Tim and Megan

2012-02-06T19:52:00.000-08:00

I have a new addiction. Pinterest. If you haven't heard of this website, it has all sorts of crafts, recipes, "projects", etc. that you can learn. I got started on this about a month or so ago. I'm not very crafty, but decided to try a few projects. Here are some of the things I've made so far:

Kitchen Table decor-I'm going to put some tall candles in a couple of them instead of the flowers

On our bedroom door "T" for Tim and "M" for Megan

On Madelyn's door

On the front door

These are some meals/snacks I've made. These are not pictures of mine...

Oatmeal/Banana smoothie

Chicken Enchiladas-Madelyn loves these!

Cilantro chicken in crockpot

Eggplant Parmesan

Garlic Brussel Sprouts-and Yes, Tim ate them!

Kale Chips

Pizza Calzone

Ranch potatoes in crockpot

Homemade salsa

Sweet and Sour meatballs in crockpot

Pizza Casserole-made this tonight-yummy!

Thai peanut chicken in crockpot-Making this on Thursday

All of these food recipes have been very yummy. My favorite has probably been the eggplant parmesan. Which Tim ate as well; he said he just pretended like it was chicken. His least favorite was the enchiladas because they have a lot of sour cream, but these were MJ's favorite. Tim's favorite snack was the homemade salsa and meal was the cilantro chicken. Good on tortillas and in a taco salad.

I have several craft projects I'd like to do for baby boys room such as making a mobile, canvas art and a magnetic ABC board for Madelyn's room.

-Megan

The good and the bad

2012-02-02T12:27:00.000-08:00

The Good-they just built a new Panera Bread down the street from my work AND it's a drive-thru. I love their food and I can get healthy choices.

The Bad-they just built a new Panera Bread down the street from my work AND it's a drive-thru. Meaning-it's close to church and all our doctor's. I can easily drive thru with Madelyn in the car. I've been there at least 4 times since it opened. It opened last week.

That's it.

-Megan

29

2012-02-02T08:57:00.000-08:00

Happy 29th birthday to my awesome hubs! I like to remind him that he'll always be older than me =) Have a great last year in your 20's, babe-o!

We love you!

-Megan and Madelyn

Love on Ice

2012-02-01T14:26:00.000-08:00

For our anniversary, Tim got us tickets to go to "Love on Ice" in Kent. It combines music and figure skating...so I knew I'd love it. The event was last Thursday and it was great!

Tim left work early and got home at about 4pm so he could relieve our normal Thursday babysitter, Lynn, and get ready for evening sitter, Natalie. I got home around 4:30pm and Natalie arrived shortly arrived. We drove over to Kent and ate at Chipotle. We had never been there before, but it's similar to Qdoba and Mucho Burrito. Like I said in the last post, I've been on a mexican kick for the last couple weeks. I had a burrito and it was really good. Chipotle was right across the street from the Kent Arena so we got there right before it began.

It is being aired on NBC this Saturday, the 4th, so it was fun being apart of the "audience" and seeing how they do commercial breaks, etc. The two hosts for the evening were Nancy Kerrigan and Kristi Yamaguchi. They did okay...but should stick to ice skating, ha! Then Kenny G kicked off the evening with one of his songs and a group of the figure skaters came out. The ones I can remember are Sasha Cohen, Kimi Meisner and Kurt Browning. They did several group numbers and some individual pieces as well. Gladys Knight also performed. She was amazing! Needless to say, you should watch it this Saturday. I think it's on at 4pm PST.

We got home at around 11 so I was pretty tired at work on Friday, but it was definitely worth it.

Here are a couple pictures Tim took on his phone...

This is where Kenny G and Gladys Knight performed

-Megan

23 Weeks

2012-01-30T09:47:00.000-08:00

It's crazy that I'm already 23 weeks along with our baby boy! Still feeling pretty good; just have to get up to use the restroom a lot. I've been craving mexican food the last couple days. Made some homemade salsa and enchiladas to suffice the craving. I'm also still eating a lot of fruits, veggies and dark chocolate almonds.
I've been trying to workout on our elliptical every other night to keep my energy up. It's been working pretty well. Still no name nailed down for boy McCarty. We'll figure it out before he gets here!

Here's an updated picture taken this morning...

23 weeks

-Megan

10 Months

2012-01-20T13:34:00.000-08:00

Happy 10 months baby girl!

-You went to the doctor a couple weeks ago and weigh 19 lbs. You've definitely come a long way!

-You are in size 3 diapers and 9 month clothes.

-You have mastered crawling backwards and rolling EVERYWHERE, but still no crawling forwards. You can get up on all fours, but still can't figure out how to go forward. You'll get it soon.

-You know the sign "more" and love showing us after every bite of food you eat. You LOVE to eat anything and everything we put in front of you. You are now eating pretty much every veggie (even black olives and mushrooms!) and fruit (besides citrus) I can think of, turkey lunch meat, chicken, ground turkey, meatballs, mac and cheese, cheese, graham crackers, goldfish, yogurt (gogurt is your daily snack) and I'm sure more food I can't think of right now. We try to give you a little of what we eat for dinner every night.

-You are eating 4 oz. four times a day.

-You've been sleeping about 13 hours the last couple weeks with 2 naps (morning and evening). Going to bed at about 7pm and waking up at about 8am.

-You celebrated your first Christmas. We went to church that morning and then over to Izzy and Tom's house for dinner. You had some yummy food and even got a couple presents!

-You now have 2 bottom teeth. So very cute. I keep feeling for the top teeth, but nothing yet.

-You can now drink water out of your sippy cup! With and without a straw! You are really funny when you do it.

-You experienced your first snow this week. LOTS of snow! We've had about 11+ inches of snow since Sunday. You like to look out the window at it.

-You also found out you're going to have a baby brother! We've been looking for a big sister shirt, but can't find any small enough. Mommy will probably order one off Etsy for you.

Attempt #1 at the 10 month picture

Somewhat got it!

Love you baby girl!

-Mommy and Daddy

Winter Snowfall

2012-01-18T15:22:00.000-08:00

Our first big snowstorm of the year started this past weekend and is still going. I LOVE snow. Especially the pretty snow like we get up here in the northwest. Down in Arkansas/Missouri we got ice; which I'm not a fan of. It's not pretty, hard to drive in and get off your car....especially when you live in an apartment and don't have a garage...and it's 18 degrees outside!! The snow up here is fun to build a snowman with and make snowballs. It'll be a lot of fun when MJ and her brother get old enough to play in the snow, go sledding, build snowmen, snowballs and snow forts.

For now, Madelyn has enjoyed looking at and eating the snow. She also loves watching her doggies play and wrestle in the snow. The doggies love bouncing around and eating the snow. Tim and I have been trying to use our time wisely by cleaning/re-organizing a lot of our house. We're cleaning out the office to make room for baby boy's furniture. This means we threw away a lot of stuff and had to find a place to put everything we needed. We started by combining our dressers into one (which took quite a while to figure out what we wanted to keep/throw out). Sold the other dresser on craigslist along with the big desk in our office (well, this one is almost sold!). We purchased a couple bookshelves to put downstairs around our TV to house some of our books and also got a smaller desk to put in our bedroom. Tim starts seminary next week so I want him to have a place he can study. We also moved a couple filing cabinets in there.

Schools around here have been closed all week along with the place where we teach music lessons. I work Mon. and Tues. teaching lessons so those were cancelled, but I only work on Thurs. and Fri. at my school so I'm hoping we close tomorrow too! It's suppose to melt tomorrow so I'm guessing we'll just have a 2 hour delay.

Here are some pictures we snapped Saturday and yesterday...

Happy snow day!

-Megan

New Year's

2012-01-13T08:32:00.000-08:00

I forgot to post this very cute picture of Madelyn that we took on New Year's Day

I found this onesie at Walmart for a great deal and decided the new baby could wear it on New Year's Eve 2012....get more use out of it! If you can't read under the 2012 it says "My First New Year's".
Our New Year's Day was very low key. We went to church that morning and spent the afternoon lounging at home. Finished watching the Mission Impossible movies. The last two are the best. First two, eh, not so good. I couldn't follow the first one. I still think you should see the 4th one in the theater. So good.

-Megan

It's a.............

2012-01-10T10:16:00.000-08:00

Tim and I found out yesterday we're having a baby BOY! We are extremely excited to have one of each. The ultrasound tech also said everything looks perfect and still right on target for his May due date. Yea! We're still thinking about a name, but have narrowed it down to several instead of the list of 20 I had.

We went to Hallmark after the ultrasound and found the same thing we bought for Madelyn last year, but this one says "It's a Boy". Then we went to Shari's to eat some breakfast. We've done this after big baby appt.'s since we found out about Madelyn as well.

And because I love whale's we decided to buy this card as well

-Megan

7 Years

2011-12-31T10:53:00.000-08:00

Happy anniversary to my fantastic husband. I love him and am extremely blessed to have him. He loves me, his baby girl, baby b and the doggies (even though he might say he gets annoyed with the dogs....I know deep down he really does love them...because right now they are sitting right next to him on the couch =).

