I put cinnamon pine cones, gold and red berries and gold balls on the wreath.
Friday, December 10, 2010
New experiences
I just wanted to share a little bit of things that are going on in our lives. I am amazed at how my life as changed as a mom. I would never have guessed in a life time that I would be doing some of the things that I am currently doing and actually enjoying it.
Last year I went to a friends house and watched her make her own bread from grinding wheat. She orders all her things from a Christian company and she makes almost all of her breads from this wheat that she grinds up herself. After I went and watched her I decided that I really wanted to do that for my family as well. Ever since having Mackenzie God has really placed on my heart the importance of eating healthy and taking care of our bodies. Our bodies are suppose to be a holy temple for God. I am not saying that we have totally stopped eating the bad things. I don't think I could ever give up ice cream =). I have really focused on for Mackenzie and I eating lots of fruits and vegetables instead of chips and other junk foods. A lot of the foods that we keep in the house are cranberries, yogurt, goldfish, cheese and wheat crackers as far as snack foods go. I also have started replacing a lot of the white products with wheat products. After meeting my friend last year I discovered that even buying the wheat bread is really not much healthier than the white bread offered.
So for our anniversary Travis bought me a kitchen aid mixer and I absolutely love it. I have started making all of our bread and I hope to eventually make other things with it. I have found this great recipe for honey wheat bread. It is delicious and easy to make. My goal in the long run will be to buy the attachments that go with the machine which will allow me to grind my own wheat and make lasagna and spaghetti noodles from wheat. I am also going to start making my own pasta and Alfredo sauce from scratch. It has been a lot of fun experimenting and making new foods.
To make things a little less stressful for me I have starting grocery shopping once a week and I plan out my dinner meals before and write down what ingredients I need for those meals. That way I already know what I will have for the week and I know I have the ingredients. I also try and make 1 new meal a week. I also decided this year to be a little creative and I made my own Christmas wreaths this year instead of spending the crazy amount to buy them. It probably saved me about 10 dollars a wreath. In the past year in a half I have started scrap booking, blogging, cooking from scratch, and making my own items instead of buying to save money.
Last year I went to a friends house and watched her make her own bread from grinding wheat. She orders all her things from a Christian company and she makes almost all of her breads from this wheat that she grinds up herself. After I went and watched her I decided that I really wanted to do that for my family as well. Ever since having Mackenzie God has really placed on my heart the importance of eating healthy and taking care of our bodies. Our bodies are suppose to be a holy temple for God. I am not saying that we have totally stopped eating the bad things. I don't think I could ever give up ice cream =). I have really focused on for Mackenzie and I eating lots of fruits and vegetables instead of chips and other junk foods. A lot of the foods that we keep in the house are cranberries, yogurt, goldfish, cheese and wheat crackers as far as snack foods go. I also have started replacing a lot of the white products with wheat products. After meeting my friend last year I discovered that even buying the wheat bread is really not much healthier than the white bread offered.
So for our anniversary Travis bought me a kitchen aid mixer and I absolutely love it. I have started making all of our bread and I hope to eventually make other things with it. I have found this great recipe for honey wheat bread. It is delicious and easy to make. My goal in the long run will be to buy the attachments that go with the machine which will allow me to grind my own wheat and make lasagna and spaghetti noodles from wheat. I am also going to start making my own pasta and Alfredo sauce from scratch. It has been a lot of fun experimenting and making new foods.
To make things a little less stressful for me I have starting grocery shopping once a week and I plan out my dinner meals before and write down what ingredients I need for those meals. That way I already know what I will have for the week and I know I have the ingredients. I also try and make 1 new meal a week. I also decided this year to be a little creative and I made my own Christmas wreaths this year instead of spending the crazy amount to buy them. It probably saved me about 10 dollars a wreath. In the past year in a half I have started scrap booking, blogging, cooking from scratch, and making my own items instead of buying to save money.
