Harry Potter Party-time!

In case anyone hasn't heard, the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince movie is coming out tomorrow at midnight (I guess technically that's Wednesday at midnight). And in case you didn't know, the McMillans are pretty crazy about Harry Potter. Kevin and I are going to the midnight showing tomorrow, thanks to my sweet brother, Richard, who will stay the night with the kids. But we wanted to include the kids in on all the excitement, even though it will be many years before they get to watch Half-Blood Prince (we've decided that the Harry Potter movies after the second one are too scary for our kids - all the dementors and everything). So, we had another Harry Potter party.

During the day the kids and I made our Harry Potter wizard hats.
We took a paper plate and colored it black, then I cut a hold in the middle to create ample room for the head.

Then we decorated a half-circle cut out of black construction paper.

We formed it into a cone...

and taped it to the plate to create our hat. Looking at this picture I realize we should've colored the bottom of the plate too! Oh well, they didn't last long before Gavin got ahold of them and ripped them to shreds.

Gavin Potter

Everyone getting ready to eat!

This time I made dinner. I went off of a line in Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone, "He had never seen so many things he liked to eat on one table:roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, baconand steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, fries, Yorkshire pudding,peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup, and, for some strange reason, peppermint humbugs." Well, I wasn't going to make all that, but I did make roast chicken (aka. rotisserie chicken from Fry's), mashed potatoes, carrots and Yorkshire pudding (which, interestingly enough, is nothing like our American pudding, it's more of a bread that you smother with gravy--quite good actually). Then we had Butterbeer (aka cream soda in those cool bottles).

After dinner we made our wands. We dipped pretzel rods into white chocolate and sprinkled them with colored sugar.

Myla making her wand.

Our finished wands.

While our wands dried, we made potions. This was my favorite part. For our potion ingredients we had Lionfish (Swedish fish), Hippogriff gizzards (lime Jello squares), Flaxweed powder (dry jello), Doxy eggs (Skittles), Dragon tears (red Kool-aid) and Bundimum secretions (blue Kool-aid). We mixed whatever ingredients we wanted together.

I called Cade's potion "Happy All Day" potion. You wanna taste, dontcha?

Myla liked eating the ingredients as well.

Even Kevin got in on the action. He wanted to create the Felix Felicis potion which gives you good luck all day.

For dessert we got a nice surprise from our good friend Jill (whom Cade has a small crush on). She brought us Harry Potter cupcakes -- red velvet decorated with yellow and red sprinkles (Gryffindor colors). They were super yummy! Thanks for the surprise treats Jill!

So, Harry Potter is tomorrow night. I need to get my sleep in tonight since I won't be getting much tomorrow night. But I'll let you all know how it goes. No spoilers, I promise.

Summer Becomes Her

Summer stuff

Warning: pic overload. I haven't been able to find my camera cable to my small camera, so all my fun summer pics were trapped inside. :) Kevin found it for me last night and we're good to go. Here are just some pics of what we've been up to so far this summer.

Gavin is walking! I put this in because he went from crawling to walking in about a week's time. As soon as he turned one he was walking full-throttle. I'm trying to get him on video. He's such a cute little walker.Swimming with the cousins. We have really enjoyed playing in the water this summer. Last summer I had just had Gavin so our water time was really limited.
Rachel and Aunt Nicki. The big news here is that Nicki is pregnant! She's due around Thanksgiving. We are so excited for her and anxious to meet little Haws. She's not finding out what she's having...so exciting!

Cade

No suprise here that I've been sewing. My favorite right now are child aprons. I love this 'Lil Rockstar apron that someone ordered. Cute little model, eh?

We went to the zoo last month with some good friends. Yes, it was hot. No, we will not be going again this summer. :) But we had a great time!

Myla got a little kitchen for her birthday. She and Cade love cooking for us. :)

We've gone to the splash park several times this summer. These are pics from Myla's birthday party at the splash park.

Patiently waiting for food.

Kevin and Gav

Blowing out the candle on her cupcake.

Myla's birthday is really close to my mom's. Since we were leaving town we had a combined birthday dinner at Islands.

We met Kevin's family in St. George/Tuacahn last month. We had so much fun!! Kevin's dad brings his boat and wave runner and we make camp on the beach and hang out all day. The kids loved it. We had a very enjoyable time making sand castles with our uncles...

playing with sand toys...

playing in the water...

riding the "waves" with Daddy and Grandma...

exploring the new texture of sand...

soaking in the sun...

hanging out with our cousins...

more playing in the sand...

enjoying family we don't see very often...

wave running...

discovering with Grandpa...

spending time together!

Hope you are having a great summer so far!

Key Lime Cupcakes (and apron giveaway!)

Mmmmm...look good to you? That is a Graham cupcake, with Key Lime curd filling and lime whipped cream cheese frosting. It is delightful! Go to The Secret Stitch Club blog where I posted the recipe. I had fun making them, and more fun eating them. :) You can also enter to win this Key Lime apron! Perfect for baking (and eating) Key Lime cupcakes in. Hurry! Go enter! (I really hope one of you wins.)

Happy Father's Day!

I think the kids are more excited for Father's Day than Kevin is. It's because we took these great pictures (idea from Brassy Apple) to give as gifts to Dad and Grandpa the other day. They are so excited to give them to them.

DAD
Daddy's Shoes

We "Heart" Grandpa

Happy Father's Day to the wonderful fathers in my life! I am most grateful.

Our Sweet Girl

One of the great things about having two of my kids' birthdays within 5 days of each other is that I get to reflect on how wonderful and unique each of my children are. Myla turns 3 today! She has been eagerly anticipating this day for awhile. We have been counting down the days.

