LIttle Farm in a Big City!

Several weeks ago (i'm a little behind... haha!), Rhyan and I headed out to the ATL for Abbey Claire's 2nd birthday party! It was held at Katie's aunt's bed and breakfast in Grant Park area. It was amazing to see such a little piece of the country in downtown atlanta!!!

Abbey's birthday was a farm theme, so the location was awesome :-) You'll see why in the later pics!

Rhyan was stylin it!

Allison had brought a small jumpy ring and all the kids loved it!

Interesting tidbit: this little girl (super cute!) was a doll... her mom and I got to chatting and we are BOTH dental hygienists! But it was cracking me up b/c she had brought her daughter some sugar free juice while Rhyan drank the juice box and this little girl's mama wouldnt let her eat the fruit snacks in their lunch bags while Rhyan was chowing down! Guess i'm a bad hygienist/momma :-) Anyhoo, in this pic, Rhyan was showing her the turkeys.

All the kids got to feed the goats. Funny thing, the goats will NOT eat crackers/chips off the ground. You have to feed them fresh stuff or they wont have it. Um, spoiled much?! haha!

Fact: this chicken is laying an egg!

I asked Rhyan if she wanted to pet the turkey and she said "no! he bite you!" haha. I had to convince her that her that he wouldnt bite and still she would only pet it when Mrs Christy held it!

She looooved the fish!

Didnt Allison do a GREAT job on the decorations?!

The cute gifts for the kids

Rhyan, offering Abbey a cake pop. Lets just say, they were both a little shy at first!

The goats like to go for rides in the wheelbarrow :-) HA!

Katie's dad, Greg, made the jumpy into a tent of sorts for the kids... they loved it.
Gotta love a toy reinvented!

Rhyan had a BLAST!

Thank you, Allison, for letting us be a part of Abigail's special day!

McKinnon: 2 months

A little late, as usual :-)

Our growing boy continues to be a little ray of sunshine. He's so smiley! And sweet! And content!

2 month stats:
Length- 24 inches (80%)
Weight- 13lbs 12.8oz (86%)
Head Circumference- 15.75 inches (48%)

At 2 months old Mack is:

-tracking objects/people really well!
-doing so well with tummy time. he tolerates (generally) about 10 min at each waketime (4x's a day).
-back on a 3 hour schedule (this works so much better for eat/play/sleep pattern thats recommended by babywise which we all know, i love :-) ). no more projectile vomiting!
-taking one middle of the night feeding between 3-4am usually
-taking 3 great naps a day and one catnap
-self-soothing without any crying (maybe a yell here or there for a few seconds when we lay him down, but nothing significant.)
-loooooving bath time. its his favorite part of the day!
-eating 25-30oz of similac alimentum ready to feed daily
-smiling anytime someone speaks to him :-)
-getting control of his arms a little more... they're not quite so wild!
-in size 2 diapers the week of his 2 month checkup
-moved up to size 3-6 months clothing a week after his checkup (probably should have done it a little sooner!)
Even though he's doing "well" with tummy time, that doesnt mean he loves it quite yet!
Rhyan still loves him so much. In the evenings when i'm feeding Mack in his room, i like to keep it quiet so she is told to stay in the living room, her room or the playroom and play. She does well with this but one day last week she came up to the door, eased it open, and whispered "here-a-go" (here you go is all one word for her! hehe). She had a paci in her hand and wanted to bring it to "Mackers". She quietly dropped it off in his bed and eased back out of the room. And if he ever cries, she says in such a motherly little voice "ohhhhhh, Mack.... it otay! it otay, mack! ohhhhhhh" and rubs his face with her little hand. She's adorable with him.

We love this little family God has blessed us with!

A Mixed Bag

Today is my Daddy's birthday. He would have been 83.

I know, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that he is in heaven with the Lord. I feel confident that upon his exit of this world, he heard the words "well done, my good and faithful servant". I know he's better off.

But man... i still cry! I still miss him. I still wish so very badly that he could have known my kids and they could have known the man who forever changed my life because of his love and generosity and willingness to raise me (along with my Mommie).

I want Mack to know the incredible man he's named after and to understand why its so special to me that he shares my Daddy's name.

And i'm grateful, really, that i know i'll see him again and hopefully my kids will get to spend eternity with him, as well.

But for today, i'm just a big mixed bag of emotions. Grateful for every second i had with him, regretful of every one that i didnt, hopeful for the time i'll spend with him again and very, very sad for the years i'll spend here without him.

I cant help but to celebrate my Daddy's birthday. But i also cant help but to miss him like crazy, no matter how many years go by.

10 Years with the Wrong Man

On their anniversary, my Mommie used to sing to my Daddy "x years with the wrong man is more than a woman can stand". It was all in gest, of course, seeing as how they were married 50+ years before Daddy went home to be with Jesus. But it was funny and i like to carry on traditions, even quirky ones :-)

So this year, I've spent 10 years with the wrong man. 10 years!!!

And i love it. What have the last 10 years brought us?

Well, we've both finished college, started our careers, bought our 1st car together (and many since), bought our first home, sold it, bought our second (current) home,been on lots of great vacations, done home renovations together (and if your marriage can survive that, it can survive anything!), lost 2 babies, had two babies, grown in our communication skills and gotten comfortable enough to gain a little weight (boo). Its been a blast, and i wouldnt trade any of it, good or bad. We've lived on very little and been blessed with abundance. We are definitely different in so many ways! But its what makes us great together. After all, without Jeff (and his mom!) i never would have made it through my college math class... and without me, he NEVER would have passed ANY classes that he had to write a paper for! ha!

