Squam Lakes Natural Science Center

Hooray for NH residents' day at the Squam Lakes Natural Science Center! We took the kids May 2nd and we all had a blast.

Aidan and Karina checking out...OK, I can't remember, but some neat animal, I'm sure!

Up close and personal with a sweet deer.


My sweet dears checking her out.

We saw several families we knew there, and this is Karina with her friend Leighton from church in the children's play center!

Aidan did this puzzle at least 3 times...too cute!

End of the Day:

We stopped for lunch at Friendly's on the way home as kids meals are free during school vacation week--check out our rocking decoder glasses!

Shhhhhh! Aidan's 3rd Birthday

On April 27th, Aidan celebrated his 3rd Birthday. Our shy little guy's fondness for the birthday song, or the attention that comes with it has not grown since last year, so we kept things pretty quiet.

On Sunday, the 26th, Malcolm's family came up to have cake and ice cream. His sister, Allie, made this fantastic cake complete with toy.


Here's Aidan enjoying his strawberry ice cream cone: his one and only birthday request!


This one is Aidan on Monday, the 27th, at the park with some friends. We were just getting ready to sing. By about half way through the birthday song, he was under the table with his head on the bench hiding until the song was over!

Nothing quite as fun as a push on the swings from your big sister, happy birthday Aidan!

It's A...

BOY!!!

No news is good news

So, my peace offering for my many weeks of no news is the following good news: We're expecting! I'm twelve weeks along today and the newest member of the MacLeod family is expected to join us in mid-September!

I expect that I will remain in "morning" sickness land for a couple of more months if this follows suit with my previous pregnancies, but things are going well. I've actualy only lost 3 pounds, which is amazingly good for me (10 and 11 with Aidan and Karina) and I've only needed one IV so far. Please excuse my scarcity over the next month or two.

In other news, I have to post these two great kid stories from the last two weeks.

Karina:

Every year, we go to StoryLand as soon as they open in May (they discount admission their first 3 weekends) and Karina is already excited and starting to tell us what rides she wants to go on in what order and with whom.

This was our conversation:

Karina: ...and you can go with me on the turtle twirl...
Me: Well, sweetie, I'm not sure if I'll be able to go on that ride with you because of the baby in my belly.
Karina: Oh, because if you spin the baby around and around if will get dizzy and throw up in your belly.
Me: No, it won't throw up in my belly.
Karina: Oh, because it has a bowl?

Aidan:

Last night, Aidan came downstairs with no shirt on. I asked him to go get a shirt and forgot all about it until later when it was time for bed. I went upstairs and found his toothbrush on the floor...hmmm...then I went into the bathroom and found that there was water all over the toilet...Hmmmm...and then I looked down into the trash can and found Aidan shirt in it soaked to the elbow....HMMMMM?

This was our conversation:

Me: Aidan, did you put your shirt in the potty?
Aidan: No.
Me: Aidan, did you put your toothbrush in the potty?
Aidan: No.
Malcolm: Aidan, did you clean the potty?
Aidan: Yeah, help Mama.
Me: What did you use to clean the potty?
Aidan: Toof Brush, shine, clean (big smiles)
Malcolm: At least someone is helping you with the housework.

It's pretty sweet, but would be sweeter if this wasn't the THIRD toothbrush he's used to clean the toilet in the last week and a half!

The Birthday Girl!

As always, Happy New Year means Happy Birthday Karina! My big girl turned 5!!! We held a princess/dress up party to celebrate!

Karina's princess castle cake with five towers and five candles.

Just after blowing out the candles.

Eating cake...here's a tip...if you ever make a cake like this, prepare extra ice cream cones because EVERYONE wants a tower!

Karina and her princess friends opening gifts.


A kiss from the birthday girl!

Christmas

For several weeks afterwards, the very first thing someone asks who hasn't seen you for a while is, "How was your Christmas?" Well, I have been absent from my blog, so I'll answer this frequently asked question:
It was wonderful, though I am seriously lacking photographic evidence of this fact. On Christmas Eve, my Dad came over to exchange gifts, then we spent the evening at our friends, the Stephensons' house (and several of their neighbors' houses) caroling.We had a happy relaxed Christmas day. Malcolm's parents and two youngest sisters joined us for Christmas dinner and way too much dessert. Here are some of the very few pictures we actually got around to taking!

This little plane was in the top of Aidan's stocking. He really could not have cared less about opening gifts. Who cares about all those silly wrapped packages when you have a brand new plane!

Karina has been asking for a rag doll for MONTHS (this is what she asked Santa for at Santa's Village on Labor Day) because she LOVES this Raggedy Ann quilt my Aunt Emily got her when we visited her in Florida a few years ago. Santa was good to this good little girl!


We counted up some change from the kids' piggy bank and let the kids select gifts for eachother. This is Karina giving hers to Aidan after she unwrapped it for him (seriously, he could not have been less interested in unwrapping stuff.)




Anyway, we had a lovely Christmas followed by a long vacation for Malcolm--he was off from his full time job for 12 days. We were grateful for the time we got to spend with so many of the people we love and wish that we could have spent time with so many more...maybe next time we'll remember to get out the camera once in a while!

Sledding

Once upon a nice December day:

Hard at Work

Karina and Aidan enjoying the finished product. In case you were wondering, yes, Malcolm and I did about 97% of the pumping :)

Karina enjoying a trip down on the saucer.




The last picture of the day...you are probably wondering why there are no pics of the tube sled in use. Well, because I was in the sled with the kids and not taking pictures. Karina loved it and wanted to stay out all day. Aidan wanted to stay out all day, but HATED sledding. The snow was super powdery and blew all over his face and he had had enough. After one ride down the tube sled with Mommy, he would not go up the hill. Of course, if I remember correctly, Karina wasn't much of a sledder at 2 either...maybe next year!