Meadow Lane Park in Vienna

This is the best park around us. First off it’s almost completely covered in the shade, it has many swings, and best of all it’s full of outdoor toys. Macy always loves to steal other kids toys. Actually this is how I found out about this park. We were at our pool swimming and she wanted a toy that another little boy had. I told the dad that no matter what I bring she always wants what the other kids have. He said, “Oh she’ll probably like this park in Vienna, it’s full of other kids toys!” We went last Friday and Macy played by herself (which is rare) for an hour! We just sat and watched as she went from toy to toy to toy. Other bigger kids were bossing her around but she would just stare at them and do her own thing anyways. Way to stand up for yourself Macy.

Je T'aime

While Jonathan was off in North Dakota last week I embarked on a totally new art medium for me: painting. Our bedroom wall above our bed has been bare for the last 20 months and I couldn't find anything in the stores that worked. I made my own art by using my Cricut to make stencils and paint. My next step will be to not use any stencils but I am not a drawer or painter. Here's the finished product:

I especially loved my love birds.

I'm used to using paper for projects which makes for clean crisp lines so it was difficult to get used to the uneven edges of my letters and birds. All in all I enjoyed the project. Painting was the easy part; deciding the saying, the pictures and the layout was the hardest part. Next time I have a empty wall I'm going to try this again but using paper and do sort of a modge podge effect.

I Belong to the Church of Jesus Christ

Macy walked out of nursery with a tag clipped to her that said “I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” I thought it was so adorable! Jonathan picked her up and he said she was so proud of it and kept pointing to it and saying “uh, uh!” Even though the picture is bad I had to take one. I started to sing the Primary song to her and now every time she sees this tag she tries to clip it on and signs for more. She wants me to sing the song to her. How sweet! I want to keep the tag and hopefully it will come in handy for future FHE lessons.

Macy’s First Ice Cream Cone

We celebrated my sister-in-law’s birthday with Thai food, cake, and ice cream. Macy loved the ice cream cone and started eating it from the bottom. Why is it that kids bite the bottom out first? How do they all know to do that when they shouldn’t?

Playseum

Macy and her friend Grant went to a Playseum in Bethseda. Both of the kids had a great time wandering around to the different rooms that are set up with different themes (i.e building, dentist, grocery store, old children’s play room, etc). Here Macy and Grant are enjoying their morning tea before heading off to work. It looks like Macy answers the phone while Grant does the typing. 

 

New Stroller

Macy has been eyeing this stroller since the moment she first laid eyes on one. I finally broke down and bought her one so she would stop trying to steal our neighbor’s. Jonathan was gone in Fargo so before taking the picture I asked her to smile for daddy. She was so excited we walked around with that stroller almost every waking minute for the rest of the day.

Macy loves stickers

One day Macy and I were playing in her room. We came across stickers and I would give one to her and she would run off with it. She kept coming back for more and then running off again. Afterwards I found the stickers on the window sill on our room and in the hallway mirror.

Outer Banks Family Vacation

This year the DeVore vacation was spent all together in one house in the Outer Banks. It was so much fun! I thought it was the best family vacation we've had yet. The house of awesome, the pool was great, the beach was perfect, and the company was good too. We were able to relax and enjoy everyone's company instead of trying to see every tourist attraction out there.

The first night there Kiersten took pictures on the beach. They turned out great and here are a few of my favorites. They were a precursor to our Tuesday night photo shoot.

Monday was the 4th of July and it was so fun to be on the beach watching the fireworks. It was almost magical and one of my favorite memories.

Tuesday we had two photographers come to take on the mammoth challenge of photographing the whole Devore clan. The name of their company was Island Photography and they are a husband and wife team. They were so great! They worked at hyper speed so none of the kids tried to run away in the picture. After the whole group we took individual family photos and they turned out so great. Everyone looks beautiful with the beach in the background because the lighting was just perfect. Here is a link to just some of my favorite pictures. Macy cried for the first attempt at getting a family picture and screamed the whole time during the grandkids picture. Oh well, at least we got a few good ones.

