The Griffeth Family

Tidbits from our CRAZY Summer

2011-08-05T22:24:00.000-05:00

Our summer was BUSY. But when we weren’t on vacation, we spent our time swimming, relaxing, and playing. Here are some of the random photos we snapped…

Now that Maddie is a “big girl,” she loves sitting in her chair in the mornings to watch Elmo or Baby Signing Time.

She also learned to pray this summer! She LOVES folding her arms when we do it!

(don’t mind the messy meal-time hair…)

These girls LOVE playtime with their daddy!

Maddie is generally a pretty calm, busy baby—Often quietly creating destruction in a corner of the room. But every once in a while, she decides to be a class clown and steal the show (usually while she’s eating and has the undivided attention of everyone at the dinner table). She’s actually pretty darn funny! Here are a few of those moments:

Playing peek-a-boo:

Madeline, being a crazy person with her corn on the cob…and about a pound of food rubbed into her hair. We practically have to hose this girl down after every meal!

Our girls LOVE to play dress up!

Maddie will usually point to the dress up box and squeal until we open it for her. This is ALWAYS the outfit she chooses. :)

She has a wand in her hand about 90% of the day!

And when she’s not holding a wand, she’s talking on the phone and/or pushing her babies in the stroller. Child, when did you get so BIG?!?!?!?!

Remember how I said she was sneaky?! Here’s the proof—Example #1:

Example #2:

I love the moments when these girls decide to play WELL together! Like when Maddie shares her snacks with Olivia. :)

Here’s another instance at dinnertime where Madeline decided to put on a show for us…She was being so silly!

Love this one!

These kids crack me up! I loved playing with them all summer long.

Utah Trip- PART 4

2011-07-31T16:08:00.000-05:00

One of the highlights of our trip was staying with my Aunt Susie and Uncle Craig. They are always so generous to open their home to us, and I love spending time with them. My kids love their endless supply of toys too!

On Sunday, after Erin and my parent’s left, we decided to spend the morning at the Salt Lake Temple. Olivia had never seen it in person, and she was so excited to go. It really is stunningly beautiful!

We talked to lots of missionaries too. The spirit there is unmistakable. A sweet pair of sister missionaries walked up and said hello to us and I just burst into tears!! We all just started laughing!

The Church History Museum across the street has a really cute, free kids’ exhibit that Olivia loved. She got to sail on Nephi’s ship, and de-code the brass plates, etc.

After the temple, we got to have dinner with two of my most dear friends in the world….Annie and Diana! We all lived in the dorms together our freshman year of college and instantaneously became friends. I have missed them so much, and it was SO great to be able to catch up and meet their cute kids. It had been close to 4 years since I had seen either of them!!!

It’s amazing to see how much our families have grown!

I love this one of our kids: Max, Olivia, Madeline, Elijah, Oliver

It’s a miracle we got the picture above, because Maddie was usually trying to grab at the babies like this:

Olivia thought she had died and gone to heaven—Annie and Diana were so nice to let her hold their tiny babies. She was, after all, the “old” child of this group. :)

Isn’t little Ollie’s expression so adorable?! He has the BIGGEST eyes!

We missed seeing Dan who was in NYC, but Grant had a great time catching up with Talon.

Can you believe Oliver and Max are only a few weeks apart!? I could just squeeze Max’s cute rolls!!

Talon and Annie—Thank you so much for hosting us and for a wonderful dinner! We love you!

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We left Susie’s house bright and early Monday morning so we could squeeze in a few more activities before flying out. First, we stopped at the Quilted Bear so I could stock up on some new headbands for the girls (aside from etsy, Q.B. is the bow Mecca!) Then, we ate an early lunch at JDawgz in Provo. Oh, how we missed this place! It brought back so many memories of Grant and I dating and meeting there for lunch in between classes. I couldn’t believe that they have an actual restaurant now, and not just an outdoor shack!

It was as fabulous as I remembered!

And since we heard we couldn’t leave Provo without a Cocoa Bean cupcake, we stopped off and shared one of their A-MAZ-ING ultimate brownie cupcakes and a iced mint frappe. By far, one of the best cupcakes I’ve ever eaten in my life (and I am picky!).

We quickly raced up the canyon so we could try the Alpine Slides in Park City one last time before catching our plane. Unfortunately, just as we arrived, it started raining AGAIN! Only this time, it was a downpour. Maddie had fallen asleep in the car, but we were determined to take Olivia on a ride before we left, so the two of us braved the rain while Grant stayed with a sleeping Maddie. Thankfully, the Alpine Coaster was still running (no slide or zip line though) , despite the rain, so we hopped aboard and had a great time. Then, we ran to the car and Grant took Olivia on a second ride. Was it worth the 3 extra hours of driving?!?! TOTALLY!

Speaking of driving, our kids were troopers while we carted them ALL OVER THE STATE OF UTAH. We seriously drove hundreds of miles during our 9 day trip. Thank goodness for CD and DVD players. I think every one of us had memorized the “Little Rascals” movie and our new “Popcorn Bopping” CD by the time we got home.

And holy cow, can I just say that we were all SO sick of eating by the end of our trip? As soon as we returned, we started an ALL fruit and veggie diet, which was so wonderful. Haha! You only live once, right?!? It was well worth it!

Utah Trip- PART 3

2011-07-29T12:46:00.000-05:00

After the family reunion, we drove down the canyon and headed toward Provo. But on the way, we stopped at a boutique in Heber where I bought some darling new jewelry. I love Utah boutiques—SO much better than what we have in Texas.

I couldn’t resist a trip to BYU, and Erin’s husband, James had never been there! Also, I loved showing our alma matter off to Olivia and brainwashing her so she’ll want to go there in 14 years. Thankfully, she LOVES BYU. Go Cougars!!!

A family shot after our visit to the bookstore (and a snack of the BYU chocolate covered cinnamon bears):

Talk about a beautiful backdrop! Huge mountains and that BLUE sky…

Olivia posing with the “Y” in the background:

I was put in charge of planning activities for our family to do all weekend, but we have a very unique group that makes planning really hard…We also quickly discovered how difficult it was to get out the door with Maddie, Olivia, and Jack all on opposite napping schedules. We had to split up a few times, but still managed to fit in quite a few activities:

Of course, we ate breakfast at Kneaders several times!

On Friday, we visited the Gateway Children’s Museum with my parents. It was FABULOUS!

They even had a REAL life-flight helicopter on the roof!

My dad and Olivia recorded their own news show with real video cameras and a green screen:

After the museum, we threw on the girls’ swim suits and let them play in the splash park outside. I thought Maddie would be scared, but she LOVED it! She would put her face right up to the holes in the ground and wait for the water to spray out.

Later that night, my aunt found us a babysitter, and we went to a fabulous Japanese restaurant, called Tsunami, with Susie and Craig, followed by games at their house.

On Saturday, we went to Olympic Park in Park City. It was awesome!!! In the summer, skiers that are practicing for the Olympics can ski off of these huge jumps and do crazy flips into a swimming pool. Cool, right?! I’ve always wondered how skiers practice year-round.

Can you see the guy mid-flip? It was pretty crazy to watch…

We ate lunch at The Bridge Cafe in Park City and then headed to the Alpine Slides. The lines were REDICULOUSLY long (like 2.5 hours) and it started to rain just as we got there. They had to close the rides down and wait for the tracks to dry. Erin and I left with our families so the babies could nap…We were so bummed. But my parents ended up staying…haha! They were dead-set on zip-lining!!!! As it turned out, it only drizzled for 5 minutes, which made everyone in line leave. My parents walked right on to all of the rides without a wait! We should have stayed.

We also….

-went shopping at Tai Pan (my favorite!) and Sur le Table

-visited the community of Daybreak….So beautiful and unique! I could totally be okay with living there.

-ate at Cafe Rio, Gandalfo’s, and In-n-Out (why is it that the food in Utah is so nostalgic to us…and so stinkin’ good?!?)

-Visited the Riverwoods Mall

-stocked up on new church books for the kids at Deseret Book and Seagull Book…We let Olivia pick out her own pink CTR ring and necklace too! As she started school, we wanted her to always remember to CHOOSE THE RIGHT.

Ideas for Our Next Trip:

-go tubing down the Provo River

-Shop at the Dear Lizzy Boutique

-Eat at Spark, Market Street Grill, Sammie's, Golden Spoon, and Asian Star

-Visit Gardner’s Village and Thanksgiving Point

-go on the Heber Creeper

-See the Joseph Smith movie at the Legacy Theater and go to “Music and the Spoken Word”

-Visit the BYU alumni building

Utah Trip- Part 2

2011-07-26T22:41:00.000-05:00

The next part of our trip was my O’Bryant family reunion at a MASSIVE cabin in Altamont, UT. Reunions are always a highlight of my summer, because I only get to see my extended family every two years.

We played LOTS of games:

Including Grant’s traditional Backgammon Battle with my 90-year-old Grandpa!

I was put in charge of arranging a photo scavenger hunt that ended up being pretty funny….We had groups squishing into a single shower together, using their bodies to spell out various words, making human pyramids (all ages included!), etc. Then, my Uncle Burke turned it into a slide show that we watched on the TV. It was really fun!

Olivia even did her own interpretation of the scavenger hunt. Aunt Erin is always so nice to let her take a million pictures with her camera. I think she’s photographing a cheese stick here???

We also played a ton of “Minute to Win It” games one night….All arranged by Betsy and Laurie. They were a BLAST!! So much better than our usual “Family Olympics.” :)

And of course, it wouldn’t be a reunion without a craft for the girls! This year, we made silk flowers for our hair + post it note holders + little sewn purse notebooks. My Aunt Cindy is a crafting genius!! There’s nothing better than just sitting around working on crafts till the wee hours of the morning, while chatting with cousins and aunts! SO FUN!

Courtney . Lindsay . Heather . Mom . Alyssa

One of the days, we had a special visitor in the cabin. A BAT flew in and couldn’t find it’s way out! But instead of staying up toward the vaulted ceilings, it kept swooping WAY down low….I was sure it was going to land on my head! All the men collaborated and ended up catching it with the pool net. Olivia was terrified for her life, but looking back, it was actually pretty eventful. Whenever she hears the word bat, she talks about the bat that flew into our cabin!

There are always lots of fun kids’ crafts too! This year, there was a “water” theme, so the kids made beaded giant bubble wands, glitter I-Spy jars, paper octopuses (octopi?), and scuba masks! Everything was darling and it was so nice to have Olivia completely entertained for the entire afternoon. She LOVES crafts.

Olivia and both Abbys became fast friends. This Abby (pictured) is exactly Olivia’s age, but she’s actually MY COUSIN, not Olivia’s. Funny, right? My dad is the oldest of 8 kids, and Abby’s mom, Kelly, is his youngest sister. Girl cousins are very few and far between in my generation, so I am glad that Abby had another 4 year old girl to play with (she’s the youngest in her family with SIX brothers!). It seemed like these two were always sneaking off to play dress up or go on adventures.

