McNeil Ménage

Sweetheart Pageant

2011-02-26T22:52:00.002-06:00

We went to watch Carrie's friend, Hannah, compete in the Sweetheart Pageant.
She looked so beautiful - and won Miss Photogenic! Go Hannah! About halfway through the whole thing, Carrie leaned over and said, "Mom, I think it would be a lot more fun to be IN the pageant than to WATCH it!" Maybe next year!

The 3rd Annual McNeil Commercial Spoof

2011-02-06T20:06:00.003-06:00

Tonight was the Superbowl party for the youth at church. Every year we let the students submit commercials that they create and show them during the commercial breaks so we don't have to watch all the beer commercials. So this is ours for this year - its copied from a DiGiorno pizza commercial. Enjoy!

And just for old time's sake, here are the previous ones.

My little stars!

Superhero Birthday

2010-12-11T19:40:00.006-06:00

Ethan turned 5 this week. He has completely lost that little boy chubbiness and shot up into this tall, fast, adventurous big boy. When did that happen? I must have blinked too many times this year, because this one went by way too fast!

He wanted a superhero party this year, so we decided to have it at the park. We made capes for all his friends to keep. They had so much fun! Enjoy the pictures! And don't miss the last few pics... when we got home, I found the perfect way to trap even the fastest, strongest superhero!

Happy Birthday Buddy!

He requested PB&J, strawberries, and cheetos!

a flower for mom!

Cake tip: all of the 4" superhero action figures come with a little hole on the bottom of each foot. If you break the pointy tip of one end of a toothpick, you can stick it in the hole and then stick the toothpick into the cake! So we added Superman and Batman to Ethan's collection after the party today! I can't take credit for the cake - all I did was stick the guys on top!

Singing Happy Birthday

Pretending to blow out the candles - it was way too windy to light them!

The Guys:

Jayson, Peyton, Sydney, Ethan, other Ethan, Sawyer, Bryce, and Wesley

I hope they all had as much fun as my Ethan did!

Look at those muscles!

Ethan's Best Buddy! We love you Wesley!

I caught me a superhero! I've got him now...ha ha ha!

What a cutie!
Happy Birthday Ethan!
We love you so much!

Ethan's Lego Transformer Combiner

2010-12-02T19:50:00.003-06:00

Ethan just got a new transformer for his birthday that is called a combiner becasue it has several separate vehicles that all snap on to the biggest one and transform into the big robot when they're combined. Ethan created this lego version all by himself! He is loving the legos!

UF Butterfly Rainforest

2010-11-05T20:53:00.009-05:00

On our way to see a space shuttle launch that eventually got scrubbed, we stopped in at the science museum at the University of Florida and walked through the butterfly rainforest. It is was amazing - we were all really impressed. They gave the kids a laminated full color pamphlet of some of the different butterflies that they might see inside, so when they saw one, they could find it on their chart and see what's called. They had a lot of fun with that - they were on a mission to find at least one of every butterfly on the list!

This was the 2nd photo I took inside the butterfly garden - just walked right up and took a picture of this gorgeous bright blue butterfly - and then he closed up his wings. One of the guides walked over and saw him sitting there on the railing and said he was the one all the photgraphers want a good picture of. Apparently some people will come and sit around watching for hours to get one good picture of this one with his wings open! Below is the same butterfly with his wings closed. Not nearly as attractive!

Bananas anyone?! Mmmmmm!

If Carrie doesn't appear to be her normally smiley, photogenic self, I think she was a little nervous the whole time we were there that a giant butterfly or bird was going to land on her! She was excited to see everything, but I think she had a hard time relaxing. Poor little scaredy cat!

Ethan thought these orange butterflies on the orange flowers won the prize for best camouflage.

Great white shark jaw - Ethan's "this shark is going to get me" face.

Coldwater Creek Canoe Caper

2010-10-11T10:33:00.006-05:00

This Saturday we took a 4-mile canoe trip on Coldwater Creek that feeds into the Blackwater River about 30 miles from home. We rented one canoe from Adventures Unlimited and packed a picnic lunch. After we picked our life jackets and paddles, they drove us and our canoe up-river and helped us carry everything down to the water and get our canoe loaded. Then we were on our own in the wilderness for the next 3 hours! It was so quiet and peaceful! The water was very shallow in some places and as deep as 6 or 7 feet in other areas. There were several sandy beaches along the way that we could stop and explore. The river was mostly very calm and slow. Since we started at 10AM much of the route was shaded and so beautiful. We saw a big turtle, several fish, and a few butterflies along the way. We only had one man overboard - Ethan leaned over the edge just as we bumped a tree stump and he fell out head first. Thankfully all he got was soaking wet and a good lesson learned. When mom and dad say "don't lean over the edge cause you might fall out", hey, they DO know what they're talking about! He came up surprised and freezing but still smiling! We found a great shaded beach right after Ethan’s spill, so we stopped to let him drip dry a while and have our picnic. We had so much fun! Some of these pictures remind me of another brother and sister who used to collect rocks and throw sticks in the creeks along the Blue Ridge Parkway. The water wasn't quite as cold, but close. Good memories! We will definitely go again soon.

We've got life jackets, sunscreen, bugspray, hats, and paddles...let's go!

This is Ethan after being hauled out of the river by the rear of his life jacket. Cold and wet, but no damage done!

They got started on a pretty good rock collection along the way.

Ham and cheese sandwicheds, Doritos, apples, strawberries, and double-stuffed oreos! Mmmm!

That face is because she heard something buzzing.

Carrie's 6th Birthday!

2009-07-19T22:24:00.006-05:00

Carrie had a bowling party this year. We celebrated a week early since we'll be leaving for vacation the day after her actual birthday - July 22. We had a great time (this mom highly recommends the bowling alley for an easy, stress free party!) And Carrie has a really great bunch of friends that made the day so fun and special!

Thought I'd show off the invitations I made - turned out pretty cute if I do say so myself!

Carrie and Ethan

And the bowling alley presented Carrie with a bowling pin for all her friends to sign. She loved that!

Summer 2009 - Part 1

2009-07-19T21:18:00.009-05:00

This summer is dissappearing fast and I'm so very far behind on posting pictures of the kids! Before we head to Atlanta for our family vacation, some pictures from May and June to share...

Ethan L O V E S strawberries!

