The Only Picture from Christmas Day

Am I a bad mother? It just makes things frustrating to stop everyone every couple minutes and take a picture... so I just didn't do it. Oh well. Here's the one that Kaylon took on his cell.

Merry Christmas!

Greetings this Christmas morning from the McInelly family! Our Christmas season has been wonderful to say the least. I feel so blessed with the knowledge that our Savior was born 2000 years ago and that we can celebrate his birth with a holiday that brings families and communities closer together.

The girls woke up this morning at a quarter till 5 to find that Santa had left their stockings in their room. They opened everything and played for two hours- well the older two did. I brought Moira into our room and she fell back asleep before I did (smartest thing mommy did today!). The girls knew that 7am was the magic hour and came in to wake us up on the dot. They helped us open our stockings (I got my 1st MP3 player!), and we headed downstairs.

Highlights of gifts:

Grace: jewelry making kit, Fashion Barbie, Jasmine doll, robe, Zoobles playset, robot building set, baby doll, clothes, and jewelry.

Liliana: from Toy Story: Rex and Jessie, remote control car, FurReal puppy, ColorWonder Paints, clothes, jewelry, Zoobles playset, and Toy Story 3.

Moira: pig pillow pet, FurReal kitty, drum, spiderman punching bag, books, a zooble, baby doll, and a rocking keyboard.

Moira had to be the cutest this morning- this is only her 2nd Christmas, but she's almost two, so she "got" it. She tore bows off (even if it wasn't her present), ripped off paper, and jumped for joy (literally) for each gift. She was so happy! She played with each toy as she waited for her next turn to open. She was so fun to watch!

Grace and Liliana were great too of course- they were gracious with their thank you's, and other than a few gripes from Liliana about jewelry, were happy with their gifts.

And one of the best moments was after we were done and Grandma looked out the window to see snow falling- big fluffy flakes that stuck to the ground and bushes. It made the morning so pretty- even if it didn't amount to much in the end. They are calling for a measurable amount tomorrow, which will be nice.

We hope that you all were able to feel the Spirit of the season today. Merry Christmas to all!

Book Reading with Grandma Elyse

The girls got a great gift today from Grandma Elyse- the new Hallmark books that have the recorded voice of a loved one on them. The girls haven't put it down in the last half hour! What a great way to hear Grandma's voice whenever they want to even when she's in Arizona!

Christmas Dresses

First Snow!

We got our first 1-2 inches of snow last Thursday. It was just enough to play in. Moira got her first (real) experience with the white stuff, and you can tell from her face what she thought of it. They played outside long enough for me to do the shoveling.

We're excited because the 5-day forecast is calling for snow on Christmas Eve! Even just another dusting would be lovely!

Potty Training Continues...

Actually, she won't use this potty unless someone else is on the big one- I guess she thinks she's too big for that now! She continues to tell us she needs to go potty- and holds it until we get there. The only time I ask her if she needs to go is right before she goes to sleep, and only because I know that if I don't ask, she'll be knocking on the door in a few minutes, naked, asking to go. She's not potty trained- she's still in diapers- but if it gets me out of changing a poopy diaper, I'll take it.

Bah Humbug!

If you are an old grumpy man who doesn't like kids, let me give you some advice- don't sit in the booth next to two kids when you have your choice of booths. And if you're an old grumpy man who likes making toddlers cry, I hope you enjoy your hereafter in hades!

And on a side note, sometimes I wish I were braver so that I could have told this man off, but I console myself with the thought that he could have been on the edge and gone postal on us had we confronted him- because seriously- who makes a 1-year old cry and doesn't apologize for it?

Happy News!!!

We are excited to share our exciting news with our friends and family: McInelly baby number 4 should arrive sometime in the beginning of June! (due date of June 9th) I am finally starting to feel better, happily a few weeks before I felt better with any of the other ones. And my belly has started to pop out- I guess with #4 there's no holding it back!

The older sisters are all very anxious for the arrival that is still six whole months away... I was surprised especially by Liliana's reaction. She frequently talks to the baby (and the baby 'talks back'), and discusses all the things she and the baby will do when it comes. Grace insists that it will be another girl, but we're trying to prepare her for the possibility of blue in our house (not that we care either way, but it's good to be prepared). Moira kisses my belly sometimes, usually after seeing her sisters do it (it's still sweet).

We plan on not finding out the sex again, although I say that with the knowledge that it being my fourth baby I can read ultrasounds pretty well, and if I see some parts, I'll know what they are. Now that the name fight is over (Eve is Moira's middle name and so no longer an issue) I'm not as adamant as Kaylon. But if that's how he wants it, I can support him. :)

Anyways, we're are so excited to welcome another child into our home! We are so blessed!

Self Potty Training

Moira, who will be two in January, is potty training herself. It started one morning when she came into the bathroom stark naked and I put her on the potty until I could get a diaper back on her. She peed, and I made a big deal about it (of course). Since then she LOVES going potty on the toilet. On Saturday she threw a fit every time we took her off (cuz we had things to do other than sit and watch her grin on the toilet, no matter how cute it is). I got out the little training potty, which allows her to go potty herself, which she does. She went upstairs tonight and went poop- without even telling me.

We're still working on things like wiping and getting clothes back on (she can take them off just fine). But she is seriously potty training herself. Such a crazy kid!

