52 Dates and 101 Activities for Children

This year for Christmas money was a little tight, so instead of buying gifts for my sisters, I decided to make them gifts. Below is the result. I made two different jars - one that had slips of paper in them for 52 different dates - one for each week of the year. In the other one, I put in slips of paper with 101 different activity ideas for children. I then made a little poem to go with each jar. I think they turned out really cute. Heres the link to the pdfs if you're interested in making some of your own (ps. on the date slips I printed them on three seperate colors of paper - white for dates that don't cost anything, green for dates that cost a little, and pink for splurge dates:
Children Activities Strips

Date Strips

Dates tag

Childrens Activity Tag

Christmas Traditions

I wanted to post about some of our Christmas traditions so I won't forget for next year. This year, for the first time, we took cookies to the Sandy City Fire Station across the street to thank the firemen on duty on Christmas day. I got this idea from reading it in a magazine and since we live so close to a fire station, I loved the idea. Another tradition that I started when Alex was born is getting him a Christmas-themed book for Christmas. Last year we gave him Mr. Finnegan's Giving Chest and this year we gave him The Tale of Three Trees. I think it is very important that Alex grows up realizing that Christmas is not all just about gifts. It's about giving to other people and, most importantly, it's about the birth of Jesus Christ. Ummmm . . . I think there were a couple of more but I can't remember them right now. I'll try to post more when I do :)

Notice all of the ornaments on the floor Alex took off

2009 McFarland Family Christmas Card

For all those who didn't receive our Christmas card, here's a copy. I designed the card myself.

MeRRy ChrIStmAS!

2009 was a fun-filled, crazy roller-coaster of a year. Eric had the opportunity to work for three different companies - Merrill Lynch, Bank of America, and currently, Silicon Valley Bank. No, he is not a job jumper, but the Bank Crisis made those decisions for him. And yes, as a Banker, you can blame Eric for our current economic malaise. Other than that, we’ve still been adjusting to being new parents and Angie has been struggling to win back her figure. It’s a losing battle. Through this experience we have had more than our share of mysterious illnesses, stain remover experiments, and a redecoration of the house to a more practical waistline level.

Angie enjoys her calling as a Relief Society teacher – especially when she has the opportunity to teach at the local care center where old women smack the bottoms of cute orderlies on the way back to their rooms (no lie!). Eric has abandoned his previous fruitless quest for a motorcycle and has taken on a new goal of owning a jet-ski thanks to this year’s anniversary getaway. We’re pretty sure people think we’re crazy, but at least we have fun.

Rather than bore you with endless details about our child’s amazing tooth development, famous first words, and all-too-descriptive images of what is contained in his diaper, we’ll just be content to say that Alex is the best, smartest, and cutest baby in the entire world. Not to mention spoiled . . . did I mention spoiled already? So spoiled in fact, that Mommy lugs his 26 pounds everywhere and as a result he is STILL refusing to walk (at 17 ½ months!) And sticking to my previous promise not to talk about famous first words, we’ll just casually mention that they happen to be in TWO languages (SEE? I TOLD you he was the SMARTEST!) If you should ever happen to meet our amazing little boy, he might just let you hold him . . . if you’re lucky.

On a more serious note, we want to thank our families and friends for their continuing love and support. We also are grateful to be able to celebrate our Savior's birth at this time of year. We wish you all a wonderful holiday season!

Love,
Eric, Angie, and Alex

The Best Christmas Present I Received . . .

My little boy grew up in one day! So sad . . . yet good at the same time. On Sunday, December 20th, Alex went to nursery by himself for the first time. When I dropped him off, a little girl a year older came over and gave him a big hug and kiss. That night, we went caroling with her family and she not only shared her sippy cup with him but gave him a big slobbery kiss on the mouth! Apparently my little boy already has a girlfriend! Before we headed out, Alex decided to give me my Christmas present a little early. . . . four days before turning 18 months he FINALLY walked!!!! I was walking with him around the house and he was holding my hand. He shook my hand loose, stood there for a minute, walked in a circle and then to the stairs! Perhaps he didn't want his new girlfriend to see him holding my hand. I was afraid this was only a one-time event, but since then he's had no problems walking - when he wants to. He doesn't wobble or anything! I think the little stinker could do it for a long time but was just faking! It was great to have Eric there to experience it as well. Eric laughs at me because I was sooooo looking forward to when he would finally walk, and now it's made me kind of sad. My baby is growing up!!

