A Tragic Week for Kitsap County

Updates on Clifton -
He went to NURSERY!!!!!!  Thanks to Evan for coming to church and helping him feel comfortable and the wonderful leaders for working so hard and dealing with his crying/whining he stayed the whole time.  And it could have not been a better week for him to do so - without Alex at church with us:) His molar is all the way through and he is a little happier these days!

Updates on McKay -
She is 2 months old!  We had her doctors appointment Friday.  She is a happy and healthy baby girl.  She weighs 10.9 pounds and a little over 22 inches tall.  She is sleeping better and better.  I have had a couple of 7 hour nights without having to get up once.

My kids like their tongues!

For FHE this week we made cookies for a friend.  We wanted to thank them for being so wonderful!

 Evan was over so we got the boys in aprons and they helped with making the cookies!

This is the huge Thank you cookie we made:)

I had fun trying to take pictures for the boys birthday invites this week.

 Evan was real good at posing and sitting still!

 Clifton on the other hand did things like this:)  What a silly boy!

But then we went out and got to sit in the wheel of a tractor.  They both enjoyed doing that!

The boys really enjoyed the activity I planned for the week.  I put nails in a card board box and they hammered them in.

 Evan wore the goggles and it made me laugh.  They are silly boys.  They ask to do this almost everyday now.  It is great for their eye-hand coordination and keeps them happy and not screaming!

We did a lot of sticker art this week. 

 

Evan enjoyed putting it on his face!

Then Clifton enjoyed putting stickers on me!

I made two things this week.

First a sign for our door bell.  I have been using a piece of paper over the door bell that looked so tacky.  So I am glad I finally did it.  It looks so much better!

Second a present for my sister in law for her birthday.  It is the letter L for their last name and pictures of her cute family.  It was fun to put together:)

Wednesday began a series of horrible events in our county.  A 9 year old boy brought a gun to a Bremerton school and shot an 8 year old.  The girl survived and is still recovering/having surgery.  The school reports that the boy brought a gun to school because he was planning on running away from his family so he decided he needed protection.  He had the gun in his backpack and when he put his gun on his desk it went off shooting the girl in the arm that went all the way through to her stomach.  Luckily it missed all of her vital organs.

Thursday a cop got shot and killed at a traffic stop.  It happened about a mile away from our house.  They found his car about a mile away from our house as well.  So the city was pretty much on lock down.  A lot of companies and schools locked their doors.  Everyone was worried he was on foot.  Which meant he was on foot near our neighborhood.  I was terrified!  A few hours later they caught him and he had shot and killed himself.

Friday about the same place where the police officer got shot a car accident happened.  A car clipped another car and then swerved into the bay.  He was pulled out and later died.

And to top it all off there is still a serial killer in Bremerton.  I know things like this happen all over the world, but it is scary for it to happen so close to home and all at once.  Our town was shaken and people were left feeling unsafe.  It was a tragic week.

Sunday Alex left for Georgia/Florida for 2 weeks.  It is hard to say goodbye and not have him.  I really enjoy having Alex around.  He is my best friend and I love every minute with him.  I am a better person when he is around.  He is a wonderful husband and father.  I feel very lonely without him.  Clifton is now old enough to realize Alex is gone and it makes it hard when he ask for him all the time.  We have gone a week away from each other but never more then that.  So though this is not much compared to others it is a lot for me.  I have made plans with friends for play dates throughout the next two weeks to keep us busy and hope that the next two weeks go by fast!

Valentines

Updates on Clifton -

He has a two year molar coming in.  Which explains a lot! 

He is starting to put three words together and making short sentences.

Clifton started us off with the stomach flu this week:(  It has made its way to all of us.

Updates on McKay -

She is extremely strong, already able to hold her own head up.  

She is getting over her first sickness.  She got the stomach flu last and to top that off she is also fighting the cold that is now starting to go around to each family member.  But she is doing well not fussing too much, she is a trooper!  It breaks my heart to see my little ones sick.  Hopefully we can all get healthy soon.

 

The hard thing for me with the change from one to two kids is learning what I can and cannot handle.  I try very hard to do well at everything, but I have stretched myself too thin and need to realize that I cannot do it all, all the time.  I guess I need to prioritize (but how do I cut something out when it all seems important).  I need to learn how to not feel overwhelmed and to get something done and feel good about it.  So I am sure this will be a work in progress and when I finally get the hang of it I am sure things will change.

For FHE we went out heart attacking some friends.  I was not going to write about this because we knocked and ran, but they all figured out it was us.  I guess we are no good at being quiet.  I will blame that one on Clifton:)

Tuesday - Valentines day!  Well I spent that day cuddled up next to the toilet:(  We did not have anything planned but it sure put a damper on the day.  

I did get the boys some cute little mailboxes full of valentines. I knew they really had no one to hand them out to but they enjoyed looking at them and taking them out and putting them back in their boxes.

                                           

This week the boys were able to get outside and play.  Of course the first thing they went to was my empty flower pots (Alex needs to fill) that were full of rain water.

Clifton being a silly boy like usual!

We also did some art this week.  I put paint in a zip lock bag and let them smash away.  A fun and clean activity! 

