You Have Your Hands Full

Shopping with all three kids here will always, guaranteed, every time, get this response:
"You have your hands full!"
From at least two people.
Every time.
I mostly just politely laugh; in my mind I'm thinking three is not that many and they're not that close together.
They are right, it's a little chaotic, but in a good way. I wonder if they see it that way.

Depending on the section of the store someone sees me in determines if I'm proud or embarrassed.
Usually I'm proud as we first enter
and Macey starts yelling that she wants more fruit and more veggies.
Not proud that she isn't speaking in a normal volume, just proud she sounds like a healthy eater.

For some reason the volume of her voice can only be a yell in a grocery store.

Then I get more and more embarrassed as we near the candy section and she and Mackayla begin yelling that there is candy. And they want it.

Last time Macey stood up in the cart held her arms out wide and yelled at the top of her lungs "I want more and more candy!" like she had hit the jackpot.

People in Oregon are so healthy. I'm surprised they sell candy at grocery stores, let alone let young children have more and MORE of it.

Mackayla is becoming 'helpful.'

She is still easily distracted too.

If she comes to me really annoyed I can ask her to help me and she forgets all about her problem.

The other day I grabbed the first thing I could find and asked her to put it away. A random bowl in the kitchen. She knew right where it went.

She calls Cody "Co. Wee." and Macey "May. Ee."

Yesterday we made cookies.
Standing on her little chair by the dough she looked up at me and said
"I try it?"
"Sure." I said.
"OK."
Then I stopped and asked her and Macey, "Did you just talk to me?"
Has my baby been talking to me or is this her first sentence? I don't know.
It is cute though.

She's pretty laid back. But if you cross her you will be mortally wounded, especially if you are Macey.
She's pretty tough and can shake off a fall pretty well.

Yesterday she changed her outfit six times. Ben thinks I am doing too much of her laundry because she grabs clothes out of her drawers all the time; so I should put child locks on. If he does it that's great, otherwise I will just let her change. She's usually really dirty anyway:)

A Date

Ben and I went on a date on Saturday.

(Can you see us? We snapped a pic in the theater without a flash.)

We've been on lots of dates.

But this was our first time getting a babysitter, instead of the graces of parents or friends, so it's document worthy.

We're growing up;) and Ben is finding time! (he was technically on back up call but nothing came, phew!)

I'm always up for trying new and random things and had a list of places I wanted to try.

Instead we decided to go to Dairy Queen and got a blizzard and went and saw Life of Pi.

There's something good about tried and true, especially for Ben who likes it simple and predictable. I'll take those when they're with him. Nothing beats a good blizzard and a good movie.

And sweet sleeping kids when you get home:)

Soap Trick

A Tip

Buy a Bath and Body Works Foaming Soap.

Enjoy it.

 When it runs out fill with a few tablespoons of regular refill soap.

And fill the rest of the way with water.

A trick I learned from a smart friend at school.

If you have them, add some lemon essential oils, a natural disinfectant that smells great.

At this rate, your soap will never ever run out!

Springing Into Spring

I took these last week, but now the tree is covered in white.

Popcorn is popping!

I was planning on a rainy dreary spring here, but knock on wood we have had plenty of beautiful sunny days so far.

Really I just took those because i love seeing what the camera can capture.

It's like the first time I got contact lenses and the first thing I noticed was that I could see all the individual leaves on trees. An amazing discovery.

We had some visitors in our yard.

 While I ran inside to see if it was poisonous Cody brought it in to show me.

He seemed pretty mild and unthreatening so I assumed he wouldn't kill us.  

Then he found two.

We let them go a ways away from our house...

 This makes me so happy to see. 

 Just being silly on a sunday 

 She really wanted one with a funny face

 If you can't tell, below is the leprechaun trap. 

