Playing catch up!

Mom came to visit at the end of April. It's the first time she's come to Utah by herself and we had a marvelous four days with her. It was wonderful to play and to have her here and the kids just completely enjoyed it. I cried when she left and wished she could've stayed! She did ALL my laundry ($40 worth!!) and she watched the kids and she sewed them aprons and she helped them plant seeds and we just had a fabulous time together!







At the end of May, I had a wonderful opportunity to visit with Corinne and Jillian for Jillian's 31st birthday. We met for lunch in West Jordan and got to visit for about an hour and a half. It is ALWAYS a good visit and never long enough when I sit and chat with Corinne and/or Jillian! I love, love, LOVE that we are still in contact :)!





Kevin and his fiancee, Camille, just got clearance to get married in the temple in two days...so, it's probably fitting to give some catch up moments of them. These are some of their engagement photos. Okay, they are the ones that I liked the best because they were either really cool or seemed the most natural...

You are my ______ and I LOOOOOVE YOU!

Every night, the last thing I say to the girls is a sing-song couplet. It goes:

You are my _______________

(insert: princess, precious, daughter, lovely, ballerina...)

And I LOOOOOOOVE you!

Then, the girls (individually) sing back to me:

You are my Mommy and I loooooooove you!

No night is complete without our ritual. It actually started with Kevin one night years and years ago singing to Kaia (who we called 'Precious' for many years) with Precious inserted. I liked it so much that I did it. And, as it tapered off for them, I continued.

In the past year, Elise has wanted me to sing it to her, as well. It has been a wonderful and endearing way to connect with them right before sleep. Every once in a while, I will sing it to Brennan. This never fails to feel special and fun to him :).

About a year ago, Kaia eschewed the Precious term and wanted Daughter. After some adjustment, I was able to do it her way. Although, in the past few days, she has wanted me to call her Squeaks in a fun, nickname way. So, I have said "You are my daughter squeaks and I love you!" Or, "You are my Kaia squeaks and I love you!" Then, she calls me Mama Squeaks. Kaia is so wonderful :)

Elise is very long-winded and a bit scattered in her choices. She has had me call her Chipmunk (think Brittany the Chipette), Princess Ballerina, Elise-y Ballerina, Lees-ey Lou Who (usually after reading The Grinch Who Stole Christmas), Alvin and the Chipmunks-Brittany-Pink-Chipmunk, Twirling Dancing Ballerina Princess...

I adore my little ones!!

Elise's Song

[Note: I am going to attempt to document more of life's 'little moments' so that I can have a better record than Facebook status updates...although, I really think we should be able to get a year's worth of them or something...more on that in another post :)]

Sleeping Elise

Elise is currently into having bedtime 'songs' instead of bedtime stories. Which is fine with me. I love stories...but, I really, REALLY love songs :).

Often, her requests come in the form of princesses. For example, she may ask for 'Snow White' (Someday my prince will come) or Sleeping Beauty (Once upon a Dream) or Jasmine (A whole new world). This has become a fun ritual in the past two weeks, or so.

Tonight, Elise made a couple of requests (Belle and Sleeping Beauty and then 'We wish you a Merry Christmas'...um...okay...) and then she said "Now, MY turn". She sang...

"I love my heart! I love my stars! I love my world! I love my Mommy! I love my heart! I love my stars!

I love my Mommy! I love my pink! I love my Mommy!

I love my heart! I love my song!"

This went on for a couple of verses and then she delightedly said

"You like it, Mom?"

Why, yes, Elise. I most definitely LUB it!

I took these pix about a week ago before waking her up in the morning...

Setting the Stage

Do you have a stage in your living room?

Well, that question has haunted me. Okay, maybe haunted is a bit strong.
However, I have been working on creating spaces downstairs for the kids to play together.
That way, their rooms can be for individual, quiet time. (In theory :)

So, I built a stage in my living room. I googled 'building a small stage' and was not very inspired by all the 30 minute youtube videos that came up.

Rather than watching any of those, I went to Home Depot and went to the scrap wood. Then, I just figured on what I thought I would need. I was few inches off...but, it doesn't matter too much :).

Then, I went to Ikea to try to figure out how to have stage curtains...

The results were as follows:



The Materials
The Space


Building the Frame
The best tool for the job
(with a shout out to the stain on the floor...what the **** is that :)??)


The Frame


It's a STAGE!
The Curtains


And, here we have Elise testing out the new place!
In the first one, she is doing "Single Ladies"


Dance away, Elise!


Born for the stage!


Brennan takes his turn testing out the new venue!

Messages in Bottles

We've been saving various bottles and we decided to do Messages in Bottles and send them down the Jordan River (it being the most conveniently located body of water...other than the bathtub :)

So, one night in March we wrote some notes and headed down...


Elise running down the Jordan River Path
Everybody heading down to the River Parkway
(Brennan is carrying all the bottles in his backpack)


Everybody getting ready to throw theirs in...
...And throwing them in!



Then, they tried to chase them down the river and see if they could watch them.
Brennan and Kaia were sad that the river took them so swiftly...


When I told Elise to get shoes on, she put on one of her rockin' pink Converse...and a ballet slipper. While this does not seem comfortable to me at all-Elise never once complained. So, first I told her I was taking pictures of her shoes. Then, she posed to show me her cool, pink star shoe...

The Pushcart Wars

Play: The Pushcart Wars (Part I)
Role: Brennan as SAM and as a SPEEDY
When: March 16
Location: West Jordan Middle School

I signed Brennan up for a community theatre class for kids ages 8-16. The schedule was 8 weeks of classes. The last week, the kids performed the first part of a play called The Pushcart Wars. Brennan did so awesome in his first real experience being in a team environment and having a role and learning his part. He had his lines memorized within the first 3 weeks. Since then, I have signed him up for another round of classes-which he is again thoroughly enjoying!!

Grandpa Maynard, Kaia, Kevin, Camille (Kevin's fiance), Brennan, Elise, Grandma Maynard
Brennan with Grandpa and Grandma Maynard


Amy, Ben & Kaia watching
Brennan driving the truck


Laughing with the director, Charlotte. She is marvelous with the kids!


More of Brennan as "Sam"


Brennan with Mom
Brennan with Amy-one of the best friends EVER :)



Brennan as a SPEEDY
Brennan delivering some of his lines as SAM