Finally Over Finals

Yea! We made it through one of the longest weeks ever. Ben had a final every day this week and was feeling the pressure, and trying to figure out fourth year schedule, etc., etc. (they do rotations next year) He studied until late and got up early. And obviously it was way more stressful for him, but I am exhausted too. We're both glad it's over and we're off to Utah on Monday!

Meeting with Santa

Santa Claus came to our ward party. We prepped Cody to meet him and told him he could tell Santa what presents he wanted for Christmas. Cody let us know he wanted trucks. Right before that we watched Joy to the World and Cody actually (after running around like crazy) sat and watched baby Jesus and the animals in the movie, and it was fun to explain to him why we have Christmas. We were second in line for Santa...he sat on his lap for about two seconds......and then let Santa know what he wanted from my arms.
He got a goody bag that he got from Santa and carried around, calling it his pumpkin bag.
On that note, (although unrelated...) he calls the couch a cow-witch and if we ever try to correct him he corrects us. What would we do without you buddy?:)

All About Macey

Stats:
height: 28 1/4" - 25%
weight: 20 lbs. 5 oz. - 35%
head: 45 in - 60%

Her shots were traumatic, as everyone in Pullman has heard:). They don't normally bother me but the nurse that gave them moved so PAINFULLY slow you would thnk she was just going to leave the needle in Macey, and she had to get 5 shots. I hope she's not terrified to go to the doctor now.


Here's some of the things she's up to:
Little miss Macey has perfected the army crawl. She 'cruises,' and crawls but army crawling is her preferred method since she is so fast
She gives kisses

She points at everything she sees

She loves to dance

She loves looking at trees...
She absolutely LOVES blueberries, frozen or whatever, and all other fruit
She doesn't love bread (what?!)
She LOVES Cody and wants whatever he has

Everyday when Ben comes home she calls dada
She Wakes Up Early (usually 6, sometimes 5:30) and is loud when she wakes up
The other week I decided to teach her sign language for all done' so I would know when she was finished eating. I did the sign at each meal when I thought she was done. She finally caught on to what I was doing and would do the hand sign and SAY "Ah done." I should have just asked her.
She still loves to clap and say "Yay"
She loves animals, especially dogs

She hates being swung around, but loves being thrown on the bed (from a short distance) and she loves our bed (just to play...she would hate sleeping with us)

She doesn't love cuddling, but the last couple of days before I lay her down to sleep she will wrap her little arms around me so I won't lay her down so fast. I don't because it's the only time I will have to cuddle with her. I love it.

Happy Birthday Miss Macey

A little early morning birthday celebration:

Such a sweet, spunky little girl. She turned one on Dec. 5! I can't believe a year has gone by.
We love you Macey!!!

Trains, Planes, Houses and Lights

I didn't journal a couple of things we did this weekend so here they are. One day we made ginger bread houses, or graham cracker houses - it was a little advanced for little fingers but they sure enjoyed eating candy and we made some cute houses if I do say so myself. Laura and Wes even joined us. It was quite the chaotic house with all those little kiddos pumped up on sugar.Another activity that I recommend to everyone in Utah is to go to Kangaroo Zoo. Seriously, it would be such a fun date to go on too!!! We went with Ben's family. It is a huge blowup playground with tons of slides and obstacle courses. Cody had a BLAST!! Macey and I had a fun time too:) Sadly, I didn't bring my camera.
Also one night I went to Lynette's indoor soccer game. I was going to play, but I was running late and couldn't find stuff to wear so I just went to cheer and watch. But once I started watching I really wanted to play so I got some shin guards (and some pants:)) from lost and found and borrowed a pass and jumped in. I forgot how much I love playing. We need to start an indoor league in Pullman.
Thanksgiving itself was at Crosland's. We had turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, acini de pepe fruit salad, creamed corn, yams, rolls, etc. etc. So good!!! After that we went to Blindside-great story, well made, nothing inappropriate, a perfect family movie.
One of the exciting events for Cody was riding the TRAIN. We went on the frontrunner and I can't believe I didn't take a picture of it, but look at the excitement on his face! We rode it into Salt Lake and went to dinner at temple square and then looked at the lights. It was the first night they turned them on. It was fun to be there right when they turned on just to hear everyone's excited reactions. Macey loved the lights. She just kept pointing to all the trees.

A Week to be Thankful For

So...where to start...we came in late Friday night and headed off on Saturday to see Ben's 'people,' with a birthday party for Macey that night. She is going to be ONE so soon! We had a quiet evening....no, it was crazy! And Fun! Here's the grandkids: Cody, Macey, Lucy, and Blake.Ha! I caught him with a smile:)This was a princess party and the girls got princess crowns. Macey wasn't having it. Little Lucy didn't even bat an eye, she always has things on her head:)Cody was not excited about his prince crown :)Macey daintily picked at the cake at first, possibly because it didn't resemble fruit. Then I stuck some in her mouth- she didn't like it. Then SHE put some in her mouth and liked it, liked it more,

...and loved it. Then she graced us all with a little Macey dance. Watch the first five seconds, then she really gets down.

With my family I wanted to make a pink pony cake. I started with a carrot cake then found some pink icing. It was cherry...not a good combo, but it was a cake nonetheless.

Cody and Clayton opened Macey's presents for her:)On Thanksgiving we decided to get some pictures of our family. It started out badGot worseand worseand this is how it ended. Oh well, better luck next year!Here's Macey the little WhoBen and Cody are (forcefully) wearing their matching hats that I knit for them. It such a grandmotherly skill, but I have so much fun doing it.

On Wednesday Ben ewent fishing with his dad and Jon, our brother in law. They went on their annual Island Park fishing expedition in the freezing cold. Here's one of the rainbows they caught.

