Grandma's House

Poor Avery cried her heart out when we had to leave Grandma's house to come home. I do admit that I thik my kids have the best Grandma in the world. Here are some of the fun things we did at Grandma's house this time.

Make Sugar Cookies for Valentines!


Visit the Kangaroo Zoo!





Eat Snow.



Play in Snow.



Build a Snowman!
This one was particularly fun because Madelyn kept eating our snowman. She ate the first carrot nose so we got another. The eyes and buttons were made out of chocolate candies and she would take them off and take a bite then stick them back on. Silly girl. Notice all the eaten candy pieces on our snowman?



Snow Fight!




Making Snowflakes and eating snow again!


And create many more memories with family and friends!

Snow Much Fun

My mom flew down from Salt Lake to help with Madelyn's surgery and so we drove her home last week. On the way we stopped at my sister's house in Cedar and stayed a couple of nights. The girls love their Uncle David and Aunt Shelley. Madelyn especially created a bond with my sister and calls her, "Lelly" it is so cute. I love that my sister loves my kids so much. She is so much fun for them to be around.

"Birday, me?!?!?"

We finally celebrated Madelyn's birthday. It was really exciting. The night before the party I told her she need her rest because we were going to have a birthday party for her the next day. When I told her, her face lit up and she said. "birday, me?" over and over again. Then it was "birday me daddy!" She had a blast! You could tell she felt special. I don't know that she would have got it a month ago and this was perfect timing. I think she is finally figuring out she also has a special place our family.

Madelyn's Surgery

Well, the surgery is over. Everyone told me it was going to be a breeze and that little kids recover so much more quickly than adults but it was a nightmare. Yes she has rebounded quickly but the hospital stay and for two days after were miserable. Anytime you have to stay with your baby in the hospital all hooked up to monitors and an IV translates to misery! I tried to check us out of the hospital early but of coarse for liability reasons they wouldn't do it. But they were just as ready to throw me out the next day and I was the first one that they checked out as a result. Orneriness can pay off in the right situation.

Now Madelyn is talking up a storm. Prior to her surgery she had quite a bit of hearing loss and developmentally she has been behind. Now that she can hear it is so exciting to see her confidence this week. Everyday she is saying new words and responding so much better. That isn't to say she still has selective hearing figured out quite well but overall we are loving our new Madelyn!

CRASH! and playing catch up

So while I am already behind on posts it doesn't look like I'll be catching up anytime soon. We have been having a lot of trouble with our new MAC. Yes it is less than a year old and on Saturday they informed us that the hard drive has failed. They have been working on it all weekend and have been able to retrieve only a quarter of the info. That really stinks. And I had just read Tara's post about backing things up but really took it for granted because our MAC is practically brand spanking new and it's a MAC. Aren't they supposed to be the best?
FYI: If any of you out there have MACs you should know that you can buy an external hard drive and via the time machine feature it will back up all of your data hourly for you. Too bad I didn't know that before.

OH YEAH! and while I am on here I should add that we had an ultrasound last week and we are having a BOY!


Other news:
Lots of Dr visits. I never new the purpose of my last miscarriage but I figured that God had a plan in it all. I said before that I was having strong impressions to try again but I was reluctant. I now feel that perhaps the Lord needed me to lose the last one so that they could find out my condition and prevent me from losing further pregnancies and to get this one here when he need to be here. We did find a medical concern with my blood. The doctors say that it is a miracle that I ever had two full term healthy, live babies and without comlications to myself. For that I am extremely grateful. I am so grateful to have had two pregnancies of ignorant bliss and joyful anticipation. Unfortunately from here on out pregnancy is tainted for me. Every visit is filled with anxiety as I wait to hear the heart beat. I give myself blood thinning injections daily which is no fun and very costly. I do feel blessed to have health insurance too though.

Now, little Madelyn has to have her tonsils and adenoids removed and tubes in her ear. Unfortunately, my blood condition is hereditary and now they have to run tests on her to see if she has the same problem before they can do any surgeries. She has already had to have her blood drawn twice in the last month. Bless her little heart. It is no fun at all.

Needless to say, if you cannot reach us over the next few months, we are likely at one of the many doctor appointments we have scheduled. ie, we spent 9 hours at different Dr appointments this week alone! Dose anyone want an extra 4 year old? Avery is fed up with hanging out with us!


Madelyn turned two yesterday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MADDY! Luckily she is too young to understand and demand a birthday party. I know that I won't be able to get away with this forever but as we did last year, we are pushing her birthday celebration off a few weeks. It is just too soon after Christmas for me. Thank goodness the next one isn't around any holidays.



Any updated photos would be stuck on my MAC!@^!&*(^#@)$!

About Madelyn. She is truly our "Drama Queen"! Every bump, scratch, fall, even tap is followed immediately by a dramatic woe is me and only kisses make it better. She is very opinionated and is already very demanding about her wardrobe. Unless we are going somewhere, she insists on wearing her princess dress-up atire all day long! When we are going out, she insists on wearing either a dress or a skirt and loves to have leggins on with her skirts! She likes to have her nails painted but for some reason refuses to wear bows. She is a wild child, full of energy and spunk. I never wanted to be the parent who went to nursery to pick up their kid and weekly someone reminds you, "oh that one's spitfire isn't she" or "She's a livewire!" To put it nicely one woman said, "she can definately hold her own". But we love our Madelyn. Our beautiful, spunky, always hungry, silent assasin who still doesn't sleep through the night! Maybe the surgery will help with that.

Don't get caught being LAZY...

A few weeks ago Avery was noticing the many houses decorated with lights and such for the Christmas holiday. She then asked mw why we didn't decorate our house and I shouldn't have but did, tell her that is was because her father was lazy and didn't like to put up holiday decorations. As soon as we walked in the door that day she asked her dad why he was lazy. Oops! She made similar remarks to him about being lazy over the next few days and then it was over. But then on Christmas Eve poor little Avery was in a bad mood because none of her friends have been able to play because of the holidays and I have been so busy cooking that she had been felling pretty neglected. I saw a house all decked out in Christmas decorations and was excited to point it out to her hoping to lift her spirits. Instead of excitement this look of disgust came on her face and she said, "Well, even their Dad's not lazy!"

Merry Christmas to us!

Merry Christmas to us, Madelyn learned how to open the doors in our house. Great! Now we'll be starting over with the bedtime wars.

He's Making a List and Checking it Twice

It is Christmas Eve afternoon and I am in the kitchen slaving away. The girls are trying to entertain themselves by jumping off our pony wall onto the couch. I just glanced over at Avery and Madelyn sitting on the back of the couch and noticed a suspicious look on Avery's face. She was contemplating doing something that she new she shouldn't and when she noticed me looking at her she asked, "mom, has Santa checked his list twice yet?"
That little rascal!

Hot tub Time

Why the hats for hot-tub time? We are in Park City for Thanksgivig weekend and it is serious chilly out!

Temple Square Thanksgiving Weekend