June 30 Part one:

Ruthie had her Princess Musical Theatre Performance today. Ruth and Neils old preschool teacher, Mrs. Kerry, has two daughters that have been in dance since they were babies, the oldest will be one of my sweet beehives in Feb. and the girls were the teachers. She didn't really want to do it, "princess" has never really been her thing (Probably why she is standing in the back row, she wasn't wearing a "princess" dress (because she doesn't have one)) She isn't really into singing and performing either. She usually just stands there looking at everyone singing every 4th word or so during the primary programs, so I was really surprised at how into the music she was. She was trying so hard to remember all the words and the dance moves! (Mmmmm this ice cream I'm eating is really terrific, Bryers fudge swirl.) Here are a few pictures of her in the moment: Her biggest fans looking on: Such cute little heads! Her cousin Payton was in the class too!
I was also really surprised at how much time it took her to get gussied up! She came out of her room with stick on earrings (and bright red ears from pinching them so hard to make them stick) a pink necklace SHE ACTUALLY WORE THE WHOLE TIME! Big wow for Ruth, they are usually itchy and come of 60 seconds after being put on. She even had some lip gloss on! Everything about her this morning was a surprise to me...except for the Santa socks with her sandals. Not sure if I will be able to break her of socks and sandals but I was glad to have something familiar to cling to this morning :) Here is a video so those of you that know Ruth can see just what I mean:


June 30th part 2: Neil started Karate today. I wanted to put him in it a month ago when I was feeling a bit guilty about having Ruth in both Piano lessons (that are no more, *sigh* 16 year olds apparently have better things to do during the summer than teach piano lessons) and a dance class (that ended earlier in the post:) but at least I finally made it over to sign him up. It's a 10 week program that ends up being about 6 dollars a class and I just couldn't pass it up. He also wasn't too enthusiastic about doing it, even though he told me 2 months ago he wanted to be Kung Foo Panda when he grows up. Then he saw a little video all about joining a Karate class on Sesame Street and was totally on board. He was hilarious during orientation; he was kind of being silly (what my kid?) and instead of just blocking a punch he would punch and spin around in a circle and fall on the floor. When he would do a Kick he would kick so high he kicked himself almost into a back flip and ended up on the floor. He would put so much enthusiasm into his high fives he would end up on the floor. She finally told him that the kids that fall on the floor have to do 5 push-ups and he stopped; he was still being a goof, but was actually doing things like she was telling him too. (and doing them pretty well I might add)
Karate is supposed to teach discipline so hopefully he will learn (like he had to in preschool) that their is a time for being silly and a time to focus. He really REALLY liked it though and is excited for tomorrow. Ruth has a game plan worked out on how she is going to ask dad if she can do it too. She was funny trying to copy all the moves Neil was learning.

It has always been really easy to tell when Neil really likes something...
He loved his bottle and his "Zoo"

and Dad got him the BEST 3rd birthday present ever.

I tried really hard to find the pictures I know I have of him somewhere wearing his first pair of flip flops to bed but just imagine what that looked like okay? I'm sure you get the point, he can’t bear being apart from the things he likes most even for the night. Lets just say I wasn’t surprised to find him like this when I put Liam to bed last night.

He had been talking about the little neighbor boy who has a pair of Heely's and I was watching him watch the kid glide around on them knowing what was coming and could practically count down the seconds until he expressed his desire for a pair too. It started out with "Mom those are cool" and I was surprised when he left it at that but the very next day we were at a thrift store when I spotted a pair in, would you believe it, his size! They didn’t have wheels though and I debated paying 5 dollars for them not knowing how much replacement wheels would cost, but ended up caving anyway. He was super excited and kept asking for them, I was hoping to hold off giving them to him until his birthday but He kept "wondering" where they were. I happened to be at another thrift store 2 days later (back to school shopping) when I found a pair in Ruth's size and above those were a pair in (my) size (can you just imagine?) I got both pairs though at 5 dollars each and switched the wheels out of the ones in my size to put in Neil's (cheaper than buying new wheels...) and the dang shoes haven’t come off his feet in over 48 hours. They are getting pretty good at them too, I'm pretty impressed. Though at the grocery store today I began to understand why the website says: Get the shoes that are going to drive your parents nuts... Believe me, they can. :)