The Price to be Paid for McDonald's

Usually about once a day Liliana recounts to someone her accident "at Lexi's house that made her bleed all over." She describes going to the doctor, being scared, and going to McDonald's after. The other day she asked me if we could go to McDonald's for lunch. I told her no, that we were eating at home that day. She then asked,

"Then can I get an owie on my head so I can go to the doctor and then we could go to McDonald's?"

Hmmmmm, not the message I was hoping she'd get from my generosity...

Fall Update

Wow things have been busy lately!! Mom arrived in late October and we have been busy getting her settled, finding doctors, and organizing her room. The girls have loved having Grandma here- and Kaylon and I have appreciated not being outnumbered by children! We are all happy to have her here as part of our family. Plus we got the great news soon after she got here that her PETscan shows great improvement and that the hormone treatment is working! What a great and unexpected blessing after such a scary summer!

Grace got her 1st first grade report card and again she is doing an amazing job at school. She got all O's (outstanding) and G's (good). Her reading improves all the time and her teacher says she has high empathy for a 1st grader- she really tries to make sure that everyone feels included. She started getting homework in November and she doesn't much like it. We had our first meltdown last night. It was tons of fun. :P

Grace is such a good big sister- she knows just what to say to make her sisters laugh. She recently worked very hard every day to pay off her debt from when she won her baby doll in the family auction this summer. She helps me a lot at home- she's very willing to come when called! It's amazing to be able to count on one of your children.

Liliana is stitch and steri-strip free. Our trip to the plastic surgeon confirmed that there is nothing we can really do to get rid of the scar. He suggested putting sun block on every day and vitamin E at night. It needs to be protected from the sun until the color changes. When she's older she can decide if she wants a scar reducing surgery, but by then it will be an outpatient, localized procedure, vs the knock out, traumatic experience it would be now.

Liliana could be described as emotional. She can turn from happy to sad, and back to happy in the snap of your fingers. When she is happy, she is the happiest little girl around. She will laugh, and joke, and talk your ear off. But when she's upset, watch out! She will dissolve into a fit of tears, refuse to do anything, and ignore everyone. The great thing is that the second she feels that it's in her best interest to come back to the world, she does! There's no time of warming up, no worrying about what anyone will think, she is happy again!

And then there's Moira. Oh Moira. Moira is our physical humor child. She walks into walls- to get laughs. She'll fall into pillows. She'll run in circles. She's also a physically violent child. It shouldn't surprise me after the bruises I sustained during her pregnancy. If her sisters do something she doesn't like- she lets them know- whether by pulling their hair, pushing them, or hitting them. Her nails can be particularly painful. So she spends quite a bit of time in time out. She also growls at us when we tell her no. She still loves knock knock jokes. She LOVES books. She will sit in front of the book shelf and read books for quite a while. She loves kitties and puppies, and loves to pretend to be those animals. She is independent- trying to do things I don't think she's yet capable of, and surprising me when she is. And even with all the "self defense" she can be very sweet. Her snuggles are coveted in this house, especially when her 'blankie' is involved!

Lately Moira has been a nudist. She's quite good at taking her pants off. Her sisters typically help her with her shirt, or she'll intentionally get it wet so that an adult will take it off. After she is down to her diaper, she claims victory by running up to the adults and laughing triumphantly. Until a few days ago I thought we were safe since she couldn't seem to get her diaper off. Not so anymore. She has learned a few methods for getting that off which has led to a few accidents on the floor. I'm debating at least introducing the little potty for pre-bath tries to see if potty training is somewhere in the near future. It would be nice to not buy diapers!

So life is good. We face the daily grind with all its friction, but we try to find the good in it. We're excited to start the holiday season and enjoy all the joys it brings!

Happy Halloween!!!

Grace's Pumpkin

Liliana's Pumpkin

Grace getting the seeds out (just to clarify, she has a baby doll in her shirt)

Liliana and Moira refusing to touch the seeds (Moira is actually crossing her arms and saying "NO" in this pic)

Hannah Montana, Bat Girl, Queen Bee, and their friend Minnie Mouse

Stitches Are Out!

Liliana got her stitches out today! Sadly it was another traumatic ordeal. She refused to stay still and so we had to papoose her again. The scab had attached itself to the stitches and so it bled some as they removed them. She cried and yelled- told off the nurses a few times. (Seriously, you don't want to get this child mad at you!). They steri-stitched it to help it continue to heal. Moira wasn't quite sure what to do with it all. At first she was content sitting on the floor playing with my wallet, but she eventually got very concerned for her sister and started crying. It was sad, very very sad.

We ended up going to Chick Fil A for lunch (I didn't want McDonald's again). That made it better. Our next step is to see the plastic surgeon in November to see if they can help us with the scar. The nurses said she was healing fast, let's just hope she heals well, too.

Summer's Farm in Frederick, MD

Last October all our Saturdays to go to the pumpkin patch were rained out. This year we made sure that we went the first good day we got! So we were at Summer's Farm, in Frederick, MD this past weekend, which is the patch we've been going to since 2006. They've added some things, revamped some others, but we love the family atmosphere, the yummy fresh food, and picking our pumpkins right off the vine! Every year I picture the years past and I'm amazed by how much the girls have grown. I'll supplement some older pictures to give you the same comparison. :)

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Waiting for the pig races

Going down herself didn't work out so well...

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