Ellery's Birthday Interview ~ Three

Elle's answers in purple.  Notes from the editor in orange.

• What are some things you like to do?  Play games.  Candyland and Pretty, Pretty Princess.  I like to play with my mommy and baby sister and my daddy too, and McKay.  I love to go to my Grandma and Grammy's house.  I love those guys so much.  (It's all about princesses.  She loves to play with the little princess figures or any other figures.  She usually has one in each hand at ALL times.)

• What sports do you like?  Soccer.  I played it with Layla once.    ("Soccer is for boys, not girls."  We have some work to do in the sports department with this one!)

• What things do you like to do around the house?  Clean up.  I like to pick flowers.    (She never takes pictures.  She does love to run around, and dance all over the house.)

• What are some of your favorite foods?  Flowers- haha, no!  I like grilled cheese and tia's.  (She does love quesadillas, and this girl eats carrots like it's no one's business.)

• What are foods that you don't like?  Grease and yucky water that has dirt in it.    (Even though she can now tolerate cow's milk, she wants no part of is.  Maybe it's all the times we said, "Cow milk hurts your tummy."  It's rice milk or nothing for Elle.)

• What do you like to wear?  Dresses.  (She hardly goes a day without wearing a skirt.  If she's wearing pants she'll want to change half way through the day into a skirt.  If she's listening to Taylor Swift or sees a princess on tv, she will NEED to wear her fancy Easter dress.)

• What’s your favorite color?  Light pink!

• Where are some of your favorite places to go?  Disneyland.

• What things make you happy?  Sharing and stuff.  

• What makes you sad?  Not sharing and stuff.  

• What do you do when you are sad?   I go tell momma.  (Um, usually she just cries or wants to snuggle.)

• What do you do when you are mad?  with hands on hips say,"I don't want to!"

• Who are your best friends?  Kenna and Kenzi.

• What are your favorite movies or TV shows?    My princess movies.  (She's never seen Aladdin.  Caillou is her favorite show on tv.)

• What are your favorite books?  The princess books.  And Barbie books. 

• What do you want to be when you grow up?  Be a little momma.  (She's always talking about when she's a little momma.  Based on her interests though, she'd like to be a ballerina or a princess.)

• If you were an animal, what one would you be?  A princess named Golly.  (No Elle, what animal?)  Like a princess!  Golly!  (Okay, fine.)

• Who is your hero?  Golly.  (Elle, what about a real person?)  Um, McKay.  (Most definitely true.  She loves her older brother so much and is constantly copying everything he does, as well as bragging about him to just about anyone.  "My brother can tie his shoes!")

thoughts on a sunday

Rapunzel blowing our her candles.  You may not have noticed, but that's a ponytail-braid-bun in her hair.  It was a special request from Rapunzel herself and she thinks it's the most beautiful hair combination ever.  

• We spent most of this last week in Newport with Brian.  The weather was wonderful, which was a very lucky thing, and we all had fun being together.  McKay still wants to live there.

• McKay lost his first tooth while we were sitting at dinner on our way down.  He was shocked- we all were- and it was very exciting.  He's acting like he's about fifteen now, and the toothfairy needed to act fast because we were on vacation and she hadn't anticipated a tooth under a hotel room pillow.

• It's no secret that I am addicted to cherry chapstick.  Ellery hates the smell of it.  Every time I get close to her after putting it on my lips, she gives me this disapproving look and says, "Moooom!  I don't like your chapstick smell," in a little sing-songy voice.

• McKay was having a hard time saying goodbye to Brian tonight.  He was pretty sad that he had to leave again.  Brian helped put them to bed and just as we were tucking them in, McKay's sad face lit up and he ran out of the room, only to come back with Brian's pillow.  Somehow, he started sleeping with it while Brian was in Florida, and he was excited to get it back.  I guess that's one good thing about him leaving.  McKay said that when dad's here, he's happy, and when dad's gone, he's happy to have his pillow because it reminds him of him.  Awwww.

• I swear Layla took six steps today in the mother's lounge at church.  Don't worry, I wasn't feeding her in there, I was changing her diaper.  And then we sat down on the floor and hung out and I listened over the speaker and I think I really love sacrament meeting that way.  I might make it a regular thing.  She wasn't bothering anybody, we practiced walking, and I just sat there and listened while she climbed around.  

• Sometimes I think the brand-new-mother Sarah would be freaking out that her almost fourteen month old baby is not walking yet.  Luckily, I'm not her anymore, and I'm not freaking out at all.  Besides, I think she's pretty close.

• I finally stopped nursing that big, old, almost fourteen month old baby on Friday.  It's almost like she doesn't even care.  I am trying not to feel sad about this.

• We celebrated Ellery's birthday on Saturday, so Brian would be around for it.  McKay is almost about to die because we let Ellery think it was her actual birthday, but he knows that it's really on Tuesday.  So he wants so bad to explain it to her, but we've just been telling him to let it be.  She keeps saying she's four and he keeps going crazy because she's not, yet.

• She is so easy to please.  She was so grateful for everything we did and repeatedly said, "Thank you for my party." all day long.  It was so cute.  What a sweet girl.

• Layla has been teething for what feels like two months, but really has just been the last two weeks.  She has had a horrible diaper rash due to some pretty constant diarrhea and she's just not been herself.  But the very worst thing about it has been her lack of appetite.  You'd think I've never had a teething baby before, but I am so upset that she isn't eating.  Seriously, some meals she eats like a cracker and that's all.  Tonight she ate a ton of dinner, so hopefully her appetite is coming back and I can stop going crazy.  I may not be freaking out over her walking, but I am still paranoid at other things, like this.

