Last To Know

Joe was such a blondie as a little boy...pretty much a toe head. He tells me that in his mind he still thinks he has blond hair. Until we moved here, his drivers license even said: Eyes: Green-Hair: Blond. Other than seeing the pictures of him as I boy, I can't even imagine him blond. "How sad that his hair is now brown and no longer blond"- that's what I would think to myself (as a blond) when he tells of his blond days.

Fast forward to this morning.

I'm bathing Gabriella and Gwen. Gabs lies in the tub to get her perfectly strawberry blond hair wet. Sits up and proudly announces: "Look mom. Now my hair's brown like yours."

Why didn't anyone tell me that I'm no longer blond?

Seriously. I'm always the last to know.

My Babies

Next week my little Gwyneth will be 1. Oh, my word, she'll be 1! If you know me, you know that almost sends me into hysteria. How can my babies be almost 3 and almost 1? I can't believe I am a mother of two happy, healthy, wonderful girls! I have been "mama" to these little miracles for 999 days. I think I still fall into the rookie category of parenting, but I've learned a little bit along the way...okay a ton. But here's the biggest lesson I've learned: Never say never!

I never thought I'd not care when I got spit up on.

I never thought I'd leave the house without combing my kids hair.

I never thought I'd go more than two days in between their baths.

I never thought I'd let my kids wear their jammies all day.

I never thought I'd say "stop kissing your sister".

I never thought I'd let my kids eat in the car...HA.

I never thought I'd give treats for going potty.

I never thought I'd let my babies crawl around in just their diaper.

I never thought I'd make minestrone, stew or vegetable soup and make my children eat it, but

I never thought I'd make pancakes and call it dinner either.

I never thought I'd be that mom with the really messy car and crackers all over the floor.

I never thought I'd leave a restaurant without cleaning the gigantic mess under the table.

I never thought I'd tell me children to go eat their dessert so I could have a moment of peace.

But then again,

I never thought I'd love the early morning hours when I get one on one time with one of my girls.

I never thought I'd cry when my children cried.

I never thought I'd brag about my children endlessly and say they were the cutest thing in the whole wide world.

I never thought I'd give so many kisses to perfectly chunky cheeks.

I never thought I'd feel such happiness when I hear my children laughing.

I never thought I'd feel lonely when they aren't with me.

I never thought I'd hold my sleeping children in my arms after they've gone to bed just because I could.

I never thought I'd beam with such pride when my children learn something knew.

I never thought I'd be secretly depressed each year on their birthdays because they turned another year.

I never thought I'd love any two things as much as I love both of them.

Yes, one things for sure, never say never.

$2

I find it very easy to spend money on my girls. I don't think I spend a lot of money on them, but if I could, it would be really easy. I enjoy getting them new clothes for the season, little nothing things at the dollar spot, fun dishes to eat from and every now and then, just a new toy to play with. But, I am not the kind of mom to go overboard. In fact, I often feel bad because we don't have a lot of space to store toys in our house, so we just don't have a lot of toys.

I recently realized though, that I always gravitate toward two specific things in stores. I just have a hard time resisting. It seems I can't say "no" to a cute pair of jammies and beautiful illustrated books. They're my weakness. Jammies and books.

I have no idea why, but I love little girls in adorable jammies. Maybe it's their cute little diaper bums in those tight pants, or their big gut in the tight matching top. Maybe it's the sound of the footy jammies running across the floor. Whatever it is, I think I'm addicted to it.

I have a soft spot for books just as much. I desperately wanted to be a cartoonist when I was little. I have always envied creative talent in people. I always wished I had more talent in that department. I think that's why I love cutely illustrated stories. Maybe if my children are surrounded by beautiful things, their creative juices will flow and they'll be the artist or designer I always wanted to be.

My mom gives each new grand baby a picture of Christ with the little children. It's hanging in the girls room. We love this picture. While at a street fair in California, Joe and I spotted a book from afar. It was called My Jesus Book, with the same special picture as the cover. The book is darling, with each picture inside just as lovely as the cover. I thought I had found a treasure and was already willing to pay whatever the asking price was. I was delighted to find that the book was only $2. $2!? That was $2 well spent.

But still, I'm curious... am I the only one who splurges on random things like jammies and books for my kiddos? What can't you say "no" to?

