Merry Christmas from Our House to Yours!

We hope you had a merry and bright Christmas!

Love, Kyle, Amyanne, Kylene, Spencer and Skyler

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Earlier today I asked Spencer how it got so cute? His answer? "Heavenly Father! Heavenly Father created me!"

Later, I told him how much I loved him and asked him, "What I would do without you?"

"Cry."

Indeed, I would.

O Christmas Tree

We went and got our tree last weekend. We were watching one of Spencer's friends (also named Spencer) for the day, so he got to join in the festivities.

My man, doing the manly work of chopping down the tree!

To me, Skyler looks so grown up in this picture. What is happening?!

Stake Nativity

The Salem Stake Nativity Festival was last weekend and was a huge success. Kyle served on the security/set-up committee and spent every night last week at the Stake Center. But they had over 5,000 people attend, with many from the community, and tons of local musical groups perform. The live nativity was new this year and was a huge hit, too. (The camel was probably the favorite!)

It was cold outside!

We went again with the Richard's and Godfrey's, then went out to ice cream afterward. It was a lot of fun. It's hard to believe our kids have been playing together for over five years now. Kylene, Zach and Kimball have known one another since Kylene was nine months old. Here are five of the nine of our crew at the Nativity. They are growing up!

Thanksgiving

We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving this year with Kyle's Ohana. We celebrated with Mom and Dad, Maile and Parvin and family, Logan and Shayla, and Grandpa Allen and his wife, Sally, at mom and dad's home in Gresham. We had yummy food and great company and all I had to make was the rolls and a veggie tray! Many hands make light work, indeed! We had fun talking, hearing some stories from Grandpa, and playing lots of Opeshaa (sp??)---a McCune family favorite.

The day before Thanksgiving the Costco near Alva & Wendy's house in Camas had its grand opening, so we decided to go up and spend the night at their house. It's crazy how excited people get over a grand opening (we had a new McDonald's built near us recently and man, you'd think it was Disneyland or something!). Anyway, I digress; and I have to admit, it was fun! I've never seen so many taste testings! We practically had lunch there:). It is across the main road from their house, so we decided to save ourselves waiting in the traffic (huge line up just to get into the parking lot!), and we walked. Wendy and I went with some of her friends around noon, then later that evening we took the dads and kids. Tee hee! And we had a blast hanging out with the Barneys and spending the night. Kyle played in the Turkey Bowl with Alva's ward before we headed over to his parent's for Thanksgiving.

Following the turkey dinner, Maile and Parvin were gracious enough to let us crash that night at their house so we didn't have to drive all the way home. We had fun talking and laughing until we headed home the next afternoon. That was Kyle's birthday but we had a low-key day, watching football, eating leftovers and playing with the kids. He said that was all he wanted to do but I hope he wasn't too disappointed I didn't have a lavish party planned for him. Sorry, babe! I love you!

Kylene is Six

Kylene woke up to find her new princess pop-up tent in the living room. She decided rather than breakfast in bed, she would have breakfast in her tent. Her choice of breakfast? Sausage and cold cereal; yum! (Actually, she ended up throwing all her sausage away, but it was still fun.)

In the afternoon, Kylene had a "doggie party." The highlights are pictured above; she chose to play "dog, dog bone" (rather than duck, duck, goose), Hide-and-go-seek, and "Pin the bone on the doggy's mouth." She also really wanted face painting so we threw that in there. She had a great time, loved the presents, and all the time with her friends. She even invited one of our babysitters, Margaret, who came and helped:). I think she had a fun birthday.

Fun with Tutu & Grandpa

Kyle's parents came to visit the week before Kylene's birthday. The kids always have a ball when they come. Kylene was especially thrilled to open her new princess snugglie from them for her birthday. Thanks, Tutu and Grandpa!

November Randomness

Dress-up is always a welcome diversion.

Kyle loves, loves, loves it when Spencer dresses up in...dresses! tee hee. Actually, not really! I'm sad to admit I have very few boy dress-up clothes in comparison to girl dress-up items. I need to rectify that, don't I?

The dresses Kylene and I are wearing I bought in Bethlehem when I was there as part of BYU's Study Abroad Program. The matching hat I found in a souq in Egypt near King Tut's tomb. I got out my Jerusalem box for something else and Kylene was excited to see them and try them on. I love that I have a little girl who can wear the outfit: that's exactly what I bought it for over 10 years ago.

Flowers Kyle brought home for me when I was having a horrible day. They lasted over three weeks...amazing!

We love boxes...

And falling out of them!

I love no-bake cookies and now, so do my kids! One day I even let them try making some themselves. I definitely wasn't thinking about the mess when I agreed.

Reading

Kyle & I were working in the office on something and we came out to find this on the stairs...

(I tried to crop out the mess at the bottom of the stairs, but alas. Hey, at least it's clean laundry!)

Can I tell you home much I love, love, love that Kylene is a reader?!

The last few weeks she has taken to reading to Spencer nightly after we tuck them into bed. Kyle usually reads a chapter to them together, then Kylene crawls into Spencer's bed (or vice versa) and reads him several books before they read their own books in their own beds. I love that Spencer is being read aloud to, Kylene is getting reading practice, and I get to do something on my own in another room! A triple play; definitely a winning combination!! (Now I just need to spend more time sitting down with books with Skyler.)

A Long Time Ago...

And you thought you were behind on your blogging! I'd spare you the "month ago" details, but if it's going to be in the blog book, it's got to go on the blog! So, here's the finish to our Halloween festivities:).

We had our friend's, The Browns, over for pumpkin carving fun! We made homemade pizzas then moved to the garage for the dirty work. We hope it becomes a tradition!

(Note: we have two good friends named the Browns. Lucky us! These are Wayne & Shauna, and family, who in our ward.)

Here's the finished products, in the light and the dark. Joy!

Our ward held a Halloween carnival/Chili cook-off on Saturday evening. (It seems like every ward did this year!) Here we are before the fun began. I can't decide whether my favorite is the cute giraffe or the pouting bunny! Tee hee.