Whoa, this 3rd child of mine!  Hard to believe she is turning 4...I know I say that every year, every birthday, of every child...but it's still true.  I love writing these posts on each kiddo every year, but I always have the hardest time with Mae!  Simply because it is truly difficult to describe her in words--to put things in writing that describe the Macie I see every day seems impossible.  But, I will try.   What a combination of fun, happiness, frustration, and difficulty all wrapped up in one child!  She makes me laugh, astounds me, and makes me want to tear my hair out--and that can all happen in a 5 minute time period. She brings adventure and smiles to our family--what a blessing.

Things I love about Macie:
--She never stops moving

--Her LOVE of being tickled and "wanting to laugh"

--Her fashion sense

--Her love of all things Princess

--Her love of chocolate milk

--The way her face crinkles when she laughs

--Her fearlessness

--Her toughness

--She knows no strangers; her first line to someone new is usually "Hey, I don't know you, what's your name?"

--Her constantly singing something, loudly, and in full vibrato

--Her intelligence; I am sure I am biased, but I don't know many 4 year olds who can point out almost all 50 states on a US map!

--Her desire to "be big"

--Her vocabulary, using words such as "smashing", "awkward", and "fantastic"

--Her way of coming to stand by my bed in the middle of the night, her face an inch from mine, whispering to me

--Her natural tan that she keeps all year long

--How she gets excited about picking up Callie and Jack from school

--The way she gravitates to the older kids in a group and only wants to play with them

--She can sing many praise/worship songs by heart and does so often

--Her true dislike of anything with "wetness"--baby drool, spilled liquids, etc.

--She loves being praised and absolutely beams

Fun at the Farm

Right after VBS the kiddos and I went to my parent's house for a few days of 4-wheeling, fishing, cooking with Gran-Gran, swimming..so fun.  Out in the country, time just seems to stand still, and it feels so nice.  Callie's birthday is this month, so we did some celebrating, too!  Poor Bryan couldn't leave work to come with us..I know he missed us, but I am quite sure he enjoyed the quiet house just a little bit, too.

VBS at Champions 2012

VBS at Champions was once again, an adventure!  Sara Selby and I paired up again to teach--I think we make quite a team!  The theme this year was the travels of Paul, and our room was "The Island of Malta".  Once again, Sara's husband Clay was our creative brain and came up with the design of our props as well as the script for our skit.  We had some great teens helping out as well.  The kids rotated through and we had a lot this year, some classes had as many as 25 kiddos--whoa.  I also helped out some with crafts.  Callie came to the last day...she spent most of the week in Dallas at the Great Wolf Lodge with Grandad and Nonnie (Brad's parents, David and Sandra), and cousins Zeke and Kaelyn.  They had such a fun time together!  Thank you Grandad and Nonnie for giving them such a fun experience!

Sweet Nine Year Old Girl

It can't be true!!  Callie's last year in single digits has begun...WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE??  Callie chose Macaroni grill to celebrate her birthday dinner...man, I love her :)  Callie has really grown up over the past year or so..she is a joy to be around.  She has become the "quiet" one, at least in comparison to her younger siblings!  She had a great year in school, excelled in her first year of LTC, and just makes us proud. 
I love Callie because:
--she LOVES stuffed animals

--she LOVES real animals

--she is obscessed with horses and birds

--she gets so into her book at night she reads past her bedtime, everytime

--she loves going to church

--she vows "never" to cut her hair.  Ever.

--she has absolutely NO IDEA that several sweet little boys have a "crush" on her

--she believes Santa is as real as I am

--she is constantly drawing/sketching something

--she thinks every silly joke is very funny

--she's acutely aware of other kiddos being inappropriate or ungodly, and doesn't want any part of it

--the simple things make her happy

--other people always comment on her happiness

God has certainly blessed us with this firstborn...Love you, Cal!

Kemah Fun with Grammy

To celebrate the end of school we took a day trip to Kemah with Grammy...fun mini-train ride, ferris wheel, seafood lunch, and water fountain play...fun!  Macie was making us all laugh with her avoidance of the fountains.  She has never liked water in her face, not even in the bathtub, so she kept a wide berth around any spraying water.  Her clothes stayed very dry!  The other two however...soaking wet in seconds!