I missed her!!

I'm so happy to be back with my baby!!

Sailor hats

Brian sent me this from the YMCA. 

While I was in CA w/ Brianna, he took the kids to the Y each day for the full 2 hr limit so he could get work done while they went to the childcare. 

 I love that the childcare does fun crafts each day!

Mom was SUPER helpful while I was gone too - she picked up the kids from the Y and took them for a few hrs in the afternoon so Brian could go running (he's in a FitBit competition at work) and then get more work done.

So even though he technically had the "days off" of work, he still stayed pretty much caught up.

 He didn't do much customer visiting (which is what he's supposed to do as an Outside Sales Rep), but he kept on top of his hundreds of daily emails and dozens of daily phone calls.

And these two barely even missed me!

Sister stylist

Entertaining ourselves pre-flight...

"Art"

We are walking around an art gallery in the Santa Ana airport and Brianna keeps pointing and laughing at the pieces saying, "that's just a bunch of scribbles! I could make that!"

Out of the mouth of babes...

SoCal hotel pool!!

VACAAAAYYY!!


 me so happy here!

Cousamies

Trying to combine the words Cousins and Enemies there... like frenemies... doesn't quite work as well.... Anyway. Point being. They are all bffs NOW...but give them 48+ hours together nonstop, and the hugging turns to hitting :) Or at least lots of whining and tattling.

Helping Hands

EQ date night

The guys got together and did a post-valentine's date night.
They served a "french" dinner, complete w/ homemade crepes by Matt Coffey, who served his mission in France.
 It was super cute.
 Then we played Reverse Charades (SO FUN!!!) and Wits and Wagers (we won!! Team McHouser!)
We had the YW volunteer to babysit all the kids in the gym, and it went awesome!
Love those girls.
And love my EQP (1st counselor) man!

Braids

I'm not nearly as good as Meredith and Lindsay at doing braids... but I'm trying! 

I'm glad Courtney is easy to please, and patient with me.  And I'm glad her hair is finally long enough to do braids in!!

Poser

She said, "Mommy, I'm going to do a POSE, take my picture!"

 omword. I adore this 4 yr old. 

Lunch w/ Sam

SammyJo hasnt been eating/drinking well lately, and we are trying to help her get healthier, so I've been trying to drop by more often at mealtimes. She seems to do better with her fam feeding her than with the staff i think. Of course it's challenging for me to do much cuz i gotta bring the three stooges with me. But amazingly - they stayed nicely contained the whole time in Sam's cute room w/ a show & snacks and let me focus on Sam! Lovely outing for all. Being able to do this sort of thing is one of the best benefits of our move here to WA. 

Twin love

Hats n' selfies

the ninos

Hats from Gma!

Laundry Mountain...

It's never ending.... the mass of clothes needing to be washing, dried, sorted, delivered.... all so that they can cover up bodies, get dirty, and return to the wash cycle. MADDENING!

Floor puzzle

They love this giant 24 piece floor puzzle.

It's a cute depiction of Book of Mormon chronology... thus an easy go-to Family Night activity :)

Bday gifts from Gma

She loves STUFF!

What's cookin good lookin?!

Story time at the studio

Monday holidays

   Storytime at the dance studio. 

Brianna loves Monday holidays because she gets to come here!   

Valentine Dinner

Inspired by Papa Murphys....but made far healthier!
Dough includes mixture of chia, ww, oat, almond flour. Toppings include Applegate brand nitrate free sausage and shredded carrots
And love. Topped with lots of love.

Magician @MerryGlen!

Excellent Valentine Party entertainment!

Shelf stable

Love

Stake Valentine's Family Dance!

It was a super fun night!

Banana Squirrel

Its actually called Banana Swirl, but i prefer their pronunciation :)
Just put frozen bananas in the Vitamix! Better than ice cream!

I want one too!

"I would like my rowbot to clen my room"

Brian in a diaper

So proud of my husband.... Demonstrating the proper wear and fit of adult briefs to the staff at nursing homes....
So manly. Swoon.

Voted via guilt

I've never been one who is very good at getting out to vote. 

I don't spend a lot of time researching the issues and I guess I really don't have any great excuse. 

Nothing that anybody else doesn't also use, like being busy or whatever. 

