The McNeill Adventures

First School Picture

2011-11-06T12:51:00.000-08:00

Alistair and Autumn's School picture for year 2011 !

Birthdays 1 and 3 !

2011-11-06T11:39:00.000-08:00

Crazy having to kids bdays less then 24hrs apart. This year was our first experience with it, so we decided to play this year cool and stay home with cake/presents. We all thought it resembled Christmas, so I think this maybe part one Christmas ...oh boy
We got a big bday surprise when Gma flew in from AZ on Thursday night, I almost dropped the baby when I saw her come down the stairs...Jeff and her had it all planned.
Saturday morning we made breakfast then brought the kids down to open presents...boy do we have spoiled little kids. I made each kiddo their own cakes one chocolate for the bday boy and one strawberry for the bday girl. Took of all the clothes just in case and boy was that a good idea. Right to the bath tub with them afterwards. After the morning festivities we went to Penisula and Hudson to check it out, two pretty cool towns. Later after Starbucks treat of course, we went to Swings and Things and Daddy and Alistair rode on the race track...Alistair was in heaven , he's got the need for speed for sure.
Sunday (today) was nothing but clean up and lots of naptime..ahhh what a great bday weekend

Trunk or Treat

2011-11-06T11:25:00.000-08:00

Our first Trunk or Treat ! We were one of about 40 cars participating in the event. We deciding to decorate the car as a Shark and cut holes in a black tarp , each hole contained something found in the belly of a shark, including an octopus , sea magnets and lots of candy of course..
The kids were dressed up and got to trick or treat to the other cars. Alistair was an astronaut and Autumn was a panda (of course). Lots of fun for Halloween this year

Fall in Ohio

2011-09-18T11:57:00.000-07:00

Wish there was a way to bottle up all this fresh and air Fall beauty and send to my family and friends in FL and AZ. One of the best times of year and being in this fun orchard/farm started it all for usJust to be able to pull out the jackets and jeans again!! Autumn was loving Autumn
Sneaking a picture with my little man on the Moo moo Train. We waiting 1.5hrs to get this ride, it was worth it
It was pulled by a tractor and each barrel seat was named for one of the farms cows
The train went around the 4 acre corn maze at Mapleside Farms
Better pictures were taken with my phone, but I got to take a couple with my camera once I had a free had to do so.
More fall adventures to come

Four Tickets to AZ please

2011-05-22T09:22:00.000-07:00

I've been so behind on postings , due the major adventures lately, so I'll start out by making excuses.

We journeyed out to AZ to show off our newest addition, Ms. Autumn. Our vacation started Good Friday and Easter was spent in the desert and we had lots of fun
Alistair picked the very last fruit of the season
Poppa and Alistair blazing the trail
A little family hiking with some geocaching on the side
Daddy and Sissy
Getting a family picture takes alot more patience nowadays
Alistair and Autumn chilly on a beach towel under a tree
Autumn's first bathing suit
Easter Sunday , ready for church and some quick family photos
The kids wearing their easter outfits from Me Me

Visiting our friends in AZ, Autumn meeting Amie and Deon for the first time

Jeff and I got to sneak away for a night and we went to Sedona and stayed at a Bed and Breakfast. Along the way we did some cachingHere's our awesome room and even got ourselves a treat and got massages....well deserved

Took a hike along Devil's Bridge (full sun) and the Bridge was 100's of feet high
So of course we crossed it like fools

We had a great time in AZ, now its your turn to come visit us in OHIO !

Grandparents came to town !

2011-04-16T14:45:00.000-07:00

Boys day out ! The three fellows got to watch the Indians Game and they won!!
Alistair enjoyed watching the Baseball game from the 3 row up from home base
What a view

Some fun panoramic views with the camera

Next day , Grandma, Alistair Autumn and I got to do some geocaching , this first cache started the haunted trail path
Took at look at the Rocky River Nature Center
Mr. Man doesn't like to pose on the spot, I guess thats for girls
Alistair
Autumn

Group Photo
We took a little trip to Olmstead Falls to see the covered bridges and do some more caching

Lots of fun with the grandparents, we will be visiting them next week in AZ !

Rocket Man

2011-04-16T14:09:00.000-07:00

So over the past couple of months, Alistair has grown "obsessed " with Rockets! I think it stemmed from a book I read to him by Bryon Barton called Astronaut. I crazy how he went from Airplanes (I mean of course ) to Trains and now to Rockets
Every sentence starts and ends with "rocketship" and "Alistair the Astronaut", "Mommy look at the Satellite " , "Mommy's car is a Rocketship"...then he goes " Daddy's car is a racecar "hahaha.
We can't wait to take him to the NASA space center by the airport this Summer and also theirs a Rocket and Airplane Museum in Dayton we will check out as well
Daddy went and got Alistair a real Rocketship while Mommy was a work this week and oh boy oh boy what fun
The Boy and his Rocket!

Autumn Loves the Beat of Michael Jackson

2011-03-29T17:55:00.000-07:00

Guess who we caught dancing in front of the computer...haha

Autumn has also danced (by herself) on the floor during belly time listening to the same artist. I think Autumn just generally likes good music

Autumn's 4 month Photo Debut

2011-03-20T13:05:00.001-07:00

Our Little Panda Princess is getting more beautiful by the day and wanted to capture her 4 month old age in my Sister's Blue Sailor dress
We love her little elf ears !!!
Such a sweet baby she is , love to see her smile everyday

Sledding is better then Disney

2011-03-20T12:40:00.000-07:00

Just when we thought Winter was over snow hit us hard again and boy we were excited , because we had just received some sleds from a family that out grew them and we were all finally better (not sick) and wanted to hit the hills of snow !!
Learning how to dress for winter and snow has been a challenge for this Floridian. I think Daddy keeps from laughing at me whenever I buddle up too much , but I rather be warm ...right !!
Yes I'm the crazy mommy that brings her 4 month old outside in the snow on top the hill to watch us sled...She slept the whole time
Alistair loved the sledding down the hill part , not so much the walking up the hill part
I'm not one for uncontrolled speed, but I was having a blast listening to him laugh and giggle the whole way down the hill
Yes Alistair my two year old went down the hill by himself......LOVED IT!!
As much as I am happy to see Spring , I'm gonna miss sledding until next year

Autumn's first Food

2011-03-11T10:50:00.000-08:00

Our Baby Girl got the go ahead on trying cereal, so we picked up a box of Gerber rice cereal and went to town. She loved it and chomped down on that spoon so hard wanting moreSuch a big girl in her Brother's bumpbo..

She pierces her pretty lips together all the time
Of course we are only giving her a little bit a time right now, between regular feedings she has about two cereal feedings a day, morning and dinnertime
She's a champ with that spoon
A satisfied little lady and off to bath she goes

Lake Erie Nature Center and "the Beach"

2011-02-22T05:43:00.000-08:00

Took a little day trip to Lake Erie Nature Center, everyones been telling us about it since we moved here. It was actually pretty interesting and FREE too ! There was an inside and outside exhibit for us to walk through. Even a planetarium that we will have to come back and check it when its open. Suddenly Alistair is VERY enthralled with SPACE !!! and any SPACESHIPS!!
Turtle exhibit and the enormous tree that was hollowed out were two of his favorite things

Lots of fish, snakes, spiders and lizard exhibits too, a boy's heaven for sure

Outside exhibits had the animals dwell in the woods of OHIO
Alistair loves the outdoors like his momma
There was a little cabin where kids camps are held during the summertime, looks really cool inside
Saw a "live " mink for the first time, I've only seen minks you wear...yuck
Alistair started hoo hoo ing like an owl when he saw them
Jeff took this amazing picture of the bald eagle we saw
Another view of the cabin and bridge
Lots of kiddos came to see the turtle exhibits, lots of new baby turtles were there
NOW FOR THE "BEACH" Yes that is what the locals call it , it is in fact Lake Erie and if you look closely you can see the frozen shore line
Ice on the lake up until it reaches the deeper part of the lake...there are 100's of shipwrecks in this lake, amazing to hear the history of it
Now swint your eyes and you can almost see downtown cleveland..it was really cool in person, pictures don't do it justice

The old lighthouse at the beaches edge , can't wait to see this is in the Spring and Summer !

Some Home Decor'

2011-02-13T08:50:00.001-08:00

Baby's room is finally completed and she's 3 months old ...haha! Mimi (my mother) sent over the remaining touches to Autumn's room on Friday and everything is just so chic' ! We try to incorporate panda's where we could , but couldn't find enough Panda items besides stuffed animals. I'm still looking for a Panda Mobile if anyone sees one let me know !All her furniture was Alistair's previously , so we had to "doll " it up. I found this poster board in Damask black and white and added her memories to it.
I love her window, its hard to see in the picture, but on her window sill is a little Panda family , next to her window is her barette holder that Kiera made for her. One of my favorite things in her room is the lamp Mimi made her. She also made the curtains and all the bedding as well. Mimi has some amazing talent, wish I had some of it.
Daddy hung up her princess wall hanging from her Aunt Ro, didn't want it too close to the crib, in case she stood up and took it down on top of her
I was inspired by another room I saw online and Mimi made these Ribbons that hang down with picture frames
Autumn's room is now complete, now for the rest of the house !

Alistair's First Day at Preschool

2011-02-13T08:20:00.002-08:00

We found this amazing preparation for Kindergarten school right down the road called Fit by Five. We were able to stay and watch a whole class before we signed him up for it. After many hours and days of researching the perfect place for us financially, timewise and educationally we are happy to place him here till the end of the school year (May)

Each class is 1 1/2 hours long and he goes Monday, Wed and Fridays. It give mommy and Autumn sometime to run around and do errands or maybe even workout (once I find a nearby gym with childcare in it )
The schoolhouse is red brick and so cute, the teachers there are so kind and explain their entire class schedule before and after class so that parents can work with them at home.
Alistair's classroom is upstairs and has this giant playroom/classroom for about 15 kids to do gymnastics, academics and snacktime in

Alistair loves it so far and we are so grateful for him to get some social time with other 2 year olds

Alistair

2011-02-13T08:20:00.001-08:00

Autumn's First Date !

2011-02-08T10:01:00.000-08:00

The meeting of Jack was wonderful ! This weekend we took the road trip to Columbus and spent our superbowl Sunday meeting our Corrigan friends. Lots of laughter and good times were had. Best of all Autumn got to meet her new boyfriend. I just love Jack's big blue eyes, I think Autumn got lost in them...hahaha. We got the bouncers lined up for their afternoon snooze

Even had them both propped after lunch to discuss the game we were about to watch

Autumn was sporting her Little Sister outfit

Proud mommies and our babies, Autumn and Jack are 2 weeks apart. Jack was born on my birthday which I am very excited about sharing with him

We got to meet several of the Corrigan's friends , Danny made his prize winning chili, and I contributed to the food with my turkey pigs in a blanket

The Festivites began with a little gambling. Some of the Questions were: How long Christina Agulaira held her note while singing the National Anthem....Brave was the note and guess was 6 seconds longs...answer 12 seconds

We had to turn in a little early , cause Ms. Autumn had a little stomach ache . She and Alistair slept 5 seconds after the car doors were shut and stayed asleep the whole 1 hr and 40 min car ride home.

We didn't actually get to see the Packers win, but listened to it on the radio ....Go packers!! Happy they won . cause I sure didn't want the dirty Steelers to win....lol

Thanks Corrigans for such a great time !

Our First Ohio Visitor

2011-02-01T06:57:00.000-08:00

Grandma came to visit us in the cold country and we sure loved her time here. We stayed in alot , because of my work week and the snow, but we found lots to do inside as you can see in the pictures.One of the big tasks at hand was to organize all the kids toys and that was about 3 big boxes worth. I tried my hand at the drill and quite liked that power tool. Here is the end result , we are offically ready for playdates now...no more boxes to unpack...well still working on Jeff's office area and got the shed to organize yet, but that will have to wait till Spring I think

Here are my two boys acting silly, they were excited to go visit the Cleveland Zoo, we only really went to the Rainforest this time because it was all indoors and actually really warm .

At the entrance of the rainforest. lots of monkey's, gross frogs and snakes to see there

A family picture is always hard, but we captured the moment we were having

Definatly a boys exhibit , I can't stand frogs as you may know , so I only took one picture of the nasty things

Named them Hansel and Gretel , an early birthday present for my sister I think

A giant turtle looking for his friend the crocodile

I liked the lighting on this picture, very studio

Grandma and Alistair are so close, its great to see them together

Here's Autumn not really knowing what to think of all the snakes frogs and monkeys yet

McNeill family picture

Like I said family pics are hard when you got an antzy little 2 year old an infant that won't quite look at the camera

Alistair loves his sissy and spent the afternoon playing legos with her on the floor, bonding time

Our little dude is so funny and loves to play with all his old toys that he had stored in Arizona and Florida for our big move to Ohio.

Grace has decided to charge us 3 bones an hour now to babysit Autumn for us. She's upped her charge a little bit for the extra new kid

Blogger Slacker...no excuses right!

2011-01-19T12:55:00.000-08:00

We have arrived in OHIO!! Ready to start the unpacking and settling in, we couldn't have done it without my amazing Father in law Bob

Here we are in front of our new home, don't you just love the banana color ?!

Here's the nightmare unpacking journey we are about to take! No way our bed was fitting up the stairs so we had to sell it , along with our dining room table, couch and china cabinet....oh well . Jeff and I wanted new furniture bought together anyway. These (excluding the couch ) were all my things orginally

Tober likes her new diggs , lots of new places to sleep . I was so grateful to have Jeff around to help with the unpacking !!!

Jeff is taking grilling to a whole new level in the snow !!! I believe it was about 15 degrees that night, but the chicken he smoked was fantastic HAPPY FACES !!!!!

Alistair trying on Mommy's boots , both kiddos are loving their new home too. Lots of laughter in our home

One day last week we ventured to the WESTSIDE MARKET, so far by far this is my favorite place in Cleveland. It was a hit with Alistair as well. Our trip here was very tasty and we even brought home dinner that night. The market add every type of food to sold there. I just had to try the French corner and get a crepe...delicous Jeff went to the Greek corner and grabbed a Gyro...the line was about 50 people long...crazy

Jeff carried around Autumn in Snuggi and Alistair took a little break at times from all the food samples to sit in his stroller , while I pushed him and our food around.

Here's the best view of the market...It reminds me of grand central station in ny without the trains. Every inch of this market had food

Our little Baby Girl Autumn ,where did she go? Can you see her in this picture?

Reading time with Daddy and Big Brother is always a good time. She's very interested in what we are doing all the time and we always try and include her

Here's the lastest on the babe , she actually likes tummy time
Even likes her brothers bumpbo

So happy to have our own place once again and even though we may not be in Cleveland a while, we are enjoying the time we are having right now.

To Grandma's House we go

2010-12-13T10:19:00.000-08:00

Because we are celebrating actual Christmas in Colorado this year, we thought we would celebrate a little earlier at Grammys. Plan was to get into our Pj's and make roast beef and turkey sandwiches and watch Alistair play with his presents! Eggnog and Sparkling Grape juice was also on the menu. It was a dreary cold day outside so it was perfectly christmasy on the inside on Grammy's house.
We took out the old photo albums and remembered past Christmas' . We had a nice relaxing day. Grammy is a multitasker

Thomas the Train set from Aunt Shawn

Aunt Shawn, Bella and Autumn..just chilling

Autumn in her Christmas Pj's

Alistair feeding the Geico, he named him Tattoo, no idea where that came from

Sisters being silly in our PJ's , Shawn had to lower herself to my short stature

Laughing with Grammy is one of Alistair's favorite things to do

Very Ticklish boy

Me and my little man had a great earlyChristmas this year. Can't wait to spend it with Daddy in Colorado

McNeill Florida Thanksgiving

2010-12-01T06:13:00.001-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving ! This year we celebrated a day early because Jeff worked on Thanksgiving. Unforatunatly we had planned on having dinner with SKip , Mom and Grammy as well, but Grammy fell and broke some ribs and ended up in the hospital that night.
We were left to fend for ourselves and everything turned out delicous! The next day (thanksgivingday) I remade some of the dishes I had made the day before so that Mom and SKip could have Thanksgiving when Grammy returned from the hospital.
Jeff smoked us a Turkey , it was amazing , great job babe
Alistair smelled the Turkey smoking and came out to smell it...he loves to use his sniffer

Here's the Beauitful Bird , ready to eat....there's an annual turkey picture we do every year with baby of the year, which this year was Autumn, but picture is on Jeff's camera , which I could not get to download properly to insert here...its really cute I will ask him to place on here on another blog

Partial family pic with the Turkey

Stuck the turkey in the oven to stay warm , while I finished the rest of the dishes, don't worry oven wasn't on when Alistair stuck his head in there

Thanksgiving dinner plate: Turkey, Cranberry, Stuffing, Brussel Sprouts (myfavorite thanks Amie), Mashed potatoes

Okay now here's a family picture! Had camera on timer, so we never knew when it was going to snap, hence the expressions

Our Beautiful panda on Thanksgiving

She's got some lungs on her, think we made a little lion instead of a Panda

Sunday Aunt Shawn asked Me, Alistair and Autumn over for yet another thanksgiving, her husband Sam worked Thanksgiving as well and they celebrated Sunday instead. These pics are taken at her mom and father in law's home

Me and Shawn stuffing ourselves...so much for trying to lose the baby weight

our funny little man

Aunt Shawn and Alistair

Alistair had great time playing Shawns twin nieces

Alistair on Trigger the mini horse

our little princess

hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Autumn Outtings!

2010-11-23T06:39:00.001-08:00

Autumn is just about 3 weeks and we thought it was safe enough to take her to see the beach that she was born on! This weekend they had the sand castle contests on treasure island. So we decided to check it out yesterday to see if they were still standing
Proud Poppa sporting the Moby , who says Daddy's can't wear them too? Here's the entrance to the sand castle exhibit , Sandy snowman welcoming us to the beach

I like this next one, very romantic, camera doesn't do it justice, she's losing her hand though

This was a really cool dinosar skeleton that ate his last meal

People came from all over North America to enter this contest, this artist was from Canada

Here's the first prize winner, sorta looks like a TOOL art. Very cool in person to see

As you can see a storm is brewing to wash away the sand...so sad

Alistair tracing tracks

Autumn Arrives!!

2010-11-15T11:28:00.000-08:00

So at 37 1/2 weeks Ms. Autumn Victoria decided to join our family. We called up Grandma McNeill in Arizona and said "if you wanna be here for the birth , you better come now" So she got on the first plane available and left the day before baby's arrival.

We Started the 3rd day of November around 10am at Target and then the contractions HIT!!!!! I insisted on going to my favorite Italian Market Mazerro's in St Petersburg and that set her pushing . I had Jeff drop off Alistair with Grammy, pickup the hospital bag, and Grandma was going to drive us there. We got admitted right away and honestly I wasn't afraid of the delivery as much as I was afraid of the epidural ....ugh !!

I met the anasteologist immediately and he assured me all the epidural s that day went great !

We alerted all the surrounding family and friends that we were in labor and to come by later if they wanted.

Contractions were pretty bad and was measuring at a 4cm and within 40 min I was at an 8 !! After the dreaded epidural I was feeling good as promised, but then the shakes began and I literally could not control them or stop them at all.

My Doctor arrived measuring a 9 /10 and we pushed ! I am excited to say we pushed 17 min!!!! Alot bettter then when a certain son of mine took me 3.5 hours to push out. Autumn was flawless an absolute beauty and looked just like her brother measuring 6 lbs 12oz and 20in long. She arrived at 6:27pm and labored since about 10am. To all you moms out there working on your second baby, there's hope that your next delivery should be easier

We were instantly in love with her.

Aunt Shawn got me prepared to meet my daughter , but wiping away some smeared eyeliner from the earlier contractions

Epidurals are fantastic, once the scary needles go away
Met our sweet hippie chick....flashing us the peace sign
Shortly after birth, Alistair arrived with Grandma
Baby nurse was getting her measurements and cleaning her up, secretly she was thinking this was the cutest baby of the day....lolI think Big brother loved his baby sissy right away
He is still touching and counting her toes to be sure they are like his
All of us together in one hospital bed....awe our family is complete
Daddy and his baby girl
She smiles alot , must be thinking of angels
Love those big feet....her hands are just as big
Loving our new baby girl so much. Its been such an amazing joy to bring her into our world.

The BBE's (Before Birth) Events

2010-11-12T05:43:00.000-08:00

So we are nearly the birth of Autumn Victoria and here are some of the events that took place before she got here....
We decided to take the little man to the Children's Musuem in Tampa called the "Glazer Childrens Musuem" it had just open a couple months ago and we wanted to have fun during our last days of the "only child" in our life.
Jeff and Alistair got hungry before the musuem visit and decided to eat at Five Guys and Fries for a burger and fries...Fries were amazing , but too many to count Alistair decided on a grilled cheese

Finally we got to the musuem, were Alistair and Daddy checked out the climbing wall

and then there was the Drum room and some other instruments to make noise with

Publix (the best grocery store in the world) donated this room in the musuem, a little plastic food mini mart, with kids' aprons to wear.

The tampa all children's hospital had an exhibit and he loved playing doctor, I still think we have a surgeon in our future

Because we were in downtown Tampa, we got to walk through some of the most amazing skyscrapers

And then Halloween came.... Well I was nearing the arrival of Autumn and not feeling up to walking around trick or treating with my huge belly, but the neighbor across the way asked if she could walk with us , in case something happened like my water breaking or something lololol. I had to get a costume together really quick for the little guy and came up with the lost boys of Peter Pan ....he looked great! I went as a "knocked up " Wendy Lady"

Alistair toted around his thomas the train treat bucket that night and loved taking candy from the neighbors...He enjoy even more next year I think !

Days before Autumn got here, he posed and walked around like he too had a baby ball in his tummy like mommy

He makes me laugh so hard

Last days of it just being Alistair were bittersweet, he's our life and we give all our love to him, couldn't imagine loving another as much as him, but sure enough we could , as you will see in our next blog.

Pumpkin Carving and Park FUN

2010-10-29T06:25:00.001-07:00

Our crazy little monkey is getting so tall and loves to play in the park as much as possible While Daddy is here they get lots of outside time together so mommy can work and rest a bit

Blowing kisses !!!

Pumpkin Carving 2010, gonna make it Thomas Train this year

Alistair thought the pumpkin guts were "yuck" and really funny

When he got some on himself, he shouted "yuck " Yuck"

Grammy observed the carving process

Such talent

I decided to make pumpkin seeds , so I mixed a bunch of spices, roasted the seeds first at 250 for about 15min and glazed them with sugar , then added, cumin, cinnamon, cayenne pepper and more sugar...they were gooooood

Our Pumpkin Thomas

Delicous pumpkin guts

Spooky Hollow Jeff

Put our pumpkin by the scarecrow for all the kiddos to see on Halloween

Kim's 40th Birthday Surprise

2010-10-25T06:02:00.001-07:00

My dear friend Kim turned 40th this week and because it was a milestone birthday we threw her a surprise party at her parents house. Now her parents having been traveling the country in their RV and they have used their home for many parties while they have been gone. Kim had no idea that we had them hiding in their room until she got over the itial surprise that everyone was there to surprise her. She never expected them to return from their travels until the holidays. As she was walking into the house she was trying to call them on their cell phone

Rosanna and Justin were there for the festivities

Alistair found a Barney doll , that he fed plastic fruit to the whole night

The girls, Corrine (Kims daughter, our babysitter), Kristin (Kims sister) Kims Mom and Kim

Savannah , Kim and her mom , showing off her pink heals!

Kim , Corrine and Kristin are doing the 3 day Breast Cancer walk and have been gearing up for it for weeks, with fund raisers, and lots of exercise. Kim got socks to replace the holey ones she keeps wearing

Wouldn't be an over the hill party without Granny panties...these were hilarous

We didn't stay too long because Jeff and I had to be at the airport at 4am for his flight back to Ohio. Plus Ms. Autumn was giving me some contractions

Rosanna's Bachlorette Party/Scavenger Hunt

2010-10-18T07:06:00.000-07:00

So a few more weeks till Rosanna's big day and it was time to begin Bachlorette party activities. I got inspired by my parents Scavenger Hunt that they were a part of last month and thought how fun that would be to do one as a Bachlorette party. Rosanna is having a photo booth at her wedding reception and needed items for her treasure box of props . So I select some pretty crazy items and broke up the girls in teams (Team Sexy and Team Sophiscates) and threw in some photo wild cards and away it went.
Hunt was to start at the food court at a local shopping mall and end up at the resturant Rosanna choose called Seasons 52.
Girls had 2 hours to get all the items, but because our bride was late, their time got cut into the hunt a bit.

The Bride to be arrived finally, so the hunt can begin We had 8 girls , so the teams were split up in teams of 4.

They went over the lists and I got a couple raised eyebrows, cause some of the items were going to be really hard to find at a mall

Rosanna and her team members decided to spilt up , so they could win the game faster

Looking over the mall directory and wondering where they were gonna find a grass skirt and coconut bra

One of the items was a movie popcorn bag....you have to go through the ticket guys to buy the popcorn , when they saw garb that Rosanna was wearing they let her right in with out a fuss

Tammy and Rosanna got hungry along the way and eat some popcorn to keep their energy going

A quick pose with their items

I even got put on a item and get a picture with the bride

Does team Sexy have all their items yet??? Hmm I think they need to get some picture wild cards

The end of the hunt is at the Seasons 52 resturant. Every meal on the menu is organic and under 475 calories. Rosanna has frequented this place many times and knew the menu pretty well

Team Sexy is the first to arrive, but Team Sophiscate ended up winning because they got all their items

Here's the lovely Kristen with a gift for our Bride to wear out that night

Here's a look at the list that were created for the hunt, as you might be able to see the items and wild cards got a little crazy

A picture of a pregnant woman's dinner at a organic food only resturant....I was dying for french fries!! The plate had tofu, red bell peppers, carrots and I begged the waitress for bread

Here's a pic of the chicken ceasar salad Kristen got, it was beauitful

A view of the table

Rosanna had a great night out after the hunt and dinner, I was able to go out due to being too pregnant and had to relieve my grandmother from babysitting that night.

Trying out my New Camera

2010-10-11T06:17:00.001-07:00

So I got an early birthday present this year. A new CAMERA! Its green and its just the right size for those candid pics I take everywhere. I've been taking so many pics with my camera phone and had to erase a ton of good ones to make more room for more. Jeff really spoiled me this year and knows how much I wanted to take pictures of our little adventures. Here's some good ones this week:
A little trip to the beach with my new camera found us a little adventure with a little crab

He was a fiesty little guy for sure, he just came out of the ocean to meet us

Jeff of course captured him to show Alistair

So funny looking with his big black eyes on top of his head

Alistair was inthralled and liked that he was trying to pinch the stick and escape

Don't get your fingers too close!

