The Hamel Family

Videos

2009-06-25T15:35:00.000-07:00

Madeline is singing Mulan:

Who is that girl I see?
Staring stright back at me,
When will my reflection show,
who I am inside ....

June

2009-06-25T15:01:00.000-07:00

So far our summer has been non-stop!

Riley has had swimming lessons, we joined the reading club at the library and the girls also are doing "learning time" at home for rewards.

We are at the pool almost everyday...I know it's rough, poor Chad. The girls are quite the little swimmers.

We have managed to go camping once, even though it rained on us a little. We are planning a second camping trip this weekend.

Graduation Day

2009-05-30T09:03:00.000-07:00

Graduation Day for our girls was filled with fun, treats and lots of smiles!

I am horrible at this!

2009-04-14T13:51:00.000-07:00

So I am pretty horrible at this whole blog thing. I procrastinate and so much time passes between posts. Humm..

Riley had her Kindergarten registration last week. Passed all her tests with flying colors. She is so excited she can hardly stand it!

Madeline decided she wanted to "go potty like a big girl" and has since become potty trained. It was so easy I could not be happier. She has pretty much done it all on her own, AWESOME!

Chad has since started with the Idaho Department of Transportation which is great! I am so proud of him for all his accomplishments. He thinks he will like it and it is a great place to work for.

We have also recently has visits from both Papa and Memere' and Pepere'. Thank you all for the good visits and we miss you already. Here are some photos from Easter and the last month.

Really ... January?

2009-02-25T19:48:00.000-08:00

Seriously ... it has been THAT long since I posted? Wow! I knew it has been awhile but I didn't know just how long. So anyhow .... what has been knew with us?

Chad - HAS A NEW JOB!!!! YEA! I am so very proud of him. He has put in a lot of hard work looking for a new opportunity and one finally came his way. I cannot think of some one who deserves it more. He does so much to provide for us! I am very lucky. I am also very spoiled. Dishes, cleaning, dinner, baths, laundry ... ALL done. Rides to school, snacks, lunches AND breakfasts ... ALL done. Watching my BFF's 10 month old daughter...Done... Does he really have to go back to work? Something tells me he is secretly excited. Call it a hunch. I think he wants to! Ha.

Riley is doing awesome! She sings a good morning song that she learned at Tiny Hands in Spanish. Very cute, Dad told her to now 'sing it in English', and SHE DID! In addition, we had lunch with her good friend Conner this afternoon and Riley was quite distressed that Conner was to have another friend over for a play date. It only took her a short while to warm up to him though. Although, rather destructive, they had a good time playing. Sorry about the mattresses Crystal. :0)

Madeline's new favorite thing to say is "DON'T tell me my words"! Always lovely when your 2 year old starts sassing back. Good times I tell you ... but how can you get mad? She is just so cute! She is doing great in pre-school! She knows her ABC's, colors, and numbers. She loves to dance and cannot get enough breakfast food. She loves eggs, eggs, pancakes, eggs, juice, and ya ... eggs.

Me ... just happy to be part of it all! Thank you family. And thank you Memere' for an awesome visit. We miss you! Here are some photos!

Riley's Birthday

2009-01-18T16:19:00.000-08:00

Hello again!

Well Chad managed to download our photos of the Birthday girl! In case you were wondering the parents survived a 5 year-old Chuck-E-Cheese Birthday (Thank you Aunt Kathy and Uncle Andre)!! It was SO much fun and we all enjoyed ourselves. Riley had been asking for a Chuck-E-Cheese Birthday for almost a full year so her wish was granted. She told us she "truly felt like a Birthday princess". Nothing makes a parent feel better than knowing your child is happy. She received a lot of cute gifts from her friends. A Lite-Brite from her good friends Conner & Kate and a baby Littlest Pony. Also, a red sweater from Auntie Marie that she must have worn at least 15 times already! Memere` and Pepere` bought her a new bike and Mom and Dad just a bunch of 'stuff'. Thank you for all who shared this day with us! We love you and thank you for all your LOVE AND SUPPORT!!!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-11T15:38:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to everyone! So far it has been great, lots of fun with the family.

