Cousin'd out! for Spring Break

Talk about a spring break of fun - my kids got to see just about every cousin they have this week! From Jake and Sam Boyle to Janie and Ellie Patterson, to Livia Niu - and onto their second cousins Hunter, Montana, Lexus, Brooke and Brittany. WOW!

The first part of the week, they wanted to play outside. It was cold, but they didn't care. They ate outside and they played outside (but had to use blankets).

Then we went to the Discovery Center. Loads of fun. There were pully's and mirrors and wheels, oh my! Parker and Hunter went off on their own - studying and investigating.

Katie, Montana, and Lexus pulled themselves up to the ceiling! Then they got to go grocery shopping in the "kid size" grocery store.

The coolest thing was these HUGE yellow discs that you sit in front of - one on each side of the room. You and a friend sit in front of each one and then speak into it, and it gets heard on the other side of the room where the other person is! No wires, no phone lines, no speakers - just the discs. It was very interesting.

And Andrew, Livia, Brooke and Brittany just hung out observing and trying to take things in.

Fascinating!

Alex, the Iguana

Parker has this pet iguana. He named him Alex. It's not the easiest pet to play with, but when he does, the iguana likes to climb - mostly trees, or the window blinds, or Parker's head. You know, whatever is closest. :-)

Andrew just likes watching him move - and he even gave him kisses once!

We're going private!

We live in a world were there are some crazies out there, so we are going private with our blog.

We still would like all our friends and family to be able to read about us, so I want you to send me your email address - the one you use most often (it can be any email suffix, not just a gmail account). If you feel comfortable leaving your email address as a comment, please do so.

If you don't feel comfortable with that, please send me an email (from the email you want me to use) with ADD ME in the subject line to angboyle@hotmail.com and I'll put you as a viewer.

I want to keep my family safe, and every little bit helps. Thanks for understanding!
Angela

It's Party Time!!

Since Katie's birthday fell on the day before Easter this year, she got to celebrate for 2 days, practically. With Easter egg hunts and cake, dinner out and presents, she just ate it up! And so did everyone else! We all had such a good time together.

Breakfast of Champions

Of all places to choose from, Katie wanted a McDonald's breakfast of pancakes, sausage, and hashbrowns - her brothers had no complaints about that!

She wanted a "Fur Real" animal for her birthday. This is Fluffy (she picked that name).

Her cousins Janie and Ellie Patterson and Bailey Marti helped her open more gifts!

Katie wanted to go to the arcade before dinner.

Dinner with the Boyle family at Chuck-a-rama (Katie got to pick the place to eat)

The Birthday Cake that Grandma Bev made

The Gang that sang - Happy Birthday, that is.

Easter

Well, since Easter came so early this year, I almost missed it. I guess it just came so fast after St. Patricks Day and since Katie's birthday was the day before it, I'm almost behind now.






Saturday - The kids had an Easter egg hunt and we ate lots of candy! They got to spend time with their cousins on the Marti side - Janie and Ellie, and Bailey.







Sunday - we got to spend with the Boyle family. Jake and Sam were in town and they had a really fun time egg hunting.








And the finding of treats in the grass was the best part!

Sunday dress up time - the boys are so handsome and the girls are just precious!

Katie turns six!

Katherine Boyle - March 22, 2002

Grandma made her first blanket!

(also known as the "buppie")

It's hard to believe that Katie is 6 already. She's been my little girl for so long, that it's hard to see her growing up so fast. It just seems like yesterday that she was cooing and saying her first word - which was "Hi!" (A social butterfly from the start!).

Left - Katie at 18 mo. with mommy's hat on, Right - Katie fell asleep on the floor with her "buppie"

Left - Katie (age 2) with Parker after they have colored themselves with sidewalk chalk, Right - Katie (age 2 1/2) and Parker in Moscow, Idaho for their photo shoot.

Left - Katie (age 4) with her "favorite daddy" (her words), Right - Katie (age 5 1/2) and Mommy in a winter parade

Left and Right - Katie with her brothers, Parker and Andrew

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SNUGGLERS!

Help! Call the fire department!

Ok, wait, you don't have to call the fire department, but you will have to keep an eye on us - WE PLAYED WITH MATCHES! Well, at least Jeff and Parker did - Katie, Andrew and I just watched.

Apparently in hic-town (Nampa), you get to burn things in your yard - namely your ditches. Jeff did this all the time growing up in Idaho Falls, so of course, he's the pro. As for me, little ol' city girl, this is my first time. The only mistake made was this: Jeff used up and placed the empty box of matches in his pocket, and got out the brand new box. Then, thinking he had the empty box in his hand, thru it into the small fire, thus burning all 100 matches we had left. Luckily, there was enough flame going to take small portions of the weeds over to the next pile to light it. Our ditch is clean and burnt - good job Jeff!

Parker, being ALL BOY, just loved the fact that we had a fire going (you see him jumping up and down in the above picture?). He could have cared less where it was - camping or in our backyard - fire is fire, mom! Katie got too cold and went inside and Andrew was in awe and just watched it burn.

Needless to say, we all smelt like smoke. And now, we get to pass on this wonderfully-smelly "tradition" to our children. Idn't that sumtin'!? (Eek, it's rubbing off on me already-ha ha)

It's not east being GREEN!

The party table


Now that I'm a part of the Boyle family, dinner on St. Patty's day always (and I stress always) consists of Corned Beef and Cabbage. It's supposed to be a traditional Irish dish, but the funny thing is that the Irish rarely eat it anymore. If you have never had it, the beef is a very salty red meat (even when cooked it's red) and it pulls apart a lot like shredded beef. The cabbage, potatoes and carrots are boiled and served as a side.




Bit O' Trivia - The last name that our family adorns today was not originally Boyle. Jeff's great, great (I think 2 "greats") grandfather came to America and changed their original name of O'Boyle to fit in with the Americans. So, my husband and my children are part Irish ("part" is stretching it, though).

But I'm not leaving me out, oh no, I'm Irish too. What, you say? Blonde hair and blue eyes should be on a Swiss family tree, not an Irish one, right? Right. My dad's family is from Switzerland, where I get the blonde hair. My mom's side is from Australia - good day, mate! But you see, what you don't know, is that some of my dad's family has been traced back (and not too far back, mind you) to the Isle of Mann (small island alongside Ireland) where most of its people are Irish. So you can see that it would confuse people if I tell them I'm Irish - so I usually don't. You are lucky today.

It's just not east being GREEN!