Anniversary/Honesty/Preschool/BEDTIME!!!!

So to start, we had a not-so-happy-anniversary. It basically sucked. Mady had dance at 11:00 a.m. and they were getting pictures that day. I tore the my purse, the house, and the car apart for my wallet and found nothing. I had to pay for the pictures so I called Adam and asked him to go to the bank and call Albertsons to see if I left my wallet there the night before (and yep, the night before was a Sunday.. that's what I get). Albertsons didn't have it. Adam even went over there and him and several people searched every cart and the entire store...but nothing. We left the cart outside so anyone could have grabbed it. So we went home and cancelled all our debit, credit, and store cards. Went to the bank and put a hold on my checks. We did squeeze in lunch before we took Mady to school. And then I spent the rest of the afternoon finishing up and putting a fraud alert on my social security card which was behind my license. STUPID! NEVER KEEP THAT IN YOUR WALLET! I knew that, but I even had Noah's in there too; oh and $120 cash. Afterwards we picked mady up, went to Wal Mart and then to JaLayn's little boys birthday. We came home resolved that someone must have really needed it more then me, but still super stressed. Adam had plans for flowers and a surprise lunch. I was going to let the kids make him cards and take him balloons to work..but none of that happened. Kind of depressing. The whole day went by without much acknowledgement, just stress. However, the next morning I got a call from Albertsons!!! My wallet was sitting on their customer service counter when they opened. EVERYTHING was there, even the $. Thank goodness there are still honest people out there. So we are going on a date Friday for our Anniversary and Adam's sister is babysitting. We're looking forward to that. What a relief! We also went to the temple last night with Adam's Dad and Terri, while Aubrey baby sat. Then we all had dinner at our house. It was such a nice night; we definitely feel that we don't go enough. And we feel so good when we do!!
So today was the last day of Pre-school for Mady. Both her and Noah will start school in May. But today the parents were invited for the last 20 min and to have a treat. It's so fun to see Mady in her comfort zone. She's such a big girl. Noah loved it there too, so I hope that means he will do well. So here's a few pics of today!


Mady showing us the class guinea pig.


Noah LOVED it.


They had a "circus" day today and Mady had to show the Lion to us!


So I've been excited to re-decorate Noah's room. It's fun to make it look like
a big boy room. "bittersweet" :) But we are doing it in black, tan, and red, with a sports theme. It's fun. Just wish we could paint! Hopefully soon. I'll have to take pictures when I actually get all that I'm planning done. Other then that...bedtime has been AWFUL! He will not go to sleep unless we are laying by him. We played this game with him for almost an hour tonight before Adam finally gave in and laid down with him. He fell asleep in like 5 minutes. I tried too and he just kept saying, "mommy. you hold me. I hold you" He would put his arm around me and play with my hair... but not go to sleep. so frustrating. Oh well. I think he might be cutting his molars. We'll see. We had to lock Mady out of our room and that fixed the problem in 2 nights, but it was sad. Noah is just too young for that. So we are hoping this is short lived. Wish us luck.

Just a cute picture of Noah during his nap. He looks so little and comfy.

My Big Little Boy

So today was bittersweet. We took down the crib and it is in the garage. It has been up in our house for 4 years and I almost cried watching Adam take it down. But we put our little boy in a big boy bed. I really think he will sleep better. It's more comfortable and bigger. And he loves it...he jumped right in it and said "My bed! It's comfy!" so I'm hoping he sleeps well. He's sure cute. So now we are going to do some re-decorating and take down his "baby" stuff. :( Like I said...it's "bittersweet".

Another thing that has been fun with him is that he loves church. He's doing so well. He learns fast. We talked about the temple once, and today we went to Adam's Dad's and he looked at the computer screen and said, "Dad! The temple. Behind you." it was very cute. He also said the prayer before bed (with Adam's help of course), but he said the whole thing. He can almost bless the food by himself... he's even had to remind us a couple times. He'll fold his arms and say, "Prayer?" Oh, And he got accepted into the Toddler Lab at the college. he'll go May-July. I think he will love it. He's so excited to "go to school like Mady". It's happy/sad to see him hit so many mile stones.
Just a cute picture of him eating lunch. He was so tired that he would take a bit and then lay his head down. so cute!

