Enjoying the Snow

Maggie LOVES the snow, and has her full life. I just knew that Christmas in snowy Utah would be her thing. We had to wait until we got to Grandma and Grandpa Matthews's house to play in the snow because we don't have snow gear. Mike took her just in to the backyard at first. They threw snowballs and rode around in the sled. Maggie kept saying, "fast, fast" even when Mike ran out of steam to push her around. The next day, we met up with some friends at the park to go sledding. She really enjoyed it until Mike and her accidentally went over the jump and crashed. It didn't take too long though to jump back into it.

She didn't want to keep her mittens on-just had to experience the whole thing.

Too intrigued to take her eyes off the snow.

Even after being out there for a while, she was begging at the door for more.

Hard to see, but there's a smile somewhere in all that bundle.

The snow was really icy and hard to walk on, not her favorite.

Watching a pregnant lady trying to get on a sled while icy is entertaining for everyone, but embarrassing to the pregnant lady.

I think we got ourselves a little Eskimo princess.

Santa

This has been Maggie's experiences with Santa this year. We started out the month writing a letter/drawing a picture for Santa. A few weeks later, he writes her back! She was really excited to get her own mail (I was thoroughly impress with the Lubbock Post office for knowing where to send his letter). 

Then last night, she gets to meet him for the first time this year. She did not want anything to do with him, until. . .

he mentions Ariel. That catches her attention.. .

for only about three seconds. Then she remembers that she is sitting on an old, crazy, man's lap. Oh well. Every kid needs a screaming photo with Santa.

Christmas Dress

Here are some pictures of Maggie modeling the dress I made her for Christmas. She would not give me an honest smile, even when bribed with chocolate. Oh well. I was nervous about making this dress because the fabric was more expensive, so I couldn't mess up. The skirt is a sheer fabric with glitter. Even though it has been two weeks, I still have glitter all throughout the house. 

Before and After

Mike and I have been working on Maggie's Christmas gift since August. I knew that Mike's schedule was busy, so we started early to give us plenty of time. I am so pleased 1. that I actually finished it and 2. it actually looks pretty cool.

Before:

 After: It did cost a bit more than I had originally planned but it was still a lot cheaper than buying one. I am so excited about the faucet. Our maintenance man found it for us. I also love the phone on the side and the apron I made for it.

San Antonio

This Thanksgiving break, we wanted to take a vacation just the three of us. San Antonio has always been on our "While in Texas" bucket list, so off we went for three days. Friday was spent downtown visiting the Alamo and the Riverwalk. We picked one of the busiest days of the year (San Antonio's big Christmas River Parade) which made it fun to be part of the festivities but also really crowded. 

On Saturday, we went to Outdoor World in the morning. Maggie got to see all the stuffed animals and fishes while running around playing with all the toys. The rest of the day was spent at Sea World. They had decorated the park for Christmas-a first for both Mike and I. We watched the pet show, Shamu, the dolphins, and the sea lion show. Maggie's favorite was the dolphin show. We went on a few kid rides and Mike went on the roller coasters (I was a bit bummed that I couldn't go on them). Maggie loved the rides. We tried to convince the worker to let her go on the kiddie roller coaster, but she was 6 inches too short. Maybe next time. Mike has high hopes for her to be his amusement park buddy.

On Sunday, we spent the morning at the drive through Safari. They had a mini zoo at the entrance with monkeys, birds, and giraffes. There were goats that you could pet. In the Safari part, you drove your car around the loop with food. The animals would come up to your window and eat the food. The scariest was the ostrich. It kept eating at our window because we couldn't get the food to him fast enough.

We had such a blast. Maggie loved spending so much time with Mike (the first night, she ended up sleeping next to him in the bed). Maggie will not remember this trip, but it meant the world to us to share fun times with her, laugh a lot as a family, cuddle up on the hotel bed together, and sing lots and lots of primary songs in the car. I am in love with my little family of three, soon to be four.

At the Alamo. We actually went to another place thinking that it was the Alamo. It was closed, so we were bummed. When we were about the leave, a family informed us that it was just a church. I would have felt really stupid posting pictures of us there, calling it the Alamo.

The whole downtown was lit up in lights for the parade.

