Saturday, March 26, 2011

A few days ago Mason came over to play, and Jamie brought play dough along that her husband had made. I was eyeing it thinking how fun that would be to break out, then looked around and realized we didn't have one suitable spot for two kiddos to make a big mess on a table their size. And although I'm a relatively new mom and will allow almost anything for a photo op, I drew the line letting them ruin our wood floor. :)

After Mason and Jamie left, I remembered a FAVORITE thing of my parent's from my childhood...this play table and two chairs that we used every day until we couldn't fit our legs under it anymore. I remembered seeing it in my parent's basement recently and went over and asked if we could have it to use for awhile. SCORE! Dad had this table made, with the instructions being, "Make it indestructible." Sure enough, 30+ years later and countless kids climbing it, painting it, pounding it, and it still lives for another generation!

Macy thinks she is hot stuff when I sit her here for any reason. She enjoys drumming with teaspoons while I make her food, organizing her shoes in a row, and all through the day comes back to a little cheerio pile I keep on there. It works great! Can't wait for another try at play dough with a friend, we now have the perfect set up and it didn't cost a thing!
It cracks me up how every couple days Macy discovers something new and it becomes her favorite thing. Lately, it's been turning anything that is a circular or oval shaped into a bracelet. She figures out how to put them on and then comes to find me and does a dance because she is so excited!

Our friends Tyler, Mandy and Carly came over for a visit today! It was very fun, and I was so impressed with how sweet Carly is with Macy. She's 4, and Macy thought Carly was the smartest girl alive. This was during snack-time when Macy got to be a big girl and share the chair with Carly. :) (Mandy is holding her on with her leg). Macy barely moved, she knew this was a special treat!

Saturday, March 19, 2011

A night out with the girls!

Last night I laughed harder than I have in a really long time. I got to go out to dinner with some of my favorite people. From left: Me, Sjana, Jamie and Kara. We all grew up together in the same church, our parents were all in the same young married Sunday School and we are the same age, were the same grade, and are all now at the same stage in life. We are all married, and all of us have kids. Sjana has 3, Kara 2, Jamie and I have 1. Whenever we get together, it's usually with at least some of our kids (if not all) and we are always outnumbered! It's rare for us to get time together without interruptions, and when someone plans it, we try our best to make it work!

Last night we met at Kara's house and went together for Chinese food, then drove through DQ for blizzards and parked and talked and talked. It was good for the soul to have girl time like that and just howl laughing about kid stories, husband stories, life stuff. I drove home with the biggest smile. I love these girls!!!!
Meanwhile, my Dad babysat Macy! I got her set up with dinner and then Dad took over. They played, he gave her a bath, got her in PJs, gave her a bottle and put her to bed all by himself! I think this was a first without Mom. Macy had a ball!
This is Dad, having a serious talk with Macy that this will be her last bottle ever. I allowed her to "cheat" one last time for Dad, but she is officially only drinking from a sippy cup now! This is big news in our house. I thought if I had to clean that Dr. Brown bottle one more time, I might throw it out the window. Macy is doing great with her sippy cup, getting plenty to drink and I'm relieved for her to be DONE with bottles!

Thanks again, Grandpa, for your help making my night so FUN!

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I found these "ears" a couple weeks ago! They cracked me up and Macy loves them. She has bee-lined for them in her room ever since she figured out where I kept them and today was the day she could play with them until the felt ripped apart. Hooray!
Jamie and Mason came over to play and Jamie and I took turns on the treadmill! It worked great! We both got workouts in, and the kids got to play. I even got a chance to try the ears on Mason. :)
Isn't he a doll?
We headed to Mom and Dad's in the afternoon for a quick visit since Macy had to show off her outfit and Mom gave her a present! A new apron/bib for Grammy's house!!! It's reversible and darling. Macy rocked it.
Macy did this. Seriously. :) hahahahaha! Poor Brodie!
Thank you Grammy for my new apron, I love it!!!!
Grandpa is going to babysit tomorrow night while I go out to dinner with the girls... Can't wait to blog about THAT! Our deal is: If I feed her before he gets her, he will give her a bath. :)

Playdate with The Harps

On our way to visit Holly and Harper the other day, I glanced in my rear-view mirror and saw that Macy had started to take her hat off and then just left it. She was laughing! It cracked me up. She looked Russian! I called her "My Babooshka" the rest of the morning.

