thoughts on a sunday

• We have been enjoying spring break this week.  No school for Brian or Mckay.  We've done a few fun things which I will probably post about later.  The weather has been gorgeous for most of the week and we've had fun playing outside and going to the park.  The upcoming forecast calls for rain for the next week, so I'm glad we got out as much as we did last week.

• It is so funny to hear McKay describe people.  I was telling him about someone in our ward, and he said, "Is it the one with the round head all around that kind of looks like Theodore (the chipmunk) with a body that's round and small?  Or is it the one that is straight up and down with the long head?"  His descriptions are surprisingly accurate and head shape is the most common one we hear about.  And, it was in fact the one that looks like Theodore.      

• With the second trimester comes the hormone overload.  At least that's what I'm experiencing.  I really am not a person that cries very often.  But oh boy, these last couple weeks!

• This week we went to the Original Pancake House- like the original Original Pancake House.  It was as good as we heard.  I had the dutch baby, which Brian practically forced me to get because he wanted to try it.  I'm already thinking of an excuse to go again.  "The baby wants it" can only get me so far.  I think I'm starting to overuse that one anyway.  But baby really does want a lot of stuff!

• So lately I've been feeling like my kids are always jumping all over me.  Brian will have a whole couch to himself (the big one, even) and there I am on the little couch with two monkeys all over me.  Jumping and twisting and flipping on top of me.  And there's Brian just kicking back lounging comfortably watching it all.  Why does this happen?

• Ellery is pretty much only interested in wearing skirts.  If I pick out her clothes without her with me and get her dressed right away I can get away with what I pick, but if she's there watching me she definitely has an opinion on what to wear and that is skirts.  She is starting to want to chose what she wears more and more and the other day we had a play date and she chose the ugliest outfit with a big ugly claw clip she insisted on wearing in her hair.  I have to chose my battles with this girl and that is one I had to let go.  Her friend McKenna didn't mind, I'm sure she thought the ensemble was just right.

• I have very nice visiting teachers.  McKay always corners one of them whenever she comes and talks to her the whole time.  It's like she's his little visiting teacher.  He invited her to have a playdate at our house sometime, but instead she called him this week and invited him to her house to play with her seven year old son.  McKay was so excited, but nervous, to play with an older boy.  After a few hours I went over to pick him up and found that McKay and Max were dressed like twins- Max had changed into an outfit just like McKay's.  He had so much fun playing with their dog, playing with animals and making parachutes with Max.  I thought that was really sweet of her to invite him over, and even sweeter of Max to play with a four year old for two hours.  They seemed to have fun together and McKay loved every minute of it.

• So, I mentioned that I'm extra emotional about things lately.  With that comes good feelings too.  Right now I am feeling very content and peaceful with my life.  I have the sweetest kids.  They are so good.  I am so lucky.  I have Brian.  I really love Brian.  We are happy.  I am happy.  

• I am also a little bit terrified to have another baby.  Two was so easy for me that I've decided three could very well be the number that does me in.  Oh, it's a roller coaster ride around here, I tell ya!

• The other night I was at the store.  There were two ladies pushing a cart with a little three year old boy in the seat.  He was crying, he wanted to sit in the basket, not the seat.  He was crying loud.  I remembered Ellery crying in that same store the week before.  Loud.  It was annoying.  This lady said the following to her child and it made me freeze . . . and cringe.  And maybe tear up for this little boy.      "Stop crying!  Do you want to go live with your dad, huh?  Do you want to go down to the jail again?  You can have a new mommy."  Little boy crying, "No, I don't want a new mommy."  It continued, but I had to just get out of there before I heard anymore.  What kind of woman is that?  And she said it in this proud, "I'm just showing my kid who's boss" kind of way.  It broke my heart.  

• I told Brian about that little experience and so now he's always asking me if I want to go down to the jail again.

