Easter, Yes I know it was 6 months ago...

I have been putting off blogging about Easter, mostly because lately I find that sitting still at the computer drives me nuts (there's so much other stuff to do!). But, I guess I had to get around to it sometime! I feel like I've made progress in my goal to be better about celebrating holidays with my kids. Last year, Macie didn't get an Easter basket. She didn't even get a new dress (remember it was General Conference, no church, no new dress...). This year I was at least organized enough to make the girls new dresses. I even bought the fabric clear back in March, and managed to get the dresses made by the Friday before Easter. Don't judge, at least they got done! I didn't however, manage to get Easter baskets put together. Next Year... And fortunately for us, both my parents and Steven's were on the ball with the Easter egg hunt and baskets. Phew! Macie had so much fun looking for Easter eggs at Grandma and Pa Harwood's house. And let me be honest, I've eaten the majority of her candy, but don't mess with her little plastic eggs, the kid is obsessed with them. I'm going to have to be sneaky one of these days and hide them so that I can give them back to Janell! Maybe I should start hiding them one at a time? Macie and Lizzie also got adorable little lunch boxes from my parents with Easter treats in them. Macie loves to bring hers to the table for meals so that she can eat out of her "lunch blocks".

Happy girls in their Easter dresses.

 Easter nap, I think Macie was pretending to be asleep!

 This is one crazy crew!

Potty Trained!

Honestly, I never thought I'd say it, but my little M is potty trained! We started about two weeks before her 3rd birthday. She and I went to the store and picked out some candy, prizes and stickers. When we got home I put her in some of her underwear (that she picked out 9 months ago) and said "see ya later!" to the diapers. She didn't know about a secret stash in the closet, but we never did need them! She had a few accident the first couple of days but after about 4 days she basically had it down. For the first couple of weeks she had an accident every once in a while when we were busy or there was a lot going on, but she has even been staying dry all night since the second night without diapers. Macie has been taking potty training so seriously! She had an accident one day while we were at Disneyland and she was so confused about why her cousins were laughing at her. She was so upset with herself for waiting so long and she couldn't figure out why they thought it was funny. I just told her that sometimes accidents are silly and she should just laugh along with her cousins. Macie really has done SO well. I am so glad that we waited until she was a little bit older because she really was so ready for it this time. We didn't have any of the stress that we had last year when we tried and I am so proud of her! Good jog Macie Bug!

Disneyland!

This past week we went to Disneyland with Steven's family. What an experience! Disneyland really is like no place on Earth, it is so clean and the workers are all SO very friendly. We had a great time with our kids and Macie loved getting to spend so much time with her cousins.

The girls both LOVED the carousel, I think we could have stayed on it the whole time and they would have been happy!

 Boy this is not the greatest picture, but do you know how hard it is to get a good picture, with two wiggly kids and a zillion people in front of Sleeping Beauty's Castle? I do... Well, Steve does...

 Back on the carousel. See that face, pure joy. And yes, I made her dress :).

 See Lizzie's dress, nope I didn't make it. But why would you when you already own one that looks like that?!?!

 It was so fun to go meet Minnie Mouse with the girls in their Minnie Mouse dresses. Macie and I were both a little start struck, Lizzie just wanted to grab Minnie's nose!

 Driving the car outside Mickey's house.

Meeting Mickey Mouse was so fun. I loved that they make everything into a great experience at Disneyland. Even when you are just standing waiting in line to see Mickey you are having a good time.

The whole family at Goofy's Kitchen. Yummm...

 This is one of those pictures that I made Steven take, and he did because he loves me... It's Tinkerbell's raft and her little house at Pixie Hollow. I thought it was so cute!

 Last day at Disneyland, see how happy Macie is? That was quite the day!

 She eventually cheered up a bit and wanted to go on the rockets over, and over, and over...

 Her favorite, I think, was the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. I don't actually know if she liked the ride or the giant Buzz Lightyear more, but other than the carousel that is all she asked to do the while time.

 I had such a great time with Steven and our girls. This trip was a good reminder for me that they really are the most important people in my life!

It's My Party!

Well hello blog world! Long time no see... I know, I'm a slacker, but this time I'm going to be better about keeping the blog current. Not like the last time I said that, or the time before!

This summer we celebrated Macie's 3rd birthday. I simply cannot believe I have a three year old. I still catch myself every once in a while making a comment about having a two year old, when I realize that I don't have a two year old anymore! She has grown into such an adorable, spirited little lady. The most frequent comment I get from people, mostly the older women in my ward is "Your daughter is so darling/ cute/ pretty/ etc., but I can tell you sure have your hands full!" You've got that right! Macie has an opinion about just about everything, and she wants to be heard! She still throws the occasional temper tantrum, but they are becoming fewer and farther between (Hallelujah!). For the most part Macie is sweet and caring, she generally is happy to play quietly on her own. She doesn't like to be in large groups or crowded places, and sometimes becomes overwhelmed when there is so much going on around her. Some of Macie's favorite things right now are fairies, Tinkerbell of course and she loves the movie Finding Nemo. She can quotes lines, entire scenes actually, from movies. It is so funny to sit outside her room and listen to her play when she doesn't know you are there. She will act out scenes from her favorite movies and she jumps flawlessly from character to character.

