Happy Boy!

I just love this picture! It's so easy to make Maguire smile :)

More pictures

Maguire's "Mimi-made" blanket

Ashlyn loves her "noss" (applesauce)



Ashlyn and her best
buddy Elizabeth, telling secrets on the couch







This picture of Mac looks a lot like Ashlyn did at that age








Mac just can't get enough of standing up :)
Ashlyn reading a magazine while sitting on the potty!

Ahhh...vacation!

We traveled out to Palm Springs, CA with my family this past week for a much needed vacation. We had a blast! My parents had meetings there the week before we flew out, then they rented a great house with a pool and spa for them, Kyle, the kids, myself, my brother and his fiancee, Bittany. Oh yeah, and Ralph, Brit's yorkiepoo :) The flight out there was interesting. Kyle and I with the two kids... Mac, of course, was great. He was pretty much either eating or sleeping the whole time. Ashlyn did as well as an almost-two-year-old can do :) We brought our DVD player and plenty of "Bob" (Veggie Tales) DVDs. I also wrapped up lots of "presents" (color wonder finger paints & markers, fruit snacks, crackers & cheese, mini magnadoodle, a toy camera, etc.) for Ashlyn to open every time she got restless. The 4 hour flight was a long time for her to sit still, but other than having extra energy she needed to get out, she did great. We even had people tell us how good our kids were!

Once we got to Palm Springs and met up with my parents it was RELAXATION city, baby! Ashlyn loved playing in and around the pool with "Boppa", Daddy, and Uncle "Not". Mac even got in the pool one day too. It was so great to have nothing specific planned for the trip. Sunday morning/afternoon we even listened to a podcast message by Nate and Brittany's pastor, Miles MacPherson, while chilling in the pool. What a life, huh?!

This is just one of my favorite pictures from the trip. I'll post more once I get them from my mom. She got some great ones!

The trip home went really well too. This time my parents were flying with us, so that was really helpful. Ashlyn even slept for over an hour on Boppa...but that could have something to do with the Tylenol Plus Cold *Nighttime* that we slipped in her juice ;)

The only bad thing was that the morning we left for Palm Springs, Kyle found water in our basement. It was a huge blessing that our neighbors, John and Carol, happened to be taking a walk just as we were packing the car. John came in to check on the pump and said he'd check on it throughout the week. He also offered to ride with us to the airport and drive our van back so that we wouldn't have to pay for parking. What great neighbors!!

HUGE thanks to my parents for the trip--we absolutely LOVED the time we all spent together. You guys are the best!

Red, White & Blue

Our friend, John, became a US citizen last week and had a party to celebrate last night.

We dressed the whole family up in red, white and blue in honor of the good old U S of A!
Kyle and I took this chance to get a picture of just the two of us. Very rare these days!