Halloween Fun.....now with pictures!

What a great night for family and friends. A bunch of us got together at Mom and Dad's for some pizza and drinks then headed out for a haunted hayride. ROAR!! The hayride was a little lame and not so haunted but it made for some great laughs. Afterward we headed back to the house for a big bon fire! Thanks for such a great night everyone!!!

Cheers!!


Alicia


The girls...


The girls and their moms...


Waiting in line for the hayride


Two tired boys!

Our beautiful bon fire....look at those colors

The Many Faces Of Owen

Owen has been such a ham lately, if he makes you laugh he loves it. He has quite a handful of expressions, he can have the face of an angel one minute and then show that devilish grin the next. Our favorite is the super serious face he makes, he bites down, bugs out his eyes and even gets his fingers stiff...it's a must see!

 

Friday Fill- Ins

1. Sweet dreams for my two little angels!.

2. A vacation is needed, especially for me.

3. Silliness is a must every once in awhile.

4. Aiden is excited forthis Halloween.

5. Outstanding or not I'm a sucker for any kind of cooking show on T.V..

6. A maid and a million dollars is what I want right now!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to some scrap time, tomorrow my plans include a trip to the pumpkin patch, ok it's really the produce stand but the kids don't know and Sunday, I want to have all the laundry done and put away!!!

Five Years

Yesterday Gary and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. Gary made me the sweetest card. He dipped into my scrapbook supplies and even drew a picture on the front. The message on the inside was sweeter than any store bought card. I wanted to find him something made of wood since it was the traditional 5 year gift. I couldn't find, or think of anything.....so I headed to Michael's for inspiration. As soon as I saw the unfinished wooden box I knew what I was going to make. I stained/inked the box and decorated the top. As for the inside, I filled it with little trinkets, each meaning something to our five years together. I included a little list on the inside to explain each item.
 
 
 
In the box are the following:
5 wooden hearts for each year we have been married
1 key to my heart
1 little clock for the time we've spent together
1 picture of two little boys to represent Aiden and Owen
1 Four leaf clover- because I'm so lucky to have him
1 penny from the year we were married
Each of our initials
and a little sign that says heart and soul
 

Friday Fill- Ins

1. One week ago I can't remember what I was doing, every day seems to melt into one.

2. I wanted to change the green light at intersections when I was young.

3. Mama told me you'll never feel it when you get married.

4. We are meant for each other, you and me.

5. Take your time and enjoy the everyday moments.

6. Gas will pass! (Owen helped with this one this morning)

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to catching up on my DVRed shows, tomorrow my plans include cleaning this house and Sunday, I want to make a nice fall dinner and hang with the family . Oh and New Family Guy!!!!!

Ta-da!!

We are 90% done with the walkway, we just have to cement the edges and we are done....thanks Mom and Dad for all your help.
 
The garage is also just about finished, Gary's friend Tom has to come back and finish some of the trim pieces around the roof. I also painted the garage door the other day.
 
I liked the color of the garage door so much I thought I would re-paint the back door to the house. Eventually we are going to do a door shuffle and move the front door to the back door, so until then a little paint made that crappy door look like new. The boys and I bought some fall decorations and I decided to put a wreath on the back door....not bad for a $1.99 wreath and a $2.50 bunch of silk flowers.
 

Playhouse

A friend from work has three boys that have outgrown their playhouse so se kindly dropped it off at our house for Aiden and Owen. The boys were so excited!!
 
 
Owen is serious about this playhouse thing...lol

 

Kennsington Farm

The boys and I have been going to the farm all summer, checking to see what new baby animals have been born and hiking out to the kids cottage. Aiden wanted to show daddy the farm so last Sunday we packed a picnic lunch and headed to the farm.
 
 
 

Friday Fill- Ins

1. My car is the first brand new car I've owened.

2. My purse party is coming up next.

3. Lately, things seem to be going great.

4. The bath tub is one of my favorite 'hiding' places.

5. What happened to my little baby, he has gotten so big....talking all day long and waddling along.

6. Having a clean house seems like it will never happen but is not impossible!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to spending some time with the family, tomorrow my plans include a surprise party for Darin and Sunday, I want to do something fun with Gary and the boys, they have been missing their daddy!

Look What I Found

After I finished getting ready on Sunday, I opened the bathroom door and walked into the room to find Aiden and Gary this way. They were both engrossed in the SpongeBob movie, Aiden combing his hair. They sat like that for a good hour too... 

A New Walkway

We got an awesome deal on some brick pavers from Gary's friend Luke. He has had them for a year in hopes of putting a patio in but now is moving to China for work. We had Mom and Dad out over the weekend to help get us started on the new walkway.

Gary dug out the old patio squares and pea pebble that was there...
 
Dad showed Gary how the prep everything for the pavers, I think Gary thought you just dig out the grass and lay them down. There was lots of measurments involved...
 
Owen decided to help, he thought the rubber mallet was the best...
 
All the whole pavers have been laid. We just have to make all the cuts and cement the edges in.
 

Armada Fair

A tradition for as long as I can remember, mom and dad would bring us when we were little, a trip to the Armada Fair. Papa, PapaMom and I brought all the boys out for the day. The rides didn't start until noon and they were sure to ask every few minutes if it was time for the rides. Look how little the boys look standing inside that tractor tire...
 
We checked out all the barns and the petting zoo, had some lunch and headed for the rides. The boys had such a great time, I was surprised that Aiden even rode the kiddie roller coaster!
 
 
Owen's favorite part of the day was the cotton candy. He quickly took the whole bag and proclaimed it "mine".
 

Pickle Time!

It was that time of the year again.....PICKLE TIME! It seems we didn't make enough pickles last year, so this year we decided to can a whole bushel. Here we are getting everything ready and making a mess at Mom's house.
 
 
Lots of garlic in those pickles
 
Our finished jars. We ended up with taking home the most pickles, over 30 jars! I figured Gary can open a jar every other week and we would have enough to make it through the year!
 

Garage Construction

Day one...the roof comes off
 
 
Day two...the roof is back on...
 
Uncle Tom's little helper. Aiden loved out going out there everyday to see what the guys were working on.
 
Finished pictures coming soon. Gary has to paint the new door and some trim work. We have brick pavers to instal for a new walkway up to the deck too, we just have to bribe dad to come out and help us.

Happy 80th Birthday Papa!!

We had a little reverse surprise party for Papa's 80th birthday. He thought we were all getting together for an end of summer picnic at the park. He didn't know that about an hour after the family was there that the extended family and friends were going to start showing up to celebrate a big milestone in his life. Halfway through setting up he started wondering why there were so many tableclothes. Of course the party was on the hottest day of the year but we found a way to cool off....a little dip in the fountain!
 

A Quick Update...

The laptop is so very close to be being fixed, the new keyboard came in today. I have a ton of pictures to upload and lots of news to share. I thought I would give a little update in the meantime.

Gary-
Gary has been busy with work and help his boss Dwayne flip houses. They just finished the third house this summer and are starting to look for a fourth! I think the best part for him is hanging at "the club" after working at the houses. For those who don't know Gary is a member of the VFW and he has found a new hang out for him and his friends. Gary's friend Tom just finished fixing our garage so Gary has been busy organizing "his" space.

Aiden-
Sassier than ever!! I never realized that three is such a hard age. His imagination just blows me away at times. Lately he loves to tell me the shapes he sees in the clouds. He loves giving his little brother a hard time though, there are lots of head locks and screaming already. Aiden has been working on sleeping in his own bed and Gary and I are loving it also.

Owen-
Owen has finally decided that walking is a better mode of transportation than crawling. One advantage is being able to carry things. He's getting faster and better at it every day. Owen recently had a visit to the pediatrician and is doing fantastic. He's taking after his big brother and is going to be a little peanut. He weighed in at 20 lbs 1 oz and is 29 3/4 inches. He does however take after his mother and has a huge head. That huge head seems to have a perpose though, Owen has a very large vocabulary. He's adding words everyday and will repeat most words you ask him to say. Here is a list of his most used words....

I get down
I buy that (used at Target in the toy section)
ball
baby
go
Aiden
Momma
Dada
Papa
Ay-ya (Layla)
bird
pop
save me
bite (if you are eating he'll come up and ask for a bite)
sucker
cracker
no
uh-oh
Jecca (Jessica)
a ton more I can't think of at the moment...

Lindsey-
I've been keeping busy trying to keep up with everyone else!! Working three days a week is just enough to get me out of the house but so much that things at home have to suffer. My crafting/scrapboking have been on hold, I usually don't do much in the summer months for some reason. That doesn't mean I haven't been stocking up my supplies. I'm looking forward to fall, I truly love the cooler weather and I'm excited to cook some hearty fall meals.

That's a quick update on the McFarland Family until the laptop is back up and running!!