Church and Garden Fun!

I'm posting the first part of our week today because eeearrly tomorrow morning I am headed out of town and I wanted to be all caught up before I left.

SUNDAY:

I don't have any pictures from this day. But let me tell you, the first 20 minutes of Sacrament Meeting were fun! Gage loudly stated these 3 things:

1. I don't like the bishop! (while he was doing some ward business)

2. That boy looks like a girl!!!!! (about one of the ym who was passing the sacrament.)

and the best of the day. . .

3. He started gagging up his tiny piece of bread and yelled, "What is this, eagle poop??" In all fairness, it was a very seedy kind of bread that he is not used to, but seriously, I was ready to call the day quits!

So I just came home from church and took a 3 hour nap instead! We have almost survived half of the year with 8 am church! 

MONDAY:

We had the missionaries over for dinner, and it went surprisingly well. After Sacrament meeting the day before, I was a bit nervous about what we would get. But the kids were well behaved and dinner was delicious! Gage did headbutt Shaun in the lip and caused it to bleed, but it was an accident, so we'll call the night a success!

 After the missionaries left, I had to capture this moment. All three kids within touching proximity of each other AND getting along! Maybe a blessing because we fed the missionaries?

TUESDAY:

Last week we rototilled the garden boxes and rebuilt the second box. Today I finally got around to planting the garden and I had lots of "helping" hands! I was very clear on when and when not Gage could use the hose so we wouldn't have a repeat of last week! 

 We planted pretty much what we did last year. 2 kinds of pumpkins, cucumber, zucchini, sugar snap peas, string beans, romain lettuce, carrots, and sunflowers. We also spread some wildflower seeds for the first time this year, so we will see how those turn out!

 Yesterday was pedicure day at our house! This is the first time that toddler Miley has had hers done. She did really well holding still and letting them dry! It's fun to see her do big girl things!

WEDNESDAY:

 This is what my counter looks like all the time! I think I have an obsession with lists, or stickies? Maybe both!!! Getting ready to leave for a trip is a lot of work, getting ready to leave your husband with 2/3 of your kids is even harder! Haha!

 These two crazies have so much fun together! They are constantly finding some way to make messes be creative! Today they were racing strollers around the house and dumping their contents as they went!

Miley didn't want to get out of the van when we got home from dropping Gage off at school. She kept saying "mo byebie" which translates to "more barbie" so this busy mom obliged! I worked at the table while she finished her movie in the van! I was afraid my car wouldn't start when I had to pick Gage up but it did!

Wet Bed and Parade

May 12-17

MONDAY:

 For FHE we tried out our new fire pit for the first time! The kids thought it was pretty cool and asked if we could do it again the next night!

 Like I said in her birthday post, she has now discovered the top bunk, which really freaks me out because she is daring and doesn't really care about or notice edges! 

TUESDAY:

 We headed to my mom's school for lunch and Gage taught us all about dinosaurs! He's really been into to them since we watched that movie! 

 I broke out some of my parenting books after several frustrating days in a row with Gage. (In the middle of a meltdown, I may have told Shaun I was done being his mom!!) I decided to delve into Have a New Kid by Friday and I literally had a new kid two days later! It has you focus on changing attitudes before you change behavior, which has made all the difference!

WEDNESDAY:

 Miley wore her Elsa Anna shirt from her birthday and walked around all day pointing at them and naming them! Her puppy purse accessorized her outfit perfectly!

 What is with that mannequin dog from Old Navy? The kids LOVE it!!!

THURSDAY:

 One of my friends invited me to attend her church's play group. This is only the second time I have gone and all of the mom's are really nice. Miley enjoys the interaction with the kids!

 Gage had his 5 year old check up and it was hilarious to hear him answer some of the doctor's questions. Like for instance, what is your favorite food? Gage replied, "Apples!" The kid will hardly ever eat one. I'm just glad he didn't say chips!

FRIDAY:

I taught art in Maisey's class and we learned about the Russian artist Kandinsky and used some of his techniques to create Spring trees.

During art, Miley's babysitter played Frozen with her and made her a Frozen wand and crown. Miley thought she was pretty hot stuff and when her siblings got home from school they were a tad bit jealous!

 How can a baby go from being so sweet and cute to five minutes later throwing a holy fit at the post office and laying down on the NASTY NASTY floor?

 Our smoke alarm in the hall starting chirping in the middle of the night so I ran to the store to buy batteries to replace them all in the house. That didn't stop the chirping. So I read online on how to reset it which involved me turning off the breaker, unhooking the wiring, taking the battery out, pressing and holding the button, then putting it all back together again. I was frustrated when five minutes later it started chirping again. We ended up just buying new ones for the whole house, and $70 later, we have a chirp free house! Whew!

 While I was trying to deal with the whole smoke alarm thing, Gage snuck into the back yard and played with the hose. Our bedroom window was open and he must have sat there and sprayed through the screen for 15 minutes with how soaked our bed was!

That's right, that's my new lap top and external hard drive sitting on the bed. . . SOAKED!!!