The hospital I will be delivering at in 4 weeks called me Monday to confirm all my check-in information and make sure the date was correct. Everything was great until she said "Okay we will see you on July 22 at 7am with Dr. So-and-so." Only this particular "So-and-so" was not MY Dr. So-and-so... I asked her if she was sure it was that particular Dr. that was on call for the 22nd and she said that it was what she had written down. *sigh* After I hung up I called my OB's office to speak with the Surgery scheduler. It took her FOREVER to call me back but she said the Hospital had it wrong and It was my Dr. That was on call. Okay, so who do I believe? I guess I just wait until Friday to speak with the man himself. (will he know though do you think?) Something has to get messed up a little for this to be a normal pregnancy for me, I thought that it was my gall bladder... we will see. I may have to change my blog ticker a day or two...
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Neil told me this morning, at the breakfast table while we were all eating our coco & fruity pebbles... that "mouses make really dangerous weapons." I was a little confused, A) because it was out of the blue, and B) because how do "mouses" make a dangerous weapon? His explanation was you could use a computer mouse to throw at someone and really hurt them and make them bleed. Mmmmm Hmmm. Boys are interesting creatures sometimes.
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It was moving day at our house this morning. quite a traumatic one too. Liam has been sleeping in Neil's room for a week now with no midnight panic attacks *albeit earlier mornings* but he wakes up happy. They sleep on the queen bed together sideways to give them more room to get used to having someone in bed with them. {and they each have to have their own blanket, Liam likes Uncle Trevor's old Spider man one, and Neil likes his green plaid one} Apparently Liam teases Neil by laying on him and squishing him right after we say goodnight so I rolled up a beach towel (I need to get a water noodle, maybe that would work better...) and put it down the middle of the bed telling Liam to stay on his "side" and we put Neil down first because he takes 2 seconds to go to sleep (Marcus in every respect right?) and Liam wont bug him if he isn't getting a reaction.
Anyway it took a while but we did get everything organized with toys and clothes all in one room. (6 bags of D.I. donations helped too :) Liam cried every time we took a toy into Neils room, I think he thought we were giving his toys to Neil, but I just told him to put his shoes in "his" room and he went to what was formerly Neil's room to put them away. *whew*
I made a big deal of moving Liam's (3 weeks ago FHE lesson) picture off the inside of the nursery room door and putting it on the inside of his new bedroom door by Neil's picture. He was very excited to show it all to Grandma Holly who came over a little later so I think were good. :::fingers crossed:::
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What do you do if the very thought of cleaning the bathroom makes you shudder but the idea of letting it go another day without a good scrubbing makes you...whatever is one step further than shuddering...??? They seriously thought I was the coolest mom ever for letting them strip down to their unders and Scrub furiously every inch of our bathroom. Yes, Neil was on toilet duty, he does an awesome job (he is the reason the job is very necessary too) Ruth is on sink duty, and Liam gets the tub, with a little help from Ruth when she is done scraping dry tooth paste off the sink. *contented sigh*

Megan <--- genius <--- I really should erase that I just had to fix the spelling on spell check...
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Liam learned a new trick! Well, yes he learned to hold the Denny's crayon on his ear (again my kids thought I was so cool when I showed them that trick, don't you dare tell them I didn't invent it!) but he has gone 3 days and one of the nights without having an accident! Woo Hoo! I wont say he is potty trained yet because that would jinx me, but has this happened yet for me? I'm completely diaper free! (for the next 4 weeks...) Okay we still do the pull-up thing at night for 2 of the 3 but pull-up's are diapers I can tell them do take care of themselves!

Megan <---counting her blessings, be back later.

As we were walking through the parking lot to the theater, (we saw The Spiderwick Chronicles) Ruth was pointing out all the similarities we shared today. We were both wearing grey, skirts, black flip flops, buttons on our shirts and we both had "crinkly" hair. Aren't we cute?
The movie was a little more intense than I was expecting. Liam didn't flinch once, Neil was very brave and only asked to leave during one particularly scary part that I was even a little tense during, which I talked him out of. Ruth was one long pep talk through the whole movie. I said things like "you know it's pretend" and "don't they look ridiculous?" quite a bit which helped, but what really did the trick was when Payton, her little cousin, came and sat by her and I told her to be brave for Payton and to let her know what was going to happen so she wouldn't be scared. (she saw the movie with her Grandpa when it first came out) So we made it through the movie with very little trauma, next week is Ice Age 2. We may have the same problem, but not quite as bad... (my kids are chicken I know, Ruth used to cry during Finding Nemo.)
Anyway as we battled the crowds to get out it was particularly slow going at one point where I made eye contact with a lady walking near me so I smiled and looked away but could tell that she was still givin' me the eyeball. I panicked a little because I could just tell she was going to say something to me and I was thinking, 'do I know her? I don't think so' so I chanced a look back and she was still staring at me and she just out of the blue told me that I was so beautiful. Totally random right? People don't say stuff like that to me! Later I was thinking about it though, isn't it amazing how such a random thing like a compliment from a complete stranger you will probably never see again can absolutely make your day? (well for a very pregnant mom of three kids, all under 6 and during summer break, it made like the next 3-4 hours...) There are so many times when I have thought in my head that I liked a certain persons shirt or hairstyle and I wonder now why I didn't vocalize those thoughts, maybe it would have made someone elses day... Totally out of my comfort zone, but I'm going to try, we can all afford to be a little nicer to each other, right? Even if it's just complimenting one of my kids I know it would be worth it. Look at me, I just set a goal, maybe it will count towards my Personal Progress...

