Nutcracker night!

Tonight was the annual Hales Nutcracker party. We went over to Frank and Susan's house and pigged out on "knick-knacks". Those are finger foods for you northern folk...haha. We had meatballs, sausage balls, cocktail weenies...you can see where this is going. Anyway, after we ate, we all found a spot in the living. Each of the guys get a themed nutcracker every year from Frank and Susan. Each girl gets a Christmas figurine or decoration. This year I got an Irish nutcracker since I like Notre Dame. Mackenzie opened an M&M nutcracker dispenser and Sally got a nice figurine. After that, we all ate cheesecake and sat around awhile until we got sleepy. So, Christmas party 2 of 6 is in the books. Next weekend we are busy with parties leading up to Christmas week. Hope everyone is doing well. Until next time...

A month!?

I can't believe it's been a month since we last updated...sorry about that. We've been extremely busy and November absolutely flew by us. We had a great time in Daytona over Thanksgiving. Mackenzie enjoyed the beach and our long walks to the pier for lunch. It was nice and warm down there and we got to swim and enjoy being outside. We had our first Christmas party of the season last weekend and Mackenzie got to meet Santa for the first time and even opened up her first present. I'm gonna try to keep this updated weekly but I can't promise anything...haha. It won't be long until we make our trek up to Indiana for New Year's. Hope everybody is doing well!

Happy November!

My favorite month may be October...leaves change, festivals are going, fishing picks up. But I like seeing November because that means no more high school football and in two weeks we head to Daytona Beach for Thanksgiving! Woo HOO! Our visitors have come and gone and we had a blast. Last week of football and then basketball kicks into gear. We went to Jessica's church for Halloween for the annual trunk or treat. Mackenzie was a ladybug this year and she enjoyed passing out candy to all the spooky kids. Won't be long and we'll be heading up after Christmas!

Busy!

Sorry for the lack of updates...things around here have been pretty busy. On top of football and other sports, Sally and I have been working extra for our trip to Daytona over Thanksgiving. We also had company this last weekend and it was nice to relax and visit. Dad and Jan came down with Hank and we had a great time going to a fall festival and doing a little shopping. Mom and Mamaw come this Sunday and will be staying a few days too. Mackenzie really enjoys the company! We finally took some updated family pictures this weekend. Here is one of them. Make sure to visit the picture page for more pics of the weekend.

October is here!

Mackenzie was excited this morning when she woke up because she knew it was October 1st. She's been wanting to wear her pumpkin onesie ever since we bought it. So we decided to let her wear it and then she wanted to picture taken.

Things here are pretty good. The weather has gotten cooler and it's starting to feel a little like fall. We'll probably be at the lake the next couple weeks before they start dropping the water. Other than that, just working and enjoying the weather. Talk to you later!

Been awhile...

I didn't realize it had been so long since I last posted. I had a bout with the flu last week which kept me quarantined to the spare bedroom for 4 days. Swine flu is going around here like crazy, but I'm 100% now. Football is now halfway done...woo hoo. We're just working and enjoying the weekends. The rain finally stopped! It flooded the neighborhood pretty bad and they had to rescue the elderly from the water across from our house. We didn't have any damage, just a soggy yard. I was finally able to mow yesterday. Hopefully after the rain we get this weekend, it'll start to cool off around here.

Funny

I was going through some pictures last night, found this one, and HAD to post it. Shelly rented out some lanes at the bowling alley for Jackson's birthday. Frank had been eating fried mushrooms and chicken wings. As he picked up his ball, I guess it got too heavy and he farted. Shelly, unaware of what just happened, walked right into the stench as she was getting ready to bowl...CLASSIC!

Labor Day Weekend

I only had Sunday off during the holiday weekend but we managed to hit the lakehouse and enjoy some good food. Susan did a low country boil with shrimp, red taters, sausage, and corn. It was great! Mackenzie enjoyed hanging out with Grant and watching some of his movies. School finally started today so no more early morning practices...woo hoo. Hope everyone is doing great.

This Old House

We were going through some old pictures and found some of the house before we bought it. We still have quite a bit to do before we decide to sell, but we're making progress. The first picture is of the house before it was renovated. Three guys bought it and stripped the insides and put siding on the outside. The second picture is the house when we bought it. The last picture is the house now with the landscaping and deck on the back. We're hoping to repave the driveway soon and put a new roof on.

Before the renovation...



The day we bought it...




Here is what it looks like now...

Back to the grind

Back from Indiana and this week seems to be going by pretty fast. College football started last night and Indiana won 19-13...woo hoo! I've got football games tonight and tomorrow night plus saturday morning clinic tomorrow morning. I'm already looking forward to basketball season.

