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March, Oh March!

I have been waiting so long for you!

We are doing something super fun for Spring Break in a few weeks, and I've been looking forward to it forever. Maybe that is why the time has been crawling by.

Anyway, we started March off with a bang! 

March 1st was Dr. Seuss's birthday (observed, because it is really the 2nd). Maisey's class and some other classes from her school went on a walking field trip to our local library to celebrate.

 Members of the Rotary club came and read Dr. Seuss stories to the kids

 Then each group got a bag of supplies to make a "thinking cap."

 This was my group's final product! They used the bag that the supplies came in to make it! It was supposed to be Dr. Seuss and Sally (the character they were assigned) in Hawaii at night.Very, ahem, creative!

 This was the group presenting their hat to the other classes.

Also on March 1, I had my first massage by a man! Eeeek! I was really nervous, I know I'm weird! I've had dozens of massages before, just never by a dude! I survived, and it was really nice and relaxing!

 Expereince: most awkward ever, Massage: best ever!

The next day, Shaun and Maisey went on a date to lunch and the women's BYU basketball game against U of Portland!

 She had been telling everyone she could about her date with her daddy. She was so excited.

Not too many people at the game, but BYU won! Go Cougs!

Unfortunately, on the way home Maisey threw up. I guess that's what happens when Dad can't say no to his little girl and lets her eat Panda Express, milkshakes, popcorn, and candy. Once she got it all out she felt much better and acted like nothing even happened! What a way to end a date!

The Rest of February

 February is the shortest month of the year, but it seemed to drag on and on for me! 

 We went on our Valentine's date and I got a huge plate of my favorite: Nachos!

 We found this shirt for Shaun when we were shopping on our date night. He loves Shamrock milkshakes, so of course, we got him the shirt!

While we were out, my mom sent me this pic of Miley! She was so excited to be having a movie night with her brother and sister. They watched a Valentine Charlie Brown. All three kids loved it! (except for now Gage goes around saying stupid this, or stupid that.:( Mom's not loving that!)

The kids are still in swim lessons! They absolutely love it and both chose to do the next session of swim lessons instead of signing up for T-ball. Fine by me! No Saturday commitments and no standing in the rain and no mud!!!!

 Maisey practicing her side breathing and her arm strokes.

 Gage has been particularly funny to watch lately. There are two teachers for his class and he only likes one of them. He always chooses her to jump in to and to swim with. If the other teacher tries to swim with him he will say no and point to the teacher that he likes. He gives the teacher hugs and pats her on the back and shoulder. It is really cute!

Lovin' the pool time!

 The kids got hair cuts, and in Gage's case, ear cuts!

 Miley pulled herself up to standing for the first time.

 We got a brand new missionary in our ward, a "greenie" if you will, and his companion asked us to make him a green dinner since we were the first family feeding him. I made homemade Alfredo sauce (a new recipe that was delicious!), fettuccine, broccoli, chicken, green Jell-O jigglers, and green homemade Parmesan bread sticks. We had mint chocolate chip ice cream for dessert. It was all really good and fun to make! 

On the last day of February, Miley had her 9 mo. check up. It was down in Salem, so we went to run errands first. In 2.5 hours with 2 kids I got the oil changed in the van, went to Michael's, Famous Footwear, Target, Panera Bread, Costco, and the doctor. It was a hectic morning, but it felt good to get everything done.  

I got Gage some lunch at Costco and he insisted on eating at the tables there instead of in the car. So we found a table to sit at while he ate his lunch. Three different tables of old ladies swarmed us and couldn't stop telling me how cute my kids were. It was somewhat comical how much attention we were getting.

I mean I know she is cute (a picture taken before we left to run all the errands) but it was just funny how many ladies were oooing and awwwwing over them.

 Miley ate her lunch on the run 

And I ate mine in the car! Have I ever told you how obsessed I am with Panera's salads? Delicious!

Anyway, Miley's 9 month stats were:

Height: 27.5 in (37%)

Weight: 18.3 lbs (30%)

Head: 44.0 (43%)

And we officially ended February with a nice shot in the leg for the cute babe!

So glad it's over!

A Mama's Boy!

Gage loves to do what I'm doing and go where I'm going. He is such a sweet guy. The other day he was laying on the floor in the Family Room reading books and I was making dinner in the kitchen. He calls to me, "Hey Mom, guess what? I love you!" Or he is always snuggling up to me on the couch and saying "Merry Christmas Mom Mom" in his cute, sweet voice. He kind of struggled, behaviorly (is that even a word?), the last few months, but this past week he has done awesome. He hasn't thrown any major fits and I've been able to talk him down from escalating emotions. I hope we are on the right track to managing his behavior!

