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!