Time to let him loose back to his home in the ocean

Here's his close up...on his way back home

Not my favorite picture of us, cause I'm looking a wee tired from the days events.

Found a little woody wood pecker in the tree above us. Pretty loud sucker.

Autumn's Shower

2010-10-03T13:11:00.000-07:00

Rosanna came over to help with the decorations , a trick with tissue paper we learned from Deon for Rosanna's shower. We thought each other pom poms turned out "differently" some of us are perfectionists and some well are pregnant and don't care..lol The food had some of my favorites, like my grandmothers lemon turkey meat balls out of this world

Lots of generous ladies that like buying baby girl clothes, I'm grateful

I had two diaper cakes made for me. Never have enough diapers

Me and Rosanna...note to self large prints, large belly don't mix well

Me and best mother in law in the whole world flew in from Arizona just to see us

Me and Shawn!

Autumn's bedding , that my mother made her

This onesis won at the shower

Everyone and their creative onesis'

Autumn's two grandmothers

Autumn's big brother !

So crazy that she will be here next month , this pregnancy went so fast with everything that has gone on and I'm so grateful that it was so much easier then Mr. you know who...haha

Beach Day with Grace

2010-09-23T09:26:00.001-07:00

So technically Grace wasn't allowed on the beach as we were promptly told by a walker on the beach and if caught it was $150 fine...ouch! We only got to stay about 15 min . But she had a great time as you can see.

Alistair likes to "walk" her, she's so good and gentle with him and didn't go into the water until she saw him go in

I wanted to capture the school of dolphins that were swimming 30 ft from the shore, but they were way to quick

The tide was pretty low at 8am, but the water was still perfect to swim in , around 80 degrees, too cold for Daddy he said

My little water children

Alistair wanted to keep going, but we kept a close eye on him . Keep having nightmares of him jumping in the pool without me ...wakes me up right away

Sun was just coming out when we got the shore , nice breeze with sea gulls flying over us

Alistair could spend all day there, but we quickly left after hearing about the fine

Disney Here we come !

2010-09-18T10:48:00.001-07:00

So we had to use our FREE Disney tickets before they expired in December and we just couldn't figure out when to go with all the different reasons like, being pregnant and walking too much, wanting to fit it around Jeff's awful schedule and we didn't want to bring a newborn to the park either , so last week seems like now or never.

Daddy and Alistair on the first ride in Disney

Family photo time in the monorail....we were excited!!

Mommy and Alistair on a chooo chooo train!!!!

I think this may have been his favorite ride

When he saw Mickey and Minnie is what like they were old pals, he loved them

Winnie the Pooh ride

Dumbo!!!!

Riding the carousal was a hit....he wanted to do this several times

Daddy's favorite Disney cartoon, Sword in the Stone

Naptime!! Slept about an hour in stroller

Jungle Cruise ride

Stearing the Boats

First day for all the Harvest decorations, park closed at 7pm for the Halloween party that we did not go to, but it looked fun for next time

Awe and it came to an end with the Parade.....Disney isn't just for kids

Waterlogged and Bar B que

2010-09-13T15:37:00.000-07:00

Well here's a couple of days in one blog. We been doing Florida in style from Sonny's Barbque to Splash Parks.
Jeff had his usually barbque craving and wanted to try Florida's version on the subject, so I took him and Alistair to Sonny's. James just so happened to be in Town , so he met up with us that afternoon and the men enjoyed ACE (All you can eat ) chicken and Ribs. Alistair ate his ribs much to my dismay and all seemed to like it alot....many many refills of ribs and chicken
Alistair with a big plate of ribs, cornbread, green beans, and chicken strips. He's mimicing his daddy's face as he is chewing corn

Jeff enjoying yet another helping of ribs and barbque

Had to take a picture of the cup for those Sonny's fans

At the park in a jeep they go !!

Two old men in the bathtub

Silly bubble face

Looking for something to do , found this amazing splash park , completely free and postively the most fun we've had together in Florida yet. We spent 3 .5 hours here, part of the time it rained , but we never knew it , cause we ALLLLL got wet.

Love their expressions on this slide, they are so similar , it cracks me up

Very wet , but happy Mommy and Alistair Really had a great afternoon at the Splash Park , despite the rain , everyone got soaked including me. We will be back for sure . This week will be Jeff's only 3 days in a row off for September, so I think we are gonna use our Disney Tickets tomorrow!!! Stay tuned.

Play me a Song your the Piano Man

2010-09-07T05:01:00.000-07:00

Alistair was showing us his piano talent this weekend. Hoping one day we will get him piano lessons, but for now this was his little interpretation of beauitful music

Beach and Airport weekly Trips

2010-08-23T11:24:00.000-07:00

Alistair, Rosanna and I went to the beach for her birthday on Sunday, it was so fun to see Alistair's new reaction to the new state we are living in. He's been eating fish and spending more time in the water then he ever had before. I think we've created a sea monster with all this water time. He even loves getting in the shower now. Potty training is really coming along as well. We are so proud of him.
Aunt Ro at the beach with us

My handsome little man, getting his surf on

Mommy and Alistair in the sun and sand...almost naptime we were thinking

My little man in the sand...spent a little over 3 1/2 hours there, could have stayed longer

Waiting at Mommy's favorite place in the country ...TIA baby

Grammy and Alistair waiting for the train to bring in Daddy

I love the ancipation in Alistair's body language, missed his Daddy so much

Alistair back in his daddy's arms again, after a long week without him

Rosanna's Shower

2010-08-16T12:00:00.001-07:00

Well Rosanna's shower was a success, even helping to plan it from Arizona turned out to be one great event. Many friends and family were there to celebrate with her and she has a blast as you can see from her pictures. I'm very proud of her and can't wait for the wedding to be there.
Kim painting her first glass of the night

Corrine giving us comic relief with a painted on mustache

Kristen making those glasses shine !

Sam using her creative energy

Deon deep in thought with her glass painting

Me and Sam in our green dresses, I think great minds think alike cause the next day we both wore blue

Sam cooking some amazing Tapas dishes

Glasses and Sangria all ready for the shower to begin

The surprised Bride at her shower

Me and Audra

Most interesting gift at the shower

Random bow off the gift...her Aunt Jemima look

Rosanna in her hat made of bows, she will also use this as a bouquet for her rehearsal

Me and Deon in Blue

Rosanna the Bride and Deon

The cake was decorated with our theme Sangria and Tapas

The Marble cake from Publix was ohh sooo good .

Us being silly at the end of a Shower Success! time for a nap

The Beach

2010-08-13T10:13:00.000-07:00

Here we are at Clearwater Beach ! as you can see Alistair had a great time enjoying the waves:)

Thank you Arizona!

2010-08-04T23:20:00.000-07:00

Ok before I get all warm and sappy about this state, just know its 11:30pm and I just left my girls night with Kiera, Amie , Krista and yes Jay couple hours ago and on my way home it all hit me and what I'm about to leave behind. Thanks for the laughs, lasagne and good times guys , love all of you.

Coming to AZ in Jan of 2003 was a HUGE change in my life and in the following pictures I will show you everything this state and the will of God brought to me.

Hanging out with some old and new Chase peeps in Tempe....what a great welcome to a state I had never been to and how instantly I became one of the gang was life changing. Transferring from Tampa to Tempe had been scary , but as you can see it got better

Made some life long friends from Chase in Tempe, Dmoney !!
Going out on the town with my girls Deon and Destiny, thanks Deon for sticking with me all these years and helping me drive out to Florida to move me back
Bringing friends with me from Florida to AZ and enjoying their company at Buca di peppo, ,miss you Troy, hope you are well somewhere in Ohio...great memories
Meeting life long friends at my First Magnus job in Scottsdale, Thanks Annie for always being a listening ear.
Taking my good friend Dan the Man to the Wild Zoo in Verde Valley
Meeting this GUY and introducing him to my 1# kid Tober at my apt in Scottsdale, meeting Jeff on a blind date that his mom and my aunt setup was the best thing that could have ever happened to me out here

Taking Rosanna to Sedona and running in my first marathon, she was overwhelmed by Sedona's beauty and what a great girls trip
Watching Brian's Jeff best friend marry Mel ,
Getting to see this magic happen on the dance floor of their wedding , thanks Ray
Getting engaged to the love of my life
Grandma's 80th surprise Birthday party
Our Beautiful Sedona Wedding March of 2007
Our Wedding Reception in April

Building our first house in El Mirage

Good Times at the Big Bang with my amazing In Laws, Kathy and Bob have made the most wonderful family to me out here and I couldn't have asked for anyone better in my life. Kathy you've become such a friend to me as well as a mother in law

Surprising Jeff with his new Green Egg in our unfinished backyard Bringing home our first dog together from the Humane Society , Grace

Crazy Murder Mystery Parties with our "Hobbit Friends" you know who you are, Mark, Sheno, Mel and Brian
Having Jay and Amie in our lives to make our new house warm and welcoming, these people will always be there for us and vice versa, we are so blessed to have them
Celebrating my birthday at our favorite German restaurant Haus Murphy's
Starting our mornings with amazing sunrises and watching the hot air balloons go up
Took Trip up north to Flagstaff to see the snow, only a couple hours from the valley
Having our wonderful roomate Mark experience our new life changes with us and being our live in IT guy
Having our First Child Alistair in Scottsdale and starting our family out
Getting to Meet Keira and Joe and Alistair's buddy Kate and watching her grow up
Amie and her favorite little ones Alistair and Kate together at "our place" Paradise Bakery on one of our many lunches together
Having friends like Steve, Connie, Chuck and Carrie will always be a part of our lives , loved the horsebackriding and the ranch style Bar B Que's

Family adventures in Sedona are family favorite memories of this state and I must say its still my favorite city in the country.

