Easter

Happy Easter!

It's hard to get the "perfect picture" where everyone looks at the camera and smiles all at once. We tried and eventually gave up, but everyone looked cute in their new holiday church clothes.

The kids had fun at the neighborhood Easter Egg hunt!

Here's a couple more attempts at the perfect picture. Emma has decided that this growl is her new smile.

Easter dinner was a smaller group this year, but we still managed to have enough food to feed an army. Yum! Jared's brother Mat and his wife Bri , baby Olivia , Jared's mom and dad and my parents. It was a wonderful day.

Hope you all had a nice Easter!

Friday Fun!

The kids had no school on Friday! Yahoo! We decided it would be fun to take a trip to the Pacific Science center with some friends. Here we are after unloading everyone from the car.

10 kids vs. 2 moms. We were slightly outnumbered but all the kids were very good. Tara and I got really good at doing head counts. I think I was still counting to 10 in my sleep that night.

Aren't they cute?

Emma and Natalie have been friends since birth.
They are only 4 weeks apart and live 3 doors down.

Emma loved the water exploration area. Thank goodness they had these plastic bibs to help keep her clothes dry.
Linsey spent a long time checking out the tide pools. They had areas where the kids could touch plants and shells and even pick up hermit crabs
Hunter found this toilet and became fascinated with watching what happens when you flush.
As you can see it is cut in half and when you push the lever you can see where the water travels. So interesting!
The butterfly garden was a hit. Large butterflies are flying all over and they land all around you, sometimes right on you. They especially seemed to like my jacket so I had several little hitchhikers.
Hunter found a small snail and he was really disapointed that we couldn't take him home.

It was really cute and tiny.

Carly was a little startled by this butterfly landing on her, but everyone around her thought it was real exciting. Check out Linsey and Alyssa's faces in the background.

Here the kids are at the dinosaur exibit.

You can see that Emma is a little worn out, it was a fun packed day and a great way to spend a day off of school.

February in Review

Well even with the extra day February seemed to go by so fast. As I told my buddy the other day. Everyone always told me that the years would start going by faster and faster, I just didn't expect it to feel like this.
So I'll give you the rundown on the whole month in one post.
I'm all about going on trips. I think it's fun to have a trip to look forward to. I'm also a very driven person. I really like to earn my fun. So when I'm home I feel the constant need to be working on something on "the list." When I'm on a trip I can truly relax because my list is back at home. Everything seems more fun when you do it while on a trip somewhere.
This month we traveled to Couer D' Alene to visit the cousins. I really like going there because our kids love it so much and, once they are all in bed, we have a really good time hanging out with Camille's brother Chris and his wife Tally. We've known them since we were dating (the second time) and they got married six weeks after us. In fact we are going to spend our ten year anniversaries together on a cruise to the Caribbean in April (see what I mean about trips). Plus, they always plan such fun activities. This trip we did something I've wanted to do for a long time. We pulled out the redneck and went to the Monster Truck show! It was pretty cool but one of the LOUDEST things I have ever been to.

Here is the fan favorite taking a jump.


Here is Hunter's reaction. He has earplugs in but it was still too loud for him.


The next day we drove up into the mountains and went sledding. We went to a place where you pay and they have a rope tow that pulls you up the hill. Linsey got sick the night before and Emma got too cold but Hunter was all over it. He'd go all by himself. Here he is cruising down the hill with his hat pulled down over his face. He didn't like the snow in his face so he jump in the tube and pull his hat down and just go till he stopped.


We also got invited by Matt and Bri to a hockey game. I must admit that I didn't have high hopes of being entertained but it was one of the funnest sporting events I've ever gone to. It's SOO much different watching it in person as opposed to TV. We really had a good time.

Aren't they cute cousins?


Here's Camille and Emma outside the arena. Aren't they both just so beautiful? By the way, Camille has lost 7 pounds since New Years. WAY TO GO CAMILLE!


The kids had more fun on the statues out front than they did watching the game.


Hunter is all about comfort... and treats.


One final February story.
I took Emma with me to the video store the other night to pick out a movie. She kept pointing out movies that had someone holding a gun on the cover and saying "look Dad, they shoot." You'd be surprised how many movies have a gun on the cover. I never really noticed until a 3 year old decided to point out every one around the New Release section. The next day Camille had promised Hunter and Emma that if they were good she would take them to the dollar store and let them pick out something to buy with the money they earned from doing jobs. This is usually a pretty predictable affair with Hunter choosing a ball or car and Emma choosing a horse or doll. This time however, Emma went straight for the coolest looking machine gun in the whole store and immediately wanted it. Camille tried and tried to convince her to get something else but she wouldn't budge. She wanted that gun. And she got it.
The dollar store is right next to Albertsons and Camille needed some bread so she took the kids in with her and Emma carried that gun, red bobbing curls and frilly pink dress, and shot at every person she could see.

Here is our mercenary posing with said weapon...she is still taking it everywhere.