Okay, this is seriously the worst picture of Ruth and Liam I think I have.
Better of Ruth and Liam, but now Neil has a funky look on his face. *sigh*
All I wanted was a decent picture of them eating lunch, we have been going to Ruth's School every day this week to eat lunch in the caffeteria. They have a summer food program where they serve breakfast and Lunch, Monday through Friday, for those ages 1-18...for Free. I thought it would be a fun thing to do every once in a while when we were out and about but the kids are really, REALLY diggin' it. The first time we went we got a really good parking spot right by the caffeteria under a huge shade tree so I was pretty excited and went so far as to call it a "rockin' spot" so now every time we go Neil picks me another "rockin' spot" and we go eat. Today on the menu was little brown brickettes they called chicken nuggets; a perfect scoop of instant potatoes Liam excitedly proclaimed 'ice cream' and insisted that it was until the very end; a biscuit and their choice of canned peaches, grapes, or a banana with grape juice and chocolate milk of course. I love it because I dont have to think about what to make them for lunch, I just wish it was a little tastier than elementary caffeteria food so I could pay 2 dollars and get something I would find appetizing. Fridays are Pizza day with the Pizza coming from Pizza hut, but we're taking dad out to lunch and wont be there... Oh well, maybe next week. And maybe one of these days we will make it over for breakfast were just never up and ready to go at 7:30...

*Flashback Friday*

I started my blog in July of last year just a few weeks after my older brother became a Border Patrol Officer. I should have just blogged about it then, but thought I would wait until his birthday to do so. Not sure what I was thinking seeing how his Birthday is June 9th, almost a complete year later. So I held off and held off, and yes as you can see, it’s now June 12 No, I didn’t forget his birthday, just forgot to blog about it... HOWEVER Thanks to Molly and her wonderful "Flashback Friday" posts, I can save a bit of face by stealing her idea... Im just not sure if I want to flashback to his birthday a few days ago on the 9th, or flashback to July 2, 2008.
My brother Travis turned 31 the other day and I just wanted to say Happy Birthday to him and let him know how proud I am of his accomplishments. He is the only one of us 5 kids to graduate from college (not that my other brothers aren’t successful...they are!) and he also made it through the border patrol training (no easy feat!) and managed to snag himself quite a few awards (and the nickname "Little Mermaid") in the process. He now lives in down south of Tucson with his wife Callie and 2 boys Carter and Luke (Ruth and Neil say Hi boys! Oh Liam did to, of course...) where he patrols the border and keeps his family up at nights with some of the tales he tells. He should seriously write a book, and I should stop watching the news when they talk about the danger on the border. HaPpY BiRtHdAy TrAvIs! :) We love you!

I think I may have a problem. I have eaten almost 21 cups of watermelon in the past 24 hours. That's a whole Mellon people, and i know it's 21 cups because my Tupperware was FULL yesterday at this time and I'm the only one that has really been eating it, not that anyone else has really had a chance...
Sadly, I have eaten about half of what was left in the tupperware just while I have been on the computer! Is there any possible way a person can get fat off eating this stuff or will it just hydrate you? Hmmmmm...

And I thought it was bad that I ate a whole cantaloupe 4 days ago myself! (again, in less than 24 hours!)