Other than that we mostly stayed at the house. We hung out at the beach a lot because Macy loved playing in the sand and water. She wouldn't go into the pool for whatever reason but liked the hot tub. Macy also loved having all her cousins around to follow. It was so cute. Luc won her over one night by giving her M&M's. She would find, him tug on his shirt and point to the cupboard until he got her more. He is a very good big cousin.

Each night one family was in charge of making dinner for the whole group. This was a million times better than going out to eat every night. Plus, we got to try different foods from what we normally eat.

Jonathan boogie boarding

Macy longing to drive the go karts

The one outing we did was to the Wright brother's memorial. This is how Macy liked it.

Not at all. She cried and cried to get out of the stroller.

She eventually settled down when we let her out of the stroller. She had fun playing with the drain.

The last night the kids got to dig for buried treasure. Holly had a treasure chest filled with goodies and made red and white striped bandanas for all the kids to wear. Macy actually liked it and kept it on. And of course she liked all the candy inside. 

We had a great vacation and can't wait to do it again next year. The only thing that we will change is the time we leave to drive there. Apparently leaving later in the afternoon is how to beat the traffic. It took us 10 hours to drive there when it should only take 5 1/2! Even if we have to drive that long again it will be worth it. 

Watermelon Lime Smoothie

I know the picture isn't great but I started drinking it and couldn't stop.

This is my new favorite way to eat watermelon! We made some last night for dinner and I had to have a second glass before going to bed because I was craving more of the sweet tangy goodness. Here is the recipe I used but you can definitely change it up as needed. I'm thinking of adding strawberries next time.

2 cups frozen cubed watermelon
1 ripe banana
lime juice from 2 limes (it has a strong lime flavor so cut back if you don't like that)
lime zest from 1/2 a lime
1/2 cup Sprite (or more to make is smoother)

Blend all together. Easy Peasy.

New Macy Movie!

It's been too long since our last movie! So here you go, get comfortable and watch our cute little Macy!

Here is the link to our web gallery. It's the movie titled "Macy's New Tricks."

U2

Last wednesday Ja and I went to the U2 concert in Baltimore with Greg, Holly, and Jacob. We really had Jacob to thank for it because his new favorite band is U2 so we all tagged along with him. On the way there I asked Jacob what song he wanted U2 to sing and he said Mysterious Ways. That was the second song they played and he was so happy. They played all my favorite songs too (With or Without You, One, and Beautiful Day). I realized I'm not a big fan of their most recent music so it was great they played a lot of oldies. The crowd was always happiest when early U2 songs.

The screen came down for a few songs and covered the whole stage.

Ja and I decided Baltimore is a little too far away (we didn't get back until 1:15 a.m.). Fortunately we had a great babysitter who didn't mind being out so late. We were so grateful because we had a really fun night!

A Quilt for My Grandma

I was in the mood for a big project so I got some quilting books from the library so I could try a new pattern. I found this book which taught me about jelly roll quilts. I decided on the garden bouquet pattern which turned out to be harder than any quilt I have ever done before. Just the cutting alone took about 9 hours! However, like many things in life, the harder you work the better the results. Here is a picture of the squares all laid out.

It took 7 steps to complete each square. Having the jelly roll fabric was great because the fabric is already cut into 2 1/4 inch pieces. I only had to cut it the length I needed. As for the actual quilting part I only did stitch in the ditch. I hate free motion quilting because I can never get the tension right. Here is the final project. 

                                             

My grandma said she really likes the quilt and put in on her couch so she can brag to all her friends about it. Someone asked me if it was hard to give something away that took so much effort and time for me to make. It wasn't hard because I know who I gave it to deserves something special. And I know my grandma will appreciate all the hard work that went into making this for her.

