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!!

Photos

Last week I met up with a friend from from high school who is a photographer in SC. I've been in love with the pictures she takesn so when I found out she was going to be in town I booked a session for the boys. We met up in Rochester at Van Hoosen farm/park. The boys had a great a great time, I'm so excited to see how the pictures came out. Some teaser pics were posted. Here is the link to her blog if you want to check them out...

www.apriltoddphotography.blogspot.com

Owen's New Discovery

Owen found something new recently, little did he know it's been there the whole time. This just shows how different my two boys are, I have NEVER caught Aiden with his finger in his nose. The more I take his finger out of his nose the more it ends up in there....

Summerfest

Brighton had their annual Summerfest this past weekend so the boys and I headed downtown. Aiden was so excited to see the bounce house, he started getting mad at me because I kept driving past it in an attempt to find a parking spot. We walked around a bit and checked out the sidewalk sales then we were off to the bounce house. Aiden jumped and crawled through three different bounce houses.



Owen was such a good sport riding along


Aiden and I enjoyed a tasty snow cone.

An Afternoon at Papa and PapaMom's

The boys had a great time hanging with Papa and feeding the goats.

Sitting in the tree

Swinging away in the hammock

I'm sure Kyle won't be happy with his Aunt Lindsey in 10 years but it was too cute not to get a picture.

We had such a great afternoon just hanging with Papa and PapaMom. The boys got them all to themselves for the afternoon and then got to spend the evening with David and Kyle running around and playing. I even got to sneak away for a haircut and take a little dip in the hot tub!

Mine

Owen has learned the word mine. He no longer likes help either, someone sure thinks they are a big boy....

Barefoot No More

Owen is like is mother, he hates socks and he detests shoes. Just trying to try a pair of shoes on the kid is a struggle. After a very rude saleswoman at Stride Rite would not sell me a pair about a month ago I gave up. Well Owen is finally getting close to walking so we thought it was time to get him use to the feeling of shoes on his feet. I found these adorable Robeez sandals yesterday and so far Owen has been keeping them on. So PapaMom this picture is for you...

Watch My Garden Grow!

This is always an exciting time of year. It's not to hot, not to cold and all the flowers in my garden are really starting to flower. I love when my hollyhocks bloom. I planted them the summer we bought the house before we even moved in and get so excited to see them each year. Right now my huge honeysuckle is blooming and the wild "ditch lilies" are at their peak. Aiden even pointed out a few green tomatoes on the vine.

Chicken Blueberry Lime Pasta

I recently found this recipe and have been in love with it. I love the freshness from the limes and thyme. Since it seems I'm the only one at The McFarland's who likes it I get a few days lunches out of it. Please enjoy!

Ingredients
1lb chicken breast
8 oz. pasta
3 T. olive oil
1 large shallot
1/3 cup chicken broth
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
3 T. lime juice
1 cup blueberries
1 T. chopped fresh Thyme
1 t.grated lime zest
1/4 t. salt.

I grilled my chicken breast then chopped into bite size pieces.Cook pasta and drain. Place oil and shallot in a skillet and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally until softened and just beginning to brown (2-5 minutes). Add broth and lime juice, cook for about one minute.Add chicken, pasta dressing, blueberries, thyme lime zest feta and salt and toss until combined.Sooooooo good! Enjoy!