Comparison pics

Megan at 16 months, pointing to her nose, loving the new game of "where's your (insert body part here)?"

Kendra, 16 months old, laughing at loud at nothing in particular, cuz well, that's what she does. I was so happy to remember I had taken a pic of Megan in the same outfit at the same age to compare so we had to do pigtails too, and I think Kendra's hair is a bit longer at this age than Megan's.
They both pale in comparison to the length of Mikayla's hair at this age! Look at that mop!

I even tried baby french braids on her! Kendra has nowhere near enough hair to french braid. Crazy how two kids-or 3 for that matter- can all be so different!

TROUBLE, this one is

I put Kendra down for a nap the other day, only instead of the soft whispering snore, I hear giggles, which turn to crying, which turn to mad shrieks. I went in to see what the ruckus was about and much to my horror-- Kendra had pulled off her pants, socks, and diaper. She had spread the poo from said diaper on every sheet, blanket, and article of clothing in the crib and walked around in the stuff. I. was. horrified.

We had to leave to pick Megan up for school in less than 15 minutes, so into the bath she went and into the laundry went the mound of soiled cotton comforts. All cleaned up, made it to school, got Megan, grabbed some essential groceries on the way home and as we came in through the front door, I put the groceries down and dashed to the garage to put all the once very soiled laundry in the dryer. I came out of the garage to find this...

Kendra masterfully oppened the box of margarine and was squishing and devouring a cube in each hand! Trouble I tell you! She is into EVERYthing. If I don't put my purse up high, the contents of my wallet and other personal items will be strewn around the house never to be seen again. If the bathroom door is open, who knows what she will stuff down the toilet. If a bedroom door is left open, well, I hope you haven't left any toys out, because they will, without a doubt, be destroyed.

For the record, even though she is riding the bottom of the height/weight chart and is rockin her 12 and even 9 month clothes, I decided to forego the clogged arteries of a 15 month old and did not let her consume the sticks of calorie-laden butter aforementioned.

It's a good thing she's cute.

Valentine Cuties

Lil Heartbreaker all ready for church

Couldn't help but give hugs and kisses to that cute face!

Mikayla really wanted some cool valentines to pass out to her friends at school. I saw this idea over at eighteen25's blog and loved it! We immediately went outside to take a picture, typed "Hope you have a SWEET Valentine's Day! Love, Mikayla" on it and uploaded it to WalMart. We picked up the pics that night and added the suckers the next day. She was sooo excited to hand these out at school to all her friends.

They were quite a hit and she's already looking for ideas for next year's valentines.

It was windy and cold! But she wore her Valentine's shirt, hat with hearts, and sweater with hearts. Can't let a holiday go by without dressing the part.

Megan wore her valentiney clothes too and she loved going up in front of the class to show off her clothes. Megan loves any chance she can get to be up in front of the class sharing something or helping with a song or having a chance to talk with her teacher. She loves preschool!

Cookie decorating time means frosting licking time for Megan.

She took the valentine box stuffing very seriously.

I got to help out in Mikayla's class with her party as well and she had a blast reading each card and who they were each from.

We had a special dinner that night at home with some almost in bloom tulips, which are absolutely gorgeous now!

I made a copycat version of Macaroni Grill's "Penne Rustica." It's my favorite dish there and though it was time intensive, it was delish! It involved a cream sauce with chopped rosemary, marsala wine, garlic, and cream that had to be reduced--first off, never done any of this before. Surprisingly, after making the sauce and adding the shrimp, chicken, pancetta, and parmesan, it baked in the oven and was quite a fabulous meal!

The girls loved it, though they probably loved their Martinelli's a little more. Our Valentine's Day was filled with fun and love and I have to admit, I'm sad to be putting away the red and pink decorations and having an excuse to put hearts on everything. Truly a fun decorating holiday!

Daddy Daughter Dance

Mikayla had so much fun going to the dance at school with her daddy. They went to dinner beforehand with another dad and daughter at Applebee's. Then it was off to the school gym for some YMCA and Justin Bieber tunes! They had a blast together and Mikayla has been looking forward to the daddy-daughter dance since last year!

A Small Victory

... picture this...

It's Sunday night and Trent is out working. Dinnertime with the kiddos by myself and the arduous task of coercing all 3 into proper nighttime-wear and into their respective beds. Awesome.

My face is slowly swelling up from a nasty mosquitoe bite under my right eyelid. I can't take Benadryl yet for it since I need to be alert until my children are in bed. Something about sleeping while they run rampant through the house just doesn't sit well with me...

So, I start cleaning up dishes from dinner and detach Kendra from her sticky, spaghetti-laden high chair. I clean the mess off of her face to the best of my ability without giving a full bath knowing the sauce is stuck for awhile in her hair and ears and hear, "Uh-oh Mom...I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." I turn around quickly to see Megan has opened the fridge and knocked several eggs out of their carton and she is standing in a puddle of nasty-yolkiness. Why she had eggs, I'll ever know. I survey the damage and begin cleaning up. She tiptoes to the sink, smearing yolky slime all over my floor and the kitchen stool. The newly cleaned Kendra, is no more, as she traipses through the mess coating her hands and feet and squealing with delight.

Back to the sink for her since salmonella sounds dreadful right about now and I realize that Mikayla is grating a large carrot for a healthy snack. Nice choice for a snack, but now I have carrot shavings all over my sink, countertops, floor, and somehow, window. I begin cleaning that up, then remember the eggs on the ground. I order the kids out of the kitchen and hear the unpleasant, but all too familiar sound of Kendra dumping an entire bag of Cheerios on the nasty kitchen floor.

