Our little dancer and an update!

So this year Mady has just done awesome in dance. She caught on right away and actually listened! It's crazy to see her be on the 'experienced' side of things instead of running around and sitting in time-out. lol. They had their dress-rehearsal last Saturday and from the minute we got in the gym she was jumping around all excited. She couldn't wait...yes. This from the girl who stood in the middle of the gym un-moving for like 5/6 performances last year. She was so excited to put her "tutu" on and looked adorable.


When she was done, she ran over to me and my mom and said, "I danced so good! I'm awesome huh?" It brought tears to my eyes because she was just so proud of herself. She gave me a big hug and I just had to say, "yep. your pretty awesome." Things like this are just so good for kids and their confidence.

She also starts pre-school this week which will be great for her. She really needs it. She's just too bored being home all day. She's such a fun and independent little girl lately. she loves to just sit in her room and play with her toys or her new Leapster. That was the best present and has been so good for her. Teaching her numbers and letters. We've re-placed the batterries like 3 times since Christmas already! I've said it before...but she is my good eater. She had 2 HUGE helpings of steamed broccoli the other night and hardly ate her pork chops. she loves veggies and requests ice water over pop. It's funny, but great. she eats way better then Noah and is still always more sick then him. She's had croup twice since November; but is good now.

Mady also went to her friend Sienna's b-day party the other day. She loved it. She met this little girl at pre-school and has done nothing but talk about her! they always run up and hug each other. It's very cute.

I did have to include this picture of Mady with her blanket. I made this before she was born, it was the 1st one I ever made. we can not get rid of it. Look at the huge rip in it; It's been mended so many times. I even made her a new one, we've bought a barbie one...but NOPE; nothing else works. At least she doesn't take it everywhere anymore, but dang...she's 4 1/2 and is still so attached to that ugly thing. :) oh well. It's so comforting to her I guess.

This is how my kids were dressed the entire afternoon after church. Literally. I just peeled Mady's off of her to get her jammies on. It was funny. We could only call them Buzz or Jessie too. :)
Oh Adam's sister Jamie had her baby and when we got home from seeing him, Mady had a lot of questions. she asked if I had a baby in my belly too and I said no. She said, "I do." I said, "you have a baby in your belly?" she said, "No. I have a bunny rabbit." :-) She's a fun little girl, but still has her dramatic days. lol. I think that will be her for years to come, but we will love her for every minute of it. I've thought a lot lately about how grateful I am for my kids...they are amazing. We are so lucky to have her. She was my first baby...and it just doesn't seem like that it was that long ago. I still remember the first time I held her, it just seemed like such a miracle. And she is. I'm so grateful that my Heavenly Father has trusted us with this amazing little person. I love her more then she will ever know.



Noah is great. That kid is hilarious and just has a personality all his own. We can't figure out how he comes up with half the things he says and does. He's potty trained now. But it was a little more difficult then Mady. Bribing just didn't work the way it did for Mady. It's funny how different kids are. He responded better to a consequence, like having to clean his own poop out of his underwear. ha ha. It was sad but it worked. He also has decided that he doesn't sit down to pee. He has to "pee like daddy", so he will only stand up now. And the other day when I gave him toilet paper to 'dab' his pee pee, he told me "No. Daddy says I just shake my weiner" :) He's a funny kid. he pretty much wears his snow boots around the house all day. And he only travels by scooter. (the one Santa got him for Christmas) There's even designated parking spots for it. He has become a HUGE daddy's boy. To the point where he will flat out tell me, "I don't want you! I just want my dad!" This kid says exactly what's on his mind; no filter. I'm sometimes afraid when he opens his mouth in public. I never know what will come out of it. He still uses his favorite swear word so freely..."Mom, where's my d*** juice?" It just flows...we've had lots of talks about what Heavenly Father doesn't like us to say. He just gives us dirty looks. lots...of...attitude.
-One funny thing he said, for those of you who aren't on facebook...Noah came out from his nap one day. He had huge sleepy eyes and was still staggering a bit, but he looked right at me and asked, "Mom. do all kids have pee pee's and butts?" :) I just don't expect anything less from him. I'm just glad this one wasn't in public.
-He's really into calling people "freaks" lately. He and Adam were wrestling around the other night and he yells after him, "get back here ya little FREAK!"..let me assure you...we have NEVER called him that.
-He was picking out a new movie to take in the car the other night and he was taking forever, so Adam told him to hurry up. He slammed his hand down on the floor and with an angry face said, "I just don't have TIME for this Dad!" He's going to be an interesting child I think.
He is such a goof ball, but such a cuddle bug. He would sit and cuddle at any time of the day. His favorite show is Transformers right now; to watch with his daddy of course. He's definitely a fun little guy and we feel very grateful to have him in our family. Just like with Mady...he has no idea how much he's loved. He keeps us on our toes every day; but he is so extremely loving and sensitive. I was in the bath tub one night and forgot to lock the door...in came Noah. I guess he thought I was sad...but he said, "It's ok mommy. don't cry. Daddy will come get you. I will stay here with you." then he went and got a cup to pour water over me (like I do to them in the tub) then he patted my back and gave me a kiss. :) He's my little man, and holds such a special place in my heart. My kids are the reason I wake up every day and do everthing I can to make them happy and teach them right. We feel so blessed to have these amazing little people!

