Marley turns three!

I can't believe how fast time flies! I recently heard someone say, "The days are long, but the years are short," and that's how I feel about my sweet babies. Being the parent of a head-strong full-blown threenager makes for some very exhausting days. 
But then you blink and a year goes by! 

We had a great Cinderella party for Marley on her birthday, and she had lots of fun! Her cousins came to play, and they had the best time in a box fort made by Jason. We had pizza for lunch, opened presents, and had yummy cake too! 

After three years on this earth, Marley has developed into such a sweet, smart, silly, and loving little girl. She transitioned so well into becoming a big sister over the last year, and loves to make her sister laugh. We have some instances of toy-stealing, but for the most part Marley is quick to give her sister a toy or get down on the floor to play with her. 

Marley is the friendliest little girl, and will wave hello to anyone we pass at church or the grocery store. If they say hello back, she will respond with, "I'm Marley!" And even sometimes add, "That's my friend Kenzie!" Haha! 

Marley still has a love for learning and surprises me constantly with how much she knows. How many 3 year olds know rainbow order? (Thanks to Mickey Mouse!) Marley's favorite part about Costco is that there are giant numbers (for each aisle) and she 
yells out, "There's 27!!"

She will get to start pre-school in August, and is going to have the best time! 

Marley really is a sweet girl, and we are grateful to have her in our family. Even though we constantly argue about the silliest things, (I have to say "I'm the mommy" quite frequently) at the end of the day after I say "Good night" she always responds with "I yub you!" and that is all that matters. She warms my heart with her smiles, hugs, and snuggles. 

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl! 

Read Marley's birth story HERE

Birthday Interview: Marley age 3

I wanted to do a my take on a "birthday interview" so I searched pinterest and found the questions I could answer myself. Marley is too little to understand these questions if I were to ask her, she doesn't know what the word "favorite" means. But since I spend every waking moment with her, I figure I'm qualified to answer on her behalf. 

Name: Marlene Diane Henderson

Nickname: Marley

Favorite Food: Fruit snacks, cheese slices, white bread

Favorite Show: Umizoomi, Little Einstein's, Tayo the Little Bus

Favorite Toy: Doctor check-up kit 

Favorite Song: I Am a Child of God, ABC's

Favorite treat: Dove Chocolate hearts (used as bribery to finish meals) 

Favorite Movie: A Bug's Life, Inside Out

Favorite Book: "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie"

Favorite birthday present: Tea set, Magformers

Best Friend: Cousins and Olivia

What makes you happy? Tickles from Daddy, Playing outside, getting to see family

What makes you sad? Getting ready for bed/naps, when Kenzie messes up something she's working on, when she's having fun somewhere and mommy says "time to go."

What do you like to learn about? Letters, numbers, colors, shapes, basically EVERYTHING!

If you could go anywhere, where would it be? Both grandma's houses, the aquarium or zoo, Chick Fila play place

What is something you do really well? Make Kenzie laugh, remember the words to songs, snuggle

Marley Stories: January

Its a new year! Time so share more funny things our Marley said. 

The other day she was running around, pretending to be a cowboy. Then I noticed her stop, take her hat off and take a bow twice while whispering "Thank you. Thank you."

After a few "incidents," now every time I put Marley in the bath tub I say "No poopies in the tub." and She usually says it back to me, almost like a song. The other morning while Marley was in the tub I grabbed Kenzie and brought her into the bathroom too. She was still in her jammies and Marley says,"No jammies in the tub!" (In the same tune as "no poopies.") That made me giggle.   

One day I was sitting at the table eating a big bowl of pasta for lunch. Marley came over, and sat in the chair next to me to see what I was having. She peered into the bowl, then gasped and said, "I love it!!! What is it?" 

Whenever we do baths now, Marley has to stay in the tub until the last drop of water goes down the drain. No matter how many times I correct her, she thinks that the drain is called a "dream." That might be compliments of watching Inside Out at least 50 times.

Misheard Song Lyrics:

"The rains came down and the floods thumbs came up"

"Old McDaniel had a farm..."

"Merrily, merrily, like-a-spider dream"

Mackenzie: 10 Month Update

Mackenzie is 10 months old! Her birthday is coming up fast, and I can't believe it. 

