Our Shocking Weekend

I woke up to the shock of the century this saturday. I heard commotion down in the kitchen and I thought it was Ja making breakfast for us (he often does on weekends). I went back to sleep then was awakened by Macy singing Jingle Bells on the top of her lungs down in the kitchen.

That was Shock #1- she went downstairs without me! For the first time in her 4 1/2 years she actually got out of bed and went somewhere without getting me first.

Shock #2- She went downstairs with Ja! (for some reason he is incapable of certain things in her eyes) Or so I thought...

Around 8 o'clock Macy comes into our room and tells me she made me breakfast. I follow her downstairs and find this in the kitchen:

Shock #3- Macy really did make me breakfast! All by herself!! Ja thought she was with me and I thought she was with him.

Here's her soup recipe: 3 eggs, 3 spoonfuls of dill pickle relish, a small container of vanilla yogurt, whole chives, water, and 1 1/2 cups of cream.

Of course she wanted me to try her soup since she made it for me. I took the littlest spoonful I could expecting the worst. Shock #4- it didn't taste that bad! In fact, the cream made it taste good. We deliberated over how we could turn the soup into something else since it had raw egg in it. I suggested pancakes and Macy was all for it. So we added: a few cups of flour, two teaspoons baking powder, and two tablespoons of oil. Macy wanted to add salt and pepper so that went in there too.

Continuing her independence Macy wanted to pour the pancakes onto the skillet. I think this one was a Minnie Mouse pancake complete with bow.


Shock #5- the pancakes turned out fluffy and yummy! I could taste pickle but it wasn't strong. If I didn't know it was in there I'm not sure I would've been able to identify it. I found it funny that I had to pull out long pieces of chives but I could tell they added to the overall flavor. I only put butter on them and I thought they were good. Ja had a harder time eating them. He said he couldn't get past the fact there were pickles in his pancakes. Savory pancakes are a innovative concept and would be delicious with sausage. Maybe Macy is onto something...

As a side note- I'm not sure where she got this new found independence. She does help me cook a lot but she's never tried to do it on her own. Two Sunday's ago a sister missionary gave a talk and shared a story of trying to make lunch when she was four. She put raw eggs in a bowl and a few other ingredients. She tried it and it was horrible. Perhaps Macy was listening to the story but tuned out when the sister said it was horrible. Macy was sure proud of her self for making us breakfast!

We decided to go the Amazing Maize Maze which is just down the street from us. It has over two miles of maze to walk through and I'm pretty sure we walked at least that much. Saturday was a beautiful day with sunny blue skies. Macy spent almost the whole time in the wagon. Anna walked or was carried. I don't think she liked the bumpy ride.

This was Macy at the end. People passing us thought she was asleep.

At the start of the maze you're handed a blank sheet with numbers and all around the maze there are mailboxes with pieces of the maze inside. I don't think I would have found my way out even with a map. I'm so glad Ja was with us doing all the navigating. I would have been the person waving her flag in desperation asking for the exit. In 2 hours and 15 mins we found 11 of the 12 squares. It was a little disappointing not to finish but we did have to take a long detour to try and find a bathroom. Plus we had a 2-year old, a 4-year old, a pregnant lady, and a wagon.  Considering all of that we did pretty well. The girls were excellent and we had no crying. Towards the end we were trying to find the exit and Macy said, "I want to get out of this maze!" Shock #6- That was all the complaining we had. 

Ja then took Macy to a birthday party an hour away while I put Anna down for a nap, watered our grass (we just had it aerated and new grass seed put down), and made rolls for the dinner before the General Women's meeting. Everyone was exhausted that night!

Sunday morning Macy wanted to make breakfast again. I suggested a fruit salad because I know she likes chopping things up. She was excited about this and wanted to chop up chives to go in. I talked her out of that. 

At church we had another big shock, this time by Anna. It was time to go to nursery and Shock #7 she just walked right in! There was no crying, no asking for daddy to stay, nothing. We waved good-bye and that was it. We waited 7 months for that moment! I think the thing that helped was her nursery leader babysat her one morning two weeks ago. Ever since then Anna has had an easier time going to nursery.

Everyone was exhausted after our very busy weekend and both girls were in bed by 8:30! Shock #8! It was amazing having extra time in our night.

