McNeils of Mesa: Lake Knoll 2010

McNeils of Mesa: Lake Knoll 2010

Here are some pictures of our only camping trip this summer. We went to Knoll Lake in Arizona with family. It was so much fun, thank heavens KayDee had her camera. Otherwise we would have no record of this trip.

This is a trip we wont forget. We almost ran out of gas, lost the canoes off the trailer, drove there in a rain storm, and drove home in a deluge. Thank heavens we had one great rain free day on the lake. Kids caught a KFC bucket full of crawdads that we cooked up, and ate.  I even tried them, much to the surprise of my husband.

I Love My Smart Kids!

My kids are so smart and talented. Of course what would you expect with Marlin and I as their parents.

First, last month Kelly competed in the Science Olympiad, and MESA competitions. In Mesa Kelly was on the Lego Robotics team. In districts, her team came in first place. Unfortunately her school team didn't win enough points to go to the State competition. But to get first was a big accomplishment. In Science Olympiad, Kelly and her friend competed in the Wright Stuff competition. Where they had to build and fly a rubber band powered glider plane. They were able to overcome challenges of their plane breaking, fixing it, and then flew it into first place in the State in their division. Go Kelly! She is so smart. (Also she has topped 5 ft 8 in now. I don't know when she will stop growing, but it should be interesting to see how tall she ends up.)

Second, Ian was able to letter in swimming as a freshman. He really enjoys swimming. He competed in the 200 IM, the 500 Freestyle, and his favorite event was the 100 Backstroke. He didn't qualify for state this year, but he impressed his coach. At the Swimming banquet, the coach made a comment that he felt by the time Ian was a senior he would come close to breaking the records set by Jake. That is a huge compliment. Jake was the NM male high school swimmer of the year, and almost unbeatable in everything. That is quite the challenge for Ian to rise to that level. He can do it. It is fun to watch him swim.

Erin, Kenna and Andrew are all doing well in school. It is nice to have good kids. Very few problems to have to deal with.

Don is still Don. He keeps me on my toes. I have to lock the door to the pantry. He gets all the chips and drinks that are for lunches, and if I am not careful, there are none left. I think he ate 8 bags of Doritos and drank 4 Capri Suns. It is a good thing he moves around a lot. He didn't even get sick. I can't turn my back for longer than 10 minutes or crazy things happen.

Richard is starting to talk. His favorite thing to do is holler "Mom!, Mom!" over and over. It sometimes takes work to figure out what he wants. But he will say "please" in sign language when he wants something. He also is good at yelling "Ian!" and "Don!" and "Kenna!" and his new word today is "STOP!" He knows the names of those who bother him most. Kenna just gets close and he yells Stop. It is quite funny.

I am so grateful for family. I wouldn't change my life at all. Many people think 7 kids is too many, but I have to disagree. My kids, even with their fighting, are good friends. It is fun to be in the van when they are laughing and joking with each other. They challenge each other, help each other, and love each other. I was worried about Ian and Kelly last year when they would be in middle school together, but it was so nice to see that they got along and were good friends. I hope it will be the same next year when Kelly goes to high school. We have a lot of laundry, a lot of dishes, but a lot of love to make up for the work.

Today's Donism

I just love my kids. Don is at the age where he says the greatest things. Saturday night I went to Wal Mart and bought a cantaloupe. It is on the kitchen counter. Last night before bed Don said "Mom, tomorrow can you cut open the envelope?" I wasn't sure what he was talking about until I looked and he was holding the cantaloupe. I corrected him, but this morning he still called it an envelope.

Also, yesterday he and Ian were sick. Don couldn't keep anything down. Finally towards the end of the day he ate some Jello with whip cream that Kelly and Kenna had made. It stayed down. This morning he told me that "his throw up was afraid of the Jello with cream and it went away." I love this kid!

Crazy Life....

I need to post more often, but seem to have the knack for putting off good things.

Ian swam in the Boys Metro Championship meet last Saturday. He did fantastic. He swam the 500 yard freestyle, and the 100 yard back stroke. He placed 14th overall in the 500 and 12th in the 100 back. Not bad for a freshman. He really likes swimming and does well at it.

He also will be performing in the All-State Jazz concert this Sunday. It is fun to watch the kids do well.

Kelly made the honor roll again with a 4.0, and Ian had a great report card too. They are in hard classes, but doing well.

Too Much for Catch Up!