Over the last month Kenzie has gotten a lot more mobile, and her favorite thing is the walker. She crashes around the kitchen in that thing, and has recently learned she can make it down the hallway into her sisters room too. Basically, she follows her sister anywhere around the house. 

Kenzie still loves to eat any form of baby food, except the chunky kind. This kid is SO not ready for table food. She gags when I give her a teething tablet! We've also tried Gerber puffs, and that didn't go so well. She's just content to stick with baby food, and we'll keep trying every week or so. 

So far she hasn't pulled herself up to standing yet, but I did catch her on her knees the other day digging through the Lego bin. Progress! I think she's gotten a slower start with moving around because she got so big so fast. 

Here's how other things are going...

Mackenzie Likes
Following her sister
Leaving surprise puke piles all around the living room
Running over people while in the walker
Trying to escape the baby gate
Giggling with her sister
Playing with whatever she can get her hands on
Staring people down...don't take it personal, she's a serious baby
Grabbing food that isn't hers off the table
Banging her head against the couch when she's tired
Bath time with her sister 

Mackenzie Doesn't Like
When people leave the room, especially her sister
Staying quiet during Relief Society
Sleeping In
Real people food

We sure love our sweet girl! She has the sweetest disposition, and I love getting to spend my days with her. We took the girls out the eat last weekend, and we had two separate instances where people came over to our table just to tell us how cute she is. We agree! 

I'm already excitedly planning her first birthday in a few months, 
its going to be such a fun day! 

Marley Stories: December

Marley is such a silly girl! These are the funny things she did or said during December. 

Right now Marley really likes kicking a ball around and pretending to score goals. The only thing is, she calls it scoring a "gourd." I tried correcting her awhile ago, and she got VERY mad. So now she runs around the house shouting, "Mommy, I scored a gourd!!!"

Marley is still going through her phase where she loves pretending to go places. She puts on socks, sometimes shoes, or a hat and says goodbye as she walks towards the door. The other day though, she got herself all bundled up and said, "Bye Mommy! Have a good Christmas!!"

Thanks to "The Cat in the Hat Knows a lot about Christmas," Marley does this bit where she pretends to be an elephant. She comes up to me and says "Eeeeew! What's that Smell?" And I say I don't know what it is, and she replies with, "Its lion poop!"

Marley, Kenzie and I were in the kitchen having dinner and Kenzie was being super loud and crazy. She was crashing around the room in the walker and squealing super loud. She did something that made me say, "Oh geeze!" And then Marley responded "No, not Jesus!" 

Now that Marley is sleeping in an actual bed, I've been working with her on saying prayers. She loves kneeling by her bed and ALWAYS reminds me that we need to do it. Normally she just repeats what I say, but recently I told her that she should do it, and this is what she said ALL on her own:

"Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this day. Thank you for our family. Keep them safe. Help us to be good and nice. Amen."

A few days before Christmas, we went to visit my Aunt Bonnie and her family. While we were sitting in her living room visiting, Marley kept asking me for a pencil. I figured she had seen one someone in the room, but didn't think much of it. Well, eventually we realized that when she said pencil, she really wanted to play with these plastic ornaments in a jar. When we tried to correct her and tell her they weren't pencils, they were ornaments...she got REALLY mad. I have NO idea where that came from.  

The other night, Kenzie got really fussy when I set her down and left the room. She was crying and screaming, but when I came back and made a face at her, she smiled really big. After Kenzie did that, Marley yelled, "She's happy ever after!" 

On my birthday, when Marley woke up I went into her room to get her in the morning and told her what day it was. She gasped and got REALLY excited. Then I asked her what we should do for my birthday and she paused for a minute and thought really hard. Then she responded with, "Blow candles!" 

Marley LOVES to sing. But she gets the words wrong a lot.
Here are some misheard Toddler Song Lyrics:

"Row Row Row your boat, gently down the STREET."

"Sleep in HAPPILY peace, Sleep in HAPPILY peace."

"Sing sweet NIGHT IN SCALE, sing sweet NIGHT IN SCALE"

"Follow the prophet, JESUS the way"
(Supposed to be "He knows the way" for those who aren't LDS)

"IPSY IPSY spider went up the water spout."