Mac funnies...

I have not been the greatest at writing down the funny and cute things Mac has said lately. He has been quite difficult lately and so sometimes it is hard to see the funny and cute things when he has been so naughty. But he is my baby boy and I love him and I can't get enough of the way he makes me laugh!!

But here are a few cute one that I managed to write down...

**sometimes i am shocked at how wise beyond his years mac can be.  totally randomly he says, "if oak turns into a kid i wont get to see her as a baby anymore." i am totally sad about that too buddy!

**Mac was mad and I hear him yell, "I don't like babies, I don't like dogs, I don't like people, I don't like cartoons, I don't like ANYTHING!" I really couldn't help but laugh. But I did go give him a snuggle to help him feel better. (side note: all chose all those things because we were at my brothers house who has twin babies and two dogs).

** He asked if he could help me do the dishes (which I hadn't planned on doing, but they did need to be done) and I said sure. Then he says, "It will be a FEVER for you." I was confused and asked him what that meant. After he explained I figured out he meant FAVOR. He was telling me that helping me do the dishes would be a favor for me. So cute and funny!

** funny logic: (He got shots at his check up) "They should have done my shots in my legs because it would be easier to pull my pants up and show my friends my bandaids from my owies."

** "Did you know that some spiders don't eat just blood from bugs, but they eat the chicken of bugs?" It took us a minute to figure out what he was talking about, but he is referring to meat. We usually call all meat chicken for him so that he will eat it.

tithing...

Since Hubs and I were married more than ten years ago, at the end of every year I always find myself a bit shocked that we made it through another year financially. I have always felt that we have been pretty smart with our money, but it just always seemed impossible that we made it through without any major financial problems. But in the end we always know the answer to our wondering...we have paid a full tithe.

We have talked numerous times about the countless blessings that have come directly from paying our tithing. And we have shared numerous times with our kids the fact that they wouldn't be a part of our family without us paying our tithing. And we hope to continue to make sure they understand that our family is continually blessed by paying a full tithe. And I hope they grow to truly understand it's importance in their lives. We started last year to teach Mac about tithing and we will continue to do this every with our kids.

The beginning of December we emptied the kids' piggie banks and helped them count out their money.  Mac loved emptying his pig and sorting the coins in piles.  We tried to include Oak the best we could but she wanted to help more than she could or should. As you could tell she wasn't very happy about it. But their money got counted out and Hubs (who is an accountant in real life) played the accountant and figured out, via spreadsheet, how much money they had earned, how much for tithing, how much to put in the bank and save.

We talked to Mac about giving his tithing to the Bishop and then we were going to go to tithing settlement and he would be able to answer "yes" when the Bishop would ask us if we were full tithe payers. We also talked about saving his money to be able to serve a mission.

A few days later, Mac was talking about going to Disneyland again and I told him that we can't go for a few years because we don't have enough money to go right now. He right then decided that he wanted to save his money in his piggie bank to be able to help us have enough money to go to Disneyland someday. It was very cute!

Peaking through the hole to see if there is anymore money in it.

Sorting the coins.

 

Mad she couldn't help.

 

He probably sat here for an hour figuring it all out. He is an accountant at heart! Love him!

growing...

How is it possible that these little feet...

have changed into these much bigger feet so quickly!

feeling loved...

This year it is my goal to be better at documenting our life. I usually only get around to blogging about things I have taken pictures of. But there is more to our life that is between the picture taking.

I have to say that in our ten plus years of marriage we/I haven't been all that great at letting others serve us. I am still not that great at it. But I really love when people are thoughtful towards me or my family. They just do something nice, just because! It reminds me that I am not alone and I am loved. And that always feels good.

Just since yesterday afternoon, three people/families have done something very thoughtful for our family. Not only that, but they have all been from our Ward family.

Late yesterday afternoon someone knocked on our door. An older lady from our Ward was standing there with a blanket in her hand. After letting her in and sitting to talk with her, she told us why she had the blanket and that it was for Mac. Since Hubs has been called as EQ President he has enjoyed going and taking treats and visiting the families in our Ward to get to know them better. He always takes Mac with him, because people are more willing to let him in and to teach Mac service. Also Mac LOVES to go to other peoples houses. Anyway, Hubs and Mac had gone to visit this lady and her family. While they were there Mac had found a blanket that belonged to her granddaughter and just attached himself right to it. Her son who does not live with them had made it and he happened to be on the phone with someone at the house at the time. He was told about how much Mac loved it. When he found this out, he made a blanket just for Mac and sent it to them to give to Mac. He even stitched his name in it and a heart and the year. I was astounded at the thoughtfulness and generosity of this lady, her son and their entire family.

