Family Fun!

Seriously a fun weekend!  Last Thursday night, Mike's lab team had fancy hotel rooms and a fancy dinner down in St. Augustine (30 min away) and then took Friday off.  We contemplated how we would handle it, being the only ones with little kids.  We decided to make a family weekend of it.  We pulled into the hotel that only had valet parking and felt a little out of our element.  While waiting for Mike to check in, the kids and I sat in the lobby feeling very out of place and nervous my kids were going to break something.  I was thinking over and over, why in the world did we think this was a good idea?!  We should have just gotten a babysitter for the dinner part and not spent the night!  We took our stuff to the room, got settled and went walking. And things were pretty perfect from that point on. Then we went picked up Wendy's and a redbox and went back to the room.  Mike headed out for his dinner with all the other couples, and I ordered room service.

The kids thought it was awesome!  Haha!  I guess they forgot we lived in a hotel for 4 weeks just a few short months ago!


After dinner, we cued up a couple of redbox movies, snuggled in bed and munched on candy.


Luke just wandered around being cute.  The pack and play fit in the shower. The second he showed tired signs, I got him in bed and he was giggling and making noises.  I think it echoed in there.  It was pitch black and he slept til almost 8:30!!!!!


My dinner was absolutely delicious!  I even got to enjoy it with the kids watching a movie and Luke just toddling around.  It really was a fabulous evening.  I got to spend time with the kids, no cooking, no dishes, no cleaning.  That to me is a great night!  I did miss out on a great date opportunity, but we'll make up for it next week. :)


The next morning, the kids woke up and started eating candy.  I realized I literally brought NO food with us other than the candy.  Ooops!  Mom fail! Once we got out, it was late and we hit Chick-Fil-A for brunch.  The kids ran around the playland like crazy people. Then we went to the Alligator Farm.  It was pricey, but fun.







We made it home late afternoon and all crashed for some short naps, then headed to the school Isabelle will go to next year for their "Spring Fling."  Bounce houses, pony rides, face painting, food, you don't get any better than that.  The kids were literally squealing with excitement.








Then we ran to Mike's last Old Man Football game where the kids ran around more with friends.  They were so exhausted!  I love fun weekends where we get to spend time together!

Old Man Football

Mike just finished up a season in the over 30 city flag football league, it really is called "Old Man Football." Our ward put together a team.  He had practices one night a week and games usually Friday night, often after kids were in bed.  Mike started getting in shape again, met a bunch of guys in the ward and it rarely took away from family time and I got a couple of quiet evenings. It was great! There were a few games early enough for the kids to go.  The kids were so excited!  I packed up a picnic dinner and was glad I did.  As soon as the food was gone, kids got naughty. Really how exciting is flag football for little kids?  But they wanted to see dad.  It was fun for 20 minutes, but then got old. Gotta love kid attention spans! After Michael ran onto the field in the middle of a play, we left, immediately during the 3rd quarter.  The kids earned another game and were really good that time.  I also made sure to bring more food. :)  It was a fun thing! Softball just started up and he's enjoying it too.

My Cute Challenge

Michael has a strong personality, to put it lightly. Disciplining him is a daily daily struggle.  I try everything and when I finally find something that actually works, it works for a week or so and he figures me out and I have to figure out something new.  Love and Logic is my main parenting thing that I like and it works the best (it's magic for my other 2), but even that he manages to twist.

At the end of every day, I'm not even out of the room before he looks like this....

He is exhausted by the end of the day.   I always stand and stare at him on my way to bed and think, "What in the world am I going to try tomorrow?"  And I try to think about at least 1 cute thing he did that day (that's usually easy to do when he's asleep. haha!). After a few particularly difficult weeks, Mike and I brainstormed again.  Mike thought he might be overtired and that could explain alot of his "symptoms."  I took his nap away soon after he turned 2 because if he took a nap, he was up til 10, but we have very structured "quiet time."  I started making him take quiet time in his room until the timer went off.  He's definitely is in a "need more sleep" phase. After a week of naps almost every day, he is getting SO MUCH BETTER! He's happier, he's more obedient, he's nice to others, he's flat out actually pleasant to be around.

Another problem we've been having is spitting.  A serious problem with spitting for the last few weeks.  Sometimes at people in a disrespectful gross way, but often just spitting to spit. After a 2nd complaint from primary and trying literally everything under the sun, I taught him how to click his tongue.  Today completed day 4 of being spit free. He spit once and as soon as I said, "Click your tongue instead," spitting stopped.  He clicks his tongue alot now.  He just likes to be doing something with his mouth.  He's not a bad kid. He's actually a really good kid.  You just have to dig down to the root of the behavior with him.



Michael is my child that reminds me not to be judgmental about other parenting.  Every kid is SO incredibly different.  They come with their own personalities.  What works for one kid will not work for another. People look at Michael and then look at me and think and sometimes even say "She needs to just......" (yeah finish that statement how you will.  I've heard it all).  Well guess what, I've probably tried it.  It probably didn't work.  I do love my kid and try to do what's best for him. I don't like seeing my kid be rude, mean, or defiant.  I'm so grateful for the help we get as parents when we pray for help for what to do with these big spirits shoved in tiny bodies. So between Mike and I and a loving Heavenly Father, we're figuring out what to do with this cute kid one day at a time.

