"Mommy, you speak Spanish?!"

Our little Mackenzie has stolen the show this week. Could be the fact that she's out of school for Winter Break until July 22 and we've been spending more time with her. She is such a smart cookie.

This week we've been having Winter Camp at home for her. It's only about 10-15 minutes each morning but we've done dance, art, music, writing, cooking, and piano. She lights up when we do it and she loves it! She's now requesting classes and any new activity is "a class". We've also been teaching her to help around the house with cleaning up her toys, making her lunch and snacks and folding her own laundry. With this new found independence she is starting, on occasion, to go to the bathroom by herself now too. She'll have us stand by the door but we aren't allowed to come in unless she asks us to.

Dance class and music class together.
She insists on wearing a skirt for dance class.

Making banana sushi.

Learning some letters.

One very new experience we all had this week was on Tuesday evening. We went to a dentist. Since we went to Utah and not Virginia on R&R we didn't have our checkup this year so we went here. This was also Mackenzie's first visit to any dentist and she had a great experience. They explained what was going to happen, showed her some tools and then let her brush the tiger's teeth. We'll go back next week for her actual appointment. She's been asking about it all week. 

Dentist visit!

We've been going to the playground near our house daily this week. Mackenzie is branching out and making more "friends" and speaking more Spanish. When we leave the park she'll say, "Good-bye, amigos!" We reminder her to say, "Chao, amigos!" 

Finley watching her sister play!

After our Saturday morning outing to a different park.

Saturday evening our dear friends Brenda and Netza came over to play our favorite board game. Yes, they are still in Paraguay and we are thrilled! We were able to defeat the game in exactly 3 hours. Long campaign but super fun!

Monday was a busy day. We were finalizing the details for our next vacation but weren't able to pay for the flight online but we could make a reservation. Kiersten spent almost 2 hours at the airline office in order to pay and we actually saved some money so maybe it was worth the wait. Later, the girls walked to the grocery store up the street. At one point Mommy called out to Mackenzie, "Espera! (Wait!)" At this, she stopped, turned around and said in a surprised voice, "Mommy, you speak Spanish?!" Kiersten just laughed and laughed. We speak to her in Spanish EVERY DAY!

But speaking of speaking or understanding Spanish, since our Spanish lessons have ended with our beloved teacher, our skills have not diminished. In some cases they have improved. Kiersten is working hard at home with Nanima and Scott continues to have experiences outside the home. 

They love Daddy time!

Now there has been no mention of the baby. Don't worry she's still very much around. In fact, she's been moving around all week! She isn't exactly crawling yet. It's more like a wounded soldier drag. She's on her elbows and sort of moves her legs. But she is thrilled to be mobile and so are we! Her favorite place to get to is under the piano bench and bang on the board above the pedals.

She loves this mirror.

Rock, rock, rocking!

Possibly because of her mobility she has been eating even more solids and we have stopped doing her dream feeds but she is still sleeping through the night. And another thing ended this week: nursing. She had been getting too distracted to nurse and much preferred the freedom of the bottle. Partially due to this and the fact that we have a nanny, Kiersten's supply had been dwindling for weeks and on Wednesday, that was that.

Restless during church.

Sucking on a breadstick.

Chewing on her first head of broccoli.

Now please enjoy some common expressions we've been hearing from our three-year-old:

• "I ever see/do that." I've never or I have seen/done that thing.
• "I just a kid." Her explanation for her actions but usually it's in response to a good action. For example, "I not a sweetheart, I just a kid, Mommy."

  

  Eating at a Parisian restaurant this week.

• "Hey everyone!" of just "Everybody!" Standing in her room letting us know she's awake for the day.

  

  Weird places we find her sleeping. In a closet.

• "I have a chesson (question)." Usually before nap or bed time and almost always not a question. Just a stall tactic.
• "Fin-ey-baby!" Her adorable nickname for her sister.
  

Lastly, we think we have entered the Disney Princess stage of her childhood. She was obsessed with Moana for months and knows almost all the songs. This week she watched Frozen and she has since seen it 2.5 times and asked to listen to the music and have "Anna hair" and to wear her "Elsa dress" to church. Ironically, this is the same week we finally ordered the Moana DVD for her.

"Anna hair"

"Elsa dress" with "Elsa hair"

And that's it!