Carrie does not like strawberries, but she loves anything satin,

so she was thrilled to get some very girly satin hand-me-down pajamas from her cousins.

One afternoon after running some errands in Fort Walton, we let the kids play at this really nice playground right in the middle of a shopping center. There's a train that rides around the parking lot, a water park area, and a dry playground. The had a blast!

And of course, it can't be summer without an afternoon playing in the sprinkler. (I guess the trampoline makes it look a little dangerous, but they really weren't jumping that high!)

This is a picture of my front flower bed.

One weekend, we got to keep Abigail and Hannah while they're mom and dad took a short trip. They are both so sweet!

Letter to My Precious Carrie

2009-07-19T00:12:00.004-05:00

July 18, 2009

Dear Precious Carrie,

Tonight was such a special night! I want to tell you a little bit about it so you can remember it even when your childhood memories fade as you grow older. We've been reading a bible story book each night that Aunt Katie Spearman gave us, The Jesus Storybook Bible, by Sally Lloyd-Jones. We've already read through the whole book once over the last several weeks, and have just started back at the beginning again a few nights ago.

Well, when you realized that tonight would be the story of the Serpent in the Garden, you did not want to ready that story. You kept asking over and over if we could just skip that one and go to the next one. But we told you no, that it was important to learn all the stories, and that Adam and Eve's sin is pretty important to the whole story of the Bible. Here's a little excerpt from tonight's story...

Adam and Eve lived happily together in their beautiful new home. And everything was perfect - for a while.
Until the day when everything went wrong.
God had a horrible enemy. His name was Satan. Satan had once been the most beautiful angel, but he didn't want to be just an angel - he wanted to be God. He grew proud and evil and full of hate, and God had to send him out of heaven. Satan was seething with anger and looking for a way to hurt God. He wanted to stop God's plan, stop this love story, right there. So he disguised himself as a snake and waited in the garden.
Now, God had given Adam and Eve only one rule: "Don't eat the fruit on that tree," God told them, "Because if you do, you'll think you know everything. You'll stop trusting me. And then death and sadness and tears will come."
(You see, God knew if they ate the fruit, they would think they didn't need him. And they would try to make themselves happy without him. But God knew there was no such thing as happiness without him, and life without him wouldn't be life at all.)
As soon as the snake saw his chance, he slithered silently up to Eve. "Does God really love you?" the serpent whispered. "If he does, why won't he let you eat the nice, juicy, delicious, fruit? Poor you, perhaps God doesn't want you to be happy."
The snake's words hissed into her ears and sunk down deep into her heart, like poison. Does God love me? Eve wondered. Suddenly she didn't know anymore...
Eve picked the fruit and ate some and Adam ate some too.
And a terrible lie came into the world. It would never leave. It would live on in every human heart, whispering to every one of God's children: "God doesn't love me."
And terrible pain came into God's heart. His children hadn't just broken the one rule; they had broken God's heart. The had broken their wonderful relationship with him. And now he knew everything else would break. God's creation would start to unravel, and come undone, and go wrong. From now on everything would die - even though it was all supposed to last forever.
You see, sin had come into God's perfect world. And it would never leave. God's children would be always running away from him and hiding in the dark. Their hearts would break now, and never work properly again.
God couldn't let his children live forever, not in such pain, not without him. There was only one way to protect them.
"You will have to leave the garden now," God told his children. "This is no longer your true home, it's not the place fore you anymore."
But before they left the garden, God made clothes for his children, to cover them. He gently clothed them and then he sent them away on a long, long journey - out of the garden, out of their home.
Well, in any other story, it would all be over and that would have been...The End.
But not in this Story.
God loved his children too much to let the story end there. Even though he knew he would suffer, God had a plan - a magnificent dream. One day, he would get his children back. One day, he would make the world their perfect home again. And one day, he would wipe away every tear from their eyes.
You see, no matter what, in spite of everything, God would love his children - with a Never Stopping, Never Giving Up, Unbreaking, Always and Forever Love.
And though they would forget him, and run from him, deep in their hearts, God's children would miss him always, and long for him - lost children yearning for their home.
Before they left the garden, God whispered a promise to Adam and Eve: "It will not always be so! I will come to rescue you! And when I do, I'm going to do battle against the snake. I'll get rid of the sin and the dark and the sadness you let in here. I'm coming back for you!"
And he would. One day, God himself would come.
(from The Jesus Storybook Bible, by Sally Lloyd-Jones, p.28)

So, we read that story again tonight even though you really didn't want to! And I could tell when we were tucking you in that you were still thinking about it. So after I got Ethan tucked in, I asked you what you were thinking about. You seemed to be starting to understand that God had planned out the whole story from the very beginning. Even knowing that Satan would trick Adam and Eve and that they would believe him and sin and mess everything up, God had still decided to start His plan into motion. Even knowing that we would sin and that Jesus would have to die for us to be forgiven, He still wanted to create us and love us.

You seemed a little worried about where exactly Satan is now. I think you worried, that if he slithered up to Adam and Eve and lied to them, he might come for you any time! So we talked about how Satan is still a liar, and that he is not anything like God. God is the creator of everything - even the angels - and Satan is just a fallen angel. God is all-knowing, all powerful, He is everywhere all the time, and He is faithful and true and will always be the same. God is God, He always has been and He always will be. And we can trust in Him to defeat Satan when Jesus comes back again to make everything new. You wanted to know if Satan had a body or if he is a spirit like God. You asked, "if God is a spirit and Jesus has a body, then will we have a body in heaven or just our spirit?" (Pretty good questions for an almost 6 year old!) Then you wanted to know, "If God's Spirit - the Holy Spirit - could live inside people, then could Satan's spirit come inside people?" We talked about how people still choose not to believe God's Word, and they believe Satan's lies and disobey God, but that is different than when the Holy Spirit lives inside someone's heart.

You asked, "When does the Holy Spirit come to live inside me? I believe that Jesus is God's Son, that he is perfect, that he died for me, and that he loves me. What else do I need to believe?" So I told you that when you believed all those things and trusted in Jesus to forgive you and save you from your sins and to be in charge of your life, that you could just pray and ask Him to come live inside you and He would - forever! Then I asked you if you were thinking about praying about that tonight and you said, "well, I already believe all those things, so I want Jesus to live in my heart forever."

