The Visit part 1

My parents came to visit last weekend. We had a great time. 

Saturday morning we hit up Screen Door. We got in this time vs. waiting and not getting in with the family after Thanksgiving. 

My poor Father felt morally obligated to get the Chicken and Waffles. He normally orders the "special" and that is what this place is known for, he really wanted to Praline Bacon Waffle. Next time Dad. He said the Chicken was really quite good though. Check out that Chicken Stack! 

 While we were waiting for the rest of the food Maylee gave me a great smile while Emma was thinking "eh?" and Ty wanted to see the picture so soon that his arm ended up in the picture.

 Ahh, the food arrives. Ty and Maylee split the pancakes... yeah they are as big as a dinner plate. My mom had Eggs Benedict and Matt had the Banana French Toast. Good stuff! I had the Biscuits and Gravy. Mine was all right, everyone else said theirs was very good.

 After breakfast we wandered over to Sports Authority to get some waterproof boots for me. I bought some but i'm not entirely sold on the purchase. I hate shopping however so this is all proving difficult. I think I am going to make a trip to the Columbia store to see what they have before I stick with my decision. I need some comfortable waterproof boots to wear in Ireland so my feet and legs don't get all sogged up. If you have any recommendations let me know!

After shopping we headed over to the bowling alley. Emma was just hanging out, one of these days i'll capture one of her adorable and oh so frequent smiles on camera.

 I think Ty beat my mom and I bowling, he's getting pretty good with the help of the ball stand.

 Dad and Matt, I can't remember which one of them won, but I do know that they KILLED my Mom and I.

 My mom was wearing tall boots that day, hence the tall socks. She left them nice and tall while bowling.

As we were getting set to leave Ty was playing near the arcade and a guy told Matt he had 8 dollars on a card that Matt could use. So of course Matt took him up on it. They played this football game about 5 times. I know I didn't capture a make but I promise Matt made quite a few.

After we went bowling we headed home for the kids to take naps. While the kids were napping I decided to sneak to the Library to check out a book I had on hold. While I was backing out I hopped in the car before I opened the garage. I opened the door and started backing out, hmmm I bumped something, what was that? IT WAS MY DAD'S BMW!!! ARRRRGGGG!!!! I felt SO dumb. I don't think I ruined his weekend but it was pretty lame of me. Our drive way is at a slight angle so I didn't see his car in my rear view mirror when I started backing up. 

After all that hulabaloo and profuse apologizing we went out to dinner at Little Italy's an Italian restaurant around here with our friends the Johnson's. It wasn't THE BEST but it wasn't the worst. I don't know if we'll make it there again. 

After dinner we left the girls with a babysitter (more on that later... funny) and we headed to the basketball game! I'll post that next :) 

Trains Train and Trains

This weekend my parents came for a visit and the BYU Men's Basketball game versus Portland. It was a fun game but I'm not posting about that quite yet. That cold bug has bit my nose and throat so all I'm posting today is 2 quick videos my mom took of Ty and my Dad Sunday morning. Ty loves for anyone to play trains with him. WARNING TO SIERRA, TY IS IN HIS UNDERWEAR, THIS MAY BE A LITTLE TOUGH FOR YOU TO WATCH. (Back story the Wu's came to visit Ty came down one morning in his underwear poor Sierra thought he was naked)

Randomness and the kids 1st dentist appointment!

I said I was going to post pictures of the girls room next. Turns out, I haven't QUITE finished a project to complete the room. I need the use of a cricut, which I don't have. A friend of mine does but she says she is too busy this week and she wants to have me show her how to use her cricut next week. Awesome, because I don't know how to do it either! I guess we'll figure it out together and i'll have my project done then. I was going to hand paint it then I realized what a terrible artist I am and I probably shouldn't chance it.

ANYWAY,

So here are three blurry terrible pictures.

Matt has been working on helping Emma hold her own bottle. It's not catching on super fast but that is okay, feeding her gives me an excuse to slow down and snuggle her for a bit, and that I don't mind doing at all.

