Day 10 - Hairy Harry The Potato Man

It was such a beautiful day today..... we spent most of it on the back patio after we went to Cooks Nursery and picked up a few flowers and seeds. To make Hairy Harry you cut out a hollow about 1 1/2" deep on the top of your potato. Cut a slice off the bottom so it will stand up straight. They had cute ideas of using carrot for the eyes, radish for the nose and cutting a turnip for the mouth.... it's hard to tell but Kenzie just drew a face on a piece of paper and we stuck it on with a toothpick.... it works and shows off all her artistic abilities. To make the hair, you're "suppossed" to fill the hollow with wet tissues and sprinkle plenty of cress seeds on to it. Pour in some water into the plant saucer and stand Harry into it. After a few days, Harry's hair is "suppossed" to be long enough to cut, wash and eat. We couldn't find any cress seeds so we got some chives and put some dirt in the top and planted the seeds. We'll see how hairy, harry gets.


Tonight little Miss Sassafrass helped me snap green beans for dinner although she insisted they were NOT green beens but aspenasgrass (asperagas) She was also proud of her healthy choice for snack time today and showed me what all of her friends at school do with their oranges after they eat them. Her theme song should be.... "Girls just want to have fun..... oh yeah

Day Nine - Grandpa Ken Earns 100 Stars

Every Sunday morning is grocery day. We planned our menus and wrote our list. We also wrote up a new star chart to begin a new week. Mackenzie earned a penny for every star. We added making healthier snack choices by eating more fruits and vegetables to her star chart this week.... trying to fight the battle of that dang (you know what I really mean to say) Easter bunny. Kenzie wrote her list and said she only needed to put on one thing..... a toy. Notice her new purple bucket on the next picture with Grandpa Ken. She spent her Easter dollar and 7 of her star pennies. It was very painful for her to part with those 7 pennies.

Grandpa Ken and Kenzie spent the afternoon at the park and going on a bike ride so I could have some time alone to work on some of my own projects. I'm sure there is a special store in heaven where he can redeem all the stars he has earned for all the thoughtful and considerate things he does on my behalf. I finished up a quilt I am making for Melissa's mother-in-laws grandkids for Christmas..... and cut out 2 more.

Tonight we had dinner with Susan's family at Grandma Porters. We really had a great time. Susan's kids are getting so big and Kara's baby is due in just 3 short weeks. I'm sure that isn't how she'd describe it. After dinner Kenzie wanted to go back to the park and wasn't happy when my answer wasn't yes.... let's go right this minute. I told her to go play with the kids, meaning Susan's youngest that is eleven. "She's just a pretend kid. All the kids here aren't real, because they're big," she told me. There's no real kids here like me." What a rip off, having to spend the evening with all of us fake adults. We finally got her interested in playing hide and seek with the beannie babies (notice the lamp) and she found out we were very useful for finding the ones that got hidden up high.

Day Eight - More Grandpa's & Grandma's

Today we went to visit Grandpa Joe, Grandma Austin, and Aunt Mina. She had a great time giving marshmellow treats to Mina's dog, Penny. One treat for the dog and five for herself. Grandma Austin didn't think they looked good enough for a picture but I think the three of them are pretty darn cute. There is just an endless string of grandparents in the life of Miss Kenzie. We visit Grandma Porter every morning (she just lives 3 doors down) and when she is unsatisfied with me she is going to run away to Grandma Lisa's house. (Lindsay's Mom)

This afternoon we made suncatchers for the window from crayons and strings. This was Canyon's favorite art project to do when were at his house a couple of weeks ago. Kenzie is so adamant about doing everything herself so I try hard to let her to that..... what you can't see is me hovering over her in the background wringing my hands and biting my nails.... sweat pouring as I imagine myself being arrested for child abuse as her fragile skin is burned by a one ton iron.

Melted Crayon & String Art Picture

Use a vegetable peeler or crayon sharpner to shave different colors of crayons. Place a brown paper bag down on the table. Then tape a piece of waxed paper about 8 X 11 paper size onto the bag. Using glue and bits of colored string or (and) various colors of tissue paper along with the crayon peelings to form a design. When the design is complete, cover it with another sheet of waxed paper. Place another brown paper bag over the waxed paper and press with a warm iron. Trim the edges and frame with any color of painters tape or you can use masking tape. Hang in the window.

