thoughts on a sunday

• Good news!  It's summer!!!  My depression is lifting and I am happy!  It's been in the eighties this week and it's been fantastic.  We've played in the sprinklers, eaten popsicles, blown up the pool, swam in a real pool and just done summery things that we've been missing.  Everyone hopes that summer is here to stay for awhile.  Yay!

• So, we've been doing lots in the water, and that makes me think of my biggest water baby of all time.  Layla loves the water so much and is never happier than when she's wet.  We were at a splash park a couple weeks ago and it was kind of a cloudy/cooler day.  I decided to let her get wet, but figured she would get cold and be done within a few minutes.  Not so.  She lasted as long as the other kids and was soaking wet, playing with the spray fountains that come out of the ground.  She was freezing, but she didn't even notice, she was having so much fun.  Makes me sad that I rarely take the time to let her have a bath for no reason other than to play in the water.  She loves that too.

• Tonight (Saturday) Ellery said the family prayer.  I always have their clothes all laid out for church in the morning and Ellery took notice because in her prayer she said, ". . .and please bless that my pink shoes will be perfect for me tomorrow!"  Actually, there wasn't much else to the prayer, besides "please bless that the family will be good," which she says in every single prayer.  I have a suspicion that her eyes were glued to those pink shoes the whole time.

• Ellery has been pushing my buttons lately, a lot.  She is really whiney, really stubborn and really loud.  She's also sweet, adorable and funny, but it's really hard to see those qualities when she's screaming and refusing to apologize for throwing a toy at McKay.  Or when she falls apart when I send her to time out because, in sending her to timeout, I've hurt her feelings.  

• McKay is going through a weird pajama phase.  He usually ends up shirtless, with his pajama top folded beside his pillow, just in case he needs it in the night.  For some reason he is really happy about this.  

• Ellery's been going through a weird dream phase.  She's been waking up crying in the night and telling me all sorts of tales that upset her.  If it's not ladybugs swarming around her, it's that McKay ate all her food.  This morning she was really mad at McKay for eating her breakfast- like she couldn't get over it.  Ah, if it's not someone waking up at night, it's another, I guess.

• The kids and I signed up to walk a ward member's dog while she, the member, recovered from surgery.  We walked Lily four times this week and my kids loved it, although Lily had some rules attatched which made it, um, interesting.  The kids couldn't hold the leash and they were disappointed by that, but they still loved going.  I was amused that the ground was too hot for Lily so I either had to hold her or jump from shade to shade, per her owner's instruction.  Lily is an only child.

• We had a busy weekend.  Brian has Fridays off, and so we made plans to play.  On Friday we went to the Washington County Fair, and on Saturday Brian and McKay did a "triathalon" and we went berry-picking.  I guess that doesn't sound like a ton, but it sure seemed like a lot and I'm tired from it.
• I insisted Ellery and I stop at the bathroom while we were waiting for our triatheletes to finish.  She did not want to go, and as I threatened various things if she did not go, she kind of trumped them all when she pulled out, "Well, then I will send your baby to Jesus!"  I really didn't know what to say because there were other people in the bathroom.  So I just said nothing, and she didn't pee, and I still have my baby.  Seriously, what do I do with that girl?

• So Brian is still hanging out in the Sunnyside OR, and it's starting to get to me.  I am so glad that he's in the same state as me, don't get me wrong, but when he leaves before six a.m. and comes home at close to seven p.m. I kind of can't handle it.  The kids see him  for an hour and a half, maybe.  He doesn't have cell phone coverage in the OR, so I never even talk to him during the day and I never know when he's going to be home, until he leaves.  Figuring out dinner with someone who never knows when he'll be home is tricky.  I guess I should say that sometimes he's home at five-thirty or six, but it seems like those later days are getting more frequent.  I just keep telling myself it's better than Florida.

• Which I guess brings me to Florida.  We have two weeks left.  Two weeks together.  Then eight weeks apart.  Then actually more time apart after that, but at least we'll both be in Oregon and he'll come on the weekends.  Then he's going to Gold Beach for a month and a half.  Then he graduates in December. Then I'm going to cry (happy tears).  Then we're going to Disneyland!  Anyway that's what the rest of our year looks like and honestly, after Florida I will feel so much relief.  After Florida we'll just have a couple months left.  I can't wait for October!

