Sweet Success

My kids will do anything for a penny these days, and I mean ANYTHING! They all understand enough about money to realize that a penny isn't much, however Jared and I ended up with a gumball machine after a white elephant exchange over the holidays and now a penny has an entirely different worth. I didn't want to deal with the mess of gum so I opted for jawbreakers, something my kids haven't had much of before. It was new and exciting and really, I think the thrill of the gumball machine creates a big portion of the excitement!


I told my kids they could not use their own money from their piggy banks, or any money that they found around the house. The only coins they could use in our candy machine were coins awarded to them for good behavior, chores, or whatever I decide to ask them to do. (call it a bribe.. whatever - IT WORKS!)

Sometimes the candy machine even spits out two jaw breakers for the price of one! Just look at the excitement!

Bedtime is always a hard part of the day for me, especially lately. I'm so worn out and tired and it's such a process. Tonight Jared had to leave just as we were finishing dinner. While the kids finished up their food, I started on the dishes and wished there were someway out of the whole bedtime routine, just for one night. ...PJ's, brush teeth, pick up rooms, prayers, scriptures, read books, all of which take numerous reminders and encouragement all along the way....

With a glimmer of hope, I announced to my kids "whoever gets their pajamas on, brushes their teeth and is in their bed reading a book by the time I get the kitchen cleaned up gets a penny on their dresser that they can use in the morning!"

Zoom!! - all three of my kids went running up the stairs and scrambled into their beds without another word from me. It was amazing! I finished up my cleaning and went to each of their beds to tuck them in rewarding them with their pennies. There isn't much you can get for 3 pennies these days, THIS..... was a fabulous deal.

Name that Movie...

So this morning I hear Camille in a rush trying to get the kids off to an early morning dentist appointment. At one point I hear her say, "Emma, please get your shoes on and get in the car, I meant it."
Then I hear Emma running by my office door on the way to the garage say back, "anybody wanna peanut?"

I laughed until I cried.

They're off!

A few months ago we met with an orthodontist and determined that Linsey would need some work done with those pearly whites. Most things could wait a few years, but we all were in agreement that it might be worth doing something about those two front teeth. We've always thought Linsey was beautiful, but she could fit her entire finger in the space between her front teeth and they stuck out far enough that there were marks on her bottom lip. The plan was to put braces on those top front teeth only and the orthodontist assured us that it would only take about 3 months and less than $300.00. We weren't sure it would really be that fast, but the price was set either way so we went for it.

She got her braces on shortly after school started mid-September. I talked with her about the things kids might say thinking she might get teased. I was surprised when I took her to soccer practice and all the girls crowded around her admiring her shiny new braces with pink rubber bands. They all thought it was soo cool and made remarks about how LUCKY she was, wishing they also could have braces. Not what I expected, but it worked out great for Linsey. She got the same response from her friends and rarely complained.

We were surprised that in only a few short weeks, her teeth had already moved together and looked amazing.

True to his word, nearly 3 months later Linsey got her braces off.
Worth every penny!

Hmmm...

We are expecting a new baby boy in May. I can't help but wonder who he is and what he will look like. Even Hunter has asked, will he have brown hair like me? I had dream about him the other night and in my dream he had huge cheeks. None of us know, but I remember well finding out that Emma was a girl and assuming she would look similar to Linsey. Boy was I wrong.



Linsey was a healthy top of the charts child, averaging 90% in both height and weight for the first two years of her life. Emma was my smallest baby and nearly fell off the charts at 5% and she's still quite small and petite for her age. Linsey had a full head of dark hair when she was born. It all fell out and came in bright blond. Emma didn't have much hair, but it looked slightly red and even curly right from the start. I questioned every nurse that came in the hospital room asking if her hair looked red to them. They all would study it for a brief moment and then confirm that it was red. I just couldn't believe it, never expected it. My girls have some similar features, but I love that they are so unique from one another too. Their personalities are quite different too, but there's no mistaking that they admire one another and Emma especially tries really hard to follow in her big sister's footsteps, adoring everything she says and does.