• This week was the Fun Run at McKay's school.  Brian was able to go and volunteer to help out and watch McKay.  McKay had fun and did awesome.  Brian was so impressed with his determination and drive to keep running laps for half an hour.  He never rested, he never stopped, he never walked.  Brian thought he might pass out he was running so hard at the end.  We have no idea where or why this determination hit him so hard, but he was working.  Brian was so proud of him, but it created quite a controversy at our house.  You see, McKay ran the most laps in his class, and the kid who ran the most laps, got recognized and awarded a water bottle from the local bank.  But the trouble is, whoever looked to see who the winner was, miscounted and another boy won.  McKay ran 33 laps and the boy who won ran 28.  McKay had no idea, but Brian knew how many he had run and knew that he should have won.  It was almost painful for Brian to not see little Mack get the experience of being recognized for working so hard.  He didn't know if he should say something, or just let it go.  He could do neither.  He came home and was really bothered by the whole thing.  It took him the whole rest of the day to get over it.  He wanted McKay to realize what can happen when you work hard for something, and knew that McKay would have been so thrilled to have ran the farthest.  Oh well, we're still proud of our little runner.     

• Speaking of running, Brian got a new pair of snobby running shoes.  They are fancy and expensive and the brightest green you ever did see!  He really loves them, as he does most of his running shoes, and the first day he got them I kept catching him looking at them on his feet as he walked around the house.  I'm starting to realize that he gets very enthralled with certain items.  It was his sleeping bag and pads, and now it's these shoes.  

• He is training for a half marathon next month.  It's been a long time since he's run an actual race.  He just hasn't been able to train or be around for any.  He misses races a lot, and I'm happy that he is so happy about his upcoming race and his new shoes.  He ran 10 miles on Saturday- I think he's ready!

• This seems like a good time to tell you about how I went to the dentist on Monday.  First, in Oregon NO ONE has laughing gas- at least not the many dentists that I have been to here.  This is very sad for me.  Second, I have THE WORST teeth.  Third, I am still recovering from the work I had done.  Words like "monster," "ginormous," and "exhausted" were all uttered by my dentist.  He's a funny man, and if I didn't like him so much, I would be totally offended at him saying these words in regards to my mouth.  And finally, fourth, I need about five crowns in the near future- as soon as we have insurance that covers them, and a job to pay for the rest.  Brian thinks I should just go ahead and get dentures.  I told him he wouldn't like waking up next to me with no teeth in the mornings.  We're going to be saving up for those crowns.

• For the record, and so no one is completely grossed out, I had no new cavities.  All the work I had done this time was from past work that just needs to be re-done.  Maybe that grosses you out even more?  

• I try not to get mad at my parents for my teeth, but really, who else is there to blame?  

• I guess I'm a little to blame.

• I love you mom and dad, despite our sad teeth.

Happy Sunday!

rest in peace, tampa

If you were wondering if we will ever move to Florida, I can tell you right now that will never happen.  You might then wonder if we will ever vacation there?  According to Brian, that will never happen either.   I have no offenses or objections to the state, after all, it's where my parents met and fell in love.  Were it not for Florida, I wouldn't even exist.  But Brian developed a pretty strong aversion to all things Florida, so I would probably have to go without him.  

He's very glad to be back in the Pacific Northwest.  It's cool, it's not humid (compared) and he has a family and a car here.  All of which he was lacking in Tampa.  

He did spend eight weeks there, and we texted so much that I went $20 over on my phone bill.  Here are a few of pics he shared with me while he was away.  I think it's important that we don't forget the following:

"The Shack"

Not-so-lovingly named that by fellow students who had gone before him.  That redish house on the left is it, except only half of it made up "The Shack".  The other half was someone else's shack.

Now, it doesn't look so bad to me from the outside, but I know it was small, awkward, dirty and pretty bare bones as far as basic commodities go.  

The Roaches

One night, we were talking on the phone.  In the middle of our conversation, all the sudden, I hear a rustling  sound and then what sounds like the phone being thrown across the room.  Then nothing.  Silence.  

I called Brian's name, but again, nothing.  I pretty much thought he had been shot or kidnapped or something, so I tried to call him back several times.  No answer.  I decided not to call the police, but just wait it out, when my phone rang a couple minutes later.  

I guess I would jump up and throw my phone against the wall in a panic too if that ugly guy was crawling up my leg, while I was in bed.  Poor Brian.  He had to believe that since he had only seen them in the kitchen area, that they weren't in his bedroom.  He felt safe when he closed the door, knowing they were far away.  We all know that's not true, and I'm sure deep down he did too.  But that's why it was so disturbing to find this guy in his bed, with only a week left.  

Just in case you're wondering, to avoid the crunch, Brian turned to a can of bug spray and would spray them to death.  

  

The Cruiser

There were two.  This was the black one, which he favored.  Have I given you the visual of him riding home from the grocery store?  If I have, that's okay because it's always good to think of it again.  Picture him on this bike, with a backpack full of food, a bag of tortilla chips strapped to the outside, with two grocery bags on each arm,. hoisted up to his shoulders.  Then cruisin'.  Just cruisin' along home.

He rode to and from work on this bike.  He got lots of flat tires on both bikes.  He rode through torrential downpours on this bike.  He does not miss this bike.

Luckily, two other students in his program were there at the same time.  They rented a car, and would give him rides when they could.  At first I was pretty bummed that he was assigned to go to Tampa with two girls from his program.  I thought it would have been better to be with guys.  But he got to know Julie and her husband, who was there too, quite well and they took care of him and were sensitive to his situation (their's was much better, because they paid for it).  Bri and Matt, the husband, would go on man dates with Matt's  little daughter in tow.  It was a good thing.

The Lizards

Not as bad as the roaches, but still infesting the shack, and getting squished while riding the cruiser.  Can you see it in there?  This picture was sent for McKay, because he thought living with lizards would be awesome.

The Work

He really didn't enjoy working at this hospital.  The  people were horrible, the language was horrible, and the  hours were long.  It was not a positive, supportive place for students to work.

But look at all those hangy things!  He was in charge of all of those.  If I remember right, this was a liver transplant.  Pretty crazy.  Sometimes I forget how much stuff he knows and what an important job he has, as far as keeping people alive!  He just keeps people alive, no big deal.