A little bit later, I got a text from someone I had never gotten one from before. It was my visiting teacher. I have only talked to her once (and she is the nicest lady) and she has never come to visit, so I was a little shocked. She asked if she could stop by in a few hours to drop something off for me. She came later and had a cute little gift bag with some fun goodies in it. She stayed and talked and played with my kids and it was just a very sweet visit.

Then today when we arrived at church, I was just getting out of the car and a lady from our Ward (whom I am not sure I have ever actually talked to before) walks up to me and says sorry this is so late and hands me a card and told me I could just put it in the car for now. I honestly thought it was a Christmas card and told her thank you and put it on the seat of the car and hurried and got my kids out of the car and into Sacrament meeting before it started. After church when we got in the car I opened the card before I left the parking lot and it had a $100 check in it. I was a bit shocked and confused! The card said that she had failed to give me a shower gift for Oak and she wanted me to spend the money on Mac and Oak or put it in their college fund. No one has ever randomly given us money before and I could think of a ton of people who are in more need of the money than us.

These three things all happened in less than 24 hours. I am just in shock at the thoughtfulness of others, especially when I barely know them. It is such a great reminder of my Heavenly Fathers love for me and my family. And he knows us and knows what we need and want.

sick days...

The beginning of December both kids got sick. Mac ended up with croup again and Oak had a really bad cough. At one point they each had lost their cute little voices, so sad. There sicknesses overlapped and it was a total of about two weeks of taking care of my sick babies. During this time, Hubs was having to work ALOT. He was gone at least 12 hours of the day. I was tired and crabby. Just after my kids had gotten better, I woke up Sunday morning early with a stuffy now, headache and soar throat. Mac had kept me up most of the night and I broke down in tears at 5am panicking that I was going to be sick and I have kids who are depending on me to take care of them and a husband who couldn't take any time off of work because of obligations. (Thankfully it only lasted about a day and a half).  Not only that, but for what ever reason Mac was acting awful that day, from the moment he got up in the morning until he went to bed that night. He was so out of sorts (I think it was that post sickness syndrome) and really REALLY naughty. It was one of the worst "mommy" days I have ever had. I don't want to relive that day ever again!

Anyway, one day at the beginning of Mac getting sick and Oak wasn't quite there yet, we made a fort in the morning in the middle of the family room and we watched movies ALL day in it. We never got out of our PJs and it was alot of fun. Oak LOVED it the most, although she was still pretty high maintenance. Mac also loved it, but he has always loved destroying forts more than playing in them. So it took him alot of will power and alot of threats from me to keep him from destroying the fort that day.

Also, we knew we would be having a scheduled power outage for some repairs so we just wanted to be hunkered down. The power outage was from 3 to 6pm I think. So it was going to be dark some of the time. We were really grateful that Hubs left the iPad so we could use that to watch movies when the power was out. We got out our lantern and both kids just thought that was so cool. It is a great memory and one I hope Mac remembers.

The power came on around 6pm and Hubs got home around 7pm and in walks our Home Teachers. I had totally forgotten they were coming. So we had our fort mess all over the family room, because by this time Mac had finally destroyed our fort (with permission from me). And we were all in our jammas still. I ran to my room to at least put on some jeans so I could look decent.

Sunday Gratitude {for 2011}...

I am grateful...

01.   we have all been healthy.

02.   that my husband has been able to provide for our necessities.

03.   that we live comfortably.

04.   that we have been able to work on strengthening our marriage and our relationships with our children.

05.  for visits, texts, phone calls, gifts and the showing of love and gratitude that we have been able to give and receive from both of our children's birth families.

06. to be living near my parents and most of Hubs's family. Such a blessing!

07.  to have a strong testimony of paying tithing and to recognize the blessings it has offered to our family.

08.  that Hubs and I both hold Temple recommends.

09.   to be able to stay home and teach and take care of my children.

10.  for the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Our 2011 in review...

What a very blessed and fun filled year we have had! In all honesty though, it went by way too fast! I really loved seeing Mac go from being a toddler to a kid and seeing Oak have so many firsts. I really love my life and where it is right now. I love the good, great, bad and hard. I am so blessed!

I hope you enjoy the look back at our year.

I tried to link back to as much as I could. I wish I had documented our life a bit better. That is my hope for 2012.

January

*Mac became a Sunbeam and started Primary.