Ty just wanted his picture taken, so I took one, he is jumping.

 Yesterday Matt had a work dinner so I single mom'ed it all day. Man I am so lucky to have such an awesome husband who is an excellent Father. I could NOT do that everyday! After we went to the store to buy flowers, that we had every intention of planting in our front planter pots we went inside for a movie. I was getting started on planting and Ty PROCLAIMED it was TOO COLD and he did NOT want to be outside anymore. (Kid cracks me up) so he compromised by letting me turn on Cinderella for him and Maylee. I was pretty darn tired of doing it all on my own for the day and conceded. They ate their popcorn and their movie snack (Valentines heart candy) while I folded laundry and cleaned up the house. Maylee doesn't care much for shows, but when food is involved she'll park it there until it's gone.

 
Today I took the kids to the Dentist for the first time. We took them to Adventure Dental. They LOVED it! Ty was a perfect patient, he warmed up to the hygienist and dentist perfectly and got a B (=Good) on his Adventure Dental Tooth Report Card. They Polished, Brushed, Flossed AND took X-Rays of his teeth with nary a squirm from the little champ. He got a B because he doesn't we don't floss his teeth for him. We'll get there with the flossing. They let him pick out TWO prizes he was so good. He picked out a blue race car and a yo-yo. I credit his good behavior to a commercial they play on Disney Jr. channel about the dentist. Who says TV is ruining kids minds!

Maylee was pretty darn good too, which is a HUGE surprise. I thought it would be screaming, crying and yelling the whole time. The ONLY time she let out a good long yelp is when the Dentist had to scrape off a little bit of calculus (like the math? Nope) from in between her two front teeth. Otherwise she was fantastic and fairly cooperative, which usually isn't the case for her. She got a smiley face on her report card since they didn't do X-Rays.

The Dentist says they both have awesome teeth, and good wide mouths so hopefully their grown up teeth in a few years wont come in super crazy. Fingers crossed for my straight teeth!

Something funny to note: I had a blast from the past, when we sat down to get started with Ty in the chair, I saw an old friend from High School there, Josh Twiss! He graduates from his pediatric dental school in NY in June and was basically applying to work at Adventure Dental. He was only going to be there 2 hours for his "shadow/interview" an hour and a half of which we were there. Small world right? Ty felt immediately comfortable with him because we were talking so much and sat on his lap for 15 minutes playing with a leap frog video game while I was focusing on Maylee. It was a huge help. Hopefully he gets the job there so he can work with our kids, that would be fantastic!

Sorry no pictures, I brought my camera intending to take pictures, but with three kids and two hands I usually forget the little things. I try to just make sure I still have all three kids with me, that alone puts my frazzled mom brain in overdrive. They took pictures though with Dr. Todd so they could be put on the cavity free wall, Ty was stoked about that.

Children's Museum

Last weekend (remember we went swimming) I wanted to go to the Children's Museum. We decided against it because it was a little late in the day and we didn't want to fight the Saturday crowds. THIS time we planned ahead to get there at 9:30 am and leave right when the after lunch rush came. 

Our friends joined us. Ryan was playing Mr. Mom for the weekend since Steph went to visit her family out of state (with no kids- whoa, what would that be like!?) 

The kids played a ton. I only got a few pictures since my battery was about dead on the camera. 

Ty and Austin were making boat race paths. 

 Emma just watched, most of the time with a smile on her face when someone she knew was in her view. Man I love this lady, seriously... I tell her ALL the time, she is my favoritest little Emma EVER! Just looking at this picture makes me want to snuggle her. But she is sleeping right now, so I better not... haha

 Maylee wasn't TOO thrilled with the water area since she was too little to even reach in and play with anything. They really should have little stools there for the shorty's to stand on.

 We also meandered over to the clay area. The kids always love to mold the clay! Matt made a pretty dang good duck, Ty just painted his and got it SUPER wet and May ripped hers into a TON of teeny pieces.

Sam made me a clay pizza while Austin just liked to SMASH his with various tools. Ryan was eyeing Matt's creation and decided it looked like a Chiquita Banana. HA!

