Quotes

Mark has a couple of guys that work for him and they only speak spanish and they live in pasco which is about an hour and a half from us. Anyway, one of them came down to work for mark on a house he just started and ended up spending the night to save driving time. Madi becaue good buddies with Jose that night and they watched snow white together! Then a couple days later I was driving home from the store and mark called to say that the "amigos" (his workers) would be spending the night again.
me to madi : guess what madi? Daddy is bringing some friends over to spend the night tonight"
madi: who is coming "como estas?, or Cj (marks brother)?


A conversation we had earlier today:
me: madi, you can't wear a swimsuit out in the snow!
Madi: I don't want to wear a coat, it is too cold!


Her prayer tonight after we threatened her that santa would only bring her toys if she was a good girl:

madi: dear heavenly father, please bless santa to bring me toys, and help mom and dad to sleep good!

Random thoughts

Well, some exciting things have been happening around here. Well, I guess just one thing. Tyce is walking! Mark is very relieved, he was starting to get anxious that tyce was not walking when madi did. I didn't care, but it is always fun when a new milestone is reached. Madi is saying funny things all the time, I just wish I could remember them for more than 5 minutes.

I have had so many projects the last couple of weeks I am kind of projected out! My house has gone by the way side as I have made over 300 cinnamon rolls in the last couple of weeks for various people/events, made gift baskets for a craft bazaar, made birthday presents, hair bows for a wedding and more hair bows for a friends salon, and then helped my mom with a couple of her projects. I went and helped clean the temple last week and decided that is the way to go as far as cleaning goes. You need to get 12 people and knock out your whole house in an hour. And then of course they have to come back next week and do the same thing! It's good to be busy...it's also good just to be home.

Letting Go

If there is one thing I have learned being a mother, it is that you have to let some things go. There comes a point when you have to say, "okay, what is important to me and to the health/development of my children, and what isn't". Things like discipline, politeness, kindness etc. are on my "do not let go under any circumstances", but here are a few of the the things I have let go, and they might suprise you:

1. Clothes. Madi can be seen at any point in the day wearing crazy outfits (see above pictures) , if she is even dressed at all. Tonight, she wore her swim suit to bed.

2. hair. I always thought I would have my kids hair done every day, however, it seems pointless when madi barely has a head of hair, and, because she is changing clothes so frequently, even when I do it, it lasts about an hour. The exception to this is church, at least when I walk in the chapel her hair is done, after that.......who knows.

3. socks. most of the time, my kids do not wear socks with their shoes. I put them on and they are taken off 2 minutes after getting in the car. My mazda is a sock graveyard. I can't really blame them, I don't like socks either

4.shoes. It is a rare occasion (usually church) when madisen has matching shoes on. And if they are matching (oh, rare of rare days!) they are on the wrong feet. She likes to do it herself and I have learned not to argue.

5. sleeping. I never thought I would let my kids sleep with me but when they come in in the middle of the night I am too tired to take them back to bed and face a meltdown because there are monkeys in her room. (I wouldn't advise this unless thery are potty trained through the night. Last night madi had an accident in our bed. Don't worry, I was fine, mark was sleeping next to her.....boy was that a rude awakening, for a moment he thought he had done it!!

My life is better and less stressful since I have put into practice the art of "letting go". What do you "let go?"

One Fine Day

Woke up today and mark brought tyce in for a good morning kiss. Madi came in shortly with mix matched top and botom because every night she has a wardrobe change around One a.m. I made eggs and toast and then wiped them off and set them down to play. I was able to clean my kitchen, wipe down table, and load the dishwasher. I went into my room where they had headed and heard them laughing together in the bathroom. Bliss. I sat on the bed and just listened for awhile. Got them both in the bath. More laughing and giggling, while I cleaned the bathroom. Put tyce down for a nap and then worked out while madi watched sesame street. Finished workout, swept and moped my kitchen and bathrooms, picked up living room. Tyce woke up happy and smiling. Played in his room for a while. Shampooed madi's bedroom carpet. Bundled up and went outside to rake leaves. Made a huge pile of leaves that the kids jumped and sat in. Thought we lost madi's shoes and gloves in leaves, but they were recovered. Came inside, read books, made hot chocolate. Made grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. Hoped in the shower. Madi had to get in too...again. Read books to madi, sang songs, held her on my lap, heaven.....put her down for a nap. Put tyce down for a nap. A friend came over to babysit while I ran some errands for both of us. Came home, danced in the kitchen with cinderella and her prince. Made dinner. Folded laundry while madi pushed tyce around in the laundry basket. Rocked and read stories to tyce, put him to bed..felt loved. Mark came home.. best part of my day. Went to practice the song I have to sing next sunday. Stopped at my mom's for an apron pattern. She had the apron mostly done. Hung out for a little with my mom..refreshing. Came home, made hot chocolate, hung out with mark. Remembered how much I like hanging out with him. Read scriptures and went to bed.
Days like this are worth remembering.

