At last, an update!!

We finally got internet again!!!!  I've missed reading everyone's blogs so much!!  I feel like I never know what's going on anymore.  But now I get to read up on what everyone has been up to and get myself back into the loop :) So now, to update my blog.... Well, we've had another kid since I last posted :p Aleena is now 6 and we're home schooling.  Ethan is 4 and 1/2, Maya will be 3 on Monday and today is Jamie's first birthday!!  We're having a joint birthday party tomorrow for Maya and Jamie.  Alright, so for the fun stuff.  Yesterday, we were in the car and Aleena and Maya were both singing their own versions of songs.  Aleena was singing This Old Man and singing, instead of give a dog a bone, give a dog away.  My favorite song that Maya sings is Jesus Once Was A Little Child, in which she use to sing, "and he was bored and weak a wild as a little child should be" and then last night she added to it with the second verse, instead of singing he played as little children play the pleasant games of youth. but he never got vexed if a game went wrong... she sang "he never got punched if a game went wrong".  Out of the mouths of babes...

As I said earlier, we're home schooling.  Aleena is mostly in second grade curriculum, a little bit of third grade mixed in there as well.  Ethan is officially starting kindergarten this year, doing really well with letters and numbers and learning to write them as well.  Maya's a goof, and also learning her letters and numbers.  She had eye surgery when she was about 10 months old cause her eyes were crossed.  I recently took her to the doctor for a check up because one eye was starting to get a bit crossed again and it turns out she needs glasses, which we'll get just as soon as we can find some small enough.  I never would have thought it'd be so hard to find glasses her size!!  We've looked at, I think, 7 different places!  It's getting a little frustrating, but I think we might just have to get her some that are just a tiny bit too big.  They still look cute though :)

In exactly 19 days James and I will be leaving for France to visit my in-laws!!  We went last year for 10 days and it was absolutely AMAZING!!  After our visit, they moved into a new house, which is a very old French style home (can't wait to see it!!) that needed a bit of updating.  It had been vacant for over 3 years, so my in-laws have been working hard to get it all the way they want it.  My dear mother-in-law, Sherry, called us a few weeks ago and asked how we'd feel about coming for a visit and having James stay a bit longer and finishing the house for them.  Are you kidding?  OF COURSE!!!  James is pretty dang excited to get to work on their house, AND we get to come visit!!!  I can't even begin to express how excited we both are!!!  One of the coolest chicks in the world, Julia Willis, is gonna stay with our little munchkins.  THANK YOU JULIA!!!!  I'm gonna miss my kiddos!  We got internet though, so at least we'll be able to skype :D

Well, time to get the little ones down for naps, so... I hope I still have blog buddies!!!!  I know it's been a while.  Anyway, ta ta for now!!

Lawn Mowing

A couple nights ago I was in the kids' room with them cleaning up toys before they went to bed. I was putting Mulan's jacket on and Aleena said, "Mom, she doesn't weally need that on."
Me: "Well, actually she does, cause without it she's not modest."
Aleena: "It's okay, she's just the lawn mowing giwl."
Me: "Uh, the what?"
Aleena: "She's the lawn mowing giwl. Hew name is Mow-lawn."

Then yesterday, Grandpa took the kids outside while he was picking sage leaves.
Aleena: "What aw you doing Gwampa?"
Gwampa: "I'm picking sage."
Aleena: "I'd like to help."
Gwampa: "Well, you don't know how."
Aleena: "I beg to diffew."

Innocense

Aleena: "I'm gonna have 10 kids."
Mom: "Really?"
Aleena: "Yeah, and I'm gonna marry some of their dads."
Gramma: "Let's not go there."
Aleena: "Oh, I AM gonna go there... and Ethan's not gonna marry anything."

We Moved!

We are officially living with my parents! If everything goes as planned, which I plan on happening, we'll be staying here permanently. We moved in last Tuesday. We're still trying to get things arranged, naturally. It'll take a while I'm sure cause we're also doing some remodeling in the process, so we'll be moving things around quite a bit for quite a while I'm sure. My children are even more excited to be here than we are!! Every kids' dream, to get to live with their Gwamma and Gwampa!

Dogs...

