$5201.25

I have been weaning Emma for the last couple weeks and decided last night was going to be the last feeding, so Emma is offically weaned. I will admit I am a little sad that I will never have any more babies to nurse, but am very grateful I was able to nurse all three kids for 13 months each. Along with health benefits, cost was one of my main motivators. I did not want us to have to buy expensive formula. So, for fun I looked up last night how much money we saved by me nursing for 3 years and according to this article, since I exclusively nursed them, I saved $1733.75 per kid, or times 3 = $5201.25. Wow, if only we had putting aside that money in a special account!

Look who can read....almost

A while back, I heard of a good book for parents to teach their children to read, Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, so I checked it out from the library to look through it. One of the kids spilled water all over it which meant we had to buy it, which meant we were definitely at least going to try it since we had to pay for it. We are now on lesson 48! It is very easy to follow, everything is scripted out for you and it only takes about 15-20 minutes a lesson. We have been doing it every weekday, give or take and sometimes on the weekends. I really like it because it is easy, but also it teaches the phonics and not just sight words, and also it teaches comprehension as well. Macy enjoys having the one on one time and it is fun to watch her get excited when she gets it right! This is the story she read during one lesson earlier this week:

Definately worth checking out at your library.

Charlene McDowell

Happy Birthday Emma!

Wow! It sure doesn't feel like a year since she was born! It has been a fast, but great year with her. Emma's Birthday was actually Tuesday, but we had a party today. We celebrated on Tuesday by me taking all 3 kids to the doctor to all get shots. Yippee!!

We had a small family party with Seth's parents. Emma enjoyed spending time with Grandma and Grandpa, her presents , and of course the cake. Happy Birthday Emma!

Boo!

Update: Macy did make it the entire time trick or treating with the wig. Sorry Macy! The kids and Seth walked a few streets of the neighborhood and came back with their bags FILLED.

Seth is taking the kids out trick or treating right now and I am home passing out candy while Emma is sleeping, so I thought I would post some pictures from tonight. The church had our Trunk or Treat last Sunday, so this isn't the first time they are wearing them, but I was on the planning committee for that and way too nervous about everything, so I only like like 1 fuzzy picture of them at that. Anyways, enjoy the ones from tonight!

My little pumpkin:

She would sit for two seconds and then crawl away, she was much too busy for me to take pictures. This was Macy's first coustume. It is hard to believe that this time last year I was just days away from having her.


It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's Superman:

Getting ready to save the day! The cape was actually mine from when I was little; it was a party favor from a friend's birthday. And finally, Dorthy!: I am doubting the wig has lasted the entire time they are trick-or-treating, but we will see.

A couple of the pumpkin, Superman and Dorthy together, what a combination!

First Ever Family Movie Night

Tonight we had our first every family movie night and watched the best movie ever, well, what I considered the best movie ever when I was a kid, "Babes in Toyland". I seriously LOVED that movie growing up and I sure my family can vouch for me in saying that I watched quite frequently.
A couple weeks ago Macy asked what was my favorite movie growing up and I of course told her "Babes in Toyland" and my mom surprised us by getting us a copy this week! "Babes in Toyland" is a 1960s Annette Funicello singing and dancing movie, so you can imagine Seth's excitement when I called him to ask him if we do have a movie night tonight and watch this. Anyways, we all enjoyed it (Seth enjoyed his nap) and after it was over Macy said "This is my favorite movie too now mom!". When I put them to bed I could hear Macy and Charlie talking a little bit and Macy hollered out "Mom, what is that guy's name who was in the movie?" and I hollered back "Tom." (Spoiler alert!: The main characters, Tom and Mary get married at the end and that is how it ends.) and then I could hear her tell Charlie "Tom and Mary have a real baby." Macy was in their room telling Charlie what she imagined happened after the movie was over and I thought that was pretty funny. It was as fun way to spend a Friday night!

Macy showing off the movie: Getting ready to watch!:

Beauty Sleep

Macy loves anything girly or remotely girl-related, so when I told her I was going to do her hair in rollers and she was going to sleep in them, she was super excited! She kept saying she looked like Grammy. I wasn't sure if she would last the whole night in them, but she did with only a couple falling out. In the morning, but before I brushed it.

New Lens!

I got a new lens for the camera in the mail today! It is a 50mm f/1.8D (Thanks Melinda!) I am so happy to be able to take pictures again without have to hold the lens just right or risking it fall to the ground. I just snapped a few pictures of Emma to try it out and I really like it! I still need to look at the directions and figure some things out (like it says the auto focus is possible, but how to I change it from manual to AF? Anyone?), but so far so good.

Maybe now I will enjoy doing laundry...

Because we got these delivered today! We have been using the set we bought at a garage sale about 6 years ago and it was definitely time to get a new pair and we (well me, Seth really doesn't care what I wash his clothes in) are very excited to have a brand new set! Yeay!

A plus for the kids of getting a new washer and dryer were the boxes! Seth made them a couple little houses and they have been busy playing in them all day.

Notice how Seth re-used the old dryer tube thing. Who needs cell-phones when you can have a talking tube!

Official

Charlie has been wearing underwear for a couple weeks (with the exception of nap and nighttime), so I think it is now safe to call him officially potty-trained! I have to admit I was dreading it and wasn't going to be disappointed if he was well after 3 before he was potty trained, but he was surprisingly easy and very motivated by m & m's. He has the occasional accidents, but for a 2 year old boy is doing very well. Way to go Charlie! (Of course, now that I am blogging this, he will have some HUGE accident at church or something.)

Here are some pictures of the goof ball to commemorate: