North Carolina and Easter

I've been slacking on keeping up with the blogging. I'll do better! We've had a busy couple of weeks around here!!

Macy Claire went on the second plane ride of her life to visit her cousins in North Carolina. My goodness was it an adventure. In a nut shell we got selected for additional screening by TSA, missed a flight, rented a car, borrowed a carseat, and missed our very first afternoon nap. It was a long day getting to Raleigh, but we had a great visit. Macy Claire has a brand new cousin named Nina. Nina was born on January 1, 2014 and is such a snuggly koala bear. We had a great time visiting with Aunt Ana, Unkie Jeffy, cousin Ava, cousin Nina, and Aunt Jenkie. I had some precious matching Easter outfits made for the girls and we got some great pictures of them.

Making friends on the plane

Relaxing on Daddy with a nice cool drink on the plane

                                                                                                                                                     First wagon ride with Daddy in North Carolina

                                  Nina is the snuggliest baby I have ever met! Love her so much!!

Precious cousins!

The little girls

Sweet girls in matching Easter outfits

We had a lot of fun celebrating Easter weekend as a family of 3. On Saturday we went to the Flowood Easter Egg Hunt with our dear friends Marianna and Everett Russell and Matt, Marie, Ava, and Hadley Williams.. Sadly we got there about 10 minutes late and it was already over, BUT they had lots of other activities for us to enjoy. We saw lots of  Daisy's (animals) at the petting zoo, clowns, played games, and enjoyed some beautiful karaoke singing. That afternoon our special friend Molly Joiner had her first birthday party! After a long day of fun Macy Claire was worn out and ready for bed.
On Easter Sunday we went to Hattiesburg to visit with Scott's family. We had a wonderful lunch and exchanged Easter baskets for Rylee and Macy Claire. We finally had an Easter Egg hunt too!! It was a very special weekend filled with fun and family.

                       Mimi gave MC her first popcicle

                                                4 generations (Granny, MC, Scott and Paula)

Beautiful picture of my loves

                      Looking at the "Daisy's" with Daddy                                                                              

Watching something exciting with Marie and Hadley 

Best Friends Everett and Macy Claire

Our sweet friends Marianna and Everett Russell

                    Macy Claire was not a fan of the Easter Bunny

She felt a little better about him with Mama and Daddy 

Macy Claire's first trip to the Jackson Zoo

Macy Claire LOVES animals! I mean loves animals. Her little face lights up when she sees any type of creature. We could not wait for it to warm up a little so we could take her to the zoo. With this crazy winter we've had there was a 2 day break with beautiful weather. We jumped at the chance to do something outside.

I think Macy Claire knew something was up because she only took a 30 minute morning nap! As soon as she got up we quickly loaded up in the car and went to the zoo. I haven't been since I was little and it brought back so many memories of field trips when we pulled in. It wasn't very crowded at all so we were able to get in quickly and start enjoying our day. The Jackson Zoo is the perfect size for a 2 hour outing. We saw lots of Daisy's (animals), rode the carousel, and the train. It was a great family outing!

9 months old!

Well, some how we are now the proud parents of a 9 month old! She is so full of personality and a ball of energy. She loves playing with her friends and laughing at her silly Daddy. She is so big that she stayed up until 8:15 last night (she usually goes to bed at 6:30)!!!

9 months ago I couldn't look ahead a week without a feeling of worry and anxiety, but now we are just having the best time. She has taught us so much and I wouldn't trade a minute of those early days (looking back now). Scott and I are so thankful our perfect, sweet, healthy baby girl! Slow down time! We're trying to take it all in :)

Life as of Lately

We've had a big couple of weeks around here! Macy Claire went from 0 to 60 with her crawling and keeps her mama running. She can make it across the house in no time flat. We learned very quickly what needed putting up and locking up. Nothing is safe with this wild girl on the loose!                                                                      

 

She has started to really love animals and gets so excited when she sees any type of creature! It's so sweet! She calls all dogs Daze after our dog Daisy we think. Her favorite Baby Einstein these days is Neighborhood Animals. It's like she's seeing it for the first time every time. So precious to watch (and a nice break from My First Signs :))! 

