White Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas! (And be warned, I got a new camera for Christmas from Richard!)

After a delicious & traditional Christmas Eve dinner with the Pfeifer-clan (shrimp, shish kabobs, and cheese fondue - yummmmmm!), Mack was ready for Santa's visit.

Then it was off to bed and Mack by some miracle fell right asleep. Richard had gone to church early with his mom so he stayed home with Mack while the rest of us headed to St John's for the 'midnight' service. Followed of course by our traditional photos by the tree (that somehow the boys managed to completely avoid).


Then Christmas morning was full of excitement! Mack was overjoyed that Santa remembered to bring him ALL of things he wanted: a basketball goal, a whole firetruck and fire station made of Legos, a big yellow truck (and more...a tricycle, football, flashing blue ball, a Mater hat...Mack must really be the best boy in the world).

Uncle Jon and Aunt Dare had to head out early to go visit Dare's family in Rocky Mount. Mack was sad to see his favorite uncle go! Then we played and played...and took much needed naps. Food preparation began and we had a fun visit from Grammy...who gave Mack his first guitar! Mack is a rock star in the making.

Then we had a scrumptious dinner, during which we watched the SNOW falling outside! We had our first White Christmas ever!!!! And after falling asleep watching the movie White Christmas (another Pfeifer tradition), we all went to bed and woke up to a beautiful blanket of snow.

We had a wonderfully blessed Christmas with our family and are so thankful for this beautiful holiday celebrating the birth of our savior.

Believe it or not, there are more pictures and if you'd like to see them, click here: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=armstrongmap&target=ALBUM&id=5555104568146640753&authkey=Gv1sRgCNej47D--5aqmwE&feat=email

Merry Christmas!

Here comes Santa Claus, Here comes Santa Claus...

Christmas Song

In keeping with my post from last year, I wanted to share the Christmas song that is this year speaking to my heart. This year's song is one that I used to despise: The Little Drummer Boy. Previously, I could not get past all of the "pa rump a pum pumming" in this song. I found it to be so annoying that any time I heard the first few strains of the song, I would immediately change the channel or skip the track. But this year, I feel like God brought me past the "pa rump a pum pums" to show to me the beauty of the lyrics. The story of a little boy who was told to come and see the newborn king and to bring that king the finest gift he could to bestow honor upon the savior. And his response to that call:

Little baby
I am a poor boy, too.
I have no gift to bring
That's fit to lay before a king.
Shall I play for you
On my drum?

Mary nodded...
I played my drum for him.
I played my BEST for him.
Then, he smiled at me,
Me and my drum.

Would I have dared to approach the manger, knowing my savior lay inside and it was my turn to bring him honor? I seriously doubt it. I would have fled in fear and shame! But what does the Lord ask of me? Only to play my best for him. Not to bring outrageous gifts, not to conquer the world in His name...but to simply turn the gifts and talents that his Father gave me back to Him for His honor.

And Oh! - to see a smile upon Jesus' face meant only for me, simply because I played my best for him while here on this earth. I have a long way to go and a lot to still learn but I pray that I remember these lyrics as I continue my walk in this life.

Pa rump a pum pum...

Baking cookies with daddy

Oh what fun!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Run!

I kicked some major PR tail this Saturday at the 1/2 marathon in Charlotte, taking 25 minutes off my first 1/2 marathon to finish in 1:57:33. Amazing what training will do for your performance - ha ha!

Here are my stats:

Mile 1 9:05

Mile 2 9:04

Mile 3 8:39

Mile 4 9:00

Mile 5 9:30

Mile 6 9:12

Mile 7 9:17

Mile 8 9:16

Mile 9 9:10

Mile 10 8:56

Mile 11 8:30

Mile 12 8:26

Mile 13 7:53

Average pace: 8:59

Overall placement: 1088/3227 (33.5%)

Division placement: 83/355 (23.4%)

My family came out to watch me. My mom, dad, Mack & Elizabeth cheered me on around mile 8 (Mack was so funny because he saw me but he just stared at me, like "What on earth is mommy doing?"). That was right when I needed a boost! When I got to mile 10 I realized that I felt really great and started to pick up the pace, as you can tell above. I finished so much more quickly than I'd expected that no one was waiting for me at the finish line yet. Poor Richard didn't get to see me run at all! He'd come down to the race with me in the morning to help me find my way and get settled in, but was stuck downtown during the race and then missed my finish, too. I had to call him on a stranger's cell phone to tell him where to find me. My poor coach - all his hard work trying to keep me on schedule these past many months and he doesn't even get to watch the results.

