Merry Christmas

This year we had a wonderful Christmas. Since Drew's family came into town late Christmas Eve, we did things a little different this year. Instead of doing a big Christmas Eve dinner we went out to dinner and then went over to a friend's house to watch their kids do the nativity. After, we came home to open a few presents and get the house ready for our visitors.
Our attempts at a cute brother picture...




That night Mac opened up his presents from Grandpa and Grandma McAllister. He LOVED his rocking horse.

ChRiStMaS DaY...

When anyone asked Mac who was coming Christmas Eve, expecting him to say Santa, he would say "Grandpa." It was the best Christmas present to wake up to Grandma and Grandpa Millar, uncle Jed, and aunt Annie and Maggie.
Grandma made Mac a "Super Mac" cape. He spent the whole day running around "fast" saying "superman Mac."
Maggie got Mac a doctor kit. Jed checking out Mac's ears
Later we made sugar cookies. I ruined the first batch by putting 1 lb of butter instead of the cup it called for. Mac and Annie decorated all the cookies. Well, Annie decorated while Mac imitated the Cookie Monster. We couldn't even get him to stop eating them for the picture.

It's Christmas time

For me Christmas time means Family. So in order to make this time of year feel "Christmasy" we usually go home to Utah and be with our family. Join in our family's traditions and soak up all the memories. Well, this year we are not going home so I have been trying to get that Christmas spirit other ways.
This was our first year to wrap presents here in K-tuck. I loved doing this. Before I would stay up Christmas eve night with my sister and mom and wrap presents and watch Christmas movies.Even though I will really miss that, I have to say I really enjoyed wrapping presents with Mac this week. He was such a help. Drew and I will do the rest Christmas Eve night before he picks up his family.

Last night we went to Southern Lights at the Kentucky horse park with some friends. I guess this is similar to Thanksgiving point(I've never been). We drove through the fields of animated lights. Mac loved it!! We will definantly do this every year.
Mac started in his car seat and ended up...

on Drew's lap.
At the horse park they had a petting zoo. But not a normal petting zoo. There were deer, a Camel, donkeys, a kangaroo, porcupines, goats, a yak and some weird little goat like animals. It was really cool. This is me and Mac feeding the camel. Mac screamed and yelled "No Camel!!!" For a kid who loves animals so much he really hates them up close.

Geeg just chillin
After we went into the Horse museum, where they have stuffed horses everywhere and other cool displays.


what boy doesn't like blocks?

The nutcracker entertained Geeg while Mac played
Kev kept building this huge tower and then some kid would knock it down on themselves. I got a good laugh out of it.

Even though we would love to be around family this time of year, we are loving the time we get to spend with just the four of us and not flying is a huge plus too. I'm sure it would be harder but the fact that we have two very special grandparents, one uncle and two aunts coming in five days, helps a whole lot. Thanks Katie and Amy for letting us have them for our first Kentucky Christmas.

6 months, already?

These past 6 months have gone so fast! We couldn't imagine life without our little GG. Gray's 6th month of life hasn't been easy. He got his first double ear infection. His first 2 teeth at once, and has had a cold for most of it. Even with all this going on I can still get him to smile.

He's also found his feet!
Gray loves to rub his tongue over his teeth, so getting a picture of them was tough.
Since Gray has been sick, he's wanted to be held constantly. Which means I get little done and I have to be creative when I really do need to put him down. Which led to this picture. Gray loves to sit in the sink. It's been great. I have been able to bath Mac without Gray screaming the whole time. It's these little things that give me sanity:)
One night after putting Gray to sleep, Mac came to me with his "baby" (teddy bear) and my Bjorn and insisted I put it on him. All night he wore the bjorn picking up things, mimicking what I do when I'm carrying Gray.

Gray's Stats:
weight: 18.11 lbs
length: 29"

Sun causes cancer...who knew?

I'll make a long story short.3 years ago a scab showed up on my nose and didn't go away for months. So I went to a dermatologist out in Utah, he froze it and said something like, "That should do it, you are too young to have skin cancer but if it doesn't heal within a month, come see me." Well, it didn't heal and last month I finally went to a dermatologist out here. She did a biopsy on the spot and the results came back positive for basal cell carcinoma. Luckily basal cell carcinoma is the first stage of skin cancer and is a very slow growing cancer. Anyway, yesterday I went in for MOHS surgery and had the spot removed. While I was waiting to see the doctor I looked around the waiting room and started laughing. I was the youngest person there by forty years. I really am too young to have skin cancer. Oh, and enjoy all the close ups of my face:)
This picture shows my swollen left eye and my horribly waxed left eyebrow:) I'm missing the end of it.

I took this picture right after I took off the bandage and cleaned the stitches. Even though the cancer spot was a circle the Doctor cut and pulled my skin in a way that when it's healing I won't have weird tugging in places. Well, at least that's what we are hoping for.

The doctor said the damage was done years ago. It could have been done by a bad sun burn or repeated sun exposure. Even though I have been extra careful the last four years, chances of me getting it again somewhere near the site is likely. C'est la vie.

Right now I'm going to go the grocery store where I will get lots of stares while Mac tells everyone, "hurt nose."

