Happy Easter!

To be honest, I took them to see the Easter Bunny for the sole purpose of getting a photo just like this.

I missed out at Christmas getting a freaked-out-on-Santa's-lap picture.

I'm grateful for this Easter season for two reasons: Another chance for a funny picture with a large character, and the Resurrection of our Savior.  I should probably switch the order of those two....

Of course, Brianna was honestly thrilled at the Easter Bunny. For about 3 minutes. Then the bunny tried talking to her, "so, little girl, how old are you?"  in a deep voice, and Brianna just walked away slowly...

Shopping with my girls

Wholey Nut Butters

We visited Trolley Square's Whole Foods mega store for the first time.

They had TWELVE different kinds of nut butters, and four varieties of honey- just in the fresh bulk foods section!
Kindof aaaaamazing.

Made me want to get bananas and bread and make my favorite sandwich.

But it's sad. Brianna doesn't LIKE my favorite sandwich!  PB (or other nut butter), honey, and bananas. So amazing. Serious comfort food. And the little stinker claims she just wants the bananas and honey. Annoying. 

Recess Run

We did a little 5K at Liberty Park in SLC a few Saturdays ago. I just found the photos on FB from the organization that put it on (Playworks - a nonprofit helping underprivileged children w/ after school recreation. Something like that. I think. I'm probably one of the very few there that had no idea what the fundraiser was for, and didn't really care).



 Brian's pretty amazing - he does about 2 races each year, and no other running. Like not farther than the length of a basketball court. Yet he still does pretty well!

 He ran this 5K - while pushing the big stroller and 80 pounds of children - in about 27 minutes! And last year he did a 10K in about 55 minutes.

 Of course, after his weekend warrior appearances, he spends the next few days a little sore.
 But it's still good for his cardiovascular system to do something a little crazy a few times each year, right?


 I can't wait til someday all 5 of us are running stroller-free!

A mom-brag-blog-post

My mother has to be one of the most thoughtful people on the planet. When she found out my cousin Krissy was driving from Spokane to Utah, she put together a box for her to bring me. And when my mom puts together a box... ya never know what she'll put inside!

Brianna was beyond thrilled to find activities for her- paper, stamps, books, stickers, etc. Brian received a DVD my parents thought he'd like, along with a thoughtful and sweet letter from them about fatherhood. We got Easter stuff, a special facial scrub, goat soap, a recipe for almond butter cookies with ALL the ingredients included (!!) and most importantly - lots of love. I miss my mommy! Brianna and her posse send manymany mahalos!!

Grandma's 89!

Happy birthday to my sweet, SASSY Grandma Oneita! I love her lots, and really enjoy our walks to her home for visits. Brianna and I are proud to be named after such a generous and hard working elect lady.

Green Works Product Review

I'm still not sure how I got this lucky, but I was selected to receive and review Green Works cleaning products! I received full size samples of the spray, toilet cleaner, and household wipes.

 I've already tried them all out a few times (I have ample opportunities to clean messes at my house!) and I can honestly say they're all great! They smell really good- not strong and unnatural - just a nice fresh cleans scent. The wipes got some food stains off the tile floor in just a few swipes- and these weren't fresh messes! I won't share exactly how embarrassingly long they had been on the floor :) The toilet cleaner left our throne sparkling white. The spray left no streaks and made the countertops and table suitable to prep food from again. No residue.  Honestly, I really do like this stuff better than the store brands I usually use. I feel like the Green Works products did a better job, and faster. And of course, the biggest plus with Green Works is obvious - very eco friendly, made from natural plant and mineral-based biodegradable cleaning ingredients, safer around the precious littles. And not tested on animals.  Which is awesome... cuz seriously - testing products on animals - that's so MEAN! Can you imagine.... "hey, let's dump this tub of chemicals on a mouse and see what happens!" Oye.   

Oh - and all the recyclable packing "peanuts" (brown crinkled paper) kept my toddlers entertained for quite awhile :) Thank you Green Works!     Friends - feel free to LIKE them on Facebook and FOLLOW on Twitter!

Mini

I'm torn on how to feel about this car... Cute and excellent gas mileage....vs easily smushable in collision. What do YOU think?

Brian's favorite court

Pretty rare to get an (almost) normal smile from two members of my family at the same time!

MPH wedding

I know, a terrible picture to post (when will I learn...horizontal stripes are BAD!) but I'm glad Brian snapped this so I'd remember to post about our (my) fabulous night catching up with very good friends. MPH cohorts. The stunning bride Shalece, and supermom Erin, and coolcompetent Chris. The other 9 are off globe trotting, saving the planet from pandemics. But seeing these 3 tonight was so awesome. I spent two years off my life with these brilliant people, locked away in small classrooms (cells? Dungeons?) trying my best to imitate their genius and put up a cover of competence. It worked. I fooled them all. And now we're friends for life.

Notice Brianna, bottom left.... she's MESMERIZED by the "beautiful princess!"  She couldn't stop staring and pointing at her.  And now her obsession with all-things wedding/marriage has been fueled.