Mack partaking of a recovery bar after the race:

Afterwards we walked over to the Bank of America building, enjoyed the mammoth Christmas decorations, and watched the Singing Bears' Christmas Concert. Mack and the other little kiddies there were so enthralled by them! It was really cute.

Then back to the house for a big yummy lunch and a looooong nap (for me)!

Sassy on the roof!

Sassy is Mack's name for Santa. I love it!

Mack knew exactly what he wanted from Santa for Christmas before he even really knew who Santa was: Mack wants a basketball goal ("bagetball gooohl") and a red truck.

We spent Thanksgiving at a cabin in Blowing Rock with my mom, dad, Elizabeth, Jon & Dare. (For pictures, click here: http://picasaweb.google.com/armstrongmap/Thanksgiving2010?authkey=Gv1sRgCMKZv7bXjZ37Mw&feat=directlink). The Friday after Thanksgiving we were hoping to go see Santa at the "town lighting" event. Well, in our typical style, we didn't make it to Santa until 5:30 - exactly when Santa was supposed to be heading back to the North Pole...and the line-elf (dressed like a normal, everyday man - very excellent disguise) blocked us from getting in line. I was very disturbed. BUT - never fear, a Christmas miracle is always right around the corner!

On Saturday, we made a trip to the Mast General Store. While fighting our way through the crowded aisles there, I heard someone say that Santa was at the Little Red Schoolhouse. I had no idea where this Little Red Schoolhouse but much to my delight, it was right out back! So we went in to check it out. And Santa was there! There were hardly any other kids there and we didn't have to wait at all to see this much nicer and more qualified Santa than the previous evening's.

Mack was so funny. He became instantly shy and barely mumbled "basketball" when he told Santa what he wanted for Christmas. When we put Mack on Santa's lap, Mack absolutely refused to look at him and employed his standard shyness routine - cramming his fingers in his nose and mouth:

One night this past week, Mack & I read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas together. Richard & I had been trying to explain Santa all month to Mack, but I think the illustrations in this book really brought the concept home for Mack. It was funny to see Mack's little wheels turning in his head as he processed the idea that a man would be landing a sleigh and 8 deer on our roof, coming down the chimney with a basketball goal in tow to be laid by the tree while consuming our cookies and milk, and then heading back up the chimney to fly away with his deer. Now, since that reading, Mack will randomly stop in the middle of his route through the house, point up at the ceiling and say "Sassy on roof!" Sooooooooo cute.

The other concept we're trying to explain to Mack is that Christmas is truly about the baby Jesus' birthday. Mack says "Jesus" in the sweetest, most heart-melting voice. When we ask him if he loves Jesus, he nods his head with big serious eyes and says "Jhes" (yes). We aren't quite sure how to link for him the fact that Jesus' birthday is celebrated by a man in a red suit coming down a chimney and giving us presents...because we aren't really sure about that ourselves. I think it's just a wonderful thing that we're all taught at during our childhoods and take at face value - because who wants to question the man in the red suit?!?!

We're so excited about this Christmas with our little man!

Woah, Snow!

Where did this come from?! I had no idea it was supposed to snow this weekend. I was outside blowing leaves while my dad raked and hauled them off when all of the sudden I realized that the stuff swirling around my face wasn't just leaves any more! We figured it would flurry for a bit and then go away but it kept snowing for hours and we now have a whole blanket of snow on the ground. We continued on with the leaf clean-up even as the snow started to stick. Mack had so much fun catching snowflakes on his tongue and riding in the huge piles of snowy leaves that we were hauling to the burn pile on a giant tarp. What a fun surprise!