While Olivia was off playing all week, Maddie made some of her own buddies.

Maddie and Tinley were so cute together!

As usual, Maddie couldn’t get enough of Tinley. She kept poking and prodding and trying to kiss her. Poor little Tinley just sat there looking confused but taking the abuse willingly.

Both girls loved meeting tiny baby Isabella.

Tinley . Madeline . Jack (all of them were a year old!)

Maddie especially loved stealing snacks off of cousin Jack’s high chair.

And Jack’s favorite thing to do all week was EAT my Mom and Great Aunt Lue Ann’s canes. Haha! GROSS!

Funny little Madeline was SO excited by all the commotion that she started making this funny face and would say “hoo hoo hoo.”

Grandpa was also very excited by the commotion and could often be found doing this….I think I should take a few pointers from him. It’s not a bad idea!

As usual, Olivia wanted to follow my parents around constantly. She loves that my mom knows MILLIONS of kid songs/fingerplays/ nursery rhymes/ etc. and can whip them out at the drop of a hat. Those memories were DEFINITEY not lost in her brain injury. In fact, I’m pretty sure that I’ve never even heard half of the songs she sings to my girls. The brain is a funny thing.

Most importantly, I loved spending some quality time with my sweet grandparents, and letting my girls get to know them better. I have so many wonderful childhood memories with them, and I hope for my kids to have the same.

We were SO sad to see the week come to an end. I have the most wonderful family (and HILARIOUS aunts!!). My dad has SIX sisters and I love them all.

See you all in 2013!

Utah Trip- PART 1

2011-07-23T20:08:00.000-05:00

In July, we took a fabulous 10-day vacation to Utah! I miss Utah SO much, and it was wonderful to go back and show my kids all the things I love so much about it….The family, the old friends, the FOOD!, the beautiful mountains, BYU, the shopping, etc. The list goes on and on.

The original reason for the trip was my O’Bryant family reunion which takes place in Altamont, UT every other summer. But since we were making the trek out there, we decided to extend our trip and go a few days early, and stay a few days after as well. It just so happened that Grant’s parents were in Utah for our first weekend. Perfect! We loved seeing them, as well as some of Grant’s other relatives.

On Saturday morning, we met up with some of Grant’s old mission friends….The Holdaways and the Davises, for a FABULOUS breakfast at Kneaders. We LOVE these families! We all get along so well and I love that we can just pick up right where we left off. It was as if no time had passed. I hope we always keep in touch with these wonderful friends!!

Even the kids became fast friends!

Before Grant’s parent’s left, we met up with them at the famed Iceberg for some delicious milkshakes….By far, the best shakes in the world! Maddie loved showing G&G her newfound walking skills!

I love this:

Olivia demonstrated her ballet moves in front of an old Mustang that was parked by us.

Doreen is always such an entertaining Grandma. Olivia thinks she is so funny! Here, Doreen was wearing all of Olivia’s jewelry and posing so she could take her picture. This picture just sums her up…I love it! Haha!

Birthday Photo Shoot

2011-07-18T17:16:00.000-05:00

Since Olivia and Madeline have birthdays a month apart, I though it would be fun to attempt an ultra-girly birthday photo shoot. It did NOT work out like I had planned.

We usually have a very small window of time in the mornings before Maddie needs to go down for a nap. So we headed out right away (hoping the lighting wouldn’t be too bright, which it was) and stopped off to pick up some helium balloons on the way. I stood in line for 45 MINUTES to get my 6 balloons, all while watching the lady in front of me get dozens and dozens of balloons blown up by the single Party City employee for some huge, corporate event. Geez…I think I need to invest in a small helium tank! While we stood in line, I slowly watched Maddie go from happy to exhausted and cranky.

We quickly drove over to the JW Marriott (where we were hoping to find a teeny bit of greenery among our desert drought). Just as we got out of the car, two of my balloons popped, followed by another a few minutes later. Some of the Marriott employees heard the pops, and started shouting “Gun fire!” Haha! Needless to say, I had to clear a few things up. :) So, despite the blazing sun and lack of balloons, I still tried to snap a few 4 year old pictures of Olivia and 1 year old pictures of Maddie. We got a few fun ones, but nothing like I had envisioned. Oh well.

It’s really a bummer because Olivia was HAMMING it up for the camera!

Later in the day, I tried to snap a few more pictures from our front porch. Love this one of my Olivia and her darling heart-shaped face!

These suckers were my bribe.

Madeline at 12 Months:

-Weight = 24 lbs 9 oz. (90th percentile)

-Height = 33 inches (over 100%—off the charts)

-Head circumference = 48 cm (over 100%—off the charts)

-Pulls every single book off of our shelves at least a dozen times a day.

- Nods her head whenever we say “uh hu, uh hu, uh hu.” And she shakes her head back and forth and says “na na na na na.”

-Signs “drink” constantly—She’s one thirsty girl!

-Blows on anything she thinks is hot (lights, food, stove, dishwasher, pots/pans, etc.)—Especially when she sees steam.

-TRULY obsessed with babies. She loves dolls and all the babies at church. She thinks they are hysterical. Olivia was the same way…My sweet little mommies! Maddie carries a doll around for the majority of the day, and can usually be found pushing a doll stroller at the same time.

-She can’t get enough of the “Baby Signing Time” DVD’s and gets so frustrated that I only let her watch one a day.

-She stopped nursing at 12 1/2 months and REFUSES to drink any cow's milk. We have to be diligent about getting her calcium through cheese and yogurt.

-She loves jewelry and always puts dress up necklaces and bracelets on herself.

-On her birthday, we went to dinner at Red Robin, where she taught herself to eat with a fork while eating cantaloupe. Feeding her hasn’t been the same since. She LOVES to hold her own fork and spoon now.

-She’s started to pull out her headbands….Boo!!!

-She’s OCD like her Mama. She has a fabulous memory and has a system/routine for everything she does. For example, while she’s eating, she is adamant that her sippy cup sit perfectly in the little cup indentation on her tray. She’s a funny girl!

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**I did a funny little survey with Olivia this year. I think we’ll make this a annual birthday tradition from now on. It was so fun and I loved hearing her creative answers! Here’s what she came up with.

Olivia at 4 Years:

-WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY? When someone plays with me.

-WHAT MAKES YOU SAD? If someone takes a toy from me. Miss Danielle (her preschool teacher) says, “We have to take turns.” So that’s what we do.

-WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH? When someone makes a silly face, I laugh!!! And Madeline makes me laugh too!

-WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE THING TO DO? I like making lollipops! And cooking food that tastes good.

-WHAT ARE YOU REALLY GOOD AT? I’m good at drawing letters! And I know how to read too! I must be in Kindergarten now.

-WHAT ARE YOU NOT VERY GOOD AT? I’m not very good at making flips. But that’s okay because Dad doesn’t know how either. They’re kinda tricky.

-WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FOOD AND DRINK? I’m trying to think very hard in my head….Cheese! And orange juice! And lollipops! Mom, I like juice instead of water. Why don’t you ever buy juice?!? (I’m a mean mom, I know.)

-WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE COLOR? Pink! And I like blue too, because it’s not a boy color.

-WHERE IS YOUR FAVORITE PLACE TO GO? The Children’s Museum!

-WHO ARE YOUR BEST FRIENDS? Cousin Brookie and Bryant, and Brooke-a-li-soli, and Lincoln.

-WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MOVIE? The movie “Robots.” (Really?!?) Yeah, cause it’s funny.

-WHO ARE YOUR FAVORITE PEOPLE? I like Bethany because she is very nice and lets me come to her house—But only when she’s not sick.

-WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE TOY? My Barbie phone that Daddy bought me at Target.

-WHAT DOES MOMMY DO WHEN YOU’RE NOT AROUND? When I’m at school, you go shopping, and work at home, and sit and wait for me (Ha! Yeah right!). But when I’m in bed, you and daddy watch a movie and eat dinner if you forgot to eat earlier (Huh??).

-WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN MOMMY ISN’T AROUND? I like to be nice to Madeline (I wish that was true!!). I like to kiss her on the cheek if she wants me to, but if she doesn’t, that’s okay too.

-WHAT IS SOMETHING MOMMY ALWAYS SAYS TO YOU? You always tell me, “You have to say ‘Yes, Ma’am.” You also tell me “please make your bed” because sometimes I forget. And you always say “I will like when we get into a new house.” (Haha! Yes, very true. I do say that a lot.)

-WHAT IS SOMETHING DADDY ALWAYS SAYS TO YOU? Daddy says, “Olivia, do you want to come help me with this big thing, because it’s a big box and it’s too heavy for me.” (hahahaha!)

-WHAT DO YOU AND DADDY DO TOGETHER? When you’re gone, Mom, we like to go to the zoo and the museum! That sounds like fun!!

-HOW ARE YOU AND MOMMY AND DADDY THE SAME? Hey! You and Madeline have the same eyes that are blue. And me and Daddy have the same eyes that are brown!

-HOW DO YOU KNOW MOM AND DAD LOVE YOU? Oh, I don’t know…Because you make me happy!

Oops!!!

2011-07-15T15:52:00.000-05:00

Whenever I look at these pictures, I can’t help but laugh out loud!

One day, while playing in the playroom, Maddie got a hold of one of Olivia’s pre-inked RED stamps! Liv KNOWS she’s not allowed to have markers/stamps/paint upstairs, but she snuck one past me….Leave it to Madeline to find it! Without knowing what it was, Maddie put it in her mouth to chew on, and when I found her, this is what I saw:

The part that kills me is that it’s almost perfectly on her lips and nowhere else….Just like lipstick! My mom always used to tell me that I put makeup on better than any 4 year old she knew. :) Maybe Maddie inherited those mad skills.

Cleaning that off of/out of her mouth was NOT fun, but at least I have a few blackmail pictures to show off to her future boyfriends.

Madeline Turns ONE!

2011-07-12T18:02:00.002-05:00

I can't believe my baby is ONE!!! She is growing up WAY too fast, and I'm just not okay with it!

Our day started out with a candle in her favorite breakfast: buttermilk pancakes, scrambled eggs, and strawberries. She went WILD when she realized that she had fire on her candle, and even tried to blow it out.

Just around lunchtime, a package arrived from Grandma and Grandpa "O." It was an outdoor kids' table, complete with an umbrella (per Mama's request). We've been needing one for a long time! Thanks G&G!

That night, we had a peaches and cream cake and then let Maddie open her MILLIONS of presents. This is one loved little girl!

She was so happy all day and loved all the extra attention and kisses.

Her very favorite toy was her new blue-eyed baby doll! Just like the brown-eyed one that sister has!

We love you, sweet baby. Happy 1st birthday!

Maddie’s 1st Birthday Party!

