The Tale of Herbie!

This is the story of "Herbie" the rabbit and his days living with the Evans family.

A little less than a year ago, Grandma McKinney called me and said she wanted to give Lydia a present, but she needed to get our permission. She wanted to give Lydia a bunny. A kindergarten student had brought in some cute newborn bunnies and they were looking for a good home for them. I told her I would talk to Zeke. To my surprise, Zeke's response was "Can we get two bunnies?" Sure enough we could, so we ended up with Herbie and Sketch!

These pictures were taken a the day we brought the bunnies home last year!

The bunnies were fun to hold, were cute and I felt okay this is going to teach my boys some responsibility of taking care of something. Every kid needs a pet and bunnies are going to be easier than having a dog. Well our sympathetic hearts got the best of us and we just couldn't bare to see the bunnies locked in their cage every day, so we would let them out for the afternoon. Well sooner or later the bunnies got faster and harder to catch, they also started eating many of our plants and became very custom to the outdoors. Herbie especially started developing some bad habits of biting, and when the boys would go out in the morning to feed them Herbie would fight his way out of his hutch resulting in myself having to go out to catch him (once in my robe, towel on my head and pregnant!!!) To say the least mom and the rest of the family were getting fed up with Herbie. We didn't know what to do with him, I suggested we take him on "the drive", but Zeke didn't have the heart to do that, all he could imagine was Herbie hoping away into the woods only to be attacked by a raccoon. I tried to convince Holly, my childhood friend who now has a farm to take him, but she has already reached her animal limit. So it was suggest we take him to the auction.


My only familiarity with the auction was going with my dad to the auction on an occasional Saturday. We never bought anything there, and I am not quite sure why we ever went, but I do remember enjoying it along with my siblings (Matt especially).


We decided the auction was probably the best place to take Herbie. So Saturday was the day! We didn't care how much money we got for him, we just wanted to find him another home. It became a family affair.

The Auction is approximately 20 minutes east of Auburn. Somewhere between here and there, it becomes farm country!

Lydia thought this bull head was neat.

A country band played some country blues. We were told that whatever Herbie came in is what he goes with, so Zeke put him in a banana box. Bye, bye Herbie.

Here is the auction floor before the bidding started. All the boxes are filled with rabbits, chickens, geese, roosters, ducks, etc. Herbie was in one of them.

The bidding of over 100 animals took less then an hour. Check out how talented this lady is. She can hold two chickens in one hand.

Leading up to the actual bidding of Herbie was a little traumatic. Mason started worrying what would happen if no one would buy him. The thought of no one wanting him put tears in his eyes and he started feel bad that we were selling him.

When the bidding began we were very cautious as to not to itch our face or point, for we didn't want to accidentally buy a bunny or a chicken. When Herbie was up Lydia put her hand up, Oh no I said, we can't buy him back. Later I found out she was just waving hi to Herbie.

So there you have it 1 year, 1 bunny, 4 dollars later.

Zeke thinks for $4 we should take Sketch to the auction next week. But the kids will hear nothing of it. In fact when Lydia got home she went right out to say hi to Sketch.

Cinco de Mayo Fiesta

Here are some pictures from the party we held to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, which to me mostly means lots of tasty Mexican food.

The spread...




Got to have the margaritas (virgin of course, but you wouldn't know it by watching the crowd).

The evening started off fairly calm...



Then got a little gross with "You can pick your friends and you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your friends nose." I'm sparing you all the details andd only posting what was voted the best looking nose.


Tara provided the first spark with a Tina Turner impersonation.



Mat and Jared turned up the heat with their own rendition of My Little Teapot.



Then things really started to turn ugly.

And suddenly...
KAPOW!!! UNA LUCHA DE GATAS!!! MUCHA FUEGA!!

Special mention also goes to the McInelly brothers performance of "The Leap".

Jared has now made it a tradition to show this off at all group outings.



While Jared's performance is always a favorite, Mat really out did him. It's too bad we only got the last part on film because this was a real gem for the highlight reel.



You can see all the pics at Cinco de Mayo Fiesta Pics.

All Girl!!

What do you get when you have one girl and three boys?

Lydia, who is all girl!!

While I was in the hospital having Jacob, Grandma McKinney took Lydia to the fabric store and together they picked out material and a pattern for a summer dress. Lydia knew exactly what she wanted and had a great time picking it out. Grandma said she was by far the best kid she has ever taken to the fabric store. (I remember those long visits to the fabric store when I was a kid, I probably wasn't always that easy to take).

Above: Here is Lydia modeling her dress that Grandma made her and Lydia designed.

Thanks Grandma for the dress!!

Over this last weekend Lydia discovered French Braides (or should I say I can finally do them, without it looking too bad). I told her when I was a little girl this is how I wore my hair, especially when my Grammie McKinney would come to visit. She now wants them everyday.

Pinewood Derby

It took me a while to actually post this, but better late then never. Landon and Mason started Cub Scouts not too long ago and with that came their first experience with the annual Pinewood Derby. Admittedly, I was just as excited as they were. My original intention was to use this as some quality father-son time, but in the end we decided that choosing their car design, sanding and painting was contribution enough on their part (with a little touch-up work by dad, of course).


Landon wanted a car like King Dinoco on the movie Cars. Luckily he settled for something "similar" to that.



Mason originally wanted a car like Lightning McQueen, but after watching how long it took dad to produce Dinoco he opted (after a little persuasion on my part) for something fast and red, so he ended up with a variant of the classic wedge shape, which was much easier for dad to produce.



