Happy Easter! *photo overload, beware!*

We had such a fun Easter Sunday with the family!

The kids had a fun Easter egg hunt

So seriousMcKinley is such a little mommy, she kept stopping to help Mason find his eggsTyler, McKinley, and Mason after the egg hunt - we tried to take this picture like 5 times, but every time we got the kids posed Mason got so excited that he jumped up and his eggs went flying out of his basket. He refused to pose for the picture again each time until his eggs had been retrieved :)
Checking out their treasures :)Grandma and Grandpa with the kiddos
Family photo - just to prove that we were there :)
Grandpa catching a ride on Kinley's trike :)
Tyler, I think it's time you moved on to a bigger bike :)
After the egg hunting we walked around the St. George templeGrandma, Grandpa, McKinley, and Mason
Family photo - Easter 2009 (again, just to prove we were there :)
We all went to a delicious brunch at the Entrada country club, where the kids got to meet the Easter Bunny! McKinley LOVED the Easter Bunny, but Mason wouldn't go ANYWHERE near him! He said he didn't like him :)
McKinley and Mason LOVE their cousin Tyler! Tyler helped them put stickers on their Easter pictures - they had so much fun playing with him all weekend!
On the drive home Mason wanted to wear Matt's ballcap - he wore it the whole way home. McKinley fell asleep the second we got in the car (busy weekend!), but Mason stayed awake and make faces at us and jabbered for most of the drive. I love my silly boy!

More St. George FUN!

Although the weather wasn't great, we managed to have a great time!

McKinley striking a pose :) Sweet ride!We biked over to a little park, the kids had fun swingingMcKinley kept begging to go higher and higherAfter the park we went swimming (no photos available :), then got dressed and went to the movies to see Monsters vs. Aliens (very funny movie :). McKinley LOVED itMason didn't quite make it through the movie :) Poor little guy was tuckered out. He even slept through dinner at Outback.

Slot Canyon Hiking

We took a short trip to St. George over Easter weekend with Matt's family. We arrived a little earlier than everyone else (they were on their way home from CA stopping in St. George for the weekend, we were a little more eager to get there than they were :). Our friends (the Rose's :) happened to be in St. George for the weekend with their family, so we tagged along for a fun hike through a slot canyon in Leeds (? somewhere near St. George?).
Matt and the kiddos - McKinley loved playing in the water barefoot - Mason wanted nothing to do with it :)Matt and McKinley above a little waterfallMatt and Mason above the little waterfall - how beautiful is that? It was a gorgeous hike, thanks for the invite guys!

Super Little Savers

Not that we think we do it the best or only way, but this is how we have decided to teach our kids about money. Just thought I'd share (and mostly document for journaling sake :)

Job charts - I made these using simple unfinished magnet boards from Robert's crafts, a ruler and permanent marker, and cheap magnets. Each week they choose their jobs (we turn them upside down, so they don't always get the jobs they want, but they are things that need to be done). I made magnets for things such as make beds, put clothes in wash, set and clear the table, brush teeth, get dressed, clean up toys, take out trash, feed the dog, etc. They LOVE to do their job charts as part of the nightly routine (right after they brush their teeth). For each job they do each day they get to place a magnet on their chart.
At the end of the week (Saturday night) they get a penny for each magnet on their chart (usually around 50 cents a week - yeah, they'll need a raise soon, but to them 50 pennies seems like a lot right now :). They each put all of their pennies into their little piggy banks (this is their favorite part!). The piggies started to get pretty full (McKinley's broke, I had to super glue it!), so I took them to the bank (with their piggies) and we opened their savings accounts. They got to watch the teller dump their pennies out of their piggies into the coin counting machine. They thought it was SO cool!And they have the receipts to prove it, they are officially super-savers! :)

My Little Monkeys

These kids just make me laugh! They each have their own funny little personalities, and I LOVE it!

They always fight over who gets the black chair at dinner (if you have ever been to my house, my kitchen table has 6 different chairs in different colors :). This particular night they decided (on their own) to share the same chair. They actually ate their whole dinner practically falling off of the chair, but they thought it was SOO funny :)

Typical Mace face :)McKinley wrestling with Monty - they both love that dog!Mason's new 'camera smile' :)

What can I say, without them, life just wouldn't be as fun!

Rather good advice, both literally and metaphorically...

