McKell's BIG DAY!

Today is McKell's birthday, she is finally six! She has been looking forward to this day for many weeks. Yesterday we celebrated. She had a cooking birthday party and read on to see some shocking news from McKell.


McKell's Chef Academy entrance. Nate was NOT happy having his apron on. He screamed until I took it off and then was perfectly happy. Alyssa on the other hand was so happy she could be big and match McKell. She went to meet each of the guests with McKell and was happy to be 'in the know' with everything.
We first washed hands, got aprons and hats on. Then we teamed up and they each made their pizzas. The pizzas all looked so yummy and smelled great.

Phil's parents came and were wonderful to help out. The party ran so much better with a few more people to help out with Nate and the 13 partiers. The kids each got to decorate their own cakes (chocolate or white) and all of the cakes looked great.


Then they made salad on a stick. My girls love all these vegetables and some of the other kids were like- 'What why would we be eating veggies if we don't have to?!' Pretty self explanatory- skewer put on lettuce, cucumber, olives, tomato, cheese with a little Ranch for dipping.

We then ate the yummy pizzas. All the kids ate really good, I was thinking we would be throwing a lot of it away, but pretty much everyone ate all of it.

The boys did not want to sit at the little table with all the girls. It was the only time there seemed to be a division between the boys and girls. Oh, and the present opening- when McKell got her....
American Girl doll. All the girls were so excited talking so fast and the boys were bored out of their mind. She got so many fun presents and has played with each of them. She loves all of them from the American Girl doll and cat and dog to the girl (pink) Lego's to the airplane launcher and the bubbles, water barbie, etc, etc. We then blew out candles on the pizza cake, it actually was a cookie. So what do you think?

I was super impressed with myself. I thought it looked so much like a pizza. Cookie crust, red frosting, white chocolate shavings for the cheese, fruit roll-ups for the pepperoni, Jr. mints for the olives. The kids didn't really believe me at first that it was sugary stuff.
So the party was a big hit. Everything went really well and I wasn't stressed at all. McKell got done eating her ice cream and cake and came over to me on the couch and had her hat off. I looked at her hair and tried to fix the front, but I couldn't! Her hair was gone! What! She goes on to tell me right before the party started she ran upstairs and cut her bangs off! What! I still can't believe it. I felt like I was kicked in the stomach, seriously. I had just done all of this work for her and she cut her hair. What! So after the party we went and got her a haircut. I made her cut off her princess long hair and she loves it. The dumb lady at the hair place says,'well she did a good job at least.' I was like, there goes your tip! This was before

And this is after. I don't know what I think. When it grows a little bit we will take her to Laura (friend who cuts hair). She is the mom of one of the little girls at the party so when I was about to call her McKell started crying because she didn't want anyone to know what she had done. She was really nervous to go to church today because she was afraid of what people would think. Of course people liked it. It is ok, just so different! So right now, there will be NO party for McKell next year. Please, Please, Please remind me of the sick feeling (I am still feeling) after this event. McKell, if you ever read this- I love you, but no more haircutting!

The bets are on....

Nate is a crazy little boy. He is all about boy things. He loves to terrorize his sisters, loves to yell and be loud, and loves, loves, loves to throw balls (actually he loves to throw anything). He will be content to throw for hours. He throws shoes, toys, balls whatever he can get his little hands on. Luckily he understands and will listen (most of the time) when we tell him not to throw. The problem though is telling him before he throws and not after.
He hasn't broken anything, yet (knock on wood). While in Utah my family made bets on when would be the first time he broke something. They were all just glad for us to be leaving before any of their plasma TVs were shattered. My mom thought it would be within the month when we got home and that is going to be this week so hopefully we can pass that milestone.
He has quite the little arm on him and can throw a ball across the yard. He is also a lefty (please don't say south paw). So we are thinking maybe he will become quite the little athlete. We took a video of him this morning, tell us what you think.

No, the camera didn't break and I don't have my nose broken, even though I have had shoes and toys thrown at it at very close range. Wish us luck!

Happy Birthday to PHIL!!

