The Christensen Connection

this killed me!

2012-01-20T17:34:00.001-08:00

Soup

2012-01-20T17:22:00.000-08:00

I love the change of the seasons. I love all the seasons for different reasons, most of which have to do with food (are you surprised? Really?). I love watermelon and barbecues in the summer and soup in the fall and winter. I could eat soup year round, but I love that it is socially acceptable in colder weather. Not that that stops me from making soup at other times of the year, I just won't blog about it then. My mom just made this soup and dropped it of for me to try. Ohh, it was nice, let me tell you. So if your soup recipe section is growing thin, here is a great one to try. Enjoy!

Italian Potato-Sausage Soup

20 oz. Jimmy Dean Sausage

1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

1 tsp. paprika

1 large onion diced

5 cloves of garlic minced

8 cups chicken broth

8 small red potatoes diced

1 tsp. italian seasoning

2 cups low fat or fat free milk

3 oz. light cream cheese

3 Tb. flour

2 Tb. butter

1.2 tsp. salt

3 cups baby spinach, chopped

Cook sausage in a large soup pot. Ad red pepper flakes, paprika, onion and garlic.

Saute until the sausage is fully cooked and drain if necessary. Add the chicken

broth and Italian seasoning, increase heat to high and bring to a boil. Add diced

potatoes, cover and reduce to a simmer. Cook potatoes until tender.

While the potatoes are cooking, place the milk, cream cheese, flour and salt in a blender.

Blend until smooth. Heat the butter over medium heat in a sausepan, then add the milk

mixture and cook over medium heat until thick. When the potatoes are done, add the

thickened milk mixture and chopped spinach. Season with Parmesan cheese before

serving.

Super Mom in disguise

2012-01-05T20:28:00.000-08:00

Today I was feeling ambitious and wanted to clean out and reorganize my closet. Among the pile of clothes I spotted tyce's missing shorts.

Me : Tyce look! I found your shorts

Tyce: ohhhh!! Awesome! Mom do you have magical powers?

why yes........yes I do. Thank you for noticing.

In case you think I really am super mom, I must admit this conversation I had with mark this very evening

Mark: any chance you did any whites? he asked with raised eye brows and skepticism in his voice

Me: ummmm, I got them in the wash?!

Mark: that IS an important step. Any chance they made it into the dryer??

Me: (with some hesitation) nooooo, not exactly, but I put them in the wash this morning so maybe by now some are dry??? (hopeful)

Mark: I doubt it

You can't win them all, it's nice to know that at least one person in this family has seen past the "mediocre mom" facade I try so desperately to pull off in order to keep my "super mom" true self under wraps. It's a tough job, and takes all of my time and concentration.

And I quote

2011-12-01T21:49:00.000-08:00

Just a few funny quotes from the kids this week

we were sitting at the dinner table this week and out of the blue madi says: "when I grow up, I want to be a waitress!"

I think I can officially say that I have failed her.

Earlier this week I was hounding madi and tyce to pick up their room, (can you tell this is a reoccurring theme in our family?). By the fifth time I had herded them back into their room to finish the job as I was breathing threats I don't even remember at the moment (thankfully), I remember being fully committed to following through with said threats.

About 5 minutes later madi says : Well, I picked up my stuff, and i recommended tyce pick up his stuff.

Apparently someone took me seriously. I wish all I had to do was recommend something and it would happen.....wouldn't that be nice!

Tyce and I had this conversation the other day

ME: tyce you need to wash your hands and go put your toys away ( you may read this nicely,...but it was not said in my nice voice. I have a tried and true "mom voice" that gets me results...I do not use it sparingly I'm afraid!)

Tyce: shrugging his shoulders....that doesn't make any sense!

So true, in fact I can't think of a single thing I have done raising kids that makes any sense at all. For instance, why do I allow madi stickers in the car, they end up plastered eternally on the inside window every time! Why are we in such a rush to teach our kids to write their names? Now various pieces of furniture are tagged "madi" all over the house! I let tyce color with markers.. I know it was a moment of thoughtlessness, he colored all over hali's face, and then she ate a green marker! I actually captured that one on my phone, it was pretty amazing! You are right tyce, it doesn't make any sense, not even a little.