When did our little boy get so grown up? His latest discovery is that he can get a chair out of the dining room and pull it up to the kitchen sink. Tonight, he helped me strain the beans in the sink. They were THOROUGHLY rinsed. He also likes to pull a chair up to the microwave and put his toys in, turn it on, and laugh hysterically (good thing the dogs are too big for Mack to get them in the microwave, yikes).

His vocabulary is also expanding at a rapid rate. We have officially reached the point where we have to be careful what we say around him because he's become our little parrot (although, Richard & I are still the only ones that can understand the majority of what he's saying). Tonight, before we ate dinner, I plopped Mack into his highchair and said "I'll be right back, Mama's got to pee real bad." And what does Mack say? "Pee reah bah!" Oh dear.

Probably my favorite thing that he says now is his name - "Mack-eeeey!"

Mack has also expanded his counting prowess to include the number three. For the longest time, everything was "wuh, doos" (one, two). But now finally, he will say and recognize "free." Speaking of counting, he still only has ten teeth...not sure when the others are going to bother showing up.

He's also beginning to learn his alphabet. He can say "A, B, C, Deeeee!" and recognize A, O, and M by sight. He says "bites" for M though - thanks McDonald's (and we hardly ever eat there, I swear!)

Mack still loves to read his books but oftentimes, he just wants to read them to himself. Every night before bed, he & I read night-night books together. Recently though, he sometimes gets mad at me for sitting in the rocking chair, orders me onto the footstool, and sits in the chair by himself with his books - "Mack ree buh" or "I wahn ree buh!" This naturally hurts my feelings and breaks my heart to pieces but I guess it's just part of growing up. Sigh. Here is Mack allowing me to read with him one night last week by the fire.

He's definitely asserting his individuality and making us aware of his opinions on life. I wouldn't say he throws temper-tantrums, but he definitely has his moments when Richard & I fear the limits of our parenting abilities will very soon be exceeded. Despite these rare moments, he is still the sweetest boy (quick side story to prove the sweetness - every night after we finish reading night night books, Mack & I go to the top of the stairs together, at Mack's request, and he calls "Daaaadaaaaaaaa!" so Richard can come up and get his goodnight kiss & hug) and we constantly marvel at how amazing this precious gift of God is.

(Tunnel time!)

Halloween

Happy Halloweenie! We made a nice, relaxed weekend of Halloween this year starting with "Trick or Treating" in Hillsborough. Mack dressed up (compliments of Aunt Yiz) as a UNC Football Player. He was a hit on the streets. Here's dinner at Bandidos and Mack hanging out with his best girl (me of course!) on the street:



Then we went to the community center and Mack showed off his mad bean-bag throwing skills:




Saturday we went to Umstead where I ran (10 miles, no problemo) and Mack hiked with Daddy. We found ourselves again this year at Weaver Street Market to find our pumpkin. We still haven't found the pumpkin patch around here, oh well! Here's Mack making the difficult call about which pumpkin to take home:

Mack was running a fever Saturday night, so he & I stayed home Sunday while Richard went to church and met up with a buddy to run. Mack & I got to spend a rare morning/afternoon just the two of us! We made ghosts! This is Mack looking as if he's wary of the ghosts in the tree but in actuality, he's rearing back to take a swing at them:

After Daddy got home, it was time to carve the pumpkin! I was disappointed that Mack wasn't interested in scooping the guts out of the pumpkin. He kept saying "glhuchlk!" He got a real kick out of it once we started carving the face though.

We decided to stay in instead of going out trick or treating Halloween night. We had dinner with our Jack O' Lantern as our center piece, built a bonfire outside (that Mack was surprisingly uninterested in, I guess I should be thankful for that though), Mack swang in the dark, and we threw the ball for doggie. Then we watched a little bit of "Ogre" (Shrek), read a Halloween book and Mack went night night. I know we'll have many a future Halloween where Mack will be running off with his friends to Trick Or Treat, so it was nice to have him all to ourselves this year!


And more pictures in case you didn't get enough here :-)
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=armstrongmap&target=ALBUM&id=5534401161372340817&authkey=Gv1sRgCJist8yC1da6YQ&feat=email

Mountain Baby

We took Mackey backpacking last weekend. What an interesting adventure. Overall, we had a wonderful time. We did have our more challenging moments though.

