McGrath Moments

Every evening I lay out the kiddos clothes for the next day. Anything you can do at night to save time the next morning is the way to go!! Anyways, as soon as Brenna got out of the bath Tuesday evening she was asking me what I was going to pick out for her to wear tomorrow. This is how the conversation went...

Brenna: I am SO excited to see what I am going to wear tomorrow!

I picked out a matching skirt and t-shirt outfit that my parents bought her.

Brenna: Oh, Mama! I love it! I will look so beautiful and the kids will want to play with me!

Me: What do you mean the kids will want to play with you?

Brenna: They will say, "oh you look so beautiful, where did you get that outfit?" Where did I get this outfit, Mama?

Me: You got it from Grammy and Papa.

Brenna: Ok, I will tell them I got it from Grammy and Papa.

Me: Um Brenna, don't you think the kids will want to play with you because you are a nice girl and friend and not because of what you are wearing?

Brenna: (absolutely did not care what I had just said to her)I can't wait to show Daddy what I am wearing!

Too young for this!!! I found it all very disturbing and sad. I think it is sad that she thinks this way. I'm sure none of the kids at school care what she wears and I wish she didn't care as much. The next morning we had this conversation/fight...

Me: How do you want me to fix your hair today?

Brenna: All up.

As I am putting her hair in a pony tail, she changes her mind.

Brenna: Never mind, I want pig tails.

Me: I don't have time to change it now. You can pick pig tails for tomorrow if you want.

Brenna(with her teenage attitude): That's fine!! I will just change it when I get to school anyways!!

I just ignored the comment, but then I started thinking about it later. Am I going to have that child/teenager who packs her "prostitute wear" in her book bag and slips it on along with a ton of make-up once she gets to school. Absolutely not! Little does she know that she is training me now to be a mother who watches her like a hawk. I am learning what she is capable of while she is young, so I will be prepared for the "Future Brenna"!!!

I am thankful for great neighbors. I didn't have a babysitter to watch Braeden last week for his final week of summer vacation and I had a great neighbor step up and volunteer to watch him Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday while I worked. Thank you so much, Jill!!

I will have to say that there are a few neighbors that have been kind enough to watch Braeden and Brenna in a pinch and I appreciate it so much. I love that we live in a neighborhood full of families and we trust each other with our children. It really is a comfort to know that there are other people looking out for your children and that these people have become friends.

We spent a couple of days last weekend at the lake. I love boating and swimming and the kiddos were very excited to go. My sister and her husband, my parents, my Aunt Terry, Ed and I and the kids all spent the day on the lake. We had a great time!

And then we decided to spend the night. IN A TENT! I am NOT an outdoor kinda girl. I pretty much bathed in bug spray. I hate bugs. All bugs. Bugs that fly. Bugs that crawl. Bugs that make noise. I don't discriminate.

I only agreed to do this because Braeden has been begging us to go camping. I finally gave in and seeing how much fun he had made it all worth it. It's not that I haven't been camping before. I have gone camping so many times that I cannot count them all. We went all of the time when I was a child, but with one big difference, my Grandpa sold RV's. We went camping in style. We had a kitchen, bathroom, beds, and best of all air-condition.

This was different. This was roughin' it. We cooked hot dogs by the campfire and made smores. All the time being attacked by bugs and butterflies. Yes, I said butterflies! They dive-bombed our heads, clung to our clothes, and swarmed all around us. I have never seen anything like it. We even had to move from the campfire to a grill to make the smores because they were such a problem.

We were home the next morning by 7:15am. I made it as long as I could, and then it was Home Sweet Home!! I'd do it all over again to see how much the kids enjoyed themselves. They even enjoyed my ghost stories! But, I can only handle the outdoors in small doses. It might be a couple of years before they convince me to do this again!

This summer Brenna turned 4 years old!! June 28th, 2011, the same day that Ed and I celebrated our 8th Anniversary! She decided she wanted her birthday at the movies because the new Cars movie came out the Saturday before her birthday. I think she also had some encouragement from her brother. A win, win situation for him...a party and Cars 2!



For some reason Brenna has become quite a fan of Superman. She loves to watch the movies and play with the action figures. To make it a little more "girly" I got her a Super girl cake and she LOVED it!!

I think this is our 3rd or 4th birthday party we have had at the movies and every time we do it, I get so stressed out. I get stressed taking just our two kids to the movies because I always worry if they are going to stay quiet, or who will need to go to the bathroom and how many times they will need to go, and who will spill their drink or popcorn. What if there is a bad word in the movie? On and on, just worrying. So explain to me why I keep having their birthday parties there where I get to worry about it times 15 other children??

Happy Birthday, Sis! I'm glad you and your friends had a good time!

Byrds Dance Recital June 26, 2011

Brenna had her first dance recital this summer. She looked absolutely fabulous!! I have never seen a cuter bunny!

I was the room mother for the recital. We had all of the girls all dolled up. Make-up, curling irons, hair and body glitter, the whole nine yards and they had such fun!

They danced to Benny the Magic Bunny and if I never have to hear that song again, that would be fine with me!!

This is a picture of Brenna dancing at the rehearsal. Since I was back stage for the actual show, I was able to watch the rehearsal to take video and pictures. She surprised me so much for the rehearsal. If you remember back to when I tried to get her to first start her dance class, she was screaming and crying and refused to go and we had to do the Mommy/toddler class, well that is how she acted when they had to take her from me to go to the dressing room. SCREAMING and CRYING!! But as soon as she got on stage to do her dance, she did GREAT!! She did even better at the actual show. I was so proud of her!



I didn't even think that she was going to get to participate in the actual show, because on the way home from the rehearsal, which was in Lawrence, she threw-up all over her costume. Apparently, and I am NOT judging, but the mothers who were back stage with them for the rehearsal fed them snacks the whole time to keep them quiet and occupied. Well, Brenna's tummy did not like it and she threw-up about half way home from Lawrence. It was all down the front of the costume...matted in the fur collar, stained, everything! My sister was in the car with me and she just looked at me while I was driving and said, "You are going to cry when you see her costume." She was right. I was convinced that I was never going to get it clean enough for her to participate in the show. Luckily I did and the show went on!! But seriously, why does stuff like this have to happen to me? I don't think Brenna has ever thrown-up in the car, but the one time she has on this expensive costume that she needs to wear again, it happens!! Good times!!