Mady is doing well too. She's loving school and dance. She is EXTREMELY anxious to get outside. Her and daddy spent time outside cleaning up the yard. She loved "helping" him.

Mady got the movie "Princess and the Frog" and it's definitely her new favorite. She already knows all the songs. It's really cute to hear her sing them from the other room. She's had a love for dresses lately too. She likes to twirl in them, but it's still a little cold to wear those through the day yet. She's certainly our girly girl.
Other then that we are all doing well. Me and Adam ended up with the flu too, but we are feeling better now. Tomorrow is our 7th Anniversary and I cannot believe it. So much has happened and our family has made so much progress. The only thing I wished we had by this point is a house, but we're working on that. Even so, that is just a possession...we have everything we need. Each other. I am so grateful for Adam and the good husband and dad that he is. Our children adore him and he is so good to me. Maybe more so that I deserve sometimes, but I feel like we compliment each other well. We've been through so much in the 10 years and I hope that each year just gets better! I love him so much and I'm so grateful that we have eternity with each other and our families!

Some Seriously Sick Kiddos

Well I officially hate strawberry Crystal Light. I know I will never buy it again. When something is puked up over and over it just messes with me. I wouldn't eat the Chicken flavored Ramen noodles for YEARS, like 15! So Monday night was miserable. Noah kept getting up all night and it's hard when you don't know what's wrong. But I finally let him climb in bed with me at like 2 a.m. just to have him puke all over me, all over him and all over our bed. NOT FUN. I just got him in the shower with me while Adam cleaned up the bed, the floor, the towels etc...I was up with him until 4:30 while he threw up every 1/2 hour. he slept until like 7:30 and then it started again. I was suppose to work last night but luckily someone switched me for tomorrow night. Thank goodness it wasn't tonight, because guess who came in our room covered in puke at 5:30 a.m.? Yup. Mady. It's 7:30 and she's already thrown up 4 times. It's not starting out well. I don't know how people do this with 3 and 4 kids, or MORE. uhhh. It's so sad seeing them sick, it breaks my heart. And I am sick of doing laundry! I think we've used every towel in the house. At least she can hit the bucket most of the time. Anyhow...wish us luck.
Well Noah just woke up...this should be fun ("This too shall pass....") :)

I also had to post these pictures for Jamie because we FINALLY got batteries for the Elefun game she got them for Christmas. We played it Monday and they LOVED it.


I also had to post some pictures of a couple projects I did this week. I love the beaded watch bands. I made so many for people for Christmas that I never made much for myself. So I finally put a few together. And I love my recipe box. I actually bought it at a craft store and then I didn't really like the paper and design much. So I ripped it a all off and re-did it. It turned out cute.

Saving for the future!

We finally emptied the kids piggy banks and opened each of them a savings account. The kids got excited to see all their money. It was kind of funny. In the process of emptying Mady's we found monopoly money, barbie money and even some plastic coins that may be stuck in there forever because I can't get them out.:) So Mady has had her piggy bank for almost 3 years and she had $234.50 and Noah has had his for not quite a year and a half and he had $94.81. Not too bad for a couple of toddlers. We try to give them money on the holidays and whenever we have a little extra. They get ALL of our change and whenever grandparents or anyone send them money we put some or all of it in there. The get super excited to 'feed their piggies'. My mom adds to it quite often too and they love it. In fact this morning my mom left a $20 bill on the counter for Adam to go get us all breakfast, and when she turned around it was gone. They looked everywhere for it and finally Adam asked mady and she said she fed her pig. Sure enough, she'd found the money on the counter and thought, Yippee and shoved it in her bank! So we can't really leave money laying around. It will disappear. Anyhow I thought it was a good experience and they were excited to see the lady at the bank dump all their coins in the machine. Now we have empty piggies to feed!

Anxious for Summer Much?

So today I went to Reflections, where Brigitte, my soon-to-be step sister works. I put sandals on and went to get my toes done. They're called glitter toes and they are very cute! But when I got in my car and opened the garage it was snowing. HUGE flakes. Even though I know it won't stick, it was cold and crappy. My kids want out! I want to let them out! preferably in the sun though. So we're still waiting...I realize it's only March. I guess we just get inpatient. The other day though it was like 40 degrees, I know, YEA. but we took the kids out in the driveway that has recently surfaced through the snow. We got out Mady's tricycle and Noah's 4-wheeler. They loved it!


