Happy Easter

We had a pretty good Easter.  It started out this morning with fun Spring clothes to wear to church.  The weather was beautiful and perfect so the boys were able to wear their shorts today.  We got a couple of pictures of Megan and Josh before church, super cuties.  Tyler wasn't happy with his shoes, so he didn't get a before church picture.

Church was good.  The Primary sang a really pretty song called Gethsemane.  Tyler really likes that song, so he sang it out happily.  It was such a nice song it brought me to tears. Josh went up with the other kids, but didn't know the songs. He just stood up there hanging out.  I was just happy he was being well behaved on the stand.

After church we took a couple more pictures of the kids before the Easter Bunny came.  While the kids were in the front yard the Easter Bunny visited the back yard and left lots of eggs for the kids to find.  
I gave them their buckets and they all went wild finding the eggs.  Megan was pretty slow on finding the eggs.  She was more interesting in what might be in them, then gathering lots of eggs.  She was pretty darn cute in her pink dress and her little bucket.
Later we went over to Tony's parents for dinner.  Tony's mom had some eggs filled and ready to be hidden for all the grand kids.  Tony and I hid the eggs and then when the others arrived all the kids went and collected their eggs.  Grandma later divided up the treats for all the kids.

Grandma made a yummy ham for dinner.   After eating the kids all played while the adults hung out chatting.  Then grandma spoiled the kids some more with some new clothes.  Those that needed them got church clothes, the others got play clothes...plus all the yummy treats.

We enjoyed strawberry short cake for dessert and then played some baseball in the back yard.  We all loved the warm sunny weather.  It has been such a nice Easter.  It couldn't have been better.

On Thursday I took Tyler and Megan into the doctors for their well-child visits.  The doctor says that they both are looking and doing really good.

Megan weighed in at about 17 lbs 11 ounces.  Keeping her in the 5th percentile.  Her height is 28 1/2 inches (5 %) and head size is 43 1/2 cm (15?), so she is growing at about the same rate as she has been...slowly.  He says we can start her on regular milk (wahoo!) and she can pretty much eat anything.  Always good things to hear.  The poor thing had to get six shots, but was a tough girl and only cried for a minute.

Tyler was lucky and didn't need any shots (and I believe he wont need any for a long time).  He was 44 1/4 inches tall (25%) and weighed 45 pounds even (40 %) .  Also his blood pressure was good and so was his vision.  Tyler doesn't have to go back until he is eight and Megan at 15 months.  For kicks I got Josh's stats also.  He is 40 inches tall and weighs 35 pounds.  It is good to know that the kids are healthy and strong.  We love them all so much!

Megan's First Birthday

Megan turned one year old today.  I really can't believe that it has been a whole year.  I know I say this all the time, but time goes by so fast.  It seems like I was just pregnant and that we just had Megan.  Maybe it's partly because she is still so small and just doesn't look like a one year old.

I would say that Megan is a lot more active and physical then any average one year old.  She is all over the place all the time.  She is a good climber and is doing pretty good at getting of things without totally falling off and hurting her self.   Instead of going down backwards she likes to just sit on her bum and then scoot forward until she comes of the step, fireplace, or couch.

She is a master at opening all drawers and cupboards.  It is pretty much driving me totally crazy.  I am always picking up all the stuff she is dragging out of the drawers.  Her new favorite is getting the boy's underwear and pulling it out of their drawers.  It is kind of funny.  I don't want to put child locks on all the drawers, so I am going to just have to deal with it until she grows out of it.  I do have looks on all the kitchen drawers and cupboards - must be safe.
She is a super good talker.  She says Ma, Da, Ba, La, Ya...I am sure that she says more but that is all I can think of now.

