WHILE DADDY'S GONE!!!

A whole week without a husband for me and a dad for Macie. At first I was terrified, especially as the week before Macie had the roughest week since being born, sick and so fussy. But on Monday when we went to the zoo my little girl was back and I was hopping she was here to stay.

So what did we do while Mark was gone. Had FUN that is for sure. I made sure I had lots of stuff planned everyday to fill our time and keep Macie busy and happy. We went for lots of walks, did lots of singing time, played in the pool, read many books, worked on crawling (almost there), sold our house, kept house clean for showings, had friends over for dinner on Wednesday and a surprise visit buy my brother on Thursday.

This week really helped build my confidence as a mother knowing I could care for Macie buy myself day after day after day. I had one frustrating moment Friday night trying to feed her supper and she was being really fussy, but other then that we just had fun and played. 

loved watching the other kids play

trying out her new swimming hat

loves playing with the horse her Grandma Hunsperger got for her.

SOLD!!!

And our house is SOLD!!!! Thank you for not taking months and months. Keeping the house clean everyday with a 6 month old is not easy. I totally new this was going to happen though. Mark left for young men's camp on Tuesday and the week before I had this gut feeling that I was going to have to deal with this craziness all on my own and hope he doesn't come home mad. Well it was way easier then I thought and we got the house sold for exactly what we wanted, so that man better not only be happy, but he owes me big time for having to deal with all the paperwork and tearing the house apart finding all of the information the bank and realtors need.

I guess now it is time to start packing and get ready to move into our new home. I am so excited, the home we bought is everything we wanted in a house and even though our mortgage is increasing, which we wanted to avoid, I still feel we got it for a good price.

EDMONTON TRIP!!!

 As Mark is heading off on a week long canoe trip and has been crazy busy lately with life we decided to head into Edmonton for the day for some family time. We started off by hitting the Edmonton Valley Zoo. It was a cute little zoo with some great animals. We got to see otters,  seals, snakes, owls, zebras, snow leapords, wolfs, and many other beauties. Next we headed to Whyte ave to try and find a fun bistro to eat lunch at, everything was closed for the long weekend until we happened to find this one little gem. It was called Under the Big Wheel and it was the most amazing food I have ever had. It was all made with whole grains and organic vegetables. We started off with the most amazing cream of mushroom soup ever, that had a delicious homemade bisquit. Then Mark had this pulled pork pannini and I had this spin wheel Quesidilla. We both devoured our meals and savored every bite. As well in this little Bistro there was a place that made home made gellato. As well it was to die for and absolutely amazing. I got Chocolate coconut and Mark got chocolate coconut and pistachio. We will definitely be hitting this place up next time we are in Edmonton. We then of course had to do a little bit of shopping MEC for mark and H&M for me and Macie. Macie was a sweetheart all day and just full of smiles and giggles.  Great fun family day for sure.

HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!!

We'll it is not your traditional Canada day colors, but thought I should get pics with our family this morning before we left for church.

the best pic I could get of Mark, hence why there is only one. He can be such a punk sometimes.

at bud miller park

all tuckered out on the way home from our Canada Day festivities

KINDERMUSIK

Today was our last day of taking Macie to her sing class. It has been such a joy going every friday and making new friends, and watching Macie play and interact with the other babies. There was only 3 other babies in the program and they were all 6 months older then her so she mostly watched them as they crawled, walked, and screamed. It was so cute though watching her observe other kids. She loved singing and dancing but there was one song in particular that she loved. It had no words and we would dance around in a circle and do other motions and Macie would giggle and smile the whole time. I am excited for more of these kinds of activities in the future I am thinking swimming lessons is next on the list.

Tiffany and Evelyn, Me and Macie, Janice and Hudson and the teacher (Katherine's) son Noah.

the little ones

love how it looks like she really knows what she is doing here.

liked to suck on the shaker more then actually shake it.

watching the instructor dance and sing all crazy

1:25AM

Why is it 1:25 in the morning and I am still awake, because my husband is dropping of a young man at home that lives an hour away after having a young mens activity (party) at our house tonight. They started with pizza, then bounce house and hot tubbing. Then decided to play fugitive in Kitscoty until 12:30 at night. So this means there is still another whole hour before he gets back. Again why am I not asleep, because for some silly crazy reason I just can't fall asleep without that man by my side. I remember when we were first married  it probably took me a good 3 months before I got a really good sleep as I just found it so weird and different to have someone in my bed with me, every time I tossed or turned I would feel him and it would freak me out and I would wake up. Now almost 8 years later I can't fall asleep without him there. There is something comforting about tossing and turning and feeling his arm or leg, it makes me feel so safe. It will have to take total exhaustion for me to finally fall asleep which at that point knowing my luck Macie will wake up or he will get home. I can't wait for his camp next week and the lack of sleep we will both be receiving.

Side Note: what do you do at 1:25 in the morning and you can't sleep, I will tell you. Eat yummy unhealthy cake. read over your friends blogs from the day they first started blogging. view everything on pinterest and  dream about that perfect house, you know the one that is big enough for your family and all your stuff, a huge backyard, an amazing kitchen, a master bedroom to die for with a walk in closet and ensuite oh yeah and that perfect price tag of $300,000 or less (hence why it is only a dream).

PLAYTIME!!!

miracle I got them both to look at the same time

kissing and petting

close up

Molly and Lily playing

Macie playing

again Molly and Lily playing

and Macie playing

PARTY!!!

Seriously if you wanna feel like a kid play this game. Or play it with your kids it is fun!!

Me and Indie fighting to the end

Last night we had the missionaries, the Fyfe's, the Low's, and the Salmon's over for dinner. Once we got the missionaries out of there we decided to party it up. First we played "the game with no name", a tradition we have started up with these fun couples. (Edwards you were missed and mentioned last night, although we thought if we played mad gab we would at least have a chance this time) After laughing our faces off at the funnest game ever we decided to blow up the bounce house and act like kids. The best part was this game that Tiffany told us about, were we all put on socks and the goal is to try and get everybody else's socks off and keep yours on. It was a blast and Dan did an awesome rugby pile dive on Tiffany. I am proud to say I  came out the victor although I did have long pants on and knee high socks so I will admit I had a slight advantage. Next was Hot Tubbing and good laughs and fun story telling. With all the fun we had last night a little part of me was sad thinking this might be one of the last parties in our house. We have truly been so blessed with this house and the amount of room we have and all the fun toys we have been able to accumulate over the past couple of years to make having friends over a blast. We definitely need to have one more party with all our church friends before we say adios to our sweet home.

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!!!!