Our Wilderness Adventure

Our Christmas gift from my Dad and Judy is to take us (and Judy's kids and grandkids) to a waterpark. We had such a great time!
Part of the gang the first day

Ted has perscription goggles. Although there isn't a lot of underwater swimming at the waterpark, he had them on most of the time so he could see. Also, after cutting his foot on the first day, he was seen wearing his now infamous red crocks on the slides and rides. Can't be too safe.

One of the favorite spots was in the hot tub that also went outside. Our group is in the front. Looks like the fellas behind us were also posing for the shot. They must have known it was going on my blog.

We had as much fun at the condo hanging out as we did doing the park!

In the evening, Ted took the boys back to the park, and I was comfy at the condo. Anna was a little sad she couldn't go, so Mindy's daughter Autumn entertained her by teaching her some cheers!

The boys stayed at the park until closing. Here they are the next morning, a little slow going. Ted calls them the hair brothers, and this shows it!

Mindy is ALWAYS the picture of fashion. Here she is, packing up the car, before the park opened the second day. The less we had to carry, the better!

Great memories! Thanks Dad and Judy!!

Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful, relaxing first Christmas in our new home!

On our way to church....

We were so glad to have Ted's Ya with us!

.....and my mom!!

Opening a few gifts Christmas Eve

Ben, Baxter LOVES his new toy! Thanks Pal!

The ONLY picture I took Christmas Day! Whoops!

Good friends, good times!

To continue the Christmas festivities, we headed to Elkhorn for the night to hang with our great friends, the Glogovskys and Websters.

One of our traditions is playing the game, "Pit". This time, the guys joined us after years of listening to the adults yelling, "2, 2, 2; 4, 4, 4!!" What a hoot. Mrs. G and Mrs. Web just kept going, after all of the Dads and I had to quit from exhaustion. This is Baxter's girlfriend, Scout. They are struggling a little bit with their long-distance relationship. Lucky for him, she belongs to the G's, so they got to shack up for the night.

Back at home, Baxter has a new friend, Cooper. I like to call him Baxter's "mini me". Don't worry Scoutie, Coop's a guy.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I love all of the Christmas-time social stuff. Here are some of our fun festivities!


Us, and Ted's boss and wife at their fancy-smancy company party. A bit of an upgrade from the parties WE used to host at our house!

Ringing the Salvation Army bell. The family doing it together was a BIG draw

A family dinner parte at the new digs with the Teasdales and Cannarellas

Caroling in the 'hood. We rocked the hills. This is a lost art, and people LOVED it!

BUT--amongst (is that a word?) all of the busyness, take some time to realize what it's really all about: a baby coming to this world so that we may know Him personally, and spend eternity with Him! MERRY CHRISTMAS

Fun Stuff

What have we been doing, you ask? LOTS!!
The boy's former school has an incredible, although intense music program each Christmas (THE GLOVES ROCKED, ALECA!). We went back to visit and see the program. Kaleb was a celebrity rock star--his class from last year looped, so he hung with them for the afternoon, and had a blast!

We've had TONS of snow. Here are my guys and a couple of neighbors, creating "THE FORT". Today there's no school because we are getting more snow and ICE. Ted has instructed the boys to build up the fort today, so by the time the ice comes, it will be a FORTRESS.

Here's another creation, "THE GAME". They find everything they could possibly put on, and arm themselves with, and then Ted chases them around. Ted's weapon was a bag full of bouncy balls. Please notice his fierce helmet (Anna's santa hat and 'kerchef)

Ummm, Santa's.....worker?

And here she is on snow day. The boys are outside working with the fort. At least she's got a sweatshirt on!

Christmas, Christmas time is here!

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, we almost always get our tree. Our house in Elkhorn had a high ceiling in the great room (12 Ft) and it wasn't until our LAST Christmas there that we realized we could get a BIG tree (newsflash to the Barlows!!). Soooo, new house...18 ft ceiling! We could go NUTS. The only problem, we didn't think about the fact that the room itself isn't huge. So, the tree has plenty of horizontal space, but it's overtaking the room a bit. So what if we can't watch TV until 2008. Next year, TALL AND SKINNY!

Me and my elves

ok, another funny story. WE COULD NOT GET THE ANGEL ON TOP! This is our highest ladder, and I made a couple of attempts. Here's Ted, with Barbeque tongs smashing the beautiful angel face, trying to get her up there. As Anna describes her, because she's slumped over on top, looking like she had too much egg-nog, "she's just sleepy."

