The McDowell Family Blog

Field Trip: Arboretum

2010-09-23T17:07:00.007-05:00

I have mentioned before that we are apart of a local christian homeschool support group. I get emails every week, if not every day, about fun field trips we can sign up for. And one thing that I really like is that the whole family is welcome! On Tuesday, the kids and I went to the Dallas Arboretum with our group. We have never been there and it is a beautiful place to walk around.

During the Fall they have pumpkins EVERYWHERE throughout the arboretum. Also they have a pumpkin village with houses made out of pumpkins.

Charlie is sitting inside a pumpkin house in this one. This picture kind of remind me of an old school picture where the kids are looking off in the distance smiling (minus the melon of course).The arboretum is definitely the place to go to take pictures. We saw 4 brides getting their bridal pictures done, and a few other photo shoots going on as well. I had it in my head that I would get a great shot of all three. But this was the best I was getting: So I gave up and let them get their faces painted.

They really did have pumpkins everywhere, even floating in some of the water features, which the kids thought was neat.

There was a village set up with cabins and a tee pee and a wagon for the kids to explore.

Emma spent most of the day enjoying the view from right here: Near the end of our day, Spider man started to melt:

It was a fun field trip! It is a great place to take the kids and hopefully we will go back there soon.

Zoo Day

2010-09-22T05:47:00.005-05:00

We are part of a great playgroup through our church (that includes Ginny and Catherine) We meet twice a month and I love getting together with them! Last Friday we went to the Frank Buck Zoo in Gainesville. The last time we went the kids were a lot smaller, so this was like going to a Zoo they had never been to for the kids and they had a lot of fun with their friends.

Frank Buck Zoo is a small zoo, great for this age group, and the big attraction there is the giraffes. The kids even got to feed them! They were suppose to lay the lettuce on his tongue and the giraffe would then curl his tongue around and eat it. Charlie did it just like that. Macy was a little apprehensive and would just throw it in the general direction of his tongue. He did have a long tongue!

How often do you get to take a picture of a giraffe from this angle??

After walking around the zoo, we enjoyed a picnic together.

And rode the train around the outside of the Zoo.

And then finished our playgroup by playing at little bit at the nice playground outside the zoo.

It was a fun morning!

Ist Day

2010-09-08T20:22:00.006-05:00

We had quite an eventful day for our first day! Our day was filled with rain, a tetanus shot, a double rainbow, flooding and even a tornado warning and somehow we even fit some school work in.

Macy was really excited about her first day!

I left the schultute on the table for her to see in the morning and she was sure excited! It was a big hit, and she somehow managed to eat almost all of the candy in the morning.

It was pouring like crazy here today, so we had to skip our walk and instead the kids got extra time to play while I caught up on some cleaning. Macy read to Charlie and Emma during that time.

We had our first morning board time followed by Bible.

The kids then had snack and more time to play. Emma was sort of a grump for most of the day.

After snack we had our craft time. Earlier in our bible time we read the creation story and so for our craft we talked about how God created the beautiful world and everything out of nothing and we created beautiful pictures. Looking back, I should of said to "paint your most favorite thing that God created", oh well. We made homemade puffy paint that you put in the microwave, the kids seem to really like and even Emma got to do it.

Our finished artwork: (clockwise:mine, Charlie's, Macy's Emma's).

Then we had extra time, so we took our first official field trip as homeschoolers! We went to drive around in the rain. Like I said earlier, it was POURING, so we wanted to go look at the water behind our house. It was definitely flooded and the most high I had ever seen it.

The kids thought it was pretty exciting.

When we got back, I was starting on lunch, opened the pantry and stepped right on a thumb tack. And I managed to use all my weight when I stepped on it because was all the in and was totally painful. I had to hold my breath to pull the thing out. I bandaged myself up and continued preparing lunch and the thought crossed my mind about possibly needing a tetanus shot. So I called the doctor's office, just to ask a nurse if she thought it was something I might need to get a shot for since I can't remember the last time when I had one or if is something that I don't really need. Long story short, she said I did (which of course she is going to say to cover themselves), so after lunch, Sethw as able to stop by and I put Charlie and Emma down for a nap and I took Macy with me to the minute clinic at CVS and quickly got one, no waiting or anything, it was nice! So we had our second official field trip as homeschoolers.

After all that, we did Math. We counted Cheerios with the "The Cheerios Counting Book" and she did a couple pages out of her workbook and then she read me one of her Abeka readers. We didn't worry about the other stuff today since we had already had a busy day.

Plus we had a tornado warning when Seth got home, but then we saw a double rainbow and went out for ice cream. I am worn out and my foot and arm hurt, but really glad that I am able to be Macy's first teacher!

Tomorrow is the Big Day!

2010-09-07T19:54:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow will be our first official day of Kindergarten!

I wanted to start a family tradition for when the kids started school, so I made her a schultute! I spent many years in Germany growing up and a tradition that they have for their child's first day of Kindergarten is to present them with a big decorated cardboard cone filled with candy, school supplies and a little toy, etc to make their first day extra special. So, to honor my time there, I thought this would be a fun thing for our family to do.

Traditionally it is just for Kindergarten, but I think we will make it a yearly tradition. To read more about the history of these cones, you can click here.

I am excited about tomorrow and will post an update at the end of the day!

Our Chore Pack System

2010-09-04T18:57:00.009-05:00

This week, we started our Chore Pack System! I don't know why I have struggled with implementing a formal chore system. I seriously have been meaning to do this for about a year.

Months ago, I ordered and read Managers of Their Chores.
This is the same system that the Duggars use and it is a great book and I highly recommend it if you are wanting to teach your children about doing chores. I was stuck though because I wanted to combine it with Dave's Ramsey's Financial Peace Jr ideas. We definitely wanted to include some of the Dave Ramsey's ideas of "work=pay, don't work=don't get paid" in our chore pack system and teaching our kids how to correctly handle money; giving, saving, and spending. Anyways, so that is where I got stuck for awhile, I just wasn't sure how to combine it and I was making it too difficult, so I didn't even start. However a few weeks ago, I saw this post on one of my my favorite blogs: Women living well. And she showed how she combined it with getting paid, so that really helped me get started.

Last week, Seth and I came up with a list of chores that the kids were capable of doing and I took pictures of them and made cards with a gold star and "Done!" on the back and laminated them.

We found some credential holders at an office supply store and I also made a daily chart to use and had it laminated as well, so it would last awhile.Macy and Charlie were really excited about it! Especially since they knew they were earning money!

They worked really hard and Macy especially set a good example for Charlie with having a good attitude.

Charlie had one day where he just flat out did NOT want to do his chores (the chore he was working one was putting the shoes neatly in the cabinet, which would of taken a total of 3 seconds to do, but he stretched it out to about 10minutes.) Thankfully after daddy intervened, he got back on track.

Every morning and afternoon they had chore time.

Charlie's chores were pretty basic: put pillows back on couch, put silverware away, wipe the table, etc. Macy had a little bit more: feeding Bailey, putting away laundry, wiping bathroom sink, etc.

I also included made this chore card:

We used it a few times and they were SO EXCITED to get it. After they did what the special chore was and if they did it with a happy heart, they got a little piece of candy.

Today, after all their chores was payday! I had ordered these banks earlier this week but they did not make it in time, so we just used envelopes today. We talked to them about what we do with money in a basic way that hopefully a 5 year old and 3 year old can sort of understand and they put the money in the envelopes after we split it up for them. We put 10% for church, 10% in save (like for a big toy they want), 10% invest (we told them this was for their car, waaaayyy in the future), and their favorite: 70% in spend. Macy was paid a 0.20 a day and Charlie 0.15 a day, plus we told them they would get an extra .25 for the week bonus if they had a good attitude. So Macy's got a whopping total of $1.45 and Charlie $1.15. Hey, we have to start somewhere and wanted to allow room to give raises, etc... Seth took them to Walmart with their "spend" money and they both happily bought a package of gum and are excited about taking their "give" money to church tomorrow. Macy said she is saving for a Barbie Jeep, that should only take about 500 weeks, but I didn't tell her that. :)

Overall it was a great first week with the chore packs and I really glad that we started it!

The All-American Postcard Swap!

2010-09-01T05:40:00.020-05:00

I mentioned earlier that I will do going a geography notebook this year with Macy and to make it more fun, I have decided to host a postcard swap!

How it works: A family from each state will swap postcards over the next 50 weeks. Each state will be assigned a certain week to mail out their 49 postcards. We will go in alphabetical order. In 50 weeks, your family will have received 49 postcards from all over the United States! Please include one or a few interesting facts about your state on the postcard.

To Join: Please check the list below to see if your state is available and if it is, please leave your state and email address in the comment section and I will email you to get your name and address.

Other Info: Please do not sign up if you do not intend to send the postcards out. Also, please keep in mind that you will have to purchase (or make) 49 postcards and postcard stamps. But in return you will get a postcard a week for 50 weeks! You don't necessarily have to live in the state you are sending out a postcard for, as long as you are able to get 49 postcards from that state and can include something interesting about it on the postcards.

