Happy New Year!

We've been laughing (well I have) about how much life has changed since Ella entered the picture! We used to go out on New Year's Eve and drink way too much. Tonight we're sitting at home. Ella's in bed. We rented "Dark Night" and bought a bunch of yummy food to snack on. Funny thing is I'm totally content with it. No complaints from me. Maybe next year we'll get a sitter and go out and drink way too much.....

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! HERE'S TO EVERYONE HAVING A YEAR FULL OF HOPE, LOVE AND LAUGHTER! CHEERS!

We miss our full house!

Seth's family was here a week ago for Ella's birthday and baptism (and an early Christmas), and it's been so quiet and uneventful around here since you left. Thanks again for making the journey out here in all the snow. Here are some of the pics we got.

It's still us....

I'm just playing around with the look of the blog....a new year, so maybe a new look? What do you think of this one?

Joyride

Our friends Lynn & Tim sent Ella the coolest sled for Christmas! Thanks you guys! Ella loves it....here are a couple pics (and you'll get a feel for the snowy madness we are dealing with here).

Merry Christmas!

Our family ventured out into the wintery world that is Spokane, WA on Christmas Day to celebrate with Zac and Kristen. Kristen's family made the trip out to Airway Heights too. Z & K have a new house (as you know from past posts), and they live outside of town a ways. The roads were not great to say the least, but we made it out and back safe and sound. I'm so glad we did too! Kristen and her Mom, Ruth made an unbelievable dinner for all of us. We carted pretty much all of Ella's stuff out there, including her pak and play, but there was no nap to be had. Too much excitement.

Thanks Zac and Kristen for having all of us out to your place! We had a terrific time!

Hope you all had a great Christmas - and are gearing up for a happy New Year too!

Zac, Kristen & Fisher

Ella in her Christmas best

McKinstry Family Christmas morning
(Ella wasn't willing to sport the hat and risk looking silly like mom and dad....smart girl)


We even forced Serena to wear some Christmas "flair"

Ella checking out her stocking

All is Well

Seth had his second (and hopefully his final) ear surgery today. The first surgery done in August got rid of the growth (technically known as clusteotoma), but today he had to go back so the surgeon could rebuild the ear bones, etc so that his hearing should be at 100% in about a month. Hooray! Poor guy has to deal with the big ol' bandage on his ear through tonight, but it will come off tomorrow. The great news is that the surgeon said that it all went really well. Nothing like having a little surgery to celebrate the holiday.

Special Day

This past Sunday, Ella was baptized at our church. It was yet another snowy, freezing cold day, so the church was really pretty empty for being so close to Christmas, but it was a really special day for us.

PARTY TIME

Saturday we had a birthday party for Ella. This frigid, snowy weather made it impossible for some of the family to be here - snow, snow, go away! But we have plans to recreate the day when the weather is better for those who missed it. Ella really had a good time. She loved her cake and getting into her presents was fun too - but I think she really like the cards best for some reason. Thanks everyone for coming, and for all the great gifts! I'm still amazed how fast a year can go by!

Happy Birthday Ella!

Ella Rose McKinstry is 1 year old today! You have brought so much to our lives, baby girl! We love you! Happy Birthday!

Snowy Day

Seth was able to come home from work early today. He put a few hours in and then they set him free....back into the snow. So he did a little shoveling when he got home and then we all bundled up and took a couple pictures outside. Poor Ella....she wasn't sure what in the world was going on.

Seriously?!

This last weekend we got a couple inches of snow...and I was disappointed. I wanted more. WELL I GOT MY WISH! I'M AN IDIOT FOR MAKING A WISH LIKE THAT! It has been snowing for almost 24 hours straight (that I can attest to). I am pretty sure that we have at least 2 feet of snow out there now - and it's still snowing! Seth and I shoveled our driveway last night, getting rid of about a foot of snow. This morning there was close to another foot out there. My crazy husband is on his way to work right now. He's picking up a couple people from the office who don't have 4 wheel drive. I voted that he stay home today..... It is truly a winter wonderland out there. Ella's bday tomorrow - it's definitely going to be a white one.