Our Little Heavyweight

If you have ever seen Macy, seen a picture of Macy, or even heard of Macy you'll know she is not a heavyweight. Our trip to the doctor on Friday confirmed this for us. Here are Macy's 18 month stats:

Weighs 20 lbs 10 ounces

31 3/4 inches long

18 inch head circumference

Your 8 month old baby probably weighs more than her. I couldn't believe how light she was. I thought the scale was broken. I was expecting at least 23 pounds. Heavyweight or not, she is still the cutest and sweetest little girl. She is so playful now and loves to be chased and to chase others. She also plays her own version of tag. Her friend Grant was over on Wednesday and she grabbed him around the waist, said something in Toddler-ese and ran away. He must have understood her because he ran after her. They had a great time taking turns being "it." Macy is so grown up now she is ready for work! She wanted to be hands-free so she can drive while working.

In other big news, today was Macy's first day of nursery all by herself! She didn't cry. We got a report from a girl in our class who helps in the nursery who said Macy wouldn't sit down when she was supposed to (never does) and tried to take other kids floor mats and put them away (she's always so tidy, not). I can't believe my baby is already 18 months old. Is it sad to say I didn't miss her while sitting quietly still in Relief Society? I did miss her, but I also enjoyed sitting by myself not worrying about a little wiggly girl on my lap. Church is a whole new experience now! When I went to pick her up she was walking around the nursery room with her hands clasped behind her back watching the other kids play and get picked up. She also did not cry when she saw me. Knock on wood, but I think this nursery thing is going to work out!

Pony Brushes His Teeth

We checked this book out from the library and Macy loves it. It shows how Pony brushes his teeth just like his dad does. He picks the toothbrush, puts toothpaste on, brushes up and down, round and round. Then he fills his mouth with water and spits the water out. Here is the last page:

Pony spits the water at his dad. The first few times reading it Macy actually laughed. Then she pointed at Pony then at his dad and gave a tiny chuckle. Now when I pull the book out she quickly turns through all the pages (faster than I can read them) to get to the last page. She still points at Pony and dad and gives her little "Uh? Uh?" talk. She hasn't shown this much interest in a book before. I think it's cute. The author (Michael Dahl) also writes other books with similar titles. I'm curious to know what happens in Duck Goes Potty. 

Macy's First Over the Ocean Flight

Can you guess where we went? See if you can tell by the end of the post.

Jonathan's parents were kind enough to take some of us on a trip. We went with Tiffany, Lily, Henry, Devin, and Deanna. Henry and Macy played pretty well together despite the fact they don't really know each other, but I guess that doesn't matter when you're kids.

We did a lot of relaxing on this trip. Since we've been there before we didn't mind just hanging out at the hotel pool and ocean right behind the hotel. Macy loved the pool right away and the kiddie pirate ship. we were all waking up early around 4, 5, or 6 am. This meant we were in bed by 8:30 or 9 pm. We usually got in naps during the day too. We were spoiled. 

It was hard to take pictures because we were usually wet or in the sand. We did manage to get a few pictures.

Relaxing on the hammock. 

Macy learned to hula.

First time in the ocean, not a huge fan.

Not a huge fan of the sand at first either.

Her favorite dolphin to ride.

By now she LOVED the ocean. She laughed and laughed when waves would crash on her.

She also loved the sand at this point.

It was so fun to watch her.

A few of my favorite memories are Macy starting to take 3 hour naps (she is continuing this at home too, knock on wood), Macy and Henry jumping on the bed together, actually exercising on vacation, all the time we got to spend alone because someone else watched Macy, eating shave ice and learning they are not all created equal, seeing the Warren and Annabelle Magic show (hilarious!), the warm breeze, watching Macy enjoy the ocean immensely, playing with Macy in the pool, and watching Macy play with a pool noodle in our hotel room.

I think Macy's favorite memory was of the smoothies. After getting one once from the pool bar, every time we walked past the bar she would point and say, "Uh, uh, uh!" Luckily her Papa is nice enough to indulge her and get her more smoothies. 

It was definitely sad to come home after our wonderful trip to Maui.

Did you guess right?