Feathery Friends

Maddie felt like such a grown up when she got to be part of the feather-in-your-hair club last weekend.  All of her cousins were getting them tied in, and Madelyn wanted one sooo-hoooo-HOOOOO bad.  I believe those were her exact words.  Rob was a bit ho-hummish about it at first, but I reminded him that if everyone else is doing it - it's always the right choice!  And before Rob could object Maddie had her feather picked out and was sitting in the chair getting it done.  Now everyone she sees gets to hear about how she lost a tooth AND got a feather in her hair.  She then reminds them she's almost a teenager.  (It's amazing how often the word teenager comes out of her mouth.)  **As a side note - Rob now thinks it's adorable**

A delicate procedure

Looking so old

The whole crew with the PEZ dispensers cool Aunt Jodi bought them.  (Very attractive, Jude)  

Thanks for the fun adventure Jeff, Jodi and kids!  We're looking forward to the next one!  

Lucky Ducks!!

So I'm a bit late...and blogging from my phone - but I'm too busy tonight to make it a long one. We are at Rob's work part which is taking place at an MLS (major league soccer) game. (PS..love me some soccer!) My lucky husband was picked to play a game on the field at half time, and just won us an iPad 2! What a hero!! So excited to get home and sell this thing. JUST kidding! I've wanted one for AGES!

It's a great night!

PREGNANT!

My goodness, people!  If I ever want to subliminally announce a pregnancy via multiple blog posts, I'll be sure not to!  Oh, and truthfully, I'm not pregnant.  Not even close!  I just decided to title this post pregnant because that's what you were all expecting.  You do all realize that I have a six month old, right?  If you assumed that I'd be ready for another one already (let alone already being far enough to announce it)  you're as crazy as I am for having four kids in five years! I was going to go the full week, but I got an email from my dear friend, Mary, very concerned that I was actually suffering from a life threatening illness and getting ready to announce it over the internet.  Again, no.  The truth is, you guys have built this up so much that I'm sure this post is going to be a huge letdown to everyone who reads it! (Well, everyone but me....who STILL gets teary-eyed thinking about the subject).

My sister-in-law, Jessica, sent me an IM asking if she could take a stab at the post I was avoiding.  She was the only person who was right.  This whole flashback thing was just for me to take a few days to remember all of the wonderful things Madelyn and Jude have done together over the past four and a half years. Because the two were so close in age, they basically have done everything together and have become best friends.

In a few weeks Maddie goes off to first grade, and leaves Jude behind.  His preschool recently moved, and I'm still not sure what (if anything) I'm going to do for him.  Last year when he had preschool two days a week and Maddie was at Kindergarten, he was constantly asking when Maddie was coming home.  He'd make something for his "best friend" every single day.  So now he'll be home all day every day, and Maddie will be gone most of every day.  As much as I'm going to miss Madelyn, I almost wish the two of them were in the same grade, or at least closer together.  Jude has the late birthday, and Maddie has the early one, so they'll be two years apart in school.   I guess I'm just feeling sentimental over what seems to be the end of an era.  I just hope the two of them continue to be as close as they have always been, and that the time apart will make them enjoy their time together more.

For my OWN sake, I hope to heck that Jude and Ella learn how to get along.  So far Jude has had Maddie as his distraction, and Ella has had Claire - but I'm afraid after Maddie leaves, those two are going to fight to the death.  It IS possible.

So, that's it.  I was just taking a few days to remind myself about the great years they have had together. If you haven't experienced this yet, I'm sure you will....and for those of you that have experienced it, I know what you're thinking. "Saying goodbye on the first day is hard - but the second day is AWESOME!!"

Now, for one more tearjerking (on my end) post - here are the last of the pics I was going to post about my two little best buddies.  

Remember the time I heard Maddie yelling to Jude that they were late for their wedding - but upon seeing her I realized she was more like six months late? 

Trick or Treating in style

Enjoying the snow

Being the world's cutest flower girl and ring bearer

Learning to ski together

Friends

I'm so proud of these two and the friendship they have developed.  It has been such a blessing to our family that these kids get along as well as they do.  Love you, Maddie and Jude!

And seriously....I'm really NOT pregnant.

Flashback Week: Day 5

Sharing a towel

Moments before their second car accident.  A reminder to never drive with a person on top of your car. 

Camping out in the back yard

Picnicking up the canyon

Playing in the leaves

Vacationing in Mexico

Such little cuties - if I do say so myself!

Flashback Week: Day 4

Bubble Whistles.  Apparently not as easy as they sound (not a bubble in sight)

Maddie and Jude make-up hug that always ends with them falling on the floor

Their first car accident.  Just a reminder to never eat ice cream in the car.

At the drive in with separate cars. They were each on a date.  