2011-07-09T23:15:00.001-05:00

WOW. Be prepared for a MILLION pictures. I’ve never been good at eliminating. Just skim if you’d like. :)

I thought I had planned Maddie’s party perfectly around her naptimes. But she decided to throw us for a loop and not fall asleep until 20 MINUTES before her guests arrived. Ugh. Go figure! We had to wake her up to join the party, so she was a little groggy in the beginning. But she looked pretty darn cute in her #1 shirt and pink tutu.

When Madeline was little, we called her our “baby bird” because she would open her mouth as wide as she could and patiently wait for us to give her food. Sooo…I knew she had to have some sort of bird-themed birthday party. I’m in love with owls lately, so that ended up being our theme.

Here’s the invite….Look WHOOOO’S turning 1!!!

This friendly owl greeted our guests at the front door:

My FAVORTIE part of the decor was this photo clothesline of Madeline’s 1st year. Thank goodness we were diligent about taking those monthly photos! It was SO fun to be able to see how Maddie had changed from month to month. Even Madeline LOVED looking at these photos! I couldn’t bear to take it down right after the party…I’m pretty sure it adorned our family room for a good 3 weeks!

Here’s a close-up of the clothesline:

Aren’t these little owls ADORABLE?! They were a labor of love though. I had originally planned to make 5 of them to dangle from the chandelier, but they took a whoppin’ TWO HOURS a piece (which is why I called it quits after 3). They were just made by cutting millions of tiny feathers out of felt and gluing them one by one onto 4 inch Styrofoam balls. Very easy but VERY time-consuming.

A few months ago, I decided to invest in pretty much every color of paper lantern. They’re so cheap and add such a fun pop of color to any party!! I love having them!

The cake table:

Pennants….My favorite!!

We had owl vinyl decals on the sliding glass door and the mirrors:

The food table (minus the food):

More pennants on Maddie’s high chair:

Love that sweet baby!!!

After our friends all arrived, I had the kids do a quick craft. I knew I wanted them to make some sort of owl, but I didn’t just want a figurine or something—I wanted the craft to actually serve a purpose. So I had them decorate personalized treat bags that they would later use to collect candy from the piñata. It ended up being a great solution!

I had all the pieces pre-cut, and the kids just assembled their owls….I think they turned out so cute!!

While the kids were working on the craft, the adults took a quiz to see how well they knew Maddie. I made it HARD, but everyone did surprisingly well. In fact, Brent even put me to SHAME by pointing out that I had written down an incorrect answer for the time that Maddie was born. To double check my answer, I had consulted my blog, but apparently, I had typed her birth time wrong back when I was a zombie of a mom with a newborn! To solve the debate, Brent referred to the text that Grant had sent the day Maddie was born. Haha! I even checked her birth certificate, and it turns out he was RIGHT. Mom of the year, right?!?

After the quiz, I read the kids two of our all-time favorite owl books (“Peek-a-Who” and “Little Hoot”). Then, while I put lunch on the table, they colored pictures of Maddie! Did you know you can turn your photos into coloring pages on Crayola KidZone? So cool!!

Here are a few of them:

For lunch, we ate BBQ Ranch Chicken Quesadillas, fruit skewers with honey-lime-cinnamon dip, and black bean avocado salsa + chips.

The big kiddos eating lunch:

After lunch, Maddie got to open all of her fun gifts:

Finally, it was cake time! (Isn’t that the best part of a 1-year-old’s party anyway?!) This was Maddie’s owl “smash cake.” She had this huge thing ALL to herself! Almonds for the feathers, pineapple rings for the eyes, and a dried apricot for the beak.

The ganache-topped owl cupcakes were for everyone else to eat:

Golden Oreo eyes, Junior Mint pupils, and dried apricots cut into triangles for beaks:

Shan and Kenny (why don’t I have pictures of anyone else?!):

Miss Brooke Miss Olivia

Madeline was so disturbed by the candle that we put in front of her. Haha!

After a little encouragement, she finally started digging it.

Sharing cake with Mom and Dad! Thanks Maddie!

Oh my gosh…I LOVE messy cake pictures! The messier, the better!

This is my favorite picture of all!! I can’t stop laughing whenever I look at it!! What a MESS. I think she was in a sugar coma!

When Olivia turned 1, my brother-in-law had the idea to put her in a trash bag so we could carry her up to the tub. Of course we had to carry on the tradition with Maddie! See Olivia’s picture HERE.

After Maddie got cleaned up, the kids did the owl piñata…

Showing off their big bags of candy:

As a party favor, our friends headed out the door with some chocolate-covered Oreo pops (that looked like owls, of course). The little tags said:

“Thanks for making my party a HOOT! Love, Madeline”

We love you baby girl, and hope you felt special on your big day!!

4th of July- PART 2

2011-07-04T00:20:00.001-05:00

We had a fun 4th of July!! I LOVE Monday holidays….It makes the weekend seem so much longer, because normally, I feel like the weekend ends when we go to bed on Saturday night. Our Sundays are always SO busy with church, callings, meetings, home teacher visits, etc. that it hardly counts as a “weekend day.” So, this was wonderful.

Our Monday morning started with a double-ward pancake breakfast at the church, followed by a flag ceremony and quick little program with all the war veterans/active military/etc. that was so wonderful. Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in the fun events on the 4th, and it was so nice to stop and take a moment to remember our freedom and recognize the men and women who have/are currently fighting for our country. It was particularly special because one of my friend’s husbands had just left for Afghanistan the previous morning. I felt so proud to be clapping for a soldier that I actually KNEW.

I love these pictures of Brooke and Olivia in their red, white, and blue!

After the girls’ naps, our guest started arriving for a BBQ!

My sweet nephew, Jacob:

The kitchen table decor (Grant said, “Turquoise is not one of the colors on the American flag!” Sheesh….I guess I need to add royal blue to my paper lantern collection.):

After dinner, we headed outside to watch the kids play with some water toys.

The Griffeth Family (a little blurry):

The Webster Family:

The Guerisoli Family:

The Mickelsen Family:

Remember how Maddie got a slide for her birthday? We put it to good use on the first day:

It got pretty wild and CRAZY! I thought someone would end up in the E.R. for sure!

This water wiggler was pretty fun too. We also had a giant beach ball and a slip n’ slide for the kids to play with.

The adults got to sit and watch the kiddos while chatting and eating yummy desserts. So fun!

Cute Maddie just sat on her picnic blanket, like a good girl. She loved watching the big kids!

I can’t get enough of that sweet profile!

Hahaha!! All part of the fun, I guess.

My sister, Shannon, with Jakey.

All fireworks were BANNED this year because of the drought! RETARDED, right?!?! Even the city ones were cancelled. I looked high and low to find some wimpy sparklers for the kids, but to no avail. Apparently, if I had bought some, I could have been arrested!! It was SO sad to not be able to end our night by watching fireworks, but it was still a fun-packed day. We’re crossing our fingers for no drought next year, so we can actually enjoy some firework watching.

4th of July- PART 1

2011-07-03T23:31:00.000-05:00

I had to snap a few shots of Olivia and Madeline in the patriotic dresses they wore to church on July 3rd!

This might be one of my favorite pictures of Olivia from the entire summer! She looks SO tan and SO grown up. Holy cow! When did my baby get so big?!?!

As depicted below, Maddie is NEVER in a good mood when we get home from church. I don’t blame her though….It’s right during naptime and lunchtime. Sometimes the tiny cut-up cubes of PB&J’s that we sneak her during church don’t do the trick. :)

Notice Madeline’s incredibly flushed cheeks just from being outside for 60 seconds….Literally. Geez, Texas. Why do you have to torture us?!?

Maddie got the slide as a birthday present (a few days early)….To be used at the second half of our 4th of July festivities! This thing sits INDOORS in our playroom and is ADORED by both of these girls!

P.S.- Isn’t Madeline’s dress the CUTEST?!?! Even though it’s navy, red, and white with short sleeves, Baby Gap had it in their Christmas dress collection last year. So weird, right? I snatched it right up, knowing I had to have it for the summer. I only wish they had carried it in Olivia’s size!! I LOVE wide stripes!

Father’s Day

2011-06-26T03:17:00.002-05:00

Happy Father’s Day, Daddy!!

You’re the best dad two girls could ask for.

Love,

Livvy and Maddie

Family Pictures

2011-06-25T22:47:00.003-05:00

I really shouldn’t be posting these, because I’m pretty sure one of them will be our Christmas card picture, but oh well!

This just cracks me up!!! They’re pretty much the same size. Haha!

Maddie had just started crawling when we took these, so it was hard to keep her contained.

This one’s just for fun because I can’t help but burst into laughter every time I see it!!! Maddie hates when Olivia tries to hold her down. I seriously have DOZENS of pictures that look just like this one.

Swimming Lessons

2011-06-14T22:33:00.000-05:00

Olivia and her two best friends, Brooke and Lincoln, all took swimming lessons again from Miss Joni. Last year, Olivia never fully caught on to swimming, but the lessons definitely helped her get over any water-related fears. This year, she made so much progress over the 2 weeks! We were thrilled. I should mention that she DREADED going to swimming each day (I think it gave her anxiety). Ironically, I remember sharing her same exact feelings about swim lessons when I was a kid. Thankfully, once she got to class she always had a good time.

Olivia LOVES Miss Paige (the assistant teacher) and talked about her all the time. She was definitely the less strict of the two teachers….I’m guessing that’s why she liked her so much. :)

I finally got smart and bought Olivia a kickboard so she could practice all summer (thanks to Miss Joni’s recommendation). It worked wonders for her!

Her little class of 6 kids:

B-I-G arms!!!

Making “bubbles” with their feet:

Maddie was my little buddy during swimming. She would just hang out in her stroller and eat snacks (despite the heat). She was a great sport!

Also, I’m thrilled to report that during the last few weeks of the summer, Olivia finally got the hang of swimming! It was so exciting! She’s still afraid to swim without us very close by, but she can definitely swim a good 15-20 feet on her own. We can’t wait to see how much she improves next summer!

Madeline at 11 months

2011-06-12T22:14:00.000-05:00

Oh, how I love these pictures of Maddie! They SO depict what her personality is actually like. Usually, when I pull out my camera, she runs away and refuses to smile or interact with me. But she did a great job this particular day, and I got a few classic Madeline gestures.

Here’s a little bit about Maddie at 11 months:

-She can crawl up the stairs, but not down yet. I hate this phase because they can get into everything but still aren’t 100% safe. It makes me so nervous! There’s nothing worse than a baby tumbling down the stairs. Thankfully, it hasn’t happened yet with Madeline.

-She loves to pretend to talk on the phone-- Just like her sister did at this age. Anything somewhat rectangular suddenly becomes a phone to her—Shoes, the computer mouse, small books, etc.

-She tries to talk, but it all sounds pretty much like gibberish. I love baby-talk!! She thinks she’s communicating lots of really important things.

