What we did on our Summer Vacation:

Since it's going to be officially Fall in a few days, I thought I'd finally get around to posting about our Summer. It went by too quickly, but we managed to sneak in lots of fun!

We visited Eric's parent's house in Seal Beach, CA for my sister's college graduation in May:

No trip to Seal Beach is complete unless you walk down Main St. to the pier and pet Slick the Seal.

Our FAVORITE beach in California is Crescent Bay in Newport. We try to make it down there every time we go, whether it's warm or not. The kids love to dig in the sand and splash in the water.

My sister graduated from Cal State Fullerton with a BA in Creative Photography. It was great to see my brother Jef too!

In June, my friend, Erica, and her kids were visiting from North Carolina, so we got together with our other friend, Kristi, and her kids. We bravely took Trax to the Children's Museum in Salt Lake and to play in the fountains afterward. The kids all got along so well, it was a little sad when the day ended. It's crazy that I've been friends with these girls for more than half my life and that we are moms now!

We also celebrated Dane's birthday in June!

We had a water party in the backyard with some of our "little" cousins and a few friends. It took Dane a while to warm up to the party, so I'm glad I kept it smaller. He did love the water table we got, and of course, cupcakes!

He's the typical 2 year old boy - loves to throw and hit anything and everything and can go from being unbelievably cute and sweet to throwing a HUGE fit all in the same minute. He's talking up a storm and is obsessed with bowling.

In July we went to St. George for a Jorgensen family reunion. It was hot, but lots of fun. The kids LOVED playing with their cousins all day for three days straight.

Also in July we took the kids to San Diego to go to Sea World and the beach. Both were a BIG hit!

Megan got to fly a kite and Dane was obsessed with sand crabs.

My new obsession for the trip - Yogurtland. We went every night we were there!

Sea World was fabulous and we were so glad Grandma and Papa were able to come with us.

Dane fell asleep on my lap as soon as Shamu started, of course!

In August I was able to go on my annual girls' trip to Texas with my sister to visit my Aunt Katheryn. It's always hot, but always fun!

Megan started her second year of preschool at the end of August and life has slowed down a bit for us. Megan LOVES school and has been asking about it pretty much every day since it ended back in May. We love Summer, but are excited for all that Fall brings as well!

Alright fellow bloggers, I have a dilemma and a question for you...

Recently I have really wanted Megan to start doing some chores that I feel are appropriate for her age - making her bed, getting dressed and putting her clothes in the hamper, clearing her spot from the table, and cleaning up her toys, etc. I found a cute chart for her to put stickers on and we told her that she would get a certain amount of money per sticker for doing her chores and would get paid at the end of the week. At first it was going pretty well. She was excited to earn stickers and was doing what was on the chart and leaned the consequences for not doing all of them everyday. Later in the week, when I asked her to do something that was on the chart, she'd tell me, "I don't want to do that. It's ok that I don't get a sticker for it." Well, these are very basic chores that I really feel like she should be doing, so that backfired a little. Papa and Grandma were here this week and so I forgot to print off a new chart for start this week. Then today I read an article my sister-in-law put on Facebook about how we are living in the age of entitlement and how selfish kids are today. The article mentioned a study about kids and money for chores. It found that when kids are paid for every chore they do, they expect a monetary reward for everything they do and won't work without some sort of reward or payment. The article also talked about how vital it is for children to learn to work and its many benefits. I really agree with what the article said and made me think about this little chore chart and system I was trying to implement.

This is where I am looking for your help! What do you do to foster work in your home? What do you do for chores and allowances? I try hard to teach my children to be loving and kind to one another and want them to have a good work ethic as well. I want them to know that life isn't easy and that you have to work for what you want, sometimes without an immediate pay-out. Please let me know what your thoughts are on this. You can email me if you don't want to leave a comment or your comments are too long: jenjorgensen220@gmail.com. I am new to all this and would love to your thoughts and ideas!

Can you say hard-headed?!

I have warned both kids, on SEVERAL occasions not to play around the couches in our family room. The previous owners thought it was a grand idea to have tile window sills installed on every window in our house including the large window the couch backs up against. I knew the day would come when someone would whack their head on it and today was that day. Dane was the lucky one. And he really was lucky. I am still amazed that there wasn't any blood and he only cried for a few minutes. Here's hoping he wakes up in the morning...

Ahhh kids...

I am still insisting that Megan have some quiet time while Dane takes his nap. She is usually pretty good about it, but today she didn't want to. I told the kids it was time for naps and quiet time and Megan threw a fit with tears and all. I was holding Dane at the time and he just looked up at me and said, "Naughty, naughty." That, of course, sent Megan into more hysteria and made me laugh quite hard. She did end up going into her room without much fuss after she calmed down and had a few more strawberries. I am willing to bet that she falls asleep today. The days she fights it the hardest are the days she needs it the most.

Confession:

My kids have been taking fabulously long naps all week, even Megan, who doesn't nap that often anymore. So, what have I been doing with all this kid free time during my afternoons, you might ask? Nope, nothing productive... Instead, I've been reading these:

My neighbor let me borrow them and I kind of can't put them down. They're a little on the trashy side, but I HAVE to know what happens! Yesterday I started and finished #3. And there are 8 in the set. Ahhhh!!!! I have no self-control when it comes to reading. I'll stay up too late to finish a book, even if my eyes hurt and I can barely keep them open. Yes, I have a problem, which is why I am always a little hesitant to read. I love to read, but it also kind of takes over my life. Maybe I should go on that "Addicted" show on TLC!

