St Patrick's Day

notice i didn't say "happy" or use a "!"? well i didn't. and that is because we go the "take it down a notch" version of this "holiday". as kent points out: we are not irish. we are not catholic. we do not drink. ... point taken lol besides, you all know how i feel about magic characters coming to my house who leave and/or take stuff that in actuality has to be carried out by me. thus died this holiday at the mackay household as celebrated by an ever increasing number of other american families.
but we still had a little fun =o]

kent bought lucky charms cereal and i made the kids save it for st patrick's day because i didn't want to get into the habit of such sugary cereals for normal breakfast but i shouldn't have worried. natalie wouldn't eat it at all, and jenna took this energetic bite for a photo but then asked for a bagel, and caleb ate all the cereal and left the marshmellows lol 

and just for the record, i asked them if they wanted green eggs and ham and they all screamed no or made throw-up sounds ha ha

we all wore green shirts (jenna went through 3 outfits that day for various reasons so only two of her shirts were green and the other was white with green on it). i got out the book "the night before st patrick's day" that we got from who knows where, but forgot to read it lol and had a picnic lunch ending in a cookie to make it special =o]

for FHE treat that night we had my favorite green dessert- cinnamon graham cracker mint ice cream sandwiches! SO GOOD!! we had just enough ice cream left for everyone to get one thank goodness! the kids LOVED them and even kent approves of this tradition!

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand fin. =o]

Seth is 1/2!

our little brother has hit the half way mark to a year! he is the cutest baby and the sweetest little boy around!

his life consists of sleeping, eating, and joining in on the crazy fun! i remember the hoops i tried to make natalie and even caleb jump through to make sure they were "developmentally on track" bah ha ha! this kid gets nothin but love on the fly! =o] 

he has started busting out of his swaddle and turning over to sleep on his stomach. i also used to have a strict "never disturb a sleeping baby" policy but inevitably caleb forgets something in his room during naptime or after putting seth to bed so i have to sneak in, or i would have never seen this little gem. 

really the only sweet unhurried time i have with seth is when i am putting him to sleep. i get the kids started on something and then take my time swaddling him up and singing him a song and rocking him and stroking his cheek and hair. he smiles at me so sweet and even sings along most days. adorable right? nursing seth is not a peaceful experience thanks to his siblings, poor little guy. and while nursing him to sleep each evening i have the bad habit of being on fb or reading my sisters and cousins blogs on my phone. rough life.

seth LOVES bath time! which only happens once a week so he can be squeaky clean for the sabbath! mother of the year, right? i now have a picture just like this of all four of our kids with this same towel and everything =o]

he likes going to disneyland, or at least he doesn't complain about being in the baby back pack for the day. all of our kids have done this thing we call "silent survival mode"- maybe that is what he id doing! lol! really though, i think he enjoys all the sights and sounds smells of a different place. 

seth spends most of his awake time eating. i love this one of him just chillin in his chair like 'bring it on' lol seriously though he loves food and i'm hoping it will show on the scale at his next appointment!

whenever we brushed teeth in the mornings he would freak out because he wanted to be included in the fun! so we got him a toothbrush of his own so now he won't feel left out =o]

every day we do PE for natalie's school and he loves being outside in the sunshine! this day though it was really windy so i put up his hood and the kids just thought it was hilarious for some reason and all had to get their jackets with hoods and put them on. so i had to take a picture =o]

and here is some of seth just being his smiley self. sadly changing diapers and clothes is another one of the few times in the day when he has my (sometimes!) undivided attention so i have to shower him with love at those times too. hopefully it balances out. 

he is putting everything he can get his hands on into his mouth. he likes doing our 7 minute workout each morning (or at least looks extremely entertained as the kids and i exercise while he watches from his playmat). he likes to read books with us before quiet/nap time. he LOVES the rare occasion of seeing kent before going to bed and seriously just watches him all day on saturday and sunday lol! he is so much fun to have around!

we tried to take some pictures of him on sunday but it was kind of a fail. this blurry off-centered one is the best we got without someone else's face also in the picture...

like this. 

or this. 

eventually we just went with it. 

