Kitchen continues to Progress

Beach Party

I've found I'm a sucker for pajamas and swimming suits and yesterday when the girls and I went into Costco I became victimized. They had the cutest lil swimsuits and covers. The suits had these frilly skirts on them, who could resist? The good news is McKenna is always more willing and cooperative to use the bathroom to get this kind of incentive. So this morning after I declared they wouldn't get the swimsuits until after successful trips to the bathroom, while I was feeding Tate in the peace and quiet of my room I heard the girls utelizing their independence in a way that makes us all happy.

This was the end result:

This is one of the covers-so cute!

Shamrocks-Happy St. Patrick's Day

I was recently reminded I have been slacking in my holiday history blogs. I had actually forgotten and am happy to jump back on the band wagon. I decided to start with St. Patrick's since it is still one of my favorite holidays. As a child I used to look through the clover in our lawn when a patch would emerge and try to find a 4-leaf clover. I was sure it would bring me good luck. I saw a banner on MSN asking about the history of Shamrocks and thought i'd do a little research. The history channel was once again was the most insightful without losing my interest: Short and sweet.

Picture of red clover leaf.David Beaulieu

Symbols and Traditions-The Shamrock
The shamrock, which was also called the "seamroy" by the Celts, was a sacred plant in ancient Ireland because it symbolized the rebirth of spring. By the seventeenth century, the shamrock had become a symbol of emerging Irish nationalism. As the English began to seize Irish land and make laws against the use of the Irish language and the practice of Catholicism, many Irish began to wear the shamrock as a symbol of their pride in their heritage and their displeasure with English rule.

I also learned that Corned Beef has only been an Irish meal since the turn of the century when Irish American could afford it in NYC. In lew of the holiday we'll be having it for dinner and for sandwiches for the next few days. YUMMY!

I tried to bring in a little fun today with some green mac'n cheese. I was excited and thought the girls would be too, especially McKenna who recently read and did a craft at school with Green Eggs and Ham. Alas she ordered "orange noodlels and cheese" declaring my fun unfit. I admit I didn't give in, instead I took pictures of her leftovers.

Haircuts & Girl time

McKenna and I had a lil girl time today and we went and got our hair cut this morning. Last time I got made fun of for saying I "chopped" my hair because it wasn't all that short. I think I might get to claim the "chop" this time.

It was a novelty for McKenna, I got my hair cut first so she could see. She would wander back and forth between the toys and I asking for her turn and telling me her hair was too long. By the time Kirstan was teaching me how to style it McKenna was trying to pull me out of the chair. Kirstan hadn't finished combing her hair when McKenna started fidgeting wanting to be done. :) She's a crack up, but was very pleased with her 2" cut. Her hair was so long it was constantly getting food in it, caught in her coat zippers, and caught on anything sticky.

Why do lil kids hate posing for pictures so much? Over exposure?

My inspiration came from none other than Faith Hill (those who know me won't be too surprised). She was on the cover of Shape Magazine in December. As a birthday present to herself for turning 40 she got herself in bikini swimsuit shape. Loved her hair and I hope I too look like her when I turn 40, as a gift to myself. :)

As a side note Tonight Tyler cleaned up the front room with me without being asked. She saw me folding a blanket and just started to pitch in. Made me smile-even if a few items were just pushed under the entertainment center and couch, but most of it she put where it belonged. That's MY girl. :) Always claim the good stuff after myself right? Right....

The closest I've come to getting all 3 kids in a picture

30 meals in 2 days

I have an ambitious friend (we will call her Leslie) who lets me tag along on her big ideas and feel like I'm a productive & organized type of Mom. A few months ago she found a book called "30 Meals in One Day:Dinner is Ready". Sounds ambitious doesn't it? Let me tell you it is, but with Leslie's organization skills and drive, and my support :) we made it happen.

We spent Monday night shopping and the last couple of days putting the meals together. It was more like 40 meals in 2 days, pry about 25 different recipes. She has a lil boy about 6 months younger than Tyler so we decided to get a babysitter to help watch the kids while we combined our efforts to make this happen. I have to admit between poopy diapers, nursing and screaming (all from my kids) Leslie did most of the work, but I was happy to provide the work space in my fabulous (almost completed) kitchen. This is what it was designed to do, provide the space needed to make lots & lots of food.

