HALFWAY TO ONE!!!

My little munchkin is 6 months old, and she is not a little munchkin anymore she is a whopping 14 lbs and growing taller and taller everyday.

Macie at 6 months:

- Loves her real food, so far the only thing she has not liked is my home made rice cereal and avacado, but I am going to attempt avacado again next week to see if she will rethink her feelings there.
- I think is probably one of the easiest babies to put to bed, about 98% of the time we put her in her bed, sing her you are my sunshine, kiss her on the forhead leave the bedroom and listen to hear her talk herself to sleep.
- with that being said she does not sleep well in public, especially church. My little girl is not a snuggler and although I am so happy with an easy sleeper, I do still get jealous sometimes when I see other little babies just a snuggling into there moms and dads. 
- Is a sitting and a rolling machine. She rolls from one side of her bedroom to the other and would keep going if she didn't get stuck.  Her bedroom is equipped with soft carpet so I feel comfortable sitting her down and leaving the bedroom to go do something, she falls very rarerly now and is fantastic at putting her arm down when she gets wobbily
- Is almost crawling. I give it a couple more weeks and she will be all over the house. She has even gone a little distance if she tries hard enough.
- Loves loves loves to be sung too, especially when there are actions to the song. Her new favorite is, "skinnamarink".
- Is starting to really notice the puppies and loves to pull at their ears and pet the tops of their heads.
- Is such a Daddy's girl and her face lights up the moment he gets home from work
- At the same time she loves the odd snuggle and sing time with mommy. She also likes mom to feed her.
- Is a little show off and pretty much all you have to do is say hi to this little girl and you get the biggest smile out of her, hence wherever we go she is dotted on and adored by all. exp. the other day we were at the realtors office and a lady came and stole Macie. When she brought her back, she had a t-shirt and a stuffed animal that apparently the receptionist just had to give to her. The next day when we went back everybody immediately saw her and was like, oh my the cutest baby ever is here.
I can't lie in saying I absolutely love every minute off it.
-She also doesn't play shy with anybody will pretty much go to anybody and be happy and content
- Has such a great laugh and I love nothing better than playing pick a boo with her and tickling her tummy to get that amazing sound from her mouth.
- Still loves story time but more so wants to play with the book then listen to me read it.
- There are so many more things and I hope I remember them all,  Macie you are amazing and wonderful, and I can't imagine my life without you in it. Thank you for being awesome and being my little girl.

Mom and Dad
 - tired at moments, confused at moments, scared at moments, and yes even frustrated at moments, but are loving being parents and couldn't have been more blessed by our Savior. If Macie is our only child my life will be complete and full having her.

Molly and Lily:
Still Molly and Lily, you can tell though they feel a little neglected, even if I walk them twice a day, give them treats like crazy and play with that stupid fish toy with them, they still seem a little sad that they are not #1 anymore. Or are crazy smart and are manipulating me into feeling bad as they know it means more walks and treats.

BROOKS

This Tuesday to Thursday Mark was asked by Lakeland college to go to Brooks for some training, so with a free hotel room, gas and meals being payed for we decided to make a little family vacation out of it. We got there Tuesday evening and went for a little dip in the pool, munched on some goodies watched the NBA playoffs then headed to bed. Wednesday was more exciting, Mark went to his class all day while Macie and I explored the town of Brooks. There was a lot of cute shops and of course expensive shops but the best store was the quilting store, they had this material that I have been wanting to make a blanket for Macie (if I can find someone to make a blanket for Macie) for her first birthday and they had it there on sale, score. Then after Mark's class our friends Brendan and Alanna Leavitt met us at our hotel, we played in the pool then went to Boston Pizza and had some good laughs and caught up on life and enjoyed talking about the good old days. When we were first married Mark and I lived in the basement of a house and the Leavitt's lived in the upstairs so you can imagine the fun we had together, as well Brendan and Mark grew up in Glenwood together and were roommates in college. Thursday (today) Macie and I thought it would be a good idea to not spend any money so besides lunch and buying a baby gift for some friends we found this beauty of a park and went for a good 2 hour walk followed by playing in the grass. When dad was done we picked him up and headed home to pick up the puppies at the Low's house. It was a very quick but very enjoyable family vacation and Macie's first time in a hotel room, besides naps she did very well.

finally napping

this little girl loves swimming

what is going to be the coolest blanket ever!!!!

MOVING ON!!