Belated Christmas Post

Wow. I can't believe how behind I am on posting. We've just been so busy and sick in this stinkin house, but we had a great Christmas. We had lots of activities and Christmas parties. I'll start with pictures and then update what every one's been up to. On the first Monday in December our street has a 'K Street Christmas Party'. It was a lot of fun and we feel so blessed to live where we do. We have amazing neighbors and love the ward we're in. While we were at the party...Santa showed up:) Mady was super excited because when we saw him at Wal-Mart she was scared, so she really wanted to tell him that she wanted Jessie and Rapunzel dolls. :) Noah on the other hand...wouldn't even look at him. ha ha.



We also kept up with our tradition of making Christmas goodies and taking them to family and friends. Mady was quite the helper this year. She loved it. She was great at making sure everything tasted good and was ok to be given away!


On Christmas Eve morning Mady woke up kind of early, so I got up with her and let Daddy and Noah sleep in. We painted our nails in Christmas colors and watched the Flintstones Christmas. Then we made breakfast and woke Daddy and Noah up. It was fun to have that girl time with her.


Later on we kept with tradition and made our cookies for Santa.

It was so sweet to see the excitement Mady had this year for Christmas. I remember that feeling as a kid and it just makes the spirit of the season so much fun. We did have lot of talks about the real reason for Christmas and it was neat to see that Mady was actually understanding it some of it. :)
Our House all Decorated!

Our Christmas trees...all ready with presents to be opened! the kids were super excited!


Christmas is always busy for us! All our family is here so we have activities from Christmas Eve all the way until Christmas night. We get our breaks in between but we have a lot of fun. It's so nice to spend time with family. So Christmas Eve we went to Adam's Dad's house. Terri had lots of goodies and of course we had shrimp. YUM! then we all opened presents. it was a good night!



When we left we drove around looking at Christmas lights, then went home and saw that the Christmas Elves left the kids jammies again. :) Adams mom and Rick came up that night to stay with us. It was so fun to have them! So we left cookies and celery (yes...celery. because Adam forgot to get the reindeer food at Broulims, so Mady decided that would work. ha ha) We put our excited kids to bed and then watched 4 Christmas's.



Christmas morning! Santa came! :) (don't you love the commercial on the t.v. in the background? it's like a phone-dating thing! ha ha) Noah kept telling us that he didn't like Santa and didn't want him in our house! but Christmas morning he told us that he liked him again. :)



We had a good morning. lots of mess, but lots of fun! Does anyone else think it's crazy how they like zip tie EVERY arm and leg of every toy to the box! AAHHH. took us forever. Mady was very excited to see Jessie and Rapunzel and Noah loved his Buzz Lightyear. Mady also got a Dollhouse and pet shop stuff of course; and Noah got a Batman Cave and tool bench. And lots of others, but those were the favorites. We had a good brunch with Adam's mom and Rick and all of his sisters. Then we opened presents again. Mady loved that we got to open presents so many times!


That afternoon was a well-earned nap time! Then we woke up and went to Brigitte's to have Christmas with my mom and John and Craig and Brigitte. LOTS more food...are you seeing a theme here? way too much food!!! ha ha. but it was good. We ate and played the wii and opened presents again. it was a good day and filled with lots of family. the kids were totally pooped out by the end of the night and went to bed right away! ha ha.



