Cousins in Great Falls

Grammy and Papa Pfile

I decided to be really brave and travel to Great Falls for a few days last week with McKinley and Laynee. The car trip went pretty well, except on the way back we stopped in Lincoln, Montana for a bathroom and diaper changing break. After we used the bathroom, we went back to the car so I could feed McKinley and Laynee could watch a movie. While I was changing McKinley's diaper on my lap, she decided to have a volcanic eruption while her diaper was off. It was pretty disgusting. It got all over me, all over her and all over the seat in the car. One of those moments as a mother that I'll probably look back on and laugh. (I'm not at that point yet though. I'm still grossed out thinking about it.) The trip home was great though. McKinley was able to meet Grammy and Papa Pfile for the first time. (Man, are we going to miss them when they leave for their mission to Colorado Springs in June.) Besides being able to spend time with Grammy and Papa, they were able to see cousins and aunts and uncle. Two of my brothers (Eldon and Kevin) both live there with their families. (Eldon and Natalee have 4 kids: Landon, Ethan, Lincoln and Lydia. Kevin and Brooke have 3 kids: Carson, Rosie and Olivia.) So going to Great Falls for Laynee now will like one big playgroup. There's always someone for her to play with. This trip home we all went to the Children's Museum to play.

Easter Celebrations

For Easter this year, I decided I wanted to make sure Laynee knew why we celebrated Easter, so the first Monday in March, I did a lesson on Christ's crucification and ressurection for Family Home Evening. It happened that that's the night I went into labor and had McKinley early the next morning. I had hoped that I would have the whole month to really focus on the true meaning behind Easter. Well, I guess I had good intentions. It didn't work out that well with the arrival of a new baby. I've been lucky to survive the past month, but we did do some of the fun Easter traditions. We decorated eggs for Family Home Evening the Monday before Easter and I think Laynee asked to do it again every day since. She loved it. We went to an Easter Egg hunt that our playgroup did at the church and on the Saturday before Easter, we did our own hunt in our back yard. The Easter bunny was good to our kids and brought them lots of fun goodies. Laynee really got into Easter this year. It was fun.

A Project with Dad

Some friends of ours were getting rid of their trampoline and gave it to us. Last week Matt went out in the yard to set it up and had his best helper with him...Laynee. She loves being with him no matter what they're doing. Plus she's loved having the trampoline in the yard to jump on. (If only it would stop snowing so she can use it more.)

Sisters

It's been so fun watching Laynee with McKinley. My sisters are two of my most treasured friends. I can only hope that Laynee and McKinley will have the type of friendship that I have with Julie and Heidi.

Happy Easter Sunday!

I haven't had much time to update my blog recently. Our friends took this picture of us outside the church this morning and I thought I would put it on here. Hopefully, I'll have time soon to add other Easter pictures.

Laynee's Party Video 2

Laynee's Party Video 1

Laynee's 3rd Birthday

On March 5 (Laynee's Birthday), McKinley and I were released from the hospital. We had a birthday party planned for Laynee for several weeks and decided to still have it. (I know...I must be nuts! I actually evaluated my sanity later that evening.) However, the party was really fun. I hired Laynee's Kindermusik teacher, Miss Julie, to come and do a Kindermusik party. (If I have time, I'll put on a video clip of it.) The party consisted of playing instruments, dancing around, playing with scarves and having a good time. Laynee invited 4 friends (Kady, Rowan, Bridger and Kaitlyn...Kaitlyn didn't come because she was sick.) The moms also came and took pictures. One of my favorite parts of the party was listening to Laynee "read" the birthday cards. She basically would make up whatever she thought would be on the card. It was pretty funny. After her friends party, we had a little family party. Grandpa and Grandma Bell and Heidi and Jake were there. (Actually, Heidi and Jake were there to take pictures at her friends party and Eldon happened to be in town and was there as well.) I think Laynee's favorite gift was a bike. We let her try it out in the house, since it had just snowed the day before. She also got a doll that talks. At one point the doll said it wanted to play peek a boo and Laynee thought it meant hide and seek, so she put the doll in the corner and went in her room to hide. A few minutes later she came out and was very disappointed that it didn't come find her. We all had a good laugh about that. --Overall I'm glad we still made a big deal about her birthday, I just wish it hadn't been the day we came home from the hospital, but we all survived! I can't believe my little girl is 3. I know everyone says things like this, but I really feel like she's 3 going on 13. She's so grown up for such a little girl.

McKinley Elizabeth Bell

As many of you know, we had McKinley Elizabeth, March 4 at 1:51am. She weighed 7 pounds 6 ounces and was 19 3/4 inches long. The delivery was uncomplicated and went pretty smooth. (We got to the hospital at 9:40pm and had her at 1:51am.) It's surreal to think that it's over and she's finally here. She's such a little sweetie. The slide show doesn't have too many pictures yet. I'll be adding more later, but honestly I'm too tired to do more right now. Thanks for all the phone calls and support from everyone. You can also go to communitymed.org and click on eCradle and then click on her name to see the hospital picture of her.

Cheerleading Moves

We have season tickets to the the Griz Men's basketball games and have taken Laynee to most of the games. She picked up one cheerleading move from the games and our friend, Brittany, taught her a few others. This video is the highlights of her cheerleading moves.

Daddy/Daughter Date Night

I had a little bit of a freak out moment a few nights ago, where I was vocalizing some worry (complaining) about how after the baby comes, I'm not going to have the same amount of time to myself. Well, today Matt called and asked if he could take Laynee to her first Missoula Maulers hockey game, so I could stay home and do whatever I wanted to do. (He did offer to have me go to the game as well, but I declined. A night at home alone sounded too appealing to me, so I took a bath, read a little, relaxed and slept.) When they got home, Laynee was bubbling with excitement. She had to tell me all about the game, the sticks and the goalie. (We're not big hockey fans, but we do enjoy just about any sporting event.) I just think the memories she's making with her dad are priceless and I so appreciated the opportunity Matt gave me to just have the evening to veg out at home.