McCune Family Gathering

Saturday afternoon all the McCune's descended upon Wilsonville! (Plus cousin Eric, who lives in Portland, and minus Christine, who lives in Utah.) It was so fun to all get together and went way too quickly. We went for a hike in the nature reserve near us, played at the school a little, talked and laughed, enjoyed a delicious dinner together, and the guys played frisbee out back. Grandpa also managed to get tackled by six of the grandkids who were here. It was a beautiful day, so we loved being able to get outside. Tutu and Grandpa brought gifts for Skyler and Spencer's birthday, so they enjoyed opening and playing with those.

We love our family!

 

Winter Wonderland? In March?

We enjoyed yet another winter wonderland last week...at the end of March, no less!  I was just so surprised we actually got enough to make a snowman.  They also created "Mount Hood" in the backyard.  Most of the snow was melted by the afternoon, except for Mount Hood which lasted a few days.  The poor daffodils didn't like it too well, but everyone else didn't seem to mind.  I am getting ready for spring and summer, now, though.

 

 

 

 

Yummy Food and Chubby Baby

Andon turned six months old this last week so he got to try out his first "real" food!  He was so excited, and wanted to eat the entire bowl!  Thus far he has had millet cereal, rice cereal, and avocado.  He has had some interesting faces, but seems to enjoy it overall:).  He definitely loves grabbing at and playing with the spoon, and that has kept him occupied for long periods.  I gave him a few bits of Cheerios for the first time yesterday and he wasn't too sure about the texture.  Slowly but surely:).  We sure do love our easy-going, chubby baby, though, and don't know what we'd do without him in our family.
 

Spencer is Five!

 

 

 

Spencer turned five last Friday, March 23rd.  We enjoyed a simple, family party.  He requested chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and chocolate chips: it was very rich, to say the least.  Luckily we had a gift for him from Grandma and Grandpa, because the gift I had ordered didn't arrive in time.   We are so thankful for our smart, little Spencer.  He has loved living at Grandma and Grandpa's house, and is enjoying sharing a room with Skyler and all the toys, and being able to go outside almost any time he wants.  He loves to dig in the dirt, help me weed, and ride his bike and scooter.  He also loves baby Andon: he always wants to talk to him, make him giggle, say "peek a boo", and hold him.  He also loves helping me cook and chop vegetables.  He loved the preschool he went to before we moved to Wilsonville, but has continued working with me doing some preschool pages and learning to read.  He can read just about any three or four letter, phonetically spelled word, and has started some easy reader books.  It's fun to see! 

We love our Spencer!

Ode to the Swagger Wagon

Okay, I admit it: I love, love my van!  Also known as a Swagger Wagon, I am so grateful to own a Toyota Sienna.  We bought it shortly before Skyler was born.  Kyle got teased at work about buying a "mommy missile", but I had no interest in a (potentially cooler) SUV.  I was actually excited to get a mini-van.  (I know, I know.)  We debated between the Odyssey or Sienna (yes, I am a Honda/Toyota snob), but went with the Sienna.  And I have loved it ever since.  It drives so smoothly and it fits SOOO much in it, in so many different configurations.  And I love that we ended up buying the eight passenger option: I can't tell you how many times I've had six kids screaming and singing in the back and LOVED it.

So, with that bit of background, you'll be as saddened as me when you see what I did to my beloved van this week:


Yes, it was painful!  What's even more painful: it was my fault!  (GASP.)  My first ever at-fault car accident.
Wednesday evening I was going to the church for a meeting.  It was a few minutes after 7:00, dusk, and pouring down rain.  The cars in front of me suddenly screeched to a halt but, alas, I couldn't screech fast enough.  My anti-lock brakes tried their hardest but they just couldn't do it for me.

Fortunately for me, the lady I rear-ended was super nice and understanding.  She was driving a Toyota Sequoia, so I only hit her bumper.  She "couldn't believe" she didn't hit the car in front of her and her anti-lock brakes were freaking out, too.  (I guess that was supposed to make me feel better?)  She has the same insurance company as me, which does make things easier.   And both cars were still drivable afterward.  Thankfully, I did have time to swerve enough so the impact was the side of both vehicles, so my air bags didn't activate.

I took the van into the auto body shop yesterday and the damage appears to be only external.  I hit a "pocket", behind which is only air, so no engine damage.  Phew.  It will take about four days to repair.  Unfortunately, we don't have rental car coverage, so I'm going to try and make do without a car for most of next week to save the money: we'll see how that goes.

So, I guess if it had to happen, it turned out pretty well.  But, I'm still sad.  I was unkind to my van that has treated me so well.  I promise to try to be nicer from now on.  Please forgive me, swagger wagon.

Skyler Allen is Three!

My sweet, mischievious Skyler turned three years old today!  He was so thrilled about being the "birthday boy" and was so excited about everything we did today.  He helped me make his birthday cake and he got a card in the mail from Aunt Cami and Uncle Nate with one dollar and some stickers in it!  He has carried that around the house all afternoon, so proud of it.  We had a simple family party for him after waffles for dinner.  He got a new airplane from Grandma and Grandpa Barney and a remote control car from mom and dad. 




