Christmas Break 2010

Christmas break is in full swing, which in the McClelland household means a lot of laziness, a lot of disorganization, a lot of playing, new toys, and alot of fun.  Quinn has assembled all of his new Lego sets, and Scott and I were very happy that he was able to do most of it all by himself this year.  It is pretty impressive.  The girls have played with their dolls, and their Zhu Zhu pets and all the other fun stuff they were blessed with this year.  The packaging for such things are unbelievable, I think there should be a college degree for how to successfully and quickly open all such packages. 

Today the kids and I ventured out to go ice skating with Quinn's Cub Scout pack.  It was free, so we thought why not... They have much improved from last year, and it was hilarious to watch their different techniques for keeping their balance and getting forward motion on the ice.  Quinn's approach... run as fast as you can with the skates on your feet, and then stop by falling.  Avery was a little more cautious, staying on her feet, but moving slowly and with care.  Kaleigh was a little of both, and had the lowest center of gravity of all of them, sticking her bum out as far as she could, then flapping her arms around to try and get herself moving.  It was really fun to watch (and take pictures and video of)

Tomorrow is the last day of the year, hard to believe! Hope all of you enjoy your New Year!!  

Thankful...

I didn't get a blog post in in November I see, but we did get a new niece and cousin.  Ms. Lilly is as pretty as can be, and Emily and I got a chance to head to Grand Rapids after she made her debut.  Can't wait to get to see her again soon, she had her pictures taken on Thanksgiving day, and she is quite the model!!

Speaking of Thanksgiving... I am thankful that this year we got to host the family for the holiday this year.  We had a great time, and I didn't burn the bird, so all was well.  Thankful that the week after was busy with decorating for the holiday, Advent by Candlelight preparations, and fun with the kids.  They were very helpful this year, pulling things out of boxes and getting them in just the right spots on the tree.  Kaleigh even helped with the outdoor lights, and Avery had a great idea to make their upstairs tree a "Silly Band" tree.  Thankful that as we were preparing to put the star on the tree, Quinn stopped us to say a prayer, all on his own.  Thankful that we got everything decorated and prepared for the parade and Open House afterward this weekend.  Thankful that I have a little (very little) down time (sort of) this week before another busy weekend of hockey games, wedding dress shopping with a friend, engagement parties, Sunday School programs and preparing for classroom parties, and birthday parties.  How is it possible that Kaleigh is turning 6 years old next week? It was just last week that she was Ms. Lilly's age... Must be the same reasons I skipped posting in November...

Avery and the One Room School House

Avery is set to make her 2nd Grade trip to the one room school house.  We are lucky enough in our district to have a historical building on district grounds that all of the kids can take advantage of.  Avery will be the first one to get to go, Quinn will get to go later in the year.  I remember going to the one room school house at Greenfield Villiage, I think I was in 1st grade?  It was a ton of fun, and from what I've heard from the classes that have already gone this year, they loved it too, and wanted to have school their all the time.  I wonder if they'd think that if they really had to go everyday. Hmm. 

I took some pictures of her today in her "costume" we borrowed from a nice lady at church.  I made an apron to go over it, and am hoping that all of the girls (Ella, Soph, Lu, Kaleigh) will get to use it as they make their trips.  We'll see if it lasts.  Avery was an "American Girl" for Halloween last year, I'm thinking she should have gone as one this year.  Oh well, she is going for something a few decades later this year, a 50's poodle skirt girl. Pictures of that later!

Apple Picking 2010

Had fun yesterday at our annual trip to Kapnicks orchard. It was a little early in the season, but the weather was beautiful, and we all had an open schedule so off we went! There was some visiting with the animals, a tractor wagon ride to the orchards where we picked, shined and tried to balance some apples, and then another wagon ride through the woods where the kids got to see lots of their favorite characters. After the ride we got to make a carmel apple and then it was time to head home. Definitely a fun Sonday!

First Day of School 2010

So I haven't been very successful in updating the blog with all the summer happenings, but in an effort to not get further behind, I have decided to go on from here. Maybe one of these days I will get back to recapping all of the fun things we did this summer.

Today it was the First Day of School... hard to believe, but we have this year, a 3rd grader, 2nd grader and an all day Kindergartener. Tomorrow they all go to school for the whole day! Not sure what I am going to do with myself, so strange.

Quinn came home this afternoon and reported that he didn't care for his day too much. I can't say as I blame him, his new teacher went home with a sore throat after just half the day (most of which he didn't spend with the kids, they were at their specials classes in the morning). He wasn't too thrilled to have to have a substitute the first day of school, hopefully his teacher is feeling better soon and will be back to get to know the kids. :)

Avery had a great day and loved her teacher and was excited about seeing a few old friends and meeting some new ones. She gave me all the details about who is sitting by who and showed me her new "planner" for keeping track of all of her homework. So fun for a second grader!

