The McMahon Family

Okay, total picture failure on my part this time around.  For our annual McMahon-Moser-Pritts family Christmas party, I got no good shots of everyone, or of the crafts/activities we did!  Here’s what I did get:

The boys playing

Making cinnamon/applesauce ornaments

I didn't even take this one! Thank goodness Rachel grabbed the camera.

Grumpy Mac showing the bracelets we made.

Don’t let him fool you.  He likes the bracelet and wanted to put it together. It was just getting late and everyone was losing their happy disposition…

Putting together his puzzle present. They LOVE these!

The Moser girls made the boys puzzles.  As soon as they woke up the next day, they were both seated at the table putting their puzzles together again.  They absolutely love these presents. 🙂

So there you have it.  My lousy picture taking at the fun Christmas party.

A couple of weeks ago, Mac informed us that he was going to marry one of his classmates, Mercedes.  He said that she is nice and fun and she plays with him all the time, no matter what.  We smiled at each other and said, ok.  Then he got viral pneumonia and missed 7 days of school.  His teachers told me how much the class missed him.  Again, I smiled and said, ok.  When I picked him up that first day back, a little girl with red hair came running up to me.  She looked at my cane for a second, then smiled up at me.  “I missed Mac a lot.  I’m so glad he’s back.  I made him a card.”  I smiled back at her and asked her name. “I’m Mercedes.”  Then my little boy came running up to me.  “This is Mercedes, Mom.  I’m going to marry her.”  She looked at me again and smiled.  Then walked away.  Ok.

I got a glimpse of the future.  Stab. Me. In. The. Heart.

I love Christmas cards, well, the photo cards.  I don’t know why.  With Facebook and blogs, I know what each family looks like, but I still love to receive them and to send ours out.  I guess I’m still a little old fashion and enjoy the formal Merry Christmas from friends and family.  Anyway, I was thinking of our card this year and of all the past years and decided to dig them all out for a walk down memory lane.

We started it when Mac was born.

2005

2006 - I can't find the digital copy, so I took a pic of the actual card...

2007 - Patrick's in there, you just can't see him yet.

2008

2009

2010

2011

Actually this isn’t the picture we chose for our card this year.  You can check out our photo shoot with our favorite photographer here.  I’ve been begging Shannon the last couple of years for a family pic NOT in front of a Christmas tree. While it’s great for the card, it looks a little odd in July in the living room frame. 🙂  I’m thrilled to say we now have three or four different shots around the house of us in a non-holiday themed setting.

Last year, Patrick refused to get on stage for his Christmas program at church.  So, I was nervous this year when school had a program planned.  I warned his teachers that he might not be too excited to get up there and sing.  This was confirmed when the report came home that he wasn’t participating in worship time and was refusing to join the singing.  But as the weeks continued, I was informed that things were improving.  His teachers assured me that he was doing great in practice and that he was enthusiastic.  He kept telling me he was excited to sing for me, but he also kept clarifying that we would wait for him and not leave him there.  When the big day arrived, I still didn’t know how much he was ‘getting’ of what was going on.  I dropped him off at his classroom and waited anxiously in the gym.

He did not disappoint.

He started out looking a little hesitant.

But quickly got into the motions.

And then the grand finale with all the classes.

I think the girl in red was feeling a little crowded by our little man. 🙂

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And I have no idea what he’s doing with his nose.  He doesn’t have a runny nose at all, so it must be a nervous twitch thing…

We were all so excited for last Friday night to arrive.  The boys had a Christmas party at church, while Mommy and Daddy had a date night!!!  Then the never ending fever hit and we had to miss it.  With the whole week being canceled (next to Christmas, this was Mac’s biggest week of the year and he missed it all), I was pretty sad and then really disappointed that we were going to miss our night out.  But as God has a tendency to do, He turned my downer evening into one of the best we’ve had as a family.  I’ve been waiting for six years to have family game night…I mean a real game night.  Where both kids are old enough to play on their own.  We had a blast at our first official Family Game Night.  Of course, we all got beat by a three year old, but still, I think I can safely say we all had a great time (even Daddy!).

Organizing his money.

He wins!