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Jon and I spent the last week in Mexico. We went with my sisters Megan and Josie and their husbands and my brother, Jake (we missed you Briar and Ben)! It was a super fun week and I don't have any pictures to show for it. My brother was our main photographer. As soon as I get his photos I will post them and talk more about our fun adventures. Our flight home was delayed (3 hours sitting on the plane only to have to eventually get off) and then cancelled. It took us 32 hours to finally make it home. Not fun especially when most of that time was spent in a mexican airport. I was missing my girls more than anything. We did arrive home however to happy kids thanks to lots of help from family and friends. We were also greeted by a broken water heater and flooded garage. Welcome Home to us! I think I need a vacation to recover from our vacation.

On a side note...this picture of Elle is so cute. I just love this girl so much. As soon as I got in the door last night I walked straight to Lily, Elle and Gwen's bedrooms and hugged and kissed them. Elle woke up and just started sobbing and hugging me. She kept saying, "I missed you so much, mama". She had soo much fun and was such a good girl but finally just broke down when she saw me. Such a sweet little girl. Today she came home from school with a little booklet she had accidentally left last week in her cubby. It was made for me for mother's day. The pictures she drew are priceless and her writing and words are so cute. It is a booklet titled, "My Mom". Here were her answers just how she spelled them in her book...

My Mom

She is: 35 years old

She weighs: 107 pounds

She is: 33 feet tall

Her hair is: blod

She likes to wear: jenz

Her favorite food is: shugr snap peas

My mom works hard all day. She is a: smile macr

She really likes to: help me clein up the goroj

She does not like: scucxs

She stays in shape by: cling up

If I could, I would buy my mom a: crd

I am going to keep this little book forever.

Mother's Day

Yesterday I had a great Mother's Day. Elle and Gwen each made me the sweetest little cards. Elle spent a really long time on hers and when I woke up in the morning it was on our kitchen island. The envelope was in her kindergarten printing and it said "For Momy Love, yor Elle". She then drew an adorable picture of us at the beach together. I loved it. Jon traced Gwen and Lily's hands and had Gwen color it as their gift to me. We went to church and all of the primary children sang songs for all of the moms. So adorable.

We were all dressed up and never got around to taking any pictures yesterday. However, I am almost glad because this morning as Jon was heading out he took this picture of us...the real us. The morning routine of me in my pajamas feeding Lily her breakfast of carrots and rice cereal, Gwen in her bathing suit and favorite pink striped towel getting ready for swimming lessons and Elle in her "cozy clothes" before getting dressed for Kindergarten.

I saw a card a while back in a card shop and loved it. It said on the front, "She designed a life she loved". I have often thought of this card. It rings true to me. I have designed a life that I love. I am living the life that I had envisioned for myself as a little girl. As far back as I can remember I wanted to be a mother. It is so much more difficult than I ever had imagined both physically and emotionally but at the same time it is also much more rewarding than I had ever imagined. And the depth of love that I feel for my 3 little girls I never dreamed even possible. I want my girls to know that they too, through thoughtful decisions in their lives, can design lives that they will love. I by no means have a perfect life nor do I want my girls to believe in perfection but the core things in life that are important to me are intact and that is all that matters.

Mother's Day Program

Today Elle's Kindergarten class put on a Mother's Day Program. They sang a bunch of songs and at one point held up these portraits they each had painted of their mom. After the performance Elle presented me with a paper corsage she had made and a sash that she painted "super mom"on. We had cookies and lemonade and, just as her teacher had instructed, polite conversation. I loved every minute. And for the record...

I LOVE being your mom, Elle. Thanks for making me feel special today.

Lily: 9 months

My baby is 9 months old. Where has the time gone? Two little teeth have popped through her bottom gums and she is working on crawling. I love her more than anything and can not imagine my life before her. It is so funny how that happens with each child. Lily is the sweetest baby...so mellow and happy and just at peace. I often look at her and can't believe how lucky I am that I get to be her mama. A true blessing.

Band-Aid Love

This 3 year old LOVES Band-Aids.

She loves them so much that we bribe her with them.

She also has no restraint when it comes to their use.

And she gets very, very sad when they are all gone.

Gwen

Our Gwenners just got her haircut. She thinks she looks pretty cute and so do we.

Daddy Love

Jon is in San Francisco on a business trip. He called early this morning and told the girls to run downstairs and to get on ichat on our computer. As soon as they clicked on the icon there he was waving at them from his hotel room. They talked and made jokes for a while and blew kisses through the screen. Gwen even showed off her new haircut. Seeing him like this with our girls makes me love him even more. After we said good-bye Elle said, "daddy sure loves us." He flies back home this afternoon and we all can't wait.

Airplane

Gwen and I had a play-date today. With Elle at Kindergarten and Lily napping it left just the two of us together. This is her favorite activity...playing airplane. She also likes to play "spaceship" where I spin her around in circles. She is growing up so quickly. In fact, the two of us got up early this morning and went to preschool sign-ups for next year. She walked into the classroom and said (yelled), "Mom, I like this place!" I really LoVe this 3 year old.