Aleena informed me that we're getting dogs. She's got it all planned out. She'll have a pink one named Eliba, I'll have a red one named Esabba, Ethan will have a blue one named Fajis, and Daddy will have a black one and a brown one named Ehine and Ebine.

Pee, Mold, and Hair Gel

Boys are disgusting. When Ethan goes potty, I give him a little bit of tp to dab himself dry so there's not a pee streak on the toilet seat. He reached too far back when he was wiping and it got on his hand... so he licked it. I had some baby food sitting on the table next to my purse so I wouldn't forget to take it to the store to exchange it. There was mold on it... so he licked it. I was fixing Ethan's hair with gel. Every time I do he points at it and says "Bandon!!" He thinks it looks like his Uncle Brandon's hair. He rubbed his hand it his hair and got gel all over his hand... so he licked it. Is every boy just as gross as the next?

Aleena was watching "Mary Poppins" today, or as she calls her, "Maiwy Puffins". There's a preview of Pinocchio at the beginning of it and Aleena said, "Mom! I wanna watch Okie Dokie!!"

Maya is getting so big! She's sitting up really well now and she rolls like crazy. She hasn't gotten up on her hands and knees yet, which is kinda nice... :) I've already got 2 hooligans getting into everything, I'm okay with Maya not crawling yet. She's such a sweetheart. It's so easy to get her to smile and she laughs all the time. She's a wonderful, happy baby. We're very relieved to have her as our third baby after having Ethan. He's adorable and fun, but boy is he a challenge!

Story of the Day by Aleena May

While Aleena was eating her breakfast she said, "Hey, Mom, I have a stowy fow ya." She informed me that it was called "The End of the Crocodile". Then she proceeded as follows:

The two boys wew wunning and the cwocodile gave one boy a booboo. And that's not nice. And then the cwocodile put the boys in a cage. And then I went ovew to theiw house and then I told them, the thwee monstows and thwee cwocodiles, to not give the boy a booboo. And then the monstows went ovew to the boys' house and I told them to get out. Not the boys ow the gowls, just the monstows and the cwocodiles. Then I said, "WHO aw YOU!!" So then they wew talking nice. Then the gowls and the boys wew fine and I talked to the monstows and the cwocodiles fow a little bit and then I said, 'Shew shew!" Then evwyone was fine."

Not a bad story for a 3-year-old eh? And that's all directly from her mouth. I didn't modify. Just wanted to make sure that was totally clear. :)

Three Year Old Innocence

I've been teaching Aleena the sounds letters make and she's been learing how to spell each of our names. A couple days ago she said to me, "Hey, Mom, I have and A, Ethan has an a, Daddy has an a, Maya has an a, and you have an a!!" I said, "Well, all of you have a's, but I don't have any a's in my name." Sadly she replied, "Aw, but I want you to have an a... OH! I know! I'll give you my a's!! I have 2 of them!" She's known how to spell my name for a while now, and since she made me that offer, she's been spelling my name K-a-e-l-l-a-i, because afterall, she did share her a's with me.

I was watching cartoons with Aleena yesterday and the nursery rhyme character "Mary Mary Quite Contrary" made her appearance on Sesame Street. Living up to her name, she argued with everything anybody said. My mom and I were comparing Aleena to Mary Mary, because Aleena pretty much knows everything in the world and, in her opinion, basically everything that comes out of my mouth is wrong. Today she wanted to watch the "D&C and Church History" video.... yeah, she's weird.... anyway at the beginning of a segment there was a scripture and she asked me what it said, so I read it to her and she said, "That's not what it says, Mom."
Me: "Okay, Mary Mary Quite Contrary."
Aleena: "No, Mom, she's fwom Sesame Stweet."
Me: "I know, but you are quite contrary."
Aleena: "No I'm not."
Me: "You don't even know what contrary means."
Aleena: "Yes I do."
Me: "Contrary means you argue with everything."
Aleena: "No it doesn't."
Me: "And you argue with everything I say."
Aleena: "No I don't."
Me: "Therefore, you are contrary."
Aleena: "No I'm not."

Good grief. I thought kids were supposed to be humble and teachable!!! Silly girl...

I actually did it!!