• We were out running errands yesterday and McKay had to pee really bad.  I knew he could hold it until we got home, but he booked it into the house as soon as we got there.  Brian walked past the bathroom as he was in there and heard McKay whisper to himself, "That was awesome," as he flushed the toilet.  Funny boy.

• Yesterday we were invited to a BBQ at some friend's house.  They have a huge yard with a little playground and my kids had so much fun playing with their little friends and just running around until it was dark.  It reminded me of being at home in grandma's or Lisa's backyard with my kids running around with their cousins.  It made me happy and sad at the same time.  It also made me want a big backyard with a playground.  Oh, someday.

• At this BBQ Brian asked Ellery if she wanted a bun with her hot dog.  She said, "I don't want a bun, I want a ponytail!"

Happy Sunday!

to the coast

Last Wednesday Brian took his last final of the second term.  We had a whole week and a half ahead of us with no studying, no tests, no early morning classes, no long commutes, no stress.  None at all.  Since our time here in Oregon is probably limited to just two or three years, we decided we needed to splurge- and by splurge I mean 'cheap' by anyone else's standards- and go on a little vacation.

We headed south to the coastal city of Newport.  In the Pacific Northwest, you never say you're going to the beach. You always say "coast".  If you say beach people look at you funny.  

Here's a little rundown of what we did:  

McKay outside the weirdest shopping center I've ever seen.  I have no idea how these little shops stay in business due to all the junk we saw inside them, but they were sure colorful on the outside.  They also had plenty of pirate and sea animal statues, which the kids loved, so it was worth the visit.

Hanging with Wally the walrus.

This is right below our hotel.  The beach was pretty cold this day but we had fun finding dead crabs on the sand, which as you can imagine was very exciting for my four year old.  We had just eaten at a little seafood restaurant near the pier where Brian said their clam chowder in a bread bowl rivaled Disneyland's.  

The thing McKay looked forward to the most was swimming at the motel.  This is the view from our room that we walked in to after spending the evening at the pool.  These kids loved the pool.  We could have gotten a motel two minutes away from home and I think they would have been just fine.  It was fun to see McKay swimming around, sans floaties even, and Ellery jumping in over and over with a pool toy in each hand that she didn't let go of the whole time she was in the water.

One of my favorite parts of this little trip was seeing how excited these two were to be on a real vacation.  McKay desperately wanted to live in Newport forever and they were so excited to be staying in a motel and sleeping all together in the same room.  I had a weird parenting realization that Brian and I have this family that we can take on vacations.  I guess because they are getting old enough to really get things.  

The first thing we did on our only full day in Newport was visit the tide pools on Cobble Beach.  We saw all sorts of little sea creatures and even some seals.  McKay was brave and touched about anything he saw, but Ellery flinched every time her hand hit the water so she never really got too far with touching more than a starfish.   

After the tide pools we walked around this lighthouse and enjoyed the beautiful scenic views.  One of my favorite things that McKay kept doing on this trip was say, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" while raising his eyebrows up and down.  We would then try to say what he was thinking, which was usually whatever the next activity we had planned.  He said this probably twenty-five times.  He was so excited.

We packed a picnic lunch and ate in on the beach.  The weather was so perfect this day and we were glad to be able to spend some time in the sand and near the water.  Ellery was not a fan of getting wet at all and hated the sand in her flip flops.  

After our picnic we did a little building.  They both loved playing in the sand.  Actually, Brian seemed to be enjoying himself too.   

Next up, the Hatfield Science Center.  We spend over an hour at this place because McKay was so into touching all the fish, including a sting ray, starfish, anemones, and other fish.  Ellery still wasn't to excited to touch anything but loved looking at the big octopus.   

We got to rest in the car as we drove south a little bit to the Sea Lion Caves.  McKay was really nervous to go in a cave.  The whole drive down there he was asking question after question about it.  We had no idea what to tell him, since we'd never been.  

