A Spoonful of Sugar

I don't know about everyone else, but the act of getting McKenzie to take medicine is a big issue. McKenzie does not like the taste of medicine and it can sometimes take 30 minutes to get her to take her medicine.

Right before Christmas, McKenzie got sick. I took her to the local 24 hour clinic as it was over the weekend. The doctor there prescribed a medicine that is not a very welcomed by McKenzie. We tried many things - one person recommended putting a gummy bear in mouth and then squirting the medicine in so she would think it would taste like a gummy bear. We also tried hiding it in food but she could taste it. Another thing we tried was having her take the medicine and then drinking something right away. That one worked the best.

14 days ago, McKenzie got sick again with a sinus infection and ear infection. I was able to get her into her doctor who gave us a better tasting medicine. When talking with her on the trouble we have with McKenzie taking medicine, her suggestion was hershey syrup. She said to have McKenzie take the medicine and then let her squirt the chocolate syrup in her mouth. We have the big bottles from Sams so that didn't work to well, but putting it on a spoon worked.

I'm glad we found something that works as McKenzie got sick again this week. The ears are all clear but the sinus infections won't go away. She now as a flue-like sinus infection. But now I do not have to worry about having battles at medicine time.

The song was right - "a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down!"

Learning at a young age

Tonight, we were doing some shopping at Wal-Mart when McKenzie shared the wisdom she has gained at her young age. Be mindful that she did not pick any of this up from me.

We needed some bug spray and McKenzie wanted to see the can. I was explaining to her that this was only for adults to use and that she was not suppose to touch this can. She then asked if it was then okay for her daddy to use. James and I both got a good laugh from this. I don't know where she got the idea that her daddy was not an adult.

Kid Logic #2

McKenzie's thing right now is the the sun is her best friend because it shines down on her. I love that concept.

Along with that, the other day she informed that the sun was a girl because she was a girl.

Where do kids come up with this stuff?

Kid Logic #1

I love the way kids think.

Last Sunday when I asked McKenzie what she wanted for dessert this was her response:

"We should have a sundae because it's Sunday"

How can one argue with logic?

The Trip Home

We had a great time in Colorado this week. We are thankful that Terry and Marie wanted to share their anniversary trip with the family. You would think that we would have seen enough sights on our trip, but no, we made one more stop on our way home. We decided to stop at the Capulin Volcano. Again, this was another place with a great view.

Colorado Springs - Day 5

Our last family day in Colorado was spent at the Garden of the Gods and the North Pole.

Some of us wanted to see the Garden of the Gods so we decided to stop there first and do a family picture. The view was wonderful.

After family picture time, we went to the North Pole - the place that the girls couldn't wait to get to, especially McKenzie. The visit to the North Pole was fun and at a pace for these girls. McKenzie loved riding the rides, a lot of them she could ride by herself, some she needed James or I to ride with her. James got to ride most of the rides, as she wanted to ride with her daddy. One of her favorite rides was the ferris wheel which was at the top of the mountain. She was not too sure of Santa but did inform him that she wanted a pony for Christmas.

Colorado Springs - Day 4

Today we found ourselves visiting Seven Falls. We weren't sure what we were going to find but it was worth the trip and admission into the park. There were two areas that you could go up and see the view. One allowed us to go up in an elevator - you know we took advantage of that. Had we walked up that area, it would have been 185 steps. The other area, where you walked up by the waterfall, had 224 steps. McKenzie and James made it half way. Keith, Tracie, Dylan and Micah made it to the very top.

After this adventure we parted ways with Keith and his family and went to lunch and to visit the Money Museum. This was a very neat experience to see the money from different times in this country as well as coins from around the world. This was a little over McKenzie's head, but I think that she would be interested when she is older.

Colorado Springs - Day 3

Today's activity involved the cog rail up to the summit of Pike's Peak. McKenzie was super excited to be able to ride a train to the top of a mountain. All I can say was this was awesome and the view was breathtaking. I hope you enjoy the pictures from today. You will notice that the trip started off with a very cloudy, foggy day, but as we got up the mountain, it became and very beautiful, sunny and clear day.