-She covers her mouth when she sneezes. Hahaha!

-Maddie is becoming a great cuddler, but just some of the time. She’s really sweet and will randomly walk up to us and give us a hug and kiss.

-She LOVES when we read books to her. We always read a few books as part of our nap/bedtime routine. This is one of the highlights of her day.

-She has tons of energy and can be a crazy person sometimes! She is a SUPER early riser, but likes going to bed by 7 or 7:30. Lately, she’s had a few mornings where she’s be up for the day at 5:30. AHH!

-She’s nearly impossible to dress/change. She violently tries to flip over so she can crawl around the changing table. Like I said, she’s crazy!

-Because of our road trip to Alabama, we turned her car seat forward at 10.5 months. Shhhh…Don’t tell on me! She’s pretty much the size of a two year old, so I didn’t feel too bad. Plus, she’s SO much happier in the car now.

-Maddie loves to drink out of a sippy cup, but aside from nursing, she REFUSES to drink anything but water. I’m a little nervous about weaning her in a few months.

-She’s still a great eater, but will NOT eat a drop of baby food anymore. She wants the good stuff and finally has the dexterity to put food in her own mouth. It’s wonderful that she can feed herself now!

She was doing some pretty funny things in these pictures. Note her hilarious “scrunchy face.” Also, in the bottom row, she’s demonstrating what she does when we say, “How big is Maddie? Sooooooo big!”

-Madeline has always loved being outdoors-- Even as a tiny baby. Whenever she’s inconsolable, we take her on the front porch and she calms down immediately. We’ve done this since she was just a few days old and it still works. As a result, she loves going on walks, to the park, pool, etc.

-She thinks she is such a big kid and does NOT like being held lately. This makes church very interesting.

-Aside from being outside, Maddie’s second favorite place to be is in the bath. But she’s WILD! She stands at the edge of the tub and tries to walk around. I’m always worried she will slip and crack her head open or something. She’s such a daredevil! I have a feeling she will be the child that we’re always taking to the ER.

-We tried to take the girls to see the movie “Cars 2” in the theater and it was a DISASTER. I brought a million toys and snacks for Maddie, as well as the bumbo (to put on a theater seat), so she would be contained. But she was miserable. She just wanted to be sitting on the floor with her toys and couldn’t understand why I would NOT allow that. She’s the same way at home….She’s perfectly content to just roam the playroom (as long as her sisters not bugging her!).

-She’s definitely mastered the skill of clapping:

-She says “Mama” and “Dada” more regularly now, and signs “more” and “all done.” I love that she’s starting to communicate now, so we know what she wants.

-Maddie also loves balls and is actually surprisingly good at playing catch with us.

-I know she’s not even a year old yet, but this baby can throw a serious tantrum!! Sometimes she acts like a 2 year old! She throws herself down, lays her head on the floor, and just pouts.

-She loves to be tickled and has the most adorable laugh…Nothing like Olivia’s belly laugh. It’s a deep, throaty laugh that almost sounds painful. But I love it!! She is especially ticklish under her arms and on her inner thighs.

-The most exciting news of the month was that Maddie learned to walk!!! She thinks she’s such a big girl now and loves doing whatever Olivia is doing. She can often be found pushing her dolls in one of our baby strollers.

Lake Wedowee- PART 2

2011-06-09T16:20:00.000-05:00

Our little family:

The Thorntons: The Spencer Griffeths:

The Weston Griffeths: Grandpa & Grandma:

In the afternoons, when we were worn out from the lake, we would all head down to the pool to play till dinner.

Grandpa taught the kids how to make marshmallow guns! So fun!

Olivia and Trey became buddies on this trip!! Trey is almost a year older but they will be in the same grade in school.

Liv and Grandpa:

Roasting marshmallows…

There’s nothing better than a gooey s’more!!

Grandma, Grandpa, and all 11 grandkids:

Miss Kendal is the best helper EVER!! I really would trust her to babysit my kids! She’s so amazing and all the little kiddos flock to her.

Olivia and Trey building a fort and playing their daily game of house.

On our last night, we all made tie-dyed shirts, played “the candy bar game”, and celebrated all the summer birthdays with cake/presents. After the kids were in bed, we played an amusing game of “Minute to Win It”—HILARIOUS! Such a fun way to end a wonderful week.

Our kids LOVE being around family, and I’m so glad we have the opportunity to play with them at Lake Wedowee every year. We’ve created so many wonderful memories there! Thank you, Robert and Doreen for another fabulous trip.

Lake Wedowee- PART 1

2011-06-06T12:05:00.000-05:00

As usual, we had a wonderful week at Grant’s parent’s lakehouse! Since our group has grown quite a bit over the last few years, they rented an extra condo right across the street. It’s always so fun spending the week playing with family!

Unfortunately, we made the horrible mistake of taking Olivia on an alligator swamp tour right before we arrived, so she was terrified that alligators were in the water. She did NOT like swimming in the lake or going on the jet skis, but was happy on the boat, on the tubes, or in the pool.

The kids put on an impromptu talent show one night. Olivia wore the tutu dress Grandma had given here, and she was ready for some ballet demos.

Maddie loved being on the boat and in the water, but absolutely HATED her life jacket. I don’t blame her!

Cute Nate and Olivia—3 weeks apart.

I love my girls!

Grant finally convinced Olivia to jump in the lake, and she swore to never ever do it again.

We spent our evenings playing games and hanging out outside. The kids loved eating popsicles and making s’mores.

The go-cart was a huge hit too!

Tiny baby Maddox and Miss Jaidyn:

One evening, the kids played baseball. I’m sad to admit that my daughter was the only one who had never held a bat or tried to swing at a ball. It was pretty funny to watch!

Grant tried to help her and she got so mad, so turned around and hit him with the plastic bat!!! She got in BIG trouble, but it was SO funny to watch. She has since gotten a pink t-ball set, and is doing a million times better.

One of Olivia’s favorite things about the lake is rides on the golf cart. She even fell off once (ahem…I’m pretty sure Spencer was driving!) :) but she didn’t even mind!

Leigh + Maddox Ryan + Lindsay

Poor Ryan hated going on the tube!

New Orleans Trip

2011-06-04T11:32:00.000-05:00

This year, we decided to be brave and drive our new car to Alabama for the annual week at the Griffeth lakehouse. We have always flown, but now that we have 2 kids and so much stuff, this seemed like the easier option. It turned out great and we will definitely be doing it in the future! The drive is only about 16 hours, and the halfway point is New Orleans. Grant’s Aunt Aurelia lives there, so we were able to stay at her house at both the beginning and end of our trip. We also squeezed in a little sight-seeing too! It ended up being perfect.

Olivia . Aurelia . Dick . Madeline . Grant

Dick and Aurelia gave us tons of great sightseeing pointers and loaded my kids up with a huge bag of Mardi Gras necklaces. They were so excited!

We spent the afternoon walking around the French Quarter, exploring, and eating lots of traditional New Orleans food.

The buildings in New Orleans are all SO beautiful! So different from anywhere else that I’ve been.

Of course, we had to order virgin mint juleps while we were there….Mmm!

We also got beignets and chocolate milk at the famous Cafe du Monde. They seriously LOAD up the beignets with a cupful of powdered sugar, and since it’s an outdoor cafe, the wind blows the sugar every which way. The ground was COVERED in powdered sugar, as were our clothes and black stroller! It was so funny!

We didn’t ever intend to walk down Bourbon Street, but we unintentionally parked right next to it, so I had to snap a photo!

Walking around the city was fun, but it was SO hot, humid, and crowded…Not a great place for little kids. The highlight of our day was for sure our Alligator Swamp Tour—It was by far, one if the coolest things I’ve ever done!!

The boat ride was so picturesque…Straight out of a movie!!! People actually stay in these tiny little shacks on the water to catch crawfish and who knows what else. The only way to get to them is by boat, and none of them have electricity. Crazy, right?!?

Our guide would spot the eyes of an alligator lurking in the water, and would throw a few marshmallows to get it’s attention. Then, he would stick a hot dog on the end of a stick and dangle it out of the boat for the alligator to jump up and eat!!! I was AMAZED at how beautiful these animals were, and I could not believe how close we got to them….Literally 2-3 feet away from where we were sitting. There were a few times that the alligators jumped so high and bumped into our boat—These are STRONG animals, so it rocked us pretty wildly. It was such a rush!

SCARY!!!!

We learned that in order to know how big the alligator is, you estimate how many inches the distance is between their eyes and the end of their nose….Then convert it to feet and that’s how long he is from nose to tail. This one was about 11-12 feet long, but the biggest one we found was 14 feet!!! He was HUGE!

I’m pretty sure this was our 14-footer:

So so beautiful.

I’ve truly never been in that much humidity in my life (and I’ve lived in Texas and Georgia!). After a 2 hour boat ride, it looked like we had just stepped out of the shower. We were DRENCHED with sweat. So gross, I know!

-------------------

New Orleans, Part 2:

After a fabulous week at the lake, we stayed at Aurelia and Dick’s house once again. It was my 25th birthday, so in order to make the tedious drive a little more exciting, we stopped off at a beautiful plantation home (called Oak Alley) from the slave era. It was FASCINATING!

It was called Oak Alley because there were dozens of massive 3oo year old oak trees that lined the driveway up to the front door. Sadly, most of them have since been cut down.

This amazing oak tree is one of the oldest in the state. Isn’t it cool?! Many of the branches extended so far out that they touched the ground so you could sit on them. I’m pretty sure our tour guide said it was 500 years old! It’s crazy to think about what was going on in the world when this tree first started to grow.

This amazing clock was given to the original owner’s of the house as a wedding gift from NAPOLEON! Napoleon was a good friend of the husband, and he let him choose any item in his house as a gift, and this is what the husband chose. It’s solid gold—pretty cool.

Maddie was demonstrating her newfound clapping skills:

Olivia got to swing on this little tree swing that hung from one of the 300 year old trees!

It was so fun getting to experience a little piece of the south’s history. Next time we drive through New Orleans, we will definitely be checking out some of the other plantation homes. It was such a fun mini trip!

New Wheels

2011-06-04T03:13:00.000-05:00

In early June, Grant and I finally bit the bullet and bought a new car! We were pretty sure we wanted a Honda Pilot, but had to test drive every other car on the market just to make sure. Ultimately, the decision was narrowed down to the Toyota Highlander, the Nissan Armada, and the Honda Pilot (which obviously won in the end).

I had previously been driving a Nissan Altima, so the extra space has been FABULOUS (and essential for a mom of two). The only thing I miss SO much about my Altima was that I could unlock the doors and start the car with the push of a button. My keys NEVER left my purse. It was wonderful, but I’m learning to cope. :)

This car has tons of great features too though. A DVD player (Oh my gosh, how I love it!! But we definitely limit the usage. It’s only for long-ish car rides or when Maddie is screaming in the back seat.). It also has leather seats, and can fit 8 people!! This was the main reason for the new car. We needed to be able to fit friends and family in our car. The car has already taken it’s maiden voyage road trip to Alabama and back (more on that later), and the drive was a dream!