Lots of stories about this tree...last one: the morning after we put it in the stand (not decorated yet, thankfully), our HUGE tree TIPS OVER, IN THE STAND, DUMPING ALL OF THE WATER OUT ON MY NEW CARPET! I was laying on the floor, gingerly moving the tray the stand sits on, to expose the most beautiful side. All I can do is yell, "help! help!" So here is Ted's solution--WE HAVE STRAPPED OUR TREE TO 20 LB DUMBELLS! This bad boy ain't goin' nowhere no more.

Okay, I have one last story. I always do the lights on the outside of the house, besides for the years I was prego. Note to self: These gutters are much higher, and our driveway is much steeper. I was sure they would find me unconscious, rolling down one of the hills we have around here. Ted took pity on me and finished the job after he saw my tactics. Safety Bob would NOT have been pleased.

I hope I've given you some holiday cheer. MERRY CHRISTMAS.

Giving Thanks!

We woke up to our first snow on Thanksgiving morning!

The guys in our front yard. Anna was not very happy when I realized we didn't have snowpants for her!

We went to my stepsister Marcy and husband Ty's house. Here is the partial girl shot--Shaylyn, Judy, Keely, Marcy, Autumn andMindy (girls are Mindy's)

And the other girl shot, plus a couple of guys --Bronson in back (Mindy's), Lainey (Marcy's), Karina (Mindy's), Will and Anna, Morgan (Mindy's). Even though it looks that way, Will is NOT strangling Anna!

And perhaps a new family tradition? Arm wrestling tourney? Ty was the ref. Will first beat me, then Keely beat me, then Keely beat Marcy.

Although they weren't pictured, Kaleb, Ted, Shaun (Mindy's husband), my Dad and Judy's mom were also there. Good times, good times!

The Portland MACs!

Bob and Julie (Ted's brother) and their FIVE boys were home for a visit. What a fabulous past four days we had. What did we do, you ask? Here's a recap:

Our outing to The Cave of the Mounds

Waiting for our tour...

The "boy club" working on wood projects off our porch (wood collected from "The Secret Lair")

Their favorite activity, playing PS2 in the basement.

What might the brothers be discussing? Biking? Computers? The structural integrity of an elevated commerical building, specifying the size and gauge of the steel for all major steel-framing members? (Perhaps?)

What a fun Aunt! Julie does THE BEST hairdos!

And even lets Anna, Jeff and Steve do her make-up!

The gang's all here (well, almost....we miss the Shanghai Klugs! )

We wish they were closer, but are thankful for the great times we always have together. Love you guys!!

Calling all Blog Stalkers!

People! We are dangerously close to striking on this blog! You will notice comments posted have been dwindling.....my regular commenters are Ted's faithful and fantastic cousins, Aleca, Cassie and Cheri. They, too, have their own blogs and know HOW GREAT it is to get comments. Sooo, if you are one who checks in regularly with "The MAC 5" but quietly slip in and out, COME ON! MAKE MY DAY! Just click on "comments" at the bottom of each post, and it's pretty easy from there. It's a give and take relationship people. I mean it. I'm not kidding. I'm watching you.....

Costumed Kids

Here is our Ninja Warrior(in the shadow, sorry, I guess that makes him more mysterious!), the mummy, and GB Packer cheerleader (Daddy had to carry the pom-pons during the trick or treating portion of the evening)

Next the boys went to "Hallowana" (AWANA Club) where they were encouraged to dress up as bible characters. Kaleb changed into Joseph (as in Mary and Joseph) and Will's mummy was actually Lazarus! Ted donned his wig from the last post and went as Samson! heeheehee

Peace and Love

Ted and I went to a costume party this weekend -- aren't we GROOOOVY hippies? The wig and shades about killed me.

Baxter had to get in on the action

The guys didn't have school Thurs or Fri so we visited a nearby pool with some cool slides and play stuff. Where does Anna get her atttitude?

House Pix--FINALLY!

So I appreciate your patience in waiting for these pictures. And if you'd like more detail, we love visitors!

Great Room, kitchen on the right

Kitchen, great room on the right

Office

Our room

Will's room. Eventually, visutalize, GREEN BAY PACKERS!

Kaleb's room. Eventually, visualize: WISCONSIN BADGERS!

Guess

Had to include this one--BEAUTIFUL sunset from our front porch

This one too, Anna's costume from her ballet recital last spring that she's been wearing non-stop lately. She decided the tu-tu was better as a hat!