A few to remember

2011-11-10T14:29:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to post a few pictures of us lately, or at least of the kids. Tyce has become quite the little talker these days and he has learned a few good one-liners from madi that are pretty funny. For instance, the other day I was getting on him about picking up his toys in his room
Me: Tyce, you need to put all your clothes back in your drawers if they are clean, and in the dirty clothes hamper if they are not
Tyce: That doesn't make any sense!

Funny, I thought I was being pretty clear.

Hali and madi are BFF"s. I am so glad they have each other's back since tyce gor 2 swords and a bow and arrow for his birthday. Hali got a shield. I had to give her a little protection at least.
I overheard this conversation between Mark and Madi when we were over at my mom's house
Madi: wow grandma, who painted this chair of yours
Mark: it's not painted madi, not everyone paints every piece of furniture in their house, just your mom

I would like to think he was paying me a compliment, but I am not entirely sure.

I just did this wedding cake for my brother-in-law's wedding last weekend. When I got to the reception I put flowers on top and around it as well but I don't have a picture of that yet. I am just relieved the darn thing turned out and stayed in one piece!!! I think I am retiring my wedding cake skills after this

Halloween

2011-11-10T14:18:00.000-08:00

Hallowen snuck up on me this year. Infact, everything is sneaking up on me this year it feels like. It was a fun year for dressing up though. A few weeks ago I was at the mall and saw this adorable little cupcake costume for Hali and it was on sale......the stars aligned!! And right next to it was a little hamburger costume that I thought tyce would get a kick out of (which he did). So I brought them home and the kids were so excited! Except for madi, I wasn't sure what she wanted to be so I didn't pick up anything for her and she was very disapointed. She decided to be a hot dog to go along with our entre and dessert ( she wanted me to be a milk shake and mark to be french fries). I gave it a few weeks and, wait for it...wait for it.....she changed her mind and decided she wanted to be rapunzel. Fine. On her birthday, grandma and grandpa christensen got her a rapunzel wigg, without knowing that was her current halloween obsession, which only spurred the fire. So, rapunzel and her "meal" were all happy with their costumes and mom was happy she hadn't bought the hot dog costume!

What a cute little cupcake!

I know, I know, the worst camera know to mankind is in my possesion, but, come black friday you will all be amazed at my photography!

Preschool!

2011-11-10T14:05:00.000-08:00

This is madi on her first day of preschool! She looks so old to me I can't believe she will be in kinder next year, and frankly I am terrified! I feel like I am flying below the radar right now. The only commitment I have is a few hours a week of preschool. We can go when we want to go, we can stay out late, we can go on a trip anytime. Next year will be a rude awakening. The bus comes to our house and 7 AM!!!! Yikes! I am not ready for all of that! I love having madi here with me all day (except during naptimes when she doesn't take a nap, my free time is gone!).

Here we are at Miss Angies taking a litle tour of the preschool.

Metaphorically speaking

2011-09-28T14:08:00.000-07:00

I am right in the middle of re-upholstering a couch and I have learned a few lessons I would like to share. I have decided that re-upholstery is like motherhood, it sounds like a great idea, you know you will be so glad you did it in the end...but the first fifteen minutes you realize just how much work you have created for yourself. I should have known this when Mark was hauling said couch into our bedroom and turned and looked me straight in the eye and said "I want no part of this". (what? the couch or the kids?) I shrugged it off and decided he was exaggerating...it wouldn't be that bad! Well, he was right, it is that bad. But, ever the supportive husband, when I told him I wanted to throw in the towel and take my $10 couch to the dump he said "oh no you don't, you are going to learn a lesson here, you are finishing that couch!" Apparently, he is getting a little tired of running to goodwill for me to pick up a desk, a chair, a couch, a...... you get the idea. So I am going to get through this the way I get through everything.....with a bag of liccorice!

