Happy 7th Birthday David!

Tomorrow is David's 7th birthday, boy how times flies I remember being so excited to be an aunt!

Jessica and Tony had a little bowling party today for David and a few of his friends. The boys had a great time, it was Aiden and Owen's first time bowling. Owen was so excited, anything that involves a ball gets him excited.

Some Re-Modeling Pics

Just thought I would share some pictures of the remodeling project so far. Tom was over this weekend to help Gary out and they got a lot of the demolition done. We decided to raise the ceiling in the bathroom up to 8 feet, these crazy cottage ceilings are so low. Gary and Tom framed in and insulated for the added height and then busted out the old plaster ceiling.
 
 
 
There is only one wall left to knock down and that one is drywall so hopfully it won't be as messy as the plaster. Once that wall comes down I'll have a huge bathroom and we can start the tiling.

Snowman Family

The boys and I headed outside to play in the snow on Sunday, Aiden thought it would be fun to build a whole snowman family. The boys helped me roll the first snowball for our first snowman and then gave up and went to play on the swingset. So.....guess who was left to build the rest of the family?....me! After rolling all those snowballs I also kind of gave up and didn't add much decoration to the snowmen other than arms. After playing outside for awhile we went in to warm up and I got out my camera to take a picture and one of the snowmen. Of course by the time we got in one had fallen over already. Tom was here helping Gary re-do the bathroom and surprised me by going out and standing up the snowman...he even added some touches to the fallen snow"woman". Can you guess which one it was?
 
 

Sewing, sewing, sewing

I've been working on a little sewing project to use as favors for the "Sprinkle" we are throwing for Jessica. Mom came over last weekend and helped finish them up....


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Winter Blahs

The winter blahs have hit, especially with this latest snow fall. So the boys and I ventured out to Joann's the other day. I found this great fabric and decided to re-cover a few pillows in this bright springy fabric. It's the little things that count....maybe spring will come soon!


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Winter Zoo Trip

We've started a sort of tradition Papa and the boys, every January during a little warm up we take the boys to the zoo. It's so neat to see the animals in their winter homes, you get to see them soo much closer. The winter trip has been the best time to see the polar bears it seems.

Papa, Aiden and Kyle


A seal swimming above

Check out those blue eyes..

Cupcakes

What's the best breakfast? Cupcakes of course! We've been on a baking kick lately, the boys helped me make cupcakes this morning and couldn't wait to try one. Even Layla got a lick or two....








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Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake

While thumbing through this months Better Homes & Gardens I saw a recipe for chocolate peanut butter cheesecake. It looks beyond fabulous so Aiden and I decided to make it today while Owen napped. I hope it tastes as good as it looks, it has a layer of peanut butter cheesecake sandwiched between two layers of chocolate cheesecake...mmmm






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New Purse

I finished sewing my first purse today. I think it came out pretty cute.


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Happiness

The new love of my life, I'm not sure how I would get through most days without him...


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Christmas Morning

Two little boys must have been good this year because Santa sure left a lot of presents. What a fun Christmas this year, both the boys really enjoyed it.
 

Make It, Bake It, Sew It Or Grow It Christmas 2009

This year (well last year) we decided to try something new, instead of exchanging gift cards with each other we were going to try a make it, bake it, sew it or grow it Christmas. It was a blast!

Here is a breakdown of how it went:

Nana had Cheryl and made her wash clothes and two new scarfs

Cheryl had Nana and made her Christmas bulbs and grew here an Amaryllis plant.

Uncle Bill had Gary and made his a wooden chest of drawers for all his "garage stuff"

Gary had Billy and made him a washer toss game

Billy had Steve and made his a photo frame of pictures that spelled out Susalla. All the pictures were of places or things that pertained to his life.

Steve had Emily and made her homemade concord grape wine.

Emily had Tony and also made him a washer toss game...with the help of Billy

Tony had Meghan and made her a giant planter box and filled it with poinsettias

Meghan had Lindsey and made her a raspberry liquor and knitted her a scarf

Lindsey had Uncle Bill and made him mosaic pot and painted him a garden stake

Aunt Carolyn had Jessica and made her a recipe holder filled with her favorite recipes along with some towels she sewed for her wet hair.

Jessica had Aunt Carolyn and panted her a Christmas platter and baked chocolate chip cookies.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve we headed over to Papa and PapaMoms. The boys couldn't wait to open their gifts!

The adults opening their gifts...

Happy 4th Birthday Aiden

Aiden celebrated his 4th birthday with his wonderful family! Both the boys had been fighting a horrible cold all week but we were still able to have a party, complete with bright red noses and lots of tissue. He has been waiting for his birthday and I think he was more excited for that then Christmas this year. He opened all his presents and thanked everyone so politely.

 


Here are a few of Aiden's favorites at 4:

Cars! Not just any cars the boy is still in love with Disney Cars and everything that goes along with them

Anything tiny! The smaller the object the more he wants it! His favorite shirt to wear in a button down but it HAS to have a pocket to carry around all the little things he acquires.

Chocolate milk...we just call it crack around here!

Layla. That boysloves his dog, I'm not sure she loves him as much but she sure puts up with a lot. She even lets Aiden drag her around by her collar.

Macaroni and cheese...it's just about the only thing the kid will eat.

Holiday Decor

I just love looking into my living room and seeing the tree all lit and the mantel decorated.





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Annual Cooking Decorating

I have been decorating cookies with my girlfriends since before we had kids. As the kids get bigger and more are added it gets more hectic. This year we decided we would have all the cookies baked and ready to go. The boys had a great time, they got in there did their decorating and were gone again to play in 10 minutes.

Jackie and Alexander
 
Jake was a mad man with the sprinkls
 
Thanks for taking some pictures Brye....it's nice to be in a few!
 
Aiden and Owen going to town...
 

The group of boys is no more...we now have a little princess in the group. Aiden was just in love with Gabby! He helped Brye all day, getting binkies, bottles and toys for her.
The three little monkies jumping on the couch!

Gingerbread House

I decided to get all crafty this year and make my own gingerbread for a house. It was a bit of a pain, but I'm sure I'll do it again. Daddy and Owen had an afternoon out shopping so Aiden and I decided it would be a perfect time to decorate the house. I think Aiden did a pretty awesome job!
 

Cookies

The boys helped me make sugar cookies for decorating. Aiden helped me mix up the dough while Owen was napping and once he was up both the boys helped roll and cut out the sugar cookies. Aiden was my roller and Owen was my patter.
 
 
 

Christmas Photo

I tried getting a picture of the boys by the tree to use as a new header for the blog, this is the best of what I took....

Aiden wouldn't stop being goofy and Owen would not stand any closer to Aiden so, Merry Christmas from the McFarland's!

Christmas Tree 2009

We decorated the tree a while back (yes it was before Thanksgiving)so I thought I would finally get around to adding the pictures to the blog. Aiden was soooo excited to put the tree up, he knows that Christmas time means his birthday is getting close.




Both the boys helped put ornaments on the tree this year. I have to say that there isn't nearly as many on this year because of a certain little blonde haired boy. Owen likes to go down and rearrange all the ornaments. I have to laugh because the other day we were walking through Target's Christmas section and Owen looked right at me and said, "Uh uh uh no no" while shaking his finger at me. I guess he does hear what I'm telling him, he just chooses not to listen when he's at home.