It's been a while

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

I know things get uberly crazy this time of year. I can vouch for that between Christmas parties, shopping, guests, traveling, kids, decorating etc etc etc. It has been a busy couple of weeks.
Madilyn knows too how crazy this time of year is!!! WHEW!!!

Good thing we have friends to share our lives. Mae came over and she and Madi played so well.

What a beautiful face......Look how beautiful our litte Moonchie is.

Is is Mighty COLDDDDDD here!!! Single digits and with the windchill burrrrrrr. Moonchie and I had to run some shopping errands and we bundled up.

I hope you all have a wonderful CHristmas time. I look forward to everyones blog updates. Merry Christmas....and God Bless!!!

Thanksgiving

It is Thanksgiving time again. We all get a day to give thanks. We should take a moment everyday to pray, or meditate, or just be and realized just how INCREBILY blessed we truly are.

I cherish the relationship I have with Jesus. I know with him as my guide and guardian I am strong when those around me need strength. I am allowed to be weak and he can carry my burden. He gives me words to comfort and educate. He provides food for my body and my soul. Without him I am nothing. With him I can be everything....a mommy, a wife, a daughter, a sister, a friend.

I am totally in love with my daughter. I am captivated with her laughter, and I will move heaven and earth to protect her and nourish her physically, intellectually, spiritually and emotionally. Being a parent is THE most difficult and THE most rewarding experience. I love being a mommy.

I love being a wife. Jason and I have been married 5 years now, but have been together 10 years November 12th. He is my best friend. He is my lover. He is in everyway my soul mate. He is a WONDERFUL father. He and I are in many ways opposite but I find that polarity keeps us both grounded and passionate. Nothing is real unitl I tell Jason. He even buys me flowers from time to time, just cause.

We have a nice little house. I often get frustrated with my house, who doesn't. It is not big enough, or not this or not that. But in all honesty.....we have a house. And...we DO love our house. We are making it our own all the time. And we are doing it with our own two hands. It is perfect for Jason, Madilyn and me.

I am grateful for my family. But I would like to single out my mom. I am so grateful for my mom. She helps me be a better mom. She listens when I am boasting or when I am frustrated. She offers advice but as every parent must do....she lets me "fall down" as a mom too. She respects that I need and want to find my own way (or style) as a mom. I find her stamina with Madilyn empowering. I often get caught up with cleaning or work or a television program, then think....what would my mom do right now. Then I grab Madi and play.

I have a job. Brad, Mark, Jeff, Kevin, they are so wonderful at working with me so that I can be home with Madi. And let's face it.....given this economy...I am grateful just to have a job. But I do feel that my job and my business is special. Thank you Boone Electric. You are my family as well.

This might seem silly but I am gratefull for....gerber graduates ravioli (easy, quick lunch for Madi). I know I should make my own...blah blah blah.... but in my defense I always pair it with a veggie, a fruit and a cup of milk. It's a well balanced meal but it takes me 30 seconds with no dishes. I am also grateful for DVR (Digital Video Recorder) and the movie "Shrek". Madi loves it too.

Count your blessings daily. Tell your loved ones you love them and let by gones be by gones. Happy Holiday.

McPherson Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Roots - Family search

Do you all remember this. I was going down post history / memeory lane and found this. I uploaded some recent pics of us to see if Madi's features started to take on more of Jason of myself....and low and behold she is a perfect balance of Jason and I.

My mother is laughing

When I was a little girl, I ground my teeth. It annoyed my family something fierce. My mom said you could hear it across a room. Well, guess who has started grinding her teeth. I was reading her a bedtime story and heard the strangest sound. It sounded like miniature bubble wrap being popped. I took me a few minutes to figure out what it was....and it turns out, It is super annoying. Now my mom is laughing, because inevitably, what we terrorized our parents with as children has and will come back to haunt us with our children. Lord Help Me!!!

Family Ties

Jason's great aunt came down to Washington from Alaska to visit family. Jason and I drove down to Walla Walla for a few hours. We got to have breakfast and visit Aunt Isabella and His grandma as well as hang out with with David, Karen, Laurie, Aaron, Michael, Penny, Steve and Mary.

Here is Jason Grandma Lucille and his Great Aunt Isabella. She is an elder in their tribe and presented an honorable eagle feather to Grandma Lucille. Only Native Americans are allowed to have such a priceless symbol. It was fantastic getting to visit and learn.