10 years has gotten us:

Our first born. Wow, how she changed our lives! What sheer joy!!

Our 2nd born... oh my goodness! He lights up our lives with his sweet smile!

And for all i've had to endure with the "wrong man" for the last 10 years, Jeff felt i deserved this little gem :-) In Jeff's words, "its round and white, just like Mack". Goob!

Our little family after 10 years.

I can honestly say that I love my life with Jeff. He is a wonderful husband and a fantastic father. Sure, we have our up's and down's like anyone. But there's no one i trust more or love more than my husband. He is really the gem, but i certainly dont mind the one i'm wearing around my neck, either :-)

I love you, Jeff Ford, and look forward to another 10, and another, and another....

A Trip to the ZOO!

I havent been to Zoo Atlanta in AGES! I dont even remember how old I was. I dont remember it being that great, and in all honesty, this trip didnt change my mind. But we thought Rhyan would like it, so we went. She's been learning more zoo type animals lately (elephant, giraffe, tiger, monkey, etc) and while books are GREAT for introducing kids to things, there's no replacement for actually seeing them in person!

We got up early and dropped Mack off at Tracy's so we could have a day with just Rhyan (lets face it, it wouldnt be enjoyable for Mack, anyways!). We grabbed some breakfast on the way at our fav, chick-fil-a, and made it to the zoo right as it opened at 9am!

Rhyan was looking all cute and then spilled some chocolate milk on her shirt. Boo. Oh well, she is a toddler! Par for the course.

She didnt seem too interested in the flamingos, but then, she doesnt know what they are!

One of our favorites... ELEPHANTS!

On to see the meercats!

"Wook, Daddy!"

We had a stare down... he won.

Apparently, Zebra's and Giraffe's and Ostrich's all live in harmony... why cant we?!

And the Rhino was in the same area, too... They are so neat looking to me!

Rhyan wasnt too intrigued by any of that, though. I think they were too far away. Unless she can pet something, she's interested but not wow'd

I loved this giraffe statue, though!

Now these fellas, on the other hand, were quite fun for Rhyan. She has just recently started recognizing and saying "turtle" (she used to call any green animal a frog) so she liked them!

Probably MY favorite part was the gorilla's. They really are amazing creatures! Rhyan thought they were neat for about a minute :-)

This fella, in particular, caught my attention. He reminds me so much of someone I know...

THATS IT! He reminds me of our good friend, Ivan :-) (jk friend!)

We didnt get a good look at the tiger, which really disappointed me. Rhyan has recently learned to growl really loud and be an "Archer Tiger" (the mascot of jeff's school) so it was a bummer that the old tiger was staying in the shade. Especially since it really wasnt a very hot day at all! We lucked out with having a pretty overcast and cool day and were hoping that we'd get to see more animals out and about because of it!

When we hit the playground area near the mole rats exhibit, Rhyan took off! At one point I asked Jeff where she was (i had stepped back to take a pic of an animal and so he was watching her) to which he replied "right here". But then I could tell he was looking for her so i started kind of freaking out internally. My heart was racing. Especially when he started leaving the playground area and looking... (she doesnt answer when we call her name! booger!). Turns out she was in one of the bends of the tunnels. Safe and Sound. And I had almost died of a heart attack! Whew.

DISGUSTING! I dont care if God did make everything, I dont have to appreciate everything!

How generous of us :-)

Ok, now here's where we started to have some real fun! Jeff always says i'm too serious and he's quite the jokster, for sure. But in pics its HIM who is always too serious and me who tries to get him to loosen up a bit. Well, on this day he was in rare form...

Rhyan, copying her Daddy... hehe...

My big, strong man, wrestling the lizard for us!

And riding him like a motorcyle. HA! Goof.

I set up the camera on the stroller and caught this pic of the three of us

After posing on the lizzard, we went in the reptile exhibit where we saw snakes (gives me the heebie jeebies!) and other gross stuff. I wasnt a fan and therefore didnt care to catch too many pics!

Next up, the panda's. I totally agree with Emily Parker on this... HOW did the super lazy panda's become the face of the Zoo over Willie B and the gorilla's? I mean, this thing looked DEAD and seriously never moved!

On to Rhyan's favorite part... the petting Zoo! She loves to touch animals!

Funny side note: there was a section of the petting zoo where some animals who needed a rest got one! They were put in what we told Rhyan was "time out" (so she'd know to leave him alone). Jeff said it reminded him of Toy Story 3 and that in reality the "time out" was more like heaven for those goats while the others were enduring the toddler room at Sunnyside :-)

Hmm... Rhyan DIDNT want to touch this guy. HA! me either!

But she and Daddy brushed this sweet one!

This fella was hilarious. He stood there like a statue for what seemed like an eternity!

So Jeff joined him to see what the hype was all about.

And right after the little guy moved... i suspect he was whispering "can you believe that guy?"
Jeff said he was probably trying to lure the sheep into the "time out" for some" fun" :-)

And our last stop was the kangaroo, which i'll admit look a bit FREAKY up close! That tail is nasty, i'm not gonna lie!

So, it started pouring while we were checking out this guy and we were glad it was pretty much the end of the tour, anyways. We opted not to ride the train (cause it was soaking wet!), play on the playground at the end or any other of the kid friendly stuff b/c it was getting close to naptime and Rhyan was hungry and tired and pretty much done. Why force her to do something we think is fun if she's not into it?!

I think we all enjoyed our trip. It was great to spend the time together and let Rhyan get out and see some animals she's never seen! I'd love to go to the zoo again one day... but maybe the San Diego zoo would be my choice :-)