I asked you if I could go get Daddy to come pray with us since this was such a special thing to pray about, and you were excited about that. So we talked a little bit more with Dad, and you told him everything you told me about what you believe. Dad asked you about sin, and you told him that we sin when we disobey God and that we all sin all the time. And that is why Jesus had to die on the cross so he could forgive our sins and we would be able to be with God. Dad wanted to make sure that you understood that you are a sinner, and I think you do. (You told me a few weeks ago that you learned that Jesus was perfect and he could die for our sins since we are not perfect, cause if we died for our own sins, we would just die forever since we're not perfect, but Jesus could be raised from the dead because he's perfect and he's God!)

So after all that, we knelt beside your bed with you and you prayed and asked God to forgive your sins. You thanked Jesus for dying on the cross for you and asked him to come live inside your heart and to be in charge of your life!

I want you to know how happy I am for you and how proud I am of you for thinking about things that are hard to think about. I want you to know that I will always be praying - that you will continue to grow in your faith in God and in your understanding of His Word. More than anything, I want you to trust Him and the plans He has for your life. Just as God had a plan for the world from the very beginning, He had a plan for you - Carrie - before the world was created. Everything His Word teaches about how he wants you to live, is a part of that plan. I pray that God will give you a desire to obey Him, to trust Him and to love Him more than anything else in the world. You will make mistakes and sometimes bad things will happen around you (and even to you), but God will always be with you because you belong to Him. He will finish His plan for you just like He finished His plan to save us.

I love you so very, very much sweet girl. I love your silliness, your courage to try new things that frighten you, your instinct to look out for others that are smaller than you, and I love your sweet, sweet heart. Remember that even though the Holy Spirit lives inside you now, your heart is sinful and deceitful. Satan will still try to trick you to believe his lies instead of God's truth. Be careful to learn the truth every day so that when you hear the lies, you will recognize them and know where they come from!

You are so precious to me, my delightful daughter, and as you grow up into the young lady that God wants you to be, I will be praying for you to know how much He loves you and how thankful I am that He gave you to me.

a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck,
Mom

A Little Larry-Boy Song and Some Swinging

2009-06-02T10:08:00.005-05:00

Ethan is still going strong with his Larry-Boy obsession (for those who don't know, Larry-Boy is Larry the cucumber's secreat super hero persona from the Veggie Tales!) Anyway, yesterday afternoon I was getting stuff done around the house and Carrie and Ethan were playing so nicely. I really wasn't paying all that much attention to what they were doing until I realized that Ethan was singin - which he has never done before that I know of! And he kept singing and singing and singing and singing...he was making up his own little version of a Larry-Boy theme song. I'm glad I thought to grab the camera and capture it! He sang it for no less and and hour, over and over, basically singing "Larry-Boy" 3 times and then some little phrase about what Larry-Boy does or what he looks like or how he will rescue you. Super cute! (I especially like the part where he explains that Carrie is dead!)

Later that afternoon, we went outside to play and Ethan hopped on the big kid swing for the first time. Every time, for the last 6 months, that I've asked him if he wants to try it, he's told me he's not big enough. But for whatever reason, he decided today was the day. The cute part of this video is what he says while I'm filming him swinging and I ask him to tell me something. With no hesitation he starts telling me how cool his dad is! You have to listen pretty close to hear it, but its priceless!

Here's the transcript...
"Dad is cool and him...and dad's knock me down and him cool, and him is silly, and him always tackle me and zap me"

Superhero's New Cape & Ballerina's New Moves

2009-04-21T18:27:00.004-05:00

Ethan is really into the superhero thing lately. A while ago we discovered that he could tie the sleeves of one of his long sleeve shirts around his neck and have a little cape. But besides the fact that is actually very dangerous to have anything tied around the neck of a very active three-year old boy, everyone knows that a real superhero needs a BIG cape! So mom got creative after dinner tonight and whipped up a cape with one of my old red t-shirts, a little velcro and some fusable adhesive (iron on fabric flue)!
STEP 1 - Cut the back of the shirt out and up all the way arond the neck band.
STEP 2 - cut the front of the neck band apart and iron on a velcro tab on each side.
STEP 3 - Cut eye holes out of one sleeve
And wahlah! Instant superhero that thinks his mom is awesome!
Thank you very much! (dont' miss the video at the end!)

Carrie's been working hard in ballet getting ready for her upcoming recital in 3 weeks. She loves it and has learned so much since September. Can't wait to see her debut performance!

Kentucky Trip

2009-03-29T19:40:00.007-05:00

We had an unexpected whirlwind trip to KY last weekend for Bob's Aunt Vickie's funeral. Funerals are always sad, but we are glad Aunt Vickie is healthy again in heaven with so many other loved ones, and it was great to see other family that we don't get to see very often anymore.
We did the 10 hour drive there on Sunday getting to the hotel around midnight, and the plan was to get back in the van Monday after the funeral (hopefully by 2pm) for the drive home. Well, around supper time, the kids were miserable, the driver was tired, and mom had had enough. So my fabulous husband allowed me to change the plans and be spontaneous! (He's the best!!!) So, we found a good exit, hit the Target for Chutes & Ladders and some Ben & Jerry's and crashed at a hotel for a fun family evening, a decent bedtime, a yummy hot breakfast, and a much more pleasant conclusion to our journey the next morning! Yay Dad, we made a great memory instead of just making great time - much more lasting!

Then Ethan got creative on the last bit of our journey. Unfortunately, I realized way too late that it was entirely too quiet in the back seat. When I turned around, this is what I found! Ethan, didn't want to color in his coloring book, so he just colored his arms and his left hand instead. Should've gotten him the Crayola Color Wonder markers! Oh well, most of it washed off at the next McDonalds where we dragged a chair into the bathroom for him to stand on so I didn't have to hold him up the whole time I scrubbed both arms three times each! Now that I think about it, that probably violates a health code for not taking dining room furniture into the restroom, but I didn't think about it at the time. I had been traveling in a van with two kids for almost 20 of the last 36 hours! Good times!

This is his 'I-think-i'm-about-to-get-in-trouble-for-this' face!

