November 2012

Let's be honest here...I am seriously behind.  Hello, it is November 2013, not November 2012 but for the sake of this family blog I am going back in time to 2012. :)  Honestly, I don't remember a whole lot of what went on that month, but here are some of the pictures.

Keely meets Great Grandpa Blackhurst for the first time

 

Cousins...Keely and Presley (love the look on Keely's face)

 

Happy little 2 month old!

 

Zander's catch...the boys love it when Matt takes them out fishing.

 

McKay crawled into Keely's bed, she enjoyed the company

 

Thanksgiving was spent with the Yearsley's this year.  It was a fun day of food and family.  The next day we went up to Spencer to cut down a Christmas tree to take home.  The group split up and it ended up being a bit of a frustrating time.  What should have been family time picking out our tree was Chase and Grandpa Yearsley picking out the trees.  This one that Trey is holding is the one we had chosen for our family.  We ended up with a completely different one after all was said and done.  

Summer: Month One

I have been having a hard time keeping up with blog posts lately . . . slacker, I know.  In order to get caught up and hopefully stay that way this will be a general post of things that went on in June, month ONE of summer.  Which amazingly is already a week behind us as we are already into month TWO, where does the time go? 

FHE treats--chocolate lip and moustache suckers!

Chase off to NYLT (National Youth Leadership Training) for a week at Camp Bradley. 

  Closet cubbies in the little boys' room that Trey built for one of his projects for his Family Life merit badge.  He did such an awesome job!  I love the shelves!

Mmmmm....summer's first S'MORES!

  

Spray plane . . . they love to watch it fly over

  

Swimming in the flooded field

  

Sneak peek at baby K

  

Cuddle time with mom 

Fun shower gifts for baby K

We also had reunions, trips to both Boise and Hamer, and baby room projects, but pictures are yet to come of the room . . . still a work in progress!

Happy Birthday Halloween Boy!!

McKay turned 3 years old on Halloween.  It is still strange for me to think that his birthday is on Halloween.  We decided to celebrate his birthday the day before Halloween so that it would be a little less chaotic.  When I asked him what he wanted for his birthday dinner he say "Nothing".  So I made sloppy joes and we had salad and fruit--nothing special.  I tried to take a picture of McKay with his birthday dinner, but he was having none of that.  After dinner McKay finally got to open his presents; he was so excited!  He got a big John Deere tractor, a small JD tractor, clothes, a stuffed horse, a monster sticker board, and a giant JD dump truck.  He was so excited with everything he received.  It was fun to see his excitement!  McKay had asked for a train birthday cake so that is what he got.  He was excited to be able to blow the candles out, but when it came to eating the cake no one was really into it.  With all the candy they had already eaten and would be getting the next day (Halloween) everyone was pretty "sugared" out . . .one of the bummers about having a Halloween birthday I guess.

Happy Birthday Mackers!  We love you and are so glad you are a part of our family!

TWINS

Almost every time I go to the store with Zander & McKay people will comment on how cute they are and their spikey hair. And it almost never fails that I am asked if they are twins . . . I don't see it. You can tell that they are brothers for sure, but twins, I don't get it. The other day they were dressed in similar shirts--Zander said they were twins for the day.

I get it!

Lately Zander and McKay will race me to the phone when it rings and yell "I get it." A few weeks ago Matt called and I picked up the phone. A few seconds after I heard someone pick up another phone. I walked around the house trying to find out who it was because they wouldn't hang up the phone despite me telling them to. I saw Zander with the older boys so it had to be McKay, but he was no where to be found. I could hear the noise of the Wii that the boys were playing so he had to be somewhere near there, but I couldn't find him anywhere. After, several minutes of looking I finally found him . . . under the dining room table. He was laying there just listening to Matt and I. I have since found him under our bed playing with the home phone, my cell phone as well as the camera (he took upwards of 50 photos this morning alone).

McKay is in underwear!

I can't even begin to explain how excited I am to say that Mckay is wearing underwear. Two weeks ago I decided to start potty training him after he seemed to show some interest. He has done so well! Most days he wakes dry from his nap, has woken up dry several mornings in a row, and even made it through church without incident. While we still have some accidents here and there and who knows when #2 will be mastered (with the issues he has), but for the most part I dare say that he is well on his way to being potty trained.

Partners in Crime!!!

Last Thursday I was cleaning up the kitchen before heading out for an appointment while Zander & McKay were playing in their room, or so I thought. Next thing I know Zander comes running out and says "Look what I did" and points to his now purple toe nails. Zander was so proud of the fact that he had painted his toe nails all by himself--he did a good job for a 3 year old. Come to find out that they were NOT in their bedroom, but were in my bathroom playing in my makeup and nail polish. I went into the bathroom to find purple polish on my rug, tile, and McKay's pants. After getting after the boys and taking pictures (someday we will laught at this) I made Zander clean up his mess. I then got looking at McKay and found that he had applied mascara to his face and hands. Once all was cleaned up I went to put on My guess is that they dipped the mascara applicator into the nail polish so into the trash went the brand new tube of mascara. Matt was less than thrilled to hear that his boys were putting makeup and nail polish on!