Well people, we have reached the point in the pregnancy where we start telling inquiring minds how many weeks we have left, instead of how many weeks we are. By we, I mean Marcus and I, because I refuse to be pregnant myself. I especially make a point of waking him up to tell him I have to go to the bathroom...again. No I'm joking, all the creaking and groaning is completely uncontrollable. But I cant decide if I'm more excited about the fact that I have 6 weeks remaining, or if i find it more terrifying. Okay terrifying is a little strong, I'm not about to go screaming into the night...at a turtles pace holding my belly to keep all ligaments in place. Maybe intimidated is a better way to put it; I just have a few things I need to deal with first:
#1. I still haven't decided how to arrange things for another child. I have plenty of space...in the car, bedrooms, dressers, at the table and in my heart, but its all a matter of sorting. Would it be better to put Ruth in the way back of the Pilot or would Neil be better suited to it? Should I move the girls together from the start so I can have my "extra" room now, or should I wait until she is Liam's age to upgrade the Nursery? *sigh*
#2. Every pregnancy (aside from the never ending one called Ruth) has gone by faster than the last for me. I was so excited to find a pack of my fav. Johnson and Johnson nursing pads for 50 cents!!! (I KNOW) today at CVS, and Lansinoh cream for $1!! (I love clearance racks) Then I realized how soon I was going to be using them and a missed a step, (and not because I couldn't see around my belly!) all sorts of little things get me really excited only to floor me a moment later. Like seeing this: 0-6 month clothes, clean and folded with no place to go, but ready none the less...
Do you think she is ready for church? That's a lot of fluff for such a little person, that's the blessing dress on the end,(It has a whole other story that I will go into later, I thought it would clean up a little whiter but is there really a rule that says it HAS to be white? Seriously if there is tell me...) Anyway, whenever I see these itty bitty fluffy clothes I get all excited to be having another girl :::fingers crossed for another one just like my Ruthie::: My only fear is puberty and what an emotional mess that can be. So other than being a little nervous about the sprint to the finish line (ha ha that's a picture) I just have to say,
#3. Not once in any of my previous pregnancies did someone rub my belly without asking first. I'm totally cool letting people feel my babies kick or laugh at the never ending rounds of hiccups, but I think this kid is going to come out thinking its a cat! I can see why women wear the shirts that say things like: "rub my belly and lose a hand", its kind of a strange feeling to just have someone...rub you in passing. I can’t figure out how to react.
#4 despite the fact that everyone keeps asking where I'm hiding the baby with 6 weeks left till D-day, in the past week my stretch marks have gone from a manageable ghostly silver to faint pink with purple undertones warning of the colors to come.
#5 I'm not so sure my current baby is going to want to stop being the baby when the time comes for him to be a big brother. Don't get me wrong! Liam adores babies, he couldn't get enough of his little cousin Kayda and points out babies all the time, I just get nervous at times like these: We were at Burlington and I was just browsing but he felt like he really needed to try this baby bassinet out. I told him it was for babies and he was a big boy but he got indignant and frowned at me while he said "I NOT big boy ANYmore." (his new phrase for all of you that don't know is: "I NOT __________ ANYmore." fill in the blank with anything he particularly doesn't like at that moment.) I did humor him this time but he got upset and threw himself to the ground when I wouldn't let him into the pack and plays and excercaucers. People probably thought I was a horrid mom walking away from my "NOT big boy" while he writhed on the ground. *sigh* I told him if he stopped crying I would let him ride in an umbrella stroller until we left, is that giving in or compromising? This is also the cart he prefers me to get when we go to Target. He thinks its awesome! I did too until I realized this last time that I was going to have to stop because I would have a baby carrier soon and a 3 year old in one of these seats is just ridiculous. Right?
*whew!* I do feel better now, thanks to anyone who hung in there long enough to finish this post you are a great listener.

PS. she just woke up and shifted and I swear that stretch mark looks angrier than it did a minute ago...

It's been a fun summer so far, I was looking forward to the end of school as well as dreading it, but with a few extra prayers for patience and a still developing summer schedule, we have been doing alright. We have had "mowing" lessons.


Swimming "lessons"

(I know Trav, she is definitely angled towards the side of the pool, but! No noodle right? And I think the Whale burps have diminished somewhat... Neil only has the floaty to go off the diving board, still wont do airplane though)

Cooking lessons, this is Ruth and Neils bread I asked them to butter for making a ham and cheese melt...Neil's butter was like 1/2 inch thick! It was awesome.

We joined Harkins summer movie club where we have thus far been delighted by "Space Chimps" and "Nim's island"

