A Bit too much FREEDOM

Dear Lindsey,

Oh you dear sweet 2 1/2 year old, you are driving me absolutely CRAZY!!
Today you have:

• shredded the little foam inserts to the dollhouse furniture bunk beds
• refused to eat your breakfast (after refusing to eat your dinner last night) and therefore you're hungry and cranky
• emptied 3 separate baggies of 100 piece puzzles all into one pile
  

Yesterday you:

• Ran away from me at Target and when I put you in the cart you began to tear the packaging of the gift I was buying, when I replaced that item with some rolls of wrapping paper you began to eat them!
  
• When you refused to eat your dinner you went to your big sister and stole her fork right off her plate and ran away with it. When I told you to give it back to her, you threw it in her face poking her
• Ate your snack, Sam's first snack and then squashed his replacement snack before he could get it--it's no wonder you didn't eat dinner!=)

Last week you:

• Emptied a 1/2 full box of Baking Soda all over my recently mopped kitchen floor and then tracked it all over the tile--you were supposedly "eating lunch" while I was nursing Matthew.

• During "resting time" you found a small tube of bright blue toothpaste and spread it all over your hand, and then came downstairs to show me putting a beautiful hand print on the wall in the process, some also got on the carpet and all over the counter in the bathroom
  

I know the "2's" can be terrible, but you're lucky you're cute and say the funniest things. Heavenly Father must have known it would save your life!=)

I really am glad you're in my family, even though you're pushing boundaries (and I am a sitting duck when I nurse Matthew for 4 hours of the day--and you seem to THRIVE in this FREEDOM). You make us smile more than you make us frown and you ALWAYS give me hugs and kisses upon request and even when I don't.

A BIG week--sleeping, pooping, chopping!

So, the McKneelys have had an eventful week this week!!

Baby MATTHEW:Turned 4 weeks this week. Has dramatically changed his preferences for soothing--used to LOVE the pacifier and to be swaddled. He also would sleep best in his carseat all bundled up like in a cocoon. This week that all changed! He screams like a banshee when swaddled for sleeping or soothing, and will not let you put a pacifier in his mouth. This made for a couple stressful days and non-sleeping days at the onset of this week, but we've got him well figured out now and he slept last night for 5 hours straight! Woo-hoo!! too bad it was from 7-1AM and I didn't hit the sack until almost 10! Bummer!!

SAM:
Completed his poop chart by filling it with stickers every time he had a successful time on the toilet! To celebrate we went to McDonalds for lunch! (his last mini-milestone). At this point he'd been accident free for about 4 days and we were SO EXCITED!! We now have a calendar where we're tracking accident free days. 5 days on this calendar and we'll go get new underwear! But I am so convinced that we're through with this that I called the pre-school this week and got his registration packet! I can't believe we've made it! It only took a YEAR and seeing SPECIALISTS but he's doing FABULOUS!!

KAITLYN:
Late last year we had a family friend (an 8 year old boy) die of cancer. For months our family followed his illness and prayed for them--in fact hardly a day goes by that we don't pray for his family to be comforted. So fast foward that to January when Kaitlyn AGAIN was asking to cut her hair short like the cute "bobs" so many of her friends have. Her hair was so long and is so GORGEOUS that I started talking to her about donating her hair.

We talked about Peyton and that sometimes the medicine for cancer can make you so sick you lose your hair and that would be REALLY HARD and even embarrassing to lose your hair and we could donate it. She LOVED the idea and we committed to growing it out until spring when it would be long enough to donate.

This last FRIDAY was THE DAY!!
She was SUPER excited (I however was having a harder time with this than she was but I didn't let on--she's ALWAYS had long beautiful hair and I was trying to imagine it short, worried she wouldn't like it and be upset, and it was such a big change) We thought about how nice it will be to be short and low maintenance for the summer, and it is just hair and totally grows back......

