Sunday Fun Day!

This past week my Aiden and I had so much fun! We have been going to church with a good friend of mine, Kirsten, and this week we ended up not ending the fun after church. After church, which Aiden did so well in considering he STILL won't stay in the play room without sobbing, we ended up doing lunch with Kirsten, her son and boyfriend, and her sister, Kate, and Kate's boyfriend, Grant. All in all there were 7 off us. While we were waiting for our food the boys [my Aiden and Kirsten's Austin] were being so cute and funny, I HAD to take a few photos so I could show them off!

They tried lemons, were giving each other hugs, and were having a tickling battle which I thought was so adorable!

 

Trying to get a nice photo was ALMOST impossible with how fast those boys move, but I love the photos I got and will cherish them forever :) It's so sweet to see Aiden really enjoy his first friendship :) We are definitely making it a goal to hang out more with Austin and his mommy :)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I am so sorry to have fallen so far behind. I have given up on catching up on my thankfulness, although I have so much to be thankful for, and make sure to thank God daily in prayer. I am proud of myself because I have been doing so well with school and homework, but I am trying to get better about managing my time more closely so I have more time for things I love, too-like blogging...and working out, which I desperately need, sadly-and not just my responsibilities.

It's been a very busy week at the Mack household! It was a surprisingly relaxing and enjoyable!! We did not have to be anywhere until 1pm, and we decided that we would only travel to TWO of the FOUR family events that occur for our holiday. What ever family we did not see on Thanksgiving, we make sure to see for Christmas. We came up with this last year, and it was awesome again this year. We feel less stressed because we do not have to go to as many places and focus solely on the time, it is overall more enjoyable.

We first went to Chris' aunt's house [mom's side] at 1pm. We saw aunts, uncles, cousins,grandparents, great grandparents, and friends we'd been missing. It was wonderful. Everyone noticed how big Aiden was getting, and Aiden loved being the center of attention. He especially loved the pretty girls that were there to give him some attention! I snapped some photos while he was being super adorable loving on two of Chris' cousins--Tessa, Larissa, and both of them together! :)

We, of course, got too see Grandma and Papa which Aiden was so excited about. He loves his grandparents so much. I couldn't help but take some photos. Below are also Olivia [Chris' brother's girlfriend and Aiden's unoffical aunt!] and Chris' cousin, Conner, who is way too old for my liking, but who Aiden adored.

Then came what I am sure was Aiden's favorite part of the day. Tessa was kind enough to let Aiden look at and touch her pet hamster. I was a little nervous, but the hamster was nice, and Aiden was very gentle.

We had a lot of fun at thanksgiving at Chris' aunt's house! We ended up leaving around 4:30pm to head to my dad and step mom's house. Aiden did not nap and started getting restless. I could tell because I found him doing this....

We got to my dad and step mom's house at about 5:00pm and the fun continued. Aiden slept for maybe 20 minutes in the car ride there, but he was still in a great mood!! Aiden was being silly and played with his newest [2nd] cousin's toy that he is obviously too big for.

I managed to sneak a photo of my cousin Kelsey and Josie [Aiden's 2nd cousin] having a tickle fight :)

All in all we had a great Thanksgiving, and we have so much to be thankful for. I wish I would have remembered to get a family photo, which I always desperately want, but always forgot!! Hope you had as blessed of a Thanksgiving as we did.

Holiday Family Fun!!

I apologize for my lack in blogging the past 10 days. Honestly, I haven't snapped many photos, or had many exciting things happen worth posting about. My life some weeks are beyond mind numbing. Sure, I get great quality time with Aiden being part time, and I love it more than I can express, but most days we are just hanging at home and playing, or cleaning. Aiden is such a great helper. I know I'll regret saying this, especially since I have a hard time keeping everything caught up as it is, but I can't wait to have another little one running around, MY school to be OVER and just my kid's school to worry about and run around because of. Play dates and mommy dates. I need more to fill my calendar, more of what I WANT to be doing, more fun so that the responsibility and chores don't feel so condemning. I know God will provide more mommy friends who I can become friends with, and that my friendships I have now will blossom more than I could have imagined. It is just hard sometimes, being so busy with my own personal things-- homework and time on campus mainly -- that make it hard to not just keep up with housework and being truly devoted to being a wife and mom, but it also makes it hard to be able to fully devote myself into the friendships I have, as well. I am blessed to have friends that understand, and still love me, but man I am really feeling the weight of how much frustration is caused by being forced to focus on my things. May 12, 2011 is a day I dream of seeing. Mother's day, 1 day before my birthday, and extremely excitingly, my graduation date from college. I'll have a bachelors in Business Management and a minor in Healthcare management, no masters, but I will be pretty proud of myself.

On another note, today was actually a wonderful day. A family day, which are my favorite. We had family photos taken, which we've been excited about for a while now. [[Really, I'VE been excited about]] They were so much fun, even Chris admitted it... he isn't much for picture taking, but did it for me anyway. I cannot wait to see how they turned out. Only have to wait about a week :) I'll be posting when I receive them, for sure. So stay tuned my loyal blog readers... if I have any!! :) [[I know I do :)))]]

I was blessed with a wonderful day with my boys after our pictures. We had eaten lunch because out pictures were actually at 1pm-it was kind of crazy how the first part of our day went by so fast, preparing for photos, eating lunch, and getting to photos. After photos we came home for a nap for Aiden and homework for momma. I am proud to say I got 2 1/2 assignments done for one of my classes. An accomplishment for sure. After Aiden woke up from his nap we went to the mall, did a little Christmas shopping--idea getting more so. Chris and I are going to do some Christmas shopping for Aiden tomorrow, I'm hoping. After some time at the mall, and dinner, we surprised Aiden by telling him we were headed to the Zoo!!

 

 Aiden was so excited for learn that he was going to the zoo, although he did not fully understand that there would not be animals to see, but he had fun nonetheless.

It wasn't as cold as we thought it was going to be, but it was chilly for sure. Aiden was such a good boy and kept his Thomas hat [and gloves which we put on after this picture] on all night, no complaints!

There were so many people there, we should have expected it since it was a Saturday night and the Zoo Lights just opened 2 days ago, but we were surprised regardless :) Luckily, it wasn't hard finding a parking spot and we headed right in, pass in hand :)

Daddy and Aiden were excited for our first trip to the Zoo Lights. We are hoping for more visits in the near future, and hoping the weather cooperates. 

I've only personally been one other time, recently and hat I remember, so it was a lot of fun for me, too. And not only because it was a family activity, ha! there were so many neat lights and decorations everywhere, no wonder so many people come to this with their family!! I tried to take as many pictures as I could, but there were so many people and not a lot of opportunity to stop and take a whole lot of pictures.

I did manage to find a spot we could stop and snap a few :)

There was so many neat light decorations, and they even have a portion of the park set up to be in sync with the music they were playing. It was so awesome, Aiden had such fun listening to it!

It is not that long of a video, and it's really neat! Even if you've seen it before.

That pretty much raps up our fun family trip to the Zoo Lights tonight. I hope you enjoyed reading this, and how we begun out holiday fun :) How do you get into the holidays with your family?? 

I will be going to bed now, but have plans on posting about our hopefully fun day tomorrow, and catching up on my thankfulness. So sorry for getting behind, for I have SO much I am blessed by and thankful for. I have also been trying to be more organized, and creative, so when I finish this project I've only partially begun in Aiden's room I will definitely be posting about that. I am so terrible, I might need to bring in reinforcements. If only I had them. Stay Tuned!! 

God Bless