I look forward to watching Hunter take on the big brother role. He is so sweet with his younger cousins and will love teaching a little brother how to play trucks and cars. I'm sure his little brother will look up to him and adore him much the way Emma adores her big sister and that will be good for Hunter in so many ways. I guess we'll just have to wait a few more months to get a glimpse of this little guy. For now, I guess we should focus on a name.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Here is our first picture ever with all our kids happily sitting on Santa's lap, no one is crying!

This year for Christmas, we tried something different. We went up to Camp Ensign and stayed in a cabin with my family for a few days. We thought it would be a fun way to ensure we all had a white Christmas, turns out we could have had a white Christmas pretty much anywhere in Washington this year.

Here are my kids with their cousins.

There were all sorts of fun activities that I never had my camera around for. We played out in the snow, went sledding, and sang Christmas carols on a hayride.

The cousins had to leave on Christmas Eve, so we had our gift exchange with them before they left. My kids made ornaments for each of their cousins.

Dad got a nerf gun which created pure chaos.

Just look at Jared taking out all his frustrations on those poor innocent kids.

....of course, they were all pretty willing.

We had a yummy ham dinner on Christmas Eve and then enjoyed a nice program. There was a pretty intense white elephant exchange and then we finished off the evening with some dancing.

Everyone got to decorate a Christmas stocking for Santa to fill, my kids were sleeping when this activity took place so Uncle Anthony (my youngest brother) was kind enough to decorate stockings for all of us. Most everyone was thrilled with theirs......

...all but Jared that is. Gotta love all that lace and pink! :)

Everyone got to open one gift before we packed up and went home to see what Santa had left at our house!

We hit a snow storm on the way home and had to put our chains on to get over the pass, but we made it and the kids were excited to dig into the rest of their Christmas.

Emma got some makeup which she quickly tested out, doesn't she look beautiful?

Hunter got a nerf gun of his own so now he can defend himself properly. If you come over, watch out. He keeps it loaded and aimed at the front door. :)

We feel very blessed and are grateful to have such wonderful families to share the holidays with. I hope all of you had a Merry Christmas!

And the ultra sound says.......

It's a BOY!

Cancun, Mexico

Amazing!

Jared and I were able to sneak away to Mexico last week. It was warm and beautiful, and simply amazing. We stayed at the Cancun Palace which was a spoil you rotten all inclusive resort. Seriously, you sat on the beach and people brought you strawberry daiquiris.

The beach was one of my favorite parts of the trip.

Here's a picture of the girls....

....and the guys.

Jared even got to jet ski on those ocean waves again!

There's nothing like a late night stroll along the beach.

We went to Chichen Itza and learned all about the ancient Mayan civilization. It was really fascinating and definitely one of the highlights of our trip.


We also visited Xcaret which is a beautiful, natural water park. It was gorgeous, we especially enjoyed the underground rivers.


At the end of the day they did this show where we saw the ancient Mayan ball game and lots of other interesting history. It was a little long at the end, but hey, we were exhausted from all the hard core playing.

We went swimming with the dolphins too. Well, actually Jared did, I watched. They said it wasn't safe for me to be in the water with those playful dolphins being pregnant and all so I sat on the side and took pictures instead. It was still fun, I told Jared it was like sitting on the front row of a dolphin show where my friends were all the stars.

Here Jared is being pushed by a dolphin.

My friend Nannette celebrated her birthday, the big 4-0! Whoa! Doesn't she look great!?!

It was a wonderful week. Relaxing, warm, romantic, and non-stop fun. Someday we'll go back!

Fun Uncle Mike

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun this year. We were especially lucky because at the last minute Jared's youngest brother Mike and Emma surprised us all and bought plane tickets to join the McInelly clan making the family complete, even Great Grandpa Bill was able to come all the way from Canada. We felt fortunate to have Mike and Emma all to ourselves the first day or so of their trip. Boy was that fun!

Uncle Mike has this cool saddle that he straps to his back. It has handles for the kids to hold on to which is a good thing because his rides are pretty wild!



My kids (and the neighbors) love to show off their band, Uncle Mike was a great audience. He even joined in as a fill in drummer.... they are looking for a new drummer these days.

Here are some other fun pictures from our weekend.

A wild crowd watching the BYU game!

We love that chocolate fountain! Yum!

Linsey and her newest cousin, Dylan.

Hope your Thanksgiving was great!