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.

thoughts on a sunday

• On Friday McKay was allowed to wear a costume to school because it was clown day and he was the snacker.  Friday was such a good day for this boy.  On the way to school we stopped to get a snack to bring.  After browsing almost every aisle he settled on fruit snacks.  I decided to grab a bag of baby carrots to go along with them.  When McKay saw the carrots he was completely mortified at the thought of bringing them to school.  He begged me to not buy them.  I could tell this was serious, so I let the carrots go.  I guess carrots are totally embarrassing.  I didn't know.

• How come whenever I go visiting teaching Ellery poops?  Every single time.  

• For awhile now I've been wanting to buy a bunch of chicken, shred it, and freeze it.  With the help of my friend Mailee, I did it.  She provided rubber gloves and just enough conversational distraction for me to trim about twelve pounds of chicken.  And now it's sitting all pretty in my freezer.  I am proud of myself and also so happy that I don't have to eat it.

• Speaking of meat, I'm afraid McKay is a lot like me when it comes to food.  This is not a good thing.  I  am very careful about not saying anything bad about meat in front of my kids, and I don't bring any attention to the fact that I'm not eating it.  Even still, McKay is proving to be quite picky with meat.  Not all the time, but enough that Brian and I are wondering if eventually we'll have another little vegetarian on our hands.  Oh I sure hope not.  

• On Tuesday we all went to the cub scout Blue and Gold banquet.  I have never been before.  McKay almost died because he was so excited to be there.  Seeing a room full of cub scouts and adults laying on their backs acting like a dead cockroach?  Thrilling.

• We checked out two Snow White books from the library last week.  Brian and I have each read them to Elle at least twenty times.  Each!  They cannot be returned fast enough.

• The other night when I checked on McKay as he was trying to go to sleep, he proudly announced, "Mom!  I'm growing hair on both of my feet!"  I found out the next morning that this hair was actually rough spots callous skin on his heel, but I didn't tell him.

• Brian had a busy week.  He has been swamped with school, homework and clinicals.  He did have a big success at the hospital this week though- his first intubation!  Way to go Bri!  

• If Friday was a good day for McKay then Saturday was off the charts.  McKay went to a friend's birthday party.  Let me paint a picture for you:  400 pastel non-helium balloons filling an entire living room (think ball pit of balloons), one balloon guy (McKay chose a black horse), one princess-clad makeup artist (batman for Mack), pizza, cupcakes and 25 five year old kids.  25 kids!  

Happy Sunday!

lunch break

While Brian was home studying, we were busy in the kitchen making him lunch.  Really, really busy.

And then we delivered it right to him.

 Note as dictated by McKay:
"Dear Dad,
We gave this to you.  We madfe it out of play dough and we hope you enjoy it.  We love you.  A hug from me and a kiss from you.  We love you so much.  Elle made the rotten cookie and we made some stuff that's a surprise."

Dad's meal included pizza, donuts, watermelon, blueberry pancakes, strawberries, raisins, chips and a valentine's cookie.

Elle did have a cookie of her own that she worked on the whole time while McKay and I made the rest.  But you can bet she wasn't giving her precious rotten cookie up to dad.  She kept it for herself!

I may or may not have had more fun making food out of play-doh than my kids.

a certain grandma reads this blog

And the reason I know that is because these two lucky grandkids now have homemade snuggies of their very own.

These things are plush. . .my pink pepto doesn't stand a chance against them.  

Thanks Grandma, we love them!

her rules

How Elle plays Candyland:

Working hard.

All done!

thoughts on a sunday

• I cannot even explain how nice the weather has been here the past couple weeks.  I love it.  I really do.  It's messing with my mind though, because I keep thinking that summer is just around the corner, with weather like this.  I am told that it won't last.  In fact, I think the rain might start tomorrow.  But we have been outside a lot enjoying the 60 degree, sunshiney days.

• On Saturday our family had a huge milestone.  The first babysitter!  Ever.  Up to this point we've lived by family who has graciously always been there to watch our little ones.  Brian and I went to a matinee movie (Avatar) and the kids did great with Sammy.  We knew McKay would be fine, but Elle we worried about.  But she was happy the whole time.  I'm glad we finally did it and now we can do it again.  

• So Avatar.  I remember seeing the preview for the first time when we were at another movie and Bri and I looked at each other in disbelief because we thought it looked so stupid.  That was before we had heard any of the hype.  So we gave it a chance.  I am not picky with movies.  I really liked it, although I got frustrated with all the fighting.  Just somebody win already.

• Today McKay said the scripture and prayer in primary.  He said he was nervous, but he did great.  Didn't talk too loud this time, or talk like a baby.  He was sure proud of himself, and I was too.  He's a very cute boy.

• Another significant happening in primary today, that McKay shared with us on the way home from church, was that he and "a girl were making silly faces to each other during sharing time and just falling in love."  We also were told this girl was a teacher.  Do you think she knows she was falling in love?    

• Ellery didn't have as intense of a day in church.  When we asked her what she learned about she said, "Phones.  And balls.  Phones and balls."

• Today we had a first for dinner.  Korean barbeque short ribs.  It is the most we have ever paid for meat.  Brian made them and he was disappointed.  For all the work the flavor was very mild.  The kids liked it though, and I liked the sauce on top of my rice.  But then when we discovered a layer of waxy stuff on every dish and coating the sink we decided that either we don't know how to make them right, or they are really fatty and gross.  Well, I decided that.  I don't know what conclusions Brian drew.  

• This week I have been feeling like I've been contradicting myself quite frequently.  During family prayers you just don't even want to know what my kids are doing.  Ellery refuses to kneel and is usually flopping around the middle of the room doing anything but folding her arms.  McKay has good nights and bad nights, but lately there have been more bad.  He also gets quite distracted by floppy Ellery and then he's gone.  So here's my contradiction:  Through gritted teeth and a with squeeze of a tiny arm I say, "Sit up and kneel!" or, "Be reverent!" or "Fold your arms and stop moving right now or you'll lose your song!"  How can praying and growling those things go together?  They can't.  I'm at a loss.  

• On a more pleasant note, tonight as I was putting Elle to bed I asked her what song she wanted.  She replied, "the ahhh-ahhh-ahhh song"  So that's what we sang.  Two little mermaids just singing to each other.  

Happy Sunday!

elle white

I think it's time to talk about this little miss.  

If you've been away from Elle

 for more than thirty minutes at a time

 she will automatically ask you,

"How was your day, mom?"

She is also still extremely complimentary.

I had some cream on my face.

You know, like (blemish) cream.

Elle looked at me and said,

"You got cream, mom?"

Yep, I do.

"I like your cream, mom."

Ellery is so girly already, and loves anything

frilly, pink, pretty or feminine.

She has even come up with a girly animal name

when her and brother are pretending to be animals.

Pink spot.

McKay has a hard time 

when she wants to be a pink horse.

Because horses are never pink.  

While we were in Utah, after being with cute baby Carson

the kids were pretending that they were babies.

McKay said, "I'm baby Carson."

Ellery quickly followed,

"I'm pink Carson."

There are so many cute things that she says

right now, that I know I'm going to miss.

"bludder" for brother

"I lub you," which she tells us often.

and "kaykay" for McKay.

Even though she can say McKay now, too.

I wouldn't mind if she called him kaykay forever.

This little girl doesn't like movies.  

Only baby einstein really catches her interest.

Until we got Snow White for Christmas.

She can sit through the whole thing.

She doesn't do that for any other movie.

She loves Snow White.

Thus, we have Elle White visit quite often around here. 

Her very favorite part of the day.

Is when we get to "go pick up the boys"

from preschool.

She totally flirts with Jaxon.

But he doesn't even notice.

Brian is really worried.

Seriously concerned.

About his daughter's hoarding activities at age two.

She is a bag lady.  She drapes them all on her stroller.

Each bag has a few little treasures inside.

Everything is better in a bag.

Today, her babies and pink bear are in a ziplock bag.

And she could not have been more proud of that idea.

Oh how I love this little girl.

So much.

She brings so much joy to our family.

She is so full of life and love and sweetness.

And just enough spice

to keep things interesting.

thoughts on a sunday

• The Olympics have started.  That means that Brian wants to do one thing and one thing only: watch them. It's going to be a lonely two weeks for me.  Or is it three?  Oh please say it's only two.  Actually, I have already gotten into it more than I usually do.  If you watch for a little while there is so much drama that unfolds.  Like the luge (very sad) and Apollo's silver medal which he only got because the two skaters in front of him fell at the last second.  It's exciting stuff.

• I like Valentine's day.  Not because we go all out for it.  Brian and I usually don't do much, and especially this year because one we don't have money to spare on things like Valentines day, and two, it's a Sunday.  Oh, and three, we have yet to get a babysitter here in Oregon.  I like it because it's just an easy holiday.  You can make it big or make it not exist and it is just totally up to you, and your valentine I guess.  Instead of going out and being all romantic we had fondue.  Pizza fondue is McKay's favorite meal and it's a quick fix when we get home from church at five.  So I decided to throw in a special Valentine's day dessert and we had chocolate fondue with plenty of treats to dip.  Yum!  

• If you have picky eaters, try fondue.  Something about a new way to eat something.  I have a fondue pot, which we love, but you could just use a regular pot.  The pizza fondue we make is super easy.  Cut up a loaf of french bread into cubes.  Heat pizza sauce (from a jar) on the stove and throw in some shredded mozzerella.  Sometimes we season with pizza seasoning and occasionally minced garlic, but sometimes it's just the sauce and cheese.  We skewer little pepperonis (some of us) with our bread and dip away.  
• I'm done talking about fondue.

• But now I can't think about what to talk about.

• I guess it might be noteworthy to say that Brian finished his midterms.  Kinda boring.

• McKay had his first Valentine's day party at preschool.  He chose dog and cat valentines with 3-D stickers.  Moms were invited to school to open all the valentines with the kids.  McKay and I sat and opened each one and it was just the most precious thing seeing how special he thought it was.  He would look at me with these eyes like he was completely in love with his little bag of valentines and could not believe his good fortune in receiving so many.

• Speaking of love, McKay is in love with Taylor Swift.  I kinda don't blame him.

• I'm sitting here at my desk staring at a huge pile of papers.  What are all those papers?  I really hate papers.  Brian does a lot of things, but he never deals with the paper pile-up around here.  Looks like I've been slacking on my job.

• We've been going to the library story time every week with some other moms and kids from our ward. Why haven't I been doing this all along?  The kids love it and I just get to enjoy it with them, plus I love having a stack of new books to read to them.    

• When we were in Utah my kids played with Nonnie a lot.  One day I went downstairs to find Nonnie filling their tea party cups up with diet coke and they would all raise a glass and say "Salue" while toasting each other.  Then, right before they took a sip they would say, "Down the hatch."  Caught in the act of drinking Nonnie's soda that I don't let them drink.  But it was hard for me to get mad because how can you get mad at a two year old girl saying "down the hatch" and then guzzling diet coke.  You just can't.  

• Tonight for dinner I bought sparkling cider and little valentine glasses to drink it from.  You can bet there was a lot of salues being offered.  

• I have no idea how to spell salue or what it means, really.  

Happy Valentine's Sunday!

i came home to. . .

a clean house
a stocked fridge
fresh towels
clean sheets
a pruned bush in the front yard
and a really cute husband.

oh i like him.

and spidey really likes him too.