We took an elevator three hundred feet below the highway where you end up in a huge cave where hundreds of sea lions go to rest and sleep.  The viewing area is fenced off and this is as close as you can get to them, but it was definitely close enough for us.  I didn't know this, but sea lions are totally disgusting animals.  They make huge burping noises and flop around fighting with each other for prime rock space.  And the smell!  Oh boy!  

This is looking out the other side of the cave.  Pretty view.  Not such a pretty picture, but I thought I should post it to show that I was actually on this trip. :)  The drive down to the cave was so gorgeous.  On the way back we saw a bald eagle just flying right over our car.  The scenery is just amazing.  

We had so much fun on our little trip.  McKay was devastated the morning we had to leave.  He really wanted to live there "forever".  I can't really blame him.

he wants to be a great dane

Recently we discovered something. 

Something that just might be the most amazing thing this boy has ever seen.

Some place that we will be returning to over and over and over again.

The dog park.

Completely in heaven, this one.

thoughts . . . of my wedding day

Brian and I have been married for seven years.  I made him watch our wedding video with me in an effort to celebrate our anniversary at least somehow.  While watching the video we both laughed and we both cringed. There is so much I love about our wedding.  So many things we did right.  And yet there are others that I just cannot believe I chose.  I chose to wear flip flops.  I chose to have shimmery eye shadow below my eyebrows.  I chose my photographer.  I chose to wear jewelry from Alyse's bridal that I could have bought at Claire's.  I did.  

So just for fun, and to celebrate our anniversary in one more way, you know, since we're going all out, I'm going to embarrass myself and talk about some of those priceless things I chose.  And just so I feel a little better I'm going to have to tell you about the good things too.   

Babies.

Just for fun, Brian and I in one of our engagement pictures.  February is a sad time to take engagement pictures.  Who are those children?

Flip, flop, flip, flop.

Unfortunately, we got married right around the time that wearing flip flops on your wedding day was not only completely acceptable, it was fun and cute!  I look back at the video footage we have and I am waddling like a duck in those babies.  I am waddling around on my wedding day.  Oh regret.  

No flowers.

I may have been waddling, but fortunately I have little regrets about my dress.  As I was dress shopping I had one strict requirement:  no flowers!  I did not want any sort of floral design beaded or embroidered in my dress.  I think that was also a trend at the time and I wanted my dress to be more timeless.  I realize the scattered crystals and pearls may not be totally classic, but I love everything else about it.  

Bee sting.

This is Brian.  No really, it is.  While we were watching the video tonight he said, "I look like I've been stung by a bee and am having an allergic reaction."  My poor sweetheart was a bit chubby after having served a mission in New Zealand, where the average missionary gains like 50 lbs or something.  I didn't even notice, or care.  It's funny, now we seem to have traded places as far as weight goes.  It's actually not that funny.

Photography rules.

Don't we look natural?  We were totally just sitting like that looking at something really interesting and the photographer captured it!  What luck!  Oh dear.  This one is the most painful for me.  Picking a photographer was one of the most important things to me.  Sadly, after not having any luck finding "the one" I decided to let money be the answer.  If he is the most expensive then he has to be the best, right?  Wrong.  I felt like the photographer ruled our wedding day.  When he said, "stand like this," we did it.  When he said, "kiss," oh you know we did it.  There are so many awkward kissing photos and dips and gazes that are so not us.  I realize that that is what a photographer does, but there is just one candid shot of Brian and I after we got married on the temple grounds.  One.  The rest were very posed and very rigid.  

Our one shot.

I don't love this picture because of how we look.  In fact, my eyes look kind of weird.  But I love that it is our picture.  Just us being us on our wedding day.  And I guess I can't blame the photographer entirely, because I know Brian and I are not the easiest people to capture.  We helped a lot with the awkward factor.

Like for example when we had a small flower mishap as I was leaping into Brian's arms to do some tricky move that our photographer directed us to do.
Ahh, wedding photography has changed so much since 2003.  I've had to just release the regret and be happy that we have the pictures we have.  Life goes on.

