2 Years, 9 Months

38" (i think), 32 lbs.

This month hasn't brought much new things for Macyn. She still loves to play house and she has quite the imagination. She memorizes entire books and will read them to you. We have also had to find new ways to discipline her because she isn't listening to us really well. We have been doing the "tough love" approach, and letting her throw her tantrums. We will not negotiate or give her what she wants until she quits crying and screaming. This happens at bedtime and nap time too. I usually give her 3 chances (1...2....3) and then take something away. It seems to be working pretty well, but it adds a lot more tears and a little more stress to the day.

Another issue is trying to get her to pick up her toys. A daycare lady told me she wasn't doing it, and now whenever I ask her, she changes the subject. Completely ignores you if you tell her to pick up her toys. She still hasn't picked them up, and I'm not sure how to make her do it. She is very strong-willed when it comes to this activity.

Besides her being strong willed, she still has some great one liners (Watching Beauty and Beast, she announces: "Belle's father is a genious.") Or, when she is in the swimming pool she pretends shes a mermaid and will sing like Ariel. She also likes to help in the kitchen, dressing herself, wearing my shoes, and painting her fingernails. Most of all, she LOVES her little people and barbies. She can sometimes play with those for hours. She also likes to play, where she is the mommy and I am the baby. Its funny seeing her respond when I am a difficult baby :) We have good days with her and bad ones too. The bad ones seem to go on forever, but the good ones we enjoy her so much. It is all part of growing up....and its definitely fun to see her do that!

Kitchen Makeover Part 1

We decided to go ahead and start on our kitchen. This will be a long, drawn out process, but hopefully it will be done by the holidays this fall. DH had to use a day of vacation, so he decided to begin to paint the upper cabinets. I think they look pretty good so far - now we just need doors! They are being refaced and will also have to be painted. The next step should be painting the lower cabinets. This way, all the inside painting would be pretty much completed.

We have also picked out our color pallet. It consists of Olive Gray, Chilled Wine, and Submarine. The colors aren't super accurate on the screen, but it gives you a good idea. The Gray will the the paint behind the back splash, Chilled Wine the accent wall, and Submarine the trim around the window.

Here is our tile - its an image off the internet so it isn't super great, but you get the idea.

Next is our countertop - Butterum Granite by formica.

We are still deciding on cabinet hardware. The ones we like are double the price of the other, so we are still debating on those. We hope to have our kitchen done by the fall and we can't wait to see how it turns out!

Fishing Fan

Ever since Macyn got a fishing pole for Easter, she has been eager to use it. Usually when we go fishing I usually just cast hers outs with only a bobber, so we don't have to worry about the hook. Since the fish were biting, we decided to let her actually catch a fish with her pink princess fishing pole.

Now since she has caught a few fish, she always says, "Mom, catch one!" ...like its super easy. Or, I will reel in her line and say, "I got some sea weed" and she responds, "Don't catch seaweed, mom, catch a fish!"

...why didn't I think of that? :)

Updates

I know I have been absent for a while, but we have been pretty busy. I have mostly been busy working on a freelance project that has to get done, and some other events have kept us occupied.

• My grandpa is officially in remission! His bone marrow scan came back clear. However, he had to be brought to the hospital this past Friday for low blood pressure and sepsis (blood infection from his port). He is on antibiotics and will have cultures back in the next couple of days. He might have to be in the hospital for a week or so.

• DH's Grandma was confused a couple of weeks ago on a Saturday morning. Long story short, they found out that she has a cancerous brain tumor that was causing confusion and eyesight problems. She had brain surgery this past Friday, which went well. Pathology should come back this week to decide what kinds of treatment they need to do. The bad part is, they gave her between 9-14 months. We are really sad about this, but are trying to enjoy our time with her, making it as cheerful as possible. Prayers would be appreciated.

• Cancer SUCKS!

• I had to get two cavities filled on Friday. My first cavities in 20 years. My first cavities in my mouth at this time. I had quite a streak going, and was sad to hear it it was coming to an end. Not having dental insurance was not so fun.

• We have decided to get rid of our dog. We have always played around with the idea since we never have much time for him and he sits in his kennel about 18 hours a day. The opportunity came up to find him a good home, and we took it. I am kinda sad, because he was a good, smart, kind, intelligent dog. But, we know he has a better life now - one where he gets played with and gets exercise. It has been two weeks now without him. Its definitely more quiet and takes some time to get used to.

• We have been swimming and fishing a lot, too.

• We are redoing our kitchen. We are painting the cabinets white, and have counter top and backsplash picked out. The only thing we need is a paint color. Seriously can't decide on anything. I may be putting up a poll soon to see what you guys think for a color. The upper cabinets are painted, and we will be doing the rest in pieces.

• We refinanced our house. We had enough equity that we only had to pay a little bit for mortgage insurance, so we are currently saving $200/month on our mortgage. Nice!

Hopefully I can get back to blogging again. We have just been busy all the time it seems!