However they were up bright and early and excited to play with all their new toys the next day! :)

I love Christmas. We are huge Christmas people. I think the season just puts an amazing spirit in your home. There's something very sad to me when we take our tree down and put all the decorations away. Mady had a break down last year when we did it, but this year she just asked if it could be Halloween again? :) Noah cried though. "We have to put the tree back so Santa can come!!!" :( that's kind of how I feel too. lol. But it will come again! I just feel like you don't have very many years that your kids have this excitement for Santa and it makes it so much fun! I love seeing the joy on their faces. I feel so lucky and grateful for my children and family! Hope everyone had as good of a Christmas as we did!
(Well this has gotten long...so an up-date will have to wait!)

Happy Holidays!

Winter has hit us hard in Idaho and with it has come the feeling for Christmas. :) We've had a terrible "blizzard" as they called it. Spots in our yard have anywhere from 8-10 inches. Monday and Tuesday were horrible with white outs and awful roads. Tons of roads and highways were closed. We just stayed home and decorated for Christmas! :) The kids are super excited for Christmas and I'm super excited for black Friday deals. I know, I'm crazy...but there's something about the craziness that is fun for me.
My kids are more then ready for the snow!


I am in love with the windows in our sun room because of the view I get of the beautiful weather.

Getting ready for Christmas:




We've painted Mady and Noah's rooms, finally! Mady's is done! Noah's is painted but is a work-in-progress at this point. Still fun, and they both love their rooms since we let them pick the colors. Well out of a couple choices anyways. :)
Remember Mady's awful room before without carpet, with the dresser all ripped out and horrible paint....


Well now...we love it!



Noah's room before...

and after...still working on it.


Other then that...we are doing ok. Feeling the stress of life right now, but trying to have faith that there is always a plan. Mady is still in pre-school and doing amazing. Me and Adam talked the other night about how she used to be and we can't even believe the progress she's made. All the fears we had are not there anymore and we are loving what she's becoming. We feel very blessed about how things have worked out with her. Her and Noah still fight a lot, but I'm starting to feel like that will be my life forever. They play good too; it just depends on the day.

My kids have said the funiest things lately though... Mady the other day said..."Mom! My belly hurts." So I said, "oh yeah?" She said "yeah. I think I need chocolate to make it feel better." :) ha ha. She learns quickly. funny little girl.
Noah is doing great. Still the funniest little character. I can't believe the little things his mind can come up with. I just wish he would sleep in his bed at night. It never fails, we always wake up with him. Sometimes he doesn't come in until like 5 or so, but it's inevitable. And Adam is a sucker because Noah is RELENTLESS and he'll go to Adam's side and say, "Daddy. I just want to cuddle you" and in he goes! Breakfast is pretty much a fight every morning. Sometimes he is up for 2 hours before he eats because all he wants is candy, to which I say no and give him the list of things he CAN have...yogurt, banana, cereal..etc. I think he gets hungry enough that he finally picks something. However...he doesn't forget to ask for the candy later. He is so much like his dad. We joked about this the other night. I made a roast and potatoes in the crock pot. Mady doesn't like potatoes, she likes broccoli so I steamed some for her. Then she just wanted water to drink. So broccoli and water for her and meat, potatoes and pop for Noah. Just like his dad. silly kids. Some funny quotes from him lately:
-Every night he decides right before bed that he's STARVING! I caught him digging through the fridge and told him to stop and that he's not really hungry. he looked right at me and said, "But Mom! I'm just so sick with hungry!"
-And every time he wants something and I say no, he'll say with attitude, "But Mom! It's just for my want!" Well since it's for that he should just get whatever he wants right!?
-Then the other night after church we got talking about babies because he was very interested in one at church. Adam asked if he wanted a baby in the house (NOT announcing anything! NOT good timing. lol) Noah looks right at him and says, "No dad. I just want a puppy for me" We laughed so hard! Where does he come up with this stuff? Anyhow...he's a super fun little man.

Adam is doing good. His wrist is starting to feel a lot better and he should be wearing that brace more then he does. But then again...when has he really listened to the dr's or me? ha ha. We'll find out in a couple weeks how it's healed. Work is going ok for me. I'm keeping my eye out for another job. I don't want to leave...but I need something I can count on and we need better insurance. We'll keep praying and looking. Other then that...things are going well. We feel very blessed to have our house, our amazing neighbors (who, by the way, snow-blowed our drive way and sidewalk during all these storms) we have an awesome ward, healthy and happy kids. And of course each other. Not much more we could ask for. :) Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!