Rain boots in September

I usually give Gabriella options when we get her dressed in the morning. Capris or skirt. Purple shirt or pink shirt. Brown bows or pink bows. Piggies or pony-how she wants her hair styled. I like doing this because I get to decide the options, which I'm always happy with, and she gets to make a choice out of the two, which she is always happy with. It's a win-win for both of us. Always she picks the pink option if there is one, and she always picks her pink "sprinkle" (the one's with glitter on the straps) sandals when I tell her to go get her shoes on.

Today, when I told her to go get her shoes she came strolling out in her pink rain boots that I bought at the end of last year for this winter. She's done this before, and I've had to veto it because it's been the summer. However, today, there was no need to veto. The rain boots were completely appropriate for today's fall September weather and I wanted to cry. So here goes another 9 month winter where we say goodbye in the dark when Joe leaves for work and welcome home in the dark when Joe gets home, where the house lights have to stay on all day because it's so gloomy outside, where we eat soup everynight for dinner and where we get fairer and fairer than we already were through out the pretty much gloomy summer. Rain boots are not welcomed but they're here to stay, at least until next June. Bummer.

...On a happier note...Thank you to all of you who have joined forces with me in trying to get my dear Bryn to start a blog. It finally worked! She broke down and I'm happy to report her new family blog address. I know she'd love to hear from you all!

www.themacgillivrays.blogspot.com

...Early to Rise

We had many early mornings in California. Maybe it was the fact that the girls weren't in their own beds, or maybe it was that Joe and I were sleeping in the same room. I like to pretend that maybe it was the beautiful sound of waves crashing so close to our window that woke us up each morning. Either way, there were many early mornings.

One morning, we broke out our jeans and sweatshirts the only time on the trip and decided to take a walk to the Pier. We love taking walks as a family, hardly in Washington do we get to take morning walks. This day was a glorious morning for a walk. The sun was just coming over the beach homes and it was only us, the surfers, the fishermen, and the seagulls. It was perfect 7 am weather with no breeze at all and cold sand at our feet.

Joe had yet to experience Ruby's and 50/50 shakes, so we stopped for breakfast. He ordered cinnamon roll french toast that was divine. I think we decided that making those for Easter brunch will be a new tradition. If he could, he would have gone back every morning for that amazing french toast.

We had a lovely walk with Gwen wanting to get down and play in the sand, and Ella-belle wanting to get her feet clean from the sand. Polar opposites in the beach department. I realized though that the reason that I don't exercise is because I don't have a beach...all I need is a beach and I would be a running machine. At least that's what I'm going to tell myself to feel better about my Washington laziness...It's just because there's no beach...I'm feeling better already.

Disneyland

One early, rainy morning at seminary some friends and I decided that it was a perfect day to ditch school and go to Disneyland. We went to a friends house where his mom made us pancakes and called home to let the padres in on the plan. With our season passes this was an easy thing to negotiate, as long as we were back in time for softball practice. That was our only stipulation. Easy enough, so off we went. Of course, it wasn't rainy at the happiest place on earth and we spent the day going on the best rides over and over again. I'm pretty sure that was the last time I was at Disneyland, I was a senior in high school.

It's since been almost 10 years and finally I was going back to Disneyland. This time I felt like a little girl before Christmas. I was so excited to see Gabriella experience this wonderful world she knew little to nothing about. We don't watch a whole lot of Mickey Mouse around here, so I wasn't sure how she'd react to the Disney characters. But if I knew one thing, it was that she would love the princesses.

My mom, dad, and Bryn's cute family were all there with us when it opened and stayed until closing time. Gabs loved the roller coaster in Toon Town, the rockets and Peter Pan. Gwen had so much fun on the carousel and I could hear her squealing with delight on Dumbo.
We saw many characters out and about. First was Pluto, which she liked, but after him we couldn't get her to talk to Aladdin, Woody, Goofy, or Mickey. She really doesn't even know who they are. But there was one person I was sure she would love. That would be Ariel.