Last night we were able to go out and celebrate. Thanks to our friend, Tina P, for watching Madelyn and the pups! We went to Olive Garden (complete with free dessert...thanks John!) and then to see Mission Impossible 4. I've never seen any of the Mission Impossible's so I wasn't so sure what to think, but I loved it! Growing up with 2 brothers I kind of had to like action movies because that's all they ever wanted to watch. Now I'm hooked on them. Love Saving Private Ryan, all the Die Hard's, the Bourne trilogy, Gladiator, etc. etc. On mine and Tim's first date we went to see Vertical Limit..an action movie. And yes, I picked it. Today and tomorrow we're going to have a Mission Impossible marathon.

Here's a picture we took last night at Olive Garden..

-Megan

18 Weeks

2011-12-27T13:29:00.000-08:00

On Christmas Day I was 18 weeks along. My sickness and fatigue have definitely gotten better. I've been sleeping about 9 hours a night....but that's really not too different for me. I love my sleep! =)
Craving fruits, veggies and dark chocolate almonds (which I am currently eating!). I haven't had my pickle/orange juice at night combo yet like I did last time around. I'm sure it'll come soon though. I'm able to drink coffee again without it making me want to vomit...so that's nice....especially for those of you who know how much I LOVE coffee!!
We find out in a couple weeks what baby b is. Cannot wait!

18 Weeks

-Megan

MJ's First Christmas

2011-12-27T12:40:00.000-08:00

Our Christmas this year was wonderful! Since we had a Christmas Eve service on Saturday night and a Sunday morning service on Sunday morning, we had Madelyn open her gifts on Saturday morning. She loved the paper...and of course the gifts inside. But the wrapping and tissue paper was a big hit.

Checkin out the gifts

Loving her new music toy (we call it her baby ipod)

A new music walker from Aunt Tina and Uncle John

Her new dolly from Aunt Val and Aunt Amy

Cool blocks from Gigi and Pops!

The doggies also enjoyed our Saturday morning with some new bones (we call them bone-bones...everything is said twice with them for some reason, ha!)

We went to Shari's Restaraunt for our Christmas Eve dinner before we headed to setup at the church for the service.

The Christmas Eve service went really well and was a great time to celebrate Christ's birth. I was able to sing on the praise team and we were blessed to have our Missional Pastor's wife and daughter to watch Madelyn so both Tim and I could be involved.

After the service we drove around to look at lights and then ate some pie (that we got at Shari's) for dessert. Love marionberry pie! Yum!

Sunday morning we got up and headed to setup for the service that morning. I was able to sing on praise team again and started out the service singing a solo-the song "All is Well". I absolutely love that song.
We relaxed for a little when we got home, then headed to Izzy and Tom's house for dinner. They are so nice to invite us to holiday gatherings with their family. We absolutely love spending time with them. We had a fantastic dinner and the kids do a birthday cake for Jesus every year. Madelyn was able to take part it in this year. She was mesmorized by the candles. I don't have a picture of this yet, but will hopefully get one soon.

Here is a picture of us on Christmas morning.

I'll have some more pictures of Christmas evening to post once I get them from Izzy's daughter in law. Hopefully next week.

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

-Megan

Nine Months

2011-12-21T12:13:00.000-08:00

Madelyn,

Happy 9 month birthday!

Cannot believe how big and long you are getting. You've had many changes this month.

-We're guessing you weigh about 18 lbs, but you'll be weighed at the doctor in a couple weeks.

-You are in size 3 diapers, 6-9 month and some 9 month clothes.

-You still scoot around a lot and can crawl backwards, but not forward yet. You're getting there though. I know you're ready to chase the doggies around.

-You're still a chatter box! Love to talk to anyone and anything.

-You had your first cold last week-a stuffy nose and cough. The cough is still lingering a bit, but we can tell you're feeling better.

-You are eating 6 oz. four times a day. We're guessing the doctor will want to lower that even more after your checkup. You love to eat and try everything we put in front of you. Your new favorite this month is turkey. You'll try some more yummy favorites at the end of this week (on Christmas)-definitely some cheesy potatoes and ham!

-You sleep between 11-12 hours at night. Going to bed at about 8pm and waking up between 7am-8am in the morning.

-You make noises when you eat (like your Uncle G used to!).

-Your naps haven't been as good as usual since there are houses going up all around us. It's been pretty loud around here. We're trying to drop your third (evening) nap, but recently you've needed it since your afternoon nap has been pretty short. The workers have normally gone home by the time your third nap rolls around.

-You celebrated your first Thanksgiving! This is when you had turkey for the first time. Along with some green bean casserole and dressing. You cleaned your plate!

-Big happening this month....your first tooth has come through! It's on the bottom. You look so cute. The tooth next to it should pop up any day now.

-You've tried drinking out of a sippy cup. Just water though. We won't do juice for a couple years. You'll drink a little bit out of the cup, but then try to chew it. You'll get it eventually...especially when your bottle goes away!

On Thanksgiving with mom, dad and the puppies

With mom and dad

Playing

More playing

Eating some puffs

In front of the Christmas Tree at church

First sip out of your sippy cup

In front of the trees again

Love you sweet girl!

-Mommy and Daddy

Christmas Show Recap

2011-12-17T12:44:00.000-08:00

The Christmas Show at Edgewood this year was absolutely amazing. We had 10 salvations and many more interested in talking more about Jesus, baptism and other programs at our church. This year we had a Christian illusionist from Nashville, Brock Gill, come in as our special guest artist. The choir/orchestra did about 5 songs at the beginning as the "opening act" and then Brock took the stage. He was fantastic. You can look him up on YouTube. His tricks are superb and his gospel message was one of the best I've ever heard. He was very clear and concise when giving his gospel message. You could hear a pin drop in there. He didn't make it long and drawn out....such as "singing one more stanza since no one's coming down the aisle yet". He had those who wanted to come to know Christ stand up and head to the back to talk with a counselor. I had the privilege of talking with an 8 year old, Sarah, during the first show. She prayed to receive Jesus with Brock and knew exactly what she was doing. She went to another church and knew all about Christ, but had never really known how to ask Him into your heart and what it meant. Brock was able to put all the pieces together for her. Praise God.

Sarah came to this event because Brock was able to do an assembly at two schools the Friday before the show at our church. He went to a K-8 school in the morning a middle school in the afternoon. He did a 45 minute assembly at the schools and told them to come to Edgewood on Saturday for a free (longer) show with more tricks. I think at least half of our attenders on Saturday were from these schools. Absolutely amazing. Sarah went to the K-8 school and came back with her family. So happy God opened the door to go into both of these schools. Most of the salvations were students from both schools.

Okay, so the following is my own opinion...if you don't agree, that's perfectly fine. But it's my blog so I'll state my feelings....

First off, I want to thank my husband and our Christmas committee for trying something out of the box this year. There were several church members who were very against this and wanted the same ole traditional Christmas Program. Some of them didn't even show up because they were so against it and mad that things are changing at Edgewood. For those who did show up, I think they were pleasantly surprised with how well this event went. Sometimes change is good. Great even. I, personally, don't think I can go back to that same old Christmas Program. Like Brock said in his promo video we received, Christmas Programs are geared to reach Christians. That's not the point of why we're here on earth. It's to Go and Tell. To reach the lost, the unsaved. It would be difficult for me to go back to the drama/song combo that most churches do each year just because we've always done it and we want our church members to come and feel all good inside. I'd much rather use our money on something that makes a difference, reaches others who don't know Him. Occasionally Christmas Programs do, but not very often....at least that we've seen at Edgewood.

So, please be praying that next year God can show us exactly what He wants us to do to reach the lost in our community. Tim and I moved up here because it is extremely unchurched (definitely not the Bible belt we were used to). That's a TON of people who need to hear the gospel.

Done with my rant. Thanks for listening. And thanks for those at Edgewood that did support the changes that went on this Christmas season and will hopefully continue...

-Megan

Happy December!

2011-12-01T08:38:00.000-08:00

Happy first day of December! Here's a CUTE picture of our baby girl's first picture with Santa. She did such a great job. I love our happy baby.

-Megan

14 Weeks

2011-11-28T10:51:00.000-08:00

Things are starting to look up with my pregnancy with baby b. I felt pretty sick during the first trimester, but I think things are turning since the second trimester rolled in. I'm still feeling nauseous at night, but during the day I'm fine. My cravings change with each day...well each hour really. I eat a lot of fruit, but have random cravings from Thai food to Italian. So you just never know!

14 Weeks

That's it for now!

-Megan

Thankful

2011-11-27T19:56:00.000-08:00

We are so very thankful for the many blessings God has brought into our life this year! At the top of our list, our baby girl. We are so in love with her. Also for our new blessing to come next year. And yes, we're still grateful for our puppy dogs. They get along great with Madelyn, but do enjoy it when we put her down for a nap so they can cuddle with mom and dad. I'm also extremely thankful for my husband. He does more for our little family than I could ever ask for. And he's a fantastic dad. Will do ANYTHING for our baby girl and for me. Love him. We are also thankful and grateful for all our family and friends. Near and far.

