"The" face

Michael has always been a funny face maker.  He often talks out of the side of his whole face and when he does, he draws out the word he's saying.  I finally got a picture of it. He says it the most with fruit snacks.  "Toot Naaaaaaaaacks."



The last hair cut he got I swear he grew up so much!  He's losing his toddler body and looks like a little  boy.

Normal Picture

 Ok. What is it about kids and taking a normal picture?!?!?!!  Not only does she like to pick out her own clothes every day, but she now has to fix her own hair too.

New Hair

Thanks to a really horrible haircut recently, I've been spending more time in the bathroom trying to get it to work with products, flat irons and what not.  Isabelle asked me to straighten her hair too.  And so it begins, "I don't like my hair curly.  Will you straighten mine?"   I could not believe how long it was!  It was cute, but I love her curly hair too much to do it very often for her. :)

Hair Cut

Luke was starting to look extra shaggy.  He did great for his first hair cut.  Michael is scared of getting his hair cut and always cries the entire time shaking his head, (yeah, it goes well).  During Luke's hair cut, Michael was so interested and with a little M&M and Cars 2 bribery, he actually almost sat still for his hair cut.  Thank you, Luke!  Little brothers can be an example!

Before


After

Great Toy

Luke got ahold of Isabelle's hula hoop and is in love. Seriously one of the best toys ever for a baby! It has the ball in it so it rattles, and it's the perfect size for his fist and it's big and makes his movements exaggerated.  And look at that face.  I cannot stop kissing it!

Outfit of the Day

Oh my little Isabelle.  I cannot get enough of her.  So I have started taking better pictures of her outfits. What makes this one particularly funny is I wanted to pick her clothes out for my birthday.  She told me, "Mom, when you pick out my clothes I look AWFUL!  When I pick out my clothes, I look beautiful.  I want to look beautiful for your birthday."  How could I say no to that?!  So this was my birthday outfit from Isabelle.

So Spoiled!

I have some great friends here in Spokane.  Not only did all of these ladies do something for me individually on my birthday, but then we went out to Applebee's on Saturday night to celebrate again.  We were there for 3 1/2 hours.  All our husbands asked what else we did...NOTHING!  We just ate appetizers and desserts and talked the night away without any kid distractions.  It was absolutely just what I needed!  These ladies are so great and I love spending time with them!

Happy Birthday to Me!

I had a birthday last week.  It was fabulous.  Well....after about noon, it was fabulous.  Michael woke up at good old 5:30, often when he wakes up that early, he asks to lay with me on the couch and falls back asleep for 2 hours.  Of course that wasn't my birthday present from him.  He was super whiny and loud and woke the other two kids up by 6:30. YAY! Definitely grouchy kid day. After lots of stupid little things, I finally made it to the gym, late, but still made it. The day had to get better from there right?  I was in a great mood and needed a few things at Costco, always a fun adventure!  Well, not so much that day.  Anyway, one thing after another went wrong, yada yada yada....I finally made it home, and despite my entire container of cherry tomatoes being spilled all over my garage floor, thank you little helpers, it had to get better for real. And sure enough it did!

A wonderful friend brought me lunch.  She said there's nothing worse that sitting at home with your kids alone eating PB&J on your birthday.  It really was so nice!  We had a great chat. Later a friend showed up, and another friend....it turned into a little impromptu b-day party.  I felt so loved! Mike came home from work early and we headed to....Costco again. :)  Mike gave me a new vacuum for my birthday (yes, I do want it) and we went to pick one out.  We ate some pizza, grabbed a DQ blizzard cake and headed home. It was a fun family night together.  It turned out to be wonderful!

3rd Child or What?

Yes, this is my child.  Yes, he is in just a diaper. Yes, we just walked in the door.  You know it's your third kid when.....