States List:

1. Alabama-TAKEN
2. Alaska-TAKEN
3. Arizona-TAKEN
4. Arkansas-TAKEN
5. California-TAKEN
6. Colorado-TAKEN
7. Connecticut
8. Delaware-TAKEN
9. Florida- TAKEN
10. Georgia-TAKEN
11. Hawaii-TAKEN
12. Idaho-TAKEN
13. Illinois-TAKEN
14. Indiana-TAKEN
15. Iowa-TAKEN
16. Kansas-TAKEN
17. Kentucky-TAKEN
18. Louisiana-TAKEN
19. Maine-TAKEN
20. Maryland-TAKEN
21. Massachusetts-TAKEN
22. Michigan-TAKEN
23. Minnesota-TAKEN
24. Mississippi-TAKEN
25. Missouri-TAKEN
26. Montana-TAKEN
27. Nebraska-TAKEN
28. Nevada-TAKEN
29. New Hampshire-TAKEN
30. New Jersey-TAKEN
31. New Mexico-TAKEN
32. New York-TAKEN
33. North Carolina-TAKEN
34. North Dakota
35. Ohio-TAKEN
36. Oklahoma-TAKEN
37. Oregon-TAKEN
38. Pennsylvania-TAKEN
39. Rhode Island-TAKEN
40. South Carolina-TAKEN
41. South Dakota-TAKEN
42. Tennessee-TAKEN
43. Texas-TAKEN
44. Utah-TAKEN
45. Vermont-TAKEN
46. Virginia-TAKEN
47. Washington-TAKEN
48. West Virginia-TAKEN
49. Wisconsin
50. Wyoming-TAKEN

If you know of anyone in another state who might want to participate, please pass along the word!
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Texas State Requirements for Homeschooling

2010-08-27T06:00:00.004-05:00

Thankfully Texas is one of the most homeschooling-friendly states, so there aren't really any requirements at all. I do not even have to notify that we are homeschooling. We are legally considered a private school. If we were pulling the kids out of public school, we would have to submit a letter about why we are taking them out, but since they have never been enrolled, they will have no record of us.

Here is a map of homeschool regulations, so you can check out where you live:
Red are high regulation states (really glad we aren't in one of them)-they have a number of requirements including state testing, curriculum approval, home visits, teacher qualifications of parents and professional evaluations.

Orange are moderate regulation states- they are required to notification, test scores and/or professional evaluation of student

Yellow are low regulation-you just have to send notification that you are homeschooling

Green-No requirements for parents to initiate contact

I do plan to keep a notebook from each year with samples of the kids work, so we will have some sort of record if needed. When they are in high school there are resources to help create a transcript.

Also, next year we will join HSLDA which is the Homeschool Legal Defense Association. For those who are/were teachers in OK, it is like APOE but for homeschooling families. Basically, it would help us out if there were ever any legal issues with us homeschooling. We didn't join this year because Kindergarten isn't even required in Texas, so we are saving our money for a year.

That concludes our homeschool mini series! I will be sure to post about our first day and week!

Our Daily Schedule-At least this is what we are shooting for..

2010-08-26T06:00:00.004-05:00

This is our goal for a week day at home:

5:00-I get up have my quiet time and go to the gym, or if it is a Monday I go grocery shopping. Thanks to my years as an Army Brat, I like to get up early.

6:15-Shower and get breakfast started.

7:00-Everyone up, get dressed, make beds, have breakfast

7:30-Family devotional time

7:45-Clean up breakfast, say good-bye to daddy and go on a walk, weather permitting.

8:30-Morning Chores, We will be starting our new chore-pack system, as seen on the Duggars, this Monday, so if we all survive the week, I will blog about that at the end of the week.

9:00-Morning Circle Time with all kids

9:15-Bible with all kids

9:30-Snack and free time to play

10:00-Craft, cooking, library, ladies bible class, playgroup or free time depending on what day it is.

11:00-Start getting lunch ready

11:30-Lunch

12:00-Recess

12:30-Emma and Charlie go down for Nap

12:30-Macy and I do the sitting down part of school, Math, phonics, handwriting, geography and whatever else we need to do. I am hoping to do a workbox system (I'll blog more about that at another date.)

1:30-Macy has quiet room time, I will take an hour to rest as well. I read something from an experienced homeschooling mom and she said one of the best things to do is an hour rest time every day, even for the older students, so the mom gets a break and everyone gets a break from each other.

2:30-Macy, Charlie, and I up. Snack time followed by TV time. This is contingent on if they were quiet during rest time.

3:00-Emma up and has her snack,

3:05-Read aloud time together

3:30-Macy and Charlie do afternoon chores.

4:00 (or when finished with chores, I don't think they will take very long)- Free play time

5:15ish-Dinner Time when Seth gets home and Family Time

6:30-Baths

7:30-Bedtime

7:30-? Seth and I have kid-free time.

We will have to fit in Ladies Class on Tuesday, Library on Wednesdays, Playgroup two Fridays a month, lots of field-trips, and one morning a week I would like to go to the gym at 8:30 am, so I can attend a class instead of going at 5am that day. I am not sure how that is all going to work, but I am hoping we will figure out something as we get going. I am sure I will have do lots of tweaking as time goes on and I know that it will be a rarity if we actually complete the schedule as typed out, but at least we have something to shoot for.

On Saturday, there will be no school, but we will still have chores and naps.

Whew! That seems like a lot, but getting it typed out makes it seem like it isn't that bad and maybe even do-able.

As for a yearly schedule, I am not setting one right now, we will take off when needed and probably go into the summer. Seth's day off is Thursday, so on some Thursdays will do things as a family and will not worry about school on those days. I love that we can be flexible with homeschooling!

For scheduling help, a great book that I recommend is:
Tomorrow's post... What are the state's requirement for homeschooling in Texas, and how do you plan to follow those?

Our Homeschool Curriculum

2010-08-25T06:00:00.005-05:00

We will start officially in September homeschooling, but I thought I would go ahead and share with you the curriculum that I will be using.

Bible:

Family-Time Bible In Pictures by Kenneth N. Taylor. We will read a story daily out of it. I took this from Sonlight's curriculum.

Phonics, Reading and Handwriting:

Abeka
It took me awhile to decide on this. First, I wanted to look at a variety of curriculums since there are so many great ones, but ultimately decided on Abeka, since I have taught it in the past and I liked it then. Then, I couldn't decide on bumping Macy up to 1st grade in language arts or not since she is reading fluently already. However, after talking to some more experienced homeschoolers, they recommended keeping her in Kindergarten for the moment, but if we finish all (not just the language arts) of Kindergarten quickly, then going ahead to first grade. But they also reminded me that our goal in homeschooling is not to graduate the kids by they are 13, but to take time to build a strong foundation. So that is what we are doing! I imagine we will pick and choose out of the phonics part since she we already did "Teach your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons".
For handwriting, I have decided to do cursive first with her, so wish us luck in that. I am hoping she will have beautiful handwriting (unlike me) since we are starting with it first rather than printing.

Also for reading, I have typed up a reading list from recommend books from Honey from a Child's Heart, Sonlight, Five in a Row, Beautiful Feet and a couple other places. We will continue our weekly trip to the library, and will have this list as a guide of books that I want to read to the kids or have Macy read aloud.

Math:
We are using Horizons Math. It is an award winning curriculum, so I am hoping that we will enjoy it. To save money and as recommended by some other homeschooling moms at the big home school convention, I didn't buy the teachers edition, but I flipped through it and it doesn't look to hard. :)

In the mornings, we will do a circle time, where we will do a calendar, days of the week, memory verse, counting, weather and a few other things. When we get going officially, I will blog more about it.

Those will be our main subjects that we will be focusing on this year. In addition to those we will do a little bit of the following:

Character - I thought about doing a character trait a week and doing an activity for each, but I think I will hold off until next year. Instead, we are going to focus on doing chores, being obedient and also we will have a day a month that is purposed to do some sort of service activity (visiting residents at a retirement home, making cookies for someone, buying groceries for a food pantry, and some other age appropriate things that I can think of or find from other people.)

Geography-we will do a notebook of the 50 states. The objective will be to identify that there are 50 states. We will have a coloring sheet for each state, just mainly identifying that there are 50 and learning where they are located. Also, I plan to ask some of you to send us a postcard from your state.

Science- We have an ant farm, so I plan to order some ants and we will get to watch them in action.

P.E-Lots of playing outside, going on walks, and going to the park. We have decided not to do a formal activity for the first few months of homeschooling, just so we don't have another thing to keep up as we are getting use to homeschooling, but maybe we will enroll Macy in gymnastics in a few months. When Charlie is old enough to attend, the YMCA here has a home school PE class, so we will probably do something like that in the future.

Home EC- I plan to set aside a time each week to do a cooking activity. Also, she will be doing chores. I have also looked at a couple books that are geared towards little girls Macy's age for Home EC, I haven't ordered anything yet though.

Arts and Crafts- We will do a craft/art time each week. Nothing formal, I just plan to get ideas from either other homeschoolers blogs, my old education stuff, or making something to go along with our bible lesson.

Music-Again, nothing formal this year. I just plan to check out a wide variety of CDs each week from the library and play them for everyone to listen. Also, my mom just told me she ordered this book for us
which I think will be really good and I am sure we will work our way through it.

There you have it! That is what we have planned so far.

Tomorrow I will post a schedule of our daily routine.... stay tuned.

Emma's First Haircut

2010-08-23T17:00:00.000-05:00

Today Emma got her much-needed first haircut! It seems like it was just yesterday when Macy and Charlie got their first haircuts. Unlike Macy and Charlie. Emma did not cry one bit! She sat there so well and just quietly looked around (there was quite a bit to look at in this kid-oriented salon.)

