Ending Summer with a bang!

As Summer gets closer to ending, and the weather becomes even more beautiful and bareable, we are taking advantage of the last chances we have to enjoy the beautiful weather. Mostly, that just means trying to be out of the house, and outside, as much as we can! This past week was definitely a good one!

Lunch with a good friend at Max N Erma's , one of our favorite places.

  

We have had fun times just playing at home, trying to come up with things to do when it is too hot or rainy! Should come in handy when it's too cold to go outside, too!

 Aiden had a full on double binkie going on :) I got a video of it too, which I love! It's posted on my facebook. I was so glad to be able to snap this picture in time :)

Playing with milk cartons and monitors!! Sometimes toys are just not good enough

Silly time with daddy found Aiden in a laundry basket, once again. Only this time...

 He didn't know exactly what to do, but he liked it for a minute and was giggling. When he wanted out, though, and couldn't is when he started to not like it! Our silly boy!

We've had visits from cousins and aunts :) We went to lunch and the park, but unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures there! These kiddos sure LOVE swinging, though.

Lots of time with mommy and daddy :) Makes the whole family happy

We have been loving our home, the weather, and just being a family! Life is good! God is great!

Weight Loss.... Thursday ????

Whoops!! I definitely meant to write this yesterday ... kept thinking it was Tuesday! 

Thanks to idea from a friend, I am going to try and join Weight Loss Wednesday. I have been unhappy at my current weight since last winter. After having Aiden I had all but lost all of the weight, but didn't do much the first few months and that attributed to some weight gain. I've actually never been uncomfortable with how I look, there has always been things I'd change...but I think that goes for any girl!! 

Since it's Thursday, I guess I'll be starting next week. I need to get a work out routine down, quickly. My good friend, Janis, said she would help me with this. I am very blessed!! This is more for me than anyone else, but if you have advice or knowledge you'd like to bestill on me. Please! Do so! 

God bless! Have a great Thursday

God's Daily Reminders...

Lately, I've been reminded a lot of how blessed I am. I've watched a lot of families have a emotionally heart breaking summer. Battling cancer, a vicious opponent. Two families in particular, that I don't know personally, have caught my attention, and found a place in my heart. They have each lost a child. The Pruden family lost their middle child, Faith Gabriela, at the tender young age of 7 to a brain tumor. She battled bravely for over 6 months. Also, the Bish family lost their oldest son, Samuel Gordon, only 9, to Osteosarcoma. He battled bravely for over a year. They each has Caringbridge blogs that you can read about their stories, and see how they are doing.


Faith's story :: www.caringbridge.org/visit/faithpruden
Sam's story ::  http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/sambish/journal




The thought of losing a child has always been something that brought tears to my eyes, and pain to my heart even before becoming a mother. Death is my greatest fear, therefore making it my biggest enemy---a battle I fight with daily, because I know it's Satan who uses this fear. After carrying my son for 9 months, dreaming of what he would be like and look like ...and after watching him grow and getting to know him for a whole 13 months ... it breaks my heart even more. The thought of watching him battle something so cruel and relentless shakes my very being to the core, and breaks me down. These families are so inspiring. They are in so much pain from their loss, but through their pain they reach out to others. Help other's fight the battle they so courageously fought for 6 months [Faith's family] and a year [Sam's family]. They fit a life time into a short time line for those precious children, and they are helping other families do this as well.

It humbles me to see my healthy baby boy run around, laugh and play, even cry at times. At least I have him, I think to myself. At time, I feel guilty. Why should those families suffer so much? Why are children so young called back into the kingdom, back to Him? It hurts us so much down here. Questions I know I will never truly get the answer for until I, myself, am with him, too. It gives me hope, though, to see families turn to God. Something I have trouble remembering to do, even watching my baby boy and cuddling with my handsome husband. Today, I take time to be grateful. To thank God for all my blessings, and to ask for the courage those families have every day, and the humbleness to know He is in control.


Faith Gabriella Pruden && Samuel Gordon Bish -- We will remember always as fighters, and beautiful children of God.

Oh what I life I live!

We've had quite the fun summer here at the Mack household!! Nothing too fancy, haven't taken any vacations anywhere---we most certainly don't have the extra cash for that right now!Things have been slightly stressful recently, I've been struggling a lot with realizing we need to make more money. Meaning, I need to get a different and better job because Christopher has a pretty good job, plus he JUST got it after being laid off from Tru2Form. That was a blessing! Right as we were moving was a very stressful time for him to get laid off! God provides though, doesn't he???