Mr. Helpful

With Isabelle at school, these two boys have really bonded.  Michael has also stepped up to the helpful plate.  He really is helpful when he's in the mood.  The rest of the time it's like pulling teeth to get him to do something he doesn't want to.  Michael says, "We need to cwean the house." and gets moving (until he gets distracted, which isn't long usually). The other day he cleaned his bathroom tub.  He actually did a fabulous job.  Then he wanted to help again.  Apparently a bottle of vegetable oil looks alot like Pine-Sol.  He cleaned the bathroom again. He came to me with the cutest face, "I cweaned the bafroom for you adain." Luckily I'm pretty good at laughing at these moments. He got lots on a couple of towels the floor and tub, but didn't get it anywhere else.  Lots of hot water and Dawn....it was nice and clean!

Luke is determined to feed himself, despite the mess, unless Isabelle wants to feed him, then he opens right up.  Michael wanted to be helpful.

The Warm Look

My boys were playing in the winter hats that I have yet to find a home for.  We obviously don't need them here.  I got a little sad.  I LOVE winter clothes.  I don't so much care for the cold itself.  But there are few things cuter than little kids in winter hats, or bundled to the max to go play in the snow!  I love long sleeve clothes and pants.  I love adding long sleeve shirts underneath a favorite shirt. I love warm dry snow boots.  I love jackets and sweaters and coats. I love a hoodie and sweatpants.  I love fleece footed jammies.  I LOVE looking WARM.  I guess I live in the right place to actually be warm and not just look it, but I'm missing half of my wardrobe.  I'm missing even more than half of my kids' wardrobes.

Shocking

Luke is obsessed with electrical outlets.  He is finding things to plug in all the time. When an actual plug isn't found, markers, crayons and pencils work just as well.  Yes, all my cover plates have some sort of marking on them. He manages to pull out the child proof things.  I can't get those things out to save my life! He walks up and in 2 seconds flat has both of them out!  How is this possible?!  He has shocked himself 3, yes 3, times and continues to play with them.  Any ideas?!


"Who me? I'm in trouble? I wasn't playing with this nightlight.  I didn't pull out the childproof thingies. This is my 'I'm too cute to get in trouble' face, closed mouth smile where my cheeks get this cute dimply thing on them. It works like a charm."

He now can reach the drawer where we keep the plugs for cell phones, tablets, etc. He can't see what he's grabbing, but he can always find something!




A regular sight around here.  Look at that face of joy as he successfully plugs something in!

If it's not these cords, it's my hand mixer, my toaster, or any other appliance he can reach.  I have since moved all of them.  My beautiful spotless counters that had no appliances on them, now permanently have everything but my kitchen aid...he's not strong enough...yes he tried. Maybe he'll follow in Grandpa's footsteps and be an electrical engineer.

Warm Rain

As a kid in southeast Texas, we played in the rain all the time! It was warm.  It was fun.  It was fabulous. I moved to Utah, and then Washington.  I tried to play in the rain with my kids, but man rain is COLD!  I just thought, my thermostat must be getting old....no.  It rained here for the first real rain, like I remember as a kid rain, and it was warm and fabulous and it's only early March.

As a kid and teenager, I did play in warm rain more times than I can count.  I made "soup" from the roof runoff and whatever dirt and leaves we could find in Dad's massive metal bucket, stirred it with a stick and tried to serve it up to unsuspecting younger siblings.  I went crawdad hunting, running, and all sorts of other fun rain activities.

This time, Isabelle went out to grab something, and didn't come back in for 45 minutes. She discovered what every kid needs to discover....just how much fun it is to play in the rain. She used a water gun and slurped up the rain from puddles and squirted grassy dirty water all over my windows (don't worry, I don't ever wash them) and giggled for all the world to hear. Granted it was still slightly chilly, to the point I wasn't going to join her, but come May....I'll be barefoot out there with the kiddos.  I love warm rain!

Happy Friday!

My Happy Place

I STILL have not taken pictures and done a post about my house, but here's a bit.  This is my playroom.  I LOVE it!  It is such a happy happy place in my home.  Can I tell you how wonderful these storage thingys from Costco are?!  They are awesome!!!!!  I got them when they were cheap and Mike groaned as I told him to load another one on the cart. I needed one for toys and one for books! :)


This is my library.  Being an early childhood teacher in my old life, this makes me so happy to have in my house. We sit in the pillows or the green rocking chair and read forever.  Michael will seriously stop ANYTHING he is doing for a story.  Luke doesn't love to read like my other two.  He only loves animal books, but man he sure loves animal books, and has little patience for actual stories, but he does still love to sit with a book in his lap to peruse the pages on his own.  I'll take it. :) Isabelle is learning gradually to read.  I was shocked yesterday when I was reading my book and she pointed out lots of sight words that she knew.   I have actually done very little working with her.  I spend time with my kids doing things they won't learn in school. If she knows how to read going into Kindergarten, she will be BORED and not enjoy school as much.   So instead, we do other stuff. :)


This happy place is right off my kitchen.  You cannot get to this room from anywhere but through my kitchen.  This means, unless you go to my kitchen (which is hiding) you don't see this room.  It doesn't have to be clean all the time!  It means it takes actual effort to get toys out of it.  Instead of all my toys all over my house at the end of the day like my last one, I have a handful or two strewn throughout the house and that's it! It means the kids want to be where I tend to be, the kitchen. It gets the morning sun and has a door to outside. The sounds that come from here make me smile. I hear imaginations.  I hear giggles.  I hear getting along. I hear learning to read. I hear car noises. I hear singing. (Among fights, crying, whining, and toy throwing, but that's beside the point. :) Haha!

Cow Boots

A few weeks ago, Michael found a pair of hand me down cowboy boots in the shoe box.  They are still way too big for him, but he loves them! He calls them his "dow boots" (cow boots).  I absolutely LOVE little boys in cowboy boots!!!!!!  It's even cuter paired with a pair of shorts and a hat. I finally pulled the camera out to capture the cuteness. Welcome to my world! :)