Sunday Afternoon at the Ballet

2009-03-02T14:18:00.005-06:00

Carrie's first professional ballet! She was so excited.Carrie and mom enjoying our awesome seats - front row center balcony!I found out that the Northwest Flofida Ballet Company was doing Cinderella and I knew I had to take Carrie! It was a wonderful experience. Carrie is familiar enough with the Cinderella story that she only asked about 300 questions durikng the whole thing (I can only imagine it would have been in the thousands for the Nutcracker!) And she seemed to really enjoy watching the dancing (not one word or sound effect other than the orchestra through the entire 2 hour performance!) And the really cool part is that Carrie's ballet recital this spring willl be at the same theater - same stage! She liked Cinderella's wedding dress and the Fairy Godmother's costume the best. She liked that the court jester could do cartwheels with no hands! And she liked that Cinderella got a robe for the wedding scene that took up almost the whole stage! It was so great!!!

the step-sisters getting ready for the royal ball

the Fairy Godmother
Cinderella dancing with the Prince at the ball Cinerella trying on her slipper the Wedding Scene - the long white things are the royal robes The End - Cinderella's curtsythe whole cast Carrie right in front of the stage for a picture op with Cinderella's magic coach.

2009-03-01T12:33:00.003-06:00

Carrie's been taking a Ballet-Tumbling class since September and she has loved it! She couldn't do anything except stand on tiptoes and sit with her legs criss-crossed when she first started and now she's doing cartwheels and round-offs! She wanted me to make a movie so she could see what she looks like doing her stunts! Enjoy!

Here's one of Ethan and Bob's best stunts!

The Big Race

2009-02-23T12:11:00.002-06:00

Carrie made a pinewood derby car for her Awana's Grand Prix last Saturday. This was my first experience with pinewood derby racing and it was SO fun! Mom sketched several options with inspiration from Ethan's Hot Wheels collection and Carrie picked her favorite. She and Dad took her block of wood to her leader's house to have it cut out and then we sanded, sealed, painted, decorated, and clear coated it. Then Ethan absolutely had to have one too! So we did it all again. Ethan's age group raced hot wheels cars instead of the derby cars, but he got to do a test run with his pinewood derby car against Carrie's car and his won! Ethan made it to the semifinals against 15 of the fastest Hot Wheels in Okaloosa County, and while Carrie's car only won it's first heat, it placed 3rd for design. She was so proud of "the first trophy I've ever won in my whole life!" It was a great day!

Some February Photos

2009-02-22T21:17:00.005-06:00

Here's a rare sighting of brotherly sisterly love caught unprompted. Love it!

Before Valentine's Day, we shot some photos to use for a card for the grandparents. It took several to get a good smile out of Ethan. Carrie was so easy to photograph when she was that age, she'd have one bad one out of 100! Ethan, on the other hand, is almost impossible! Here are some of the funny ones!

And the one that made it onto the card!
This was pretty funny...

One night after Ethan had gone to bed, I went back to check on him and this is what I found. He's asleep in the bed under all the blankets and he had a zebra, a starfish, a lobster, an orangutan, a chimp, an ape, a rhinoceros, an alligator, a killer whale, and a slinky lined up to guard his door.

And finally, the kids were playing superheroes one Saturday morning and I was afraid Carrie's headbands were not going to survive the excitement, so we made masks!

Ethan went to bed with his mask still on that night! Good times!

The Three Bears

2009-02-03T15:29:00.002-06:00

Well, there were times that we wondered if Ethan was ever going to start talking! In the last several weeks, many people have mentioned how much more he's talking - it gets better every day! His pronunciation is so cute. Carrie always pronounced everything perfectly - if not the first time, she'd get it right after one correction. So its been fun to hear all the cute developments of different sound combinations. I especially love how he says, "Me wuv you VeVy much!"

Ethan loves a story book we have that has several of the old favorites like The Three Pigs, The Gingerbread Man, and The Three Bears. One afternoon I heard him reciting the Three Bears to himself so I grabbed the camera and asked him to tell me the story. He loves the wolf in The Three Pigs and Red Riding Hood, so you'll see at the very end that he really wants a wolf to eat somebody at the end of the story! It's a little long, but if you have time, it's really cute.

Part 1

Part 2

One morning while Carrie and I were doing schoolwork, Ethan started counting! In this clip, he's looking at a book that counts ladybugs backwards from 5. On each page you loose a ladybug until the last one flies home. Pretty cute!

January 2009

2009-02-02T20:14:00.005-06:00

It is a little shocking each time a realize all over again that our babies are NOT babies anymore! So big...

Look how long her legs are!
And these are some pictures I took of our house right before everyone arrived for our church staff Christmas dinner. We pushed the couches back in the living room and set up two 8ft tables to seat 5 couples. We rolled the island out from the kitchen to the dining room to have more room for people to get drinks and appetiers. I probably went a little overboard with the decorating, but once I got started, I just couldn't stop!

Oh Yeah, Ethan's Birthday!

2009-02-02T19:59:00.004-06:00

Now I understand a little better why people with December birthdays always complain about it! It is so hard to really do a birthday right when you have the holidays coming at you in a hurry!
But our little man turned 3 on Dec. 6th and celebrated with a Diego cake.

Bringing in '09

2009-02-02T19:30:00.005-06:00

To celebrate New Year's Eve, we had our friends Dustin, Alicia, Allison, Courtney, Emily, and Sydney over for quesadillas, nachos, and cheese dip. The kids watched a movie while the grown ups watched the Yellow Jackets play in the Chic-fil-A Bowl (Dustin is a Tech Grad too!) We had a great night even if Tech lost. We love you guys!

Christmas 2008

2009-02-02T13:54:00.010-06:00

We had a really wonderful Christmas holiday in Greenville, SC with Bob's family and even got to stop in Georgia on our way home to see my family! Here's some pics from the trip.

One night all the adults went out for dinner and left the older girls to babysit. This is how we found them when we got home later that night.

Carrie lost her first tooth Christmas Eve! (And the black eye is from playing too rough with the cousins - I think she and Gabe bonked heads! She was looking pretty rough!)

Carrie and Gabe were the first ones ready to go downstairs Christmas morning, but no one goes down until everyone is ready!Now they're all ready! Camera's rolling...

Carrie's stash - she got boots and a ballerian barbie and a magnet set from Santa.

Ethan's stash - He got a tool set and tool box and a cowboy hat, bandana, and lasso (he calls it his 'yasso wope'! He's too cute!

Carrie exclaims in an unbelieveably shrill voice, "I got boots!!!!"

Can you tell she liked them?!

That's cousin Jack McNeil. He and Ethan are very close in age. Its great for them to have a playmate!

