our little girl is 5!

blake and i are finding it hard to believe that our little mace is already 5 years old!!!  she was so excited for her birthday and to be 5.  when she woke up that morning she told me that now that she was 5 she was too big for me to carry.  tear!  she requested a mickey mouse clubhouse cake… that turned out super cute.  we just had the grandparents over this year for dinner that macie planned… macaroni & cheese, pizza rolls, turkey sandwiches and cheetos… and birthday cake with cotton candy ice cream.  none of it was gourmet… but she loved it!

gingerbread houses 2013

well, we got a little bit closer to the gingerbread village that blake was wanting for this christmas.  aunt chichi spent a whole day with us and made her own house.  blake was the "structural engineer" this year for all of the houses.  can you guess which one is macie's?  hint:  it's the one with the "snowballs" on the roof!

ready for turkey

we are getting really excited around the moody house for thanksgiving.  all of my aunts, uncles, cousins and their kids, and our grandma (from my mom's side of the family) will be here.  if i am counting correctly, i think we will have 26 here.  blake and i have been trying to get the house in shape all weekend... nothing like company coming to push you to get some long overdue projects done!  we also stocked the  fridge and pantry... can't wait to start cooking in a few days.  macie is also counting down the days until all of her second cousins get here... looking forward to watching them all play together and have a big cousin slumber party upstairs in the playroom.  some of my favorite memories from growing up were holidays spent with my cousins. :-)

fall pics

i love the fall colors in these pictures... and the cute, cute kiddos!  

hope you guys all had fun sunday afternoon... i did!!!

halloween 2013

october is always a busy, but fun, month around here.  last week we made cute little treats filled with hershey kisses and spider rings for all of macie's teachers... a successful pinterest project.  then on halloween, we had our annual party. outside, blake grilled hotdogs; and inside, i made pumpkin donut holes, hot cider, caramel corn and sliced apples with caramel and toffee.  we had a ton of trick-or-treaters and ended up running out of candy before the night was over.  by the end of the night my little goblins were pooped... but i made them pose for one more pic in their halloween pjs before we drifted off in a sugary coma!

peaches

yesterday we found an orchard and spent the morning picking peaches.  when we pulled up to the rows of peach trees, macie said "this is going to be more fun than i ever thought it would be!"  she did have a lot of fun... especially sampling the peaches.  when we got home (with 20 lbs of peaches) i got to work peeling them.  i made a peach cobbler and a bunch of peach baby food for brax!  he's still a few weeks away from eating fruit and veggies, but i though i'd get a head start on the homemade baby food.  we still have about half of the peaches left... i'm thinking shakes for breakfast this week and maybe some peach freezer jam... if i have the energy!

cereal

tonight was brax's first taste of "real" food.  he was a champ and gobbled down the oatmeal cereal like he'd been eating for weeks.  i'm keeping my fingers crossed that it helps him sleep a little better... the last few nights he has been up twice in the middle of the night to eat!  that's not gonna fly when i go back to work next week!!!