This year for Macie's birthday Steven took the day off of work and we had his mom watch Lizzie so that we could spend some time just with Macie. We started by going to FotoFly to have Macie's birthday pictures taken. They turned out so cute! I love every single one, but these are a few of my favorites:



We had a small party this year with our families and Macie's friends Lottie and Kelsey (and their mom, my dear friend Colleen). Macie said that she wanted to have a "Princess Finding Nemo" birthday party, so I made her a Nemo birthday cake and we used Princess plates and napkins. I thought it was a pretty good fusion of the two! I was pretty proud of her cake once it was finished. It started out a little sketchy, but once it was finished I thought it looked pretty good!

 Macie got a tea set form her Grandma and Pa Harwood (which she loves, we have "cocoa parties" almost every day).

She also got a new crayon roll and crayons from Lottie and Kelsey, which goes perfectly with her new....

 ... Giant coloring books! These things are the best invention ever!

 She also got the complete set of Disney fairies from the Tinkerbell movies, it was pretty exciting for her!



And she finally got her very own Cozy Coupe. Macie loves to play with the cars with her friends Cartson and Hayden and she always hates having to leave the cars at their house, so THANK YOU Grandma and Pa Atkinson for her very own car!

Happy Birthday Miss Macie Bug!

Harwood Family 2011

The Harwood Family

 Grandma and Pa with all the grandkids

 Perfect little Macie Bug

 Holding this pine cone made her sit still and smile (most of the time), that's all I really cared about!

 Favorite!

 Queen Elizabeth, perfection as usual!

 I love those two little teeth, so cute!

Confession

Today I planned on blogging... I have a lot to catch up on. But then I realized the only person who reads this blog is my mom. So instead, I started dinner in the crock pot, did two loads of laundry, cleaned the kitchen and started going through my drawers to get rid of a few things. Then I had lunch with Macie, fed Lizzie, watched The Swan Princess for the 40th time this week and rocked Lizzie to sleep in the rocking chair. After Lizzie was asleep I cuddled with Macie for a bit and then tickled her so much she farted, to which she screamed "stop mom, I farted, that means we are done!".

I guess I'll blog tomorrow!

Love me some Lizzie...

... Because honestly, how could you not? Lizzie is quite literally the best baby I have ever known in my life. She is calm, and sweet and content. Oh I am grateful that she's so content. She rarely fusses or cries. In fact, when we are in a crowd and she does start to cry, it always takes me a second to realize it's my kid. That's how infrequently she cries. Does it make me a bad mom that I don't immediately recognize her cry? Possibly, but it's a reality I'm fine with living in. Having Lizzie in our home has turned our routine on it's head. However, nearly six months after her birth we are all adjusting quite nicely. But it's been a rocky road. I have had to learn how to balance the needs of both of my children equally. Immediately after we brought Lizzie home Macie began asking us to do everything for her, feed her, carry her, treat her just like we were treating the baby. At first I was so frustrated. I didn't understand why my strong willed, independent little girl was suddenly SO dependent. DUH! Because I was doing EVERYTHING for her baby sister. As soon as I figured that out (and believe me, it took longer than it should have...) life was much happier for all of us. Macie has turned into such a wonderful helper and an amazing big sister. If Lizzie makes a peep, Macie is by her side making sure she is ok. Lizzie is such a happy, friendly baby but no one makes her smile and laugh the way that Macie can. It brings me so much joy to see my two daughters growing together as sisters, and friends! Lizzie is growing so much everyday. Sometimes when I think back over the last six months I cannot believe how fast it has gone. I wish that this time in my life had a slow motion button! I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for these two amazing, beautiful girls in my life! It's incredible to me that I can love them so much and so differently, not more or less, but in such different ways. Now, because poor Lizzie hasn't gotten nearly the blog love she deserves, check out how freakin' adorable she is!

Seriously, I could munch on those cheeks all day. All day!

Lizzie is the happiest, most smiley baby. I'll tell you a secret: her smiles have healing powers, like phoenix tears, but better. And Cuter.
I didn't realize that I loaded three nearly identical pictures... Oh well, deal with it!

Nothing really to sat about this picture, I just like it!

Lizzie just started sitting up without support about a week ago...

...But she still falls over a lot!

Valentine's Day

We're not big on Valentine's day. At. All. However, we do have one tradition, we go to Carl's Jr. Why? Because that's what Steven and I did the first Valentine's Day that we knew each other. We were in the middle of planning our wedding and that night we were out running errands looking for shirts for Steve's brothers. We knew that where ever we went was going to be busy and crowded and we just didn't have time for that. So a tradition was born, and every year since we go to Carl's Jr. on Valentine's Day. This year we made plans with our friends Rick and Dana to try a new pizzeria and the first thing Steve said to me was "What about Carl's Jr.?" The man who hates Valentines Day was worried about breaking our Valentines tradition! So, I decided to surprise him at work with lunch from, you guessed it, Carl's Jr. (I feel like I'm saying Carl's Jr. a lot...). Macie colored Steve a valentine and we picked up his favorite cookies (you know the ones, with half an inch of pink frosting) and some balloons and headed to his office. Latter that night, after dinner we came back to our house so that Macie, Carston and Hayden could decorate some valentine cookies. New tradition? Maybe...