Sweet Brinlee

A little conversation between Brinlee and I:

Brin: But mah-ahm (mom...just drawn out whiningly), I don't want to come inside!

Me: Brinlee, you have to.

Brin: But mah-ahm, the prophet said "be nice to your kids"!

Me (proud me I might add): Wow Brin! You listen to the prophet?

Brin: (smiling, no longer whining) Yep! All day long.

Too cute. She reminds me of this often. After conference, I tried to tell her what the prophet wanted us to do, and I summed up my end of conference by saying "The prophet wants me to be nice to my kids".

Note to self...next conference say "The prophet wants everyone to be obedient."!

Love you Brinlee!

Silly Bailey

This morning I was sleeping in. I had worked late last night, and I was not worried about being awake before my kids. I was aware that the girls were waking up (mostly because they were in my bed! Ahh!), but I was hoping that maybe they would roll over and find 10 more minutes of sleep. I know I needed it! Anyways, all of a sudden Bailey was crawling up on me talking slowly and quietly...

"Sleeping Beauty..."

Then still soft, but now add silly to the voice. Like you would talk to a little puppy or baby in...

"You're my primary caregiver..."

I sat right up and laughed, hugged her, and asked her where in the world she had heard that. Garfield. Of course. No more movies for her...

Sam loves " uh-side "

Sam is getting so big, so fast, and he is all boy. My girls liked to go outside when I suggested it, but it was just more fun to stay in and play dress up. Sam wakes up, comes downstairs for his breakfast, eats, and then goes over to the sliding door and starts saying (or yelling) " uh-side! ". If I'm not fast enough, he starts to hit the door with his hands or nearest hard object because he knows that will get mom to him fast. He can hardly contain himself as I put on his shoes and socks, and in case I had forgotten why I am putting them on he keeps repeating " uh-side "over and over. It is adorable. I took a few pictures of him, but made a collage because it seemed more practical than 10 pictures for 1 post. We cannot wait until warm sunny weather everyday.

*If you click on the picture, it will get big for you. But please understand that Sam has no time to let mom wipe breakfast (or boogers) off of his face. He has things to do...like get stuck in the dump truck (bottom right)!

Good Morning!

This is what I woke up to this morning. Nate was sleeping on the bottom bunk in the girls' room, and me and ALL 3 CHILDREN were in one bed. (I was nestled into that tiny space between Sam and Bailey) Notice the funny fact that everyone had a different comforter! This has to stop, but at 2 in the morning, I'll admit, I really really do not care.

Janurary 2010

Hard to believe it is February already. Here is a recap of our January:

Bailey and her cousins on New Year's Eve. She had her first overnight. Sadly, this was a hard decision for me. Nate ended up making it because he knew Bailey would be fine. And she was, just a little sleepwalking!

My wonderful friend from back in the "Raintree Days" had her birthday, and we celebrated! Winger's lunch followed by Sherlock Holmes. So much fun!
Nate and I had our first vacation away from our kids...ever. (Well, we did an overnight a few years back, but this was 4 whole days!) We went to Las Vegas for the NHBA convention, the homebuilders convention. It was fun. We mostly went to classes, but when we had extra time we went down and walked around all the booths. There are hundreds of them, and they like to do little contests. Nate made them pick me to race hammering nails. I had to hit 1 in, and the fellow next to me had to hammer 4. Nate was so proud when I won. AND I won us a knife.


Also, at the end of January my friends and I got together for a little sewing party. For the sake of time (it is taking forever to upload pictures!), I will just post one. I love these girls. It was such a fun time! We are just trying to decide what to make next. Any suggestions?

Dear "Our Family"

You commented on the last blog post, and said you would like to receive a Christmas card. I would love to oblige, if I only knew who you were. Sadly, I do not keep up on the blogging scene, and you have apparently went private. So, mystery blogger, who are you? :-)

-JoAnn

For Tara...