The little kids put on a Nativity story for us. Amanda directed and Aunt Katie narrated. Carrie was Mary and Gabe was Joseph. It was precious!

Mary proudly cradling the naked baby Jesus!

Goin' to Greenville for Christmas...

2008-12-16T15:41:00.002-06:00

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Disney World

2008-11-20T18:42:00.031-06:00

DAY 1

We stayed at Disney's Allstar Music Resort
(Hooray for Florida Resident Discounts!)
After breakfast monday morning, we were ready to go.

After a short bus ride,
we rode the monorail to the Magic Kingdom

We made it just in time to see the musical show at the Train Station
where they opened the gates for the morning. The kids loved it when Mickey rode in on the train!

First thing we did once inside the park was get the kids their first pairs of ears!

Ethan spinning on the tea cup ride

Carrie in a tea cup

waiting in line for the speedway

We met Scrooge McDuck

Then we went on the Winnie the Pooh ride

They were both wide-eyed through the whole thing!

Look, there's Tigger!

Then we saw Donald

Carrie gets her first up-close glimpse of the princesses. We walked back into this big room and she could see Aurora, Cinderella, and Belle all waiting to meet the kids and sign autographs.

Princess Aurora

Aurora flirting with Ethan!

Cinderella asking Carrie if she had a nice journey
to come visit her royal castle.

Cinderella was wonderful with the kids, she really got Carrie talking about what she liked at Disney.

We hated to say goodbye to our favorite princess!

Our little Prince Charming!

Belle signing autographs

Beauty and the kids!

Ethan's favorite place to be

This was an exciting moment. Ethan's eyes were huge!

Mickey signing Ethan's book

Cheeeese!

Didn't get a picture, but the kids loved the small roller coaster in Mickey's Toon Town - not to fast, but just fast enough! We went twice in a row.

Right after lunch, we walked by the castle just in time

to see Mickey's Dreams Come True Show. It was SO good!

Best seat for the show!

Ready to ride on Dumbo

Then we all had ice cream

Ethan's face was a chocolate mess!

The kids played in Winnie the Pooh's playground
while the grownups rested our feet.

Carrie in a honey pot

Ethan in a honey pot

Pooh's tree house

We rode the ferryboat around Tom Sawyer's island before we headed to Main Street for the parade.

Ethan fell asleep while we were waiting for the parade to start!

The girls really enjoyed the parade

Carrie gets a glimpse of Cinderella's float

Then we headed over to Downtown Disney to meet my good friend, Lori, and her family for dinner. We found this great holiday photo op at Downtown Disney.
Ethan had just woken up when we got off the bus and wouldn't smile!

A dragon made of legos in the water at Downtown Disney.

That got a smile!

Me and Lori!

Thanks for everything you guys! We love you!!!

Back at the hotel the kids checked our folder full of info about all the parks.

After we got the kids and Mimi back to the hotel room, we headed back to the Magic Kingdom for Magic Hours.

The park stayed open three extra hours past closing and we just had to show our room key to be able to ride the rides. It was so cool, hardly any lines at all!

DAY 2
We had reservations to eat breakfast at the Crystal Palace with all the Winnie the Pooh characters.

This was really fun!

Each of the characters made the rounds of the whole dining roomand eventually they all came by our table to meet the kids and sign autographs.

While we were waiting for Tigger to come around, they had a parade for all the kids to march around behind the characters.

Ethan was so excited to see Tigger!

After breadfast we were headed to ride more rides. But Carrie heard the music starting for Mickey's show again and off she went - she liked it so much she wanted to see the same show again!

(Can you tell how not crowded it was?!)
She loved all the singing and dancing!

Ethan just climbed around on the bench we were sitting on and got in her way!

After the show, we repeated the rides they wanted to do again. We did It's a Small World, Dumbo, Winnie the Pooh, and Peter Pan.

Here's Bob and Ethan on It's a Small World again.

Then they rode the Golden Carousel

Then we found Ariel signing autographs

The stroller was worth every penny!

Waiting to ride Winnie the Pooh again

Posing with really cool mouse-shaped bushes!

Carrie by a rose garden (she noticed that they matched her pink jacket and wanted me to take her picture!)

Waiting for the bus to take us back to our room and a NAP! We were so tired!!!

Poor Ethan was exhausted!

...but still happy!

After we all had a nice long nap, we went to Hollywood Studios to see Playhouse Disney Live on Stage!

When we came around to the theater for the show, we saw Handy Manny signing autographs.

That was one of Ethan's favorite things. He loves Handy Manny and all his tools!

We took a picture with Rocket while waiting to get into the theater

Mimi let both kids pick out one thing they wanted to get from the gift shop and they picked out Mickey and Minnie dolls.

Waiting for the bus back to the Magic Kingdom, mouth full of a mickey mouse pretzel!

We got there in plenty of time for the SpectroMagic parade.

Half a million lights on all the people and the floats. It was amazing!

Then we bundled up and waited for the lighting of the castle and the fireworks.

It was COLD after dark!

But it was worth it!

Disney doesn't do anything half way!

If I used too many exclamation points in my descriptions above, you'll have to excuse me...

I guess Disney has that effect on me!!!

It really was a magical experience. We had such a great time and can't wait to go again!

Pumpkins

2008-10-30T14:11:00.002-05:00

We've been learning about pumpkins all month, so we brought home a couple to study! We're going to guess how many seeds are in them and then count the seeds - and of course salt and toast them! We're going to guess how big around them pumpkin is and cut a string for our guess and then see whose is the closest. We're going to see if our pumpkins float or sink in the bathtub. They're heavy so the kids think they will sink - wrong! And we're going to weigh a pumpkin before and after we scoop all the guts out. Then we're going to carve 'happy-lanterns' Carrie says that sounds nicer than scary jack-o-lanters! And we might even plant a few seeds and see what happens!
Did you know... A pumpkin is really a squash - Pumpkin flowers are edible - Pumpkins are 90 percent water.
Happy Pumpkin Carving!

Homeschooling & Reading!

2008-09-01T21:39:00.005-05:00

Yes, we decided to homeschool Carrie for Kindergarten this year. I'm convinced that this is the best decision for her right now, and amazingly I'm actually kinda looking forward to it. She is thrilled!