Thursday I was finally feeling better!  And that was the day we set aside to celebrate Valentines day.  So we had a little date that night.  Our friend watched both Clifton and McKay.  (First time together with no kids!) 

So I set up the car for a little drive in movie night.  I know what you are thinking... we just bought a 50 inch TV why would we go watch a movie in a car on a 8 inch screen.  Well the answer is... to get out of the house!  It was a lot of fun.  We went to a park and watched the movie.  Best of all it made Alex have to cuddle with me because it was cold out:)  You cannot watch romantic movies with Alex so we went for the next best thing a romantic comedy - Wedding Singer.  You can't go wrong with old school Adam Sandler!

This is the Valentine I made for Alex! 

The rest of the week Alex got sick, then McKay and then Clifton again:(  And we are still trying to get over it completely.

 

We all cuddled together and stayed in bed!

McKay's Blessing

Updates on Clifton -
He is continuing to repeat everything we say and now everything we do.  I have a little man that follows me around most of the day and copies what I do.  It is really cute.  He is getting so smart and his vocabulary is huge.  He surprises me with things he knows and can say.

 

He was helping me put together shelves.

Updates on McKay -
She continues to melt our hearts.  She is smiling more and more every day.  She is our tongue girl.  She is always playing with her tongue, even smiles with it.

I was playing with my phone.  You can use the camera facing you so you can see yourself.  So I was doing that and she started to smile right as I was taking the picture.

McKay and I painted our toes.  Well I painted our toes:) 

For FHE we made a love fern.  We went on a walk and collected ferns.  Then we cut out hearts.  On the hearts we wrote what we loved about each family member.

It was a fun activity and a good reminder of why we love each other.

I started watching Evan full time again.

Clifton is SO happy to have him back everyday!  And so am I.  I love playing with these boys:)

Friday we went to Disney Juniors "Choo Choo Soul" performance.

It was a lot of fun and a cute performance.  It was a little long for the boys but for the most part they enjoyed the music and dancing!

Saturday Alex and I got to attend a Leadership training meeting for church.  (Thanks to my wonderful mom who was willing to watch Clifton so we could go!)  They showed this video that just touched my heart.  It made me miss working with those special spirits that Heavenly Father has sent down to us.  It is also such a great example of love.  I really really love this story.  It is not the same video we saw but close to it.  I pretty much cry every time I watch it. 

Sunday we blessed McKay!

She looked so cute in her dress and headband.

 Baby Marie and McKay in their blessing dresses.

 They are going to be great friends just like Melinda and I.  I just know it:)

I am extremely blessed to have such a wonderful family.  And to have a husband who is worthy to hold the priesthood and bless our sweet children.  This week I really felt the love the Savior has for me!

A Crafty Week

Updates on Clifton-

He continues to make us giggle.  He is a funny little man full of energy and personality.  We love him very much!

 

This week he picked out his Tigger Halloween outfit to wear.  I have started having him pick his shirt and pants (giving him options).  But instead he saw his costume and insisted her wear it.  So I let him!

He also has this new thing wear he wants two sippies.  One with milk and one with water.  I guess he cant decide if he wants milk or water so he needs both:)  He often tries to drink them at the same time too!

Updates on McKay -
She is such a joy!  She smiles every once in a while.  I work hard to make her laugh.  I am sure I look like a fool but it is worth it to see her precious smile.  I think she is pretty darn cute.  I have to say that Alex and I make very cute kids.  But I might be a little bias:)

I love being a mom.  It is the toughest job in the world but it has so many wonderful moments.  Like cuddling with my little ones.  It is so cute to watch Clifton cuddle up with me and McKay.  He loves her so much and it just melts my heart!

For FHE we made Valentines countdown necklaces.

 

14 kisses for the 14 days of Valentines day.  Each day we get to eat a kiss till it is V Day.

                                   

This week I made a headband/clip holder for McKay and all her lovely bows.  I do not consider myself very crafty but love how it turned out.  Believe it or not I have more bows coming my way so I think I might need to make another one!  But that is okay because I LOVE bows!

This week a friend had a girls craft night out.  She was making Valentine wreaths.  So I found an idea that looked easy enough for me to do.  I like how it turned out.  The only thing I would change was to make the hearts smaller so you could really tell what they were.  They kind of just look like dots.

On Friday we let our cat out like every normal morning but he did not return at all that day.  We began to worry.  By the next morning we did not see him so we decided to put signs up.  My neighbor informed me that she saw him that morning on her way to work and something scared him and he ran into the forest.  I had high hopes he would return but I am afraid he got attacked by a creature in the forest.  He is a very loved cat and will be greatly missed. We are very sad and even more sad when Clifton is asking where his cat is:(

The rest of the week was full of beautiful sunny days.  So we got outside and enjoyed the weather!

Friday our ward had a ward adult Valentines party.  It was a lot of fun.

The YM presidency put on a skit.  Alex was playing Alex Trebek in the skit so he shaved his beard into a mustache for the night.

 

They had a cute photo booth set up were you could take funny pictures.  We had a lot of fun!

Sunday was a wonderful day as well.  Our good friends were blessing there baby and asked Alex to be in the circle.  So we were able to go to Redmond and be apart of that with them.  Then after we got to visit some family and watch the Super bowl.