ChuckE Cheeses

Since this is the last day that my little Kelsey will be 4 years old I finally broke down and went to ChuckE Cheeses (my kids have gone with indulgent Aunties but I've always gotten out of it - whew!)

It really wasn't as bad as I remember from when I was a kid - and my kids all had a blast!

They all got along great and had fun

I was feeling really indulgent and let Kelsey have an ice cream (too bad I realized I only had change for one - good thing it was big)

At Least It's Not a Rattler

The Pros and Cons of where we live is the wildlife - and the friendly neighbors that catch them and give them to my kids... (not sure which is which)
It's a good thing I'm not squeamish

Ah, a girl after my own heart.
I think the neighbor expected me to freak out - until I started telling Collin stories about my friend's snake that used to try to pull out my hairbands and lick my ear... I sure miss Bill.

My Cute Kids

Since I haven't posted for a while so I was looking at the drafts that I still hadn't posted yet and found these. It says I uploaded them on New Years Eve but I think I took them on Thanksgiving...
Oh well, they haven't changed all that much and they're too cute not to share.

Ahhh, the classic Stevenson Tree Shot - I remember you well

Baby Andrew Patrick Kinnon

I'm so glad I got to finally meet my newest little nephew.

He pretty much just slept while we were there - like a good little 4 day old baby should.
He was on Tuesday, 9lbs 3oz.
Someone was saying how big he is but since I'm used to carting around Jason I thought Andrew felt feather-light.

Collin is so excited to have another boy in the family! He loves babies and kept fighting me for the chance to hold him.

I call Kelsey, "Mamacita" since she's such a little mother!
I didn't let Jason around him too much yet. But J would just come up and point at him, "Baby!" and smile. J's just glad not to be the littlest one around anymore.

P.S. the photo editing is thanks to photoshop elements and TheCoffeeShopBlog.

Viewing Pleasures

Isn't it great that Collin and Kelsey make sure Jason is nice and comfy while watching TV...

Can you believe I'm finally posting again??? I am trying to catch up a bit too so scroll back and you may find pictures you've never seen before - you might even be in them, so it's worth a look. I'll try to forsake facebook (and Webkinz) more often and focus on the blog for a bit since this is easier to print out and use as a journal than fb is.

Enjoy

Blue and Gold Banquet

Here's Collin accepting more belt loops, pins, emergency preparedness pin... He now has so many beltloops they don't all fit on his belt. G'pa was so impressed he gave Collin $$. Collin was so excited, "Grandpa gave me $$ for 6 belt loops!" I had to tell him, "No, G'pa gave you money because you are doing such an awesome job in scouting..."

Big Boy

I don't normally take a lot of pictures for Chad's birthday but Jason looked so cute - he was so excited to sit at the table like a big kid (except he kept putting his feet up on the table)

BTW: Happy Birthday, Chad :)

What My Camera Does When I'm Not Looking

As you can imagine, I like to keep my camera handy - ever ready for the perfect shot. The downside of this is that the kids can get to it just as easily...

I was scrolling through my pictures (backwards as I usually do) and couldn't figure out what was red that I had on my camera (I had about 8 shots of red, some with shadows or highlights but all red)...

Then I finally scrolled to this shot and figured it out

Kelsey loves to score my camera (that's what we called it on my mission when someone took pictures of themselves if they found a camera lying around)

I have hundreds of these overexposed/blurry shots (or pictures of whatever she happens to be watching on the TV at the time)
Luckily, now that I have a digital camera it's not too bad - still not sure what to do with the 10 pictures I have of Elder Cole...

Collin took advantage of the camera in a whole new way today...
Not only did he come tell me that Kelsey had gotten into the cherries - he showed me the pictures he took of her doing it (Candace could learn a thing or two from him about busting)

The Race is On!

Pinewood Derby Season!
It was fun for Collin to race on the track that his Grandpa made 40 years ago (when Robert was a Cub Scout).

As you saw earlier, Collin worked really hard on his car. Dad helped with the flames (cut the tape for him) but it was all his design.

On your mark...

Get set...

GO!

Go...

Go!

Collin was really excited he got 3rd place on his first race...
They didn't really keep score - which made the whole thing go much faster - and they all got patches. The only kid that got a reward was the one whose car broke but just laughed it off.

Spring time in January

Since Spring is here in January we headed off to our favorite park on the Beach

J found a spot that blew his hair back picturesquely...

Collin loved taking Jason on the slide

Kelsey's is just so cute... do I really need a reason to take her picture?

Pinewood Derby Workshop

Again this year my dad volunteered his workshop for the pinewood derby enthusiasts (and those that had no idea what they were doing)

Collin, checking to see if he's sanded enough

Chad tried to keep a close eye on everyone and only stopped one or two dad's from almost losing a finger (or putting out an eye)

Collin always has fun with the other scouts

Dad shows off the car he made with Robert about 40 years ago (before I was born)

January Birthdays

Half of the Meyrings have their birthday in January so we just have one big dinner for everyone.J-man sporting some sweet shades!

The true gift of love

This picture just shows the craziness that are Meyring Family Gatherings!

See, I'm cute!

I was trying to show off Jason's 16 month vocabulary to my mom. He keeps using new words so I was trying to reenact when I pulled out the camera yesterday and he asked me, "See? See?"
This time he didn't say it so I tried to prompt him, showing him the picture I took of him and said, "See?"

He looked at the picture and said, "Cute!"
I swear this kid amazes me everyday.

Snow Days

Chad and Collin escaped today in search of the white stuff...

Collin needed his snow fix

What an Angel

They must have found a lot of snow - that thing is bigger than Collin

They had some fun adventures on the sledding hill
(no idea where the sled came from :)

So much fun!

Camp Fire

My kids favorite nighttime activity is having a campfire on our back patio. Chad is so good to do this - while I stay snug inside with Jason :)

Striker Update

Well Collin's first year of playing soccer ended up well...
They only lost one game and tied one game so they were destined for the playoffs. They replayed both of the teams that they didn't beat and emerged victorious!
Since they won they then had to go to the championships. Understand, during the season if it sprinkled the night before they would cancel all the games - this time with Thanksgiving next week and everything (the parents were done :) they simply moved the games to the older field and warned us they would play, rain or shine!

Needless to say, it was pouring down!
Well, Collin wanted to play in the rain! I stood under the canopy with Jason and we still got soaked! We won, which meant we had time to go wash all our clothes and come back in the afternoon to play another game. We were told that the winners of those games would get trophies and the losers wouldn't get anything... there was a lot of pressure on those kids.
We played so hard but the other team barely won in the end. Our kids were very emotional, some tears were shed (I was reminded of the World Cup). We cheered each other up and the kids were soon smiling again. It was hard then when the officials came out with the trophies and walked right past our team to take them to the middle of the field for the other team. They conferred with our refs then brought a box of trophies to our side. We tried to tell them that we didn't win, the other team did. Imagine our surprise when they pulled out second place trophies for all the boys!

...and such nice trophies too!

What a great year we had! I'm so glad Collin was on a good team. Not only did we get a trophy but the boys all played well together and the parents all got along. Collin has told me he wants to play again next year - hope it's as fun as this year.