"Nice Will"

2011-08-31T21:42:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I made a quick decision to run into Goodwill on my way to the grocery store and I hit the jackpot! I found the above deskwith hutch for $15!! Of course when I bought it was a light oak color, but not for long! I painted it white to match my bedroom because as you know my bedroom/office/workout room/craft room was getting a little cluttered and needed a makeover! I also got two uphostered chairs, a few vases that I also painted (you cannot bring furniture or accesories into my home without it being attacked by a can or two of primer and spray paint. It is a fact of life my husband has come to deal with and accept...in that order!). Anyway, I was so excited! I had been looking for a desk with a hutch and 2 chairs I could reupholster for months and the price tage made it "the One" for me! You can't beat $6 a chair! So the next day madi asked: Mom, will we be going to "Nicewill" again today?
I chuckeled and said, yes...."will" has been very nice to us lately hasn't he?

Here is a before of the chair

And the after. Not quite done in this picture but you get the idea. I had to paint the legs (I had to paint someting on this chair!!) but the whole thing came together easier than I had expected.

Found this old fram for $1 and used some scrap fabric I had to make a bow holder. This picture was taken before I glazed it to make some of the details stand out.

This is a rocking chair I inherited from Mark's aunt and uncle. It was a light oak. I got a new rocker/recliner when hali was born and wanted to play around with this chair so I painted it green, glazed it to make the details stand out and then recovered the cushions with black and white tualle (sp?). I donated it to our church's mother's lounge becasue we have way more mother's than chairs in their!

Like I said before, I gave my room a little makeover and painted these black sidetables and dresser white to match my bedding. I love how it turned out, it looks so clean and fresh! Note* this picture was not staged, excuse the clutter!

So...if you were wondering what I have been doing at naptimes and in the evening......there you go. And thanks again "Will" we think you are super nice!!

Fair!

2011-08-31T21:21:00.000-07:00

I have a guilty confession to make .........I am a total fair junkie!! I love the fair! Luckily Mark likes it as much as I do so we go every year. It has been fun to take the kids as they get older and can more fully appreciate the wonders that exist in this magical place. The rides, the food, the animals. every time I think of the fair I mentally sing Templeton's S'morgasbored song from Charlottes Web. you know the one. Anyway, here is a picture of the kids in Carnie Heaven!

They were smiling here but they hadn't even had an elephant ear yet!

Hali's Birthday Bash!

2011-08-31T21:14:00.000-07:00

It is so funny when you get a one year old in a front facing carseat..they look so little!! Hali loves to face forward now!

Some of theses pictures are so blury I don't know what happened! This was hali's party. We had a "MILK and COOKIES" theme to celebrate the introduction of the previously prohibited milk category in her limited diet. That was a mouthful! I had different kinds of milk and cookies and then I made a big cookie cake. She loved it!

I made these for each of the kids, they were little chocolate milk's with tags that said "I heart Milk"

It was a fun party. First birthdays are my favorite! I will say I was cookied out afterwards. I think we all were!

Hali is 1!!

2011-07-22T21:20:00.000-07:00

I can't believe my baby is one today!! With each child it seems to go faster and faster and I enjoy it more and more. This is Hali today when we were getting ready to go swimming. She loves the water, so I thought it might be something she would have fun doing today. We are celebrating on Sunday with family so I will post pictures then of the party. Hali has been such a wonderful addition to our family. She is so happy and fun-loving you can't help but smile when she is around. She loves to swim, drink, eat and play with madi and tyce. She is standing up and has taken a step or two on her own but prefers to crawl to what she wants. She can say mama and dada, and moo like a cow! But mostly she grunts or screams to get our attention! She is just such a blessing, we are so glad to have her! We love you Hali!!

Madi had this swimsuit and we compared pictures of the two of them and they look so much alike! In fact, I was telling Mark what a horrible job I have done of taking pictures of Hali and he suggested we duplicate some of madi's pictures for Hali's baby book! Nice. I can see that one backfiring.