 Helping me bake in the kitchen!

 Fanning me with a book after my workout. I told you, he is so sweet to me!

 Changing his baby's diaper. He used a kitchen towel to wipe the bum! 

 I bought him these new socks that have different animal footprints on the bottoms. He likes to look at the footprints, so we wears them the wrong way. He also likes these socks because they are "big boy socks" with out the grippers on the bottom. He likes to slide around the kitchen with them on.

He is super obsessed with clocks. I knew he was, but a few days before Christmas when we went to see Santa, that what he told Santa he wanted. . . A clock! So Mrs. Claus had to make a quick last minute trip to the store. He loves his clock! He takes the numbers out and puts them back in the wrong order and thinks he is so silly. He also says when the long hand points to this number it means it's time for a snack, or it's time for mommy to clean up the toys, or it's time to go swimming, or whatever he wants to do. It's really funny and cute to see how he is learning the concept of time. And to add to his obsession, he asks me to sing him Hickory Dickory Dock every night. We make up funny rhymes for the numbers and silly things that the mouse does. He loves it, and I love to listen to his cute little giggle.

I've really enjoyed this school year watching his learn new things when he goes to school but then being able to spend some good quality one on one time with him while Miley is sleeping and Maisey is at school. He can be difficult to deal with at times, but I love his sweet personality and his silly sense of humor!

My Diva Girl

This girl never ceases to amaze me. She is so into design and photography it cracks me up. Sometimes I don't always approve of her latest "fashion design" especially if we are going out in public, but I love that she has a creative mind and isn't afraid to try new things!

 

 Modeling her new swimsuit.

 Taking a pic of herself in a new shirt!

One of her latest fashion creations.

 And another!

And every once in a while, no matter how hard she fights it, this Diva needs her beauty sleep!

** Also an update on the school situation: Her teacher and principal were very helpful dealing with the situation. They ended up having to get the girl's mom involved, but I am happy to report that it was been a little over two weeks and we have not had any more incidents. We have used this opportunity to talk about differences among people, and what self-esteem and self-worth mean. We had an FHE lesson on how Heavenly Father loves everyone for who they are and it is important to love ourselves and others the way that they are, even if they are different than us.

OMSI Night

Maisey's school had a free OMSI night, and boy did we have a lot of fun! We made an evening of it and picked Dad up from work, got dinner, then headed to OMSI to learn more about Science. There was also a myth busters exhibit that we paid to go into, but you weren't supposed to take pictures inside. I was obedient, so I don't have any pictures of that, but it was really cool!

 The kids launching bottle rockets. 

 Playing in the ball room

 Mom and Miley hanging out!

(You want to know how lame I am? I purposely dressed Miley in the same outfit as Maisey in this post.)

 This was Gage's favorite section. Cranes and trucks!

 Actually, I take that back. I'm pretty sure is favorite was playing in the lockers!

Maisey's favorite part was the fetus display. They show babies at each week 1-40. She thought it was pretty neat, and I think it meant more to her since I just went through that with Miley.

This was such a successful family night. All 3 kids were perfect all night long. No fits, no arguments, no meltdowns! I was pleasantly surprised and very grateful!

Cake Auction

Our ward does a Friends of Scouting Cake Auction every year. The cakes don't actually go for money because the activity is held at the church, but people bring their FOS donations and their cakes, then when they get to the activity there are little quiz things and you add up your points and that is what you get to bid with. 

This year I made my famous Reese's Peanut Butter Cake! And I have to say, it was one of the most bid on cakes there!

A lot of Reese's wrappers!

 Seriously, this cake is devine!

We (Shaun and I) didn't want to take home a cake, but when Gage saw a cake with Hot Wheel cars on it, he was set on getting it. So the three of us put our points together to get Gage his beloved cake! Well, a couple (without kids, and who made the cake) kept raising the bid, and we didn't have enough points. It was so sad to see Gage's disappointed face. He was devastated, but I figured it was a good way to talk about how even though we really really really want something, sometimes someone else needs it more than us. A few minutes later, the couple who won the cake brought it over to Gage and said they felt bad and wanted him to have it.

 Look how happy he was!

 He ate that thing and drove cars all over it until it was time to go home!

It was sure a sticky mess, but we really appreciated the couple for changing their minds and making our 3 year old the happiest boy!

And Maisey, well, she could have cared less about Gage's cake because she pooled her points with some big kids and they won themselves a gumball cake!

Which was downed in 2 seconds flat!

And caused a major sugar high, because this girl has never even chewed a piece of sugar gum in her life!

When she got home she couldn't sit still, she couldn't stop talking, and she couldn't focus on anything. Luckily we got her in bed pretty quickly and by the morning it had worn off.