To begin with, we drove about 3 hours to Grayson Highlands National Park in Virginia. We made it to about 5 miles before the park and Mack had had enough. He got car sick, three times. Yuck. Luckily, the spot we pulled over had a little creek nearby so we could wash things up a bit. Good thing Richard heeded my advice to pack Mack some extra clothes! As soon as Mack was out of the car and had some fresh air, he was ready to continue on.

Running a little late after our creek-side detour, we finally met up with Eddie and his 11 yr old daughter Caroline and hit the trial. Mack learned a new phrase on this trip: "And we're off!" (Though from Mack, it is more "An wah oof!" - complete with hand motions, very adorable.) With all the hiking excitement, Mack took no nap on Saturday. So he was pretty wild when we got to our campsite after 7 miles of trail. He was super excited about the tent!

Sometime during the tent-building, Mack decided that Caroline should be called "Mimi." We have no idea why he assigned this nickname to her, but it was really funny. They played "hide & seek" around the tents together with Mack cackling hysterically the whole time.

We built a fire and had our dinner around it (it got right chilly Saturday night!). Mack really wanted to eat his goldfish but insisted on eating them with a spoon our of the ziploc bag. Crazy over-exhausted, over-stimulated little guy!

Then it was time for night night. After much wailing (partly due to the fact we neglected to bring a bottle along for sleepy time, big oops), Mack finally passed out and the grown-ups hung out around the fire toasting marshmallows and making s'mores. Yummmm.


Then Richard and I climbed into the tent with Mackey. We slept...in half hour bursts between Mack waking up wanting to go back outside. When the sun finally came up, Richard said "Put his shoes on and get that kid out of here." Ha ha! We were all a little grumpy but the glorious sunrise wiped away all ill will created during the long night.

We had a shorter hike out and enjoyed another beautiful day complete with mountain climbing and wild ponies!

Mack hiked the final few steps of the trail on his own two feet, hand-in-hand with his new friend "Mimi." Could this be any sweeter?!

We really did have a wonderful time. The weather was perfect, the campfire was toasty warm, the leaves were beautiful, and we enjoyed our time with our little family and new friends.

In case you'd like to see more pictures (sorry, these are the first pictures I've taken in months with a real camera as opposed to my phone so I got a little carried away!):
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=armstrongmap&target=ALBUM&id=5533294003276464241&authkey=Gv1sRgCOGU26-qp4-d_AE&feat=email

Training

My favorite workout the week is my "family run" with Richie and Mack. At least once a week, the guys meet me after work and we go for a run together. Usually we run on the trails at the little airport in Chapel Hill. Richard tends to do a lot more stroller pushing than I do because I'm a wimp, but I do try to trade off some with him. The stroller situation is always a little difficult though because Mack doesn't like to sit still for very long. So we do a lot of nature-collecting as Mack demands rocks and sticks from along the path. Oftentimes I end up running with two handfuls of rocks. It just adds to my strength training.

On our run this past week, Mack decided he wanted to get his own workout instead of simply riding along. And it wasn't enough to just run, he needed to shed his sweatshirt AND t-shirt to fit in with the other guys out on the trails! What a funny boy.



Yay for special times with my two favoritest guys.


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Ride 'em littlest cowboy

The rodeo came to the big city of Efland this weekend. Yee haw! Mack was very excited when we told him he was going to get to ride a bucking bronco, fall on his head and get a boo boo. He did get to ride a mini-bronco but thankfully he did not fall on his head and get a boo boo. Which is more than can be said for some of the other cowboys. Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys.

Here's Mack on his faithful steed:



And here's Mack after the ride trying his best to be brave and ride like a big cowboy (he was not super thrilled about the pony ride but was a trooper as always):

Ran a Race

I ran a 4 mile trail race today. I learned that it is probably faster to warm up BEFORE the race than during. But it does allow you to pass lots of people who started out faster than you if you warm up during, ha ha.

This is me finishing:


Celebrating my accomplishment:


My groupie:


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone