A teaching moment

Macy and I had a discussion today that made me grateful, once again, that I'm a stay at home mom. 

We were driving past a cemetery (there are quite a few around us so we've talked before about people being buried there) and she asked, "how long are our bodies in the ground until Jesus comes again?" Some little girl must be listening in Primary!

I explained that we don't know. Only Heavenly Father and Jesus know when Jesus when come to the Earth agian. After He comes we will go to heaven. 

Then she asked, "what do we have to do to go to heaven?" She is such a thinker!

I explained we have to be righteous and follow Gods commandments. I listed a few of them like love others, go to the temple, go to church. I asked her what she thought and all I got was silence. I was so grateful for those few minutes of meaningful discussion! If I wasn't there she couldn't have asked me and the teaching moment would have been lost. I'm very proud of my smart and observant little girl!! She's starting to not be so little anymore :)

Outer Banks June 29-July 6, 2014

We had a wonderful time at the Outer Banks with all of the DeVore's. Macy played so much with her cousins and Aunt Rachel that I felt like I hardly saw her all week. She even slept in a different room than us with Addison and Lily. She was having a blast with all her cousin time. Anna was great too. She goes with the flow and loves to be around big kids. 

Here are some pictures from our week (not in order):

 This was the first picture taken at the beach. The girls had just hopped out of the car and Ja took them to the beach. I love how it shows Macy's happy anticipation to see the water and Anna's confusion of what her toes are touching. I think the sky and water are beautiful colors as well.

After the beach they checked out the swing.

The water was warm the first few days and the kids and Ja did a lot of boogie boarding. This was good timing because after the hurricane no one was allowed in the ocean due to strong riptides.

We went mini golfing with Heather and Trevor's family. I knew Anna would be the cutest little golfer and she didn't disappoint. She carried the club around until hole 9.

We were told by someone in our ward to visit Duck Donuts. I am so glad we did! Absolutely the best donuts I've ever had. They are cake donuts but are still airy and oh so delicious. It's probably a good thing they are 6 hours away otherwise I'd eat there way too often. I'm craving them just typing this.

A hurricane was coming through the Outer Banks while we were there. A police officer came and said they were evacuating the houses right along the beach. We got this news as I was taking my second wonderful bite of crab leg. I wasn't sad about evacuating but having to leave my crab legs was the worst part. The whole family packed everything up and drove 1 1/2 hours north to Norfolk, VA. The funny thing was we didn't see any rain. It only rained in the middle of the night and was beautiful and sunny the next day. We stayed at a hotel there then drove back to the beach the next morning. This was the extent of the damage: broken pool rules.

We threw the patio furniture into the pool so it wouldn't get blown away in the hurricane. We were the first people back at the house and Macy was all set to clean the pool out with her giant pole. There was a lot of sand in the pool as well so apparently the storm got pretty bad since the sand had to come up over to the big banks separating the house from the beach.

Marks face. Priceless. And the girls are super adorable.

Holly did a pirate scavenger hunt for the kids and decked them out with mustaches and bandanas. I loved that Anna wanted a mustache just like the big kids and she held really still while Holly drew it.

digging for the treasure

Anna's pirate booty!

Greg was the self-appointed photographer for our trip and tried to get a picture with each grandchild and Papa. This was the best Macy would do. 

But if Greg wanted just her in the picture then she would pose and look adorable.

Hanging out in the hot tub

I was having fun taking some pictures of the beach from our house and deck. I really liked this one.

Ja did a magic show for the kids. He looks like he's about to pull his hair out but it's all part of the act. The kids loved it and the adults too :)

Even though Macy has seen the tricks before she still gives a great reaction.

Addison had the girls put on a "show." It included some original songs by Addison which made it hard for Lily and Macy to sing along but the songs were choreographed which made up for it.

The whole family came out to watch the show. 

Some of the family when on the go carts. Ja said Macy was still a little terrified and was holding on very tight to his arm.