Arizona you've been good to me and thanks for the memories

Rain Dancing by Alistair McNeill

2010-07-24T07:08:00.000-07:00

Rain, feel it on my finger tips

Hear it on my window pane

Your love's coming down like

Rain, wash away my sorrow

Take away my pain

Your love's coming down like rain

First real experience with the Rain in Arizona tonight, he loved it as you can see
He shares Mommy's love of nature and I so glad we can appreciate this rainy night together
I love this picture, its a total mistake by my camera phone, but its perfect to me

The McNeill Update

2010-07-18T12:32:00.000-07:00

Sorry everyone, haven't been able to send out a decent post in awhile due to so many new changes that are about to happen to us.

Well as you know Jeff's been based in Cleveland , OH and we have every intention to find a home there and be together as a family once again, BUT..........

There's a wee one on the way as you all know and she'll be here in November, so not having anyone in Cleveland maybe a problem if I go into labor with a 2 year old and possibly no husband around with his crazy flying schedule.

So several weeks ago I recieved a phone call from my mother in Florida asking me to consider this new idea: We (Alistair and I ) had planned on visiting Florida in August for Rosanna's wedding shower and having a little visit with the rest of the family, so with this in mind my mother thought up this wonderful plan of us just staying in Florida till Autumn (the new babe) was born. She was awfully excited about seeing Alistair and getting to know her son in law finally as well as be there for the birth. I will be having Autumn in the same hospital as the one I was born in. My family will also take part in my birthday , Alistairs birthday , of course Autumn's birthday , Thanksgiving, and Christmas, this will be the Very First Time !!!

Looking forward to being with my sister and cousins again too.

Jeffs commute will be cut in half and maybe able to actually make it to the delivery in time. Of course there are mosquitos , storms and humidity to deal with now, from living in Arizona desert for so long , it will be a shock to the system I'm thinking.

So in the meanwhile Jeff will be finding us a little home up there in Cleveland and making his Florida visits on his days off as usual. I think Ohio has alot in store for us and I'm excited about getting there already.

Our plan is to move there in January after I recooporate and holidays are over. I am able to move my job wherever I go, which is awesome !

On the sad note: I will miss my amazing friends and Jeff's family that has loved us all these many years and since I've moved here in 2003 I've made so many lifelong relationships that have made me the person I am today. You all know who you are ! So with tears in my eyes , know that I appreciate all you have given us and we will be back for visits (thank God for free flying) so we won't miss a beat.

I will always update our adventures as they continue from AZ to FL to OH and beyond !

Happy Father's Day Jeff

2010-06-22T10:10:00.000-07:00

I married an amazing man , who became an even more amazing father to our little man and soon to be daughter on the way. This is Jeff's Second Father's day and we were all so grateful he was able to be here to celebrate it with us. Jeff flew in from Cleveland the night before and was exhausted, but gave us such a great time while he was here.

Took the men to see Toy Story 3! After dropping Poppa off at the airport , we caught the first show of the day. It was a great start day to our very exciting day with Daddy
Alistair even got his own seat at the movies
exhausted after soooo much fun
For the fans! Autumn was happy Daddy was home for Father's day, lots of kicking and moving about
Yes he made dinner on his day, what a guy. Gotta a great recipe from my eating well magazine that Rosanna sent me and we made corn and basil fritters along with grilled chicken and steak. We have loads of fresh Basil if any one is in need of some
I keep him around for his pancake making he says
Brought the "B" to the park. Alistair likes to call his tricycle his "B" for short

Fishing at the Park ...no bites but still alot of fun
I love you Baby, your an amazing father to Alistair and now Autumn. I couldn't ask for a better man as a husband

Hanging out with my Cousins

2010-06-19T07:19:00.000-07:00

Alistair cousins Kincaid, Kelton, Keegan , Kypton and his Aunt Jen came to visit us from Colorado for a couple of weeks and here's all the fun times we had! We will be there in a week or two for Kypton's Baptism on July 4th.

Alistair is till wandering the house looking for them now

Fun with Paint...lots of interesting pictures were created
Have with hats. Kincaid as a pilot, Kelton as a cowboy and Keegan as a Fireman
Baby Kypton enjoying the wine basket and an empty bottle
Alistair had a little accident before we went to the aquarium and Mommy forgot to bring an extra pair of paint that day, so he danced pantless
Making homemade cheese pizza, yum with Kincaid and Kelton
Even with Jelly all over my mouth, Mommy still loves me
Our visit to Cornville one day at the Page Springs Winery

As you can see the sandbox was a hit amoung other things

The newest McNeill

2010-06-09T15:34:00.000-07:00

Finally Pics from our Vegas Shoot

2010-05-26T08:27:00.000-07:00

For our 3rd year anniversary we decided to get some professional pictures taken of us. We chose this amazing photographer in Vegas called Alt F . We've been inspired by their work and always referred to them as our mentor for our business. We totally let them do want they wanted with us and they came up with these backgrounds and poses. We couldn't be more excited about the photos and plan on someday framing them in our home.....

Fun with Grandma and Poppa

2010-05-23T09:31:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning we all got up early and took about a 2.5 mile walk. The weather was about 67 degrees and loving it while we can. It was a treat to have Poppa home with us a couple of days before he has to go back to his Job in California. After our walk we went to Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts for our individual cravings.
1-2-3 UP!!!!!!
A shopping trip to the Commissary on Saturday turned into a sneak peak at the future. Alistair got his first look at a REAL big boy bike.

Hanging out with Grandma at the Lawn Furniture Dept
Of course we had to take a picture of Alistair in a plane at an Airbase !
As you can tell Alistair loves his Grandma and Poppa time

Had to sneak in a couple of belly pictures for my fans too.

Daddy Time and Summer Fun

2010-05-17T15:38:00.001-07:00

When Jeff comes into town, they have a little bonding over Jeff's Flying game on the computer. Alistair will bring the joy stick to Jeff for a game or two before he leaves for Houston.
Getting the game set up !

He's got the video game/aviation bug...uh oh
What a great landing Daddy and Alistair

I'm always one for looking for things to do with the boys and I heard from our mom's club that there was going to be a Big splash and play put on by the City of Glendale in the park next to the library . It was great to see so many families having fun

Alistair found this cute Puppy sprinkler to play in

Mountain of Sand with loads of buckets and shovels
Fishing for BIG bubbles
Having fun in one of stomping pools
Water fun on the back porch! Nothing like it
Our trip to Motherhood was more like a comedy act . Alistair took one of the fake belly's moms use to see how big they will look in clothes and he pranced around proudly wearing it under his shirt.
If only all men could live a day in the life of a pregnant lady. Alistair makes it look so easy :)

What What Just happened!!

2010-05-12T13:53:00.000-07:00

Well folks looks like Baby #2 is on its way ! We are 12 weeks and 1 day, to be honest I have no idea I was this far along. Baby is 2 inches and a heartbeat of 166 beats. Our due date is the same exact date as Alistair's Nov 23rd !!! As you all know he came 3 1/2 weeks early and so with every pregnancy they all vary , so who knows when this munchin will be here ! We wanted to wait until 2nd tri-mester for the announcement, just to be safe, so sorry if any are offended that that didn't know sooner. So congrats ! Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins and all you good friends that plan on being part of our children's lives.

We find out the sex at our next appointment, June 9th !

So stay tuned

We are so excited about being parents for the second time, now gotta think of names :)

Mom's Day in the Woods

2010-05-10T09:27:00.000-07:00

What to do What to do !!

Well since it was only going to be MOM's on Mother's day and all the Dad's were away, we decided to hit the dusty trail to Strawberry /Pine/ Payson for the afternoon after church. This is the ONLY picture taken while in Strawberry , because honestly there is NOTHING to do there, but stop for a potty break. I've stayed in the A frame cabins in the past and had a blast, but I really don't remember leaving them for anything else in that town.

Alistair met a friend while up in Pine and gave him a little bear hug
I found this awesome little chair in one of the antique shops, didn't actually bring it home with us, but I thought it was sure cute
About the hit the Arizona Trail on our way out of Pine
This little guy was one of the residents of the Pine trail we were on and he was very lucky he did not get stepped on

We decided to take a little detour to the Tonto Natural Bridge http://azstateparks.com/parks/TONA/index.html

Talk about amazing !

