Dumb Dilemma

I know this is going to sound lame, but I really do need some advice on this subject! I am having the hardest time with my kids staying at the table until their food is gone. This is something I deal with three times a day so it gets old real fast. I get so frustrated, I am about ready to chain them to their seats! It is hard for me to sit there and monitor them because it takes them so long to eat! I feel like I have other things to do so I don't want to spend an extra hour at the dinner table monitoring their every bite. But what ends up happening is I chase them around the house shoving bites in their mouths so I know they are full. I have bribed, threatened, pleaded, sent them to time out (which really doesn't help them finish their food)....Should I let them go hungry? I am ready for all of you wise moms out there to share your wisdom. This doesn't seem like it should be such a big issue, what can I do?

Graduation

Ella had her preschool graduation and it was the cutest thing. They showed us what they had learned and sang us a lot of their songs, and I was trying my hardest not to cry! It must be the hormones but there is something about all of those little kids singing God bless the USA that got me all teary eyed! I just love her teacher Mrs. Bowen who has been teaching for 15 years and actually taught my youngest sister Nikki as well.

I tried to get a group shot of them singing, and you can see that Ella is the littlest one by far! She still has another year of preschool so she has time to catch up.

Her sweet teacher Mrs. Bowen. More than once Ella has told me, "Ok mom, I will be Mrs. Bowen and you be Miss Summer(her assistant)."

This is her best friend at school, Kruz. It is funny because she talks about the older boys in her class the most. They are so cute to her and Mrs. Bowen has told me that they have kind of taken Ella under their wing and always look out for her.

Getting her graduation cap and diploma.

I am so grateful for preschool and how much she has learned. I just love when she comes home singing all of these new songs. Next year she will be going to a new preschool in our neighborhood so I hope she does well there. I hope she will be ready for kindergarten!

20 Weeks and...

It's a girl! Matt and I were sure we were having a girl, but the ultrasound finally confirmed it. I always get nervous before the ultrasound, thinking they will find something wrong, but everything looked perfect. I feel like I can finally start getting ready for this baby. I have seriously done nothing. I don't have a thing for the nursery, I don't have a clue for a name, NOTHING. So if anyone has any good ideas on how to make a nursery cute on a budget, or have heard any cute girl names, feel free to help me out!

THE recital

She did it! Ella's dance recital was a success! I was so worried about it because her Christmas recital was kind of a disaster...she did fine her first song and then the second dance she got scared and cried through the entire thing!
But this time around she seemed fine. We talked about it a LOT, bribed her a LOT, and when the lights went down I prayed a LOT:) She was excited about it until I dropped her off and she said, "Mom, I just don't want everyone to laugh at me." Last time when she started crying ppl in the audience started laughing so I think she was referring to this. It's hard not to laugh when a bunch of 3 year olds are running around the stage in chaos looking as cute as ever.
But when it came down to it she did her 2 dances without a single tear, and she seemed like she was actually having a really good time. I was just so relieved. It didn't help that Matt told me if she cried through the whole thing again I should probably wait a year or two before I put her back in dance! I said honey, she is THREE!:) It's about the experience, right?
Anyways, I have way too many pictures here that I should have put in a collage but didn't. I don't care though, this was too much of a proud mommy moment.


We had a little photo shoot before we went to the recital. This was the first time she would really pose for the camera and she wanted to see every picture after I took it. I think it was because she was SO excited that she was able to wear a little bit of makeup! She kept saying, "oh gorgeous, gorgeous" as I put it on.

This is her favorite pose.

She really wanted a picture of her feet-she loved her leg warmers.

This was her Tarzan and Jane dance which was really cute. She is the first one, and the shortest:)

This was the butterfly dance.

Afterwards Aunt Gina and Corinne gave her flowers, she felt so special and kept showing everyone.

We told Kash and Ella to strike a pose together and this is what we got:

The BRIBE. We told Ella she could get the biggest ice cream cone she wanted if she did her dances without crying so here she is rewarding herself!

summer fun

We are loving the warm weather so we can go to the splash pad. It is one of my favorite things to do with the kids in the summer. I love taking them there and being able to sit and watch them and not constantly worry about DROWNING like I do at the pool! It is so much more stress free for me. I just can't handle taking both kids to the pool by myself-especially now that my reaction time is a lot slower now that I am big and prego:). So we pack a lunch and choose one of our favorite splash pads and play in the sun until nap time. It is even more fun when we get to go with cousins, they love having play mates and I love having Gina to talk to.

The friends

Oh how I love when I am able to get together with my sweet high school friends! It just doesn't happen very often anymore, everyone is all over the place! I keep wishing that everyone will move back to St. George so we can all be together. I know I will always live here so I am selfish and want everyone else to move back. I love how it is never awkward no matter how long it has been, we just laugh and talk like we used to. This was just a small group of us this time but still tons of fun. I'm just glad we have Kristen to organize these things or it would never happen!