There is too much to catch up on for one post. I will just have to post a few things that have happened in the last few months.

Richard finally got his cast off on November 3. He got pretty good at moving with it on, but he was glad to get it off. I took him a week or so to start walking again, and now he isn't hampered at all by his leg. Occasionally he will limp. I think it is just a matter of still needing to redevelop the muscle. We went to the park right after getting his cast off, and he enjoyed burying his legs in the sand.

He is such a happy little guy, and talks all the time. We just don't understand much of his language. He does end every statement with "yeah". He sure is cute.

The latest game is to get him to say his vowels. I will include a cute video to demonstrate.

Ian is doing well in High School. He ran cross country, his marching band won more awards than they ever have (thanks to a new director, not just because Ian is in it ;) ). Ian auditioned for All state on his trumpet and made Jazz All state. Not bad for a freshman.

Kelly is doing really well in 7th grade. She is now 5 feet 8 or so. She is getting very tall and beautiful. She is playing the French horn in band, and also played volleyball for her school.

Erin is growing up way too fast. She is in 4th grade, and keeps us on our toes. She got her braces off in October and loves to smile.

Kenna is in 3rd grade and keeps all of us hopping. She is still on the jump-rope team and enjoys playing with her friends.

Andrew is in 1st grade. He will be our little ball player. He loves to play ball with his dad whenever he gets the chance. He is doing well in school and loves to rough house with Don

Don is quite the kid. He constantly says fun things. He has a tie that has a zipper in it and he calls it his ziplock tie. He also has a hooded sweatshirt that has a zipper that is his ziplock jacket. I would do better if I wrote down all the funny things he says, but I don't do it and then forget. He keeps me on my toes.

Marlin has been going crazy at work. There is a big job going on that has kept him working very long hours. Thank heavens for the inspiration. Heavenly Father has helped him out many times recently and helped him complete his tasks. Hopefully it will ease off some, but probably not for several months.

Well this is a really long post, and so I will end it with Richard dancing. We got a cd of dance music and the kids were dancing this morning with their cousins. Richard had to groove to the music too. It is too cute to leave out!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all our family and friends.

Ian's Summer Surgery

At the end of this summer, Ian had to have a growth removed from his toe. I took some pictures to document it. It cut in to the end of summer swimming, but now it won't bother him for cross country or marching.

This is Ian's toe before surgery. It is hard to see the growth, but it is on the 4th toe. It was some cartilage growing off the end of the bone.
This is at the first check up after surgery. UGLY.
This is getting the stitches removed. Better.
All the stitches out. Now just needs healing.

Now actually the toe looks normal. No more pain, except when Don steps on it. ;-)

Richard's Broken Leg

Life has been different for the last 2 1/2 weeks.

Richard has a broken femur, and is in a spica cast. It makes life a little more challenging.

The Story:

We took all the kids to an Albuquerque High football game to watch Ian march in the band. We had a great time, and were there from just before half time until the game ended. (Ian did great by the way, and you can watch his band perform at http://ahsmightybulldogband.org ) We were leaving the game and walking through the parking lot. Marlin had Richard on his shoulders. Don wouldn't hold on to my hand. He would just pull and pull when I tried. He would hang on to Marlin's hand though. So instead of breaking Don's wrist, I let Marlin deal with both boys. We did great until about 15 yards from the van, and no more traffic between us and the van. Don began to hop or do something (I didn't see it because I was distracted with Andrew opening the van door. We had forgotten to lock it.) The next thing I know, Marlin calls out for help. I turn around and see Marlin leaning over, and Richard laying between his elbow and back barely hanging on. I go over and grab Richard. Marlin said he heard a pop in Richard's leg.

We were hoping it wasn't his knee. He wasn't crying at this point. We put him in the van, and drive home. That drive was miserable. Every bump caused Richard to cry harder. We finally got home. We carefully got him out of his seat and brought him in. We laid him on the floor to change his diaper. We were very careful in removing his pants. Marlin did the first aid stuff, and checked his ankle, and then knee. In the process of checking his knee, he saw movement in the femur. He then knew the femur was broken. He stabilized the leg, and I called 911. The paramedics, ambulance, fire truck, and police came. It was quite the mad house when Ian got home. Thank heavens he had a ride.