I have pictures but currently having a lil computer problem and unable to download them. Yes Leslie I did have a lot of fun and look forward to doing it with the kids at a different location. :)

Anyone interested I would definitely go get this book, it has an awesome computer program with it where you pick the recipes, which falli n the categories: Stove Top, Slow Cook, Oven & Assemble. It has recipe cards, freezer labels and shopping lists ready to print. It even takes the different recipes and combines them with the total amounts for the shopping lists, categorized.

The recipes I used:
Sweet and Sour Chicken - Stovetop Meal
Ham and Potatoes Scallop - Assembly Meal
Chicken and Broccoli - Assembly Meal
Chicken and Biscuits - Assembly Meal
Beef and Broccoli - Assembly Meal
Beef Stroganoff - Crockpot Meal
Chicken Tortilla Soup - Stovetop Meal
Honey Lime Chicken - Stovetop Meal
Navajo Tacos - Assembly Meal
Baked Chicken in Gravy - Oven Meal
Bacon Meatloaf - Assembly Meal
Peachy Chicken - Stove Top
Tortilla Chicken - Assembly Meal
Salisbury Steak - Assembly Meal
Creamed Corn & Beef - Assembly
Almost Ravioli - Assembly Meal

Kaitlyn Jayne Harris is here!

Congratulations to my lil brother& his family:

James, Laura & Justin

welcomed their beautiful new baby girl

into the family last night at 9:12 pm.

She was 7.36 lbs and 18 inches long.

I hear Mom and baby are doing fabulous!

Kindergarten Already?

This afternoon McKenna and I went to Maple Lawn Elementary school to register for Kindergarten. This will be her 3rd elementary school in the past couple of years. She was in Annette Bowen's preschool class at Liberty Ridge last year and this year she's in Christen Robinson's preschool class at Daffodil Elementary. McKenna is really excited to be going to school with the "big kids" next year. She' not quite able to say Kindergarten yet, it comes out more as "my garden" but that doesn't curb her enthusiasm any.


I wish I was as excited, but I'm just nervous, really nervous! I was planning on holding her back another year as I'm not sure she is as ready as she could or should be, but the district has really pushed the issue since her birthday falls before August 31st. Is a Mom really ever ready to send her first child to school? Will the kids be nice, will she make friends? Can we keep up and do the school work? The whole thing stresses me out.

It's got me thinking about my own kindergarten experience. I loved Kindergarten with Mrs Brockbank. I had my first crush on a kid names Thomas Footman-I even named my stuffed grover after him. The bathrooms had a giant Raggedy Ann on the tile in it. I loved freeplay and snack time. I don't remember my first day of school or riding the bus, just the really important stuff.

John remembers getting in trouble at the play dough table for talking to much and having to sit in cirlce time by himself. He also remembers him and Timothy Freeman sticking thier tongues out at each other during circle time. On the first day of school he sat waiting for his Mom to come pick him up from school. When she didn't show up he called her from school and asked why she didn't come, her response was he was supposed to walk home since they were only a couple of blocks from school.

Models

My good friend Leslie took Tyler on a photo-shoot out in the Mud on Tuesday for her 2 year old pictures

and then came back and took more of Tate in his blessing clothes for his 3 month pictures.

Little Sad Man Tate

Leslie has even set up a slideshow for you to see her results with Tyler:

Fun Bright Colors

I'm pretty happy with the results. Thanks Leslie!

Tummy Time

Tate hasn't been exposed to tummy time like he should, so apparently he's decided to help out. After changing his diaper I left him on the floor and ran to throw the diaper away-I heard him fuss, but since he isn't my 1st baby I didn't run back to him. When I finally got back a few minutes later I found him on his stomach, sucking his fist. He's rolled a few times onto his side, more frequently these days, but this is a first for his tummy. Good job Tate!

Spring, Come and Gone in a Flash

It's been a perfect beautiful Spring day-It was finally warm around 60 degrees, the sun was shining, a lil breeze was blowing. Tate and I got out for a few minutes to enjoy it and as we were walking back in the house we looked up and saw some ugly black clouds rolling in. about an hour later the sun disappeared the wind picked up, then there was a flash of lightening and a big BOOM! I know not everyone will agree but I think it was Awesome! Washington doesn't get a lot of thunderstorms and with each Crash my excitement grew. (The girls thought I was a little crazy).The rain came down in sheets and it was so clean and crisp and clear outside (other than the rain). I LOVE SPRING rain storms.