So that's it.  That's all I've seen of Florida.  I am so proud of him for getting through such a difficult, miserable experience.  And although this is all extremely negative, he did learn and grow as a person from going through this challenge.  But really, there's not much else to say about it. . .except, I will never make him go back. . .at least not to Tampa!

thoughts on a sunday

Last month for my thoughts I posted a picture pretty similar to this one. .  .except this one doesn't have a beef stick, and this one shows a lot more happiness and relief than the other one did.  We are happy.  We are relieved.  Florida is over.

• Yes, Brian is home!  He might not be living in the same house as us all the time, but we are so happy to be in the same state, at the very least.  He goes to Newport on Tuesday,  and I pretty much insisted that we go with him.  McKay has three days off of school, so it just felt like it was meant to happen.  I don't care how much it costs us, we need to be together right now.  So now we have a whole week!  

• Brian survived Florida and I am so proud of him.  It was rough on me, yes, but I think it may have been worse for him.  He did a really, really hard thing for two whole months.  He never plans to return to Florida.  

• It's fun to see how happy the kids are to have him home.  Layla was pretty cold towards him when he said hello in the car the first time, but even just a few minutes into the drive home, she was smiling and acting all amazed that there was a man in our car.  I can't tell if she remembered him or not, but she's totally accepted this man. . .although this morning she was a little shocked again that there was somebody else in my bed.

• We all know that I love my little Layes to pieces, but there is something that I do not love about her.  She refuses to sit in the grocery cart seat, and prefers to hang out in the basket.  That makes it sounds too  nice.  She doesn't "prefer", she climbs, crawls and twists her way out of the seat, so that I have no choice but to put her in the basket.  And as soon as I do she is as happy as can be and kind of wants all the other customers to pay attention to how cool she is.  

• I'm always afraid she's going to fall out of the basket because she acts like it's her own private little room and roams around like a crazy person.  How did we get here?

• For preschool I moved the kids' easel that was in the garage, into the family room.  I think it may have a new home.  I just can't move it out because for the first time since we got it two years ago, they are playing with it, almost daily.  Something about having it out in plain sight, I guess.  McKay will go and practice writing words and letters, and Ellery does some really great abstract art.  Layla even loves to draw. . .but  not as much as she loves to chew pieces off of the eraser.  Anyway, it's red and blue and ugly and it's in my front room!

• That brings me to McKay's writing.  We've been working on birthday thank you notes and at the rate we're going, family, you will probably get them by Christmas.  Anyway, I thought writing thank you's would be a great way for him to practice writing, with a purpose!  I love seeing his mismatched upper and lowercase letters, as well as the varying sizes of each letter and word.  He's totally into putting periods behind every word and no matter how many times I tell him they go at the end, they just keep showing up.

• So a few months back Layla started doing something occasionally and I always forget to mention it.  Sometimes, when I get her up from a nap, I will go in and she will be completely topless.  Somehow she maneuvers her body out of her shirt and just hangs out half nude in her bed.  I have no idea how she does it.
   
• I guess it's time to talk about how I want a mini van.  I am SO sick of our car seat situation.  Since Layla was born, we've had all three kids in the middle row of our car.  It was squishy, and I spent the first year throwing her infant carseat over Ellery to the middle, but it worked.  Now, Layla is in "the throne" and Ellery has graduated to a booster with McKay, and they cannot buckle their seatbelts becacuse it's just too squishy.  Ellery, I love her, but she is pretty helpless when it comes to doing her seat belt.  This really frustrates me.  She tries, I think, but she just hasn't gotten it yet.  So with lack of space and all the buckling, I am ready for more room.  So this week I told Brian that I either needed a mini van or an umbrella stroller, so McKay could fit in the back row with just a little stroller instead of the huge one.  Guess what I'm getting?

• The stroller. 

• The throne is the car seat that we bought McKay, our first born, when he turned one and we were young and stupid.  It is huge, heavy, and luxurious.  

• Ellery loves to tell the general public Layla's name when we are out and about.  

• This weekend we got to go to a baptism of our pretend Oregon cousin, Kari.  Ellery was all enamored with Kari because of her b beautiful white dress and fancy french braid.  She could not wait to get baptized herself someday, as she told me several times during the program.  You know how they always invite the kids to go up to the font to get a better look?  Well, my kids went up and watched the baptism.  As soon as they came back to sit by me, Ellery had a panicked look on her face and practically yelled to me, "I DO NOT want to get baptized!  I DO NOT want to get in that water!"  At least she has a few years...

• McKay was also quite taken with Kari, except his fascination came with the picture on her baptism invitation.  She was in her dress all beautiful and fancy, and McKay carried it around for a whole day.  I think I even saw Kari get a peck or two.  Oh dear.

Happy Sunday!

what she sees

When Ellery gave me this picture (several months ago) that she colored in primary, I had to smile.  The little girl and flowers colored purple. . .and nothing else.  

I wouldn't expect anything different from my girl.  

This picture is just so her.  She sees beauty all around her and is naturally attracted to it.  

Also, I have to wonder if snuggling with Jesus was discussed in this lesson because I've been hearing a lot about that lately.  She says he's good at it.  

I love this picture.

thoughts on a sunday

I know this is not the cutest picture, but  I really love it.  First, look at that lady bug.  She is a little scandalous because that is like a 2T, but I'm sure she likes it that way.  Also, that wild hair?  Totally typical of everyday for her.  Love Layla sitting in the bin behind her and love that she's holding her little pumpkin that she picked out at the store.  Don't really love remembering the mess she made and how she wouldn't clean it up...

• It's always a struggle to get the kids to clean up their room if they've made a big mess.  The other day I had instructed them to not come out of their room until it was all cleaned up.  They were pretty upset because their room was really messy.  They tried all they could think of to get me to help (meaning I would end up doing most of it, of course) but I was busy with something else, so they were on their own.  As I was listening to them from the other room I heard McKay start to pray. He asked that they could clean up good and clean up fast.  Then McKay started singing I am a Child of God and in no time they were both belting it out as they ran around the house putting all their things away.  Finally, they came in to show me what they'd done.  They led me into their room and they had done a great job.  Then Ellery said to me, "Mom.  God is the best guy.  Do you know how we cleaned up?  God helped us.  We sang I am a Child of God and so he helped us."