 The cars area... Maylee was the only one not running from place to place. She liked this little car.

We thought we adequately wore the children out at the Museum. Maylee and Emma slept the whole way home and we made the successful transfer into bed to continue their naps, Ty on the other hand informed us that he "didn't CARE to take a nap today" Yeah okay... so he didn't.

Later that evening we watched the BYU basketball game. Matt started throwing Maylee around then Ty wanted in on the action. Matt had a hard time transitioning from throwing all 18 of May's lbs to Ty's 39 or so... the first time was hilarious so I had to get it on video. Oh an notice Emma in the bottom left, you can't see her per se but you can see her playing with her toys, she LOVES that little green frog toy and goes for it every time.

Ty still liked it anyway, even if he couldn't go near as high as his sister.

Next up? I think I"ll FINALLY show you all pictures of the girls room. All the crafties and makeovers I've done. It's not amazing but I like it.

Snowflakes

Last Monday it snowed! Ty and Maylee were pretty excited about it. So for FHE that night our activity was to make SNOWFLAKES!

I helped Maylee with hers. 

 Matt helped Ty, it had been quite a few years since he had made one, so I was laughing at his technique.

I took a picture of his snowflake before he opened it, I was thinking it wouldn't turn out so well. 

 It actually turned out super cool! Ty loved it.

Also, I've finally been able to get the little miss Maylee's hair into piggies. She looks SO cute with them!

Giving it a try...

My Sister in Law and I have joined forces and we opened an Etsy Shop. It's called Brite Crochet and we sell scarves, hats and earwarmer/headbands in super bright and trendy colors.

BRITE CROCHET ~ there is a link to our shop, have a look! I am the CFO and Maddy is the COO (I pay for the yarn, she crochets haha)

We don't have any pictures just yet of our super Brite stuff, but we did get a chance to take a few of our neutral and trendy colors. I'll post the pictures of the Brite stuff once we get it up in our shop. The yarn we got of the BRITE colors is SUPER soft and I am pretty sure that I want to buy all the stuff from myself... especially the hot pink infinity scarf... Here are all the colors that we offer for each product we make.

Earwarmer/Headband

 Infinity Scarf

Beanie

 We've got a few sales all ready (Thanks Mom hehe) and we're looking for more! :)

Takin' a swim!

Last Thursday play group with some friends of mine was at the Firstenburg Community Center, we had never been there before. We walked in and right across from the front desk are big glass windows where you can see into the indoor pool area. Ty was instantly excited, he wanted to go SWIMMING! But we were there for play group. After a little coaxing I got he and Maylee to go to playgroup, they had a great time. The front desk gals told me about a family swim the next day, but said I needed another adult with me since I had three kids under the age of 7. Apparently it has to be 1 adult to 2 kids at most.  HA! Ty told Matt all about play group, how fun it was and that there is a POOL there.

Saturday rolled around and we had nothing planned so Ty asked to go swimming... Of course! Kids three and under are free, good for us! 

We hit the pool from noon to 1:30. The kids LOVED the water slide they could have gone over and over and over but the line was getting long and I had to hold two children in the deep(er) end while we waited. They were too short to ride themselves so Matt switched back and forth going with them. I held Emma most of the time while Matt held Maylee and Ty swam around with us. 

Ty and May got really good at jumping off the wall and really like cruising around the lazy river part too. I didn't get a picture of any of this because I was playing with them and our camera isn't waterproof. 

Matt with Ty and May right after we got there. 

 Emma was SUPER easy going. She just kicked away most of the time while I was holding her. I don't think she cried once. 

 Me and all three kiddies. 

 Ty was sad when it was time to go, he had such a fun time that in his prayers tonight he thanked Heavenly Father for the fun swimming place with the fun slide. We'll have to go more often. 

 Maylee was super daring in the water, she's a little fish! She loves to swim, jump, splash and ride the slide which is surprising since usually she is a little bit of a scaredy pants with other things. 

