Christmas Weather 2009

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..

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

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...

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

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

Look who can read....almost

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

Definately worth checking out at your library.

Charlene McDowell

Happy Birthday Emma!

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

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

Boo!

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

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

My little pumpkin:

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


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

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

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

First Ever Family Movie Night

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

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

Beauty Sleep

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

New Lens!

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

Maybe now I will enjoy doing laundry...

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

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

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