Watching her favorite animal show

Daisy enjoys a little Baby Einstein too :)

She has also realized that the food on grown ups plates is much more exciting than her baby food and since she now has 6 teeth the sky is almost the limit! She loves trying new foods. It's so much fun to see her reactions when she tastes new things for the first time. Her favorites so far are watermelon, chicken, ranch (well any kind of dip really), and lima beans.

Trying a lemon

Big toofies :)

We made it 8 1/2 months without getting sick, but our sweet girl finally got her first cold. It wasn't bad thank goodness and she was a trooper. For all the moms out there who don't have a Nosefrida - GET ONE! Those things are a life saver!

February is a big birthday month in my family. We have 6 birthdays and my parents anniversary. Last weekend I went to New Orleans to celebrate birthdays with my sisters, nieces, and parents. We went to Hannah Grace's gymnastics meet and to some Mardi Gras parades. Scott stayed home with Macy Claire and I was a nervous wreck. They both did great! I had the best time with my family, but was so happy to get home to Scott and MC!

As Macy Claire gets older we have been able to get out and do more things. The last couple of weeks she had really enjoyed going to the park, birthday parties and reading time with her friends!

                            First bite of a cupcake!                     Playing at the park with Everett!

                                                        Those eyes! 

Reading time with Hadley and Ava!

And to wrap it up below are just a few more cute 

pictures and videos from the last month or so :)

             Reading with GrandMommy                                                  Cute little booty

                       

Macy Claire's Valentine

Playing with Mimi and cousin Rylee

My little Mardi Gras Baby!

Busy busy busy!

Playing roll the ball with Daddy!

Playing with Mimi and cousin Rylee!

7 & 8 Month pictures

I did it again! I forgot to post her 7 month pictures so here are a couple from 7 & 8 months!
Macy Claire has 6 teeth now, is still working on crawling, LOVES to try new foods, and is sleeping 12 hours a night. My goodness I wish I could slow down the hands of time! I've already started looking at stuff for her first birthday party! I guess it's true what they say, time flies when you're having fun!!!

We had a Holly Jolly Christmas

Doesn't it always seem to come and go so quickly? I already miss the lights on our house and Scott turning on the Christmas tree every morning. This was the best Christmas I think I've ever had. As a child, I remember the anticipation and excitement Christmas brought, and having a Macy Claire made this year the most exciting yet. We started lots of new traditions this year as a family of 3. Macy Claire saw Santa 3 different times this year. That man can really get around! He was at Campbell's bakery with Mrs. Claus in his sleigh, at the park in Flowood the night we went to look at lights and ride the train, and he was at Bass Pro when we went to look at the fish! Amazing how he can just zoom around town like that!!

As usual we were on the road in the family truckster :) I think this may be a record. We went to Hattiesburg 5 straight weekends and had so much fun! Friends have asked us why we just don't move to Hattiesburg or Baton Rouge because we always seem to be there. Maybe one day ;)

We had an early Christmas with Scott's family and Santa even made a special visit to Rylee! It was so much fun to be there to watch Rylee find her Santa presents. That afternoon Scott's Nannie, Pawpaw, and Aunt Jean came over to Hattiesburg and we opened gifts. I have never seen so many presents in my life! Our sweet girl was showered with presents. She was a little overwhelmed and so she stayed in my lap, but she LOVED watching everyone open gifts and even helped open a few herself.

On Christmas Eve we went to Baton Rouge to spend Christmas with my family at my sisters house. Hannah Grace and Hayes were so excited to see there Scoot! That night none of us could sleep because we were so excited about Santa coming. Hannah Grace, Scott, and I put carrots outside for the reindeer to have a snack. The next morning those carrots were chewed up and all over the yard! They must have been hungry. We also made cookies for Santa and they were GONE the next morning (along with the milk)! You'll never believe this though, Santa ripped his jacket going  back up the chimney and left a piece of red fabric hanging! Hannah Grace found it while she was closing the fire place! We were all so surprised. I guess Mrs. Claus has back up material for that sort of thing. Santa filled the children's stockings with lots of yummy candy and toys and brought them all so many toys! It looked like we could have opened our very own toy shop after they were done opening.

Below is a video I put together with the highlights of our wonderful Christmas holiday!