COLD

It's 9 degrees right now, but with the wind chill it's actually below that. The worst part is it's supposed to be worse tomorrow and stay this way through the week. Blechk! We do have a little snow on the ground, so that helps make the cold temps a little more bearable....for some reason.

Family arrives on Friday - Tim, Margaret, Maia, Oliver, Gabe and Nancy are all coming to town for Ella's bday party on Saturday, and her baptism on Sunday. Time to clean house!

TGIF.... tomorrow

I'm pretty happy this week is almost over. Watching JJ has actually gone pretty well. He is the best baby, and if I only had him to watch, life would be easy! Funny thing is that our little angel Ella has been a handful this week! To be fair, I think she's not feeling 100% right now. She's been super fussy and extra needy. I think it's a combo of not feeling well and being just a little jealous of mom splitting her time with another baby. I don't know how you moms with more than 1 do it I swear..... Here's a pic of Ella and JJ.

Wish Me Luck

Monday I'm going to start a 4 day stint of babysitting for a friend. Chrissy's little boy is 4 months old, and she is going back to work (she's a high school math teacher- so brave!) for the first time since having JJ. She's got a more permanent day care situation set up for after the holiday break, but for Mon-Thur of next week, I'll be taking care of JJ at my house. Should be interesting with 2 kids under a year - keep me in your thoughts!

On Friday, we were able to meet up with our friends the Pedersons in Boulder. The weather was chilly, but sunny so we were able to walk around after lunch. So much fun! I wish we lived closer... The girls wanted to hold hands, cute huh?

Trip to Colorado Recap

Our trip to Colorado was great! We flew in to Denver last Wed and met up with Ollie (Seth's brother) at the airport. We drove to Maia and Steve's (Seth's sister and brother in law) in Loveland, about an hour north of Denver. Tim and Margaret arrived a little while later and the whole family was together. We celebrated Thanksgiving with Steve's family. Lots and lots of yummy food of course. As always with the McKinstry family we laughed a lot, shopped a lot and ate a lot. Can't beat that! The best part is that they are all heading here to Spokane in a couple weeks for Ella's birthday!

Turkey Day is coming!

We will be in Loveland, CO this Thanksgiving - we fly out on Wednesday morning. We'll be staying with Maia and Steven at their new place and the rest of Seth's family will be there too. We are really looking forward to it! It will be great to see everyone, and have a fabulous meal together (probably quite a few!). AND we get to meet up with our friends Courtney, Jon and their little girl Harper over the weekend. Ella and Harper are only 2 weeks apart... it'll be so fun to get them together again, and the parents too!

In case I don't get back to post before we leave, hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with great food, family and friends!

Gobble, Gobble!

Cheers to the happy couple!

So guess what? My little brother is engaged! Congratulations Gabe and Nancy! We are so very happy for you both! Yea, I get a sister in the deal too!!!

Look, Look!

See! Ella does have a tooth (with the size of the pic, I know it's hard to see - but you can imagine it can't you?). Still just one for now, but it looks like the one right beside it will be popping in soon.....

11 months old

Since I've noted pretty much every other month, I've got to post a Happy Birthday message to Ella today. 11 months old! She is such a big girl these days - soon to be toddler!

Open House

Last Saturday Zac and Kristen had an open house at their place, so everyone who hadn't seen their new house could take a look. Lots of people and great food! Ella was a bit of a crank, and managed to bang her head on the coffee table at least once (maybe that explains the crankiness....). We had a good time - thanks guys! Hope you both had fun! It seemed like everyone else was. Here's a cute pic of Kristen with Miss E.

