I &hearts NY

we love new york city and actually hope to live there at some point in our lives. we have been 5 times now and just love it more every time.michael always has a shoot of some sort while we are there, which is so fun that he is building some business there as well.

we went at the end of october and had the most amazing time together. the fall weather was incredible, the fall colors were beautiful and we ate THE most amazing food! we planned ahead with the choices of restaurants this time. we love the show "best thing i ever ate" on the food network. there were several episodes that mentioned their favorites in nyc. so we knew we had to try some of those places. also, since we watch alot of the food network there were a couple of chef's restaurants we really wanted to try. we definitely found several places that will become a regular stop for us every time we are there.

my point and shoot camera broke after just a day but michael bought a fuji instax camera that takes polaroids. so we took some pictures with that. then on the last day we got up super early to go to central park so michael could take pictures there and he also shot some of me.

it was an amazing vacation.

ps. we are sooooo grateful for my parents who are so wonderful about coming down to take care of makenzie. she had such a fun time with them i dont even think she really missed us! :)

just cuz it's cute...

we went to the tree lighting here in town. just a cute winter pic of makenzie...

learning to write...

at school makenzie is supposed to journal everyday about whatever she wants. they are supposed to draw a picture and write about it. they aren't supposed to ask how to spell things, but just work on their own. well since doing that at school makenzie is obsessed with writing and journalling at home. it's really cute. i tell her to do it like she does at school and i don't usually help her with her spelling.

it's amazing to see how good she is at it and how much better she is getting too! if we actually spelled every word phonetically she would be really good! its so funny to think about the english language when she says things like "is the word 'cook' with a 'c' or a 'k' " haha, well, both. :) she's learning now that words need vowels, that the "er" sound isn't just an "r" at the end of the word.

i wish i had more to show because she writes so much. i searched the house today and found a few things she's written. i didn't help her with any of these.

these were back in october...

"i went to the nail place"


"i was the flower girl"

these were in the last couple weeks...


"i missed you daddy"


"good job at the doctor"


"dear caleb, thank you for the present"


"no we didn't go to the program today website" (this one doesnt make much sense, haha)


"i like cats"


"stop, no going near the fire, you are going to get burned"


"i love christmas. the bears love santa." this was to her teacher and i think she tried to spell mrs. mclaren "misis mc" and ran out of room. :)

happy thanksgiving!!!

makenzie is thankful...

kindergarten thanksgiving feast...

makenzie's class had a thanksgiving feast on friday and the parents were invited to come. it was cute. they had the food spread out for them to eat with their friends dressed as pilgrims and indians. they sang three thanksgiving songs for us, it was really cute. it was super crowded but it was fun to see.

one of the room moms was there all day and took pics of the kids for us to see. i looked through them and found a few with makenzie in them.

i thought, oh great picture, makenzie, you look SO bored! (she's in the middle with jeans and pink striped sweater)


and then i looked at the next three, apparently they were all bored, haha! :)





practicing the songs to sing...



heading out...



see, said it was crowded!!!



cute pilgrim...


makenzie didn't like her hat. she was the only one having a problem and the only one who took of her hat. drama....

playing school...

since being in kindergarten makenzie's playtime has related alot to things she does and learns at school. she is always writing, making books, etc. but she also likes to play school and be the teacher to her stuffed animals. it's so cute. the other day i heard her playing so i snapped a few pictures. maybe one day i can sneak a video of it. today they were working on letters so she was demonstrating on the wall and then helping each of her students. so cute!!

more family pictures...

wait a minute, more family pictures? i know, shocking. we have literally like 3 pictures of the three of us together in makenzie's five years. so sad. but! we are remedying that this year :) and now we have great pictures of our family. we did a little norwood family photo shoot one night in napa before the wedding. jessica shot these of our family and i love them!













michael took some of the grandkids together too. aren't they just adorable!?!?