She has five teeth.  She has the two fangs, and then three teeth on the bottom (who needs front teeth?).  She isn't really into baby food at all.  She will eat a couple bites and then want to just eat food herself.  She is good at feeding herself and loves to do it.  For only having five teeth, she eats "regular" food really well. 
We took her out to Texas Roadhouse tonight for her big day.  She had a good time and so did the rest of us.  Megan and Tyler have their well-child doctor visits on Thursday.  It is always fun to see how the kids are growing and if they are where they should be developmentally.
We all love our Megan and can't get enough of her.  She is just like our boys and loves to get down and climb all over them.  We are all so lucky to have this cutie in our family!

Party, Party, Party

Today was the day that we celebrated Tyler and Megan's birthdays with the extended families.  The day started out a little crazy when we lost our power about 8:30 am and when Tony called the power company they said they expected it back on about 12:30 pm.  So we hung out at home most the morning and then decided to do some shopping.  We hadn't gotten Megan's present so we had to go out before the party.  We started at Big Lots, found nothing.  Then ended up at WalMart and found her a cute seat for her to sit in.  Then we ate at McDonald's and let the kids play on the play land. 

After we got home we were happy to see that the power was back on and we were able to finish getting the house ready for the party.  Mainly the cake still needed to be made, so I totally needed power for that.

People came about two and we chatted for a while before Tyler said, "Let's get this party started" and then pointed to the presents.  It was pretty funny.  So we handed out the presents to Tyler and Megan and Tyler was very nice to let Megan go first.  Megan took her sweet time opening her presents, so after the first one I told Tyler that he could just start opening his gifts.  He really liked all the nice things that he received.  He was so happy to have the things that he asked for plus more.

Megan liked opening her presents.  She got some really cute things and fun toys.  She seemed to really like the little chair we got her and was really cute sitting in her chair opening gifts.  Then it was cake and ice cream time.  Megan did really good with her cake.  She started picking at the frosting right away.  After a couple minutes she started smashing up pretty good and just ended up being a mess.  She seemed to have a good time with it.

Later I met up with the other girls in my family to go to dinner for Betsy's baby shower.  We went to Chili's.  It was really fun to be out with the girls and have a good meal.  After we ate we went back to my parents so she could open her gifts.  Then we all chatted a while longer before I headed home.  It was a busy day, but a really fun one.  Megan's actual birthday is on Tuesday.  Can't believe our baby is almost one.  Oh how time flies.

Respect

As a mother I don't seem to get much respect.  My kids lately have not been very respectful to me.  They talk back, they have attitudes, they tell me that they don't like me, they don't listen...I could go on and on.  I feel like I address this disrespect when it happens with the appropriate time out or privileges taken away, but sometime I just feel like it is not getter any better.
I feel like I am just the "mom" which means that I am the cook, housekeeper, maid, nanny, etc, but not someone who is to be treated as anything better then a servant.  Unfortunately sometimes even Tony makes me feel this way, disrespected.  I don't make the money, therefore I am not as valued as he is.  I just stay home with the kids...any loser could do that.  I feel like Tony gets to go off to work 12 hours a day where he has people tell him all the time how great of worker he is and how happy they are to have him there.  He gets lots of validations for all his hard work.  I don't get anything for all the hard work that I do.  No one is giving me any compliments on how well I do laundry or clean the kitchen.  No one is giving me a high five for bathing my children and brushing their teeth.  I don't get a raise at the end of year for all my hard work.  Now I don't need a medal or a big parade, but what I do need is respect.  Respect from my family.  Respect for being a stay-at-home mom and doing the best job I can to raise my kids and keep my house.  Respect for how I want my house and support to keep it that way.
Don't get me wrong, I like being a stay-at-home mom.  I like that I can raise my children and be here for them no matter what.  I love that I get to see them learn and discover the world.  I love my children and think that they are amazing and brilliant.  But where is the respect?  I would love it if my family would tell me that they thought that I was doing a good job.  That they liked how I kept the house clean and organized.  Hey, even a thank you for working so hard would be great.  I think that is all part of respect.  I don't think that I am asking for too much.     

