Heard a noise

I love that the girls share a room. I loved sharing a room growing up (although I'm sure there days both Laura and I would disagree with that statement) and I was excited to have my girls share a room. I think it teaches them so much including: how to get along with someone else, how to keep your stuff organized and clean, how to respect other people's stuff, but most importantly, I love that they are in there together always there for each other. Apparently last night Izzy heard a noise that scared her, so being the great big sister that Olivia is, she let Izzy sleep in her bed with her.

Swim Lessons

For the past two weeks, the girls have been doing swim lessons. Luckily, this year I had Quinten, so I was out with him while Daddy was in the pool! Both the girls had a blast and are both getting VERY daring in the pool! They were a lot of fun...and we're glad they are done!

A Full Purse

Izzy is determined to have a full purse and carry one around at all times because Mommy seemingly always has a full purse. Sometimes Izzy's purse gets so heavy, it requires Mommy to carry it along with Mommy's full purse. I told Izzy to lighten her purse, but she says that everything is necessary.

Purse contents:

• cell phone
• nearly 100 memory cards
• book about colors
• another purse
• play money
• 7 polly pockets-one without hair
• cinderella pez
• box of nerds
• Dora compass
• horse
• sliced pickles
• 2 dogs
• 3 cats
• beaded necklace
• cinderella hair
• vibrating teether
• notepad
• lipstick
• bunny
• assorted random papers

Now that's a full purse!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Shayne joined the thirty somethings this weekend. We had a fabulous time. On Saturday, we drove down to the east valley, while Averi and her roomate Joeli watched the kids (Quinten wasn't on his best behavior, I'm sure it'll be a while before they invite us back...). We enjoyed a nice dinner at McGrath's and an evening as just adults.

On Sunday, we planned a day to revolve around Shayne, but somehow, like every other day, it revolved around the kids. Shayne did get some new scriptures for his birthday, and I made him Katsu Curry for dinner and some giant chocolate chip cookies for a birthday dessert.

Happy Birthday Babe! We love you so much!!

Priceless

Dance Lessons: $40 a month
Tap Shoes: $20
Costume: $60
Skin colored tights: $10
Recital Tickets: $10 a person
Recital DVD: $40
Pictures: $20
Trophy: $15
Flowers: $5

Participating in her first dance recital: PRICELESS
(not really, it came to $690. Who in their right mind would spend that much money on a 5 year old's dance recital?)

Although, pretty cute on the way home, Olivia asked me for a wipee. She said she needed to polish her trophy.

Overheard

Shayne was disciplining the girls who kept getting on each other's nerves. I overheard him say to them: IF YOU TWO CAN'T PLAY TOGETHER NICELY, YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE TO PLAY TOGETHER SEPARATELY! Not really sure how that works...

Date with Daddy

The girls know that Mommy gets to go on dates with Daddy, and they usually sound pretty fun. So, Izzy asked when she can go on a date with Daddy. So, being the good daddy that he is, Shayne and Izzy planned a date. She talked about it for days before she was going to actually go, and when the day came she was all giddy with excitement. She wanted to wear make-up on her date and curl her hair and put on hairspray. She even tried on a few different dresses to see which one was the twirliest. The time finally arrived, and Daddy gave her a few options of what she wanted to do on her date. She ultimately chose to go to the mall. There they had dinner at Panda Express (0ne of her favorite places), went to the playplace, made a bear at Build-a-Bear, went to see the puppies and got a chocolate at See's. They didn't get home until well after bedtime, and she fell asleep snuggling her new bear: furry. What a precious Daddy-Daughter memory.

Who's Child is This?

Olivia had a dance recital on Friday night, and she wanted me to be the backstage mom instead of having the whole family come watch, so we figured that Shayne could take Izzy out on a date while Olivia and I were at the recital. Day before the recital, Olivia found out that Daddy and Izzy were going on a date before Olivia and Daddy were going to go on a date. Being five and the biggest sister, she has a hard time being second, so she decided to throw a fit. We were swimming at our neighbor's house at the time, and her tantrum was so monumental, that we had to leave and go home. It had been a long day with preschool graduation and a swim party, and I knew the girls were tired, so as soon as we got home, we had quiet time. Olivia was still mad at me, making all kinds of mean faces and telling me that she wasn't talking to me EVER AGAIN! I asked her if she was sure that she wanted to be a stinker to me because there would be consequences and she wouldn't like them if she continued to act this way. She didn't answer me and just gave me a dirty look, so I told her that it looked like she was deciding to be a stinker, and she said, "YEP!", I asked one more time if she was sure, because she would not like the consequences, and she said, "YEP!" So I told her that she needed to take a nap and not watch a show for quiet time (not a really horrible consequence), but whoa she went ballistic!