• Although I feel like I am failing at countless things, I guess trying to teach my kids to pray is paying off at the moment.  When the kids were in bed and missing Brian, McKay yelled out, "Mom.  Do you know what Ellery just did?  It was so good.  She said a prayer and it was so long.  She blessed dad and asked that we wouldn't be sad and it was just the best prayer I ever heard."  Aw, precious.

• Ellery is struggling right now.  Or I'm struggling with Ellery.  Or we're both struggling and so together we're lethal.  Any way you look at it, this girl is going through some stuff.  She is whiney, stubborn, hitting, argumentative, disobedient and doing little tiny pees in her underwear about every day. . .sometimes twice!  I  guess she's not always like this, but a lot more than any of us are used to.  I am trying hard to be patient with her, but my patience is just about on empty.  She's probably mirroring my behavior anyway- besides the hitting and peeing.  I wish I had more patience with her.  I'm glad we only have six days until Brian gets home, but at this point I'm wondering if we're ever going to make it.

• Okay, moving on.  Lets not get too depressed here.  I've got lots of good stories.  I guess one that illustrates how lovely Ellery has been is in order.  We were at the store and she saw something she watned to buy.  A princess, naturally.  Anyway, I said no.  And kept saying no. And kept saying no and you can see where this is going.  She could not let it go.  We argued about it into the parking lot.  Then she said something that she thought would cut me deeply.  "MOM!  Well, you look like Icabody Crane!"  She thought this was a horrible insult, and yes, she calls him Icabod-y, which I think is cute.  I told her that I was glad because I liked Icabod and then she didn't know what to say.

• Do I really look like Icabod Crane?

• I feel like we have just been trying to survive here and every weekend I think I'm giong to take the kids out to do something fun.  But then I never do.  Well, the weather was so nice on Friday that I decided to take the kids to the zoo before it gets too rainy and cold- and this was all before afternoon kindergarten, so you should be very impressed about that.  Some friends joined us and it was a fun morning.  I feel like such a stressed out grump that it felt so good to do something purely for them and purely for fun.  They loved it.  

• A couple weeks ago we rented Mulan from the library.  I've always like Mulan, and my kids do too. I decided to download a few of the songs that we like from the movie.  I  don't really know how to describe the feelings I have when I listen to I'll Make a Man Out of You, but basically, I just get so full of love for Donny Osmond.  Like I just feel the power of the song and his voice and my love and it's a magical combination.  (He sings it, if you didn't know.)  It makes me happy and it makes the kids happy and we love it.  And we sing it loud in the car.  McKay takes it very seriously.  If no one else understands this thought, at least I know my sisters will. :)

•   Speaking of music, I love hearing Ellery's interpretations of certain songs- mostly songs from Tangled.  For weeks she kept asking me, "What is amentatie mean?"  or, "Mom, what is amentago?"  I had no idea what to tell her.   Finally, after hearing her singing in the car, I realized she had been asking about a line in a Tangled song which says, "where I'm meant to be" and "where I'm mean to go."  Mystery solved.

• We had a busy week.  I was in charge of preschool this week for Ellery's little class.  The theme was senses.  I planned WAY too much for them to do on the first day.  It was extremely hard to get through it all- we didn't- and they barely had time to play because I had so much crammed in.  I definitely learned a lot from the first day, so by the second day I had toned it down a ton and it went much better.  She was actually better than I thought she would be, having it at our house and all.  

• McKay was home when we did preschool and he was totally annoying.  He dubbed himself a teacher, and thought he was the coolest.  He kept trying to interrupt me when I was explaining things to the kids and wanted to add his own ideas into the lesson plan.  It was challenging.  Next time he might go to a friend's.

• He was definitely not annoying when I went in to volunteer in his kindergarten class.  I am SO glad I got to go and see what he does every day.  It was so helpful for me in lots of ways.  Plus, I loved seeing him in that environment.  He was really cute.  His teacher is really great and I was happy to be able to see her teach for a day.  I even stole her tone of voice for my preschool class the next day and it worked great.  :)

• One thing I learned from going to kindergarten was that McKay was kind of supposed to be bringing back his letter writing papers.  No idea.  This prompted me to give him a proper homework time, which I decided should be at 7pm.  I put Elle and Layes to bed at 7, and then work on "homework" with McKay for half an hour.  This is great because he is way more motivated to practice knowing he would otherwise be in bed, and Ellery falls asleep a lot faster when he's not in there to talk to.  Win, win!

• I have to acknowledge my sweet boy.  This has been a rough week for me and while Elle and Layla are completely oblivious to what is going on, I can tell he is trying to help me and make things easier for me.  He has been a big help.

• I almost forgot to mention conference!  I loved it and can't wait to listen to several of the talks again.  I felt inspired, loved and comforted.  It was hard to not have Brian here listening to it with me, and my thoughts drifted a lot to last conference.  Last conference I had a lot going on- the questions about MS and my upcoming lumbar puncture, among other things, and it was a very difficult and emotional time for me.  This time was the same, although for different reasons.  I am happy to say that I'd rather be here than there, and I can't wait for the next conference, which I hope is very peaceful.

• During conference I let the kids do my hair.  I had about a hundred little clips on the top of my head.  It was very beautiful and two kids were very proud of their handiwork.

• Also, they were pretty much horrible for conference.  No activities kept their attention for more than  a few minutes, except my hair.  I finally gave up and let them watch a movie upstairs this afternoon.

• I have mentioned how there are several people here who have been extra thoughtful to me and my family.  This week was more of that.  My sweet friend Deanna McRae is just an angel and my friend Starr has had us for dinner several times.  My neighbor and friend Cathy has been a huge support, as well as her husband, and I am just so grateful to these sweet friends of mine.  It makes me want to be more mindful of how I can help people I know in their various situations.  

• Layla said Ellery today.  It doesnt' really sound like Ellery, but I knew that's what she meant.  

• I'm glad that Layla still loves Ellery because her very favorite thing to do to her baby sister is carry her around in the most awkward and uncomfortable position ever.  She does it constantly and Layla just kind of smiles with a slight bit of fear in her eyes, through it all.  