• Layla gave us quite a scare this week.  We are such awful parents and you won't believe it, but we both walked out of the kitchen at the same time and left Layla there on the floor!  (note: she can crawl) Well, she couldn't believe that we could do such a thing to her and proceeded let out a cry like I've never heard before.  It was one of those ones where she couldn't even breathe, she was so mad.  And then she kept not breathing.  Then she couldn't hold her head up, due to the lack of breathing, and knocked it on the floor.  She has never done this before, so Brian and I just kind of watched her for a second.  When she hit her head a second time Brian ran to pick her up and she continued to hold her breath.  (I used to do this as a baby, and so have several of Lisa's kids.)  She passed out and went limp in Brian's arms.  Again, I've seen my nephew Bryce do this when he was a baby, so at this point I wasn't totally alarmed.  I expected her to come to in a couple seconds.  She did not.  A few more. . .nothing.  She then started shaking.  Yep, she was seizing.  I was pretty concerned, but also knew that a little convulsing was, again, normal with the breath holding.  I kept asking Brian if she had stopped, because I couldn't look at her.  I am horrible, I know, but I didn't want to see her shaking with her eyes all rolled back and hearing the sound she was making was bad enough.  So I was hopping around not-looking and starting to panic.  I ushered the kids not so nicely upstairs and then began to panic even more.  Brian is so good in these situations, but also totally annoying because he goes as silent as a mouse.  He is really calm and smart in emergencies, but when you're freaking out and he's thinking quietly about what to do it might drive you a bit crazy.  So, at this point I was asking if I should call an ambulance, and he was still being silent, and I was still not looking at her, and feeling guilty about it, and Brian was reviewing infant CPR in his quiet mind, and Layla was just laying there shaking and breathing funny and totally gone.  It was AWFUL.  But I must say, having gone through it with Ellery already, I knew that she was not going to die from it, and so it wasn't as terrifying as that first one Elle had.  Still, really, really awful.  Finally, after over a minute had gone by, she stopped.  Now, I was certain tha it had been like twenty minutes, but Brian kindly pointed out that time seems to stand still in those situations and that it was more likely around a minute.  But still, that's long enough.  She was immediately tired and then the crying started and didn't really stop for about an hour.  She was confused and who knows what else she was feeling and I just held her and talked to her while she cried.  We talked to our pediatrician and told him the whole story and he assured us that it was normal and told us a few things to look out for.  I'm so glad she's okay and so glad that Brian was home.  She is now totally fine and I will definitely never leave her alone in the kitchen again.  Poor baby Layes.  

• That was long.  I guess I'll end on that note.

Happy Sunday!

thoughts from utah

I don't want to forget the lovely time we had in Utah.  I was overwhelmed explaining all the pictures, and I really didn't take all that many pictures.  But I wanted to make sure and record some of my favorite memories from our month-long stay in Utah this summer.

• Running with my dad every morning.  I was spoiled.  I had a human alarm clock and a built-in babysitter.  My parents are the best.  My dad was so motivating and did you forget that he's 70, because as I ran along side him each morning I did.  How often do you get to spend one-on-one time with a parent (without kids)?  Not very often.  I cherish those mornings.  And bless my mom for taking care of my children while we ran.  It's pretty much thanks to her that Layla got on such a good routine while we were there.  She takes such good care of my babies and I'm so grateful.
• That was long, they won't all be that long. :)
• McKay playing Nintendo every morning- and riding his bike along the track every day. . .multiple times a day.
• Trying to catch a frog with the nephews and niece.  It was too windy.
• Making banana boats in the campfire.
• A girls night- up to Tai Pan and Gardner Village!
• Lisa's emergency appendectomy.
• A sleepover at Jana's- Mark gave up his bed and slept on the couch for our sleepover.  I love him.
• He made me breakfast in the morning. . .which was a little rushed. . .and called to talk to us about how it really was on his way to work.  I really love him!
• Shopping for baby girl's nursery. . .a lot!
• Getting my hair done with Jana and going to Kneader's for lunch after.  Both were heavenly.  Thanks to my Nonnie. :)
• The first grandchild (on my side) to graduate high school- way to go Rylee!
• The kids reading "just one more book" with Nonnie nearly every night.
• Finding a dead mole in the backyard- the kids were completely transfixed by this mole.
• Golf ball hunting with quite a bit of success- nearly every day!
• Oh, there's so much more. . .but that's all for now!

wanted: new five year old neighbor

McKay's best little neighbor friend Isabella moved to Utah last week.  They are from Brazil and aren't members of the church, and I so hope they have a good experience living in Orem.  

They were such cute little friends, and let me tell you, this one has some sass.  She is the most polite, sweet, obedient little girl, but boy does she not let anyone boss her around, and she sure knows what she wants.  Brian and I loved her and even when she was being a stinker, we could only laugh because she was such a cute one.

These two were pretty sad on moving day.  We took Isabella to the water park with us so her family could pack and on the way home McKay was starting to feel it and by the time we got home, little tears were being held in.  Then the next time we saw her to say goodbye she was sobbing and saying how much she was going to miss McKay.  It was pretty adorable and sad to see how they both handled it.

Now, I'm the one who's feeling it.  Because McKay is asking me everyday if he can invite a friend over.  It was so convenient when the friend lived right next door.  That is one thing I miss most about living in Utah- having neighbors!  Being a stay-at-home mom is so rare around here and on my street I am pretty much the only one.  I miss chatting with whoever is outside at any given time on any given day.  I miss having nice kids that my kids can play with who we don't have to drive to go see.  I miss having neighbors home during the day doing exactly what I'm doing.

Oh well.  Now I'm just praying that we get a nice five year old to move in next door.  One can hope!

so naughty. . .

But I totally let her do it anyway.

What?

It's kind of her favorite thing.

her

Laysie Daisy, Laylee, Laysie Lou, Monkey, Layes, , Layla Annie, Layla boo boo, Sweetie Baby, Sweetie Bee, Sumpus or Kevin. . .

Doesn't really matter what you call this cute face.

I'm totally in love with it.

our dodger

So proud of our little tee ball player.  

He enjoyed the season.

He would occasionally get distracted.

He would practice with his dad every spare minute.

