth, Picture of the Week

Pictures of the Week Seven Months!

May 12, 2013 by erinqmcgee · Leave a Comment

Makenzie Ruth is 7 Months!

It’s going SO fast and it’s been so fun! Here’s what the little munkin (one of our favorite nicknames for her — mix of munchkin + pumpkin) has been up to this month:

Eating: Kenz-o LOVES puffs! She can feed them to herself and she can’t get enough. And when it comes to other foods, she’ll eat anything – prunes, green beans, apples, pears, bananas, peaches, you name it – EXCEPT if it is mixed. Lately we’ve tried some (what we thought were) delicious combos like peach oatmeal, apples & bananas, and strawberry blueberry, and she hates it. Really hates it. We’re talking meltdown city every time. Perhaps she’s the kind of kiddo that won’t want her food to touch on her plate?

Learning & Exploring: She’s SO excited to explore everything — touching, grabbing and putting it all in her mouth! She’s talking and giggling all day. And she’s just about crawling now and pulling herself up too! The below pictures of the photo shoot tell it’s own story of her activity level.

Does that really say 7 Months?!? I’m a BIG girl now!

Oooh, that looks yummy!

7 Months, here I come!

Darn, Mommy moved it too far away and now I can’t get it

Guess I’ll just sit here and grin. 🙂

Sleeping: Our girl is officially in the crib and sleeping through the night in it (I realize this may have jinxed it). Who knew she would resist going from the Rock N Play so much, but I think we’ve finally get her on board with the crib plan! It might be due to the 78 pacis that we sprinkle all over the crib for her to ensure she’ll always be an arms reach with a self-soothing little piece of rubber, but who cares?? When it comes to parenting I’ve learned that you’ve gotta do what works!

Teeth: Still none yet, although we’re officially The Parents that cried Teething. We’ve been convinced that those unusually fussy days have been due to teething for about 4 months now, but we’ve been wrong every time, oops. I’ll be kind of embarrassed to buy another box of Hylands teething tablets if those little buggers don’t show up soon. Live and learn.

Best part of being 7 Months: All of it so far! I guess we’ve been having so much fun that we’re really behind on blogging since our little girl is almost 8 months. And more to come soon but Kenz has had lots of firsts during her 7 months – swim class, big girl baths and trips to the zo0 – stay tuned, the fun is just beginning!

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Follow Makenzie’s journey month-by-month

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Filed Under: Uncategorized · Tagged With: Makenzie Ruth, Month by month, Picture of the Week

Pictures of the Week Bed Bath and Beyond… Adorable!

April 28, 2013 by erinqmcgee · Leave a Comment

Registering was one the most fun parts of wedding planning! Denny may beg to differ on the fun level, but I slowly walked through every single nook & cranny of Bed Bath & Beyond and envisioned how each item would perfectly fit into our “someday” million dollar mansion. I envisioned sipping champagne from fancy flutes, savoring filet off our fine china and relishing lazy Sunday mornings in my fancy schmancy white cotton robe.

Turns out we ended up scanning only practical items, but hey, who doesn’t dream a little bit while they register?

And now almost 5 years later, we are happier than ever that we went with practicality versus fancy-cality (is that even a word?)…

We are glad our plastic water bottles have lids so they don’t get spilled when Kenzie knocks them over. We are glad our paper plates make clean-up a breeze. And when it comes to lazy Sunday mornings, well, let’s just say I am beyond glad when I when I get to sleep past 5:15 am… who has time to lounge around in a bathrobe?!

And aside from practical, it turns out that some of the wonderful gifts our friends & family showered us with when we said I Do would actually come in handy to contain a very busy and adorable little baby girl.

Maybe that’s what they refer to in the “Beyond” part of the name…

Squeaky clean and ready for bed and perfectly contained in the $8.99 laundry basket from Aisle C3 while Mom & Dad get out clean jammies!

Playtime in the… you guessed it, $49 Target sale ottoman, while Mom attempts to cook dinner

And gliding from room to room in a matching $8.99 laundry basket during a pre-bedtime putting-laundry-away session.

There you have it… trick #492 of Mommyhood – babies are Bed Bath & Beyond Happy just hanging out with you in everyday items! No expensive toys needed.

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Looking for even more made-up Mom tips from a rookie Mom?

You’ve come to the right place!

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Filed Under: Uncategorized · Tagged With: Makenzie Ruth, Picture of the Week, Random Ridiculousness

Picture of the Week Meet Mr. Doodlebug

April 20, 2013 by erinqmcgee · 1 Comment

Fridays in the McGee house are normally pretty happy. How can we not be in a good mood knowing that we are just a few hours away from two full days of family fun, minimal obligations and relaxed schedules? No need to pack lunches and make bottles before bed; no need to lay out clothes for the next day; no need to set the alarm for 5:15 am. Ahh, the good stuff in life!