Myla. Where do I even begin with this girl? More than any of my children, she brings out the extreme emotions in me. One minute we'll be butting heads with her screaming her head off (and me wanting to pull my hair out) and the next we'll be cuddling on the couch with Myla giving me lovies and telling me she "lubs" me (and me wondering what I did to deserve her). That is Myla. What she does she does with her whole heart. And she inspires me to do the same. I know that stubborness and tenacity that she has will work for her good someday.

Myla and Cade are the best of friends. They share a room and many times, when they should be sleeping, I'll peek in and find them playing some imaginary game and giggling like crazy. As stubborn as Myla may be with me and Kevin, she is usually very giving and patient with Cade. Even though she may be younger than him, she still nurtures him and tries to make him happy. She does the same with Gavin. I love that sibling bond they have.

Sweet. Sassy. Smart. That's my girl.

Happy birthday Myla!

My Duty

So the kids are on a new movie kick: Mulan 2. They saw it on The Disney Channel one day and Myla talked about it non-stop. I got it from Netflix and we've had it about a month. We've watched it probably 40 times. You think I'm kidding.


Well, I've started realizing that we've watched a movie way too much when the kids start quoting the movie in their every day conversation. The basic message of the film is: My duty is to my heart. Basically Mulan and company have a mission to fulfill: to deliver the princesses to be married to men they don't know in another country in order to align the countries. Well, Mulan doesn't like it...or her heart doesn't like it. She (and the princesses) say several times throughout the movie that their duty is to their heart. It's a message that, while it sounds pretty, also presents problems. And this is one way how:

Yesterday Cade kept asking to go outside and play. It's a rule in our house that we don't play outside on Sundays and Kevin explained to Cade that Sunday is our reverent day. We can play outside every other day of the week. Cade responds, "Dad, my duty is to my heart and my heart tells me it's okay to play outside. I have to follow my heart." When Kevin told me this we busted up laughing. It was cute, and pretty clever.

After today I've decided it's not so cute anymore. Now everytime we ask him to do something he doesn't want to do (ie. pick up toys, take his plate to the sink, have quiet time) he says that his duty is to his heart and his heart tells him no. I did not see this one coming.

So I've decided that my duty is to send Mulan 2 back to Netflix and put some stricter limits on TV time. And my heart is okay with that.

Birthday Boys

Gavin shares his birthday with his Uncle James, my younger brother. James turned the big 3-0 (ouch!) and Gavin turned the big 1! So we combined birthday parties and had a great time. I have to share these sweet pictures of the birthday boys together.

One Year Ago Today...

Gavin Webb McMillan was born. Where does the time go?? I just want to shout, "Stop! Wait! Slow down!" When I was a new mom I'd hear all the time, "Enjoy this time. It goes so fast." After awhile I started getting a little annoyed. The endless sleeplessness contributed to that. But I think I am finally now beginning to understand why the little old ladies say it every time I run into them in the produce section. It really does go so fast. I feel like this picture was taken just last week and I was holding a little 8 pound baby, struggling to nurse, battling two toddlers wanting to sit on my c-section incision while poking their little fingers into Gav's eyes, waking up every 3-4 hours a night to feed (wait, I still do that!: :)), nuzzling little tiny feet and kissing the sweet wrinkles on his forehead when he looked up at me (that is my most favorite newborn feature--those forehead wrinkles).


A year later I am struggling to hold his little body still while I change his diaper, battling two preschoolers who want to keep him out of their newly built train track, nuzzling a little pot belly and kissing his sweet, chubby cheeks. He is an extremely determined child. Just last week he wanted into the bath tub with Cade and Myla and so he tried to climb in. He kept at it for quite some time, and before I knew it he was in head first, sputtering up water, but with a huge grin on his face because he did it! He is walking now, although he doesn't like to walk to us. He'll stand up and when he thinks we aren't looking he'll practice taking steps. Last night he took 5 steps! He'll be walking in no time. I can already tell that Gavin will be one of those people who just doesn't quit.



Gavin is a picky eater. I feel like he's not getting enough nutrition because he won't eat anything! He reminds me of Cade too, eating on the run. He'll only eat a couple of bites at a time and then wants to move on. But he does love potatoes...that's how I know he's mine. Well, and I gave birth to him. :) He'll eat mashed potatoes, hash browns, baked potatoes...he loves them. He also loves music and he loves to roll the ball around the house. A ball will keep him occupied for a good half hour. He'll bat at it, chase it down, and bat at it again. He's gotten pretty fast.


Gavin has brought such joy into our home. His smile is contagious. Cade and Myla continue to dote over him. Cade has taken to carrying him around the house with him now. As long as Gavin stays out of his train tracks, Cade loves to play with him and wants him with him. Myla is a little mommy to him. She's always trying to feed him a bottle and tells me when he needs a diaper change. She talks to him in this high, squeaky baby voice. She loves her little brother. Gavin is becoming a little Daddy's boy. The second Kevin walks in the door, Gavin books it as fast as his little knees can carry him over to Kevin. And if Kevin doesn't pick him up right away he squawks until he does. We are grateful to have Gav in our family. We love him so much. I am continually striving to enjoy each day. It does go so fast. Happy birthday little man!!

Under Construction

Sorry for the lack of updates, etc. We have been busy getting our house ready to rent out (which we did!), then moving next door into three bedroom. I know, moving next door sounds so easy, right? Moving is moving. I'm just saying. :) Throw in 4 sick people and it's downright miserable. But when it's all over we'll have more room. Yay! But we we won't have the Picketts living next door. Booo! Well, they can run but they can't hide. :)