I find it hilarious that whenever we go to a friend's house, Macy and I leave wishing we had different toys. :) If you've seen our house, we don't need a THING, there's just something about someone else's stuff, isn't there? Macy loved this Dora chair Harps had. She kept going over and sitting in it acting like a big girl. Harper's not real into sharing at this stage, though, and kept wanting whatever Macy had!
Macy found an empty box, took it and ran with it, until Harps saw her and realized that was her favorite toy. (Now!)
Holly inspired me to cut back a little and change up our living room. I chose 2 toys for the next couple days to stay downstairs, a couple to stay upstairs and a couple to move to a closet for awhile so they seem new again when I take them out. I was looking at this line-up and realized all of them make noise! Our living room seems so much quieter with them in their different spots!

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Macy's got a tu-tu!

Last week Anna watched Macy for a couple hours and when I got home, she was wearing this ADORABLE outfit! Anna buys Macy treats/prizes/presents constantly and it warms my heart. This is a 13 year old girl, who thinks about others more than herself. It's an example I am thrilled Macy has in her life. Gabe and I marvel over Anna's generosity. We pay her to watch Macy, and she goes and buys her presents with the money! Sheesh! :) This last time Anna and her Mom showed up with Macy's first Starbucks! (I'm not kidding. They got her a whole milk.)

Anyway, I've been waiting for Sunday to arrive so I could dress her up in it and watch everyone's reaction. :)

I don't know what was going on here...I think Macy wanted to run around, not snuggle. :) Usually, her Great-Grandma is one of her favorite people.

We Skyped Katie in Florida after lunch! Macy is finally starting to get used to Skype, I think. She knows it's her Auntie Kate on the screen, but gets annoyed when we don't let her touch the screen! She stares a lot and every once in awhile waves. I think it brightens Katie's day and makes her feel closer to actually see us when we're talking.

Macy started to really get that it was Katie talking to her and when Katie asked for a drink of her sippy cup...
Macy shared! Hysterical! Katie would play along and "slurp" some water out and Macy thought she was really drinking her "water" (it wasn't full, she was just chewing on the top pretending to drink). Sooo funny.
Skyping today reminded me of this picture about this time a year ago... She was SO tiny!

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Psalm 103 (New International Version, ©2011)

Psalm 103

Of David.

1 Praise the LORD, my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
2 Praise the LORD, my soul,
and forget not all his benefits—
3 who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
5 who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

6 The LORD works righteousness
and justice for all the oppressed.

7 He made known his ways to Moses,
his deeds to the people of Israel:
8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
9 He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor his anger forever;
10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

13 As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;
14 for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.
15 The life of mortals is like grass,
they flourish like a flower of the field;
16 the wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more.
17 But from everlasting to everlasting
the LORD’s love is with those who fear him,
and his righteousness with their children’s children—
18 with those who keep his covenant
and remember to obey his precepts.

19 The LORD has established his throne in heaven,
and his kingdom rules over all.

20 Praise the LORD, you his angels,
you mighty ones who do his bidding,
who obey his word.
21 Praise the LORD, all his heavenly hosts,
you his servants who do his will.
22 Praise the LORD, all his works
everywhere in his dominion.

Praise the LORD, my soul.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Macy's like her Grandpa and loves...LES SCHWAB!

LES SCHWAB has been a family joke for years. When my Dad discovered this place, he fell in love with it. The customer service, the FREE patching of tires and the friendly workers, POPCORN- he pointed them out wherever we went. Oregon, WA, on vacation...Dad would point and say, "There's LES SCHWAB!" :)

I have to admit that the first time I got a flat, I fell in love with this place, too. Who else is that nice and does you such a huge favor for free? They have my business for life. My car's tires have been having air pressure issues this week and Gabe discovered a nail in one so I brought Macy with me yesterday while Gabe was working and got it fixed.