He has a blow out at the gym and all I had was a diaper on me (we were done and going out to the truck, no point in going out and coming back in just to go out again).  It was a good blow out too, and there I was using paper towels to clean him up.  Then I wrapped him tight in his blankie and headed out.  No point in wasting the emergency outfit and having to remember to replace it since we were just going home.  (I would have never done this with Isabelle, or Michael)

I found my diaper bag in a box about a month ago.  Yeah, I've thrown a diaper, wipes, toy, and cheerios in my purse.  Granted my truck has EVERYTHING I need and then some, so I really count that as my real diaper bag: jackets, blankets, emergency outfits, food, diapers, wipes, picnic supplies, sunscreen, you name it...it's there.

His plain white onesies look disgusting.  No amount of oxyclean or bleach can cure them anymore

You actually get sad and try to slow them down as they reach their milestones.

He only gets 3-4 board books read just to him. He gets forced to enjoy the big kid books when he want more.

So many other moments, I just chuckle and laugh to myself, "HA!  Must be my third."

On the flip side, I am really enjoying Luke as a baby so much.  This time is just too short and my 4 year old proves how fast it goes by. So although he comes home naked once in a while, I spoil him with love and hold him a lot and kiss him even more.

Steve

Our next door neighbor, Steve (Emily's dad), is so great with my kids.  He tinkers in his garage a lot and often during the day and the kids go bug him.  He's so patient with them and he lets them help and watch and whatnot.  The other day he was working on his motorcycle and he put the kids on the bike. Michael really did love it, it just never showed on any of the pictures I took. Isabelle on the other hand...

Funny Boy

I caught Luke's funny crawl.  He always uses this elbow and this hand. When he's in a short sleeve shirt his poor little elbow is so raw!  He has started showing interest in kneeling on all fours and started rocking, until he actually figures out the real crawl, he is still EVERYWHERE!  I find him at my front door, kitchen sink, Mike's office, the bathroom, he's getting pretty fast with his 1/2 and 1/2 crawl.


He also went on a wagon ride.  So funny....guess how he felt about it? He didn't crack a smile, but didn't cry.  He is so indifferent to new things.  I keep doing things just to get a reaction and see if he'll hate it or like it.  He always makes a decision after a few tries, but anything new he's just "there."  It's like he's soaking it all in to make an informed decision on if he likes it or not.  Love this kid!

Saturday Mornings Look a lot Like This

The morning after we got the couch, I walked into the living room to this. HAHAHA!!!!  All I could do was laugh.  Technology junkies. Most Saturday mornings are pretty lazy around here for everyone but me.  It's the day Mike actually lets the kids play his iPad and phone.  While everyone is engrossed, I am SOOO incredibly productive for a little bit.  After lunch we call it quits and do something fun together as a family.

Finally!

Last week, we finally got to have our first picnic of the year!  We LOVE our picnics.  We have special drinks and chips and hang out on the picnic blanket.  Even in our own front yard, who doesn't LOVE a good picnic?!  And who can resist these cuties in their sunglasses?

Our First....

Piece of new furniture!  So, other than mattresses and a crib, we've never bought furniture.  Thanks to Mike's mom needing a new couch just as we got married, we inherited the hand-me-down couch.  It's been a great couch, but it's almost as old as Mike and gotten more and more uncomfortable especially in just the last 6 months (could have something to do with the cute little monkeys jumping around my house).  It's fine for a little while, but a full movie is torture.  Conference weekend we groaned as we sat for 8 hours.  We finally decided to take the plunge and we started looking.  SO expensive.  So then, we kept looking.  Thanks to this awesome little ding and dent place, Spokane Discount, we found this baby for $348 (tax included). Yes, you read that right $348 for all 3 pieces of sectional.

We had to move the other pieces of the couch to get the new one in.  The kids had a blast jumping around.  I told them they actually could and they went crazy.  They need a trampoline.  I swear these last few weeks I feel like I've been on them for jumping on stuff constantly!


SO much more comfortable!!!!!


What we've done with the other couch until we figure out what to do with it. We can now actually walk through here. Mike calls it our formal living room.