This Thanksgiving our friends, John and Tina, came over. We had a wonderful time spending the day with them eating and playing games. Here are a couple pictures Tim snapped...

Madelyn's first bite of turkey. She really liked it.

Mom and MJ

Our dear friends, Tina and John

The doggies and Madelyn

Sadie and Daisy

Tina teaching Madelyn how to play Rummikub

-Megan

Eight Months

2011-11-23T13:26:00.000-08:00

Madelyn,

You are eight months old!! Can't believe you'll be 1 in 4 months!

You are a busy, busy girl. Here is what's been happening in your life over the past month:

-I weighed you the other day and you were about 17.5 lbs. Getting to be such a big girl.

-You are in size 3 diapers. They're a little bit, but they work for ya. You're wearing size 6-9 month clothes.

-You scoot around a lot, but no crawling. You like to lay on your stomach and put your arms behind you like you're flying. You'd probably be more interested in walking, but we want you to learn to crawl first so you can learn to use those muscles.

-You LOVE to "talk" to people.

-You're still doing really well in the nursery on Sundays and Wednesday nights so mommy can participate in choir while daddy leads it.

-You are eating 6 oz. twice and a day and 8 oz. twice a day. You were sick for the first time this month and had to drink pedialyte instead of your formula. It didn't really seem to phase you. We're still feeding you bland food. We'll start your regular food again in a couple days.

-You sleep between 11-12 hours at night. Going to bed at about 8pm and waking up between 7am-8am in the morning.

-You'll celebrate your first Thanksgiving tomorrow! We'll try giving you turkey for the first time =) I bet you'll like it.

hanging out at church on Wednesday night

having fun in your piano

Sadie under your chair waiting for you to drop food. Smart doggie.

hanging out on the table while mom and dad eat dinner

watching mom and dad put up the tree (I straightened her picture after I took this)

hanging out with dad in the big chair

celebrating my 8 month birthday at Shari's

Love you Madelyn.

-Mommy and Daddy

Pumpkins and Macaroni

2011-11-17T12:22:00.000-08:00

With me not feeling so hot and us being crazy busy, we didn't get out and take Madelyn to the pumpkin patch this year. So....we decided to do an impromptu session at home. I bought a couple baby pumpkins from good ole Fred Meyer and we snapped some pictures of our cutie.

She had quite the time with the pumpkins. Loved touching them. The dogs sniffed them out too. Maybe we'll make it to the pumpkin patch next year....along with our new addition =).

Madelyn also started finger foods. She does her best to get it from her tray to her mouth. Normally misses, but it's fun to watch her try. So far she's eating macaroni, cheerios, cheese, bread and puffs.

I love her face in this picture. Trying so hard.

-Megan

Big Sister!

2011-10-23T15:00:00.000-07:00

We found out this past Thursday, that Madelyn is going to be a big sister!

I haven't been feeling so great the past couple weeks. I thought it was food poisoning or that I caught something, but low and behold....I'm pregnant again! The baby is due on May 26th. We're surprised, but very excited about the new life we get to bring into this world.

I'll keep the updates coming like last time around.

-Megan

Seven Months

2011-10-23T14:57:00.000-07:00

Baby girl,

Happy seven months! You had a busy month!

Here is some of what's going on:

-We're guessing you weigh about 16-17 lbs.

-You are now in size 2 diapers but about to move up to size 3. We have a box waiting for you. You're wearing size 6-9 month clothes.

-Still no crawling, but lots of rolling!

-You are such a chatter box. Anytime we look at you, you start talking about something.

-You flew on a plane (well 4 planes) a couple weeks ago to see your Uncle G and Aunt Crystal get married. You were such a trooper and did a great job!

-You are still eating about 8 oz. every 4 hours. You're also eating rice cereal, carrots, squash, prunes, green beans, peas, bananas, pears, peaches, blueberries, and sweet potatoes You'll start broccoli later this week.

-You sleep between 11-12 hours at night. Going to bed at about 8pm and waking up between 7am-8am in the morning.

With dad at your doc appt. (before the shots!)

Playing in the airport

Love you Madelyn!

-Mommy and Daddy

Arkansas Trip

2011-10-06T08:55:00.000-07:00

My older brother, Greg, got married last Saturday to the beautiful Crystal! We spent about a week down in Arkansas visiting family and friends. We had a fun time seeing everyone and I know MJ loved being spoiled!

Madelyn did really well on her first airplane ride. We went from Seattle to Dallas and then Dallas to Ft. Smith.

Tim and Madelyn in SeaTac

On the plane!

Layover in Dallas

We spent a lot of the week eating at places we don't have here....SONIC, (good)mexican, CiCi's Pizza, Sweet Bay, Chik-fil-a, and Western Sizzlin.

We were able to get down to Conway and see Tim's grandparents along with our friends Katy and Mitch.

Madelyn with Grandma and Pops Miller

Katy and MJ

Me and Katy

Tim, Mitch and MJ

We also spent a lot of time with my parents!

At Western Sizzlin!

Starbucks

Madelyn was introduced to my parents boxer, Cinnamon!

Holding hands =)

MJ was also introduced to my friend and old SBU roommate, Angela!

Greg's wedding was beautiful! It was outdoors and the weather was perfect. Congratulations Greg and Crystal!!

Crystal and Greg

Mom, Greg and my little brother, Wade, at the rehearsal dinner

Me and Tim at the rehearsal dinner

During the Ceremony

My second mom, Cheryl, and her boyfriend, Bobby. She was gracious enough to let us stay at her house during the wedding weekend.

Our friends Brandy and Matt came down from Springfield to visit us!!

All of us after eating lunch

Brandy and Madelyn

Matt and Madelyn

The day before we left, Tim's brother, Steve, his wife, Angela, and son, Ian, came over to visit

I think MJ had a lot of fun hanging out and visiting everyone!!

And Madelyn slept WELL on our flight home =)

A HUGE thank you to our friends Dave and Tricia Anderson and John and Tina Palmer for keeping our puppies. We love you guys!

-Megan

Six Months

2011-09-20T18:13:00.000-07:00

Madelyn,

Happy half-birthday! You are six months old! Crazy!!

Here are some of your stats for the month:

-We're guessing you weigh about 15 1/2 lbs. We'll find out tomorrow at the doc.

-You are now in size 2 diapers and you're wearing mostly 3-6 and 6 months clothes.

-You are trying your best to crawl...almost there!

-You continue talking and squealing all the time. It is soo high pitched!

-You were dedicated at church on Sunday. We pray for you every night and hope that we can be good examples for you.

-You are still eating about 8 oz. every 4 hours. You're also eating rice cereal, carrots, squash, peas and prunes. You'll start green beans tomorrow!

-You sleep between 11-12 hours at night. Going to bed at about 8pm and waking up between 7am-8am in the morning.

-We finally saw you roll from belly to back, but still haven't seen from back to belly yet. It will happen soon.

-You've been in the nursery at church since you were about 4 weeks old. We thought we'd start you early, get you used to being held and watched by someone else. Every week when we pick you up, the nursery workers say you are such a treat to have. We are blessed with a well behaved baby.

-We are also blessed to have TONS of friends volunteer to watch you so we can go out. You are very good with all of them!

Learning drums with dad at his work

Crazy hair after your bath

Such a happy girl

Sooo tired

with your friend, Rico

In your bumbo helping mommy cook

Playing with Daisy

Love you!

-Mommy and Daddy

Dedication Day

2011-09-20T16:23:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday, Tim and I dedicated Madelyn to the Lord. That we are committing to raise Madelyn to love and honor Christ, and to show her that through our lives in the best way possible.
There were three other babies dedicated as well. It was fun for all of us to be up there....AND none of the babies cried! We figured out of 4 babies, at least one of them would cry. But no, they were all on their best behavior. I think they were all in awe of the lights and all the people.

-Megan

Carrots!

2011-09-13T19:05:00.000-07:00

Madelyn started eating carrots and squash this past week. I'm trying to be domestic (and save money!) by making my own baby food. It's so simple and doesn't take very long!

Before her first bite of carrots

Hmmm...not so sure

Yum-it's good!

Eating some squash

-Megan

Night at the Park

2011-08-29T20:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was our church "Night at the Park". The band Tim and I are in, Eternal Noise, plays along with another group from our church. There's free food, games for the kiddos, volleyball and lots of fun! We had one scheduled for earlier this year, but it was rained out. However, last night we had perfect 80 degree weather. Gotta love the northwest!

Tim playing the cajon

our band playing our acoustic set

Tim and Andy

Where's Madelyn? She's in there somewhere =)

And thanks to Tom and Izzy for watching Madelyn all day so Tim and I could help setup/practice!