McKay turns TWO!!!

Better late than never . . . I am finally getting around to posting about my baby turning TWO! Lucikly McKay didn't have to share his birthday with all the Halloween festivities due to celebrating Halloween on Saturday. McKay had a blast opening his presents and was even more excited for everything he received, even the new clothes. He got clothes, shoes, pjs, trucks, a ball popper, and I forget what else. Then we had a cupcake cake in the shape of a ghost. McKay did not know what to do when it came to blowing out the candles so his brothers helped out with them. He was too interested in his toys to really enjoy his cupcake, but that is what birthdays are about right?!

A few things about McKay:
*He gives the best hugs
*He is obsessed with the toilet, clogging it to the point of not being able to flush at all
*He is a climber (another one? Really?)
*He loves to go "night, night", but has to have his "night, night" (blanket)
*He is a daddy's boy...he is the first to greet daddy when he gets home from work
*He has to start his day off with an "ewwy" (drink...don't know why he says ewwy because he can say drink)
*He really enjoys dumping all the toys and books out, even if he isn't going to play with them
*He is FINALLY going to nursery without any problems (after SIX months)
*He talks a ton...picking up at least one new word a day
*He loves playing cars or choo-choo trains with Zander
*He loves his big brothers, espcially 'Chasey'
We are so blessed to have McKay in our family. He is such a sweet, fun, happy boy. Happy Birthday Mackers!! We love you!

Then & Now

Happy Day!!

After months of fighting McKay to stay in nursery, let alone go in the first place, he finally stayed the WHOLE time today!! Woohoo!! I can't tell you how happy I am! I just hope that this isn't a one time thing. He seemed to have a lot of fun, so I am hoping that today wasn't a fluke. *fingers crossed*

bed

I have been wanting a wood double/twin bunk bed for Z and M's bedroom. Two years ago when my mom and I made the quilts for their beds we planned for a double/twin. I just haven't been able to find anything I liked that fit in the budget. So I was going to resort to building one. Saturday morning after waking up at a ridiulous 6:30 (it's the weekend for crying out loud!) to be to Trey's football game by 7:30 only to find out that there wasn't a game, we decided to hit up a yard sale. We hit the jackpot--a wood double/twin bunk bed with mattresses for only $75. You better believe that I took it and ran...I have seen what those kind of beds sell for. We came home and got it set up and Z and M spent that night in their new beds, M's first night in a big boy bed--he was pretty excited until the lights went out and the door shut.

play

Moment like this are few and far between. I just had to take a pic of Zander and McKay peacefully playing trains together. It is times like this that I love being a mom...I love to see my children get along and enjoy being with eachother.

UGH!!!

Today is already shaping up to be one of "those" days. You know, the days where it seems everything that can go wrong, does. UGH! First of all, I went to do my exercise video and couldn't get the DVD player to open--another DVD (or TWO) is stuck in the machine. So upstairs to the elliptical, which wasn't a big deal. After finishing my workout McKay had one of his BM attacks--screaming, sweating, etc. Thankfully it didn't run down the legs this time. I sat down at the computer to check email and drink my protein shake only to see our new piggies (more on them in the next post) running past the window headed for the road. So I run outside to catch them, only how in the heck do you catch a pig . . . they are much faster than I thought. After chasing them around the yard for a while I was finally able to get them into a corner. I grabbed the leg of one pig (luckily they are still small) and drug him back to their home while the other followed behind. Come to find out, Trey had left all three doors to the lambing shed open--no wonder the piggies escaped. The worst is not over! I came in to McKay screaming. He decided he wanted a drink of my yummy looking shake. I don't think he got any in his mouth.

To top it all off, just as I went to upload pictures to the computer and post about the start of this wonderful day, the computer shows a warning that it is starting to dump all virtual memory and goes blue. Yep, definitely going to be one of those days. And it isn't even 9:30 yet!

S-T-U-C-K-!

So as I was going through pictures today I came across this picture of McKay (taken in December) and had to share. When we redid the wood floors during the remodel we installed wood heat register covers to match the floor. McKay discovered that he could lift the register covers off and had a ball shoving all kinds of treasures down into the ducts. One morning I walked into the dining room to find McKay stuck in one . . . it was too funy NOT to take a picture. (the register covers have since been nailed down)

Payback

The other day I heard Zander whining so I went into the family room to see what was going on. McKay was sitting on top of a laundry basket with Zander trapped inside. I had to laugh when I saw because Zander has done this same thing to McKay on multiple occasions, so this was payback!

Could it be?