• I bought grapes at Albertson's this week and just as I was about to open the bag to wash them, I saw a big grasshopper living in there.  Except he was dead.  We all jumped around and I threw the bag on the back porch and left it there for several days.  Then Ellery "caught" the grasshopper in a jar and filled it with dirt and water.  I think that's where we stand now.

• I hope that I don't sound like I'm complaining about my situation too much.  I don't want to put up a front and act like I'm totally fine though.  This is really, really hard and seems to be getting more difficult everyday.  We just have to get through it.  I'm trying to do that.  

• Hi Brian.  I love you.

Happy Sunday!

we had two birthdays, shout hooray!

The day of the big birthday party started out like this:

Actually, it started out at about five-thirty in the morning when both McKay and Ellery threw up.  (Why, oh why?)  McKay and Grandad had planned to go to Thunder Mountain at about six am to chop wood and do some work up there.  Both were excited, but especially my little boy.  That's why it was so hard to break his little heart that morning and tell him he couldn't go.  I'll have to share more on that story later, but it's a good thing he didn't go because he threw up several more times- and slept for several hours that afternoon.  

Adele and I were making a million cakes in the kitchen, and in between mixing and frosting we worried that McKay was going to die from a case of poison apples.  You see, he had eaten about six un-ripe apples off of a random tree, and thew up those apples that next morning.  Ellery too, although she didn't eat as many or throw up as many times.  We were sure it wasn't the flu. . .or was it?. . .and thought he might die in his sleep from the pesticides.  After an agonizing day of wondering whether to cancel the party or not, I decided to go ahead with it.  We felt confidant that it was from the apples, making him not contagious.  

Oh dear.  Oh dear, oh dear.  I was wrong.  I can skip ahead and tell you that most members of Brian's family came down with a case of poison apples too, as well as Carson and Alyssa on my side.  Except none of them had eaten poison apples.  So basically we passed around the flu to the Matthews family (and beyond) once again, starting with little Mack, as usual.  Ahh.  What lesson do I continually need to learn this way?  Really, what is it?  I do take some comfort in the fact that Marilyn and McKay got it on the same day, so who knows who gave it to who.  But really, it was probably him, because it's always us.  

Anyway, lets get back to this party.  It was not McKay's year for a party, but he got to tag along in Layla's ice cream party.  Like I said, Adele and I spent most of the afternoon baking these:

I feel sick that I didn't get a better picture of that blue ice cream cone cake.  She free-handed it all and made it up as she went along.  I mixed the cake mix.  I helped a little.  Anyway, it was a massive cake and turned out so cute and just what I had pictured.  She is quite talented, that one.  Anyway, I was happy that my ice cream cone cupcakes turned out better this time and we had enough cake to feed everyone at Cascade Park that night.  

This little girl wasn't too interested in her cake.  She ate a little corner of it and then was done.  

Due to the unknown illness, we had McKay blow out his six candles on one of the ice cream cone cupcakes, you know, to protect everyone from getting sick (ha!).  My poor boy, I look back at these pictures and can see how sickly he was.  He was feeling fine by this point, but he looks skinny and sallow.  

We played a couple games with the cousins.  McKay got awfully close to the top of the ice cream cone.  I was a little suspicious.  And he was super excited about having a piniata!  

As I was going through the pictures of Layla opening her presents, I noticed a trend.

And this boy was just thrilled with everything he got.  

We were so glad that almost all of our lovely family was able to be there, as well as two of my favorite friends.  We missed Grammy and Poppy and some teenage nieces who weren't able to be there. . .oh, and Marilyn, who was home throwing up.  I was really sad to not have Brian here for this, but so grateful to my family.  We felt loved and supported.  Also, I have to just add that I had McKay and Adele running around just as much as I was to prepare for this party.  They were SO helpful and I really couldn't have done it without them.  I COULDN'T HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT THEM.  That's is an important statement. 

I took the opportunity to snap a photo of all the babies.  

Gemma (5 weeks), Layla (1 year), Wayne (7 weeks?), Olive (7 months).  

I have a feeling I'm going to love this picture forever.  

 It was definitely crazy having their birthdays two days apart, and I honestly, I feel bad for myself that I have to do two birthday two days apart for the rest of my life.  And remember, Brian and are two days apart. . .so it really just seems unfair.  I want their birthdays to be special, and when you have to share it with someone else it's just not as special- I know.  This year I felt okay about combining the two since we were in Utah, and it would have been weird to not include both of them.  But I've vowed to always make it special for both of them, individually- and if that means two birthday cakes, two parties, two everything, then that's what I'll do.  I'm already tired just thinking about it.  But guess what?  They're totally worth it.    

thankful for her

standing in her favorite spot.

I don't want this to turn into the "Layla blog", but I just have to express my feelings about this baby of mine.  I am so grateful for her.  It's obvious that someone knew better than Brian and I did about when she was supposed to come to our family.  She is bringing me so much happiness right now.  She is a huge ray of sunshine in my life during a pretty grey time.  I find myself falling deeper and deeper in love with her with each passing day.  Pretty much everything about her I just find totally adorable.

I'm so glad she's with me.

thoughts on a sunday

We had an outdoor birthday party for Ariel Married.  Everyone came.  I love playing princesses with this girl.  It's so easy and simple and makes her so happy.  

• It's hard being alone during the week, but nothing compares to Sundays.  I hate them.  I hate hating them too.  I have to get up super early to make sure that everything and everyone is ready for 9am church.  The typical argument on how to do Ellery's hair- today she wanted a pony tail, and I gave her two buns.  Then I took them out and did one messy bun and she wanted the two back again.  Grrrr.  Then there's keeping them all quiet/reverent/busy during sacrament meeting.  Not really possible at all.  Then the rest of the meetings with Layla.  Come home, make lunch, clean up our disastrous house, then have the whole day to do nothing but keep them busy some more.  It's tiring and I miss Brian the most on Sundays.