This is a picture from the 4th of July, I made madi and hali skirts to wear but madi didn't want to cooperate for the camera so here is Hali in her "ruffle freedom skirt "as I call it! Frankly I am just glad it turned out because I didn't have a pattern and I was finishing them up late the night before because that's what crazy, sleep deprived mothers do......in case you were wondering.

Summer Fun!

2011-06-30T20:37:00.000-07:00

Madi loves her little sister! Her new favorite thing to play with Hali is dress-up ( suprise, suprise!). This is Hali, I mean tinkerbell, in her first photo shoot.

Even tyce got in on the fun. I sent this text to Mark while he was at work in an attempt to get him home early and save his only son. It worked!!

Such a pretty little fairy!

Now you all have a mental picture of Hali in her swimsuit. This is why summer is my favorite season, baby girls in swimsuits are a tourist attraction for sure! (Never mind her huge diaper, I forgot to get a swim diaper before we went swimming and poor Hali had to deal with the consequences!). We love summer!

Pre-School Graduation

2011-06-30T20:27:00.000-07:00

Madi had pre-school graduation the end of June and I am finally posting pictures! She really isn't graduating, she still has one more year, but she was excited about it anyway. She loved pre-school! It was fun to watch her learn and grow so much in one year. She can write most of the alphabet and her name. In fact, she has even tagged some of our furniture...how fun for me!

This is her class. She loved all the new friends she made.

Wedding Flowers

2011-06-30T20:21:00.000-07:00

I recently did the flowers for a wedding of some friends here in royal. She used mostly calla Lilly's and it turned out really simple and elegant. Above is the bridal bouquet.

I love the look of this swirling arrangement. We decided to add this arrangement in at the last minute and I am so glad we did, it went well with the look they were going for.

I love arranging with white and green hydrangeas, could be my favorite flower right now.

Don't be fooled by how simple this arrangement looks. I all but had to weld these babies to the bottom of the vase to keep them from floating up, and even that didn't work! It was high stress there for a while but finally I came up with a solution and it was so much easier than what I initially had experimented with. I dropped clear marbles in the center of the flower and weighted them down that way. Simple is always best...I hope I remember that next time! I do love how this turned out. Also, a little tip: if you do an arrangement like this, use distilled water so you don't get air bubbles on your flowers.

Pictures

2011-04-17T15:33:00.000-07:00

These pictures demonstrate why there are not more pictures on my blog. I am a horrible photographer. Luckily my subjects are patient with me, for the most part

I love this picture of Hali. This is the face she makes when she sees me! How lucky for me!

Updates!

2011-04-17T15:28:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how quickly time is going! This is Hali eating her first bowl of rice cereal. She has since decided that she really likes to eat. In fact, she is rarely happy if she isn't eating!

In these pictures you can see how far she has come in the world of eating. She considers herself a "foodie" in every sense of the word.

She is now also sitting up and scooting and rolling all over the floor. This week she will be nine months old! I can't believe that! I keep telling people that I just had a baby but I guess I can't do that anymore. Now what excuse do I have?

Just a few new ones!

2011-03-18T14:02:00.000-07:00

All morning I was encouraging/pleading/threatening the kids to clean up there room. I thought I was finally making some progress when Madi came into my room and said this:

madi: "well.. ( her hands in the air), tyce wouldn't clean so......we decided to clean next thursday."

my future little union worker!

Mark got on board and was trying to convince the kids to clean and had this conversation with madi

Madi: what could I do to make mom happy?

mark: it would make mom really happy if you went and cleaned up your room

Madi: Or............ I could do something else!

