Happy Birthday Emrie!

We went to Iceberg (aka Rexburg) last weekend to be part of the festivities for my little niece turning TWO!! Maddie has been cracking herself up saying "Emrie's going to be two too (too too too!)"
Thank you hugs. Maddie wanted to give Emrie her favorite movie of all time--the Elmo Potty Movie. Worked out well, since Emrie is also a die hard Elmo fan and is starting potty training!

Speaking of the furry red guy... Ella is smitten too. She loved these slippers she found and kept sitting down to hug her feet! It was hilarious to watch her walk in them.

Noelle threw a darling ABC birthday party (more photos here.)

Emily and Mike had a block building contest. Never a dull moment. Emily's tower reached 6'4", but Mike just had to out do her with 6'8".

It was great to see my sisters' cute homes and spend time with my family. Yay for cousins, birthdays, and chocolate cake (especially chocolate cake)!!!

This n' That

Just thought I'd post a few cute things of late...

How about this Kodak cousin moment?! Maddie is in love with little Daxton, and how could you not be???

Ella finally figured out how to get in the dollhouse.

The girls played in their dresses for awhile after church. Oh, how I love early church... we have the rest of the day to relax!

Lastly, just had to share a fun video of Maddie and Mike practicing countries. For long time followers, you will remember we have been doing this since she was about 18 months old and I just have to say I am so proud of her! :) (Note: We are having technical difficulties with blogger video upload... hope vimeo works! Let me know if it doesn't. Sorry.)

Untitled from mlandm on Vimeo.

P.S. Got a case of the winter blues? Think GREEN and check out our Grow blog!

Today's deep thoughts...

I know I just posted two days ago, but maybe I am just feeling the need to connect with people since I haven't talked to many in person lately! :)

I realized something last night... even though staying home sick has been hard, we are starting to enjoy the slower pace. I thought the kids would get really antsy, but as long as they have my attention and affection, they really don't care! They have more time to explore the world on their own terms and use their imaginations, and I have been trying to follow their lead rather than boss them from one thing to the next. Something I have been working on lately is being in the moment and enjoying my family, rather than worrying about getting things done. Mike even noticed the change and said I seem more relaxed and happier.

Ella was so cute reading on Maddie's bed this morning.

Lulu (Ladybug Girl) and Bingo watched cartoons together.

I heard this recently: "Stresses in our lives come regardless of our circumstances. We must deal with them the best we can. But we should not let them get in the way of what is most important—and what is most important almost always involves the people around us. Often we assume that they must know how much we love them. But we should never assume; we should let them know. Wrote William Shakespeare, “They do not love that do not show their love.” We will never regret the kind words spoken or the affection shown. Rather, our regrets will come if such things are omitted from our relationships with those who mean the most to us."-President Monson (Finding Joy in the Journey)

Can I just say I am so thankful for the purpose and perspective of the gospel. Life would be a lot harder without it.

SICK

Our health and peace around these parts is in a general state of upheaval.

If we are not throwing up, we are snotty, hacking, feverish, grouchy, achy, etc. etc. etc. Just as I thought we were getting over one bout of illness, Maddie woke up with a raging fever and cough. So far nobody knows what it is. Strep and flu tests are negative, and it seems most like croup, but who knows. I am sick of being sick!!!!!!!!!! While I'm on the subject, I'm also sick of:

- stripping beds
- washing my cracked and chappy hands
- doing laundry
- children not eating anything
- our white walls

We have been trapped in our own house for almost two weeks now, aside from the occasional run to the store for diaper and other very necessary necessities. We missed church, which is really saying something. Actually, we may even have to give up one of our winter life-lines... the library. Oh, how we love story time and a few new books on a cooped up day. However, I think it was the culprit for our latest round of sickies. The only other place Maddie could have gotten sick was the shopping cart at Walmart, which could very well be the case. I think that is very rotten.

WHEW! Now that I have spewed that vile pessimism, let's move on to something a little nicer, shall we? Lemonade from lemons, right?

Since we couldn't go to church we watched Music and the Spoken Word and got out the Friend, which I just happened to pick up recently. I have great memories of the Friend growing up. It might still be a little over Maddie's head, but she loved the pictures and a few stories. We also tried this craft idea:

New Year's Lanterns!

They bring some color to the kitchen.


Today we decided to play with snow inside! It was really fun.

Mitten hat for the mini snowman.

Rainbow snow! Maddie thought this was awesome. Just some good ol' food coloring.

Tie dye snow!

We played with the leftover snowman supplies (black beans).

Later we decided to play outside a little--hopefully our neighbors don't breathe our sick air... we just had to step out the door at least once today!


Ella had a blast. I think it's the first time we've played outside since she was walking and she loved it.

Wait a minute! This stuff is COLD!!!!

All I can say is we're not in Vegas anymore.

Open-N-Shut

In-N-Out recently opened up by us and we decided to check it out. Earlier that day I told Maddie we were going to dinner there and she couldn't get her prepositions straight and kept calling it Open and Shut. Hilarious!

We did a dress rehearsal in the afternoon. Maddie wanted me to get in my 'car' and drive with her to the restaurant. I asked for directions and she told me: "Go down Main Street to Pine Road, then over the bridge." I was dumbfounded until I realized she was repeating a phrase from a book! We enjoyed our plastic burger and fries, but I must say, the real thing it much tastier! :)

Sweet Dreamzzzzzzzzz...

I think we solved the problem. We put Maddie back here.

Ha ha, ya right, possum! She just likes to jump in Ella's crib!

We did try something new though and I wanted to share! Thanks for all the comments and ideas on the bedtime post... I really appreciate knowing I'm not the only one struggling through it! You who are checking back to see the advice may not have seen the last comment from my friend Krista--it was exactly the kind of idea I was looking for!!!