Megan's birthday this year somehow turned into a whole weekend of celebrations instead of just one day. It was a little on the excessive side, but she was happy and felt special. My mom always did such a great job of making us feel important and special on our birthday and I guess I'm just trying to do the same. We started out by going to Disney on Ice on the Friday before her birthday. I took her last year for her birthday as well and she loved it. This year, Eric joined us and we got a sitter for Dane. It was fun to have some time with just her. We took her to one of our favorite Mexican restaurants in Salt Lake, The Blue Iguana. They have this almond mole dish with bacon that is just divine. Eric and I both ordered it this time. On the weekends, they have this cute elderly couple that go around the restaurant serenading everyone. Megan couldn't keep her eyes off of them and even started to dance by our table.

The Disney on Ice show was really fun too. The theme was "Celebrations", so they went through all the major holidays of the year. They had so many more characters than they did last year, and Valentine's Day was all about the princesses, so of course that was Megan's favorite part.

On Saturday we had Megan's Fairy Princess Party. I had too much fun putting it all together. My friend made butterfly cupcakes for her mother-in-law's birthday last year and I thought they would be a perfect fit for our fairy party.

I found a sweet website before Megan's party that had all sorts of fairy wings, tutus, wands, halos, etc. They even had a color combo called Tink that was just perfect.

Michael's had these tiny little bird houses in their dollar section, so I thought they would make perfect fairy houses for the kids to decorate. Megan put her's in her room before the party was even over.

Tinkerbell left Megan and her friends a treasure hunt all through the house. There were clues leading to beads and then at the end, they found the pixie dust necklaces that Tinkerbell left. They even glow in the dark!

Then we had cake and ice cream and opened presents. Megan loves her friends and have each of them a hug after she opened their gift.

Even though this was a pretty girly party, we did have one boy. He's one of Megan's best friends and we had to have him there. He was a good sport about all the girly stuff.

Sunday, March 13, was Megan's actual birthday. She had been begging for a Barbie cake for months. We had to go and look at the one on display at our Target EVERY time we were there. So I had her one. It was a little tricky. I thought I could use a regular Barbie, but they are actually a little too tall, so I ended up using one of those half dolls from Michaels.

My dad and step-mom were in town, so they came over along with my step-siblings. If you ask Megan about her birthday party, this is the one she'll tell you about. I guess it was because it was on her actual birthday?

Megan loves to tell people that she is 4 now. I can't believe how fast these 4 years have gone and that it will be her baptism in 4 more years. Kids grow up too fast, especially mine. Megan had her 4 year old check up this week and she is off the charts high for her height at 43 inches. I stil call her my baby girl and tell her to stop getting bigger. Her response is always, "I have to get bigger so I can go to college like Diane (our babysitter)." Awesome, not even in kindergarten yet and already talking about college...

I have somehow conned Megan into taking "Quiet Time" everyday while Dane naps. She is usually pretty good about this and I still get a little break during the day. I hope it lasts for a LONG time! This is when I normally do such fun things as eat my lunch without 20 interruptions, clean the house, fold laundry while watching Utah's cheesy Studio 5... you know, super exciting mom stuff. It's always interesting to see what Megan's room looks like after quiet time though. This is what I found today.

I normally help Megan pick out her clothes for the next day (if it's a school day or church) and we hang those items on the dresser. I'm guessing that she's planning out her clothes for the next week??? She also came down in a different outfit than what she was wearing earlier. My mom used to tell me that when I was little, I liked to change my clothes several times a day. Apparently, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

I don't know about the rest of you, but January is by far the LONGEST month of the year for me. I think it's a combination of the busy-ness/excitement of the holidays being over, Utah winters, and no fun holidays. Eric's birthday is in January, and while that is fun, it doesn't seem to carry me through the month. Megan being in school twice a week has helped a lot this year. Also, I've tried to plan something fun for the kids and I to do a couple times a week. It has been a little challenging with an 18 month old (since mine is so busy and loves to run away from me while laughing...) but we're still making it happen and it's going pretty well. It's been nice going into January this year knowing that I don't really love this month and planning accordingly. So, if any of you Utah blogger friends want to play, let me know, because we're always up for doing something fun!

And here to prove that while January might be the longest month of the year, it's certainly not the dullest; here are a few new "things" my kids have learned this month.

1. Play-Doh is fun for everyone! (And not for eating...):

2. When your sister doesn't finish her cereal (she likes to eat it dry with a cup of milk on the side, just like her Papa) you can just climb up on the table and finish it off for her after your nap:

3. Just like Buddy the Elf, Dane considers syrup to be one of the 4 main food groups:

4. If you hide under the desk with the chair pulled in, it takes Mom a few moments to notice that you're sneaking into the candy that Dad keeps in his scriptures:

5. Sometimes it's necessary to come downstairs to get Mom's help with all your wardrobe changes during "quiet time" :