I ended up riding in the ambulance with Richard (my first and hopefully last ambulance ride). At the hospital, x-rays confirmed the break. That began our hospital experience. I was there for 2 nights with Richard. Thank heavens for friends and family which stepped in to help us take care of all our kids.

It has now been 2 1/2 weeks. Richard will have the cast for 6 weeks total. He has figured out how to roll around, and is pretty happy most of the time. Nights are the hardest. I don't think he gets completely comfortable. Which makes it hard for both of us. It is amazing how fast little kids adapt to their experiences. He should have no lasting effects from this. The Doctor says occasionally broken bones like this tend to overgrow. So his left leg may end up a little longer than the right. We will have to keep an eye out for that when he is about ten I guess.

All hooked up in the hospital. He didn't like it much, and I was still a little afraid to hold him. Not to mention, it wasn't very comfortable to hold him.

Ricahrd was pretty miserable in the hospital. I don't know whether it was residual pain, or just the medications that made him feel yucky.
Richard was getting the iv removed here. He was so cute covering his face while he cried.

Richard in his special borrowed car seat. He is pretty happy for the most part. It is a good thing that Don has a bunch of shorts. In order for Richard to have pants on, he has to wear size 4.

Kenna's Baptism

Marlin and Kenna ready to go.

Kenna got baptized last Saturday. It was a very nice baptism. Our Stake does Stake baptisms, but because Kenna was the only one being baptized in August, we were able to arrange things to be more personal.

Kenna chose the songs, and the speakers. Sister Berger gave the talk on baptism, and Jessica gave the talk on the Holy Ghost. They both did a great job. It was nice to have people other than family give the talks. She hears from us all the time.

It is exciting to watch Kenna grow up. She has such a strong spirit and personality. She can do so much good, it will be fin to watch how she helps others.

The time before the baptism was crazy. Between trying to find out what was going on with band camp for Ian, and the little boys being wild, I was stressed. Don and Andrew ended up covered in marker, so a bath was required. Then after the bath and getting dressed in Sunday clothes, the poured an entire bottle of syrup on the carpet in their room. Someday I will laugh, but I am still a little put out.

Good thing they are cute boys. Some days it is all that keeps me from drastic measures.

Erin and Richard

Don and Andrew being their normal selves. Not the most reverent, but they did well during the baptism itself.

Didn't get a picture of Ian and Kelly, but they were there too. I am sometimes delinquent.

Philmont

Here are a few pictures of our Philmont experience. I don't know why I didn't actually gt this posted in July when I wrote it, but better late than never.

Another Don Moment

Just so you know Don is not always funny I will include this story. When we were up at Philmont Training Center, we were exploring the grounds of the Villa Philmonte, which is the mansion where Waite Phillips and his family would live on the ranch. There is a really nice gazebo type part of the building where you wait to go on a tour. We were looking around there and Don looked up and said "This looks like Heavenly Father's house." Then he went and sat on one of the chairs and said, "this is where He sits and talks to people."

Then the next day Marlin was walking him around the gardens and he said "This looks like Heavenly Father's backyard."

He is quite the little boy. It was beautiful up at Philmont.

Kelly just came in and said that Don said "look it's snail polish". He keeps us smiling.

More Don Funnies

OK, so having a 3 (almost 4) year old is fun.

Yesterday in church, Don leaned over to me and asked "Where are your Sunday clothes?" Well, considering I was dressed in church, I said I am wearing them.

He repeated "No, where are your Sunday clothes?"

I said "Right here."

He thought for a second and said, "But where are your beautiful Sunday clothes?"

I couldn't hear well enough to figure out what clothes he was talking about, but apparently it wasn't what I was wearing. The only thing I can figure is that I had to change shirts before church because Richard slimed me. I guess the first shirt was beautiful, the second was not. hahaha

Then after church we were making dinner, and the girls were cutting up fruit for a fruit salad. Don asked where we got the fruit. I said from Sunflower Market. Don must not have heard because he then said, "Oh, you got it at the fruit salad store?" What a cutie. I think I'll keep him.

Summer Means Swimming

So for weeks the little kids have been asking to go swimming. The indoor pools are open all year long, but rec swim hours are from 6pm to 8pm. Usually that is a rotten time to try and get out to swim. So the Saturday after school gets out is when the outdoor pools open. That was Memorial Day weekend. The weather was windy and only about 78 degrees or so. But we went swimming. The water was cold, and the wind made it cold out of the water. I never did make it in, I stayed on the side with Richard. He loved sitting on the side of the pool and playing in the water. The cold didn't seem to affect him much.

