November Fun

The month of November was filled with many great days. Those included my birthday, getting my hair cut, playing in the leaves, enjoying the nice fall weather, Thanksgiving, and playing with daddy.

I had a really great birthday this year! Macy slept in for me and took a really long nap. Just that right there is great enough. Jonathan and Macy picked out some great presents for me to unwrap and got me flowers and balloons. Jonathan gave me a roasting pan and a sushi making kit (anyone care for a sushi making party?!). During Macy's nap I was treated to a manicure and pedicure. That night we went out for Thai food with some friends and it was so delicious! I love good Thai food.

This picture of Macy was the only one I got on my birthday. She came with me to pick up the babysitter and she wanted to wear her boots. Any non-white sock we have is called a boot.

Macy and I started to get out our winter hats and Macy wanted to play with them. I hope she wants to wear this hat when it's actually cold outside.

Macy and I took a walk one day and I coaxed her into playing with the leaves on the hill in front of our building. She wasn't too sure about it at first but then loved walking through the piles I made listening to the crunching sound.

I may have told her to jump in the pile of leaves but instead she laid down. Silly girl.

 This was not staged. She got up on her own and sat down at the tree trunk base. I'm so glad my phone has good camera quality which allows me to quickly capture moments like this in life. I always have my phone with me but not a camera so it's perfect.

Some leave pictures I took.

Doesn't this tree look like it's on fire? I love the golden leaves!

 Here Macy is playing with Daddy. She brought a blanket into the kitchen and made Ja sit on it and play with her necklaces. If you look closely at her baby, she has "boots" on too. Ja wanted to move locations to the softer carpet but Macy was very much opposed. We both know why the oldest child is the bossy one- Macy tells us what to do and we do it. She tells us where to sit and what to play with.

 Ja took Macy to the grocery store one day. He tried to put her in the top basket of the cart but Macy refused. I think she knows how to read because there's a sign that says "Please do not place child in cart" right on the top basket. Instead Macy crawled into the bottom cart. Ja sent me this picture in a text with the caption "Macy is contained." I thought it was very funny.

Almost everything Macy does makes a huge mess. One morning I stepped on a tissue box to flatten it because it was empty. I foolishly did it in front of Macy Cakes so she knew just what to do when I brought out the new tissue box. I don't know what I was doing (probably doing the dishes) but I come out to this. All the tissues were taken out and was Macy stepping on the box. I was very pleased though that she was able to put almost all the tissues back in the box all by herself. I told her to put the tissues in and walked away not thinking she would do it but she did! I'm so proud of her.

Whenever she's quietly doing something that lets me do the dishes, put laundry away, etc. I'm always hopeful she's watching the cartoon I put on, doing a puzzle, or reading. However, I've learned that toddlers are only quiet when they are sleeping or making a huge mess.

 This picture is Macy on her new favorite bike. We had a playgroup at the Falls Church Community Center. They pull out all sorts of ride on toys, foam blocks, and those collapsible tunnels and tents. When Macy found this bike she wouldn't get off of it. It was just her size. She still moved extremely slow with it but it was so cute to watch. When play time was over I literally had to carry her all the way to the car kicking and screaming because she didn't want to leave her beloved bike.

Cartoons are fun for all ages.

 Macy playing in the hat and glove bin. She eventually took everything out and sat inside the bin. We had a great time trying on all the hats and gloves.

Ja likes to make us breakfast on the weekends and this was his yummy Dutch Baby. The skillet was also a birthday present on mine. So far he's the only one that's used it but I get to eat the results so I'm fine with that.

 Macy having fun with her craft and sticker bin. I don't know what that face is all about.

 This was the first Sunday Macy wore her cute dress so we tried to get some pictures before church. You can see the results. It's so hard to get a good picture of her. She is constantly moving and only looks at the camera for a split second. Oh well, we tried and I guess these pictures show her true personality.

This was at Target. Macy refused to get inside the cart so I let her walk. She then decided the wanted to ride in front of the cart. Luckily she didn't last too long hanging onto the cart. She walked the rest of the way. It's funny (and frustrating sometimes) how stubborn toddlers can be about things.

At our above Target shopping trip, Macy and I bought her a little Christmas tree. She picked out the little red star ornaments herself.  I bought her a tree because the night before we walked around our complex to look at the Christmas lights and decorations that are up. To our surprise she LOVED it all and wanted to touch every single light. She loved watching the blinking lights, the snowman, and the reindeer. We figured that she would like her own tree with lights she could actually touch and ornaments she could take on and off. That has definitely been true. The first thing she does when she wakes up is run out to the tree and say, "uh-oh" because the lights are turned off. The lights must be on at all times while Macy is awake.

On November 29th, Macy, Tiffany, Lily, and I drove up to Pennsylvania to visit some friends. We were waiting outside for Tiffany to pick us up and Macy sits on this retaining wall all by herself and says, "Cheese!" Of course I had to take her picture! I think she said this because this is the wall she sat on for the halloween pictures we took and all the kids were saying cheese. She is constantly amazing me with her memory of little things like that.

Macy and Lily are ready to go. If you can believe it I ended up sitting
in that tiny space in between the car seats. 

 Macy loved going to our friends house. They have 4 young girls who love to draw, paint, and do anything artistic. Macy was in heaven with all the crayons, beads, paper, books, and play kitchen toys. To our surprise both Macy and Lily took 2 hour naps in their pack n' plays. We had a great time visiting and enjoyed some really good food.

November was a very busy and fast moving month. It was filled with a lot of fun activities too. We enjoy having Macy around so much and every night we talk and laugh about all the funny and cute things she does. We love you so much Macy!