The other thing is that I'm totally feeling the itch for spring cleaning. Not that I really WANT to do it...I just want it done. We have closets that need cleaned out, clothes that need gone through, things that need scrubbed, things that need moved and vacuumed under..etc..etc. I'm just waiting for the motivation to come with the itch. :)
Well everyone is doing good. We've been kind of relaxing and watching movies lately and we haven't done that for awhile. Just a recommendation: The Time Travelers Wife is a great movie! A tear jerker in some spots, but a good movie that made both me and Adam walk away appreciating our family more. Crazy how a movie can do that. Anyhow... Noah is doing good. Not much new there. Still a wild child. One thing that has been nice: at church he's been going to nursery really well. The nursery teachers even stopped us in the hall and said he is the best little boy. He is so well natured, he's nice to everyone and always shares. As a parent that really makes me feel good. He's certainly not always that way with Mady, which I think is just a sibling thing, but I'm glad to hear that he treats other kids good. I just have to include a cute picture of Noah walking in Adam's shoes...he loves to do anything Adam does. :)

Mady is doing well too. She's really in to wanting to help me in the kitchen. She's a lot of fun and gets so excited about it. She also LOVES getting her nails painted she tells everyone they are "pretty", but if she sees someones nails without polish they're "ugly". Oops. That's my fault. To keep her from picking it off I would tell her, "we don't want them to be ugly, so we have to leave the polish on so they stay pretty." She remembered all too well. It has been fun to be in sharing time with her in primary. I teared up on Sunday when I watched her sing the words and do all the actions to the songs. She's getting big so fast, and starting to absorb more then I realize. It's great, but sad, because part of me wants my kids to always stay little enough that I can hold them and protect them! I get excited and sad at the same time. Crazy mommies we all can be.

Busy Days With the Kids...

Some days when the kids are all tucked in bed... I sit there and think, "what did I accomplish today?" honestly. I feel like I chase my tail all day cleaning up after the kids, and like I'm constantly answering their demands. I don't really mind. This is what I want; to be here with my kids. But I feel like I just don't get much ME time. I really need to work out, I love scrap booking, bathrooms need cleaned, laundry...yeah don't get me started. I really need to balance things better. That is my goal! :) At least I can say every day with them involves a laugh. The other night we had just gotten Noah off the potty and he was naked. Well he ran off and we couldn't find him. I went in his room and could hear giggling from under his crib.

He like DIVES under there. He's so quick. As I'm taking a picture of him he says, "I pee." I thought he was talking about the potty so I told him he was a good boy. As I drag him out I realize he peed on the floor. naughty little boy. While Adam was putting his jammies on and telling him how we only pee in the potty he says, "Mommy clean it. Pee." Yeah thanks buddy. We're not reallly potty training, but he has peed in the potty like 5 times in the last 2 days. He gets it and can do it any time you set him on it. I think we could potty train him, I'm just waiting to have it in myself to do it. I've heard boys are harder then girls. So I'm scared. :) But he loves getting on the potty like a big boy and he yells, "Mommy! I do it!" He makes me laugh with his funny comments. Last night Adam was vacuuming and before he could even plug it in, Noah pulled his out. He was so funny, moving the cord and saying "Move it Daddy. I help you."

I love this little guy. He's such my little man. And such a mommas boy lately. but a couple weeks ago he was totally a daddy's boy. I guess he switches teams easily! He just has too much personality.

Mady had another dance performance on Saturday. It was their new dance (notice the cute new tutu) And while she was completely adorable, it went the same as all the rest.



We've debated about taking her out of dance, but she loves it. She loves going, and today at dance she did EVERY move to BOTH dances. It's funny to see how much she remembers the dance and then to see her freeze up like that. I guess I need to take the video camera to dance class so I can actually get something on it. :) But we've decided we will keep her in it, because she loves it and it's good for her. And everyone has said, who knows? Maybe one day she will just surprise us. Anyhow... we had a fun day. My mom and Brigitte came. And then we all went to lunch. All in all, it was a fun day.

