Hanging Out with Cousins

Mark came over today to hang out with Macy. We played at the playground for awhile then went on a little walk. They had a fun time playing and chasing each other.

Lily also came over to join the party. Macy loves her cousin Lily so much. Aren't they cute?

Last Saturday Macy and Emmett played after their super fun wagon ride.

It's great Macy has so many cousins to play with. It's fun to watch them start to interact with one another and actually play together instead of just playing next to each other.

The Pumpkin Playground

I am now the co-planner for our ward and a neighbooring ward's playgroup. My co-planner planned September's events and I have planned Octobers. It's been fun to learn about new activities for children  and then to actually attend them. Because of the season of Fall and Halloween I decided to go to a Pumpkin Playground at Burke Nursery.

When we first arrived it was packed! There were tons of toddlers and preschoolers running around. Macy walked around holding my hand taking everything in. It's always hard when you plan something and have people attend with you and the event isn't great. However only three other people came and they said it was fun so that makes me feel better.

Things started to turn around for Macy when she saw this old carousel. It doesn't take quarters so all you have to do is push a button to make it go. I said if we ever have a big backyard we should buy old mechanical toys and the kids would love to play outside. Macy rode this 4 times and would have done more.

I say she would have done more, but she didn't because then she noticed the mechanical horses. She also loved these and could have ridden them all day long. I love that she has no real expression on her face to show her delight. I knew she liked it though because as soon as it stopped she said, "MMMooore."

Then we discovered these great slides they had. They were tal plastic slides and you sit on carpet squares to ride down. They were actually quite fast and even tickled my stomach. I really wish I had someone there to take our picture because Macy would grab my arm pretty tight halfway down the slide so I am very curious to know what her face looked like. I could have gone down the slide all day. That's another thing we would add to our awesome backyard.

There were large wooden train cars that Macy liked to climb in. She especially liked this one because it had little seats she could sit in to observe the other children.

Her smile face

Our next favorite activity was the wagon ride. I think Macy liked to so much because she thought the tractor that was pulling us was a train. She kept saying, "Choo!Choo!" Part of the ride went through a little forest of trees and there were Halloween decorations all throughout. Some of the other kids were scared of the decorations but Macy thought they were funny. She doesn't know what werewolves and skeletons are scary yet so she pointed and laughed at them.

Luckily Macy found this wet and muddy sandhill at the end of the trip.  She also could have stayed there all day. Apparently there are little prizes buried underneath the sand somewhere.

Each child gets to take home a little patch pumpkin. Macy had a great time picking one out. She picked up quite a few before settling on one she liked. 

 The funny thing was once she found one she didn't want to take it home. She thought she had to put it back in the pile. I ended up carrying it to the car for her. The only way I got her to stop whining about it was to say we'll go home and tell daddy about the pumpkin. She liked that idea.

 All in all, even though it was crowded and muddy we had a great time at the Pumpkin Playground. I'm already trying to go again next week because Macy had so much fun!

Macy the Impersonator

Macy loves to watch this talking dog video on Youtube. She requests "dogie ooie."The funnier thing is she has started to say "yeah" like the dog does in the video. She will usually answer yeah for a question and sometimes she says it again in the dog "yeah." We usually laugh and then she says it again and laughs at herself. It's such a cute thing.

Macy's Top 25

Because we couldn't pick just 10, or even 20.

For journaling sake, here are the cutest things Macy does as of September 2011. (In no particular order)

1. Her dad likes to make things appear from behind her ears. Whenever she is upset about something she points to her ear. For a while I thought she might have an ear infection but realized she is trying to make her binkie appear from behind her ear. Every night he asks her where her binkie is and she points to her ear.

2. She still LOVES her cousin Lily. When ever we talk about Lily she runs to and points at the front door. She knows Lily comes through that portal.

3. Speaking of Lily, when I get Macy up in the morning she automatically says Lily. She does this because I used to ask her what she dreamed about and I would ask if she dreamed about Lily. Now she gets straight to the point. She often says Daddy too. I bet she has good dreams.

4. More Lily- Every time Macy sees Lily for the first time she gets really excited and she runs up to Lily to say hi. Macy often doesn't say anything but her actions that speak louder than words. If Lily is coming to our house Macy can't contain her excitement and often wants to go into the hallway to watch Lily come off the elevator.

5. She points to her diaper when she says poo poo or pee pee.

6. She loves to watch "baby oooie" when she sees my phone. They are movies of her.

7. I put all the movies we made about her on a DVD and that's the first thing she asks for in the morning, "baby oooie, baby oooie!"

8. We've realized Macy likes to show off for people when they come over. She can get very wild! However, outside of our house she can be very shy.

9. Macy likes to help me empty the dishwasher by handing me the dishes one at a time. She also likes to throw the silverware in the silverware drawer. She is good at cleaning up messes too. When she sees me with a paper towel she has to have one too.

