Addie's First Day of Kindergarten

The first day of Kindergarten was an exciting day for everyone. Alex and Maycie insisted on wearing their backpacks, too.
Addie got to go to the store with mom and pick out her own first day of school outfit. She did a pretty good job. She was so excited that she slept in her outfit the night before.

Walking to the school building. Maycie and Alex weren't moving fast enough for Addie.

Barnette Elementary School.

Huntersville, NC

Mrs. Key and Addie

Addie had a real sour attitude about starting Kindergarten until we went to the school open house a few days before the start of school and met her teacher, Mrs. Key. That, along with the class pet fish, got Addie really excited to start.

The great thing about Kindergarten here is they do a staggered start, so during the first week of school they split the children and they only attend one day. That way they start with a small group of about 4-5 kids and the teacher can acclimate them a little better.

I think Addie was most excited about riding the bus. I had to beg her to let me drive her to school on the first day, but I said she could ride the bus on the way home. She did great and got off on the right stop.
Someone asked me later that day if I had cried sending my first child off to school. I responded that I honestly hadn't thought about crying. I was so preoccupied with getting Addie ready and keeping her excited about it that being weepy didn't even enter my mind. It helped that I waited an extra year to start her. I don't think either of us were ready last year. I'm so glad I waited and I hope she'll be glad instead of mad someday, too.

Welcome home snuggles from Tiger.

Back to School Feast

I love traditions. There have been many that I have adopted from my childhood, but I'm always searching for more. This year I wanted to start a really good Back-to-School tradition since it was Addie's first year of Kindergarten and Maycie in preschool. I wish I could claim this idea as my own, but I stumbled across it just in the nick of time on the Nienie Dialogues (if you have read yet, you must!). Thanks Nienie for a new tradition.

The first annual Back-to-School Feast!

The 2009-2010 Macdonald Family school year theme:

"Little Princesses: Daughters of a King"

We combined the feast with our Family Home Evening lesson and introduced the theme and what it meant. We discussed how Addie and Maycie were princesses because they were daughters of Heavenly Father. We discussed how princesses act. They are polite. They are obedient. They help others and are kind. All I have to do is ask, "How do princesses act?" and they usually remember what to do. We ended the night with Rob giving them their special back-to-school father's blessing. It was a very fun night.

The feast part wasn't really about the food (although the kids loved the glass bottles of root beer we had). It was really more about the presentation and making it a special event. We had fresh flowers, special place settings and the girls had their own homemade crown.


Their own back-to-school cakes.

Maycie Moments

Maycie's recent prayers: "Please help Heavenly Father to be good in heaven."

Maycie: "Mom, where's my blanket and DON'T say 'I don't know'."

Maycie: "Mom, you're a baby." Mom: "If I'm a baby what does that make you?" Maycie: "A Unkey's Muncle." (She meant Monkey's Uncle).

August Moments

I found this picture taped to Addie and Maycie's bedroom door.

I vaguely remember Addie asking me how to spell "boys".

Unfortunately, Alex can't read yet.

One of the girl's new favorite activities is dressing up Alex like a princess, fairy, dancer.

Much to dad's horror Alex thinks this activity is pretty fun.

Here are the dancing queens - one being a drag queen.

Blast from the past.

I introduced the kids to my favorite childhood movie. E.T.

I was a little worried it might be a little scary for them so I sat right by them the entire show narrating and explaining the scenes. I guess it worked, because they loved it. They wanted to watch it several times a day. Maycie kept asking to watch "E.T. phone home." Even Alex was reciting "E.T. phone home."

Here is Addie's depiction of the lovable extra terrestrial.

Fun with our best friends, the Abbotts.

Can you tell I love pictures of sleeping children?

Happy 6th Birthday, Addie!

Addilyn Viola Macdonald

August 10th, 2003

Sugar cereal in bed. Chocolate puff marshmallow mateys. MMMM! Sugar.


Opening mom and dad's present. "My own camera".

Cowgirl Addie with extra sparkles and a cat house for "Tiger".

Thanks so much Grandma Mann!

The Cake.

Party time. Addie has so many friends it was hard to limit the number. Despite the crowd it was the smoothest birthday party we've had yet.

I borrowed the personal pizza idea from one of my childhood birthday parties. The kids assembled their own pizzas and we baked them. It was a huge success. They scarfed them down!

I love the looks on all the kid's faces.

Make a wish!

Pinata time.

Go crazy!

Creatures of the third kind.