Today Phil is a whopping 33 years OLD! My girls have been wondering what kind of party he wants and he just shakes his head and tells them that you don't have to have a 'theme' party for every birthday. McKell was like- whatever and started planning his '3' party, since he is 33. She said OK, we can get 3 balloons and have 3 cakes, and play 3 games, etc. I was laughing, because this is Phil's worst nightmare that they are already planning parties at 5 years old. I told Phil yeah that is a great idea, what 3 friends would you like to invite?

Because it is Phil's birthday I didn't throw the 3 party, I knew he would not enjoy it. So I made him his favorite meal on Sunday- Chef salad (Brenchley style, which means we had around 15 different sides) and Texas sheet cake. He was having a hard time deciding between Texas sheet cake and the Awesome chocolate bundt cake (chocolate doughnut-for you Iowans) so I made the Awesome Chocolate cake today and took it to his work with lunch for him to share with his peeps there.

I should probably do 33 things about Phil or something like that so here it goes.

1. Phil loves Golf. He would love to play everyday if he could. I can't imagine his hours ever being that good, but I think that is one reason he wanted to be an Anesthesiologist.

2. Phil loves fantasy sports. He plays football, basketball, golf and probably other ones as well. He loves it and spends a lot of time on this.

3. Phil loves to stay up late. We are both night owls, which is not good now that we have kids. He has given himself a bed time of 10:30pm every night, but rarely does it (even when I am not around). His career choice isn't the best for night owls.

4. Phil loves Corvettes. I think they are ugly but he would love to drive one some day.

5. Phil eats alot. Not as much as when he was younger, but he can put it away when he wants.

6. Phil likes things clean. I have said this before, but I recently found that his car is a mess! Only the back seat where he can't see, but still.

7. Phil hates when things break.

8. Phil doesn't like ice cream.

9. Phil's favorite color is dark blue.

10. Phil loves to tell the kids bed time stories. He tells them stories for his childhood, their younger years, and even work stories. He is on OB right now and yes my girls now know that babys come out of ladies private parts.

11. Phil loves to watch sports, any sports. One of Phil fellow residents asked me today how Phil knows random facts about all sports. He loves sports.

12. Phil loves to people watch.

13. Phil loves to play soccer. He is really good at it, too. When we first met he was so excited that I played soccer and he told me he did as well. I was thinking, hmm he is probably not very good cause he is so tall. Then I watched him play and I was very impressed.

14. Phil is such a good dad and will do anything that his kids want him to.

15. Phil loves to throw balls with Nate.

16. Phil likes to have family dinner together, right when he gets home from work.

17. Phil hates to dust.

18. Phil doesn't like to read.

19. Phil is an artist. He loves to draw and paint.

20. Phil went on a mission to Chile.

21. Phil's favorite candy bar is Milky Way.

22. Phil loves to eat kiwis when they are all cut or peeled.

23. Phil only likes to eat Sunkist oranges.

24. Phil likes to fish and wishes he would go.

25. Phil has planted our garden the past 2 years and thinks it requires too much work to keep it up. I agree, but it is so fun to get the goods.

26. Phil knows a lot about the scriptures.

27. Phil is a good teacher and loves to teach.

28. Phil HATES black licorice, seriously HATES it.

29. Phil is my best friend and it is so fun that we enjoy so many of the same things.

30. Phil loves to play tennis. Before we had kids we use to play tennis together all the time. We had so much fun playing for hours.

31. Phil hates sweet pickles.

32. Phil loves his family and has so much fun being around them. He enjoys being around my family as well, what a great thing.

33. Phil is such a great guy- Happy Birthday babe!

1st Grade!!

We are 2 for 2 here at the Brenchley's. That is 2 out of 2 years McKell has been SO excited to go to school. She never complained once about going to school last year and I hope the excitement this morning was a foreshadowing of the entire year this year. I have been a little nervous about her waking up this morning because of our sleeping-in schedule this summer and we never did do a trial run last week, but she woke up before the alarm sounded and was super excited to go. She loved that she was so sparkly, her shorts and shirt and shoes all sparkled! Wow!!

She came home and said she had a great day. She met a friend in her class that she doesn't know her name and she did math with a different friend (Kaitlyn) and her desk even opens! Her teacher sent home a red plate for her to eat dinner on cause she is special and we will be notified by her teacher when she is extra good at school so she can use her red plate for dinner. I think we need to invest in a real red plate so we don't have to keep this red plastic plate around all year long!