?????????

Oh wait...now I remember what this was - turn up your volume.

Flashback Week: Day 3

Madelyn protects Jude from the aliens ("So they can't read our minds.")

Jude's true feelings about wearing a tutu

Maddie takes Jude to his first drive-in movie.  

Admiring Dad's ugly awesome tie collection

May-May and Judey as best friends

Flashback Week: Day 2

Madelyn was constantly stuffing Jude's swing and car seat full of stuff for him to play with

He loved to share his toys with her

And she loved to share her snacks with him

Here she is singing happy birthday to him.  (Those are birthday hats, and it is not his birthday) 

Flashback Week

I'm going to spend this week going through some photos.  It's mostly for me....but you get to follow along in the fun.  It's all part of a post that I can't get myself to do just yet, so bear with me.  

All photos taken January 2007

Man Movies

It's Saturday night, and Rob has just popped the most recent Netflix delivery into the DVD player.  As he read the description of the movie to me I pretended to maybe have some interest, before telling him I'd happily let him watch it on his own.  Who knows, I may end up sitting down and enjoying some of it later - but the first thing that came to my mind was, "I'll bet this movie has a lot helicopters and black SUVs in it, and I am NOT in the mood to watch one of those movies."  Is that the dumbest thing you've ever heard?  Does the overuse of helicopters/SUVs automatically mean it's a total guy movie?  Why on earth was that my first thought?

Either way, I think I'm out for the night on this one.  Anybody else have an immediate, "uhhhhh, no." reaction to a certain type of movie?

Pooped

Do you ever feel like the world is out to get you?  I have those days every once in a while - I think we all do.  But I SWEAR that last night I was fated to get no sleep.  At one point I found myself laughing about the odds of all of these events occurring in one night. Before telling you about my night, I'll preface with this:  I don't sleep well, ever.  I can fall asleep very easily, but often wake up two to three hours later - and can't get back to sleep for several hours.  It's usually from 2-4/5 when I lie awake in my bed hating the fact that my mind won't stop racing.

Last night I woke up startled at 2:20 am.  There was a really loud beep that scared me.  I sat there for a second to see if I had dreamed the noise, and when I didn't hear anything, went back to sleep.

2:30am:  Same noise - this time it happens three times.  Very loud, very high pitched. I was awake enough this time to know that I wasn't dreaming - so I asked Rob what the noise was.  He gets up, and says it was the smoke detector.  It wasn't the "I'm low on batteries" beep either - it was SO odd.  Rob and I walk around the house to see why the smoke detector beeped four times, but have no answer.  We both go back to bed confused.  Rob sleeps through confusion, I spend the next thirty minutes running scenarios (that keep getting more and more ridiculous) through my mind.  Do the kids know how to get out in case of a fire?  Is Maddie's bed blocking the window?  I'm obviously not dressed well enough to go running outside - what clothes do I have within an arms reach? If I had to grab one thing after my kids what would it be? How much does insurance pay when your house catches fire? Do you have to get a hotel, or do you wake up your family?

3:00 -   I start dozing off when I hear little feet.  Ella loves to wander into our room at night and make a bed out of the extra pillows and blankets that are on the floor.  As long as she doesn't see that Rob and I are awake, she'll just lay down and go to sleep again.  But this time she's hovering.  "I wet, Mom."  Crap.  Get out of bed, strip clothes and find new PJs.  Since completing her potty training a couple of months ago, she hasn't had any nighttime accidents - so I was confused.  I realize this morning she was actually soaked head to toe - and it was probably sweat.

3:10 - Back to bed, somehow I fall asleep almost immediately.

3:20 - What the heck is THAT noise?  I listen and realize that Madelyn is grinding her teeth so loudly that it has woken me up.  I roll over and cover my ears with my pillow and try to go back to sleep.  I'm awake for a good twenty minutes when I start dozing off.  Then Claire starts crying.   REALLY?!  She always sleeps through the night.  Why tonight?!  I get up and put her binky in her mouth and go back to bed. It's 3:50.  I know I don't have much time before the Shaun T alarm goes off, and fall asleep quickly.

4:00 - Since I have fallen asleep facing our clock radio - which also doubles as Rob's ipod charger, I wake up when the entire room lights up from the notification on Rob's ipod saying that my brother Dan has played his move on his and Rob's Words With Friends game. I curse Dan's name - then realize he's an hour ahead of us and is most likely getting up to go to the gym before work. Good man.  Maybe he's getting up to make eggs for the family - better man.  I wish I lived by Dan so he'd wake up and make me eggs.  I forgive Dan and go back to bed.

4:40 -  Jude starts fighting with Ella in his sleep.  He yells "NO ELLA!" several times, then goes back to bed.