• We had a good talk with him tonight over skype.  The kids each take a turn talking to him alone.  I had to laugh when towards the end when we were all together, Brian gave McKay a time out and a good talking to from Florida.  He deserved it.  I was struggling so much with that boy today.  It's that funny little attitude that he gets sometimes.  It doesn't come often but I sure dread when it does.  Anyway, due to his schedule and the time difference the kids don't get to talk to him as much as I'd like them to.  I could tell they were really happy after having some daddy time tonight.  I'm pretty sure it made him quite happy too.

• I feel so busy and really, I know I'm not and I know I keep saying that, but I just feel like there is never enough time to do the things I need to do, let alone the things I want to do.  I feel bad because I had such good intentions of doing something purely fun this weekend with the kids, but I was so "busy" with whatever that I couldn't even find time to do anything.  I feel like the day starts out and then just snowballs as we go along so by the end there's just way too much to do to have fun.  

• Part of me feeling so busy means that I have been carrying around a stack of papers everywhere I go in the house.  Going upstairs?  Grab my stack of papers.  Look at a few.  Cross off a few things.  Throw a few papers away.  Add a few more the next day.  The papers consist of to-do lists, notes, school papers- oh the school papers!- and just whatever else floats into my house that needs my attention.  It's almost like I am going crazy and this stack of papers makes me feel like I'm less crazy- who knows why!  So I just keep carrying them around like my Grandma used to do with napkins.  I just feel better when I have my papers!

• Brian says my blog is getting depressing.  I wrote a lovely non-depressing post about Layla.  So I'm excused here.  

• Sometimes it's hard to not be able to talk to Brian whenever I want.  There is a lot that I forget to share with him because it's just not easy to remember everything when you're on the phone.  Like how tonight I went to tell our new neighbors that it was garbage day tomorrow and I saw the guy in his underwear.  Just in his underwear.  Things like that, you just can't always remember.

• McKay had a horrible day at school on Wednesday.  He got off the bus and I could see tears start to swell.  He then told me how he had gotten stung by a bee at recess and how the yard duty person gave him a band aid and he suffered the rest of the school day with a band aid on a bee sting, in pain and scared.  He opted not to tell his teacher, or maybe he did and she didn't do anything, it's not totally clear, but to top it all off, he lost the picture he drew and was sweating on the bus ride home.  Bad day indeed.  It was hard to get the whole bee sting story straight, and I'm still not sure what happened.  Things improved on Thursday- no bees, found his picture, and even felt happy that he helped the bee by letting it sting him.  Not sure where he got that last bit from, but if he felt happy about it, great.

• It's funny, having him in school.  I feel like he's just off and I have no idea what he's doing and he really doesn't share a lot about it.  I get tidbits here and there, which I know is normal.  He still loves school and feels so proud that he goes to the elementary school now.  He was also pretty pumped about checking his first book out at the library Before Dinosaurs.  I didn't know that as a kindergartner we'd be talking about prehistoric evolution, but I'll go with it.

• I got to go to the Relief Society broadcast with my friend and neighbor Cathy last night . I felt like we were on a hot date!  It was so nice to get out and be Sarah for a couple hours.  Cathy's husband Tyler, watched my kids which was just the nicest thing ever.  I am so grateful to him.  While at the broadcast I was teasing, saying that they were all probably going to go poop while they were there.  Well, guess what?  I was 2/3 right.  And one was "an accident."  I almost died.  Bless that man.

Well, that's all!  Happy Sunday!

13 going on 30

Today my sweet little girl is 13 months old.  It's not a very significant day, but I have still been thinking about her a lot today.  I love her.  13 months is what I live for after I have a baby.  This is when all the fun starts.  And this little miss is definitely fun.  Actually, today, she was the only fun thing in my life.  It seems that when they reach the ages of three and six, things can get annoying rather quickly. . .especially when you're a lone parent (today was a hard day).  But not this one.  The worst she can do is refuse to nap, which she doesn't do very often anymore- we're back on a great schedule again!  I just adore everything about my little thirteen month old baby!  Here's just a few tidbits of what she can do.

• She can say lots of words, mostly double words like mama, dada, poo poo, bye bye, night night, etc..   She can also say woa!  wow! and uh-oh.  Those three are my favorite.  There's something about seeing her mouth go into that little o sound that I love so much.  She sounds so grown up!  

• We taught her to sign "more", which she's been doing for awhile now, but she's started to say "mo" along with it.  It is pretty much the cutest thing I've ever seen.  I never taught my others to sign, which is kind of funny since sign language was a big part of my life at one time, but at least I did one word with one!  This is not to say that she doesn't still scream crazy-loud when she wants more.  She still totally does that, unless we remind her.  

• She doesn't only scream for more food.  She screams a lot, just for no reason.  It's mostly happy screaming, just to make herself known to those around her.  I get lots of comments each week at church about how people love hearing her shrill little voice during sacrament meeting.  I have to admit, I do not love this as much as they do.  Plus, when you're holding her and she does this, it hurts!  I might suffer permanent hearing loss due to this kid.

• Along with saying a few words, she can understand quite a lot.  She can understand souci (her pacifier), milk, drink, nose, eyes, McKay, Ellery, baby, no, kisses, spider, and various other song titles.  

• I can't decide if I should admit this or not, but I am having a hard time giving up that last feeding of the day.  I still nurse her once before she goes to bed, and I'm not ready to stop. . .but I am. . .but I'm not.  I don't know how to explain it very well, but I feel like both of us need that connection right now.  It feels like the right thing for us.  Plus, I think about how this might be the last time I get to do this, so that's a small factor as well.  Either way, I love it and she loves it and it makes us happy and I'm giving myself a few more weeks.  

• She is still the most annoying baby when it comes to food.  I never know what she will accept from me on any given day, at any given meal.  So far, she is totally bi-polar when it comes to fruits and veggies- they're just a total gamble.  Her favorite things are cheese, crackers, bread and yogurt.  Those four are pretty much always acceptable.  Since she loves yogurt so much I've started sneaking the veggies she spits out into her yogurt bites.  She gobbles them right up!  Nothing like yogurt and peas.