First: she threatened me: told me that she wasn't going to go to sleep, EVER unless I put on a movie, and she wasn't going to eat EVER again, and she wasn't going to go anywhere, not in the car and I COULDN'T make her. (This however didn't get her desired result)

Then: she denied making the choice: I never said I wanted to be a stinker! I wanted to be nice!! I love you so much! PLEEEEEASE! You're wrong, I wasn't a stinker! I WANT A MOVIE!(again, no response from mommy)

Next: she bargained with me: She told me that I could sleep with Quack Quack (most prized posession) for one night, ok, two nights if I let her watch a movie. She would take me to Walgreens and I could pick ANY treat that I wanted in the WHOLE store if I would let her watch a movie. Finally, I could have ALL of her birthday presents at her next birthday if I would let her watch a movie just this one time!! (that would have been a pretty devestating birthday 10 months from now. "remember when you said I could have ALL your birthday presents?...) This tactic, however also did not get her desired result.

Finally: she begged for mercy: Can't I just have one more chance? Please? Doesn't everyone get a second chance? (Not sure where she got this from) I'll make the right choice this time, I promise!! (This got me to go in the room)

Mom: You cannot have a movie, you already made that choice, but I am giving you another chance with Quack Quack. You can have another chance to choose. You can either lay down and go to sleep quietly, or I can take Quack Quack and put him on vacation (top of the fridge). (I totally felt like super nanny keeping my cool and doing some super parenting...)
Olivia: I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU DO!!! I WANT A MOVIE!!!!
I closed the door, which she decided to repeatedly kick (of course not allowed in our house), so I opened the door and grabbed Quack Quack. I have never seen a five year old with such a death grip, I actually lifted her up and into the kitchen, without touching Olivia at all. All I had a hold of was Quack Quack. I had to pry her fingers off the duck in order to put it on top of the fridge.
Olivia: Screaming, wailing and gnashing of teeth.
I picked her up, put her back in the room and had to hold the door shut.
Olivia: Quack Quack is my ONLY friend! You can't take hime, I have no other friends, no one else loves me, please give me back Quack Quack.

We repeated steps: First, Next, Then, and Finally with a little different wording.

After, she was so involved in the tantrum, that she just collapsed on the floor crying. I scooped her up, laid her on my bed and scratched her back. She promptly fell asleep.

Huh?

I was sitting on the floor changing Quinten's diaper, and Izzy walks up and takes my face in both her hands and says, "Sweetie, don't stick your tongue out at me, I just really don't like it. You just need to relax..." and walked away. HUH?

All Work, No Play

Quinten is quickly discovering toys, but he does not play, he works. When he works on a toy, he works hard, uses all his focus to figure this thing out. He'll work work work at it, until it overwhelms him and he cries. (PS the freaking out in the background is Olivia, who would have thought 5 year olds could throw a temper tantrum for an hour and a half straight!)

Preschool Graduation

Olivia graduated from preschool today! We figured after four years of preschool, she should know enough to graduate and finally move onto kindergarten (she's so excited to get out of my preschool room and into a REAL classroom: her words). She's learned so much and has grown leaps and bounds this year. She's starting to read and writing a ton. She is always writing us notes and wanting to know how words are spelled. I definitely think it is time to move on from our preschool room into the real world kindergarten, I'm just not sure I'm ready for having her gone all day!! Congratulations Sweetie!

What a DAD!

My kids are the luckiest kids, they have a FANTASTIC Daddy! Not only does he provide a VERY comfortable life for them, and buy them lots of toys and candy (which is extremely important in their eyes), but he LOVES spending time with his kids. He has patience when I am completely out, and he loves to hear stories of all the little things that they do during the day. He makes sure that they get snuggled every day, and keeps us in check with reading our scriptures, doing FHE, and saying our Prayers. He is such a great example to us and showers us all with love every day. I couldn't do it without him. Happy Father's Day Shayne!

Today, for Father's Day, we attended church, had a nice lunch, ALL took a short nap, and then Daddy and the kids watched Star Wars while I cooked a Father's Day dinner. The girls thought this was fantastic, and even Quinten got into it, smiling and kicking his legs. After dinner, Daddy and the girls did some bowling on the Wii before snuggles and bedtime. What a busy day!

For Father's Day at preschool, the girls filled in the blanks of a story about their daddy, they were too cute! The parts that they filled in are in blue, and they totally came up with these answers on their own.

Olivia's:
My daddy is a great guy! He weighs 60 lbs. and is about 80 feet tall. He is so strong, he could probably lift a couch. He is also the funniest guy I know. My favorite story of his is about the red, ripe strawberry. He loves to be with me and I love to be with him. Together we like to hug. My daddy is so smart, he knows all about love but he doesn't know much about church. He is really good at fixing us dinner, but he could practice lifting things up a little more. I love my daddy because he gives me hugs.