5:00 - I'm still awake and realizing that I have to pee.  Oh man.  Once you realize, there's really no getting out of it - but I instead spend five minutes trying to convince myself to hold it - the alarm is going off in an hour.  Surely if I get up, I won't be able to go back to sleep.

5:05 - Get up to pee.

That was the last thing I remember before the alarm went off at 6.  Since Rob's ipod is attached to the alarm clock, we usually wake up to a song that we love, and let it play all the way through before starting to wake up. This morning I remember barking at Rob, "SHUT IT OFF...NOW!"

My poor kids have dealt with cranky mom all day.  My poor husband is going to come home to a messy house with orphan-looking children swinging from the chandeliers. Perhaps it's time I get off the computer, get myself a Diet Coke and get my rear in gear.  Wish this pooped parent luck!

In Memory

Madelyn Alyse said goodbye to her first tooth on Wednesday, July 20, 2011 at approximately 6:15pm.  All of Madelyn's family was with the tooth in its final moments.  Although the family originally wanted the tooth to slip away in its own time, the tooth was euthanized in hopes of easing its pain. The tooth has since been donated to science, and Madelyn has been remunerated for her generous donation.  In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that everyone eat a piece of candy in memory of this sweet tooth.

Still No....

Sorry, folks.  No picture of a little gal with a missing tooth.  She is determined to let this thing fall out on its own, and what kind of mom would I be if I went around crushing the tooth-dreams of a six year old?  So instead, since I'm totally lacking on blogging ideas, I'm just going to give you the run down of our house today.

1.  I have told Madelyn about five times that makeup in not an every day thing.  She got some for her birthday, which I am thrilled about, but now she wants to reapply every hour of every day.  How much blue eyeshadow does a six year old need?

"Do I look like a teenager now?"

2.  I am in a constant computer battle with my kids.  They are summertime obsessed.  Maddie's boyfriend, Oliver, introduced them to a website called twoplayergames.org...or something like that, and they play it so often that Ella walks around the house whistling the background music.

3.  Oh yeah, Ella whistles.  She has been able to whistle since she was about fifteen months old and both Maddie and Jude are ridiculously jealous. (This has nothing to do with my house today...just a side note to make the list seem longer and possibly more important)

4.  I made a list of dinners that I really want to try making this summer.  One of these days I'm going to get to the grocery store and buy all the ingredients.  It has made me much more excited about cooking.  Here are a few of the meals I'm stoked about: salmon burgers, avocado egg salad, chicken pesto french bread sammies, hawaiian pineapple chicken, sweet potato fries, and baked zucchini with mozzarella.

Salmon Burgers....I'll keep you posted

5.  Jude just ran up to the computer to do one thing:  Oink at me.  He then said, "MOMMY!  Don't you know that when I oink you're supposed to get me my water bottle?"

6.  I have spent the afternoon secretly sneaking Maddie's Bubble Tape bubble gum.  I am immediately taken back to summer days in the early 90s. My mom used to let my 5th grade boyfriend and I bike to the local 7-11, so we could spend our allowance on candy.  Bubble Tape was one of my favorite things to buy.

7.  I haven't had a Coke Slurpee all summer.  WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?!

8.  I am now ending this post so I can think of ways to convince my husband to get Red Mango tonight.  You've never heard of Red Mango?!  Get out from under your rock and go get some.  Be ready to hate it the first time (since you were actually looking for ice cream) and then have no idea why you have to have it again.  Then move as far away from a Red Mango as humanly possible so you don't spend all day, every day thinking about it.

My favorite thing

The Tooth

**Photo provided for visual interest - and is in no way, shape or form related to this post**

It has been a full week since Madelyn announced the loose tooth.  I'm actually quite surprised that it hasn't fallen out on it's own yet - which makes me wonder....

Did your teeth just fall out, or did your parents pull them?!  Rob tried to scare Maddie into pulling it last night with the "you're going to swallow it," story - but she's not biting.  (Wow....that pun really wasn't intended.  I guess I'm just THAT funny.  Okay, only my dad enjoyed that joke.) Anyway, how many of your teeth fell out on their own?  If they were pulled, what was your parents' method of choice?  I'm fairly sure I lost all of mine (with maybe one or two pulled by method of dental floss and a slip know around the tooth).  My brother said he actually just used pliers on his kids - ouch!  My in-laws want to tie it to a door and slam it, but I can't wrap my head around that one...I thought that was only done on cartoons.

Sorry to blog about this, again, but it's the new family pet.  "How was the tooth today?"  "Are we ready to pull that thing yet?"  "Does it hurt?"

