The Pentagon Memorial

I was reading the newspaper on Saturday and learned about the Pentagon Memorial. Did you know it existed and that it was the first September 11th memorial dedicated? I didn't. It's right next to the side of the Pentagon where the plane went into the building. It's actually a really neat memorial and I want to start taking visitors there to see it. I went to the Pentagon Memorial website and learned about the design and meaning behind the memorial and now I like it even more.

 There are 184 benches and each bench represents a person who was killed that day, either in the Pentagon or on Flight 77. They are in an "Age Line" starting with the youngest passenger who was only 3 years old and ends with the oldest person killed who was 71. Each birth year has its own line and the lines are at a 45 degree angle so it mimics the flight pattern the plane took before crashing into the building.

Each person has his or her name written on the end of the bench. Another neat thing is the designer made it so if you're reading the name of the person and you're facing the Pentagon the person was in the building. If you're reading the name and facing the sky then that person was on Flight 77.

There is also an "Age Wall" around the side of the memorial which starts at 3 inches tall and gradually ends at 71 inches tall. I think it's really special how the designer was able to really represent each person that was killed that day.

Macy reflecting.

The ground was gravel which is very fun to play with.

Macy climbing to the top of the bench.

It also looks like it would be very pretty at night.

photo credit

Granola Bars

I found a great granola bar recipe which has been my favorite so far. I changed the recipe quite a bit to be healthier and this is what I've come up with. I've made a batch weekly because we love them so much.

4 cups rolled oats (I've used both rolled oats and quick oats and can't tell a difference)
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 c softened butter
1/3 cup applesauce
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup craisins
1/2 cup nuts

Press into a greased 9x13 inch pan. (I spray my hand with cooking spray to press because it's pretty sticky.) Bake at 325 degrees for 18-22 minutes. When I take them out of the oven I press them again with the back of the spatula. Cool in the pan. When they are cool cut into your desired size.

Playing with Play Dough

 Macy, a monumental thing happened today. You played with ONE thing for ONE hour! Never in your life have you played with something for so long. I heard you love to play with play dough in Nursery so I made you some to play with at home. You loved it so much. I had to remind you often to keep it at the table because you wanted to walk around with your little creations but other than that you did great. We'll definitely be playing with play dough more often!

Beach Party

We had a little beach party at Sandy Point State Park with some friends from the ward. It was perfect for all the little kids because it's in the bay making the waves very very small. Macy didn't get in the water, as expected, but she loved playing in the sand. It was actually quite relaxing because Jonathan and I got to sit and watch her play while enjoying the warm sun and beach atmosphere.

After the fun in the sand we walked up to the grassy BBQ area for dinner. The smart parents brought their stair gates to make a ring around the grill so the kids won't get burned. Macy loved playing with the buttons and toy part of it.

Macy and Hallie being cute friends.

Macy loves to run and had a great time chasing her friends around in the grass.

Macy and Hallie again enjoying themselves.

Macy is doing her hide-and-go-seek counting face in this picture. She likes to cheat by only covering her mouth.

New Macy Movie!

Check it out on Our Web Gallery. It's called "Every day Macy."

I know it's really long but she is so much cuter now it's harder to cut the good footage!

Enjoy.

Oh Macy... This picture makes me smile for so many reasons. I love your facial expression. It looks like you're saying, "Why are my parents so embarrassing?"

New Table for Macy

We bought Macy a new little table and chairs from Ikea to help encourage her artistic creativity. (And to hopefully find something that she will do so I can make dinner. This hasn't happened yet but getting better.) The first morning she saw it she immediately ran over to it and started to color. Usually when Jonathan gets Macy up in the morning the first thing she does is try to find me. Now she goes straight to the table. Her friends like to play at it too. We are so glad we bought this for little Macy Cakes.

Family Pictures from Outer Banks

Here are a few of my favorites. I say few because there are 634 images to choose from. The photographers really did a great job capturing the essence of each family.

Whole Family

The grandkids

My favorite little Angel

the little girlies

Someone isn't happy

a rare smile

All 5 born August 2009-August 2010

Macy and Lily

Macy the Artist

As I mentioned before Macy is really into coloring right now. This is the only thing in her life she has done consistently for longer than 10 minutes. She loves picking all the colors, different pencils and pens, and high lighters. Amazingly she holds the crayons, pens, and pencils the proper way. I don’t know where she learned that. We think she is just a natural born artist. 

