We went to the benefit for Nate and his family on the 17th. Lots of Nate's family were there as they were also having a birthday party for their grandma, I believe on Ulene's side. It was really nice- there was a good turnout. They obviously have a lot of people who care about them, as evidenced by all the volunteers present. The kids had a lot of fun at the "carnival"... face painting, jumping houses, "train" rides, and "fishing" booth. They also loved going down by the stage with Daddy and dancing around while listening to Peter Breinholt and his band. They were very relaxed and at ease with the crowd, so it was a fun show. My friend Sarah, who lives in Eagle Mountain, came and we had a good chat- it was fun to see her.

Adventures in Parenting

It seems as though Macy is trying to make up for being an almost angelic two-year-old. The terrible twos have finally caught up with us. In the last 2.5 weeks, she has written all over everything with a permanent marker (practicing writing her name); smeared lotion all over her bedroom wall, bedspread, and carpet (to help it smell good!); helped to demolish my mother's flower bed (just making soup!); and poured half a bottle of nail polish remover on the bathroom carpet (on accident, of course). And, to top it off, when we try to discipline her by taking away privileges, she throws gargantuan temper tantrums. HMMM... I guess I had it coming some day. I thought she was old enough to have a little free time to "play" during the day while I'm blogging/checking email or in the shower, but I guess I'm going to have to keep a closer eye on her.

The latest adventure was yesterday. Macy's hair was in a braid, and I noticed that right under the ponytail, half of her hair was missing. It was short on the left side of her head and long on the right. I should have taken a pic then, but I was too flabbergasted that she had actually cut her hair to think about it. So, today, here are the pics. And we're leaving for a real hair cut in a little bit.

She also trimmed up My Little Pony's hair a bit, but not enough to notice in a picture. I think she also cut off the sleeve of one of her shirts right at the hem line by her wrist, but she keeps telling me she didn't do that. It's missing, so someone cut it off. But how could you be mad at a face like this? (Check out the diva Princess shoes, too.)

I really wasn't mad, just overwhelmed at what's going on. Mom and Robert said I need to take into account all the changes that have been happening in Macy's life and give her some slack, so I'm trying. I'm also trying to find a balance between that and teaching her to make better choices. There has been a whole lot of not listening or following directions going on with ALL the kids lately, and that has been really frustrating too. So, I guess the lesson is that life happens, sometimes kids make good choices, and sometimes parents have to learn how to deal with the bad choices. And no matter what, we're all here to learn and grow and help each other. So, I hope this blog helps you to avoid some of the pitfalls... or if you have any ideas to help me out, I'd love to hear them!

By the way, Macy has also been doing some good things, like helping around the house with chores, working hard on violin practice, and learning to read. On Tuesday she read her very first book all by herself. So, at least she's balancing the good with the bad. Here's to the next Adventure... hopefully a LONG time from now!

Robert's Cousin

On April 1, 2008, Robert's cousin Nate lost his wife and the child she was carrying. There is a benefit this Saturday for anyone who can attend, in Eagle Mountain, Utah. You can also donate money to their memory fund if you can't make it. Here is the link to the memorial blog for Jenni Pemberton.

Nate and I also went to high school together, so here's a shout-out to all you Bingham Miners that want to support Nate. See you there!

Happy Mother's Day!

We had a fun day with the kids on Saturday. I took them to our ward Primary Activity- Moms & Muffins. They made me flower leis, and we ate muffins and had our pictures taken. Next we played at the park for a little bit.


When we got home, they helped do chores to pay for new flowers for Gma Michelle. Last weekend Kaleb, Elise, and Macy decided to pull a bunch of leaves off of the hyacinth flowers in my mom's front flower bed and throw them in her mini fountain/pond to make "soup". We were very disappointed and sad that they did this. So, their punishment was to clean the house and then help plant the new flowers we bought.

After I went to a baby shower for my friend Nisha, we went over to Gma's house and planted the flowers. We're hoping that they still look good when she gets home from California today- hoping it will be a nice surprise for her.

Nellie came over for dinner on Saturday night. On Sunday morning, Robert made a huge, lovely breakfast... chocolate chip pancakes, eggs, and hash browns. It was delicious, and so nice not to have to cook! The kids went back to their mom's at 11:30. In church, Macy was so cute singing the Mother's Day songs with the Primary. I forgot to remove the gum from her mouth, though, so she was chomping on it almost the whole time on stage. But she kept looking at me and giving me the sweetest smile when she sang "Mother Dear, I love you so!", it brought tears to my eyes.

Robert gave me a beautiful flower pot to hang in the front of our house, and some gorgeous princess cut CZ/White gold earrings. He's such a sweetie, and I appreciate all he does for me!


Nick and Brandon, and Janelle and her friend Ross came for dinner Sunday night. He's a really nice guy. That was lots of fun too. I heard from mom that the boys were happy that I cooked dinner for them- since Jen (Nick's wife) is out of town, and Mom and Dad were too! So, that made me feel good. We enjoyed having everyone over.

Yay for "Mis-treatments"!

Thanks to The Nester for the ideas! This is my feeble attempt. I think I might need to add more fringe to the bottom of the fabric. But it's better than nothing, and it only took me a total of maybe 15 minutes to do all this! As you can see, I tacked the fabric right into the walls, and guess what? I hot glued the fringe on. :) Curtains without sewing. How great is that?

Here are the pics. You can click on the button on the right side of my page to see more of The Nester's fun ideas. Please let me know if anyone has any ideas on how to make it better! :)

Mr. Clean!

Hallelujah! Mr. Clean to the rescue! The "magic eraser" pads REALLY work! The Sharpie Marker Macy used to tag her bedroom and the bathroom (see post below) came RIGHT out of the toilet and the pink tile wall.
It's coming out of the bathtub and everywhere else too, but I'm going to have to enlist Rob's elbow grease when he gets home. It works, but it takes a lot of scrubbing power. I'm just so thankful it's coming out! Now we don't have to completely remodel the bathroom before we move out. :) I think Macy's punishment is going to be to pay for the Magic Eraser (which, lucky for her wasn't much), and to clean the bathroom two or three times.

Style

On Tuesday, Macy decided to do a little re-decorating for us. What a lovely gesture. I don't know where she came up with the idea, but it must be one of those kid-things. You know... the ones where parents scratch their heads and question, "Whatever possessed my normally-good-choice-making child to do such a thing?" Must have been because I was checking my email instead of watching her every move. I guess the good side is that we got to have a talk about when you're doing something that gives you a bad feeling, ie: "I'm scared this is going to get me in trouble", that's the Holy Ghost telling you to stop doing it. The pictures are worth a thousand words. Still haven't found anything that will remove the permanent marker that she used, but I'll let you know when/if I do! (And the "great" thing is, we're renting this house...) Maybe she has been seeing all the "tagging" around town and decided to try a little of her own. She also tried to write Elise's name a few times. But, writing your name on the toilet? Who does that? lol