Halloween Beauties!!

Madisen was cinderella for Halloween this year and she pretty much wore this dress for the whole month of october. She even sleeps in it most nights! But she deffinitely looks like the bell of the Ball! We went to my mom's for a pre-trick or treating dinner of hamburgers and hot dogs and then went to our ward trunk or treat. Trick-or treating out in the country is a little tricky. You end up dricing in the car more than knocking on doors. I think we knocked on one door after the ward trunk or treat (which is the best idea ever, whoever thought of that gem!).

Tyce was a frog, but not just any ordinary frog, he was one kiss away from turning into a handsome prince, it you were wondering what the red marks are al over his face, they were the failed attempts of damsels who weren't truly princesses to turn him into a prince. Cat's out of the bag, I am not a real princess. Not even a pea under my mattress would keep me up at the end of a day with these guys!

Mark dressed up as a tired construction worker, he wears his costume all the time too! I however did not dress up but I think I would make a great witch on most days! On a really good day I would be Glenda, on a bad day....you might think a house fell on my sister that morning.

Tyce was my little helper in making these caramel apples for family night. Apparently he is a big chocolate fan.

This was our family home evening treat when we were carving pumpkins, they turned out pretty tasty, but really how can you go wrong? My favorite is the one dipped in caramel, then white chocolate and then rolled in cinnamon and sugar, it makes it taste like apple pie! I don't think I can even consider this a fruit anymore.

Fall Fabulous!

This was taken on our way out the doot to mark's cousin/s wedding reception. Madi's hair has turned pretty curly the last couple of months. Unfortunately, it's alot like mine and isn't a real firm curl, but is makes her look like a little cherub! She also got this new skirt and sweater for her birthday. She is so cute in it and loves to twirl around and hold her skirt like a princess. I wish I had this outfit!!

ON family night we carved pumpkins and i made some caramel apples. I love halloween and fall! I also love this super cheesy picture of Mark, especially since I have a hard time getting him to smile when I have a camera around.

More party pictures

Another view of the dress-up chest.

Madi waiting for the ball to start and her guests to arrive. OR should I say Cinderella? I am still amazed that I was able to put her hair in braids.

The royalty themselves.

Mark and the kids playing outside while I finish decorating madi's cake. Mark deffenitely got the better end of the deal!

Princess Party!!!

Well, we have had another birthday. Madisen turned 3! I can't believe I have a 3 year old! In honor of this special occasion, we had a princess party for her. I made a princess and the pea cake and we had all her cousins dress up in whatever costumes they wanted. It was really fun.

As an activity I read the story of the princess and the pea and then we hid a little ball under some pillows and all the cousins got to see if they could find the ball just by sitting on the pillows, and if they could, they were a REAL prince or princess.

We had kind of a "dress up" theme and so mark made madi this dress up chest to put all her dres ups in. It turned out really cute and has come in handy with all the new dres-ups she got. For snacks I had a few little things with tags behind them. For instance, I had a plate of cut up apples and the tag read "snow whites apples. (The non-poisonous variety)", we had cinderella's mice munchies (cut up cheese), Ariel's under the sea sandwhiches (tuna sandwhiches), and Lady and the tramp hot dogs. So it was a fun party. It has felt a little like christmas around here with all the gifts, I will have to remember not to have my next child in the month of october.

One year older and wiser too!

Tyce had his first birthday on saturday!! How did that happen? He throws his arms up and can say touchdown so I made him a football cake for his birthday and he loved it! We had friends and family over and had spaghetti because it is his favorite and then cake and ice cream. We were in a little bit of a rush because we had to have the boys done by 5 so they could go to the priesthood session.

The football actuall is on a little piece of card board and so I took it off and tyce got to dig into it all by himself. I am pretty sure he went into comatose from all the sugar

This is madi's first pony tail!!!! Yes I know she is almost 3 but her hair just does not grow! Can you tell it is being held together by about 3 bobby pins but who cares? What a fun week! There is nothing like birthday parties to bring out the kid in you. Mark has been playing with tyce's tractors most of the day so it was a success all around!

A glance back and look forward

This was taken when mark and I were dating. Look, I still have the "college glow"!