ThAnKsGiViNg WeEk

So my family flew out a couple of hours ago and I can't help but think about the week and wish it wasn't over. They got here Monday, and that night everyone but my mom, me and the kids went to the UK basketball game. Seeing Gray, Mac and Lucy together was perfect. Mac is going to miss Lucy following him around and Gray might even miss the pokes. Since we are not going home for Christmas my mom gave us all our Christmas pjs that night so we could still be a part of this tradition. She thinks of everything:)Tuesday the girls went up to the Gap Clearance Center while the guys golfed. They froze while we got some killer deals.

Wednesday we got our pictures taken. I had been stressing all week over these pictures and they actually turned out. My friend told me about the perfect location and the photographer (Shaun Ring) was great to work with. I can't wait to see the rest. Click here to see the slide show.

Thanksgiving day was typical...

Mac helped with the cooking


Not really, he played while my mom did all the cooking and she did a fabulous job!
Thanksgiving was great. This was our first Thanksgiving with family in four years and Drew's first time ever with my family. I forgot how much I love this holiday and my mom's cooking! Good thing we have weeks of leftovers.
After, we all took a nap and watched movies...

After the naps we put up Christmas. Mac had fun with all the boxes.

I don't know how we got so lucky. Not only was it great to have my family here but they were the best guests. They kept my house clean and the cupboards full. They entertained Mac constantly and set up my Christmas, my house looks beautiful. We stayed up late talking and playing. We found out that the longer Mac stays awake the crazier he gets (fun crazy). Last night he had a sleep over with Scott and Dave.
Today was extra hard saying goodbye. Mac was literally screaming and crying for every single member of the family. Finally when we got his hands unclasped from around my mom's neck, he fell asleep. He woke up a couple of hours later asking for them again. So sad, luckily he gets distracted easily.
Thanks, Mom, Dad, Ryan, Roo, Lucy, Nat, Scott and Dave for making the long and very eventful flight to Lexington to spend Thanksgiving week with us. We love and miss you all!!!

Just because

It rained throughout the week so we did a lot of this...
Gray adores Mac. Lately Mac has been mimicking our high pitched voices, which Makes G laugh. I Love it!


Mac helped out by keeping G laughing and entertained while I did a little cleaning.

Because Mac helped we made banana bread. Mac loves nana bread, I have to hide it from him or he'll eat it until it's gone.
Gray is smiling because he just rolled over! He rolled over from his back to his stomach a couple of times and then realized that he hated being on his stomach and has only rolled over once since.

Because I woke up in the middle of the night to a crying Mac covered in throw up, all rules were thrown out the window. We watched movies all day and Mac got to have his binky and blanket not just at nap time. Good thing he's feeling much better today. I don't know if I could take the whining and seasome street any longer.


We have the best family. Why you ask? My whole family is flying out to spend Thanksgiving with us! I'm counting down the days!!! And we just got news that Drew's family is coming for Christmas!!! We really do have the best family around! Oh what fun we'll have!

D.R.E.W

1.Where did you meet your husband? In the car on the way to California
2.How long did you date before you got married? 9 months
3. How long have you been married? almost 4 years
4. What does he do that surprises you? The length of time he can go without eating and how much he can eat in one sitting.
5. What is your favorite feature of his? His laugh and legs. I know, what wife says that about her husband, but I hope all our girls get his legs, nice and slender unlike mine.
6. What is his best quality? His ability to make everyone feel comfortable.
7. Does he have a nickname for you? Bo, ashy-bo-hash and Ash. Drew rarely calls anyone by their real name.
8. What is his favorite food? Pizza and bacon or anything else that is greasy.
9. What is his favorite sport? to watch... college football (Florida) or the Red Sox. But he loves playing volleyball and football.
10. When and where did you first kiss? Up South Fork Canyon on our first date.
11. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? Play boardgames, watch movies, paint, hike... Really, we are so boring since having kids.
12. Do you have any children? 2, Mac 2 years old and Gray 5 months
13.Does he have any hidden talents? He memorizes everything. I'm constantly calling him for numbers, addresses, our kids social security numbers. It makes arguing with him hard too.
14. How old is he?26
15. Who said 'I love you' first? Drew, after 3 months of dating, at Rock Canyon park
16. What is his favorite music? right now, The Killers but it changes
17. What do you admire most about him? He's passionate about everything he does.
18. What is his favorite color? Blue
19. Will he read this? Of course
20. Who will I tag next? Old roommates.. Tara, Michelle and Jen! Amy Jo and Katie. And anyone else.

Gray, GG, Geeg...

I love this boy so much. I feel like I haven't done many posts on Gray. I'm lucky if I get a picture of him. So here he is doing his much needed tummy time. With Mac we worked on him rolling over constantly. Now Gray is almost 5 months old and I can count on both hands how many times we've put him on his stomach. Needless to say he has not rolled over yet. He's close and he did do it once in August but it was a total fluke, so we don't count it.

Happy

Getting uncomfortable

oops

Whenever Gray's doing tummy time Mac lays next to him, gives him a kiss and just talks to him.

Mac's cheering Gray on.

Mac at 5 months you can tell we were better at doing tummy time with Mac. Do you think Gray and Mac look a like?