Before (I should of got a shot of the back, it was especially bad):

During, being so good!:

She would not smile at all, but I still like this picture:

After, enjoying the sucker and saying "Cheese!":

Some Blogs That Are Better Than Mine

2010-07-09T15:54:00.005-05:00

Over the past few months I have found some blogs that I really like to read each day, I normally will turn on my phone when I first wake up and look at a few of them while I am waking up and since I like to find great blogs, I thought I would share in case any of you like to do the same (these are not necessarily in order):

1. Women Living Well - This is really one of the best on my list and normally the one I check first. She has a lot of helpful and biblical advice for wives and moms. She has a lot of videos on the left side of her blog, check them out if you have time.

2. Like a Warm Cup of Coffee-This is another one I look forward to reading every day. She talks about many things from being a homemaker to sharing about having an abortion years ago.

3. Confessions of a Homeschooler-A homeschooling blog with lots of good printables and ideas.

4. Raising Homemakers - A blog for mothers of daughters. This is only a couple months old, but already has had some great posts and I look forward to checking it every morning.

5. The M.O.B Society- A great blog about raising boys.

6. Skip to my Lou - A blog with fun crafts for kids. The kids and I made the sidewalk chalk paint this week that she has on there and they loved it! I plan on stealing a number of her ideas.

7. Homeschool Creations-Another great homeschooling blog full of good ideas that I plan to steal.

8. Heart of the Matter Online- This one has a number of contributors focusing on homeschooling and has a number of helpful articles. It is a great resource for new homeschoolers.

9. 1+1+1=1- Another homeschooling blog, this one focusing mainly on the younger kids, preschoolers, etc. Also the author of this blog has a few other great homeschooling blogs that you can find on her site.

10. Along the Way-Another homeschooling blog with great ideas. Even if you aren't homeschooling, the homeschooling blogs still have great ideas on them!

11. Clutch- A blog for wives married to men in ministry. I have only looked at this one for a couple weeks, but enjoy reading the posts from women whom I have a lot in common with.

12. Babywise Mom- I do not check with one daily anymore since we are moving out of the Baby stage, but she still has great advice for raising kids and so I do like to click on it every so often. We used Babywise with all 3 kids and this is one of the best resources I have found to go along with the Babywise books and have recommended it to a number of people.

All Boy

2010-06-23T06:02:00.003-05:00

The last couple posts have been rather girly, so I thought I would post a video of Charlie to even things out and he is definitely all boy! If he isn't playing baseball or golf, playing with his cars, trains or trucks, he is either chasing imaginary monsters around the house, shooting things or jumping from high places (I am trying to prepare myself for seeing Charlie with a broken bone, I imagine he is going to have a few of them in his childhood.) He prays for the "ballgame" when he says his prayers, every single time. He is especially excited about getting to go to the ballgame with Daddy by himself in a couple of weeks and the other night he prayed "Thank you God that I get to go to the ballgame with daddy....and not Macy." Seth and I tried to correct him afterwards and tell him that wasn't very nice, but we were laughing, so I doubt it had much impact.

Here is a video that I took a few weeks ago:

He is definitely our favorite little boy!

Recital

2010-06-20T18:22:00.004-05:00

The big recital was this weekend! I was the stage mom, so I wasn't able to take pictures or videos from the audience since I needed to help get the girls on stage and stay with them in the back, etc. (they only allowed pictures and videos during the dress rehearsal, so Seth couldn't get them either, boo.).

Anyways, here are the ones I did take. Macy and her classmates getting ready backstage to go on stage during the dress rehearsal:

Waiting on the side as the big girls are dancing:On Stage! I was standing right where the teacher was standing doing the motions, so that is why they are all looking at my direction:The day of the recital, Macy and a friends twirling in their dresses backstage in our room:We were back there for 2 1/2 hours, so we kept busy coloring and playing with toys and games. They were all really good:Getting ready to go on stage:Seth's parents were able to come and see Macy performance and we were able to all go out to eat afterwards. Macy was so excited to get to wear her dress to the restaurant!:Family shot. Too bad Emma wasn't looking: I wasn't able to film at the performance, but I did film on picture day a couple weeks ago as they were practicing. Enjoy!

Way to go Macy! You are our favorite tap dancer!

Dance Class Picture Day

2010-06-12T19:13:00.005-05:00

Macy has been in dance class this year and has loved it! She had her pictures this week, and I was the cheapo parent and didn't pay for individual expensive pictures, so I just snapped a few before we left. Look at this one and notice Emma on the left. Haha. The whole time I was taking pictures Emma was right up against Macy, wanting to touch her dress and saying "Ohhhhh Pretty, Ohhhhh pretty", She was quiet impressed with the dress and I could hardly keep her away from it. I cropped her out of the top pictures, but I thought this one was pretty funny.

Her recital is this weekend and I will try to post a video of it on the blog. (Don't worry, it will not resemble the "Single Ladies" Dance performed by 6 year olds that was in the news a few ago. ) They are tap dancing to "Rockin' Robin". The studio we have used is a Christan studio and many of the songs that are performed by the older kids are church songs.

It is has been a good first year of Dance for Macy!

Spalsh Park Fun

2010-06-10T06:31:00.003-05:00

First Swim of Summer

2010-06-04T06:16:00.004-05:00

We have actually been a couple times, but these are pictures from our first swim.

The kids were sooo excited when the neighborhood pool opened a couple weeks ago! We like to go first thing in the morning since 1) it beats the blazing Texas heat and 2) there aren't a bunch of people there to see me in my swimsuit. (Which by the way if you are looking for a modest swimsuit that doesn't look weird, visit www.christa-taylor.com).

Anyways, here are a few I took of our first visit. It is hard to take pictures with one hand while the other one is holding a 19 month splashing, so I didn't take a but a few.

Emma's first real time in the pool:

She was a little leary at first, but now I can hardly hang onto to her! She is either splashing or trying to go around the pool by herself. She doesn't like that I hold onto her. Too Bad Emma.

Charlie in action getting out of the pool: He likes to lay on the ground outside the pool and hang his head upside down in the pool.

Macy:

She kept asking for me to take her pictures like this.. Ha. She has gotten a lot better since last year about going under water and will even swim underwater for a few seconds.

One last one of Macy and Charlie doing what they love best (look at Charlie's tounge!):

Microwave Potato Chips

2010-06-01T12:33:00.002-05:00

I came across a recipe to make potato chips in the microwave and gave it a try and they turned out great, so I thought I would share!

Ingredients:
Potatoes, sliced paper thin
pam spray
parchment paper
salt or whatever seasoning you want

All you do is put is a piece of parchment paper directly in the microwave, spray it with a little pam. Lay the potato slices on it, make sure they aren't touching. Spray with some more pam and then cook for about 3-10 minutes, just until they are crisp and not all brown. Take them out and season with salt or whatever you want and there you have it! A cheaper and healthier alternative to bagged potato chips! You can also use veg. oil or olive oil in place of the pam.

I did it today for lunch and sliced one potato for all of us, everyone really liked them. Seth said he liked them better than bagged potato chips. The only bad thing is you can't do a large batch at once. For our 1 potato, I did two batches in the microwave. I have made "chips" by frying them in oil on the oven, but that takes so much oil and also probably isn't that heatly since they are soaked in them.

Enjoy!

Hail the Conquering Hero

2010-05-17T20:02:00.004-05:00

Look at what Seth did at work today: The other day Seth had hit a snake when mowing the church property and it got away before Seth could get it. But today he was out mowing and came across another snake. After battling the snake while it was climbing a tree, Seth was victorious and he killed and decapitated it. We went after dinner to show the kids; Charlie was really excited and even brought his pop gun to shoot the snake in case it wasn't already dead. Macy wanted nothing to do with picking up a dead snake (as did I), but Charlie didn't hestitate at all at the chance to hold it.

Bluebonnets

2010-04-17T10:37:00.002-05:00

Seth has the camera on the Men's retreat, but the kids and I went to look at the bluebonnets this morning. So I thought I would just film a little bit incase we didn't go back this year to take pictures.

Charlie wasn't interested in the flowers, he wanted to play in the car. What kind of boy wants to play in the car as opposed to looking at flowers? :)

Branson

2010-04-13T06:49:00.004-05:00

We took a vacation to Branson this past week and had a great time! We left on Wednesday and came back Sunday. We got a deal to go up there to check out Bass Pro's time share resort, and Seth's sister and her family live about 45 minutes from Branson, so it worked out well and we needed a little time off.

We drove up on Wednesday and had dinner at Lamberts! It was good and we were expecting a long wait, but got there are a good time, so we didn't have to wait at all! On Thursday morning, we did the tour of Big Cedar Lodge, which is pretty awesome, but there was zero chance we were buying a time share.

That afternoon, we headed to Silver Dollar City. This was our 2nd time to Silver Dollar. If you haven't been, we recommend it! It is a great family-oriented park with hardly any waiting for the rides. The kids loved it!

Last time we went Charlie wasn't big enough for rides, but he really enjoyed getting to ride them this time. Last time I was pregnant with Emma, so it was my first time riding the rides too.

Macy is in the front, Charlie and Seth are a few rows back:

Emma even got to ride a few!:

On Friday we went back to Silver Dollar City and then headed to Republic to see Seth's sister. We all went out to Fantastic Caverns, the only drive through cave in America.

We stayed with them until early Sunday Morning and headed home.