I come from a very serious line of Honda lovers. And ironically, my dad, sister, and I all currently drive Pilots! What can I say?! We are true fans.

Last Day of Preschool

2011-06-02T14:49:00.000-05:00

These pictures were from our last day of preschool/Joy School (taken by Miss Natalie). It was a sad day, but I was SO relieved to not have to teach anymore. It was a LOT of work, but I know the kids learned a ton and grew up so much during the year, so it was 100% worth it.

June 2011:

September 2010:

Lincoln - Maya - Brooke - Olivia

These kids are too funny!

See more pictures from the beginning of the school year HERE.

first pool day of the season

2011-05-21T03:46:00.000-05:00

The first pool day of the summer is always so exciting to me! I love nothing more than spending the day lazily hanging out by the pool, playing with my kids and chatting with friends. This afternoon gave us a tiny glimpse into what we had to look forward to.

Grant is such a great dad to these girls! He often talks about how he thinks it would be fun to have a boy (to balance out the crazy amount of emotions in our household), but I know he has these little girls wrapped around his finger.

I absolutely adore this swim suit on Maddie, but Grant DETESTS it. He says it looks like something a grandma would wear, but I still love it!

Madeline was pretty nervous about the pool at first. But then she discovered that she could splash, and she was in heaven!!!

Talk about a perfect preview into summer!

Maddie at 10 Months

2011-05-12T02:01:00.000-05:00

Here are a few things about Miss Madeline at 10 months:

-she’s become a SCREAMER! She just likes shrieking at the top of her lungs just for fun. Ahh!

-Maddie has started pulling herself up onto anything and everything. She also cruises along the furniture and can move between the couch and coffee table.

-She finally learned how to get down onto her knees from the standing position—It took her forever to figure this one out. Now, she just braces herself and falls to her knees instead of getting down slowly.

-She gets hurt ALL the time—She’s fearless and SO daring! She often has a big bruise on her forehead.

-Because of teething, she’s become a TERRIBLE sleeper. Lately, she’s been waking up three to FOUR times a night—AHHHH! And she wants to eat 2 of those times.

-Poor Maddie got her 4 top teeth all in one week—Teething is ROUGH for this girl! But as soon as they all popped through, she became a MUCH happier baby.

-Madeline is a fabulous eater (except for baby food—she’s will only eat a few bites at each meal these days). But she LOVES all adult food! She especially loves yogurt and any type of fruit.

-She can say both “mama” and “dada”, but “Dada” is definitely what she says most often.

-She’s started dancing whenever she hears music

-Maddie finally learned how to clap this month!!

-Her favorite thing to play is the “1,2,3 game” on our bed….We count to 3 and she throws herself backward onto the bed and laughs hysterically.

-When we say “Pointers!!” she sticks out her pointer finger and touches our pointer finger. :)

-If there is every a food she doesn’t like, she immediately pushes it out of her mouth with her tongue—Ick.

-Maddie gets into EVERYTHING! Nothing is safe in our house these days. She especially loves unraveling the rolls of toilet paper and pulling every shoe out of the basket by our front door. She also loves eating any food that has fallen on the ground. GROSS! We have to be extra vigilant about sweeping and mopping after each meal.

-Poor Maddie is terrified of the vacuum and hair dryer.

-She jumps and screams wildly whenever she sees Olivia. She loves her sister.

-She likes to hook her foot into the slats of her crib while she sleeps. It always worries me, but she loves sleeping that way.

-Her terrible sleeping habits also extend to naps. When we lay her in her crib wide awake, she stands up and SCREAMS until her body eventually goes limp and she falls down (which usually results in her hitting her face on the edge of her crib because she’s so tall). In order to get her to sleep, we often have to lay her in her crib and let he hold onto our finger till she’s asleep. It’s a terrible habit that we MUST get rid of soon. We’ve tried “sleep training” in the past without much success, but we WILL be starting again soon.

-LOVES being outside

-We’ve been trying to teach her sign language, and the only one she’s picked up on is “all done.”

-We are SO SO SO grateful that we decided to get tubes put in her ears when she was 8 months. She hasn’t had a single ear infection since. Yay!

-Maddie waves when we say “hi”, “bye bye”, and “night night.”

-she’s very sensitive and gets offended when we tell her “no.”

-Madeline is 100% girl already—Her favorite toys are baby dolls and purses.

-But more than toy babies, Maddie is positively OBSESSED with real babies! She points at them while squealing and laughing.

-She loves grabbing our noses, but doesn’t really understand how to be soft yet. It hurts!

Love you, Maddie girl!

My Little Mover

2011-05-05T14:19:00.000-05:00

Little Maddie gets into EVERYHING. She's always on the move, seeing what else she can sneak her way into. Lately, she tries to climb under the kitchen table and gets stuck between the chairs.

She also likes to pull herself up onto all furniture. She recently discovered that if she stands up to her high chair, she can usually find a snack or two laying in the seat. DISGUSTING.

She also kneels up to the toy baskets and can get whatever she wants. WHEN did she get so big?!?!

The scariest part of all is that she can climb up a few steps onto the stairs! NOTHING IS SAFE AROUND HERE ANYMORE!

Maddie, you sure are a BUSY bee.

Singin’ in the Rain

2011-04-28T21:04:00.001-05:00

My mom gave Olivia this wild and crazy (but super fun) rain coat for Easter this year. It matched Olivia’s new rain boots, so we decided to head outside on a drizzly morning and take a few photos.

We were having such a great time playing in the rain and getting wet!

I love this sweet little girl!

Easter Sunday

2011-04-24T17:47:00.000-05:00

After all the morning festivities, we got ready for church and took a few photos of the girls in their Easter dresses before we left. They looked so adorable!!

Love these cute sisters! (Poor Maddie was teething…)

My sweet baby girl!

When we got home from church, Grant put the girls down for naps, while I started putting the finishing touches on our Easter dinner—We had two families coming over a few hours later. I remember being so relieved that I was actually ahead of the game for once, and wasn’t stressed about having everything ready before our guests arrived.

The potato dish I was making called for slivered potatoes, so I was using my super sharp “kitchen mandolin” to slice them paper thin. The job was moving along quickly until I got to a tough part in one of the very last potatoes. I pushed the potato really hard against the mandolin, and my hand slipped off the finger guard and DIRECTLY into the super sharp blade. So, basically, it sliced off a BIG, DEEP portion of my thumb! I watched my thumb go ghost white for a few seconds before it GUSHED with blood (sorry for the visual)! It was so disgusting. Grant was freaking out, telling me I needed to go to the ER, but I remained surprisingly calm—It must have been the adrenaline. I knew I didn’t have time to stop cooking and go to the hospital. I had guests coming to dinner and still had to cook the ham/potatoes!

But after 30 minutes, there was no sign of the blood flow slowing and I was getting a little dizzy, so I knew I had to get to the hospital before I passed out. But remember how my kids were asleep? NOTHING this trivial would get me to wake them up, so I left Grant at home and drove myself to the ER. Don’t worry—If I had gotten dizzy again, I would have pulled over. :)

Anyway, there was an hour wait, but I BEGGED the guy at the front desk to let me see a doctor since I had guest coming to dinner. He was so nice and snuck me back right away. Since I had sliced part of my finger off, there was nothing they could stitch back together, so they just put the most PAINFUL blood clotting material on my thumb to stop the bleeding, wrapped it up, and sent me home. Believe it or not, I was HOME within 45 minutes of leaving my house. It was a miracle. I called our friends to postpone dinner by an hour, and we were good to go. Phew!! Unfortunately, I had to try and cook the rest of dinner with THIS on my right hand:

Thankfully, I had set the table the night before:

The funniest part of the story (which I can only call funny now….but was most definitely NOT funny at the time), was that I called Grant while I was having my hand wrapped up, and gave him instructions on glazing the ham. I had already made the glaze and had it sitting in the fridge in a Tupperware container. He assured me that he would do it, and everything would be okay.

When I got home from the hospital, I looked in the fridge and noticed that the glaze was STILL sitting on the shelf. Grant said, “I used it all, but it did seem a little thin for a glaze.” I then looked in the kitchen sink and discovered that he had used an ENTIRE Tupperware of OIL to glaze my beautiful ham!!!!!!!! (It was the frying oil I had used to make some wontons earlier in the week—Sometimes I strain it and put it back in the fridge to use a second time). I almost died…..I thought that I had actually made it through this dreadful day, but was still able to pull off our dinner….Until this!!! Sooooo…..We ended up having Ham Jerky as our main course. So funny, right?! Thank goodness we can laugh about it now. :) And it actually wasn’t as bad as one would imagine.

Looking back, I made it through the day with a good story and a massive scar. Talk about eventful!

I decided that I will have tulips on my Easter table every year from now on….They were SO beautiful and lasted forever!

After dinner, the kids did their Easter egg hunt. It was super windy!!

Maddie kept making this funny face when the wind blew…

Brooke, Lincoln, Henry, and Olivia.

(I hate that my kids weren’t wearing their Easter dresses….All because I carelessly cut my hand. Ugh.

The Guerisolis”

Olivia’s eggs!

The Mickelsens:

Madeline, me, and the awful pink hand (for the record….I didn’t choose the pink bandage! The ER doc did.)

Whew—What a day! Let’s hope next year is a little less eventful.

Egg Dying and Easter Morning

2011-04-20T21:04:00.003-05:00

Olivia was old enough this year to actually dye Easter eggs without too much help. The older our kids get, the more fun holidays are becoming!

Her finished product:

The classic Easter morning stair picture:

Olivia was so excited to see what the Easter Bunny had brought for she and Madeline!

Left: Maddie's Basket, Right: Olivia's Basket

The Easter Bunny spoiled them rotten with presents (because he really doesn't bring very much candy to our house)! He was even thoughtful enough to give them each a Madeline and an Olivia book....Two of our favorite series (for obvious reasons…).

They got a some new movies, a kite, bunny crackers, a few little toys, books, polka dot rain boots, crayons, matching jammies, a new necklace, Easter stickers, a pink watch, etc.

After checking out their gifts, we went on a hunt for all the eggs that the E. Bunny had hid in our living room. It was a fun morning!