 Thankfully we have a down comforter and the laptop was kind of sunken down in it and the comforter protected the ports from getting wet!

 Between dealing with the smoke alarms and my son who loves hoses, I was soooo ready for date night! Dinner and the temple is the best!

SATURDAY:

 We started the morning off feeding the ducks at the lake in Keizer!

 Then we ate doughnuts while we waited for the parade to start!

 Miley loved the pet grooming entry this year. She thought all of the puppies in tutus were so funny!

 Miley is the only normal one of the bunch!

After the parade we headed to a birthday party!

 Each kid got a gold fish and my first thought was, "Oh crap! Now we have to keep these dang things alive!"

 But they actually released them into a pond in the back yard.

 They each enjoyed dumping their fish and watching them swim off!

Then we headed inside and "fished" for prizes!

The kids had a super fun day and were all asleep by 7:30! 

Yay for busy Saturdays!

This week was our least busiest week in months! It sure felt nice to not be running around like crazy all week!

Miley is 2!!!

Little Miss Miley turned 2 last Monday but I'm just barely getting around to her birthday post. She's not quite old enough for her own interview so these are things I want to remember about her at this age.

* Miley is all about clothes and shoes. She can correctly identify and name pants, shoes, socks, boots, flip flops, belt, diaper, undies, shirt, dress, coat, jammies, swim suit, and hair pretties. Her absolutely LOVES wearing footie jammies and a coat, even when it is 90* outside.

* Miley calls all kids babies, even if they are twice her size. She has also recently shown interest in baby dolls and likes to snuggle with them and push them in her stroller.

* She loves to go on walks. When we walk to get the mail she throws a fit when we have to turn around to go back home. She just wants to keep riding in the stroller. 

* Miley can now open doors. She used to just shut herself in the dark closets or bathroom and scream but she has finally figured out how to get out of them. Which also means she figured out how to open Maisey's door. Maisey's not so excited about this. And with that new found freedom, she has learned how to climb on Maisey's top bunk. Mom's not so excited about this.

* Miley really is a genuinely happy child with an infectious laugh. Each member of our family is good about getting her to laugh in different ways. She is adored by everyone.

* She is a blankie baby and drags it around the house all day. Her blankie is often accompanied by her pup pup.

* Speaking of pup pup, she is our only kid who is not afraid of animals. She chases the kitties around the neighborhood and freaks out anytime she sees a puppy that she can't pet. She loves seeing the fishies and the gecko and Gage's school. 

* The first thing that Miley has really shown interest in is Frozen. I like that she has a favorite toy, book, and movie now so I have a little bit more parental leverage! :) She walks around the house knocking on doors and saying, "Elsa?" just like in the movie. And she sings Let it Go as she falls asleep every night.

* She is such a sweet heart. She loves to cuddle and read books, and she will hold her arm or leg up to be rubbed. She will beg me to "hold you, hold you" which means she wants me to hold her. 

We really could not imagine our family with out her! 

Love you Mi Mi!!!

Mother's Day and Birthday Celebration

I woke up on Sunday to Gage begging me to go out to the family room. He could not contain his excitement. . . or his secret for that matter. He'd been holding it in for 3 days and he just could not wait one more minute! So he dragged me out there and said, "Ta-Da!!! It's your bench!" I was so excited! Plus I got some See's chocolates which makes it even that much better!

Maisey picked out a Barbie card for me that had this sticker inside. She insisted I wear it to church. Luckily, with kids climbing all over me during Sacrament Meeting it lost its stickiness then I didn't have to walk around anymore looking conceded!

In Primary, the kids wrote on cards and attached them to cupcakes to give to their moms! Having 3 primary kids pays off! Miley happily swung hers to the car!

Love my three babies. . . and my bench! 

(Also, I begged Gage to wear a tie for me since it was Mother's Day and all! Gotta milk the day for all it's worth!)

I was excited to share my day with my baby who was turning two the next day!

After church and pictures she got to change into her birthday dress. . . for more pictures! She loved the dress and kept twirling around in it!

This is by far, the lamest birthday cake my kids have ever had. Call me selfish, but it was Mother's Day and I didn't really feel like working hard on a cake. So I stuck some ponies on it and very quickly, and crookedly, piped a border on it and called it good!

Shaun made delicious carne asada tacos for dinner! This was a first time with this recipe and it will definitely be repreated! I even ate them the next two nights for left overs, and I don't usually eat leftovers!!!

After dinner, we let the birthday girl open her gifts!

She got a new camping chair!

This was her "big" gift from mom and dad! Elsa and Anna barbie dolls! (Those suckers are hard to find, luckily we have a Disney insider who hooked us up!)

This babe couldn't believe that she was holding Elsa and Anna!! It was definitely a mommy moment seeing her get so excited about those dolls!

She tried putting the candles out with her hands while we were singing to her! She eventually figured out how to blow them out after several attempts and a thin layer of spit on the cake! :)

I loved sharing my day with my baby!!!!!