Friday, December 3, 2010
Thanksgiving and Family
This year we had such a awesome Thanksgiving. Travis was able to take off this year and spend time with me and Mackenzie along with his family. We went to Charlottesville for the day before Thanksgiving and left the following evening around 7:30. Our thought with that was that Mackenzie would sleep in the car. We had a great visit with Travis's family there was a total of 26 people there. Travis and I got to ride on some four wheelers before we left for Richmond to spend time with my family. We went to Richmond and spent a few hours visiting with the family Thursday night. Travis and I were able to go out on black Friday for the morning by our self an shop a little. It was great being able to do that. With Travis's busy schedule we don't get to go out very often alone.
My family also has this tradition every year. The day after Thanksgiving we always have a bond fire. Most of the family and some friends come and we will have a huge cook out, of course smore's and a hay ride. I think this year we probably had around 40 people. Mackenzie loves animals so when she saw the mules she was so excited. She spent the rest of the night going to different people trying to get them to take her to see them. I did take her on one ride in the pen.
This year we went to two different bond fires. After we got home Saturday night we went over to a friends house and we had a bond fire and Mackenzie had her first marshmallow which was hilarious. We ended the night by putting Mackenzie to bed and the adults played cards. I feel so blessed that Mackenzie has always adjusted well to sleeping wherever we are at so I don't have to end my night at 7 when she goes to bed.
My family also has this tradition every year. The day after Thanksgiving we always have a bond fire. Most of the family and some friends come and we will have a huge cook out, of course smore's and a hay ride. I think this year we probably had around 40 people. Mackenzie loves animals so when she saw the mules she was so excited. She spent the rest of the night going to different people trying to get them to take her to see them. I did take her on one ride in the pen.
This year we went to two different bond fires. After we got home Saturday night we went over to a friends house and we had a bond fire and Mackenzie had her first marshmallow which was hilarious. We ended the night by putting Mackenzie to bed and the adults played cards. I feel so blessed that Mackenzie has always adjusted well to sleeping wherever we are at so I don't have to end my night at 7 when she goes to bed.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Petting Zoo
She would put her hand out and let the animal take the food from her hand. She absolutely loved it
A few things we did this summer
Mackenzie and I took a lot of mini trips and adventures this summer. I am sad to say that unfortunately with Travis starting a new business he is unable to attend a lot of things that we go to but I know that one day it will be worth it and Travis will be able to join us. One of the trips that we went to was to Pennsylvania. Travis was able to go on this one and we took his parents and sister for a weekend. We went to Lancaster, Kitchen Kettle, Intercourse and Bird and Hand. We did a lot of sight seeing and shopping around at local Amish stores. We did go on one tour and we got to see a small glimpse of the Amish life style. We were able to go in there house and some of the outer buildings. We also went to a local petting zoo which was free. I always love free things especially with animals. Mackenzie is a huge animal lover. Any time we see animals she starts to jump up and down and laugh.
This summer I also took Mackenzie camping for the first time with some friends. It was a blast and she was so good. My parents had a tent where it could be set up into three different rooms. We set up her pac n play in one of the rooms and put her fan in there with her. I did insist on paying the extra cost so I could have my electricity and running water. I knew with having a young child and it being her first time that having those amenities would be well worth the extra cost. The first night night she slept through the night the second night was not as good she was up for about 2 hours. We had bathrooms with in walking distance and we cooked hamburgers and hot dogs over the fire.
Last but not least I took Mackenzie a long with my friend and her child to see Toy Story 3 on ice. One of the things I love about Mackenzie is the smile that she always has on her face. She is always laughing and smiling not matter how tired she might be. I have had so many people make comments about her smiles. Seeing the show on ice was no different. She was laughing, clapping and smiling til about the last 20 mins. I think if it hadn't gotten so far into lunch and nap time I think she would have enjoyed the whole thing.
This summer I also took Mackenzie camping for the first time with some friends. It was a blast and she was so good. My parents had a tent where it could be set up into three different rooms. We set up her pac n play in one of the rooms and put her fan in there with her. I did insist on paying the extra cost so I could have my electricity and running water. I knew with having a young child and it being her first time that having those amenities would be well worth the extra cost. The first night night she slept through the night the second night was not as good she was up for about 2 hours. We had bathrooms with in walking distance and we cooked hamburgers and hot dogs over the fire.
