Big Changes

Parenting is so funny. There are things you think are no big deal that end up being HUGE drama, and then things you think will be so difficult that just end up being easy. Luckily, lately, we have been experiencing the latter.

The last big thing before having this new baby has been to get Kenley and Parker into the same bedroom. I was going to just keep Parker in the crib because he's such a good sleeper, but we decided to just give the toddler bed a try. Our plan was to first get him used to sleeping in the toddler bed, then to move it into Kenley's room and have the kids get used to sleeping in the same room. I thought it would be a little bit tricky to convince Parker to stay in bed because he's such an active little guy, but it was a total breeze. I literally only had to go in there twice at naptime over the course of the whole transition. He was so excited about his bed and so content just to be in there. Sometimes he would wake up with different cars than he went to bed with, so I knew he had been up and rummaging in his toybox at some point, but it was not nearly the difficult production I had been anticipating. Here are some cute pics of the kids helping James to set up the bed, and cute little Parker sleeping in it. My only regret is that he has pink flowery sheets on his mattress in all these pics. :)







Funny story. One night right after he'd started sleeping in his toddler bed, I heard his doorknob rattle and then nothing after that. I went in to check on him after a few minutes and found him sleeping in a chair by the door. I guess he had tried to open it, couldn't, and just gave up and slept there. Being the loving mom that I am, I went for my camera, took some pictures, and then left him there for James to see. By the time James came home, he had slumped half onto the ground. Still awesome, so I took more pictures!



So about a week ago we moved the kids into the same room. The first night we put Parker to bed first, and Kenley was all devastated because she envisioned them lying in bed saying good-night to each other. So the next night I put them to bed at the same time, and it went just fine, and has every night after that. They are so happy to be together, and so very precious. Here's a picture I just took of them all snuggled in and sleeping.

4th of July

I love 4th of July. Well, all holidays really. But we had an awesome 4th this year. We started out at Old Poway Park, riding the train, doing some crafts, and climbing trees.





Then we went to a BBQ over to the Bayne's, where they had a bounce house with a slide that the kids loved, an Escalade for them to drive, and a putting green for them to practice on. It was such a fun way to spend the afternoon!





Then after naps and a block party, it was off to see fireworks. Parker was scared at first, but Kenley loved them all! It was a busy day and night for James at work, so the only lame part of the day is that we didn't get to spend it with him, but maybe next year!

Grandpa and Grandma's trip

So the Hamptons came to visit at the end of June. We kept them very busy!

We went to the beach:



We played at the Fair:



We swam at their hotel:


And just generally enjoyed each other's company. We always love it when we have family come to visit!

We Love Summer! June, Part 1!

I've been a pretty negligent blogger, although it seems like everyone else has too. I get so sad when my Google Reader just sits empty. :(

But anyway, here are some pictures to show what we were up to in June!

Went blueberry picking with our playgroup:




Went fake camping at Poway Lake with the fam:







Dressed up like Taylor Swift:


And read books about trains (okay, not that exciting, I know, but I love this picture):

One of These Things is Not Like the Other

So a few weeks ago we took the kids to the pediatrician and got some entertaining news. Our little Kenley is in the 3rd percentile for height, while Parker is in the 68th percentile. The doctor said if he were to keep growing at the same rate, he would end up being about 5'11", which is nothing but hilarious to me given that the tallest person in my family is 5'6".

These pictures of our new sunflowers just reminded me of that for some reason.





Yes, we have one sunflower on steroids.

Exciting news!

My night was pretty boring. I went on a walk with my kids and ate Goldfish crackers for dinner after they went to bed. But for one of these guys:



They had the Best! Night! Ever! Because it involved something along the lines of this.....


Still guessing? I'll narrow it down for you. It also involves the person NOT wearing the BYU beanie (What? You didn't know about my school spirit?).


Congratulations Scott and Brianne!

Soccer Star!

I had grand intentions of doing a big post tonight with lots of pictures from the Hampton grandparents' visit this last week. But my computer is being super lame and slow, so I'm just going to start with the pictures we took of Kenley's soccer class.