Jason and Madilyn are applying to become members of the tribe. We may be traveling to Alaska next summer to make it official. We will see.

Goloshas

We have a pair of golashas for Madi. We got to use them on a dreary day this weekend. Oh, they are the plainest little black golashas....but on her, they are the cutest dang things I have ever seen.

Halloween 2008

Madi was a pumpkin. Chasing her and trick or treating with her made it very difficult to get a decent picture. But here is my little munchkin.

I just love this hat on her.

I have on wings and am a fairy princess....but I couldn't really take a pic of myself. I hope you all have a fun and safe Halloween. Jason had to work. Can you imagine working where he does on HALLOWEEN!!!!

Random Pictures

Jason caught this pic of Madi this morning while she was watching TV. It has got to be one of my favorites.
Madi has a "shape ball". It is two hemispheres that fit together and each side has shapes to put blocks into. Madi like to put one half on my head and the other on her head. Okay, I am ther one who did it first, but now SHE thinks it is fun.

Here she is with the other side of the toy. What a ham!!! I love her this little munchkin.

Jason loves this picture. He thinks she looks like Shrek (in the first movie when He and Donkey visit the village and watch the information booth sing a song.)

How do you supposed she got up there.....yup, she pushed her highchair over, climbed up and crossed over. Welcome to our lives.

But who could ever be frustrated with that face....seriously!!!!!

MIA - I have been making biscuts.

It has been a while since my last blog. Nothing fancy to report here, Same Ole Same Ole. WOrking, taking care of Madi, trying to keep up with the neverending housework and laundry, keeping up with a potty training puppy. The other day Mae came over. The girls had a great time getting into everything. I pick up the kitchen again...then....

then again.....then

again...and again. I must have picked up the kitchen and livingroom 4 or times. Whew!!!

Tonight, I was making homemade bicuts to have with out supper. Inspired by Carolyn, I had Madi hop up on the counter and help. She really loved to play in the flour. She loves to play in water...so one can imagine it didn't take long for her to move from biscuts to faucet.

This is a video of our fun. Madi was so fixated with the water...she wouldn't even look at me.

Enjoy

Friends and Family

Madilyn been little Miss Social. She is has been pretty busy visiting friends and family. She and Mae hung out. It got very quiet...I checked on the girls....they had gone to the stairs and were babbling their plan of attack to each other on how to climb them....THese two will be getting each other into trouble...I can just feel it.
We went to visit Nicky.
Then we went to a harvest party with Nonna. We has so much fun chasing the other kids. Climbing on the swings and sleighs, running through the leaves and sipping cider.
THen today, Grandma and Papa came over and we hung out, ate dinner, and read, among other things.

Pics are ready

http://www.mistydawnphotos.com/gallery/JMcPherson/

Our pictures are done....take a look... There are some great ones.

Thanks Misty

New Addition

As some of you may know, my parents have been hinting at Mari and I to have another baby. Since we are still enjoying they baby that we have...we decided on the next best thing! Yep, as you can see from the pic's below, we added a new pup to the familyShe is a cute husky/german shepard mix that we found at the local animal shelter last week. On Sunday we decided to head on down to the local animal shelter (Spokanimal) and see what kind of creatures they had available. As we were pulling into the parking lot, we saw Ginger (named so because of her color) coming in the door.

Apparently she had been recovered from Riverfront Park earlier that day. Since there is a 3 day waiting period to get a dog and a seemingly mysterious length of time a pup must wait to see the vet and be spayed, Mari and Madi were able to beat everyone else in Spokane to her last Thursday after a great deal of persistance.

She has been a bundle of energy and a lot of fun. We are still in the process of house training her but she is catching on quickly. She was able to stay inside for about 3 hours today without an accident. Mari has already figured out how to bribe Ginger into sitting. Mari's next goal is to teach her to sit (I only wish training Madi was this easy!!).

Misty Dawn Photos

We had Pictures taken recently by Misty... http://www.mistydawnphotos.com/

SHe is still working on the proofs. Here is one pic. I must tell you, Madilyn was being a little stinker. She didn't want to cooperate at all. She is so fun. WHen she is happy she is so happy and smiley. But you cannot make her do anything...ANYTHING she doesn't want to. She is so stubborn and bull headed....makes sense though, look at her Mommy and Daddy. Here is a sample Pic.

