And...

This was taken recently at Mac's daycare so we don't know exactly how this encounter with Santa went, but here is our guess.

Hey Santa,
I want buzz and woody and basketball and football and baseball and soccer ball and umm games and...

For some added realism, try stuttering and repeating every other word at least twice.  That's how Mac talks when he gets excited, and he is EXCITED about Christmas.  (This is the kid who had to read the Toys R Us Christmas catalog (his book) at every meal for at least 2 weeks.)
This past Friday, one of the Dads at daycare came in with a Santa hat and beard on and Mac just stopped and stared with his mouth hanging open.  He couldn't believe that Santa was here already.  After Santa left the  building, Mac told everyone in the room that Santa was there to bring him his buzz and woody.

I'm so glad that he his "getting it" this year. That he knows what is going on and gets almost as excited about picking out gifts for others as he does telling us what he wants.  But sometimes I worry that he's missing the real meaning of Christmas - the birth of Christ.  I try to make sure he knows that story and that we think about others this time of year.
I worry, but i really shouldn't.  Mac will randomly start telling us about baby Jesus.  He will tell us that the angel at the manger says "Glory to God!"  Since we have started talking about and focusing on Christmas, his rocking horse has become his donkey.
As much as I'm happy that he's "getting it" with Santa and the gifts, I'm even more excited that he is "getting it" with Jesus and the story of his birth.

Jingle Bells!

By the way the ornament features Cindy Lu Who from How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Decorating

We've had our trees up for a week or so, but its taken me a little longer to get the pictures on the blog.  Here is Mac with his little tree in his room.

 He decorated it himself, mostly.

 We had to help a little because the ornaments were all congregating in one location.  Like on Hairy Dog...

 And the angel on top

But otherwise he did an excellent job and he hasn't once taken the balls off and thrown them.  (We had a talk about that as we were decorating)  The house looks pretty festive and smells like Christmas too.
Now we just have to finish up the last of the present hunting and wrapping.  The wrapping is a little slow with Mac's help.  Mostly because I only have the patience to do a few at a time.  He gets a little ahead of me with the scissors and tape so I have to keep reigning him in the whole time.  But I still can't resist such a sweet little helper.

Nighttime drama

Sorry its been quite a while since we managed a post.  Its been a whirlwind lately.
We had a great Thanksgiving, Mac loved getting to play with cousins.  I'm not sure he really even ate anything he was so busy running around.  We can't wait for Christmas so we can see even more family.

Last night Mac woke up at 4 am and came to our room.  He was scared because he said there were sharks in his room.  He loves to play sharks and pretend they are in his room and we get them out.  Usually its a fun game, but last night he seemed really scared.  He was shaking and didn't want to go back to bed.  We turned on the lights and checked everything and got him calmed down.  He went back to bed and said that I could go back to bed as well.  That only lasted a few minutes and then he was back in our room.  I probably made a mistake by letting him get in our bed then.  My thought was that I was really tired and wanted to go back to sleep.  Ha. That was a terrible reason because I hardly slept at all after that.  I don't know how anyone so little can take up so much room.
Here's hoping that we won't repeat that experience again tonight.

Happy Halloween

Trick or Treat!
We visited a few houses in our neighborhood tonight and also gave out a little candy of our own.  It was a nice amount of halloween.  We don't have a ton of candy that we have to eat and he didn't get completely worn out walking around.
Here is a few pictures from the highlight reel.

 "Trick or Treat!"

 Being a fireman is serious business.

Check out the Loot!

The real surprise of the day happened while we were getting ready for church this morning.  After breakfast Doug went to get in the shower and Mac asked if he could play for a few minutes before bathtime so I went to dry my hair.  Five to ten minutes later I noticed that things were a little too quiet.  I went to check on Mac and found him putting diapers from a new box into his diaper drawer.  A very constructive project he was working on, just that he was bottomless.  I asked what he was doing and he said he had pooped in the potty. Apparently he decided that he needed to go and so he went.  He even took off his pull-up and put it in the trash and when he went to get a clean one he decided to restock the drawer for me.  Luckily I got to him before he reached the point of dumping his potty into the toilet which might have been disastrous.  I told him that I was very proud of him, but next time to tell me so I could help him.  Thats what mom's are for right?