Dance Performance/Toddler Bed

So Mady had her 2nd dance performance. It was at the boys Jr. High Basketball game. I was really worried because she kept telling me that she wasn't going to dance. But this time the older girls went first which kind of excited Mady after everyone clapped and yelled for them. But it still started out much the same as the last one...

She did the circle with everyone and then came back and just stood there again. Adam was in front of her and told her to dance and she started shaking her little hips and then all of a sudden she got into it. She was so cute. I wish I could figure out how to load the dumb videos on here. Anyhow it was adorable.


Mady with her Jada

Afterwards we went and bought Mady a stamp and she loved it. Hopefully it will work next Saturday too. Other then this, Mady is doing good. I just keep wandering if she's always going to cry as much as she does. She's so inpatient and everything is drama. If Noah so much as touches her, she will scream bloody murder and come to me and tell me to "get him". She's so dramatic. But she's the best cuddler ever. I guess she is just all girl...cliche girl. She can be crying one minute, and just needing a big hug the next. Lately at night she falls asleep on me in the recliner and I love holding her. She's so sweet. - She finally got to go to school this week after being sick, which she loves. She's been watching the Olympics with us and true to herself, she loves the ice skating. She tries to do what they do all over the living room. She's a goof ball.

Noah is doing good. We gave up on the crib after we turned it around backwards so the high part was out and he just fell to the floor. We had no choice, he's in a toddler bed now and doing surprisingly well. The first couple nights were a joke, we woke up to him and Mady in the hall at like 3 a.m. I'm not sure who woke who up, but they were naughty. Now he seems to wake up at least once every night and the only way we know is because we hear rustling on the monitor, which is on his changing table. When we go in there, he is on the changing table. It's like he wakes up, rolls over and thinks, 'Gee I want to climb that' weird child. As soon as we walk in he says "Mommy I'm wet" and lays down. We change him and then he'll go right back down. I don't know what his deal is, but he does this EVERY time when he wakes up. He loves the song 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star', and he can almost sing all the words. He starts to sing it as soon as we lay him down. The funniest thing that he does lately is that he will ask questions and then answer them. "Mommy, where daddy go?" and I'll say, "where is he?" ..."Daddy go to work" then we'll repeat this with "Mady at school".."Grandma at home" and so on. He's such a funny kid. Usually he will tell us when he poops, but yesterday I thought I smelled something and I went over and asked him and he said," No mommy. I just fart" I laughed so hard. I don't know where he got that. (ADAM!) But tonight at dinner as the waitress is taking our order, he kept saying it, "Daddy I fart!" over and over until Adam acknowledged it. LOL. serves him right. He makes us laugh every day. I can't believe the things he comes up with. Anyhow... this is getting long, and the post below is new too; just trying to catch up!

A date with the kids

So today we were going to shampoo the carpets, but instead we were all lazy most of the day and then took a nap. We felt like crap that we didn't do anything fun with the kids today, so we took them on a date. :) We went to dinner at Gringos, then we went and saw the new Alvin and the Chipmunks movie. It was fun, the kids were good overrall, of course treats and popcorn always help.
The kids at dinner. Our kids are weird, but they LOVE salsa.

But I think Mady took it a little too far...it kind of made me sick. So we poured most of it into mine...YUCK! I'm surpised she's not sick tonight.

But nope! She definitely wasn't sick, she could still cram the popcorn down at the movies. They were so cute and really liked the movie.


We got home and gave the kids a bath, then Adam played with them and got them all wound up before bed, while I cleaned the kitchen. :) But they loved it