*We had Oak sealed to us FOREVER in the Portland, Oregon Temple.

(My sister, Dana and niece, Paige came and also our best friends Amy and John, and my cousin Erin)

*We blessed Oak on Hubs's birthday the very next day.

*Hubs turned 32 years old.

*We took Mac to the allergist and found out that he indeed does have a tree nut allergy.

*****

February

*Oak turns 6 months old

*Mac got ALL his toys taken away and had to earn them back.

*It snowed and we had alot of fun playing in it with the neighbor kids.

*Hubs changed the way he was eating to lose weight and lower his cholesterol.

*****

March

*Hubs's little sister got engaged to a wonderful guy

*Oak got her first tooth

*Finally got legit 72 hr kits put together for our family.

*I challenged myself to make my bed every day for the whole month. I think I only missed one or tow days.

*I turned 32 also, but we didn't document that.

*****

April

*We "celebrated" our ten year wedding anniversary

*Another busy season ended, yahoo!! And we celebrated with a day at the coast and aquarium.

*Mac started TOT soccer.

*Mac's Birth Mother came to visit!!

*Easter was lots of fun.

*****

May

*Celebrated Mother's Day with my Mom.

*Mac and Daddy went to their first Father and Sons Camp out.

*I conquered Spencer's Butte with my two kids.

*TOT soccer ended.

*****

June

*Hubs lost 40 lbs

*We celebrated Mac's adoption day by going on a Thomas train ride.

*Hubs worked hard on our backyard and built a deck.

*Mac gave his first talk in Primary.

*We went on a fun hike.

*We bought a new queen size bed after sleeping in a full size for 10 years.

*Mac also got a real bed instead of a toddler bed.

*****

July

*We celebrated both of our children's "chosen" days.

*We had an awesome time at the lake house for the 4th of July.

*Oak started walking at 11 months.

*****

August

*We got to got to Touch A Truck for the first time.

*Hubs's little sister got married

*We had Oak's first birthday party in our finally finished backyard.

*Oak turned ONE

*We visited Hubs's grandpa and he got to meet Oak for the first time.

*We visited the coast again.

*We had our family photos taken by my talented friend.

*We went to the County Fair

*****

September

*Mac started Preschool.

*Went on a beautiful hike for Labor Day.

*****

October

*We decided to start adoption paperwork for baby #3

*We went to the pumpkin patch

*Mac got croup for the first time

*We had some Halloween fun!

*I gave a talk about our adoption experience in our Ward.

*****

November

*We were able to attend some adoption education classes and an FSA Conference.
*Gave my first presentation as our Stake Rep for LDSFS.

*We drove to Utah with my parents, visited friends, and spent Thanksgiving with some of my family.

*****

December

*Mac went to the Dentist for his third cleaning and did great!

*Mac turned FOUR and we had a really fun day.

*We cut down our Christmas tree

*Had alot of fun for our own little Christmas, the W family Christmas and Christmas with my parents.

*Got four generation pictures with Oak on both side of Hubs's family.

*Hubs lost more than 50 pounds all together.

*Our niece M was baptised.

Christmas Day and more! {Christmas part 3}

Christmas morning we always head to my parents house. This year because it was on a Sunday, we got dressed for church and headed to their Ward before going to their house. Mac was already in a mood and really hates church so I wasn't really looking forward to taking my kids to church on Christmas day like everyone else was. But we got through it, just barely! haha!

After church we headed to spend a couple of days at my parents house.

Oak looking at her cool new doll house. (Mac actually loves it more than her, funny kid!)

Mac opening up his stocking from Gma and Gpa.

My cute parents. I took like 6 pictures and at least one person wasn't looking in each picture. haha!

Best we could do! But I love it!

We had a yummy turkey dinner and had to save our traditional Christmas morning omelette's for the next morning.

Oak really loves to rough house. And she thinks if anyone is laying down it means that she can climb all over them. Lately she will get on Mac's back and say "Gee!" (Giddyup). This time she decided to explore instead. You can kindof see Mac's birth mark on his bum.

"Gee!!" Don't worry Mac loves it!

She escaped when I was trying to get her jammies on and this is where I found her. She was saved by a handsome prince.

We decided to go bowling again. There isn't much to do where my parents live and we wanted to do something without going very far. So bowling it was!

My parents haven't been bowling in years and they loved it!!

My mom was telling me about when she was younger and she went on a date and on her turn she accidentally let go of the ball when she was swinging her arm back and the ball flew and broke her dates ankle. Or something like that! So funny!