Happy Birthday, Mackenzie...

I cannot believe that Mackenzie is nine years old today! It's her last year in the single digits! So much time and so many events have gone by that at times, I can barely even remember her being a baby. How sad. Especially now that we have Maddie-Klaire and are going through baby days again. It's like I sit there and think, "When was Mackenzie ever this little?" Where in the world has time gone? We've had her for nine years (that have flown by) and if the next nine years fly by this quickly, she'll be eighteen years old! Graduating high school, and possibly talking marriage with some little punk (I hope you're praying now, whoever you are!!)! :)

At any rate, Mackenzie has grown into a beautiful little girl - inside and out. She's pretty much Hurricane Mackenzie most days; but she's just who she is - and I love her so much just that way! What can I say, she's really just a chip off the old block! :) I told her the other day that if it seems like we're getting onto her all the time, it's just because we're trying to shape her into a good person. But honestly, I don't think she's going to have any problem with that. She has a natural goodness to her that I adore. And she's smart, she's funny, she's creative - and those are just the traits she inherited from me! Ha, ha - just kidding. I'm enormously proud of her and I hope that she always, always, always knows that I love her very much - "to the sun and the moon and back" as she used to say when she was a "little girl"!

I love you girl -you'll always be my baby!

-DADDY