The Pink Car

2011-04-18T11:45:00.000-05:00

On Valentine's Day, Grant came home from work with this silly pink 4x4 for the girls. He found it at the grocery store for like $12 and knew that they would love it. It has since become a favorite toy in our household. Madeline loves sitting on it, and her foot accidentally taps the "gas pedal" which makes her move. She can't ever figure out why/how she's driving, but she loves it. She also loves pushing all the obnoxious music and horn buttons OVER and OVER until we finally distract her with another toy. Looks like Grant has set a pretty high precedent for future Valentine's days! ;-)

Madeline at 9 months

2011-04-12T15:05:00.001-05:00

9 Month Stats:

Height: 30.5, >95%

Weight: 21 lbs. 3 oz., 90%

Head Circumference: 47.25cm, >95%

The doctor wrote a giant red "A+ Baby" on the top of her 9 month paperwork. I thought that was funny!

Jacob’s Blessing

2011-04-10T14:55:00.000-05:00

On April 10th, Kenny blessed our newest nephew, Jacob. It was a wonderful day and it was so fun to be able to be there for the event. I love living so close to my sister!

My sister, Shannon, and her sweet new baby.

My brother-in-law Kenny.

The Webster family:

I can’t get enough of this darling picture of my niece and nephews…I got to be at the hospital when all three of them were born. Love these kiddos!

The men who blessed Jacob (plus a few from the ward)…Grant, Kenny, and Rich

Cute cousin picture of Olivia and Brooke!

I think Maddie was asleep in her car seat…

It was SO fun getting a chance to catch up with Rich (Kenny’s older brother) who flew in from Las Vegas!. I met Rich while Kenny was still on his mission!! Too funny. We’ve been great friends for 10+ years. I can’t believe how fast time flies.

Gardening

2011-04-06T15:46:00.000-05:00

Last fall, I decided that I was going to take a break from gardening in 2011. I think that taking care of a garden while 9 months pregnant and with a newborn sort of did me in.

But by the time March rolled around, I was regretting that I hadn’t at least planted some mint and basil….And maybe ONE tomato plant. So I headed to the nursery to buy my THREE plants and came home with a garden full. I got sucked in and decided that I needed TONS of tomato plants and TONS of basil, among a few other things (zucchini and eggplant, anyone?).

While I worked in the garden, the girls would play under an umbrella in the shade. It worked really well until Maddie learned she could crawl off the blanket and eat the grass….yum.

There’s just something SO refreshing about being outside in the newly warm weather, digging up weeds and caring for new baby plants. I really love gardening—Up until about June. And then I’d rather shoot myself than be out in the Texas heat without a pool less than 3 feet away.

This was my freshly planted garden this year. It did really well for a few months, but April was DEFINITELY way too late to start. I swear, my plants always start struggling by the end of June here, so starting EARLY (like at the end of February) is the way to go. The crazy drought we had this year made gardening really hard for me. Plus, my tomatoes got attacked by spider mites!!! They are the grossest things ever. They build a tiny web over the entire plant and suck out the nutrients from the leaves until the plant can no longer survive. There are MILLIONS of these mites on each plant. Just writing about this makes me itch!! I DON’T DO BUGS!

Has anyone had a similar experience? Are there any fabulous tricks I should know about? I started with 10 tomato plants and the spider mites literally took over a new plant each week. I tried EVERYTHING to get rid of them, but nothing helped 100%.

Grant says that the dozen tomatoes we ended up getting were the most expensive tomatoes he’s ever eaten….He’s probably right. Good thing we had enough basil to feed a small village!

The thing I find most refreshing about gardening is that you get to rip everything up at the end of the season and start FRESH each year. New vegetable varieties, disease-free plants, fresh compost…I just love it! I can’t wait to try a few new things next spring.

Olivia at 3 1/2 years old

2011-03-31T14:28:00.001-05:00

Olivia has always been one to do and say the FUNNIEST things. She’s FULL of spunk and loves to have me arrange CONSTANT organized activities for her to be busy with. Here are a few things about her at 3 1/2:

-She absolutely LOVES to cook (and taste test). She’s the best little kitchen helper, and she’s actually really useful to have around (especially when spatulas need licking).

-She’s a child that NEEDS a lot of physical affection. She doesn’t seem like it because she’s always on the go, but the minute you can get her into your arms she melts! This girl loves a good snuggle-session. :)

-Her favorite movie these days is “Ramona and Beezus” and she can pretty much quote the entire movie. It’s actually really good, so I don’t mind having it on in the background every once in a while. She’s never been a huge fan of cartoon movies (even princess ones!). She rarely finishes them. But give her a movie with real people (Ramona, Little Rascals, Enchanted, Stewart Little, Annie) and she’s in heaven. Oh, and her second favorite movie lately is “Mama Mia”, but I’m a little embarrassed to admit that we let her watch it. She just loves singing and dancing to the songs.

-She can be SERIOUSLY sassy—Like a teenager! Sometimes we refer to her as Miss Sassy Pants. Ask her what the punishment is for being sassy—She knows. It’s “sassy sauce” (aka a drop of Tabasco sauce on her tongue). But I’m wimpy and have never actually given it to her. Usually the threat does the trick.

-She loves helping me in the garden, especially when I let her water the plants.

-She has a few words that she made up to say when she’s mad. She gets in trouble for saying them, but Grant and I have to secretly hide our giggles. Her 2 most commonly used “bad” words are “Deek” and “Stink.” (For example, “Mom, he DEEKS me up!” or “I’m so STINK about it.”)

-She’s always singing and dancing. One of my friends said, “Olivia never just walks from point A to point B. She PRANCES.” It’s so true!!!!

-She LOVES preschool and writing/reading her letters. She’s been able to do them all for a while now. She’s constantly asking us how to spell various words.

-Thankfully, Olivia still takes naps almost every day. I’m so grateful for this! But the key is to put her to sleep in our pitch black closet with the bathroom fan on. I’m sure this won’t last very much longer.

-She loves her baby dolls (below, she’s teaching her baby how to walk). She’s also a great big sister—When she wants to be! When she’s in a good mood, I love hearing how sweetly she talks to Madeline.

-Olivia is SO full of personality and energy. But she can also be somewhat shy. Usually when a stranger says hello, she’s very shy, but within 10 seconds she’s telling them her life story, all about preschool, her friends, her favorite color, etc.

-Her very favorite food is STEAK…haha! She calls it “snakes” though.

-Olivia LOVES to be given chores (like cleaning and gardening) and assignments (as long as I phrase it in a super exciting way). Recently, she came into our room one morning and had gotten herself dressed AND made her bed by herself! I hadn’t even taught her and she did it all on her own. This picture shows the great job she did. I gave her a few pointers (like pulling the comforter taught and having the pillows touch in the middle) and now she’s even better!

-She also loves having family night and reminds us to do it each week. She also loves saying her prayers and reading scriptures before bed. She NEVER lets us forget.

-Olivia has started to be particular about her clothes, and it’s KILLING me! There are so many cute outfits that she refuses to wear. From now on, I think I’ll take her clothes shopping with me.

-We’re pretty sure Olivia has an imaginary friend. She started referring to her friend (who apparently lives up the street), and her name is “Sholly Shollia.” She’s since re-named one of her dolls “Sholly Sholly Doodia.”

-Olivia has issues with low blood sugar. She HAS to have food in her or she becomes a completely crazy child. I always make sure I have snacks with me in case this happens (usually around 11am and 4pm). As long as she gets a few calories in her body, she transforms into her normal self almost immediately.

-Olivia says the funniest/sweetest things. Here are a few that I recently wrote down:

-“Mom, I can’t get myself to grow up, but I want to. Did you know that water helps us grow?!?!?!!?”

-Me: “Hey Liv? How’d you get such cute genes?

Olivia: “Because you got my JEANS from Amazon!” :)

-“You have GOT to be kidding me!!!”

-Lately, she’s been adding the phrase “all my life” after every sentence. (Ex. “I’ve been wanting to eat that treat/go to Target/play with Brooke ALL MY LIFE.” She’s so dramatic.

-“Mom, you can go live with Heavenly Father. Don’t worry. I’ll feed Miss Madeline some baby food.”-“Close my door at night so the bugs won’t get in my room and eat me.”

-“Mom, you’re being such a pickle at me.”

-“I will listen to Heavenly Father now. And I want to live with Jesus too. But can Grandma “O” and Grandma “G” be there in Heaven with me? Can they hold my hands?”

-“Mom, when you’re a little girl, you can push a chair up to the counter and I will teach YOU how to cook.”

-“I am COMPLETELY scared of those dogs, Dad.”

-PRAYER: “Help us to do dances and music at my party. Help Daddy to get a new job. And help Mommy to cut her finger when she’s making tomatoes. Amen.” HUH?!?!

-“Mom, that’s GORGEOUS when the birds open their wings to fly.”

My baby is growing up too fast!

2011-03-31T11:35:00.000-05:00

Sweet Maddie-Girl,

You are growing and changing before our eyes! You have to slow down!

This little crown was given to Olivia from a friend…But you’ve kind of commandeered it. You LOVE this thing!

You also LOVE baseball caps….But indecently won’t wear the pink one I bought for you. You go crazy whenever Daddy is wearing a hat and demand that he takes it off and gives it to you. Sometimes you’ll sit and play with a hat for a good 30+ minutes. This new BYU hat that came in the mail for Dad is your new flavor of the week. :)

You’ve also figured out how to get into the toys! Oh boy. You pull yourself up onto the baskets and yank as hard as you can until one pulls out. You don’t care if the basket knocks you in the face…You just want TOYS! You are our crazy little Buggie!

You have the sweetest little smile and the biggest, dark blue eyes that are so full of personality—Minus the PJ’s and bed head in this picture, you look like a Gerber baby to me.

And I just love those 2 bottom teeth! They’re the only teeth you have, and I love it. By this age, Olivia already had lots more. I think it preserves the “baby look” so I’m not in a hurry for you to get the rest.

You’ve also mastered the art of scooting. You love all things girly (purses, Barbies, dolls….it’s in your blood) and will scoot across the room to get what you want.

Then, you get up on your hands and knees and rock back and forth….never letting go of your toys!

You love your sister and think she’s hilarious, but you do NOT like how much she smoothers you—I don’t blame you. She’s always wanting to kiss, hug, and hold you, but you duck out of her arms the minute she’s near—Little smarty-pants.

Stay little, Maddie-Sue! I love you.

Love, Mama

“Brooke-a-li-Solie” & “Ah-widia”

2011-03-27T13:20:00.000-05:00

“Brooke-a-li-Solie” is what Olivia calls Brooke. It’s her way of saying Brooke’s first and last name. She usually calls her by her full name—Rarely is it just “Brooke”. :) I’m thinking it’s because her cousin is also named Brooke, so it’s her way of identifying them both.

“Ah-widia” is how Brooke says “Olivia.” I just love it….These two are the best of friends (but they also fight like sisters).

Don’t you kiss your friends?!?

And just another gem—for Blackmail’s sake.

Aurelia's 60th Birthday

2011-03-26T12:58:00.000-05:00

I just love Grant's family. They are so wonderful to me-- And my kids!! Olivia ADORES her great aunts, Aurelia and Angelia. She loves them so much, she often tells me, "Mom, did you know that Aunt Aurelia and Aunt Angelia are my grandmas too?!?"