Not too bad. This can be cleaned up too. I won't lose my cool. I won't lose my cool.... Great. What is that? Headlights next door? Awesome. I get to go show the rental house behind me to someone without an appointment. I get to go in my puffy-cheeked, yolky feet, wet shirt glory with a wet, spaghetti-haired baby with cereal down her shirt. Again, just awesome.

Thankfully, house got shown, kids got clean, floor got mopped. The real victory here? That I didn't lose my cool. At one point, I actually laughed! Having 3 kids is definitely not easy. Having 3 kids is not always fun and smiling pictures. Having 3 kids is hard work. Having a night like that and not screaming at said children is a victory in my book. I'm not perfect, but I'm trying to be just a little better each day.

Oh my. What's that? One crying from her bed, another pooped out of her diaper and the other is smearing toothpaste on the bathroom mirror? Just awesome I tell you.

Kendra at 15 months

is a ball of energy! Holy mackeral this girl is on the go! We came back from Canada at Christmastime and she began walking, then running, and isn't showing any signs of slowing down anytime soon! She climbs everything: chairs, tables, benches, beds, in drawers, inside the fridge, couches, coffee tables, ay, ay, ay.... She is active and curious and thus has a purple bruise somewhere on her face almost everyday now. She has 6 teeth and swollen gums. On that note, Mikayla lost another tooth! The poor girl has huge gaps in her mouth and the others don't show any sign of coming in soon. Oh yeah, one more is quite wiggly too. Awesome.

I thought this was cute. Megan made a bed for her baby right next to herself in our bed the other night.

Kendra has taken to babies lately too. She carries one around everywhere, cradling her, kissing her head, wrapping her in a blanket. She sure doesn't try to say much, but we can tell she's understanding the world more and more by how she interacts with us and her toys.

Elder Carr

For the next two years, Dusty has a new name: Elder Carr. He is in the MTC now and loves it! You can follow his experiences on his mission through a blog my parents and I are doing for him with his letters home at http://eldercarr.blogspot.com/

We were glad to be able to go to Chico for his farewell talk at church. He spoke on faith and how it sustains us during trials in our life and how our faith is strengthened through exercising it in times of need. A great topic to hear and I was again impressed by his public speaking ability.

Dusty and his cousin Jacob

Dusty and his favorite sister

Grandma and Grandpa Brown

We grew very close to Dusty last year when he lived with us for almost 6 months between his semesters at school. He was such a great help to me with Trent working late and in school. He loved babysitting the girls and I truly appreciated all the help he gave. We all said a tearful goodbye to Dusty as we left Chico knowing it'll be 2 more years till we see him again. We wish him the best of luck on his mission and look forward to sending and receiving letters. We are so proud of Dusty and his decision to serve the Lord and know the people of Tampico, Mexico will be grateful for his service as well.

One final request for a mom-made dessert, and it was a good one! Brownie Delight: layers of gooey brownie chunks with whipped cream, toffee bar pieces and chocolate sauce all in an apetizing trifle bowl. OH yeah... good stuff...

Kung-Fu Jammies

Mikayla was excited to wear some pajamas of mine from Japan that I got when we went there when I was 7.

She calls them her kung-fu jammies. She and Megan were practicing their moves. Don't you love Megan's mismatched, too-big, crazy lookin' jammies?!

Kendra was watching....

and then showed us some moves of her own! Hi-yah!

just because... :)

Mommy Daughter Date

Dad usually takes each girl once a month on a daddy/daughter date. Well, I decided it was my turn! I found a groupon online for 2 for the price of 1 ice skating and since Mikayla has been asking to go forever, decided we would give it a try. I thought for sure we would go and she would hang onto the wall the whole time or cling to my arm until I got pulled down to the sheet of ice below. I was wrong. She did an amazing job for her first time ever on ice skates! I was quite impressed and we had so much fun together! We skated next to each other, holding hands and talking, and went to the middle of the rink to spin together as well. I can't wait till the rink opens up again next year!

check her out! remember, it's her FIRST time!

and oh yeah, it's okay to be impressed by my mad skills. Would've been cooler if I had more speed, but I got a little camera-shy and held back. One semester of ice skating in college 10 years ago and I can still work a spin. Too nervous to do any jumps or scratch spins, but for a mom of 3, I'll take what I can get!

2011 Here We Come!

We had a fun family party for New Years Eve at a friends home. Each family came prepared with a performance. We entertained with a wet and wild version of "Splish Splash!" Trent did the lip synching and the ladies did the dancing.

We only practiced at home once before!

We like to perform can you tell?

The Christensen's also did a dance and lip synch number.

The Garrard's and Kanzler's did a magic act. We're talking tricks of all kinds--rabbits out of hats and turning a boy's head around 360 degrees! Impressive stuff.

The Stephensen family led us in 7 verses of "She'll be coming round the mountain" and all the kids got to accompany us with musical instruments--quite the din.

Then, the real fun began! It was our first time to play Rock Band, and we had a blast!

Trent, of course, loved the singing the most.

The ladies then worked up a sweat with Wii's "Just Dance." A must-have! It was so much fun!

The hubbies then tried to beat our score, but let's be honest--we looked better doing it!

During a round of dancing, someone noticed it was 2 minutes till midnight! We dropped the controllers, grabbed the kids and the sparklers and headed outside. We came in from the chilly midnight air for some sparkling cider and then headed home. We had such a blast and I still cannot believe the girls made it til midnight! We left Kendra at home with Grandpa so she could get her beauty sleep, but this is the first time we've let the girls stay up to ring in the New Year. And we rang it in loudly and with great company.