Making Christmas Cookies

We had Macy's friend Oliver over to make and decorate Christmas sugar cookies with us. The kids helped make the cookies which were very easy thanks to Betty Crocker.

Mixing the cookies

Cute Oliver

Cute Macy

Flattening the dough

The best way to eat yogurt is with your hands

Time to frost!

They were very focused on frosting their cookies and were quite neat about it.

The finished product

 Each kid was good for about 4 cookies. Us moms frosted the rest. The kids were so good at making these cookies. I see this as a good winter indoor activity this year. I love this age because now they are able to do more things like this and are so excited about everything.

Ward Christmas Party

We had our ward Christmas party this Friday and it was really fun. It was a Tacky Christmas sweater party and Ja won third place! I got his black and silver metallic sweater in the women's department :) I thought my shiny gold sweater paired very nicely (in a tacky nice of way) with Ja's metallic black sweater. Macy had a cute and more traditional Christmas sweater with a Christmas scene on it which included a little girl, a tree, and presents. Anna was also very cute in her gingerbread outfit.

We had a good dinner while being entertained with musical numbers performed by people in the ward. They also had people bring hot chocolate, cider, and wassail for us to drink. There were cupcakes that the kids could frost and decorate too. After the performances we all sang "Santa Claus is coming to town" and wouldn't you know it, Santa appeared! Macy was very excited shouting, "It's Santa! Santa is here!" And even though she sat on his lap last weekend she was too scared to do it this time. Eventually Ja sat on Santa's knee with Macy on his lap.

Ja held Macy and Oliver during the musical numbers

 We tried to take a family photo but as you can see Macy wasn't having it. Then she saw her friends sitting on the stage for a picture and asked if she could do the same. Ja had walked off some where so I only got Macy. Then I got Macy to hold Anna and an adorable picture was born.

That night I noticed Macy rubbing her eye a lot and that it looked pink. My fears were confirmed the next morning when she woke up with green goop in her eye. Then again when I took her to the doctor. She has her first case of pink eye and an ear infection. She hadn't been complaining about her ear so I'm glad we caught it before it got worse. She hates the idea of the medicine and drops but actually does very well with them. She was also very brave at the doctors office. She only cried once for a little bit when the nurse wanted to weigh her. But she didn't cry at all when the doctor was checking her.

Christmas at the US Botanic Garden

We took a field trip downtown for Macy's preschool group. The US Botanic garden has a Christmas train which runs through
little fairy houses all made out of plant materials. We've gone for the past three years so I guess it's a tradition now.

Macy has a new friend in her preschool class named Emma. They've been good friends ever since Halloween because they both dressed up as princesses. Macy followed Emma around all morning and they had a great time. They even posed for pictures! Their favorite part was the mermaid and the waterfall.

It was a very warm day and was perfect for doing to DC. The group of kids sat outside on the grass and ate lunch together after going through the exhibit.
Macy loved watching the ducks in the pond that we walked passed. The best part was we got a great parking spot close by without having to look very far.

Sitting on Santa's lap

Last night we headed to the Alexandria marina to watch their holiday boat parade. People decorate their boats with Christmas lights and decorations and take a leisurely ride down the river.

At 4:15 Santa rode in on a boat and was available for pictures. Macy surprised me and asked if she could sit on Santa's lap. I said of course and we got in the long line to wait for our turn. We were very lucky because they cut the line off right behind us so we were the last in line. Throughout our wait Macy would say, "I want to sit on Santa's lap mommy." I told her we were in line and she would be happy. She was incredibly patient the whole wait.

Once there was only two people in front of us Macy started spinning and jumping because she was so excited. She happily sat right on Santa's lap and had her adorable smile on the whole time. She even told him she wanted a dog! That was the first I've heard of that!

I was (and still am) so proud of my little Macy. She was so sweet and adorable on Santa's lap. Although we waited close to 45 minutes for that one minute on Santa's lap, it was totally worth it. I am so glad I will have this happy memory of Macy on Santa's lap.

We then watched perhaps three minutes of the parade. Macy told Santa what she wanted and was ready to go home. Totally worth every minute.