Despite the chaos going on in our country, Denny and I both left the house yesterday morning in a pretty good mood. At about 10am our little days got a bit brighter when a sweet little e-mail popped in our inboxes. The awesome team at Doodle bugs snapped a picture of our little girl meeting Mr. Doodle bug himself!

Too cute!

Kenzie didn’t seem too impressed but we definitely were. 🙂

Enjoy!

Another day in the life of Kenzie girl – kicking off socks and meeting Mr. Doodle bug!

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Thanks for visiting Mommy McBlog!

Stay Tuned… 6 Month Update Coming Soon!

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Filed Under: Uncategorized · Tagged With: Makenzie Ruth, Picture of the Week

Picture of the Week Date Night

April 13, 2013 by erinqmcgee · Leave a Comment

Hi honey, I’m home!!

After a pretty rough stretch at the McGee house I’ve returned to blog-ville! I missed my laptop, but it waited for me like a good little laptop (even after I slathered it in Lysol).

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Last Tuesday morning kicked off some less than stellar days in McGee history. Imagine the scene in the Hangover when they first woke up in Vegas (minus the partying and the tiger in the bathroom)… that’s kind of how we felt.

What we thought was something that Denny ate, turned into a full-blown flu that visited both Denny and me (luckily it did not visit Makenzie-yay!). It was a sleeping-on-the-bathroom-floor, hugging-the-toilet, blacking-out-due-to-dehydration flu-a-palooza. It kicked our butts.

Unfortunately way worse than the flu was a few nights later when Makenzie was up all night with what turned out to be her first double ear infection. Ouch and ouch! Our poor babe was miserable, but bounced back great after a few days of snuggles and antibiotics. She is such a little trooper!

Sick peanut 🙁

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BUT on a much brighter note, last week wasn’t all bad (you didn’t think I’d write a whole post about lame-o sickness, did you?). Denny and I managed to squeeze in an awesome and much-needed date night between the fevers and the other fevers. Thanks to the my parents for watching our girl, we took a little trip to the casino to see one of the funniest guys ever, JIM GAFFIGAN!! True, we had to practically overdose on caffeine to stay awake for the show that went past 10pm, but we persevered and laughed our butts off! We even made it out for a night-cap at our favorite Lancaster watering hole. Go us!

Unfortunately we don’t have any pictures of us all dressed up and out on the town, but here’s something just as good. Two ice-cold beers and a nice momento of a funny night.

Cheers to us! And cheers to Lysol, Amoxicillin, immodium and Pepto!

Here’s to more nights of funs and less days with runs! (C’mon, I couldn’t resist that rhyme)

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Thanks for taking time to visit Mommy McBlog!

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Filed Under: Uncategorized · Tagged With: Picture of the Week, Random Ridiculousness

Pictures of the Week Easter Fun

April 1, 2013 by erinqmcgee · Leave a Comment

Hi friends,

It’s me, Makenzie! I rolled over to Mom’s laptop to share some Easter pictures. Mom keeps saying that she thought she left the hotel industry, at least until I was born, because lately we’ve been having lots of guests. It’s SO fun! The Hotel McGee is at 100% occupancy. I just can’t help that people want to see me grow.

Mamaw and Pappap came this weekend, and so did the Easter Bunny! Take a look at all the fun…

Here I am all ready for my school Easter Party! “Hi Mr. Bunny!”

I was so excited for Easter I woke Mommy up at 4:30 am. We had a tea party while we waited for everyone to wake up. (Thanks Aunt Lorraine for the fun toys!)

YAY! Finally time to see what the Bunny brought!

And the Bunny brought some sun too so we went for a walk. Mommy made me wear this silly hat before we went outside. “Mom I look like a fool!”

After that we had tons of fun playing!

Gotcha Mamaw!

But just when I let go of her hair she tickled me until I wet my diaper, oops.

They wouldn’t let me eat any chocolate so I went for Daddy’s foot. It looked yummy!

But Ewww, this is gross.

Oh well, Daddy made up for his stinky foot by giving me some giggles! I guess I’ll forgive him. He loves me so much!

That’s about it for now. I better head back to dreamland! I’ve got lots of growing to do, I’ll be SIX MONTHS this week!

Nighty night, xoxo

Kenzie

Filed Under: Uncategorized · Tagged With: Holidays, Makenzie Ruth, Picture of the Week

Pictures of the Week Celebrating 12 months

Pictures of the Week It’s baaaaaack!

Picture of the Week Happy Fathers Day!