It was a great trip! One last picture of Macy at home enjoying her Silver Dollar City souvenir:

Waffles

2010-04-05T21:00:00.000-05:00

The kids love waffles with butter in the morning. Especially Charlie, he asks me about every morning if we are having waffles for breakfast. I use to buy Eggos or Wal-mart brand Eggos, but for the last couple months, in an attempt to make them a little healthier, I have been making a big homeade batch and putting them in the freezer. The kids haven't noticed a difference, except the homemade ones are square and not round, and I enjoy them as well. They are easy to pull out in the morning and throw in the toaster just like the Eggos. Here is the recipe I have been using:

1 C. All Purpose flour
1 C. Whole Wheat flour
4 t. baking powder
1-2 T. Wheat germ
1/4 t. salt
1 1/2 cups skim milk
6 T. Vegetable oil
2 eggs, separated

1, Preheat waffle iron. In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt and wheat germ. Stir in milk, oil, and egg yolks until smooth.
2. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks. Gently fold in egg whites into batter.
3. Pour into greased waffle iron, cook, and enjoy!

I normally double this recipe and make enough waffles to last about 2 weeks, give or take.

Our Well-Mannered Emma

2010-04-04T20:37:00.002-05:00

This last week I taught Emma the signs for "please" and "thank-you", she quickly picked up on it and says "please" allllll the time.

Since she will probably act clueless if I ask her to perform her newest tricks for anyone, I thought I better get proof (ignore the lady who sounds like a smoker talking in the background):

Resurrection Eggs

2010-03-31T05:55:00.003-05:00

I came across thesea couple weeks ago and thought they would be a really good way to teach the kids that Easter is more about the Easter Bunny. Each day Seth reads the scripture that goes along with that day's egg and then we open the egg and talk about what is in it. So far we have opened eggs that contain things like a donkey, silver coins, crown of thorns, etc. One the last day, Easter Sunday, the egg is empty. We have been doing it every day at breakfast and the kids have really enjoyed it, especially when it is their day to open the egg.

They are currently on sale at Mardel too if you would like to pick up some for next year!

Schooling...longest post ever

2010-03-17T13:43:00.002-05:00

We have made the decision to not send Macy to public school next year, but to home school! Believe me, I never ever thought I would want to do it or actually do it.

I know I had a lot of questions when I started to think about homeschooling, am I am guessing a couple of you do too, so I thought I would try to answer a couple in this post.

Disclaimer-My intention is not to bash public schools in the post, Seth and I are both products of the public school system, I have a number of relatives that are teaches and I was even one myself before kids. I just want to answer some questions that we will probably get about homeschooling and also to make a post that the kids will read someday and see what we were thinking when we made this decision.

When did you decided to home school?

- In the past I have said "I would never home school my kids!", or "I just don't have the patience and skill!" but a few months ago something just hit me one that Macy would be going to school in a few months and I did not want her spending the majority of her day there. Not that I don't think she wouldn't do well in the public school system, I believe that she would do very well. She has zero separation issues, likes to makes friends and can sit and obey a teacher. And it isn't about me being away from her, I have zero separation issues as well. Anyways, it just sort of hit me one day, I think I read something about homeschoolers or something that made me think it really isn't a bad idea to home school. So I did research about it and prayed for about a month over it before I even brought it up to Seth. I thought for sure he was going to say "No chance" and that would have to be the end of it. But thankfully Seth said "You have about a 5% chance of me letting you do this.", so I was excited because it wasn't a definite "no" and he had the chance to meet a homeschooling family and is now supportive of the idea and said we can take it year by year. Although, I wouldn't go buy him a "My Kids are Homeschooled" t-shirt to wear just yet. But of course, I wouldn't do this without his approval and support.

What are your reasons for wanting to home school?

-There are a number of them and here are a few (not necessarily in order):

1. More time to "train them up the way they should go", this was a big one for me. It seemed like it would be really hard to constantly combat certain things, habits and other "worldly" issues they would be picking up daily. Not saying it can't be done, but it seems like it is getting harder and harder as the ability to discipline students is being stripped away in the classrooms.

2. Getting to choose our own curriculum. I have taught in the public schools and private schools and after going to the private schools, I know there is a number of high-quality and challenging bible based curriculums out there.

3. Flexibility. We won't be ruled by the school calendar. This one sounds really appealing to Seth.

4. More time for them to be kids. Kindergarten, for example, should just take about an hour a day. So there is lots of time for playing outside and it is not like they will have a bunch of "homework" since all their work will already be homework. Also, they won't have to constantly deal with the pressures to grow up so fast. They won't have to keep up with the latest TV show, clothing line, etc.

5. More time together as a family.

6. They won't have to take the TAKS test! That is such a huge deal here and it seems like students are taught for the test.

7. No watered down (or all together absent) history or science.

8. Getting to personalize lessons for the kids.

9. Giving the kids a teacher who spends one-on-one time with them. I read that the average teacher in the classroom spends like 10 minutes a day one on one with a student or something like that.

Aren't you worried your kids are going to be doomed to be unsocialized weirdoes?

-I was, I am not now. That was my biggest concern at first, but I did a lot of research and met non-weirdo home school kids. One article that particular helped me really helped explained how the idea of kids getting "socialized" in a class of 30 other students their age is a relatively new one and not really the best way to socialize them. The article also went on to remind me that in the real world, you are never only interacting with your peers, always with people of other ages. Plus, we do plan to let them out of the house every once in awhile. And I am embarrassed to admit this, but even when I was teaching I know I said "We are not here to socialize boys and girls, get your work done."

Macy, Charlie and Emma have never been to daycare, preschool or a MDO program and so far I think they are all well-socialized. Macy is just about the most social child I know. At church, for example, she’s always one of the first to greet visitors, adults and kids.

How can you possibly think that YOU can teach them everything?

-I will be the first to admit that I am pretty clueless in anything involving geometry, chemistry and basically any subject in the 12th grade. But THANKFULLY there are a ton of great curriculums and guides, as well as co-ops, even lessons on the computer, or tutors. And plus the kids have a really smart dad who can easily breeze through any of the tougher subjects.

What about college, how will they be prepared to enter college?

-If we continue homeschooling through High School, they can enroll at the community college while still in high school. I think it would be great to get them in 1 or 2 classes before they go off to college to not only get credits, but also to prepare them to work in a classroom setting, having to work in groups, having different teachers, etc. Also as mentioned above, there are a bunch of co-ops here, but we probably won't join one until all the kids are school age. I know there are home school kids who can't cut it in college but I also know there are public and private school kids that can't cut it as well. I don't think they are at a disadvantage because they are homeschooled. Also, I would ideally want all of them to go to OC or another Christian school, but many universities go out of their way to seek out homeschooled kids nowadays.

What about sports and clubs?

-Sports aren't really an issue until they get into high school and even then they have a number of home school sports leagues here in Frisco that I have found. I have also seen a number of clubs and other activities, including a yearbook, debate club, 4-H, even a prom (sorry kids, we probably still won't let you go to that. :)) and a bunch of things.

I know this is a record-long post, so I will go ahead and stop, but if anyone else is thinking about it, I encourage you to look into it! I am excited about the upcoming school year and will be sure to post updates when we get officially started in fall.

5 Years Old!

2010-03-14T06:21:00.002-05:00

Last Sunday we celebrated Macy's 5th birthday! Wow, I can't believe we have a 5 year old! Both sets of grandparents came to help celebrate Macy's big day. Macy seriously told the entire church that it was her birthday. After church we all went to Babes Chicken (we love Babes!) for lunch. The waitresses sang to Macy and she got to do the chicken dance (hence the beak/cup in her mouth). After lunch, we went back home and opened presents and enjoyed some cake and ice cream. I had originally ordered a cake, but then felt ridiculous spending that much money on a cake, so instead, Macy, Charlie and I made her a homemade birthday cake the day before and had a fun time doing so.

Happy Birthday Macy!

The $1388 Pacificer

2010-03-05T20:52:00.003-06:00

No, I am not talking a gold, diamond-encrusted pacifier, I am talking about one that gets lodged in your dog's stomach and you have to pay a vet $1388 to cut it out! UGHHHHHHH...

Bailey swallowed one of Emma's pacifiers, whole, with the loop on the back and everything. She has chewed off the tips before, but never swallowed an entire one. She had been throwing up for a few days and I thought it was from a diaper she had gotten a hold of and eaten, but I woke up a few days ago and she had thrown up about 10 places around the house during the night and we knew it was time to take her to the vet. Seth took her, she had a temperature and had lost 11 pounds, so they figured something was stuck in her stomach, so they did an x-ray and saw the pacifier pretty quickly.

Below is one of the x-rays. I know it is a horrible picture, but if you look at the bottom of the light, you will see the tip of the pacifier.

They did surgery that evening and she was able to come home today. She gets to wear the cone until they take the stitches out. Poor Bailey.

And We're Finished!

2010-02-17T12:42:00.003-06:00

A while ago I blogged about how I was teaching Macy to read using "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons", and we did number 100 today! Hooray! Macy was so excited to be done. After every one's nap we are going to go to Baskin Robbins to celebrate!

Here is a video of Macy reading the last story. During each lesson, she reads the story twice, so she read it once and then I video taped her reading it the 2nd time.

(Alright, I have never put a video on the blog and don't know how, but click here and hopefully that will take you to it. And I took the video with my phone, so the quality isn't the greatest.)

Way to go Macy!

Another Picture from our Snow Day

2010-02-15T19:33:00.002-06:00

I baked a cake while the kids were playing outside and Emma was my helper.

Snow Day!

2010-02-11T17:37:00.003-06:00

It has been snowing all day here in the DFW area! We made snow ice cream for the first time ever which the kids really enjoyed and Seth took them out in the front to play and to make a snow men. They are back out in the front right now throwing snowballs as I type this.

A few pictures from our snow day:

Emma enjoyed watching the snow through the window:

Happy Birthday Charlie-Only over a month late!