After what has seemed like months and months of freezing cold temperatures, ice, snow, and just plain blah weather it appears that spring could finally be upon us. Hooray! Today the sun is shining and there is NO wind (a rarity here, especially in the spring). I am so ready for spring; green grass, Tulips, Daffodils, Forsythia, Lilacs, warm weather, all of it. Well, minus the darn wind. I really hope this is the real thing and not a teaser.
Zander, McKay, and I ventured outside to play and soak up the rays. This is really McKay's first time outside in nice weather since he has been walking. I doubt he remembers spending time out on the grass last summer. He had a blast wandering around the yard enjoying his newfound freedom. He especially loved going down the slide, he kept doing it over and over. It was so fun to watch him. Zander had fun stomping all the little "spiders", bugs I think, that he found. It was so nice to be able to spend time outside without freezing. Hello spring!

Exciting news!!!

We have some new, exciting news in our house! Nope, NOT pregnant! :)

First, McKay has joined the world of walkers! Around Thanksgiving he really had no interest...maybe a couple steps here and there, but no real interest. While Matt was in WA the next week McKay started walking more. And now he has become a real pro, choosing to walk rather than crawl now. He is even able to get up from a sitting position and begin walking rather than starting from the couch, etc. My baby is growing up. :( (Not sure why he was falling so much during the video.)


Second, this is a BIG one, Zander is potty trained!!! Yahoo! I know I posted earlier this year that we were working on it. However, that lasted less than a week and then with the remodel everything took a back seat. I had decided that I would try again after the first of the year. A few weeks ago while folding Layton's clothes, Zander grabbed some underwear and put them on. Then two weeks ago he got some of the training pants out of his drawer and put them on. So I decided that the next day we would try potty training. I had forgotten how exhausting it can be. It seems like that is ALL I do for that first week....in and out of the bathroom every 15 minutes or so. Needless to say, he has caught on and is doing so well. He still has occaisional accidents but it has only been 2 weeks. He is to the point where he goes into the bathroom on his own or tells me he has to go rather than me having to constantly ask him. He will even go on the big toilets here at home and in public! Oh and he is even waking up dry most days! I couldn't be happier with his progress.

Not enough time...

It always seems that there is more things to do than there is time. There were a few things last month that I had wanted to blog about, but they just got lost in everything else. This morning as I was uploading pics from the camera I saw some pictures that I wanted to post. So here goes....

Matt's company does a Christmas party for the employees and their families every year. They rent out the movie theater and show a fun movie. This year it was The Christmas Carol in 3D. When we got there they handed us our glasses and then we got in line for our snack. We all got our own box that had popcorn, a soda, fruit snacks, and Sixlets candy. The show was pretty good. It was fun to see it in 3D (although it made Matt and I's eyes tired). It looked like it was snowing right in the theater and there was one part in particular that made everyone jump. Thanks to McCain Foods for such a fun family event!

And the other thing....my sweet, monkey of a boy McKay. He is growing up so quickly and is becoming more like a little boy....And more like his brothers. We had a ladder out so we could work on something and I turned around to find McKay at the top. I guess we have yet another climber! Not so sure I like the thought of that.
I don't know if other moms are able to enjoy a child free bathroom when they take their shower, but I for one usually do NOT! I am too afraid to lock Zander and McKay out of the bathroom while I shower for fear of what might happen (McKay dump the plant over, Zander push McKay down the stairs, etc). So they usually play in the bathroom while I shower. One day McKay was pretty upset and decided to crawl into the shower with me, fully clothed I might add. So much for mommy's privacy. He looked to cute for me not to take a picture. NOTE TO SELF: NO step-in shower in our next home!

Joyeux Anniversaire McKay!

Translation . . . Happy Birthday McKay! I am so behind on my posting, but I had to post about McKay's first birthday which was October 31st (yes, Halloween--poor kid). It was a busy day so not much was done for his birthday. He opened his gifts from Papa and Mama Barnes and then we were on the run the rest of the day. I had made cupcakes, but with all the of the Halloween candy we didn't even eat them. The next day we got home from Boise and McKay got to eat his birthday cupcake. At first he just looked at it and then he palmed the whole thing and proceeded to eat it all! It was another week before he opened the rest of his presents. Zander and Layton were more interested in opening the presents. He had no clue what was going on this year so he didn't feel like he missed out on anything, but we will definitely have to do things differently in the years to come. We are so blessed to have McKay as part of our family. He is such a sweet little boy. He has a smile ready for anyone and everyone. Our lives would be so empty without our little Mackaroo.

Things he is doing or likes at this point in life

* He is a great sleeper (7:30pm-8am sometimes later)

* He can go down the stairs unassisted although it still scares mom

* Loves to talk on the phone to dada

* Walks along furniture but has no desire to walk unassisted yet

* Has the cutest gap between his front teeth

* Weighs 19#7oz and is 29.5" tall

* Squeals with excitement when we go outside

* Loves to play with his big brothers

* Loves bath time

* Cuddles with his favorite blanket from Roylances for naps

* Crawls into the shower with mommy (fully clothed)

* Starting to climb onto things (eek...not another climber!)

Happy Birthday McKay! We love you!

Then & Now