Alyssa was happy she got to play with McKell's toys all day but kept saying "So should we go pick up McKell now?" She will be excited when she starts preschool in a couple of weeks.

The beginning of the school year is so fun. I love shopping for school supplies, picking out the perfect outfit for the first day, and that Phil makes a big deal about giving a father's blessing for the new school year.

Another Sad Party...

I have been putting this post off as well, because once I do the post and actually write about it-it will sink in that our wonderful friends really did move and aren't coming back.

When we moved to Iowa there were SO many little girls McKell's age and the year older in church. Seriously, probably 12 girls. It was so fun that she had all of these girls around, but now they are ALL gone! She is now in a church class with 7 boys.

My first visiting teachers when moving here were Koni and Nancy they both had 2 girls the exact same ages as mine. Shayla also had 2 girls the exact same ages, kinda weird isn't it. It was so much fun to have them around because no one got left out and they all had people to play with them. They have all had another baby now Koni with a little boy, and Nancy and Shayla with little girls which would all be around Nate's age.

Heidi has 2 girls that are just about the same age as McKell and Alyssa and my girls just LOVE to play with them. It was so fun to have them in our babysitting swap because they were SO good. They too have a little sister now that is a little older than Nate.

Allison moved into the ward the same time as we did and I wish we would have been able to hang out more, she is so fun. Her little girl Rachel and McKell just clicked. They never were in the same school or primary class but loved to see each other and play.

So all of these wonderful friends have now moved away. We are so sad about it and next week when McKell starts school she will definitely feel it, there were 4 girls in her Kindergarten class that she knew from church- now all gone.

Poor me, I know quit lamenting. We had a fun little party for everyone before they left. We made this cute little friends book and took some pictures. The girls decorated little purses and we had some after school snacks. Thanks everyone for being such good friends! We miss you!!

My China

My Grandma Bonella (my fathers mom) left me beautiful blue and white china. As a young girl she would always show me the different dishes and tell me I could have them when I was older. Since Phil and I don't have a 'real' house (Phil will get a kick out of that statement) I have my china stored at my parents storage. They are all neatly wrapped and snuggle fit into Rubbermaid bins and we are now on the home stretch for getting our 'real' house.

Tonight my mom sends me this picture on my phone.

This is what is left of the storage unit. They had a micro burst in Washington today and it flattened the storage units, our was the worst one hit. There was no way to even get to it to see if there was anything salvageable. So I survived the tornadoes of Iowa, the floods of Iowa, and my one belonging left in Utah is now under rubble. Maybe the Rubbermaid containers and our great packing will bring us a miracle.

Did everyone see the great Olympic opening ceremonies in China? So good, lots of fun fireworks and cool effects.

Pink Party!

I am just starting to deal with the leaving of friends this year. As you know I love a good party, so I thought it would be fun to have a Pink Party for the girls before Alexa moved to far away Alaska. We had it be a sleepover and we did everything pink. My girls helped make the invitations, McKell is very serious about it and Alyssa actually liked helping this time. The invitations said: "Come to the party of pink, where everything is pink but the sink, lets celebrate our friendship link, wear some pink pj's and bring a wink, cause we will take pictures- I think, Friday is soon so don't blink, 6:30pm @ the Brenchley's rink, pink snacks-movies- and pink drink, please let me know if you can't come- ya stink!"

McKell wasn't too happy that I called all her friends stinks, but hey it had to rhyme. We did take pictures, lots of them. I brought our huge air mattress outside and put their bedspread on it and the kids had a fun time bouncing and playing.

We frosted cookies and had pink lemonaid. We made a fun little craft and I made these flowers with all the girls pictures on them so they can put it in their rooms and see each other every day. We also painted fingernails and toenails pink, which was a huge hit!
The girls were really good and all (but the 3 year olds) went to sleep with no problem. In the morning we had pink milk, pink pancakes and all was well.

We just got back from our Utah vacation and I am still waiting for Kasey (Alexa's mom) and her kids to get HOME to Iowa. So sad when people you love move away.