Skyler is so smart and sneaky about things!  He is always aware of what is going on around him but if he doesn't want to do what you ask, he's very good at pretending he doesn't understand.  He can be a great helper setting the table, and he loves helping Spencer empty the dishwasher each day.  His other favorite chore is vacuuming: he gets to vacuum the family room every week, but tries to do it every day.  He even has been offering to vacuum for Kylene recently!  He loves being outside, and enjoys splashing through the puddles--and getting soaking wet in the process--each rainy day we walk to pick Kylene up from school.  He is a great climber and proves to be much more fearless than his older siblings were at this age.  He loves sleeping in a "big boy bed" and sharing the bunk bed with Spencer.  He loves to look at books and "read" to Andon, holding the book up so he can see the pictures. 
We sure do love our Skyler!

 

As part of Skyler's party, Kylene planned a Costume show/contest.  (They recently discovered Grandma's two huge bins of dress up clothes that were in the attic and have been loving playing with them.)  She decided daddy was the judge and even mommy had to participate.  So after cake and ice cream, we headed upstairs, chose our costumes (they chose mine for me!), and practiced our walk down the "runway".

Kylene chose to be a Hawaiian girl because she thought Kyle would like that the best since he is from Hawaii.  Spencer loves, loves the too-big-for-him Superman Costume, and Skyler loves being a giraffe.  (That's what he was for Halloween last fall.)  Me?  The kids handed me a very sparkly, very chic 1980s Dance Festival outfit that speaks for itself.  (I think one of my sisters wore it in the dance festival, but I'll have to verify that.)  It was pretty amazing, if I do say so myself.  Ha!

 

 

Kylene was awarded with "Most Beautiful"; Spencer was "Most Powerful"; Skyler the "Most Animalistic" and I was the "Most Bling-Bling."
And we all enjoyed the laughs.

Daddy's Days Off

Daddy was able to take four days off of work the end of February/beginning of March.  We had a wonderful mix of playing and being productive.  Kylene also had two days off of school, so one of the days we went to the Portland Children's Museum.  They loved every minute of it.

 

Kylene's favorite area was definitely the vet clinic.  She now wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up.  That cracks me up because of how much I love pets--not!  I hope she can overcome my obvious lack of love for pets--I'm such a bad mom!
 

Spencer and Skyler, on the other hand, could not get enough of the "gravel pit", digging area.  It was so fun to watch them.  Skyler must have turned the wheel on the truck loader for an hour.  For kids, playing really is hard work!
 

Saturday, we went sledding up on Mount Hood.  (Sorry, no pics.)  We took cousins Daniel and Stephanie with us and met up with Maile and her kids.  We went to a little sledding area up past Ski Bowl, and it ended up being perfect for our kids.  Even Skyler could climb the little hills by himself!  We spent about 3 1/2 hours sledding, builidng a big snow fort, and playing.  We had a yummy dinner at Maile's house afterward; so fun!

The Thursday before, and Monday and Tuesday were work, work, work as fast as possible!  Kyle got several "honey do" projects done for me, I got my hair cut & colored (desparately needed), we did our lab work for our new life insurance policies, etc., etc.  We also were able to go to the temple together for the first time since Andon was born.  Kyle has gone without me, but I hadn't yet been able.  It was so wonderful to be there!  Thanks, Jana, for watching Andon so I could go.  I also had my first day volunteering in Kylene's class at her new school.  It was so fun to be in there with her and working directly with the students again.  I will go in every Tuesday now and am looking forward to it.

We love it when daddy gets days off!

Dinner with Logan, Shayla and Ansley

It has been so fun living closer to family and having more room to entertain.  We have had several people over for dinner.  One Monday, we got to have Family Home Evening with Logan, Shayla and Ansley.  As you can see, Skyler and Ansley had a lot of fun together!  They are so adorable. 


 Everyone loves Ansley.  She is so darling and has the most mellow, easy going demeanor.  Thankfully, she handles all my kids "attention" quite well.  I think I'd be a bit overwhelmed!

 

 

Getting wild and crazy with Uncle Logan!
 

Can't Get Enough of this Face...or this Hair!

I know I have lots of pictures of Andon lately, but they change so much at this age!  These are all January-March, so he is 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 months old.

I finally broke down and gave Andon his first "hair cut."  It was really just a trim around the edges, because it was just looking so scraggly and long in some areas.  But we still love the way it "flies" and sticks up on top.  I just didn't like him having long hair in the back:).  We kept saying he was too young for a hair cut, but I finally couldn't wait any longer.  I think it's a great improvement. 

 

We still swaddle Andon when he is sleeping.  He is getting to be an awfully big "burrito", as Kyle likes to call him.  But, otherwise his arms flail around and he wakes up much earlier.  It'll be interesting to see how much longer we keep doing it.

Finally, an Update

I've been making a list of things I want to blog about.  So, here we go!  (Not that this is everything, but it is a start.)