And, while most of the credit for this new development goes to her fabulous preschool teachers, Carrie read her first few stories out of a beginning reader today. These were stories that she had never heard read to her before, so she is figuring out the words all on her own. Great job Carrie! I am SO proud of you!

All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go!

2008-09-01T21:03:00.003-05:00

Well, Carrie was so excited to start ballet last Saturday morning. But when we got there, we found out that the class doesn't start until next Saturday! She was SO dissapointed, but still smiled for a picture! I'm sure I'll take plenty more pics next Saturday when we actually make it into the building!

Ethan "WUVS" Me!

2008-08-21T13:29:00.004-05:00

I just love hearing new words in his sweet little voice. He gets such a serious face when he's really trying to say something. He's such a sweet boy - some of the time!

Carrie's First Day of Kindergarten

2008-08-18T11:47:00.005-05:00

Last Beach Trip Before School Starts!

2008-08-18T10:22:00.016-05:00

Skating Party - Carrie's 5th!

2008-07-30T10:14:00.014-05:00

We had a great time celebrating Carrie's 5th birthday! We decided to throw a party for both Carrie and Ethan at the local skating center. It is always hard to do a party for Ethan since his birthday is in December. And it is hard for him to watch Carrie get presents in the summer and at Christmas, when he gets all of his in December. So, we celebrated her 5th and his 2 1/2 together and it was great!

Ethan Painting

2008-06-11T20:05:00.006-05:00

Ethan wanted to paint tonight. It took me about 10 minutes of him saying "ah pent" over and over for me to figure out that he was saying, "I paint" (and by that time, he must have been thinking to himself, "what does it sound like I'm saying woman? I'm telling you I want to paint a picture!") Poor kid is so misunderstood! He had a fun time and is so cute when he's concentrating! And here's the masterpiece!

Swimming at the Big Pool

2008-06-11T16:49:00.005-05:00

The kids have been loving the pool for the past two weeks. I think this is something like the 4th or 5th time we've been so far this summer. As you can see, we're not making a lot of progress with getting Carrie to go under, but they are really enjoying being in the water. We didn't get a clip of Ethan going under, but he doesn't seem to mind it when he does. A few nights ago he was jumping in to Bob, going all the way under, coming up sputtering cause he won't keep his mouth closed (he's so happy, he won't quit smiling long enough to keep his lips together!) and then swimming right back to the side to climb out and do it all again...and again...and again...
Such fun!

Carries Pre-K Graduation Day

2008-06-05T16:43:00.020-05:00

Carrie graduated from Pre K this morning. It was so much fun to see how excited and proud they all were for us parents to see them in action at their school. We have been so blessed with the quality of education at WCC and even more blessed by how much the staff and teachers truly love the students. It has been a wonderful year for Carrie!

This is Mrs. Debbie, the director of WCC, and Mrs. Simmons, Carrie's teacher, gave her her diploma.

In this video, you can hear several songs that Carrie's class sang during the graduation service. She keeps a pretty serious expression when she's performing, until she sees her Dad!

Thank you Mrs. Simmons and Mrs. Debbie for a fabulous year! We'll miss you terribly!

Titus 2:11-14

2008-05-29T21:21:00.008-05:00

This one took some time, but she's got it! Carrie is graduating from Pre-K next week. I don't know how I'm going to keep her from being bored to death all summer. She is getting so much more independent these days, and mom is wishing she would just stop growing for a little while!

Don't want to leave Ethan out, so I'll share that he is fascinated with the bugs that jump around in the backyard! He's a boy - just waiting for the day he brings me a frog in his pocket! He needs to stop growing for a while too!

(That's Clara, our neighbor behind us. Ethan thinks she's the coolest because she can catch the bugs!)

Loving Siblings

2008-04-25T11:40:00.006-05:00

I have official evidence of Carrie and Ethan actually getting along! I caught them playing TOGETHER in the fort. They were quietly reading books and snacking on pretend picnic food.

Yes, they are even seen sitting so close that they are actually touching on the couch without a fight breaking out. So nice for a mom to see!

New Words

2008-04-21T16:43:00.003-05:00

Well, some of you know that Ethan is not a very verbal child. But he is slowly adding some new words to the vocabulary, so we wanted to record his sweet little voice to remember this phase.

Happy Birthday Mimi!

2008-04-21T16:32:00.002-05:00

Spring Break Week

2008-04-05T22:15:00.009-05:00

Bob took a vacation day and we headed to the beach Tuesday morning to build a sandcastle. We didn't even wear swim suits - the water was still freezing! (obviously those insane people in the water are from somewhere really cold!) It was pretty breezy (not neccessarily the best scenario with a two-year-old playing in sand) but it was a beautiful day. We are so blessed to be close enough to a gorgeous beach to go play for a little while and make it home for naptime!
(you can click on the individual pictures to make them larger.)
Building our sand city.
Carrie was very good at finding the wet sand to make the towers and walls.

Ethan loved the feel of the soft sand between his toes...and on his legs...and arms...and in his pockets...and in his ears...

Absolutely no luck getting them both to look directly at the camera at the same time!

I don't think they let the water get them any higher than their ankles if they could help it - it was cold!!!

Our one-man-demolition crew made sure there was no evidence of our visit whatsoever by the time we left the scene! If we build it, he'll knock it down!

Philippians 4:4-8

2008-02-13T15:11:00.005-06:00

Here's Carrie's newest verse. It is unbelievable to me how easily she memorizes things. Obviously she needed a nap today since she can't seem to get two words out without yawning. We've let her have rest time instead of nap time on days that she doesn't want to go to sleep. She can look at books or play with her stuffed animals quietly on her bed. Many times she still falls asleep anyway, but we don't have all the complaining that she doesn't want to take a nap! We both win!

Carrie & Ethan's Orbit Commercial

2008-02-02T18:47:00.000-06:00

This is our family's attempt at a commercial spoofing Orbit Gum for the commercial contest we're having during our Super Bowl Party this weekend. And no, Ethan's not eating finger paint, it's just pudding!

1 John 4:7-12

2008-01-16T12:20:00.000-06:00

Ethan has some new words!

2007-12-26T10:43:00.001-06:00

We've added bubbles, Mama, and let's go to the slowly growing vocabulary!

Merry Christmas Morning

2007-12-25T13:50:00.000-06:00

We miss you Mimi and Gran and Granddad! Hope you had a happy Christmas morning!
We had to wake Carrie, our early riser, so we could go open presents!