Mark and I were laying in bed the other night and I asked him if there was one time in his life he would go back to and freeze time what would it be. His was a toss up, his mission, or his freshmen year in college. I would deffinitely have to say my years in college. And then I got to thinking if there would ever be a time in my life as good as those years. That's not to say that I am not happy, or that college didn't have it's challenges, just that it is such a unique time in life. So I asked my sister and a couple other people and the consensus was unanimous........no, there will never be another time like that. Does that make you sad? It did me, until I realized that there are alot of things I am looking forward to, (again, not that I don't appreciate this time in my life, but I must be honest and say that I have never reached my breaking point so often, or yelled so much in my life combined! And I don't consider myself a yeller, but seriously, why am I still cleaning up pee???? She has been "potty trained" for a couple of months now, so I thought) Anyway, here are my top 10 things to look forward to:

1. First days of school

2. kids sporting events

3. running around like crazy after school to do all the kids' activities

4. piano lessons (yes, I am imposing my own lack of skill on my children!!!)

5. taking them to sportcamp/efy at BYU ( I don't know why but I think that will be so fun!)

6. school programs

7. logical and lucid conversations with my children ( I take it back, the silly conversations are more fun!)

8. sitting around together and laughing on a sunday evening

9. a flat stomach (please tell me when I am done having kids that this is a possibility.......lie if necessary)

10. Sleeping in

I may never get my college days back, but maybe I can live vicariously through my kids , except this time I won't gain the freshman 15..............I don't think.

So this week was my big canning week. I am so proud of myself, this is my first attempt canning peaches by myself. It really isn't as hard as it seems, I am just hoping no one gets botulism from these. Keep your fingers crossed.

My sister and I also made this home made applesauce. Her husband is a farmer and has an apple orchard so we got these right off the tree. I think we ended up with 17 containers. It tastes amazing with whip cream on top becaue we put cinnamon and sugar in ours. It took us about 6 hours to do it and clean up. I was exhausted at the end of the day.

With some of the leftover peaches I made this freezer peach jam and I also froze some peaches to use later for pies or smoothies. Last night I canned some spaghetti sauce with a friend until about 10 o'clock but I couldn't post a picture becaue it is setting up at her house. It smelled great though.

And, while I was busy building up my food storage all week, this is what my kids were doing. And i didn't even care as long as they were out of my way and steered clear of the large pot of boiling water that was going for hours at a time.

Touchdown!

Tyce has learned a new trick. Whenever we say "touchdown!" this is what he does. His uncle Jeff would be so proud. We took this picture on our camping trip in chelan, they loved it

This weekend we took our first and only family vacation with a good friend and her husband

in Chelan (about 2 hours from us) who invited us to go up their with them and another couple to go camping in her back yard ( it is huge!). It was really fun and there was so much to do there. IT is one of those 100 year old houses that her parents fixed up and they have a ton of acreage and horses and rose gardens and vegetable gardens that all you gardners would drool over. I don't think she would ever have to go to the store. It was really fun for the kids, but you deffinitely have to wathc your kids because there is alot they could get into. The little kids went horse back riding, we went our to eat at this great little shop and then we went swimming at the cleanest lake I have ever been to. It was a great weekend and just the right amount of time. It is so hard sometimes to go camping (or anywhere for that matter) with young children. Of course madi got

a bladder infection and needed to use the potty every 20 minutes and had a few accidents.

Anyway, it was really fun and it makes you appreciate your own bed and schedule you know?

Funny madi incident:
madi was in the bathroom filling up the sink with water ( does anyone else have a child obsessed with water?) and she dropped my phone in it.
me: madi!!!! You broke my phone.....I am so upset that you put it in the water
Madi: (holding her hands up in the air with a shrug) I wish I could help you mom........do you want a towel? but...... I still a nice girl

grandma christensen took madi potty during church and them she went to use the rest room
madi: okay grandma, just be careful!

My big fat anniversary, swimming lesson and birthday

This week was mark's birthday and our anniversary. For marks birthday we went to the fair and then had cake and ice cream with family.

This is madi at her last swim lesons! It took the whole time for her to want to jump off the diving board, but she did a great job. Look at that form! I was so proud of her. She loves swimming lesons and has really come a long way.

I can't believe we have been married for 4 years. It has gone by so quickly, and yet I can't remember a time when I wasn't married! We went into the tri-cities and had dinner and then went to some shops. It was so nice to have time alone together, and getting in and out of the car was so fast! Thanks audge for babysitting!