47366 that is are very own MLS # for our Gem of a house that we are selling.  So many mixed feelings as we have so many wonderful memories in our house, but we feel it is finally time to move back into Lloydminster. I am so excited for this move and being closer to some great friends, work, and the church. Not to mention shopping, work out facilities, parks and bike paths. I feel so good about this move and we feel even more so that we are suppose to be in Lloydminster for a long time, working, raising our family and making many more good memories. So life will be hectic this next month or two and I really hope this all happens quickly and we can find a new gem of a house to move into. 

A GIRL AND HER DAD!!!

This is what I came home to after my walk

Hello Mark JR!! In a pretty girl form

1 HOUR 35 MINUTES

That was how long it took me to run my 15 km race in edmonton today. It went great, beautiful, excellent, painful, awful and terrible. Why because the scenory was beautiful, I got 9th out of the girls and there was about 50 to 60 girls and just as I came around the end to the finish line there was my mother and daughter cheering me on and ran to the finish line with me. But also there ended up being way more hills then I expected, because of that I had to take walking intervals 3 60 second ones, I got a cramp in my ribs for the first 5 km's and the last 5 km's I ran with a massive blister that drenched my sock and shoe with blood. but it is done and finished and now all that's left is my half marathon in one month.

PHOTO DUMP!!!

Up way paste bedtime, but loving it!

Her first sick day, this was the most pathetic adorable thing I have ever seen

am I in trouble?

Loves pulling toys out of her toy bin

Just so darn cute!

Meet Eileen, Macie's buddy it goes with her everywhere.

REAL FOOD

we decided to play with the avacado so it at least got some use out of it

loves her rice cereal

Two weeks ago I started Macie on food, I know it was a couple of weeks early but she just seamed ready for it. She is doing great and eating so well. She loves rice cereal of course sweetened with momma's breast milk, bananas, and butternut squash. She did not like my homemade rice cereal and today I tried Avacado for the first time. She was not a huge fan but I don't think hated it. I am okay with that as Avacaodo's are so expensive and one of the biggest reasons I am making home made food is the crazy amount of money you save. Next is green beans, apples, and then pears. I am truly loving making her food for her, and have enjoyed feeding her and the fun expressions she gives when she tries something new.

sweet potatoe and sausage soup

My Best Friend Royall e-mailed me this soup recipe the other day as we are trying to challenge each other to eat healthier and exercise. So I decided to try my hand at making it today and it was without a doubt the most amazing soup I have ever had in my life. If you like Sweet Potatoes, Cherizzo (it's a type of sausage), onions, spinach, and real potatoes you will be in love with this soup. Mark and I love sweet potatoes we have them like twice a week in our home with meals and never have I thought to use it in a soup, well I am on the hunt now for more soups with sweet potatoes in them because this was the greatest soup I have ever made and devoured.

Thanks Royall for the amazing recipe.

Link

THE BEST OF THE FATS

all ready in her PJ's and shades

The Goods

shoveling the delicious burger in my mouth

Even the puppies came and got some burgers

Readers Warning: Royall Harker don't read this post, or do but don't be disappointed. It was fattening totally destroying my, our goals but was so worth it for the delicious food and fun time with my hubby. I promise 100% good tomorrow.


It is 8:00 on Wednesday evening and we see a commerical on TV for a McDonald's BBQ burger, a thought comes to my mind.

K: Mark let's do the best of the fast food restaurants.
M: Really, Kalinda
K: Yeah come on lets do it, hey you wanted me to come up with something fun to do tonight we have been talking about this since before we were married so lets finally do it.
M: Okay let's do it.

pop Macie in her carseat and away we go. First A&W for a teen burger and small fries, then McDonald's for a Angus smokey Barbaque burger and a small fries, then wendy's for fries, and DQ for blizzards. We decided to get fries at all of the locations as we could not remember who had the best.

The Final Results where McDonald's had the best of everything, the burger was amazing, all the fries were kind of cold, but Wendy's were gross, A&W's were okay and McDonald's were delicious, salty, crunchy yet soft and potatoey on the inside. If only there McFlurry's were as good as DQ we could get all of our unhealthy crap at one stop.  Even though I feel 5 lbs heavier and can totally stick my gut out like I am 4 months pregnant sometimes that spontaneity is needed in life. It was a blast and totally worth every bite of that delicious burger, salty fries and oh so yummy Mint Oreo Blizzard.

SPLISHIN AND A SPLASHIN

having so much fun she wouldn't even look at me so I could take a picture

splashing water all over herself.

I think many summer days will look like this around here. Macie loves the water and loves playing in her pool, and weather like today is perfect, not too hot and no breeze.