She Strikes Again

Today Hurricane Macyn demolished the alphabetical organization of the DVD tower. She literally pulled down the gate and went to town. After some re-alphabetizing the cleanup of the destruction is finished. Its only a matter of time when she strikes again!

New Game

Items needed: Blanket and walking toddler
Objective: See how far your toddler can walk with a blanket on his/her head without falling over or knocking herself out
Disclaimer: No toddlers were harmed in this video. Only play under adult supervision and protecting your little one from dangerous falls.

Take one:


Take two:


The funny part is, she wanted to do this over and over and never cried one bit - only laughed!

Is your house on fire, Clark?

"No, Aunt Bethany, those are the Christmas lights." - Christmas Vacation (If you have no idea what I am talking about, WATCH IT! BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIE EVER!)

Anyways, we put some Christmas lights up on the house this past week and we decided to put up a few more. Since it was such a nice day on Saturday (try 45 degrees), we all went out and got some fresh air. Macyn was a big help with the candy canes:We were going to put them into the tree since the ground was frozen, but we nixed that idea since it would be too much work. Maybe next year. We also added some lights to the garage, but when the box says 11 feet of lighted length and the TOTAL STRAND is only 9 feet, well, you come up short. After seeing that the shortness of our lights looked retarded on the garage, we decided to put them in our bush instead. Since we majorly failed on lights, here are some other non-light highlights of our day:

Macyn having a good time on her riding toy:Macyn enjoying Mom's crazy driving of the stroller :)

John Phillip Souza - What Does He Sing Again?

Title of my post = one of my favorite quotes of all times...thanks to the lady who came and visited on Black Friday! My coworker and I got together with my former coworker who now lives in Florida. It was great to see each other again and it was certainly hard to believe it has been a year already! We pretty much just chilled at the mall while Macyn acted like a terrible 2 year old. And then came back to my house where we hung out and watched my coworker's toddler, Ryan, bust some moves appropriate for high school dances. All in all it was a great day and fun to just kick back and relax without a work atmosphere!

Black Friday

I'm not a big Black Friday shopper since I hate crowds and waiting in line, but I do like to look at the ads on Thanksgiving Day. So we bought a paper and skimmed through, and I found that Kmart was having a sale on their Cozy Coupes for $15 cheaper than usual. I was planning on getting this for Macyn anyways, so I figured I would just go to WalMart in town and have them price match instead of driving all the way to Sioux City or Sioux Falls. I went to WalMart around 8:00 and could not find a Cozy Coupe...at all. I asked someone and they were completely sold out and may not get another shipment in before Christmas.

I quick jumped online to see if it was available at another WalMart 20 minutes away and they had 2 left! So we made the quick trip and got the Coupe at the discounted price. We came home and I have a feeling Macyn is going to LOVE her Christmas present - see for yourself:

Hurricane Macyn

Hurricane Macyn first hit the kitchen:Drawers open, items thrown out 1 by 1. I decided to begin to clean up the devastation when Hurricane Macyn struck again:Toys everywhere! Amazing how destructive 10 minutes can be! Since the devastation was so great, I am too tired to pick it up tonight....this will be a 2 day clean up.

O Christmas Tree

We decided to put up our tree tonight - I LOVE Christmas as the warm fuzzy feelings it gives you! Our tree is quite similar to last year's gold & red (which I found out reminds the DH of Iowa State, so we needed a new color scheme). We found some cheapo ornaments at Walmart that consisted of brown, deep red, and green. We used those along with a few keepsake Hallmark ornaments. I really like how it turned out, and it was nice for something different than the last 2 years.

Sunday Best

I thought I would keep on the tradition of Macyn showing off her church clothes. I kinda went over board at garage sales this fall, so needless to say, she has more outfits where these came from! Today she sported a sweater skirt, floral print peasant top with a white sweater cardigan. Add some tights and pink shoes and its a perfect outfit for church!

It was a special Sunday at church today, it was the celebration of Kaitlyn's Fund, an adoption & orphan ministry started at our church. They had a special speaker, Stephanie Fast, who has an amazing story. She was an orphan herself and was literally dumped in a trash landfill before she was rescued. The story she tells will definitely touch your hearts and admire her for her courageousness and trust in God. If you ever get the chance to listen to her - do it!!

We Look So....Professional!

A couple of weeks ago we had our church directory photos taken. They first took the actual "directory" photo (none of which turned out well) and then took the more stylized - aka. colored backgrounds. They also did some on all black, but this is the photo we chose for our free 8x10. We were happy to actually get a picture of Macyn smiling since she thinks that's been overrated lately.

13 Months

Here are some updates of our 13 month old! Hard to believe she is that old already, and according her, she is older and wiser. And since she thinks she's cool stuff that she is walking, this turns into an excuse not to go to bed! Amazing considering she is only 1 month past 1, and we still have a ways to go until we hit the terrible 2's - YIKES!