10. She still loves to color and will often dictate what color I'm allowed to use.

11. Her new love is Blues Clues. Macy wants to do what ever Blue is doing. One episode we had to put Macy on the toilet, brush her teeth, and get her dressed because that's what Blue was doing.

12. Macy loves to run. If we say, "Run Macy, Run!" She will run circles around the ottoman. She signs for more if we stop saying this.

13. We are trying to wean her from the binkie so she's only allowed to have it in bed. Sometimes during the day she wants to sit in her crib so she can have her binkie. After a few minutes she is ready to play again.

14. She loves her hair bows. If she ever hears the word bow she points to her head. If she sees someone or even a picture of someone with a bow, she points to her head and says bow.

15. Macy's smile face is puckering her lips.

16. She LOVES to play in the car- especially the front seat so she can drive us around. I don't mind because I get to sit and relax while she plays.

17. We have watched so many dog videos on Youtube. Macy gets so excited when she sees dogs from and distance and loves talking about dogs. She gets very scared though when she sees dogs in person up close.

18. Macy takes her coloring outside with sidewalk chalk and is very good at sharing with the neighborhood kids.

19. She actually sits still long enough to "read" books by herself. (30 seconds is long enough)

20. Like all children, Macy loves candy. I have to admit we've bribed her with candy to get her to eat dinner. We've had to find a new hiding spot for our sweets because she knew where our hiding spot was. She would walk up to the fridge, point up and ask for more (we kept it on top of the fridge).

21. Most of the time she is good about using her utensils. However she puts her food on her fork/spoon using her fingers then puts the fork/spoon in her mouth.

22. Macy loves to carry her purse out to the car with us. If we leave the house without it she stops and asks for her purse. She also likes to take her baby stroller.

23. If we are playing at home we are never allowed to lie down on the floor. She says "no,no,no" and grabs our hair to lift up our heads.

24. Jonathan has started to make a fort for her using the couch and blankets. She loves to crawl through the fort.

25. Macy loves nursery and especially loves all the action filled songs they sing. At home she loves to sing and do all the actions for songs. We've had to make up actions for some songs because she wouldn't sing them otherwise.

Do you like see food?

Apple Picking

We went apple picking in September for play group. We didn't end up picking many apples (Macy wasn't interested) but it was nice weather and beautiful scenery. Here are a few pictures from that day.

Macy had the most fun eating while walking on the dirt road.

Great smile Lily!

DC Ragnar 2011 was awesome!

I'm not sure how to start explaining how FUN the Ragnar race was. If you don't know what it is here's a little info:

- Relay race with 12 people running a total of 198 miles

- 2 vans with 6 runners each

- 2 days and running through the night

- The Ragnar motto: Run, drive, sleep?, repeat

Our van consisted of my dad (Papi), sister Jill (Jill the Kill), Jonathan (the Flying Frenchman), Tiffany (Pump and Dump), me (Runnin Mama), and my friend Katrina (Hurrican Katrina). Van 2 was Greg, Holly, Heather, Trevor, Kiersten, Alisa, and their driver Hank. The only non-family was Katrina and she was kind enough to fill in for a team member who decided not to run. More on her awesomeness later.

To make things more fun each team decorates their vans according to the team name. Our name was "Civil RELAYtions." We decorated with stars, and our names. At night we added awesome glow sticks and light up balloons to the outside of the van. Many vans also keep track of their "kills" (i.e. the people they pass while running). Our van had 83 kills and most of them were Katrina's. Everyone did great though.

If running three legs in 24 hours isn't hard enough try doing it on hardly any sleep. I slept about 2 hours the night before the race and 2 hours the night of the race. I still don't know how I was able to run, adrenaline I guess. I had one of the easiest legs out of the whole team so I wasn't too impressed that I finished my legs. I was very proud of myself for sprinting at the end of my legs to pass people so I could record some kills. People on the sidelines were cheering for me so that was exciting.

My dad had the hardest leg of the whole team. He ran for 7.8 miles and climbed 1,247 feet! The whole time we were driving the route in the van I kept saying, "No way, I can't believe this!" The hill kept going up, and up, and up, and up! The name of the leg was "You've got to be kidding me!" He was awarded with a belt buckle that has the Ragnar logo on the front and "I survived Leg 3" on the back. It's pretty sweet.

Every one did great on their runs, but Katrina did especially well. My sister had to drop out of the race due to injury. My dad finished the last part of her 2nd leg with a 1.8 mile run mostly uphill. In order to not drop out of the race, our team had to have another runner run Jill's 3rd leg. To make matters worst the leg was 8.5 miles labled as "hard." Katrina stepped up to the plate. She had finished her 3rd leg only a couple hours before starting to run again. We followed her along the course and she was smiling and looked great! Our whole team really owes her a huge THANK YOU for finishing the race for us. The last picture is our "Katrina is AWESOME" photo.