The stage.

I said before that he directed our wedding.  Aside from the photo aspect, he directed us to do everything we did at the reception.  "It's time to cut the cake," he said.  Okay, we'll cut the cake.  "Even though you're not done with your reception, lets stage your exit to the car because it's time for me to go."  Okay, lets go stage our exit.  Who's wedding is this again?  Maybe that is normal, I don't know, but to me it didn't feel normal.  It's all so clear in hindsight, but there's plenty I would have changed in this department had I known how it would have gone.

Blessed.

We lucked out in the flower department.  I didn't/don't know much about flowers, but luckily we had an amazing and generous florist who knew just what to do and it all turned out incredible.  My only requests:  a white bouquet for me and no babies breath.  That's about how much I had to do with the flowers.  We were literally blessed with these flowers.

Pretty girls all in a row.

So bridesmaids, how do you feel about your outfits?  I loved these skirts.  I had seen one in another wedding and I had to have them.  My mother-in-law was able to make them without a pattern and they turned out really cute.  You can't really see the cute bustle-thing in the back, but that was my favorite part.  I'm sure they never wore these skirts again, but that's okay- I still think they look nice, even after seven years.

Just for fun.

    Look at these guys.  

Ahhhhh!

I don't have to say much here.  We made that stand.  I think you can tell.  I didn't want to spend money on a cake, so I went small.  It was still like two hundred dollars.  Maybe three.  And bless my husband for letting me plan a pink wedding.  

Ballroom.

  Lighting in the ballroom wasn't great, but I loved the room with the tables and the topiaries.  The ribbon around the topiaries I could now do without.  

Sweet.

One of my favorite parts of the reception was the candy table.  Although, boston baked beans were surely only there because they were the right shade of dark pink.

I know. . .

  I know it doesn't matter.  I know that a wedding is outdated as soon as it happens.  At least mine was.  But that's okay.  I loved my wedding day.  It was perfect, even waddling through it all in my flip flops.  It's fun to look back and cringe, and it's fun to look back and smile.  I'm glad I get to do both. 

And I'm glad I get to do it with him, bee stings and all.

thoughts on a sunday

• So much to say today.  On Monday we bought a few primroses and planted them in our front yard for family home evening.  We had dirt and worms for our treat.  McKay was not patient enough to eat all the dirt and find the second worm hiding at the bottom, so he decided to just dig right in with his hands.  It was dirty.  You should have seen Brian during this.  He could hardly stand to watch.  He was pacing, actually.  I had to just keep reminding him that it was a mess that could be easily cleaned up.  So particular, that one.  That mess was totally worth it to me though, because Mack and Elle thought it was so cool.  Ellery told us that her worm was sleeping, and then looking at her so she didn't eat him.

• I love the flowers in our front yard.  I say front yard, but it's not really a yard.  It's a porch and some dirt and a little grass.  But having dirt for us is big, because we've never had our own dirt before.  We want to plant some vegetables but I'm afraid that our neighbors cat uses our dirt for his litter box.  His name is Nipper and Ellery thinks his name is "Nipple".  I think that's funny, so I don't correct her.

• A couple weeks ago McKay decided he wanted to do up his own buttons.  He had never tried before.  It took him about ten minutes to button up his shirt for church the first time, but he was SO proud.  He's a lot faster now, except, when he's wearing a button up shirt he likes to undo them over and over.  Last week we picked him up from his primary class and he wasn't even wearing his shirt.  He got hot.  So he undid those buttons.

• Ellery has been going around and saying in her meanest voice, "STOP WELLING!"  She means yelling.    

• We are now $800 poorer than last week.  Brian's car needed a new water hose or pipe or something, plus another new thing that I can't remember.  I was really hoping that it would be under $500.  I thought that was a reasonable hope for a car repair.  But what really killed me was that towing the car from the zoo (where it broke down) to the car shop was $125!  What!?  Since when is towing a car more than fifty bucks?  I am still shocked by that.  Anyway, it's fixed now and we're just glad it wasn't the end of old baby blue's life.  