Thanks Grandpa Duke for the cool bug glasses.

Grandma Barth sent a birthday card with money and Addie had a blast shopping for her own present. This dog with carrying case is what she chose.

Food For Thought

I asked Maycie this morning if she wanted to come sit at the table and eat her oatmeal. Her reply, "No mom. I'm fasting."

A few minutes later. "Maycie are you done fasting yet?" "No mom. Fasting takes a long time." I guess they really do listen, even if you don't think they do.

Montage Moments

Zonked!
Alex has recently given up his naps, but that doesn't mean he doesn't need them. It was taking me 45-60 minutes just to get him to sleep then he'd only sleep for 30-40 minutes. I gave up. So now he usually conks out on the couch during movie quiet time.





Where are those 2 front teeth? Just before starting kindergarten and Addie has already lost 5 teeth including her 2 front ones. I think she looks adorable.


Stylist in the house. Addie gave each of the girls in the house pigtails, including herself. She actually did a pretty good job, too.

The girls entitled themselves "Cinderella and the Fairy Godmother".

Cookie Dough and milk.

Two of my favorite Young Women, Riley Shakleford and Gabby Peterson. They promised they'd stay for church if they could come and make cookies at my house that evening. Nice bribe, but they would have stayed anyway.

Addie begs me on almost a daily basis to let her sew something. We finally settled on making night gowns for the girls. I told them the horror story of when I accidentally sewed a needle right through my finger so they were pretty cautious of their fingers, but they did a good job.

Utah

Our summer trip to Utah.

July 14-22, 2009

A little groggy due to the hour, but still excited to be going to Grandma's. We drove to Raleigh the night before our early morning flight. It was worth it to get a direct flight to Salt Lake. Due to our previous experiences flying with kids, cutting one leg of the trip saved us a lot of trouble. It was as uneventful as it could be.

The excitement may not show here, but Alex was in his element riding a bus to the airplane. He kept saying, "I go on bus and airplane!" For weeks before he was obsessed with watching airplanes on youtube. He was prepped and ready to go.

Bubble fun at Grandma's house. Addie making sure everyone waits for the bubbles to emerge before popping them.


The day before Colin and Joy's big day, the brother's watched the kids while the sisters-in-law took Joy out for a bit of sisterly initiation, which really meant pedicures, lunch and a little wedding night talk and shopping.



The wedding dinner was held the night before. I was asked to sing a few songs and I'm sure I thoroughly embarassed Colin and Joy.



The boys had their brotherly bonding that night. Their activity of choice: guns of course (soft pellet ones). They had a raucous game in the dark and all came out unscathed, fortunately.

THE BIG DAY

July 16th, 2009

Colin and Joy for time and all eternity.

The Draper Temple.

Handsome boy. Gavin and Max.

Look at those mom-made dresses. Thanks for the inspiration, Mercedes.

In addition to going in the Bountiful temple which was just finished this year, we were able to go to the Oquirrh Mountain temple open house as a family. Because the temple hadn't been dedicated yet we were able to take the girls inside. It was a wonderful opportunity to teach the girls about what we do in temples and how special they are. They learned about Angel Moroni on top of the temple (I told them how I called him "Angel Ronimo" when I was little - they got a kick out of that). We also talked about how mom and dad were married in the temple and because of that we get to be a family forever. They learned that we do work for the dead in the temple and that it is Heavenly Father's house. It was a really beautiful experience.

Hiking to Donut Falls.

While the moms rested with the little ones before the reception the dads took the older kids on a hike to beautiful Donut Falls.

I'm not sure what the girls are doing here, but it looks like singing.

Dancing cousins at the wedding reception.

At the Lake.

Andy and his friend Joe took the whole crew out on Joe's boat. All the kids had a blast.

Our first family trip to Lagoon.

Addie and Maycie had a blast. Addie couldn't find a ride that was scary enough for her. She was too short to ride any of the roller coasters, much to her disappointment. Maycie's favorite ride was the Tidal Wave. Alex was a little more timid of the rides, but really enjoyed the cars, airplanes and boats.

Best buddies and cousins. Leiden and Gavin.

Weeeeeee!

The girls got the hang of bumper cars, but Alex got stuck in a corner the whole ride. He didn't really mind as long as he got to turn the steering wheel.

Alex's favorite ride.

Our final Utah vacation excursion. Pony rides at Gardner Village.

Howdy, partner. Max and Gavin.

Yee Haw! Addie sporting the appropriate hat.