Eating Habits

Somedays Macyn thinks she's a baby and can sit in her Bumbo:

 Other days she thinks she such a big kid she can eat on the couch just like dad!

Family Photos 2012

We had our family pictures taken and we absolutely LOVE them! Here are some of our favorites:

If you want to see the rest of them, go to my album here. And here is the link to our photographer...she does such an AWESOME job!

Miss you, Grandpa.

 After a tough battle with leukemia, my grandpa went to be with his Lord and Savior the morning of Macyn's birthday party. I will always cherish the moments we had together. The laughter, the love, and the fellowship. This is harder than usual because he was my last grandparent left. It is a weird feeling, and an even stranger feeling knowing that I can't just go and see him.

When we delivered Macyn's invitation to Grandpa for her party, he was worried he wouldn't make it because of how tired he felt. We told him we would bring the party to him, and we were looking forward to that. Little did I know, less than a week and a half later he would be gone. We explained to Macyn about what happened to Grandpa Stan, and that he wouldn't be at her party because Grandpa went to go see Jesus. She replied, "I want Jesus to come to my birthday."

She understands more now. After we brought her to visitation, we explained to her the same things that happened with Grandma Van Aartsen, 2 months earlier, to the date. It melted my heart and made me shed a few more tears when we were viewing Grandpa in his casket when she said in the saddest little voice, "Goodbye Great Grandpa Stan."

Sometimes she will randomly ask, "Grandpa Stan went to heaven?" "with Jesus and Grandma Tillie?" We just tell her yes, and if he she has questions, we answer them. I think Macyn has a special place in her heart for him. She seems to get sad if she talks about him, but then she realizes he is in heaven, then she seems to be a little happier.

Rest in Peace, Grandpa Stan. We love you and miss you so much. We'll see you later, someday.

Princess Party

Cinder-"Macyn" and her birthday cake

Macyn with Great Grandpa Bernie

Presents!

Blowing out her candles

We had a small get together for Macyn's birthday! Both sets of grandparents, Great grandpa bernie, and Auntie Brandi, Kelly & Caden came to help us celebrate! She had a great time at her party!

Cinderella Cake

 I took the day off to get ready for Macyn's party on Saturday. I knew I wanted to make her a Cinderella cake, so I looked for some ideas on how to make a Barbie cake. I watched a YouTube video and it looked easy enough. Well, I had some issues. First, my dome cake fell apart. Then my crumb coat didn't work, AND the Cinderella Barbie was too tall....and her knees didn't bend. Sigh. So I just frosted up on her dress a little more than I had planned. I didn't spend a lot of time on it, because I was in and out all day of the hospital, visiting my grandpa. Quite frankly, this cake was the least of my worries at that point. But, I think it turned out pretty well - not my best work, but good enough considering the circumstances!

Birthday Treats

Macyn was super excited to bring birthday treats to daycare! We picked out some mini cupcakes and she decorated them with Cinderella toppers. The kids must have liked them - there were only 4 leftover!

Sunday Best

Today for church Macyn is wearing a gap dress from a garage sale. I think its a dress, at least. Hard to tell when tunics are in style now too! She loves dressing up and will often pick out random dresses in her closet to wear for fun. She was a big girl and was perfect in church today. I thought she would get mad during communion since she couldn't have the bread/wine. She was a little upset, but never threw a fit. Yes! Maybe our parenting class is helping :)

Hear Ye, Hear Ye....

Here is Macyn's birthday invitation this year. She decided after all she wanted a Cinderella party...so that is what she is getting! I have been busy working on birthday stuff, and are looking forward to her party on Saturday. (Her birthday is actually Sunday) It is always fun to compare the previous years, too.

First year invite

Second year invite

Kitchen Pics

It's official! I am DONE painting. Yes, done! It wasn't without being completely and utterly sick of it, or an extremely sore arm AND a cramp in my hand. But its done. There are 22 doors that had to be painted and 9 drawers. That leaves us with:

• 2 coats of primer each side of door (4 coats/door)
• 2 coats of paint each side of door (4 coats/door)
• 2 coats of primer on front of drawer (2 coats/drawer)
• 2 coats of paint on front of drawer (2 coats/drawer)

So that leaves us with a grand total of # with paint and primer of....212 coats! Holy smokes! The only thing left to do in the kitchen is finish hanging all the doors, tile, and install new countertop with sink/facets, etc. But PAINTING IS DONE! I know I already said that, but can't you tell I'm excited? Now if only my arm would quit hurting....

Doors with painted backsplash

Close up

Yardwork for Grandpa

We spent most of Saturday helping out with yard work at my Grandpa's house. He is now home, but is in hospice care. The only medicine he will ever get is maintenance chemo, so we are hoping it will continue to work. However, his counts are going higher again. :(  You can follow his journey on his caring bridge site.

The workers!

Anyways, since he is in hospice care, a lot of the family got together to help with yard work. I didn't really do much besides follow Macyn in her power wheel and watch her, but DH helped out a lot. After the work was done we all came inside and had a nice meal with some chit chatting. It was nice to have a family gathering all supporting my Grandpa. He was happy that everyone was so willing to help out.

Macyn and cousin Liam

Doll House = Done!

We originally had planned to give Macyn her dollhouse for her birthday, but since we weren't super busy this past weekend and was an extremely well behaved child, we decided to give it to her early. Let me tell you, this has kept her busy all weekend! It is nice to see that it doesn't matter to her if it is home made, if the beds are made out of cereal boxes or the couch made out of kleenex. She loves it all the same as a store bought one. Here are the final pictures:

Finished house! Includes baby room, bedroom, loft area, and living room.

When we gave this to her she exclaimed "A BARBIE HOUSE!"

How she arranged everything :)

Here is the lowdown of all the supplies used:
 • Peel and stick floor tiles (leftovers) - Free
 • Purple shag rug from the dollar store ($6)
 • Walls - gift bags and scrapbook paper ($3)
 • Paint - leftover from Macyn's nursery -Free
 • Chandelier was a Christmas ornament I found at Walmart ($2)
 • Furniture was made out of cereal boxes, kleenex boxes - Free
 • Materials for furniture was used out of my mom's old fabric scraps.
 • Stuffing for the pillows and couch a giant bag ($3)
 • Flatscreen TV - template I desgined - Free!

So with a grand total of $14, I think this was a pretty cheap way to make something Macyn loves. It was such a fun project to do!