Easter

Easter this year was low key, but lovely. To avoid the crowds, we went to the Saturday night service at church. Sunday morning Matt had to leave early to drive to Nevada for a month of training, but was home long enough to see Avery score some sweet new sand toys from the bunny.

Avery and I then joined our San Diego fam, the Pettits and Baranowski's, for brunch. These two did a great job with the backyard egg hunt!

Check out this decadent dessert "tasting tower" the bunny hostess whipped up!

Unfortunately, the weather was overcast and chilly. But no Pettit holiday would be complete without some serious rocket launching at the park. Avery's new buddy, Jack got to join in the fun too... (No, we did not get a dog! Jack is a Pettit.)

All the flowers around the Pettit's place were so gorgeous! Love this shot of the lilies, minus my big ole feet at the bottom!

Business Blog

Hi friends and fam,

Just wanted you to know that I've created a new blog just for Custom Climbers! If you wish, you can now keep up with my little business adventures here...

www.customclimbers.blogspot.com

Or you can find a blogger button directly on the Custom Climbers website that will take you there!

H.

Lately...

'Cakepops' at the farmer's market...

Hello Kitty bandaids and kisses for headaches...

An update on Aspen! Healthy and enjoying her new shitzu friendship...

A 2 year old who's learning to use the trackpad, yikes!

Popsicle stick families ...  (eating all those ice cream bars a real sacrifice on my part)

Daddy home from 3 weeks of traveling (and Avery insisting he cut short his much needed nap to play popsicles!)

Avery's Antics

Our budding conversationalist has had Matt and I in stitches lately. Just for posterity, I think I'll occasionally record her random funny comments here...

Cuddling up next to me on the couch she exclaims "Mommy's got a big booty!" Much to the delight and encouraged repetition of my husband. 


After looking all through the house for her daddy - "Daddy's not takin' a deuce... he's in the shower."

Standing in line at the zoo, the teenager behind us has a gnarly black lip ring. (Very loud) "Mommy, what's on her face? Look Mommy, what IS it?!"

Apparently every illustrated man with a beard is Jesus, including the captain depicted on her box of fishsticks. "That's Jesus!"

Cancer.

Cancer has in some way affected most people. My mom has now been cancer-free for 10 years - Praise God! But others are not as fortunate as her.

Custom Climbers is honored to be contributing to an auction to benefit Valerie Koop. She's a mother of two young kids who very recently lost her husband to cancer. I don't know her personally, but her blog entries touched my heart. I don't often dwell on what life would be like without Matt, but Valerie's words gave insight into that anguish and a renewed gratitude for this charmed life I lead.

You can read Valerie's blog here and view the auction here. 

Auction ends at 4pm PST tomorrow (March 2) so go bid, donate, or at least allow her words to freshen your perspective too.

Monet in the Making

Mommy showers for 10 minutes + curious kid + red nail polish = 1 ruined shirt, 1 stained carpet, & 1 proud artist.

New Creativeness

Most of my creative efforts lately have been directed into my Custom Climber business. I even put together a dedicated website for them: www.customclimbers.com. Feel free to share it with friends. :)

It surprises me just how much fun I have putting those silly little steps together. A lot of it probably has to do with the process combining both computer graphic work with hands on artsy-feeling stuff. Plus, I like that the end result doesn't take forever like a painting can sometimes.

Speaking of painting... I had to keep this work a secret for awhile, because it was a surprise birthday gift, but here's a little pup-art project I had the pleasure of creating for one of my fabulous cousins!

2010 in a 23 minute nutshell

I know you all have been gripping your computer screens, anxiously awaiting our 2010 Annual McNeil Family Video (ha! yeah right). Well, my friends, it's finally complete... enjoy!

2010 from The McNeils on Vimeo.
Favorite memories from this year, set to great tunage!
Runtime: 23 min.

Previous annual videos can be found HERE

Car Conversation

Mommy

Avery

What's your favorite color?

Blue........  and pink.

What's your favorite song?

Happy Birthday to You

What's your favorite thing to eat?

Scrambled Eggs

What's your favorite book?

Fish book 

What's your favorite thing to watch on TV?

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

What's your favorite shape? 

Circle and triangle

What's your favorite animal?

(Long pause)... Animal crackers 

(hahaha)

The End of 20Ten

Welcome to 20eleven! 

The last couple weeks of 20ten were a cozy time of family and friends. We spent Christmas here in San Diego, just the 3 of us. Avery enjoyed opening her gifts, talking about Santa, and made us smile with her daily renditions of "Happy Birthday Baby Jesus." 

Two days after Christmas, Opa & Oma came to SD to spend time with Avery. So, Matt and I did the only logical thing in that situation - got the heck outta dodge for some quality couple time. We met up with our good friends Stef and Ed in Northern Arizona for some hiking and snow play.

We hiked 12.4 miles roundtrip down into and back out of the Grand Canyon. With an elevation change of 3,000 feet in both directions and hiking continuously for over 6 hours, it was admittedly the most difficult physical thing I've ever done.

But the views were astonishingly worth every step...

We almost got snowed-in in Flagstaff with overnight blizzards dropping 24" of powder. Can you believe this is in Arizona???

Rarely can I recall a New Years Eve that I made it to midnight; this year was no exception. When you live in California, watching the ball drop in New York at 9pm Pacific time usually suffices. I, after all, have a child that is happy to meet the day at 6am, regardless of whether or not I am. Oma & Opa joined us Jan 1 for our new New Years Day tradition - a brunch of homemade Ebelskivers (filled pancakes)!