Thanksgiving Weekend

First off, I made two batches of delicious crescent rolls, two batches of mashed potatoes (we only ate one so I've been using the leftovers for other meals), and brussels sprouts. Trevor made the most amazing tasting turkey I've ever had. Every bite was infused with pure yummy-ness. Oh, and all the rest of the food was amazing too. We ate really well on Thanksgiving this year.

 Macy enjoyed sitting at the "girl" table and enjoyed being fed a "choo-choo train" by Papa.

After dinner the toddlers were wiped out from all that bread they ate so they all got cozy by the TV and watched Charlie Brown's Christmas (for about 20 seconds).

Macy and caleb watching a video

 On Friday Macy was able to enjoy her first movie theatre experience. She went to see the Muppet movie with all her cousins. Ja said she really enjoyed the previews and sat at the edge of her seat. She sat still for about 20 minutes of the movie. The candy that Granny Dot gave her helped tremendously. She then had fun walking around the theatre and trying out all the seats. That's what kid matinee movies are for, right? Macy now calls Dorothy "Nanny Dot" but we aren't sure if she's saying Granny Dot or Candy Dot because she pronounces candy as nanny. Granny Dot does always seem to have candy on her to give to little children so I guess it fits.

I went shopping during all that candy and movie business. I had a great time too :)

Then, we made the decision to forgo nap time and went straight to Bobby's Burger Palace in DC. It's a Bobby Flay restaurant and has great burgers and shakes.

Macy and daddy sharing a milk shake

 THEN, it was off to the Newseum. We had been there before so we just let Macy walk around and go where ever she wanted. This was her favorite spot, the top floor of the museum over looking the street. She liked to look over and I could picture her starting to talk and some unfortunate soul below would get a binkie to the head. She must have thought of this too because she was really good about not dropping that binkie.

Trying the headphones for an exhibit

After all of that, Dee and I went shopping Friday night. We caught a few great deals I had missed earlier in the day so it was a great trip.

On Saturday my nephew Brigham was baptized so we had even more family time together.

It's going to be hard to live up to this Thanksgiving, food and company wise!

Laura's Big Haircut

 I've been waiting two years for this day...

The "before" picture

There are a few reasons why I let my hair grow out. After Macy was born spending money on my hair wasn't a big priority. I didn't have the extra money to spend because now we were buying diapers. I also didn't want to make someone watch Macy so I could get my hair cut.

Another reason is Jonathan always wanted me to have long hair. Since we've known each other the longest I've had my hair is shoulder length and it kept getting shorter and shorter. Once my hair grew past that awkward stage (you know what I mean if you've grown your hair out) I decided to continue to let it grow. I've made it that far so why not keep going? Part of me grew it out because of laziness another part was for Ja.

I was starting to get really tired my my hair. I wanted a change! In my prior hair life I would change something about my hair every few months. This was too long for me! I remembered my Aunt Martha would grow out her hair then cut it short to donate it. My hair isn't as pretty as her natural red, but I could still donate it and hopefully help someone in need. Out of curiosity I measured my hair one day; I almost had enough to donate. I gave my hair an extra two months and then I could donate the full 10 inches!

The "during" picture

10 inches of hair!

Final Product

Even though Locks of Love makes wigs for children, to me my hair donation was for my Aunt Karen. She battled cancer and had to wear a wig so this was my little way to help those that need wigs.

When I got home Macy wouldn't come near me for a few minutes and when she did she cried. She looked at me with her sad/scared face for awhile. I think she didn't know where her real mommy was. Eventually she let me hold her and wouldn't let go. While trying to take the above "final" picture she wouldn't look at the camera because she couldn't take her eyes off the hair on the table. All that day she would point to it and say "mommy." I feel like I've lost 10 pounds! I love my new hair cut. The hip new Laura is back!

Thank you Tiffany for watching Macy and to Becca for cutting my hair. I forgot to take a picture with Becca :(

Jonathan's 1st Pack Meeting

I didn't want to be that blogger that only blogs about her child, but I've become that blogger. The last blog post about my hair and this one is my attempt at letting you know what Ja and I've been up to.

A few months ago Jonathan was called to me the Cub Master. That meant he wouldn't be team teaching our Sunday School class with me which made me sad. I knew he would be a great Cub Master though. All kids love him. Our ward combines with the Great Falls ward for Cub Scouts so Ja only has to be in charge of a pack meeting every other month. Last Saturday was his first pack meeting and I think it went great. He had made a little video from footage he took at the last pack meeting and the kids liked seeing themselves on the screen.

The topic was on citizenship so he had the boys learn about the meaning of the word, learn about the U.S. flag, and had a guest speaker come in to talk about his time spent in the army. The boys (and other family members in attendance) participated a lot and seemed to enjoy everything.

As the boys walked in they could answer questions about the flag code. Some of the questions were:

1. Is it against the flag code to wear the flag on an article of clothing? (It depends)
2. Is it against the flag code to print its image on anything disposable? (Yes)
3. Is it okay to wave the flag upside down? (Only if under duress)
4. Is it okay to use the flag to carry or hold objects? (No)

Then they talked about the meaning of the Pledge of Allegiance.  

Their lesson on citizenship.

The guest speaker who spoke with the boys. He had them ask him all sorts of questions. Most were about the type of guns the used. 

Macy and I hung out in the back.

Each boy who gets an award also gets a cheer. They chose one out of the bag, test it out, and then the boys vote to keep it in the "Cheer Box" or not. If you can imagine, Ja was a little rambunctious during the cheers and the boys thought that was great. Way to go Master Jonathan!