Thoughts for a sunday afternoon

You know that thing you remind yourself of again and again that you need to buy at the store? And then you get to the store and one kid is eating everything you put in the cart and the other one is crying because he wants to eat everything you put in the cart and somwhere amidst the chaos you come home with about half of what you were supposed to get and you can't believe you forgot to get that thing you went to the store in the first place for? Well that "thing" for me has been camera batteries. I have gone to the store twice now and come home without them, and since it takes me a half hour to get to the store I can't just run back and get it. Which is why this is the most boring post ever because I have no pictures to convince you that my life really is the dream it appears to be!! Right! Anyway, Both of my kids have ear infections in both ears and colds and I think Tyce is teething (it must be noted, however,that I always think tyce is teething. Why else would such a pretty baby cry so much?? This is a rhetorical question......I really want to know!). Also, I feel like the weeds around my house are trying to devour us. I think the weed killer we put on then was actually fertilizer, they are huge!. I feel intimidated by them, and tend to steer clear, which now that I think about it, is probably how the situation got so out of control in the first place. I saw a movie once ( actually if I remember correctly it was a musical) about a plant that wanted to eat people ....... I think it has been reincarnated as a weed. Well, I should now end the most random post I have ever written ( thus far). I will post picture of said weeds.............when I get camera batteries.

The last couple of weeks have been busy ones for us. It started when tyce and I took a little trip to St. George (pictures soon) for a reunion with the girls I went with to Romania ( the second time). We had a blast and tyce was a trooper even if he was attatched to my hip the whole time. He is a momma's boy if I ever saw one. Do you ever get the feeling that you bring out the worst in your kids? when I am around, tyce cries alot and has to be held by only me. But the other day my mother in-law had him for a couple hours and she said he was perfectly content to crawl around and never made a peep. Huh, I am not goint to let myself analyze that too deeply. Anyway, it was a really fun weekend but it is always good to come back home. Next time I want to go without a baby so I can sleep in. Especially when you are up til 2am everynight talking and up at 6:30 every morning. Then I got back and a couple of days later got a really bad sinus infection and was down for the count for about a week. There is nothing worse than being a sick mom. Luckily I had some help from my mom and mother in -law, but it was still a rough week. So now I am recovered just in time for my kids to get sick.

Funny madi quote:

I caught her sitting on a stool at the counter talking to herself

"jesus says be nice to everyone, and don't....hit....ANYTHING!!!

tyce is scooting all over the house, I can hear him grunting when he is going from room to room looking for me..........and he always finds me. I adore him.

Top 10

Top ten reasons why I love this picture:
1. Notice madi's outfit, green sweater in the middle of july! I have yet to win a wardrobe battle when she puts her mind to something
2. Everytime she wears these blue pajama shorts she reminds me that they were her cousin carson's and he gave them to her, which is not the case, so tiff, if you are missing the set to some blue pajama bottoms, well, here they are
3. We have to sing "row, row, row, your boat everytime either of the kids get in this laundry basket
4. Tyce looks like he is holding on for dear life
5.They played with this basket happily for about 10 minutes
6. Tyce laughed as madi pulled him all over our house, road bumps and everything
7. It looks like that doll in the back ground was a casualty of the "boat" escapade
8. They are both looking at the camera....how rare is that?
9. I am not in it
10. There are no clothes in the basket which means I actually got them all folded! I am gloating even now as I write this!!

You know you can almost feel a catastrophic day coming on when you hear these words from your husband "I have been asked to speak with a high council member on sunday in another city" For those of you who don't know, this simple phrase implies so much.
1. I will battle my children alone on sunday, i will be switching from one- on- one, to zone defense (those of you who don't know me well might actually be fooled into thinking i know basketball.....)
2. mark probably will forget to ask someone to teach his sunday school class so I will have to do it.
3. There will undoubtedly be at least one melt down in which new sunday clothes or shoes will have to be found. (it was the shoes, she lost the matching pair and it was all I could do to find a matching pair that of coure she didn't wear at all during church.

So I knew there would be some challenges today but what I didn't know was that I would jump in my car ( with enough time to get to church on time thank you very much) To find that I couldn't get my car to run. I thought I had a flat tire and pulled off the road onto the bank by our house and then proceeded to get the car stuck in sinking dirt. I was able to get a hold of my mom in the nick of time to come pick us up and change the carseats over to get to church a half hour late. I did end up teaching mark's sunday school class with tyce in tow for half the lesson, and then I had to drag the whole class in to the nursery with me to do singing time ( I am the primary chorister). To top it all off I was teaching our primary kids a new song.............in spanish. I speak more romanian than I do spanish and the two languages have somehow converged in my head so really I don't know which is which. "whats that thing called when everything intersects? the bermuda triangle!" ( if you can tell me what movie that is from you are my hero). Anyway, mark met us at the end of church and drove us home and then went out to see what tire was flat and he discovered that all my tires were fine.........I had my emergency break on. So now it is officially time to end my special day......until next time.
seriously though, who know what movie that is from.......keep in mind it is me quoting it, that should narrow things down a bit.