So, I have a wonderful friend who informs me that I do not blog enough. And that since she did my hair before the pictures, and lent me articles of clothing for the pictures, that I must post as soon as I have something. Well, here is something :-) .

I e-mailed our photographer the night we got back from taking pictures, because I just wanted to make sure that we had at least ONE good picture. She wrote me back today, and assured me that we did. Here is the "sneak peek" of one she edited. I LOVE it, and cannot wait for the rest!

Bailey's Birthday Post

As my fun tradition, I am doing the "interview" with Bailey on her birthday, and some commentary from mom. Here it is!

Mom: Bailey, what is your favorite color?
Bailey: Pink and Purple.
(last year was purple and pink...she likes to change things up a bit)

Mom: Who is your favorite person?
Bailey: Ella, and my friend Chandler, because they are my best friends and I miss them. They're my old friends.

Mom: What is your favorite food?
Bailey: Umm...green beans.
(why does she always choose a vegetable...I don't believe her!)

Mom: What do you want to be when you grow up?
Bailey: A teacher, because I LOVE teachers!
(I was so excited that she got this question this year, and actually gave an occupation! Last year she wanted to be a "Big Kid", and the year before she answered "Tall.")

Mom: What is your favorite thing to wear?
Bailey: Dress-ups.

Mom: What is your favorite thing to do?
Bailey: Meet friends. New friends.

Mom: What is your favorite thing that daddy does?
Bailey: I like it when my daddy works because he helps people. And he earns money so we can have lots of food, and stay home forever.

Mom: What is your favorite thing that mommy does?
Bailey: My favorite thing that mommy does is take care of Brinlee and me.
(I take care of Sam too...I promise!)

Mom: Where are you going to get married?
Bailey: In the San Diego Temple. Where you got married.

Mom: What is your favorite song?
Bailey: I Like To Look For Rainbows.

Mom: What was the hardest part about being 4?
Bailey: Climbing up the straight rocks. I almost fell!

Mom: What are you most excited about this year, being 5 and all?
Bailey: Great flips. I am going to practice my flips on the trampoline, and they will be great.

Happy Birthday Bailey! We love you so much. You can always put a smile on our faces.

love mom and dad

I think we have a match...

First of all, I know that I have not posted for months, and now twice in one day. What can I say? Just keeping you on your toes.

Back to the matter at hand. Nathan has made friends with the odd spider outside of our front door. Today I watched him catch something, but thought nothing of it. Moments later he calls me out front, where I then discover that he caught a grasshopper, and fed it to the spider. He throws "food" into the spider's web, and then watches the spider quickly come and feast. Weird. Yes, I know. I decided to look into what kind of spider my husband had chosen for a pet, and I think I found a match.


First up, our spider:
Next, let me introduce you to the Cat Face Spider.
Hopefully this odd little facination will go away quickly. But, if not, I did find out that beyond looking a little scary (or really scary...this spider is big!), it is not harmful to humans. Yay!

WARNING: Shows a little skin...

Bailey said she got everywhere...

I think not.

Classic Brinlee

Today Brinlee was being quiet (never a good sign), and I yell downstairs,

"Brinlee? What are you doing?"

She answers back,

"Nothing Mom! I am not eating the cheese!"

That answers that question :) !

An old flame...

Yes, I have recently been reunited with an old love. Digital Scrapbooking. And I think I am more in love than ever before!

The Cheese Mystery...

Open refrigerator...
Open cheese container...
Hiding child holding something orange...
Brinlee trying to smile her way out of trouble...
Brinlee saying "cheese"...literally!

Valentines 2009

Valentine's Day this year was the best yet. Nate made heart shaped waffles for breakfast, and had fresh strawberries to go with it. A beautiful rose was also awaiting me in the morning. I gave a massage to a neighbor, and then when I got home we hung out as a family. The kids got a care package from Michigan, with cards, festive socks, and some heart hair pretties :). We also dipped strawberries and bananas in chocolate that night. YUM! Nate gave me my gift...a brand new camera! I love it, but not near as much as I love him! Thank you Nathan for being the best father, the best husband, and the best friend that I could ask for.