She said she made three flowers and taped them in a flower pot to the side of her daughter Kate's dresser. If Kate got up or called Krista in, she lost a flower, and when all three were gone she would lose her blanket and Mom would not come in again.

Sooooooooo... yesterday Maddie helped me make these three little flowers out of felt, buttons, and pipe cleaners, and we hung them on her dresser. I tried to make a really big deal about how they were just for her and how pretty they were. At bed time, I asked her if she liked them, and if she wanted to keep them, and she excitedly said yes. I explained that if she got up she would lose them one by one, and if they were all gone, Mommy got to sleep with Elmo. All she had to do to keep them was stay in her bed! She was pretty excited about it, and apparently wanted to prove she could keep them because...

NOT A PEEP!!!

(We will see if the charm lasts, although any progress is exciting. We thought we'd start with something a little more harmless than locking her in her room... although we were surprised how many parents out there have resorted to just that! :)

Dr. Maddie the Paleontologist

Okay, so any of you with kids know that PBS has a new program called Dinosaur Train. Maddie is OBSESSED. She calls herself Buddy and Ella Tiny almost every day and goes wild over anything related to trains or dinosaurs. She often quotes Dr. Scott the Paleontologist and claims she wants to be a paleontologist when she "gets bigger". We decided it was high time we visit the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point.

Love this face of sheer incredulity!

Check that out!

Grandma Marcia bought the girls three dinosaur toys from the museum gift shop and they are definitely the toys of choice right now! Maddie was also thrilled by the machine that squishes and stamps pennies. It's the little things in life that count, right?

It was hard to get good pictures in the dark museum, but this guy was HUGE!

That's one of his feet that Ella is climbing on.

Of course Maddie's favorite part was playing in the sand and water. It's pretty cool how they have it set up so you can discover your own dinosaurs and create a world for them.

Mike even got into it and tried to create a dam. I have to say it was a pretty fun way to spend a quiet New Year's day.

Happy New Year

We didn't do much this year, since Maddie was throwing up all morning, but the girls thought it was fun enough to blow horns and bubbles with Grandma.

POP!

It has been really nice to have my mom here to visit. She is helping Dana with the baby but came to our house for the weekend while Dana's in-laws took a turn. I tell you, I wouldn't mind having a live-in babysitter and entertainer, and Maddie would love it if Grandma just moved in for good!

Grandma might get tired of playing dollhouse and jumping on the bed after awhile... although this was pretty entertianing.


You know, there is something refreshing about January. The chaos (I mean festivity) of the holidays are over and you can clean up and simplify a little.

I went on a jog outside the other day and was awed by the sparkling white world. It was cold and crisp and beautiful... and the running and thinking was good for my soul. I came home feeling refreshed and almost cleansed, excited about the opportunities and events of the year ahead. I am going to ramp up my training for a half marathon in March and hopefully be fitter than ever before!

I can't believe Mike and I have been married for almost 7 years--hopefully we can make this the best one yet. My Ella is a new person these days--she is walking exclusively and tickled pink with herself. She is talking like crazy too! Just this week she learned how to say and point to eyes, make an elephant noise, and hold the phone to her ear and say hi. It's so darn cute! Maddie is learning at an exponential rate... and turning 3 in just a few months! This fall we will definitely be scoping out preschools and dance classes for this bundle of raw talent. :)

2010 also means it's time for my first high school reunion--ugh, I feel old! But I am so excited to see some of my old buds and remember fun times together. I am also happy that Dana will be home now with her little Daxton so we will see lots more of each other (see some precious newborn pics here!).

Here's to a fabulous 2010!

Bedtime Tips PLEASE!

Well.... as I said before, it's not just Christmas Eve jitters that keep Maddie up until 10 pm these days. This little phase has got us stumped!

Last night I left for my sister's as Mike was telling the nightly Pooh Bear story at Maddie's bedside (starring Maddie and her buddy Pooh Bear, and sometimes Chomps A Lot the Monkey, on rip-roaring adventures). It was 8:05, right on the bedtime target, and I left with high hopes that Maddie was on her way to dream land. Well, the report came in that not only did she not go to sleep, she was caught eating Cheetos at the kitchen table after Mike finished his stationary bike workout at 9:30. Sigh.

What do we do? When she gets up we usually take her right back to bed, although leaving the room usually involves singing her 4 favorite songs multiple times, assuring her over and over that the smoke detector will not go beep beep, and telling her that we are only going to do really boring things, like dishes and laundry after we close the door. I think she is becoming more aware of the adult 'night life' and doesn't want to miss out!

I am usually all about time-out, but we haven't tried it at bedtime because it would take longer and cause more of a ruckus! I am starting to think it's time for a bedtime discipline intervention. PLEASE comment if you have any ideas! :)

Morning Magic!

Maddie slept in on Christmas morning! Unheard of! We had to wake up the sleepyhead!

Hummmm? What's today? Oh yeah... CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!

Ella loved her own lounge chair! Funny story though--when Maddie came down the stairs and saw what Santa left, she went straight to the chair first, and Ella went to the doll house! We had to switch their attention for pictures.

Maddie really does love her dollhouse, especially the elevator and the potty. Although she is confused that there is a Grandma but no Grandpa. And Mommy thinks Santa is crazy cuz there's no room in her room!

Maddie was excited that Santa ate his cookies! But the reindeer got full and didn't want all of their carrot.

Santa was good to Mike too! ;)

Ella liked climbing on the presents best, although she did open one on her own!

Dr. Andrews gave Grandma and Grandpa a complementary exam for giving her the doctor kit.



I really enjoyed my kitchen and wardrobe face lift! I got some fancy chopping knives and a food processor too, so I am feeling well equipped!


We all feel very spoiled... and blessed to be a happy family.