Mackenzie goes to the Dr. today for her 2 month checkup and to get her first round of shots. I'll be taking her since Sally doesn't want to see her get the shots...haha. But, I'm sure she'll do fine.

That's all for now!

Indiana!

Well, we finally found a weekend to drive up since having Mackenzie. It was a short trip but we had a great time. We spent the night halfway and stopped in Greenfield to see Grandma and Pa on Friday morning. Stephanie was there with Dylan too. Then we headed up to Dad's for the evening. We went out to eat and relaxed the rest of the night. We trucked over to Mom's Saturday afternoon and visited with the fam. Ate some Pizza Hut and hit the batting cages too! Sunday we had breakfast and played a little miniature golf before leaving town. We stopped in Bloomington Sunday evening so I could relive my glory days at IU. Sally and Mackenzie really seemed to like it there and Mackenzie even picked up an orientation packet...haha. We got up and did some campus sight-seeing Monday morning and then headed back to Georgia. It was a quick buy enjoyable trip. We'll be going back up over Christmas.

Now it's back to the football grind. We have 2 and a half months and then a much needed vacation in Daytona over Thanksgiving. After being in Indiana, I'm ready for some fall weather. It as great up there. Now why did I move again?

On a roll...

2 days in a row with new pics! We took Mackenzie to her first concert last night. Every saturday in the summer they have a free concert down on the riverfront. So we packed up the stroller and our chairs and headed downtown. It was fun and she really seemed to enjoy herself. Today we're going swimming and then back to the grocery. A nice relaxing weekend....

Wow...

What a busy 2 weeks it's been! Football started on Aug. 1st and I'm working two schools this year. So for the first week, I was working 4 practices a day plus softball and volleyball. I'm just about burned out...60 hour weeks and no weekends. But games have now started and they are only practicing once per day for each school. We also attended the USA's longest garage sale. It's a stretch of road that runs from Alabama up to Ohio. We did a part the TN trail. Found some good bargains! Sally also had her 27th birthday party. More birthdays are coming up this month so I'm sure we'll stay pretty busy on the weekends. We're planning an Indiana trip the last weekend in August so hopefully we'll see everybody then. Mackenzie is growing like crazy and is really curious about the world around her. She likes to eat and is now starting to sleep 8 hours at night....WOO HOO! As I always say, we'll try our best to keep this updated, but you know how that goes....haha

We haven't forgotten!

Just a quick post to let everyone know we haven't forgotten about the blog! Things around here have been pretty busy with visitors, work, and all that other stuff. I'll be working tonight to dump the pics from the camera to the computer. In the meantime, I'll put some more pics on the picture page.

More pics!

The new camera is great! Mackenzie has had her picture taken more times than Britney Spears. We had a bowling party for Jackson's birthday this week. Not much else going on. Football starts in 2 weeks and when that happens, I disappear until November. Hope everyone is doing great...

3 weeks and counting

Sorry for the delayed update! Things around here have been pretty busy. Grammy (Corey's mom) and Mamaw K. visited us this last week from Indiana. We ate more food than we would have liked...haha. It was nice to relax and pass Mackenzie around to meet her grandparents. Chad and Kristi came down for a day too and we cooked out and tried to make homemade ice cream. We played some bocce ball and had a great time.

Robert (BoBo) came down today on his way to the Little Debbie convention and took us out to dinner. We had a fine Italian dinner at Provino's and were able to visit with him this evening.

Sally and I also purchased a digital SLR camera this afternoon. We got a GREAT deal on a Nikon D50 with two lenses, SD cards, 3 batteries, vertical grip, wireless remote, and the whole shebang! We were able to get it for well under what we were looking to spend...so woo hoo! We'll hopefully be able to post more pics now with the fancy photog work.

That's about all for now. We got Mackenzie fed and ready for night night. I'm not sure if that's Sally snoring or Mackenzie. Talk to you soon!

Another addition to the family!

Sally called me this afternoon and said that Shelly's water had broken. We took off and went to the hospital. Good thing we did too! 3 whole pushes and Bella was born. Shelly makes it look like a piece of cake! Mackenzie was so happy to meet her new cousin that she fell asleep...haha. Everybody is doing great and now we're waiting on Staci to have hers in August. Looks like we'll have a pretty good softball team in a few years.

Everything else is going great. Mackenzie has been a great little baby for us. Grammy and Mamaw K. are coming down this weekend to spend some time and meet the little squirt. Chad and Kristi are coming down Tuesday for the day and we'll have a big BBQ day with water balloons and everything. We hope everybody else is doing well. Come see us when you get a chance!