She takes a soccer class once a week with her friend Parker who lives down the street from us. She really enjoys soccer, and starts off with good intentions, but she and Parker are the youngest ones in the class and always get a little distracted after the class is about halfway through.

Here is Kenley within the first few minutes of class, still participating:


Then things started to deteriorate. The whole class is listening to the teacher, while Kenley and Parker face the complete opposite direction:


They decide to abandon class for a while and go sit inside the goal:


Must make time for folk-dancing...


The class does a drill while Kenley and Parker sit off to the side and chit-chat. Kenley informs me that she is tying his shoes in this picture. I'm sure that was wildly successful.


Aaaaand, finally she decides to rejoin the class just in time to score this fantastic goal. A sports star in the making, for sure.

Simply Clean Living Back Up and Running!

I am recommitting myself to my cleaning and organization blog, Simply Clean Living. I mostly want it to be home organization and cleaning tips, but also easy recipes, baby/toddler product reviews, etc. Just general helpful mom stuff.

I am bringing on more authors, and hope to have about 8-10 contributing weekly. I have a few people lined up, but we're looking for a few more! E-mail me at simplycleanliving@gmail.com if you're interested. Or, if you don't want to commit to posting weekly but have some good cleaning/cooking/organzing ideas, please e-mail them over as well and I'll post them for you as a guest author. Or just come on over, take a look, comment, and support! See you soon!

How to Party Like a Princess

Because Kenley's birthday will be just a month after having the baby, I need to get an early start planning and getting stuff for her party. So last night I sat down with her to start the big plans. I wrote down all her ideas because they were so cute and funny. Our theme is going to be Princesses and Pirates, and here are her requests:

Time:
*In the morning. And a LONG party - five and five hours.

Activities:
*Balloon Fight

Menu:
*Princess Pizza
*Princess Goldfish crackers
*Princess muffins with princesses on the little papers
*Pink and white princess animal cookies with sprinkles
*Strawberry milk with Cinderella, Jasmine, Ariel, Sleeping Beauty, and Mulan on the milk carton
*Princess Strawberry punch flavored ice cream
*Pink Princess Castle Cake, with pink, hot pink, hot purple, and hot red

Favors:
*Princess pancakes for each friend to take home in a baggie (because it's a morning party, she explains)

I'm hoping she forgets the pancake idea but at this point she's quite adamant. At other parties you may get a gift bag with toys, prizes, and candy. At ours you will go home with a ziplock baggie full of soggy pancakes. Perfect.

Probably just funny to me

So with working full-time I miss a lot of the funny stuff my kids say during the day. But I'm sure everyone misses hearing about what I find entertaining in my life. The latest:

*The new Goldfish box, labeled, "New packaging! Same amount of crackers." It cracks me up every time. I'm sure what they were going for was having their consumers not think a smaller box meant less fish, but to me it reads very, "We changed our packaging but we're not giving you even ONE more fishie cracker, suckers!" Seriously I laugh out loud every time I get Goldfish.

*So I work out in the countryside, and drive along this lovely dirt road to get out to my school (I know, weird, right?). They do quite a bit of work to keep the dirt road nice. Several times a week they're out there laying more dirt, smoothing it, spraying it with water to pack it down, whatever. I remarked to another teacher that they should just pave the darn road if they're going to do so much work on it. But she told me that apparently it was part of an old path the stagecoaches used to take, and those crazy history lovers out there have been fighting to keep it authentic and dirty and bumpy and inconvenient. But guys, I think it's a FAKE dirt road! The other day I was driving to work and it was like someone had swept off 89% of the dirt and there is a PAVED road underneath! I swear to you! It's not like they managed to pave the road overnight and then dumped the dirt remnants back on it, it is pavement that has been there a while and they were just faking us out all along! FRAUDS! Do you think I should sue them to reimburse me for the cost of getting my car washed weekly while I've had this job?

I'm still not sure either of those stories are actually funny or if I am getting boring. But they seemed crucial to my family history, so there you go.