Madelyn has been asking a lot of questions about the Tooth Fairy, and I'm running out of answers.  I honestly have no idea what her middle name is, and if she prefers pink - or dresses more like Tinkerbell. Rob casually mentioned that he hoped she was still around because she's been gathering teeth for a long, long time, to which Madelyn replied, very solemnly, "Is the Tooth Fairy dead?"  I think the tears in Maddie's eyes helped Rob learn his lesson about making Tooth Fairy jokes.

I'm just hoping she comes soon.  Even if it's via a tooth pull.  Tell me your favorite method of tooth removal, and hopefully tomorrow's post will be a cute picture of a hole in Maddie's mouth.

Puppy Love

Every morning as Rob leaves for work, the whole family wanders outside and waves goodbye.  A few days ago after waving goodbye the kids and I were standing along the deserted street when Madelyn started giggling.  I asked her what was so funny, and she said:

"I was just thinking about this - what if a bunch of boys rode by on their bikes and they looked at me and said, 'eeew....we don't like girls.'  But Oliver was with them and he said, 'Oh, don't say that about my girlfriend - she's pretty.' Wouldn't that be so fun, Mom?"

How old is this kid again?

Madelyn and her beau, Oliver.  

Mommy Moments

Whenever I put Claire down for a nap, she reaches out for my arm, and pulls it as close to her as she possibly can.  I know it's a simple little gesture, but it's a constant reminder of what I am to this little girl, and how much she loves and needs me.  It always makes me stop, smile and appreciate the little moments we are able to share.

Pirates and Princesses Love Pink Popcorn

That's actually not true.  Princesses love pink popcorn - pirates protest and wonder why there isn't green popcorn.  I explain that a good pirate always makes sure that princesses are happy.  Not sure why - but somehow this works.  Probably because one of those princesses is his future wife.

The most children I could catch looking at the camera at once

Pool hair - soon to be popcorn hair

The Pirate and his Princess (they've been an item for over two years now. They're practically married.)

Maddie and Madi BPFs (Best Princesses Forever) 

The popcorn is super easy to make - and ridiculously exciting for kids.  Here's the recipe:

3/4 C popcorn, unpopped

salt  (just a little after popping it) 

1.5 C sugar

3 T butter

3/4 t vanilla 

4.5 T water

pink or red food coloring

Pop the popcorn, and set aside in a large bowl.  Mix all the other ingredients (except food coloring) together in a small pan (the butter won't melt yet - that's fine).  Cook on stove over medium/high heat stirring constantly.  Bring the mixture to a boil and remove from heat.  Add desired amount of food coloring, and pour over popcorn.  Mix colors in with a large spoon/spatula.  

Let the popcorn sit for a few minutes while the sugar coating hardens.  It will be kind of crunchy when it's ready.

Your kids will think it's awesome!  
(Recipe courtesy of Jamie cooks it up - love her!)

Sunbather

Long after Jude and Ella have come in from playing in the water, Maddie can be found sunbathing.  The first time I caught her doing it I asked her what she was doing, and her response was, "Oh, just getting a little bit of color, Mom. I want to be tan like the teenagers." Sigh.

Insanity Update

Rob and I are five and a half weeks into the nine week program, and just started the second level workouts.  Each workout is about fifteen minutes longer than in level one (they end up being just under an hour) and about ten million times harder.  We wake up sore every morning wondering how we'll get through another workout, but somehow do it.    We are starting to see and feel some results, and that is encouraging, but six days a week does not get any easier.  We still wake up grumpy every morning, and have NO motivation to press play on the DVD player.  I think this morning I even said, "I hate Insanity.  I like working out, but I HATE Insanity.  I'm never doing it again."  I guess that's a good indicator that we're getting pushed to the max.

In three and a half weeks I'll let you all know if all of this was worth it - right now the jury is still out.

Here's a video I found of somebody doing some of the exercises we do every morning.  She makes it look so easy - but, I swear....it's not!

Evening with the Avetts

Rob and I went with some friends to go see one of our favorite bands, The Avett Brothers, in concert.  I've been to a lot of shows in my day, but I can easily say that this was one of the best I've ever seen.  These guys have unbelievable talent  - and seeing them live only made me love them more.  I'm already looking forward to next year's show.  So, in honor of one of the best nights ever, I've changed my playlist to be all Avett Brother's songs.  Hope you enjoy.

Within seconds of arriving, this girl (total stranger) asked Brandon if she could wear his coat since it was raining.  Nice guy Brandon agreed - but seriously, how awkward?!  She gave it back a few minutes later - claiming that she felt bad...but then asked for it back further into the show.  

Jessica Lea Mayfield took the stage first - look her up.  You won't regret it.

Then came our boys Scott (L) and Seth (R) 

We were very, very happy - despite the rain.

Soon-to-be-marrieds Zach and Cherry.  They're super cute! 

The whole clan

Night well spent