• This week at the library Ellery picked out Once Upon a Potty, the boy version.  Every week she will get really attached to one book while we are there and she likes to carry it around the library and carry it home.  Last time it was a book about a purple fairy.  Well, guess what book she was attached to this week?  That day I put her down for her nap/rest and she cried, which she never does.  I listened by the door and heard, "I want my poo poo book.  I want my poo poo book."  She got it and I'm sure read the whole thing to baby Kate.

•  The other day Brian looked at me and said, "Are you having a good hair day?"  Yes!  I was.  I thought it was so romantic that he noticed.  I wish I had more good hair days that he could notice.  

• We had the sister missionaries over for dinner last night.  The evening went well, except for the time that McKay brought up that I like to pick his scabs.  Just as we start the meal, "You know what my mom likes to do?  She likes to pick my owies.  And when she tries to I yell, 'NO MOM!' and I run away as fast as I can."  What do you say to that as you've just sat down to dinner?  It was embarrassing.  I'm afraid only my sisters Krista and Jana can understand and be able to talk about that at dinner.  McKay was starved for their attention though and was pretty much talking the whole time.  After the picking story, Brian and I tensed up at every new topic he brought up because you just never know what could come up after that.

• Since finding out about the baby in my tummy, Ellery has some of her own in her little belly.  She has a boy named baby Kate and a girl named baby Jane.  Sometimes I can get her to eat more dinner because I tell her that the babies in her tummy like it and need more food.

• The baby in my tummy is still zapping my energy, but I'm not as sick.  This was definitely my hardest first trimester.  I've already felt little movements from our little one, several times, which makes it a lot easier to handle being sick and tired.  It's really in there!    

• Brian and I are feeling a lot more settled in our ward.  We don't feel as new and are getting passed meeting people and more into getting to know people.  I like our ward.  I like not feeling brand new.

• Brian has finals next week.  This semester has been pretty intense as far as studying goes.  He's done a lot of it.  In an effort to help him study for his last test, I quizzed him.  WHAT HE IS LEARNING IS LIKE A FOREIGN LANGUAGE!  I didn't even know how to ask a question, because what are all those words?!  But when I finally got to where I understood what to ask him, trying to pronounce the words was quite a challenge.  I am really bad at pronouncing words.  The craziest thing about this foreign language is that he actually understands it.  I guess I was such a crammer when I was in school that I didn't bother to know the whole picture of what I was learning.  I just memorized.  I guess it's good he's not cramming, you know, because he will have people's lives completely in his hands.  I am still amazed at him though.  He's a humble little smarty-pants.  He will hate this paragraph and try to get me to erase it.

• I have been doing Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred a few times a week.  It's a 30 minute exercise routine.   It's been great because I have a little partner with me each time I do it.  Ellery does all 30 minutes right beside me.  She loves exercising and requests to do it often.  I wish I liked it as much as she does.  I don't know what's cuter, seeing her do jumping jacks, hearing her say the word exercising or watching her lift her little wooden stick weights up and down while looking at me and saying, "Is this hard, mom?"  Too cute, that girl.

Goodness, I was chatty, wasn't I?  Well, happy Sunday!

strong willed

I am constantly reminding myself to be strong.  There is something about the term "strong woman" that I just want to be.  It's something that I am trying to change about myself.  I'm not saying I'm weak, although in some areas that's true, but being strong is definitely not something that comes to mind when I'd describe myself.

In high school I didn't know I cared about being a strong woman.  Even when I was first married I didn't know it was something that was important to me.  I guess I didn't care and it wasn't important.  But now I have kids.  I have a daughter.  And to me it is necessary that I be a strong woman so that I can raise a strong woman.

The other day while Ellery and McKay were playing with some other kids, both of which were older than Elle, she proved quite literally that she is way ahead.  