Being Still

2011-02-10T20:43:00.000-08:00

I am still here...I really am. Still alive, still moving, still chasing madi and tyce all over the house (except now tyce is usually naked since we are potty training. Pray for me and my last shred of sanity!). Still taking on more projects than I should even though my new years resolution was to let some things go, which I did, I just happened to pick other things up in their place! Still calling Mark every 5 minutes to see if he is on his way home (he never is, but I love that I am optimistic that today may be the day I have help in the evening), still cuddling little Hali (she makes my hard days happier), still picking up 20 outfits off the floor as madi has a wardrobe change every half hour, still waking up at 6 in the morning and committing to get up and exercise....and then rolling over, still folding laundry, doing dishes, still growing out my hair, still trying to remember to buy batteries for my camera, still appreciating the fact that I get to be home with the kids, still adding to the mounting pile of projects that need to be finished, still driving to my mom's or my mother-in law's when I need a place to go fro 3-5 in the afternoon (why is that time so hard?), still hoping for winter to end, still running a humidifier in both the kid rooms, still calling at least one of my sister every day ( sometimes I call them all in one day!!), still missing having neighbors and a sidewalk to walk on (I took those things for granted before) , still wondering how you get to 9 am church on time, or how to keep my house as organized and clean as my mom did with 7 kids, still eying my pre-pregnancy jeans with envy and hope.....maybe one day...., one thing I am not STILL doing is looking at my blog and telling myself to post something, and then switching over to a craft blog instead, I guess I still surprise myself sometimes.

Another one!

2010-12-07T13:42:00.000-08:00

I debated whether or not to post this latest quote but decided it was pretty funny.

I was in the bathroom calling out orders to the kids : Madi, you need to wear your white shirt with the pink vest....that matches it will go great.

Madi: Do I look like a retard to you?!!

On a side note.... we had a little talk about why we don' use that word, and how it isn't a nice thing to say, and luckily she hasn't used it since.

Quote of the day

2010-11-17T18:56:00.001-08:00

Tonight we came home from running some errands and I said: "okay you guys, I am going to make you dinner and then I am going to put Hali down"

Madi : "you are so predictable"

Madi is 4!

2010-11-08T21:18:00.000-08:00

So, 2 weeks after tyce's party, we invited the same crew over again to celebrate madi's 4th birthday. She wanted a princess and the frog party so I made her a frog cake. We had some better pictures of it on my mother-in-law's camera but I forgot to get them. Anyway, she loved her cake and of course was wearing her princess dress for the occasion. Madi still loves to dress up and changes clothes a million times a day. She is a great big sister and lets tyce get away with murder! He is so lucky to have her! But they are good buddies. Besides, she always needs a prince in her princess games and tyce is a pretty good prospect. She started pre-school this year and loves it! She loves to practice writing her letters and is especially foscused on being able to write her name and is geting prety close. She is my good little helper with the baby when she is not "too busy coloring" as is her favorite excuse for why she can't rock hali during dinner for me. We love you madi!

Tyce is 2!!

2010-11-08T21:09:00.000-08:00

Tyce had his second birthday a couple of weeks ago and we celebrated with some family sunday evening. His favorite treat is a cookie, so instead of a cake this year I did an ice cream sandwhich bar. I made 3 diferent kinds of cookies and had three diferent kinds of ice creams so you could make your own sandwhich and then I had a few topping to roll the sandwhich in. Tyce was in heaven! I think I made over 8 dozen cookies and I had about 5 left over when the party ended.

He got a toy motor cylce from us that he loves! I can't believe he is already 2! I am loving this age with him as he is talking more and says some pretty funny things. He is quite the character and makes us laugh with his silly gestures and facial expressions. He is still pretty timid around a crowd of people and wants to stay close to me until he feels comfortable. But once he is comfortable he is a crazy man jumping off couches and running around with his football. He loves to go to work with mark. In fact, he considers himself a pretty important employee to crive construction and wants to walk out the door every morning with his tools right behind his dad. When he is not working with his dad he is still busy hammering the walls all over the house (or hammering his sister). WE love you tycer!!

The magic of childhood

2010-11-08T20:59:00.000-08:00

I was taking advantage of a long nap that Hali was taking one day, trying to do some cleaning and organizing (yes, you read that right mom). The kids wanted to go outside so I absent -mindedly sent them out dressed for a cold rainy day, in jackets and pants and shoes (yes, they were fully clothed when I sent them out) I heard madi run in and out of the house a couple of times while I was cleaning but didn't think anything of it. Then I went into one of the back rooms to put clothes away and heard them laughing outside. I pulled up the blinds and found this.... madi in a swimsuit (come on, are you really that shocked? it is madi afterall) and coat and tyce rolling around in a puddle at the side of the house.