We waited for Ariel to show up in Triton's Garden. Worried that she might be scarred I asked her what she might want to ask Ariel when she saw her, just so she could make conversation with her idol and not get starstruck. When it was her turn she walked right up and asked "Where go Flounder?" After that she was golden-talking about turning three after her birthday, how old her sister was, her sisters name. She held Ariel's hand in her two hands the whole time. She would have stood there all day, but people were starting to shake their heads at this long conversation so we had to say goodbye. At that point, my day at Disneyland was perfect. The look in her eyes when she was talking to Ariel, the one and only Little Mermaid, with complete admiration made me the happiest mom ever. For me, Disneyland had been a total success and as far as I was concerned our business there was done.

We did stay however and enjoyed a few big rides, meeting up with friends and spending grandma and grandpa's Disney Dollars on, what else, Ariel goodies, and a Dumbo for Gwen Gwen.

It was everything I remembered it being at 17, but even more wonderful this time around with my little girls. Thanks mom and dad for letting me ditch and thanks for taking our family... I promise to let my children ditch school to go back to Disneyland one day.

Home Sweet Home

I knew I missed California, but it wasn't until I went back after 6 years that I realized I really, really miss California. I had to break it to Joe that he doesn't have my whole heart, but he has to share a little tiny piece of it with California. We have been anticipating the last 10 days since Christmas last year. And when I say anticipating, I mean in the anxious way, because we received many threatening phone calls about not missing this one. The last two family vacations to California we missed because we had Gabs 3 weeks before the first one and I was due with Gwen three weeks after the second. I was sure we would never be invited on any more family trips if we missed this year...but alas no newborns or pregnancies for me this time around. Finally, I was going home.

We had such an incredible time. It felt great to leave behind gloomy Washington for perfect 78 degree California weather. We took advantage of every ounce of sunshine we could. Each day was planned to perfection and we couldn't have enjoyed it more. I don't think saying "Thank You" to my mom and dad begins to scratch the surface of our gratitude for this fabulous getaway! We love you and look forward to many more Septembers in California!

I will have to post separately about a few of our memorable experiences, but here, in a nut shell is what we did!

Last Saturday: Took the girls to my mom and dad to play with my sister Shanen, and her cuties Kylee, Kobi and Kruz at the beach while Joe and I went to the BYU-UCLA football game with friends and Joe's family. Such a fun time, would have been better with a BYU win!

Last Sunday: Visited with Josh and Shanen before they went home and checked out a local antique street fair.

Monday: Beach, beach and more beach! My parents condo for the month was a little stone wall away from the sand and water. It was ideal and I was in heaven.

Tuesday: Sea World. Thank you Anheuser Busch for letting all military families in free once a year!

Wednesday: Morning walk to the pier and breakfast at Ruby's. Beach, pool, shopping and anxiously waiting the arrival of Bryn, Austin and Dax!

Thursday: Disneyland! Warm weather, short lines, and adorable kiddos loving every minute of it! It was perfect!

Friday: A relaxing day at the beach, including a nap right there on the warm sand...love it!

Saturday: Our birthday. The boys so generously stayed behind with the littles while my mom, Bryn and I went to LA to see Wicked. It far surpassed my already huge expectations! It was wonderful. Joe enjoyed the day at the beach with friends from his BYU days and watched another BYU loss. So sorry Joe!

Sunday: Saw my sister Nicole and her cute family before we had to leave. Squeezed in a visit with my life long childhood best friend Ashley and headed to the airport for a very sad airplane ride home.

Even though we got home late last night to find that we left the house in less than perfect condition, the refrigerator empty and bills in the mailbox the girls were happy to be home. It may not be California, but it is still home, and it is sweet!

Blankets and Bumble Bees

Ever since Gabriella was itty bitty, she has loved the quilt I made for her. I was determined not to let it become that dirty blanket that got dragged around everywhere with us...so it was to stay in the house. As she got a little older the blanket did stay in the house, but it got dragged around everywhere in the house. I couldn't stand the idea of her quilt in the kitchen or bathrooms, so I made a new rule...the blanket had to stay in the crib.

The major motivation about keeping the blanket in her crib was that she would suck her thumb with the blanket, never anytime else. I didn't like seeing her suck her thumb all day while carrying her blanket around, so in the crib I made it stay. It took some adjusting. I would catch her at her crib with her favorite corner of the blanket pulled through the slats just standing there sucking her thumb. She would do that several times a day at first. I would tease that she was getting her "hit", because she would disappear for minutes at a time, then come running back into the room happy and ready to play. But, slowly, she adjusted to only having her blanket at bed time and I was happy to see that that was the only time she sucked her thumb.