Maybe a case of apathy?
But the school district has pushed reeeeally hard to get ppl out to vote for this latest bond & levy. Like loads of emails, signs, flyers, EVERYWHERE.  Even a referral contest with prizes. 

Soooo....that got me out to cast my ballot and earn my sticker.

 Peer pressure, self-induced induced guilt, and multiple reminders is apparently the key to motivating me.

Studying the menu.....

  Charity, the restaurant connoisseur...  ha!

Mom texted me one afternoon and said that her and  Dad and Lily would be dining at Prospectors that evening (Meredith's restaurant) and asked me if one of my children would like to join them (note the number there - one. This is how we keep it enjoyable).  

Usually I would choose Brianna, since the twins are happiest together. 

But I joking replied back, "Yeah, Charity wants to go."  

And mom paused and then said... OK!

So - I let them take her! 

And they said it went well!

Back at the homefront - we had such a more peaceful easy dinner in her sweet toddler absence :)  

(no offense Charity my darling.... it was just nice to not have anyone throwing food on the floor or trying to stand on the table or grabbing fist fulls of food and wiping it in their hair).

I'm so.... proud?

Twin clothes

Thanks to packages from Grandma,  I rarely have to buy clothes for my children! They love it :)

Lunch for B

Charity was a little upset because she discovered the hard way that the food was hot :)
Brian RARELY spends the day working from home. But today he had a huge quote to prep so he was barricaded in his office. I asked if he'd like lunch brought to him...he said suuuure...
Probably a bit wary of what I'd bring :) He's used to going to restaurants or Subway for lunch everyday.
He made a bit of a FACE when i brought in his plate: baked sweet potato, quinoa brown rice, and a lentil saucey topping (all from Costco. So yum)
He ate it all! Yay!
Small steps toward ensuring his quality and quantity of life...

Bday lunch for brianna

They took her to Outback (thanks to gift cards from Sammy!!) I had to stay home cuz baby didn't go down for her nap early enough, so I decided it just wasn't worth trying to bring a wiggly TIRED toddler to a sit-down restaurant. Then I found out they had to wait an HOUR for their food. MIZ-ER-A-BLE!!! Glad I missed it. They brought me home my baked salmon+broc, so I still got the goods.

Breakfast for dinner

They think it's pretty darn funny to have waffles, hash browns and eggs for dinner!

Errands

Most people probably think of SAHMs running errands everyday with a minivan full of kids.
But that is definitely not what i do.
Well, i do have a minivan full of kids...
But i hate errands. I dread them. I avoid them at all costs.
I've lived here for 9 months and never stepped foot in Target, Walmart, Home Depot, etc.  I do all banking electronically. I shop online. I consolidate grocery trips and limit that to mostly Fred Meyer. I've learned that its just not worth the headache!
I'm a homebody and I'm ok with that.
But today...TODAY...I broke my streak.
We needed a new toilet tank. Brians outta town. I had nothing super pressing to justify putting this off any longer.
So i loaded up the crazies and took care of biz.
So excited i found that big flashlight at the bottom of the photo for $4.97! Bam. Totally got "emergency preparedness" checked off the to-do list (the one that doesn't exist cuz I'm not Type A).
THEN while we were out i thought...what the heck, let's go to Target! That's where moms are supposed to hang out all day, right? Right....
But i had some gift cards sitting in my purse for over a year. No joke.
So we used them! On buying a new tablet for the kids! (the last one met its death a couple weeks ago...it was depressing. Don't wanna re-live it right now). And the twins picked out $1 gifts for Brianna's bday. And i found a new wallet (it's only been 9 years since i bought a new one...am i jumping the gun?!) ha.
And that's the end of my errand-running saga. Stay tuned in a few more months when i dare to venture out again!

We don't do SHY...

Storytime is always entertaining with Bennett and Courtney.

  They can be counted on to be THOSE kids - raising their hands constantly, blurting out random statements, ("my dad is at work!" "I ate an orange yesterday!" ,"There are 3 trees at my house!")

  Bennett will often compliment the girls around him, saying "I like your braids!" "You have a nice jacket!"

I hope they keep their outgoing personalities forever :)



(Bennett likes wearing the HOOD on his jacket...funny kid)

Intimidation

Push-up contest