-Megan

Sounders FC

2011-08-29T20:31:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday, Tim and I along with some of our friends, went to the Seattle Sounders soccer game. It was a lot of fun!! It's way different than a Mariners game. Pretty loud and moves at a much faster pace than baseball. I would definitely love to go again!

My friend and co-worker, Heather, was gracious enough to stay home with Madelyn and the doggies.
Here are some pics from Madelyn's fun day...

MJ and Daisy

Happy MJ =)

-Megan

Five Months

2011-08-20T18:01:00.000-07:00

Madelyn,

You are five months old today!

Here are some of your stats for the month:

-At the last doctor's appt., about a month ago, you weighed 12 1/2 lbs. We're guessing you weigh about 13 1/2 lbs now.

-You are wearing size 1 diapers and you're wearing mostly 3 and 3-6 months clothes. You can still fit into some of your newborn and 0-3 pj's.

-You can hold your head up so well baby girl!

-You "talk" all.the.time. You still love to squeal and have a huge smile we you see mom and dad.

-You went on your first road trip to Chelan this past weekend. You did really well in the car and loved looking out the window.

-You also took your first dip in the swimming pool. The lake was way too cold so we voted to try you in the pool instead.

-You are currently eating around 8 oz. every 4 hours. We also started you on rice cereal. At first you weren't so sure about it, but now you eat it up! I think we'll start pureed veggies soon because you are watching everything we put in our mouth.

-You sleep between 11-12 hours at night. Going to bed at about 8pm and waking up between 7am-8am in the morning.

-Our sweet babysitter, Lynn, said you rolled over from tummy to back the other day. Mommy and daddy have yet to see it, but we know you're trying your best!

-You've started petting your puppies. They sit there very nicely and let you do it. When you're done, they give you lots of kisses.

Love you baby girl.

-Mommy and Daddy

Chelan

2011-08-20T17:40:00.000-07:00

This past week our little fam (pups included) went over the Cascades to Lake Chelan. A friend of ours was gracious enough to let us use his condo. It was an absolutely beautiful drive! The doggies LOVE the car so they were in heaven. Madelyn did really in the car for several hours as well.

This is us on the way there. We stopped in Wenatchee at Sonic...of course =). It was time for MJ to eat and the puppies needed a potty/water break.

The view from the condo was amazing! You could see the mountains and Lake Chelan. Sadie and Daisy enjoyed sitting on the deck soaking in some sun.

It was nice to just sit and relax with Madelyn and the doggies.

Tim with the biggest snow cone EVER!

Heading out to the lake

Dipping her toes in the pool

-Megan

Bible Study Babies

2011-08-01T09:37:00.000-07:00

Tim and I are in a small group on Sunday nights and within the past 6 months there have been 4 new babies! We finally got a picture of all four of them.

Logan (1/26), Madelyn (3/20), Drew (5/10), Leyla (6/21)

-Megan

Four Months

2011-07-20T21:03:00.000-07:00

Madelyn,

Happy four months baby girl!

Here are some of your stats for the month:

-We're guessing you weigh around 13 1/2 pounds!! We go to the doctor next week to find out your exact weight.

-You are wearing size 1 diapers and you're still wearing several newborn clothes, but mostly size 3.

-You've just about mastered holding your head up. You can sit in your bumbo seat!

-You have such an adorable personality!! You have the highest squeal I've ever heard-it is very cute.

-You met your Mimi and Papa for the first time last week and they adore you!

-You are currently eating around 8 oz. every 4 hours.

-You sleep around 11 hours at night. Going to bed at about 8pm with no late night feeding(yes!) and wake up between 7am-7:30am in the morning. Thanks for being such a good sleeper.

-You lift your head up really well during tummy time and are still trying your best to roll over. Almost there!

Love you Madelyn!

-Mommy and Daddy

Mimi and Papa's Visit

2011-07-19T20:59:00.000-07:00

Tim's parents came up to visit over the past couple weeks. Madelyn, Tim, the pups and I had a great time with them. They were a huge help! It was our VBS week so we were busy busy. Mimi and Papa watched Madelyn while Tim and I were at work and running errands after work. At our VBS, 13 kiddos received Christ as their Savior. PTL!! We also had scheduled a "Night at the Park" that we have done the past couple summers with our church, but it was canceled due to rain. We have another one scheduled at the end of August....pray for sun!

This was Madelyn's life while Mimi and Papa were here....

MJ with Papa

sleeping at the park

Tim and I playing volleyball at the park

Madelyn decided to wake up and watch mom and dad

our little family

Evening with Tom and Izzy

MJ with Mimi

Hanging with Papa again

Photo shoot with Mimi

At the VBS Carnival with Dad

VBS Carnival with Mom and Dad

VBS Carnival with Dad and Mimi

MJ's first Sonic trip!!

Thank you Mimi and Papa for coming to visit!!

-Megan

Independence Day

2011-07-05T10:09:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July!

-Megan

More new babies

2011-06-23T11:36:00.000-07:00

Two couples from our church recently had their babies. It's fun to have kiddos around Madelyn's age. We need to get the 4 new babies from our church together for a pic....hopefully you'll see that soon.

This is Drew Paris. He was born on May 10th, 2011.

This is brand new baby Leyla Aquino. She was born on June 21, 2011.

-Megan

Three Months

2011-06-20T18:27:00.000-07:00

Madelyn,

You are three months old today!

Here are some of your stats for the month:

-You weigh a little over 9 lbs.

-You are now wearing size 1 diapers and you're still wearing newborn clothes, but I'm guessing you'll move up to 3 month clothes soon!

-You're doing really well with holding you're head up...but haven't quite mastered it yet.

-You're developing such a cute personality. You smile at people and "talk" all the time.

-You met your Gigi and Pops for the first time a couple weeks ago and they LOVE you! I know you love them too!

-You are currently eating around 6 oz. every 4 hours.

-You sleep around 11 hours at night. Going to bed at about 8pm with your late night feeding at around 10:30pm or 11pm and then up between 7am-7:30am in the morning. We should be able to drop your late night feeding pretty soon.

-You're starting to kick and lift your head up when on your tummy.

Happy three months baby girl! We love you!

-Mommy and Daddy

First Father's Day

2011-06-19T13:49:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's day to my wonderful husband! You are such a great daddy to Madelyn and I've enjoyed seeing the love you two share already!! Can't wait to see what life holds for us...

Happy Father's Day Daddio!

Our furry babies love you too!

-Megan

Gigi and Pops Visit

2011-06-17T20:52:00.000-07:00

My parents came up for a couple of weeks to visit. I started back to work about three weeks ago and they were a huge help with Madelyn! They stayed home in the mornings with Madelyn while I was at work, then once I got off we'd go somewhere during the afternoon.

The first weekend they were here we crossed the floating bridge (per my dad's request), went to Bellevue Square mall, saw Microsoft and went to Sparta's Pizza (my fav!!)

Gigi, Pops and Madelyn

All of us

Our little fam (minus the pups)

Our little star

Dad at Microsoft

Three Generations

The following couple days we took it easy-went to church, ate dinner with some friends (thanks Tom and Izzy!), relaxed at home. My parents stayed with Madelyn several nights so Tim and I could go out. We went to Red Robin, a couple movies, my school's graduation, a band practice, our small group...I think that's it?!? Thanks mom and dad for watching our baby girl while we hit the town! If you're new parents and someone volunteers to keep your baby, take them up on it! Your baby will still remember you when you get home =)

We also went to Pike Place one afternoon. My dad loves all the shops, fresh food (he loves to eat), Starbucks and the atmosphere of the market. I also tried out our little baby carrier while at the market. Madelyn loved looking around at everything. And it was a much easier way to carry her around the market-it's hard to get around there with a stroller.

It was also my mom's birthday and their anniversary while they were up here. My dad had the idea of taking her up to the Space Needle to eat-Tim and I thought it was a great idea! We had a fun time and Madelyn had her first ride to the top of the Needle. I suggest going to the restaurant if you ever come visit Seattle. The food includes your ride up-so the prices really aren't that bad at all!

The following day we went to North Seattle to eat at Beth's Cafe. This is voted one of the best places to eat in Seattle...and was also on the show "Man vs. Food". Beth's is famous for their 12 egg omelette...it's huge!! I loved the food and woke up thinking about it the next morning! I love my eggs! Tim had band practice that morning so I guess that means we'll have to go back!

We had a little photo shoot on Sunday morning before church...

MJ in my old dress

We spent the last two days at the Marysville outlet mall and walking around downtown Edmonds. Gigi and Pops-I know Madelyn enjoyed her time getting to know you and we enjoyed having you here. Again, you were a huge help! Even though our baby sleeps well at night (we are very blessed!) she still requires a lot of energy....as you can tell by this pic....

Hope you're getting some rest!

And because I love my furry pups....

They love their sissy.

-Megan

Two Months

2011-05-21T15:05:00.000-07:00

Madelyn, you are two months old! Can't believe it!!

Here are some of your stats for the month:

-You weigh around 8.5 lbs and I'm not sure how long you are-we'll find out at the doctor next week.