Emergency Room - Part 2

What is it with my kids and not getting sick during the day when the Dr's office is open??? oh well. So Mady is doing better. She still has a horrible, deep cough but we are making progress. Well Sunday we skipped church due to sick kids, we had Adam's sister's and families over for the super bowl. Well Noah started coughing but it wasn't too bad. Everyone left around 8:30 and all of a sudden he sounded horrible, just like Mady did. He had that barking cough, no voice, couldn't cry. I called some of the nurses I worked with to get a 2nd opinion and they thought I should bring him in. So we debated...but he just seemed to get worse. I was also afraid that I wouldn't hear him on the monitor because he couldn't cry. Plus, when Mady was sick she could come running in our room saying she couldn't breathe. Noah can't. So off to the E.R. again! They did a chest x-ray and gave him the steroids just like Mady. They didn't do the breathing treatment with him, they said that was more emergency situations which made me realize how bad Mady was. I told the Dr I felt like maybe we jumped the gun out of fear, but he said he had a lot of respect for croup and how it can get so bad so fast. So he said we did the right thing, and we felt better. So we had a REALLY bad night with Noah, Adam stayed home from work Monday and we were all lazy. It's been a rough week for us, but I'm keeping my hopes up that this is coming to an end.
Well...enough talk about being sick. A funny story about Noah...so Sunday we were all sitting in the kitchen eating super bowl junk, while the kids played and Noah slept. All of a sudden I hear this bang from down the hall. I thought one of the cats was in Noah's room so I walked quietly back there and opened his door just to see two little feet under his door. I looked around the door and Noah says, "Hi mom" I laughed. How the heck? So we put him back in to see how he got out. Sure enough, he hooked his little ankle over the top and shimmied his way down the rail. I couldn't believe it. So we lowered it down the last 2 notches. No luck! he did it again during the night. So we turned his crib around so that the really high part in the back was in the front.

This seemed like a good solution...but NOPE! This is what I found this morning...

He must have thrown everything out, his pillow, blankets, his stuffed puppy....and made himself a bed. So here's my question...Now what?? I'm not ready for him to be in a toddler bed. He's barely a year and a half. But I don't want him to fall and hurt himself. At least he wouldn't sleep on the floor, he could crawl in bed. But ohhh....getting Mady to sleep in a big girl bed was such a process. I'm so not ready. Plus he can't open his door, and we can't leave it open because of the cats. He's such a good sleeper and I don't want to ruin that. So I guess we'll give it a couple days. It's crazy. This kid is nuts. No fear. Well...other then trying to get these kids better... I work the next 2 nights and I'm wishing Adam luck. :) If anyone has advice on kids climbing out of their crib...help! Mady never did. Anyhow... wish us luck!

Emergency Room

So Mady made her 2nd appearance of her life in the Emergency Room. (First time was like 1 1/2 yrs ago when she drank some of Noah's reflux medicine) Dang kids. Well I worked on Thursday night and Adam called me the first time around 1:00 a.m. and told me that Mady was really sick. She wasn't breathing really well. He had her in the shower just to breathe, she was sitting on a little seat because she wouldn't even stand up. She said everything hurt. It sounds bad, but I wasn't sure if Adam was exaggerating. He said she was running a fever and was all red. So I debated, and they told me I could go home and check on her, but Adam said she fell asleep. Well like an 1 1/2 hours later he called again and said she was really scaring him. I told him to give her Motrin, an Albuterol breathing treatment and call me back. He called me back and she was sleeping again. AHHHH! Then about 5:15 he called and said that I had to get home. She couldn't breathe. Her whole chest was caving in just trying to breathe. So I told the Charge nurse and she said to get home to her. I wasn't home for 5 min before I was in the car with her. I listened with my stethoscope and her lungs were clear. She was struggling so much to breathe and still had a fever. She started choking on the mucus in her throat and then started throwing it up and was choking on it. I grabbed her and we left. There is no point in messing around with this and I didn't know what else to do for her. So we got to the E.R. and they said she was definitely in respiratory distress. So they gave her some breathing treatment to break everything up and a steroid shot to decrease the inflammation in her throat and lungs. They did a chest x-ray and that was clear. They just called it Respiratory Distress, Acute Croup and possible Bronchitis. So we went home with 2 prescriptions, put Mady in bed with me and we slept until like 10:30. She still had kind of a rough day yesterday and last night she was really wheezy and sounded crappy, but I think we are making progress. She was really good at the hospital, everyone said she was completely adorable. She kept saying, "I'm sick, so I have to go to the doctor." she was NOT happy about the shot, but couldn't even scream or cry because of her throat and stuff. They did give her Dora stickers which helped. :) I have to admit, there is something EXTREMELY scary about watching your child struggle to breathe. There was that moment driving home where I thought it would be so much cheaper to wait for the dr's office to open. But in the moment I saw her that went out the window and nothing else mattered. The thought never crossed my mind again. I love her so much and just want my healthy little girl back. Other then that, we are all doing good. Just hanging out at home for awhile to get her better! There's lots of crap going around, so I hope everyone else is well!