2010-02-07T20:31:00.003-06:00

At Christmas while we were visiting my parents, we celebrated Charlie's 3rd birthday! He was happy to celebrate it with his grandparents, great-parents, aunt and uncle and cousins. He is getting to be so big! I have even noticed he is getting taller than boys who are over a year older than him. He is definitely still all boy, loves sports, super-heroes, and jumping from things.

For some reason I didn't take a ton of pictures and they aren't great, but here they are:

Happy Belated Birthday Charlie! We love you.

Finally Changing My Banner

2010-01-09T14:20:00.002-06:00

It was looongg overdue.

Christmas Weather 2009

2009-12-27T19:39:00.006-06:00

I have a number of pictures to post, but I will divide it up into a few posts, so I don't have one huge one.

Our original plan was to leave for my parents on Thursday, spend all day Friday there and head home Saturday afternoon stopping quickly by Seth's parents to do Christmas with them that afternoon. However we woke up to the news that snow was moving in and the roads were going to quickly get bad. So we decided to quickly get packed up and go to Seth's parents to spend the night and then to head out to OK (they are on the way, so it would cut off an hour the next day). We arrived in Decatur just right when the weather started getting bad.

Here is Seth braving the weather to get Emma's sippy cup:
The roads got much worse and they closed the turnpike up to my parents in Lawton, so there was no chance of getting out until Saturday. So we stayed in Decatur for a couple days. Macy and Charlie enjoyed playing out in the snow for a few minutes:

So we finally left on Saturday morning, thinking it would be fine since the turnpike was finally open. We got about 20 minutes away from Decatur and got to Bowie and the roads were horrible! The picture below doesn't do it justice. We were driving on a solid, bumpy, sheet of ice. We lost count how many cars we saw that had spun out. And we were going about 2 miles an hour and sliding ourselves. Thankfully. there was a wal-mart a few miles ahead, so we decided to get off there for a little while and let the temperature warm up to melt the roads a little more.

So, we spent an hour walking around walmart, then getting some lunch and Seth helped one of the many cars that were stuck in Bowie:

The roads were a little better, but still pretty bad. Especially through Witchita Falls and when we hit the turnpike that had been closed the whole day before. Emma and I shared the same sentiment about the long car trip: We had thought about turning around and just going home, but we decided to press on. What was suppose to be a 2 hour trip was now turning into a 5 hour trip. Finally, once we crossed the Red River, it was much better.

We changed our plans a little bit and ended up getting to Lawton on Saturday afternoon and then spending the night and coming back today. It was short, but I am glad we were able to go up there.

Santa Visit and Longest Carousel Ride Ever..

2009-12-19T19:56:00.005-06:00

This week we went to Bass Pro to see Santa. We learned a couple years ago to completely avoid the mall Santa and go right to Bass Pro. They do a great job decorating and have all kinds of things for the kids to play with and even take a picture for free. Anyways, that is place to see Santa.

We got there and got our ticket and had a few minutes to walk around, so we went to a carousel they had set up for the kids to ride on for free. They told us they were going to film a commerical and if we wanted we can sign a release for the kids and they would get a $10 gift certificate each for riding the carousel and getting filmed and their picture taken, so we signed them up and put them on the carousel. It was at least a 20 minute non-stop carousel ride, at least 20 minutes. They wanted them to wave and smile as they were going around. Macy happily did it the whole time, Charlie had enough waving and smiling about 10 minutes into it and just put his head on the bar, but still sat there good. It was pretty funny to watch, most of the kids towards the end the of the 20 minutes were either crying or had their heads laying on their horse (except Macy) and had enough of the waving and smiling. So this time next year, check out basspro.com or watch your local TV because you might see Macy and Charlie on it advertising for the winter wonderland!

After all that, we went to see Santa and got a couple pictures! Emma was not too fond of him.

Parent's Observation Night

2009-12-18T19:00:00.000-06:00

At Macy's Dance class this week, it was the Parent's observation night. We got to see her dance to a song from the Nutcraker and Jingle Bell Rock. She has loved her dance class this semester and was excited for us to come in and watch. I guess the teacher had told them that they were going to get lots of hugs and kisses from their parents after watching, because she told me on more than once that that is what we were suppose to do after she danced. She did a great job and we didn't forget to give her a hug and kiss!

I promise it wasn't the cake that made him sick...

2009-12-18T06:14:00.003-06:00

I know I am behind on my blogging, so this is a little late. Last week was Seth's 32nd Birthday! Sadly he celebrated that evening by getting sick and not sleeping. It was a long week here at our house last week, first Macy had the stomach bug, then Charlie, then me, then Emma and finally Seth. Gladly we are all now over it!

The kids and I made Seth's birthday cake. I saw it online and thought it would be something Seth would enjoy since it is completely covered in candy. It is easy to make, but I don't think I will make it again, it was waaayy to much.

$5201.25

2009-12-09T05:48:00.003-06:00

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

2009-11-07T20:34:00.001-06:00

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

2009-11-06T20:00:00.001-06:00

Happy Birthday Emma!

2009-11-05T19:40:00.006-06:00

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!

2009-10-31T19:41:00.006-05:00

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

2009-10-30T20:47:00.003-05:00

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

2009-10-14T16:09:00.003-05:00

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!

2009-10-08T13:15:00.004-05:00

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...

2009-10-03T16:00:00.002-05:00

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

2009-09-30T09:37:00.004-05:00

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:

Camp Off 2009

2009-09-17T21:23:00.003-05:00

On Labor Day Seth wanted to do a camp out (or camp-off as Macy calls it). He thought about doing it in the backyard, but we remembered that our church has about 4 acres of land about 2 miles from the house, so we decided to move it out there. We had a fun evening of playing, riding on the lawn mower, gathering firewood, roasted hot dogs and marshmallows, letting the kids run around and just sitting around the fire. Seth was positive the kids wouldn't sleep in the tent, but we all did (except Emma, I put her to sleep in the office area in the pack and play.). Here is a few pictures from our fun evening together. Poor Emma isn't in any of the pictures because she was strapped to me in the Snugli, but I promise she was there:

Today was a great day for Macy

2009-09-02T21:05:00.003-05:00

She started dance class! She has seriously been talking about taking dance for a year and half, so she was very excited to finally get to go today! Seth even came to watch her. She got to dance like a butterfly, learn to make her tap shoes go from heal to toe and even got to do the movements to "Lord's Army" (it is a Christian Dance Studio). She can't wait to go next week!I know this is a horrible picture, it was taken through the one-sided observation window:

When I was taking pictures of Macy outside in her leotard, I snapped a couple of Emma. Look at all the teeth she is growing:

And of course we can't forget Charlie in his spaghettio-covered shirt and in-need-of-a-haircut hair:

The Kids

2009-08-09T20:09:00.005-05:00

Since I have been behind on my blogging, I thought I would do an updating entry about the kids.

First up, Emma: She is already 9 months! She continues to be a very easy baby; good eater, good sleeper, loves her big brother and sister. This week was a busy week for her. She had her 9 month well-baby check-up and also her cardiologist follow up appointment. Thankfully, she looked good for both appointments. The cardiologist said she still has the openings, (he didn't expect them to close in 3 months) and they haven't grown or anything. He told us to come back in a year, but even if she still has them, she will still have a "normal" heart and it will be considered normal and it won't be an issue in any way. We were thankful to hear that! I did take a quick picture of her getting the EKG. Poor baby:Charlie: 100% boy, enjoys "playing" all sports-especially basketball, golf, and baseball, enjoys shooting everything with his "gun" (the vacuum cleaner wand), and loves playing with his blocks and cars. He has a pretty good imagination and it is fun to watch him get excited about little things. His catch phrase right now is "last time" as in "Last time we go to the park". He says that all the time.
And last put not least, Macy: She continues to be super-talkative and super-friendly to everyone she meets! We visited a nursing home this afternoon and she did such a good job passing out the cookies and visiting with the older people. (Now her behavior at the end of dinner is a different story.) We are enrolling her in a dance class for the fall and she is of course super excited. Her highlights this week were getting a package from Grammy Kelsey and getting a bag of dress up clothes from someone at church. She was so excited! Here she is modeling as a "ballerina bride" (notice the unevenness in the bangs, someone got ahold of the scissors when I wasn't looking): I still can't believe we have 3 kids, and we are very thankful for all of them!

So it has been awhile..

2009-08-02T13:59:00.006-05:00

Alright, I know Emma is now almost as old as Charlie is in the picture in the banner and I know it has been over a month since my last post, so I apologize my two blog readers. Some highlights over the past month include a trip up to Oklahoma City and Lawton to see my parents, visits from Seth's family and my brother and his family, so there has been a lot going on. However my camera lens is still busted, so I haven't been taking a bunch of pictures, hence the lack in blog posts.

But, I couldn't pass up posting a couple pictures (taken by me holding the lens up to the camera) of Emma in her dress today!

VBS 2009

2009-06-26T14:17:00.004-05:00

We just wrapped up VBS this year. Macy and Charlie had a great time! This is the 2nd year Shawnee Trail has done VBS, we had 60+ kids this year, . Macy and Charlie are already asking when we get to do it again. My camera lens is still busted, but I took a few pictures for the church. Here are a couple with the kids in them:

Seth holding Emma while I was walking around taking pictures:

Charlie in his class:
Macy in her class:
Someone had a 4-wheeler in their class decorations and that is where I found Charlie most of the time:

Emma hanging out in the nursery with me.
It was a good week, but we are spending today recovering from staying up well past bedtime 3 nights in a row!

