Brenna's 4!

This sweet girl turned 4 yesterday!  

We had a lot of fun making her day special, and I think we succeeded.  We had a lot of firsts!  We had our first hosted sleepover (besides when it was needed for babies being born and things!) and Brenna was in heaven!  I am not a huge fan of sleepovers, but I gave in for her special day!  The kids were all so excited that it took them a while to fall asleep, but eventually I found them like this (at first they were all laying on the same bed promising they would sleep that way)!  Love cousins!

Brenna really loves these girls!  It makes me happy to see them building relationships so strong!  I loved my cousins growing up (and still do!) so this is great!

The birthday girl with her special hat!  Jeremy took all of the kids (except Owen) to our ward's Memorial Day pancake breakfast first thing in the morning so that I could get ready for the party! 

Brenna wanted a princess party, so I whipped up a VERY homemade version of pin the tail on the donkey.  We called it pin the star on the crown.  The kids loved it!  And not many adults were there to see my art work!

Brenna also LOVES her brothers, and especially her baby brother Owen when she can feel like she's the mommy!

We played musical letters on the floor.  Natalie won every time, and I don't think Brenna fully understood the point, but they all had fun!

Love this cute boy!  

Then we painted nails since one of Brenna's favorite things to do is have her nails painted!  (we had her cousins and a few friends over for the party).

We also made our own personal pizzas for lunch.  Kids like weird pizzas!  Some wanted no sauce, some wanted only sauce... who knows!

Presents while the pizzas cooked.  She ripped through these at an unbelievable rate barely even looking at each thing!  

Lastly, cake and ice cream.  This was also very whipped up last minute as I had a bit of a bad mom moment and almost spaced her whole birthday until the last minute!  It looks ok... just don't look too close!  haha

Kiersten was FINALLY allowed to wear her princess crown from her treat bag that she'd been eyeing all day long!

We had naps in the afternoon since the kids were all pooped from lack of sleep and excitement!  Then we finished off the day with swimming at Uncle Justin's pool with his new puppy and all the family!  We missed those who weren't there, but loved every minute of our fun day!  

Brenna is so happy to be 4 and to have finally had her own birthday as every single family member went first and she was getting sad!  There are so many things I love about this girl, and I hope I can be a good mom and a good example for her and the boys!  

4 things about Brenna right now:
    1 - She loves wearing dresses or skirts that are "twirly" and she can spin and spin and spin without being at all dizzy!
    2 - She loves the water and could swim all day.  We swim when we can, we go to the splash pad as often as possible, and we have a sprinkler and a water table in the backyard that gets good use!
    3 - She loves to sing.  She is always singing little songs to Owen when he's upset to calm him down and it melts my heart.  She sings all of her thoughts, but she refuses to sing in primary insisting that she is too shy to sing.  If she had a mic to herself I bet she would though!
    4 - She really enjoys puzzles and is starting to get the hang of them pretty well!  I still need to help her a bit, but she's learning and loving them.. oh and also coloring.  I finally sort of got her to color in the lines, and since then we've been coloring more and more!  I love doing it with her!

Strike!

It is hot here already, and the splash pad by us hasn't opened yet.  luckily, a year or two ago I snagged this water table for only $15 at Walmart for one of the kids birthdays.  It sat outside all winter not used too often and getting very dirty, but the other day I cleaned it out and filled it up for the kids.  I looked out a couple of minutes later to find this!  Not exactly what it was meant for!

Brenna had come in to go potty and when she went back out I thought she might be pouring water on him or something as a game, but nope, she jumped right in the other side! 

The next time I looked  out a minute later, they were in the same side!  Silly silly kids!  This has become an almost daily activity now!

Jeremy had his 30th birthday!  This is the only picture I got.  I got him that shirt for his birthday!  It's for him, and me... I have a thing for yellow!

So, my question of the day, Owen has been on a bit of a nursing strike.  He will do it sometimes, but lots of times he won't.  He'll just scream and flail and spit and not eat.  So I have to pump a bottle and then he gobbles it down like he hasn't seen food in weeks!  The kids LOVE that he has a bottle sometimes because they love nothing more than taking care of their little brother!  BUT I only have a little hand pump, and it is not fun to pump at the last minute while he's screaming for food because he won't nurse!  Any suggestions for nursing strikes?  Or anybody with an electric breast pump they wouldn't mind me borrowing (and sanitizing before it's returned!)?  I haven't dealt with this before!  Should I just wait it out?

Lastly, this is Mason in his big boy undies.  He is so proud of them, and so am I.  Our only problem is getting him to poop in the potty now... still waiting for that one!  I try to watch him and see the signs and then run, but it's not too successful so far!  Still, what a big boy!  These are his monster trucks and he loves them!