Kenzie recieved a phone call tonight which she promtly took outside into her "office." I'm sure she needed privacy to tell mommy all about the trials of her day..... how grandpa and grandma wouldn't buy her any sodas with dinner and they made her eat dinner before she could have an ice cream cone..... and she had to have some vegetables at lunch time instead of 2 brownies and a handful of jelly beans.... grandma and grandpa have been nothing but trouble today!!

Day Seven - Duck Duck Goose AND A Pony Ride

This morning we made some homemade finger paints. We were going to do some color experiments but she already knew what colors mixed together to make orange, green, and purple. She said, "Grandma don't you know.... I'm in Pre-K" OK then, little miss smarty pants. She still had fun making her rainbow. Here is the reciepe we used. It makes quite a thick paint and couldn't be used with brushes but it was great with hands and popsicle sticks. We used tempura paint to make our colors.

Finger Paint
1/2 C. cornstarch
3 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 C. cold water
Mix ingredients in a pan. Cook over low heat until mixture is thick, smooth and clear. Stir while cooking and then let it cool a bit and then add your colors. Cover tightly to store. I used medicine bottles for the paint.

This afternoon it was time for our suprise adventure she had been waiting for all week. We went to the Duck, Duck, Goose activity at Thanksgiving Point with Reanna and Melissa. They made a duck that quacks from a cup.... fed the ducks and saw the difference between a duck and a goose and then the biggest excitement of all.... she got to go on her first pony ride. Afterwards the girls had a great time feeding the chickens, sheep and goats. The baby goats were just adorable and leaped around like new baby kittens.

While I was working on this, the house became eerily silent so I crept up the stairs and there was the little farm girl as still as I have seen her in the seven days she has been here.

Day Six - Happy Snow Day

Kenzie could not believe her eyes when she got up this morning and looked outside. She ran right for all her snow gear and suited up. (good thinking mom & dad) The snow wouldn't hold together so we couldn't make a snowman but she had fun frolicking around with her friend Abbey the dog. (as you can see, Abbey is thrilled to have a new friend)

We went to storytime at the library again and came home to make cookies since we couldn't play at the park or go on a bike ride. I was going to have a cute little life lesson about how the next best thing about eating cookies is sharing them with friends...... but grandma was just too darn tired for the going out and sharing part. We will just have to have fun eating them.

Day Five - McDonald's Happy Meal

Refer to Miss Mackenzie's family blog http://tyja83.blogspot.com/, post of March 23, 2009. The first order for today was getting a trim for her bangs that she gave quite a chopping to. She is now just as cute as a button.

Next we went to Grandma's "quilting school" where I sewed with Ann and Melissa and it was Kenzie's job to figure out how to play with Reanna and the toys by herself. She has been a little disturbed that we make food at home and don't go to McDonalds for happy meals. So when Melissa presented the idea that if they would play happily with smiles on their faces until lunch time she would get them one. About 15 minutes later Mackenzie tugged on Melissa's arm..... "hey, I'm having a really hard time keeping this smile on my face the whole time while I play"..... little did Melissa know she had hit pay dirt. Kenzie would have stood on her head for 12 hours for that Happy Meal and chicken nuggets. Too funny.

Kenzie just loves to help cook. She sometimes takes a bad rap for being too bossy and liking to take charge but I'm finding the truth of the matter is..... she is one capable little girl. I handed her the ingredients and she put the whole thing together.... all by herself. She was the pizza sauce spreader, cheese sprinkler, and olive cutter (and eater)

Day Four - Star Chart

Because of the length of time Mackenzie will be here we had to establish some order and who indeed is the REAL boss around here and so no childhood is complete without a star chart. It might be hard to tell but Mackenzie is using her big girl voice, talking politely, making her bed, putting her dirty clothes away, putting her shoes away so she knows where they are and picking up her toys. Boy, is she proud of herself. She can't wait to tell mommy and daddy what a big girl she is and how grown up she is learning to be. Sadly, she thinks being grown up will be the coolest thing ever.... because of course we all do whatever we want ALL THE TIME.

Today was storytime at the libary. The theme was the jungle and "the library lady" read a book about a sloth who did everything slowly, slowly, slowly and a baby elephant who wanted to do everything by himself. It was also very exciting when she got to sing the 5 little monkeys teasing Mr. Alligater song. She checked out 6 library books to read at bedtime.