Mac Funnies {3 years, 3.5 months}

(I hope I can explain this well since it had to do with his actions): I was telling Mac that his grandma C was going to come pick him up and he was going to get to go for a drive in her car (van). He got really excited and asked if it was the car that the door goes like "this" (showing how you open a sliding door on a van) and not like "this" (showing how to open a door on a car).

The scene on my family room floor: Oak laying on her tummy, Mac going up to her and grabbing her arm and saying "You're not going anywhere!" (in a deep voice) and then making her hand punch him in the face and he rolls away and Oak is laughing hysterically. Then repeated about 15 times! ♥

 I heard some noise in the kitchen and knew Mac was probably playing with something that I have told him not to. So I went to check it out, I walk in the kitchen seeing him playing with something and I ask him what he is doing and he says, "Just hangin around." :)

Mac sweetness: I went through a bag of baby food someone had given us and left the pile on the floor. A little while later Mac was playing with it. And then a little while after that I go to put Oak in her highchair to feed her and notice a container of babyfood and a spoon sitting on her tray. So sweet! Then when I told him how sweet it was and what a good helper he is he asks me, "Are you so amazed?"

 Every time we say a word that sounds like the word "coffee" (like: coughing, or copy) he will scold us and say "We don't drink coffee, it is bad for our bodies!"

: Daddy was telling Mac a spooky story at his request. In the middle of it I asked Mac a question about something in the story and he says to me, "Mommy, just listen to the story!"

 Mac overheard Daddy saying prayer (in Spanish) with Oak while putting her to bed. Mac looks at me and says, "Hey, Daddy is saying the wrong words to the prayer!" So then we were saying prayer with Mac while putting him to bed and Daddy asks him if he wanted help saying the prayer in Spanish. He said no and then continued to say his prayer in jibberish (Spanish). ♥

I asked Mac to stop playing with something or it would break and he replied, "What ever you say!" And he said it with the eye roll too. :)

Machas been at my parents house for a couple of days and I went to pick him up to bring him home. On the way home I told him that when we get home he should give Daddy a big, giant hug and he said, "But Daddy's not a giant!!"

 Hubs was bent over moving some furniture for me. Mac was standing behind him and said, "Daddy, good job at shaking your booty!"

I have said before that my room is always a mess. With all the other housework, I just never get to my room. One day I was telling Mac that we were going to do some house work and his room needed to be cleaned. He responded to that with, "But Mom, what about your room? It's a mess and has clothes all over the place!" Oh brother!!! (And for the record, I was planning on cleaning my room too.)

 Mac saw a picture on a cartoon of a girl who looked scared I guess. He said "look at that freak girl!". I asked him what that meant and he said, "It's a girl who freaks out about something scary!" (of course, i should have known that!)

I asked Mac to put away some of his toys. He did it after the first time I asked him! I was so happy and excited that I gave him a big hug and started kissing his cheeks. He then looks at me and says, "NO MORE kissing Mama!" I can't believe he is at an age that he doesn't want any Mommy Kisses

usually when I tell Mac to not talk to me rudely, he will immediately say, "I am sorry...I forgive you." Of course in a very sincere voice. I can't help but laugh every time. I guess I have failed to explain well who the forgiveness comes from when someone does something they are sorry for.

Love this boy of mine...

. love his red hair and blue eyes.

. love his perfect sweetness.

. love his crazy, wild energy.

. love how much he loves to read books.

. love how he is passionate about the things he really loves.

. love that he always wants a kiss and hug goodnight (I hope that never changes).

. love how much he loves his grandparents.

. love his agreeable stage right now.

. love that he loves to help.

. love that he loves his baby sister.

. love that he is mine forever.

I AM SO BLESSED!!

Cell Phone Pic Overload...

I thought it was cute how she was all scrunched up in a ball while she was eating.

Love me a baby on my hip!

Babies asleep in carseats is one of the most precious things to see.

Yum! Ice cream at Costco!

When we go to Lowes, one of the first things Mac ask to go look at is "the doors".

This picture just makes me laugh!

Who is the oldest sibling now?

Making her laugh!

Nothing but cute and adorable!

Helping feed sister!

Mac figured out how to roll his tongue! I most def cannot do that.

My little cool dude!

She is all over the place now, and rolls like there is no tomorrow!

She fell asleep during a basketball game.

More ice cream at Costco.

I love me some adorable rolls, she is just too cute!

Ready to go in purple!

This blue frosting stained his hands and face for a whole day, so funny!

One tired boy fell asleep after he was done eating his mac-n-cheese.

His first family picture.



She ends up like this alot and will do it back and forth with each leg and kinda ends up scooting a little.



Mac has been trying to be a good helper and he wanted to help change Oaks diaper.
 He has one of his helping hands on his face, see post below if you don't know what I am talking about.

LOVE.LOVE.LOVE this smile!

This is an oldie! She used to smile alot in her sleep.

This is an oldie too. I left Hubs home with both kids for the first time (oak was just a month old) and Oak cried the whole time and Mac got into everything he could and got into trouble and had to sit on the couch then zonked.

This is an oldie too. Mac and his buddy/neighbor A.

I thought it was so cute how he had fallen asleep with his hand like that.

Another oldie. Destined to be a thumb sucker.