Since then we have been swimming several times. Richard loves to be in the water. He doesn't seem to mind the cool water. I usually take him out when his lips start turning blue. Maybe I should get him out sooner, but he never complains.

The older kids have swim team each morning, and Andrew and Don will start swim lessons in a week. (Originally I would have had them in swim lessons now, but the pool close to our house has to close temporarily to fix the pump. They had to cancel this session of lessons.)

These pictures are from when we walked to the pool that first time this summer.

I would have just as soon not had this picture, but I had to get one of Richard. I learned that those flip flops were not good for walking the 3 blocks to the pool.

This is Erin and Andrew.

Andrew Excited to swim.

Don and Kenna

Don was ready. He kept the swim cap on until he got in the pool. Then he took it off. :-)

Kelly is groing up!

The Young Women had a Daddy Daughter Dance a few months ago. It was a wear a dress event. Kelly had invited a friend from school to go with her, but her friend didn't have a dress, so they dug through Kelly's closet and ended up wearing the "prom" dresses that I got at a thrift store for halloween 2 years ago. Kelly has slimmed down, and the dress fit her way to well if you ask me. She really looks grown up.

Marlin was able to go, and enjoyed dancing with Kelly, Tasha (the friend from school), and Madison. It sounded like a good night.

Kelly in her fancy dress. Oh so grown up.


Kelly's friend Tasha.


Kelly's friend Madison.


The three girls together. Thank Heavens for cell phones. I wouldn't have pictures otherwise. I forgot my camera.

Catch UP - kind of

I haven't posted in so long, and I don't think I can truly catch up on everything... But here is some info.

School is now over. Ian completed the 8th grade, and they had a "Promotion Ceremony", aka Graduation.  I was amazed at the clothes the girls were wearing.  Can we say immodest and not appropriate for anyone much less 13/14 year old girls.  I was also thinking that this may be the last graduation some of those kids will ever have. I was glad for Ian, but sad for those kids that had reached their greatest educational experience.  I can't believe Ian is going to high school next year. CRAZY.  

The girls and Andrew all had great years and are looking forward to next year. 

Summer means swimming and scout camps.  Marlin and Ian have been gone for a week to Brownsea. Life is different when they are gone. I am much less motivated to cook, clean and do anything.  I need to change that. 

Kelly is off to her first Girls Camp. I can't believe she is 12.  She looks older though. She is almost as tall as me now.  She is a beauty! We will have the shotgun primed for the next 10 years or so. 

Richard is growing and growing. He is almost crawling, and loves to walk by holding our fingers. I think he may walk before he really crawls. He can get around now if he wants to.  Time for continual vacuuming!

Don is so funny. We had some really strong winds a couple of weeks ago, and our roof is losing some shingles.  Don came in and announced that "Someone took a bread knife and took some   skin off our roof!"   I don't know where he comes up with this stuff, but it was very cute.  Even to say a tool that was used.  

Nit Picking - Literally

Life is all about new experiences, but this is one I could have done without.  Sunday Morning Kenna told me that she had a rash on her neck. I looked and sure enough, she had red bumps all over.  I didn't know what was causing it, but was pondering it and it hit me.  "She probably has lice."   I attribute this thought to inspiration, because I would never have thought of it on my own.  

I called her in the bathroom, and after looking at her head, sure enough LICE.  Well the ox was in the mire, I ran to the store and got some lice shampoo, and treated her immediately. Now it is a matter of inspecting all of the kids everyday, and "nit picking" Kenna's hair for 2 weeks.  I also spent part of my Sabbath doing laundry, vacuuming mattresses, and cleaning. I hope that wasn't breaking the Sabbath too much. I just really want to avoid all the other kids (and me too) getting them.   I have no clue where she contracted them.  It is a baffling thought. The school nurse checked all of her classmates, with no luck. Oh well. I hope with education on not sharing hats, combs, jackets, clips or leaning heads together, we can avoid a continual battle.   

