Shopping According to "Kid Time"

     Lately I have been a little impatient in my parenting - especially when I am in "go-mode." I usually get into "go-mode" when I am trying to get the kids out the door to run an errand, or when I have lots to get done around the house. To get away from that a little bit I decided that I would go according to the kids' time, rather than mine, when we went on our grocery run today. We didn't have anywhere to go after the grocery store, so I let the kids look at whatever they wanted, and I didn't hurry them along from thing to thing. And you know what? It was kind of fun!

     They stopped at EVERYTHING. Seriously, everything. They had to take something from a tray full of tortilla samples, they stopped to look at each fruit and vegetable, they asked for everything at eye level "for my birthday", they turned and turned and TURNED the make-up display, and of course they stopped to play with every toy they could find. I was surprised at how much they enjoyed it - and how much I enjoyed it. The trip wasn't full of me nagging them to stay by me, I just had to say "the train is leaving, you don't want to be left behind!" and they would hop on. And wouldn't you know it, we got everything we needed.

I think I may be trying this approach more often!

Sick of Being Sick

     I'm getting so excited for summer for a lot of reasons of course, but right now I can't wait until my kids are not constantly sick!

     This poor little dude was pretty much comatose all weekend, which meant we got lots of snuggles:

     I think he's on the way up, but he's still got a fever and he's not quite himself yet. At least he's dang cute. I mean seriously? Look at his adorable chub. 

     I can't get over it.

     (Did you get a chance to tune in to General Conference? It was amazing! Catch what you missed here!)

'Nastics

A local gymnastics gym has open gym every Thursday for little kids to come and play. I took the kids for the first time a few weeks ago and they LOVED it!

I mean, what is better than a super long trampoline, 

A soft, bouncy floor,

A rope swing, 

And a balance beam?

Oh, and the bounce house they have set up, the foam pit, and free reign of the whole place? Not much, I tell you!

It was fun for me too to be back in a gym. It brought back so many memories of my gymnastics days!

We will definitely be going back to 'nastics (as Ellie and Nathan call it)!

Double Trouble

A tale of two brothers, working together to destroy the book shelf:

The aftermath:

I'm sure this is only the beginning of the trouble these two will get into together!

And I have to admit, I think it's kind of cute. (for now...)

Funny Kid Quotes

Here are some funny things that I have been writing down on my phone since the last kid quotes post.

I was telling Sam that I thought Jonah had a fever because his cheeks were red and he was warm. Ellie looks at Jonah and says, "Happy Birthday, Jonah!"

 Ellie: "Running around in your panties is like working out." (Hmmm... I should probably re-think which workout videos I let her do with me.)

Ellie and I were doing yoga together, and when we went into downward dog she said "this is my favorite! Doggy bum!" She legitimately thought that was what it was called. Even now, a month or so later, she still calls it that no matter how many times I tell her it is "downward dog."

Ellie was not happy that I was making her take a nap and she said, "You are squeezing my whole life!"

At dinner Sam, Ellie and Nathan were going back and forth with "I love you's." Ellie looked at me and said "I love your best friend." I asked her who my best friend was and she pointed at Sam. She's right! 

Ellie: "When you wear that apron you look like a Grandma." I'll take that as a compliment!

Ellie, talking about our neighbor who was working in his yard as we pulled out of the driveway: "He is just so handsome with that white hair!"

Nathan: We were listening to "Bring Him Home" from Les Miserables and Nathan says "He's singing silly!" Then tried to imitate him with a breathy, vibrato-y voice.

Ellie: "Wow, that's a really old lady! I never want to be an old lady."

Sam: Nathan, did you play with Emerson at church today?

Nathan: No, Emerson is Ellie's favorite.

Sam: Well who's your favorite?

Nathan: Orange 

Ellie: "I don't want to grow because I don't want them to cut the babies out of my tummy." We then had a conversation about how having babies hurts, but it's ok because doctors have medicine that help you feel better. I guess I should have been a little more careful about my explanation when she asked tons of questions about this picture of when Nathan was born:

Park Day

Two cute boys at the park.

I am so incredibly happy that the weather is warming up!

Family Movie Night

Every weekend we make pizza, and sometimes we eat it in the basement and watch a movie as a family. This past weekend we watched "African Cats." It was surprisingly good! And of course the pizza was delicious.

The girls:

Mom and Nathan:

Mom and Dad:

Don't forget me, Mom!

It was a very fun night together as a family.

Even if there were the typical "get out of my way! I can't see!" moments:

I Kinda Like My Family

     My family is pretty awesome. We haven't been up to much out of the ordinary lately, but sometimes ordinary is great. 

We went to the Nature Park to feed the ducks. Ellie was in heaven! The entire way to the park she clutched her two pieces of bread and said "Ducks huuuuuun-gryyyy!" She loves to throw the bread to the ducks, but she doesn't like them getting too close to her. I can't say I blame her for that one!

Just looking cute after getting his belly filled. (Don't mind the pink bumbo...) We officially have two food-loving kids in our family. Recently Nathan has eaten a whole jar of baby food mixed into rice cereal each morning and night. He's definitely chunking right up because of it.

Ellie and Nathan both LOVE their dad. When he comes home from work they both just light up. Ellie asks all day to either talk to dad on the phone, or when he's going to be home. He's clearly the interesting parent. :)

This little man has learned a new trick! Over the past few days he has mastered the army crawl, and he's FAST! We had to put the baby gate up, which his sister is not so happy about since she can't go up and down the stairs freely. But just today he started getting up on his hands and knees and rocking back and forth... I think full on crawling is in our near future! (I took a video, but it wouldn't let me upload it. Lame. Cause he's stinking cute.)

Ellie with a drumstick a few weeks ago. She was loving it. (In case you couldn't tell by how much she has on her face) She even ate the cone, which she doesn't normally do with ice cream. It probably had something to do with the fact that it's lined with chocolate... :)

We've been really struggling with Ellie lately with the whole "battle of wills" thing. She is a two-year-old after all... But I made this little picture chore chart for her because I noticed she does well with consistent schedules, and it has worked wonders! She knows what she has to do in the morning before she can play, and what she has to do before bed. She loves to point to each picture and tell me what they mean, hence the bent corners and finger prints. I'm not perfectly consistent with her, and I'm not saying she never throws a fit (because the would be FAR from the truth), but things are getting better.

     Not a terribly interesting post today, but I think it's good for me to keep these records, even just for myself! So there we go, another post into blog land!