-You are still in newborn diapers, but will be in size 1 soon! You're still wearing all newborn clothes.

-You're still trying your best to hold your head up on your own.

-You sleep the best in your crib upstairs. When we're out running errands you like to look around. Looks like you'll be a people watcher like your mom and dad.

-You're starting to make more sounds and smile every once and awhile. Not smiling in response to us yet, but I'm sure it will come soon.

-You are currently eating around 5 oz. every 4 hours.

-You sleep between 8-9 hours at night. Going to bed at around 8pm with your late night feeding at around 10:30pm or 11pm and then up between 7am-7:30am in the morning. You are still a good sleeper!

-You're starting to turn on your side more often.

-When we put you down for "tummy time" you normally fall asleep.

in your razorback outfit and bib

in one of mommy's old outfits

-We love you and can't imagine life without you!!

-Mommy and Daddy

First Friend

2011-05-02T11:08:00.000-07:00

Here's a sweet picture of Madelyn and her first friend, Logan. He's was born on Jan. 26th so he's about 8 weeks older than her. It'll be fun to watch them grow up together.

-Megan

Easter

2011-04-25T20:15:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter! (One day late)

Our family had a great Easter day! Our services went really well yesterday morning. We didn't do a full program this year, but it was definitely Christ-centered and focused on His resurrection. My hubs does a great job with the music (yes, I might be biased), but I think he did an especially good job "blending" the music together yesterday.

Madelyn was sporting a new Easter dress yesterday. She looked very adorable =)

This is right after I put it on her. Cute huh?!? =) And here's a family pic

Tim loves this one because it looks like she's conducting. We ate lunch with some friends after church and then had a fellowship with our small group last night. It was a busy, but great day!

And no worries, we're not neglecting our pups. Here are a couple recent pictures of them. I love my furry babies!!

Daisy on her favorite blankie

Sades just chillin

-Megan

One Month

2011-04-20T20:56:00.000-07:00

Madelyn, you are one month today! Your daddy and I fall more in love with you each day and are so blessed to have you in our lives.

Here are some of your stats for the month:

-You weigh around 6.5 lbs and are 19 1/2 inches tall.

-You are in newborn diapers and are moving up to newborn clothes. You can still fit in some of your preemie pants.

-You're trying your best to hold your head up on your own.

-You're starting to like baths a little more now that you're in your bigger tub.

-You sleep well in both your pack and play downstairs and the crib in your room upstairs.

-We love the cooing sounds you make all the time and your "ooo" faces.

-You are currently eating from 3-4 oz. every 3 hours during the day.

-You sleep between 5-8 hours at night. Going to bed at around 8pm with your late night feeding at around 10:30pm or 11pm and then up between 7am-7:30am in the morning. You are a good sleeper!

We LOVE you Madelyn and are enjoying each day with you!

-Mommy and Daddy

Photo Shoot

2011-04-11T18:43:00.000-07:00

About a week after Madelyn was born, my co-worker's wife shot some pictures of Madelyn. I think they are absolutely adorable! If you live in the Seattle area and have a newborn, you should definitely get in contact with our photographer. Let me know if you're interested and I'll give you her info.

Here are some of the cute pics:

The last three weeks have been wonderful with our baby girl! Madelyn is eating much better and sleeping from 5-7 hours straight each night! We are definitely blessed.

-Megan

Madelyn's first week

2011-03-28T14:29:00.000-07:00

Well we survived our first week at home with Madelyn!! It's been such a joy getting to know our little girl. We are so in love with her!

Yesterday our friend, Tina, brought our doggies back home. It was nice to have a week to adjust to life with a baby without the dogs, but I sure did miss them. Thank you so much John and Tina for watching our furry babies!! The "meeting" between Madelyn and the dogs went better than Tim and I expected. Sadie's already protective of her and Daisy really didn't care....she just wanted to sleep, like usual. No worries...Tina snapped some pictures of all the girls meeting =)

Excited to see their new sis

Momma, MJ and Sades

Daddy, MJ and Sades

MJ and Sades playing the starring game

As you can see, Sadie wants to be by Madelyn's side all the time. It's pretty cute.

-Megan

Madelyn's here!

2011-03-22T20:45:00.000-07:00

Madelyn Joy McCarty is here! She came into our world at 6pm on Sunday March 20th and weighed 5 lbs. 4 oz. and 19 inches in length. Tim and I are definitely smitten with our little girlie!!

Our baby girl!

My labor process went really quickly! I did most of the laboring at home Sunday morning and then left for the hospital that afternoon. Once we got there it only took about 3 1/2 hours until Madelyn was out!!
The doctor had us stay an extra day to make sure her temperature didn't drop too low. We had several visitors yesterday and were able to get a good night's rest last night.
We ended up bringing our baby girl home this afternoon. Things are going well so far! =)

Here are some pictures from the last three days:

Last belly shot before heading to the hospital 38.5 Weeks

Leaving for the hospital

After MJ was born...I am in love

Tim adoring his baby girl

Shannon and Madelyn

Family picture =)

Izzy, me and Madelyn

Isabel and Madelyn

Jerry, Annie, me and Madelyn

Rico, Michelle and Madelyn

Tina and Madelyn

One last feeding before we head home

Leaving the hospital

In her car seat

About to see her humble abode

Sleeping in her pack and play

-Megan

37.5 Weeks

2011-03-12T10:46:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm full term =) which makes me a happy girl! I went to the doctor the other day and she said everything is still looking good! It's getting harder to sleep because I just can't get comfortable in any position, but other than that I've been feeling good. Still craving the same foods-fruits, veggies and chocolate =).

Here's an updated picture for ya:

37.5 Weeks

We're ready for our little girl to get here!

-Megan

Congrats to my big bro!

2011-03-07T11:22:00.000-08:00

A big congratulations to my big brother, Greg, and his sweet fiancée, Crystal, on their engagement!! I can't wait for their wedding this fall!!

Greg and Crystal

-Megan

Madelyn's Nursery

2011-02-28T16:53:00.000-08:00

We have finally finished Madelyn's nursery! Here are some pictures =):

Daisy playing by MJ's crib

Tim putting up the "monkey family"

Her bows =)

Her monkey crib

Another view of the crib

Her closet

closet and changing table

bow holder and glider

curtains

mirror above her changing table

mobile and monkey lamp

hanging out with Sades

closet view-this girl has tons of clothes!

bathtub

Tim putting together the swing

-Megan

New Recipe

2011-02-20T22:33:00.000-08:00

So as I said in my last post, I watch Rachael Ray almost everyday...gotta love DVR =). She did another one of her "waffle" recipes this past week. It was to make a pizza! I decided to try it out Saturday night. I've gotta say...it was really good! And really easy! Here's the recipe (since I know you're all interested =):
You need pizza crust (in the tube), pizza or spaghetti sauce, cheese, toppings of your choice, non-stick spray, olive oil and any spices you want to put in the dough. Divide the pizza crust in half and let it get to be room temp. Then flatten each half out-like a pizza crust-and add some spices (oregano, salt, pepper, garlic, whatever you'd like) and also some olive oil. Make sure the waffle maker is hot and put a little bit of non-stick spray on it. Put the dough in and leave it on for about 4 minutes (until crispy). Then get the dough out and repeat with the other half of the dough. Next, put the crusts on a nonstick pan and "decorate" your pizzas anyway you'd like. After that, put it in the oven on broil for about 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Then you're done!! Here are some pics =):

My lovely waffle maker =)

the finished product

Tim enjoying the new recipe!

We're still working on the nursery..maybe we'll have pics by this weekend.

-Megan

EBC Shower

2011-02-15T09:07:00.000-08:00

This past Sunday our church threw a baby shower for us. I had a great time seeing everyone, eating cake...and opening gifts! =) Our church was VERY gracious to us!! We are definitely blessed to have an awesome church family!! Here are some pics from the shindig:

The cute cake

Cupcakes made by Millie-she made 90 of them!-so yummy!

trying to hold up the cake w/o it falling

Me, Michelle, Jill and Suzanne (she just had baby Logan 2 1/2 weeks ago!)

Tina, Laura and Char

Stephanie, Melissa, Khyra

Gifts!

Sabrina (who took pics for me =)

Shannon and Myra

me with lots of bibs! and Izzy writing down my gifts for me =)

me with Madison and Raelynn

holding up a cute homemade sweater

Annie, Myra, Jeanette and Ashley

The lovely hosts'-Tina, Marilyn, Myra and Shannon-thank you ladies!!

Sadie checkin' out the gifts

Tim excited about the Mariners onesies

Daisy checkin' things out

The pack and play that the hubs put together

We've gone through all the gifts and are ready to setup the nursery! Hopefully we'll finish before MJ gets here!! =) Pics of the nursery to come...