New Year's Eve was low key, we stayed in with the girls and played a Dr. Seuss game that Riley received for Christmas. Then of course New Year's Day was Riley's 5th Birthday. It was pretty cute because she asked if she was going to go to Kindergarten now. We have been telling her when she is 5 she will get to go, and apparently she took it very literally. We celebrated with the family by taking her to lunch and to a play gym and then came home and had cake. After that we took her to Build-a-Bear where she made a Hello Kitty which was her gift from our neighbor.

Her party with her friends was yesterday at Chuck-E-Cheese. We had a great time. For some reason my photo card is not letting me download but I am working on it. She had 10 little friends come to her party and we had pizza, soda, cupcakes and Chuck-E came to the table and wished Riley a Happy Birthday! She received a bunch of cool gifts. Today she got to go to the local High School gym and play with the other kids while Dad played basketball and Mom and Madeline hung out at home.

Here are a few pictures to enjoy while I figure out this silly card ... ugh!

Family Photos

2008-12-26T18:27:00.000-08:00

Christmas 2008

2008-12-26T17:56:00.000-08:00

We have had a great December. It has been so nice having Chad home with us, I am trying not to get use to it, but it is sure easy to do! I have been spoiled with laundry and chores done and dinner on the table when I get home. I am so very lucky to have such a wonderful man!

We have had all kinds of fun. We have been doing family movie nights and also playing lots of board games with the girls. Talk about good quality time and everyone enjoys themselves. What more could you ask for?

We have had a relaxing and wonderful holiday season thus far. Earlier this week we drove around and looked at Christmas lights. We made a stop at the "Disney House" (a friends house, her dad who dresses like Santa every year and hands out goodies to the children). So the girls saw Santa (his helper) and took their picture with Jasmine and Airel. It was very cute.

Christmas Eve was great. We were lucky enough to spend it with our very good friends the Ashton's. Crystal made a delicious Mexican dinner of flautas, shredded beef, rice and all the condiments to go along with it. Yum! We exchanged gifts and headed home to wait for Santa. When we got home we quickly sprinkled our Magic Reindeer Food (made of oats and glitter) outside so Santa would be sure to see our house then hurried to bed.

Christmas day was SO much fun. It was so relaxing we took our time opening all the gifts and played in between. Riley is quite the expert at tearing throught the gifts very quickly and Madeline was more interested in the chocolate she found in her stocking than her gifts! Santa was very good to us and we are thankful for all who had us in their thoughts!

Today has been just as good. Relaxing and full of lots of new things to play with. I have so many photos to post so I hope you all enjoy!

I am a slacker ...

2008-12-06T14:39:00.000-08:00

So I have been slacking. I know it sounds cliche, but we have been keeping rather busy at the Hamel house. Thanksgiving was nice and relaxing. We managed to stay in our p.j.'s all day long. We showered mid-day and just put on a clean pair! Dinner was delicious, we had a traditional feast with all the fixing's. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans and a pumpkin pie that Riley made in pre-school. It was fabulous. Friday we made a turkey with chipoltle chilis and spices with black beans and sopa (Spanish rice), and of course Sunday we had turkey soup .... the girls loved it!

It was nice having Chad home for the week and we hung out and got some spring...well ok not spring cleaning done but winter cleaning if you will. Closets, toy box etc.... Thursday we picked Madeline up from school and went past Idaho City to pick out a Christmas tree. Again, we had a great time. The girls had fun playing in a couple inches of snow! We also ran into a Forest Ranger who told us to be carfeul because he saw some wolf tracks. Cool! Lots of wildlife here in ID. We have our tree and tonight we will decorate it followed by family movie night, Kung-Fu Panda and popcorn!

