How to control a 3 year old

Lately, I have been struggling with my 3 year old. (I hear that 4 is easier...and we only have one more month before she's 4.) I thought I had it down...being a great mom and all. She has always listened to me and she is such a good girl...

...Then she hit 3, and she thinks she runs this house. Well, being that this is my first time mothering a 3 year old, it has brought on some challenges for me. Don't get me wrong, I love her to pieces and she brings tons of color and love to our home...she just is 3.

Well, one of my challenges is wanting my house clean and having two kids who don't care. Kya is really great about cleaning, when I can get her to do it. But I feel like the nagging witch when I ask her 100 times to do the same thing. I understand that repetition is the key to teaching, but come on...its gets old somedays.

So, to solve this little issue, Kya and I had a talk one day and I asked her how she could help out a little more (without me being the bad guy all the time). Reward, rather than punish, right? We came up with a chore chart idea. And being a photographer...we used pictures.

Supplies needed....(and all this I had lying around the house somewhere...so FREE, always a bonus)
*old picture frame
*cork board sheets
*ribbon
*push pins
*scissors
*tags
*pictures
*scrapbook letters
*scrapbook flowers

And here is the finished product. How is works. Everytime she accomplishes a chore without being asked (we will have to remind this first week or so) she gets to move a tag from the "chores" to the "done" column. If she gets all her chores, at the end of the day she gets a flower. At the end of the week, if she has 5 out of 7 flowers, she gets an allowance. Then at the end of the month, she can buy whatever she wants with her allowance. After 1 day...she did great. She was WANTING to do chores, just to be able to move the tags over. She even brushed her teeth a second time last night, just because. I really hope this works...I want to be the fun and happy mommy again.

A close up of her picture chores.

Happy Father's Day...

This is one FANTASTIC daddy!

We ALL love you!

Just silly

Just some plain ol' silliness around here. The other day during "quiet time"...Zander napping of course and Kya and I were just chillin' on the couch. We were engaged in a deep conversation...you know the ones you get into with your 3 1/2 year old. We were talking about different animals and what they do, Kya was curious about some (pretty normal for her to be interested in animals).

Then she looked at me and said, "Why does God make cows?"
Me: Because we need milk and meat
"Why does God make houses?"
Me: Because we need a safe place to live
"Why does God make pigs?"
Me: Because we need bacon and pork to eat
"Why does God make families?"
Me: That is the best question you have had all day. Why don't we talk about that for FHE.

And so for our FHE that night we talked about why God makes families and we had a little discussion about HOW God made our family. Kya always gets giddy when we ask her who's belly she came from and who's belly Zander came from. And then when we asked who her mommy and daddy were...she just gave me a big hug.

I love these conversations we have...its great mother-daughter time that I will always cherish. I hope our conversations never stop.

Now for the SILLY

Zander with some crazy bed head one morning

The kids got into the winter hats yesterday morning...apparently they think we need to double layer when we put on hats.

Went to the park for lunch and this is what I found when we got home.

Zander is the most loving and cuddly little boy I know. I got him up from his nap and he wanted to go to daddy. He buries his head in our chests and just cuddles right up until he really wants to get up. This time...he wasn't ready.

And then there is the handsome fella in the picture with Zander. Just a side note of journaling.

We had the most fun the other night after watching Leno...the artist/singer that performed, was from the Eclipse soundtrack and we loved the song. So we spent the next couple hours...into the wee morning hours...listening online to that song and searching pics, music, trailers and all sorts of Twilight/Eclipse stuff. It was so much fun. I love that Carl gets into it with me....ok, so I am more of a FREAK about the movies, but he likes them and has fun watching me get excited. He really likes the music too...he's a music junkie.

Remember when you were first with your significant other and you would sit up talking all night long about just silly things....that was what this night was like...

...and being the "hopeless romantic" that I am, I LOVED IT!

Good times!

Baby Shower

Yesterday we had a Baby Shower at the house for my good friend Janae. This post is mostly for her...and let me tell you why. She is 2 weeks away from her due date. Thursday I watched her little girl while she went to her doctor's appt. When she picked up her daughter we were talking about having her baby and she couldn't wait. Well...naturally I told her to go home and rest and just wait until after the baby shower.

Thursday night, she texted me and told me that she was in the hospital. Friday morning I get a text that she had the baby, her sweet little boy Kaden Micheal, early that morning. So here we are the day before and she is in the hospital welcoming her son.

With her permission, we went ahead and still had the shower. Since she missed it, I took pictures for her and here it is.

My kids got a kick out of the food, as you can see from the first couple pictures.



Our guests that could make it.



The decorations....
and the food...cheese fondue, chocolate fountain and lots of stuff to dip.




My favorite decoration of the day...laundry line of clothes for Baby Boy W.
Janae, we missed you, but we completely understand that you had better things to do. Can't wait to meet the little guy.

Check it out!

Visit my PHOTOG for some serious cuteness and a sweet deal.

Horsing around in the Colorado Mountains

First things first: Some of you were curious as to what the "Running Man" suit is...it is our mascot for the gym...he is making an appearance in our parade this saturday. Captain Running Man, he's so cool.

Here at our family reunion, we drove up to nearly the top of the mountains in Grand Junction, Colorado for a great horseback ride. Kya was in heaven and Zander is a natural. He just grabbed onto the reigns and knew what to do.

This first picture of the kids sleeping was on our way up the mountain, they hadn't even played today yet...we have been busy with late nights and full days, swimming, being in the hot sun in the desert and chasing kitties around the ranch. Both the kids LOVE being around all these animals; cats, dogs, a parrot, horses, cows...oh and we even found a horny toad.

Zander is such a loving little boy...he is always giving hugs and kisses.


What a goof!



This is my little Kya that get easily bothered by anything sticky, dirty, wet or "gross" on her hands...yes, she is covered in dirt. And SHE is the one that rubbed the dirt all over herself..."just because". I am so proud.
Awwww...more kisses from the charmer.






Kya even got to help Daddy brush the horses before riding...again, she was loving this.