Last but not least I took Mackenzie a long with my friend and her child to see Toy Story 3 on ice. One of the things I love about Mackenzie is the smile that she always has on her face. She is always laughing and smiling not matter how tired she might be. I have had so many people make comments about her smiles. Seeing the show on ice was no different. She was laughing, clapping and smiling til about the last 20 mins. I think if it hadn't gotten so far into lunch and nap time I think she would have enjoyed the whole thing.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
We are back!!!
I don't know where to begin. The past 2 1/2 months have been great but extremely busy. I will probably write a few post over the past couple of day. I think one of the biggest events that has happened was our move. We finally moved out of the town house and into a 3 bedroom two bathroom house with a yard. We of course painted and added a few things on the walls and it feels like our home. Mackenzie loves being able to play out in the yard. We were able to get a trampoline and a wooden playground to put in the yard. We are also in walking distance to a really nice park. We also enjoyed another visit from my sister and her family. They were with us for about 20 days and for 10 of those days Suzanne and Ben were gone so I got to spend my days with the kids. We stayed very busy while they were here. We went for pony rides, the pumpkin patch, petting zoo and much more. "Miss Kenzie" as her cousin Jacob calls her is at the perfect age where she is able to play with her cousins. I love watching them interact with each other.
We are also still very busy in our moms group which is every Tuesday morning. There are usually anywhere between 5-10 kids there most are around Mackenzie's age. I am leading a bible study on Thursday mornings and I attend one with my mom on Wednesday. Needless to say between everything we are involved in we both stay quite busy. I have had to be very careful and make sure that I don't overload our schedule. Mackenzie still goes to bed at 7 o'clock and she usually sleeps til about 8 sometimes a little later. She has been waking up a lot at night time because her molers are coming along with a couple other teeth. As each day goes by I feel more and more blessed to be a mom and have the opportunity to stay home with her. She is constantly learning new things and her personality is blossoming everyday. She continues to be a happy baby and for the most part very easy going. I love listening to her as she tries and have a conversation with me. She makes it very clear to me when she wants something from me by pointing to the item, babbling and then shaking her head up and down after I acknowledge what it is that she wants.
We are also still very busy in our moms group which is every Tuesday morning. There are usually anywhere between 5-10 kids there most are around Mackenzie's age. I am leading a bible study on Thursday mornings and I attend one with my mom on Wednesday. Needless to say between everything we are involved in we both stay quite busy. I have had to be very careful and make sure that I don't overload our schedule. Mackenzie still goes to bed at 7 o'clock and she usually sleeps til about 8 sometimes a little later. She has been waking up a lot at night time because her molers are coming along with a couple other teeth. As each day goes by I feel more and more blessed to be a mom and have the opportunity to stay home with her. She is constantly learning new things and her personality is blossoming everyday. She continues to be a happy baby and for the most part very easy going. I love listening to her as she tries and have a conversation with me. She makes it very clear to me when she wants something from me by pointing to the item, babbling and then shaking her head up and down after I acknowledge what it is that she wants.
Monday, September 6, 2010
12 Month Stats
So I know I am a little late with this. That seems to be the trend lately so bear with me. Mackenzie's appointment went great and I am amazed each time that we go how good she is. She had to get two shots and her finger pricked so they could check her hemoglobin. She did not even flinch or make a sound until the last one. The Doctor told me to expect her to cry for the last one because it was going to sting. Her crying only last for a few seconds. Her hemoglobin was great. They usually look for the number to be 11 and hers was 12.1. She has gained a little bit of weight but not much. We were really hoping she would be 20 pds so we could turn her around but I knew that would be a long shot because that would mean she would have to gain 4 pds in three months and for her that is a lot. At the 30% she was 29 in long and 19.2 bringing her to the 18% in weight. Mackenzie is now walking all the time and barely crawls. She continues to learn new things everyday. She is able to get on and off her horse that bounces up and down and spins. She can use her fork and spoon. She still needs improvement on that but none the less she can do it on her own which amazes me. She is such a joy and I am so thankful that God has blessed me with such a beautiful child. I can't wait to see what God has in store for her life.
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