Makenzie's 2nd Birthday

Makenzie Ruth turned 2 years old on Dec. 10th.

Pop and I, along with Jacob, Amber and cousin Caden, drove to Colorado on Friday. Makenzie’s birthday party was Sunday afternoon. We planned on staying all day and coming back home on Monday. I didn’t want to miss 1 minute of her celebration!

We left about 2 Friday afternoon. The weather at home was suppose to turn into a cold wind and bring night time temps into the minuses. We were about an hour from Cheyenne and started running into wind. The northwest wind was strong and our SUV was swaying. I’m glad the whole trip wasn’t like that. 7 ½ hours of that would be too much on the stomach. Once we headed south, we lost the wind.

We arrived Friday night. Makenzie was in bed but Sara told me to go in and give her a kiss good night. She stirred some, but stayed asleep as I gave her a goodnight kiss on her forehead.
The time change made us lose an hour, but that was ok. Caden was ready for bed, and so were the adults.

Saturday morning came too early. We were all awake before Makenzie.

Caden is an early riser and was happily playing. When she started talking in her bed, they told me to wait to make sure she was waking up. Yea, right! I was going to wait after not seeing her for 3 months. When she saw Caden, she said “Hi Caden!” in a quiet, little voice.

Makenzie was all giggles to play with Caden.

The sun was bright, and we thought it was going to be a nice day, until we walked outside. The wind was bone chilling. Temps weren’t as cold as home in Nebraska though.

Sara was home during the morning, but Jake had to work. This weekend was Jake’s company party. After he got home from work at noon, they had to do chores and leave by 3.

We spent Saturday morning helping Sara with last minute party preparations, which included baking the two, chocolate sheet cakes, and putting it together with a middle layer of strawberries. She decorated the cake with a My Little Pony picture, and I thought it was deliciously adorable.

We watched Makenzie and Caden play Saturday morning and afternoon. They put coats and shoes on to go outside with the guys, but they were soon back in. I think Grandpa thought the wind was going to blow them away!

We took out an Alphabet bus toy for both Makenzie and Caden that I found at the Take 2 clothing/toy consignment sale. We had to laugh when Pop was playing with Makenzie, and she turned and looked at Pop, help up her little finger, and said “Pop, stop!” That was really funny. Then she did it again, even though he had stopped singing.

Makenzie is all action.

Caden is quiet. Caden would go off a little and play by himself. Then they would sit and play in the same area for awhile, each doing their own thing.

Come bedtime, Makenzie loves the movie, Cars, and would say, “watch Cars, ok?” She sure does like to snuggle down under covers on the couch.

The party on Sunday had both little ones up too long without a long nap. With a few friends and older cousins, Makenzie had a grand time running around and playing with everyone.

She opened her gifts, and then everyone went outside to ride Pody.

Makenzie had gotten a baby stroller, and would not leave the stroller to ride. But eventually, she pushed her stroller into the outdoor arena and left it parked to pet the horse.

I held her on the horse to get her picture taken, even though I didn’t put her helmet on. She just wasn’t going to leave that baby stroller for very long.

Everyone went back inside for cake and ice cream.

We had a few minutes of down time with Sara, Jake and Makezie after everyone went home. Before we knew it, the weekend was over. We said goodbye this morning after kisses and hugs, promising to see Makezie soon for the holidays.

I miss Makenzie already. It’s going to be a long 3 weeks before I can see her again.