Christmas 2009

Christmas, as always, was awesome this year. Christmas Eve Jen, Ricky, and Sophie came up (for the 3rd time this month, bless them) to spend Sophie's first Christmas with Amy's family. Mike, Sarah, Doug, and Joyce were all there, including the clan of canines (May, Zoe, Wylie, and Autumn). We celebrated at our house with a ton of great food and much fun watching Garrett and Sophie opening their presents. Garrett was one happy boy with all that he received!

Christmas Day we went to Chris' parents' house to celebrate with his family. Grandfather and Aunt Pat were there as well. Garrett and Camryn were very pleased with everything they received. Afterward we came home, watched movies and relaxed. Successful Christmas!

Pictures with Santa

So, friends of Chris' parents love to play Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus. We found out that they were going to be at the Ford dealership and decided to take Garrett for his annual Santa picture. Ironically, Garrett has been around these people since birth, literally. Now that he is older he is VERY nervous to be around Santa, and we don't know why.

Garrett's 4th Birthday Party

We had to be creative and re-think our ideas regarding Garrett's birthday party. So, Amy got the idea to call the Discovery Place in Charlotte. It was awesome! A pirate-themed birthday where they got to dress up, go on a treasure hunt, make a treasure chest, visit the Shipwrecked exhibit, were visited by a real pirate, cake and lemonade included, plus admission to the museum afterward. Best party, we actually got to enjoy the party and were stress-free. PRICELESS!

Picking out a Christmas tree

The Sunday after Thanksgiving we decided to head on up to the mountains to select our Christmas tree. Mike and Sarah tagged along and got to experience the joys of traveling with a child that asks "why?" every five seconds. We had a great time and brought back some beautiful trees.

Thanksgiving - Miller Style

So, we must give a huge thanks to Mike and Sarah for hosting their first Thanksgiving. It was great and hats off to a job well done. Although we forgot to take pictures of the table, food, etc here are a few after the festivities.

Halloween 2009

Jen, Ricky and Sophie came to celebrate Halloween by going trick or treating with us. It has been awesome sharing in so many of Sophie's firsts. We went to the Pumpkin Patch to take some pictures and pick out pumpkins. Sophie was a bumble bee and Garrett wanted to be a ghost (easiest costume in the world). Amy's parents and Mike and Sarah all came out to join in the festivities. All have a wonderful time.

Camryn's 4th Birthday

Our niece Camryn turned 4 and we celebrated her birthday at Lazy 5 Ranch in Mooresville. It was pretty awesome as we got to feed antelopes, deer, pot-belly pigs, and pet zebras. WARNING: Never feed a zebra from your hand or they can bite your fingers off. We felt that this needed to be public knowledge.

It's a boy!

We had the 18 week ultrasound today and we are pleased to announce another little boy is on the way. Everything went well and a healthy boy is what we have made. The AFP test was great, perinatal screening went excellent, so as of right now there are no concerns. We are blessed. We have chosen a name...Sean Brendan. Garrett is thrilled to know he is going to have a baby brother. Here are his pictures. Enjoy!

Under Construction

My wonderful, sweet, beautiful and most awesome sister in the whole wide world is re-designing my blog. Please bear with the mess and check back soon to see the New and Improved McAulay family blog!

Labor Day Weekend

This weekend we went to Virginia to camp with Chris' family. We love camping and had a great time. Garrett was extremely happy and Chris was definitely in his element. We even beat out the rain until Sunday night. This camp site had a ton of things for the kids to do. I think that the waterslide was fun for EVERYONE. Looking forward to going back, with our new addition to the family.

A Big Fish

We went down to Summerville a few weeks ago to visit Jen, Ricky, and Sophie. On Saturday, Ricky, Eric (Ricky's dad), Chris and Garrett went out on the boat to go fishing. Garrett was super excited and caught his first fish, with the help of Ricky. Here are some pictures!

Swimming Lessons

Garrett has begun swimming lessons at the YMCA. He has already been through 2.5 classes (we had to leave early on Tuesday due to a thunderstorm). So far he is doing well and has started putting his eyebrows in the water.

BIG NEWS

We are happy to announce that we are expecting our second child March 5. This puts Amy 8 weeks pregnant. She just went for a viability ultrasound today and we were able to hear/see the heartbeat, which makes us feel so much better about telling people. Garrett is excited and when asked if he wants a little brother or little sister, 90% of the time it is little brother. We are ecstatic and feel very blessed. Here is a picture of the ultrasound from today:

Mike and Sarah got married!

It is official. Mike and Sarah are married. Amy cooked the groom and his men a hearty breakfast the day of the wedding. The ceremony was beautiful and we were lucky that so many family members were able to join us for the celebration. Sarah looked radiant and Mike was very daper. Here are some pictures from the event. Unfortunately some of them didn't turn out as well which means one thing: we need a new digital camera.