This is one of my favorite pieces of artwork. She worked on this over a period of time and would make one line at a time. She would make a mark, take a break and come back to it. She even took it with us outside for inspiration. 

Another amazing thing was Macy letting me take her picture while coloring. She likes to put her face really close to the paper when she is working. She is always so happy when coloring and loves to talk and show me what crayon she is using and what her picture looks like. I love my little budding artist! She is the cutest little artist ever!

So focused

She's showing me what she just did

See how cute she is crossing her legs?!

Praying Macy

Macy has been excellent at reminding us to pray and to pray often. It only took us a few tries to get her to fold her hands and know she can also fold her arms. I wasn’t in the good habit of praying over breakfast and lunch but now we are because Macy insists we pray before eating. She folds her arms and points to us to do the same. She is generally very reverent but if we peek we catch her trying to pick food off her plate. However, her arms are still folded so does that count? I like to peek so I can see how cute she is being. She’s also very good at getting us to say family prayer at night. We’ve always been good at this but she now reminds us as soon as it’s bed time. She waves “come on” to Jonathan if he isn’t moving fast enough for her. She also always folds her arms at church during the prayers and at other people’s houses. I’m so glad that is one lesson that actually stuck.  

Her latest thing is having us all fold our arms or clasp our hands. Jonathan and I have to do whatever she is doing. She tricks us by switching during the prayer sometimes. Often she wants to pray multiple times during dinner. We try to tell her we only need to pray once. If Macy ever isn't paying attention and misses us saying Amen she will not unfold her arms until we say another prayer or repeat Amen a few times. 

Charlottesville

We took the two hour drive down to Charlottesville to visit the NUCCA doctor there. The drive down there is mostly on a highway that goes through the little towns so it’s a beautiful drive. Macy did pretty good on the drive and only cried a little bit. After our appointment we drove to Monticello to go inside Thomas Jefferson’s home. It’s a beautiful home with very beautiful grounds. We took turns watching Macy while the other went on the tour of the house. Daddy was very nice and bought Macy chocolate coins during his watch and she loved them of course.

On the way home we stopped to get ice cream at a place called Moo Thru. The sign says it’s real dairy by real dairy farmers. It was very delicious and Macy loved her ice cream come. This time she only took a little bite out of the bottom. Her favorite part was the flavor sign. She walked in and out of it and was so happy. 

The last hour of the drive I sat in the back with Macy and helped her color. She is very much into coloring right now. I put the crayons in her cup holder and she thought that was great. She would pick a color, draw a line, then show me the crayon and speak to me very purposefully. I really wish I knew what she was saying. It was so cute and I had a great time sitting back there with her.

Macy's first work of art (I did the sun and face)

Bike Ride Down Mt. Vernon Trail

We decided to go on a family bike and roller blading ride on Saturday despite the chance of rain. It did decide to rain but luckily we had stopped by a tunnel to let Macy lose so we were able to find shelter from the rain. Macy had a great time playing in the tunnel so it turned out great!

Meadow Lane Park in Vienna

This is the best park around us. First off it’s almost completely covered in the shade, it has many swings, and best of all it’s full of outdoor toys. Macy always loves to steal other kids toys. Actually this is how I found out about this park. We were at our pool swimming and she wanted a toy that another little boy had. I told the dad that no matter what I bring she always wants what the other kids have. He said, “Oh she’ll probably like this park in Vienna, it’s full of other kids toys!” We went last Friday and Macy played by herself (which is rare) for an hour! We just sat and watched as she went from toy to toy to toy. Other bigger kids were bossing her around but she would just stare at them and do her own thing anyways. Way to stand up for yourself Macy.

Je T'aime

While Jonathan was off in North Dakota last week I embarked on a totally new art medium for me: painting. Our bedroom wall above our bed has been bare for the last 20 months and I couldn't find anything in the stores that worked. I made my own art by using my Cricut to make stencils and paint. My next step will be to not use any stencils but I am not a drawer or painter. Here's the finished product:

I especially loved my love birds.

I'm used to using paper for projects which makes for clean crisp lines so it was difficult to get used to the uneven edges of my letters and birds. All in all I enjoyed the project. Painting was the easy part; deciding the saying, the pictures and the layout was the hardest part. Next time I have a empty wall I'm going to try this again but using paper and do sort of a modge podge effect.