Kaleigh had orientation today, and was super excited about getting to wear her backpack all over town. She did not want to take it off when the orientation was over, and insisted on wearing it back into school when we picked the other two up. She also cracked me up when I asked her if she wanted "hot lunch" or "cold lunch" (cold meaning a lunch brought from home) tomorrow, and she said in all seriousness, "don't they have just warm lunches?" SO FUNNY! She chose the "cold lunch" and REALLY wanted to make it herself, so she got out all the ingredients and got the job done, with a little supervision from Mom the first time. Should be interesting tomorrow to see how much of it she actually eats.

Tomorrow... Day 2. :)

Back in Gear

Wow, Blogger has changed since last I posted anything... ok, I know it has been A LONG WHILE. But I'm going to try and get back in the groove. School is coming up soon, so maybe I'll get back on some sort of regular schedule... then again, maybe I will be busier than ever. Scott is back to work, and I will be starting work a couple of days a week at a dental office just around the corner. We aren't back to pre-layoff levels, but slow but sure I hope the economy, both nationally and here at home get back to some normalcy. We'll see. I am working from Scott's computer today, so no pictures, but my plan is to do a Summer of 2010 recap as soon as I can get my pictures... my computer has been giving me grief, hissing at me, literally. That can't be good. So anyway, I am back for the time being...recap and school... coming soon!

Big Day

Big day today, it was the last day of preschool for the youngest McClelland! Hard to believe that Kaleigh will be graduating from preschool on Friday. It seems like just yesterday that we walked in the door to the Cooperative Preschool with a 3 year old Quinn. It was pretty hard not to see all of the 3 kids singing the "Bear Hunt" song when Kaleigh and her classmates were singing it for the last time today. Ms. Bonnie has become a great friend throughout the years, and we have some of our best friends (both the kids and I) from this place. I feel truly thankful and blessed that we came to find ourselves here. So although I am glad that Kaleigh is moving on to Kindergarten (all day... gasp!) next year, and they will all be in one school next year. I can't help but feel a little sad that all of my kids have now moved past the "preschool" stage.

Happy Memorial Day 2010!

Memorial Day 2010

Happy Memorial Day to Everyone! Thank you to all of our veterans!

Memorial Day 2006:

Time does fly! At the top are the pictures from today and here are the pictures from the same scene from 2006... crazy! Mrs. Grech the school secretary walked by our house today, and I went out to chat with her, and we talked about traditions... and now I look at these pictures, and I see her sitting in the background. So cool. And look at how much Soph has grown! Amazing, just another reason I don't feel too bad about being a picture-aholic.

Legos Legos Legos

Once again it has been awhile since my last post. I don't know how that happens!?!

Anyway, since my last post we have had Mother's Day, a few field trips and Quinn's birthday...

They were all really fun, and we had a grand time at all of them. Quinn got Legos, Legos, and more Legos for his birthday and has spent just about every waking moment that he is not doing his homework or at school, putting them together. 3 sets last night and 2 so far today. He is a hard worker, and is definitely related to Grampy... check out the video.

10 Great Things About my Mother... by Avery McClelland

Avery brought this home as a gift for me for Mothers Day.

1. My mom feeds my dog.

2. My mom looks pretty when she puts on make up.

3. My mom plays soccer with me.

4. My mom makes me laugh when she dances.

5. My mom makes delicious ice cream sodas.

6. My mom is fantastic at cleaning our car.

7. My mom watches movies with my dad.

8. My mom watches the Weather Channel.

9. My mom's favorite restaurant is Chinese.

10. The best thing about my mom is that I love her.

Love, Avery

Staycation

I am going to try and make more of an effort to post the goings on around here lately. I was re-reading some posts from (gasp!) 4 years ago (can it be?!?) and I realized that I documented things way more back then, and it was fun to look back on, so I will try to recount the day to day craziness that is a husband working 4-5 part time jobs, a Mom, and kids 7 (almost 8... gasp again!), 6, and 5.

This week we have been on Spring Break, and we were going to travel to Washington D.C. to visit with friends and family, but due to the unfortunate fact that our toilet decided to spew nastiness all over the house, in combination with Scott's truck needing work, we couldn't afford for Scott to take the time off of all of those part time jobs. So we opted for a "staycation" instead. Unfortunately Scott couldn't join us for most of it, but our good friends did instead.

Monday was a BEAUTIFUL day here, especially for April... 75 degrees and sunny, and our original plan was to head to the Henry Ford Museum, but since it was just too nice out we decided to head to Frankenmuth instead. We had fun window shopping, getting some mashed potatoes for me and ice cream for everyone else, and a visit to Grandpa Tiny's farm. I am thinking that Dad needs to open one of these kinds of farms down here when he retires... it was so neat, and that farmer looked like he really enjoyed what he did. A few small crops, a few animals (ok, maybe Dad wouldn't like that part too much, but Kaleigh could take care of them for him) and a little land to run a tour on. The kids had so much fun, and it was a great way to enjoy the day.

Tuesday we were planning on heading to the Toledo Zoo, but Quinn apparently had had enough of all of the estrogen in the crowd so the girls ended up heading down with Laurie while Quinn and I stayed back and ran a few errands before doing a little cleaning.