Finally Feeding Emma

2009-06-09T20:28:00.004-05:00

About a week or two ago, I finally started Emma on cereal. She has been doing great and likes the oatmeal better than the rice cereal (does anyone like rice cereal?). I started her on Vegetables yesterday and so far, so good.

Here are a few pictures from her first feeding.

Excited to be in the high chair: First taste of it:

She kept grabbing at, so I had to pin her arm down:

Not sure what to think:

Likes it!:

I will try to be better with the blogging, things are still a little busy and my camera is still broken, it is just the lens, but we took it to the camera store and to get a new lens for it isn't cheap. I have found if I hold the lens up to the camera and hold it tight without moving, I can get a picture, so if we have any major picture moments at least I will be able to get a shot. Hopefully sometime soon we will get a new lens though.

Busy Busy Busy

2009-06-02T20:01:00.003-05:00

We are still here! Things have just been really busy lately. We calculated we have had about 100 people over to our house (50 of those people at once for one thing too!) in the last couple weeks for dinners, bible studies and other things, so it feels like it has been constantly busy for a little while, but now have slowed down for little bit.

So to catch up, here are a couple pictures from Mother's Day

I still can't believe I have 3 kids, wow I am old. Also, I know I really need a haircut, it is way too long. Speaking of haircuts, I decided to experiment on Macy and wanted to save $10, so I cut her hair. For my first haircut ever, I think I managed not to mangle her hair too much, I think it is pretty even. I must of not done too bad of a job because Seth let me cut his hair this past week too and I even did Charlie's too, think of all the money we saved! I started Emma on cereal this last week, and will post pictures about that tomorrow or so! Oh, and I broke my camera.. ughhhhh... well, I think maybe I just need a new lens, but it still stinks.

Bubbly Bubbles

2009-05-09T20:12:00.002-05:00

Daddy's Coming home!

2009-05-08T20:11:00.002-05:00

The kids and I have been on our own this week. Poor Seth had to spend the week out on the beaches in Malibu at the Pepperdine Lectureships. He was asked to lead singing again, so he got to lead for a couple of things. One of these years when the kids are older, I will make it out there with him. His celebrity sightings this year included Larry King and the Kardashians (reality show family).

We did fine on our own, but will be glad to have him back in a couple of hours!

Photos of the Kiddos

2009-05-06T20:12:00.005-05:00

The kids were all playing on the carpet this afternoon, so I snapped a couple pictures of them. I like this one of the 3 kids the the best, too bad it is a little out of focus (notice how Charlie gets progressively less interested in being in the picture): Our little 6 month old! (Has it already been 1/2 a year??):

6 Month Check-Up Freak-Out

2009-05-05T06:15:00.002-05:00

So Emma had her 6 month check-up yesterday. And I wasn't expecting anything out of the ordinary, but the doctor was listening to her heart and said he thought he heard something and started asking me if we had a history of heart valve issues, holes in hearts, and if we had many relatives drop dead suddenly before the age of 30 and that he wanted me to take her to a cardiologist. At that point I start crying and he is trying to explain stuff to me, and he mentions things like surgery, and maybe this is why she is on the small side (Macy and Charlie were on the small side at this age too.), freaking me out more. So he leaves the room to call the cardiologist to get me in right away and I call Seth and freak him out with my crying and tell him what is going on. Thankfully, Seth was home with Macy and Charlie, normally I would of had them there with me, so THANKFULLY the kids were with him. So after Emma got her immunizations, they sent us into Dallas to a big hospital to see a pediatric cardiologist. There wasn't enough time for someone to come and watch the kids and for Seth to get the hospital in time to see the doctor, so I had to go by myself, but again, I was thankful he was with Macy and Charlie, because that would of been difficult taking them to the hospital with me. Emma had an EKG and ultrasound of her heart and then we were able to see the doctor. She wasn't a huge fan of the EKG and kept playing with the tons of wires tapped to her, but did really well for the ultrasound. The doctor was very nice and drew this little diagram for me:

He came in and the first thing he said is "I am not concerned, she will be fine.", which was a HUGE relief. If you look on the left side of the heart, there is a small opening on the left-flap-thing (whatever it is called), so blood is coming through that and it is making a murmur. He said the opening is about 2 mm, which is on the very small side. He said when it is 8 mm, that is when they do surgery. He said it is called "Atrial Septal Defect" (no, I am not going to google it, and if you do and find some scary story about it, don't tell me). Basically, he said he is surprised they even heard this early and that it will either grow together on its own or she will always have it, but that it won't be and issue and that he is 99% sure that it won't ever be an issue and she won't have growth issues or anything. So we have an appointment in 3 months to just make sure everything is still fine. What a morning! I did not expect to have a morning like that. I am very grateful that she is fine and even more grateful to know that God listens to our prayers (even when we are freaking out) and that he is ultimately in control no matter what happens.

A couple pictures from Praise in the Park today...

2009-04-26T16:07:00.002-05:00

Despite horrible wind, we had a good turnout at our church's Praise in the Park! Here are a couple pictures of the kids from this morning.

Egg Dyeing Fun

2009-04-14T19:57:00.005-05:00

On Saturday we dyed our Easter eggs. The kids were really looking forward to it this year. Charlie was convinced the blue dye was his and was upset when anyone else tried to use it, but got over it and shared. He ended up dropping one, so I took off the shell and gave it to Macy, that is what that last picture is. Despite the look on her face, she ate it up!

On another note, Seth went for his two week post-surgery check-up today and the doctor said everything looks good and is healing the way it is suppose to!

On another note again, I know I haven't posted any pictures of Emma lately (She was taking a nap during the egg dyeing fun), I need to do that. There is a hill outside our neighborhood with bluebonnets, so I am going to take the kids out there sometime and take some pictures.

Graphic Designer, I am not

2009-04-09T19:57:00.004-05:00

But look at what I made for our upcoming Praise in the Park. It is a postcard for people to pass out and will be mailed to some. If anyone is good at Photoshop, can you tell me how I need to save it? I saved it as a JPeg and I already sent them to the printer and picked them up today, but the font I used seems grainy on the postcards, like not sharp, they are still fine to use and everything, but I figured I probaly didn't save it correctly, or at the correct size. I just get in photoshop and fool around, so I really don't know what I am doing. Or if you know of a better program that we should get, let me know!

Sorry Charlie, you brought this upon yourself.

2009-04-06T19:52:00.004-05:00

Lately, there have been a few times that I check on the kids after bedtime and find Charlie completely naked, or like this morning, he was naked from the waist down sleeping (he had to of been cold). So tonight after I got his pjs on, he started depants-ing about 10 minutes after I got him dressed, so I found some of Macy's old footed pjs and put them on him. I tried to pick out the least girlie ones. We'll see if he keeps them on all night, if not maybe I can turn them around to the zipper in the back or something.

Update on Seth

2009-04-01T15:01:00.002-05:00

We are now at home and so far Seth is feeling pretty good. He was sore waking up from surgery, but just told me he doesn't have any pain in his leg! We got there early this morning and the surgery was about an hour and then he was in recovery for a few hours. Seth parents came and as well as a few people from church , so it made the waiting time go by very quickly.

Thank you everyone who has been praying!

Back Surgery Tomorrow

2009-03-31T06:25:00.003-05:00

(Not actually Seth's back MRI.)

Seth will be having surgery tomorrow morning, a microdisecktomy. We are hoping this will take away the pain and finally be the correction to his back pain. We have to be at the hospital tomorrow at 6 and his surgery is scheduled for around 7am. He should get to go home the same day. On the scale of back surgeries, this is on the minor side, but it is still back surgery. He is taking two Sundays off preaching. My mom is coming down to take care of Charlie and Macy while we are at the hospital and the church has scheduled a few days of meals for us already-which we are looking forward to! Please pray for Seth and the doctor and that his pain will be gone. I will update again sometime tomorrow and let you guys know how it went!

Paul, Kim, Addi, Levi and Lila Visit

2009-03-19T20:39:00.003-05:00

My brother and his family were able to come for a visit today! The kids sure had a great time together. We have a fun day of lunch together, lots of playing, feeding the ducks, a walk to the park and dinner at Babe's Chicken. We are sure they glad they drove all the way out here from Alabama, one of these days we will make it out to see them. Here are some pictures of the day!

There goes the mother of the year award...

2009-03-16T13:55:00.004-05:00

I have blogged before about my hair falling out. I knew it was annoying, but didn't think it would cause harm to one of my kids. I was changing Emma's diaper this morning and happened to see her toes (she was wearing footed pants) and there was a hair TIGHTLY wound on two of her toes and then together. I tried to cut it off myself, but her toes were so swollen and the hair was tight, there was no way I was going to get it off. So I called Seth and told him what was going on and he said he would come home. I called the doctor's office while he was coming home to see what I should do and they just told me to bring her in. Seth tried to get it off, but her toes were cut on underneath from the hair, we decided it would be better for the doctor's office to get it off. Thankfully Seth was able to stay with Macy and Charlie and Emma and I hurried to the doctor. They worked at it for a little bit and the nurse was 95% sure she got it all off. They said the swelling should go down later today. Here is a picture a while after coming home from the doctor's, can you guess which two toes they were?

So now I feel horrible, she had fussed a little bit earlier this morning when I touched her foot before I knew what had happened, and I thought maybe I had pinched her or something. The hair has had to be wrapped on her toes for at least a few hours. The nurse tried to make me feel better and said this happens alot and that it looked like I caught it relatively early. Sorry Emma!

Father and Son Picture

2009-03-15T20:03:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday Macy!