WE LOVE YOU SETH!! happy 1/2!

Natalie's Half Birthday!

we decided that since on their birthdays they get to go out on a special date with dad, on their half birthday they get to go out on a special date with mom and a friend. =o] 

natalie chose to go to cold stone with her best friend here isabelle. they were both so excited to have a "late night" with a friend! they both had eyes way bigger than their stomachs but it was still a good time. it was fun to just talk and laugh together without little ones to worry about or any schedule to follow. isabelle is the oldest sister in her family too, and their personalities are so similar! they have a lot of common interests and i'm so grateful natalie has such a good friend who we get to see almost once a week (not including church). 

they loved looking through the book of cake designs =o] it was fun for me to listen to the things they talked about from school work to harry potter to taking care of babies- i tried to pipe in as little as possible lol

then we headed over to target where i told them they could get a matching shirt (and natalie got a new church dress as well because ALL her dresses are borderline or too short- isabelle loved helping her find just the right one!). originally they wanted an owl shirt but couldn't find one, so after much debate they went with this puppy shirt which they have both worn multiple times in the past couple weeks (including both of them wearing it the next day which they made a pact to do on the car ride home so they could be "twin-friends"). all in all it was a great night!  

natalie is such a sweet, spunky girl and i don't know what i would do without her in our family! we love you natalie!!

February

another month gone. here's how we have been spending our time:

we do school. 

we hang out. 

we take adorable pictures on sundays if we have time before leaving for church. (which is now at 11...)

we have friends over.

we see dad for a little bit before bedtime. 

we take time to smell the flowers =o]

we have rockin family home evenings! SO much fun! seriously, this program is the best idea ever for families. natalie and caleb are always sure fire winners for the lesson. 

and since i help seth and jenna take their turns i still have plenty of opportunity to get in bad boys like this. we talked about how we wouldn't want these storms inside of our house, and yet these things feel like they are happening when we yell, make huge messes, etc. it was awesome! the kids loved it so much we laminated it and put in up on the wall next to our chore chart lol we also had lessons on feelings and knowing how to deal with hard feelings like anger, frustration, sadness, etc, and on pornography (age appropriate of course =o]). now i have to wait a few weeks for the rotation to swing back around but i'll be saving up my ideas ha ha

we find out new things each day, like how this toy we have had since natalie's first christmas has been in demo mode all these years (caleb noticed this piece of plastic in a crevice and extracted it with a pair of tweezers- voila!) seriously, HOURS of entertainment lol

we watch each of them sprout up and blossom before our very eyes!

also, WE READ HARRY POTTER

(not pictured.)

Seth. my little seth. such a cutie! he has been eating like a champ (even though our pediatrician still says he is underweight)  

i mean, seriously, how adorable is he?

and check it out! eek! i think those teeth are going to pop through any minute!

Jenna. ah my little jenna. 

rarely to be seen with out a book, 

or her blanket and one of her babies

or all three!

we have started potty training. she SO wants to but we are SO not ready. she will go in the toilet every time i take her. but she has yet to tell me she needs to go. this morning she had SIX ACCIDENTS before i threw in the towel. she cried when i put on her diaper before lunch ("no mama! peas! me potty! ME POTTY!") i told her we would try again tomorrow. i guess there is one reason to be grateful for all our non-carpet floors.  

Caleb. oh my caleb. he is always on the go! he had his first official dentist appointment and he had fun letting them count his teeth since he has one extra on top. 

the outrageous amount of eating continues.  

what can i say? he never does anything half way, in fact most of the time he doubles it up =o]

Natalie. my sweet sweet natalie girl. if she's not doing school she is playing in the sunshine. 

and boy does she play! i wish her cousins lived closer. she talks about them almost everyday, and includes them in her adventures. 

she LOVES one on one time. and honestly, i'm glad to have her as a friend. =o]

my family makes me a better person. i don't know where i would be or what i would be doing without them. and quite frankly i don't want to know. i love them! my life isn't perfect by any means, but i choose it and i wouldn't trade it. here's to february!