Cookies and Potty Training

Karissa gave me a box of 101 Cookies Cutters for my birthday. I love making cookies, so last night I started the baking. However, Ryan decided we should go to the Falls to shop so I had to frost them this morning. MaCrae is not such a great helper when it comes to cookie frosting!
This was MaCrae's destruction of my house while I frosted the cookies.
This last weekend Mac was so intrigued with Kenadee's little potty, we decided it was time to start trying. Cross our fingers he will be potty trained before the next baby. He is so proud o his new little potty. He will make me sit on the big boy toliet while had sits on his. He hasn't gone potty in his toliet yet, but he knows what it is for, and given some time I think he will pick it up. Prayers are greatly appreciated! I really do not want 2 kids in diapers!

Doggy Friends

Ryan's parents had two dogs, and when one of them died a couple weeks ago, they started bringing "Nitro" over to play with Mercedes during the day. Most people have playdates for their kids, but we have them for our dogs. It is actually really nice, becasue Mercedes can play and I can keep her outside for part of the day. But yesterday the weather was yucky and I felt bad so I let them in. Mac loves dogs, the more the merrier. He sat and watched a movie with them while I made dinner. He tried feeding Nitro his Frosted Mini wheats and juice. He just loves animals. In fact, last night we took him to Pet-Smart to get Mercedes some Christmas presents, and he could have watched the Hamsters, birds, and cats all night. When we left the store we had big snow flakes falling, and MaCrae ran around trying to catch them. It was priceless. We had to open the sun roof on the car so he could catch them as they fell in the car.
Ryan couldn't wait until Christmas to give Mercedes this bone. It is HUGE! We didn't see much of her the rest of the night.

After the kids went fishing for gifts and where tired of playing with their new toys, we put them to bed and had ourown white elephant exchange. It left us with so many laughs. We wrapped up the night with pie and a big game of catch phrase. Sunday morning we ended our enjoyable weekend with a big Sunday breakfast, which included my favorite, caramel pull-aparts. If you have never tried them, I highly recommend them. We said our Merry Christmas's and parted our ways. I had so much fun and love all of my family so much. I can't wait until our New Year's party.

After our Christmas dinner was cleaned up and our tummies were rested we had the kids go fishing for gifts. They had so much fun, and it was so much fun to watch them.

MaCrae's first sledding experience. He thought it was fun to be pulled around, but much more fun when Daddy ran in front of him!
Trevor, Kenadee, and Mac
This last weekend was so much fun. We had the Gorton family Christmas party. We kicked off our celebration on Friday the 14th with a birthday party for Trevor (Jeff's boy) and myself. Recently I have been craveing chocolate cake, so I had like half the cake over the weekend! Anyway, we stayed up till 11:30 talking, and of course, the only child who would not go to bed was Mac. I have to tell you I was quite suprised he could stay up that late, never slowing down. Saturday morning started with a banana crepe breakfast around 10:30. The kids were ready to go play in the snow, so after a shopping trip to Idaho Falls to gather all the warm clothes the kids might need, we bundled them up and sent them out. MaCrae loved the snow, especially sledding. Jon attached a sled to his 4-wheeler and pulled the kids around and around. After Trevor and Kenadee got tired Ryan hopped on with Mac and off we went. Of course, with Ryan on the sled Jon had to go over lots of hills and sharp turns. Going up a jump the ropes broke, and inside we went. We had such an amazing Christmas dinner with Turkey, Ham, enough mashed potatoes to feed a small country, and more.

Mac can always make me smile

MaCrae got caught in a no-no drawer, and he is trying to play sly to escape punishment.



Would you believe this puts me up to date with my pictures! It is very obvious I love my family (you would think just my son), and I wanted to shared them with all the wonderful friends I have.

This is one cool kid!
Our neighbors have two big wind flower things in their garden that MaCrae stole on a daily basis until it got to cold to play outside.
Mac had an allergic reaction to his Halloween candy!!
I tell ya, I pull out the camera and this kid wants to be front and center. And now he will say "cheese". It's moments like this that make the bad times seem bareable.
I was trying to get Mac to pose with the tree, but he was too busy trying to pose for the camera. And just so you know, all the balls on the lower half of the tree have been shattered, and the rest of the ornaments get rearranged daily.

HALLOWEEN

For Halloween this year Mac was a monkey. This year at Trunk-or-Treat he walked around to every car. He had so much fun he started taking candy from other kid's bags! But what can you say, he was so stinking cute, and that was just more candy for mom and dad to choose from. Mac and Braiden (cousins!)

MaCrae thinks he can ride Mercedes, his best friend!
Mom goes out of town for a few days and Mac scores big time on new toys. This is Liberty the Horse. Not much to look at, but Mac loves to ride him.
MaCrae can't figure out how to sit in the basket without falling in. And since he was born with my good looks and Ryan's short temper, he was getting really mad!

Weekend with the girlfriends!

After a night full of everything but sleep, and a day full of shopping, we sat down to take a breather.
Thank heavens the biggest dilema of the night was a bubble in Natalie's ceiling! Hey, we had some good laughs over it!! Thanks again girls, I had so much fun.

This is Ryan's muscle car when he was a teenager. The new owner brought it back to show him after he finished restoring it. He LOVES old cars. So he has convinced me that restoring another old car will be a good investment. We'll see!

Mac's Love Affair with Water!

Water was Mac's best friend this summer. Everyday he could not wait until it warmed up just enough to play outside. He didn't neccisarily like to play in his swimming pool, but he liked to fill it up with the hose, then spray Mercedes, and then spray me! But we had alot of fun. These pictures are at Ryan's family reunion. Mac started a water fight, and of course, he finished it as well!!

Mac had tubes put in his ears this summer, so Nichole (Ryan's sister) got Mac his first tricycle. He absolutely loved it, but saddly for him his legs just weren't long enough to reach the peddles!

Ryan and I bought a camper and 4-wheeler the first summer we were married, and have enjoyed spending the summer weekends out camping. Mac loves the 4-wheeler. We don't have to worry about watching Mac becasue 99% of the time, he is sitting up on the 4-wheeler just waiting for his next ride.

Mac loves to pose for the camera!

Mac got his first 4 wheeler and basketball hoop for Christmas. Christmas morning is not exactly what you epect it to be with a 10 month old boy. We opened gifts at Grandma's, and then came home to open gifts with my parents at our house. He opened his first stocking stuffer and decided it was time for a nap. So we ended up opening all his presents. I think this year will be a little more exciting.

Mac learned to walk at an early age of 8 months, and he only got faster with each day. But he soon learned that is was much more fun to be pulled!

For Halloween 2006, Mac went out as a frog. I took him to my Real Estate Hallween party, and got him so worn out he crashed before I could take his costume off.

We had to baricade the Christmas tree last year, because Mac did not understand the word "No". Not that he does today, but it saved us a lot of broken balls. He loved Santa, and I think that is because he didn't know any better. This year, a whole different story. Cindie (Ryan's mother) hires a Santa to come to the family Christmas party and deliver presents to all the kids. It is such a fun tradition, and the older kids can't wait until he makes his next appearance.