Another side note about Macy's independence: For the past two weeks she has been going to the bathroom all by herself! Usually she would want me there for moral support I guess. She could do everything herself so she would make excuses like she didn't like the dark, or didn't want Anna to come in, or some silly reason. For awhile I was able to say, "Tell me when you're done and I'll help." Then when she tired of that she would say, "Mom, I have to go potty and I can't tell you when I'm done." I would have to escort her to the bathroom and sit and watch her complete the whole task by herself. But now, Shock #9 she will tell me she has to go potty, goes, flushes, and washes her hands all by herself! I don't have to be there anymore! This is such a freeing feeling!!

Macy on two wheels!

Its official! Macy can ride her bike with no training wheels all by herself! Now she can start by herself, ride fast, and break all by herself. She's very good at steering too. I love her determined face!

Two days ago we went to the pool parking lot with our neighbor Austin. Both kids were riding around in circles and going quite fast. I was really impressed with Macy since she used to be scared about going fast. Ja tried to get pictures of them but most were blurry because they wouldn't slow down!

The next night Ja took her out and she took a turn too sharp and fell off her bike. She cried but she got back on her bike and rode some more. This is huge for Macy. Usually when something gets hard for her or she gets hurt she gives up. Macy was very determined to ride her bike!

A few weeks ago Ja was out with Macy riding on the tennis courts. She had a couple of setbacks (riding into the net, having a hard time starting) and announced she was done riding. He pulled out a video he took of her riding really well. That was all the motivation she needed. She got back on her bike and rode some more. Way to go Macy!

 Anna joins the big kids by watching them. Tonight she decided to "climb" this pole. She loves trying!

 Macy actually did climb the pole and made it off the ground.

The past few days

Things have slowed down since school started last week. The weather cooled down this week so we've actually been able to play outside. Our neighbor have us a swing set on Saturday so it's been fun playing in the backyard again. Today we blew bubbles which we haven't really done since May because it had been too hot.

I wanted to document a couple of things we've done in the last two days. Nothing exciting but I enjoyed the activities.

Yesterday I needed to cut the girls nails. Neither of them like this so I decided to bring out the nail polish to try and help things. I said before we paint we have to cut. I started with Anna but she was not on board. Macy stepped in and said, "Look Anna. I'm not crying." I then cut her nails quickly and easily. Anna then got her nails cut, not happily, but she wasn't  crying. Macy still refused to have her toenails cut so I'll have to deal with crying sooner or later.

Both girls wanted to paint their own nails. Anna let me paint her nails blue first then wanted to paint another color on top. As you can imagine, they looked, umm, fabulous!

This was such a simple activity but the girls were so excited to paint their own nails. They ran upstairs super excited to show daddy their work.

Today we played with play-do. We haven't done this since Spring. Both girls played for a long time and did really well. And the best part of all was they both helped clean up. Sometimes it's like pulling teeth to get Macy to clean up. Anna is usually pretty helpful (knock on wood).

I sure love my girls!

Funny things Macy said today

We drove past some cows in the field today and Macy said:

"Mom, I want to know what a cow looks like inside. I want a cow for Christmas. A dead one so I can cut it up to see inside. No, a horse. A live one so I can ride it. Tell that to Santa."

She was asking Siri questions on Ja's phone. She asked her favorite color, who her best friend is, and her favorite animal. Siri said she doesn't like talking about herself to each question. Ja asked Macy to ask Siri another question so we can get to know Siri better. Macy responded, "She doesn't like to talk about her herself!" So she asked Siri where the closest playground is. 

Anna is very much into independence and tells me often she will do something herself by saying "myself." 

Macy's first day of Pre-k!!

Macy told me last night, " mom I'm so excited to go to school with real teachers, not moms." I guess she remembers doing the preschool co-op with friends two years ago!

She was thrilled to go and woke up nice and early this morning. She walked right into class without any hesitation. I knew she would be fine because she loves school. And she did a week of summer camp with her teachers at the preschool this summer so she was familiar with them. She will be attending Meadowlake Preschool at Meadowlake Presbyterian church. It's Monday through Thursday 9 am- noon. 

Anna asked about Macy all morning. She asked, " Macy back? Macy home?" Multiple times. I think she missed her big sister! 

I told Macy to wear her backpack but she said she wanted it in front. She is so grown up it's killing me! I'm glad I have another year of her being home most of the day before kindergarten starts!

I love these two girls so much! Anna wanted to be in the picture and is showing off her keys. Here's to a great school year Macy!