Achievements

So I had this grand old post in my head I just couldn't wait to write about a week ago.  My kids are sharing a room, Owen is in his own room, Mason is potty trained, Brenna is doing night times in undies again, and Owen is sleeping like a champ and usually lets me get around 8 hours straight!  I guess I jinxed it just by thinking about bragging!  It's not so bad though.
When we got home from Canada, the kids wanted to sleep in the same room, and we were going to make the switch soon anyway, so we just let it happen... and it was so easy!  They loved being in there, bed times were so much easier than I thought they would be with them sharing, I was so happy! ... Then Jeremy wasn't home one night to help with bedtime, and it was horrible!  Like 2+ hours of disobedient children and frustrated momma with a baby to take care of while walking back there every 5 minutes or so to chastise the others (and put at least one stray back in bed!).  And that's how it's been.  If Jeremy is home, bedtime is pretty smooth, but on the nights I have to do it myself, it is a gong show.  Interestingly enough though, as soon as Jeremy does get home, he goes in for a minute or two and then comes out, and we don't hear or see them again!  I don't know why they so lovingly obey him and laugh in my face... hopefully this gets better, or we may be switching rooms around again soon since there are at least 2-3 nights a week I have to do bedtime alone, and Jeremy is going away for a week for scout camp soon and I don't know if I can stay sane for a week if bedtimes take 2+ hours!
Now, potty training!  We went to the in-laws house for a little get together a few days after getting home.  They have a little girl a few months younger than Mason, and she is potty trained.  Their baby potty was in the kitchen, and Mason saw her go potty right there.  He decided right at that moment that he wanted to too.  He sat on that potty for a good 20 minutes (not all in a row) that night, but nothing ever happened.  I thought to myself, "well, at least he is getting used to sitting there so when we're ready it will be easier".  The next morning though when Brenna changed into undies (she wears pull-ups at night) Mason asked where his undies were.  I had bought him some a while ago, so I got them out and he wanted them on!  And that was that!  He had very few accidents, and even pooped in the potty on day 2.  He is now in undies 24/7.  He stays dry all night and never has pee accidents... but the poop thing has been tough.  At first he did it twice in the potty so I thought it was done, but since then he hasn't ever done it in the potty, so we're hoping it'll click soon!  He pooped 3 times yesterday, once in sacrament meeting!  Not fun!  BUT I am still in shock at how crazy easy it was to potty train him compared to Brenna... I guess the second kid is easier maybe?  I am glad.  And Brenna, not to be shown up by her little brother, decided she was done with pull-ups at night since Mason was wearing undies, and she has kept them dry every night for a week now!  Yay for not having to buy diapers for 3 kids!
Owen is still doing great, and I cannot complain.  He only poops once a week or so, but it doesn't seem to bother him as much as long as I drink plenty of water every day.  He doesn't fuss too much, and the real gem is that for about 4 days in a row I got 8 straight hours of sleep!  (that didn't happen with Mason until he was a year!).  Now he's doing about 6 hours at night, but I'll still take that!  He is also HUGE!  He had his two month and was 25.5 inches long I think, and 14lbs... giant baby!  I knew he was a giant already though as his 3 month clothes are already too tight, and everybody tells me!  He is in the 98th percentile for height and 88th for weight I believe.  Mason (who was born tiny, but now is at the top of his percentiles too) was a good one and a half pounds lighter and 2 inches shorter than Owen at his 2 months!  We'll see if that keeps up and Owen passes up his big brother one day!  
So, life is good, we are just hoping for less poop to clean, and Jeremy never to leave me at bedtime again! (or bedtime to get easier... or the kids to decide mommy means it too... any of these will do!)  My mom, grandma, sister, and brother-in-law get here in 4 sleeps, so I am excited to spend some time with them next week!  It's getting hot here, and we are jumping at the chance to stay with them and swim in their pool every day!






And in other news, Jeremy and I both had birthdays.  I'd do a separate post with pictures and details, but I didn't take any pictures, and the details aren't too exciting.  I am 26 now and feeling old... until Jeremy turned 30!  Now I feel like a young buck next to him!  haha just kidding Jeremy!  For his birthday I made him the "30 sucks" sucker bouquet that has been all over pinterest, and got him some new clothes for work and play!  We had a family party for him, and one for me.  I was in Canada for my birthday, so I got so celebrate with my family too, which I was very happy to do!  Now Brenna just needs her birthday to roll around as she is the last one in a LONG line of family birthdays (aunts, uncles, cousins, parents and siblings all go before her in a constant stream from Feb-May) and she asks about her birthday multiple times a day... I may have to plan something special, but I keep forgetting how quickly it's sneaking up on me!