Poolside... at Costco?

KILLER treat

SinDawgs. By Dave's Killer Bread. At Costco. So amazing. And proof that their sampling strategy works, because after I went back to try it for the third time, and still wanted more, I just had to buy a package. I really love the DKB company and their story and all their products. I'm hoping they find this blog post somehow and pay me for this free advertising. I would accept more SinDawgs as payment.

Sharing snacks

Nevermind that they're eating on the floor. And that the floor's kindof messy.... They're SHARING! Big deal around here! And note the fuzzy white ear muffs around Courtney's neck - that's how she rolls.

Manly Kiss Goodnight

Brianna recites The Pledge of Allegiance

I'll be honest... I'd didn't help her memorize the pledge out of a deep sense of patriotism.  I just thought it would be fun to teach her something cute she could show off  :)    Isn't that every mom's motivation behind teaching her children?

Pushy sister

Laptop love

After two long weeks, our beloved laptop is home. Do you know how annoying it is to try and do everything ya gotta do online from a little smartphone?! I'm so grateful I bought that accident insurance almost two years ago, so this hard drive crash (due to a certain someone knocking it off the table) didn't cost us anything but a couple weeks of inconvenience. The most happy McKell is Brianna, who can finally get back to her games on abcmouse.com (the free ones of course. You think I'd pay for a subscription? Have you not noticed I kinda have a thing for FREE stuff?!)

Danke

Saturday morning after the Leprechaun Lope 10k at the Capitol, I remembered that we were near an amazing little German bakery. Wanting to do our part to support local German business, we stopped in. It was super busy. I asked why, and the nice German lady shrugged. I guess people were celebrating St Patrick's day by going to the German bakery...? Better than corned beef and cabbage for sure!

Aloha! Praise to the man!

We went to a fireside at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building Sunday night for BYU-Hawaii alumni. Love that place! The fireside was great- awesome speaker.

A better reaction to a worse mess

I just need little talk-bubbles over each of them saying,
"She did it!" and "He did it!"

I didn't freak out this time!  I just took out my camera.
And this is a big accomplishment, because it was an even more expensive mess than the orange juice!  (it's organic flax seed meal. In a shaker.  They couldn't resist).

Double Sliding

No Divas Here (!)

OJ lesson

When am I going to learn to think before reacting?! Poor Brianna. She's the victim of my irrational temper.
So she spilled some orange juice. The good kind. But not even the whole bottle. Maybe $1.50 worth. She was trying to keep it away from Courtney. Maybe that's the part that made me mad. But there's no excuse for yelling at a kid when it was just an accident. That doesn't teach them anything except to be afraid or resentful. And to become an irrational yelling parent someday too.
I cooled down, felt sick with guilt, apologized to her, and we cleaned it up together. And hopefully I'll remember this next time and prevent a mommy freak out.

A quick funny...

Well I think it's funny anyway.
This post could also be titled, "How to shut up a nosy old neighbor."

Yesterday afternoon the kids were getting a little restless. We didn't have time for a park outing, so I let them out into the common hallway to ride their scoot-toys for a few minutes. Which of course led to them taking a little joyride on the elevator. But since it was the middle of the day, I hoped most of our neighbors in the condo complex were gone so we wouldn't get it trouble. We tend to get in trouble a lot. By the same grumpy old neighbor.
Unfortunately, this mean grumpy old man was home, and came knocking at our door just minutes after I got the kids inside. I ignored the knocking. He kept knocking. I whispered to the kids to be quiet. But he knew we were home.  And kept knocking.
So I thought.... what will make him go away and stop bugging us....
And a brilliant plan came to me.
I scooped up the babies and went into the back bedroom. Then I yelled, "Brianna, come here! I need you to help me!"   I asked her to go to the door and give the neighbor a message.
She ran to the door and did exactly as I asked:  "Hi. My mommy can't come to the door. She's breast feeding the babies."

And it worked! He went away without saying a word!  Hopefully feeling awkward and uncomfortable enough that he won't harass us anymore!

Out of Brianna's Mouth Lately:

"Can Courtney sit by me in the car? I promise I'll hide her if the police man comes!" "Mom when I get married can I live with you?" "Mommy when I go to college can you go with me ?" "Can we pretend that Courtney is Chinese? "Bennett, do you have a situation on your hands?" "I don't think Captain Hook follows God." "When I get big, my bum will grow big, and I won't fit in my carseat!"  [very concerned about it] Courtney, our Netflix movie is LOADING! LOOOO-DING - don't you understand LOADING?! When I grow up, I want to be like Dora. And you too Mom.  I remembered to wear underwear today!!  [proudly to the childcare employees at the gym] Courtney, when you get big, I'll tell you secrets. Mommy, I'll say CHICKEN, and you laugh really big. Ok? CHICKEN. Now LAUGH big. BIGGER Mom! Brianna to her friend, "I talk to my Nonny on the phone."  Friend:  "Your naughty what?"