Full Circle

Well the blog has officially come full circle.  We started with our very first post as a picture from an ultrasound and now here is another one.  This is the first pictures of baby 2 so you can't tell very much yet.  So far all we know is that things look good and they have re-estimated our due date for June 4th.  I may not feel this way by the time June gets here, but I'm actually hoping for June 6.  Mac is 3/3 and my birthday is 4/4 so I think that would be a nice way to make an addition to the family.

Pumpkins!

This is a little late, but the weekend before last we went to Washington Farms.  Its a local farm that has a corn maze and tons of other kids activities.  We had a great time playing all afternoon and even managed to take a few pictures.  I was surprised as I uploaded these pictures to see how tall Mac looks all of a sudden.

A Curious George moment

Tonight Mac was playing and somehow managed to get his foot stuck in his chair. Luckily this exact same thing happened in an episode of Curious George we saw recently so we were well prepared. And also luckily we did not have to call the fire department like they did in George's case. Though Mac probably would have enjoyed that.

The Knack

Mac is a funny kid. I guess most 2 year olds are, but we pretty much only know him.

Sunday after church we sat down to eat lunch at a restaurant. After getting our drinks he insisted that he needed the salt. After grabbing it, he dumped some onto his napkin and then placed his drink onto it. He was pretty pleased with himself, but went on like it was nothing.

After laughing we asked him where he learned to do that.

He said "Huh, Papa." "Huh" is the first thing out of his mouth anytime he is asked a question. Quite annoying, but I am sure typical for his age.

I thought this was funny enough to let Papa know. He modestly replied "He may have figured out on his own how the salt breaks the adhesion properties of the wet paper. After all, he is my grandson."

If that is the case, then perhaps its one of the early symptoms of The Knack.

Of course shortly after this he exhibited symptoms of not having The Knack by shamelessly flirting with two ladies at a nearby table. Perhaps he is a rare breed - a ladies man with The Knack.

BIG news

This past weekend we went down to Americus to visit family and have a late celebration for Grandpa Tom's birthday.
Sunday we decided to meet up with the Cook/Chadwick/Ragsdale crowd at Ryan's and there we found even more celebrations.  Uncle Mike proposed to his girlfriend (she said YES!) and Chet announced that he is going into the ministry.  We are unbelievably excited for both of them, but the celebrations did not end there...








A translation for those of you who don't speak 2-year old: Mac is going to be a big brother! (yay Mommy...)
Samantha is due at the end of May, just after Doug's cousin.
We are super excited and glad that Mac is excited, even if he doesn't fully understand.

All in all, it was a great weekend and we are amazed at all the ways God is blessing us, even when we don't deserve it.  He truly is an amazing God.

Morning with the McFarlands

Good morning everyone. We are visiting Nana and Grandpa Tom. That means our morning started with homemade French toast and now Mac is helping wash dishes. It makes me nervous so I'm distracting myself by blogging.

Teaching points

Being a parent is full of fun and excitement. Its also full of opportunities for teaching a child about things that are truly important, like family, faith, and giving to others. On October 30th we will have a chance to share some of these things with Mac, even if he isn't quite old enough to understand fully yet.

That day we are planning a trip to Columbus, GA to participate in the Alzheimer's Association Memory Walk. This event is the largest fundraiser for the Alzheimer's Association - the world leader in research and support for this disease.

The real importance of this trip has to do with why we are walking and who we are walking with.

We are walking in memory of my grandfather (Pop Pop), Charles Robert McFarland.

He suffered from Alzheimer's for several years before passing away just after Thanksgiving in 2003.

We will be walking with my grandma who took care of Pop Pop as he struggled with Alzheimer's.

We'll also be joined by many of her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

There are plenty more family members who will not be able to join us, but I am excited about having a mini-reunion and honoring Pop Pop at the same time.

Since this is a fund raising event, we are obviously trying to get donations. This is the part that I don't like. Thankfully I can just put this link out there and give people the chance to donate without putting pressure on anyone.

Click here if you would like to donate.

Thanks.