One of these older boys physically pushed her out of a room.  Then, pushed again.  Ellery, in a strong, yet shaken voice said, "No!  You never, never push me!  You never, never push me!"  Her words were slow and she emphasized each one.  This boy was six.  Ellery is two and a half.  She   

By the time I got over there, her voice was trembling and the tears were starting to come.  And of course when she saw me she lost it.  I hugged my little girl so tight and tried to comfort her hurt feelings.  The boy was not affected by her warnings.  He was just being too rough, like little boys can be.  And the way she stood up for herself probably didn't make him think twice about what happened.  

But that's not the point.  The point is that for such a little girl, she held her ground against someone much bigger and older than she is.  The way she spoke those words were priceless to me.  I will never forget them. . .which is partly why I'm writing them down.  

We felt so bad for our sweet little girl, but secretly, Brian and I loved that it happened.  She's strong.  Already.        

class clown

McKay recently had circus day at preschool.  He loves his school and they do such fun, themed learning activities for the kids.  His teacher has been doing this for over 25 years and is serious about what she does.  She is a no-fuss kind of teacher, but I really respect the way she lets the kids explore and learn in their own way.  She is not animated or filled with fluff, but the kids love her.  It seems like McKay really listens to what she teaches him, whether it be that tigers are meat eaters, or that we shouldn't let the water run when we brush our teeth.  She gets through to him and he remembers what she says. 

McKay, who applied his clown makeup himself, with Teacher Boyd.  He was preparing to do his trick, which was ride a bear bicycle or something like that.  All the kids had special tricks to do in the circus.  I thought maybe he would be too shy to do it in front of everyone, but he wasn't.  He rode that air bicycle like nothing I've ever seen!

Cutest little circus cast I've ever seen.

3rd- Bridger, Kobe, Ty, Henry, 2nd- David, Sanhj, McKayla, Charles 1st- McKay, Jaxon, Kole, Abigail

Here comes the parade.    

My favorite clown of all.  

I love seeing what a positive impact preschool has had on him.  At first I was very nervous for the uncontrolled influences he would be receiving without my watchful, or if nessesary corrective, eye to keep on the things he was hearing/learning/copying- mostly from other kids.  But I cannot imagine our experience here in Oregon without this little preschool.  For McKay, of course, but also for our whole family.  It has given us structure.  It has given us both friends.  It has given me a place to go three times a week, when at first I had absolutely no where to go.  And McKay has just loved it.  I love that he's learning, both academically and socially.  I realize that those bad influences are always going to be there, but there's power that comes from how we treat him and each other, and the things we teach him at home.   

On a related note, guess how long it took me to remove all that black makeup?  Oh, about half an hour.  After many failed attempts at soap and wipes, I found lotion and dry toilet paper to be the key.  

weight gained

Last Wednesday I picked Mckay up from preschool.  As we were walking out I stopped on the grass to chat with  another mom.  We were talking about Oregon weather when her preschooler said, "Are you pregnant?"

Clearly embarrassed, the mom began to lecture her daughter.

"Mikayla, you don't ask people that." she said.

"Yes."  I said to the little girl.

"That is rude. . ."  Mid-lecture the mom looked at me and said, "Wait, you are?"

"Yes.  It's okay.  I am pregnant." I said.

Relief washed all over her face.  And I was grateful that a potentially awkward situation turned out to be fine.

Remind me to tell you about the time at the checkout lane in Target.  That was most definitely awkward.  

I am excited to be pregnant.  

But not so excited that four year olds can already tell that I'm pregnant.  

You sure do pop out fast after the first one.

Even faster with the third.

At least that's what I'm telling myself.

announcement sent to family

Due exactly one day before McKay was due.  September 9th.
Guessing we'll have another August baby.
Hoping that I make it to September.
And praying that I don't have it on McKay's birthday.

And yes.  This was a surprise.  A great one.