I know this all sounds totally crazy. and it is. Why do we pay people to set up a race so we can physically torture ourselves? Because its so much fun! I'm so happy I decided to run and had such a great team. I would do it again in a heart beat. Well, maybe in a year. I'm definitely going to do it again! If you run a Ragnar you'll be hooked too.

Thank you Mom for watching Macy so we could all run!

Grandparents Come to Town!

My dad, mom, and sister Jill came to visit for a weekend. They mainly came so my dad and Jill could run the Ragnar race with us, but I'm sure they wanted to see Macy too.

When I picked them up at the airport Macy was quite scared some strange people got in our car and cried the whole way home. As soon as we got out of the car she was happy and laughing. She likes to show off her craziness in front of them and acted really wild. As soon as we got inside Macy wanted everyone to color with her at her little table. She even dictated what color everyone had to color with. It didn't take long for her to warm up and make everyone laugh.

More of Macy in September

Things have been going well this month. Macy still loves and adores her cousin Lily. Macy gets so excited when I tell her we will be seeing Lily. She says her version of Lily (LLLLLLL) and then runs to get her shoes or runs to the front door. It's a good thing Lily weighs more than Macy because Macy likes to hug and tackle Lily to the floor. They are going to be such good friends when they grow up. Lily enjoys Macy too, but probably gets tired of the tackling :)

Macy has also started talking more. She can say: Mommy (which she says ALL the time), Daddy, juice, cheese, movie (ooie), smoothie (ooie), orange, Jesus (she said it once and won't say it again), Papa, woof woof, baby, grandma (nama), poo poo, shoes, Lily, and more.

I volunteered to be in charge of play group for our ward. Luckily we have joined with another ward so that means I only plan every other month. I'll start in October planning. I hope people come.

Macy started a toddler gymnastic class on September 20th. She was a little scared since it was the first time but I know she'll warm up in a few weeks. Her favorite is the parallel bars because she likes to walk through them. She also loves to hang on the horizontal gymnastic bar. Her friend Grant is in the class with us so the two of them should have a lot of fun running around.

Here is a picture update of our month:

Macy watching a movie of herself with Lily desperately trying to see the screen.

Macy climbed up on the bench all by herself and starting reading books. That is what I envisioned her doing when I bought the bench so it made me really happy. This face is what I got when I asked for a smile. She makes me so happy!

Love those little feet.

 We drove down to Charlottesville for a NUCCA appointment and who should meet us there? LLLLLLL! Macy was so happy to see Lily. It was also a bonus that there was a old school merry-go-round that was free.

 She loves carousels now and wants to go on every one she sees.

 

One night we were playing in her room and she wanted to climb into the cabinet. She thought it was so much fun.

This is Macy's "I-just-ate-Cafe-Rio-and-I'm-so-happy-face."

This was her first time wearing the sweater and white church shoes. She was such an angel. I don't think she can get any cuter!

My Jewelry/Craft Organizer

When I saw this jewelry holder on the blog Make-it-and-Love it and knew I wanted to make one. I set out to buy the supplies, then went to the store again when I didn't buy enough supplies, then went to the store again when I cut the vinyl wrong and didn't have enough. This project took a lot longer than my usual quick projects but was totally worth it. I love the finished product and when I have enough little things to put in all the little pockets I'll most likely make another one.
How great is it that it fits snugly in the closet?

Macy in the morning

I am so lucky to have a child like Macy. She is so easy going and happy. She will usually wake up around 8:15 but I don't go in to get her until around 9 a.m. She has a great time talking to herself, kicking the wall, and probably other stuff but that's all I can hear. Lately when I open the door she has already thrown her stuffed animals out of the crib or she does it after I come into the room. I finally decided to take a picture. We then play with Pooh, Piglet, and baby but throwing them in and out of the crib. She thinks it's hilarious.

 She also likes to go to bed with two binkies because she holds one and likes to put it in her ear like this. Or at night she taps the second on on her eye. That's how we know she's tired.

Smile, Macy!

Yesterday at the park Macy was being so cute. She wore a flower in her hair longer than 5 minutes which she hasn't done since she could reach her head. I just had to get a picture to capture the cuteness. Little did I know she would get even cuter.

Here is my first attempt at getting a picture. She moves so quickly it's almost impossible to get her looking at the camera. I whistle, snap, call her name and she never looks.

Here's the second attempt. Same thing, she moved before I could take the picture.

Then I thought, I'm going to try asking her to smile. Why haven't I thought of that before? Because I didn't think she would actually do it. Well, Macy proved me wrong. Look at her adorable little smile!

She wasn't showing interest in hair clips but I thought I would just ask her if I could put it in her hair. She leaned her head over so I could put it in. So much easier than I thought! I should have asked her months ago?! All through out the day she would point to her flower and say, "Whoa! Whoa!" She was so proud of her flower. Macy you are so sweet and cute!