He's a lefty.

He stopped using the tee half way through the season.

He loved being part of a team.

His bum was so small in those white baseball pants.

His face was priceless when he was doing something he was proud of.

He asked to be the catcher every single game.

He was number four.

He got a trophy and that is about as good as it gets for a five year old boy.

number one fans

May 9

I won't be able to think of McKay's first tee ball experience without thinking about some groupies over in Utah who made a fourteen hour drive to see my son play baseball.  Yeah, they really did.  

We didn't tell the kids they were coming and they walked up to the playground as McKay was going across the monkey bars.  Ellery spotted them first and her face was the best.  They were so surprised and thrilled to see Grandma and Grandad at our house!  It was so fun to have them for a couple days!

This little girl was funny when Grandma held her for the first time.  She didn't cry, just held Grandma at a comfortable distance with that arm and studied her with a frown.  She warmed up by the end. :)

My kids are so lucky to have such great grandparents.  

McKay's already invited them to attend a soccer game in the Fall. . .

not very sunny around here

I'm sure most of the country would look at the Pacific Northwest forecast and just about die to be here right now.  High seventies, partyly couldy skies today.  Sounds pretty good.  But guess what?  It's not.

I've been waiting and waiting for summer to come.  It's July 26th and I still feel like it's not summer.  Where's the heat?  When can I pull out our blow-up pool and let the kids run around in the sprinkler?  I'm beginning to think that it's never.  We've been teased here and there with a warm day, even a few hot ones.  But a few hot days is not enough.  I need summer.

I've lived here in Portland for two years now, and there have been times in the winter, and even the first spring that we were here where I got down with the weather.  It can really get to you.  But never have I ever been as effected by the weather as I am right now.  It's is killing me.  I can almost tell before I even get out of bed what kind of day it is outside just by how I feel.

I miss Utah today.

thoughts on a sunday

I love this picture because it just shows a typical day with these three.  They made a house in the kitchen and it just kept getting bigger and more elaborate.  They had decorations and salmon to eat for dinner.  Layla ended up being invited in, until she started knocking down walls.  They were good parents to her for awhile though.  

• Hmmm, um, what's happened this week?  I had a really good day of organizing.  It was actually a day where I was really depressed because of the weather (remember my SAD?) and somehow I managed to turn my depression into an organizing frenzy.  Still more to do, but it's a start.

• This week I asked Brian to put Air Supply and Barry Manilow on our iTunes.  That's really true.  I found the old cd's under the couch as I was organizing and I couldn't believe they were missing from our music library.  I'm listening to Air Supply right now.  Jealous?

• We went to the zoo on Brian's day off.  Did I mention that he gets Fridays off?  He does and I love it.  It's so nice to have a long weekend all together.  So we went to the zoo on Friday.  We only got through half of it, but we had some good visits with the eagles and the sea otters- our favorites.  Ellery pretended to be an eagle for about an hour after, and watching her flap her arms and run/fly around was really cute.  

Just some eagles in their nest.

• While at the zoo, I nursed Layla on a bench.  We've been teaching her how to say "uh oh".  It's really cute when she says it, but I didn't really think she knew what it meant.  That is until I was feeding her and she looked up at me, smiled and said, "Uh oh." and proceeded to bite me, well, you know where! I almost died.

• Layla's little tooth keeps coming further and further down.  Today at church we noticed she had a little bloody slit where the other one is starting to come down.  It looked so sore and I feel so bad for her, but aside from some  more frequent diaper changes, she's doing just fine with it.  

the best picture I could get of the big ol' tooth.

• Last night she woke up right before we were going to bed and I sent Brian in to snuggle her back to sleep so she wouldn't want to nurse.  I was downstairs and heard her screaming just get louder and louder.  Finally, I went up and Brian was sitting in the chair and Layla was frantically crawling towards the door- screaming.  She had escaped and was going to look for me.  It was quite funny.  I was determined not to nurse her, so I snuggled her in the rocker instead.  She was so sweet and we just rocked for awhile and then she sat up, looked at me and started clapping her hands and doing other hand motions.  I could tell she was asking me to sing to her (we sing lots of hand songs every morning) and that was her way of communicating that to me.  As soon as I started singing she laid back down on my chest.  It was really precious.

• How about an update on Brian?  He is liking his rotation as Sunnyside.  He's in the process of looking for jobs and is pretty sure he could get one there.  We're also looking into options in Utah and struggling to know what we even want.  Sometimes I think we know what we want, sometimes we don't.  Lots of  prayers being said over here, and I hope that it will all work out.  Big decisions are hard.

• Brian played rugby on Saturday and took McKay along with him.  They both came back dirty and muddy and happy.

• On Saturday McKay was invited to see the Winnie the Pooh movie with a friend.  He was thrilled to go and said he had a great time.  Afterwards, they got something to eat and his friend's mom texted me and said, "We're eating at Bridge Port Cafe.  He says that he and you LOVE cafes."  I love that boy.  It's true too.  

• While he was out, the four of us went on a little date to Red Robin, Target and Goodwill.  We were dropping some things off to Goodwill and went inside in search of a Scrabble game.  They didn't have Scrabble, but we did come out with a few treasures- shin guards and fancy camping pants for McKay- and it made me think I should go there more often.  But also, it's kind of gross in there and it's hard to sift through all the junk.  Goodwill's are not as nice as DI, just in case you were wondering.  

• Just want to give some love to my sweet sister Jana who is expecting her baby girl any day now.  She's ready for that girl to make an entrance and baby keeps tricking her.  

Happy Sunday!

freshly picked

In the beautiful Oregon country that is just in our backyard, the wild flowers are in full bloom and beautiful.  Ever since we moved here I've wanted to take Ellery to pick them- I knew she would love it.  So for family home evening on Monday Ellery was in charge of the activity and I made the suggestion.  She was SO excited and instantly a fan of the idea.  So that's what we did.  It was really fun.  I loved it.  McKay and Ellery loved it.  And I even think Brian loved it too.  There were so many different kinds of flowers- it really was amazing.  

on the fourth of july

 we saw cars 2 (some of us liked it, elle and layla did not) 

 and had a sick daddy who we put down for a nap

which really meant he watched tv

went to the grocery store

where a lady complimented us on our festive attire

and got lots of goodies for our huge fourth of july party

had a huge party, which was really just called dinner

with some red, white and blue flair

but the kids made decorations for the occasion

enjoyed ice cream sandwiches and lit off fire works outside

where rapunzel found a new hat from the packaging remnants

and she and ellery went into business catching ants with her hat

mckay was overjoyed at our measly pile of fireworks

and he didn't even care that it wasn't dark yet

he loved every single one

then up to the roof to watch the real show

which was a surprise for the kids

and we snuggled together and watched the sky light up in every direction

brian may have been sick, and we may have been alone

but there was no place I would have rather been

than up on that roof with my family

seeing that sparkle in their eyes as we did something special

something out of the ordinary

is a memory i will always cherish.

when it was well past ten and the sky had finally darkened all the way

we headed back inside

but it was too hard to shut the blinds

so they got to lay there on their bunk beds in the dark

 watching the fire in the sky

which is a memory I'm sure they'll always remember.

it was a good day.

this and that

For three weeks in June the kids would talk to Brian like this:

And I would talk to him every night like this:

But when we weren't doing that, we were doing this:

Or this:

And lots of this:

The kids did plenty of this:

And this:

Especially with him:

And they did lots of this:

And it was really hard for us to have him miss this:

But then finally, the day came when they got to do this:

And she did a lot of this:

And then we were all so happy to look like this:

thoughts on a sunday

Walking around the lake.  

• Ahhh.  I'm really hoping it's just a summer thing, but I'm just not totally in the mood to blog lately.  I've often said that I'm passionate about blogging to keep a history of my family- what we do, how we are.  I love that we can look back on the last four years of our lives and it's all documented.  It's really important to me to keep doing that.  But lately it's just something that's feeling more like a chore- and it's never really felt like that for me before.  I'm not making an announcement like I'm done or anything, I'm just complaining about it.  That's all.  Hopefully I'll get my blogging passion back.

• Perhaps some of why it's been hard for me to get back into it is because I feel sufficiently overwhelmed with life.  Ever since we got home from our trip to Utah I just haven't been able to totally get back into the swing of things.  I'm finding it really hard to find balance in my life and my responsibilities.  It's hard to be the kind of mom I want to be, and keep my house clean, and make sure everyone is fed, and try to exercise, and clean up some more, and remember how I wanted to organize every single nook and cranny in my house?  Add to that a crawling, napping baby, a husband who works a lot, and an endless list of to-do's and to-improve's.  I'm just tired, ya know?

• Okay, I'm done complaining.  And I'm totally excited to be blogging!  Hehe.  

• So I can't believe that the 4th of July was this same week.  We've done lots of things this week, starting off with our favorite holiday.  Or should I say previous favorite holiday?  It's not such a favorite if I'm not in Utah.  There just aren't as many things to do around here.  It's a totally different vibe.  In Utah, we're busy from early in the morning until late at night on the 4th of July.  Here, we did some really fun things, but also it was just like another Saturday at some points.  Our neighbor was actually washing his car in his driveway. . .on the 4th of July!

• I will say that moving here has helped us learn to be on our own for holidays or just boring weekends, and still be okay and have fun.  Just because we weren't going crazy at the Freedom Festival, doesn't mean that we didn't have a really nice holiday.  In fact, it was really nice.  Quiet, yes, but still memorable.  More on that later...

• Now I'll tell you about Layla today at church.  In relief society she was spread out in the aisle on the floor.  After eating her snacks I just let her pull things out of my bag.  Every time she would find something interesting, she would hold it up high and then look around at all the ladies surrounding her as to say, "I have a cookie!  Do you all see this amazing cookie I have:?!"  or even more enthralling, "I have a bottle of lotion!  Have you ever seen such a treasure as this bottle of lotion?!"  Poor thing was as proud of a granola bar wrapper as she was of her cookie.  It was pretty darn cute.   

• Let me tell you what else is cute.  Her top front tooth is finally coming on down.  Her gums have been bulging for about four weeks now, and a nice little, white tooth is emerging.  Except it isn't little. . .it's kind of huge.  And it isn't really nice either. . .it's crooked.  Crooked in the sense that half of it has come down, and the other half is still up in the gum.  So she's got this huge half a tooth hanging out and it's just the cutest little snaggle tooth you ever did see in a baby.  I love when she gives a big toothy/gummy grin to show it off to the world.   