They were having so much fun...I stopped cleaning and just sat on the bed and watched the magic of childhood unfold before my eyes. I laughed outloud as I watched them roll and perform tricks for me. And the best part ........ they were making a mess outside and not inside!!

Random Pictures

2010-11-08T20:48:00.000-08:00

One sunday afternoon I was in the kitchen making dinner while the rest of the family took a little nap. I went into my bedroom where mark was supposed to be putting hali to sleep and found this scene. Apparently he did such a good job he put himself to sleep to!

This is kind of a funny angle of Hali but since I have been horrible about taking pictures this time around it will have to do. She is even cuter in person but unfotunately her mom is a dunce when it comes to photography! Oh well!

Quote of the week

2010-10-29T20:02:00.000-07:00

Today madi and I were watching the princess and the frog at the point when all the fireflies are singing, when she turned to me and said, "mom, bugs can't really play instruments can they?"

me: "no, you're right, bugs can't play instruments"

madi: " I know, they can just sing"

Free at last!

2010-10-28T19:23:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning with a sense of excitement. Today was a momentous day. Tyce got a bed and we put it in madi's room and now I can finally put Hali to sleep in her own room! All day today I planned what I would do with my free time this evening and with free reign in my room again. I looked around at the messy house and smiled to myself because as soon as the kids went down I was going to take control of the clutter once again. Maybe I would watch a movie or fold the 6 loads of laundry (the bane of my existence) that have been taunting me with guilt the last couple of days. Or maybe I would finish a project I started 3 weeks ago, or post pictures and blog about tyce and madi's birthdays or Hali's smiley face. The possibilities were endless. I just put hali to bed and then read to the kids extra long and sang about 6 songs to get them wound down for bed. And so as I sit typing this.....all three are crying in their rooms, and the laundry and clutter that surrounds me seems like a bigger task to tackle than it did earlier in the day. Mark won't be home until tomorrow and I am exhausted. I don't feel like doing any of the things I had planned for this evening, but I feel happy anyway! we had a good day with a costume party at preschool, a quick visit to grandma's, and homemeade tomato-basil-parmesan soup for dinner. I wish mark was here to share it with, but I loved being a mom today despite the mess and the laundry (well, maybe not the laundry!).

Preschool

2010-09-24T13:15:00.000-07:00

This is madi on her first day of preschool! She was so excited! She loves it at miss debbie's and even loves her homework. I can't believe she is old enough to go to preschool! I know that it's not that old but somehow it seems to be a milestone in our lives. We have never had anything scheduled before and also it's the first step before starting kinder. I will be honest and say I got a little emotional when I drove away from preschool on that first day. Life seems to be picking up in speed with our growing family and getting faster and faster. Part of me wants to slow it down and the other part is excited to see the milestones my kids reach.

She cannot take a picture without posing for it! At preschool they took a class picture and madi thought it was her own personal photo shoot. I had to tell her to stand still and get her hand off her hip!!

If I was sad to leave madi at preschool I was even more sad that they wouldn't take tyce for 2 hours twice a week! Sure....take my 4 year old and leave me the 2 year terror!

Blessing Day!

2010-09-05T19:59:00.000-07:00

This picture is classic to me. Madi is in her favorite princess dress and despite threatenings/bribery would not change, and tyce and mark are less than thrilled that I made them take pictures ! At least this photo is an honest depiction of us!

This is the blessing dress that I wore as a baby and that madi wore. I am so glad madi has a little sister to share things with. My sisters are my best friends, I look to them for advice and help all the time. I am glad my girls have each other and I hope they are just as close as I am with my sisters.

We have been blessed!

2010-09-05T19:53:00.000-07:00

Today we blessed Hali at church. It was a special day for us and we were lucky to share it with family and friends.

