Family Pictures

We got family pictures taken. What do you think?  I think they all turned out quite well, especially the ones of my kids. They can be quite adorable at times. 

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. I was so excited, we got to be with my side of the family this year and nearly everyone was there, though we missed the one sister that couldn't be there. We had a great spread.

Everyone contributed and it all tasted scrumptious. My favorite part however was the pies. These are only a few of the many we had at the end of the meal.

Pam had her preschool room all set up for us to eat in. Amazing how we all fit and still had room to move around in, she did a good job of fitting us all in. I didn't quite get a picture of everyone, but I got nearly everyone in the pictures.

Pam's kids (well Heather) made these darling little center pieces. They were very yummy too.

It was nice to spend the afternoon and evening with everyone eating, playing games, chatting and even checking out pinterest and teaching a few family members about it. It was wonderful. Thank Pam and the rest of my family for a great Thanksgiving.

Halloween

 We had a great, busy, fun filled Halloween weekend filled with parties and lots of treats. The kids kicked off the weekend on Friday with their Halloween parade and parties at school. They were so excited! Here they are ready for school. Let me introduce Sir Knight King Michael and the purple witch Karen.

They had a blast and the room mothers did such a great job preparing the parties for the kids. We also had a Fall Festival at our ward. There were a lot of fun carnival type games, but the one the kids enjoyed the most was the donut eating contest. As you can see they each missed a few times, though I think Michael had better aim then Karen (see pics below).









With such a full weekend and no costumes at school on Monday, Halloween was almost anti-climatic for me, until the trick-or-treaters started coming. Karen and Michael suddenly got very excited and their excitement was contagious. Michael is the "black spiderman" or Venom and Karen again is the purple witch. Face painting done by me. (you can get face paint done by me too, see the top right hand side for my website)

They kids had a blast and the weather was perfect, mild and not too cold. They stayed out longer and went to more homes than previous years and came home with quite a haul with several full size candy bars. We didn't hit the jackpot though, we missed out on one street in our neighborhood that had homemade donuts, soda, pizza, hot dogs, & hot chocolate. We are definitely hitting that street next year. Dang!

Pumpkin Patch

We have a tradition of going to a pumpkin patch for our Halloween pumpkins. It's been to a different one each year, but I think we found the one we may stick with from now on. It's right off 11800 So. and just west of Bangerter Hwy. Don't know what it's called, but it has a farmer's market and a huge pumpkin patch. They had a lot of fun things there and reminded us of a mini carnival with hay rides, corn maze, kids crafts, apple cannon, face painting, booths of cute things to buy and of course pumpkins. The kids had a blast. We went through the corn maze and I didn't think to take the picture til we were at the end of the maze.

 We let Michael ride in the wheelbarrow.

Here we are with several pumpkins we thought we might get. Michael looks unhappy here because he had just decided he didn't want the pumpkin he has in his hands and was mad that I wanted to have a picture with it. I also changed my mind before we left, but the little ones Karen and I have we took home.

Michael was very happy again when we did find the one he wanted. It was a fun time and we look forward to doing it again next year!

Bird House

One day Karen asked me if she could build a bird house. I told her we didn't have any wood. She said she didn't need any, that she just needed some card board. Well, we had some of that, so I told her sure. I gave her some cardboard and some scissors, showed her how to cut it, and left her to it. I honestly thought she would get tired of it or think it was too hard and give up. So I was surprised when a little while later she came to me and showed me her birdhouse.

I was seriously impressed. She had a hole for the birds and had even taped a piece to the front as a perch. Karen finished it off with a string taped to the top to hang it on the tree. I was so proud of her for finishing a project, not giving up, and for making it work. It even looks really good. She was also very proud of her project. I helped her hang it in the tree and she's excited for a bird to make a home in it.

Oooey Goooey

 My kids discovered the ooey gooey deliciousness that is cinnamon rolls. We bought a can at the grocery store once and my kids were hooked. They ate them all and begged for more. We got them again and they ate them all before I even got one that time! I decided that the store bought rolls just weren't cutting it, besides they are much better when they are homemade. We found a recipe online and away I went. This was the result.

They turned out delightfully delectable and finger licking good. Oooey goooey, yum!