In March, Aurelia turned 60, so her kids all flew into Austin (and arranged for her to fly in too). They rented an awesome little house and gave her a great surprise birthday weekend. She had NO idea-- She thought she was flying in to visit some old friends! They invited all of us San Antonians to drive up and spend Saturday with them. Aurelia's family KNOWS how to party, so we had a very entertaining day. They served us a catered dinner and we all got to hang out and chat with relatives we rarely get to see. We had planned to let the kids swim in the backyard pool, but we got a surprise burst of rain that day.

Here's Olivia with her other favorite Aunt, Angelia. We're SO sad they moved out of Texas. We miss them!

Here is Tabitha with her adorable twin boys.

Maddie doing her crazy open-mouthed shriek of excitement. Grant's cousin, Trent brought his tiny little dogs, and Maddie was in heaven. Olivia, on the other hand, was scared for her life. I'm pretty sure she SCREAMED at least a dozen times.

Maddie with one of the twins...This paper plate and a roll of Ritz crackers entertained them all night.

Angelia and Aurelia SPOIL Olivia to no end. Just like a good aunt should, they always stuff her full of treats. I'm pretty sure she had soda, juice, cake, ice cream, and candy that night-- More than she gets in an entire month with her boring mom!

The blue stuff on her lips was a sucker. They told her that if she licked it and rubbed it around, it would look like lipstick! See why she loves them? Oh! And Angelia had to run to the store at one point, and came back with a My Little Pony for Olivia to play with on the drive home. They're the best.

Aurelia let Olivia sit on her lap and open all of her presents too.

Happy 60th, Aurelia! I feel so blessed to have married into such a wonderful family.

Tutu Dresses

2011-03-24T12:37:00.000-05:00

I’ll take any excuse I can get to do a photo shoot with my girls. These dresses were just too adorable (thank you Nordstrom Rack)—I had to take some photos. I love the billowy tulle that was engulfing them…They thought it was itchy, but it sure made for some cute photos.

Matchy-Matchy

2011-03-20T10:43:00.000-05:00

There’s nothing I love more than having girls!! And dressing them in matching outfits literally makes me giddy! I obviously had TONS of baby girl clothes from when Olivia was little, but Maddie gets LOTS of new clothes so I can dress them alike (especially for church). The girl has the most extensive wardrobe! Grant thinks it’s a waste of money, but I think NOT doing it would be a waste of having TWO daughters. Haha! He hates my reasoning, so I have to remind him that these might be the only daughters I get.

These girls are SO busy and make me crazy some days, but I LOVE them to pieces.

Check out those blue eyes!

Notice Madeline’s face-- She HATES when Olivia tries to hug her or hold on to her….This girl likes her freedom!

St. Patty’s Day 2011

2011-03-17T00:00:00.001-05:00

St. Patrick’s day is definitely a holiday that we celebrate in our house….I mean, I am an “O’Bryant” after all!! How could I not?!?! But I absolutely detest corned beef and cabbage, so we find lots of other ways to celebrate (mostly involving eating only green food all day). This year, we had a special visitor…a leprechaun! Olivia couldn’t believe her eyes! He was super tricky and left footprints all over our fridge and bathroom mirror. She kept saying, “Oh no! This sneaky leprechaun made such a mess! Tell him my mom is going to be SUPER mad at him!” Haha….Thankfully he wasn’t completely naughty. He also hid clues for us to find throughout our morning routine…Can you spot the one hidden below?! Olivia almost missed it!

He even dyed our milk green!!! Olivia thought that was the best!

Finally, we collected all the clues which led us to….

A TREASURE BOX!!! It was full of gold necklaces, coins, and gold candy.

I love this age! Everything about life is SO exciting for them. :)

Maddie at 8 Months

2011-03-16T22:11:00.000-05:00

I’m back to blogging after an 8 month hiatus! LOTS of catching up to do, but I’m determined to get done it so my kids can always have completed photo books of their lives to look back on. Bear with me!!

I absolutely ADORE these pictures of my sweet little Maddie Jane at 8 months. They so perfectly depict what a sweet little baby she is! I thought I faithfully took notes about Madeline at every monthly milestone of her first year, but somehow I missed month 8! I’m kicking myself now.

Maddie LOVES standing up! I think she’ll be an early walker. :)

She also has a complete obsession with those little cords that hang down from ceiling fans. She BEGS for us to lift her up so she can grab them.

I love that sweet little profile!

I HAD to include this picture of her “scrunchy face”…a signature Maddie move. She wrinkles up her nose, opens her mouth wide, and breathes in and out really fast. It’s so funny!

We refer to these as Maddie’s “big blues”….Thanks for those genes Grandma O!!

We love you sweet Madeline! You make our family complete.

Maddie's Tube Surgery

2011-03-15T13:30:00.000-05:00

After a 2 1/2 month long ear infection (despite 5 full rounds of antibiotics + 3 days of the most HORRIBLE, painful antibiotic shots), Maddie was finally sent to an ENT to see about getting tubes put in her ears. The doc looked in her ears and couldn't believe how much fluid (aka puss! Yuck!) she had sitting in there. He was worried about her hearing and wanted to get her scheduled for surgery within a few days. Hallelujah! We just wanted to have our normal happy baby back again! She had gotten to the point where she wasn't even wanting to nurse because the pressure hurt so much. Poor thing!

So, right when she was 8 months, she had the tube surgery. It was SO sad and scary to see her under general anesthesia (see above), but she survived it. The doctor said he drained "record amounts" of fluid from her tiny ears and she's participating in a study so they can prevent ear infections for her in the future. Thankfully, she's been perfect ever since!! Unfortunately, tubes only last for 6-9 months, and we were told to expect a second set since she got them at such a young age. It's been worth it though!

Cousins

2011-03-12T09:48:00.000-06:00

My kids love hanging out with their cousins!

Love this funny picture of Bryant!

My New Favorite Product....Ignore the fact that I sound like a commercial

2011-02-27T22:05:00.005-06:00

Wanna hear about my FAVORITE new product?!? I bought it for myself for Valentine's Day! Romantic, huh? Here it is:

Olay Pro-X Cleaning System

I've dealt with a fair amount of acne since I was a teenager (we're talking every type of acne medicine and face scrubbing treatment imaginable, including multiple rounds of Acutane). After I had Olivia, my skin was perfect for a while, and I thought my problems were gone for good....You'd think that they should have been by age 21! But during my 2nd pregnancy they got bad again. Even worse while nursing....Especially since I haven't wanted to take any medicine while nursing Maddie.

But then I discovered this awesome cleaning brush that works kind of like an electric toothbrush for your face. In the last 2 weeks, it has worked WONDERS on my face! (Do I sound like a commercial yet?! I promise, Olay isn't paying me to write this.) My acne is almost non-existent, my pores are SIGNIFICANTLY smaller, and I'm pretty sure that my dreaded forehead wrinkles (thanks to 2 kids) are disappearing!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this thing! It's very similar to the ultrasonic face cleaning brushes that estheticians often use, but since those cost close to $200, this thing is a steal of a deal. Mine was $30 on Amazon, but I just checked again and the price has dropped to $25 (and Amazon is offering a $3 off coupon on top of that!). Just thought I'd pass along the info in case anyone is interested.

Random Photos from February...

2011-02-20T23:21:00.000-06:00

Random February pictures:

We decided to have a big "movie party" to try and get Olivia used to sleeping in her sleeping bag (which she's still not a fan of). It made for a fun night though!

Madeline developed a new love for clean laundry. While I'm folding clothes, she likes to dump the entire basket out on my bed and throw the clothes all over the place. Super fun game! She especially loves playing with Olivia's panties as demonstrated here....haha, true story!

Right around 6 1/2 months Maddie learned to sit up. Yay!! I love when my babies get big enough to sit up and look around and play with toys. It makes life much happier for all of us.

We also put her on her hands and knees to see what she would do. Her sad little face says it all-- She HATED it, which was totally fine, because I was in NO rush to have a mobile baby.

This little wooden stack of rings is her FAVORITE toy in the entire playroom. She loves taking apart the tower.

Yummmm....socks!

We also got to watch baby Braden (the Guerisoli's baby) for the first time. He's 2 months here. My girls are both obsessed with Brayden for some reason. Maddie especially loves seeing another baby and constantly tries to touch him.

Gotta love M's pot belly stickin' out here:

Love my happy baby!

Mom & Dad's Visit

2011-02-16T23:07:00.000-06:00

My parents flew in on Valentine's Day to meet their newest grandson! It's great living near a sibling because you get TWICE the visits from the grandparents. :)

First stop: Playing in our newly set-up playroom...One of these days I'll post pics of the completed project.

My mom and dad brought the kids Valentine packages which included glow necklaces! Liv's favorite! Grandpa helped her make lots of jewelry.

My girls with Grandma:

Dad getting to hold baby Jake:

Liv and Bry making a train!

Maddie loves playing with my parents:

We did a lot of hanging out during the week....Both at our house and Shannon's house. We also went out to eat a few times, saw a movie, played LOTS of Qwirkle and Ticket to Ride, and had fun catching up. It was my parent's third visit to Texas in a 6 month period-- We are spoiled!

The Exersaucer

2011-02-16T09:04:00.000-06:00

My parents gave Madeline an exersaucer for Christmas and it has been WONDERFUL. She absolutely loves it. Her favorite thing on it is this mirror:

She LOVES seeing herself!

I just had to include this picture because I think it's so funny-- Her legs are so long that she can't even straighten them! And it's on the very tallest setting!! This girl is gonna be tall.

Maddie loves her daddy. I love this picture of them:

Valentine Houses

2011-02-15T09:45:00.000-06:00

In December, I bought the materials to make gingerbread houses with Olivia. She was so excited, but the month quickly got away from us and we never had a chance to do them. I planned on making them in January with her, but that month was equally crazy, so FINALLY in February, I told her we could make them, but decided to call them "Valentine Houses" instead. I just swapped out my Christmas M&M's for a bag of pink and white Valentine M&M's and added a box of conversation hearts, and we were able to use up the red and white Christmas candy I already had. It ended up being such a fun activity! I think we might keep this tradition going since there's always so many sugary sweets in December anyway.

Grant helped Olivia with her own mini house...

And I made a big house...Because I'm weird, and yes...activities like this are still fun for me!!!

Here's the back of Livvy's house (see the smiley face she added?):

And the front-- I thought she did a great job!

Here's my house:

And the back:

My Little Valentine's

2011-02-14T23:11:00.000-06:00

Ahh! I just love these sweet girls....Especially in their cute Valentine dresses.

Madeline at 7 Months

2011-02-12T09:30:00.001-06:00

Maddie's 7 Month Stats:

Height: 29.5 inches

Weight: 18 lbs. 4 oz.