St. Patty's Day

Today was St. Patrick's Day.  Having it fall on a Sunday made it a little harder to find clothes for the kids to wear to church that had green in them.  But I got lucky and found something that worked for everyone.
We, honestly, have never done anything for St. Patrick's Day.  I wasn't planning on doing anything this year, but then Tyler decided to make a leprechaun trap.  All by himself he got a cup, cut out a paper just bigger then the cup and then taped one end of the paper to the cup.  So how could I not do anything after he did that.  So I went and got some chocolate coins to put in the trap.  Tyler was so happy this morning when he found them.
My sister, Sherri, gave Megan a cute green top that she wore today.  The picture is a little blurry, but Megan was not working with us.  She just wanted down and wanted the bow off.
Tonight we had my sister, Julie, and her family over for dinner.  The kids LOVED having their cousins over and we enjoyed the company.  We really should do stuff like that more often.
Tyler got his first case of strep throat on Friday.  He woke up and told me his mouth hurt so I gave him some water and he said it helped.  He didn't complain again until it was time to go to bed later that night.  So then we had to ask him a lot of follow up question and check out his mouth to fully understand what was wrong.  He had some small red dots on the top back of him mouth.  Tony looked up on-line and it showed us a picture that looked just like Tyler's mouth.  So back to the Urgent Care Tony went.  The doctor said it was strep and got him a prescription for an antibiotic.  Luckily Megan is still on her antibiotic for her ear infection (which her ears still seem to bother her) so she can't get it.  So we have been watching Josh closely and hoping that he wont get it.  I am glad that we caught it quickly and hope that we can all just be healthy for a long, long time.

My Kids are so Smart!

I looked out my window and found Josh up on these two milk crates trying to open the back gate.  He wanted to get his new scooter that we keep in the garage.  I told him to stay there so that I could take his picture.  I thought it was very clever of him to put the crates on top of each other to get high enough to open the gate.  We did have a talk about not doing it anymore.  I like knowing that when he goes in the back yard he is staying in the back yard.
He is loving his new scooter and is amazingly fast on it.  He is very athletic and impresses us often.  He is so funny.  He likes to ride his scooter for a while and then he changes to his bike, then bake to his scooter.  He is fun to watch.

The other day after changing Megan's diaper I gave it to her and told her to go throw it away.  Then she took the diaper right into the kitchen and opened the garbage can lid and dropped it right into the garbage.  She had done it a couple more times since when I have asked her to.  I have found that she is taking some of her own liberties with this new skill and has thrown away shoes, toys, burp cloths, etc.  We really have to watch what is in the garbage before we throw stuff away.   
I am so amazed by how much she understands.  She seems to be so smart already.  She isn't even one yet and she knows so much.  I tell her to go and get her binkey and she totally does.  She amazes me.  She is so daring and is such a good climber.  She loves to climb all over her push car and the stairs.  It totally scares me when she climbs on the cement stairs, but she is doing pretty good and going down them backwards.
Except when Tyler left the gate open to the stairs in our house and she fell down them.  I was freaking out.  She is just so little and she rolled right down the steps.  Tyler was at the bottom of the stairs and totally caught her.  I thought that Tyler was shutting the gate when I went to go make sure it was shut correctly and that is when I was too late and saw her tumbling down the stairs.  Tyler said he was going to ask for Tony's help with the gate (Tony was down stairs), but Megan was too fast and followed Tyler.  Poor Tyler felt so bad.  But we talked about how important it is to make sure the gate is ALWAYS closed and then I told him I was very proud of him for catching his sister.  He was very brave and acted quickly to scoop her right up.  Megan was totally fine.  Didn't even cry for very long and only had a little bump on her head.  She is one tough cookie!

Tyler's 6th Birthday

Tyler turned 6 today.  Tony and I can't believe it.  We asked him if he wanted to go out to dinner tonight for his birthday and he told us he just wanted to stay home and eat meatballs and rice.  So that is what we did.  He saw the carrot cake cupcakes last time we were at Costco and said that is what he wanted for his birthday.  Tony picked them up after work and we sang Happy Birthday to him then ate them.