2009-03-10T19:52:00.002-05:00

Has it been 4 years already??! We celebrated Macy's big day on Saturday with a small family party with both sets of grandparents. Macy was VERY excited the entire day! She wanted a Strawberry Shortcake party this year and specially requested pink punch for some reason, but I happily obliged and we had a nice afternoon all together.

Proudly displaying her new age at breakfast: Seth's parents were there also, but I only managed to get a picture with my parents, I wasn't thinking: Macy with her gifts! She saw her gift bags in the morning and was excited about them and I was kidding her and told her we got potatoes so the first thing she said with suprise when she opened our gifts was "Mom! It isn't potoatoes!": The birthday girl with a gift from Grammy and Pa-pa: Opening another (Doesn't Seth look thrilled!): A life size Barbie from Grandma and Grandpa:Blowing out the candles!:

Happy Birthday Macy! We love you!

The first day of bible class proves to be exhausting for Emma...

2009-03-08T17:10:00.005-05:00

I am teaching the cradle roll class at church and we have service first and then class and Emma normally sleeps during class since that is normally her nap time. However today, she wasn't asleep when class started, so I just decided to put her in the table so she could participate. I wasn't expecting this to be her first day of class, so I didn't have my camera, but Thanks to Catherine, we were able to get this picture of her to document her big day! She stayed awake for about 15 minutes and then put her head down and she was out for the rest of class. Hopefully this isn't an indication of what kind of student she will be in the future.

Happy Bye-Bye Paci Day!

2009-02-26T18:59:00.004-06:00

Today was a big day for Charlie! He said so long to his much loved pacifiers. We did this same thing for Macy when it was her "bye-bye paci day". First, I made cupcakes during nap time and then we all decorated them together. Afterwards we tied his pacifiers to balloons and all went outside to watch Charlie set them free. He did not want to let them go. He stood there for a few minutes just holding onto it. Finally, Daddy had to help him let them go since it was really windy and one of the balloons was deflating, we didn't know if the others would last much longer. Charlie was not thrilled with him helping him let the balloons go. Off they go... This is my favorite picture from the day; his reaction to seeing his pacis float off. But then we went inside to enjoy our cupcakes and all was well. Way to go Charlie! He cried for about 30 seconds when they were floating off and has asked a couple times about them, but then talks about them going "high". Overall he has done really good and is happily in bed.

Poor Emma...

2009-02-25T20:14:00.006-06:00

We're Still Here

2009-02-23T19:57:00.003-06:00

I know I haven't updated the blog in a long time, so I thought I would just do a quick update:

1. Thursday will be "Bye Bye Paci Day" for Charlie. I am sure I will post an update about that on Thursday.

2. I just went to the put the kids to bed and their room reeked like pepper. So I asked Macy why it did and she said "Because I poured a bunch behind my kitchen." I looked back behind her play kitchen and there was a mountain of pepper.. ugh.

3. Emma still continues to be an easy baby thankfully. She is chewing on my arm at the moment while I am typing this. She does a great job sleeping and eating and I am about to stretch her feeding schedule out to 4 hours, so then she will be going 12 hours at night! Yeay!

4. Seth's back/leg continues to hurt. For those of you that don't know, it has been bugging him for about 6 months and it seems like surgery is the only option left.

5. We bought at picture wall system at Michaels yesterday for 50% off. It is a thing where you hang a template on the wall that shows you where to hang the frames in the kit, so they look nicely put together. So now I just need to find a bunch of pictures to fill them, so we can hang it up.

6. My hair is falling out. After each baby it has done this, I am definitely not as worried as I was when it happened with Macy; I swore I was going bald, but now I know it will grow back, it is just annoying.

Those are all the things I can think of now! And since no post should be without a picture, here is one of the older pictures on my computer of Seth and Macy taken by Judson at OC. I love how Macy's hair use to stand straight up!

3 Months

2009-02-05T09:06:00.003-06:00

I know this post is a couple days late, I have had the flu, but I feel better now. Anyways, I say this every time, but it has flown by! She really has been an easy baby and for the last few weeks is going 9 1/2 hours at night. She likes to suck her thumb when she is sleeping, Charlie and Macy never did. She also enjoys playing/talking with Macy and Charlie and her favorite thing is when I am putting Macy and Charlie to bed and we all read a story and sing a song. She enjoys the kids and my singing, however off key it is. This is my favorite baby age; from when they are sleeping through the night to before they start moving all over the place and getting in to everything. Happy 3 months Emma!

Sunday Morning Snapshots

2009-02-01T14:04:00.002-06:00

The Others

2009-01-27T08:38:00.002-06:00

A long time ago, Seth said he typed in our blog address wrong and it was another McDowell family. So I typed in a couple different versions our address and ever since then I randomly like to check on our "relatives" and see what they are doing. Both of the other McDowell families recently had baby girls also. http://www.themcdowellfamily.blogspot.com/ and http://www.mcdowellfamilyblog.blogspot.com/

On a completely other note. The kids are doing pretty good in their new sleeping arrangements. I did decide to split them up for nap time for awhile (Charlie naps in our closet in the pack and play) until Charlie gets better about staying in his bed and Macy gets better about constantly talking to Charlie at nap time. They HAVE to have a nap or it makes for a super cranky afternoon, so for a little while, this is what we are doing.

The Big Move

2009-01-22T20:43:00.004-06:00

Charlie has officially moved out of the crib and into the big boy bed, and Macy has gotten a roommate! We decided to get it over with today and moved them in tonight. So far it has gone well, I have heard a few squeals, laughing, and singing coming from their room, but I figure it will take a little while for the excitement to wear off. Charlie and Macy will share a room until Emma is old enough to share with Macy. Thanks again to my parents who gave us the bunk beds, dresser, and mirror that my sister and I used when we were kids. We will bunk them when Charlie is a little bit older, so for now they are separated.

Charlie was very excited about his new big boy bed:

My sister and I when we first got the bunk beds (that's me with the Kermit):
Daddy making sure the bed is good to go:

Bedtime!:

Also, Emma has been doing great! It is hard to believe she is already 11 1/2 weeks! She had her two month check up last week and everything looks good. She is 25% for weight, 90% for height, and 45% for head. She has been a great addition to our family!

Friends in High Places

2009-01-14T13:25:00.004-06:00

Look who Emma got a letter from:

I didn't see who it was from when I was opening it and tore right though the return address, whoops. If you go to the White House website you can send them information to get a greeting from the White House. We got one for our wedding, and Macy (sorry Charlie, you didn't get one for some reason). It is something neat to add to your scrapbooks!

Yeay!

2009-01-14T13:16:00.002-06:00

My best friend from OC, Elaine, has gotten engaged! Congratulations Elaine!

A few random pictures from this week..

2009-01-10T18:09:00.005-06:00

Superman and Cinderella at the Ball: Glitter Pictures: Macy as a Snorkel:

A few of Emma:

TV Free Fridays

2009-01-02T12:53:00.003-06:00

A new tradition has started in the McDowell household, TV-Free Fridays! I already limit the kid's TV time to Mr. Rogers Neighborhood in the morning and occasionally another 1/2 show in the afternoon, but find it easier in the evenings to tell the kids to go play while I sit and watch too much TV. So I asked Seth if we could go a day every week without TV and he chose Fridays. This way, at least on Fridays, we will hopefully spend more quality family time together and at the very least I will be more productive all around. So far we have survived just fine today without any TV and I hope the TV-Free Fridays continue for a long time!

Happy 2nd Birthday Charlie!

2008-12-28T05:00:00.000-06:00

In the hospital 1st Birthday YesterdayToday Charlie turns 2! We had a small family yesterday with my parents. We all had a good time celebrating Charlie's big day and I of course took a bunch of pictures.

As soon as my parents got here, Charlie and Macy ran into together as they were running around the house with excitement for my parents coming, so that is why Charlie has a nice fat lip in all the pictures.

Charlie (and Macy) enjoyed opening his gifts.

He was excited over a soccer ball we gave him (he LOVES balls) and jumped up immediately to go to the tile to throw the ball around.

He knew what just to do when he got his birthday cake and even blew both of them out without any help!

And lastly here is a picture of dad and Seth putting together Charlie's new Thomas the Tank Engine Train Set, which proved to be the hit of day. The kids (and Seth) enjoyed playing with it yesterday afternoon.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T20:28:00.006-06:00

We had a great day today! The kids of course were excited about all the presents, and we were able to go to Seth's parents for Christmas with them and and great meal! I took a ton of pictures, but here are just a few.

The kids ready to open gifts: Macy with a gift from Grammy and Papa:
Emma is obviously thrilled with her new gym:

Charlie with a new car toy:

The kids in front of some of their presents (Someone from church gave us the kitchen set and football toy box a couple days ago because their kids out grew it, so it was nice to have something big to put under the tree, especially since it was free!):

At Grandma and Grandpa's house:

Seth thought it would be fun to make a cake together for Christmas. Didn't we do a good job!:And finally a family picture: Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas Shopping Texas Style

2008-12-23T15:11:00.002-06:00

Rudolph Cookies

2008-12-18T16:59:00.003-06:00

In this month's Family Fun Magazine, they had an idea to make Rudolph cookies. It looked like something fun for the kids and I to do, so that is what we did this afternoon. Today is Seth's day off, so he joined in on the fun too.

Smiles

2008-12-16T21:01:00.004-06:00

Emma is 6 weeks and 2 days today. It has flown by! This last week she has started smiling real smiles! I mangaged to get a picture of one today.

Happy Birthday Seth!