We have also done some major DE-cluttering (or is it nesting?) where most of the toys have gone into the "donate" pile including Ruth's toy box and most of it's contents. Ive decided I'm no longer buying toys for my kids(especially battery operated ones!); biggest racket out there. Most of the stuff they got for Christmas is either broken, hasn't been looked at more than twice or was incredibly, brain mushingly addictive (yes I'm talking to you George Lucas). I already have a brainstorm list of possible Christmas gifts besides "art" supplies and books. Neil is fascinated by Dustbuster's, Ruth loves helping in the kitchen and Rachel Ray makes a kids knife with a somehow cut proof glove...and Ive been wanting to make a table cloth that would go all the way to the ground that would double as a play house that Liam would love. (complete with doors, windows and pockets. Marcus even elaborated on the idea of making PVC tunnels. We will let the engineer, engineer that part though.) I knew I didn't want to buy Ruth an easy bake oven! I should have just bought her a REAL convection oven. (used with adult supervision of course!) (Ive been wanting one for outside cooking in the summer time anyway...) Another thought I had was luggage. What kid out there doesn't LOVE those Roll behind suitcases? I should buy one of those as a diaper bag, I would never have to carry one again! It would be pulled for me by one of my ducks! (then maybe I would have a diaper when I needed it because I don't carry a diaper bag.)
Anyway, I feel better talking with you about this, thanks for listening and let me know if you have any other great ideas for gifts that don't come off a TOY isle.

Harvest time!

We had a fun dinner the other night using up some veggies from our garden. Neil snipped the basil for our pesto sauce,(super yummy over our pasta) Ruth grated our zucchinis for the muffins (my mouth is watering just remembering it, I woke up the next morning and my kids had gotten up before me and eaten all the muffin tops that were left! sad morning)
and Liam ate the rotten zucchini I had thrown out for the birds.
He has been telling me and telling me he wanted to eat one, but I wouldn't let him just eat a raw zucchini, it wouldn't taste good! Or would it? He seemed to think this shriveled little dried out one was pretty good, even the crusty brown end was chomped down with a "Mmmmm" so Who am I to tell my son he may not eat his veggies if he wants them.

Megan <--crazy mommy!

May 30, 2009
Marcus was gone all week last week for work and got home late Friday afternoon so Saturday was a pretty fun day for the kids. They got free reign in the front and back yard because dad was doing yard work in the morning; then we went to Ned's Crazy Sub for some lunch. So good, and now I'm craving a cherry Pepsi.

After lunch we went swimming at Grandpas house, Ruth and Neil have surprised me by not completely forgetting everything they learned {or re-learned} last year. Liam was my little fish last year, but is a bit more reserved now, he just dove in, they told me, when he went swimming on Memorial Day and it must have scared some sense into him.

Marcus' cousin Taryn got married this morning so we were off to the reception at the Wright house after cleaning up from swimming.

Good food...

Good friends...

And memories made. Just what a Wedding reception calls for right? I just thought I would be sighing at the bride dancing her first dance with her husband, not my Ruthie dancing her first dance...ever!

In the moment these pictures were cracking me up! Mason (Marcus' cousins little boy) was twirling her around and they were having a great time,
but looking at them now *sigh* makes me realize that when this new baby is 6, Ruth will be a beehive, mooning about boys and lamenting the fact that she turns 14 two days AFTER the big stake dance. *sigh* Anyway. It was a beautiful reception and everyone had a great time. (And I'm glad Marcus was there, Liam had an accident and needed cleaning up in the bathroom.)

A guy in our ward approached me a few weeks ago wanting to take pictures of our family to help build up his portfolio so he could get back into photography. Of course I jumped at the chance and for the most part was not disappointed. The main focus of the shoot was my belly. {I do admit I was a tad nervous he was going to want me to bear my belly and I was going to have to politely decline. {luckily he didn't ask.} This was the first picture he took and It took him a while to get the angle and lighting correct but I think it looks pretty cool.


The next one he wanted was of the kids and my belly:
He was sweating profusely by now, I don't think he appreciated the fact that we had our AC turned up to 85 and it was late afternoon. {were on the 'time of use' plan} (I think that's what its called) We did have windows and doors open allowing a nice cross breeze. No one else was dripping on his equipment though so turned up the AC stayed.

After this family shot my children were {---} <--that close to driving me bonkers. [They like to show off for company, Ruth attempted a headstand in a flouncy skirt last month for our home teachers!] So we put a movie on for them and he had us change our clothes.

Marcus was a very good sport about all of this; the laying down picture looks a lot better than I thought it would while laying there. He actually took 4 or 5 shots on the couch but this is the only one that made the cut I guess. can you even tell I'm prego? i asked him if it was too much black, but he said it looked good. {whatever}

The rest of the pictures are okay; definitely not up to the same caliber as the other pictures, and not what I would have expected from a pregnancy photo shoot. {he cut my belly off in one of the pictures}



They were free though and part of my problem probably boils down to the fact that I was to lazy to make a hair appt. *sigh* He did do a good job of getting us to really smile!

He also threw in this picture of Liam, must have liked it for his portfolio or something.
I do like the idea of getting out of the studio for our family pictures though, the last ones were nothing exciting, I didnt even hang them so im glad to finally have an updated picture in my frame.