McGrath Moments

Last night we were riding in the car and this was part of our conversation:

Brenna: "Mama, new ring!"

Me: "What?" (I understood what she said, but was confused as to what she meant.)

Braeden: "Brenna, shhhhh...that was to be a surprise...for Christmas!!"

This same thing happened for Mother's Day. Braeden couldn't wait to run home to tell me that him and Daddy bought me a "shiny, black purse!" One of these days Ed will learn to go shopping by himself!!! Love you, Ed!

Braeden: "Is it tomorrow yet?"

Ed and I have tried to explain (sooooo many times) that it is never really "tomorrow". How do you explain this to a 4 year old? :)

I have noticed that as the kids get older, the more they enjoy holidays, which makes me more excited about them as well. The kids loved sticking their hands into the pumpkins to pull out all of the seeds and mushy insides!!







This year the kids dressed up at their school for Halloween. Braeden has been at Tots and Tales for 3 years now and they have never been allowed to dress up, but instead had "Pajama Day" for Halloween. That was what I was expecting they would do this year.
When I got a note home from Brenna's class saying they were doing a "Disney" theme for dressing up, I decided I better check with Braeden's teacher too. I found out the day before their party that his class was dressing up as The Wizard of Oz characters. I panicked. How was I going to come up with a Wizard of Oz costume in one evening?
Well, Braeden was a scarecrow for his first Halloween. He was only 9 months old. I decided to dig out the costume and see what I could do with it, if anything. Well...here it is and I must say not too shabby. I stripped out the elastic and cut slits under the arms. The hat still fit!!




Presenting my KU football player and cheerleader!!!




I LOVE, LOVE this picture!!

For my birthday we celebrated with friends and family at Tasso's Greek restaurant. SO MUCH FUN!! I really recommend this place if you haven't been there. The food and entertainment is fabulous!

This is Tiffany, my Mom, and I getting ready to break our plates...a Greek tradition.

This is what the floor looked like when we were done!!

Ed's boss knew we were going to Tasso's for my birthday, so he called and paid for a round of their house specialty Blue Ouzo shots! How nice was that? We all had such a fun time!

How did this happen? How am I 30 years old, married with two children? Life goes by soooo quickly! When you are younger you can't wait to be 16 or 18 years old. Then you turn 21 and life is great! 30 felt so far off, but now it has arrived.

I guess it is just time to accept that I am OLD! Just kidding! The first 30 years of my life have been great and I am blessed. I can only hope the next 30 will be as wonderful. Well, maybe the next 30 will be great after I get over the hangover I am predicting for tomorrow. Tonight I have to party like I'm 21 again! It's my 30th Birthday!!

We had two births in the family this week. My sister had her first child last Sunday, October 11. His name is Carson James and he weighed in at 7lbs 15oz. Wow, what a day that was!! I am not going to go into all of the details of her labor and Carson's birth, as that is her story to tell, but after everything that occurred, I realized how much Braeden's birth still affects me today.

When Carson was born he was taken straight to the NICU. As many of you remember, Braeden was in the NICU for 5 weeks after he was born. As soon as I was allowed back to see my sister after her surgery and noticed the baby was not with her or James I started freaking out INSIDE. I would never allow her to see me break down after all she had just been through. Carson is at home now and all is well with him, but all these memories came flooding back after hearing he had to be taken to the NICU.

Those first few weeks of Braeden's life were the hardest of my life. Ed and I had just moved into this brand new house. I had been on bed rest for weeks and then on maternity leave for months, which means no income. It was freezing cold outside (the winter weather just seemed to add an extra something to my stress). And then I had this premature baby boy in the hospital that I would go and spend everyday with, only to sit there and wait for the next Dr's report on his progress-always waiting for them to say something that would forever change our lives. I can cry just typing all of this because IT WAS HORRIBLE!

All of these feelings came back with Carson. I didn't want Lindsey and James to deal with any of that. And thank goodness Carson is a trooper and he recovered quickly. What a cutie he is and a blessing to our family!

Ed's sister had her third child yesterday, October 17. His name is Emerson Cooper and he weighed 8lbs, 4oz. Congratulations to the Machanda's! We are excited to meet him.

You all probably remember my struggle with Braeden on what he is going to be for Halloween. He wanted Darth Vader and I wanted KU football player...well isn't it funny how things always seem to work themselves out. Our neighbor across the street has the exact same KU football outfit that I was going to buy for Braeden. She gave it to us so he can wear it and it was FREE!! Once he put on the pads and helmet, he was excited to wear it.

Aunt Lala and Uncle James bought Braeden an Optimus Prime outfit (Transformers, for those of you who have girls) and he wears it around the house all of the time. Not one word has been spoken about Darth Vader since!

So you see, I got two costumes for FREE and things are working out just perfectly. Braeden can wear his Optimus Prime costume as much as he wants around the house and by the time Halloween arrives, he will be excited to put on his pads and helmet and be the best KU football player he can!

Mommy lesson learned...don't worry about little things. Everything will work out.

Last year Ed bought a trip to St. Croix at a silent auction. He bought it for my 30th Birthday present and it was a trip for four, so we decided to invite our best friends Tiffany and Jeremy. Tiffany's 30th Birthday is only two weeks after mine, so it was perfect.

Ed and I at dinner at Pelican Cove Resort...an outside restaurant.

Tiff and I enjoying drinks at the pool at our condo resort.

A picture of the group at the "boardwalk".

This is actually the beach behind our condo. We visited St. Croix during the off season, so it was like we had our own private beach!

I just want to tell Ed thanks for such a wonderful trip! I vote you "Best Husband Ever"!!