A few things about Madeline at 7 months:

-Sits by herself for 10 minutes at a time
-Says mamamama, daddadadd, babababa
-still only has 2 teeth
-loves to eat puffs
-loves to walk (holding our hands)
-starting to thin out because of how much she moves
-can hold herself in crawling position— I'm sure she'll start crawling any day now
-Lays on her stomach and makes 360 degree spins on the floor to get the toys she wants

-Hates laying on her back- she wants to be up so she can see what’s going on
-I'm embarrassed to say it, but she still needs to be swaddled to sleep. She also still gets up once a night, but we're working on both of these issues
-She only uses a binky to fall asleep and when she’s fussy
-still takes 3 naps a day

-She is becoming an early bird, and is usually awake before Olivia
-eats solids 3 times a day, and nurses 5-6 times a day
-still won’t take a bottle, but loves when we give her sips of water from a sippy cup
-She does this funny thing where she says "nananana" while shaking her head from side to side
-This girl is VERY texturally-oriented (is that even a word?!?). She loves feeling, grabbing, and touching things, and wants to have something in her hand at ALL times
-She's had 3 ear infections in a row-- I'm really hoping she doesn't need tubes.
-Apparently Grant is the baby whisperer because whenever I can't get her to sleep, he ALWAYS can. She's a TOUGH one when it comes to sleeping.

-Maddie hates green veggies so we have to sneak a little in to her orange veggies
-She started to wave bye bye, pat, and give kisses
-She has this funny open-mouth-scrunched-nose laugh
-I think this is my favorite age! She's not mobile yet, and doesn't talk back or disobey....She's just fun, happy and wanting to learn anything she can!

-Loves baby food (as long as it's homemade) but hates being in high chair if there's not some food for her to eat. She wants her food to be shoveled down throat quickly!!
-She throws her binkies behind the crib- The other day I found 9 back there!

Baby Jakey

2011-02-07T09:22:00.000-06:00

My sister asked me to do a little photoshoot of Jacob when he was just a few days old. I'm quickly learning that newborns are HARD to photograph!

This might be my favorite:

Love that wrinkled little forehead!

So tiny...

Another one of my favorites:

Snow Day!

2011-02-05T22:58:00.000-06:00

On February 5th, we woke up and looked out the window to find THIS:

SNOOOOOW!

This was a first for us after living in San Antonio for 3 1/2 years. And when San Antonio gets the tiniest bit of snow/ice the city SHUTS DOWN completely. It's actually really scary to drive in because there is no salt on the roads. One of our friends actually totalled his car that morning!

Olivia was blissfully happy and couldn't wait to go outside and touch it. It was her FIRST time seeing snow!

It wasn't until we stepped onto the porch that she realized how cold the snow actually was!

A view of our street's snow-capped rooftops!

Our girls CLEARLY do not have sufficient snow gear, but we made do! Madeline thought we were CRAZY for taking her in the cold.

Olivia and I tried to make a mini snowman with an ice cream scooper but the snow here in Texas turns to ICE the minute it hits the ground. No Utah powder for us! It turned out cute once we added a carrot sliver nose and mini chocolate chips for the eyes and buttons (hey! I was trying to improvise!), but it didn't even survive long enough for me to take a picture. A few hours later, we went on the porch to check on our sad snowman and a dog was eating the chocolate chips!! Olivia still talks about how mad she is at that dog for eating our snowman. :)

After just a few short minutes outside, we were all ready to head back into our warm house. We're wimps. We stayed in our jammies all day and hung out watching movies. Because, a snow day means I don't have to do any of MY chores, right?!?

It was a happy day, but also a reminder of why I live in sunny Texas!

Jacob Curtis Webster

2011-02-02T22:18:00.000-06:00

On February 2nd, our new little nephew Jacob was born! He's such a sweet baby!

It was the first time that I didn't have to travel far to see one of my new nieces/nephews....Just a 10 minute drive to the hospital, so I could meet him the day he was born.

Unfortunately, we had record-breaking freezing temperatures (in the 20's!!) all week long, so we had to bundle up!

So sweet...

Olivia got to meet Jake when he was 2 days old. We snuck some good food into Shannon because hospital food is YUCK. During her stay we brought 5 Guys burgers, Firehouse Subs, and Orange Leaf Frozen Yogurt.

Olivia was in heaven....She LOVES babies. Just today she said, "Mom, can we have another baby?" I said, "Honey, we already HAVE a baby." Then she said, "But Mom, I want the kind of baby that stays tiny and sleeps all day." Haha.....You and me both, sister!

Comparing 7 month old Maddie to Baby Jacob. Olivia was also 7 months when Bryant was born!

Sisters....Doesn't Shan look amazing for just having a c-section?! I'm convinced that giving birth naturally ages me 5 years each time I do it!

Olivia's Artwork

2011-02-01T23:37:00.000-06:00

Right around the time when Olivia was 3 1/2 she DECIDED that she wanted to learn how to read and write. She spells EVERY word in sight and is always saying, "Mom, what does ______ spell?" I am thrilled that she has such a desire to learn! She is a SPONGE these days and I am trying so hard to fill that sponge, hoping that she will never think learning is a chore. Also, since she will be starting Kindergarten the WEEK she turns 5, I want to give her every advantage possible so she won't feel like she's behind the older kids.

Thanks to super-fun white boards, Olivia quickly learned to write her name. This was the first time she did it completely by herself. Now she can pretty much do it with her eyes closed. "O for Olivia, L, I with a dot, V-- down up, I with a dot, little A with a tail."

One night, while I was making dinner, I looked over at what Olivia was coloring and realized that she was drawing little happy faces! It seems like such a simple thing, but it's AMAZING when your child's artwork turns from scribbles to actual THINGS. She was so proud of herself!
Adorable, right?

And don't you just love her get-up? Fairy wings, tons of dress up jewelry, and the crown that she insists on wearing upside-down because she thinks it's a headband. 100% GIRL...

Quick Gift Idea

2011-01-30T01:04:00.000-06:00

My sweet Grandma recently moved from her wonderful memory-filled home into a special care center which is better equipped to help her deal with her ever-debilitating Lou Gehrig's disease.

I decided to send her a Valentine's package full of love notes and fun little things that she could use in her new situation (a cute box of tissues, photos of my kids, comfy socks, chapstick, my favorite lotion, homemade bread, etc.). One of the things that I thought would be useful was a bottle of hand sanitizer (I keep hand sanitizer in almost every room of my house--Ha!), but I wanted to make it look cute. I bought this bottle for $3 at Target, pulled off the clear label, and decorated it with a few 3D stickers from Hobby Lobby. I finished it off with a bunch of ribbons at the top (because I am of the belief that EVERYTHING is better with a little ribbon!).

It took me probably 5 minutes to make and turned out so cute. I think this would make an easy (and cheap!) teacher gift too!

Cooking with the Cousins

2011-01-28T22:15:00.000-06:00

My sister and I decided to put our older kids in weekly cooking classes for the month of January. There is an adorable little shop called the Little Chef's Academy that offers a variety of themed cooking classes for kids. Olivia has always loved cooking, but doing it with her cousin Brookie was even more fun. Plus, Shannon and I loved having a few hours to chat each week! Things like this make it so fun to have a sister living close-by! January was shapes month, so each week they focused on making different shaped foods. On square week they made baked ravioli and homemade pasta. During triangle week they made fresh tortillas and fruit salsa with cinnamon chips. And during rectangle week they made granola bars.

Putting the dough through the "pasta bike:"

At the end they let the kids vote on how much they liked the taste of their food:

It was adorable and we will certainly be going back. I love that Olivia loves to cook and hope that she never looses that desire. It's such a wonderful skill to have!!!

Shannon's Baby Shower

2011-01-16T00:01:00.000-06:00

I got to throw a baby shower for my sister Shannon and all of her friends! We live across town from each other, so it was a great chance for me to meet everyone she talks about all the time. One of her friends was nice enough to offer her house so we didn't have to make everyone drive all the way to my house. After serving lunch, we did another cookies and milk bar, like I did for Bethany, but by round two I had perfected all of my cookie recipes and figured out a better system for making 21 dozen cookies and keeping them all fresh! Haha! It was a little interesting trying to transport all of my jars and decorations and set it all up in a house I had never been to before, but we made it work!!

Shan got some great gifts and Kenny surprised her at the end by showing up with a video monitor (BEST invention EVER) and a new video camera.

And just wait till you see the pictures of sweet Baby Jacob!

Maddie at 6 Months

2011-01-12T23:04:00.000-06:00

I am kicking myself because I hardly wrote anything down about Maddie when she was 6 months old. Here are a few tidbits though: -We started her on solids at 6 months. A whole 2 months later than Olivia. It was the best decision ever! We went straight to fruit and veggies (mixed with cereal) and skipped the miserable rice cereal only phase that Olivia hated so so much. Maddie really detested the store bought variety, so I decided to make and freeze a bunch of homemade baby food. She thought it was the best thing in the world! I will totally be making it for any future kids too. So little effort but I feel so much better feeding her green beans that are actually GREEN and not brown. :)

-She LOVES the exersaucer that Grandma and Grandpa O gave her for Christmas. Seriously....HOW did I live without one of these the first time around?!?! I just keep it next to my desk and she plays happily while I get stuff done.

Look at this SAD face!! "Mom, ENOUGH with the pictures!" She was NOT feelin' the photoshoot that day.

-She started sitting at 6 1/2 months! Yay! I love the phase when babies can sit and play happily, but are not yet mobile and into everything.

-She is a BUSY girl and is SO grabby. She will grab ANYTHING in sight. Exhibit A:

-At 6 months, she's a pretty easy-going baby. She just goes with the flow and puts up with her schedule being thrown off every once in a while. I guess that's the nature of a second child!

-She and I are officially on our FOURTH round of thrush. We both get put on antibiotics, I sanitize everything known to man (over and over and over again), and yet we still manage to pass it back and forth. It's miserable.

-Madeline loves eating any "big people food." And Olivia loves to help feed her!

-Madeline thinks her sister is so funny. Olivia is great about keeping her entertained!

-We introduced the Jumperoo this month and she LOVES it. This girl has got some strong legs and loves to stand, so it's perfect.

She's such a sweet, beautiful baby. We love you so much, Maddie Sue!!!!!

Guerisoli Family Pictures

2011-01-08T20:51:00.000-06:00

Back in January, my friend Bethany let me come take some photos of her sweet newborn, Brayden. Brayden is a complete ANGEL, so I jumped at this opportunity. Unfortunately, it was late in the day so we had some pretty awful lighting, but I still think they capture what a sweet baby he is. We call the Guerisolis our "Framily" because they are as close as friends can come to being family (without an actual genetic connection). We love them and fully plan on Maddie marrying this stud someday. Good thing they're not ACTUALLY related. :)

What an adorable family:

Brooke is Olivia's BFF and she is such a great big sister too!