Serena the Saint

Ella is so curious these days, and gets into everything. Serena is one of the things she loves to investigate....and we are blessed to have an ultra patient dog. Most of the time, the hair pulling and climbing doesn't seem to bother her much at all. She just gets up and relocates if it gets to be too much. Anyway, we're thankful for our Serena!

Mommy's Little Helper

Ella loves to help with the laundry.....

Isaac is 1 year old today!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ISAAC!

(Just so you know.... this is his Halloween costume. He doesn't dress like a sheep dog every day!)

Standing on her own 2 feet

Ella's got this standing thing down pretty well now.....She cruises all over the place - holding on to things as she goes, and every once in a while lets go as she takes a step, but she grabs on again with the next step.

Happy Birthday Uncle Zac!

What's wrong with me? I remembered Zac's birthday on Monday, but didn't blog about it. I suck. Here I am trying to make up for it...... Hope you had a great birthday (actual date 11/3). Thanks for having us last night. We had a great time hanging out with the family.

Boogie Fever

Ella loves to dance. Doesn't seem to matter what kind of music it is..... as long as there's a beat! Sorry about the sideways video. Blogger won't let me rotate the video for some reason.....

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A FUN (AND A LITTLE SPOOKY) HALLOWEEN!

Ella in her pumpkin dress (thanks Grandma Margaret!)

Ella in her official costume (she's a lamb, if you're not quite sure)

A bunch of new firsts

Ella has been very busy lately. Just in the last 4 or 5 days she has popped in her first tooth, begun standing on her own a little, and waving! Nothing comes slow for this girl. Gotta do it all at once! Seth and I have been waiting on the first tooth for quite a while.... and it popped in with no fuss at all. We weren't expecting it but there it was! And the waves are so fun - she showed off at church yesterday, distracting quite a few people with it. The standing thing is just the beginning I'm sure - walking won't be too far behind.

Our cute little tree

Our street is lined with beautiful old maple trees, and they're at their best this time of year. The leaves on all the big guys are starting to change colors now, but our little tree was way ahead of them this year. When we moved into our house 2 years ago, we were the only house without a maple tree or 2 in the yard, so we planted one..... he's a teeny guy compared to the others and has lots of catching up to do, but he definitely stands out right now with his bright orange leaves!

Play Date

It's been almost a week since we met up with the Seavers at the park.... but I just loaded the pictures onto the computer, so didn't blog about it until now. Ella and I met up with Des, Dakota and Ellianna at Mission Park for a play date. Des is now staying at home with her kids so we're hoping to have more play dates. Dakota is 3 and talking up a storm, and he loves to swing! Ella did a little swinging too, but really just wanted me to let her down to crawl and investigate all the rocks, leaves and other small things she could put in her mouth. Ellianna was happy hanging out on her blanket, and sleeping part of the time - which is handy for her mom, so she can push big brother Dakota on the swings! The weather was beautiful - nice to take advantage of it before the snow flies!

10 Months

10 months gone by already! We are on a short countdown to the big 1st birthday.... time to start planning the party. Ella is motoring all over the place - at least where we'll let her. Still no walking or standing on her own, but all in good time. We can see how fun her birthday and Christmas will be.....she just loves to dig into and play with big boxes. Grandma Margaret and Aunt Maia sent a bunch of adorable clothes recently (THANK YOU!), and Ella has had the most fun helping us open the boxes and go through what's inside. She's also enjoyed going through my little pantry/cupboard in the in the kitchen, and sorting through some of the spices in the rack on the door. I'm hoping she'll keep up the interest and be my helper in the kitchen in the future!

a new box of diapers is the most exciting thing ever!

helping to rearrange the cupboard

New hat and mitten combo from Grandma - so cute!

Much Better

Ella's back to her good old feisty self this week. Her rash disappeared this weekend and she seemed to be back to normal by Sunday. She even spent the morning in the nursery at church while Seth and I went to the 10:30 service! It's so nice to have our girl back!

Wow, the Cougs stink this year......

Seth, Ella and I were all crying watching the game on Saturday.