After our cake we asked Tyler if he wanted to open one present today or wait to open them when we have the family party.  He wanted to open one today, so we got the big one out and let him open it.  Megan and Josh helped Tyler open the present.  Both Tyler and Josh were really excited to see the marble set and we plan to set it up this weekend.
Some things about Tyler:

• He likes school.  He really likes Math and is quite good at it.  He is learning to read and it doing pretty good.  
• He loves to ride his bike and be active.  He still likes to have races in the front yard and is a very fast runner.  
• He likes to play the computer and the Wii.  He is getting better at both.
• He loves Megan and plays so well with her.  He is such a big helper with her and with Josh (when they aren't fighting).
• He is very good at eating his fruits and veggies.  He isn't too picky.
• Although sometimes he can be very dramatic and emotional, he is a great kid.  
• He loves to give me hugs and kisses all day long.  He tells me that he loves me many times a day as well.  What could be better then that!
• We love out Tyler very much and feel very blessed to have him in our lives.

Loving the Sun

We were outside again today enjoying the sunshine in our yard.  I set up our chairs for Megan and I to watch the boys ride their bikes and scooters.  I got to sit a little bit, but Megan kept me up and going with all her exploring.
Tyler and Josh went to Ray's house to get a treat and they got one for Megan too.  She loved the Dum Dum and had a good time eating it all by her self...Koda enjoyed watching her eat it.  She got nice and sticky and blue.  To be honest I was glad when she was done with it.
Tyler and Josh are still loving the weather, well we all are.  I love that we are not inside watching the television and that we are all out getting sun and exercise.  It is suppose to just get nicer and warmer all week so we are all happy with that.

I have already started getting my list together of all the yard work that I would like to get done this weekend.  Tony has Friday off so we can get a good start on the weekend.  It is sad, but I kind of like yard work.  I like having our home and yard look nice.  I love flowers and plants, even though I know nothing about them.  So it is a lot of experimental gardening at our house.  We don't mind though because it's mainly about the family time that our yard gives us.

This Girl is Trouble

Yesterday Megan figured out how to crawl all the way out the dog door.  Until now she would just kind of play with the flap, but the boys were outside playing and she wanted to join them.
My main concern would be if I am in the other room and she just decides to go outside by herself.  Luckily she hasn't done that yet.

Then this morning she was in the bedroom playing and she figured out how to open the bottom drawer (luckily it was empty) and climbed right in with her bucket.  She is too cute for words and definitely keeps me on my toes.

Spring Is In The Air

 The weather has been a lot nicer the past couple of days and my kids have LOVED it.  It has been all bikes and scooters and running around outside.  Even Megan has cabin fever and is enjoying walking around outside.  Megan really likes riding around in the little car playing with the horn that keeps falling out.

I have been letting Tyler and Josh ride in circles around our house while I push Megan in the little car.  It works out pretty good because we start on the drive way and then take our side walk around by the house, to the street and then just follow the gutter back around to our drive way and start again.  I like this because the boys aren't in the street for too much of the time.  Tyler only watches for cars about half the time and Josh almost never, so it is scary to have them in the street.  It is times like these that I really wish that we had sidewalks.  
Tyler told me tonight while I was putting him and Josh to bed that "he knew why Jesus made him and Joshy more badder." I asked why and he responded "so that you can learn more patience."  Oh so true.  I then told him that they should just be good.
Lately I have been trying really hard to be more patient with my kids.  Trying to not yell as much or over react to all their shenanigans.  So I have been praying extra hard for help with this and it does seem like when you ask Heavenly Father for help with patience he gives you experiences to test your patience.  It is hard, but I am committed to keep trying to be better.  Better for my kids and Tony.  I don't want to be that mom that is always freaking out and/or yelling.  It is definitely a work in progress.  I try to remind myself that they are just kids and I need to chill out...that seems to help.