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!

Tree Down!

Our beautiful Malple tree that fell on the garage. A HUGE limb fell on the garage today after a storm. Just waiting for the insurance company to come estimate the damages. I just added a new flower bed to the back of the garage this year too.

Kiddie Pool

I'm not sure who enjoyed the pool more, the kids or Miller?

Father's Day Fun

On Father's Day we had a little BBQ at our house then went down to the mill pond to play. What a great afternoon!!

Can't Believe I"m doing this.

With a little encouragement , ok a lot, from Gary I thought I'd share a little before and after picture of my weight loss so far. Currently I'm 32 lbs down and have more to go. I've been in a bit of a rut and haven't gained anything back but I haven't lost anymore either. I'm ready to get my butt back in gear!

Scrappin' With Brye

One of my best friends is finally going to have a baby and even more exciting it's a little girl. All of my girlfriends have little boys so it will be fun to have some pink thrown into the mix. Brye asked if I would make her baby shower invites but I thought having her help would be even more fun. I'm secretly trying to get Brye to start scrapbooking with me. Every once in awhile we meet up for dinner and there is an Archiver's right around the corner. I drag her with me each time and she gladly holds my basket for me. I'll get her soon.

Brye made the trek out to Brighton and we loaded the boys up in my car to drop off at my mother in laws so we could get more done. We pulled into the driveway at 2 and no one was home....ahhhh. After a quick drive around the block she was home. We were finally on our way at 2:45 and made our way to Archivers. We walked around and finally found some cute paper. The baby's bedding has lady bugs on it and is so adorable so we went with a black white and red theme. Leave Archivers then off to Michael's, then to Target and we were finally on our way back to my house. Of course by now it's 5 pm and we are hungry, a quick stop at Subway and we finally get started. We get the paper cut and start putting everything together and I'm not feeling the pink flower we decided to use. Sooooo......off to Joann's this time and in Gary's monster truck with the loud muffler. We laughed all the way there at how funny we must look in his truck. We finally found the perfect flower and headed back to my house. By now the boys were home and the production was moving at a snails pace. We decided to get the front on the invites done and we'd work on the insides soon, seeing as it was 10 pm by now.

I had such a wonderful day spending it with my best friend, some glitter and lots of catching up! I'll be sure to post the finished product soon. Love ya lots Brye!

Congrats Matt!

Gary's little brother graduated high school today (there are 16 years between the two of them, Tim is in the middle with 3 years between him and Gary). It was a little much for the kids to sit through the ceremony so we left right after they called Matt's name and waited at Gary's parent for the BBQ we had. We celebrated the best way how with some hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill. Congrats Matt, we love ya!!

Friday Fill- Ins

1. I grew up thinking changing only the green lights at intersections would be a fun job.

2. Facebook was the last website I was at before coming here.

3. Why don't you come puppy sit for me ?

4. A hot bath, a glass of wine and a quite house helps me relax.

5. Thanks for the kisses. (Love the kisses Owen hands out, wet but good!)

6. Loud mouth, know-it-alls are very off-putting.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to spending the afternoon/evening with Brye making baby shower invites, tomorrow my plans include watching my adorable nephews and Sunday, I want to work in the yard but we'll be at Matt's graduation, good excuse not to work in the yard!

Laundry...does it ever end?

Gary has been helping with the laudry. He moves it from the washer to the dryer to this chair. For some reason it never gets past this stage. I wonder if he's waiting for me to fold it all and put it away?



UPDATE: Gary folded his clothes last night and put the boys clothes in a laundry basket. I'd call that improvement.

Swinging, Slides and Turtles

The boys just love going to the park, by far the favorite thing is the baby swing. For some reason there is only one and taking turns is quite difficult for some....cough cough Aiden. Lately Gary has had a blast swinging with the boys. He likes to see how high he can get or how long till I have a heartattack from going so high with Owen in his lap. After the park we took a stroll down the boardwalk and even found a huge snapping turtle.

Blueberries and Yogurt

Owen has been LOVING blueberries lately, add it with his other favorite food and he's one happy camper. After his nap today he had a little snack of blueberries and yogurt, it made the kid so happy I had to pull out the camera. That smile of his is quite contagious, watch out...

Friday Fill- Ins

1. It's cold and oh so delicious, a tall glass of beer...mmmm.

2. I think I'm starting to like tomatoes.

3. My favorite health and beauty product is somethng new from the MAC counter.

4. Going to Mom and Dad's is always a nice long ride.

5. Well, first of all I've had it with pee and poop. Potty training and a puppy is a lot of work.

6. Aiden and ants; those were the cast of characters in a recent dream and it was quite scary.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to Gary getting home, tomorrow my plans include scrapbooking and getting examples ready for the next Feeling Scrappy class and Sunday, I want to finish the kids swing-set area!