Macy loved holding baby Max. She did a great job too! Anna also liked to hold him but I don't think I got a picture of that. 

 I brought some sparklers since we celebrated 4th of July while at the beach. Macy was very scared of getting burned but she eventually held it by herself. We watched the big fireworks show on July 5th because the hurricane was on the 4th.

We look forward to doing this again!

We love summer!

Our summer is turning into a great one! 

Last night we let the kids stay up late. We roasted marshmallows in our firepit then walked over to the tennis court to let Macy and our neighbor Parker ride their bikes. Ja rode his skateboard. Ja threw tennis balls all over the court and the kids rode their bikes around picking them up. It was the perfect idea. Parker took a break once and Macy rode by saying, "I don't need a break. I have so much energy!" Then we put cones out in the street in front of our house and let the kids ride around. Two more neighbor kids joined in. One wants to learn how to skateboard so Ja gave him a lesson. Ja had the smart idea to use toliet paper to make a finish line for the kids to ride through. That helped get the kids to stop (after riding through it at least 3 times each). That was the perfect summer night activity. And it's 8:35 am the next morning and both girls are still asleep which is great!

Macy requests to go swimming everyday. We go almost everyday since it's right outside our backyard. It's like having our own pool without the responsibility of taking care of a pool. Because we go so often Macy is turning into my little fish. She loves to swim underwater now. Even Anna is progressing in the water. She loves to copy her big sister and plug her nose before putting her face in the water. 

Last week Macy attended a summer day camp at her new preschool. They learned about a new country each day and did crafts and made food. Macy loved it. When I told her she had 5 days of camp her eyes grew big and she was so excited. Everyday she would tell me how many more day camps she had. It went from 9-1 Monday through Friday. It was nice to have her entertained in the morning because she would come home exhausted. She slept well last week!

Anna is saying more and more words. She copies a lot of what we say. Just yesterday she told me she was thirsty. I couldn't quite make it out but when she reached for her water I realized what she said. In the pool yesterday Ja was taking her around and she told him to go "this way." That is new. 

She also loves to draw. She will walk around the house with a paper and a pen taking notes. She will do this for a long time too. It's very cute to watch. A couple Saturdays ago she went through 3 pieces of paper. She has started to color on things other than paper so I have to watch her. I have remind her that we only draw on paper. Yesterday she accidentally wrote on the table. She looked up at me and pointed to her paper and said, "paper, paper." She knows to only write on paper now :)

We made ice cream and I thought it was adorable how the girls sat and watched it churn. It only lasted a minute but they were excited. Macy wanted party ice cream so we added sprinkles to it. 

A family in our ward took us out in their boat on mountain island lake. I had expressed interest and they gave us the invitation so I jumped on the offer. We only got out on the water for a few minutes when it looked like a storm was coming so we went back to their house to eat our sack dinner. The storm ended up being nothing so we went back out. The girls both loved being in the boat. Macy even went tubing! At one point her legs were flying up in the air and I thought she would fall out but her strong little hand kept holding on. As soon as she got out she requested to go again. I was so proud of her bravery!

Anna started saying boat on this trip. I hope we can go again!

The girls and I made muffins to take on the boat. I thought my muffin buddies were so cute. They loved licking the spatula. 

 

It's so great having a big kitchen so both girls can help and we still have counter space to make the muffins!

Our friends, the Anderson's, came over to swim and eat dinner on a Monday night. The sister missionaries in their ward put together a Facebook group for FHE. They posted video clips for the songs and ones we watced for a lesson. We then talked about the videos. The kids loved it. They say very still on the couch and listened and watched the whole thing. I thought it was great because the work of finding coordinating songs and videos was done for us. The kids love watching things on the computer anyways. 

Macy has been taking swim lessons at Little Otter swim school. Anna wants to be like Macy and wear her bathing suit even though she can't get in the water. She is a very patient observer. 

Our next big adventure is going to California for 3 weeks! We are loving our summer!!