Firsts

This is one of my bow holders and one of my favorite bows I made for summerfest. I have about 6 more that I am trying to sale. We'll see how it goes.

We had a couple of firsts this week that I thought I would celebrate.

1.Tyce started scooting across the floor!! I am so excited for him and sad for myself because he is growing so fast.

2. had my first "summer fest "booth at our community days event. I sold bows and bow holders just for fun. I didn't make a ton of money by any means, but at least I made something and didn't go in the hole for this little event. Although when I add it up I think I averaged about a quarter an hour.

3. I cleaned my room for the first time in about 3 weeks because that's where I was making all of my bows. It looks so much bigger than I remember

4. The first time I have made a cheesecake and it actually turned out!!

5. Madi's first swim lessons! She is such a little fireball. The girl who teaches her has her jump into the water from the side into her arms and madi is like a little missile and runs as fast as she can and then jumps spread eagle into the girls arms. She has taken her teacher under a couple of times!

6. I think I can officially say that madi is potty trained!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It has only taken us about 9 months off and on, but still......it is finished. Now I need to hire someone to clean my carpets! They were sacrificed in this process, but it was a worthy cause.

after the summerfest we went with family to a pond with a huge water slide. It was so much fun and so refreshing after being outside in the heat all day. My brother in law took a picture of madi and mark going down the slide together so I hope to post that one soon. Also, have I ever mentioned how much tyce eats? This kid eats me out of house and home, he wants to be eating all day long!! It's crazy! Tyce also went down the slide with mark(despite my objections) and the first two times it was fine, but then the third time mark lost his grip on him and mark had to pull him out of the water. why doesn't anyone listen to me? Of course the whole time I am hearing the voice from that guy who does the rescue 911 call on tv in my head narrating the play by play of the waterslide catastrophe. Luckily tyce was fine and it wasn't a big deal but still, it goes to show that my maternal instincts to protect my children and avoid dangerous situations is in fact right, .........in almost all situations. Mark just simply cannot be trusted. I will use my veto power next time for sure.

Small moments

I think it was last october conference, elder ballard gave a talk about motherhood and he said to enjoy the small moments. This week I recognized a few small moments where I took a mental picture of the moment and put it under my " I love to be a mother file".

1. I was making huge bubbles with the kids outside and madi dumped the whole bucket of sudsy water all over herself, and I , like the good mother I am, kept refilling it for her so she could "slip and slide" in the soap on our trampoline.
2. Madi fell asleep on my lap while I read her a story before naptime
3. Mark and I were pulling weeds and working in the yard and madi and tyce were outside with us on a blanket and madi was making tyce laugh so hard! He has the funniest low belly laugh I have ever heard on a baby! I love when they laugh together.
4. Madi came up to me and said out of the blue " I love you mom"
5. tyce played happily on the floor while I made dinner one evening
6. Madi didn't have and accident today

I know these don't seem like a big deal, but they meant alot to me at the time. I think elder ballard was right to encourage us to appreciate and enjoy the small moments, it made my week that much sweeter. And no, I didn't take any pictures of these small moments, I just sat and enjoyed them!

Funny madi quotes:

We were driving home from somwhere and had just reached the house when madi said: Let me out, so I can see the world!"

My sister audrey was speaking in church today and madi pints to someone in the bishopric and says, "he looks funny.." and then pointing to audrey "but she looks beautiful!"

Latest and greatest

our first watermelon of the summer! I love watermelon and look forward to this time of year !

I am so proud of myslef, I kind of made this one up as I went, I had and idea from something I had seen and this is my finished product!

Sorry this picture is sideways, I love this little butterfly bow, too bad it wasn't my idea!

Since this blog is really more of a family journal, I have to post some of the latest and greatest madi quotes.

We have been potty training for months now and she gets it, but is too stuborn to go and sit on the potty, here is her latest excuse

grandma jack to madi: okay madi lets go potty

madi: I can't, my pee-pee doesn't work!

apparently there is a leak because she has had about 3 accidents everyday for the last week or so!

Madi has this thing about leaving. She tells everyone, "I gonna leave (pronounced yeave) you! The other day we were over at grandma and grandpa christensen's and when it was time to go she had a melt down and said through her tears "I want to be yeaved!"

I had to write these down before I forgot, they were too cute!