Emma Dilemma

Emma has been my easiest baby and toddler in many ways. Maybe it's because she is my third child and I have learned to relax. Maybe it's because my older children help to entertain her. Maybe a little of both, but she has been a joy in our family. Having said that..... lately we have started to realize that she wants what she wants and she has a very strong will. Emma has her own fashion sense at 2 years old and has decided that dresses are the only acceptable clothing for a girl. It can't be just any dress, it's got to be pink, or have something shimmery, or ruffles on it. Sometimes I can convince her to wear a skirt, but sometimes to avoid a power struggle I run errands with her wearing princess dress ups. On cold days when she has her heart set on a summer sundress hanging in the back of the closet, I carefully convince her to wear a shirt under it and sometimes I can even slip a pair of stretch pants on under the dress. Other days she wants to wear her more formal dresses which just aren't appropriate for playing in. Those are days we spend 20 minutes going through every item in her drawers and after many tears she finally gives in , but sadly announces she doesn't look like a princess. To help this issue, she and I went shopping together and picked out several little dresses that are okay for everyday wear. We filled her bottom drawer with clothing that both she and I approve of , that way she can get up , choose her own outfit and dress herself in the morning. Phew, so far that has worked pretty well.

Our next issue has become the real dilemma. Emma has the most beautiful red curls that bounce when she runs. I love them and I must admit she gets a lot of attention from perfect strangers who have to stop and admire her hair.
Recently, Emma has decided that she wants to do her own hair in the mornings and even throughout the day sometimes. She brushes it, and brushes it, ..... and then brushes it some more. Anyone who has curly hair knows that brushing it only makes it bigger. It was funny and a little cute at first, but lately it has become a real problem. At first, we decided that we would take turns. She can fix her hair first, and then I would fix her hair last... That seemed like a good idea, but she is no dummy and quickly put together that I was only messing up what she considered to be beautiful. Now, I fix her hair in the morning and then she takes out whatever I did and does it the way she likes. She'll walk down the stairs and proudly show off her new hair do.

This was todays!

It's hard for me to let her out of the house looking like this. Sometimes I can sneak the water bottle and spray it down as we head out the door, sometimes I can't. I guess I just have to swallow my pride and hope people understand that she is well cared for and no, she is not an orphan. I must admit though, it is a big dilemma for me.

Snow Fun

We woke up to snow this morning!

Many would not put an exclamation mark after that, however we don't get much snow around here so a little bit brings a whole lot of excitement! School was even delayed an hour. The kids got their coats and hats on and set out to make a snowman. They had all sorts of fun running around and giggling. You'd think it was Christmas!

Speaking of Christmas, Emma got a princess nightgown for her Christmas pajamas and we haven't been able to get it off her since, well at least not without a fight. She wants to wear it day and night so it didn't surprise us one bit when she decided she was going to go and play in the snow wearing only her nightgown and hat.

She didn't last too long. Here is everyone making their "COLD" faces.

Of course dad had to end the fun with an all out snowball fight. They even attacked me as I was attempting to get some pictures. Tonight the snow has mostly melted, all except for our snowman. Tomorrow it will probably be gone. I think it's perfect!

Way to go Linsey!

I have fond memories of participating in the reflections program as a child. It's been fun watching Linsey participate these last 2 years. She spent hours and days creating a book last year that came home with an honorable mention. I thought it should have received much more recognition knowing all the hard work that went into it, but I'm also biased.

This year, much less time was spent on a visual arts project, but Linsey had a creative idea that seemed to catch the eye of the judges. The theme was "I can make a difference by..." Linsey drew a picture of a plane flying over a house pulling a banner that said I can make a difference by helping my mom . (- what a gal eh?) She drew a house and cut all the windows and doors so they could open, then she drew pictures of herself doing things to help mom.


She was awarded 3rd place at her Elementary school and her project was entered into a district competition. We went to an awards ceremony on Saturday where she received an award for 1st place. Now her project will be sent to a state competition! Wow! She is thrilled and we are proud of her. Way to go Linsey!

Say Cheese!

This was our valiant effort to get a picture
of all the McInelly grandkids.
It wasn't quite what we had in mind, but I love it anyway.


If you want to see more pictures from the photo session, check out Mat and Bri's blog http://www.mcinelly.blogspot.com/

Holiday Fun!

We were able to visit lots of family over Christmas and New Years. We had a great time and I took plenty of pictures so I thought I'd share some of the highlights.

Here the kids are on Christmas Eve acting out the nativity scene. Linsey was an angel, Hunter was Joseph, Emma was Mary, and cousin Oliva got to be the baby Jesus.

Uncle Zack thought it might be FUN to tape Hunter to the wall. It was.

Santa brought lots of great gifts, but I think most of the entertainment came from playing with all of the uncles.

Uncle Mike became a bull giving the kids the ride of their lives.

Emma decided that the dog, Annie was the perfect seat for her.
Thankfully, Annie didn't seem to mind.

We visited my family New Years Eve. After a giant nerf gun war, my brother broke out a nerf toy that would shoot discs into the air with a velcro type fabric that the nerf darts stick too. You can see in the picture that everyone young and old took on the challenge quite seriously.
If you didn't notice in the background of the prior picture, the girls were sitting in the middle of all the action, uninterested in the guns, but having a great time playing polly pockets.
No one was safe the entire 2 days we stayed. I think my parents will be finding nerf darts til next Christmas.
We all had fun sending off a homemade hot air balloon. It was built with straws, candles, and a trash bag.
You can see the outline of straws with the candles saudered by candle wax. To get ready for take off my brother is lighting them one by one..... oh the excitement!

Almost ready for takeoff.

going, going....

gone.

The last highlight was feeding an enormous amount of ducks and geese down by the Columbia River. I couldn't believe how tame they were.

Hunter would tear off a small piece of bread and with one hand he would hold the morsel out for the geese, then with the other hand he would hold the remainder of the bread high in the sky in hopes that one hungry goose wouldn't snatch the entire thing.


The holidays are fun, but it's nice to be home and back into a normal routine. Now I'm just trying to get caught up. Does that ever really happen??