Maggie messing around in Outdoor World.

Sea World!!

The Coke Cola polar bear commercial will always be a classic along with Bill Cosby's Jello Jigglers.

Riding the Carousel at Sea World.

 Honking an Elf nose while Mike goes on a roller coaster.

Taking a "choo choo" ride as a family.

Feeding the birds and flamingos.

This was Maggie's favorite ride, sort of a little kid version of the rocket.

At the drive through Safari. Maggie was excited to show the goat her belly button. The goat was excited to smell her diaper.

The zebra stuck his head in the window to try to get to the food.

You were suppose to just drop the food on the ground, but the animals had other plans.

Don't let that bird fool you. He would have chomped Maggie's head off. I had to throw food across the car at him because Mike had ran out and the bird wouldn't stop eating at the car.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving. I feel like each year, Christmas is creeping up sooner and sooner, overshadowing one of my favorite Holidays. There are some many things to be grateful for. When I start listing up everything I am grateful for, I am so overwhelmed with how our life has turned out. I could not ask for a better life. We have the most amazing family that is so supportive, funny, and loving to each other. We have THE best daughter in the world and a little healthy boy on the way. We are blessed with testimonies of the gospel of Christ that sustain us through trials and bind our family with a unity we could never have created ourselves. There are many more. I get nervous that the Lord will throw us a curve ball in life and I won't be able to handle it. In reality, He has but when we focus on our blessings, those trials don't seem as significant. 

I wanted to include pictures of those moments in my life that I have to stop and think, we have it good. This first picture is Maggie's first attempt at diapering her baby. It made me giggle watching her do it, especially the wiping part.

Maggie loves primary songs, to the point where it can be annoying how much she wants to sing them. This is a choreography to "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam", created by Maggie herself.

The Disney channel on Pandora is constantly playing in our house. Maggie loves dancing to the songs she recognize. It is too adorable.

Snow Day!

We had a pretty bad ice/snow storm these last few days (according to Lubbock standard) so church was cancelled. I feel bad for missing church (we are going on three weeks in a row without church), but it was fun to have a play day with Mike. Also, our water heater broke on us last night. Thankfully our maintenance man came today to fix it, so we were in our pj's until about 3 pm. Being "Texans" now, we are not prepared for snow. You can't tell in the photos, but Maggie has plastic lunch baggies over her sock because she has no shoes that cover all of her feet. Despite our lack of winter attire, Maggie loved being outside and the snow. I think Christmas in Utah will be a hit.

Preschool

Maggie doesn't nap long, so I have to be creative with our afternoons. I began "preschool" time this month, and it was been fun trying new activities. I see all these hands on activities on pinterest, so I made a list of all the ones I want to try. Some turned out better than others. I thought I would share what we have done and how it has turned out. If you guys have tried some fun things, post them so I can steal them (I have already stolen some of Amy W's and Rachel E's ideas).

1. Moon Sand (inspiration from Amy W, recipe is 4 C flour, 1/2 baby oil): Maggie loved this activity. She played in it all by herself for 30 minutes. Repeat. (Scoring is 1 being low, 5 being high)
     Enjoyment Level: 5
     Independent Level: 5
     Messy Factor: 5

2. Shaving cream: Squirt some shaving cream that foams up on high chair. Maggie didn't know what to do with this at the beginning. I think it works better with older kids who can practice writing their name, letters, or draw pictures in it. Lasted 5 minutes.

     Enjoyment Level: 2

     Independent Level: 5
     Messy Factor: 4

3. Bath paint (Inspiration from Rachel E, recipe 1 T cornstarch, 4-6 pumps of baby shampoo, 2-3 drops of food coloring, 1-2 t water): This was Maggie's first time painting and she enjoyed it. I think I put too much water in, so either do less or I would look more for a foamier recipe. Of course she ended with dumping the whole paint over and laughing about it. Lasted 15 minutes

     Enjoyment Level: 4
     Independent Level: 1 (you have to stay in the bathroom with them)
     Messy Factor: 3 (they are already in the tub, so we just rinsed everything off)