2008-12-13T18:10:00.004-06:00

I know I am not doing a very good job blogging lately, but I figure I have a good excuse. I will try to get caught up this week. This is late, but on Thursday was Seth's 31st birthday! We celebrated going out to eat on Tuesday and then on Thursday the kids and I made him a cake and Seth opened up his presents.

Catch Up Post

2008-12-02T08:57:00.003-06:00

Sorry for the lack of posting the last couple of weeks. We are all doing well and Emma has been a great baby for us! Even the nights are going well! I think I was dreading it so much (the lack of sleep) that it hasn't been that bad at all. Below are a few pictures of the last couple weeks.

The kids and I made "turkey hats" for a craft project one day. Here they are showing them off:

My parents and sister with her family came for Thanksgiving at our house. My mom did all the the cooking, so that was really nice not having to worry about any of it! Here are the kids, they really enjoyed playing with Andrew:Dad with John Nathan and Emma:We celebrated Andrew's birthday and Charlie loved the cake and especially the blue icing:We made our first trip to church this past Sunday, I tried to get a few decent pictures, but failed:

Charlie in his fancy church clothes that my sister gave to him while they were here:And last but not least, Macy modeling her new dress (she is hiding a princess umbrella behind her back, she wanted it to be in the picture, but I told her she had to put it behind her back):

Seth's family also came into to town, but I failed to get any pictures of them! (Seth's familiy, Please email the ones you guys got.)

2 Weeks Already?!

2008-11-17T10:30:00.002-06:00

The last two weeks have flown by! Emma continues to do well; she had her two week check up this morning and is already over her birth weight by 4 oz! That was great to hear and she is also a really good sleeper at night, so she has been really easy for us so far.

We had a good week this last week. I turned the big 29 and my mom came down for the week to help out with Macy and Charlie which was a huge help. She took them out every day for outings, so it was nice to be able to take it easy and the kids really enjoyed having her to play with.

I tried to take a picture of the three kids this morning, this was the best I could do: Oh well..

One Week Old

2008-11-10T13:38:00.003-06:00

We have been home 3 days and so far things have gone pretty smoothly. We took Emma to her first checkup this morning and thankfully he said everything looked great! She has gained an oz a day since we left the hospital and he said she is doing "fantastically". Other than a few frustrating nursing moments, she has been a very easy baby and even sleeps really well at night.

Macy and Charlie are adjusting to having a new sibling. They both love to hold her and have done pretty well to the changes (except for a few random meltdowns).

Special thanks to Seth's mom who came and took care of the kids and house while I was in the hospital. The kids had a good time and I knew they were in good hands. My mom is coming tomorrow to stay for a few days and we are very much looking forward to having her here and help out!

Finally, here are a few pictures from the last few days. Here she is coming home from the hospital. A women at Seth's parents church made this bonnet for her. It is to be worn coming home from the hospital and then saved until her wedding day as hanky for her something old. Seth and I thought she kind of looked like a pilgrim:Taking a snooze:Macy was reading to Emma (she was buried somewhere under those blankets):And a few I just took:

Still in the Hospital

2008-11-06T17:53:00.002-06:00

But we are going home tomorrow when they make us. I have enjoyed having the nurses take care of everything and the nursery nurses are really good about taking her to let me rest in the day and sleep in the night. Emma continues to do great! She is even gaining weight now! The doctor thought she would loose another oz before she started gaining, so we were happy to hear that she had gained when they weighed her last night! She has been a great eater and taken to nursing like a champ. Other than one of my 26 staples (I will have a LONG scar) popping out and being a little sore, I continue to feel good as well. I am sure I will post more pictures tomorrow when we go home.

Hospital Pictures

2008-11-06T14:55:00.001-06:00

Go here to see the different pictures, there should be a few different ones.

Picture of the Day

2008-11-05T14:13:00.002-06:00

Emma had her picture taken today for the hospital website. It won't be posted for a couple days, but we tried to re-create it (the photographer's is much better). She continues to do great! We think we may get to stay until Friday morning and take advantage of everyone taking good care of us.

Proud Big Sister and First Friend

2008-11-04T20:36:00.004-06:00

Macy loves her new little sister! I love this picture that Seth took of the two of them. Also this is Emma with her new friend, Grace. (Emma is on the right). She is the daughter of our friends at church and they were born on the same day. We thought there was a chance we would pass each other in the hospital, but didn't expect them to have the same birthday!Today has gone well. Emma has been eating and sleeping great and enjoying all the visitors we have been getting. I also feel great and am enjoying having the nurses take care of everything!

Announcing..

2008-11-04T10:24:00.006-06:00

Emma Sue McDowell!

Sue is Seth's mom's middle name and his sister's middle name is Susan and we just liked the name Emma. I am feeling MUCH better today, so here are a few pictures.

I am trying to figure out the webcam, so I will post that in this entry when I do.

Alright, to get on the webcam, go to http://fmc.careviewcom.com , click visitors

enter your name and 254648, enter and select request permission. We have to be logged in too, so we have to know when you want to get on, our room phone number is 214-407-5559. I am not sure how good of a camera it is becuase we can't see what you are seeing. SO if you want to see the baby, just give us a call!

She's Here!

2008-11-03T19:48:00.002-06:00

Sorry for the late update, but baby McDowell #3 (we are working on a name right now) made her entrance today at 7:28 am, weighing 6 lbs and 9 oz, 19 inches long. The c-section went very smoothly and she is doing great and has a nice head of dark hair! I have had a lot of nausea all day, and still don't feel super, so I am probably not going to get pictures posted until the morning, but I at least wanted to let you know she is here. Also tomorrow I will post the link to the webcam. Thank you for all your prayers!

This time tomorrow...

2008-11-02T07:00:00.000-06:00

McDowell child #3 will be getting ready to enter the world! My c-section is scheduled at 7:00 am, so check back tomorrow afternoon sometime for updates and hopefully pictures. Please pray for us that everything will go smoothly and that the baby will be healthy. We can't wait!

Trick or Treating Fun

2008-10-31T20:28:00.004-05:00

Tonight was the kids first official time going door to door trick-or-treating! They loved it! They both were especially excited about all the candy they got and toward the end of the night Charlie was crying about his candy being too heavy, but didn't want either of us to carry it. I didn't make him wear the giraffe costume again since it was too small and he hated it, so I just put his superman cape on him. I am using the excuse of being 9 months pregnant for the lack of creativity in the kids' costumes. Happy Halloween everyone!

Haircuts

2008-10-29T20:17:00.003-05:00

We finally decided to get some clippers to cut Charlie's hair here at home to save money, so Charlie got a much needed haircut. Seth did a good job for it being his first haircut and other than being wiggly, Charlie did good too and enjoyed it.

(He has a little rash, or patch of dry skin under his nose. I am not sure if it is from his pacifier, but does anyone know how to get rid of it?)

Macy got her haircut yesterday too. I have just decided that next time I am going to attempt it since the people who cut her hair never do what I ask. Here she is forcing a smile showing her new do. (Her bangs are still uneven from her trimming them herself a few weeks ago).

Weekend Update

2008-10-26T19:49:00.006-05:00

I know my posts have been lacking lately, I guess I am just in a blog rut and we haven't been doing anything exciting.

I am still happily pregnant, I feel pretty good other than being easily tired, I don't have any complaints. The doctor still says I don't have any signs of labor coming soon and that the baby is sitting high, so hopefully it will stay that way until a week from tomorrow! As for the name, she is still officially nameless. Seth has given a few possibilities, but nothing official.

Tonight was Fall Fest at church. Macy thought it was the greatest thing ever to get to wear one of her princess dresses out of the house. I dressed Charlie up, but he only wore his costume for about 5 minutes since it was so hot, plus he didn't really like it, so he was happy to be out of it. I tried to take some pictures, but Charlie was not in a photogenic mood and refused to even look in the direction of the camera:

Macy spinning:

Another one of Charlie acting like he can't hear me:Macy's favorite part of the Fall Fest, the bounce houses:Enjoying popcorn (Charlie's favorite part of Fall Fest):

Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-18T06:36:00.005-05:00

Yesterday we went to the pumpkin patch with our playgroup from church. It was PACKED of other moms and kids and school groups, but the kids still enjoyed it. The pictures I took aren't all that great, it was too crowded to take more than a couple pictures and the kids were much more interested in looking at everything than posing for the camera. Charlie loved this tractor and was awfully mad at me when I made him get off:
There were sheep, goats, longhorn and a donkey that the kids could pet and feed. They really enjoyed getting to get close to all of them. Macy with her chosen pumpkin! She really wants to "cut it open", I assume she means carve it:

Update on McDowell Child #3

2008-10-17T14:06:00.003-05:00

Sorry, no pictures for this post, but just thought I would update everyone on the progress of the baby. I am going to the doctor weekly and everything continues to look good. My blood pressure is great and the baby's heartbeat is exactly where it needs to be. She has been breech at the last few appointments, but thankfully that doesn't matter since I am already having the c-section. I show no signs of starting labor anytime soon, so my doctor doesn't think it will be a problem to last until November 3rd. The hospital where I will be delivering is pretty fancy and they even have Internet and web cams in the postpartum rooms, so once I am in there, I can post the link and you guys can see the baby live in action (I have to approve people to log in to the web cam, so it isn't like weirdos can watch me at all hours)!

It is hard to believe she will be here in only a couple of weeks!

A few Pictures of the Kids....

2008-10-12T14:58:00.003-05:00

Today was the Praise in the Park again at church today! Here are just a couple pictures of the kids I took.