Obsessed

I remember this age with Isabelle.  She had obsessions with butterflies and dice, and other random things.  Michael has one and only one obsession.  "Cars" and "Cars 2"  This kid is crazy obsessed.  Thanks to some hand-me-downs, Easter, potty training prizes, and a trip to the dollar store, his Cars collection has literally exploded in the last 2 months.  He is in heaven. 

He won't take these jammies off unless he gets a "Cars" sticker on the clothes he is going to wear for the day.


This isn't even all his Cars stuff, but they have to be all lined up next to his pillow.  This book is by far the most read book in our house right now.

A Thought Provoking Day

So today, I've had the most interesting day.  By no means was it a good day on paper.  Mike had a crappy day at work, the kids have been "on one" all day, Luke has been fussy, I got absolutely nothing done, I didn't exercise, yada yada yada.  However, it's been one of the best days.  It revolves around the people in my life. I'm not one to pour my feelings out for the blogging world to see, but because my blog is for the special people in my life, and I can't call all of you individually, here it is.

I had a great visit with some great friends in our ward today. Completely perspective changing. We talked about children, among other weight loss tips, fast dinner ideas, and the latest shopping finds and deals. What would I do without my kids in my life? They are everything to me. This is why we are parents, to realize just HOW MUCH our Father in Heaven loves us.  I cannot get enough of them and their big personalities.

A woman in our ward passed away yesterday.  I didn't actually know her, but I heard her testimony the few times she was able to bear it while we lived here.  She was completely loved by everyone that knew her.  She was diagnosed with brain cancer about a week before we moved into the ward and has been struggling as long as we have lived here.  It brought me thinking about the other people in my life battling physical struggles.  I wish I could do something to help them fight. They are fighting disease and all the drugs that go along to help that disease.   They are fighting to bring children into this world and all the heartache that goes along with that.  They are fighting to be able to think clearly and have the mental capacity they once had.  They are fighting the affects of aging.  They are fighting a reoccurring injury.  They are fighting something. They are such strong people whom I love and are fighting when their body wants to give in.

Someone else talked to me of their marriage struggles.  It was heart aching to hear their side of the story (there is always two sides to everything), but what this person is dealing with is hard and happening in their home, which should be a special place.  It made me think of my sweet husband who works so hard for me to stay home with our kids.  He is good to me and thoughtful and helpful and fun. I love our conversations.  I love being in our home, especially together with people I love.

Michael sat in my lap looking through "The Friend" with me.  He pointed to the Prophet and Jesus, and asked me to sing the song in it over and over and over again.  He sang along and asked about the boy praying on the opposite page.  It was a special moment, even though the tv was on and Mike and Isabelle were completely engrossed in cartoons, I felt like Michael and I were in a world of our own. That one moment was worth then entire $8 for the year for that magazine.

AND, the conference edition of the Ensign showed up.  Conference is so special to me.  I get EXTRA excited for it to come in print in a magazine I can have while I sit watching kids in the tub or on my nightstand waiting for Mike to come to bed, or on my kitchen counter waiting for the water to boil.  As I thumbed through it, the first thing I always do is look to see how the photographs line up with just the title of the talks.  It's amazing to me and one of my most favorite parts.  I also read a few talks tonight.

As I ponder on the conversations, talks, and thoughts of the day, I can't help but feel incredibly blessed with the people in my life. They are all so important to me. Everyone is struggling with something.  Everyone needs people in their lives. Despite the dishes in my sink and the toys scattered across my living room floor, I have time to call the friend or family member I've been thinking about, or send the card/email that should have been sent. I can hold my kids a little longer, hug them a little tighter, kiss my husband a little longer, pray a little harder, and remember just what is really important.  We are all here to help each other make it through just another day. You all help me make it through another day.

My Puzzle Boy

Michael is definitely my son when it comes to puzzles. He loves them!  He's also incredibly good at them.  The other day he sorted and did these 4 puzzles completely independently.  He asks to do puzzles at some point every day.  Thanks to my own obsession with puzzles, we don't have a shortage around here. We have a bunch of floor puzzles that we love to do.