Date Night

Date? what's that? It seems like John and I spend all our free time doing household things and just trying to keep our heads above water with church, renovations and work. A week ago as we were having Family Home Evening John told the girls we (him & I) were going to go out the following weekend. I was pleasantly surprised and shocked at the announcement, he even found a babysitter. So this last weekend Carol & Everett Altig watched the kids while we got out for an evening. John was shocked when I expressed my desire to leave Tate home too. He's only 3 months old, but I really just wanted to get out kid-free. We called up our friends the Brower's and met them for pizza and adult conversation. It was so much fun!! I felt like we were "courting" again and it was so nice not to have to worry about a single child knowing they were at home with a wonderful pair of grandparents taking care of them.

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Conversation between John and McKenna on the way to bed:

John: "Those are Daddy's books you need to leave them downstairs."
McKenna: "No"
John: "You're gonna read them huh?"
McKenna: "uh-huh"
John response: "They're in Spanish"
McKenna: "Hola"

Apparently we're teaching spanish in our home-Thanks Dora.

PS-Speaking of Dora, I was reading to Tyler one day, it came to a part where you were supposed to ask the gate to open in spanish and before I could tell her the answer she said, "Abre."

I was surprised and impressed by what both girls retain.

Accident Free

Tyler and McKenna went all day using the potty-no accidents on the floor or in their pants. As we chant at our house, "peepee/poopoo in the potty, no peepee in our pants". I haven't become brave enough to put Tyler in underwears but if this keeps up hopefully soon. Keep your fingers crossed!

Silly faces after washing her hands :)

Wow, I'm on a roll today with posts-but I couldn't go without writing about "My kids".

(MY because something good has happened).

I was in the kitchen making dinner tonight-the girls were out with their Dad and in an attempt to get a smile from Tate I started singing to Tate and bouncing him in his chair, moving his legs in a lil dance and I think I found his song. "In the Jungle, the Mighty Jungle, The Lion Sleeps tonight"- Do you know the song?

I think it's from Lion King.

I found his smile, isn't it cute?

Kitchen Progresses

The kitchen has taken another stride as it receives it's 1st installment of cupboard/drawers fronts.

Have a look at the progress:

This cupboard was "claimed" by the kids for Hide & Seek

and by McKenna to store/hide her notebooks and many, many purses

Sleep, Sweet Sleep

Oh Sleep how I've missed it and yearn to be reunited. My days have been spent thinking about it, trying to sneak it in, just to get a taste/glimpse to remember. Tate is almost 3 months old, so it has been 3 months, plus how many months of getting up 2-3 times a night for potty breaks during pregnancy since I've had a "good" night of sleep.

We've been trying to get Tate in the crib at night, in the girls room but with his 2 am feeding appointment he would wake up Tyler and I'd rather have Tate in our room than deal with her crying at that early hour. And then it happened, last week Tate went 5 hrs between feeding at night-but not wanting to jinx or get my hopes too high I decided it was due to his lack of naptime sleeping. It was a few more nights until it happened again, no more 2:30 am feeding he was stretching himself til 4 am.

Tuesday night, oh horrid Tuesday night when Tyler and I were sick, we put Tate in the girls room with the monitor and Tyler slept with us. He didn't stir all night-didn't even eat at 11 pm. At 4:30 afraid he'd be waking up and would wake everyone else up we finally got him up to eat. I know crazy...but fear will make you do a lot of crazy things. Then last night I decided to try it again, so in the crib he went and stayed. I fed him at 11 and then woke up at 6 this morning with a wonderful feeling, it was vaguely familiar, something close to...well rested. Could it be true a full night's sleep? 7 hrs? Oh happy day! And it has been! I've been nicer to my kids, I was showered and out of my pajamas by 10 am!

I'm not expecting this everynight but it's enough to give a Mom a little hope of emotional normalcy. I pray all moms with babies get this kind of break sooner rather than later!

Flu season is back!

It seems like last year I was constantly writing about my kids being sick...this must be my year. Yesterday morning John and I woke with queasy stomachs. The night before we'd had a can of clam chowder soup. When I was opening it, I had noticed that it was expired...not by much and it wasn't bulging and it smelled fine so I cooked it well and we ate it. It wasn't that great but it was dinner. I know I know, not my best move as a mother-it would serve me right to get sick. McKenna of course didn't eat any and Tyler barely touches her dinner these days and at one point I noticed her drinking and then spitting it back in the bowl so who knows if she really ate some or not.