• When she doesn't like something, she gives a huge, exaggerated spit.  It's like it's own word now.  I hate it because it means she is refusing something, but I love to see how passionately she communicates this feeling.  

• Awhile back I noticed that one of her eyes looked kind of funny.  Her right eye is a little cross-eyed when she tries to look certain directions.  We have an appointment with a pediatric optometrist next month.  

• Her favorite thing is climbing up our bottom set of stairs- which is only three stairs high.  She loves to use the banister and go up and down.  She doesn't really know how to go down the right way every time, and has fallen quite a few times.  I use baby gates almost all the time, but sometimes I let her explore those three all by herself.  She loves it.

• This baby definitely has breath-holding syndrome.  She "passed out" twice this week and none of them were from getting hurt.  No, this girl only cries hard enough to pass out when her feelings are hurt.  And the thing that hurts her feelings the most severely is when I leave the room and she wants to be held.  At this point, McKay doesn't even care and will just casually say, "Layla's having a seizure."  which she isn't, but it looks like it.  I still hate it, but can handle it okay now.

• Layla has surprised me.  I know that she can still develop some separation anxiety in the coming months, but so far she does not mind strangers.  As my friends and neighbors have been helping me the last few weeks, she's been passed around more than ever and she does totally fine.  I'm always surprised by this.  

• Even though she has hardly seen Brian the last two months, she still knows her daddy.  Tonight she skyped with him and it was like they were old friends.  She seems to remember him and know that he's daddy.  I think they'll pick off right where they left off.  I think it's killing Brian to not see her learn and do new things each week.  It brings tears to my eyes thinking about how both of their faces lit up when they talked to each other tonight.  She made her daddy smile bigger than anyone and she was loving it.  

I could go on and on about this little girl.  I love her so much.  Our family is so blessed to have her be a part of it.  I've just been thinking about how grateful I am that she came into our lives.
So, so happy to be her momma and get to kiss this little face.  

missing

We're all starting to feel the effect of this guy being gone.
It's been a week and a half since he left again.
I knew it would be harder for the kids without him once we got back to normal life.
It is harder.

Ellery is probably struggling the most.
She cries a lot.  And whines.  And asks about him everyday.
For some reason, she's also lost the ability to do just about anything by herself
Going potty, getting in the car, getting her jammies on or off,
Did I mention going potty?
I can't help but think that is all due to her little mind being confused as to why he's not here.
They kind of really love each other, those two.

McKay has his moments when he misses his dad.
I have a lot of guilt because we are having gorgeous weather
And I know if Brian were here those two would be playing soccer or baseball outside every night.
But I can't do that.  I just can't right now.
His sadness mostly comes at night, around bedtime.
It's either a good excuse to keep me in his room longer,
or at the end of the day that's where his mind goes.  I don't know.

It's hard being a single mom.
I have a list of errands I need to run that's a mile long.
But between preschool, kindergaren, naps and bedtime,
There really is just no way.
And like I mentioned, the guilt.
I wish I could be doing more.  I feel bad about not doing more.
But then, I'm doing a lot.  I have to keep reminding myself that.
I am so tired at the end of the day, I can't even believe it.
My head hits the pillow and I am asleep.
Which is good because then my mind has no time to wander and get sad.

I miss him.
Two weeks and two days to go. . .

thoughts on a sunday

This started out as one egg.  Then some Halloween sprinkles.  Then some paprika and ice.  And it snowballed from there.  They had SO much fun "cooking" this up this afternoon.  It kept them busy for almost an hour!

• Ahhh.  It's so hard to get back to my silly little thoughts when I haven't written them for so long.  And tonight I am sad, so I really don't feel like it.  But I'm hoping it will improve my mood, so I'm gonna try.

• I guess a catch-up paragraph is in order.  I spent three weeks in Utah in August.  Brian spent those weeks in Florida, working and being called "baby" by his female superior.  We got the unexpected news that Brian got to come home for one wonderful week.  He left to go back to FL on Tuesday.  The kids and I have survived this week adjusting to school, preschool, bus stops, soccer practices, play dates and a really busy schedule.  Brian worked a full week of night shifts.  I feel like I don't even know him anymore.

• Okay, so that's it.  That's our month in a nut-shell.  Instead of trying to back track to everything that I've missed the last month, I'm just gonna focus on this week. 

•  This week was super busy for me and the kids.  We are still trying to get into a routine, now that Ellery has started preschool, and we've had lots of play-dates this week.  I actually feel so grateful to the friends I have here in Oregon- I've really felt loved and cared about this week.  They know what a hard time this is for me and I feel a lot of support.  

• There were two days this week where I only had Layla, and she was napping- the other two were at friends and school.  I didn't know what to do with myself, so I cleaned the house.  And then I ate lunch in my clean house.  And it stayed clean for like, two hours!  It's a feeling I haven't had in at least four years.

• I've feel grateful for other things this week too.  I haven't been scared at night at all, and have really felt the Lord's blessings with our little family this week.  Well. . .that is, until this weekend.  Not to say I stopped being blessed, but compared to the first of the week, this weekend was not easy and not fun.

• Mostly because Ellery had one of her biggest melt-downs ever.  It. was. awful.  You know what's funny though?  I learned that probably the worst possible consequence for Ellery is losing the privilege of brushing her teeth at night.  She didn't put her jammies on when I asked (she had about ten minutes to do so) but made a huge mess of dirty clothes all over the room instead.  When I aproached her about this, she was sassy and mean and so I told her she no longer had time to brush her teeth, but had to clean up the mess and get in her jams.  She went absolutely crazy in an instant.  I'm serious.  Screaming, yelling, begging, bargaining, hyper-ventilating.  I did not know what to do because on the one hand, I am sitting there telling my child "No, you cannot brush your teeth!" which just sounds ridiculous if you really say it to someone, but on the other, I could not give in to her when her behavior was so awful.  So I stuck it out.  It was not pretty.  And I'm not really sure she even got the point, because when I finally, after a good half hour of screaming, got her to calm down and do deep breaths, she said in between leftover sobs, "Mom.  You should have been here when I needed you."  It's all my fault.  *Sigh.