Izzy's:
My daddy is a great guy! He weighs 3 lbs. and is about 7 feet tall. He is so strong, he could probably lift a fridge. He is also the funniest guy I know. My favorite story of his is about Star Wars. He loves to be with me and I love to be with him. Together we like to watch Star Wars. My daddy is so smart, he knows all about Chewie, but he doesn't know much about Luke. He is really good at finding Jabba's Palace, but he could practice finding Jawas a little more. I love my daddy because he snuggles me.

Happy Father's Day!!

Coloring

This morning before church, Izzy told me that she colored on the couch and asked if I was mad. I said that we only color at the table, so please take her stuff up to the table. It wasn't until we got home from church and Shayne sat down on the couch that I realized she wasn't coloring paper on the couch, she was coloring THE COUCH!!

Not only did she color on the couch, she apparently needed to make the loveseat match in decor.

Little Grass Shack

Olivia had her dress rehearsal for dance, and it was too cute. I love the young classes because they don't really get the whole showmanship thing, and are just trying to concentrate on copying their teacher to get in as many steps as they can. We have her recital next week.

Multi-tasking

I had a pile of Quinten's dirty laundry and a pile of dirty diapers both on the family room floor that I needed to take care of, but somehow the piles just grow and grow. So finally, I scooped them up and took care of them (this three kids thing is a lot harder than I imagined to find time). When the washer was finished, I opened it to find clean diapers sitting on a pile of poop chunked and diaper gutted (you know those little gel balls that collect the pee?) laundry. My multi-tasking skills apparently aren't what they used to be and everything ended up in the washer.

It's all in the delivery

The other day, Izzy wanted to watch a show, so she approached me and said, "Mom, I want to watch...wait... (serious change in demeanor and whiny voice) Moooooooom, I waaaaannnaaaaa waaaaatch Peeeteeer Paaaaan." No joke, halfway through the sentence, she decided a normal voice wouldn't be the right delivery method for this request, so she actually said "wait" and then changed the delivery. To her chagrin, she still didn't get to watch Peter Pan. Where do they come up with this stuff?

Quinten Found His Voice

Just recently, Quinten has really started talking. I don't mean screaming when he's hungry or bored or tired, but talking and cooing just to have a conversation.

Night At the Ballpark

We headed out to the ballpark to watch the Diamondbacks play the Astros. What a fun family night! It was Quinten's first ballgame, and he was really into it! Even with all the loud noises going on around, he didn't get too startled or anything, and he stayed awake for the entire game! Realistically I thought we might make it to the 5th inning with the three kids, but not only did we make it all the way through the 9th (Diamondbacks lost), but also got to stay a little bit for the concert (Lifehouse) afterwards. The girls, of course, were dying to get a cotton candy (I think that's their highlight of the night), and they even shared a tiny bit with their eager brother.Daddy could have stayed for the entire concert, he loves live music, but the kids were starting to fall asleep, and there's no way we could have carried three sleeping kids, and a diaper bag chucked full all the way out to the car.

Olivia thinks she has the coolest parents because we let her go to a rock concert and she's only 5!! We'll just let her keep thinking that and remind her of it when she's a teenager, that we're the coolest parents...

That's a lot of love

Anyone who knows Izzy knows that she does not share her DeeDee (lovey:blanket) with ANYONE. It is her most prized possession and she hauls it around with her often. The other day though, she came and got me and wanted me to look at Quinten. She told me that she had shared DeeDee with him, and she just sat there and happily watched him play with it. There was such a satisfied look on her face and I'm sure that Quinten will never know the sacrifice she made to share that cherished prize with her little brother. That's a lot of love...

Summer Reading

Olivia has been trying to read a TON of books for different summer reading programs. Of course she is still reading the "pictures" more than the words, but she'll read to anyone who will listen.

Who's the Cutest Little Man?

Quinten is 3 months old

Dear Quinten,
Well, you are officially not a newborn anymore. The time has flown by, but I have cherished every moment with you. Some new things that you have done in this last month:

• You smile a TON whenever you get anyone to look at you, or when you can find yourself in the mirror.
• You've discovered TV and actually love to watch it, which is very convenient for me at times.
• You have started sleeping through the night, and I don't mean just six hours, you are sleeping between 8-10 hours on a good night (thank you, thank you, thank you) However, all that sleeping is still done in the swing, which means we go through a lot of batteries.
• You are starting to grab at toys and entertaining yourself. You love your bouncer seat, and go nuts kicking the toys whenever you are in it, and trying to grab them with your hands, but it wears you out quickly: STIMULATION OVERLOAD
• You have won the hearts of everyone in our family

I love you so much my little sweet boy!