It's a Girls Weekend

The great thing about being close to home is getting to help high school friends celebrate their birthdays. A couple of friends and I headed out of town for a girls night. We played a whole lot of pool, had even more laughs, enjoyed a Thin Mint shot (pictured above) and got to eat Taco Johns not once but twice. It was a great time and one we'll be repeating. Happy Birthday Melissa!

Boys Weekend

Yea, that's right Mom's gone, break out the cigars and beer. OK seriously, I couldn't resist.

Shantel had a weekend out with her girlfriends this weekend and it was a good chance for Macen and I to spend some quality time together.

The first thing we did was do some lunch. That took us a little while, because after I got Macen up from his morning nap, something that Shantel normally does, he wandered the house crying and looking for Shantel. The only thing I could do to stop it was turn on "Wow Wow Wubbzy" from the DVR, man I didn't want to have to go to my ace in the hole first thing.

That got us through lunch and right up to the time that we had to go to the pool with Mariah to work on her training for the triathlon. Macen did great at the pool and was really adventurous starting to throw his water balls further away and then acting like he was swimming towards them to get them as I held him out. He even got dunked a couple of times accidently as I was backstroking with him on my chest and he would roll off. Unfortunately in my worry to make sure that I had swim diapers, a onsie, a sippy, snacks, towel, diaper bag. I forgot my camera, so you are stuck with pictures from my camera phone.

We were going to go watch a bird dog field trial that they had on post after we got done swimming but Macen didn't want to stop swimming so we kind of had another mini meltdown so I decided to head back to the house and get him a snack and another short nap.

Of course we had to watch the Big 12 title game and as you can see Macen was properly attired thanks to Grandma Wayman. Since Mariah had been over for a little while we had to rub it in that Mizzou was still playing and KU had gone home to wait for the NCAA tournament and that Macen was wearing his Black and Gold without throwing any fits.

We also had McDonalds Saturday night. Macen really likes his french fries, although he's not as sure about the chicken nuggets. Where's the toy? He knows it's in there somewhere.

Saturday night ended with Macen's new favorite game; playing fetch with Maggie and a stuffed animal. I tried to video tape this since it is hilarous they way they both get wound up over it and Macen telling Maggie to Sit and Give, unfortunately when I got the video camera out Maggie did her usual anti camera routine and slipped away. That didn't mean the game was over though Macen just thought that Dad should take Maggie's place.

Bed time was a little late Saturday night as Dad wanted to watch the finish of the MU-Baylor game before starting Macen's bath.

The fun began again on Sunday as Dad let Macen bounce on the spare bed. I'll probably regret this in the next few years won't I?

Snow showers

We did take Macen swimming on post at the indoor pool. He loved it as long as I was holding him and kept him against me. We did have some water balls that he kept a firm hold on until the last 15-20 mins we were there. I would toss them a foot or two in front of us and kinda throw him out to get them but still held onto him. He was okay with that. Once we got dressed and were heading out of the locker room, we walked by the door to the pool and he lost it. He wanted to go back in. But no pics of swimming just playing in the snow.

Snow showers is what we were told we'd be getting. So when we woke up to several inches, we were a little surprised. But we were up for some fun in the snow. We got out our sand bucket and snow/sand block shaper to build castles that Macen gladly knocked down.

We also have a decent size hill in the front yard that is perfect for sledding. After we were done sledding down it Macen decided he was going to slide down it on his bottom by himself. He had trouble getting back up on his own but he kept trying and falling. He cried when we made him come inside but enjoyed getting warm later on.

Signing please and thank you

signing please

signing thank you

James has really worked with Macen on signing please and thank you in the last 2 months. And its paid off and then some. He now signs and sometimes even says please and thank you when we ask him to and even on his own at times. But he has outsmarted us with it. Now if he wants something and we say no, he will sign please hoping to convince us. And we were suckers, we'd give in. Now he is doing it when it comes to wanting a snack right before dinner or something a little more important that wanting the tv turned on. So we are now trying to teach him just because he said please, doesn't mean he will get whatever it is he wants. James did manage to get him to sign more, please and thank you for asking, getting and receiving more snacks the other night. They were on a roll with that one.

Tools

My camera has refused to upload pics for the last 4 days but I managed to outsmart it. I love my camera but this is the 3rd or 4th time I have had to outsmart the software to get my pics to load. Enough of that and this is the beginning of several posts.

Macen LOVES tools. He is always right there when James has his out and trying to help in any way. Often he will be in the basement with the tools and "working" on James bike and the stationary stand. He now has a hammer and screwdriver of his own. The first few days of having both he had to take naps with them and cried when I wouldn't let him play with them at lunchtimes.

A few cute pics

Macen is preparing to swim! We are actually hoping to take him to the pool this weekend and maybe swim lessons this summer. We might be back next week with actual swim pictures.


And he is getting good at brushing his teeth. He's getting the back and forth motion down. Of course, he doesn't want me helping much anymore. And since he isn't a fan of anything going in his mouth that he doesn't wholeheartedly approve of, we are struggling with toothpaste. I can't even convince him that Dora toothpaste is cool.

February playdates

Macen has had an abundance of playdates since we moved and he is loving it. Here are some from this month: