Snapshot of Meggie right now

Oh man! This girl! She is as preteen as you can get and I love her to death. She is so in tune emotionally to people. She can tell when I'm stressed or overwhelmed and she is always the first to step up and help me. I adore her. She has her drama mama moments for sure but overall she is just really fun for me to be around right now. She has the best personality. She is adorable and hilarious all rolled up into one. She gorgeous and the boys at school have definitely noticed. She has received numerous notes stuffed into her locker from secret admirers. She has one particular boy that she's had a crush on named Brock. She asked him to dance for the girls choice song at her school dance and it was quite literally the best day of her life. She came home with stars in her eyes. Word got around to him that she liked him and apparently he likes her too. He bought her a Christmas present (a bracelet, earrings and chocolate) and a week or two later a giant chocolate heart. Brian and I are beside ourselves. We aren't sure how to handle it because they are ELEVEN for goodness sake but I can't exactly control the boy and tell her he isn't allowed to give her stuff and there's not a chance that I'm going to put her in the humiliating position of refusing his gifts. We're just trying to ride it out and hope it will all pass. They are super shy around each other so that's good for now. Gah. She is a super loyal friend and it hurts her when her friends don't return that loyalty. She just hasn't found the perfect fit here in Manti. Her closest friends are Kalli (across the street) and Mariah. Kalli has a best friend though and often makes Meg feel like a third wheel or even purposely demeans her. Mariah comes from an overly strict Mormon household and is just a little too weird to fit perfectly with Meg. She's also overly moody and so Meg never knows what to expect. Meg has such a big heart that I really hope wherever we go next she can find a true soul sister kind of friend. Meg is adorable with Grace. She loves the girl with her whole heart. She loves to play with her and Grace loves her right back. When Meg walks in at the end of a school day. Gracie runs and throws her arms around her yelling Meeegggiiiieee. I need to get it on camera. Meg and Adin still struggle. I hope for a day when they can be closer. They are just at each others throats pretty much all the time. :( Meg is suuper into looking cute. She has to be just so with her makeup and doesn't like to go anywhere without it on. She requests certain hair styles and picks her outfits well in advance. She is still my best eater and will eat anything I eat and is very complimentary and thankful...except for maybe sloppy joes. She has the voice of an angel and I know that she will go somewhere with it. She has a knack for art and her art teacher at the middle school raves about her work and says she is one of the best students he's had in all his years of teaching. We've been very lucky to get her horseback riding lessons while we've been in Manti and her teacher said she was very natural and a great rider. She loves it and wishes we could own a horse. Unfortunately I don't think that's in the cards. :( I know you aren't supposed to be "friends" with your kids and that they need a parent. Hopefully right now we've got a good mix of both because she is such a dear friend to me as well as a daughter.

BubbaMan

Oh, this kid. He is such a fun personality. He is a passionate kid. I love that about him. He goes through stages where he is literally obsessed with things and as soon as one obsession passes something else takes its place. Right now he is obsessed with a game called minecraft. I'm about ready to toss the computer out the window. Ha!  He still loves to build and create things. Just yesterday he had me help him hand sew a jedi cloak for one of his stuffed animals. He has been collecting webkinz for the past year and always has one with him. He sneaks one into his backpack everyday. I would say that hopefully he doesn't get teased but I don't think he would care if he did. I am his scout leader right now. For some reason at scouts he gets really cuddly and wants to hang on me and sit by me. The boys started teasing him and he didn't care one bit. He reads his scriptures on his own without any prompting from me. He says the sweetest most thoughtful prayers. He isn't one to do a lot of repeating of common phrases. He really thinks through what our family needs and prays for that. Its really sweet. He's really smart with his schoolwork and picks up on new things easily. He's so much of a leader at school that sometimes he struggles when others want to lead as well. He is goofy as all get out and cracks us up all the time. He has a couple closer friends, Brian and Jared. He doesn't feel super attached to them though and is looking forward to a move. He told his primary teacher that he doesn't like Manti. She asked him why and he told her because it doesn't have a seagull book. Not sure where he comes up with this stuff. They sell webkinz for cheap at seagull book and he has commented that he doesn't  want to move anywhere where there isn't a seagull book but I didn't realize that counted for Manti. He fights like crazy with Meg but tells her he loves her every night. He often plays with Grace and is so patient and cute with her. She absolutely adores him. That's Adin in a nutshell. I love every stage with this kids and have a constant ache in my heart that they are growing up.

Snapshot of Gracie Goose at 2 and 10 months

This little spitfire of a girl is such a blessing in my life and I think that often. I feel so blessed to have her because I fought pretty hard to get her here. She is far and away harder than my other two toddlers. She is demanding all day long. My only reprieve is nap and bedtime. That's when I breathe a little deeper and try to relax. She is super attached to me. She needs to be in the same room as me all day long. Most often if I run upstairs to get dressed she follows. If I go to the bathroom, she follows and stands and waits. If I'm running on the treadmill she is walking circles around the treadmill. If I have to leave her with Meg or Brian, she notices within seconds of me leaving and throws massive tantrums. It's a combination of sweet and endearing and so frustrating sometimes. She's also super needy. She wants this princess dress, then another, she needs a cookie, she wants the ipad, she wants me to play. Most often I don't finish fulfilling one task before she asks for the next. It sounds horrible in writing, but it's what I signed up for and I love her and am so so grateful she is here and she is mine.

Now for as many little things that I can remember about this girl so I can more easily put myself back in this time.

She loves princess dresses. She rotates throughout the day but most often still likes her old worn snow white dress. That has to be worn to nap and bed and she will notice if it's not. She has so many cute clothes, but you rarely see them because she's covered in princess dresses.

She is way more interested in makeup at this age than meg was. She wants to sit on the counter and have me fake or lightly put makeup on her. Her favorite is lipstick. When she's done she just stares at herself in the mirror with such a look of admiration on her face.

She finally is talking more. She can say all our names. She calls us Bubba, Meggie, Mama, and Daddy. She's learning a lot of phrases and has gotten good at the words she needs to tattle like Bubba touch me.

She loves to cuddle on the lazy boy with daddy or mama and watch a show.

She still says the cutest prayers. She repeats the last word of our phrase and when we're done says Maaaaamen really loud and drug out and then claps her hands.

She's a fairly picky eater and is obsessed with all things sweet.

Her bedtime routine is absolutely ridiculous at this point. First she has to hid behind the couch with her bottle and either adin or meg and I dramatically ask the older kid if they've seen gracie. They say she went to pampa's house or outside or whatever. Then I spot her and say oh there she is. Then she has to flip through a star wars book that's behind the couch and says "i'm reading". Then she acts stuck and I have to pull her out. Then we have to give kisses to anyone home. Then we go upstairs where she plugs in her fan and her heater and turns out her light. Then she hides again in her toy cupboard with her blankie, cow, sophie pillow, and kitty (dressed as Cinderella to sleep). Then I shut the cabinet before her but she leaves her foot out so I tell her to move her foot which she does. Then I fully shut the cabinet and knock on it. Then I open it and say have you seen gracie. Then I pick her up and all of her required items and we rock in the chair while I read a farm animal touch a feel book and each item has to touch the pig page (cows turn, kitties turn, bottles turn etc). I also read her snow white book (all of this is in the dark by the way) and then she has to have me hold the book up close to her eyes on the last page. Then she lays down and we rock while she finishes her bottle and I hum amazing grace. Then when shes done we take turns brushing her teeth, then she teasingly drops her toothbrush which I have to retrieve then we sing a crazy voice version of amazing grace. Then I lay her down with her cow on one side and her kitty on the other and both blankets on. Then as I turn to leave she giggles and uncovers the cow from the blankets. I tell her no no let the cow sleep and cover him back up. Then she acts like shes getting up and I gently push her back down and tell her to go to sleep. Then alternating between high and low pitch I tell her I love her as I leave the room. Unbelievable!

Brian has her repeat " I Love.." and the plan is to have her say daddy but she gets a sly grin and fills in the blank with funny things like cereal or candy.

She will very occasionally give me a love and say I yuv you mommy. It's the sweetest ever.

That's about all I can come up with off the top of my head. I'll have to take notes and do another post when she turns three. Gah, I'm dreading that day. I can't believe it's coming. :(

December 2015 and a New Goal

I have been doing really well lately at doing the budget every Tuesday and it's become more habitual. One of my New Years Resolutions is to blog every Wednesday this year. It is purely to document the week and anything that happened or any tidbits I want to remember about the kids. My memory is terrible. I have trouble remembering details about Meg and Adin at Graces age. I have to use pictures to spur memories. I want to remember so much more than that. I can't go back and retrieve so many of those memories but my goal is to do better going forward. So, here is my first post of 2016.

 We got a tree permit this year, but ended up selling it. Brian and the kids bundled up one night (Grace was a disaster of tantrums) to go look for a tree...within 15 minutes they were back. They had started up the canyon and it was just a solid sheet of ice with drop offs on one side. That's not exactly the kind of place you want to lose control of your vehicle. We decided to just check out a Christmas tree lot in Mount Pleasant. We scoured through those trees and settled on a little short tree. It was just so perfectly shaped. It had no holes anywhere all around it and not a tree branch out of place. We've never had a more perfectly shaped tree. He was dubbed shorty by Meg and Adin and we put him up on cinder blocks. It was all ready to go within and hour. That's a little bit different from last years fiasco.

 December was filled with snow storms and Gracie loves the snow. She basically just loves to eat it. It's rare that a day goes by that she doesn't suit up to go outside.

 Brian took a break from a very intense couple months of preparing Doctoral School applications to build a snow fort with the kids. They will always remember stuff like that so I love it!! Grace claimed it as "her" house and wasn't very good at sharing.

 We all look forward to family Christmas parties. I didn't take any pictures at the Marchant Christmas party but it was a blast. The Droubay Christmas party was so fun but unbelievably crowded this year. The family is just getting so big. My kids look forward to this party second to Christmas so it's a big deal to them. Since we are 3 hours away it requires we make a longer trip of it, but it's still fun.

 This year we actually fit in gingerbread houses before Christmas. We always tease Brian because he takes it so seriously and it always involves a lot of cutting of crackers. He always deems his most recent house as the "best so far".  It's pretty cute and fun to tease him.

 Oh man, this is a memory to remember. We attempted our first time dressing up for the nativity reading. Gracie is just learning "mine" and a lot of our props were hers. She literally screamed at the top of her lungs the entire time I read the Nativity story from the scriptures.

 I adore Christmas. It is by far and away my favorite holiday. I love all the build up. I love getting to shop for and spend money on the kids. I love the little traditions we have. I love Christmas Eve. The family time makes the air thick with love and excitement. Most of all I love the actual day. The excitement of Christmas morning. The opening of gifts. Then I love just sitting around all day with nothing to do but just to be with my little family. They are my greatest joy and it's truly a magical day. 2016 Christmas didn't disappoint. I stayed in my jammies all day which must become a tradition.

 My favorite opening presents moment. The older two were so excited to give each other their gifts and give Gracie what they got her. Adin got her snow white shoes and Meg got her a sophia doll. It was so fun to watch her reaction but also watch their faces as they watcher her open it.Notice Adin in the above picture. I just loved it. I want to bottle those moments up and relive them over and over.

Meg and Adin gave us sweet presents too. Adin gave me a coupon book and Brian a candy card. Meg watercolored me a tree painting and learned Silent Night on the guitar for Brian. It was super sweet and thoughtful of her.

I'm excited to keep a better record of 2016. Barring any major catastrophes we have some super exciting changes this year that I'm really excited for. :)