Language Arts

Having a very verbal three year old has to be one of the most hilarious experiences life has to offer. People are constantly telling me to write down all the funny stuff Kenley says, but I would seriously be writing all day long. But here are some of my recent faves:

*While I was talking to James about my carpool, Kenley asks me what a carpool is. After I explain, she announces, "Carpool? That not a good name! You not call it that anymore, Mommy. Now you call it a car-MOVE. That be way better." And you know what, how could I argue with that?

*Bringing my attention to the fact that we may frequent fast-food establishments more than I realize, Kenley told me the other night that she was excited to go eat at "Arbio's." (A mix of Arby's and Rubio's, for those who sadly are not familiar with Rubio's.)

*Aaaaaand, my favorite. A few weeks ago Kenley pointed out an American flag while we were driving and I was quizzing her on her US Trivia. "And who is our President?" "Um... what his name? Chewbama?" SUCH a better choice for President than John McCain. Way better-looking, and his name lends itself to hilarious combinations with hairy Star Wars creatures. Even if you're not a liberal, you can't be mad at that.

We're great, thanks.

Every time I start to write about this it just sounds whiny, but our life is completely different now, and I figure I owe it to my diligent blog-stalkers who may not know the whole story and are wondering why I rarely update the blog these days. So, what have we been up to, you ask? Well, I've been working full-time teaching middle school Special Ed., taking classes for my Masters, serving as Primary President, and I'm coming up on seven months pregnant. Oh yes, and in my abundance of spare time I've been raising my two toddlers. After being at the babysitter's all day they come home starving and crying while I try to get dinner ready. Every once in a while we even get to see James. Pretty much our life looks like this right now:



Thanks to everyone that has been checking in and helping out. I'm horribly lonely for my friends and can't wait for life to calm down a little. Eight more days of work... I'll edit this to add, for all the many who are wondering, that we do not know what we are having. We had one ultrasound and the baby was being shy. We'll probably have one more near the end but at this point we may opt to go for the big surprise!

My little guy

Isn't he just the cutest thing ever? Brianne e-mailed me this picture and I loved it because it just so captures one of his cutest expressions.

Tonight James had to work and on his way into San Diego, he took Kenley to have a sleepover at my mom's. Parker and I both had a wonderful and much-needed nap, and then got to hang out for a few hours before his bedtime. It was fun to be able to spend a few hours one-on-one with him. We went for a walk and he was just running his speedy but awkward toddler gait as he went from yard to yard inspecting the real-estate-agent-placed Memorial Day flags. Each one was exciting, each one required running to it and exclaiming over its flag-ness. He told me all about the trucks, cars, boats, and bikes that we passed, and the airplanes overhead. Then we went back home and snuggled into the rocking chair and read books. Parker is such a snuggler, and I wish I was better about finding time to read to him. Tonight we read book after book, including a few times through "Goodnight, Goon," a Halloween-themed parody of Goodnight, Moon. It's actually Kenley's but she has decided the "creepy creatures" are too scary, so for now it's Parker's to look through and lovingly point to the goons, gouls, ghosts, and skeletons.

I know I post more about Kenley, because she says such funny things, but I hope everyone knows that I love this little guy beyond all words. He is just the best.

Next she'll be licking the sidewalk

Today Kenley was sucking on her shirt and I told her to stop. Her response? "But Mo-om! This shirt has tasty germs in it!"

The Best of the Best

I'll post more later about what we've been up to (lots). But today we are celebrating! This is my 250th blog post! Can you believe it? My sweet sis set up this blog when Kenley was born, and I don't think I even knew what a blog was!

So I had this idea to do an all-star list of my favorite posts from the past three and a half years. We've added lots of readers since our early days, so I thought I'd bring back some of the best of the best to get our newbies all caught up.

Mostly I'm doing it to have them all in one place for our own reference, but I'd be lying if I said that I'd be sad if everyone skips right over it. Obviously I don't expect you to read them all, especially the relatively boring milestone posts, but hop around, and take a trip down memory lane. And then leave some comment love! How long have you been our blog-stalker? What's your favorite post of all time from this blog?