Christmas Update

Alright . . . so I know I totally missed blogging about Thanksgiving and Christmas but since I was helping my mom buy and wrap presents for about 50 people I haven't had much free time.

December was great with a whirlwind of activities including the Festival of Trees, a Swiss Christmas in Midway, Candlelight Christmas at This is the Place state park, a wagon ride through Thanksgiving Point lights, and Five Christmas parties including our own annual Ugly Christmas Sweater party.

On Christmas Eve we had a relatively peaceful night at my parents house with the rest of the family. We had a great dinner, sang Christmas carols, listened to Luke II, and opened presents. Alex got pj's and a Christmas book from Omi and Grandpa. On Christmas day we took advantage of sleeping in and getting ready before taking Alex down to open his presents. I think it was the funnest Christmas I've had since I was a kid ecause it was so amazing to watch Alex open his presents and see his little face light up! He mostly got car stuff - his favorite. I got Eric some tools, some work clothes, some books, some movies, and sunglasses. He SPOILED me with a new bedspead (which I picked out), tickets to Ballet West's the Nutcracker, and a new Canon EOS Rebel T1i 500D SLR camera and two lenses!!! I can't wait until it gets here and I can start taking pictures! I'm soooooo excited!!! Then we ate a wonderful and traditional breakfast of German pancakes. I took a nap while Alex did and then we headed off to Grandma Karen's. Eric almost made me have a heart attack when Mom asked him to hang a giant clock over the stairs. Eric promptly suspended himself about fifteen or so feet above the stairs. They couldn't seem to find the hammer so they instead smartly handed him a dull axe to use! I was sure I would spend Christmas day in the ER! Luckily, Eric didn't fall and I didn't stay mad at him too long. We ended the night by having our good friends, the Ewings over for a pot roast dinner. We fell asleep watching the Christmas Story. It was a great day :).

First time sledding!

Passed out on Daddy

Eric suspended with a dull axe

Some of the cousins in their cute matching jammies

What Alex thought of Santa

Loved this tree at the Festival!

Thanksgiving Jar

It's hard not to get caught up in the excitement of the holidays and it's easy to forget the real reason for celebrating. To remind ourselves that Thanksgiving is not just all about food, I created a Thanksgiving Jar. I cut out paper leaves that we could write things we were thankful for and put it in the jar throughout the month. Around Thanksgiving, we read the leaves out loud as a family. Some of the leaves included things like baby giggles, modern medicine, family, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, pioneers, etc. I loved this tradition and vowed to instigate it every year from now on. What are you thankful for?

Family Pictures

My cute friend Jana did our family pictures this fall. You can check out her blog at http://www.butterflylovephotography.blogspot.com/. It's not easy trying to get a one-year-old to sit still and his hair wasn't cooperating but, they still turned out great. Here are a few of my favorites . . . and stay tuned for more to come on our Christmas card!

More of Eric. . .

Here's another entertaining anecdote about Eric -although I could see this conversation being the same between any man or woman. We were preparing for bed and I made a comment about wanting to get a purple coat and asked for Eric's opinion. He thought for awhile and said, "well, I guess it would depend on what kind of purple it was." To which I replied, "it's more of a plum color, not lilac." He looked at me with a quizzical face and said, "I don't understand, one is a fruit, the other is a flower!"

All Hallow's Eve

Oh my goodness! Halloween was just SUCH fun this year! Alex was old enough to participate in Trick or Treating (even if he still didn't really understand it). He was an adorable little tiger and he made out like a bandit. We had such a good time taking him around our cute little neighborhood and at the Trunk or Treat. Can't wait until next year!

Our sick and twisted sense of humor for Trunk or Treat