-Megan

33.5 Weeks

2011-02-12T15:43:00.000-08:00

Highlights from the past few weeks:

Madelyn is moving all.the.time. Most of the time you can even see my belly bulge out a little bit when she does it..it's pretty amazing!
Still craving fruits, veggies and chocolate! I haven't had much of an appetite recently though since Madelyn takes up most of my belly.
Our church is throwing us a baby shower tomorrow afternoon-I'm really looking forward to it! I'll try to post pics this week.
We're still working on the nursery...I'm trying my best to wait until after the shower tomorrow to buy anything/set things up. I'll try to post pics of the nursery next weekend if we get it finished.
This isn't related to MJ-but I figured out you can make omelets in a waffle maker. Tim and I both love omelets and always make a huge mess when making them. When making them in the waffle maker, you have to make sure and use non-stick spray and then just pour your egg mixture in. It takes only a couple minutes. You should try it sometime...it's really easy!!

Here's a new "belly" pic for ya:

33.5 Weeks

Not too much longer!!

-Megan

Happy 28th!!

2011-02-02T08:35:00.000-08:00

Happy 28th birthday to my favorite person!! To celebrate his birthday we went to the Mariners FanFest last Saturday. We got an autograph from an up and coming player..who is suppose to be really good...we'll see I guess =). We also got to tour the Mariners clubhouse, dugout, go out on the field and "run" the bases, and go up to the roof control room to see how they operate the HUGE roof that goes over the stadium. We both had a fun time!

View from the roof control room

Mariners Clubhouse

Tim running to third

Roof control room

Tim with a view of the field

On first base

Love you hubs!

-Megan

29.5 Weeks

2011-01-15T18:46:00.000-08:00

Still going strong in week 29! I can't believe I only have about 10 more weeks to go...we can't wait to meet Madelyn Joy!! I had a doc appt. this week and she said everything is looking good! I also passed my glucose test....so that's great news! I'm still craving fruits and veggies, but have added chocolate to the mix =). I try to eat chocolate covered peanuts or almonds so they're somewhat good for me. Here's an update picture for you:

29.5 Weeks

-Megan

6th Anniversary

2011-01-08T10:56:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in the last post, we were at Universal for our 6th Anniversary this year. Here is a quick look at some pictures of us over the past New Year's Eve (give or take)...

12/31/2003-the night we got engaged

12/31/2004-Our Wedding Day

I can't find a good one from 2005

December 2006

I can't find a good one from 2007

12/31/2008-At the Space Needle

12/31/2009-NYC

12/31/2010-Dinner at Universal Studios

I love you so much, Tim, and I can't wait to see what this year brings!

-Megan

Happy New Year!

2011-01-08T10:43:00.000-08:00

After we saw family and friends in Arkansas, we headed down to Orlando to visit with Tim's side of the family. Everyone except his brother, wife and kiddo, Ian were able to join us. Glad we were able to see them while we were in Arkansas though!
While in Orlando we went to SeaWorld and saw a very cool shamu and dolphin show among many other animals. We also went to Universal Studios...both Islands of Adventures and the regular Universal Park. We were able to be there on New Year's Eve, our anniversary =), which was pretty awesome! We were much warmer than last year when we were in NYC! They set off fireworks and showed a video of the history of Universal over the past 25 years. Here are some pics...

At the Shamu Show

SeaWorld

The Dolphin Show

Tim with Woody at the Lego Store

Amy, Me and Val at Universal

Tim and I in front of Universal

Hogwarts at the new Harry Pottery Park

Inside Hogwarts

Fireworks!

More fireworks

Tim with his new Hard Rock shirt

Our nieces Lucy and Aubrey

Me, Tim and our nephew Trevor

Tim and our niece, Nora

We had a fun time seeing family and friends, but we're it's so nice to be back home!

-Megan

Merry Christmas!

2011-01-08T10:32:00.000-08:00

Over Christmas this year Tim and I flew down to Arkansas to visit family and friends. We took the red eye (which I do not want to do again!)..I couldn't sleep at all and was exhausted when I got to AR. After a nap, I felt much better!

While in Arkansas we were able to visit with my family, Tim's brother and his family and some good friends we went to high school and college with. We also had the opportunity met my brothers girlfriend, Crystal. She is such a sweetheart! We can't wait to spend some more time with her in the future!

Greg, Crystal and Maggie (the pup)

There are several food places we don't have up here in Seattle that we have been craving..i.e....El Zarape, Gringo's, Geno's, Chik-fil-A, Sweet Bay, Braums, SONIC, Chili's and CiCi's pizza...thanks dad for going with Tim =) We were able to hit up all of them except Braums and Chili's...we'll get that next time we're in town.

Here are some more pics for ya...

Brandy and Me

Me and Katy

Me and Tim...I had been looking for the movie Home Alone on TV since Christmas and never found it..so he got it for me =)

Wade with his "Uncle Wade" mug

Mom with the new scarf I made her

Dad with his new shirt

Thanks to all our friends and family who made an effort to come see us while we were there!!

-Megan

25.5 Weeks

2010-12-20T15:13:00.000-08:00

25.5 weeks..so far..so good! Pregnancy has been pretty good for me so far. Well, except for the first trimester where I felt nauseous pretty much the whole time! I'm still craving the same foods-fruit and veggies. It's been hard staying away from all the holiday sweets! Luckily I've got a husband who loooves sugar..so he's taking care of all the sweets for me!

Here's an updated "bump" picture. The shirt I've been wearing is getting a little tight...so here's a new shirt that fits with the same pants. They don't quite match, but that's okay...it's comfy =).

25.5 Weeks

-Megan

Maternity Pics

2010-12-16T10:28:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago a good friend of ours (and awesome photographer) Rico came over to take some maternity and family pictures of us. He did such a great job! Here are some of the pics:

In front of our new house with the pups

Inside with the pups...amazing that they're looking the same direction!

-Megan

EBC Christmas Program

2010-12-16T10:22:00.000-08:00

This past weekend we had a Christmas Program at our church. I think it went really well! Tim did an excellent job (yes, I might be a bit biased =) so did the orchestra, drama, choir, tech and everyone else involved. The program this year was centered around a radio show with "special guests" and "special musicians". All of the guests that called into the show were telling about something they went through in there life and how God showed his faithfulness to them during their situation. All of the stories were true stories from people in our congregation. It was pretty awesome to hear all of their stories! The staff usually do a song during the program as well and this year they did a little dancing during their number...it was pretty funny! They didn't do it at any of the rehearsals so we were all cracking up during the first night of the program when they did it!

-Megan

22.5 Weeks

2010-11-29T11:04:00.000-08:00

This month of pregnancy has been pretty good. I'm still craving the same foods-fruits and veggies. Just glad it's healthy food =). My doc said Madelyn is growing well and I'm right where I should be. We now have all the furniture for Madelyn's room and we're planning to register this weekend....should be fun! Here's an updated pic for ya...

22.5 Weeks

-Megan

Thanksgiving Day

2010-11-29T09:35:00.000-08:00

This year for Thanksgiving we decided to stay home with the two of us....and three crazy dogs. Some of our friends went out of town so we babysat their dog for the week. Daisy and their dog, Buddy, absolutely loved hanging out together! I think Sadie enjoyed having him there too because this meant Daisy wasn't pestering her like usual.

Waiting for their turkey

Watching the Macy's Parade together

Tim and I fixed a turkey with all the sides that we like and just finished up the leftovers yesterday. The turkey was very yummy! Since we were homebound for the day because of the snow we watched the Macy's Parade, ate, watched a movie, ate, played some wii....and ate some more =). It was a nice relaxing day for the two of us. I am very thankful for my husband; I am definitely blessed to have him in my life.

Testing the turkey

-Megan

Unexpected Snow

2010-11-29T09:34:00.000-08:00

Last week, Seattle got quite a bit of unexpected snow. My boss let me off an hour early on Monday to head home in the wet and cold weather. What normally takes me 30 minutes to get home, took an hour. We heard later on the news that it took some people in Seattle 8-12 hours to get home...that is just crazy! The roads were starting to get slick and there were chances of even more snow. It snowed pretty much all day Tuesday and a little on Wednesday. Luckily for me, school was canceled on both Tuesday and Wednesday =). It snowed on Thursday morning as well.

Our house on Thursday morning

This was Daisy's first time to see snow and she loved it! She likes to eat ice, so she thought she was in heaven! Sadie likes to hop around in the snow like a rabbit as well. They're a funny pair.

Daisy checkin it out

Sadie enjoying the cold breeze

-Megan

Madelyn Joy

2010-11-03T15:31:00.000-07:00

So if you haven't heard yet, Tim and I are having a GIRL! We've decided to name her Madelyn Joy =). The big ultrasound was yesterday, and the technician said everything looks just fine and that our baby girl is doing great! Since I haven't posted a pic in a month-here ya go!

18 1/2 Weeks

Things are going well around our house. I'm still feeling good-eating all the fruit and pickles I can get! Our pups are doing great as well. We love our furry baby girls!