Did I mention that if I don't get any comments after all this work, I will be very very sad? :(

Milestones
Kenley's First Few Days Home From the Hospital
Kenley's Blessing Day
Kenley's First Birthday and a BIG Announcement!
Parker is Born!
Kenley Turns 2
Parker Turns 1
Happy Father's Day
Kenley Turns 3
Parker Turns 2

Misc. Cuteness
Kenley Decorating Newborn Parker
The Cutest Big Sis Movies
Portraits of Parker
Last Disney Trip

Low Points in Parenting
The All-Time Low
Okay, Seriously

Posts That Still Make Me Laugh Out Loud
Kenley Asleep at the Outlet Mall
Video of Kenley Crying in Her Jumperoo
Falling Face First Into the Pumpkins
Not Quite Ready for the Big Time
The Hidden Pocket
My Little Cinderella
Kenley Sends Herself to Timeout
Boy Cheese Sandwich
Someplace Safe to Live
The Smallest Elmo Ever
My Favorite Picture Of All Time
GAP Fashionista
Scariest Part About Halloween
How to Play With Girl Toys
Life Lessons From Olivia
A Snow White Virgin Mary
Grandma Was a Toodle?
Bad Girls

Happy Easter!

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter. We sure did!

Look for us on COPS - we're bad girls

The other day Kenley climbed into my lap and hissed, "Mommy, let's pretend we're bad girls." I was slightly alarmed by this bizarre suggestion but played it off. "Um, okay. What do bad girls do?" "Well, they don't like flowers. And I think that's it." So we sat there disliking flowers for a few moments. Then she eyed Parker, who was playing with a new Slinky and asked, "Are we still bad girls?" "I think so. What else should we be doing?" Why would I ask that? I think the not liking flowers was plenty. She again eyed Parker and said nervously, "I think sometimes THEY want a turn with their brother's toys."

Later that day she totally ruined her bad girl routine by excitedly opening her goodie bag from a birthday party, grabbing a roll of my beloved Smarties, and announcing, "Mommy! These are for you! I been thinkin bout you all day cuz these are your favorite!" and then pulling James into her room and offering him his choice of any candy he wanted, including her FAVORITE My Little Pony fruit snacks, because "you been workin so hard on all your jobs today." (It was his day off and he'd been working in the yard, etc. all day long.)

I know it's unrealistic, but I am really just hoping that sitting on my lap for three minutes pretending to dislike flowers is as close as this little sweetie ever gets to being a bad girl.


(Note: Yes, Kenley has her own knife and is helping me chop veggies in this picture. She may be strapped into her carseat so tightly she can't breathe until she's about six, but her daddy is a chef for heaven's sake.)

Good news, lame news

So, many of you know that we were supposed to go in tomorrow for our "BIG" ultrasound, where we find out if our little tiebreaker is a boy or a girl. Here in the medically old-fashioned area where I live, you have to go to another doctor for that ultrasound, where I guess he has bigger and fancier equipment or something. So anyway, today at my regular OB appointment, I found out policy has changed, and I needed a referral from my Primary Care doctor, which I do not have and cannot get before tomorrow at 10am. But my OB did an ultrasound there at her office and the baby is sitting breech (butt down) with its legs strategically crossed. She tried for quite a while and couldn't even see enough to venture a guess. And THEN, she at least tried to get a cute picture of the baby's face, and the baby just waved its little hands around in front of its face! This baby is already working on driving me nuts and it hasn't even been born yet!

So... while we're disappointed that we have to wait, it's probably a blessing in disguise because now we'll have another week or so to hope that this little bugger either flips around where it has room to wave its little leggies, or at least is willing to uncross them!

It could be worse, though. Definitely. Last night I had a dream that we went in for our ultrasound and Tyra Banks was our ultrasound tech as she was being filmed for a reality show. She didn't even know what she was doing (I know, WEIRD). And I was all stressed out because they wouldn't let me have a different ultrasound tech, this was my one and only chance to find out the gender of the baby, and Tyra was going to mess it up. Good old Tyra.

So anyway, wish us luck, and leave a comment with your guess on this naughty baby's gender if you haven't already!