Good night

We had a great night tonight. I think Mac was making up for how ill he was on Saturday and Sunday. He was really sweet tonight, didn't pitch a fit about dinner or washing hands or anything really. He ate dinner better than he has in quite awhile and was very entertaining eating his beans (pinto beans -we finally had to cut him off because he kept asking for more.)

He had a rather creative night as well. He added a little extra ornamentation to his police car. So funny looking that we had to take a picture. Of course then he wanted to cheese and get a few extra pictures too.

For your viewing pleasure...

Weekend of sports

Wow, what a weekend!

This weekend we took Mac to the UGA vs Utah soccer game on Friday night. UGA looked really good from what little I was able to watch between chasing down Mac and his friend Brooks and being used as a jungle gym. The Dawgs won 3-0 and we were sitting almost next to UGA's starting QB Aaron Murray, so that was cool.

Saturday morning I went for a 5 mile run, continuing my half marathon training. I still have a long way to go before feeling confident enough to try the race. While I was running, Mac and Samantha went for a walk around UGA's intramural fields. Apparently it was very exciting, getting to see dogs and giant caterpillars.

Saturday night we took Mac to his first Braves game. It was a great night except for the North Avenue Trade School nerds sitting behind us who thought they were at a Georgia Tech event. Thankfully Brett and I were able to restrain ourselves and not visit the Atlanta City Police Department.

We were seated one section over but on the same level as the fireworks they shoot after each strike out. Mac loved the "fire."

We had great weather and saw a great game - the Braves won 12-3. Tim Hudson surpassed 1,500 career strike-outs AND had a career high 13 strikeouts. Brett's favorite player Matt Diaz even got a home run.

Before we left we took Mac over to a kids play area. They have a baseline set up to run and he had a great time doing that. As we were getting ready to leave Prado hit a homerun and we were standing right under the Coke bottle that shoots fire works. It was perfect timing.

Check out the pictures to see the awesome seats we had, then check out the highlight video that SportsCenter somehow forgot to include. Unfortunately we forgot the camera so these came from a cell phone with a setting changed from playing with it earlier.

ABC...jump!

Mac loves to perform - sometimes.

Mac loves to rough-house, jump off of things, etc. - sometimes.

The other night he was more than happy to do both of these. Of course, it didn't hurt that it was bedtime, so he welcomed any opportunity to delay the inevitable.

Which is how this happened

Splash

Tonight while gathered at Grandma Dalton's house, Mac has enjoyed playing with all his cousins. He's seeming very grown up going up and down the long staircase without any help.

Apparently cousin Walker (who is 3) went to use the bathroom all by himself. Mac seemed to think that was a good idea. Suddenly we hear him crying from upstairs and Lolly and I went running to check on him. He was the only kid up there and he was in the toilet. He had gotten his shorts and pullup pulled down and climbed onto the toilet. Of course he had put the seat up since Walker did. When we got there his legs were dangling out of the toilet and he was crying. He was really upset. I think it scared him and he was worried because his shirt was soaking wet.

The bad part is that I was having trouble not laughing as we fished him out. He was so distraught, but it didn't last long. Once he got dried off and had fresh clothes he was off and running once again.

Just catching up

So its been forever since we had a post and I just wanted to update you on a few recent things.
Life is in a pretty normal pattern with us, that is to say constantly up and down. I guess its normal behavior for a two-year-old to be a fun perfect kid one moment and a whinny crier the next. It's hard to tell what might set him off.

But when he's good he's very very good. Last night we had grilled salmon, rice, and spinach salad for dinner. He cleaned his plate. I showed him how to put a blueberry on a spinach leaf and eat them together. He didn't complain once. In fact he said it was good. After he finished dinner we had the rest of the cupcakes left over from our anniversary. (i came home from work Monday to find Mac and Doug with flowers and cupcakes, what more can a girl ask for?) In the middle of eating his cupcake he found a leftover piece of spinach and went ahead and ate that too.
The dessert was a little messy and Doug asked him what we do after eating cupcakes. He said "take a bath"
My favorite part of the evening though was after bathtime. Doug asked him if he was a girl or a boy. With a sly grin he said girl. Mac thought it was hilarious that it was irritating Doug so he just kept saying he was a girl. We finally got him to admit he was a boy because Doug wouldn't let him watch Buzz and Woody until he said it right. If he already has Doug's number like that heaven help us when he gets to be a teenager.

