Monday, August 31, 2015

August 2015

August 1- Owen is recovering from our trip and only wanted to be held. I put him in the ergo so I could put things away and he fell asleep. I had to stop and watch his cute face since he doesn't fall asleep in my arms very often anymore. I love those cheeks and want to kiss them!

Parker and Macy wanted to climb the tree but couldn't quite get up into it. Someone (we still aren't quite sure who) put these boards up into the tree and they were a huge hit!! The kids played in them all day and Anna loved sliding down them on her tummy feet first. Our neighbor gifted the boards to us so we had them on the side of the house. The Elders were over so they might have done it. Whomever it was we thank them!  The kids love these boards!


Another neighbor is moving and getting rid of a lot of stuff. He gave Macy this bird house and she painted it to be her fairy house. I thought she did a really great job!



August 2- we had the Gardner's over for dinner and the girls thought it would be fun to dress up Owen. 


August 3- the boards are still a hit. Ja set up a third one to make it more exciting. Unfortunately we got a letter from the HOA board saying we have to put them down. So Ja takes them down every couple days so we don't get fined.


Anna knows that if she wants to watch a movie on my phone she has to go potty first. This is my attempt to keep her on the potty long enough to actually pee. It worked very well. For a few days after everyone she peed she'd say, "I watch a movie now!"


August 4- I've really enjoyed taking the girls swimming this summer. We are so lucky to have Ja work from home so I can take the girls during Owen's nap. Macy is completely independent and lives to jump in "5 feet."  Anna wears her floaties most of the time so she will swim around on her own too. Here we are enjoying a snack poolside. 



August 5- Macy made this mermaid with play-doh. I thought it was really good! She worked really hard on it. 


August 6- I went through all the bins of baby clothes and took out all the clothes that I don't like, are stained, or neither girl wore. That's 5 garbage bags! I sold them in a consignment sale and got $168! Woohoo!

August 7- Macy wanted to sell Lemonade again but we didn't have any. We just bought three boxes of gum from Costco so she sold gum for $1- box. She sold $8 of gum. 


Her confidence in her ability to sell gum in the morning of a workday is incredible. I wish I had her confidence. She sat there knowing customers would come. Lucky for her, her daddy isn't afraid to go around to neighbors/people walking around and ask them to stop by the gum shop. 


August 9- Anna asked if she could feed Owen. She is a good big sister when she wants to be!


I love those cute little feet!


The boards are back up! The kids pretend they are a pirate ship, a house, a road, whatever they want! That's why these boards are so great!


August 10- Our neighbor gave us this desk and chair. The girls enjoy coloring on it and sitting on the desk to watch movies. Here is a rare moment of them sitting in close proximity of each other and not fighting. 


We had a lesson for FHE about being a child of God and of being of royal birth. For the activity I had the kids make crowns. I knew this would be a hit.


My adorable royal, forever family. Well, minus the neighbor boy.


August 12- We had a huge group of moms and kids go swimming at the Wheatley's pool. We had a blast- especially all these little girls because their favorite babysitter Emily was there too. Emily is the best babysitter. She is so kind, sweet, thoughtful, and plays with the kids. It's hard to get her to babysit because she's often booked!


I was at mutual when I got at text from Ja with this picture of Owen. Owen had his first fall out of the bumbo. Ja was over talking to the neighbors on their driveway. Owen tried to reach for something and popped himself out of the seat and his nose hit the pavement. It broke my heart when I saw it!


August 13- This one is actually about me! I was putting together an Etiquette Dinner for mutual and this was my outline of the presentation I wanted to give before the dinner. It went really well and all the kids loved it! I was even told by one girl that it was her most favorite mutual activity! During the presentation I looked out at the kids and everyone was looking at me! It almost took me off guard because I'm so used to someone being on their phone or talking. I was really nervous about the night but it went so much better than I expected. The kids ate slowly and politely during the dinner. I had decorated the gym really nicely and they kids were impressed with that too. I was on a high for a few days after it.


