More for the books

Mac has been really making us laugh as of late.  Just the other night I was reading him a book before bed and he asked me about Jesus.

Mac: Mom, does Jesus have ALL the powers?
Me: Yes.  He even mad you and the earth, and the animals.  He even made the water and the stars, the moon, and the sun.  He has power to do anything.
Mac: So where does he keep all the powers mom?
Me: I don't really know buddy, I just know that Jesus has a lot of power.
Mac: Probably in his pockets.
Me: Probably, that seems like a safe place to keep powers.

I was laughing so hard on the inside.  Here I am thinking that I had a good opportunity to talk to my son about the creation and possibly share my simple testimony of God and Mac is thinking Literally.  Oh that boy!  I think he still got something good out of it all though.  Hey, I think I learned something too... I know where Jesus keeps all that power!

Last night Jared was talking with his parents about the power outage at our house.  The power went out at 8:30 in the morning and didn't come back till almost 11 that night.  As he was talking about the power outage Mac came up to him and was tugging on Jared and hitting his leg to get his attention.  Finally, Jared stopped and gave Mac some attention...

Daddy, does Jesus still have his powers?
Yes Mac, Jesus still has all of his powers.
Okay... and just walked away.

I guess he is really thinking a lot about the nature of God these days.  I love it and hope he keeps asking his questions!!

Merry Christmas

Never want to forget

I try to post little stories that I never want to forget so that I can look back and laugh when my kids are all grown up.  This is on of those moments!

Jared said that he was with the kids one night while I was gone, and he really wanted to go get a drink.  He got the kids all in the car and was on his way to the gas station when he and Ryan had this conversation...

Jared: lets get in the car so we can go get daddy a drink (Diet Mountain Dew).
Ryan: Can we get one too?
Jared: No, you have apple juice at home.
Ryan: Please!
Jared: No, you have apple juice at home you can have.
Ryan: Daddy, what if your daddy took you to the gas station and bought himself a drink and didn't buy you one?  How would that make you feel?
Jared: You're right.  I'll get you a drink too.

Smart little girl!  I am a little worried about what Ryan as a teenager is going to be like!!

Also, I posted Halloween before we actually got to go trick-or-treating so I need to share this as well.

The kids literally ran from house to house!  They we so excited to be getting so much candy.  Each house we would go to they would ring the door bell and wait.  When the door open the kids froze.  I would coach them by saying something like... "Say Trick-Or-Treat; however, they hardly ever had the guts to say anything to strangers.  They would just wait to be given the candy.  Then as we would leave each house I would say "what do you say?"  I was implying that they need to say thank you for the candy.  Ryan, being the smart five year old got it and would say thank you.  However, Mac had a different take on this and would yell "NEXT HOUSE!"  He always keeps his eye on the prize!

At one point in the night it was time to turn and head back down the street, we had already gotten more than enough candy to last forever.  So I said to Mac, "lets head back down to Papa's house so you can show him how much candy you got."  He was so excited that he started to head toward papa's house.  As he approached the curb to cross the street with me he did a move just like in the movies.  He jumped off the curb and fist pumped at the same time while yelling "BEST CANDY EVER!!"  I was laughing so hard!  I could barely calm myself to tell Jared and him mom what I had just witnessed!!

Kids!  I'm going to be so sad when my kids are all grown up!  Why can't they always stay small like this!!

Let it Begin!

Last Friday, October 18, Ryan lost her first tooth!  I couldn't believe it was happening so soon!!  I really don't like loose teeth so it was painful for me to watch her wiggle that tooth around all day.  Finally she got that sucker out... with the help of her dad of course.  Just like she does, the Tooth Fairy came and left a dollar under her pillow!

Halloween

We went to Gardner Village for our annual Halloween day with Nana.  It was so much fun.  Lisa also brought the cousins Bodee and Paisley.  It was so much fun!  Ryan and Mac had a blast with the kids, and as always, Nana S. Never disappoints!  This is Ryan in her Halloween costume.  She is the Queen of the Ocean-the dress has shells all over it and the belt is a sand dollar.  All Mac cared about when picking a costume was if he could carry a sword... so Pirate it is!  He is an awesome Pirate too!

After having lunch we did the Pony rides.  Ryan rode Stedson, Bodee rode Riley, Paisley rode Coopoer, and Mac rode Silver.  I'm pretty sure I have seen dogs bigger than that pony!  It was a hoot.  The kids even got to hold a rabbit before we made our way over to get the kids faces painted.

I think the highlight for the kids is the face painting.  Ryan looks forward to it all year round.  She loves the glitter!  Paisley wasn't so sure about the whole thing but she ended up getting her face painted too.  It was Mac that had us all laughing.  He sat and waited for Ryan and Bodee to finish then hoped up on the stool.  He knew just what to do.  Before he choose his colors he closed his eyes, tilted his head up and didn't move.  We could barely get him to open his eyes to pick a color!  It was so funny.

 This is the face Mac made the entire time he was on the stool.  He wouldn't even open his eyes to pick a color to pain on his face.  So funny!

Mac's Birthday take two!

So I have finally gotten to the goods.  Here is some of the pictures of Mac's birthday.  We thought that he could use a new bike.  He has mastered the balance bike so we are moving him to two wheels without training wheels.  I think he liked it!

