that's what they say

Connor:
   
C: Are you scared of flies?
M: No, but they do annoy me.
C: Oh like crickets annoy me. They sit in my room and make my room messy.

C: The next rule in my house is going to be no cleaning up my house.

C: I only like Pepperoni pizza without the pepperonis
M: So Cheese
C: NO I hate cheese! Just pepperoni without pepperonis

C: Mom a balloon is lick proof!
    Like I lick it and it's not wet.


C: When I grow up can I be a cop?
M: Sure
C: YES! (pumps his elbow, score!)
M: Why do you want to be a cop?
C: Because when the people are mean you get to send them to jail.

C: When I have my kids their gonna be pillow face and pillow face!

Getting ready to go to the mailbox,
C: We're going to America!
B: Mommy I go to merica?
C: (whispers) Mommy tell her we're going to America Mom, it's a trick.
M: We are just going to the mailbox Bella we will be right back.
C: Oh great Mom your not tricky.

While Mom's doing the wash
C: Sydney's scared Mom. Sydney's scared you vanished into my little pony.
M: Oh really!
C: She really is! I know it's silly but she thinks it.

Sydney: tigatigagu
C: Did you hear that mom? Sydney speaks Spanish. I wish I could speak Spanish.

C: Bella take cover! ...
    Bella the ghost is clear!

Bella:
   
After Connor got in trouble for annoying Bella, he persists to annoy her from the stairs...
B: Mom lets take Connor to bed he loves sleeping!

To Sydney as they run around and scream
B: Best friends (holds her hands)
B: Best friends? No! Ahhh!
Runs off

At the toy store, I turn around to this (see picture)
M: Wow look at you.
B: Yeah their my friends and they said dance with me and so their an audyence.


Bella lays a shirt on Sydney's head
B: Dearrrr wear your pockets. You got to put them on your head.

After Bella gets in trouble for pinching again! 
B: Mom that's why I have fingernails.

After getting out of bed repeatedly...
M: Go lay down.
B: I just need love. Be cuz I'm not loved. I need five kisses.

As Bella stutters one night as I'm putting her to sleep she asks:
B: Ass ass ass ass ask axs dad to sleep on the lovesac?

While being tucked in for bed,
M: Want me to sing you a song?
B: No.
B: I just wish you were cooler.
M: How can I be cooler?
B: You could give me your phone.

Middle Child

Life as a middle child is rough, frustrating, and makes me want to scream!

But it has taught me a lot...
I don't get my way. 
I can be loud.
I get mad.
I am ignored. 
I hate being jealous. 
I always have to share. 
I don't always come first. 
Mommy and Daddy are never all mine. 
I have to do things by myself all the time. 
And sometimes having a little sister isn't all it's cracked up to be, being the little sister isn't really either.

Even though it is hard I have also learned...
I'm great at making friends and I can get along with almost anyone anywhere. 
I am a master at negotiation and I'm only getting better ;) 
I don't mind waiting my turn. 
I like to stand out. 
I don't like when other people are sad, and I'll do anything to make them happy. 
I am flexible when things change and sometimes I even try to help big brother see that "when something seems bad turn it around and find something good". 
I am so loved; by Mommy and Daddy and also by my big brother and little sister. 

I've changed a lot since I've been the middle child but I guess it's not too bad. 

Bella loves attention she loves one-on-one attention more than anything, she loves snuggling and cuddling and cheek on cheek hugs, she just loves being held and adored. I think somewhere in all the crazy we forgot that. And we started getting the wild resentful middle child vibes. 

But fortunately now being the middle child doesn't seem so bad it seems fun, most of the time, as long as she's getting plenty of time standing in her own spotlight.

{this moment}

Where Shea comes home and I curl up in bed and decide I'm done.
I'm checking out for the day.

And Shea takes over.
Bathes kids.
Takes them all on a walk.
Gives them pizza and soda for dinner.
Makes a fort for movie watching and treat eating.
Vacuums.
Then puts them to bed with scriptures and prayer.
And never disturbs me.

But in between each the kids run up and tell me everything,
and then run back down.
And during each I hear songs and silly laughter and playing.
And I smile.

