Jump Start Summer

McKenzie had a horrible experience with 5th grade teacher a few weeks before school ended.  We had to remove her from a verbally abusive situation at school...without going into details...we met with the principal a few times and I wrote a letter to the school board so that it was in her 'file.'  Ama happened to be in town when it all went down... so she and Izzie took an early vacay & spent two weeks in Utah with some quality Ama time!

pool time the day before the other girls left
I'm either cold or don't want my picture taken

I adore my three little but LOUD girls

They stopped in St. George to see cousins Jonas & Makai

Cove Fort

fieldtrip to the Redmond Salt Mines
Izzie's chipmunk smile

 Park fun

It's not my intention that Izzie sit on her hair or that it be long and stringy enough to tickle her knees... even though one couldn't tell that from these pictures (both girls have had haircuts since these pics).

Utah was fun for them... more to come.

Playing Primary

When I was little I remember 'playing Primary.'  I loved directing my little brothers and teaching them, doing singing time while crazily waving my pencil through the air (baton).   I vividly remember feeling so grown-up and super organized with my little notes and agendas on my clipboard.  But the absolute BEST was singing time.  Our best friends' nanny was the chorister... and not just any chorister... it was during the time when Mary Poppins was all the rage, and Sally Cunningham, our chorister, was from England and had a yummy, flowing, and lovely accent... we all wanted to be just like her, so we'd imitate her as we sang and played 'Primary.' (because what little girl doesn't love that accent)?  My mom says that at Christmastime we used to ask her if we could sing 'the birdie song'...."Hawk the Herald Angels Sing."

On Sunday I overheard my girls playing Primary, sans the accent.  I had just been set apart for my new calling in the Stake Primary Presidency, so I'm sure that's why Primary was on their minds.  It made me laugh inside and I thought how very impressionable they are-- they want to be like us big ogre adults!  They just soak up everything they observe and hear, and then repeat it and practice as they're feeling so grown-up.  Their favorite thing about Primary besides singing time is actually the 'spotlight.'

So there stands Alexie, with her fake notes in hand... with Izzie & Monson as her audience calling out little factoids about the 'spotlight.'  And they did it over, and over, and over again.  Here's what I caught:

Alexie:  "I'm the Primary President!!!!"  


Izzie:  "I'm the singer"


Alexie:  "It's time to do spotlight... okay, everyone stand up"


"This person likes eating peanuts for dinner" (for reals????  that IS indeedy what we feed our kids for dinner...peanuts)


"This person also likes to eat cake for dinner" (now that might be true)

"This person likes to go in the pool"


"This person wants to go to Russia on a mission"


Monson pipes in: "guys, trust me, you do NOT want to go to Russia"


Izzie: "I don't like that"


Alexie:  "Okay, then.. it's not gonna be you, Monson.  This person is crazy at home"


 "And the spotlight is.... anybody guess?  It's Isabella Daisy!!!!"

They begin to jump up and down and dance and twirl around...because I'm quite certain that's what they'd do in Primary too... if they were the spotlight.

~Funnies~

~funny~ "This milk would taste much better if Mom made some cookies!" {that's my kind of girl...Lexie}.

~funny~ Viviana was yelling 'help help help' ... so I run upstairs to see what's going on.. find her stooped over the toilet with a princess tea cup in her hand just about to dip it in the lovely {& freshly cleaned} toilet bowl, and she says, "mom, I'm firsty...need a cup of wawer" She couldn't reach the sink, and it was the next logical place. I mean, it has to be good for something since she doesn't use it the same way big people do yet...

~funny~ Ama was tucking the girls in and Izzie was telling one of her famous stories... and then Izzie started showing some hand signs... she flashed the 'peace sign' and said, "this is the peace sign... like a 'peace' of cake or a 'peace' of pie." I think I like the 'peace' sign more now.

~funny~ As part of our nighttime ritual (a tradition passed down from my mom), I asked Izzie, "What was your favorite part of the day?" She thought for a minute and ran through all the things we did... responded, and then said, "and mommie, what was YOUR favorite part of the day?!" {It tickled Ama to pieces when she turned it around & asked her too}.

~funny~ with a long face & sad eyes Lexie came home from K so deflated because "Luke won't be my dog at school anymore. He wants to be Paloma's dog instead." Excuse me? I wonder if the teacher knows the girls have 'pet' dogs... that are boys. They are doing a pet unit at school this week. Makes perfect sense to me.

~funny~ She's her mother's daughter...{I said the same thing at her age} The other day Lexie had finished her homework, had watched one of her shows, cleaned her room, and it was raining pretty hard outside, so she was stuck indoors... we all laughed as she exclaimed, "mom, I'm bor-ing!"

Every Girl Needs Pretty Shoes

= the favorite morning (actually all day long) routine =

=raid mom's closet, pick a pair (or two or five) heels & act all grown up=

=Like mother like daughter=

in SO many ways...