4. Black Bean tray (tray of beans/rice with egg cartoon, cars, measuring spoons): We have done things like this in the past, but the part that made it fun for her was the egg cartoon. She loved separating the beans out into the different compartments. Be sure to sweep beforehand, that way when you sweep up the beans afterwards, it is just beans and you can say them for dinner another time. Warning: It will always end with throwing the beans everywhere. Lasted 20 minutes
     Enjoyment Level: 5
     Independent Level: 4
     Messy Factor: 3

5. Easter Egg Hunt (hide either puff balls or small crackers in the eggs and place them around the room): Maggie wasn't the brightest on finding these eggs, so I just sort of laid them on the floor around the room. The first time, she liked carrying the basket, but after that, I think she thought it was work. She always got a kick out of opening the eggs, especially if there was a snack inside. Lasted 30 minutes.
     Enjoyment Level: 4
     Independent Level: 2 (I had to help her with finding some of the egg and keep her motivated)
     Messy Factor: 1

6. Color Sort with Puff balls (sort the different color puff balls into small containers): Maggie love it when I pull out the puff balls. I started out with jut a few colors, then worked our way up. She's not quite old enough to sort on her on, so it turned unto a game where she hovered the ball over the containers while I said yes or no-the more exaggerated the no, the better. Lasted 10 minutes.
     Enjoyment Level: 3
     Independent Level: 1 (as she gets older, hopefully that will change)
     Messy Factor: 1

7. Straws in slotted container (punch holes on top of oatmeal container and kid pushes straws/pipe cleaners through the holes): These type of activities are fun the first one or two times, but then they master it and get bored. Either put it away for a month or call it quits. Lasted 10 minutes.
     Enjoyment Level: 3
     Independent Level: 5
     Messy Factor: 1

8. String a necklace (using plastic or wooden beads, string them onto a pipe cleaner or yarn): Maggie is capable of doing this, but with a lot of help and supervision. I used the plastic beads from the dollar store, but if you got big wooden beads, it would work better. I think that I wanted her to like it more than she actually did. Lasted 10 minutes.
     Enjoyment Level: 2
     Independent Level: 1
     Messy Factor: 1

9. Play dough: Even though I would say that gack or flubber or whatever you call the other stuff would be easier for her to manipulate, she still had fun playing with it. Lasted 15 minutes.
     Enjoyment Level: 3.5
     Independent Level: 3 (I was able to cook dinner, but I didn't dare leave her by herself because I didn't want it wandering into the livingroom).
     Messy Factor: 3.5

10. Pointillism (paint using q tips instead of a paint brush): I was nervous how this was going to go, but Maggie really  did well. I drew the outline of a tree and she painted the leaves. Lasted 10 minutes (was hoping for more).

     Enjoyment Level: 4 (she really liked though it didn't last long)

     Independent Level: 2
     Messy Factor: 3 (we kept in contained in the hair chair and Maggie doesn't like to get messy-though with any other kid, it would be a 5)

Belly Time!

A couple of people have asked to see my belly, so here it is. The top one is me pregnant now at 21 weeks, and the bottom is me pregnant with Maggie at 21 week.I feel like I am about the same. Some shirts make me look bigger than others (I reserve those for days I am at home). Overall, this pregnancy has gone smoothly. We are excited about our little boy. We just got him his first pair of camo shorts-he will be a true Matthews boy now.

Halloween

I know that Halloween is officially tomorrow, but tonight was our ward's Trunk-or-Treat, so it felt like it. I love family-themed costumes, and now that we have a little princess, we are just accessories to her costume. This year, we went as Red Riding Hood. It is sort of a Price girl tradition. We have this particular cape that my mom made that each of us (and Dusty) wore several times. I remember when I was little, tripping over the hem while parading around the school. 

Maggie thoroughly enjoyed the evening. I was impressed that she carried her own basket. She figured out the candy quickly, though she would have been just excited for rocks. 

The Pumpkin Patch

This was our one free weekend for months. Mike took his final yesterday, so we got a school-free family time. A trip to the pumpkin patch was a must. It was our first time going, and it was so much fun. Mike took Maggie on the cow train, played hide-and-seek with the hay maze, took the hay ride to pick out a pumpkin, survived the corn maize, and enjoyed wonderful Texan brisket. It was such a perfect family outing.