Sadie looks a little distracted in this pic-there must be food or her kong-kong over on the ground

I took this one with my phone so the quality isn't that great but they still look cute =)

Me and Say-Say hanging out in the kitchen

-Megan

Tim's Worship Blog

2010-10-26T08:29:00.000-07:00

Tim has started a new blog to discuss matters of worship through song stories, devotions, and other thoughts. We hope you will check it out and find it to be very encouraging. Here's the link:

http://edgewoodworship.blogspot.com/

-Megan

16 weeks

2010-10-14T11:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went in for my 16 week appointment. The doc said everything still looks good and on track. I'm still feeling pretty good and craving fruit...and McDonald's french fries; just tired all.the.time. It takes me a little longer to get up and ready for work...at 5:30am=( in the morning.

The exciting news the doc told me is we'll find out the gender of Baby McC at my next appointment on November 2nd. Tim and I can't wait!! If you know us well...or at all, you know we're both planners. We like to have everything planned ahead on our schedules and we try to be everywhere on-time. We know a kiddo will change this...immensely...but at least we can know ahead of time what gender the baby is =). We're planning to do a "gender neutral" nursery anyway...not paint anything pink/blue....but we're still excited to know what Baby McC is so we can decide on a name!! No recent pictures to post..maybe next time.

ps. the pups got haircuts the other day...they are looking pretty cute =)

-Megan

Baby!!

2010-10-04T09:54:00.000-07:00

So if you haven't already heard, Tim and I are expecting our first child on March 30th, 2011. We are super pumped about it! Right now I'm almost 15 weeks. The first trimester I felt bad pretty much everyday. Not throwing up, but continually nauseous. The second trimester has been much better so far!! As long as I eat snacks all day, I'm usually fine. Tim's been great with everything! He goes to the store for me whenever I have "cravings" and has been a great help around the house...with cleaning and the dogs. My cravings have been fruit so far....well...and McDonald's french fries. But I craved those even before I got pregnant!! Here's a shot of the belly...just pooching out a little so far...but enough that my pants are getting a little tight!

14 1/2 weeks

In other news, my sister-in-law, Dorothy, just had her second child. His name is Trevor and he's so adorable. We can't wait to meet Trevor and his big sister, Aubrey in December.

-Megan

Olympic National Forest

2010-08-02T10:42:00.001-07:00

Last Thursday, Tim and I ventured over to the Olympic Peninsula with my parents. It was beautiful! We went through Port Angeles, over to Forks then to La Push. We drove all the way around the forest so it took a loooong time, but it was fun. If you're a fan of Twilight like I am, then you should definitely check it out.

Lake Crescent

Chillin in traffic

Stopping for lunch

La Push

Going into La Push

La Push

Diasy LOVES the water!

Forks

Pacific Ocean on our way home

Me and the hubs

-Megan

Mt. Rainier

2010-07-26T09:56:00.001-07:00

On Saturday, we headed up to Mt. Rainier National Park. We were brave and took both pups with us. They were on their good behavior the whole time (hoping to come on more road trips=). They both did really well riding in the car and they didn't even bark too much once we got there. If you ever get a chance to come up to Washington State, I highly recommend seeing Mt. Rainier. It is spectacular!

Mt. Rainier

My parents, Sadie and I in front of the mountain

With my pups
Tim with the pups in front of Narada Falls
Narada Falls-beautiful!
Sadie all tuckered out
Daisy enjoying the breeze

Oh..and did I mention we stopped at Sonic on the way home =)

-Megan

San Juan Islands

2010-07-26T09:42:00.001-07:00

My parents came in town last week from Arkansas. We're enjoying time with them and have taken a couple trips while they've been here. Last Friday we took the Clipper up to the San Juan Islands. It was a beautiful ride up. We saw quite a bit of wildlife including seals, bald eagles and WHALES. We saw two orca pods!! I've been wanting to see a whale since we've moved up here. And it finally happened!!!! =)

About to board the Clipper
It got a little windy!

Seals basking in the sun

Finally to Friday Harbor
Spotted a whale!
Here they are!!

And a couple more!

I'm a happy girl =)
The beautiful scenery around us

-Megan

Seaside

2010-07-12T09:41:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, Tim and I were able to get away and visit Seaside, Oregon. Our friends John and Tina visit there often and love it....so we thought we'd give it a try. John and Tina kept our crazy dogs for the weekend....thank you sooo much by the way!!! We left Friday after I got off work and drove down there. We got into some traffic, but finally arrived at around 5pm. We were able to spend some time on the beach and even caught the sunset. It was beautiful!!! It was a little too cold for us to swim, but there were some brave swimmers in the water.

Saturday morning we went down to the beach again and caught some more pictures. Seaside is a cute town with lots of little shops on the main drag. We did some quick shopping, ate brunch and headed back up to Seattle.

Tim and I had never seen the Pacific Ocean before....the waves are huge!!! I definitely recommend going to see it if you never have.

This is by the hotel where we stayed. There's a statue of Lewis and Clark in the middle of the turnaround. Seaside was the end of their journey.

On the beach =)

Lewis and Clark Statue

Waiting for the sun to set
Havin fun!

Sunbathing in the Northwest

The beautiful sunset!

Walking into the sunset

The waves on Saturday morning-awesome!

-Megan

Jim's 50th

2010-07-12T09:33:00.000-07:00

One of our good friends up here, Jim, turns 50 in December. His wife threw a surprise birthday party for him last week...6 months before his birthday! Turned out to be a good surprise! It was at one of the suites at the Mariners stadium. It was awesome! We had such a good time celebrating with Jim and Cathy and a few friends =)

Jim and Cathy

Jim's name on the big screen

Snapped a pic with the moose!

-Megan

Family Visit

2010-07-12T09:19:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the delay of posts. It's been very busy since we've moved into our new place. Less than a week after moving in, Tim's parents, sister and 2 nieces came up from Alabama to visit. They have not been able to come up here since we moved out here 3 years ago; so it was fun showing them around our new home.

We did several things around the city such as...eating lunch at the Space Needle, Mariners game and a ferry ride from Edmonds to Kingston. Mostly we just hung out at home catching up.

Tim and Nora at the Mariners Game

Nora with her papa(Tim's dad) on father's day

Joe and Jimmi at the top of the Needle

Tim with our niece, Lucy, at the fountain in Key Arena

-Megan

And we're in...

2010-06-14T09:32:00.000-07:00

We closed and received our keys on Friday =). We're very excited to be in!! Now it's time to unpack everything and get all set up. Thank you soo very much to our friends John and Tina who hosted us for the past week and 1/2. We love and appreciate you both very much!! Tina took the following pictures after we received our keys...

If you want to see more of the inside, you'll have to come visit =)

-Megan

Roommates

2010-06-07T10:40:00.000-07:00

Well, we still haven't closed; hopefully it'll happen in the next couple days. We had to move out of our previous house last Monday, Memorial Day. We're temporarily living with some very very gracious friends from church until we close. We decided to go to the Mariners game on Saturday since we couldn't move anything in quite yet. They lost (what's new?), but it was a beautiful day outside. It was nice just to sit in the sunshine.

Here's a pic of us with our new roommates, John and Tina =)

Tim took a panoramic shot from our seats. They were about 10 rows behind the Mariners dugout. It was awesome!

-Megan

Carrie Underwood!!

2010-05-30T15:07:00.000-07:00

For Valentine's Day this year, Tim got me tickets to see Carrie Underwood! I had to wait 3 months after V-Day to see her, but it was totally worth the wait. The concert was at Everett Comcast Center last night. She was amazing! She has one of the best voices I've heard and I just love her songs....and that she won American Idol...a show that I watch every year =).

Here's a pic we snapped of us before the concert...

A new country band "Sons of Sylvia" opened for her along with a country singer "Craig Morgan" who I'd never heard of before. I didn't care much for "Sons of Sylvia", but "Craig Morgan" was okay. We were just waiting to see Carrie! We could have done without the 1 1/2 hr. of opening acts before she came on.

Sons of Sylvia

Craig Morgan

Tim was a trooper coming along with me. He did enjoy seeing how they set up everything-lights, sound, etc. and he now knows all of Carrie's songs since I listen to them constantly.

Carrie coming up from the stage to sing "Cowboy Casanova"

She sang songs from her past 3 CD's. She even sang "Jesus Take the Wheel" which Tim was waiting for ha!

"Jesus Take the Wheel"/"How Great Thou Art"

We were both stunned by all of the visual effects. During one part of the concert, she was even standing on the bed of a truck that was suspended from the ceiling. It was pretty cool.

singing "This Time"
singing "Change" with cool visual effects on her dress

Overall it was such a fun night...we ended up home at about 11:45pm...so we're pretty tired today, but it was well worth it!

-Megan

Week 13

2010-05-28T14:20:00.000-07:00

The fence, rockery around the garage and inside is complete. They planted grass seed the other day and it shouldn't take too long to come up...considering it's been raining almost every day this week! We're still waiting for them to plant the daisies next to the porch and our little white fence railing around the porch=).