1 week old

Well, we made it a full week! Things are getting better each day. Last night was by far her best night. We're starting to figure out what she wants and when she wants it. The little cow is eating like crazy and Sally is trying like crazy to keep up. We've experienced the flying poo and projectile spit-ups...well, Sally has anyway...haha. For some reason, she likes when I whistle Curtis Lowe by Lynyrd Skynyrd...guess she'll be a Southern girl for sure. That usually puts her to sleep. It may just be boring her to sleep, who knows?

Getting the hang of it...

First night with Mackenzie...not as bad as I thought...haha. She really likes sleeping in the bassinet. She woke up around 5am crying and nothing we did could calm her down. Sally tried feeding but Mackenzie can't latch on very well and when she does, there isn't much milk coming. So I ran into the kitchen and grabbed the hospital bag. They had packed diapers/wipes/formula for us to take home. I popped open the bottle of formula and Mackenzie went to town! She chugged it and passed right back out. Her and Sally slept until 9:30 this morning. I stayed up and played with Josie. Sally used the pumped this morning was able to pump quite a bit of milk. So we stockpiled it for future feedings until more milk can come in. We're getting the hang of it pretty good. She ate again around 12 noon today and we ate some leftover lasagna. Should be about feeding time now (3:30pm).

Well, we were trying to figure out who Mackenzie takes after as far as looks. I snapped a picture this morning that tells the truth 100%. Like mother like daughter...I just hope Mackenzie doesn't snore like her momma!

Mackenzie is home!

Sally and Mackenzie were released from the hospital today around noon. It's so nice to get home and start the "family thing". No more running back and forth to let Josie out and check on the house.

Mackenzie loved her first car ride. We thought she might fuss when we strapped her in but she just kept on sleeping. Sally didn't like her car ride...haha. Too much bouncing around on the ole bottom!

Josie was excited to check out the new addition. I sat on the floor with Mackenzie so Josie could sniff her. She just wagged her tail and licked Mackenzie on the forehead. We've been home 4 hours now and Josie will NOT leave Sally and Mackenzie's side. She must feel like a watch dog.

Things so far have been great! She's feeding like she's supposed to and sleeping the rest of the time. I changed my first ever diaper and didn't have to use Duct Tape. She also had the dreaded "first poo". It was very black and stinky!

Here is a video after Sally got the epidural. Check the photo page for more videos of the hospital stay. I'll try to keep everyone updated daily!

Mackenzie's 2nd Day

We'll be updating this a lot more now that we have some stuff to update with!

Mackenzie and Mom are doing great! Sally is quite sore today but she's still a trooper. She's no longer tubed up and is able to get to the bathroom and back to the bed. Our pediatrician stopped by to check on Mackenzie and he said she's the "perfect baby". Nothing to be concerned about. Mackenzie took to breast feeding a lot better today and we're now feeding about every 3-4 hours for 20 minutes. After she's done she just passes out....haha. Josie still doesn't know what to think. Everytime I come home she looks for Sally and then starts whining. I filled up her swimming pool this afternoon and she enjoyed a nice dip. Other than that, we've had LOTS of visitors at the hospital and even more when we get home. If everything checks out ok, Sally will be released tomorrow evening. We ordered Logan's this evening for dinner since it was chicken pot pie night at the hospital. I'll be uploading many more pictures and videos once I get some time at the house. Keep in touch!

Mackenzie is HERE!!!

Mackenzie Ryan Stansifer was born at 7:45pm. She measures 19in and 7 lbs. 11 oz. Sally woke me up this morning around 9:30 saying she was having contractions. I timed them and they were 7 minutes apart. We waited until 11am when they were 5 minutes apart and went to the hospital. They got the epidural in around 12 noon and Sally started feeling good! Haha. She kept dilating about a cm/hour until about 5pm. They checked her again and she was 10cm...OK, time to push! She pushed for 2 and a half hours until the doc could get her hands on her and guide her out. Sally was a champ the whole time. Never complained and pushed as hard as she could. Finally, at 7:45, baby Mack was out and being cleaned off. I was able to watch the whole thing and cut the cord at the end. Sally is pretty tired now and taking a nap. I figured I'd run home and let Josie out and update the blog as well. So, here are some pictures of the day and I'll have a lot more when we get home from the hospital. We're expected to be released on Tuesday. Also, click on the pictures page for many more! Happy Father's Day!

Update!

