Giggles McGee, back at it again

Leprechauns have been on the brain for weeks around here, whether us parents liked it or not! I would blame it on their friends, but Everett had to build a leprechaun trap as a homework assignment so, yeah, there was no way we weren't going to be visited by a naughty little leprechaun! Luckily it was our friend Giggles McGee again, who gets into a little bit of trouble around here (like dying the milk green) and brings a little treat for the kids, but doesn't do anything all that wild, thank goodness. Overall it was a good St. Patty's Day. The kids get a kick out of all the green, and I love my yearly dinner of corned beef so that's that. Hooray for being Irish! 

Sugar cereal and candy for breakfast. We eat healthy 80 percent of the time, but boy do we enjoy that 20 percent as well!

They were SOOOO excited!!!

All three kids ate this green lunch, but here's a pic of Ever Knights. 

All dressed up with no where to go--still sick(ish) so I didn't take them to the toddler party, just in case. I can't even stand thinking about missing it. I hate missing a holiday party!

Until next year corned beef, yummy!

Dr. Martland

The degree is great and everything, but I still believe the very best thing we got out of our year at Cambridge was a handful of forever friends. Dr. Martland is one who tops the list! He was so good to us when we were living in England with little T--giving us his pears to make baby food, feeding us a huge Thanksgiving feast, offering his living room for T's first crawls and first steps, and especially mentoring James as he navigated his professional and educational career. He visited us in New York when we had two kids and I was pregnant with Quinny, and since then we doubled the lot and he had two new little friends to meet. He was such a good sport about sleeping on our pull-out couch with four little chickens running around screaming (why do my kids like to scream so much?!) and we're so glad he decided to come visit.

My favorite parts of this trip were hearing him tell Everett "Come here Sunshine" when he felt left out of conversations Talmage dominated (Dr. Martland also has an older brother, so they can relate to each other in that way); when he recounted with detail images from Talmage's first birthday that he attended at our little flat at 5 Cheddars Lane; encouraging a grumpy Quinny to come sit by him on the couch and "watch the world go by" out of our front window; seeing his excitement about the studio tour James got him tickets to, especially seeing where Moses parted the Read Sea; and seeing him suffer through Moana for the sake of the children even though it was torture for him! 

James' work schedule was crazy and he had to pull some nearly all-nighters, but it definitely could have been worse and we all felt grateful that they were able to have a nice conversation in the garden on Saturday morning and then lunch with a mutual friend. We love that Dr. Martland and can't wait to see him again (we'll take what we can get, but we wouldn't mind making our way back to the UK!) 

Dr. Martland has written countless papers on Alexander Graham Bell, but that didn't stop Talmage from quizzing him about obscure facts he's learned about the inventor for his 2nd grade biography project. Oh bother! And look at Evie's face--I told you he gets upset about T's talking! 

Ever loves the attention and thank goodness Dr. Martland is willing to give it to him. This is when they're about to watch Moana--hahaha!

To church for us and to the train station for him. Hope you have a great remainder of your trip!

This Is Us (With the Stars from This Is Us!!!!!)

I don't know that I've ever liked a show in quite the same way I like This Is Us. It may have even surpassed the mere "like" category and pushed it's way into love/obsession/freakfan status. That's why when James told me that Mandy Moore and Chrissy Metz would be at the event he was attending for his pro-bono adoption work I started yelling, "What? What? WHAT? I have to go! You HAVE to get me a ticket! I have to be there!" I'm not dramatic at all, case in point! He pulled some strings (and a few attorney's in his office had to bail because they were underwater with work) and wallah, there I was eating an over-priced but quite delicious salad a few tables over from the stars of my favorite TV show. The moment was never right for a formal introduction, but Mandy and I made serious eye contact as she stood behind the podium cracking jokes with Chrissy, so I know were I to run into them again we could pick it up riiiiight where we left off. Although this time I'd try harder to wipe the star-struck smile from my face. 

I nearly never see him unless it's the smack-dab middle of the night and he's kissing me on the head after sneaking into our room. So yeah, this was a nice little mid-week adventure!

Maybe neither of their most flattering expressions, but I was feeling a litttttle stalkerish with my camera out at this fancy dinner so this is as good as it got. What a fun night!

An 8-Year-Old Interview

Another year, another interview. This is my absolute FAVORITE tradition we have. Happy birthday and happy interview to our newly minted 8-year-old Talmage. 

What is your favorite...

Color: Still, it's yellow
Food: You mean like, food that's not dessert? Or food, and dessert? (Whatever you want) OK, then I'd say Neapolitan, you know, the ice cream.
Game: Probably Pokemon, a new favorite.
Book: Um, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Toy: Mm, Pokemon's are cards...umm...my favorite toy...maybe legos. 
Treat: Neapolitan ice cream
Song: Mmm, I don't know. I just like a lot of songs. (Do you have one in particular?) The song in the Harry Potter movie, you know...hums Harry Potter theme song.
Thing to learn about: Math
Animal: Peregrine Falcom
TV show: You mean like, movie that you can find on your computer or TV show that just comes up? (Whatever you want) OK, Star Wars.
Thing to wear: I think my baseball pants are really comfortable to run in and also that shirt you got me for school shopping, that orange one with the blue stripes.
Holiday: Um, my birthday or Christmas or Easter because we get to spend it in Utah.

What do you want to be when you grow up? I don't know, I'm still thinking about that. But one thing I might want to be is an inventor. 

If someone was being mean to your brother or sister, what would you do? I would tell them to go and do something else or play nicely with them and if they wouldn't listen I would tell them, "Come on, let's go play somewhere else." 