Day 3 - Omaha

Today is the day we are coming home. We went from Des Moines to Omaha with only 1 stop to get gas. We took a pit stop in Omaha to the children's museum. It was a little hard to find, since it was downtown with lots of one way roads. Once we did find it, parking was a night mare. Fortunately someone was pulling out of their space so we could go in. Once we got into the museum, it was a little spendy ($33 with the extra exhibit fee). We soon realized that this is much more like a giant play area than an actual museum. There are educational things too, but mostly it was time to play and have fun.

Macyn enjoyed writing on the wall (what kid doesn't?) and painting a picture using unique tools – like cars. She wasn't too thrilled with the virtual piano – I never got the chance to play chopsticks like on Big, but it was still fun. Near that area there is a giant gravity contraption with balls. You put the balls in tubes and then watch them as they go on  their way to different tubes and tracks. Macyn had a really fun time with this, but got upset when the air would blow her ball in the air and she couldn't reach it.

The next area had a play house, and her favorite- the grocery store where she could put groceries in her cart and pay for them at a pretend register. It was hard to get a cart that wasn't being used, which led to some whining and tears, but eventually we got her one and she was as happy as could be.

She also spent some time in the house, and squirting some water with the fire hoses. There was also a giant indoor play area, but Macyn wasn't having any of that. We then went up to the second floor where the newest exhibit was – the Wizard of Oz. It had the witches castle, a bubble table, tornadoes, a stage to dress up like the characters, heart beats for the tin man, a courage cave, a station to make a necklace, and of course, the Yellow Brick Road and ruby slippers! There was also a green screen where you could ride bikes and watch it on a screen so it looks like you are in a tornado!

Unfortunately, Macyn was starting to get tired and wasn't too enthused about things, so she spent most her time at the bubble table, making a necklace, and playing on the playground. I did get some photo ops of her doing other things, but she wasn't too happy. There was also a carousel on the 2nd floor – but she didn't want to ride that at all. Good thing, because it was an additional $2 to ride.

After that we hit up the small water fountain park outside where Macyn got drenched. We then changed her clothes and headed out to eat lunch at Chipotle. It was really good and I have been craving it since we have eaten there. After lunch we drove straight home with no stops. We were going to go fishing, but Macyn begged, "I want to stay home." I think she was vacation'd out!

Day 2 - Des Moines

We decided to hit up the Blank Park Zoo this morning. We thought the earlier we go, the less busy it will be and the less hot it would be. Once we entered the zoo there was a pretty display of flamingos. Shortly after that, it was time to go to the Australian outback. This exhibit was cool! They had a walking path, where the kangaroos and birds/ostrichs roam freely. Macyn was scared when an emu came at us, but she enjoyed seeing the kangaroos up close – especially the baby ones. It was definitely a new experience to be in a "free range zoo."

We also hit up the petting zoo where Macyn had fun feeding the goats and cows. There was also a big playground that we stopped to play on. She ask had to say, "buck buck" to the chickens :)

Other hits at the zoo was the sea lion exhibit. It was a giant tank where you could view them above the water and below. It was fun to see them swim. The giraffes were neat too – you could literally go right up to them. They even had a platforms so you can be eye-to-eye.

After the outdoor exhibits, we headed inside for the indoor ones. There was  cave and a rainforest. We hurried through this part because Macyn was starting to get crabby. After the indoor stuff, we told Macyn she could pick out anything in the gift store. She found a butterfly pillow, which was a decent $15. We tried to convince her to get a souvenir more unique to the zoo itself, but she was inseparable from the pillow.

Her "souvenirs"

After the zoo we headed back to the hotel, but not until we stopped for lunch at Popeyes. I wasn't too impressed, but it was good food. Once we got back, we swam a little bit and Macyn took a nap. After that we went shopping where I found a $5 swimsuit, ate at Fazolis (amazing, and had so many leftovers for another meal once we got home). After that, it was back to swimming again. All the swimming and business led for a tired girl at the end of the night. We had a king bed where she slept right in-between us. It was nice to cuddle, and she fell asleep really fast.

Adventureland!

Our photo they took of us as we walked in the gate

Today we drove up to Des Moines and hit up Adventureland with DH's old college roommate. We went on some rides together – the log ride, raging river, and the other rafting one. Macyn liked them all but her favorite was the bumper cars! She couldn't get enough of them! She also loved the teacups. Macyn wasn't a fan of the kiddie rides, as she screamed as soon as they started. She didn't even like the carousel. 

All the rides we went on

DH and his friend did go on some roller coasters while Macyn and I explored the park on our own. We ended up going to the circus, which included an illusionist, acrobats, and daredevils. 

The only downfall was how hot is was. I think the heat index was around 105º.  After the park we ate some Papa Johns (we ate at places we wouldn't normally eat), and headed back to the hotel. 

Our hotel had a waterpark, which Macyn refused to go down the little kid watersides, or down the big ones with us. Not sure what her deal was, but we all had fun swimming! It was a good way to cool off after a hot day at the amusement park. Oh, and did I mention it was my birthday today? The big old 2-7. Late 20's, here I come!

(Note: I never took any pictures of the waterpark at the hotel - be sure to check out their website to see all the fun stuff!)