Later that afternoon things were not getting better, but worse...much much worse. I'm also aware of the stomach flu making the rounds and by 5 pm I realized it wasn't food poisoning, but pry the stomach flu as I was achy and FREEZING! Tyler was also complaining by that time and hadn't eaten only her hot chocolate that morning. I HATE THE STOMACH FLU! Who doesn't? Nothing worse than throwing up-I did get lucky in one aspect. Tyler didn't throw up once. Smart girl to starve herself all day-I was too nervous with nursing to not eat. John wasn't a hundred percent but he was a trooper and even stayed home today to take care of us all. Anyway Tyler ended up staying in bed with us last night, John hung in there for a while but somewhere around 4 he gave up and found his way to the Futon in the playroom.

I quickly remembered why we don't let kids in bed with us at night-so much tossing and turning, kicking and lack of personal space. Then there's the worry that the kid is going to fall out of the bed and then the repercussions of then night after. As we were leaving the kids room Tyler actually told me she was going to throw up. She's been back to her normal comical self all afternoon so it was a no go. Then there was the crying and screaming for us to come get her to take her into our room which lasted 45 min.

Definitely glad we're all feeling better-got my fingers crossed that somehow McKenna and Tate were spared the experience.

Tyler 2-Yr Old Check up

Tyler had her 2 yr old check up today. We've been reading "Say 'Ahhh', Dora goes to the Doctor" for over a week now and have the book memorized. Figured she was pretty well prepared yo know what was going to happen and hoped for the best reaction. McKenna has been asking to go to the Dr since we got the book and so we brought her for support and an example. Little did I know she was going to wake up this morning and immediately start telling Tyler she was going to get shots today-Way to highlight the worst part of it McKenna.

Tyler actually did pretty well, although she is only 2 years old and so she didn't want to stand on the scale and pretty much clung to me the whole time. She only cried when they pried her off me to put her on the baby scale and after she had received the 1st shot. She's off the charts in Height at 37.5 inches and in the 90% for Weight at 30 pounds. I honestly thought she was going to weigh more than that because I thought her and McKenna weighed pretty close to the same. McKenna was nice enough to jump on the scale to show Tyler what to do and weighed in at 37 lbs.

Fun in the Sun

So many funny things have happened lately, yet when it comes down to writing them I can't remember anything. SO I'll write about what I do remember-or rather what I have pictures of:


The sun made a brief appearance this week for a few days. McKenna decided to play hookie from pre-school and we headed up to the park in Edgewood for a lil picnic. John was able to join us since he only works half a day on Thursdays. The girls had a ball and for once didn't spend all that much time on the swings, instead they ran around and had Dad help them up into the trees.

Our lil Monkeys

On Sunday Tyler needed her diaper changed. Trying to avoid it she refused both John and I asked for McKenna. We were surprised when McKenna agreed-only because it wasn't poopie. We caught video but through a picture would be more appropriate. The funniest part was McKenna trying to lift Tyler's legs and butt to slide the diaper under. She didn't need very much help and actually did a pretty good job. I think she might have a future here

P-A-R-T-Y

Anyone with kids or who knows a kid or who is still a kid knows that it's all about the party.

Well it's been one party after another at my house this week.

Friday's Farewell Party to Lori, Quinton, Jack, Mitch and Regan who are moving to California :(

Nothing says Party like Tacos & Karaoke

Saturday Valentine's Party Dinner at Ivar's and then onto The Clarion Hotel in Federal Way

John and Tate weren't quite into Madagascar 2

Sunday: Birthday Party for Tyler and Grandpa

Diego Bowling for Grandpa-How'd we know that's what he wanted?

Tate Blessing

With my parents in town this last weekend we decided to bless Tate in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday, Feb 15th by his Dad. This was the first time we've blessed a baby in our home ward, or any ward. It was fun to be surrounded by our "other" family and nice to have a friends and a family representative there-Thanks Dad!

Getting Tate ready for church, he was not a fan of the suit

My attempt at a family picture...where's McKenna?

John & John Jr (aka Tate)

Little Man Tate...or Travolta