• I might as well just keep going about my baby.  It seems I wasn't really around when McKay and Ellery were little baby eaters because I have no idea what to feed this baby of mine.  She is so weird with food.  She was kind of late to the solid food game to begin with, so I get that she's a little behind, but she's almost eleven months old and can't make up her mind about baby food or finger food.  I never, ever know what she's going to accept.  I can't count the number of times I open a jar of food only to have her shake her head at it and refuse.  Then some days I'll give her a piece of toast, or chunks of cooked apple and she will have nothing to do with them.  Basically, she still eats baby food, and she also eats finger food and sometimes she eats neither and I just nurse her.  There, now you know.

• Speaking of babies though, we have a new baby in the family.  Cute little baby Wayne was born to Brian's sister Lindy, and Alex, on Friday.  I wish I could hold him.  He looks really adorable.  Lin- I wish you could have seen Mack and Elle's faces when I told them he was born.  They were genuinely and visibly thrilled at the news.  

• Ellery also has a baby named Wayne in her tummy.  Princess is in there with him.  I don't know when they're due to arrive.  

• Some of my thoughts from church today:  Sacrament was on forgiveness.  It's hard to forgive.  It's hard to let go of hurt and anger. . .but mostly hurt.  It's good to realize that holding on to hurt is not the answer.  

• Sunday school was on, um, the Holy Ghost I guess.  Don't really remember the whole point of the lesson, but what I got out of it was how truly amazing and incredible it is that Heavenly Father cares about each one of us so much that we are all receiving promptings about big and little things all the time.  All of us.  That's a lot.  It's up to us to be in-tune and act on them, but they are there.  A friend made a comment about how one Sunday she was wearing the pearl earrings that she and her mom had both worn at their weddings.  All throughout the day she kept getting the thought, take out your earrings.  She kept ignoring the thought, or thinking to herself that she'd do it in a minute and then would forget.  She went to bed and the next morning one of them was gone.  She shared that story and then sweetly ended with the thought, "Heavenly Father doesn't care weather it's a pearl or a person, he just cares."  Heavenly Father cares about pearls.  I like that thought.  

• Relief society was on eternal families.  Lots of lovely thoughts were shared.  Most I agreed with, some I did not.  But the very last comment made me think the most.  She said that sometimes as LDS women we can get caught up in all that we have to do and how hard it is (see my second statement at the top).  She then said how at some point in the middle of raising her children she decided to stop calling it hard and just keep trying and finding humor along the way- trying not to take her life so seriously, but doing her best.  Brian and I have been struggling lately with patience with the kids and that statement really hit home to me.  Maybe instead of freaking out if our kids aren't acting perfect or just how we want them to, we can let go of our ideals a little bit and laugh some more.  I don't know, it's just a thought. . .

• Also, I hardly ever have this much to report about church.  Most of the time I can't pay attention in Sacrament meeting and don't pay close attention in Sunday school.  :)  It was a good day.  
• Today for family movie we finished watching Oliver.  I have distinct memories of watching this musical as a child and I knew my kids would love the songs.  I was right.  I loved hearing little Ellery sing, "Ol-i-ver, O-li-ver!"  It was a big hit, and now McKay has some good faces to put with the term "robber", which he was always asking about.  

• While staying with my parents in Utah, I ran almost every morning with my dad.  My mom would watch the kids while we took the dog out on a three and a half mile run.  It was wonderful.  I promised my dad I wouldn't lose the work that we put in, so I've been trying to continue running here.  It's been hard.  It's been really hard.  Mostly I've gone in the evenings, but on one occasion I put the girls in the stroller and McKay rode his bike.  It wasn't a very worthwhile run- between picking flowers at Ellery's direction, Layla crying, or nearly running into Mack every time he saw anything- anything- on the side of the rode I felt like it was a total waste of exercise time.  It was a lot more like a walk with my children.  Oh well, I'm trying.

• We had a really great Saturday this week.  We woke up and went to the Beaverton Farmer's Market. It's a really busy, fun market with the most beautiful produce.  We got strawberries, peas, lettuce, cherries, broccoli, sweet onions and, as always, fresh kettle corn.  So tatsy!

• While at the market we stopped at the playground to let the kids run around while Brian did a bit more shopping and I fed Layla popcorn puff after popcorn puff on a bench.  All the sudden I saw two girls from McKay's former preschool class.  Anna and Laura- the twins.  Just the other day McKay said to me, "Mom?  Do you think I'll ever see Anna again?"  And look at that!  There she was.  They were so excited to see each other, and I embarrassed McKay by telling them and their dad that he had just been asking about her.  Anna followed McKay all around the playground and he was thrilled.  

• After the market we came home and the kids played outside the whole rest of the day.  It was a true Saturday to me- I didn't shower until 9pm.  We worked on things at home, played outside and had pizza for dinner.  I love days where I don't shower til 9pm and we have pizza for dinner.

• Two of our neighbors had garage sales on Saturday.  Of course we perused the merchandise and Brian made out like a bandit, as my mom would say.  He got some fancy down sleeping bag, and three fancy pads for twenty bucks.  He even bartered with the guy.  I was proud.  He came home, showed me his purchases and then proceeded to unroll them, roll them up, lay on them, lay in them, toss them in his hands, stroke them, hug them, and stare at them for the remainder of the day.  I guess he did all that because he figured that he had just gotten over $200 worth of stuff for twenty bucks.  I would be happy too, but I was happier when he put down the pads and started paying attention to me again.

• Hooray for garage sale-ing though!  When the husbands on board, wonderful things could happen!

• At about five o'clock McKay and Isabella decided to sell apple juice in front of her garage sale.  They did this for about fifteen minutes (and made $2.75) before it was time to come in for dinner.  Isabella's mom suggested they do it again tomorrow.  Sunday.  It was really hard for McKay to realize that he would not be selling luke-warm apple juice to all those garage sale customers.  The whole Sunday issue has been a lot harder than I thought it would be.  Our neighborhood is often packed with children on a sunny Sunday afternoon and it's hard for our kids to understand why they can't be out there too.  Most of them know that we don't play on Sundays, so it's not like they're ringing the doorbell anymore, but it's still hard to see them out there, particularly for McKay.  We do our own things on Sunday as a family, and often times that involves going on a walk or to a park, but we rarely just hang out in the front yard where all the action is.      

• Ever since we got back we've been letting the kids stay up late.  I just had to surrender my seven o'clock bedtime and be relaxed and flexible for summer.  Once I gave it up, it felt better.  It's actually kind of nice being able to go to the park after dinner or staying out past seven.  This week we went to Summerlake Park until almost eight and it was the most beautiful evening.  We ate cupcakes on the grass, walked around the lake, looked for frogs and fed the ducks almost all of Layla's puffs.  I'm glad we are getting the chance to have those experiences that only come with a summer evening. 

• Today at church we were sitting behind two little twin baby boys.  Their names are Reese and Beck.  Ellery was asking what their names were and when I told her she looked at me and said, "That one's Beast and that one's Wreck?"  Beast and Wreck's dad thought that was hilarious and I feel some new nicknames coming on.  Also, it occurred to me that Beast is probably a totally normal name in her mind. It's just Belle's prince's name.  Nothing weird about it.

• Look at me.  For someone who didn't even want to blog, I sure blogged!

Happy Sunday!

sunday roses

We had fun enjoying our new camera at the Rose Garden last Sunday.
It was really hard for me not to buy some shaved ice.
It is the only place I have seen it in the whole state of Oregon, after all.
This is where Layla discovered that playing with dirt is a lot of fun.
And Rapunzel got to smell almost every rose with Ellery.
I love how you can see her braid floating in the breeze in the picture of Elle and McKay walking.
It's kind of lovely to live in the city of roses.

the day i knew i was thirty

Goodbye old swimsuit.  

On our honeymoon, eight years ago, Brian bought a swimsuit at Abercrombie.  Probably the first and only time he's shopped in that store.  That is the only swimsuit he owns.  It served him well for eight long years, until this June, when the lining started to fall apart. . .you know, the mesh lining.

He's now on the hunt for a replacement.

On Wednesday we were at the mall, looking for a swimsuit.  Of course, snobby Brian wanted to buy one at some outdoor store, but there was nothing that he liked that had a mesh lining.

I saw a Pac Sun just down the hall and led my whole family into the store.  We marched over to a wall of board shorts and McKay and Ellery began hiding in the displays.  I thought to myself, "It's been a long time since I've been in a store like this."  We started peeking into all the shorts, looking for a mesh lining and none of them had it.  A teenage boy asked if we needed help.

"Yes," I said, "Do you have any swim shorts with a lining?"

He looked at us kind of confused and said, "Uh, yeah, I don't think they make those anymore.  Yeah, I'm pretty sure they stopped making those a long time ago.  We have board shorts."

"Oh, okay.  Thanks."

We looked at each other and I said, "We're so old!" As Brian and I tried to wrangle our three wiggly children out of the the store, the teenage boy watched us leave.  I'm pretty sure he was thinking that we were way too old to be in their.  We were kind of thinking that he was a little dumb if he really thinks the only swim trunks in the world are board shorts, but who are we to judge that type of youthful mistake.  :)

So, now the search continues and we're just a couple of thirty year-olds on the hunt for some reliable mesh lining in an understated swimsuit.  Is that really too much to ask?    

Oh, and also, it's not so bad being thirty.

thoughts on a sunday

Brian at the pre-4th celebration.  This was one of the only pictures that turned out that night- I'm still learning how to use my new camera and darkness is tricky.  But isn't he cute?  

• This week has been weird.  It's one of those that has gone by fast, yet thinking back to Monday- it seems like forever ago.

• Tomorrow is the fourth of July.  My birthday is always one week before the fourth of July.  My friend Katie's birthday is on the fourth of July.  We are exactly one week apart.  She's going to be thirty too.  She lives in Canada right now, so maybe for the first time ever, she won't have to share her birthday with America.  :)  Happy Birthday, Kate! 

• Quick question for you- do you buy those big boxes of Annie's Organic Bunny snacks at Costco?  And do you love s'mores?  Yes?  Then you would probably love my new favorite dessert.  I just invented it this week.  Empty a packet of those honey graham bunnies into a bowl.  Add a handful of chocolate chips.  Then, you guessed it, a handful of marshmallows.  Microwave for a few seconds (around 20) until marshmallows are all big and puffy and melty.  Then stir it all together with a spoon and eat the gooey goodness.  Note:  this is not a pretty dessert.   

• Your husband might give you looks like you're disgusting.  Especially if you get some marshmallow strings on your chin.  Give it no matter and force him to take a bite.  Then he'll understand and think you're brilliant!  You're welcome.

• My kids are obsessed with dogs.  Around here there is no shortage of dogs.  A different dog (and owner) probably walks in front of our house every ten minutes.  McKay is getting pretty good at identifying different breeds and can spout of the characteristics of a Chow or a Bulldog better than I can.  Ellery acts very interested too.  They will usually stop the owners by asking, "Can we pet your dog?"  Sometimes they say yes, sometimes they say no.  But if they do stop and let the kids have a pet, Ellery usually has a follow-up question, "Is that a rottweiler?"  She will be bending down to pet a Chihuahua and asking if it's a rottweiler.  Sometimes the people look at her funny.  

• Today we were on a walk and she saw two little tiny dogs and she said, "Look- a gray ploodle and a white ploodle."  They weren't even ploodles, or poodles, but it was just about the cutest thing I've ever heard. 

• Another one from Ellery:  She has extremely dry skin around her nose and mouth and it often gets red and sore.  Today she was feeling uncomfortable and told me that it hurt.  I said, "Okay, we'll get some cream for it when we get home."  "Sour Cream?" she responded in a high, squeaky, questioning voice. 

• I think I mentioned how depressing it was to come home to clouds and showers.  It put me in a really down mood until. . .well, until the sun came out.  It seems like the longer I live here the more affected I am by the weather.  I thought it would be the other way around.  It is really weird to have the sun change your mood, but it truly happens to me. 

• I guess right now is as good a time as any to tell you about McKay's "journey".  My friend Starr and her kids came over on Thursday afternoon.  They were here playing for awhile, and decided to stay for dinner.  As we were making dinner, the kids were in and out, upstairs and downstairs- just running from here to there.  After awhile we realized that we hadn't seen McKay and Talan.  We looked outside and couldnt' find them.  We searched the house- in case they were hiding (wasn't I just doing this?!) and couldn't find them.  We called their names outside and couldn't find them.  None of the other kids outside had seen them.  We checked the house again.  Nothing.  We threatened to the air that they would be in big trouble if they didn't come out.  At this point, Starr, Brian and I were just standing outside looking at each other, thinking, "OK, what do we do now?"  We probably stood there for about five minutes just wondering what to do next.  Then all of the sudden we see a little white helmet coming up over the hill.  It's McKay. He stops to play on the playground.  We yell for him to come right over and Talan follows close behind.  When he gets closer I see that he has a look of pride smeared across his little face.  Talan too.  They're smiling- like they've done something incredible.  "What mom?  We were on a journey," was his reply to our questioning where they'd been.  This journey that he spoke of consisted of going several neighborhoods away to their friend David's house to see if he could play (and invite him to dinner.  he declined.).  After playing in front of David's house for awhile they thought it might be a good idea to go to Jaxon's house too.  Jaxon lives a couple miles away- across a really busy road.  These three little boys were about to cross and go to Jaxon's house- which none of them knew how to get to- when a woman stopped them and said, "You boys don't even think about crossing this road without an adult.  Go home."  At this point, David ran home and McKay and Talan decided to take the lady's advice as well.  They started for home except they didn't know where to go.  They wandered for a bit, and then McKay recognized a "round thing" and somehow that got him on the right track back to our house.  End of journey.

• McKay was in big trouble.  He lost his bike for a week and was grounded from outside for a day.  This almost killed me because the next day was the first truly sunny day all week.  And I spent most of it inside.  I almost left my children home alone to go on my own journey.

• Guess what?  We don't even know what we're doing.  We don't know what discipline a journey like that warrants.  But we are very grateful that he is alive!  I just kept shuddering all day thinking of the horrible things that could have happened.  I guess I impressed these things upon McKay because that night he asked if I would stay with him while he said a prayer.  These were his words, "Dear Heavenly Father.  Thank you for this day.  Thank you that I didn't' get dead.  Thank you that I didn't get stolen.  Thank you that I found my way home." My thoughts exactly.

• Okay, on a happier note, we saw McKay's most darling friend, Isabella, outside as we got home from church today.  We went over to say hi to her and she looked at McKay in his tie and gray slacks and said, "Hi McKay!  Why are you wearing that cute little outfit?"  It was more adorable than you could possibly imagine.  I guess she's not used to seeing boys in church attire.  We told her where we'd been and she said, "Oh, my dad and brother go to church sometimes, but they can wear just regular clothes."

• Isabella is moving to Orem this month and I am so, so sad.  She has been such a good friend to McKay and Ellery and really she is just the sweetest little girl ever.  I hope we get some neighbors with kids, and not just working adults who drive right into their garage and shut the door behind them like most of our other neighbors.

• My kids have been saying, "I thought you were a FEMALE!" all day today.  Apparently a line from Ice Age that is completely hilarious, to them at least.  Actually, I don't even know that Ellery knows why she's saying it, but McKay has promised her that it's completely hilarious.

• This week we did quite a few things.  We had a pre-4th of July party on Friday at Starr's, we went shopping for Brian at the outlet mall and we went down to Salem to pick up my new camera!  

• At the pre-4th party McKay was a blur- fireworks, lots of boys and some tractor-mobile kept him busy the whole time.  Ellery spent her time running around at first, and then when it got dark, she sat down with her two best friends, Kenna and Kenzie.  Her friends were just kind of relaxing, watching the fireworks show, but miss Elle was doing a solo concert of Girls of Rock'n Roll, which is a selection from one of the old Cipmunk/Chipette movies.  She was in her own little world, and so serious.  As for Layla, she was just confused as to why she couldn't go to bed and what the loud noises and bright lights were.   

• We lowered Layla's crib when we got home and at first she acted like she was in jail.  Now, she's sleeping through the night (thanks to some great training in Utah) and is quite happy in her little cage.  She's growing up!  It always feels like such a jump when you lower the crib.  

• We decided to give McKay an incentive to say his r's correctly.  He has known how to say them for a long time, but recently has gotten really lazy and will revert to baby-talk r's instead.  We told him that if he went one day without saying a baby r then he could get a new zhu zhu pet.  It took him a few days, but yesterday he was able to go all day!  So this afternoon he got Stonewall, who he's been wanting forever. :)  I told him that if he said baby r's again then we would take Stonewall away and he would have to start over.  He said, "Oh!  So you mean he's like my training zhu zhu pet?"   Yep, exactly. 

• Last night we had stuffed quesadillas for dinner.  I got a couple spoonfuls of re-friend beans and fed a few bites to Layla.  In the middle of the feeding, I looked over at Brian and said, "I wonder if these will hurt her tummy.  Too late now."  We put her to be awhile later and went outside to enjoy the nice weather with the older kids.  We played out there for about and hour and a half and when we finally came in guess who was screaming her lungs out?  My poor baby.  I feel horrible that I didn't check on her and I have no idea how long she was screaming.  I do know that re-fried beans do not agree with Layla's tummy just yet. 

• Oh yeah, and Layla started crawling a couple weeks ago while we were in Utah.  She's now getting more interested in standing.  It's still cute to me to see her crawl. 

• Everyone has been commenting on how tan the kids are.  You really can't get the same kind of tan around here, ever.  Plus, summer just came to Portland two days ago, so no one's had the opportunity to try. 

• Today after church I asked Ellery how primary was.  "Good,"  she said, "My teacher's breath stinks."  It must be fast Sunday.  

Happy Fast Sunday to you!

a pirate tale

Don't be offended, but I was a mom who judged when kids had silver caps on their baby teeth.  I did.  It's okay to have them, but I would always think- they probably don't have a good brushing routine or really, they don't brush their teeth very much at all.  Please forgive me for my judgmental ignorance.  

I was completely distraught when the dentist suggested McKay  might need a "baby root canal".  It was probably one of the first of many situations where I wondered if the dentist was doing something he wanted to do as opposed to something my kid actually needed.  Sadly, there really is no way to tell.  I took McKay to the office and asked the dentist to be as conservative as possible.  He assured me he would, but I walked away knowing that my boy would come out with a silver tooth.  

I was right.

The good news is that McKay was completely thrilled with the results.  There is nothing wrong with a pirate tooth in his eyes.  

After the appointment we stopped at Target to return something.  As the lady at customer service scanned my receipt I noticed McKay's mouth hanging open.  He was desperately trying to get her to notice his new tooth. I mean, it was almost painful to watch him twist and maneuver his mouth, hoping she would catch a glimpse of the new bling and be utterly impressed.  So I had to step in.  I called her attention to his new tooth and she pretended to be interested, although I could tell she was kind of confused as to why we were so happy about a sliver cap.  She was probably judging like I used to.    

No matter to us.  We strolled the aisles of Target and he hung his mouth open  wide, hoping someone- anyone- would notice and maybe even walked up to a few more sales associates to tell them the good news.  I was dying watching him.  It was pretty adorable.  

After this experience I became rigid about our dental hygiene routine.  Rigid!  We were excellent brushers, but flossing is where we lacked big time.  So ever since I found out he had two cavities, one resulting in the pirate tooth, I committed to brushing and flossing every day.  We'll see if I can prevent anymore of these.

But this boy might be a bit disappointed next time he goes to the dentist.  Oh there never was a cuter pirate.  Arrggghhhh!

p.s. I forgot to mention that he did this big procedure all by himself.  I had the girls out in the waiting room and just sent him back.  He was so brave and thankfully had no pre-determined fear.  I asked him how it went and he said that he would moan and they would ask if he was okay.  Then I praised him for not crying and he said, "I did cry mom.  The tears were just hidden by my movie glasses, running down my neck."  Awwww.

p.p.s.  Ellery was still a member of the No Cavity Club, and obviously McKay was not.  This caused some confusion because I had to be positive about how fillings were not a big deal and how mommy has a million of them, but still be proud of Elle for not having cavities.  It was also kind of sad to have one kid kicked out of the club.  He got over it as soon as he heard he might get a silver tooth.  Go figure. 

laysie maysie

Some pictures of my cute bay in May.

Oh, we sure love this little girl!