Happy Birthday, Evan!
Family Gathering
Macie got to meet some relatives this weekend! Grandma Mary and Grandpa Mike had dinner on Saturday with my dad's cousins. I had so much fun spending time with them growing up, but hadn't been able to see them for awhile. So much fun to reconnect! Macie smiled for the camera, posing with everyone there :)


Kitchen Helper
Ethan has been loving helping mama bake lately. Here he is helping to lick the spoon clean after making a big batch of brownies!

Macie is 8 Months Old!


Our little girl turned 8 months old a couple days ago! She continues to be such a joy in our lives. She's so happy, spirited, bright, and curious! Some fun facts about Miss Macie:

• On the day she turned 8 months, she also started crawling! First item on her agenda: destroy big brother's train tracks. We're entering a whole new stage of life now: sibling rivalry (Although, I have to say, Ethan is surprisingly patient, loving, and gentle with Macie, even when she gets into his toys!)
• I've been able to hear that precious word that every mother yearns to hear: "Mama!" Yay!
  
• We've been practicing waving and saying, "Bye-Bye." I think we're getting close :)
  

Macie has graduated to a "big girl" car seat. My baby is officially growing up!
We had a really fun time at Grandma and Grandpa's house yesterday. We had a big spaghetti supper, and Ethan loved playing with his cousins! Here are the boys frosting and eating some Halloween cookies! Yummy!

Bath time! They LOVE taking baths together! So fun!

Macie loves the witch we bring out every Halloween - "Witch Hazel." She finds her hilarious.

Isaac and Lily stopped in for a play date today! It was so much fun! We made homemade play dough. Here are Ethan and Lily, helping to stir.
Macie watched from her high chair. She can't wait to do all the fun things big brother gets to do!
Here are the three big kids playing with their brand new, homemade play dough. It was tough to get them to look up and smile, they were so engrossed in their project. (Notice Macie getting some "Theresa Time" over on the side :)

Happy Birthday, Cousin Andrew!

Saturday we spent all day in our pajamas! Here is Ethan with his very tall tower!

Sunday we went to Cousin Andrew's 10th Birthday Party. Ethan was so excited to go - he loves his cousins!
He was sooo excited to eat the cake he could hardly wait! He kept saying, "Happy Birthday! Eat Cake and Ice Cream!"

He's in heaven . . .
What awesome big cousins he has!

(above) Ethan helping daddy get ready to play in the marching band for Oktoberfest in LaCrosse.
(below) Ethan helping Macie with her bath. (What a great little helper we have!)
Here is Macie exploring some awesome toys at Theresa's Discovery Toys party!
A very pregnant Carrie, mom, and Theresa . . . what a fun day with friends (sorry you didn't get in the pic, Kyra!)
Our happy little "Macers."

"Relaxing" Saturday

I LOVE being home on Saturdays with my kids! It is precious time and so much fun. That being said . . . I need to recap my day so far which will explain my decision to put "relaxing" in quotations . . .

5:30 AM: Ethan wakes up and is ready for the day!! Daddy and mommy roll over and delay getting up as long as possible. Meanwhile, Ethan decided he needed some company, so he went in Macie's room, turned on her light, sat in her rocking chair, and started chatting with her.

5:30- 6:30 AM: In an attempt to get Ethan go to back to sleep, mommy lays in bed with him for an hour. Although he does not fall asleep, this was some nice cuddle time! (Daddy and Macie hang out downstairs)

6:30 AM: The day begins! Dad and both kids are downstairs while mommy makes beds and straightens up the upstairs.

7:00 AM: Daddy leaves for LaCrosse. We're on our own! (Ethan refuses to get dressed all morning and runs around in a diaper.)

8:00- Macie goes down for her nap; Ethan has a huge diaper which requires a bath.

8:30 - Mom and Ethan do some baking. Ethan is quite the involved little helper, dumping in ingredients and eating up as many apple slices as he can while I am cutting them. We made banana bread and apple crisp. Yummy!

10:00 - Macie wakes up and both kids are occupied with a Baby Einstein movie while mom cleans the kitchen.

11:00 - Lunch time!

11:30 - While reading books to both kids in Ethan's bed, I touch Macie's back and notice my finger is brown and sticky. Time for bath #2 of the day. Macie's baby bath tub goes in the big tub and Ethan gets in the big tub behind her to "help" give her a bath. While mommy is putting new clothes on Macie in her room, Ethan decides to sit in Macie's tub with all of his clothes on.

12:00 - Change of clothes for Ethan; more books for both of them; bottle and rocking for Macie.
12:34 - Silence - both are napping. HOORAY!!!!!!!!! Mommy is going to watch her Friends DVD!

Fun Weekend!

We had a very busy and fun weekend! On Saturday, Grandma, Macie and I went to my cousin Mimi's baby shower. It was fun to hang out with family there. She looks so cute and is excited for the arrival of her little girl in November.
Today we met my good friend Angela and her family at Teddy Bear Park in Stillwater. We hadn't seen each other for about 2 years so it was really fun to get together! We loved seeing Lily and meeting baby Finn, who is exactly 1 week younger than Macie.

I was quite impressed with Finn's excellent posture!
The babies enjoyed "playing" with each other, which really meant sitting near each other and swiping at each others' faces every now and then . . . Macie made poor Finn cry a few times . . . She is very curious, but hasn't quite learned how to be gentle yet!
We enjoyed a yummy picnic lunch.

What a good lookin' family!

Ethan LOVED being able to run around and play. He especially enjoyed climbing the rocks and playing in the sand. He's quite the daredevil - right after this picture was taken, he took a leap off of this rock into the sand! Quite a big jump for a little guy!
When we got home tonight, both kids were exhausted and, after much needed baths, went to bed early.

It was so awesome to spend time with good friends and loving family this weekend!