When Carrie saw Santa earlier last week, I heard her tell him that she wanted a Barbie for Christmas. She doesn't have any Barbies yet, but has played with them at her cousins' house. So I was thrilled, because some friends of ours had given us some toys that their kids had outgrown and among them was a whole box of Barbies with lots of extra clothes! (Thank you April Brice! You made Santa look good this year!)

Carrie's Preschool Christmas Party

2007-12-20T11:02:00.000-06:00

Today was Carrie's Christmas Party at school. They got to wear their pajamas and see Santa. He gave them all coloring books and candy canes. It was all very exciting!

Ethan got to see Santa too - from a safe distance firmly seated on Daddy's knee!

Carrie is still the tallest one in her class!

Christmas Photo Shoot

2007-12-08T19:05:00.000-06:00

We took some pictures for our Christmas cards this week. Personally, I think I deserve a medal for getting even one good picture of the two-year-old. Don't be fooled by the cuteness in the pictures - it was NOT easy! Here's a sneak peek!

Ethan's 2nd Birthday

2007-12-08T18:01:00.000-06:00

Ethan's friends from church, Abigail and Nate, and our neighbor Jenny came to help us celebrate the big 2! We had a great time and then everyone went home to take a nap. Who would imagine an outdoor party that warm in December - that's Florida!

Early Christmas Present from Mimi!

2007-12-08T16:51:00.000-06:00

Bob's mom got the kids a small trampoline for Christmas and we got permission to give it to them early so they could use it for Ethan's birthday party today. It was a beauitiful day - 80 degrees and partly cloudy! They absolutely love jumping on the trampoline! This video is of the big surprise when we showed it to them this morning. I was expecting jumping up and down excitement when they saw it for the first time, but I think they were so surprised, they were stunned!

You probably noticed that the trampoline is smaller and shorter than the standard ones. It is awesome. It doesn't have springs and its only 2 feet off the ground. We love it! If you are curious, you can see it at walmart's website. Here's a link: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=1193645

Luke 2:8-11

2007-11-30T13:33:00.000-06:00

Take 1 - Oops, mom had the camera turned sideways...(So that only works for picture-taking and not so well for video!)

Take 2 - Carrie had a little trouble concentrating and sitting still in this one!

Take 3 - I think this is as good as it's going to get today! Enjoy!

The McNeil Family Elves Holiday Dance

2007-11-22T23:34:00.000-06:00

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9579448706

Happy Birthday Granddad!

2007-10-15T09:18:00.000-05:00

Have a great day Granddad!

We love you, Carrie, Ethan, Amy and Bob

New Verbage

2007-10-07T20:25:00.000-05:00

Again, we have no idea what any of this means, but it's just so cute! He keeps trying to grab the camera so he can see himself on the viewfinder. The sort of thing a monkey would do...and the sounds are similar too!

Songs, Laughs, and Kisses

2007-10-05T10:47:00.000-05:00

Carrie wanted to share a new song that she learned while we were traveling last week. "Have patience, have patience, don't be in such a hurry. When you get impatient, you only start to worry. Remember, remember that God is patient too. Just think of all the times that others have to wait on you!"

This is a great tickling by Dad. We love that belly laugh!

We had an interesting conversation with Ethan while playing with playdough yesterday. No, I have no idea what he's talking about. He has learned how to make a kissing sound now, but sure doesn't give them away very freely! Then Carrie does another song!

Sometimes It's the Little Things

2007-10-02T09:19:00.000-05:00

This weekend we took an unexpected trip to eastern Kentucky for Bob's Grandmother's funeral. The pastor there said he had never seen that many family members at a funeral in that little mosoleum. She had 18 grandchildren and 30 great-grands. We will miss Granny very much, but are thankful to know that she had trusted Christ as her Savior and is with him now and has all her memories back again!

This 'quick' trip took us 72 LONG hours through 5 states! We got to see some fall leaves beginning to change colors in the mountains - so beautiful! We knew it would be hard on the kids, but were amazed at how well they actually did with all the riding, different hotels, different people and all the time at the funeral home. It wasn't easy, but they are so adaptable. They didn't know where we were going, didn't understand why we were in the van for such a LONG time, didn't know how long we'd be gone, or who all the people were that we saw while we were there. You could see the uncertainty on their faces at times. The expressions asked, "where are we and who are all these people?"

So, we tried to make a point each day to do some small thing for them to make it all more fun. We found the game room at the hotel where we stayed in KY for a little while before bedtime. On the way home, we drove out of the way to find an outdoor park for the kids to play for 30 minutes after dinner before we got back in the van AGAIN!

They had a blast climbing on all the rocks in a big field near the playground. Then on Sunday we stayed at the hotel for an extra hour or two to let them swim in the pool before we got in the van AGAIN!

Those little breaks from the monotonous agenda of the trip made the whole experience seem like an adventure for them instead of a nightmare for all of us. Carrie told me one day that she 'just loves to stay at hotels'. I asked why and she said it was because she gets to snuggle me all night long! We sleep girls in one bed, boys in the other! It was a reminder that they feel safe and happy just to be wherever Mom and Dad are. We love our kiddos! (And they have the best Dad in the world! Thanks for taking the time to make the journey more fun for all of us. You're the BEST!)

So the weekend's lesson for me was this...

God provides little blessing for us all through our jouney as well. Things we don't need, didn't ask for and probably usually don't even notice - much less appreciate. He loves us better than the best earthly father ever could. He knows us better than we know our own kids. He has a plan and a purpose for our lives, even if we don't always understand it as we go through our journey.

But do we trust Him with childlike faith that He is in charge of the details, the timing, the directions, the WHOLE plan? How often do we enjoy the journey? Are we thankful for the little things? I hope I am on some days - I know I don't trust enough, follow enough, love Him enough, thank Him enough, but I want to.

1 John 4:7-9 and Ethan's New Syllable Combination

2007-09-20T21:44:00.000-05:00

We had a beautiful, breezy afternoon and played outside without breaking a sweat! Carrie realized that she could recite her newest verses all by herself! (Sorry for the noise from the wind!)

And not to be outdone, Ethan is trying out a new syllable combo. Now he can combine 'bah' and 'dow'! OK, so it means nothing, but it sure is cute and ya gotta start somewhere! We're confident he'll be preaching inspirational and eloquent sermons by next summer...well, we'll see!