Aleena has been begging me to cut her hair since I cut mine, which was about 5 months ago. Then recently, James has been telling me over and over that I should cut it... I caved in!! I have to say, I think it turned out pretty dang cute, although I am missing her long gorgeous hair. :( Here are the "before" pictures (next 2) Btw, I cut off 10 inches!!!!! We'll be donating that...

















And here are the "after" pictures! What do you think?

I'm happy to report that Aleena absolutely loves it! She likes to flip it around a lot.

Silly girl.

I also have to point out that this is the first girl's styled haircut I've ever done! Not too shabby, eh?

Fun Family Moments

Happy Birthday to Ethan!! He's 2 years old now!!! Oops, sorry, forgot to rotate the cake picture and now I don't know how :P If you just tilt your head a little to the left...

Someone REALLY enjoyed his birthday cake!!

Little Miss Maya loves giving her daddy kisses. She adores him! I can't say I blame her...

Kids ALWAYS have to wear their parents shoes :D

Here's one for you Uncle Scott!

We had fun making crowns with the kids. When James put his on, Aleena said, "Oh, how cute, Daddy! You look like a Pwincess!!"

Pictures!!

The first three are within her first week. The others are up to date. Mostly just kids being silly. 1. They used up all the stickers so they thought it'd be a good idea to wear the sticker part that was around the real stickers.

2. Aleena had a skirt on so Ethan decided he needed one on too.

3. Reading Pooh together.

4. Ethan turned my stereo on and they brought their chairs in and were chillin.

And the rest, just goofin around.

Of all the discusting...

I was cleaning the kitchen this morning and in the middle of rinsing off the dishes before putting them in the dishwasher (what a wonderful invention btw) the garbage disposal decided to stop working. I figured it was just clogged, but I wasn't even about to put my hand down there. A few ingredients that were in the sink are as follows: raw chicken, fish, cabbage, bread (Ethan trying to help clean), and a few other things. As the dishwasher was going this sink filled up, which I didn't realize for a while cause I wasn't in the kitchen anymore. It was getting a little stinky, then I thought maybe I should go check on it. The sink was filled to the top with quite revolting, brown, chunky water. So I stopped the dishwasher, scooped some of the water up a few times with a huge bowl and threw it in the backyard so it wasn't overflowing anymore. After lunch Aleena put her dishes in the sink and was taking a little longer than she should have.... yeah, she dipped a cup into it and DRANK IT!!!!! I was gagging so hard!! WHY DO KIDS SO SUCH NASTY THINGS!?! It's amazing that some children live through such stages of life... like when Ethan ate his poop...

She's a thinker...

Something that my kids like to do that I really don't like is that they suck water out of their sippies, spit it into lock blocks, and then drink it... nasty. So this morning Aleena was doing that (while hiding out in her room cause they're not supposed to) and she spilled water all down the front of her shirt. She came into the kitchen whining cause her shirt was all wet. I asked her if she was spitting out her water again and she's like, "Uh... no... I.......... I think Ethan did it. And he was weawing my clothes!! Yeah, he was weawing my clothes and spitting out watow and he got my clothes all wet!!" Perfect "no lying" lesson opportunity right? Yeah, not so much for her, she just argues with whatever I have to say about ANYTHING. Then an hour or so later I said to the kids, "You guys know I love you right?" In a silly voice Aleena said, "No..."
Me: "Well I do. I love you lots and lots."
Aleena: "Jesus wants us to, huh?"
Me: "Yes, he wants us to love each other, and to be happy, and be good, and to ALWAYS tell the truth!"
Aleena: "And he wants us to dance?"
Me: "Sure, yeah, he wants us to dance..."
Aleena: "Then we can put ouw jammies on and you can tuwn ouw house into a dance! But that wouldn't be good."

Yeah, I don't know where that girls comes up with some of the things she says. I think she's a little kookie. She makes me laugh a lot.

Her mouth just keeps on runnin...

Aleena has been talking nonstop since she's been awake this morning!! I just have to post what she's been saying. She was putting on her Sunday shoes (they have a little heal on them... so cute!) and I told her I didn't really want her to play with them cause they're just to wear to church. Here's her response:
"Then I can weaw them to chuwch on Sunday with my tights with my dwess with the dots with my shuwt?" (polkadotted spaghetti strap dress that she wears a shirt under)
Me: "Yep."
Aleena: "Oh, okay. That would be nice. Yow a good fwend!"
She then set her shoes down and Ethan came along to pilfer them and try to put them on. Then she said: "Hey! Those shoes aow not fow boys to weaw! Boys do not weaw tights or high heals! Mom, he's weawing my shoes and he's being weawly fweakin naughty!"
And then she went on to inform me that she wants to take a "reading adventure".