Macy thought she was in heaven!
Brochures!
Toys!
TIRES!
I think we did 20 laps through every single row of tires in the 10 minutes it took them to fix my tire. :) Macy loved these tires.
She was running down the aisles and then discovered she could touch the tires!
I think she touched every single one she could reach in that store. The guys were laughing at her. Who knew LES SCHWAB=best destination for a 14 month old ever?!

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Guess who is coming to dinner?

Besides Bible Study today, we had some very important people coming for dinner. Macy tried to help clean and cook, but with one very short nap she was kind of a nightmare for the hours we needed to get ready.
After a failed attempt at a second nap, we did something we've never done until today- put on a movie just for her! Berenstein Bears go on Vacation or something. Auntie Kate gave it to Macy a looong time ago and today it came in very handy!!!
She got her second wind after 5 minutes of downtime and wanted to help me again, so we put on her apron and put her to work making rolls. :)
I look at this picture and cannot believe how alike these two look. Check out the profile!!!
Dinner was a success, and Macy had lots of fun showing off for her Great-Grandma Eunice, Great-Grandpa Arnold, and Great-Uncle Kevin.

Kevin is Gabe's Uncle, and is only 10 years older than Gabe. He is great with kids and hasn't seen Macy for several months. She really liked playing with him tonight...

Macy hand delivered everything Kevin is holding and was working on bringing him something else.
Shortly after this Macy went to bed and we got talking and telling stories. Kevin had me laughing so hard. Remember that movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding?" The crazy Aunt who talks about having a twin inside her that she absorbed in the womb and all they could find was hair and teeth? Kevin goes, "You guys know that is a real medical phenomenon, right?" Then told us as an ice breaker at a dinner one time he was talking about that part in the movie and the woman across from him said, "I had that." We could not stop laughing!!!!! What are the chances? :)

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Our little train conductor!

Macy went and got this hat out of her basket today and wanted to put it on. I helped her, and she walked around so proud. I thought she looked like she should be driving a train! Our little baby isn't so little anymore! She is getting very independent. She now flushes the toilet, can turn light switches on and off, helps pick up laundry that has fallen on the floor when I'm folding, can follow directions like, "Dance!" "Put it back," and "Bring me a book." It's crazy how things are starting to click for Macy and how fun she is with games and music. She still loves going places and I think this is something she will do a lot with her Dad.

Gabe and Macy's expedition yesterday was a smashing success. I was shocked. Costco? AND the bank? And another store and he wasn't exhausted?! :) She was! Today he went for round two and took Macy to Hardware Sales and Home Depot and Walmart. What a guy! This extra time alone has been awesome! I've been on the treadmill 2 days in a row, caught up on Bible Study, laundry, even vacuumed today. I'm going to be sad when Friday comes and I don't have Gabe home helping me for awhile.


Monday, March 7, 2011

Off to the bank with Daddy.

I am having a very slow start today. Macy got up at 5:45 AM and I got her at 6 AM. Thank goodness Gabe is off this week! He's been great this morning, helping out with chores and odd jobs and playing with Macy. I was still in pajamas at 10 AM and he had a list of stuff to get at different places. Gabe mentioned that we still needed to set up a bank account for Macy and offered to do that with her today! What a special little Daddy and her outing!
She was just thrilled to hold this piggy bank. I never let her touch it and she always beelines to it in her room when she's on the loose!
I am sitting here blogging in a quiet house, (still in pajamas) listening to the washer and dryer work and really enjoying some alone time knowing Gabe and Macy are bonding alone together. I don't think Gabe knows how tired he will be after hitting the bank, Albertsons, and Costco with a 14 month old but I'm sure he'll have stories to tell me. Oops. Forgot to tell him to park near a cart-return. :)