• Did I tell you we got  new neighbors?   Yep.  They were painting and fixing up their new place last night.  I wonder who's side they were on?  After last night, I wouldn't be surprised if they try to back out of the deal.  My girl can scream.

• I got a new calling.  I'm the beehive adviser.  I must admit, this has caused me a lot of stress the last week.  Mostly because I just don't know how I'm going to do mutual and meetings and teaching each Sunday without a husband.  Normally, I would be totally excited for this calling.  But right now is not normally.  The good news is that after my first lesson today, I felt a lot better about the whole situation. Brian said I just have to decide that I can do it and go forward.  I'm doing that.

• Beehives are funny.  Some of them are so skinny and so small.  They were cute though.  I really am excited about teaching them. 

• And just to make those beehives feel comfortable, yesterday I got two huge zits.  I do what I can, but I never thought I would be such a good teacher!  One of them is right in between my eyes.  I don't even know if I've ever had one there before.  I thought when I turned 29 that my adult acne days had finally come to an end, but now I'm not so sure. 

• Today during Sunday School Layla was giving me the sweetest snuggles.  I could have died right there, they were so good.  She's kind of getting to be a snuggler, in her old age.  I'll take it.

• It's kind of really fun to go shopping in the bins in my garage and get a whole new wardrobe for Layla. I love it.  But you know what's weird?  She is wearing things that Ellery wore I swear when she was like two, but Layla is not even bigger than Elle was.  I can't figure that one out. 

• Earlier this week I was on  the phone with one of my sisters and telling them what a wonderful napper Layla had become.  She was taking a solid morning and afternoon nap- at the same time each day!  I felt so good about myself.  And then the next day happened.  And my good feelings faltered.  And the next day they fell to pieces. She  had been doing great for weeks- two months even- and then she got her immunizations and I know that whenever a baby of mine gets immunizations it messes up their sleep habits.  I'm so depressed.  It was like the best thing happening in my life, and now it's gone.  I hate feeling out of control with naps and not knowing what she'll do on any given day.  I hope this week will be better.

• McKay is enrolled in soccer.  He's on the Jaguar team, with his two friends, Jaxon and David.  Please let me tell you that you've never seen anything cuter than my boy playing soccer.  I'm serious, there is nothing cuter and I wish with all my heart that I could have captured his face during his practice-game on Tuesday, but I didn't.  Pure joy.  His face was pure joy.  I have never seen anything like it.  He chased that ball around the field with his mouth wide open in the biggest grin he could possibly give and ran like only a child can run.  Back and forth, up and down the field.  He was so happy that he kind of didn't even know what he was doing as far as soccer goes.  He was just enjoying it.  Every once in awhile he would do some stuff with the ball, but I didn't even notice that.  I was just looking at his face. I never, ever want to forget the image of him running around with pure happiness and pride all over his face.  It was a priceless thing for Brian and I to watch. 

• For the record, he did let go of his joy a little bit and concentrate a bit more on his game this Saturday, because he scored his first goal!  It was awesome.

• Ellery is such a sweet little thing and goes to his games and practices and just plays with herself the whole time.  She usually brings Ariel with her and they fly around the grass, Ariel soaring up and down,  usually singing, Elle with her hair flapping around her and her eyes half closed.  That too, is a priceless memory in my head.  I love her imagination. 

• We had a sleep over on Friday night.  We rented The Three Lives of Thomasina from the library- which is a childhood favorite of mine, and the kids wanted to sleep in their sleeping bags downstairs, with me on the couch.  So I thought, "why not?" and we did just that.  It was actually really fun.  Also, my kids loved that movie, as I knew they would.  Anyone else?

• All the sudden Layla has a million teeth.  I thought I was all observant when I noticed a top front tooth poking through, and then a couple days later my friend said, "Look at all her teeth." and there were like two huge molars growing in there.  I had no idea. 

• Ellery started preschool this week.  She is so excited about it.  We just put together a little joy school with five other friends from the ward.  I'm really happy for her to have her own thing that she's doing first.  She is so proud when she says goodbye to her brother and sister to go to school.  It's really cute.

• McKay got to bring home Mr. Bear from kindergarten on Friday.  It was extra cool because instead of just one night, Mr. Bear got to stay the whole weekend.  There was a little boy who was very happy about this.

• We are still trying to figure out bus stops.  He missed it on Friday.  He loves, loves, loves riding the bus.  I can't believe that my little child is riding a big bus around town.  Actually, the school is really close, which is why it's funny that they bus them to school.  I'm not complaining though.

• One morning McKay and I were snuggling in bed and he asked me, "Mom, do you have to know  where someone lives to marry them?"  Apparently, there's a fresh crop of girls in his kindergarten class and he's got a few picked out already.  I went into a big explanation on dating and proposing and being engaged.  I think he feels more prepared now.  He even shared his list with me.  I never thought I would have a boy that was interested in girls in kindergarten!  But from what I've read, Brian was the same way.  Hmmm....

• Tonight I made Salted Caramel Chocolate Chocolate-chip Cookies.  I capitalized all that because that's how good they were.  Sorry, don't have a link because I just kind of did my own thing, but I can tell you what I did.  I used my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe.  Replace 1/2 cup of flour with 1/2 cup cocoa.  Use kosher or sea salt instead of regular salt- same amount, or maybe a tad more.  Buy the Kraft Caramel Bits (mine came from Target) and put those in with some semi-sweet chocolate chips.  Try not to gain twenty pounds.  Oh, and the recipe I have calls for 3/4 tsp of salt, which to some might seem like a lot of salt.  It wasn't too much.

• I was sad Brian wasn't here to eat my cookies because I know he would have loved them.

• I'm sad that Brian wasn't here just because.  It's not easy to do this long-distance thing.  It's hard with the time difference to find a good time to talk.  It's hard to only communicate by phone.  It's hard not to live with each other. 

• One of the things that has brought me the most joy this week is my new candle.  It's this one and I really love it.  It makes me want to run around on a soccer field.
  

Happy, happy Sunday!