We teach 'em early

...to be self-sufficient...

Viviana shows us how:

When she's thirsty...she helps herself to a drink--
out of 'la toilette.'

When she's hungry...she helps herself to delicious food--

on the floor.

...or on the beach...

rocks & seaweed? Or pb&j & eggos? It's all the same to her.

When she's poopie...she finds the wipes and gets them all ready for me to make her fresh & smelling like flowers again.

When she's tired...she falls asleep wherever she may be. Certainly it's never in the most likely place (her crib). NEVER.

When she wants to play cars she brings them all the way up the stairs looking for someone who will play with her.

When she's bored...she finds her favorite place to play--which is also her favorite place to find a drink. (see pictures at top)

...and makes sure to try out all five in the house...

Yes, we do try to leave the toilet seats down and the doors closed...

Somehow, getting that message across to five other children needs a little more work.

(I know, triple eeewwww)!

Cheaper by the half-dozen

Yea!! Vivie is official finally!

My friend, Katie, is super talented...
I want to be just like her when I grow up!

See? all 8 of us actually looking at the camera at the same time! (Katie only had to photoshop in one head...can you guess whose?)


Look at my little darlings--this pose reminds me of the one my dad took of me & wayne when we were just a little younger...where we ran back and forth bout 25 times until he got the perfect shot...back in the days before digital.

We are the ones responsible for all of THIS mayhem!!!

Four little sweeties in a row...


My big boys

That is a classic Isabella face...not so sure if she should smile.


Goofy Bray just wouldn't settle down--this is the only normal close-up we got of him not making silly faces or posing weird or laughing his head off.


McKenzie is as beautiful as ever. I've always LOVED her profile!

Everybody loves Monson


Okay, Lexie's the poser. But she knows how to do it for sure!!!


Izzie is a poser too

The cotton was flying off the trees...what a pretty effect!

I'm so lucky to have FOUR girls.


We're so lucky...

Viviana loves the camera too...

McKenzie was trying really hard to pose just right...


How beautiful is Isabella???! I know, I'm partial.

My favorite family photo--

I love my handsome boys too...Bray is laughin' cause I'm pinchin his hiney.

Bray & Mons

this might be my favorite ...

...or maybe this one?

I can't decide....but we are so blessed to have our sweet Vivie

"We did good, honey, what do you think? Just try not to laugh when you look at me." oooo...kinda miss my hair after seeing this!

Nooooo...my kids don't have tantrums! Do yours?

It all started TWO DAYS ago...Saturday night when, after relentless begging and pleading, I caved and took McKenzie, Monson, Lexie & Izzie to "the movie in the park after dark"....Matilda. I quite enjoyed shoveling popcorn and Nutter-Butters in my mouth, the brisk air, and cuddling with the kids, but after dark is apparently too late for Lexie & Izzie, especially with 8:30 am church the next morning. A bunch of little grumpy-pants' is what I got from being a nice mom. I knew better! What was I thinking?

Sunday after church the little girls CRASHED on the sofa and because I was so busy runnin' about organizing and doing my thing, I didn't realize that they'd been snoozing for 3 hours! These little ones don't take naps anymore--I knew I was in BIG trouble.

Sunday night when I finally went to bed at 11:30 pm, Izzie just couldn't settle down or be obedient and stay in her bed. She was drawing pictures...for ME...and had to show me every 5 minutes what she had come up with. I couldn't see with my eyes closed...afterall, I was trying to sleep. So I mumbled to her a compliment about her creations that I could not and did not try to even see each time she returned. ( She even knows how to write in Arabic and look how better her hand tracings got each time, fingernails and all). Demanding, pleading, begging, and bribing her to just go to bed just hadn't worked the past THREE hours of trying. I can guilt Lexie into anything, and overall she's just more of a CTR kind of gal, but Izzie...not so much. She's her own person and when she makes up her mind she's going to do something, no one is gonna change it for her. I think she finally settled down by 12:30 am.

This all leads me to the events of today. Tired, stressed mommie and exhausted, defiant, stubborn, three-year-old Izzie. Not a good combination. She was throwing another tantrum; I'm sure this was like # 8 of the morning. NOTHING was right in her world when she woke up. I don't even know what it was about anymore.

All I know is that I was on the phone trying to deal with multiple insurance issues and outrageous hospital and physician bills that were incorrect. It had already taken me 20 minutes of hold-time to get through...I was NOT putting that phone down! I had left the girls in their rooms to dig themselves out from under their PILES of stuff everywhere...you know, the 'clean before the cleaning lady comes' day. Love that day.

'Time-out' only works for Izzie in one place. She HATES this place. I send her to time-out in the downstairs guest shower...and depending on how naughty she's being or how loud she's screaming, sometimes I close the shower curtain and the door to the bath, then the door to the bedroom. Today she got a little surprise she's never had before. Her tantrum was SO bad, SO out-of-control, SO ridiculous, and NOTHING was getting to her, nothing was calming or helping her to reason, so I had to shock her.

I'm here to share what works for three-year-old tantrums. And I know it's most definitely gender-neutral because Monson spent many-a-tantrum in the same spot, different house. Dr. Phil agrees with me about this tantrum-fighting dealio so don't be calling CPS or anything.

I put her in time-out and proceeded to turn on the shower, with her fully clothed. "Mommie, mommie, NOOO! NOOOO! I'll stop, I'll stop, I promise!" I wonder what our neighbors think...heck, I wonder what Glencrest Drive thinks...certainly they could hear her shrills from all corners. I turned off the shower with her screaming, and she lied...she wasn't gonna stop and left her there, in the shower, closed the curtain, LOCKED the bathroom door, closed the bedroom door and continued my phone calls. A couple minutes later a sopping-wet cold Izzie had calmed down and could reason with me--totally different little Izzie was ready to obey and become a normal member of the McLaughlin Clan again.

Tonight when I tucked Izzie into bed at 8:30 pm (ah, much better) she grabbed my face and with a huge grin said, "Mommie that was mean today." We talked about choices & consequences, obedience, choosing the right, etc. and she understood. Then she said, "Mommie, I love you so much, I'm so proud of you!"

Okay....after that??? I'll take it! Guess I need to teach her what "I'm so proud of you" really means. At least something's rubbing off!

Oh, what do you do in the summertime when all the world is green?

Do you live your mom's dream...

And play in your very own house,
outside where no one can hear you scream?

Is that what you do???? So do I!

...I used to dream of having my very own playhouse with windows and flowers...a retreat from my five brothers. Now you can see what we've been up to over here at the McLaughlin home. This was Lexie & Izzie's big birthday present. We figured that with three little girls (and a big girl) it will get its use in gold and we LOVE automatic babysitters over here sometimes! Okay, all the time. It's been sitting in a million pieces in my yard since April so it was about time that I, the tool-gal, Shay, built this with my assistant, Curt! (and when I get my fanny in gear and start 'decorating' the courtyard with COLOR, those lonely boxes will get flowers too). We just finished it today.

I couldn't fathom spending $1500 on the house I really wanted, have it crane-lifted into the yard not knowing if we were going to stay here forever and ever. So, this economical take-and- build kit will suffice! How darling is this? I've already had my turn playing 'chef' and the neighbor kids are playing house right now. We put our old kitchen set in there and it's sure to keep them busy for days!

Did you notice? The cupola & weathervane on top matches the one on our house! Too cute- I can hardly stand it! Wanna come play with us? We do tea parties! I wonder how long it will take them to ask for a slumber party outside...

San Diego Children's Museum-it's new and improved?

I was feeling like a good Mom yesterday...rather than sitting at home bossing the kids around (as Lexie would say) or making them work harder than any of their friends (per McKenzie) or listening to the random rants, screaming, "I don't want to's" and "but why's" that float around our home, I hauled ALL six monkeys off to the 'new & improved' San Diego Children's Museum. Curt was out of town so I figured that as part of this 'stay-cation' we would experience a bit of the cultural San Diego. You notice how the blog doesn't get updated very often lately? I'm a very, very, busy stay-cation mom these days. Very busy.

Whenever I go into public with my kids...all of them at once...my trick is bribery. It's the only way I can assure that there will be no squabbles and that my children will appear to be the perfect little...well, BIG bunch even though we all know that is a lie. I can get them to act like perfect little angels for say, a 50-cent package of skittles...not too shabby! Before we EVER exit the car I dangle their reward then warn them of the consequences if they misbehave...set the rules and expectations so that it leaves no one in doubt and then follow-through. Consistency, it's the key or they won't take me serious. Kind of like with Curt (sorry hon). And he wonders why they're perfect little angels for me (sometimes) but for him, only on rare occasion. Even Vivie--the moment Curt walks in the door she starts to cry as if to say, "You left me, Daddy, shame on you--I'm gonna make you pay." And then she does. Clingy, Daddy-lover Vivie. (disclaimer: Oh, but you CAN be that way, oh, Princess Viviana, and it's okay...we're just blessed to have you in our home and you went through SO much to get here...but just do it to your daddy, not me.) When she whines and starts acting like some of the other kids, I say "no" and then ignore her (mean mommie). But it works...sometimes. Daddy is just a sucker for that kind of thing and they have him all figured out. (Love you, hon!) And Vivie was a little angel for me at the museum...strapped into the stroller and all.

So back to this post....a couple of my friends had been to the museum last week and discovered that a yearly pass only cost 75 bucks per family...no matter how many 'family' means. Those opportunities to not feel 'gouged' don't come around too often, especially in California, so I had to check it out for myself. Either $10 per person /per visit or $75 per family/per year. No brainer. I'm all over that!

If you like mattress-lined walls and floors for a full-on pillow fight, or a climbing wall, painting studio which includes a real deal VW bug to just paint at-will. I came home with a big splatter of paint on my poor shorts and had to dodge a couple of blue hands that about made prints on my shirt. It only took about 20 minutes to wash BLUE off my kids after they were done. Then there's this clay station to make more messes, but you get to bring home a beautiful masterpiece--if it makes it the whole ride home without crumbling into pieces.

All in all, I was actually NOT very impressed...for a California museum it kind of bites. LA and Salt Lake City Children's Museums are like masterpieces compared to this one. But looking back and seeing the pictures--we really had a great time. The kids LOVED it and that's what counts. We even saw the cute Timmerman Family there taking advantage of their new passes too. Oh, what we do for our children.

My favorite part? The car studio. We made these great racing cars out of random wood pieces and colored electrical tape--no gluing, weights, painting, decals, drilling, or sanding involved. I REALLY think the Cub Scouts should take a hard look at how this museum does their cars and adopt it as their pinewood derby. Especially for Dads that are not like Tim-the-tool-man-Taylor...cause darnit, even four-year-olds can actually make these themselves. Who would have thunk it? Colored tape and wood. No tools needed. SWEEEEET! Although, I am the tool-lover in the family.

So we'll be back...the Coaster Train even runs right by there--even more fun to take the train from North County. And I'm even thinking about upgrading my pass to include a bunch of other museums in the nation. Lookie there...I'm feeling like a good cultured mom.