Colorado Springs - Day 2

Today we did a lot. Here are all of the places we visited today: Ghost Town Museum, Cave of the Winds, the Outlet mall and Focus on the Family. After all of these activities we came back to meet up with the rest of the family and we all went swimming. To top off the evening, we had a wonderful dinner and did thank you/anniversary gifts for Terry and Marie.

At the Ghost Town Museum, we got to see a replica of a mining town and pan for gold. This was not quite the experience we were hoping for but McKenzie had fun trying to pan for gold (there wasn't any gold to pan for).

Next stop was the Cave of the Winds. We basically made it to the gift shop and the entrance. McKenzie was not sure if she wanted to go through the cave, so we looked in the gift shop and then did some more panning at the entrance. At the cave entrance, they gave people to opportunity to buy bags of dirt to pan for either gems, fossils or arrowheads. McKenzie chose to pan for gems. This was her favorite activity for the day.

The outlet mall adventure was for a trip to Harry and Davids and whatever else we could find. McKenzie liked the idea of going shopping as she wanted to get new shoes. She is very much a shoe girl. I needed new dress sandals, which I found one pair and McKenzie found a new pair of flip flops.

On our way back to the house we staying at, we stopped off at the Focus on the Family Welcome Center. McKenzie liked visiting Whit's End - from Adventures in Odyssey. They have a great area to play in. McKenzie was not quite tall enough to go down the 3-story slide, but I don't know if she would have even gone down the slide.

Colorado Springs - Day 1

To celebrate my in-laws 40th wedding anniversary, we are having a family vacation in Colorado Springs. We caravaned up here from Amarillo on Sunday. We are staying in a beautiful home that is 3 stories. The girls are loving going up and down the stairs - the adults on the other hand are not so sure about all of the stairs, especially after the first day activities.

For day 1, we went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. McKenzie's favorite part of the zoo adventure was getting to pet and feed the giraffes. We knew awhile back that we would all be going to this zoo, so we have been showing McKenzie the webcams from the zoo of the giraffes - she could hardly wait.

Here are some of the pictures from the zoo:

Tap

McKenzie's second dance is the tap dance. In this one, she is at the opposite end of the stage. Right hand side of the screen.

Ballet

McKenzie took dance once a week and in the hour long class they learned both ballet and tap. Here is the ballet part of the recital - this video is from dress rehearsal as we cannot video tonight during the actual recital.

Picture Time

Before dress rehearsal yesterday, we had picture time. I wasn't going to buy pictures but I took McKenzie up there because some of the moms wanted a group picture. One of the girls was upset and would not go get her picture taken, so Miss Whitney came out to see if she could calm her down with them doing on of their ballet exercises. Here is a video of that exercise.

Proverbs 17:17

Here is the memory verse for April.

"A friend loves at all times." Proverbs 17:17

Matthew 22:37

McKenzie has really been working on her memory verse from Sunday School this month. Here she is sharing what she has learned. I will note, she was not sure about starting this venture, but has had fun saying and practicing the movements every night.

At Least She's Honest

The other night when rocking McKenzie before bed she was biting on her nails. I told her to stop and she did without any problems. Normally when I lay her down and get her all covered up, she sits up and tells me that she will lay down after I leave the room and close her door. This time, she didn't do that, she proceeded to tell me that once I left, she would begin biting her nails again. It took all I had not to laugh but at least she was honest.

Angel Wings

This is trick for parents, but I can't seem to remember where I got this idea. I thought it was a great idea and McKenzie loves it.

When giving your kids a juice box, raise the triangle pieces to give your kid a place to hold the box so that they do not squeeze the box and spill the juice out of the straw. This trick as worked wonders and McKenzie thinks it is cool to have angel wings on her juice box.

Trish

Camera Shy? I think not!

McKenzie and I went outside the other day because she wanted to play in the water. Before going outside, she wanted me to take the camera out with us. I did take the camera and after I sat down, McKenzie asked me to take pictures of her and she began to pose. Here are the pictures of her posing.

Road Trip

Here are some pictures from our road trip to Houston for a surprise visit for Mother's Day. McKenzie loves to make silly faces. For a 10 hour trip, McKenzie did really well.

Grammy was not expecting to see us so up at her door. McKenzie was excited about going to the door and getting to ring the door bell. That is one of her favorite things to do now.