Oh happy day!

It's Spring. Pretty much. A little more snow in the forecast. But more sunny warm days than not lately. And we are loooooving it!  (notice Brianna's arms-up in the background!)   I'm so glad the babies are finally at the stage where they can run around a playground with ease and really enjoy it. And I don't have to follow every step making sure they don't fall off something and break bones.  I'm free to take pictures of them and blog it off my phone while enjoying the sunshine  :)

Organizing my mind

Best presentation ever.

Thank you Kris - SuperMom- for introducing us to an amazing organization system!

MOM = Mind Organization for Moms.

Powerofmoms.com

So excited to GET THINGS DONE!    :)

Visiting With Grandma

 A Sunday afternoon favorite.

And a good excuse to go on the long stroller walk to her home.

So grateful for the nice weather that puts her in a happier mood to visit with!

My Grandma Oneita Smith is an amazing, wonderful person. 

A little mullet action going on?

Stylin' ??

I got an email from "Stylist" (not sure what they are, besides SPAM) - and before deleting it, I opened it up (always the smart thing to do, right?) and saw this photo with large print above it saying:  
THE NON-NERDY WAY TO WEAR SOCKS WITH HEELS:

I scrolled down for the punchline. But I don't think they were joking. Really? REALLY?! Now, I know I'm no fasionista... I mean, I still think skinny jeans look ridiculous on just about everyone, and I'd be quite content to live in comfy jeans and tshirts 24/7.... But this is trulytruly absurd. Right??  I can't even imagine what will be in style when my daughters are old enough to care. Although right now, they probably would actually love to try and wear exactly these sock-heel combos.

New favorite color

Have you ever peeled open a perfectly ripe avocado and been a little amazed at the bright beautiful green color inside? This one was almost neon it was so bright.
I would like to award Avocado Green as my new favorite color.
Condolences to Daffodil Yellow on being demoted to second favorite.

Playing "camping"

Lounging

I love how Bennett just plops himself into his Elmo chair when he's feeling tired or lazy. I probably won't love it as much if he's still doing this in his teen years (scary to think about!!) But for now it seeing this makes me want to scoop him up and tickle him until he's as red as Elmo.

Los dientes

Collaging

I really wanted to make a collage out of the pics from this morning's playtime with reverse camera. The kids really love that feature - especially Courtney. But I couldn't really do a collage since our laptop is broken AGAIN (fell off the couch and the HD crashed. Have I mentioned that I really love our high quality HP? Totally worth standing in line at 6am Black Friday at Staples. Not. HP stands for Heap of Poo).
So I had to settle for attempting to make a collage on my phone with an app. Took forever. And doesn't look pretty. But low quality pictures have never stopped me from posting before! Ha. Self deprecation. Annoying isn't it? I strongly dislike fake self deprecation, especially in bloggy land. Anyways, the collage.... so yeah, it just crossed my mind - isn't it amazing to think about how our kids are growing up with technology so different than what we had as kids?  Gosh I feel so old and grandma-ish saying that. But seriously - I grew up taking rolls of film to the store to develop. They'll never have to deal with deciding whether or not to pay for doubles, unsure whether they'd even turn out any good or not. Nope, they're growing up playing with reverse cameras on iphones.  What in the world will my grandkids grow up doing?!?!

Male Bball Bonding

Few things make Brian as happy as brainwashing Bennett into becoming a basketball addict. Not exactly my idea of quality time, but there's worse things he could be doing, right?

Here they're watching the BYU vs Gonzaga game. Semi-interesting to me, since it's my home town vs my alma mater. Interesting enough to occasionally inquire which team has the most touch downs so far. GO COUG-ZAGS!

Dinner

The Goodnight Show

We have added a new element to our bedtime routine. Bath time has been moved up a little earlier, then the kids come in the front room for the Sprout Channel's "Goodnight Show." I just discovered it on our OnDemand, since we don't actually get that channel (yet we get like 5 different sports channels. Lame). It's such a cute show- and very simple. Soft sleepy music playing, while all the characters from the shows are shown sleeping. Big Bird, Berensteins, Angelina, etc. for 20 minutes. Then we move on with the usual brushing, books, prayers, byebye. Brian really likes this new part of the routine since it gives him some extra manly cuddle time.

StoryCraftyMonkeys

This was the babies' first time participating in the craft after story time at Three Little Monkeys. We go every week and it's interesting to watch their attention spans increasing. I think we're at 90 seconds now. That's up from 9 seconds a couple months ago.
I seriously don't understand why story time here isn't packed. All the public library story times are totally full, and aren't half as good as this one. Barbara is animated, creative, interactive - and often does it all just for a handful of kiddos. She learns and remembers every child's name. The library's story time pales in comparison, yet is wall-to-wall with germy kids. But I guess I better not complain or advertise too much - because I want our fun free outing to stay this way!

Bennett's happy place

I stuck him in this pen of balls at Three Little Monkeys and he was in heaven.