Wedding Bells

Dress-up is one of the loves of any girly-girl... I happen to have a few of those over-the-top-girly-girls and they crack me up daily. I especially love their sophisticated voices as they played this wedding out this afternoon...

Mother to Mother? Woman to Woman? or Husband to Wife? hmmmm...

Lex: Tonight are you going to the royal ball?

Iz: I need this {veil} so I can get married tonight. And we need a pillow for the ring!

Iz: Am I the queen?

Lex: Hey, Mom... can you be our audience too?

Me: {trying to sew... but this is so funny & they're going all out, so I grab a camera & agree}

Lex: Who should I marry, mom? I wish I had a boy {she says under her breath}. Someone has to walk me down the tile {almost... it does rhyme with 'aisle'}

Iz: You can marry me, Lex, and then we'll just kiss on the cheeks, that would be better. Kay, Lex, gotta say, "this ring I thee wed"

Lex: Now you have to give this ring to me!

Iz: Now let me put it on your finger cause that's what you do... wait wait wait {runs in to watch what's going on with Sponge Bob on TV}

Lex: IZZIE!!!

Lex: {unsure of herself} Should I say mother and mother? or husband and wife? {answers it herself- husband and wife}

Iz: Now kiss me on the cheek {points to those yummy cheeks}

Lex: No, let's just hug. We're girls.

Iz: We don't just hug when we're married {duh we kiss too}

Iz: Okay, FINE! bear hugs. Are we done now? {I think Sponge Bob was calling her name}

Lex: Where's the lipstick, mom? I need more.

I think they watch too many princess movies.... It's funny to see what's important to each of them. For Izzie it's all about the fun & moving on, for Lex, it's all about being 'correct' and getting it just right. But they both sure get into character-- 'the walk & talk' included. My fun-loving girls are so much fun! I'm the luckiest mom in the world!

{meanwhile Viviana was upstairs making giant messes & putting together 'pop-bead' jewelry... Yup, another girly-girl}

Glitter Valley Girls

"Mom, like don't I look puuurty?"

Oh, yes...especially those lovely cheekies.

Santa brought play makeup

and it's already half gone. Don't know why!

2009 McLaughlin Clan Notables

If ever I need to smile...

I pull out my kids' artwork. Works every time.

I especially love the eyelashes... and all the sunshine.

I love this artwork

where I can see the world through my four-year-old's eyes

where everyone is happy and dancing.

Where there is so much brightness, hope.

Izzie has that affect on me...

and I especially needed to smile and see the simplicity of life through a child's eyes this weekend.

I got the sad news that a friend that was once very dear and close to me was killed in a freak car accident. He was only 42. His sweet family survived...all four boys and his wife.

When my friend sent me the news, I fell to my knees. I'm so thankful for the simple beauties in life. The simple joys, the little things Curt does to make me happy, the things the kids say that make me laugh out loud, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, our eternal families. My heart goes out to this family as they pick up the pieces and try to move on with a perspective that one day they'll see their beloved dad/husband again.

I love the new song my kids have been singing and humming around the house... It's such a simple message based off the

The Family: A Proclamation to the World and goes like this:

Izzie's portraits leave me in stitches...

and leave me with a smile in appreciation for the simple bounties...and families.

Happy Happy Birthday Izzie, Dear!

Four things I love about you...on your big fourth birthday:

You make our home come alive

You make me LOVE being a mommie

You brighten my day with your twirls, songs & stories

You give the best 'smack' kisses ever

Love you to the sky...my sweet & silly Isabella Daisy

Happy Happy 4th Birthday!

I read this post to Izzie and she said "smack kisses.com!"  and then at the end, "toodles!"  So Izzie.  Gotta love her.

Noteworthy...

So I've been busy!  I've lost my zeal for blogging for the moment... and the farther behind I fall on documenting all of our noteworthy events, the harder it becomes to sit my fanny down and move my fingers on that keyboard.  So in an effort to be less verbose and to catch up, these are the little noteworthy happenings and memories within the last 6 weeks or so!

Noteworthy...

In April...Curt's first pinewood derby as the Cubscout Master.  Monson didn't place...pounding those wheels in at the last minute with the closest 'tool' I could find (a shoe) just wasn't Indy-worthy. But we all had a great time and his car at least looked cool!  I think part of the reason was because this year the committee decided to have the movie, 'Cars' playing in the back of the cultural hall with a little popcorn party and coloring fest for all the little ones that would have otherwise been trying to pull the track down and making all us moms crazy.  I don't think I even saw my little ones much that evening.  And we had a fabulous potluck!  Why are all of us usually late to the derby? Well, besides the cars getting their last coat of spray paint 10 mins before race time?  Because we are all rushing out the door trying to shove something down our kids throats to make it to the weigh-in on time so as not to be disqualified, right?  So pizza, salads and chili was the perfect solution to get everyone there on time.  Curt's doing a great job as Cub Master and I'm not that biased.

the crowds showed up

kid Cars & coloring party

the pitstop

cool decorations

Vivie wearing the decorations...

whoosh!

everyone got an award

Noteworthy...