Girls Only

This afternoon I went outside to find Elle and Gwen in our pop-up tent on our trampoline. They carried it out there all themselves. They also carried out a suitcase, every stuffed animal we own and multiple blankets, play-food and pillows. I was informed that it was for Girls Only! I had to draw the line when they were trying to get Lily out there with them. Visions of Lily rolling off the trampoline were running through my mind. I am however excited for the day when Lily CAN join them.

Sisters are Forever

I am constantly telling my girls how lucky they are to have each other. I tell them that no matter what... they need to love and look out for one another. That throughout their lives no one will understand them or "get them" as well as a sister. I know this from firsthand experience. I often say "Friends come and go but sisters are....(and they repeat with me) FOREVER".

Friends

Elle and Brinley (both 5 1/2)

Malia and Gwen ( both 3)

My friend and I loaded up our kids and took them to Balboa Island on Friday. They were in heaven.

Boat Rides + Ferris Wheel + Carousel + Corndogs = F U N

Getting Real

I started laughing yesterday thinking about my last post on how I have learned to "mother" each of my kids. This was Gwen in the Lowe's parking lot yesterday afternoon. She literally had a complete and total melt down because I told her that I was not going to buy her the Barbie book she saw in the check-out line. Yes, she is lying on the cement parking lot floor here and just imagine the screaming with this shot as well. I had Elle and Lily with me as well and I didn't have a car to contain all of this craziness because we were waiting for my car which was being worked on, on the other side of the shopping center. There I was in full view of the world looking and feeling like a complete and total failure as a mom. I had NO IDEA what to do with her. She was beyond reasoning with. I literally just stood above her and tried to talk with her...then I tried to carry her...then I tried to ignore...then I tried to be firm. Nothing worked. Everything in me wanted to just walk straight back into the store and buy that darn book but I held strong. We were quite the sight as we walked with her trailing behind us screaming. I eventually scooped her up as she was thrashing in my arms. I told her I loved her but that we can't always get whatever we want. As soon as we got back to the tire center I sat her on my lap and just hugged her. She eventually calmed down and just snuggled into me on my lap. Her crying finally lessened and while sniffling Gwen softly whispered, "sowwy mom". I almost started crying. It's not pretty all the time but maybe I do know how to mother my kids after all.

I took this picture with my phone. When situations like this come up I often will take a picture of them on my phone and picture-text Jon with the line, "good times!". We have a good laugh with them later in the day. I sent this photo to Jon yesterday from the tire center.

My Sidekick

Here's my Lily sitting where she spends the majority of her day...on my lap (or hip). My brother Jason (a.k.a. uncle jakey) took this photo of us the other day. She is awake a lot more these days and if not in physical contact with me, she likes to have visual contact. If she can see me she's happy. She sits in a rear facing carseat and even as I drive she tries to crank her head around to watch me. If she can't see me while driving and is sad for some reason, she wimpers and I just put my hand back to her and she holds my finger. That calms her down every time. I love this about her. I love that over time I have learned how to mother each of my girls. They are all so different and I have different tricks for each of them. I also know that as they get older these little tricks won't work anymore and I will have to learn new ones.

Happy Easter!

We had a fun Easter morning. Before bed I gave the girls their Easter Pajamas and then they left out carrots for the Easter Bunny. They were really concerned that we didn't leave any water for him too. I went into their room before I went to bed (they had been asleep for a few hours) and as I pulled the blankets back up onto Elle she said, "mama, I really think the Easter Bunny would like some water". I assured her that I would go back downstairs and leave a glass of water for him next to the carrots. Pretty cute. This morning there were some very cute voices yelling with excitement as they marched down the stairs to their Easter baskets. Gwen yelled at the top of her lungs, " The Easter Bunny came to MY house"!!! Their main gifts were the books; Pinkalicious, Purplicious and Goldilicious. They are adorable storybooks and they have been wanting them for some time now. The egg hunt was a hit and they were in a full sprint for each egg they spied in the backyard. Our Lily-pie was just the sweetest little thing and loved watching all of the excitement from Jon's lap. Gwen adorned her baby sister with the bunny ears. We have loads of Sees chocolate around the house right now and I couldn't be happier. This afternoon we are heading out to have Easter dinner with Grandma and Grandpa McGee and the McGee cousins. A Very Happy Easter.

Good Morning

How could you not have a good morning when you wake up to this?

Twinkle Toes

For months (literally) Elle has been begging me to get her some twinkle toes. I had no idea what she was talking about. I would just smile and say, "sure honey". Well she didn't give up. The darn words, "twinkle toes" kept coming up. She told me they were a really fancy pair of shoes and that she REALLY needed them. I looked them up online and then I officially started ignoring the idea. I mean really, these may be the tackiest pair of shoes I have ever seen (the hanging rose...wow). Elle was persistent and then said that ALL of the kindergarten girls had them. That didn't bother me...I still didn't purchase them for her. It wasn't until a friend of hers from school informed me that Elle kept telling all of them at recess that hers were "in the mail". OK...that hurt my heart and I am a sucker for stuff like that. I promptly went online and clicked, "add to cart". They arrived on Monday. I had them on her bed for her when she came home from school. Her smile was priceless. Elle's big toothless grin outshines all of those multi-colored sparkles (even the dangling roses) on her feet. I sure love this little kindergartner.

