One of our recent Family Home Evenings....

We've been having some issues with the kiddos talking very unkindly to one another lately. Lots of fighting and too many "I hate you's" are thrown around, so I decided to have one of our Family Home Evenings focus on how we should speak in our home.

I showed a couple pictures of the Savior and talked about his life. There are a few pictures of him as a boy and so I showed them and asked if they thought Jesus screamed and yelled when he didn't get his own way. I asked about what they thought he did when someone made him mad or got in his way. We discussed that for a bit. Then we talked about how it makes us feel when someone says, "I hate you!" or "Get away from me!" , etc., etc.



So, then I pulled out these little jars with our pictures on them. Each jar represents that person. I talked about how we are in charge of filling each other's "jars" with kind words. Kind words were starbursts, mean words are rocks. So, if Graham screams at Lucy, then Lucy gets a rock in her jar. We're going to evaluate the starburst-to-rock ratio each week and chat about that. Maybe there will be a prize or fun outing if the ratio is to my liking.

That evening it was pretty funny. I kept hearing Lucy say things like, "You're the best brother ever, Graham!" Graham would say the same thing back and then they'd both look at me expectedly. That has died down a little each day, but it's been nice to hear them talk a little better to one another. The only times it has backfired is when I have lost my cool (very rare occasion, of course) and Lucy steps in with, "Now you have to give me a rock!" You can imagine the reaction she received. Not among my finer parenting moments.



After the lesson we made these little guys. This treat sort of evolved. I was originally trying to think of a way to make mouths, being how we were focusing on paying attention to what words come out of them. Lucy wasn't impressed with my initial attempts, so these little monsters came to be. She still wasn't too impressed. She ended up just doing her own thing.



I got the jist of this lesson from a website I found a long time ago. It's nataliesfhespot.blogspot.com. It's a good resource for lessons for families with young kids. She has a lot of simple lessons that I'm able to add to or take from and make my own. It's my "go-to" place on Monday afternoon when I don't know what we're going to do.

Where does the time go??

Ben-O hit the 4 month mark on the 16th and as you can see, he's a healthy little guy! In some ways it seems like the time has flown by, but it's so hard to remember what life was like before he joined our fam.



I don't have his stats for the month until his appointment for next week. People are always a little shocked when I tell them how old he is. Most assume he's 6 or 7 months.



He is such a smiley guy. His grin goes from ear to ear and we can't get enough of it. It's been fun to watch him interact with Lucy and Graham. Lucy just has to look at him and he lights up. He's very patient and doesn't cry a whole lot. When he does fuss, it usually just sounds like he's complaining or whining (takes after his older siblings in that department). We're still having a little trouble when it comes to sleeping. I can't complain too much, though. He's not a very good napper and likes to wake up around 5:00 am and fuss for a bit, but it's all manageable (that's the new "go with the flow" Maggie talkin'.....we'll see how long that lasts).



I kiss that sweet face all day long! Our lives have changed so much since this little man joined our family. He is already teaching me so much about myself. Everyone warned me that the third child would send me for a loop and they weren't kidding! This parenting thing has taken a major jump into overdrive these past few months, but I'm starting to feel like maybe I CAN get up every morning and be the Mom to these crazy kids I've been blessed with.

Visitors!!

Our Valentines/President's Day weekend could have been kinda gloomy with Jason out of town for work, but my parents saved us. They came for a visit! The kids being sick put a bit of a damper on things (although I must say, it made me all the more glad that they came to help), but we still had fun.



Monday it was 75 degrees here in sunny California! We made it to the beach! It was nice to be out in the sunshine. After Graham got some major sand in his eyes and started in on a coughing fit, we decided to head home. But it was sure fun while it lasted!


Here's Ben-O checkin' out the waves.






I included this one because of Graham's scowl. This is a new face we see quite often. It cracks me up.

On Sunday, Grandma made some Valentine sugar cookies for the kids to decorate, and for me to eat (which I did....I love me some frosted sugar cookies).









This is what we gave the kids for a little Valentine's Day surprise. I remember my Mom and Dad giving us small gifts to help celebrate and I want to do the same for my kiddos. I decided that we'll do books every year. Graham's book was a major hit. I've read it to him at least twice a day since he got it. It was fun to hear Lucy read hers on her own. She's getting to be quite the reader. I'm always impressed at how well she does. I spotted the lucy cookies at the store and thought they would be a nice addition. They were sugar and gluten free and claimed to be delicious, definitely not the case, but Lucy loved seeing her name in print. Don't we all?

We were lucky enough to have my Aunt Bev and Uncle Jim come stay with us for a night, too! We had a great time visiting with them. We went shopping and went to dinner at Yolanda's, down by the marina (Lucy calls it Malonda's....it cracks me up every time).

I appreciate Mom and Dad making the trip out to see us. We always count down the days until their arrival and then pray the time will go slow while they're here. Every night before bed Lucy would get upset that they weren't staying longer. It breaks our hearts when the time comes for them to leave.

Now we're just trying to survive until Jason gets home. 10 days down, 11 to go. Wish us luck!!

My Super Cute Quilt

Check out this gorgeous quilt my sister-in-law, Shellie made me.





I absolutely love it! It has my favorite colors and my favorite flower all over it. It makes me smile every time I look at it. Thank you, Shellie!

Come See Us!

On Saturday we decided to head to the beach to watch the sunset. We barely made it in time. My goal is to show you these pictures so you'll want to come visit us.






It was Benny's first time seeing the ocean. It was a little chilly, so we didn't last long. It's been raining like crazy here, but hopefully we'll be having sunny skies for a while. So.....who's coming to see us?

3 Months Old

I can't believe our little guy is 3 months already! Every time I get him out of the crib in the morning, he seems bigger.





He's doing really well! Sleeping much better and he smiles all the time. My newest favorite thing is Graham's greetings to him. "Hi Benny! Hi, Benny! Hi, Benny!" He gets right up in Benny's face and says it super fast. Then he proceeds to laugh his head off at whatever reaction Ben does or does not give.

3 Decades Old.....YIKES!

30 year-old me

Well, I turned 30 yesterday. There wasn't a whole lot of drama on my part regarding this milestone in my life. Sure, I've got a few more wrinkles than I'd like and I'm pretty sure my metabolism got the, "she's turning 30" memo, but I'm just not too concerned about it. I guess I've known it was coming for a while (30 does come after 29, ya know).

I didn't get any good pictures of us celebrating, but we had a great time. We spent Saturday in Santa Barbara with our good friends, Erin and Tom Rendulic. They hired a babysitter for us at their house, so we just had little Benny with us. We shopped and had lunch. Santa Barbara is just such a beautiful place and it's only about a 45 minute drive. The weather here is absolutely FABULOUS right now. I think it was like 72 degrees on Saturday. I love it!


Yesterday we had the Rendulics, along with all of our neighbor friends over for cake and ice cream. It was nice to have people here to help us celebrate. I'm always a little bit sad on my b-day because I miss the extended fam, so it was fun having a houseful of kids running around and friends to visit with so was too busy to think about it as much.


All in all it was a great weekend and a fun birthday!



With the new year here and my 30th year beginning, I've decided to get serious about setting some goals and sticking to them. I was pondering my new age yesterday and thinking about whether or not I am the Maggie I want to be at this point in my life. In some ways, yes, but in far too many ways, there is definitely room for improvement. So, tonight for Family Home Evening we are talking about goal-setting and self-improvement. I hope to chart my course and come up with specific ways to reach my goals. Maybe, if you're lucky, I'll share them with you at a later date.