Today we had a great day at the zoo Claw's and Paws followed by some time at the park. I have a funny video clip to add if I can figure out how. But for now I will post some photos. Better hurry time to decorate!

Riley is a comedian

2008-11-25T09:06:00.000-08:00

Ok real quick since I am not feeling all so great ..... This past Sunday I decided to have a little get together for some of my friends at our clubhouse. There were 10 of us ladies who each brought a craft to work on and a snack to share. Needless to say we had a great time. So anyhow, I wake up Monday morning with no voice (laryngitis and a cough). Riley wants to know what happened to my voice and asks if one of my friends from the party took it. I chuckle and tell her no, in which she replies "Well then maybe you should quit talking to your friends so much!" Gotta love her.

Riley and Madline News

2008-11-21T12:25:00.001-08:00

Well we have had a couple of exciting things happen this week. For starters on Wednesday Madeline started sleeping in her "big girl bed". Which is a twin that we bought a week ago. There were no issues what so ever! She was very very excited about being able to have a bed like her big sis Riley, and was excited to climb in come bed time. She told me numerous times that "Daddy made it", which in a way I guess he did, he brought it up stairs and put the bedding on. Thanks Chad!

Thursday I had to take Riley to the Dr. for her 5 year well visit and shots. The doctor said she was a very bright and healthy girl. She weighs 34 lbs. and is 40 inches tall. They also tested her hearing and vision which she passed with flying colors.

Riley took a digger on her bike and bumped her head (she was NOT wearing her helmet) which she claims is to small. I think a ploy to get me to buy the Disney Princess one she wanted (it worked). So needless to say she ended up with a large bump on her head. I took a photo but TRUST ME, it looks worse in the picture so no worries!

Lastly, Chad and I watched my friends three children last night. They are super easy going good kids so it is no chore. Here are a couple of photos to prove it! Conner is a teddy bear and Sadie is just a happy baby. Thanks Crystal for sharing her with me.

Monday ....

2008-11-17T15:52:00.000-08:00

I thought I should check in....it has already been a week since I have written. I am still playing with this trying to figure out how to maneuver the pictures, etc. We have been doing well. Friday Riley had a field trip to the Meridian Fire Station. We were there about 15 minutes before they received a call and had to go out. Hopefully we will get to go back again, it was interesting. Riley and Madeline had a Birthday party on Saturday at an indoor play gym called Rafiki. It was very cute, and they had lots to do there. Of course the girls had a blast. Dad took off to run errands and I chatted with the other moms. Other than that our weekend was pretty uneventful. Today we painted and read books, Riley rode her bike and took a digger. So now it is time for the girls to watch a movie and I need to cook dinner!

Happy Anniversary

2008-11-10T12:41:00.000-08:00

So the blog is still looking pretty plain. I am going over my friend's house on Tuesday and I will see if she can help me out! On to the news .... The four of us went to Disney on Ice last night and had a great time. The girls had their eyes glued to the characters the entire time. Madeline especially got a kick out of the Princesses shouting at each of them that they did a good job! Very cute. Riley was super excited to watch the fireworks they had at the end of the show and asked a bunch of questions about the staging and production side of things. Chad and I also enjoyed ourselves. Nothing like seeing your children so happy. Today is our 3 year anniversary, it has gone by so quickly. I feel very lucky to have found myself such a wonderful man. Thank you Chad for making my world a special place. I love you!

Chad said it was only a matter of time ....

2008-11-06T08:46:00.000-08:00

So I have be inspired by all of our family and friends who have created blogs! I thought it would be especially nice for my in laws (Mike and Denise) to be able to keep track of our day to day activities. I may be getting myself in over my head but hey ... it should be fun! Chad has promised to help me keep this updated, now if only Riley knew how to type! This will be a work in progress since I have NO idea what I am doing ....

Thank you all for giving me such a wonderful Birthday and thinking of me! I love you!