Wednesday we all (including Scott this time) headed up to Bay City to visit with Grandma and Grandpa, since we didn't get a chance to go up on Easter. It was fun to get to visit with them, play with some silly string, and get a yummy meal too!

Thursday was the Mom "staycation" trip to IKEA. The kids of course went with us too, but we had fun walking around. On a sad note though, we got word from South Carolina that Uncle Rich had passed away... we are praying for Aunt Shelia and the family, but we know he is having a great time now!

Friday we didn't have much planned, so we stayed home most of the day, watched the Tigers home opener on the TV while Mom got to clean carpets, and the kids played outside. Friday night we headed to church for movie night and watched The Swiss Family Robinson. After that, The Woehlke's and McClellands played kid swap, and swapped Quinn for Sophie for sleepovers. The girls had a great time, and I hardly heard a peep out of them all night.

Today we got up and headed to the Woehlke's for breakfast, and to see Uncle Andy and Aunt Christie, as they were in town to drop off Winston so they could head to Myrtle Beach for their "vacation". After that Grammy, the kids, and I headed to the Pattersons to meet Jackson. It was a great afternoon.

Whew... well that was the week in a nutshell. Overall a pretty fun Spring Break, a little bit of relaxing, a little Spring cleaning, a little visiting. Good Stuff!!

Good Friday

Ok, we've gone from Snow Day to Spring Break... so much for posting more often. Things have, as always, been busy busy busy around here. Me with my taxi service, and kids' school meetings, babysitting, house work, church stuff, a little designing here and there makes for a busy lady. Scott is busy too... although still looking for "real" work, has been busier than ever. Taking care of birds twice a day, 3 different cleaning jobs, babysitting, church duties etc. etc. Who would have thought we'd be busier now than when the kids were little.

Anyway, all of that makes me happy for Spring Break this year. A little down time is much needed, and even though we will still be working, we can at least be on a little different schedule. We had planned a trip to Washington DC to see some of Scott's friends and cousins, but we had a huge plumbing issue a few weeks ago, and Scotts truck has been giving us grief, so he just couldn't justify taking a few days away from the work he does have. So we will be taking a "staycation" and if the weather is as nice as it was today, it won't be too bad.

The kids and I decided to bike to Good Friday service today, I got a great workout and the kids enjoyed getting out and about through town. It was a nice service as always, and one of my favorites of the year. After biking home, and then dropping Scott off to pick up his truck, we stopped over for a little time at Grammy and Grampys. Quinn was excited to be upgraded into being able to drive the lawnmower in 5th "mode" or gear, and the girls kept up with Grammy on the 4 wheeler, after their trip down to the woods with Grampy.

When we got home, we got out the Easter egg decorating supplies and had fun making a mess.

So nice to be on Spring Break! And looking forward... It's Friday but Sunday is coming!

Snow Day

Another snow day today, and I was happy to have a little extra time to get some things done. Although, someone needs to tell Quinn that you are supposed to SLEEP IN when it is a snow day... he gets up earlier than usual every time we have one. Oh well. The kids had fun watching some movies, finishing up some projects, and playing outside. Avery and I built a nice snow girl, while Quinn and Kaleigh were busy building a "fort" under the big pine tree in the front yard. Lennie even got a little time outside today, and had fun chasing snow balls that were thrown for him. When I came in, he sat right at the window watching the kids, I had to get a picture. Now everyone is in, and it's time for some hot chocolate.

Presidents Day Weekend

So we are wrapping up Presidents Day weekend, and it was a weekend that went as planned and a little off the cuff. We went sledding on Friday, minus Avery who was feeling under the weather, and since she wasn't able to go with us Friday we made another sledding play date for today and she got to join us, along with Ella, Soph, Lu and Auntie Em who also was not feeling very good on Friday.

Saturday there was basketball for Quinn in the morning, and he was so proud that he got a "Christ-like Star" after the game. The program he is in awards stars after each game for effort, sportsmanship, best offense, best defense and most Christ like. The league pairs kids to a man on man defense, and they stay with the same person throughout the game for the most part. He was "assigned" to a little boy who is autistic, and not that he knew it, but he gave him the "space" he needed and the boy scored his first basket. Quinns coach was really happy that he was able to help the other boy feel special, so he got the Christ like star, and boy was he proud, even though I don't think he really gave the boy the space on purpose. He is really improving and it is fun to see him grow from game to game.

Sunday we went to church, had some lunch, ran some errands and the kids and Scott watched an original Star Wars marathon. I took a nap! It was a pretty nice Valentines day, very very low key, but nice.

Today we finished up our Presidents day weekend with another sledding trip, then some homework, reading and math for Avery, and work on Quinn's science fair project. He decided after going through a couple of choices that he would try and find out how much water is in an orange. Lucky for us, Grammy had some oranges that she was trying to get rid of so we headed there to start the scientific process. He is really into it, working hard at all of the parts of the process. He weighed the orange before we started, then we cut it up, put it in the oven to dry and he has been weighing it every hour and calculating how much water loss it has had. He has passed the mark that he had hypothesized and now we are waiting for the rest of the drying to occur to find out the final result.

So tomorrow is back to the routine and busy busy busy!