Meanwhile, we've just been trying to take advantage of the warm weather while it's still here! Aiden is growing up so fast, changing so much, and learning something new every day! For example...


His favorite thing is to climb on anything he can figure out, and just keep climbing! He is definitely a boy, but he is MY boy!




He is walking better and better each day! He barely seems to fall compared to when he first began! This picture is from a few months ago though, May I think.




Like I said, climbing on everything!! He always stops to see if I am watching--I'm fairly certain it's because he knows when he is doing something wrong.


For Father's day, I had agreed to not get Christopher a gift, for various reasons, and just spend the day together as a family! [[We did this for Mother's day, too]]. I got an idea from a friend, though, who told me she has each of her kids draw a letter on a piece of paper that spell out the word DAD. She has 3 kids, so it's very cute! Aiden has the whole alphabet of foam letters [[meant for the bathtub]] and I had him hold D and A. Then I got him a nice card and laid the photos out on the table where I later served him breakfast.






I didn't end up using this one in the frame because you can't see the A, but I printed it out and gave it to him because it's adorable!


We went to BW3's for lunch, one of Chris' favorite places! Daddy and Aiden played a few games after lunch, and I snapped a few photos. This is my favorite, though...


Aiden and I have had our share of adventures while daddy is at work or working on his car! I always try and snap a few photos so I have a lot to look back on.









He was mad at mommy in this one!!

One of the most fun activities we've done this summer is swimming. Specifically, going swimming with friends for Aiden's First Birthday on July 14th! My Aunt, my cousin Sarah, and her baby girl Josie ---who is only 5 weeks younger than Aiden, and now a year old as well! I didn't take many photos, we were in the practically the whole time, but i got a few ::






We met a mom and son duo in the kiddie pool and they hung out with us the while time we were there!! I've forgotten the mom's name, but the little boys name is Conner! His birthday was August 9th --- surprising I remember that since I haven't seen them since!







THE most fun thing we've done this summer, in my opinion, is celebrate our little boy's 1st birthday! I can't believe, even a month later, that our little Aiden Lawrence is 1 now! It was a Spongebob Squarepants theme. We had Spongebob table clothes, napkins, cups, and everything else! I snapped a decent amount of photos, but was very caught up in the commotion and fun of the party!! There were about 40 people there at one point!



Birthday Boy!


He had a lot of fun with Andrea, as usual!




The present table!!!


A sign I made with an adorable picture :)


The smash cake! Aiden loved his smash cake! Also, I am proud to be able to say my friend Kasey made this cake ---and the TWO we had for the adults --- which I helped decorate :) :) :) We made a Spongebob Squarepants and Patrick Starfish cakes to go along with the theme!
















I decorated the Spongebob Squarepants cake! :)


Aiden got a lot of awesome presents for his birthday! Shown here is him in his Spongebob Squarepants PJ's!







Thanks to Maddie's parent's [[the little girl I nanny for]] I had the luxury of having a FREE Columbus Zoo Pass :) I've taken advantage of that multiple times, it's one of our fun and close things to do on a nice day!! We went with Andrea and I got some cute photos!



He loves the Zoo!! Happy Boy :)


Maddie girl slept almost the whole time! Sweet little girl!





Aiden LOVED the Monkeys! Lucky for us they were active, playing, and swinging everywhere!















One of my favorites ... the Penguins!! They were also out side having fun playing in the water!!
















We've had a lot of fun this Summer over at Maddie's house! It's been such a blessing to be able to watch her grow and get to know her family!! Aiden loves Maddie and is learning how to be gentle with babies :) That is a good thing...for far in the future though! He also LOVES their dog, Riley! Aiden doesn't really talk yet, but he knows what PUPPY means! It's adorable.




Being silly while mommy does laundry on a day I brought the kids back to my house for the day! :) He actually does this a lot!















Aiden had his very first big boy kid's meal from Wendy's this summer, too! Chicken nugget, mandarin oranges, and milk!





Very first kid's meal toy, a Wendy's toy!






Aiden also got a very cool baby pool, from his Aunt Andrea, for his birthday! We've only used it a few times because it's either been raining or too hot! He didn't like it at first but as long as mommy was right next to him he felt better. After gaining some confidence he loved it :)












Baby boy loves bath time :) Just a random precious moment! He was especially adorable, so I just had to take a picture.







Like I said nothing spectacular,but it has been a truly fun summer, even through some stress. We are loving being a family of 3, and are making plans to buy a house next Summer/Fall :) God has truly blessed us. I will try and update more, I truly love sharing our life and writing down my thoughts.