what happens when it has been cold outside for too long and you haven't left the house in 2 days!

after building a fort out of couch cushions, danced to crazy music, built a rhino out of blocks (see picture above), made chocoloate chip muffins, played with trains, read some books, played with playdoh, and made cranberry-sprite frozen treats...you resort to the bounce house indoors. (please ignore the fact that once again price is only in a diaper--the result of too much drool, changed his shirt 2x in one day, and spaghetti for dinner)

what happens when it's cold outside

News in a new year

So there has been a lot of "new news" going on this new year in the Mac home that i haven't posted about yet...so hold on to your hats:

New job:

In October of last year Bruce resigned from his previous job, but stayed there until right before thanksgiving. The good part about this timing was it allowed us to have 10 day vacations with each of our families over the holidays.

At the beginning of January Bruce formed his own LLC (limited liability corporation). It's called "Quebus Ventures, LLC". He has been networking like crazy, meeting with business brokers and bankers working on buying a business to run.

It's a super exciting time and he is loving the whole process. I'll let you know when his website is up and running.

New baby:
This year in July we will celebrate the birth of our 3rd child...we should find out whether it's of the boy or girl variety in about 5 weeks.

We will then discover if Quade has true prophetic skills. He was the one who told me i was pregnant before i had taken a test and he also has decided that this is a girl ("we already have a boy baby, mommy. we need a girl and we need to buy a bow")

The other great part about Bruce having more flexibility with his work is that he has been able to help me more with the boys as i haven't felt 100% this first trimester.

At the park on a Thursday afternoon, unheard of with Bruce's old work!

New degree:
In August 2005 not only was Quade born, but that same week bruce started taking classes at SMU for his masters of Accounting.

This month we received his diploma in the mail!!! (very grand graduation ceremony, don't you think?)

So here is a picture of Quade at 3 1/2 and the diploma representing 3 1/2 years of work


New faucet: In the past six months we have had a finicky faucet that preferred to leak. So Bruce and i decided to attempt a home improvement project (a brave endeavor for folks who have no experience in such things).

We are very proud to say that we successfully installed a new kitchen faucet, handle and soap dispenser! AND we did so without a single disagreement. =)

Here is Price helping with the project.

A Flashback...

It's only appropriate that i would have to "flashback" to our New Year's Eve party...since that was our theme this year.

Everyone was asked to dress as themselves at a former stage in their life.

The idea for this theme came from the fact that in 2009 bruce and I will celebrate our 10 year anniversary. In celebrating that huge milestone this year we definitely have and will be spending time looking back at where we have come from!

(shout out to the Kruses for all the great pictures!)

lots of letter jackets

gotta love the leg warmers

who didn't wear overalls at some point in the 90s?

our friend josh even cut his hair into a mullet just for the party...dedication!

The SACG band

First song... "more than words"

then the real rock began!

the whole band...JP on drums, Jonathan on guitar, Heather on keyboard, bruce vocals

finishing the set with a little Ice Ice baby
ringing in the new year

The karaoke

for my costume i wore my jr high synchro swimming warm-up

bruce wore his jr high PE uniform...enough said

a little breakdancing broke out

The Dancing




As you can see we had a great time and were so grateful to celebrate with some of great friends the beginning of a new year full of exciting adventures.

Christmas in Florida: wrap-up

After Christmas we still had 4 more days in Florida and they were perfect.
lots of beach time and family time.
One morning our little family went down to the beach and decided to bury Price.
Of course he loved it!

During one of our trips to the Ritz, Quade picked a flower and gave it to Hannah...time for the "cousins talk".

Here is the Ritz's famous sand castle.

Finally, the matching sweater pic with the grandparents.

Christmas in Florida: Christmas DAY!

classic christmas morning pj pic

quade trying out his new camera and price with his car carrier

(and bruce the red-nosed reindeer)

your typical post-christmas feast activity...boating!
Quade was still napping when we left and i knew from the past that he wasn't the biggest boating fan...however, he was quite upset when he woke up and we were gone.

Price absolutely LOVED boating. At the end of the post is a little video of him while we were going a million miles per hour on the gulf. (my least favorite part...his favorite)

Christmas in Florida: Christmas EVE!

Christmas Eve morning we went to a waterpark in Naples...very fun

Here's the one moment Price was listening and sitting still during the Christmas Eve service.

Cousins

Quade and his cousin Hannah...who were Big Buddies during our time in Florida.

Christmas in Florida: Part Three

My brothers and their families arrived a few days after we did. Unfortunately my older sister, Andrea wasn't able to come this year b/c her family was headed to Israel for the holidays.

Here i am with my bros and their kids (minus Thomas who was playing video games).

Quade was convinced that he had to find a coconut since we were at the beach.
Thank goodness he found one!!

Poppy Price and baby Price

Isn't my niece Katie super cute? we had a great time together!