Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Thankful

Thankful for these 4 people - how blessed I am to have a wonderful, Godly husband and 3 healthy, sweet little girls! Thank you Lord!!

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

American Girl Trip

Last Friday, we headed to Dallas with some friends for the night and took the girls to American Girl. Now, let me preface this by saying that this whole trip was concocted by Macie and Ireland (Macie's best friend). Their birthdays are one day apart and they decided that this year neither of them wanted a birthday party, but instead wanted to go to American Girl. After talking to Mike and Ireland's mom and dad, we all agreed that was something we could do. Maddie caught wind of their idea and wanted in on it, too! :)

So, that's what we did. On their birthday, Macie and Maddie didn't get one gift to open with full knowledge that their gift from us was their American Girl. (Now, don't feel too badly for them - they got gifts from family and by no means were they deprived on their actual birthday. I still made each of them a cake and we went out for a family dinner.).

When it came time to head to Dallas, they were beside themselves. All the girls were on pins and needles waiting to get there and see the store. Now, Baylor, he wasn't so thrilled, but he was a little trooper and never complained one time that he was having to spend his weekend at a doll store! Such a good little boy!

As soon as we arrived in Dallas, we unloaded our cars and walked to the store. Their faces lit up when we walked in the doors and I have to say, as a parent, it's such a great feeling to see your children happy and excited. They walked around for a long time looking at all the dolls, trying to make their decision, picking out outfits and just taking it all in. All the girls chose a different doll and then couldn't wait to get back to the hotel to play with them.

We let them play for a bit and then headed to the pool - Finally something Baylor could get on board with! :) They swam for a while and we grabbed some dinner and then headed to our rooms for baths and bedtime. Mabrie was WORE OUT by the end of the day. Overall, she did great - so I can't complain. On Saturday, we walked around the Dallas Galleria for a bit and then on our way home we stopped in Allen, TX to shop for a while at the outlet mall. It was really crowded and the girls were all tired, so around 2:00 we left to head home. It was a fun birthday weekend and even more fun getting to share it with friends. The girls had a ball and haven't stopped playing with their dolls since we got home. I think it's a birthday weekend that they won't soon forget!

Happy Birthday Macie and Maddie - We love you so much and hope that your trip was wonderful!

Almost to the store - and getting excited!!



Just after walking inside



My favorite picture from the weekend - Poor Baylor!



They had such a good time

Monday, March 21, 2011

Spring Break

I can't tell you how happy I am that my girls are on Spring Break this week! I love not having to get up and rush around in the morning. It's a much needed break from the normal crazy schedule of running from one side of town to the other. I'm sure by next weekend, I'll be happy to have the schedule back, but for now, I'm loving that we are all still in our PJ's!

We have several fun things planned - trips to the park, a couple of days at home with Mike who is taking some time off work at the end of the week and then a trip to Dallas with our friends to take the kids to the American Girl store! Macie and Maddie are beyond excited about that and to be honest, so am I! I can't wait to see their faces when they go in the store - it's everything that a little girl loves - pink, dolls, clothes, food, hair salon, and so much more! They are going to have a ball.

I hope everyone has a great week and gets to spend the time off doing something fun with your family!

Happy Spring Break!

Friday, March 18, 2011

Happy Birthday, Macie!!

On Sunday, March 20th, we will celebrate Macie's 8th birthday! I can't believe it. Just a few days ago I uploaded some of her baby pictures to my facebook and it really seems like she was just that little baby and now she's closer to being a teenager than she is to that little baby in those pictures.

What do I say about Macie?! She's such a special little girl. She is sweet, soft-hearted, loving, dramatic, loud (gets that from her daddy - HA!), smart, friendly, outgoing, and so much more. She's always been so easy to parent. She wants to please us and do her best at everything. It's rare that she gets into trouble anymore. She is a good example to her sisters and I am so thankful for that. She got saved when she was 6 years old and she loves church and learning about Jesus. There's nothing more awesome as a parent that to see your children desire a relationship with Jesus and want to know Him. I pray that she continues to love and serve Him all of her days. That is my greatest prayer for her and for the other girls. I want them to succeed in life, but WAY more than that, I want them to be children that love the Lord with all their heart.

Macie has always been a total crack-up. She loves to act silly - guess she comes by that trait honestly. :) The kid LOVES to eat. And she's always been an expensive date! At 2 years old, if you'd ask her where she wanted to go eat, the answer was usually "Red Lobster"! Mike and I were like, "Come on, Mace, how about McD's like every other 2 year old!" She loves shrimp and has been getting the adult size meal at Red Lobster since she was around 4 years old. We asked her where she wanted to eat her b-day dinner this year and the answer - "Fuji"!! See, EXPENSIVE!! Poor future husband of hers doesn't stand a chance! HAHA!