Shortly after moving in, I started hearing "scurrying" around in the walls next to Andon's room.  I only heard it in the middle of the night when I was in the room nursing him.  I started worrying it was rats and was getting grossed out by it.  I would sit there nursing him and be all tense, just waiting for the sound!  I emailed my parents and they said to go ahead and hire an extermination company to come out.  I found a great company from Newberg who felt like it was likely squirrels.  And they were right!  Not quite so gross but they can still wreak havoc on the insulation and wood inside your attic.  You can't kill them all off, so you have to do "exclusion" work to keep them out.  But, after they closed off the attic, the guy set traps just in case we had trapped them inside.  Guess what he found next?  Mice!  Yuck!  But the next time he set the traps for three days, we ended up with nothing, so we think we got them all!  Mice and squirrels: gone!  Last summer, Kyle had removed birds from the same attic area, so hopefully we've taken care of the problem for good.  Result: a quiet, peaceful night when I'm up feeding Andon.  Phew!

The weekend after we moved in, we had the Clark kids over for a sleepover.  Jana had planned a special "date weekend" for Scott as an early Valentine's gift, so we took the kids off their hands.  We all had so much fun with them over.  The older boys helped me make dinner (banana and zucchini bread and canned peaches...healthy, huh?!), and I made pancakes for breakfast.  Kyle had fun playing games with the boys, too.  The rest of the time, everyone just went crazy playing or doing whatever they wanted.  I think I only saw Kylene and Stephanie at meal times: the rest of the time they were in Kylene's room reading or playing.



We had Stake Conference a couple of weekends ago, so we hired our first babysitter in Wilsonville.  Part way through the Adult Session Saturday evening, Kyle got a text from the babysitter saying it smelled like smoke in Kylene's room.  We had her let Kylene sleep in our bed and she opened the window to air it out, and we drove home.  After looking around the room for a few minutes to try and discover the source, I noticed one of Kylene's dolls sitting atop her lamp (which was on)!  Sure enough, it was getting roasted.  The dolls "back side" was burning and the lamp shade was starting to melt.  I was shocked and so thankful the doll hadn't ignited.  It was scary to think how close we were to having a fire--and in my parent's home that we just barely moved into!  I realized after that my parent's only have one smoke detector in their entire upstairs, in the hallway.  If a fire were to start in one of the kids' room with the door closed, we wouldn't know about it for a long time.  Guess what we just bought and need to install ASAP?  Four new smoke detectors!

A few weeks before we moved from Salem, I got a large envelope in the mail from an attorney's office.  I thought, "What in the world could this be?"  It ended up being mine and Kyle's first subpoena to testify in a lawsuit!  Perfect timing (not)!  Way back in October, 2009, Kyle and I had witnessed a car accident.  Actually, a car had pulled out in front of a motorcycle.  The motorcyclist had been cited for speeding, but was now suing the driver of the vehicle for injuries and damages.  They are trying to settle out of court, so we only had to testify at the law office, but there was a court reporter and we were sworn in, etc.  It was all a little silly, in my opinion, although they try and make it very official.  I sincerely feel bad for both parties involved, but the attorneys (especially one) was a bit annoying and over the top.  He kept trying to "split hairs" and pin me down to say something I didn't want to say.  But, we both got through it.  It ended up being the same day we signed the Lease Agreement with our new tenants, so I ended up spending the entire day in Salem.  It was fun to get to hang out for awhile with my dear friend, Julie, and let the kids play.

Amidst all the unpacking, organizing, and trying to keep up, Andon somehow managed to get a cold that kept getting worse.  After several days, I was worried that it was in his lungs.  We were in Salem for the testimony and lease signing, and since I haven't yet established with a doctor here, I decided I may as well have him checked in Salem.  Sure enough, he had Bronchiolitis/RSV, same thing that Skyler got when he was about nine months old.  (I don't think his was as bad, though; his behavior was much better, thankfully.)  I've heard of a lot of people getting the bad cough/cold lately, but it hits babies worse.  Thank goodness for the nebulizer we have; it saved us once again.  He hasn't been sleeping nearly as well because of it, but he's doing a lot better now.  Here he is "exploring" the nebulizer face mask.

A week before Valentine's Day I was having a particularly rough day.  I had talked to Kyle at one point, not sure if I was going to make it!  He came home that evening with this beautiful arrangement.  Arent't they beautiful?  He told me he figured I could use them more that day than on Valentine's, which he was right.  They definitely helped to brighten my week, and guess what?  They lasted 2 1/2 weeks!  I have never had roses last that long!  But it meant I got to enjoy them on Valentine's as well.  Thanks, babe!

My dear friends, Beth and Memory, and I were finally able to plan a lunch together the weekend after Valentine's Day.  It was soooo nice to go enjoy a relaxing lunch with them, have them commiserate on everything that's been going on in life (they have often had it much worse than me, so they definitely understand!), and rejuvenate a little.  It was definitely just what I needed.  I wish I had taken a picture, but I am now a fan of Biscuits Cafe.  So yummy!  And we have one right here in Wilsonville; yay!