Happy Holidays!

 

Today was our last day of school!  Whew!! I am officially getting more and more excited as Christmas approaches.  The tree is up with a few presents underneath, the Christmas cards have been sent out, AND we decorated the outside of our house for the first time ever - very exciting!  Mack keeps us smiling and can identify Santa, Frosty, and other 'noman' (snowmen).  What a hoot!  We are really looking forward to experiencing his excitement this year.  

We are looking forward to having the next two weeks off school.  Yippee!  We are going to relax and rest this first week.  Mack is going to stay with Anna so Scott and I can go snowboarding Monday & Tuesday - we are really looking forward to a little get away & some fun!  Then we leave for Iowa on Christmas Eve and will be staying with Grandma & Grandpa Graves for a week.  We can't wait! We are looking forward to seeing family and friends.  

Mack has been going through a stage where he swats at us when he is angry or doesn't like a situation.  This is very difficult...we have decided to consistently put him in time out when this happens.  However, once he gets to his timeout spot he immediately starts howling, "SOWWY, SOWWY!"(Sorry, Sorry) - Very cute & hard to resist but we are making him sit for a bit then get up and try again. The other night he got mad and smacked the table, stood up and said, "TIME" - marched over to the timeout spot and put himself in timeout. (hilarious!)  Once he sat down he started howling, "Sowwy, Sowwy!"  :)  We'll keep working... hopefully, we will find success soon. 


Grandma Laura and Loren are visiting us this weekend.  We love having them here!  Mack is quite the entertainer, he loves to keep them on their toes. 


Here are our Christmas pics:

They look so much alike (aside from Mack's blond hair)!!

 











          Merry Christmas 

                  and

          Happy New Year
 

               Visiting Santa & Mrs. Claus: 

         

Weekend @ Grandma's

We had a GREAT weekend visiting Grandma Laura & Loren over the Thanksgiving holiday.  We are always thankful for our family and were glad to see everyone.  When we arrived Mack immediately made himself at home and began exploring.  He grabbed Grandma's hand and led the way...too cute!  Grandma's house has many interesting things on Mack's level, and he was leaving nothing untouched.  Thanksgiving morning I was drying my hair, Scott and Loren were watching football,  Grandma Laura was working in the kitchen...and Mack was nowhere to be found.  We soon found him in the front sitting room with a jar in his lap, a small plastic cup in hand, and ashes everywhere.  Needless to say he had found the remains of Scott's childhood dog, Wally!  Yes, kinda gross...but really funny at the same time.  Needless to say, Mack had an early bath that day.  

Thanksgiving dinner was fabulous as always. We really enjoyed the crisp weather and the little bit of snow that was on the ground while we were there.  Mack loved being outside as usual.  We wish our visit could have been a little longer and we are looking forward to seeing Grandma Laura and Loren again soon.


Outside fun...

November

This month is flying by!  I can't believe Thanksgiving is next week!  We have been busy with school and enjoying our weekends as much as possible.  Mack is growing and changing so much!  We took him for a check up 2 weeks ago.  He weighs 32 pounds (90th percentile) and 36 inches tall (95th percentile)!!  He has GIANT feet, currently wearing a size 9 and can even fit into a 10!  Crazy!  

The guys spent some time working out back last weekend: 

Running errands is always entertaining:

Mack's newest thing is to squat down and shout "tackle" then he runs at us and takes us down.  You can imagine how proud Scott is.  :)   

 

Mack is developing his understanding of colors.  He can point out and identify blue, yellow, and purple most of the time .  Orange, green, and pink sometimes.  However, whenever we point to something and ask him "what color is this"...he always replies "bwoooo" (blue).  Too funny, we will keep working.  His vocabulary continues to grow, he amazes us with new words everyday!  Mack is beginning to play more independently.  He will go to his room and play with his little people or cars or sit down and read books without bringing everything to us - this is a big change.  We truly feel like he is growing into a little boy. 

He loves to line up his toys:

 And he LOVES to play outside:

We are driving to Reno next week to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with Grandma Laura.  We are so excited - will be great to see our family!!  I am guessing that Mack will really enjoy this trip and his grandma will be amazed.  Soxy and Moon especially love when we go to Reno, they love the fresh air and change of scenery.  We heard there is some good snow in the mountains - Scott and I are hoping we might get to go snowboarding over the weekend.  Scott taught me to snowboard right after we first met and it is something we really enjoy!

Have a great week! 

Happy Halloween!

 

Unbelievable!  Halloween was so much fun!  We met some friends and hung out this afternoon.  Then we all loaded up the strollers and kids and went Trick or Treating.  Mack was a spider and did such a GREAT job!  He rang door bells and said "treat!"  After the first treat in his bucket he said "MORE" with a big smile.  Too cute!  At one house, he reached in once, twice, three times (...to his parent's embarrassment) - but then remembered his manners and said "Thank You".  He got to hang out with his buddies Marcus, Tiernan, and Ireland.   I don't know who had more fun:  Mack or Scott & I - What a GREAT day!

               Buddies!  Tiernan & Mack

                      the moms

                                             ...and the dads ;) 

                                        

     

              Halloween 2010

 

There was no school on Friday.  We all enjoyed a lazy day home together.  In fact, we stayed in our jammies & sweats ALL day!  We played outside in the morning, took an afternoon nap, and then got up and walked to the park.  We stayed and played for almost 2 hours.

Boys will be boys...

Dad helping Mack...

Mack helping Dad... ;)

                         Whee!

It was windy at our house on Saturday.  Mack enjoyed collecting leaves in his bucket and watching them blow around. :)  He also spent some time picking up pine cones and putting them in his treat bucket.

  Aaahhh!  Mack thought it was funny to watch 

              the leaves blowing around him :)

 

 

           saying 'good morning' to our neighbor  

      

              loving Soxy & Moon

       looking for pine cones

Another of our favorite past times: 

Murdock family chalk tracings