All Better

Karen has healed phenomenally well. By the 5th day after surgery she was hopping around and wanting to do everything like normal. The doctor insisted that she stay down for 10 whole days and it was quite the battle to get her to sit or lay on the couch for the last 5 days. After 7 days she won more often than I did. But she is all better now and eating more than she ever has before. For example, the other day she had 3 cinnamon rolls for breakfast, a snack, 2 drumsticks for lunch, cookies, popcorn, candy (we went to a movie) and everything on her plate at dinner (can't remember what we had). She's like a bottomless pit. I know that she will be growing in no time. We feel that this will bless her life in many ways and we are glad we did this tonsillectomy.

We also had school pics taken of the kids. We love to have a local photographer take the pictures rather than get the real school pictures. The school picture packets are very expensive and you get a bunch of wallets that are never used anyway. The lady who takes their pictures get much better and cuter photos anyway for a much better price with a CD of 5 poses. We love it and are very grateful to her for them. Karen's pics are even posted on her blog because Karen is just that cute! http://capturedpix.blogspot.com/2011/09/more-dates-for-school-pictures.html Scroll down at this link to see them. I'm posting my favorite of Karen and Michael below.

It was a beautiful area where she took their pictures, so I took the kids back to get a few more of my own with both of them together. Mine didn't turn out quite as good as hers, but they did turn out cute.

Tonsil-less

Thursday was the big day for Karen to get her tonsils out. She was one of the first on the schedule for the day which means we had to be there by 6:45, which means a really early wake up time. Karen had been really nervous the whole week telling me that she was scared to get her tonsils out. We tried to reassure her and explain everything that would happen, but this only comforted her a little. She was most worried about how bad it would hurt afterwards, and the promise of ice cream after the surgery didn't give much more comfort.

When we got there they were really cute with her and she looked darling in her child size hospital gown that didn't even come to her knees. Good thing there were blankets to cover those long little legs. Here is a before picture.She was really brave about everything until they got this syringe out. They needed to put some drops up her nose to cause relaxation and amnesia so she wouldn't remember the ordeal. Little did they know that the syringe would be an ordeal for her. She got so scared and we had to hold her down to let them do it. After they got the drops in, I held her in my arms and tried to calm her down. It was amazing, we could tell exactly when the medicine started to work because she all of a sudden she stopped crying and her eyes were so droopy she could hardly keep them open.

The operation itself was really fast. About a half hour after they wheeled her away they called us back for a consultation with the doctor. He said that everything went perfectly. As he removed her tonsils they just oozed with infection and because of this he believes that her enlarged tonsils were probably caused by chronic tonsillitis. They sent the tonsils to the pathologist to make sure, but that's what he thinks she's been suffering from. Totally surprised us since she has never seemed to have symptoms of tonsillitis, but what do we know.

She's really been a trooper and been really good about eating and drinking the soft foods we are allowed to give her. We've been very surprised and pleased with how hungry she's been and how much she has eaten since her surgery. About every two hours she's been asking for more food. They told us we can't give her any dairy for 2 days so her options are limited, but she loves chicken noodle soup, chicken and stars soup, popsicles, punch, juice, and eggs. She's also loved being waited on hand and foot and being able to get everyone to get things and do things for her. Our beautiful princess. Here is a picture after surgery. Does she look different with her tonsils out? (j/k)
We love our sweet little girl and pray that this will help her in many aspects of her health. We also appreciate all the concern and prayers offered on her behalf by so many of our friends and family. Thanks.

Back to School

My kids are both in elementary school now. Karen started 2nd grade last week and Michael started Kindergarten today. Wow they grow up fast. Michael is very excited to be a big boy in Kindergarten. Today we were able to go with him for the first half hour and then we had to leave him there. When we said goodbye, he said "I won't miss you mom". So much better than screaming and crying and saying "don't go mom" like he did last year at preschool. And even though he won't miss me, I will most definitely miss him. Here are a couple pics from today.
Karen loves 2nd grade. She only has a couple kids that she knows from last year because they switched tracks on us and we now have B track. But she's very friendly so I wasn't worried about her making new friends. She came home the first day with stories about her new best friend in her class and how she got to see all her old friends at lunch and recess. She's very excited about doing here homework this year because some of it is on the computer. She gets to play math games online for her math homework. Here are a couple pics from her first day.