As months and months passed, I found I had a new worry...was she ever going to stop sucking her thumb? There needed to be a new transition away from the thumb sucking. I made Joe agree that we would move her into her big girl bed and that's when we would take the blanket away. I couldn't see any other way to keep her from sucking her thumb. As we got the bed ready to move into her room, Joe got cold feet. He felt bad about taking the blanket away, she just loved it so much and had never slept a night without it. So, instead we gave her 3 rules for the new big girl bed: 1. No getting out of bed and giving Gwen toys, 2. No jumping on the bed, and 3. No thumb sucking in "the pretty big girl bed." The punishment: taking the blanket and putting it in the closet.

Each night we put the girls down, we told her the rules. She would make sure that I told Gwen the same rules, because Gwen, just like her sister, only sucks her thumb in bed with her special quilt. Thankfully, we have never had to take her blanket, I never saw her once sucking her thumb to fall asleep. But, I wasn't with her all night, so how was I sure she wasn't sucking her thumb after we left?

Well, the other night she had her first scary dream. It was about a big bumble bee trying to get her belly. She was so frightened that for the first time ever, I laid in bed with her while she fell asleep. All she wanted was her blanket and as she fell asleep she never sucked her thumb. I am so pleased that she still has the security of her blanket AND has stopped sucking her thumb.

Deep down I never wanted to take her blanket away, I just love that she is in love with the quilt I made for her. Now, we both are happy because she still has her blanket and I don't have to worry about her being 13 and sucking her thumb. My itty bitty baby is growing up. Now, onto Gwen's intervention.

Simple Joys

For some reason earlier this week I realized that I had never taken the girls to feed ducks. There was this great park down the street from my house that we drove past almost everyday...and everyday there was someone there feeding the ducks. I can remember feeding those ducks at ward parties, or when we were playing at our friends house across the street, or just stopping by on our way home from somewhere. Those were loved ducks.

Why had it taken me this long to realize that Gabriella had never fed ducks? What happened to doing simple things as kids like, playing red rover, or flying kites in the street, or using sidewalk chalk to draw a hopscotch, or running to the sprinklers, or playing sardines? I loved playing sardines when I was little, you know where one person hides and everyone looks for that person and when you find them you hide with them too until the last person finds you and then you do it all over again. I don't know, maybe my kids aren't old enough to do these things, but it seems like if you asked, no one would know what red rover was.

Anyway, I was feeling bad about the duck feeding, so I made up my mind, Gabriella and Gwen needed to experience the joy of feeding ducks at the pond. But as I thought about where we would go, I could not think of a place where I had seen a pond with ducks. I was told about a few places and so we were in business. I told Joe that we needed to take the girls and he said that was a good idea because he had never fed ducks before. WHAT? What kind of crazy, small town, did he grow...oh wait, that's right, Helper, Utah. He seriously had never fed ducks before. I had to ask him again last night if he was serious, to which he responded "We didn't have ducks in Helper, there were geese and ducks in Spain, but I don't think I ever fed them." So now the mission was on for sure.

So this morning after breakfast we loaded up the girls and the loaf of bread and we were off for the 25 minute drive to this park I was told about. The park looked fabulous. Big baseball fields, a huge playground and nice big pond in the middle. There was a cute little bridge that crossed over it and a nice path around it and a ton of ducks right in the middle. I had gotten Gabs so excited that I was so excited that I didn't even notice the huge sign right in front say "Do Not Feed The Waterfowl" Joe pointed it out to me and my heart sank. Poor Gabriella. Poor JOE. As I tried to scramble to come up with a plan B, a nice lady walking by told us about another park with ducks, she said she could see the disappointment on Gabriella's face, so she came over to give us the little tip.

We were off again to a new park. When we arrived, it was obvious these ducks were loved ducks. They were waiting by pond edge for some food. Gabriella happily feed all she could. She was tickled silly and was sure she was talking to them with her "quacks". She would even throw a few pieces to the far back for the little guys who couldn't get close enough, something I would try to do as a girl too. The loaf was gone way too fast, maybe it had a little something to do with her eating a piece for every piece she threw to the ducks, but either way, our fun duck feeding ended. We'll have to make sure to do it again, so our girls remember that they use to feed the ducks when they were little.