Then Shea comes up and beams from ear to ear with...
"Bella told me I'm the best Dad she ever heard of!"

And that's when I know I sure picked the right man.

A Belated Father's Day.

I crashed Shea's Father's Day with my birthday and our trip to NYC. So I promised him a belated Father's Day.

So finally life slowed enough for me to actually deliver on my promise.

We planned our new Father's Day and began with doughnuts for breakfast.
While Daddy was at work we made awesome tie cards and cute daddy coupons, and the kids wrapped the presents (a car phone holder, a nick stick for shaving, and a body scrubber for the tub). And I labeled them: This will help keep you safe. This will help keep your face ready for kisses. This will help keep you clean.

Then after Daddy came home early we opened his surprise! Which he loved!

He especially loved the ties, the kids helped fill them out, they read:

Connor

MY DAD 

IS MY HERO.

FOR WORK HE

gets money

HE LOVES TO 

hug, play with us

HE ALWAYS SAYS

bye

HE IS BEST AT

helping me at building

 with my legos

HE IS NOT VERY GOOD AT

going down ladders 

because he's afraid of heights

(am i right? am i right?)

MY DAD AND I LIKE TO

hug each other

HE LOVES ME BECAUSE

i help him build my legos

AND I LOVE HIM BECAUSE

he builds my legos 

oh and plays my sega 

with me

Bella

MY DAD 

IS MY HERO.

FOR WORK HE

get money

HE LOVES TO 

give kisses

HE ALWAYS SAYS

give me kisses

HE IS BEST AT

brushing my hair

HE IS NOT VERY GOOD AT

my ponies

MY DAD AND I LIKE TO

sing songs

HE LOVES ME BECAUSE

me so so happy

AND I LOVE HIM BECAUSE

he looks for me

And we were off for some shopping for Daddy; he got a new wallet, looked for a sound bar, and bought a 1 gallon kool-aid pitcher.

Of course we all had dinner at MCDONALD'S which brought a smile to everyone's face.
The kids were so good all day and sure showed Daddy lots of love!

We sure are lucky to have him as Daddy!


He comforts ...

July 2014

He plays ...

August 2014

He squeezes ...

Sept 2014

He cares ...

April 2015

He kisses ...

May 2015

He snuggles ...

June 2015

He spoils ...

June 2015

He lounges...

June 2015

He protects ...

June 2015

And above all he loves us,
and we sure love him. 

Thanks for being everything I've ever wanted in the father of my children and more. You'll never know how happy it makes me hearing you say "honey get the camera, you have to take a picture of this", because you want to capture these little moments just as much as I do. And I love the pride in your voice when you talk about us and show off this little blog. You're my biggest support for an online family journal and knowing how much you love looking back at all the stories we have here makes me relish in the fact that we are us. And you are you, I love you. 

4th of July

We began the day late doing a little shopping and arriving around lunch time, that morning I gathered some Pinterest ideas and made a 4th of July playlist (which I somewhat annoyingly played all day) to get into the spirit.

The kids and I all made red, white, and blue fruit skewers and then ate them. I hoped they be a hit and I was SO right! Connor was insanely in love with the idea and came back a couple times to make another, which made dinner unnecessary for him which is probably how he planned it.

With squirt guns and splash bombs and a bucket of water in tow, we had a water fight that I wished I dressed more appropriately for. But it was a roaring hit!

She was on clean up duty, and she loved it.

The kids and I made straw rockets and shot them off at each other. But their attention spans weren't quite long enough to have everyone finish making them and shoot and reload them(which proved mildly tricky). So it was a quick winded success I'd say.

The false forecast rained our BBQ out (and pool plans), so we had good ole' fried chicken, biscuits and potato salad.

We watched Independence Day and I made Root Beer Floats for everyone.

My Mom made her famous flag cake, and while she did we talked about the story behind it. (She started as a kid 10 or so making it for the holiday, wanting it to be perfect with all 50 stars and all 13 stripes, and dyed cake layers in between, it was her thing.) It was delicious and decadent, heavy cream you are my hero.

Fourth of July ended with a firework show we watched from my parents deck through the trees.

I miss my Fourth of July's in Rexburg and my party sister, but we made Frederick's 4th of July with the Martin's pretty special too.