Update

Updates:

The McFarland's have had a busy few weeks...here's what's going on....

Owen: The little stinker is about a week away from his second birthday. He is such the opposite of Aiden at this age. He's a curious little monkey that gets into things and insists on doing things on his own. Last week I took him for a hair cut and he sure does look like a big kid now. He has no fear when it comes to climbing the tallest slide at the playground and going down all by himself. He LOVES to be outside and swing or play in the dirt. His favorite thing in the world would have to be a ball, and throwing anything he can get his hands on. When Aiden was his age I would ask him, "Whose baby are you?" Aiden would promptly reply "Mommy's". I've started asking Owen the same question, his reply has been...."I a big boy"....

Aiden: He has been enjoying soccer, he has practice every Monday and games on Saturdays. Somehow he ended up on an all girl team but that hasn't bothered him a bit. We've been working on being a bit more aggressive and trying to get the ball, it's such the opposite of Aiden's timid personality so it's been a bit tough. Aiden is a whiz with my IPhone and has more apps on it than I do. He can even search through the app store and find which ones are free so he can download them. Gary's Grandma gave him $5 for Easter recently and he asked me to put in the bank so he could buy more apps.

Gary: He's had a rough few weeks and been down for the count with colitis. He has more tests today, so hopefully we get him well and back to his old self. He's even managed to rub in the fact he's lost 25 lbs in the last few weeks. Not the way he'd want to do it but he still rubs it in.

Lindsey: All I can say is aggghhhhh. I'm ready for the craziness of the last few weeks to slow down a bit. This single parenting I've been doing since Gary has been sick stinks...so far these last few weeks I've dealt with two clogged toilets (thanks Aiden), and cutting the lawn only to have the front wheel fall off and then run it over...

Talkin' Tuesday

Aiden walking around the house with his nose up in the air, sniffing....

A:  What's that wonderful smell?
L:  Lysol

Glad to know that he finds the smell nice, I'm going to be using a lot since Gary has been home sick for two days.

Aiden's First Soccer Game

Aiden had his first soccer game this morning.  He did an awesome job even in the 35 degree weather.  Both teams even scored a few goals.   Hopefully next weekend it's a little warmer...

Oh, he is number 20 in the white jersey by the way.

Easter Eggs

I found the greatest thing to color Easter eggs this year at Walmart. It was an egg spinner, and to top it off it was only 5 bucks!! You put the egg in, put a few drops of colored dye on the egg, snap the top on and push the button to spin the egg. It was fantastic, no spilled dye, no splashing, even Owen could do it.

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!