Pizza Picnic

Oldie, Just love that baby chub!

We love this hat, and I thought she looked like a little knome.

When he hasn't had a nap yet, he will fall asleep instanty in the car.

Hubs has been teaching Mac how to play Chess. He is starting to figure out what each piece does which is pretty cool. And he loves to play with Daddy.

This was actually today. She was playing with this teether and somehow got it stuck on her foot.

Oldie. Love the smile on Mac's face!

First time she sat up when she was 4 months old.

Hands are cool!

Untitled from bwilb on Vimeo.

Helping Hands!

About a month ago I was feeling like I needed to do a chore chart for Mac, so I asked my friends on Facebook what kind of chores they thought a 3 year old should do. I got a TON of great answers! It was very helpful. There were many that I hadn't thought of for Mac to do, but there were more that I realized that he already, to a degree, helps me with. So then I thought about the one task that we have told Mac was his job, which is setting the table for dinner. And I thought about how much he whines and complaines when I tell him to set the table because it is his job. There is alot of drama that goes on before he eventually does it.

I decided that I didn't want him to feel like that about chores or helping around the house.

So then a thought popped into my head and I got really excited!

And here is what I came up with...

"Helping Hands!"

Every time he helps me he gets a hand, when he gets all of his hands he gets a privelage.

It took me awhile to get this going because I wasn't totally sure how I wanted to implement it.

 But then one saturday when I was trying to get some housework done and I had asked Mac to take his toys to his room so that I could vaacuum, he REFUSED! It was an all out war! He pretty much didn't care what the consequence was, he wasn't going to do it. He sat in time out for an hour, and didn't care. So then I threw out the idea of taking all of his toys away. And he didn't care! I am not a pushover when it comes to parenting and my mom taught me the golden rule of parenting which is "be consistent with the law of consistancy!" And I take that rule very seriously! So I had to follow through with my threat, even though I felt bad about it. As Hubs and I were taking EVERY SINGLE toy out to the garage I asked him if this is a terrible thing, and he was completely fine with it, which made me feel better. I was pretty worried at first about what would keep him busy, because Mac gets bored very easily and then he gets into trouble. But I can't even tell you how amazing it has actually been to not have a million toys scattered through the house, that his room doesn't always look like a bomb went off in a toy store, that he is finding other things to do (with my help) that are more creative. He did alot of painting last week, and loved it. He never asked for any of his toys back, out of boredom or out of just wanting to play with a certain toy.

So this is where the "Helping  Hands!" came in!

I finally decided that I needed to start my Helping Hands idea and we decided that when ever he helps out in anyway or if he does things like his bed time routine with out a fit then he can have a helping hand. When it comes to little things like taking his dishes to the sink I will add a few more little tasks to it for him to get one helping hand. And for bigger tasks he gets one hand. For doing things like getting ready to go somewhere and cooperating, or getting ready for bed without a hassle or even being good during Sacrament meeting at church he

will get one. After he gets eight then he can choose some toys to come back into the house, or another privelage like playing on Daddy's iTouch.

And to be honest, the outcome has been much better than I ever expected. He is actually enjoying helping with things. He actually has the patience for me to teach him the correct way to do things. And he is almost always willing to help when ever asked.

On top of that, he isn't always asking about when he will get something. And alot of the times he will just help willingly and not even think about getting a helping hand as a result.

I am hoping that this will continue like this and it will instill in him, and Oak when she is old enough, to be helpful to those he is around and to have good cleaning habits.

Helping Hands

I traced his hands and had him color them.

I wanted him to help with the project in some way so that he felt like it was his idea too.

Then I cut them out and laminated them and put a magnet on the back.

They sit in a jar on top of the fridge. And he gets to pick one out when he is helpful and put it on the fridge.

He loves to count how many are on the fridge and also count how many he has left in the jar.

He has never gotten discouraged about how many he has left. And it takes him about day and a half to get all eight.

Oak {7 months}

.she learned to clap on march 4th and she now claps with open hands and when you say "yay!".
.she rolls all over the place in all directions and every which way, and she is fast at it.
.she has learned how to get down on her own when she is tired of sitting up.
.she is a full time sitter and will catch herself when she loses her balance.
.she has tried all the veggie baby foods and prunes and she only didn't like the peas. She kept gagging and when she had enough she just stopped opening her mouth for me.
.she loves to chew on any fabric/material (she gets excited when she sees that I am going to wash her face).
.she is officially in 12 month size clothing and won't fit into anything smaller.
.she says "dadadad" and "babababa".
.she now can hold her own bottle.
.she loves to play peekaboo and kindof gets the idea.
.when you put a blanket over her head she will grab it and pull it off.
.when she is on her tummy she has started to stick her bum in the air and push her self backwards.
.she has even tried to get her knees up under her.
.pretty sure she will be crawling with in the month (if I could stop her I would)
.she is so wiggly now and it is getting harder to change her diaper. (it was hard to take her pictures this month)
.she loves oatmeal.
she chews on everything.
.she is getting her first tooth and it hardly seems to phase her, except that she drools more than she did before.
.she can sign "more", but I don't think she knows exactly what it means yet.
.she is such a happy baby all the time.
.she still sucks her thumb when she is hungry or tired.

DO YOU SEE HER TOOTH?!