What are we gonna do now!!!

Madilyn loves her high chair. Lateley she won't let us buckle her in, she wants to do it. SHe also likes to stand up in her high chair despite our desire for her to NOT! The other day she was in her chair tyring to figure it out how to unbuckle it. I walked into the other room to mop the stairs....then I heard the cubboards open. YUP, Madi worked her way out of the chair, climbed to the counter, and started going through the cubboard. Oh, great! Look at what she learned to do today.

I was in the livingroom folding laundry, looked up and Madilyn was in her highchair. I pulled her out of the chair (which is why she is so fussy in the video) and hid in the bathroom with the camera. It is sideway....oops.

We decided to take her to the park and let her climb. Wish us luck.

Pig out in the Park 08

It is Pig out in the Park time. For those of you forgien to SPokane.... THis is when most of the local resturaunts set up a booth in he giant park down town. Bands play, vendors sell purses, dresses, bags, toys, and people EAT!!! I asked Steve and Mary to join Madi and I at the park (Jason had to work today, we'll take daddy tomorrow). I tried Greek food for the first time and a Hawaiian Salmon. Steve ate a giant piece of cheesecake on a stick (can we say "heaven"). We had a great time.
Mary and I making our serious, sexy faces. As serious and one can get in a crowd of 15,000 people.
Here is Madi walking along next to Steve. I love how tiny she looks next to him. It reminds me of how small she is in comparision to everyone....but she has a huge presence and holds such a huge place in all our hearts.
Ahhh, Grandma and grandpa.....
This is Madi's new dress. While at the park, she dumped a lemonde on her capris and tshirt. I had just bought this dress for her to wear next summer. I had to put it on her in the park because her other clothes were wet. She had picked out the wear her pretty gold shoes earlier....turns out...they matched.
Her dress was too big. I had to use a clothes pin I found (how random, I know) to tie up the dress a little so she wouldn't trip. Madi loved her dress. She ran around the booths making so many people smile and comment on how adorable she is. I could only smile. Her personality and her sunshine dress really radiated to everyone and made us happy.
One of my favorite moments of the evening....Madi spotted Grandma in a booth, got very excited. I love that she know Grandma, Grandpa, and my mom Nonna. Having them in her life is so important.
Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for hangin'. And we want to give a shout our to Grandma who tried a bite of my Greek gyros (which is yummy yummy by the way). It was a wierd thing for her, but she tried. Way to go.

Fun with Stickers

Fun with stickers, Need I say more....

Yoga Rocks

YOGA totally ROCKS!!!! I took an intro class in June. Now I started back up with regular classes. I went last night with Rachel.....I haven't sweat like that in i would sayb about 7 years. It was very challenging, but completely worked with my novice skill level. You do what works for you. Love it love it love it. I think I am addicted. Anyone here in spokane interested check out www.twistyogastudio.com If you don't live in Spokane, I recommend finding a yoga studio in you area.

Monday

It sure is a monday. My pet project at work has been working witha company to develop a website. We went live on Thursday. The server crashed Friday and now I start all over again today. But hey, we got pizza for lunch today. When i went to pick it up....I won free crazy bread, so the day wasn't a total bust! It's 100 degrees outside and we have road cosntruction just outside our business. I took an ice cold coke the the lady flagger in front of our building. I thought.....Hey I can turn this day around....Now I will get back to work....bust it our like no one else can. GO home change into shorty shorts to get some sun on my seriously white legs and play with Madi and Jason. We can make our own luck.....and mine started with Ice cold cokes and free crazy bread, how will yours start?

Good for the Heart

Jason was working out on our bike...Madi wanted to ride along.

We all know that exercise is good for the heart... so to is having a child. When I look at this picture, my heart over flows with love. These two are my everything. Never in a million years could I imagine myself solucky to find such a wonderful husband and father and have such a beautiful daughter. My only expression is tears. Tears of joy. How blessed am I? How can one look at this photo and NOT feel their heart smile.

Airshow 2008

This weekend we went to the 2008 Airshow at Farichild Airforce base. What a day!!!

We some amazing planes, death defying stunts, precision flying & unbridalled power!
It sure was loud! Good thing Mommy and Daddy got me fashionable bright orange ear plugs.
Look there goes one now!
We got to hang out with Nonna, who loves planes. We ate over priced hot dogs. Battled 100,000 people...
But had a great time!!! I loved it.