Where does this stuff come from?

James and I took a little vacation last weekend and went to my parents house. The kids and I were particularly needing out of the house. At church on Sunday was the Primary Program in Carthage. Aleena was talking to my dad and said, "The kids just keep singing over and over again! What's that all about? I don't think they're going to stop!"
My dad replied, "Do you want to go up and sing with them?"
Aleena: "Well, I don't know the words to this song... so no, I don't want to sing."

She's such a smarty pants.

Ethan is doing okay with the potty training. Not great, but good. If I keep a close eye on the clock and take him every hour he doesn't have any pee pee accidents, but he still would rather poo in his pants than in the toilet. What's with my kids being so freaked out at the though of pooping on the toilet!? I personally don't think it's a scary thing to do.

So, James and I are really excited for "New Moon" to come out!! The only problem is that WE DON'T HAVE A BABYSITTER ANYMORE!!! Nancyann, you're too stinkin busy! Of course, if you would like to make a few extra bucks and watch our kids just one more time before you leave, that would be awesome! ;) Your mom told me your play is over on the 21st, and that's about when we'd be needing a sitter.... just thought I'd throw that idea your way. Let me know if you want to :)

Maya is a wonderful baby, but we really need to get her out of our room!! James and I don't sleep very well cause the sweet little angel snores!! At least she's a good sleeper though, huh?

Making cookies

The other day I was making cookies and Aleena asked if we could watch a movie together and eat cookies. I told her that would be fine but we'll have to wait till the cookies are done. She said, "Yeah, and I can have a GWEAT BIG cookie, like THIS big!!!" (she opened her arms out wide to a big circle)
Me: "Well, I don't think I can give you a cookie that big."
Aleena: "Why not?"
Me: "Because that would make you sick."
Aleena: "OH!! Then I can go to the doctow, and I can feel bettow, and then I can have ANOTHOW gweat big cookie!!!"

What a dear child! She always has the perfect solution for everything :P

So last week on Tuesday and Wednesday I told Ethan over and over again throughout the day that his diapers were almost gone and that he was gonna wear big boy underwear and go pee and poo on the toilet. Then Thursday... dun dun dun... the adventure began. We had lots of accidents Thursday, which I had totally mentally prepared myself for btw, and each time he did I said, "Uh oh, we can't pee in our big boy underwear. We need to do that in the toilet now," and he'd sit on the toilet for a little bit each time. Friday, we had a couple accidents, and since then we haven't had any pee pee accidents!! He's gone poo on the toilet a couple times but hasn't quite mastered that part yet. We're so proud of him!!! He's doing a great job!! YEAH!!!!!

And as for our dear little Maya, she's just as sweet as can be! She's got a pretty good schedule during the day. She goes to bed for the night between 7 and 7:30 and doesn't wake up to eat usually until 4ish. She's 2 and 1/2 months old now... I know I know, I still haven't gotten any pictures up. We're having camera/scanner issues. Hopefully we'll get it all figured out soon though.

So, being the mother of 3 is a ton of fun and extremely busy most of the time. I really miss blogging but I'll do by best to do it more often. And I've also read a few of your blogs today trying to get caught up :D Anyway, love you all!!

Our Newest Arival!!

We've had a baby, shout hooray!! Maya Renea Lopez was born last Thursday, August 20th at 1:14 PM. She was 8 lbs 1 oz and 21 inches long. She's a beauty!! She's got lot's of black hair and she's full of smiles already! Sorry I don't have any pictures on, but I'll get them on just as soon as I figure out how :P So far she's been about as perfect as a baby can be!! She's been sleeping 5 or 6 hours at night, eating, then sleeping for 4 or 5 more!! It's been wonderful!! She's also very talented at pooping as we change her diaper. Happens almost every single time. Anyway, I'll get some pictures up soon, don't worry!!

Yesterday we were driving around (all needed out of the house) and James and I got us some food. Ethan and Aleena had just eaten so we were just sharing fries with them. Two seconds after I would give them fries they'd both start repeating "more, more" like the seagulls on Finding Nemo "mine, mine"... Yeah that gets old REAL quick. James said, "Oh my gosh! Kids, just be quiet!!" And our dear Aleena's response was, "Hey, I'm not a kid! I'm 3 yews ode!! Just leave me alone!!" The rest of the way home Ethan just kept saying, "Dude!!" over and over again.

This morning I was getting breakfast for the kids and I THOUGHT they were both in their seats waiting for it. Then Aleena said, "Hey Mom, I'm holding Maya!!" Talk about a near death by heart attack experience!! I ran into the livingroom and, I'm not really sure how, Aleena was walking around with Maya cradled in her arms!!! AAAHHHH!!!!!! As soon as I had Maya out of Aleena's arms, Aleena started sobbing, "I just wanna hold my sistow!! I wanna hold Maya Wenay!!" Ethan and Aleena are both very good siblings to Maya and they want to hold her and help any way they can.

What's Said Isn't Always What's Heard

The other day, I was in the bathroom getting ready for work. Ethan's not allowed in the bathroom, and he knows it. We have a gate up in the back of the hallway and he came and pushed it down, said, "Uh oh," and the came into the bathroom and stomped his feet and laughed. I told him to get out and Aleena's like, "What's wrong, Mommy?"
Me- "Ethan's being a pill."
Aleena- "He's being a pillow?"
Me- "No, he's being a pill, a stinker. He's being naughty."
Aleena- "He's being a pillow, and stinker, and he needs to go potty?"
Then she laughed. She knew that wasn't really what I had said. I must say though, I do think that was quite clever of her. She's so dang hilarious!

Speaking of Clever... on the 29th and 30th we're moving to a duplex in Clever. It's about 10 minutes away from where we are right now. We'll be next door neighbors with Brandon and Lauren!! We're very excited to move there cause we'll have a LOT more room. The apartment we're in right now has absolutely no storage space. Our duplex has a garage, and attic, drawers in the bathroom (yeah we don't have any here), and a walk-in closet in our room. We'll get to put a lot of stuff in the garage instead of stacked up in the bedrooms or hallway. And we've made a couple purchases lately for decorating stuff. Our couch was really ugly so we got a cover for it and it looks a million times better!! We bought a rug for the livingroom, which looks quite nice with the couch cover. And we're either going to buy a cedar chest for the kids' toys or James is going to make one, haven't decided yet. And depending on what kind of deal we can find we might buy a cute rug for the kids' room too. Okay, I think I'm done with my random babbling for this post. :)

Long Time, No Post

Don't worry, I'm still alive. :) So, about that last post I made, it's a girl for those of you who haven't heard yet. Her name is Maya Renee Lopez and she's due to come August 26th. She moves around ALL the time and doesn't like to have her heart rate checked. At the last appointment I had, when the nurse was trying to get her heart rate, Maya kept kicking the monitor and moving away. It was interesting.

So I'm sure you're all ready to hear some fun Aleena and Ethan stories. Well, I have some!! Last Sunday at church, we were sitting next to Brandon and Lauren (brother and sister-in-law) and Aleena was sitting on Brandon's lap. He told her she was adorable and she replied, "No, I'm not adowable. I'm just a cute little giwl." Yesterday we were in the car driving around and James turned on rap music. I looked back at Ethan and he was totally rockin out bobbing his head back and forth. It was hilarious! And one more story to wrap this post up. A month ago my family was all at my mom's house. My brother, Daniel was singing a rock song to Aleena. I think he said it was called "Helena" (something like that) but he changed it so he was singing her name. After he sang, this is how their conversation went.
Daniel- "So, Aleena, did you like my song?"
Aleena- "Um, no."
Daniel- "No? Why not?"
Aleena- "Well, it was kinda loud."
Daniel- "Well, is there anything I can do to fix it, to make it better?"
Aleena- "Yeah, maybe you could stop singing."

I just have to say, as hard as being a parent has been at times and will be many times more, I love our children so much! They bring so much joy and happiness to our lives and make us laugh all the time! Out of the mouths of babes.... you never know what will be said next!!

Newsy News

I peed on a stick and got two lines!