Family Project

2007-09-20T15:50:00.000-05:00

Carrie had to fix a family photo album to take to school this month for the unit on families. Praise the Lord it's a Christian Preschool and we don't have to discuss any unusual "family" arrangments with too many mommies or daddies!
These are the pictures she picked of her mom, dad, and brother.

First Day of Pre-Kindergarten

2007-08-26T22:05:00.000-05:00

Carrie has happily completed her first week of Pre-K, and she loves it! She goes Mon-Fri from 8:30-11:30. I think she was dissappointed that she couldn't go on Saturday, but Mom was missing her terribly by then! Doesn't she look grown up?

Miscellaneous Summer Pictures

2007-08-26T21:43:00.000-05:00

Its just too hot to play outside during the day in Florida. So here they are after begging to go outside for a few minutes before bedtime!

Mimi came to visit this summer!

Gran took us to the Sesame Street Exhibit at the Atlanta Children's Museum and we had a blast!

Don't ask me why Carrie is wearing flannel pajamas in Florida in August! I don't begin to try to fathom the reasoning of a four-year-old!

Ethan smeared Vasoline all over his entire head. Not just a little bit either, about 1/4 of the whole container. It took washing it with Dawn dishwashing soap 8 times to cut the grease! And no, he didn't lie there peacefully in patiently wait while I shampooed and shampooed and shampooed and shampooed ...

I'm nominating this one for the 'Cutest Curl Award'!

Dress-Up Diva & Chocolate Disaster

2007-08-18T00:06:00.000-05:00

For those of you who used to play dress-up once upon a time... do you remember feeling this incredibly beautiful?!

And for those of you who love chocolate...have you EVER loved it quite this much?!

Cute Ethan Stuff

2007-08-04T17:33:00.000-05:00

I know I've been posting more Carrie stuff lately, and I don't mean to neglect the boy, but honestly, he's a LOT harder to catch! So here are a few cute Ethan videos. (And you'll notice that one of them is taken while he's strapped into a swing!) Enjoy!

Psalm 139:1-10

2007-08-04T17:30:00.000-05:00

Fancy Nancy

2007-08-01T14:00:00.000-05:00

Carrie got a really cute book for her birthday. She already has it mostly memorized so that she can read it to me. The story is about a little girl, Nancy, who loves to be fancy. She loves to dress up and make everything fancy. In this story, she tries to make her plain family fancy too. The video is 5 minutes long, but really cute to hear in her sweet little voice.
So please enjoy, "Fancy Nancy" by Jane O'Connor, presented by Miss Carrie Louise McNeil.

Party Pictures

2007-07-21T22:22:00.000-05:00

The butterfly birthday party was a huge success. No tantrums, no spills, no fire ants! The kids each got to pick a bug tatoo. Then they got to decorate a butterfly-shaped sugar cookie with colored icing, M&Ms, and sprinkles. They played outside and pinata was really fun (I highly recommend the pull-string type - no baseball bats required!) And the cake turned out cuter than I expected.

I asked her afterwards if she liked her party and she said, "Mom, I loved it!!!" So I asked her what her favorite part was and she said, "The cake and the pinata, and playing, and decorating the butterflies!" I think she had a great time!

4 Years of Carrie

2007-07-17T20:01:00.000-05:00

Well, I took some time this afternoon and took a little walk down memory lane. It really is amazing to see the change as she has grown in size and maturity through the last 4 years. So many little memories. I'm so thankful for photos that keep those memories from just slipping away forever past my sleep deprived, fuzzy brain.

Happy Birthday Lady Bug! I love you!

Doctor's Office Discipline

2007-07-16T14:56:00.000-05:00

So, have you ever noticed the interesting discipline that goes on in Doctor's office wating rooms. This morning, we waited an hour for the doctor to rule out an ear infection (no infection...and no expanation as to why my child has been waking up once or twice the last several nights!) But the longer we waited, the more amused I was by the parents. There were all boys in the waiting room. And there were 2 more boys than there were little toy cars. So every parent kept insisting that their child share, while not very much actual sharing was happening at all. It was ridiculously easy to tell which mother had a clue about discipline. The tone of her voice said that she expected to be obeyed and her children actually did what they were asked to do right away, without argument. The other parents, asked and reminded, and warned, and pleaded, and reasoned, and argued, and practically begged their children to do what they asked, and the kids had absolutely no intention of doing it at all. The really funny part was watching how that behavior seemed to effect the parent knowing that they had an audience. They got embarassed, and then they got more manipulative with their kids to try to prove to the other parents that they really did know how to control their own children. Too late! If you don't require that your kids obey you at home, it is really funny to watch you try to convince them to obey you in public. Those poor parents would have looked less foolish if they had completely ignored their kid and pretended they were someone else's!

Daddy's Boy

2007-07-11T22:44:00.000-05:00

Ethan is smack in the middle of a major Daddy's Boy phase. I'm working hard on not getting my feelings hurt lately! He wants to be with his Dad, doing whatever he's doing, preferably being held.

What is it they say about the best toys being cardboard boxes? What is it about sitting in a box that makes playing with the same old toys so much more exciting?

(that is Carrie's fake smile...I can tell because her eyes aren't crinkled up at the corners!)

Almost 4

2007-07-11T14:40:00.000-05:00

I think someone swiped my clock sometime in March and set it on fast forward! Could time seem to go any faster? My baby girl will be 4 years old in a few more days, and every time I try to forget, she is reminding me of one more way that she has gotten 'so big'! And the thoughts in my head say, 'see, she hardly needs me at all anymore.' What's a broken-hearted mom to do, but smile convincingly, clap enthusiastically, tell her that, "yes, you are getting so big, and I'm so proud of you", and then choke back the enormous lump in the throat.

We're planning a butterfly party for next Saturday (the day before her birthday) and she can't wait! We'll have butterfly tatoos for the girls, bug tatoos for the boys. A purple pinata (she specifically asked for 'one of those colorful things that you hang up and whack it until all the candy falls down' - how could I refuse!) We'll have a cake with butterflys, and ice cream, and balloons.

And then I'll have a 4 year old who will be in pre-K this fall and is already 43 and a half inches tall! When did that happen? She can be infuriating at times when she won't stop whining or arguing. And sometimes she drives me crazy with the endless questions. But she is also one of the very best things that have ever happened to me. And she will always be my baby girl.