"The formula for a happy marriage? It's the same as the one for living in California: When you find a fault, don't dwell on it."
-Jay Trachman

I would NEVER... Have you EVER?

When I was young (and dumb :), I had this vision of the kind of mom I would be. I would be THE perfect mom, of course. Stylish, fun, always up on current events and trends, well-read, always on time, bread-baking, kids all clean and lined up nicely, you know the kind of mom I'm talking about (that doesn't actually exist). Well, along came my first child, and reality set in. It's harder than it looks. By the time my second child was a few months old, I had broken almost every rule that I had set for myself. My new rule: NEVER say never! Now when I hear pregnant first-time moms talk about all of the perfect things that they are going to do, I just laugh a little and hope that they aren't too hard on themselves when it doesn't work out exactly as they had planned. We all go into this motherhood thing without a CLUE (regardless of how many books we read, trust me, I read every book and I thought I knew it all until I held my newborn daughter in my arms for the first time!). Here is my list of top 10 things I thought I would never do:

10. Use the TV as a babysitter (it's not often, but laundry HAS to be done sometime!)

9. Allow my child to go in pulic wearing a tutu and oversized princess shoes (or a batman cape :)

8. Be the always-late constantly apologizing mom (yes, I use my kids as excuses)

7. Develop selective hearing - I am apparantly immune to my own name when repeated over and over... mom? mommmm? MOM!? MOMMMMM!

6. Wear my sweats to pick up my child from preschool - at 3 pm

5. Use bribery - especially candy :) (I thought it was always possible to use reason and logic... and it is, but it's sometimes much faster to use bribery)

4. Pretend that I don't know when my kids are in my room coloring on the walls - at least it buys me a few extra minutes of peace and quiet, and it's nothing a Mr. Clean Eraser won't fix ;)

3. Wipe my child's nose with the shirt they are wearing (you know you have done it!)

2. Use the phrase "because I said so"

1. Follow the above phrase with the phrase "because I'm the Mom, that's why!" (I always thought I would be more patient and explain everything to my little children, that was before I had a 2 and 4-year-old who respond to every logical answer with yet another "WHY?" AHHH!)

Okay, so those are my true confessions of a real-life mom, now it's time to spill yours! What do you do that you SWORE you would NEVER do as a mom? Please comment!

Mr. Braveman 2009

My nephew Andrew 'competed' on Friday night in the Bountiful High School Mr. Braveman 2009 Competition. He needed a little princess escort for the event, and McKinley was more than thrilled that he chose her! ;) In case you don't know about the Mr. Braveman (it IS a well-know pageant ;), it is a male beauty pageant of sorts consisting of Bountiful High School seniors representing their group (Mr. Football, Mr. Choir, Mr. Lacrosse, etc.). They performed an awesome opening number to none other than Brittney Spears' Womanizer, then they each competed in the talent portion with talents such as lip syncing, limbo (Andrew's talent, unfortunately the sight of him in a coconut bra and grass skirt had me laughing so hard I forgot to take pictures ;), sock-puppet duets, and a Zoolander-style modeling 'walk-off' (complete with the signature underwear move). Finally, they were each escorted by a little princess (Andrew's was the cutest, and I am NOT biased at all ;), and asked an important random question which they were to answer on-stage. There was of course, the 'like such as the Iraq and like such as...' answer, and a mix of serious and fun responses. Andrew's question was "What bothers you most about the world today," to which he replied "when people stop while exiting the freeway, even when there is a designated exit lane and a sign that says 'do not stop'." That is a very good point, and after the judges voted, it must have been the icing on the cake, because Andrew won and is now the reigning Mr. Braveman!
Andrew is in the red shirt front and center, you gotta admit, the kid has got moves ;)My camera ran out of memory, so I only got about a 15-second video clip of their dance, but it was hilarious!

...more Womanizer moves...Mr. Braveman 2009 with his lovely little escort McKinley, Miss Davis County, and my cute nephew JoshAndrew totally made her week! She loved every minute of it, and to top it off he gave her his flowers, which she made me put in a vase on the kitchen table the minute we got home.

What a fun night!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch... or farm...

Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE where we live? Our backyard backs up to a barley farm - at least that's what we think they grow there. In the spring and summer my kids LOVE to sit up above our rock wall and watch the huge combines plow the fields. When they park close enough we let them go out and climb on the machinery (supervised, of course). The tires are about as tall as I am, it is so cool! It entertains them for hours, and we love that our view (currently) doesn't included any houses (just a few power lines). I waited a little too long to get my camera, so it was kind-of far away in this photo, but it sometimes comes right up to our property line, which the kids think is SO awesome.Goofy kids :)

3/19/2009

Spring-time Sunshine

Okay, it wasn't really sunny, but it was warm - at least for a day! After Itty Bitty was over we needed a park-day. It was FINALLY warm enough to head down to the park for an afternoon. Unfortunately, it snowed a couple of days later. It's a good thing we didn't waste our one good day!
Mason and Carson loved playing on top of the climbing-wall towerGiddy-up! Carson and McKinley are so silly :)
3/19/2009

Itty Bitty Fun

In my spare time (not even funny, I won't even go there) I coach 3-4 year-old sports at the local rec. center in the mornings. It is really fun, and of course I get to coach with some of my favorite people, so that's an extra bonus. Matt thinks it's really funny that I try to teach preschoolers the rules of the games. I just this year learned what a 'down' was in football *although to be honest, I am still not sure I get that one*. During football season at Itty Bitty Ball I was so proud of myself that I knew what a field goal was, and was able to teach the kids. I came home and told Matt that he would have been so proud of me. He asked me to explain to him what I thought a field goal was, and I very proudly told him that it was the extra kick after a touchdown. Ooops, so football is not so much my thing, but I love having fun with the kids! Matt didn't get any photos of me coaching, but here are some fun pictures of Kinley:

McKinley with coach Jeni and Team Spiderman (they are doing their team cheer)!

Can you name that mascot? You could if you came to Itty Bitty Ball! It's Lenny The Lehi Legacy Center Lion!
Can you guess who's inside? That's right, yours truly! McKinley thought I was the best-est mom ever that day! :) Mason was scared and kept yelling at me to 'get out of Lenny' :)
I'm sure there were are few people with questions about Lenny during this photo ;)

Moral of the story: don't always assume the mascot is a male, it may just be a crossdressing lion ;)

3/19/2009

Kids say the Darndest Things

I was putting the laundry away in McKinley's room at bedtime, our conversation went like this:
McKinley: Mom, when does the wishing star come out?
Me: (absentmindedly) I don't know, go look out the window
McKinley: I see stars, which one is the wishing star?
Me: The first one that came out, it's probably the biggest and brightest one
McKinley: Like Jesus' star?
Me: I think so
McKinley: I am going to make a wish
Me: What are you going to wish for?
McKinley: (in a very excited voice) REAL makeup! The really good kind that I get to wear when I get bigger. What do you wish for mom?
Me: (still putting away laundry after a long day - kids don't catch onto sarcasm) A new car
McKinley: I hope you get an ice-cream truck for your new car, that would be really cool!
Me: (wryly) Yeah, even an ice-cream truck would be an improvement
McKinley: I'll wish for that for you, too. I think you'll get it

Hmmm... doubtful, although it would be cool to drive around the neighborhood and annoy my neighbors with the awesome ice-cream truck music ;). I love the things their little minds think of, though. I had to write it down before it disappears into oblivion as have so many other silly conversations that we have had. I LOVE my kids!

It's in his GENES!

Well, boys will be boys. And, if you know my husband, I am in for a lifetime of 'boy moments' - this is a usual sight around my house. Mason REALLY wanted the gummy bears on top of the fridge, so rather than get a chair like his sister does (women are the practical ones), he decided to just go for it. The first time was much cooler, we made him re-enact it for the camera, so it was a little less natural, but still pretty impressive. Enjoy!

Brotherly Love

The other morning the kids were laying in bed with me. Mason got up and crawled over to cuddle with McKinley.

Mason: Kinley, I love you.

McKinley: ME? McKinley? Your sister? You LOVE me? OH, I love you too, my brother!

It was so funny, they hugged each other and cuddled - of course it lasted only a minute until Mason began to tease his sister again, but it was so cute! They love to tease each other, and of course they bug each other, but they are the best of friends. They really couldn't survive without each other. They play together ALL day every day, with very few little squabbles, and even those are pretty funny to listen to. I LOVE these little ones! I hope to be better at recording their fun cute moments!

3/8/2009