Who is your best friend? Lukie, Lucas!

What is something you want to learn to do this year? I want to learn how to do a cartwheel.

What is something that you are really good at? Biking and running and math.

If you had a million dollars, what would you buy? I would buy something that was like three times the size of the White House with a backyard so big that I could bike forever until I was huh-huh-huh (makes noises like panting)

If you were an animal, what would you be? Mm, I don't want to eat mice. Um...I would maybe be a stegosaurus. I don't want to be a peregrine falcon because then I'd have to eat mice. But stegosaurus' like to eat plants, and I really like to eat plants.

What do you want someone to invent? I want someone to invent a car that when you get inside it and you know when you go onto Google and you can just press a button and talk and then it pops up in your toolbar? Well, I want a car that you can just press a button and ask for things and bam! it gives you what you ask for. I'd ask for candy corn and out pops candy corn.

If you could have a magic power, what would it be? Creating anything in the world. I'd want every mega power in the whole entire world. 

How many kids do you want to have when you grow up and get married? Um, I just want one or two. Reason number one is it wouldn't cost us as much money. Reason number two, no one would be screaming and throwing stuff at each other. 

What kind of house would you like to live in: an igloo, a tree house, a castle, a cave, or our house? A BIG tree house. 

Who is the prettiest girl in the whole world? M.O.M. Ob-vi-ous-ly!

Where do you want to go on your mission? Not too far from here. I maybe want to go to Utah. Or maybe going to some place in Europe. Yep, Utah or Europe.

What's your favorite scripture story? I don't know but I really like in 3rd Nephi where all of the guys in the village and the king trick all of the Gadianton Robbers. That's definitely one of my favorite parts. 

Sicky and Naughty

We're just coming off of a solid few weeks of having sickness in our home. It started with Ever, who called me from the nurses office at school saying he had a fever and indeed, was home for nearly a week with pneumonia. It took me a few days to get him into the doctor because it seemed pretty manageable at home, but then the fever kept climbing and he kept getting worse so to the doctor we went. She prescribed Ever an antibiotic and within 12 hours of his first dose the fever was gone and he was feeling better. It was amazing! I am so grateful for modern medicine and also so grateful that this sicky face got better fast.

Cora also got hit with something--or maybe multiple somethings--as did Quinn. There were a few days that I literally couldn't put Coco down for a second without her screaming and crying. It was so sad to see her so helpless and sad, especially since by nature she's such a happy baby, so I just appeased her and got nothing else done. It won't be long before she's too big to curl up for a nap in my arms, so I just sat back and enjoyed.

This was HILARIOUS! Talmage and Everett were having a hard afternoon and fighting about everything so I made them stand in the corner to take some deep breaths before trying to work through their problems again. Quinn turned the corner from the kitchen, saw the boys in time out, and immediately went and stuck her nose in the corner with her brothers! Even the grumpy boys had to smile when they saw that cute princess in time-out with them.

And before long Coco was also trying to get in on the time-out action. Just you wait Coco, I hate to admit it but I'm sure you'll be in time out with those crazy siblings of yours soon enough!

A Mini Reunion in La La Land (& Harry Potter World)

We seem to be in the phase of life where extended family reunions almost always equate to some variation of the stomach flu--and this time was no different. Sure, it made for some cancelled plans and some crazy times, but I'd have to agree with my Dad who later said, "Sure, we were sick for a day, but it was worth it to be there for all the other amazing moments with my kids and grandkids." Isn't that right? And isn't he the cutest?  

So many people sacrificed so much to spend Talmage's birthday weekend and baptism with us and my heart swells thinking about my love for them and their love for us. Someday I'll have a big old house with rooms and beds to spare, but for now I'm just grateful that they'll squeeze into our little place and even a friend's pad so that they can spend some time with us. It was a great time and I can't wait to see all of them (YOU!) again.  

On your left you'll find a normal-sized two year old. On your right you'll find an Amazonian baby! #threeweeksapart #fourinchesapart

Avery is the greatest sister, cousin, niece, friend and little girl around. I love her so, so much.

Uncle Jordan set up scary bear on T's bed!

Alexander Graham Bell and two Harry Potters (one who was too scared so chose school over the theme park, the other who chose theme park over home but then was too scared to ride the rides!) 

 Forgive the millions of pictures with just us and our boy but it was THE most amazing thing to focus all of our attention on just one child. Talmage loved all the rides and all the experiences and was just so grateful and fun all day long. This was his big birthday present from us and I'd say it was a huge success! Thanks to my parents and Jord and Mad who watched all the other children so we could go play!

Poor baby rolled down the sand towards the water!

Seven of the eight McKee grandkids. I can't wait to see baby Hunter in Utah in just a few weeks and get some updated pictures. 

These two have all sorts of crazy pet names for each other! James acts annoyed, but he eats up all of Ash's antics!

The ONLY picture we got of the whole group and it's not even at the baptism, but it's at the beach so #winning. To be fair, people had already started to go downhill by the end of the event and in hindsight, I'm just grateful there was no barf AT the baptism.

Quinny was getting the royal treatment from Papa and Gigi. How cute are they cuddling her in a towel and feeding her oranges. She eats up their attention even more fervently than she was eating up those treats!

Ashleigh took care of all the stressful parts of the baptism so that I could enjoy the spiritual parts. I'm so grateful for her love and support and presence at all of my most important moments. Having your very best friend be your sister just seems too good to be true, but I'm sure glad it's my real life.  

It was great to have some extra time with the McKee's, especially our little Lucy. By the end these two were having full out screaming wars, but for the first six days of the trip they were little BFF's!

Hooray for family! Love you all--see you again real soon!