Going into the race I was a bit nervous as to how the cars would do. All the tricks to making a fast car that I read about on the internet seemed a bit advanced for my shop and my skills so I aligned the wheels the best I could, applied graphite powder and called it good. I had thought Landon's car was going to do better based on the tests I ran at home, but it was Mason's that ended up performing better and even taking 3rd place in his den. Shows you how much I know about making these cars! With two entries I figure I had twice as good of odds as the rest of the dads. Both Landon and Mason had a great time and were pretty good sports about the whole thing.





Of course, the winning car was named "Blah" and was done mostly by the scout's own efforts. Maybe next year we'll follow that strategy.

One month old!

It's hard to believe that April is almost over and Jacob is one month old tomorrow. He has been a sweet addition to our family, and we find it hard to believe that he is one month old on Saturday. Yet at the same time we can't imagine our life without him. So what has he been up to this last month: pretty much what you see in the picture below (sleep, sleep and more sleep).

Overall Jacob has been a great sleeper. He usually gets up once a night, with the exception of a few nights where it seems like he hasn't slept at all.

Wish he could stay little forever!!!

Proud brothers!

He often has this serious look on his face. The kids got a kick out of this picture, because after family prayer, he looked like he had actually folded his arms.

One reason I love Washington!

Last Thursday our family went up to Skagit Valley (60 miles north of Seattle) where there are fields and fields of Tulips. We spent the day visiting different fields and gardens. It was fun to spend the day together as a family and enjoy the beauty of thousands of my favorite flower.

Zeke, Mason and Landon


We went to Tulip town . (Above picture: Landon: bottom, Lydia: top left, Zeke: top right)


He's missing all the flowers!!! This is what he did all day!



Landon, Stephanie, Lydia and Mason




We caught up with our friends the Hatches at the last garden Roozengaarde. It was fun seeing some of the Tulips with them!

The boys found something to play on.

A girls heaven!

Spring Break with Jake!

As much as I worried about having all the kids home for a week, it was a lot of fun and they were all great helpers. Landon, Mason and Lydia are getting really good at holding Jacob and they love to sing to him. After Jacob was born they were quite concerned about his umbilical cord. I had told them that it would come off sometime during Spring Break. Well, Monday morning they started asking about it and sure enough it fell off that day (good thing, or I would have never heard the end of it). It was the most exciting thing for them and with excitement Landon told a few people that Jacob's "extension cord" fell off!

Mason rocking Jacob to sleep right before bedtime.

TEA FOR TWO

All of us wondered if Lydia would be okay with three brothers and no sisters.

So far she is adjusting wonderfully to having another brother, we will see how she does when he doesn't want to play girl things with her in a few years.

Mason saw that they were having so much fun he joined in.

In Lyida's words "I love my brothers".

Easter 2007

Our family had a great Easter Weekend! The greatest thing about it was having Jacob with us. He didn't quite get to decorate eggs, hunt for eggs, and eat chocolate eggs, but he was a trooper as he sat back and watched us all.

Lydia loved the Easter Bunny this year at our neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt.
The past few years she hasn't been so sure!


Looking for more eggs! (Landon-blue Mason-Red)

Decorating Easter Eggs the night before!

Even Zeke got into the decorating. Can you guess what colors his egg is? (hint: Denver)

Zeke's sister Trish gave us a recipe for Easter Story cookies. They are made the night before with ingredients that are symbols from the Easter Story. With each ingredient you read a scripture and then after they are made you put them in the oven over night. The kids seal the oven with tape like they are sealing the tomb and in the morning they open the oven to find cookies that are hollow (or empty) just as the tomb was empty on the morning of the 1st resurrection. It was a really fun activity that we all enjoyed. Thanks Trish for the idea.

All ready for Church! Four kids on my own on Easter morning, before 8:45am!
(Zeke had Bishopric) Our Sweet Easter Baby!

The Hatches had us over for a delious Easter Meal. The kids had a great time. Here we are getting ready to cut into two bunny cakes. (Herbie and Sketch- replicas of our pet bunnies)

We also remembered the true meaning of Easter by reading the Easter story together.
Happy Easter!

Jacob- One Week Old!!

Jacob is one week old today. It's hard to believe that it was only a week ago. He has been such a blessing to our family and we all love and adore him dearly. On Monday he had his first appointment and these were his stats:

Weight: 7 pounds 13 ounces (50%)
Length: 20 inches (50%)
Head: 35 1/2 (25%) *Looks like his cousin Quinn and him have broken away from the large McKinney head gene.

"April Fools" is great when you're 8!

Landon and Mason had a great time this year with April Fools. Mason started out the day coming down stairs all dressed for church, (it was General Conference so we weren't going to church that day). He thought he was pretty funny teasing us, but we all thought the joke was really on him. The rest of the day, everything was a joke, to "oh I got hurt" to just plain eight year old silliness. Then we went over to my parents house to celebrate an early Easter. Grandpa teased them buy giving them each others gifts. Landon opened Lydia's doll and Mason opened Jacobs new blanket. On the way home from their house Lydia who loves to buckle in her dolls when they ride in our car, found that our seats our now limited with the arrival of Jacob, so the only place for her new doll was between the boys in the back. Zeke and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to take a picture of the boys sitting with a doll. We told them we would email the picture to their school teachers so they could show their class ("April fools"), but better yet, we'll just post it on the blog!