Our closing date has been pushed back about 3 times now. We're hoping we can actually close next weekend. We're definitely past ready to move in! We've been living out of boxes for awhile..ha!

Here's a picture Tim snapped today...

-Megan

Week 10

2010-05-08T11:18:00.000-07:00

More of the siding. The outside is almost finished! =)

-Megan

Week 9

2010-04-30T15:40:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay on posting pictures..we were waiting for the siding to be put on. It's not quite finished yet, but here's a glimpse...

-Megan

Doggies

2010-04-16T12:20:00.000-07:00

Here are some updated pictures of our furry babies. They both got haircuts yesterday and look very cute =) I'm not biased or anything ha! Daisy is now almost as big as Sadie (10 lbs); I think she'll outgrow Sadie over time!! They love being sisters...most of the time...Sadie gets tired faster than Daisy and sometimes gets annoyed when Daisy wants to keep on playing, but all in all they love being around each other.

Daisy-7 1/2 months Sadie-2 in June

mmm...yummy french fry

Sleepy after a long day of getting pretty and hanging out with daddy at work

-Megan

Week 7

2010-04-16T09:44:00.000-07:00

We have a roof!! It's getting closer =)

-Megan

Week 6

2010-04-09T15:46:00.001-07:00

Things are looking good!!

-Megan

Week 5

2010-04-03T15:14:00.000-07:00

Our building crew has been hard at work this week. We now have some walls up!! Take a look...

-Megan

Week 3

2010-03-19T08:14:00.000-07:00

Not a lot of visible changes this week, but they did run all the utility lines! They also put down gravel for the driveway and moved all the dirt piles =)

-Megan

St. Patrick's Day

2010-03-17T08:11:00.000-07:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day!! Hope you're wearing green so you won't get pinched!!

-Megan

Week 2

2010-03-12T11:25:00.000-08:00

Two nice additions to the house this week-the sides of the garage and the SOLD sign. =) They've been working on some of the siding as well. Today they'll have a full crew out there cutting down limbs behind the house and putting in a sewer line.

-Megan

Week 1

2010-03-05T12:06:00.001-08:00

Our house is coming along quickly! Here is the outline! Enjoy the pics!

And happy birthday tomorrow to our friend Wesley!

-Megan

New House

2010-03-02T09:58:00.000-08:00

Tim and I have been on the lookout for a new house for the past couple months. Last week, our Realtor took us out to a neighborhood with newly built homes and lots where houses weren't even built yet. After praying and thinking about what we should do, we decided to build a brand spankin' new house!! We are super pumped about this and will document each step of progress along the journey.

Ground breaking on our new house begins today!! It should be complete by the middle of May which works perfect for the lease at our house right now. It's evident that God's hand has been in this whole process.

Here is a picture of our lot.

More pics to come soon.

-Megan

Mariner Jerseys

2010-03-01T11:20:00.000-08:00

For Christmas, Joe and Jimmi, Tim's parents, bought us personalized Mariner jerseys. They say "McCarty" on the back with the number 11....our favorite number. Here is what they look like...

Pretty sweet, huh? We're ready for baseball season to begin...not too much longer!

-Megan

Happy Birthday!!

2010-02-02T10:59:00.000-08:00

Happy 27th birthday to my wonderful husband!!

The dogs woke Tim up this morning with lots of birthday kisses!! We're celebrating his b-day by looking at houses after work and then eating a birthday dinner. Should be a fun-filled day. I love you babe!

Oh..and happy groundhogs day =)

-Megan

Daisy the Houdini!

2010-01-12T11:58:00.000-08:00

Megan's taken over this blog and it looks much better now! But, I have got to post this one......Yesterday morning I got up and put Daisy in Sadie's kennel. This way she could get some food and water and not run all over the house while I was in the shower. When I got out of the shower, Daisy was sitting in our bedroom! She got out of the kennel!

So, today, I put her in there again and setup a camera. She's not quite a Houdini magically disappearing, but this is quite a task to get out of there. Sadie's used this setup for a year and a half and never escaped. Daisy can get out in 60 seconds! Enjoy!

I love how Sadie is sitting there watching and learning new tricks! We've got our hands full with these two!

-Tim

New York City!!! Day 1

2010-01-05T17:00:00.000-08:00

For our 5th anniversary this year Tim and I ventured eastward to New York City. I've been wanting to see the ball drop in Times Square for as long as I can remember. My friend Katy and I would watch it every New Years Eve growing up and it looked like so much fun! We were in NYC for 5 days and packed each day as full as possible.

Day 1:
Flew out Tuesday morning and arrived at JFK at about 2:30pm. Settled into our hotel and ate dinner in Times Square.

Anticipating take-off

Waiting for a cab

Times Square-can you find me?

After dinner, we went on a "Holiday Lights Tour" of Manhattan. It was a fun way to start the trip

NYC Traffic and Holiday Lights

Tim freezing cold in the bus

-Megan

NYC Day 2

2010-01-05T16:50:00.000-08:00

Day 2:
We got up bright and early to see "The Today Show" down in Rockefeller Center. Tim enjoys videoing and liked seeing how everything was set up for the show. Too bad Al Roker and Meredith Viera were gone, but we were able to see Matt Lauer...and it was his birthday!

The Today Show

We spent some time in Rockefeller Center watching ice skaters and went to "Top of the Rock" (on top of the GE building). It is an amazing view of the city!! This is one of my favorite stops on our trip.

Rockefeller Center

Top of the Rock

North View

South View

After this, we ventured out to Carnegie Hall. Turned out the tours were closed until mid-January. We were a little bummed, but it was cool to at least see where it is.

Carnegie Hall

Then we walked to Central Park. On our way we stopped by "The Plaza Hotel" (where Kevin McAllister stayed in "Home Alone 2" =)

The Plaza

Central Park

We journeyed through the Upper Westside to tour Lincoln Center. On the way to Lincoln Center we passed by ABC studios where "Regis & Kelly" is filmed (one of my favorite talk shows).

Regis & Kelly

ABC Studios

The Lincoln Center includes the Julliard School, New York Philharmonic, New York Ballet and the Metropolitan Opera. We were hoping to get a more in-depth tour-see the stages, etc., but performances of both the ballet and opera were going on during our tour.

Lincoln Center

We took the bus around part of Manhattan that evening. Passed by The Natural History Museum (that's on "Night at the Museum"-one of Tim's favorite movies) and a huge Cathedral.

Natural History Museum

We also saw more of the Upper Westside, Harlem, the Upper Eastside and where the David Letterman Show is located.

Harlem

David Letterman Show

That night we saw the Broadway hit "Phantom of the Opera". It was absolutely amazing! We didn't take any pictures because cameras were not allowed. I highly recommend this show if you ever travel to NYC.

It was overall a very busy, but great day.

-Megan

NYC Day 3

2010-01-05T16:40:00.000-08:00

Day 3: New Years Eve

We slept in preparing ourselves for the ball drop in Times Square. We arrived in Times Square at around 2pm. Here's how crazy it was when we got there...

We waited in the crowd until 8pm and decided we were too cold and crowded to last 4 more hours. It took us an hour to get back to our hotel because there was so much security around Times Square. We stopped by Subway and watched the ball drop on TV...much warmer.

All bundled up...Tim's hat reminds me of the guy on Independence Day who ran the "Russian Space Station"

The view from our spot where we stood for 6 hours

NBC Stage-with Carson Daly

6 Hours 'til midnight

-Megan

NYC Day 4

2010-01-05T16:30:00.000-08:00

Day 4:
New Years Day

There were tons of people out and about. Seems like everyone that was in Times Square the night before decided to do the same things we did. That morning we took a tour of downtown Manhattan. We drove down "Fashion Avenue", Greenwich Village, SoHo, the Financial District, and the Lower Westside.

Ground Zero

Since the line for the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island were soo long, we decided to take the Staten Island Ferry. It was FREE and passed by both landmarks.

Statue of LibertyEllis Island

The bus tour drove us through the lower eastside of Manhattan. We passed by the Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Bridge and Chinatown.

Brooklyn Bridge

After our tour, we walked to the Empire State Building. It took us about 4 hours to get to the top because it was soo busy! We were there in the evening so we saw all the lights of the city. It was a fantastic view!

Empire State Building

-Megan

NYC Day 5

2010-01-05T09:12:00.002-08:00

Day 5:
This was our last day in the city. We slept in knowing we wouldn't get home to Seattle until about 1am ET. It was nice to drive through the city one more time while on our way to the airport. This was such a fun trip and we both would love to go back again....but maybe when it's a bit warmer =). Happy Anniversary to my hubs of 5 years and Happy New Year to all you blog readers!!

Leaving NYC

-Megan

Christmas!

2009-12-26T11:20:00.007-08:00

Merry Christmas! Tim and I stayed home in Seattle again this year. We had a fun day spending time with each other and our pups. Today we're running some errands and spending some time at Starbucks (free wi-fi =). Here are some pics from yesterday...

Sadie & Daisy

Daisy with her rope

Sleepy after too much turkey

-Megan