Sally went to the doctor today. They examined her and found that she is 2 cm dilated and "thinned" to 90%. Which means that the little squirt could come at any time. If Mackenzie isn't here by next Wednesday 6/24, they are going to induce. We were hoping that she'd come on her own, but with Sally's gestational diabetes and the size of the baby, they are saying it will be better to induce during the 39th week. So, whatever is good for mom and baby is fine by us. Just wanted to give everyone an update. Other than that, I've had a crappy week...haha. Had to pay my truck/boat taxes today, got a new battery for the truck, and blew a bearing out on the boat trailer. So, an expensive birthday for me this year. Anyway, hope everybody is doing well and I'll keep you updated.

Getting closer!

Well, things are starting to happen down here! Our nest of 4 eggs produced 1 baby robin and it's now grown and out of the nest. Sally is now going weekly to her doctor for updates. Last week she was 36 weeks and they did another ultrasound to make sure everything was going ok. Mackenzie was measured at 7lbs 2oz and was already in the chute, head down and ready to go. The doctor said that those "gallbladder" attacks were probably her shifting around and getting in position. We go this morning to the doctor to discuss our plan of action. They are going to measure for dilation and hopefully we'll find out a little bit more. School is done for me so I'm going to the hospital everyday to help with camps and then out to the school twice a week for rehabs. Sally is working 3 days a week with next week being her last. I haven't been fishing a whole lot but Dad did come down at the end of May and we went a few times. The weather could have been better but we still caught fish. I bought a set of golf clubs this weekend too! I figured it was time to frustrate myself a little more. Frank, Jacob, Tripp, and I went yesterday evening and played 9 holes. I shot a 65 which was better than I thought I'd shoot for my first time out.

Well, that's about all that's happened down here the last couple of weeks. The nursery is ready and now we're just waiting for Mackenzie to finally come out. Shouldn't be too long. I'm hoping she comes on my birthday or Father's day.

Homemade Pizza and Calzone

Weird title...we know. We figured it was best to try and keep this blog lively. So we'll give you some updates once or twice a week as things progress. We got the missing part to the crib today and now all the furniture is put together and arranged. The bed is made, the clothes put away, and everything is ready to go! We made some homemade pizza the other night using the pizza crust mix Mom and Robert got us from the Amish store. This stuff is awesome! We went through our last bag after Christmas real quick.

It's also ironic that a mother Robin has built her nest in our Cherry tree. I mowed around the tree and noticed that there are 4 eggs in the nest, which is eye level. So we'll keep you updated on her pregnancy as well...haha.

THANK YOU!

First of all, THANK YOU to everyone who came to our "shower reunion"...haha. It was great to see everybody all at once and not have to worry about driving around crazy to visit. Thanks for all the gifts/money, time, effort, and everything you did to make it a great weekend!

For those of you who weren't there...We came up Friday evening and set up the building at Riley Park in Greenfield, IN. On Saturday, we had a family reunion/shower with more food than we knew what to do with. We were able to visit with everyone and open a lot of great gifts.

We headed back Sunday morning and stopped at the Outlet shops in Edinburgh. It was hard to wake up Monday morning and go to work, but now it's back to the grind. Sally went to the Dr. monday morning and everything checked out great. She is measuring 2 weeks early and Mackenzie now weighs 4.5 pounds. Only 10 more weeks to go!

Here are a couple pictures from the shower and a lot more on our Picture Page!

Happy Easter!

Well, I figured it was time to update the blog. Things around here have been busy...very busy! We're trying to get a lot of things done before the little one arrives. I went to Panama City Beach for a work trip. Sally just got back from Boca Raton, FL for her grandma's 80th birthday party. My band has been gigging once a week and just signed with a booking agent. We are playing several music festivals this summer and headling the Road Rash Biker Bash in August. My spring sports are starting to wind down but spring football starts next month...boo. And finally, Sally switched over to ReMax Realty and moved offices. So yep, pretty busy stuff and no signs of slowing until Mackenzie arrives.

Today was the annual Wofford Family Easter Egg Hunt at the Chickamauga Battlefield. We ate lunch, flew kites, played kickball, looked for eggs, ate again, played frisbee, and had some good laughs. Hopefully everybody had a good Easter.

We head to Indiana in a couple weeks for Sally's shower...we're excited to see everybody up there! We'll talk to you all later!

She's showing....