August 14- I finally cut two knots out of Anna's hair. She had them in for quite a while. I guess I was hoping they would untangle somehow. I knew if I cut them out she would have a big space missing on the left side of her head- and she does. Oh well, I guess it's better than having two deadlocks.


August 15- Ja and I went to the White Water Center to celebrate our anniversary. It's been 10 years!! I  can hardly believe it. When we got married I don't think in my wildest dreams I would have imagined living in North Carolina and having a mini van (and loving it). It's been a fun 10 years!


August 17- I took Macy to Target to buy all her school supplies! EEEKK! How is it she is old enough to be in Kindergarten? I learned my lesson though about shopping the week before school starts as everything was really picked over. However, Macy did find this great backpack. It's big enough she can still wear it in high school!


Today Macy also got fitted for her ballet and tap shoes. The studio requires that we buy the shoes from them to ensure proper fit. Macy was excited. She even had a tap dance class with Ja in the kitchen.


August 18- Ja was doing push-ups so I put Owen down next to him. I thought it was so cute having Owen doing his push-ups next to daddy. Owen looks thrilled too!


August 19- This was Owen's first time sitting up in a shopping cart. Notice his little toes up on the handle bar. He enjoyed being upright and being able to see everything.


August 21- Both girls climbed into bed and I thought it was comical that all three people were using three different devices.


I had the kids by myself tonight because Ja left for VA to run his Spartan race with Trevor. I decided to take the kids to Ikea for dinner then to Hobby Lobby. This was Owen's first time in the high chairs at Ikea. As a side note- they no longer include drinks in the kids meals, and didn't show a movie in the kids eating section. It was a disappointing eating experience.


August 22- The girls picked out wooden things to paint from Hobby Lobby. Anna picked out this heart wand.


And Macy picked out this little treasure box. I loved watching their faces focus intently on their project and their little hands trying so hard to be steady.


Later on Austin came over and the desk turned into a pirate ship.


Then we head to Ramsey Creek Park for a picnic lunch. (I like to stay busy when Ja is gone.) We met with some friends who we actually met at this park at the beginning of the summer. The water level was up to where I was sitting at the beginning of summer. It's been dry here!


August 23- I'm so glad I was able to quickly snap this picture before church. I thought it was so precious. The girls missed their daddy even though the was only gone for one and a half days.


Owen finally started sitting up!! YAY! He was 8 months old when he first sat up.


August 24- Now that Owen can sit up he can have better access to more toys! I remember doing this with Anna. It's great because he can reach all the toys and play with them one by one. Although, he usually ends up playing with the basket somehow.


August 26- Anna turned 3 and Macy started school.

August 28- Since Macy didn't have school today I thought we better go do something fun. I love this fish fountain so we headed down there and met up withe the Moshers. Our kids play so well together and had a ball. After playing in the fountain they played on the grass. (running around, chasing each other, having one kid run away then the rest of them would yell, "stop! come back!") I got to sit on the grass and play with Owen and have an adult conversation.


Here is Anna and Tatum. They are only 2 months apart.


August 31- Macy started kindergarten full time now! She loves it so much!

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Macy's first day of Kindergarten!




My little girl is in Kindergarten! Where has time gone?!

Her first day was August 26th. The school staggers in the kindergarteners so she only went once this week. I woke her up at 6:50 and she shot out of bed so excited. She had slept in her clothes so she wouldn't be late! I thought that was adorable, and a good idea. 

She didn't want to eat breakfast at home because she knew the school provides a free breakfast. So she was ready to leave at 7:05 a.m.! We can't get into the school to 7:15 so I had to hold her off but only for a few minutes. I drove her to school and wanted to walk in with her to eat breakfast. We arrived right at 7:15 as the bell was ringing. 

We dropped off her backpack then headed to the cafeteria. She already memorized her lunch number (4556) and punched it in like a champ. She ate then we headed off to class. 