We think Macy now likes Santa after watching Elf so many times. Now she knows there is nothing scary about him.

On a different note, Macy also pet a strangers dog last night! This is also a very brave thing for her to do. The owner of the dog stopped by us and Macy said, "I want to pet doggie mommy." I was surprised and walked over to the dog and she walked right up to it and pet it. No fear at all. My little girl is growing up!

Could they be any cuter?

Seriously, look at the evidence:

Both daddy and Anna fell asleep

Macy painting my toe nails

They love each other! Macy is good at making Anna laugh.

Macy is such a good helper.

Anna loves her thumb

Anna LOVES to smile

Anna loves her big sister

Macy the duck

I think not!

Macy is so thoughtful

Macy painted a couple of pictures and wanted to hang them up somewhere. Ja gave her a piece of tape and she put her pictures on the table legs. Later on I tried to move them and she got really mad. She said she put the pictures there so baby Anna can see them. I think that's so sweet she put them on Anna's level and was concerned that Anna wouldn't be able to look at them if I put them up on the wall.

My girls

Macy has been so happy and funny lately. The other day I told her to hold her horses because she kept bothering me about something. She responded, "I can't hold horses because I don't have any horses mom."

Anna was in bed with Macy one day. Macy walked out of her room and shut the door. She said Anna was asleep. I didn't believe Macy so I checked on Anna. I found her nicely tucked into bed. I love that Macy even put her doll with Anna.

Macy was so cute at the grocery store. She wanted to bring her stroller along. People would see her and say, "Oh, how cute!" Then they would notice her stroller and say, "Oh, how cute!" Then they noticed her boots and said "Oh, how cute!" I love that my girls make people smile every where we go.

Anna is such a happy baby! And she already talks up a storm. I can't get a really good video of it because she stops talking when she sees the camera. The camera is so interesting to stare at I guess.

Macy tried my sunglasses on today and got them to stay on. She was pretty excited.

Macy asks why A LOT. I'll answer and she will continue asking why until she gets an answer that suits her. Sometimes she doesn't like my answers so I have to say "Macy sometimes I just don't know." When I say that she knows to stop asking. Yesterday she used that line on me. I love hearing her copy our phrases. Ja taught her "Come on, man!"

Both my girls are adorable and perfect! I love them very much.

Carving Pumpkins in November

Who says you have to carve pumpkins before Halloween?! Not us.

We never got around to it but Ja wanted to carve them with Macy so we did it on November 1st. It actually worked out great because we were able to use them at our ward Trunk or Treat party which was on November 3rd due to Frankenstorm. Halloween was a 2 week celebration at our house because we went to so many parties.

Ewww! Yucky!

Macy scoping out the seeds

Our Jack-o-lanterns

Anna sat happily in her chair watching us

Watching Macy Sleep

We got a video baby monitor when Anna was born. We have yet to use it for Anna because she is either in the same room as us and doesn't move around yet. However, we have greatly enjoyed watching Macy "sleep" on the monitor.

I put her to bed at 8 p.m. and I used to think she went right to sleep. Now that we can see her I know she may not go to sleep until 9:30 or 10 some nights. I find her reading books to herself in her bed. Sometimes she walks around to pick up more books. Or she'll sit up in bed to read. I think this is so cute and it's great she can do this and not need me to put her to sleep. Macy makes me proud.

The rest of these pictures are the funny positions I find her sleeping. 

Horizontal in the bed with her leg over the railing

At the foot of the bed with leg hanging out of the bed

 This time she's hugging the railing

She loves to hang her foot off the bed

I love watching her get herself ready to sleep after she's been reading. She lies down finding the right spot on the bed. She then covers herself with her blankets and finds the right spot on her pillow to place her head. Her milk cups have to be in the exact right position too. Sometimes I think she's sleeping because she is still. Then if I look close enough I can see her shiny eyeballs blink. The camera is like night vision so her pupils glow like a cat.

I always seem to miss Macy the most when she is sleeping so now I can watch her and see how cute she is all night long! It will get even more fun once Anna and Macy sleep in the same room.