This Bridge is on the way out of Pine, AZ and almost to Payson

My little hiker, loves being outdoors with his Nana and Grandma

This is the view from View point 2 , even though you could see the Bridge much better from View point 1!

This viewpoint was actually the beginning off another trail that lead you down 500 feet to the bottom of the gorge where you could walk through the creeks and see the waterfall
I cannot really capture the beauty we saw in this Natural Bridge with the water underneath it
This was our attempt to get everyone in the picture with my small cell phone camera :)

Nothing makes me feel better then some outdoors and FRESH Air! I needed a day away from the valley badly :)

Visiting Daddy in Texas

2010-05-03T13:36:00.000-07:00

Getting ready to see Daddy after Days and Days ! We left Friday afternoon and spent the weekend in Houston , checking out what he's been doing there this whole time. As soon as we landed the plane Alistair ran into his Daddy's arms and that's all I could have every hoped for , for both of them. They are two peas in a pod inside and out.

Some people take up hobbies or even finish novels to pass the time while the husband is away, but I transform completely and hair all my hair off. Sure hope he likes it
Got a new do for the Summer and also to give 11 inches to Locks of Love. The new look is still growing on me....hahaha

Yeah ! Our first Non Rev trip after a year and got our passes in 5 min to arriving at our gate....That's Good LUCK indeed
Preparing to Depart with our mini drawing board in tow
Here we are on the plane finally after two weeks plus of not seeing Daddy, heading to Houston. The flight was about 2 hours 40 min and kept Alistair entertained by looking out the window most of the time , then of course we were the last row on the bus , so there were other families joining us in the fun of traveling. This trip marks 20 times in flight for Alistair. Very proud of my little Rover (an Irish nickname for traveling man)

Since Jeff had to get up at 6am for Sim testing, Alistair were on our own that day looking for fun around the hotel.

Woke up early (2 hour time difference ) in Texas and ate breakfast in the hotel lobby on the company's tab and then planned on swimming in the indoor hotel pool...wellllllll that plan didn't plan out since the pool water was about 40 degrees....yikes. So we just hung around the lobby and played in the elevator. We watched Leap Frog movie three times and read our book 6 times.

While waiting for Daddy to finish his sim testing on Saturday , we walked across the street to the only restaurant and ate at Godfathers pizza....we weren't impressed
Jeff and I went to this amazing suburb called the Woodlands , all forest and lakes very beautiful , totally away from the cement and highways of Houston. Withing the suburb was the Mall , where spent some time playing indoors after being outside for hours playing....love to play all day.

While we were there Jeff got a call from his own crashpad owner and he invited him to come back and stay with him until we find a place to live out there in OHIO. I'm very happy that the base is CLE , its probably the best choice for us as a family.
Alistair met a little beaver friend in the Woodlands Mall
Alistair had a great time visiting Daddy in Texas and even brought him home with us for just one day. We miss him so much and can't wait to be all together again.

Water Fun in the Front Yard

2010-04-26T07:36:00.000-07:00

Alistair and I had

lots of fun playing in the water this afternoon, worked up an appetite for Italian food , so we took Grandma out for dinner !

Bye Bye Baby...

2010-04-19T06:50:00.000-07:00

The time has come to take Jeff to Houston for training and because training takes many weeks, he needed his car while he was out there. So together we took the journey to Texas and here are our many adventures......

Had to get the New Mexico sign, for some of our New Mexico people. Yes the Land of Enchantment certainly brought that excitement on the road..as you will see in the next few pictures.

In the meanwhile...back in Phoenix Grandma and Alistair are awaiting there plane that will take them to Colorado. Southwest gave Alistair a little plane to play with.

Driving down the road playing the alphabet game and other such nonsense

Had to get a picture of Mom & Pops Pyro Shop, one day Jeff and I will retire and have one of these stores...including the Herbie in the parking lot
So we were hoping for some Texas BBQ and boy did we get it. RIX I will never forget you! This place will be in my nightmares. So Ft Stockton, did not have a ton to offer us , in fact this was the only open restaurant we could find. Someone was smoking meat outside the store while the little grandmas inside were serving it to the locals. The special was "fried catfish" in which neither of us tried. Jeff piled three types of meat on his plate, while I begrudgingly place a piece of dark meat chicken on mine....ohhh the horrors!
Yes one of us liked our dinner and the other did not, can you guess which one?

Had to take a picture of this card display ...I love the spelling of Samantha and on the way to this town , there was a town called Marfa, instead of Martha....love it !
In the meanwhile....back in COLORADO...our boy is having a blast playing on the slide with his cousins
Our GPS detoured us to a little German town called Fredericksburg, TX and passing through we just stopped and grabbed a bite to eat at this place in hopes of some authentic German food. Next time we will have to spend more time there to really appreciate it.

I really wanted to take a picture of the waffle I ate this morning in the shape of Texas, but this will have to work.

We arrived in Houston , after many hours of driving !

Jeff took me to the training building first thing so that I knew where he would be the whole time.

Fortunately for us, we brought along the Forman Grill , not originally intended for leftover from last night , but it worked because there were absolutely no microwaves in the entire hotel, believe us we searched, even climbed to the 10th floor where "the club lounge" was to see if we could find one...no luck

and this is how I left Jeff..head in the books...well laptop studying like crazy getting ready for the first day of class.
and this is the plane that took me home. Poor US Airways plane that was so old they didn't have self operating a/c and they haven't removed the ash trays from the arm rest yet....hahaha
From all the studying we did , I could recite those flows myself and pass that silly test ...just kidding :)

Will be glad when everything settles down finally and we can all be together again.

Happy Easter Peoples!

2010-04-06T11:43:00.001-07:00

Wake Up Alistair !! Its Easter Morning :) See what the Easter Bunny brought you .
Daddy and Alistair Easter Morning
Third Easter hunt of the weekend. But he loved finding them all over the house
Checking out the cool things the Easter bunny brought him
Alistair wanting to take a little swing before church. His outfit was my favorite to put together this year. I got the hat and the saddle shoes from my store , the rest of the outfit was gifts from Grandma and Poppa.
Happy McNeill Family !

After church we went home clean the house and awaited the family gathering for dinner and more Easter Egg Hunts. There was so much candy and eggs everywhere and I wasn't able to get pictures. Its exciting to see holidays through Alistair's eyes now, make us feel like kids again

The Hunt of the Eggs

2010-03-31T12:26:00.001-07:00

Here we are getting ready for our Hunt at the Park. Getting our plastic eggs and goodies at our local Safeway! Alistair especially enjoyed smelling the chocolate bunnies
Alistair, Draven and I joined the Moms Club of Deer Valley in an Easter Egg Hunt at the park , this was Alistair's first year to participate and he loved every second of it. So we packed a little lunch and went off to the park for some Easter fun !
Having a little pinic before Easter Egg Hunting time
Love love love this expression he gives when he learns something new
I found something in the bush mommy!

"oh so this is what we do with those things"
Eggs Eggs everywhere
Here's out total bounty today ! Eight colorful eggs to open later

The Mad Hatter Junior

2010-03-25T07:17:00.000-07:00

Alistair discover how cool his cowboy hat was today ! and figured that his Horse friend Klippty Klop has something to do with it too.

He is my constant entertainment until his father gets home of course !

Irish Soda Bread

2010-03-15T12:35:00.000-07:00

All my ingredients to make Irish Soda Bread ! I'm excited because this will be the first year in all my married years that I've been able to sit down and make it for my family. Since St. Patricks Day is also our wedding anniversary its been tough to plan a Irish meal for that day. So I decided to start our traditional Bread making on the 15th instead!

Preheat your oven to 375
Yes I used Craisins instead of currants...what do you expect...this is Arizona not Ireland
Mix all your 5 dry ingredients together
Melt your stick of butter about 25 second in the microwave
Whisk your wet ingredients
Mix dry and wet ingredients together
Take off your rings and wash your hands cause its Kneading time
Separate into two loaves and place into pans

Cooling on Racks right out the oven
Smelling the finished product ....oh yum

2 cups all Purpose flour

2 cups Whole wheat flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp sugar

1 cup currants

1 3/4 cup buttermilk

1 stick of butter

1 egg

Preheat Oven to 375 degrees. Grease two 8 inch cake pans. Stir first 5 ingredients in large bowl. Stir in currants. Whisk buttermilk, butter and egg in small bowl. Add to dry indregiants. Take off your rings and wash your hands to KNEAD mixture briefly in bowl until dough comes together . Divide dough into 2 pieces. Shape into round loaves. Transfer to prepared pans using sharp knife, cut an Cross on the surface of each loaf, about 1/2 inch deep. Bake about 50 min. Turn loaves onto racks to cool.

This classic Irish QUICK BREAD uses baking soda (as the name implies) as its LEAVENER. It's usually made with buttermilk and is speckled with currants and caraway seed. Before baking, a cross is slashed in the top of the loaf. The purpose of the cross, legend says, is to scare away the devil.