Happy Spring

I love springtime. Our house has lots of pink in it lately and I couldn't be happier. I switched up our front room a bit. I needed a computer/office area and just couldn't make it work anywhere else in the house. Putting the computer in the front room meant I had to go for a desk that would not only function but would also look pretty. I found this rustic, natural wood console table and have loved it from the first moment it arrived in our house. We use this room a lot more now too which has been great. It is directly next to our front door so now I can work on the computer while the kids play on the sidewalk in front of our home. Perfect. My other very favorite piece is this turquoise armoire. It was my good friend, Reny's and she decided she didn't have room for it anymore. I have admired it in her home for years and now I am the lucky one to get it in our home. It will eventually make its way to Lily's room. Right now it is still in our garage. As we were walking in from church yesterday, it looked so pretty with all of our pink, I had Jon take our picture. Happy Spring!

Little Lizzy

Meet Little Lizzy. The cutest, tiniest little lizard ever. Elle and Gwen have both loved holding her and caring for her for the past day. I am not a lizard lover but this one is pretty cute. (Almost as cute as Elle's freckles)

Daddy's Girl

Jon is preparing for big mountain bike race in the morning called Vision Quest. Not one part of it sounds fun to me but he is really excited. With work and family life being a little crazy lately, he hasn't been able to train as much as he would have liked but he's going for it. This afternoon he has been checking and re-checking all of his gear. I went out into the garage and found Gwen and her daddy working on their bikes just like this. The cutest thing is that she thought of this idea all on her own. Jon said she just pulled her bike up next to his and went to work. Gwenners has always been 100% a daddy's girl. Whenever she gets hurt it's her daddy that she wants to comfort her. I usually have to call him on his cell phone and as soon as she hears his voice she calms right down. There is nothing sweeter in my opinion than watching him with our girls.

My Lily

Lily is wearing green today but I dare you to try and not pinch those cheeks. Oh, how I love her.

Easter Trees

We love holidays around here. I try and make them special for our girls. They get so excited every time I pull out our decorations. For Easter, I love Easter Trees. I have bought a few of them over the years. I kept buying them because they were never really what I was envisioning. So this year, I decided to just make one that was exactly what I wanted. I ordered manzanita branches from the florist, sprayed them white and then arranged them in a big pink vase. Gwen helped me decorate it while Elle was at school. We were pretty proud of ourselves. It turned out just as I had hoped. Our other tree I moved up into Elle and Gwen's bedroom. And let me tell you, they LOVE having it in there. They decorate and re-decorate it daily. Having their own tree also keeps them off of our kitchen table playing with, (in elle's words) "our fancy tree". It's a win-win for sure.

Disneyland

Yesterday I loaded all 3 girls up and met Jon's parents at Disneyland. We had an amazingly fun day. The girls were in heaven. We rode every ride and for the first time, in a long time, I was able to ride with them. Grandma and Grandpa McGee took turns watching Lily. Gwen's first ride choice was Dumbo. It was VERY important to her that she rode the pink elephant. As soon as the gate opened she sprinted for it. And as you can see...mission accomplished. Elle's number one ride choice was Space Mountain. On this trip she finally got enough courage to try it out. As we were making sure she was tall enough for the ride, Gwen realized that she too was tall enough. My 3 year old is tall enough to ride Space Mountain. Wow. As soon as the ride was over Elle was half-smiling, squeezing the life out of my hand and shaking a little. Gwen on the other hand was yelling, "again, again"! On Splash Mountain as we were in the log heading up the the steep part before the big drop Gwen yelled, "hands-up"! Elle and I died laughing over that one. Tarzan's treehouse was also a favorite...especially the bridge. We all went on Pirates of the Caribbean and It's a Small World (Lily included). Lily's eyes were wide-open and she was so excited. Lots of churros, popcorn and lollipops were consumed. Pretty much a perfect day.

Tooth Fairy

Last week as I was in the kindergarten pick-up line waiting my turn for Elle to hop in the car, I saw her beaming on the sidewalk. As soon as she hopped in the car she could not contain herself. She said, "Mom, this is the best day of my whole life. I lost my tooth, we had an assembly today, it is the 100th day of school and I am the star of the week". Wow, what a day. She then showed me a little plastic treasure chest which held her tooth. For a kindergartner, losing your tooth AT SCHOOL pretty much equals celebrity status for the day. We came home and immediately the tooth fairy pillow came out of the closet. She has looked longingly at this little knit pillow for years. The day had finally come. Before bed she put her tooth in the little pocket on the pillow and carefully tucked it under her pillow. The next morning she came running into our room yelling that the tooth fairy had visited her and had left her some very fancy gold dollar coins. My Ellers is growing up and I can't believe it.