If you give a mouse a cookie

Has anyone read that book recently? We're just sitting here, and Ben was just talking about getting a horse (after vet school)... Anyway, it just made me think of that book. If he gets a horse, he's going to need some way to get him around, so we'll have to buy a horse trailer. If he has a horse trailer, he's going to need a truck. If he has a horse, a truck and a trailer, he's going to need somewhere to keep the horse. If we buy horse property and have all that stuff...he's going to want another horse. Oh the joys! I wonder where we'll end up living. Wherever it is, I better learn to ride really well if I ever want to see my husband. haha

Hoppy Halloween

This year Cody was a frog and Macey was a princess fairy. We went to our ward party-it was so fun and well planned! Cody almost fell asleep on our way there and was a little overwhelmed at first, but once he figured out that everyone was just waiting to give him candy, he warmed right up! We had 'eyeball spaghetti' for dinner. At the party there were cute carmel apple hoer d'erves (I have no idea how to spell that) that were on toothpicks...what a great idea! Annie who is not unlike Martha Stewart made them; they're family is pictured above as the cat in the hat (the baby is the fish in the bowl:)). So cute!

My only regret is that we didn't get a picture with our whole family. I didn't dress up, but got some pj pants from Old Navy with little ghosts on them for $2 that I wore-better than nothing- and someone even commented that Ben was dressed up as a cowboy...but that was just Ben as himself, wrangler jeans, wrangler shirt, boots and all:).

On an unrelated note, I feel busier than when Macey was a newborn. Cody doesn't take naps (and his 'quiet time' is not all that quiet) and Macey sleeps less now. That, and always being on guard so Cody doesn't have an accident, makes me feel like I can't do a lot. In fact, working around children while I blog is ca-razy. But really, I am a mom, that's what I do! I just want to learn how to SEW:)

A Fun Visit / A potty training week

Grandma Bonnie came to visit!!! We had SO much fun swimming, going to the science discovery center, shopping, eating out, playing, and talking. Ben and I were even able to go out child free one night! Thanks for coming, we love it!:)
The night we went out to eat Macey was starving. When we finally got our food (pizza) Macey inhaled two pieces while Grandma watched in amazement!
When grandma was getting ready to leave Cody said 'Don't leave grandma'... We wish you could stay!Grandma brought presents including cute new clothes and this adorable plate set...construction work on a plate! I thought it was an appropriate picture too because in the background there's children's tylenol and miralax...common in our house lately, hot chocolate-I love it, and canned sausage things that are soft enough for Macey to eat...who knows what meat is in them but when Cody has a hot dog, Macey has those. She likes them, but really she would live on fruit if she could. Oh, and lentils in the jar-everyone in Pullman needs lentils:)

This is Cody on the 'city bus,' (pronounced Ci-dee-bus), with his city bus in his hands (as opposed to the school buses that we frequently see). It made his day again and he talked about how big he was all day!

The last month...it's been a good one! We have had some big changes this month. First and foremost I apparently neglected to write that Macey is crawling. It is an army crawl, but a crawl nonetheless. And I just read in her baby book that she started at 8 months to do it. At first it wasn't ideal because then she could crawl to my room at 6 am after she woke up and Ben had gotten her. But now, we let her just play in her crib and don't get her out so early. She has also started clapping and saying "YEA!" She loves playing with toys in our front room, but if we are at other people's houses, she just wants ME:) Every time Ben comes home she will look up and scream "Da!"

Cody is POTTY TRAINED! (Not poop, but that's an entirely different story and we'll worry about it later.) I am glad I did it the way I did. I didn't know any other way to go about it and my good friend sent me a little write up about potty training your child in 3 days. So I did it, and it worked! I threw him a potty party the first day. Basically you stay by their side (no phone, no email, no distractions, no tv, etc.) ALL the time and ask them every 10 minutes or so to 'tell mommy when you have to go potty.' First day, lots of accidents, second day 2 accidents, third day 1 accident, voila, a little less sanity for me than I would have chosen, but it was done! And I have to give Cody credit, he really was a trooper, I mean I would hate to go to the bathroom all day all the time. And in all honesty, I felt closer to Cody when it was done even though it was exhausting. We did a LOT of playing with blocks-building planes and trucks, and playing dinosaurs and animals. He has quite an imagination.

Ben finished his surgery rotation month. They worked on doing spays and got some pretty good practice. He was gone a lot, so we're glad it's over:) He also just finished a series of a bunch of tests, and has a bunch coming of course.

And last but not least, I finally got a good stroller! Thanks for the early Christmas present mom, this will really help with my sanity! In Erin's words, Praise to the Man who invented the BOB!

Weekend with Aunt Jessi

This picture just cracks me up!Here's Macey's cute grape bunch hat from Swiss Days-thanks, I love it!He even does the pirate face while he swings!Helping carve pumpkins

The pictures kind of explain our time...we laughed a lot and played a lot. Jessi loves playing with Cody and Macey and that alone is worth a million dollars. We wish you could stay! We had SO much fun!!!!!

Lately

Cody is going to be a frog, and Macey's going to be a fairy princess for Halloween. I made Macey some wings and a tutu (http://www.make-baby-stuff.com) and it was kind of fun!

Here's the pirate face again;)

They love sitting in this chair getting their picture taken.

Cody likes to take pictures too with his camera.

Becky and I ran a half marathon in Moscow a couple of weeks ago. It was a really hilly race but was a lot of fun. Nice job Becky!

Macey now has three teeth and counting. If I'm right, she's working on about 6 more...and you can tell. She's not the happy Macey we all know, although I can't complain. She's just not happy, not screaming all the time (except for tonight, but we'll forgive her). Poor Jessi, she came right in time for it! You can't even see her teeth, but they are there.