Trader Alistair Meets Trader Joes

2010-03-13T12:27:00.000-08:00

Yeah for Trader Joes ! We love this somewhat organic grocery store and always find what we are looking for at a very reasonable price. Unfortunately Florida does not have this amazing store , so I am sad for those people there. I'm a huge fan of the $2 buck Chuck and also their licorice . I needed to get just a couple of things here and Alistair wanted to be apart of this shopping experience , So check out how well he did .....
Alistair discovered that in Trader Joes there are shopping wagons just his size and he was very excited about shopping at this point ! Surprisely he handled the cart very well and walked beside me up and down the aisles get the things we needed to get :)

Just a couple of things left to get , then we are finished shopping for the day
Going home with our organic Baby spinach, Whole wheat bread crumbs and Italian Flat leaf Parsley. Mommy's gonna make a turkey meatloaf recipe I received from Mariner. Its from the website www.realsimple.com . Very excited about trying it out.
I'm glad my little man is able to shop side by side with me now, makes things alot more interesting

No more Unibrow !

2010-03-03T10:10:00.000-08:00

Oh My poor Husband ! Why oh why did I just happen to have my video camera with me for this moment in our lives :)

Such a brave man to have this done , now getting his Wisdom Teeth taken out on Monday will be a breeze

A Heart Happy Weekend!

2010-02-17T09:49:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentines EVERYONE!!!!

Its been awhile since we've taken good pics of the Babe and so I got a couple of good ideas using puffy sticky hearts on fishing wire and hanging from the ceiling . The rest is history!!

After the little mini photoshoot Alistair and Daddy playing stick the hearts on the face game... it was really cuteOkay the pictures are going start getting blurry ...I apologize , these are from my phone camera

Thursday we went to our first Valentines Party with the Mom's Club and this is Alistair's Party Face ! Boy does he take after his parents :)
This Box turned out okay considered it was our "first Valentines box " we've ever made !
Alistair and I really enjoyed our Valentines Party with the Mom's Club
Friday I decided to take the boys to the park ! We gotta enjoy the weather while it lasts
I love that we can go to the park and I can see him enjoy it so much more now that he is walking all over the place
The boys love being outside !
Happy Birthday Kate !!!! She turned 1 this week and we are so excited to come to her party . The theme was Alice in Wonderland and what an amazing job Mom and Dad did with all the decorations and made this party so cute
Kate and Alistair looked so cute in their outfits...Kate made a great Alice in wonderland

Kate did much better with the cake and all the paparazzi then Alistair did at his first birthday party
Happy Birthday Draven! He turned 1 on Saturday and we were invited to celebrate that with his family. They had lots of delicious Mexican food and a really sweet slideshow of pictures of his first year
Alistair playing with Draven's middle brother..slamming some hoops !
Yes we went to our VERY First (well Alistair and I's first) Nascar Party this Sunday . The home was decorated with every nook and crany representing the sport of Racing. A gentleman that Jeff works with (a pilot no less) invited us to join them in watching his favorite driver , among the other talented drivers race the Daytona 500!
Here's our boy , being a boy and playing in the rocks in front of the house

My men enjoying the race....cars going round and round ...sorta soothing to them I think
Here is lovely Amie (sorry the picture is blurry) enjoying a piece of meat at the party
While everyone was watching the Race or shall we say the "road being patched up for hours" Alistair went on a long walk and found the St. Vincent Di Paul Thrift Store. We found this Alistair size vacuum and this very nice man who run the store gave it to us , because we went a walking without my wallet :)

Monday we (Jeff, Deon , Alistair and I ) went to the Arizona Science Museum and had a blast at this "hands on " place. I had Culture passes from the library and had never been here before. It turned out to be a really fun afternoon for us. We had lunch at "Crave" which is a little sandwich shop in the ASU complex nearby.

Alistair found a house just his size at this "Making a House " exhibit
Ooo can we get a "bed of Nails " !! Not !
Jeff found alot of fun in the Water and Dirt exhibit...hey that's for the kids to play with !

Inside the Museum was the shell of a US Airways airplane. we had fun making up trips we were taking with Alistair and Auntie De
We really enjoyed spending our day at the Museum with Auntie De ...she went on our make believe trip with us
Leaving the Science Museum on my Daddy shoulders, the way I came in
As you can see our Weekend was packed with lots of Happy Moments!

I've added a Link/Blog

2010-02-11T08:42:00.000-08:00

Yes I'm in Love! My dear Bud Amie introduced me to this Blog/website called Pioneer Woman. I think Amie actually got the cookbook as a gift from her sister and WOW !

I think this maybe the Martha Stewart of my generation. I really wish I had all creativity and ambition to do all the ideas this lady has. I'm trying the Roasted Carrot recipe tonight...there's only 3 ingredients in it...Jeff will really like that !

This Lady even homeschools her kids! I'm putting this on our blog , because it will remind me to be motivated into doing things the "old fashioned way" and giving my family the best of my abilities (with a little help) from Pioneer Woman.

Someone asked me what Era I would ever go back and live and I've always said Pioneer Times!

Hope you all enjoy this blog /website along with us :)

thanks Amie :)

Some New Happenings

2010-02-09T09:40:00.000-08:00

Well Alistair turned 15 months on the 4th and we are so proud of him! Dr. said he's in the 85% percentile in Height and is taking after his Daddy in more ways then one. He's mastering walking now and can't wait to go places he hasn't seen yet. He has even shown alot of interest in our "throne room" (the bathroom where the potty is) .

This is the probably the safest picture to put online for you , but we captured plenty of really funny ones for our family album and later to show his girlfriends in the future ...hahaha

We know not to expect Alistair to use the Potty right away , but are introducing it !

Alistair's new "Kicks" , got these at my store "The Childrens Place " on sale for $3.99 and with my discount it came to about $3 dollars! I love my part job night job, its got its benefits thats for sure.
Daddy and Alistair at Sweet Tomatoes! We love this place, especially when we are trying to eat healthy. Its just sad that the prices on the buffet keep going up and up...but Alistair eats for free!

Our visit to the "Luv Sac" store at AZ Mills...lets just say these sacs are not intended for babies or children to enjoy. I learned something new at this store thanks to my educated Mother in law...hehehe
Yep that;s our first visit to Hobby Lobby with Alistair. As you can see he's having a little stroll down the silk flower aisle. This place is amazing btw! Its like Micheals and Joann Fabrics on Miracle Grow! So many projects inside ...we could spend hours there
Its not often that I get "Alistair and Mommy" time alone like we used to , but when we do its Moments like these that I cherish.

Can't believe our baby is 15 months now and doing so much. Before we know it he'll be off in school , I never want to rush though...

I need to keep up on my postings, but as you can see we've been pretty busy

An Engagement close to my Heart

2010-02-01T13:17:00.000-08:00

Here's the amazing couple Justin and Rosanna who will be Married in November ! I'm honored to not only take their engagement pictures but also to be in their wedding. Gives us yet another excuse to visit Florida this year.
This picture sorta looks like a filmstrip, we captured this through the hotel window
Oh so sugar sweet !

This incredible monster of a tree is called a Banyon Tree and yes it is one tree in the picture
Loved taking these fun shots with them, they were so darn easyI really wanted a sillolette picture on the beach and this was the perfect moment

I love this photo , because the flower and the seagrass is actually very vibrate colors and we made it a pastel
After the shoot we stopped by the famous "Candy Kitchen" for some homemade ice cream and a little relaxation from all the beauty we captured on the beach...hehehe

A little late posting these, but the photography tends to be a little bit of a perfectionist when it comes to the editing.

Our little Music Man

2010-01-27T06:47:00.000-08:00

As you will see, Alistair has had a couple of bumps since his new walking adventures and to cheer him up a bit, Grandma got him this cool Cat Keyboard!!

Playing the music , singing into the mike and dancing has been so much fun for him, even through the bruises. Of course once the video camera was on, the singing stopped, hope that doesn't mean he'll have stage fright. Alistair is such a such a joy to us and we love his new little explorations he learns everyday.

Florida Trip: That's a Wrap!

2010-01-19T14:54:00.000-08:00

It's A Wrap!

We had such a good time this trip, so glad Jeff could make it with us. Since Rosanna and Justin are getting in November , that means we will defiantly back then .