Jeepin'

We took the kids off-roading in the jeep for the first time. It's funny because I am NEVER in Matt's jeep, so as soon as I got in I was taken back to our dating days:) We used to go jeeping a lot when we were dating but once we got married and had kids that pretty much stopped. So it was fun to go again.
I kept reminding him that he was responsible for 3 kids-2 in the backseat and one in my belly, so he couldn't go too crazy! The kids liked it for the most part, Kash would get scared when he saw the sheer drop offs and would scream, "No Dad, NOOO!" We would tell him that we were not going to go down the cliff and he would say, "otay."
They were funny in the backseat singing random songs. My favorite had to be Ella singing, "I am proud to be an American." I think we will have to take them again soon.

Our first stop we got out to enjoy the view.

It was pretty funny to look back and see this:

And this:

We got to the top and tried to get a picture of the kids together...

Cody bottomed out pretty bad on this one. The kids kept asking if Coco was going to be okay.

And best of all we made it home safely and in time for brownies and ice cream.

Group Effort

We have discovered that being a home owner is a lot of work. Just managing our yard alone has been overwhelming. We spent a lot of money on yard equipment and then we figured out that you actually have to USE it. Between getting the lawn mowed every week, Matt and I doing a little bit of weeding each day, and trying to figure out how to trim the overgrown plants....I am leaning towards a gardener! It has been kind of fun though having the four of us go out and work in the yard together. And as you can see, Kash doesn't mind helping out one bit!

More Ella

Here is my insightful Ella-this conversation took place after church while we were eating lunch.

Me: Ella, what did you learn in your class today?
Ella: Um, well I don't really remember, BUT.....Heavenly Father was in my class today!
Me: He was??
Ella: Ya, and Jesus was too.
Me: Wow, really?
Ella: Yep, Heavenly Father, Jesus, AND President Monson!
Me: thinking wow, my cute 3 year old is at least thinking about or recognizing things...this is good. And before I could respond....
Ella: And the Sea Witch was there too, Mom!! (from the Little Mermaid in case you didn't know)

Typical Ella

I need to be better at documenting the things my kids say. They say the funniest things but I never write it down which means I never remember it. So starting right now, I am going to try to at least post about it. This is something Ella said that we thought was funny but I think you had to be there! Matt and I had gone on a much needed date night while my grandma, who the kids call "Bo" babysat. After we picked them up and were driving away this is the short conversation that took place:

Ella: "OH NO! I forget to tell Bo something!"
Me: "What did you forget to tell her?"
Ella: (very seriously) "That I love her."
Me: "Well, we'll be sure to tell her that next time we see her."
Ella: Silence and then in a loud wailing voice filled with utter despair..." OHHHH what have I done!??????"

And then the hysteria set in. I guess she just couldn't believe that she would forget something so important.
We quickly picked up the phone and called Bo so Ella could talk to her immediately.




Ella is such a little drama queen. Her preschool teacher says its the "Ella show" when she is there and believes she will win an Oscar in a dramatic role. She is such a handful but she is so funny and says the most clever things. People keep telling me that girls and drama are one and the same but it should get better once she turns 4? Well, her birthday is coming up and I don't see much changing by then but I guess we will just wait it out and see.

Jumping, baths, and birthdays

Karlee and I took the kids to California this past week. We were sad because it rained most of the time and we were hoping to spend our time in the sun:( But we made the most of it and on Saturday it was beautiful and we were able to go into LA and shop! Because of the weather we decided to try out Jump n Jammers which is an indoor play gym/bounce house type thing. The kids loved it and so did the adults!

This is the dance floor that would light up with different types of games to play. Ella, Carter, and Tyson are dancing it up!

Here is Kash at the top, he was obsessed with shooting the balls down into the middle.

Whitney, Mom, and Kar racing down the slides.

This is where you put all of the balls and then they shoot up into the air.

Poor Kar attempting to lift Kash...

Ella and Kash love taking baths in Nana and Papa's tub. They go crazy with all of the bubbles-here is Ella "washing" Kash's hair.

Showing off her muscles.

Kash was loving being completely covered!

We were able to celebrate Whitney's 24th birthday with her while we were there so that was fun.

Trying to get a picture with the birthday girl.

It was Whitney's 1st birthday with a husband! aww cute:)

a small scare

I woke from my Sunday nap and quietly went in the kitchen-everyone else was still asleep. This happens so rarely that I wanted to keep it this way for as long as possible. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Ella outside. My heart skipped a beat thinking something wasn't right. She was on the patio draped over a chair. Her arms and legs were hanging from either side of the chair, unmoving. Her hair was a big mop hanging above her arms, I couldn't see her face and all I could think was, "why isn't she moving?" I ran to the door, opening it loudly but she didn't move from the noise. Had she passed out? Why was she in this weird position? I ran over to her and felt her back, I didn't feel her breathing. "Ella!" I half screamed. Her head jerked up as she groggily looked at me. She had fallen asleep. I picked her up and brought her in the house and laid her on the couch. I asked her what she was doing out there, remembering before I took my nap she had been outside. I figured Matt would put her to bed before he took a nap. I guess he let her stay outside, or forgot because she said, "Well mom, Dad locked me out!" I guess after a few hours of playing outside and not being able to get in she just got too tired and laid across the chair! I must have still been a little out of it from my nap thinking she wasn't breathing and freaking out a bit:) I'm just glad it wasn't too terribly hot outside seeing that she had changed her clothes and was wearing a long sleeved turtle neck dress. Oh well. Everyone is still alive and well at the McLaws Household. At least for now.