Happy Birthday America

We had a great time celebrating July 4th - a visit from Jessica and Eric, first Peachtree Road Race, grilling out, and fireworks. Mac may not completely understand the meaning of July 4th but he sure got into the spirit when it came time to eat! He especially loved the corn on the cob.

You should see the other guy...

Mac had a little incident at school yesterday. He and a friend were playing trucks and he somehow ended up with carpet burn on his face. Little boys...who knows?  He got ice though so he was totally cool with it. Besides he loves having a boo boo to talk about.

Silly bands

Mac has discovered silly bands much to our chagrin. Some of his teachers have them so he had seen them. Then last night he found the silly bands attached to his cookie favor from Taylor's party.  (Doug was trying to open the bag with the cookie and Mac asked if he needed scissors) 

I usually don't let him take toys into school, but he wanted to show them to his teachers. I had bad luck with a Barbie skirt that went to school with me and never came back.(don't ask) 

I should have taken the hint though when we pulled up to school and he said "I not put silly bands in my cubby"  hopefully he listened to the teachers when they told him too.

ABC's

Mac was singing his ABC's this morning. I tried to get some video but he was wandering around too much. Maybe later. He was also helping me take out the cereal boxes for recycling. Its adorable how he says "recycling" though it is a little hard to understand.

He is just talking up a storm lately. We never know what is gonna pop out of his mouth.

We also found out that he does know his colors perfectly. For a while now when you ask him what color something is he will just guess randomly (usually purple). It turns out that at school he will volunteer the correct color without being asked. For example, he has told his teacher, "Thats a yellow circle and thats a yellow circle. Thats the big one and thats the little one." He only pretends not to know things when he is being quizzed. We thought that was the case because of the little grin he gets when he answers, but its nice to know for sure that he is just messing with us.

Growing up

Last night Mac went number 1 in his potty right before bedtime.  We recognized the "concentration" face and quickly stopped trying to get him in the bed and put him on the potty.

Tonight was even better.  This time he asked to go potty before bed.  After waiting a while (guess we should get used to that) he stood up, moved the "seat" away and went standing up.  I know we have a long way to go, but it is exciting to see progress.

Big Boy Bed

We had a productive afternoon converting Mac's crib to a toddler daybed. He is really excited about it. He would hardly even let us put the mattress back on before he was trying to climb up. As you can see he was immediately ready to go "night-night" or at least pretend. We shall see if it actually lasts and he wants to sleep in there by tonight.

We are expecting a rough night, but it won't be any different than the past week. He is having nightmares or something that wakes him up every night screaming. He doesn't want to go back to bed unless someone stays with him, that has made for many nights on the floor or the chair in his room. I have a hope (but not expectation) that this might help snap him out of whatever is going on. At least this might be a good time for change since things haven't been going well anyway or maybe a terrible time (we shall see tonight).

One of our biggest concerns is that he won't stay in bed, but he isn't staying there anyway lately so that is nothing new. For a while now he has been jumping out of his bed and no punishment or reward seems to be enough to keep him there.

Warrior dash

Today we went to the warrior dash.  Its a race/obstacle course (think jumping fire and crawling through mud)  mac made alot of friends as always especially when wearing Doug's warrior helmet (as pictured). 

Doug took several pounds of dirt away from Mountain City but most of it has gone down the drain.  One of our favorite parts was checking out all the crazy costumes.  We look forward to seeing the pictures taken by everyone else becuase this is about all we got.  Luckily we met friends there with better camera skills than ours.

The only downside is that Mac was too cranky and Doug was too dirty for stopping at the Dillard house, but we are making up for it with Mirko pasta.

I ride racecar!

Last night we enjoyed a chance for  family outing to the softball fields for a game. Mac loves softball night especially when he gets to ride in the mustang. He calls it the racecar and all he talks about is how he's riding in the racecar. And last night was made even morefun since we won. Mac and I actually watched more of the game than I've seen since before he was born. So it was a win on several points.

New Bedtime Routine

No matter how well a bedtime routine works, it never seems to stick.
We always adapt and go with what works. Sometimes its sweet, sometimes its a battle, and sometimes it is just cute.

The new one definitely falls under the cute category. Samantha received a Little Mermaid birthday card and Mac has decided that it is his. And that he has to look at it every night.
He did this a few nights before we remembered to get a video camera out. In the past he would always get shy whenever we tried to record him doing something cute or funny. Not this time. This time he decided to ham it up and put on an even better show.

It might take a while to load, but we think it is worth your time.



The best part is that when the camera was turned off, he tried to instruct Doug to get the camera back out for his last performance.
Not too many dull moments around here.

Can we get our child back please?

How do you get a two-year-old to stop being a two-year-old? (in my head this is to the tune of 'What do you do with a general' from White Christmas)

I don't know if its from being spoiled like crazy over our vacation, or if he's getting sick, or maybe the transition to his new class at school is a little tough for him. It may just be a little from column A and a little from column B (and C). Mac has had a rough couple of days. He is crying more and pitching fits even at school which is not his norm. Slowly, slowly we are bringing him around and today was a better day at school. However it still involved a good bit of crying.

Sadly it seems that it takes a very short time to spoil a kid into rottenness and a long time to get him back to his normal, happy, even-tempered self.

In the mean time, anyone want to babysit?

Disney 2010

So its taken me a few days to get this post up, but we had a mountain of laundry and no food so those were the first priorities.

We had an amazing time at Disney World, but it was exhausting. Mac loved getting to meet the Disney characters. He actually ran up to Minnie Mouse and gave her a hug. He was a little scared of the others though. He enjoyed some of the rides, but I don't know that he fully understood what was going on. The race cars at the magic kingdom were his favorite, we just had a hard time getting him out of the car afterward.

While there Mac wanted little to nothing to do with Doug and I. Since coming home he wants to hold my hand walking through the house. Go figure. We are starting to get back into our regular routine, but it will take some time.

Anyway,here are the pictures. Sorry I know there is way more than most people want to see but I narrowed it down as much as I could.

Disney 2010

Happy Easter!

I haven't had a chance to look at and edit the other photos, but I'll try to post them as soon as I can. For now I hope everyone is having a happy Easter like we are.

Whose child is this?

When Mac and I got home, I told him to come with me so I could change.  I went in our room but he didn't follow.

I finally found him in his room, taking the new bag of socks and putting them into his sock drawer.  Not only that, but I was throwing something away later and found that after he put away his new socks, he put the bag into the kitchen trash!

Keep in mind that nobody told him the socks where his, much less that they needed to be put away.  I'm pretty sure that's his mom and not me.

Who's child is this?

When Mac and I got home, I told him to come with me so I could change.  I went in our room but he didn't follow.

I finally found him in his room, taking the new bag of socks and putting them into his sock drawer.  Not only that, but I was throwing something away later and found that after he put away his new socks, he put the bag into the kitchen trash!

Keep in mind that nobody told him the socks where his, much less that they needed to be put away.  I'm pretty sure that's his mom and not me.

Maybe we have had too much birthday lately?

Monday night Mac was eating some pineapple while we made dinner. It probably wasn't the smart thing to do, but I gave him toothpicks to eat with. After a while Doug and I look over to notice that he has two toothpicks stuck in a piece of fruit and is singing happy birthday. We could recognize two lines "Happy birthday to you" and "Happy birthday to Mac" (which he stretched into two syllables to make it fit the tune) When he finished he blew out the toothpicks.

What a crazy kid!!

Then last night Doug said he was singing happy birthday to himself again as he looked at his birthday cards. I guess he certainly has this birthday thing figured out now. I wonder what that means for next year?

2 Year Doctor Visit

We went to the doctor today for the 2 year appointment. Mac did amazing! He stood up to be weighed and measured like a big kid. He didn't fuss at all when the doctor checked him. He didn't even mind having his finger stuck, he just didn't want a band-aid on it. That actually gave us a little trouble since it took a few minutes for it to stop bleeding.
His new stats are 34 inches tall, 32 lbs, and 19 1/2 inches head circumference.

Test Birthday Run

Today is Mac's actual birthday so we had to celebrate a little today even though the party is on Saturday. It also gave him a test run to practice with blowing out the candles, etc. He did well, but no surprise there since it involved cake.
In some of the pictures he looks upset, but its mostly because he makes a crazy "cheese" face when you try to take his picture. He was having a blast, its just hard to capture in a picture sometimes.

Racecars

racecars

racecars

racecars

racecars

I took Mac to Lowes this morning to make the Lowebot - a race car robot, and was surprised to see Carl Edwards 99 Scotts Ford Fusion out in the parking lot. Its an actual car that has been raced, but it was also cleaned up for show. I guess they are starting to make the rounds, getting promotions in before the Atlanta race next weekend.

We had a good time making the lowebot and an even better time just looking at the real race car. I apologize that there aren't better pictures of Mac, but he was insistent on wearing his apron AND goggles starting when we were getting ready to leave the house, and he wouldn't look at me very much - more interested in looking at the car. Mac mostly just stood there and said "whoa" over and over, but he did manage to ask if he could see the engine. Ok, so maybe I asked, but either way, they let us look at it. They mentioned possibly firing it up a little later, but weren't sure when, or even if, they would do that. They were worried about bending the pushrods if the engine was too cold. Plus, they've gotten in trouble in the past for firing it up and scaring an unaware customer with the loud engine.

I also got to meet one of Mac's friends from his school. Its always neat to see how he reacts to seeing someone "out of place." Both he and Blake recognized each other and were able to introduce the dads.

One last thing - I've been trying to teach him to say "Boogity, boogity, boogity, let's go racin' boys!" He doesn't even come close, but he tries with such enthusiasm, its pretty cute.

Blocks

Tonight Mac and I were playing with his Duplo blocks (think slightly bigger Lego's) and he was so cute. He built a tower that I had to hold up because it was so wobbly. When he had used all of the blocks he put a finger to his lips and said shhhh! He paused for a few moments with his hands outstretched. Then he yelled and smashed the tower with both hands. He was incredibly pleased with himself. Apparently you have to sneak up on the blocks, just in case you didn't know.

Snow!

So our laptop died last week and we've been setting up the new one so it took me a little bit to get this video uploaded. I think it was worth waiting for though. He really enjoyed the snow. The problem is that when he says snow it sounds like no. Since no is his favorite word lately it was a little confusing.

tee time

tee time

tee time

tee time

tee time

tee time

tee time

tee time

Haircut

Just a little note about something that happened tonight.
Doug and I were discussing whether or not Mac needs a haircut. I was saying i think its getting a little long and Doug of course thinks that its fine. While we are talking about it Mac went into the kitchen and I called him to see what he's doing. I hear a drawer open so I went to check it out. I told him that he didn't need anything out of that drawer and closed it. He seemed distressed and said plaintively "haircut." I then realized that he was in the drawer that (thankfully) recently contained scissors. I moved them a few days ago and I guess he doesn't know that yet. Otherwise he might have just given himself a haircut before we could decide.

Puppy

Jessica and Eric got a new puppy and they brought him by to visit on Saturday night. We took a few pictures of Mac and Tate (I feel like that is the title to a children's book). While we ate dinner, Tate was in his crate and whining. Mac continually went to the crate and looked in. He either said "Okay puppy" or "No puppy!" I guess that part is cuter if you can hear him say it. After they left we got a little worried because even though Mac said goodbye to the puppy (and he is really cute saying that with his little British accent) he was looking for Tate after they left. He kept walking around saying "Puppy, Puppy?" with his hands in that question shrugg that he does.

Story time

Mac decided to read a book or two to Samantha who wasn't feeling well.

Ben's party 07

Baby Sarah

Ben's party 06

WE WANT CAKE!

Ben's party 05

painting Macasaurus t-shirt

Ben's party 04

painting Macasaurus t-shirt

Ben's party 03

painting Macasaurus t-shirt

Ben's party 02

painting Macasaurus t-shirt

Ben's party 01

painting Macasaurus t-shirt

Ben's Party

we went to Ben's birthday party today and had a great time. I am trying out ways to post pictures and words to the blog at the same time from my phone, so bear with us as we experiment.