Lexie's first birthday party with friends!  She invited 23 kids...and 22 little princesses, princes, jesters, and knights showed up all ready for the Royal Gala!  I'm still recovering from all the planning, prep and sheer exhaustion of the event!  Lexie truly felt like the princess that she is and really likes this idea of people coming over to celebrate her and bringing her oodles of pretty little presents.  Too bad for our kids we only do 'real parties' at ages 5, 8, 12, and 16. That's quite enough for one momma to orchestrate.

The Royal Court

making treasure bags for our dragon egg hunt

The princes, princesses, knights and jesters loved blasting the good-natured dragon (Monson) with water balloons!

all set up for high tea

lovely menu of heart sandwiches, chocolate covered & glitter strawberries and pretzels, doritos, cheese cubes, grape skewers & apple juice.

Viviana is a princess too

Story telling with the King!

and darling Princess Isabella Daisy

The kids loved the glitter relay race

...and freeze dance was a fave

and of course, no princess party is complete without castle cupcakes

hand made princess wands and swords as part of their take home goodies

Noteworthy...

Viviana had her 'developmental' Dr. appt last week and came away with flying colors.  We thought that for her age she was really struggling with her language skills...but apparently our other kids and some of the kids she associates with in nursery are just ahead of the curve.  Viviana is pretty much right on target in speech, language, motor skills, and cognitive development.  I don't know why we expect anything different anymore.  

Her latest noddies:  Stripping to her birthday suit and parading around the house.  Duct tape doesn't work with her--where there's a will there's a way.  She loves being free and then the inevitable always happens.  She makes puddles.  Lots of them.  We use a lot of lysol in our house.  I can't keep my silly little 2 year old in diapers and she won't actually pee on the potty. Noddy, noddy, noddy.  To help with all her food messes, she got a cute little working vacuum for her birthday.  Perhaps she needed a mop too.  Nothing wrong with teaching them self-reliance and the value of work at the age of two!  

oops!  Streaking again!  And no, that is not a milk dud protruding from her back contrary to popular opinon...

her bday cereal of choice was fruit loops this year

awaiting her last minute bday cake

adoring her daddy

so she loves chocolate

and is very expressive

dig in!

singing 'happy birthday to vivie' over and over and over

what a bright idea! a working vacuum!

'Mine'

Noteworthy...

Lexie is refusing to stay little even though I poke and prod her about not growing up all the time.  She is registered for Kindergarten and went through her torturous shots.  She's on the wait-list for the morning class (it's 1/2 day), but either way she's looking forward to being 'big' and walking either to school with the kids or home with the kids.

Lexie also informed me that she wants FIFTY kids when she grows up.  I asked her what she's going to do with FIFTY kids?  She said, "I'm going to love them and I'm bringing them all to your house!"  Oh, lucky Grandma!  Izzie and Lexie sing this little song I sang when I was a little girl, "When I Grow Up I Want To Be A  Mother"...it's extra cheesy, it's silly and it's fun and it's their favorite song.  Singing it with true drama and expression is part of our nighttime routine...every night at their request.  Maybe that's why Lexie wants fifty kids.  She is my little lover girl.

Noteworthy...

Brayden has his 2nd Class in Scouts and is two requirements away from his 1st class.  He's not even 12 years old yet...can you say Eagle at 13???  He already knows what he wants to do for his project.  Oh, and he's a straight A student.  Perfect 4.0 all year so far.  At the beginning of the year we told him that if he gets a 4.0 all year that he'll get a laptop.  Ooops.  I think we'll be resurrecting our laptop for him next month. Good thing I didn't say 'new laptop!'  

Noteworthy...

I spent a fun-filled, much needed bonding weekend with my mom at BYU's Women's Conference.  We learned a lot, walked a lot, sat a lot, ate a lot, shopped a lot, played a lot...and came home needing to sleep a lot.  Thank you, Mom, for the memories! (Even though we didn't take many photos!)

Dear Lizzy Bistro...fun girly spot

Shiny faced-Shay & my cute momma

Noteworthy...

Last week's Mother/Daughter activity with McKenzie was super fun & creative.  We learned how to make bold tissue paper flowers, duct-tape purses, candy leis, and pressed flower cards. Our Activity Days Leaders really do a superb job exploring talents and teaching new skills.  I had to miss a big night for my new stake public affairs calling (crystal apple awards), but it was worth it to spend it with you, Kenz!

Noteworthy...

I had the most perfect Mother's Day ever filled with handmade cards, the best kid coupons , lots of hugs and loves, even early-out church due to plumbing issues in our building (we were there for the most important part)!!  Breakfast in bed with mom has become a beloved kids' tradition.  And they're sure to make breakfast x 6 really...and then everyone eats it vying for positions next to me while I get a bite or two.  Simple and sweet... And after early out church we headed to the beach to relax as a family and take in the ocean blue, perfectly salted air and warm sand.  I can't think of a better day with my family.