Big Summer

We have been quite busy this past month. We are pleased to welcome Sophie Elizabeth to our family. Jen did awesome and Amy was very excited and honored to be with her during the labor and birth. Sophie is absolutely beautiful. We just spent the weekend down there and Garrett got to meet and hold his new cousin. He was rather impressed. We spent the week at Myrtle Beach with Chris' family. We had a wonderful time and the weather was perfect. The Bowens came up for the day and all the boys, and their friends, were excited to play with Garrett and Camryn. Garrett loved the beach, especially the water. The bigger the waves the happier the Garrett. Saturday night was Sarah's Bachelorette Party thrown by her maid of honor, Lauren. We had a blast. The mexican inspired theme was definitely appropriate for getting Sarah ready for her and Mike's honeymoon to Mexico.

What's going on?

We have been extremely busy the past few months. This explains why we haven't been keeping the blog as up to date as we would like. Chris, Amy, Jen and Ricky threw a couples shower for Mike and Sarah mid-April. We were lucky so many people were able to come and enjoy this special occasion. Mike and Sarah received many wonderful presents. Joyce, Sarah, and Amy went down to Summerville for Jen's second baby shower. It was thrown by Jen's sister-in-law and mother-in-law. She got a lot of very useful presents. She is looking great and is in her last four weeks. Almost there! Garrett finished his last soccer clinic this past weekend. He seemed much more active this time around and actually participated in the drills and the scrimmage. There was a little boy on the red team who was rather aggressive. Needless to say, Garrett had about all he could take and tried to put the boy in his place. We are trying to teach him good sportsmanship now. Mother's Day was wonderful. We decided we needed a picnic in the park. Joyce, Doug, Mike, and Sarah joined us at Stowe Park in Belmont. We played football, watched the trains, ate good food and then went to Tony's ice cream. An excellent day overall.

Long Overdue but Hopefully Worth the Wait

Yes, it is official. We are updating our blog. After a very busy month, and with much persistence from Jennifer, our updates are here.

Garrett went to the coolest place for a birthday party. It is called Romp and Roll. The kids got to run all over the place, dance, jump in a Bouncy House, throw things at their parents, and then have pizza and cake. It was AWESOME!

We traveled to Summerville, SC back in March for Jen's baby shower. Amy and Jen's friends, Amber and Pam, put together a nice and relaxing afternoon. Everything went well and Jen had a wonderful time.

Garrett has begun playing soccer, or at least that is the theory. We signed him up to play four weekends and attempt to learn the game. It has translated into a bunch of three year olds trying to kick a ball into the goal. Most wander off and others try to take their clothes off, but he seems to enjoy himself.

Garrett and Camryn, our neice, went and had tea with the Easter Bunny. It was followed by an Easter Egg Hunt where kids ran wild. They had a wonderful time.

We had our third annual Easter Egg Hunt took place on Saturday, April 11. We participated with our portion of the neighborhood and the kids seemed to have a great time.

Easter Sunday we had Amy's family over for Easter lunch, sans Jen and Ricky who needed to stay in Summerville. The Easter Bunny brough quite a big of candy, racecar "stuff" and stickers. Could a kid ask for anything better?

Snow Daze

It actually happened. We have snow! It began yesterday around 5:00 pm and didn't let up until this morning. We have at least 5 inches and the kids in the neighborhood had a blast. So did the adults for that matter. Here are some pictures of Garrett enjoying the snow. For a while, all he wanted to do was eat the snow, although we instructed him that yellow snow was not to be consumed. We finally convinced him to go tubing. He loved it!

A day in the life of Garrett

So, we are grooming Garrett to be a well-rounded individual. Amy tries to keep him interested and involved in the kitchen when she is cooking. Chris decided to get in on the action tonight cooking for dinner. Let's just say that Garrett very much approved of the sauce for the chicken. He kept sampling so much that Amy finally had to cut him off.

Oh yes, and some of the pictures are Garrett as a "clown". His teacher, Miss. Beverly, painted the kids' faces last Friday and they had their own circus while the bigger kids actually went to the circus. Garrett was VERY upset when we washed the paint off his face that night. We have to admit, he makes a very cute, non-scary clown.

Excitement for 2009

It has been a while since the blog was updated, so we felt that a few thoughts should be shared.

Our friends Eva and Jason will be celebrating the birth of their twins in February. Logan and Amelia are growing like crazy and Eva looks great. We are looking forward to meeting the newest Browns and cannot wait to see Sara as a big sister.

We are very excited to be expecting our second neice, first one from Amy's side, in June. Jen and Ricky will be welcoming Sophie Elizabeth around June 3. This falls right during exams for Amy and that is definitely OK.

Mike and Sarah will be joining the married crew on July 25 at St. Matthew Catholic Church in Charlotte. It is the same church and priest that both Amy/Chris and Jen/Ricky had. We like to keep it in the family.

Adding to our own family is our wish for this coming year. With Garrett there was no preference when we delivered. That changed after having an almost Christmas baby and realizing the stress it adds to the holidays, especially for family. We are working to aim for a spring baby to coincide with maternity leave leading into summer. In theory, it would be great. If you ask Garrett, he says that he needs a little sister some days and a little brother other days. Luckily he hasn't asked for both at the same time.