She walked right into class and sat at her seat to color. She didn't even look back! I started to tear up but held it together until a teacher handed me a tissue. Then the tears came down. Once I got in the car I really cried. I'm not exactly sure why I was crying. I guess I'm sad that a part of Macy's life is over. She is growing up and maturing. I'm not sad that she's away from me because I know she loves school and she'll thrive there. I guess I also cried because I'm proud of who she is. For whatever reason I'm glad the first two days are over! (I also teared up the second day.) 

I hope you have a wonderful kindergarten year Macy! I'm so proud of you!!


Anna is 3 years old!

Happy 3rd birthday to my spunky little Anna!

I asked her what she wanted for breakfast and she replied, "a birtday tupcake!"

This was Owen's response:

Since it was her birthday I let her have a cupcake for breakfast. It only happens once a year. I'm so happy she posed for these pictures! Usually she refuses so I was very happy.


Macy had school which meant Anna got to be the spot light. I loved every minute of celebrating Anna! We had a little party with some of her friends from church. It was the same group that came over in June for the little party Macy threw for Anna. 

I had the girls dress up in princess dressed right away since they usually end up doing that anyways. I brought some of the dresses downstairs to make it easier. I mostly did this so they weren't upstairs while Owen was napping but he didn't want to miss the party and didn't nap anyways. Luckily for Miles we have the doctor jacket! He's such a happy-go-lucky kid he probably would've been happy with a princess dress.

Miles, Kinzley, Anna, Tatum 

 and now Audrey. Anna loves her friends! (Emma is not pictured)

Here is Kinzley and Emma decorating their purses. I found these at Dollar Tree. Kids love gluing things on so I found little butterfly, flower, and heart jewels to glue on the bag.

Anna and Tatum were playing a whack-your-wand-on-the-table game

Cupcake time! We sang to Anna then the girls devoured the frosting. Actually some girls at the cupcake too.



She was so happy!

Next we headed outside. I borrowed this little bounce house from our neighbor and it was the perfect size for the little kids. 




Then some of the girls ended up on the swings. Until Tatum got stung by something (we think). Then they headed back to the bounce house.





After the party Anna and I went to Five Guys for lunch. I asked her what she wanted for lunch and she said McDonald's. I talked her into a better hamburger at Five Guys. The manager there asked how our day was going and I told him we were celebrating Anna's birthday. He gave us our meal for free! That was so nice of him! A birthday surprise!

When we were waiting for our food I asked Anna what she wanted to drink. She replied, "Ketchup!" and pretended to drink it. I love this girls witty sense of humor. 

She requested to sit outside so out we went. For an August day it was actually pleasant. I got a picture of her holding this hamburger but I think she only ate one bite. 

She pretty much only ate fries, and ketchup of course. I had so much fun sitting with just Anna talking to her about her favorite colors, cars parked nearby, what she wants to buy at the store, and songs she likes. 

Then we stopped at Target. Granny Dot's present was a trip to the store to buy whatever she wanted. I had so much fun going around the store with her. She picked out some Hello Kitty lipgloss first then found some nail polish. She thought she had to put the lipgloss back because she's used to me saying, "you can only get one thing!" It was so cute that I had to talk her into wanting multiple things. She also picked out a Minnie Mouse dress, a Frozen microphone, a headband, and a Barbie movie. 

When then picked up Macy from school. When we got home Anna opened her presents from my family. Great G&G Francis gave her this dress. She immediately wanted it on and danced around saying, "it's so fancy! It's so fancy!" She wore it non-stop for a few days straight. Great G&G Seymour gave her ten $1 bills. She threw them around saying, "I got monies! I got monies!" My parents gave her a Minnie Mouse backpack that she's excited to wear to preschool. 

After Owen woke up from his nap we celebrated some more with a birthday ice cream cone. 


I made pizza for dinner at Anna's request. I had such a fun day celebrating my little Anna! She is a handful at times but so thoughtful, energetic, and witty. She makes me laugh and smile every day with her funny antics! I love you my Anna!