Getting a breating Treatment while watching cartoons in Mom & Dads bed.

I told her to smile for me today and this is what I got. I guess it says it all. :)


She fell asleep on Adam tonight getting her treatment. She's so worn out.

Happy, Happy Birthday To Me!

I can't believe I am 26. I know it sounds weird, but I feel like I'm on the down hill to 30. crazy, crazy! I don't feel different then when I was 16. But I am happy where I'm at in life. Of course there are lots of things I still want to happen in my life, lots of dreams. But when I went and got Noah out of bed this morning, he grabbed my cheeks, kissed me and then threw his little arms around my neck, gave me a squeeze and said "Hi mommy!"; it sure melts my heart and makes me see whats important. It makes me so greatful for my wonderful, healthy kids. I have a great husband who is willing to do almost anything for our family and loves all of us. What more can I ask for?
So we all had a good day. This morning my friend JaLayn stopped by and brought me this cute sign and a Cocoa Bean Cupcake; MMMmmmmm!!!! so good.

Then Adam took a 1/2 day off and took us all out to lunch. The kids got me a new plant that I wanted. We took Mady to pre-school and then we drove to Rigby to Traditions and picked out my black shelf I wanted. Yea! I've wanted one forever. We came home and had dinner with my mom and Josh. We had steak and shrimp and I made a double layer chocolate peanut butter cake. YUM! I did accidently push the first 2 round cakes off the counter on the floor and wanted to say a lot of potty words. Instead, I nixed the homeade cake and sent Adam for a Devils Food cake. Still worked. Anyhow... we had an awesome night. Thanks to everyone who sent cards or wished me a Happy Birthday!
Mady loving her steak and cauliflower!

Mmmmm! This cake was amazing, even with all the candles! :)

The kids getting ready to help me blow out my candles.

Before I even sat down to eat my cake, this was Noah. He was the first one served, but man he chowed it down. I guess it's like a big Reese's peanut butter cup :)

The after math. So good, but we have tons of cake left. People did not eat enough! Guess I'll have to help out....

Mady's 1st Dance Performance

So Mady looked completely adorable, however......the dance...didn't go so well. She was super excited to get her costume on, I put her hair in a pony tail and did it in ringlets. Their first performance was at an Assisted Living to kind of warm the kids up to the whole thing. Mady was happy to see all the girls, she sat right on the floor with them, but the more people that kept piling in the more she seemed to get quiet. As we were getting the video camera ready I looked at Mady and she was kind of looking around for us, she had HUGE alligator tears in her eyes. So I motioned for her to come over and she just started bawling. Huge scared eyes and tears. I bribed her with ice cream and a stamp and she went to stand out with all the girls, but...she wouldn't move. The music started and all the girls danced around her and she stood there with her hands linked in front of her with this glare on her face. After the other groups danced, she ran to the middle of the floor and said, "My turn!" Figures. We'll see how the next one goes I guess. They sure are cute :)
Trying to muster a smile through her tears :(

This is looking at the back of Mady, with Jada facing me. This is how she stood the entire time.

Mady with her friends!


Other then that I will post a couple of random pictures of the cute kids. Mady started pre-school again and loves it. This was her 1st day of school.

After church, Mady kept complaining of an "owee" under her nose and wouldn't rest until she had a sponge bob bandaid.

When Adam started vaccuuming the other day, we look over and Noah was dragging his toy vaccuum out of the toy room to help. It was so cute. That kid is quick and he has such a fun personality.

Daddy's lil' homie (Noah wants his jacket and shoes on every morning! In fact, he puts them on so often he's learned to put them on all by himself; sometimes anyways.)

Some of my favorite pictures are of my sleeping babies. They are so peaceful. This is Mady waiting for dinner after church. That's what 1:30-4:30 church will do to ya.

This is both of my kids today. After taking Mady to pre-school I set Noah on the couch to get stuff out of the car and found this...awww...so cute.

Mady fell asleep on me rocking in the recliner tonight, hugging her kitty. She's so sweet when she sleeps...and when she's awake. I think. :) Just kidding. She's fun. Me and Adam just had a conversation tonight that one of the best words for her personality is "diva". that's just Mady. We sure love them both!