Gross

With even more traces in the baby's hands and mouth, methinks it's time to baby proof the house!

Blonde Moment vs Senior Moment

I started cooking eggs the other day and threw some toast in the oven.  Kaia and Kienna were downstairs cleaning their room and suddenly came upstairs.  When they said it was because their room was clean, I couldn't believe my ears.... there wasn't even any fighting.

I ran downstairs to double check and it was almost completely done.  It was so close in fact, that I asked Kienna to grab the vacuum so that I could just finish it off for them.

I finished vacuuming and started to vacuum the stairs when I smelled burnt toast.  Oh no!!

I ran upstairs, saved the eggs.... not so much on the toast.  "Dang it.  What a stupid blonde moment!"

Kaia pipes up, "What do you mean by a blonde moment?"

"Well, it's just a stereotype of blondes being ditsy.  I guess it's kind of ironic that I'm mocking blondes when I am one."

"Oh mom, you're not a blonde any more... you're just grey."

Thanks smarty pants... you know how to make your mom's day.  Guess it was just a seniors moment.  Ugh.

Ironman to get Iron Man

Tonight, it was time for bed and Benson "went missing".  I decided to ignore him this time around and just focus on the baby and Jaymeson for a few minutes.  When I turned around, however, he was holding Jarett's "Iron Man" costume and was trying to put it on. 

"Benson, you need to get your Jammies on, not the costume."
"But I want to wear it"
"Not tonight buddy. Sorry."
"But it was so hard to get!"
"Sorry bud, but I don't want you to wear it... that's why I put it up high up in my closet."
"But I had to climb up your dresser to get it."
"BUDDY!  Don't climb up my dresser!!  That's dangerous!"
"But if I don't climb your dresser, how can I get the costume?"
"I don't want you to get the costume, that's why I put it up high."
"But I want to wear it, Mom."
"Okay dude, go get ready for bed and then you can wear it in the morning."

Why is it that I feel like I ran a full Iron Man after trying to reason with this boy??  And why does he try to do a full Iron Man just to get a superhero costume?  This kid just kills me - he's so funny!

A few changes

Saryn got a new duvet cover,

 I made a new Christmas decoration (only took me 3 months to finish – it is a vinyl rub-on after all… it can take a while) 

and Kienna got a new smile (well, she will by the end of it all anyway).

Kienna, very resentfully, allowed me to take these pictures.  She is not a fan of the fact that she is facing 3 years of orthodontic treatment.  6-18 months with a Herbst appliance and at least 2 years of braces.  She became a much bigger fan of the idea, however, when she found out what surgery would be involved if we didn’t go through with it.

The orthodontist commented to me that she must have a really high pain tolerance because she was so tough when they were putting the appliance in.  Her 12 year molars are about to pop through and, therefore, her gums are super swollen.  In order to put the appliance in, they had to push the gums back and wiggle the brackets into the back of her mouth around them.  He said that a lot of kids in that boat freak out and won’t let him do it.  She didn’t even flinch.  That’s my girl!!  Here’s to a very expensive 3 years (that hopefully will be worth every penny!)

Little Laya

Well, Lanaya has been shortened to Laya - like Leia.  Suits her well, as she is the little Princess of the house. 

Laya is now 8 months, has two teeth (second one popped out in California) and, as of two days ago, has started to scoot (do the worm) around the house.  She is getting places quickly!!

This little girl has such a fun, bold little personality.  I just can't wait to see how much fun she'll be as she grows.  Scratch that.... I can wait.  I want my baby to be a baby for a while still.  Slow down little Laya!

 Oh, she also had her first smoothie the other day - as you can clearly see, it was a big hit!!

... Oh, and speaking of mileage - check out what our Sequoia did the other day.  It was super fun to see it.  Had to pull over and take a quick picture. 

Valentine's Breakfast

Jarett and I had a fabulous dinner our friends, the Felix', house on Valentine's day, so we decided that we'd make a fun brunch with the kids to celebrate as a family.  We just have the best kids!  They can be so helpful, so much fun and just way too awesome!!  So glad I get to be their mom.

Snuggles

I love snuggling.  Jarett loves snuggling.  Somehow, all of our kids love snuggling too.  Shocking, really.

It came as no surprise when our kids would ask for snuggles every night.  We always had mixed feelings, because, as so many parents know, you love to have those tender moments with your child, BUT you have SO much to do once they go to bed that it still needs to be done
.

SOOO.... we came up with a plan.  When it was going to be a busy night, we would always snuggle when asked, but simply say, okay, how long should I snuggle you?  The kids would frequently answer with 5 seconds or 10 seconds.  They would then proceed to count and then almost push us away when they were done.  This way, they felt loved, we were able to snuggle and we didn't take too much time away from preparations for tomorrow.  Perfect plan.  It has worked for YEARS.

Benson, however, has taken snuggling to a new level.  He comes in a 3 in the morning, 4 in the morning or 6 in the morning and wants Mommy snuggles.  At every night time, he wants snuggles.  He comes to our room every morning as we wake up and wants more snuggles  It's getting to the point where we have to limit the snuggles or we wouldn't get anything done during the day.  He takes out blankets to snuggle with, stuffies to snuggle with and still doesn't fill his quota.

On Valentine's morning "snuggling" on the stairs with the blanket I got at a Valentine's White Elephant Exchange

There have even been a few nights when I've given him a few minutes of snuggles at 6 in the morning, where afterwards, he sneaks out of bed and goes to the older girls room (two flights of stairs away) to get more snuggles.

He has crawled into Lanaya's car seat multiple times and put the cover on to get all "snuggly".  Sometimes to the point where he fall asleep - such as this time

The other day, I asked Benson, "Okay, how long do you want to snuggle."  "Oh, forever."  I simply answered, "Me too!!"  Fortunately, the kids didn't have school today, so we did get to snuggle a long time.

That night, I tried a different approach.  "Benson, what number do you want to count to while we snuggle?"  "Um, the one at the very end."

I love my snuggly boy.  Oh, how I'll miss all these amazing, tight, tender snuggles when he grows up.

Random

I cut Benson's hair on Saturday.  Randomly, he says to me, "Mom, Sunday is for handsome."  "Well, yes, we try to look our best for church, but church is to make us happy..."  "Yeah, because we laugh at people's funny haircuts."

His hair cut, however, was a hit.  He keeps on saying that he looks just like Daddy.

Speaking of hair, I had a blonde moment the other day.  When I told Kaia that, I said, "I suppose it's kind of ironic for a blonde to have a blonde moment".  Her response was, "don't worry mom, you're not blonde anymore, you're just grey."  Unfortunately, that's very true.