We decided it might be time to show everybody how much Sally is showing. The shirt she's wearing is kind of hard to tell but we'll be posting more pics in the near future. We went to the Dr. yesterday and everything seems to be going great. They are still predicting a big girl so we'll just have to wait and see. She is in her 24th week, which only means 3 more months! You can feel her kicking from the outside now, faint but it's still there. We had a nice warm spell for a little while. We went to the lakehouse last weekend and enjoyed some 80 degree days but now it's back in the 50's and rainy.

Snow? In South GEORGIA?!?!

What a fun weekend! Me and the band headed to Statesboro Saturday afternoon to play at Dos Primos...my old stomping grounds. We played with my old band "Dirty Uncle Bob". We stopped in Macon on the way down for lunch. We pumped some gas and the temp was about 75 and HUMID. Fast forward to today...we were driving back and hit a rogue snow storm. All of a sudden, the sky opened up and it was like a blizzard for about an hour. Cars were pulling off the interstate just to take pictures. We were about an hour south of Macon, which is about 1.5 hours from the coast of southern GA. Pretty odd for it snow and even weirder for it to stick. Once we hit Atlanta, there was no more snow...pretty cool. Sally enjoyed the weekend here at home babysitting Laney while Tripp and Jessica are on vacation. Everybody down here is doing fine and looking forward to warmer weather. March is finally here!

Still pregnant...

Not much to write about really. Sally is still doing great and really starting to show. Josie is doing better after her accident. She is still limping but I caught her chasing a cat out of the yard yesterday, so I think she's fine. We were cleaning out the office and getting ready to paint it for the nursery when I came across this picture. It was from June 2007 when I went to Los Angeles for a conference. We got tickets to the Jay Leno show and he invited us up on stage before the show started. Little did we know that he was gonna make fun of us for 5 minutes in front of the whole crowd before we got our picture...haha.

The skunk is off!

Went fishing this morning since it was supposed to hit 70 degrees today. Man, it was a NICE day! We fished until mid-afternoon and I finally "de-skunked" my boat with some crappie and bass. I brought 7 home and put them in the freezer. Sally had an open house today and got 2 offers...woo hoo! Everything is going according to plan. Won't be long until the little runt is here. Talk to "y'all" later!

Ultrasound pic...

You may be asking yourself..."how could they tell what it is by that ultrasound?". Well, you are not alone. It took the ultrasound lady a little while to get a good view since our baby was laying on her stomach. But, she took a still frame of a view that guarantees a girl. I labeled the pic since some of you may not know what you're looking at. I thought we had a boy until she told us that it was the umbilical cord we were seeing...haha. I just thought he was blessed!

It's a GIRL!

Went to the Dr. today and found out we're having a girl! They also pushed the due date up to June 30th. Everything looks perfect and the Dr. said that it would be a big baby...haha. Shelly also found out that she's having a girl with a due date of July 2nd. It will be a race to the finish. I will post more pics soon, but just got the video figured out so this is all you get for now! Any suggestions on baby names?

My new toy!

We went to the Dr. yesterday morning and everything seems to be going great. We heard the heartbeat again and met with the financial manager. For some reason, we thought it was going to cost a lot more...so woo hoo! We have an appointment on Feb. 2nd to find out what we're having! Sally and Shelly are both going at the same time to find out.

In other news...I bought another boat yesterday. It's a 1978 Allison bass boat. It's an older boat but has lots of character. The guy who sold it to me practically rebuilt the whole thing. The only problem is I'll look like a Christmas ornament going down the road since my truck is red.

Hope everybody is doing well. Won't be long until July. We're almost halfway through the pregnancy. Sally is enjoying her expando-pants...I might have to get me some!

Sally in the news!

Sally is currently selling downtown condo/business units in the historic part of Chattanooga. The Chattanooga Times decided to do a feature article on her and the complex. She was on the front page of the Business section in Sunday's paper! She also has a video on the website about the building. Click the link then scroll down and watch the video. Woo hoo!

www.timesfreepress.com/news/2009/jan/11/southside-condos-sale/

We're back!

Man, what a trip! We left Christmas Eve for Indiana to surprise my parents on Christmas Day. I dressed up in a Santa suit and knocked on each door. It took quite awhile before anybody recognized who Santa was...haha! It was nice to go up there and relax, eat GOOD food, and visit with everybody.

Sally is currently 14 weeks and will begin her 15th week Monday. We have another Dr. visit January 15th and then back again the first week of February to find out what we're having. We also brought home the bassinet and moved the bedroom furniture around. We still have 6 months before baby but we can't wait! Check out the picture page too!





We got our video camera for Christmas too! Until we can get baby footage, we've been playing around with it. We hooked up the camera to the TV so we could see what we were filming. Josie saw herself on TV and went nuts!