Ryan got Mac a sword and a movie.  You can't go wrong with a sword!

Finally, both our families managed to outfit him with enough weaponry to last a lifetime!  Thanks everyone!!

 All Make wanted as far as cake goes was balls.  So I make him an assortment of ball cupcakes.  They met his standards, so I was happy!

Happy Birthday Mac

Another year has come and gone for this little boy!  I can't believe it but he is now THREE!  It blows my mind how the time goes!  This kid went from being so still as a baby to a never ending bundle of energy! Literally, every min of every day is moving so fast with this kid.  There is nothing in my house that he can't turn into a weapon.  Seriously, EVERYTHING is a sword or shoot gun!!  He is hardly ever seen without multiple swords down his back and a few guns in his pants!  Oh this boy!  I love him, but he keeps me on my toes!!  Here are ten reasons this kid makes me fall in love with him over and over:

10.  Have you seen this kids eyes and smile.  He can suck you in so fast you don't even know that he is manipulating you.

9.  He is always playing some kind of fighting.  I love when he plays that Ryan is the princess and he has to save her from some bad guys!

8.  He has an imagination that cannot be topped.  This kid is always fighting bad guys.  Even the trees seem to be bad guys.

7.  He is my little cuddle bug in the mornings.

6.  He has this voice, oh the voice.  You would think that he just does it sometimes, but I am thinking that it is his real voice.  It's like a man voice/cool teenager voice.  I can't describe it.  If you know Mac you know what I am talking about.

5.  Mac is never shy.  Just the other day I had to stop him from pinching some strangers butt in the checkout line.  Mac had one of those claw arms that pinch and pick things up... well that man almost got the claw pinching his bum!!

4.  Mac is not afraid to try new things.  I can't keep him from doing all sorts of things from water skiing to doing flips off his bet onto the Love Sack!

3.  Mac loves treats!  A man after my own heart!  He can sniff them out a mile away.  I dare say he can hear the rustle of a wrapper from even further away!!

2.  Mac always hugs my neck when I put his shoes on and says: "Mom, you my Friend?"  And I always reply: "Yes, always!"  Sometimes we switch roles and he will hug my neck tight and say "Mom, I'll always be your friend."

1.  What would my life be without this little handful?!?  I hate to even think about a world without this boy in it to keep me on my toes and always falling in love!

McCallum, we love you tons and tons boy!  Don't you ever doubt it!

McCallum Goes to School

I Can hardly believe I am letting this happen!  Now my boy is in school!  He still wont go to Kindergarten for another three years because his birthday is so close to the deadline, but we thought why not start him early anyway!  He was so excited to go to his class for the first time!  I can't believe how big this kid is getting!  Look out world because Mac attack is on the loose!!

Kindergarten

I hate to say it, or let it happen, but Ryan had her first day of Kindergarten.  She has been so excited to ride the bus and go to school!  Today we got her on the bus and she got to the school safely.  She managed to go to the entire day without any trouble.  Then she made it back to the bus stop all in one piece too.  She even said that she wants to go back.  Good thing too, because she is going back regardless!  I was so proud of her!  She has an awesome teacher, Mrs. Howard and a lot of friends that we know in her class.  Where did the time go?!  Someone please tell me how to slow down this growing up stuff!!

Lake Powell

Lake Powell was so much fun this year.  The kids are just getting more and more fun.  For one, they both would not get out of the water.  Mac was a little bit afraid to swim with his jacket at first, but that was short lived.  He took off in no time and was a little fish.  Ryan, on the other hand, I didn't question.  I knew that she would never get out of the water.  However, I was surprised by Ryan this year.  Not only did she go down the slide with me three time, but she tried the knee board and the water ski.  She loved the little trainer ski.  I bet we pulled her and Mac around for more than ten miles... well a lot anyway.  It was just too bad we could only go ten miles per hour with it!  Ryan couldn't go fast enough or long enough on it!

Not only that, but we were lucky to have some good drivers on the boat.  Mac was always taking us to new places on the boat.  Paisley, out little cousin was also kind enough to drive the boat to Chocolate America.  You know you get to Chocolate America when the lake water turns into chocolate!

 Sunday is always fun when we can go for a nice boat ride.  We took a nice long trip up to see Rainbow Bridge.  It was a little bit of a walk this time because the water was so low, but it's always fun to go up and see the arch.  The kids really liked it as you can tell.  I think they were thinking... we walked all this way to see a big rock!  Ha ha, some day they will appreciate it more maybe.

We also managed to celebrate a very big day down at the lake.  That's right, it was Jared's birthday.  Not just any birthday, his big 30th!  I can't believe it, he is getting so old.  Of course, I am still maintaining my youth, but not Jared... Old Man!  Happy Birthday Jared.  We are so lucky that he is ours.  He is the best husband, father, and friend anyone could ask for!  We love you Jared.

Like always, we had a lot of fun at the Lake this year!  Too bad it's time for summer to end and school to start!  I guess we'll just have to go back again next year!

Pennie Lynn

Jared's little sister finally had her baby.  She is so stinking cute!  she was born June 19th and was as healthy as could be!  Good job Abbie!  It's about time my kids got a cousin on Jared's side of the family!!  Here are some of the pictures I took of her at only 5 days old.  SO SWEET!

Greg

We decided to add one more to the family.  This is Greg our Irish Terrier.