Kenna is not freaked out about this at all. She has been very free to tell everyone around her that she has head lice.  Oh the innocence of children.  Maybe there is less stigma today that when I was a kid, but really, STOP ANNOUNCING IT TO EVERYONE!  (I just noticed the irony of my posting this on a blog, but oh well you can't get lice from the internet)

Ending on a good note, this morning Kenna handed me a note where she wrote "Dear mom you are verey talented you are verey swete and kind mom thanks for helping me with the lice love you kenna  you are the best mom"  (directly quoted, spelling and non punctuation are hers)

What can you do but love a kid that appreciates all you do. This is the only time where it appropriate to allow me to "nit pick"  :-)

Easter fun

I decided if I waited to get the camera and the computer and the time all in the same place, I would never post.  So I will have to post pictures later. 

Easter weekend was very fun. We had our regular family get together at Dan's house. We had a barbecue, Easter egg hunt, and games. Thanks Dan and Curtis for cooking in the rain. The food was great. The egg hunt had to be in doors, which worked out fine. Grandpa had fallen asleep on the couch, and we just hid eggs around him. It would have been better if I didn't wake him up by putting an egg on his tummy. But he played along, and pretended to be asleep for the little kids to find the eggs all around him.  We then played the oven mit game. Where you have to roll dice, and if you get doubles, you try to unwrap a gift while wearing oven mits. It was very fun. Grandpa ended up getting lucky, and rolled doubles right as the last of the wrapping was coming off. So he won the candy bar. The first layer of wrapping was a cut up gift bag, with a lot of tape.  We finally had to get some scissors and cut away one of the tape sections.  That was after about 15 attempts by various family members to unwrap it.  Then the kids did the same thing. It was a blast. 

Saturday evening was a ward dinner and a dessert auction for the young women's camp.  For the auction I made 2 Easter egg cakes and covered them with marshmallow fondant. They turned out really cute. I will post pictures later. The fondant was fun to make and it tasted good too!

I think the cakes brought in $85 dollars for the Young women, add to that the $73 I spent on desserts, Kelly has met most of her portion for camp (I don't even know what that portion is).

There were A LOT of desserts to auction and fewer people to bid than they were hoping for, but it worked out well.

Easter Sunday was the normal Easter action with the kids finding their "baskets" and then eating candy.  Their baskets were a combination of ice cream buckets and bowls.  I thought it was good that before lunch Don made some comment about the "candy rabbit".  I think that is a more appropriate name, so we will possibly change the Easter Bunny to the Candy Rabbit in the future.  Easter will have a more Savior related activities, and the commercial things will come from the Candy Rabbit who happens to come at Easter.

Juicery

You gotta love kids.

Last night at before dinner, Don spilled his juice on his pants. Well he started to cry to me that his pants were wet. I (not knowing about the juice) told him it was just water and it would dry. He said "It's not watery, it's juicery." hahaha

Then in FHE Andrew was being noisy and I told him to be quiet because Daddy was trying to teach him. Andrew responded, "I don't want to learn anything." It was quite funny. I doubt he did learn anything. He was not listening at all.

Happy Birthday Kelly!

Kelly last fall, but she has changed since then. I will have to get a current photo on here later.

Kelly is 12 today. She is such a great help to me. I can't believe she is 12 and starts Young Women's this weekend. It seem like just the other day I was in the delivery room and the nurse told us she bet the nurse of the mom next door that I would have Kelly first. The other woman had been in labor all afternoon. After hearing how fast Ian was born, my nurse was sure I would deliver first. I guess it is a good thing that they only bet a candy bar, because Kelly came 4 minutes after the other baby.

I had time to have an epidural with Kelly, and after Ian's natural delivery I decided that drugged is a good way to have a baby. All in all the labor was just over 4 hours. Kelly weighed 8lbs 9.8 oz. I don't remember how long she was, but she was good sized.
Kelly and her cousin Logan when they were babies. Logan is only 2 weeks older than Kelly.

Last week Kelly placed 2nd in "The Wright Stuff" category at the state Science Olympiad. She and her friend Rachel worked really hard on a rubber band powered glider. Good Job Kelly.
Kelly and Ian in fall of 1997.

Yummy Chocolate

Don and Andrew found a Hershey's bar I had put up. They thought it was really good.

Especially Don, and........




Richard. No wonder he won't eat regular food. After Chocolate baby food is gross.

Richard Growing 2

So when Richard came home I took a picture of him next to a doll. I decided to have Kelly take another with Richard next to the same doll yesterday. Here you can really see his growth. It is quite amazing. I am glad I don't grow at the same rate. Although sometimes I feel it is the same rate :-).


taken 4/9/08


taken 2/16/09 He was mad that we put him down. He really wanted to be held.