The Evolution of Brinlee's Hair

Brinlee is such a wonderful spirit. So full of life (very full!), and taking every opportunity to grow. Too bad that her hair has not taken the same approach. Recently, I have taken steps to fix this, and I wanted to share them with you. The pictures come in chronological order.

In this first picture, you are able to see what I wanted to fix. It was a little unruly.
Then we did the bangs. It was very cute, but one day I noticed that Brinlee was looking a little "mullet-ish", so we followed with what we have today...
The bob! The picture is blurry, but it was the only one with her looking at the picture. I also added one of just the girls, in our new polka dot dresses. These are there new spring dresses that I had to let them wear because they didn't understand why it wasn't spring. And I got a new dress because I taught a lesson and gave a talk back to back weeks, and I needed a little encouragement! I also had a cute set of earrings and a necklace, but Sam took care of that for me only moments after it's debut. Nice.

We're alive...

I just read a friend's blog, and she apologized for being gone...since the middle of January! So, I guess I should say sorry too. The only problem is, I don't think that there are many out there waiting for me to blog :), so maybe an apology from me is a bit egotistical.

Life has picked up a bit here. After my last post (yes, November), we went to Michigan for a family trip. So much fun. I love my family. Then the holidays hit us, and left just barely after we had decorated for them. Recently we were put back to work in our new ward, callings for both of us :). I love it, but it really does make time fly!

Nothing new and exciting, but I felt that I should make contact with the outside world again. Hope all is well with all of you!

Thoughts?

Let's just say, it was time.

New Pictures

I snuck away from my children to create the new header for the blog. Hopefully no disaster occurs.

Thank you, thank you, thank you Angie for taking my kids pictures! Once again she has confirmed that they are absolutely beautiful! Oh, and I guess this is sort of a spoiler for all of those who will be getting a Christmas card this year. I am sure it will be a picture from this bunch.

Now back to motherhood...

That Time of Year

It is about that time of year that you need a jacket when you go out.. It is dark by 7 pm, and dark until 8am (time change will help). Leaves have changed, and are falling. SmokeAnd lastly, it is the time of year that I am full of treats, desserts, and good food until January comes accompanied by New Year's Resolutions. Here are some pictures of Halloween at the McArthur home.

Making and decorating halloween cookies with a few of our favorite people in the whole wide world.

Picking the perfect pumkin at the pumpkin patch. (Brinlee had more fun throwing the pumpkins...needless to say, we hurried!) Carving pumpkins. Left to right: Brinlee's pumpkin, Bailey's pumpkin, and Sam's...the one that says "sam". Could you tell?

Halloween morning. Everyone was so excited to wear their costumes all day. We had Tinkerbell, a pumkin, and an adorable little boy. We didn't get any pictures of them all fixed up, but you get the picture. They were cute. And we have enough candy to last us through the week :). Hope you all enjoyed Halloween as much as we did!

Stolen...But Worth It

Well, I was off "blog hopping", and I found this quote. I love it! I think I have heard it before, or at least something similar. Here it is:

"Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he's been robbed. The fact is that most putts don't drop, most beef is rough, most children grow up to be just people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration, most jobs are more often dull than otherwise, life is like an old time rail journey,. . . delays, side tracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride."

-President Gordon B. Hinckley of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

First of all, I love President Hinckley. Such an inspiring man. He was counseled once in his life to "forget himself", and I think that is the basis of much of his counsel to us, and so many of our struggles today. We want for us. To an extent, I think it is necessary, but I think that we let it grow to more than that. Again, a great quote. Thank you, whoever you are, for posting it, and causing me to take a look at what I am expecting out of life. And, more importantly, who is to thank for all of it.