 It was a lovely afternoon swim! If anyone comes to visit remind us about the year round indoor swimming... we'll take you :) 

  

Dearest Emma

Colton and I walked around my parents house to try and find good lighting on they overcast day. It was mid-day and hard to find. So my Dad followed us around holding my lady while Colton and I tried out a few spots. Oh and I should say, that Colton gave me all these pictures unedited. He has better one's posted on Facebook I believe. 

Oh and yes, she is in her blessing dress... well not HER blessing dress all the Spence girls blessing dress. 

 Trying to get the lighting right, this is her normal every day face. SUCH a CUTE FACE in my opinion.

We took about 50 pictures before she cracked a smile, usually she is so quick to smile. Not that day I guess. 

ANNNNND There it is, the best we could do until both of us gave up. 

 Quite ADORABLE I think. She is sporting the headband Aunt Michaela made for her and the lace booties with special ribbon trimmed socks that she wore on her big day.

I tell people all the time thank goodness she is such a CHILL baby or else I think our family would be done! She is the most relaxed kid I've ever had. We love her to bits and are so glad she is in our family. Matt has been reading a book my Grandfather wrote about his own Father called coming home. Emma is named after my Great Grandfathers mother. From what Matt has read, Emma was a very calming lady herself... hopefully our Emma will be a calm peacemaking soul too.

Maylee Elizabeth, in a nut shell

After Colton took those pictures of Ty, he snapped some of Maylee. Notice Colton took a ton more of Maylee? Yeah because it's impossible to get this girl to smile if she doesn't want to smile. I sometimes see the teenager "you've got to be kidding me Mom." looks come from her... drives me crazy, yet I love her so much!

Initial tactic was to just ignore Colton and avoid eye contact. 

 Fine i'll look, but, I'm goin' this'a'way!

 Still following me huh? 

 Still avoiding eye contact. 

" Fine, Maddy..." (Both of us were probably jumping and making weird noises to get a smile from this girl) "I do like you, so i'll give you a half smile but that's it!" 

 Huuuh! Did you hear that?

 Mom! Look over there!

 Nothing, never mind... (For the record she really liked Maddy and Colton by the end of our visit) 

 I'm just a smirkin' thinking... wow you guys look like a bunch of crazy people jumping and hollerin' like that... 

 Did you notice that thing is still over there? 

 Hello, anybody there? Did anyone here what I just squeaked out (in all Maylee language that pretty much all sounds the same) 

 All right, i'm outta here. 

  

HA and that's about how it went. Big props to my Dad for dressing her that day, can you tell the man raised 3 lovely girls? Ask Kelly (yet another fabulous family photographer, we're so lucky to have so many talented brothers and sisters!) smiling is a tough one for May to do in pictures impromptu.

On that same front, she has been pacifier free for a week now and things are going well. Every so often she picks up Emma's and starts sucking. I gently remind her it is Emma's and NOT hers and she hands it to me. I wash it off and put it back in Emma's crib. Yep, the girls are sharing a room now. Luckily Maylee is a deep sleeper and that Emma is usually a good sleeper too. Still not my favorite thing, but we'll all get used to it soon enough. 

(Can you find the trend and wonder who'll be showcased tomorrow on the blog? The suspense should have you at the edge of your seat and keep you up all night in wonder!)

My Ty Boy

While we were in Medford, Maddy and I needed to take some pictures for a future venture of ours... So while we were changing and getting ready. Ty was Colton's little model. Ty picked out that shirt the day before at Old Navy and pretty much wants to wear it everyday. Colton didn't tell Ty to do anything, just to do what he wanted to do. In a series of 8 shots I think Colton captured Ty's personality PERFECTLY. This is about what every day with my little man is like.

 Silly Face

 He says, "Tooda!"

 Oh Gosh I love this kid.

 JUMP!

 CHEEEESE!

 Jump!

 Run AND Jump!

Ty is a superb little boy. I don't know how I was blessed to get such a good one, but i'll take him and keep him forever. He is (in his words) my best boy ever.