As designed by Cody: The leprechaun will be want to climb up the shiny lego pieces (on the tube) then he will get to the top and fall inside the tube because there's only paper on top and it's not strong enough to hold a leprechaun. He will fall on top of the toy cd player and it will start playing music so we know we caught one.

 Nothing in this picture is haphazard, everything is strategically placed to attract the leprechaun.

I can't explain the level of disappointment that Cody felt that we didn't catch one. But I told him that no one caught one and if they did we would probably hear about it on the news.

Leprechaun Hunt

First thing this morning, Cody told me they were searching for a leprechaun.

Apparently Cody's kindergarten class has discussed this in great detail.

Being the cool mom that I am I insisted that leprechauns aren't real.

Cody got that look on his face that means he's not budging on this one and said that, yes mom, they are.

So he proceeded to informed me of their plans.

First they had gathered all their money in their piggybanks and hid and secured them.

In this hole under their bed. A safe place.

Then they hunted for a leprechaun and tried to gather evidence.

With a camera

and a flashlight for dark areas.

They had backup.

 I followed them around for a minute with my camera 'looking for leprechauns' too.

He was pretty sure he saw one fly past the window but I told him they don't fly and they look like the lucky charms guy. Just keepin the facts straight.

We had lucky charms for breakfast. They were a big hit.

When is candy not a big hit, especially for breakfast!

Our green was subtle today, but enough not to get pinched. 

I just love chubby little feet.

Showing off her pretty polish she was so excited for!

 Last but not least, this child has an addiction to sweet peppers. I had to limit her to 10 the other day!

Dear Cody

Six years and one month have flown by but with each day slowly creeping up on the next.

Having you first first was an adventure and a blessing. 

You dive into everything with enthusiasm. 

Everywhere we go and everything we do is more fun because you are there and you fully appreciate the experience.

If I would have known that everything you did was magnified with excitement and joy inherent in you, maybe I would have taken more pictures and videos. But maybe not; then I couldn't have enjoyed them with you.

In your short six years of life you have lived in six different homes. You adapt to each easily even though at first you were nervous to come to Oregon. You made friends quickly and soon loved it.

You came to oregon as a baby to visit:)! Who knew we would live here.

You have lost five teeth now! A couple days ago you pulled one right out. You put your tooth in your pillow pocket that night. This morning you came out crying. The tooth fairy had not come. (I think it was something about one of the fairies working all night long and another had a sick kid.) I told you the tooth fairy could come until 8:00 and it was only 7:00 so there was still time. You had breakfast and ran to check. Some coins and your Guardians book was in the pocket. Phew. It made your entire day!!!!

You are kind. You automatically like everyone you meet and never think about being unkind to someone. It is not built into your being. Please don't let friends and life experiences change that; it is a gift.

You are my mess maker. Your mind is simply constantly thinking of things you want to create and do, and not so much about the minute details of clean up. You were born that way. Really though, you are always happy to clean it up when I ask, if I give you warning so it doesn't interrupt a 'project'.

You are involved in the moment. At the science museum each activity we went to was the coolest thing you had done; you wanted to stay at it the whole time. I would finally ask to move on to the next thing, and then we could decide which one was your favorite. You were never happy about moving on because every single thing was so cool. Life is just so interesting.

You are constantly wanting to 'study' about things. You soak up facts. You are smart.

Once we studied about ants and their homes. This was drawn one year ago.

Swinging on the swings is one of your favorite things. As a baby the first time I put you in a swing you squealed with delight and laughed the entire time. You went off the two story slide of the houseboat at Lake Powell when you were two. You love a good roller coaster. You love riding bikes and scooters. 

You love playing with your dad.

You love to know what is the biggest, best and strongest of everything. You are competitive. I am trying to teach you to be gracious in competition, and you are beginning to understand its importance.

Remember to take care of your sisters. 

 They are your friends and they look up to you as their oldest sibling and big brother. Thanks for being such a good example.

Most importantly stay true to who you are.

You are a child of God.

We love you little man that's-getting-so-big!