Here she is after the big chop!! Her hair was so thick we did it in 2 ponytails--maybe 2 kids can benefit right?
And here is the AFTER shots! She looks so grown up--and so darn cute--and SHE LOVES IT!!

For those who are interested, the charity we chose was Children with Hairloss (www.childrenwithhairloss.com) who donate hair just to kids and only needed 8 inches in order to donate. Some require up to 12 inches!! And Kaitlyn REALLY wanted her hair to go to a child not an adult. This one fit our needs perfectly!!

My kids can be brilliant!

2 Stories to share:

1. We like to practice helping Kaitlyn and Sam learn their numbers by identifying the yellow school bus numbers on our way to and from school. Sam is learning numbers up to 20 and Kaitlyn up to 100. So imagine my surprise when on Monday Lindsey hollars out "18 mom!" and sure enough the bus in front of us was indeed number 18! I would think it was just a fluke but she saw the same bus the next morning and identified it again!!

2. Sam is quite the rhymer, (developmentally appropriate for his age) but he's taken it to a level I've never seen and rhymes ALL THE TIME sometimes to excess! Well on Sunday night Kaitlyn was emptying out the dishwasher and asks, "What rhymes with spatula?", Sam in an instant replies, "Red-footed Batula!" . I swear this kid is the next Dr. Seuss!

But who will make his birthday cake?

We're planning a trip to Utah this summer over the 4th of July to celebrate my Grandfather Lewis' 90th birthday.

We've been talking about it with the kids because we've never really road-tripped it with them nor been to the state of Utah with them. They know why we're going too and that they're going to meet my grandfather.

Being that we've been celebrating birthdays around here and making cakes, the other day Sam asks me, "Mom, is your grandpa's mom still alive?"
I respond, "No, she died a long time ago."
Sam says, "But mom, who will make your Grandpa's Birthday cake?"

Cute huh?

Our EASTER best

It took a few tries, but we got one with all 3 looking at the camera in a presentable fashion, enjoy their Easter Duds!

Sam turns 4

This little guy just turned 4!!

(the little one, the big one turns a bigger number in a few days)

We kept things really simple for his special day. He requested Spaghetti and Meatballs for his birthday dinner (sidenote--he's never actually HAD spaghetti and meatballs before, rare is a child who requests a new food on their birthday) and I roll up my sleeves and try out a new recipe making them from scratch!!For dessert he requested a confetti rainbow cake, blue frosting and strawberries on top. YUM!!

Grandma and Grandpa Lewis along with Uncle Ben, Aunt Summer and baby Ellie. We opened some great presents:

A big boy BIKE!And a great Cowboy outfit with Red boots, a black cowboy hat, a sherrif's badge and Aunt Summer made a great vest! Doesn't he look great?!?!

I love this little guy! He's excited to be 4!

Mascara Mess

It's Sam's birthday.
He's requested Spaghetti and Meatballs from scratch for dinner,
and I'm making a cake.
It's crunch time to get the meatballs in the sauce to cook in time to eat.

I THINK all 3 of my walking children (Matt can't yet) are in the backyard playing on the swingset.

Kaitlyn and Sam come in for a drink and I ask them where Lindsey is. "She's not outside with us, Mom." says Kaitlyn. Uh-oh, the house has been SILENT--that scary kind of silent when you know that she's been up to no good. My hands are a raw meaty mess so I send Kaitlyn to try and locate said missing mischievious missy. She finds her alright, in my MASCARA.

When I walk in she's discovered that the wand fits perfectly into this cable outlet:and her face looks like this:(She wasn't too thrilled with posing for a photo)

and my makeup looked like this on my bathroom counter:
Her timing couldn't have been worse as she now needed a bath and because she does belly flops in the tub when unsupervised, I still needed to finish the meatballs AND ice a cake all before Matthew woke up needing to nurse.

Oh the joys of motherhood!

(At least I thought to take the photos so that someday I can shake my head and laugh at my life!)