Anyways, Macyn has reached a big and exciting milestone - walking! She has mastered the art of standing up by herself in the middle of the room and walking from there. So pretty much wherever she is, she can take off without holding onto anything. As she walks along, she will also bend over to pick up a toy and then continue on her way. She sometimes tries going too fast and stumbles, but I think its cute to see those wobbly steps. She will still crawl here and there, but its becoming less and less.

Her sleeping habits have kinda gotten a little worse since she has become "fluent" in walking (like its a language, haha). I'm not sure if she just needs less sleep once she turned 1, or if shes so excited to walk and explore is why she won't go to bed at night. (I'm talking at least 2 hours later than usual).She has also found the kitchen and bathroom drawers. Usually if you don't catch her in time all the aluminum foil, plastic wrap, ziploc bags, and whatever else is in the drawers will be scattered in the kitchen. Or you will find random things in other rooms. She also likes to go up to the counters and stick her hand and reach for anything she can grab. I found a pill bottle in her crib the other day - pretty sure she grabbed that one and stashed it there for later. So now we need to install drawer locks and make sure there isn't anything in reach on the counters. We also need to use the back burners because she can easily touch the front ones if she tried.

She hasn't spoken very many words yet, but she will randomly imitate us, the TV, etc. Like last night we were watching Unwrapped on the Food Network, and they were talking about the Jolly Green Giant saying "Ho Ho Ho Ho," and all of a sudden, Macyn goes "OhOh" (translation=HoHo in baby talk). And today at my parent's house, we told her to pet their kitty and she said "eetee" (translation = Kitty in baby talk) about 4 times when we were talking about the kitty.

Since she is walking now, she likes to point and go "eh eh" to whatever she wants. And when she doesn't get it, she gets mad. Like she points to her coat and wants to go outside all the time. Or she will bring you her coat herself. They even have to hide her coat at daycare, or all she does is sit and point at it all day.

She also likes to shake her head "no," and throw tantrums. She has started hitting occasionally, so I asked the daycare provider about it, and she told me that she is kinda a bully at daycare and that they sometimes put her in time out! What a little stinker! How can a sweet baby girl like this be a bully?!All I know is shes an ornery, mischievous, happy, lovable, wonderful little girl. And we wouldn't change a thing :)

I Spy...

A big green fuzzy blanket. Since the weather has been getting a little cooler, we decided it would be best to put our fuzzy blanket back onto our bed. The only problem is, we cannot find it. Not under the bed, not in the closet, not in other closet's, not downstairs, not in boxes, not in Macyn's closet. No where to be found. We have searched high and low for this darn blanket, and then we realized it was hiding right in front of our eyes......take a look for yourself:



Oh, and for the record, we spent almost 3 days looking for this blanket. It was currently being used to block out the sun in Macyn's room.

Code Words

So last night DH asked me about our Christmas cards & photos and whether I have ordered them.

DH: So did you get the pictures ordered?
Me: Yes, I did. And I forgot my list of pictures to order, so I guessed. I called back to double check I ordered the right ones.
DH: Oh, well I'm glad you got that done.
Me: Yeah, and don't forget to pick them up tomorrow - she said they would be ready at 2:00
DH: Well that's good!

So tonight when DH gets home from work, this is how it goes down:

Me: Did you get the pictures today?
DH: (with a confused look on his face) um....no, you never told me to
Me: Yes I did
DH: Well if you did then I never heard you
Me: You heard me because I told you they would be ready at 2:00 and you told me "Well that's good!"

And all I see is a huge smile on his face and he goes:

DH: ooooh. oops.
Me: You totally ignored me and just said that when you didn't know what I was talking about!
DH: (pause) ...no!

So the code word here would be: "Well that's good." Translation: I'm not listening and this a generic enough response to whatever you just said.

Good to know for future reference.

One Year & Family Photos

Ever since I scheduled Macyn's 1 year picture appointment over a month ago. I was worried about the time slot - 11:00 A.M. This is a time of day where 1) She is usually napping or 2) hungry. So this morning she had breakfast, another bottle before 10, then took a nap from 10:00 until 10:40. I thought we were golden! A non-tired girl with a full tummy. Boy was I wrong. She didn't even want to wear her cute headband and bow - she just ripped it off her head. The session pretty much consisted of no smiles....at all. And at least 10-15 minutes of on & off crying/fit throwing. I could have been super upset about everything (I was more annoyed than anything), or just go with it. I chose the latter and I thought this would make a good story when she is older as to why she wasn't smiling at her 1 year pictures :) Despite the extremely rough morning, there were still some cute shots - just no smiling ones!! Here is one of her shots alongside the same expression from her 6 month photos. Its just fun to compare:Then there was a picture where she was trying not to smile:After these she had one of her many meltdowns. So we threw in her cuddle bear she sleeps with and let her play with her rocking chair to get a few more shots:Then she literally kicked off her boots and showed us her walking skills:Then she held it together to get one decent family shot:And that was about it before her final fit throwing: