skippin' off to boston

Well, not really Boston, Seattle rather.  

My boys have kind of adopted the Red Sox as "their team".  

So Brian planned a trip to Seattle for him and Mack to see the Red Sox play the Mariners.

I sent along plenty of provisions for the three hour drive and, as usual, 

was happy to say goodbye to my over-excited, not-at-all-annoying boy!

Pricey hot dogs for dinner, going to a big stadium, watching the Red Sox with dad, going on a three hour trip to Seattle, staying up until the middle of the night. . .

it was pretty much the best day ever for this boy.  

He watched all but one inning of the game, when he took a little break to play on dad's phone.  Sadly, their team didn't win, but McKay really didn't care because he was too excited about starting his own cheer with the crowd.  Half way through the game he whispered, "Dad, I want to start a cheer."  And they did.  And he was sure proud.  "Lets go Red Sox!"

I love these two.  So happy they have such a good relationship.  

This boy thinks the world of his daddy and I'm pretty sure Brian feels the same way.

I'm glad they have each other because us girls are about to outnumber. . .
. . .and we don't really like baseball.

four babies all in a row

Starr, me, Cassidy

It's always fun to be pregnant with friends at the same time.  These are two girls from my ward and we're all due within a month of each other.  Starr, on the left, is due any day now, and Cassidy on the right is having twin boys and due mid-September. . .but could also go any day now!

It's sure been fun to be pregnant with these ladies.  They have made me feel better because they don't have names picked out yet either!  They've been great friends and I'm excited that my little girl will automatically have a whole group of great friends as well.

And just to clarify, this picture was taken three weeks ago.  There's been lots of growth.  And obviously I only post the most flattering photos of myself on here.  Or as flattering as I can manage.  Obviously.

thoughts on a sunday

Tumeke Touch team

• Brian's touch-rugby team had their big tournament in Portland on Saturday.  It was an all day affair- I think they played six or seven games.  Me and the kids went down to watch and the kids had a blast playing with the other kids and running around the fields all day.  Even after six hours McKay was still not ready to go home.  I don't know much about rugby, or actually I guess I should technically be calling it "touch", but it was fun to see them play.  It's pretty confusing to watch if you don't know the rules (which I don't) and they are constantly running the whole game.  They never stop running until it's over.  It's fun to see Brian do something he loves so much.  

• I took lots of pictures on Saturday and sadly enough I didn't get any good shots of Brian doing anything interesting on the field.  Maybe I was too busy watching him?  But believe me, he did lots of interesting stuff on the field.  Obviously, New Zealanders love rugby, so this game brings out a lot of kiwis living Portland.  Brian has said more than once how much he loves being around kiwis again (he served his mission in NZ) so I'm thinking that is part of the draw for him.  

• On the way to church today we were talking about how to behave in our classes.  After asking the kids a series of reverence questions, I then added, "Who's going to have fun at church today?"  McKay's response:  "I am!  I love church.  I'm a church-man!  I'm a church-missionary!  I'm a church-prophet!"  Ellery then enthusiastically added, "I'm a church-married-princess!"

• Last week at church, our little church-man said the prayer and scripture in primary.  His scripture was, "Jesus said, Come Follow Me."  He said both on his own and only stumbled a bit when trying to remember which scripture in Luke he had quoted.  Brian and I were surprised at how not shy he is.  It was also interesting to hear him pray on his own in that setting.  He has definitely picked up the phrases that are often heard in primary prayers.  He is cute.  

• Last week McKay went swimming with one of his friends and his family.  It was so sweet of my friend to take him along because McKay loves all her boys (she has six!).  On the way home from the pool there was a little road-rage from the car behind them.  This man pulled up next to their car, reached down, pulled out a gun and cocked it- all because he felt he'd been cut off.  He didn't point it at them, but was clearly sending a dangerous message.  We were all so grateful that nothing more happened, but it sure shook us up.  McKay actually thought it was kind of exciting, but he didn't see the guy or the gun- thankfully- so I imagine all the nervous energy it brought did seem exciting to him.  

• Ellery observed that we (meaning her and I) have hair on our heads and Daddy and McKay don't have hair on their heads.  She also is very into informing people, "My brother has a buzz," at random.

• I took the kids outside the other day to play.  McKay wanted to play baseball, so I brought along a big  blue ball for Ellery to hit, instead of the little softball that McKay uses.  Guess who is SO not interested in baseball?  She has become such a girly-girl and apparently has aspirations to become a cheerleader and a princess, which is what she told a man we were sitting by at Brian's rugby game.

• I recently bought agave nectar for the purpose of sweetening my smoothies.  I love it.  That's all.

• So at my last doctor's appointment we discussed the timing of this baby.  Dr. said that I should plan on going two weeks early with this one, since that's what I did with the others.  If that's the case then I have four weeks to go.  If I make it to September then that's great.  If I got past my September 9th due date I might die.

• Pretty much I am a big, grumpy lady.  I have never felt this way before.  Just being in this body makes me irritable.  My poor family.  Really, it's sad for them.  I am overly-sensitive and don't have a lot of tolerance for anything that bugs me.  Today on the way home I had a slight breakdown (slight meaning crying a bit but really feeling like bawling) because well-meaning people at church told me I look miserable, or told me I look like I'm done, or asked me if I was due any day now.  I am done.  I am miserable.  But please don't tell me I look that way too.  Just say I look cute.  Just lie.  

• I wouldn't feel as bad if my face wasn't huge.  There is no hiding your face.  It's just right there all the time.  Plus, it's covered in brown splotches that people can only assume are huge freckles.  They're not freckles.  

• I know I'm complaining a lot about this, but just so you're not worried about her- I am rubbing my belly frequently and tell this baby that I love her and I'm happy she's coming.  She doesn't take it personal.  We're okay, me and her.    

• Okay, I'm done complaining.

• Ellery has started a fun little habit of tattling on Brian for pretty much any interaction they have that she sees as negative.  "Mo-om, dad says I have to clean up."  "Mo-om, dad called me a monkey-face."  He does a lot of negative stuff to her, judging by the amount of tattles I hear.

• Speaking of tattling, isn't that one of the most awkward issues to explain to a child?   When they are the ones tattling on other kids you tell them not to.  But then sometimes they should. . .but how to explain the difference?  Then, if they are being tattled on by a friend you act like you needed to know and that it's okay that the friend tattled, and you discipline them accordingly.  So basically, it's okay for others to tattle, but not you.  That's the message I feel like I'm giving.  

• The other night at dinner we were discussing what to name our baby.  Someone brought up a silly name and then that started a whole slew of silly names.  Ellery's were my favorite: Milk-Mouth, Evelyn Poop, and Ugly Muffin. 

Happy Sunday to you.

about ellery

She does not care much for sports

She will turn on whatever parent is telling her something she doesn't want to hear.

She can sleep with anything- little figures, animals, babies, even...

She likes her hair down and flowy

She wants barbie's for her birthday...already

After she goes potty she often says, "Good job little bummy!"

She is experimenting with the word "stupid"  Especially directed at bugs, "Stupid bug."

She doesn't really like pasta.

She loves fruit and veggies.  Carrots are her favorite.

She lives in dress ups

Her new thing when I ask her to do something, like brush her hair, go potty, etc... is to say, "No, McKay first."

The best leverage we have with her is her princesses and her nightgown.  Still.

it's back

So the last several weeks I've been feeling pretty overwhelmed by mothering my children.

Not by mothering, but mothering my children.

I don't know if it's because they haven't been getting enough sleep- this seems to be a problem since sharing a room- waking each other up every morning is still quite fun for them to do.

Or maybe it's the fact that I'm 12 months pregnant and my patience is running on the thin side.  Like the dangerously thin side.  I think that's a big reason why I am hating not enjoying this pregnancy as much.  Because it's hard to take care of two other kids and be pregnant.  It's just hard.

Either way, it's been a difficult couple of weeks.  We haven't had many good days where we all get along and there's no fighting, yelling or time-outs. . .for any of us.  It's made me sad and overwhelmed each day.  I've felt heavy.  Weary.

Today.  I'm so thankful for today.  Today was nothing special.  I don't know why today was different, but it was.  I was blessed with patience.  McKay and Ellery didn't whine as much as they have been.  We kept ourselves busy.  

I found myself wanting to play with them.  Wanting to make them happy.  Wanting to hug them and snuggle them and tell them how much I love them.  Over and over and over.  And I know it wasn't just me.  We all felt a difference today.  We were all just working together like we should.  

I'm so glad that feeling came back today.  I've missed it.  I love being their mom- I really do.

But sometimes, sometimes, that slips away from me.  And it sure feels good to get it back.

Here's to an even better tomorrow. . .

when aunt krista came to stay. . .

When Aunt Krista came to stay. . .

We picked fresh raspberries,

Sampling as we filled our bowl.

I found it quite difficult

to tear Aunt Krista away from the bush.

She was quite a berry-picker.

When Aunt Krista came to stay. . .

We visited the berry farm chickens

which were the ugliest chickens.

And fed the goats.

We spent the rest of the afternoon

making beautiful raspberry peach jam.

When Aunt Krista came to stay. . .

We tried to catch a frog.

And introduced her 

to our favorite dog park.

When Aunt Krista came to stay. . .

We tricked the ducks

into thinking we had food.

And Brian learned

That not all geese are scary.

When Aunt Krista came to stay. . .

She babysat.

And that was the highlight for these two.

They all wore green pajamas.

And read the whole stack of library books.

She also brought presents.

And let them wake her up first every morning.

And spoiled them the whole time.

When Aunt Krista came to stay. . .

We took her to the "world famous" zoo.

We got lots of information about cougars.

And learned what to do if we happen upon one.

But due to a dental emergency,

We had to eat our elephant ear on the run

and leave the zoo early.

Because we can't very well 

be seen around town with a toothless hillbilly.

When Aunt Krista came to stay. . .

We had to go to VooDoo.

She tried the maple bacon.

And wasn't disappointed.

When Aunt Krista came to stay. . .

We found ourselves in Tillamook.

We took a tour of the factory.

And ate the best grilled cheese.

And Brian made this face at me.

When Aunt Krista came to stay. . .

We headed to the coast.

And stopped to play in Seaside.

Got in the water with the kids. . .but only waist high.

And jumped waves and played in the sand.

While Brian practiced skim boarding.

Which is apparently a new hobby.

When Aunt Krista came to stay. . .

She treated us to dinner at the Pig'NPancake.

Which made us all laugh a little.

And we had chocolate covered twinkies for dessert.

Which aren't as good as you might think.

When Aunt Krista came to stay. . .

We were sad to say goodbye.

But. 

Then.

She called us back.

And said that her flight was cancelled.

So we picked her up again.

And had a girls night.

Of shopping, pizza, reading and a movie.

And the next morning

 we really did have to say goodbye.

We sure loved having Aunt Krista here.
It was wonderful to have her all to ourselves.
To show her our world.

And we can't wait until she comes to stay again.

buzz man

This little boy's hair was so long.

This little boy hates getting his hair done every morning.

This little boy, however, did NOT want a haircut.

This little boy's dad couldn't take it anymore.

So this little boy got a summer buzz.

And this little boy couldn't be more thrilled about it. 

Oh this little boy is sure cute. 

thoughts on a sunday

Us at the concert.  I have decided not to smile anymore for pictures.  

This is in an effort to not look as fat in the face.  My poor face.  Who is that girl?  

• We've had a busy week this week.  Lots of playing with friends and playing outside.  The weather has been in the high 70's for most of the week so it's been quite pleasant to be outdoors.    

• Brian usually gets new clothes for his birthday.  This year he didn't, but was in need of some anyway.  You really would never guess, but he is a snob when it comes to clothes.  We have quite different philosophies when it comes to buying clothes.  He is loyal to certain brands and will pay quite a bit more for his brand-name clothes because, he says, they last longer and are better quality.  I, on the other hand, would rather buy cheap inexpensive clothes and get way more for my money.  Except for jeans.  Our philosophies flip when it comes to jeans.

• The other day we were driving by the temple, which you can see from the freeway, and Ellery said, "I see the temple where you get married!"  I asked the kids if they wanted to get married in the Portland temple.  McKay's reply: "No.  I want to get married in the cougar temple."

• Today in relief society we talked about service and patience.  I was really struck by a discussion about how we receive promptings from the Spirit and how we may dismiss those simple thoughts that come to us, which may really be the potential answer to someone's prayer.  How often does that happen to me?  Where I have a thought to do something for someone else, or call someone, or whatever, and I let it go because I don't have time or don't think it's important.  I think it probably happens to me a lot.  Made me want to be more in tune and pay more attention to those seemingly insignificant thoughts.  

• Shaving my legs is getting difficult and I constantly am cutting myself, which I usually never do.  My ankles might never be the same.

• Brian was working on a group project at our house on Saturday so I took the kids to the play area at the mall.  It's pretty fun for them, as far as mall play areas go, and they loved jumping and sliding and running around.  I sat there watching them and found myself thinking way too much about how disgusting play areas are.  I watched all the strange little bare feet running around and then hands touching everything and then hands in mouths and, well, you know, it's a cycle.  When I start thinking like that I have to first, remind myself that we practically bathe in hand sanitizer after we're done, and two, germs aren't necessarily going to hurt my kids.  Worse case- they get a bug.  It's easy to be a germ-a-phob and quite harder to not let it bother you, I think.  But I'm trying to let my kids experience being kids and playing on those nasty play areas is part of that.  Am I right?

• On Thursday we went to the library.  All was going well until Ellery came up to me in a panic and said, "I need to go potty!  I need to go potty!". . .pause. . ."I'm going!"  This is a brand new library.  It's small.  It's inexperienced.  It didn't know what to do about pee on the floor.  I asked for something to clean it up with and all they had were paper towels.  I'm glad it was my child that broke in the library carpet.  It's was super fun for me, and reminded me that when someone is distracted someone will still have accidents.   

• We went to the junior high this week for lunch.  The school district here has a program where they give out free school lunches to all children.  Any children.  So we went and McKay felt like a 7th grader eating lunch in the big cafeteria and running around with his friends after.  It's nice to get out and not have to fix lunch myself.  We might just become regulars!
  
• We also went swimming with McKay's friend David and his family on Monday.  It was where McKay had his swimming lessons, so he was thrilled to get to swim all over the pool and use the water slide instead of sitting on the steps waiting for his turn to be taught.  Ellery was perhaps more excited to be in the pool as she has only ever been able to watch McKay in it.  I have another philosophy:  if I can't get a tan while swimming, I'm not interested.  This was an indoor pool.  They had fun and I sacrificed by getting in the water and getting all the way wet. 

• I had a dentist appointment this week.  I am grateful to have dental insurance while I'm pregnant and so I went in for a cleaning.  I went to one of the only dentist that my coverage allows and had perhaps the most traumatic dental experience of my life.  The office was tiny and old.  The dentist was hard to understand.  The dentist did the whole cleaning.  The dentist didn't notice the gallons of water continuously dripping out of my mouth and pooling in my neck from her little water tool.  The dentist was rough.  The dentist was quick.  The dentist scared me.

• Brian is busy again.  This week, even when he had a day off, he still had to do papers and paperwork the whole time.  He is front-loading his clinicals so that he can be done in mid-August so that they won't get in the way of the baby coming.  This will be really nice in August, but for now it's creating quite a busy, stressful environment for him.  Also, you can call him the spinal-master because he's continuously rocking those spinals.  No big deal.

• Brian and I went to see The Avett Brothers last night at the Edgefield in Troutdale.  We enjoyed getting out , enjoyed the music, enjoyed the beautiful venue, enjoyed the bountiful people watching and I enjoyed getting a few peaks of the boys singing. . .but just a few because I was too short to see above the crowd most of the time.  We didn't enjoy the gross $10 pizza, most of the set-list, and waiting in the parking lot for over an hour to get out.  

• Going to this concert caused us to get our second ever "babysitter".  The kids were SO excited.  Minutes before she arrived they were running around the family room jumping and falling on each other from pure joy.  Then she came in.  McKay immediately whispered to Brian, "I know her!  I stare at her in church all the time!"  The three of them hit it off and the kids even went to bed good for her.  It was a long time to leave them, but we were all relieved that they did great.  And our darling babysitter was great too.  Brian was super impressed that she had put all the pizza away in a tupperware with wax paper between each slice.  That sealed the deal right there for him.        

• Before we left for the concert I decided to type up a few simple instructions for Mallory, the babysitter.  I know that telling someone everything at once can get overwhelming, so I thought having it written down would be helpful.  I wrote about Ellery's rice milk, about their bedtime routine, about Ellery's potty-assistance needs, our phone number and where we'd be and what things they could do.  Brian later declared it "the manifesto" and teased me the whole time we were gone about it.  Hey, we all know I am a long-winded writer, and this is my second time ever leaving my babies with a teenage girl. And, it was for a long time.  I stand by my manifesto.  

Happy Sunday!

the nightgown

Little Elle was low on pajamas so when I saw this little nightgown on clearance I brought it home.  

*****

Our lives will never be the same.

She has worn it every night since Monday.  Every night.  

It is now our main point of leverage for this girl.

"If you have an accident you'll loose your nightgown."

"If you get out of bed you'll loose your nightgown."

It is powerful, this nightgown.

And oh she loves it so.  

It's a good thing she looks so cute in it 

because I'm pretty sure we're going to keep seeing a lot of this little thing.  

about mckay

biting his nails. . .even his toenails!

getting really good at baseball

gets red when he's outside

social butterfly

still hates church until we get there.

shows a lot of maturity when dealing with his little sister.

his softest spot is still for animals

can see how social interactions play a big role in this age

thoughts on a sunday

• We picked blueberries this week.  Lots of them.  I am loving this berry picking thing and am already planning on picking more raspberries to make jam when my sister Krista comes to visit in a couple weeks!

• I haven't told you this but McKay has beens struggling with baby talk.  This is driving me and Brian a little bit insane.  He can say his r's and s's and every other letter, except he often times chooses not to say them correctly.  We are constantly telling him that we can't understand him and then he knows that he needs to say it the right way.  This is so very annoying.

• Another annoying habit, while we're on the subject, is that he is in a major nail-biting rut.  He can't stop.  His nails are little nubs.  I blame this on the Berenstein Bear books.  We love those books.  I grew up reading them and we check them out from the library often, plus we have them On-Demand so the kids watch the cartoons every once in awhile.  There is one where Sister gets into the bad habit of biting her nails.  I think this is where he got the idea.  I asked him how Sister stopped and he said, "They had a little talk."  Well, needless to say our "little talks" have not gone over as smoothly.  There's another one where Sister says a bad word.  The word they use is "furball".  Guess who has been testing the language waters by throwing around the word furball lately?  I'm beginning to re-think these books.  Perhaps they are more trouble than they're worth.

• Are anyone else's kids getting slivers like crazy?  Or are my kids just prone to them somehow?  There is always a sliver that needs to be picked out around here.  

• I got a new phone today.  It is an upgrade to a downgrade. . .meaning it's not as nice as my old phone, but at least it's new and it works.  My old phone was a touch screen and the screen stopped working weeks ago.  I feel like a new woman! . .and it's purple! . .but I don't really like the color purple.  But I still like my new phone.

• This week we spent almost every day doing something fun outside with water and friends.  Ellery wore her swimsuit every day.

• With all the berries I've been pickin' we've developed a mean case of fruit flies.  I hate them.  They poop on my mirrors and who knows what else and how gross is that?  It's really, really gross.

• Today at dinner Brian said, "I don't even remember the last time that Ellery ate dinner."  It's true.  She is in a phase where she is not at all interested in dinner.  She'll drink all her milk and then we spend the rest of the meal trying to get her to eat, or excusing her into the other room when she refuses.  We have a rule that the kids have to at least try one bite of something they don't want and then say, "no thanks" if they don't want more.  She just skips the bite all together and starts chanting "no thanks" as soon as her milk is gone.  I don't know which is worse, that, or having McKay ask if he can plug his nose when he takes a bite.  

• Just a little potty training update-  She's doing great!  Finally.  With our trip and her being sick after that, potty training lasted way too long.  But now I'm happy to report that she's done it and we can now go out in public sans pull-up!  She even wakes up dry.  I'm still a little reluctant to take away her sleeping underwear, aka pull-ups, because changing sheets on a bunk bed is something that I feel pretty strongly about not doing.

• After a week long cold, me and the kids are finally feeling better. . .mostly.  But now Brian has it.  And he has two clinicals this week and I know exactly how he's going to feel and it's not going to be pretty. Poor Bri.

• Every night this week our room has been roasting at night.  Our whole upstairs has been hot, but our bedroom has been SO hot.  I would wake up several times a night sweating and miserable.  I finally announced that I was going to buy a fan for our bedroom and then Brian told me he could just turn up the A/C.  I am not one who usually touches the temperatures in my house. . .because usually they are fine.  And so I kind of thought that our A/C just wasn't very good and didn't cool the upstairs.  And then he tells me he could just turn it up!  I was so mad that we've been sleeping in the desert and all we had to do was move up a few degrees!  It's better now.  

• The heat isn't all I can blame my sleepless nights on.  Of course my bladder keeps me up and down a few times a night, but I find that I'm just not sleeping that well in general.  I toss and turn a lot and am now a regular snorer.  I hate it.  This happens to me toward the end of pregnancy.  It's a good thing Brian usually falls asleep before me.  Usually.

• I am feeling very pregnant.  I am looking very pregnant.  I feel like I'm due tomorrow.  I look like I'm due yesterday.  I might just have six weeks left.  That seems like forever away. . .but at the same time- six weeks!  I gotta get some stuff done!

• I can't believe that it's mid-July and summer is halfway gone.  

• On Saturday night Ellery was a complete terror and spent much of the evening locked in her room.  Which meant that dad and McKay got to go on a bike ride and she had to stay home with me.  Or I had to stay home with her, rather.  This rarely happens for her.  While they were gone we struggled for about half an hour- I sat on her to remove a sliver that she couldn't stop whining about, I wrestled her into her pajamas, I locked her in her room when she tore off her pull-up and screaming to no end, and then we finally made up and read The Napping House before I plopped her little body into bed at 6:30pm.  Meanwhile, McKay and Brian were riding all the way to Albertson's, which is like a two mile ride, and picking up a family movie for today.  Somebody thought he was the coolest kid in Portland getting to ride two miles (without stopping) and staying up way later than his sister and getting dessert.  

• Up to about two weeks ago I had been wanting sweets a lot.  Then I began craving hot, home-cooking type foods.  Remember the Costco pizza?  (Shhh. . .but we've since been back for more).  Anyway, Brian and the kids were having hot dogs for lunch the other day and really there was nothing in the world that smelled better than their hot dogs.  So Brian offered me a bite.  And I, not wanting my "vegetarian" title to rule my life, obliged.  It smelled better than it tasted.  It tasted better than it felt in my mouth.  I may like the smell and taste of meat, but one thing is for sure- I don't like eating it.  I just don't.  Sometimes this is sad to me.  Like when I really wanted to eat me a hot dog.  

• Ever since my mom had her knee surgery (which she is recovering amazingly from- I hear she is the star of the rehab) Ellery has not let one prayer go by without whispering to the prayer-offerer, "and please bless grammy's knees to feel better."  Every time.  My mom should be happy to know that at every meal-time prayer, as well as each family prayer, her knees are blessed right along with the food.  

• Another habit the kids have gotten into is saying, "Please bless the food, that it won't be hot."  That's what we pray for around here.  

Happy Sunday!

heat wave

The high temperatures are all over the news.

This heat wave is a big deal around here.

They say it only happens a few times a year.

We should cool down a bit next week.

Ellery wakes up every day and asks to go swimming.

And refuses to get in anything but her swimsuit.

We've even run most of our errands this week

decked out in our swimming attire.

We've been doing a good job at staying cool.

Playing in the water at home.

Going to outdoor water parks.

And today we might even make it to Salmon Creek Lake.

If you ask me, this heat wave isn't all that bad.