Macy's Drawings

One Sunday Macy noticed that our neighbors don't go to church. She asked why everyone else doesn't go to church too. I told her they haven't found the right one to go to yet. She apparently thought about this because the next day she told me we could teach our neighbors about Jesus. "We could go to their house and teach them!"

She drew two pictures to take with her while she teaches:

This is Jesus getting baptized. She drew the water, Jesus, John the Baptist, and the little face in the water is the Holy Ghost. She wrote the word baptism too. The green clouds finish up the sky.

 On the back side of the paper she drew Jesus dying on the cross.

These are other pictures she had in her sketch book. I thought they were good so I couldn't throw them away without taking a picture first. 

We practiced her numbers and letters one day while we played school. I would name a number or letter and she would write it.

I love her rainbows. I think they are creative and beautiful. 

My favorite part of the day

Lately Macy wants to read books together on our bed. I love listening to her "read." I'm amazed that she has so many books memorized. I also love Anna's little feet sticking out from under the book. 

In other news, Macy is getting more comfortable in the pool. Today she completely submerged her body underwater. This is a big deal since she has hated getting her face wet. She also didn't like water in her ears. She didn't mind those things at all today. She plugged her nose and went under, for 10 seconds at a time. She was so proud of herself. I was shocked and very proud too. She's only had one swim lesson this summer but it's paying off. That and we go to the pool almost every day. 

We got Ja a firepit for Fathers day yesterday. 

And after spending two hours today at the DMV I now have a North Carolina drivers liscense. The girls actually did a great job waiting, for the most part. There was a thrift store a few stores down which saved us. Anna did get her fingers stuck in the door jam though. I got really worried because they got swollen fast but they didn't break. She cried for a long time so I'm sure it hurt pretty bad. 

Macy and Mommy weekend

Ja took Anna to Iowa with him to attend Darin's graduation. Macy and I seized the opportunity to go to Carowinds, the local amusement park. I'm glad we didn't have Anna because the day would have been impossible with both girls. Anna can't go on most the rides and Macy wanted me to be on them with her so we would've been stuck. They also have a water park there which Macy loved. We ended up running into Macy's new "best friend", Emily, and her family. Emily is 12 but Macy loves her.

Macy really wanted to get her face painted. I couldn't refuse her because she had been so good all day and we were having so much fun. She was very happy with the results and later said it was the prettiest face painting she has ever got. She loved the addition of glitter at the end.

We were invited to go to the lake with Emily's family Saturday night. Ja and Anna were supposed to be there with us but their flight was cancelled so they didn't get in until 9:30 that night :(

Although we missed Ja and Anna (at least I did), we still had a great time. Their neighborhood has access to the lake with a fire pit, and covered picnic tables. There is also canoe storage. It was a great night full of swimming in the warm lake water and roasting hotdogs over the fire. Macy and Emily played together the whole time. 

It was a beautiful night.

Macy loved being one of the big kids that night. She followed Emily around like a shadow. Emily is very kind to Macy and played with her all night.

  

Macy saved her money

We had another great experience with Macy doing chores and saving her money for something she wanted. A month ago we saw a silver sequenced heart shaped purse at Payless. She of course wanted to buy it so I told her to save her money and she could. Having something in mind she wants to buy sure makes doing chores easier. All I have to do is remind her of the item and she will rush to do the chore. 

Tonight we took a trip to the mall to buy the purse. Luckily it was still there and to make things even better it was but one get one free. Macy was so thrilled to pick out the purse. She proudly wore it out of the store. 

Later at the mall we went to play at the play area. A lady told me she watched Macy pick out her purse and she noticed Macy's eyes lit up with excitement while she picked up the purse. I was really touched that another mom noticed how excited Macy was. It brought tears to my eyes. I'm very proud of Macy for saving her money!

3rd Annual Busch Gardens Trip

We went to Busch Gardens the weekend after memorial weekend this year. I was hoping for warmer weather so we could enjoy Water Country. That and we had only moved a few weeks before so I wasn't ready to go on another trip the weekend before memorial day weekend. It turned out our timing was great- still no crowds and great weather!

We drove up to McLean on Wednesday because Ja had a conference he wanted to attend on Thursday. The girls and I hung out with Marky in the morning then saw "old" friends (Claire and Izzy) for lunch at Cafe Rio. I had been craving Cafe Rio ever since we left Virginia. Macy had a blast with her friends. She still cries at night sometimes because she misses her friends :(

After Cafe Rio we stopped next door at the Pet store. The girls loved playing in the dog beds.

Macy loves her friends to much!

We drove down to Williamsburg Thursday afternoon and hit no traffic on the 95! Miracle! We met up with the Arrington's at a bounce house place they found. It was a warehouse type building full of different types of bounce houses and blow up obstacle courses. The kids LOVED it. Macy begged to go back the entire weekend. We probably could have spent an entire day here. Maybe we should make it part of our weekend tradition.

Busch Gardens was great again. We really love that amusement park. It's beautiful, clean, and the food is actually delicious and real food. Both girls loved riding the rides and we had no melt downs this year. Other than it drizzling for the morning time it turned out to be a great day weather-wise.

Macy went on the Grover roller coaster all by herself. Well, Grant was with her. She had her hands in the air the whole time. 

Anna had a really weird face while riding the Whirly Worm. I thought she was going to throw up but it ended up being a I'm-a-little-scared-and-I-don't-know-what's-going-on face.

Macy surprisingly did Elmo's Spire by herself too!

The girls loved riding together!

I don't have any pictures at Water Country. We were having way too much fun! The weather was perfect. Hot, sunny, 85 degrees. The kids loved the water rides. Even Anna could go on a few big kid rides. She didn't like them but she still went on them. In previous years we only spent a few hours at Water Country because it was so cold but we spent the entire day this year. Macy loved the raft rides and was asking to go again to the water park as soon as we got home. 

We had another successful weekend at Busch Gardens! Hopefully we can keep this tradition going. It's fun being traveling buddies with the Arrington's!