Testimony

Karen is my sweet, sensitive little girl. Since she turned 7 she has been getting more and more excited to be baptized and we have been talking to her more about Jesus and the gospel so that she can understand more what being baptized means. She has such a sweet spirit, she loves church and she loves learning all the scripture stories.

Yesterday was fast Sunday and therefore testimony meeting. Our stake has asked that children should only get up to say there testimony if they can do it themselves because they want it to be their testimony and not mommy or daddy's testimony. We've talked with our children about that and Karen has been too shy to get up by herself until yesterday. She leaned over to me and said, "Mom, I want to bear my testimony." I quietly reminded her that she needed to do it herself and she looked unsure, so I told her we could write it down and then she could just read it when she got up there. I got out a paper and she told me what she wanted to say and I wrote it down on the paper for her. It was short and sweet and to the point. She was so excited and went up to the stand. She did a wonderful job. She came back down and sat next to me and she told me she felt really good and happy and knew it was the Spirit.

It made me feel the Spirit too. I'm so pleased that my little girl is growing in the gospel. What a precious gift children are to us. I'm proud of you Karen.

June

June is always a busy month for us, but it also bring us a lot of fun too. Early this month Michael graduated from preschool! We are so proud of him for all he has learned this year, especially to sit still for more than a couple of seconds. He's also learned all his numbers, letters and is now reading. Thanks to his wonderful teacher Miss Angie, he has also learned his numbers in Spanish and all his colors in Spanish too. She had a darling graduation program and we are grateful to her for all she taught our boy.Michael had an early birthday party so his school friends could come. We had uncle Anthony come and do a magic show for us which everyone loved especially Michael.
Mom did face painting and cousin Jeremy made balloon animals for everyone.
And everyone enjoyed the goodies.Here is a picture of the girl Michael wants to marry when he grows up. She's so sweet. Unfortunately they will be going to different schools in the fall so Michael will have to find a new sweetheart.We celebrated on Michael's real birthday too and I'll post about that later.

Karen turned 7

Karen is so excited to be 7, and can you guess why? It's closer to 8 and getting baptized. Lately that is all she can talk about. She is so excited to get baptized and can hardly wait. Every time she takes a bath, she practices putting her face under the water to practice for getting baptized. It's so cute. It also reminds me that I need to make sure she gets taught the things she needs to so that she can make such a grown up decision.

But right now we just enjoyed celebrating her birthday. The Friday before her birthday we invited several of her friends to come to a party.

We had face painting done by me...then we taught the kids to play red rover...
we also decorated butterflies....

played pin the tail on the monkey....and smashed our homemade butterfly pinata (created by me too).

Presents and rice crispie cupcakes (rice crispie treats in the shape of cupcakes because Karen doesn't like cake) ended the party with great success. We had a lot of fun and Karen was thrilled with the way everything turned out.

On her actual birthday we took her to dinner at the new McDonalds by our house. The play area was the best part of dinner for her and Michael.Afterward we had an actual birthday cake, though Karen only had ice cream and the last of her presents. Her grandma and grandpa came along with a few cousins. It was fun. Happy birthday my darling girl.
A few facts about Karen at age 7: favorite color - pink (currently), favorite animal - cat, favorite food - pizza, very good at math, loves reading, has lots and lots of friends.

Easter

What a fun Easter weekend we had! We had our traditional McFarlane family Easter egg get together complete with lunch, egg hunt and our first annual egg bash. Cindy was wonderful to host this year. I think our new favorite tradition is the egg bash. Everyone had so much fun with it. We each brought a dozen eggs per family, then we each took turns rolling them at each other and whichever one didn't crack, won. Then the winners would go against each other, etc, etc, til there was only one. It was a blast and we are looking forward to doing it again next year.
The kids had a great time hunting eggs. There were so many places to hide them in Cindy's yard. What fun it was. We missed having Pam and her family there, but they'll be there next time, I'm sure.Sunday was a fun egg hunt too. Then of course we had to have pictures in our new Easter outfits, well the kids new outfits anyway.
Karen is a natural model, she posed for this without any help or direction from me.We hope you all had a wonderful Easter and celebrated the resurrection of Jesus Christ too.