I think back on when she was a toddler and laugh. For the most part, she was super easy. She did have her moments though. Once (on my birthday) I took her to have her 2 year old pictures taken and told her if she was good that she could have a cookie when we were done. Well, she wasn't a real "gem" during the session so the cookie was out of the picture. As we were leaving the store I went to dig my keys out of my purse and she took off running through the store, forcing me to chase her down through JC Penney's. I got her to the car and walloped on her. I can laugh about it now - but that day, when Mike got home for lunch and told me "Happy Birthday" I just started crying! He asked what was wrong and I just pointed at Macie and didn't say a word. No words were needed - he knew what I was saying and she sat in her highchair a nervous wreck about what was getting ready to go down! HAHAH!!! Momma was crying and daddy was home and she was smart enough to know that things weren't working out in her favor. :)

There are several "funny now" stories like that. Not too many, because she was a quick learner - and because her daddy nipped it in the bud at an early age. So thankful for that! :)

She is such a blessing! Our home and our family got a little ray of sunshine the day she was born. She's a happy little girl and we are so thankful for these last 8 precious years with her! We feel blessed that God chose us to be her mommy and daddy!

Happy 8th Birthday, Macie! We love you and are so proud of the wonderful little girl you have become and pray for the young lady that you are becoming. Now, let's go get some Fuji! :)


Saturday, March 5, 2011

6 Months

Mabrie is 6 months old - ALREADY! Where in the world did a half a year go? I'm not kidding, it might just be me, but I feel like it was just Christmas and I turned around and we are nearly 1 week into March. Those past 2 months flew by! And I know that as busy as March is going to be, that it will fly by, too and we'll be well into spring before I know it. Which, is fine by me, cause I've been over winter for a while now. The crazy thing is that if the next 6 go by as fast as the last 6, we'll be celebrating her 1st birthday in no time and I don't know if I'm ready for that or not. It really feels like the time has gone faster with her than either of the other girls and it's probably because we are so busy that we just don't have time to sit and be still.

We have enjoyed her so much and are starting to get to know this new little personality that is emerging! She's gonna be a spitfire, I can just tell! :) She's so sweet but when she decides she's done being sweet, boy can she get mad in a second! She can scream with the best of them, but she can also smile and laugh with the best of them, too! She's so much fun and she wants so badly to keep up with her big sisters. So much so that she's been army crawling for about a month now and I think she's well on her way to the real thing in just a matter of days. She's little and scrappy (as her daddy says) - and that description really does fit her.

She's starting to reach for you when you hold your hands out to her! I LOVE that! It's so sweet! She's also starting to really recognize her own name and will turn to you when you call her. She loves to chew on anything that she can get her hands on - Macie said today, "Mabrie is a lot like Libby (our dog)!" HAHA! She really is - if she can get to it, she'll chew on it!

She still sleeps great - about 12-13 hours at night and usually 2 good naps a day. Sometimes she even throws in a little cat nap in the evenings, but you have to be holding her for that one. I don't know why. Every other nap she wants to go straight to her bed, but the 6 p.m. cat nap, she wants to be rocked. I don't mind though because I don't get to do that much, so once a day is kind of a little treat for both of us! :)

Here's some of her info. Mostly for me to keep track of and be able to look back on and see what she was up to at 6 months old!


Weight: 13 lbs. 11 oz. (10th percentile)
Length: 25" (25th percentile)
Has her 2 bottom teeth
Eating 4 times a day - Bottle (5 oz.) at each feeding, rice cereal w/fruit in the morning after her bottle, and at the 4:00 p.m. feeding she has a jar of veggies after her bottle. Bottle only at noon and right before bed at 7-8 p.m.
Goes to bed around 7-8 p.m. and sleeps until 7-8 a.m.
Loves bananas, pears, apples, sweet potatoes and carrots. Yet to decide if she likes green veggies or not.
Wears size 2 diapers
Wears size 6-9 month clothes and some 3-6 month stuff still works.

We love you so much, Mabrie! You are a little bundle of joy to our whole family!

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Give Away

Head on over to my recipe blog to get yourself entered in my first give away!!! You have the chance (actually 2 chances) to win an adorable, custom apron from my friend Olivia at Dancing Zebras! Check it out and don't forget to leave me a comment in order to get your name entered in the drawing!!!

Click HERE

Good luck!!!