Easter and more

This Easter we went to a friends house and swam, had an Easter Egg hunt, and ate amazing food. It was so nice to be around friends since we live so far from family. Macie did so good at holding her Easter basket and putting her eggs inside, but her favorite part was shaking them. :) If they didn't rattle, she would throw them on the ground and find another one that did. :) Smart girl.
Macie is doing some funny stuff. She blows kisses with her feet while in her car seat, when we get a curb she knows she cant' get up/down her self, she reaches up for our hand (whether we're right beside her or not), knowing we'll grab her hand and help her. She is still the wiggliest thing I've seen. She doesn't sit still for a second. She wakes up happy and jabbering away in her crib, usually for at least 20 minutes before she gets upset. If we go get her out of her crib BEFORE she gets upset, she gets kinda fussy, like she needed her alone time. She loves pulling her blanket over her head while walking around and then spontaneously pulling it off so we'll shout "Peek A BOO!" She thinks it's pretty funny, except for the time she ran into the piano while the blanket was over her head. :( She drinks a ton....and fast. We'll fill up her sippy cup with each meal and she chugs it down in a matter of minutes and then throws it on the ground. I know she's still young, but I have a feeling she's going to be quite the tom boy. She loves the water, no matter how cold it is, she has a good time splashing around. She still loves rocks....they are her favorite toy. She loves being outside and if one of us goes outside without her, she'll just scream and scream. She's a stubborn thing who knows what she wants. :)
As for Bryce and I....Bryce is still busy busy busy with school and teaching a class 2 days a week. Work for me has been busy, which has been a huge blessing financially since Bryce just found out he won't have his teaching job in the Summer. So...we've been saving up so the summer won't be TOO tight. I'm getting licensed to do eyelash extensions, which I'm pretty excited about. I got my kit in today and have 4 people lined up to practice on. I hope the word gets out and that brings even more clients my way.

Bryce is leaving in June for a week for a conference in Kentucky and I'm already dreading it. I don't like when he's away. It's too quiet, but it's easier now with Macie around in comparison to when he left before Macie was born. I am hoping to visit Cali for mothers day with Macie, and all 3 of us are planning a trip to Santa Cruz to meet up with my whole family in August. I cannot wait to see everyone! It'll have been a year since I've seen my brother, Sandra and their little guy, Brody. :( Also...we are going to Dallas in July to see some of Bryce's family, which we are also very excited about, mainly because my sister in law, Melia, had a beautiful baby girl since we saw her last in Decmber! So exciting! I cannot wait to meet her!

My sweet girl at almost 11 months

Oh Macie...where to being. She loves whistling, being outside for as long as possible, chewing on rocks, clanging spoons together, running away from me when I get on all fours to chase her, taking all of the shoes out of the shoe box, and EATING. This kid would honestly eat all day if we let her. If we are eating she HAS to be eating or she  is freaking out....even if we JUST fed her. She never turns down food and we are yet to find something she doesn't like...oh wait scratch that, she spit out her first food since she was born and it was a mushroom nana tried to feed her. :)
Nana came to visit this week and we had so much fun. I get homesick living so far away from family, but my family is so good to come visit since we are too poor to go home. :) mom tried to teach macie how to snuggle and how to enjoy being read to. The reading part she got pretty good at, but she is far from being a snuggler unfortunately. She's quite the riot. She makes us laugh every day. She loves emptying her drawer in the kitchen and torturing the cats too. She is a very busy toddler. doesn't sit still for long. I sure love this kiddo.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

I love my Silhouette! It cut out all this cute stuff...all I had to do was applique it on. :)

Christmas Day!

Macie in her big girl chair....now we just use a high chair because she likes to feed herself. :)

Macie's Christmas laptop

Bryce put his bandana on Macie....it was pretty cute

???? Bryce taking silly pictures...I thought this one was funny

Tiling our kitchen

It turned out so good...I wish we had taken a before picture

My most recent craft....this is the back of the pinafore

and the front. I matched the lining with a cute little diaper cover for summertime

and these leggings for winter time....I LOVE the pattern for the leggings...they are SO easy!!

Love this chunky dimple butt with those rolly legs

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a lovely week. We stayed here in College Station, just Bryce, Macie and I and we had such a great time. We skyped with everyone on Christmas day and just relaxed. We opened presents, and made a yummy Christmas dinner. It was a quiet day and I have to admit I wouldn't have preferred it any other way. I was nervous I would be really homesick, and I did miss my family, but it was fun starting our own traditions.

Macie liked tearing up the paper. She couldn't quite open things up, but she'd grab hold of the paper and just shake shake shake until eventually what was inside fell out. It was pretty cute. We got her a little laptop and every time we'd open it she would shut it. It was pretty funny. We are so blessed to have such amazing families and friends. We loved all of the Christmas Cards and the gifts were also greatly appreciated. When we skyped with my parents and told them we were having a great Christmas my Mom said "dang....I was hoping you'd have a miserable Christmas so that you'd definitely be here next year." What a punk! :) I love you Mom, and we did miss you. :)

Christmas was more personal to me this year, having a baby and all. It really put things into perspective to me. Does anyone know the song Mary's Lullaby? It's BEAUTIFUL and makes me cry like a baby. I can't imagine having my little Macie suffer the pains Christ suffered. That must have been so hard, but like Mary, we are all only taking care of these little ones here on earth until they return to their father and mother in heaven.

This vacation is kind of weird. It's vacation because Bryce doesn't have school or work until the  18th! But for me...that means I'm working MORE because he's able to be home with Macie. So...not much of a vacation for me, if anything it's LESS of a vacation. We've gotten a lot of cleaning done around the house and we just took our Christmas decorations down. I already miss them. We re tiled our back splash in the kitchen because whoever did it before did AWFUL. Not only was it ugly, but it was pretty much rotting off the wall because they didn't seal it around the sink. We got an awesome deal on the little glass tiles and it turned out so nice! I LOVE IT!!! :)

That's about all here...Macie's just cute as ever, babbling up a storm. She makes the FUNNIEST noises. We've had many people tell us that she makes the funniest noises they have ever heard a baby make. She just discovered the squeaky noise that certain objects make (diaper boxes, linoleum, plastic, high chair tray, etc.) when she slides her hand over them. It's pretty cute seeing her little mind work. :) We love you all and miss you....hope all is going well.