Marnier was so proud of her grandson and all his new little things he can do now. We wish we all lived closer so that our trips to see each weren't so far apart.
Jeff wanted to show off his smoking skills for saturday nights dinner , by making a brisket . I guess in order to make it the best of the best, he must have a "meat injector"......long story short we finally found one at the local Kmart (of all places)
As part of their Christmas present, we took their engagement pictures at the Vinoy in Downtown St Pete, didn't have alot of light that night, so we had to continue on Sunday
The lovely Justin and Rosanna
It was really nice to get a night out
After Engagement Photo shoot Number 1 we got really hungry and went to this amazing Italian restaurant with the happy couple. I had pasta pillows with pomodoro sauce and Jeff had sausage red bell pepper pizza...all the pasta and pizza are homemade...really delicious
Jeff making me a Egg White omelet, yummy
Pickle time ...loves his Kosher dill's
Marnier and Shawn's new pup Lester
Grammy and Alistair having a great time under the patio listening to the rain

Alistair enjoying some pancakes and good ole southern grits
Sunday after church we went to the Fireplace restaurant for breakfast, it was really good
Had to snap a picture while we looked purty, Rosanna looked so beautiful on her 2nd day engagement photoshoot

Yes I was that Florida tourist that takes pictures of the drawbridge ...yep I admit it
We had to stop at the Candy Kitchen to get Homemade ice cream....my flavor was Chocolate Brownie and Jeff got Vanilla Peanut Butter...so we blew our diet a little
Crazy I know , but this is the bathroom at the "Candy Kitchen" very clean I might add
Its a tradition between us to have a glass of Sangria , it all started when we turned 21 at Kokopeli's in Dade City. Mom made homemade Sangria that day and it was amazing
A very short trip this time, but lots of fun :) So glad the whole could come. Till next time Florida !

Day One and Two of Florida trip

2010-01-15T12:38:00.001-08:00

First thing we did when we arrived in Florida was to wash all the Phoenix and airplane yuckies off the Babe!
Happy little Cash
Chillin (literally) out on the patio , mommy in pj's

Tara getting her hair cut in sun with some well needed humidity in the air

Alistair showing Grammy his new tricks

DAY TWO:

Baby is all ready for his first trip to Disney World and epcot center !! His first ride was the Pirates of the Caribean
Us with Jasmine and Aladin

I think this was just outside of Storyland after the Small world

Leaving Magic Kingdom while under construction
This is in front of the Epcot Ball, the people that took our picture forgot to capture that for us

Tara's second favorite Disney character is Sleeping Beauty...Snow White was too busy in Germany to have her picture taken with us
Little snack break in France , we enjoyed a cheese plate , glass of Bourdeux and a Napoleon
Silly Baby just loving Disney
Here we are in China watching the Dragon Aggans doing their amazing acrobats!
Yes, Jeff is the one to the left of the troll , Alistair was worried he had two mommies.

We made a quick trip through Norway.

Had an awesome dinner experience in Mexico (Epcot) . Donald Duck even joined us decked out in his Mexican garb.

Thank you Aunt Ro and Uncle Justin for making Disney and Epcot possible for us to go to on this trip, we truly had a blast and Alistair soaked it all up.

Can't wait to come back

4th Trip to Florida by Alistair

2010-01-06T12:52:00.000-08:00

Here we go again, this time with DADDY!!! We are taking off Tuesday afternoon and land wayyyyy passed my bedtime in Florida. Since we are a 2 hour difference it may not be so bad afterall. This will be my 4th time in Florida to see my Grandparents and my first time going to Florida with Daddy. We really wanted to spend Christmas with them , but my parents figured that this would be a better time to go :) We have the whole vacation planned out for us and we are really excited about going. My mommy will be posting blogs with pictures and stories about me I'm sure.

Wednesday after we settle all in , we plan on having Christmas #3 with Marnier , GiGi and Grammy
Thursday morning bright and early we head to Disney and go park hopping alllllllll day ! My first time ever

Since Aunt Ro and Uncle Justin are engaged , Daddy will be shooting their engagement pictures at the Sand Key Beach where they are getting married on Friday

Date night for my parents with Aunt Ro and Uncle Justin at the Tapas Bar while Marnier and Gigi babysit me
Will play some good ole Guitar Hero with Aunt Shawn and Uncle Sam on Saturday

Back Home to Arizona on the 18th!

It seems as though our vacation to Florida is all planned out , more updates soon with our progress:)

Starting off the New year Right!

2010-01-03T11:01:00.000-08:00

Well New Years Eve Jeff and I had all the expectations to go out and "party" maybe try out Westgate's Big Event or that new Sangria Lounge down the road. Since we love making plans and then breaking them to stay home and relax it was an even better night after all. We made our last fattening meals of the year ! In and Out and Little Ceasers Hot and Ready! Deliciousness , because after the night NO MORE FATTIES !!!

Each of us Family members (Bob , Kathy , Jeff and Tara) have decided to do our own "biggest Loser" contest . Each of us weighed in and set a goal weight and body fat loss. Its up to each of us what our diet will be and how much exercise it will take to accomplish that goal. Bob left for Somoa today so he will be checking in with us on his weight loss periodically. For rest of us , its gonna be all in our faces how each of us are doing.

After a night of Eating and Trival Pursuit playing on DVD ..ahem ...I WON!

We decided to set out early the next morning for some Geo caching at the Dreamy Draw Trails, before heading back home for Football ....ahem GATORS and taking the Christmas decor down.

Here's us finding a Micro Cach on one of the trails....won't give away its location.....
HAPPY NEW YEAR from the McNeill's

Hope this year brings everyone lots of love, hope and peace....okay thats a bit cheesy but, you know what I mean:)

Wabble Wobble First Steps

2009-12-28T14:59:00.000-08:00

As soon as the video camera turned on he had some stage fright and it became more an exercise than fun. But we can honestly say he had his first steps last night. To celebrate, Grandma bought him , his first pair of Stride Rite (SRT's) :) Natural Motions

Christmas as follows....

2009-12-26T07:53:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas this year. We had a very nice one ourselves. Christmas Eve I worked while Jeff, Amie, Grandma and Jay prepared dinner . We had Yummy Brussel Sprout Hash, Stuffed Shells, Chicken Parm and Steaks on the Smoker. Alistair got a very cool present from Amie and Jay this year, a CD with his name sang about 90 times ! It was insanely funny :) Along with his yearly Godson ornament and Christmas book. Alistair gave them a framed finger painting portrait and a Dunkin Donut ornament.

Christmas morning we were hoping to sleep till 6am at least, but Alistair said "no way" and got us up at 5:30am. As you will see we look half awake , but very excited about Alistair's second Christmas.

In the afternoon we joined family at Aunt Judy and Uncle Dave's house with some of our cousins and grandma. Lots of fun, lots of food to eat.

Its 5:30am time to open presents!
Let the opening begin!!
Grace had to make her appearance in our photo
TOYS TOYS TOYS!
Jeff opening one of his gifts..lots of clothes this year for him
Opening my favorite gift of the morning ! The Killers Concert on DVD...my wonderful hisband got me this because I wasn't able to see them live a couple of months ago, due to our trip to Florida. I watched this concert for hours while eating Christmas Breakfast!
Trying to sneak away and go play with his toys
After opening all our gifts...the messy results! Alistair wanting to get to "playing" !!

Jeff looking like a character on Nubu (cirque du soleil) after Jordan ran up and placed this suction cup toy on top of Jeff newly shaven head !
Mother and Son having a great time this Christmas
Heather, Matt and Jordan portrait
Steven , Amanda and Elijah portrait
Family Portrait to end the night
Christmas is about family and we enjoyed our so much this year :)

Holiday Party Weekend

2009-12-21T05:52:00.000-08:00

WE attended tow parties this weekend. An ugly sweater and a Polar Express PJ party . We didn't get pictures of the ugly sweater party, but you can view them on the Blech's Blog to see. We had so much fun at both and we are so lucky to have such good friends!

Our Hosts Brian and Mel for our annual Christmas party ! The theme was Polar Express and we were to come in our PJ's. Really wish we could have gotten some pics of Jeff in his "Remove before Flight boxes" and Jack Daniels tshirt...worst ! Yummy food was served too. Turkey Medallions and Pork Chops from Dream Dinners...gonna put that on my order too :) Thanks for a great party guys

Jim and his lovely gal Janine ...newest member to our gang
Mark opening colorful packages and Ray hoping to snatch it up by rolling doubles. After we eat we gather around the tree and exchange one gift from each person. Then we roll the dice to snatch one or hold on to it for dear life...AKA Amanda holding onto her Massage Envy Gift Cert
Mean RAY!!!! Taking a toy from a little girl
Josh and Molly laughing at some of the gifts being exchanged
Jason and Rebecca anticipating a very good gift
Brian got the lovely Snuggly in the Zebra print

A Game of Charades was the perfect game to end the night

Me trying to act out Nostradamus Effect for us girls. Never even heard of some of the shows we had to do.
Funny we never got any pictures of the guys acting out any movies or tv shows. TV shows were by far the hardest to do for both teams I think. Two of the shows were Finis and Ferb (girls) / Voltron (guys)
Thanks to our hosts we had a great Christmas Holiday Weekend!

Finger Painting Fun!

2009-12-15T09:08:00.001-08:00

So Mommy and Alistair were feeling kind of crafty today making last minute Christmas presents. I pulled out the Finger paint Alistair got for his birthday and it became a very messy project. He loved every minute of it though. He kept grabbing my fingers and putting them on the paper with his. He gets so serious when he does something new, then when he likes it he doesn't want to stop :) Off to the bathtub with him now !"What is this new kind of mess I can create with my fingers" !?
Look mom , ONE Finger !
Maybe we shouldn't have done this project right before naptime
End Results !

Thanks Amie and Jay for the paint and supplies! More artwork to come