Thanks to aunt jami for taking these cute pictures because we all know I am horrible at it. And of course I was up until after 10 making this headband. I had big plans to get it done on thursday, but nope, saturday night there I was. Maybe with my next one I will be more on the ball.

A
This was a really hectic week for us. O thursday morning at the last minute we decided to go to tri-cities where mark was working to run some errands and do some shopping. Since mark would be working there friday too, we decided to rent a hotel and come home the next day. Needless to say it was a fun but busy week. So this morning when we were driving to church I looked back at Hali dressed in white and suddenly it all became clear what life is really about. It's not about the stress or distractions that come so easily, it's about family and those little moments that become the big moments. I feel so blessed for my family and for the gospel in my life.

And then...there were 5

2010-07-24T18:18:00.000-07:00

Welcome Hali Sue Christensen!!! 7lbs 6 oz born thursday july 22nd (2 1/2 weeks early!). I was so surprised that we had a girl!! I was so sure it was a boy that I only brought a girl onsie with me and boy outfits to the hospital. I could have sworn when I was at the ultra sound a few weeks ago that the tech slipped and called our baby a "he". I thought the surprise was ruined but I guess not!! Jokes on me. we love her and madi is so excited to have a little sister. Tyce.......well, it's going to be an adjustment, as you can see as we tried to get him to sit for a picture. We are home now and adjusting to life with a new baby.

Too Funny!

2010-06-18T23:29:00.000-07:00

Today the kids and I were out in our backyard playing in the little pool when Madi got out and wrapped up in a towel and said: "Mom, I just want to relax, settle down, and maybe have a relationship."

Later this evening my sister came over from kirkland and was staying with my parents. We went over to roast s'mores with them and my nephew ethan was chasing madi around with a poker and madi yelled out "Ethan, no! I am not a marshmallow!"

Seattle Aquarium!

2010-06-13T22:12:00.000-07:00

we have had a very busy, very fun weekend and I am finally posting some pictures!! It started on Friday. It was the father and sons campout for our ward and I convinced mark to take tyce. He was a little skeptical at first but i knew tyce would love it. So they left firday night and madi and I had a girls night together and went out to dinner and watched part of a movie and she got to sleep in my bed with me!She loved it and loves to snuggle in bed with me, in fact, she preactically wants to sleep on top of me and she sprawls out worse than mark. But it was still fun. Saturday morning I got up early and packed up some things we would need for the day and madi and I headed to pick up Mark and Tyce about half way between us and Seattle. When we got to the campsite tyce poked his head out at me and said "Hi MOM!" His face was covered in dirt and smoke and he never looked happier. I wish I had my camera ready to capture it, it was pure camping bliss! Mark said he did great and went right to bed and slept through the night! So mark and tyce showered really quick and then we headed into seattle. Our first stop was IKEA! I love IKEA! But next time I go I want to go with girls and not 2 kids and a less than interested husband. We didn't stay too long, but it was still fun to browse. Then we jumped in the car to fight the seattle traffic on our way to the seattle aquarium.

This is a huge octopus the kids were fascinated by. I will admit it was impressive to see one up close

Fter the aquarium we walked around Pike Place Market and along the water front and had some homemade icecream and Mark got fish. (Also, here I am in all my glory. 32 weeks, but who's counting?)

More of the octopus. I am pretty sure Tyce's fingerprints are on every glass surface the aquarium had. He thoroughly enjoyed himself, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching Mark chase him all over the facility! After our afternoon in Seattle we headed over to my sisters house in Kirkland for my nephew's first birthday. My dad brought down some of his ducks and a baby cow as sort of a petting zoo for the party. I think the city folk were pretty impressed. Then we changed the kids into their pajamas and headed home. We pulled into our house and it was after 10:30 with some very tired kids and even more tired parents. It was such a fun weekend though to be together as a family and get a little bit of culture outside our daily life.

Temporary Post

2010-05-23T20:34:00.000-07:00

I know, I have been horrible about blogging and a million other things I should be doing. It just seems like I am doing the bare minimum right now. I do have some fun new things to blog about and pictures to take, that is the goal for this week. Get caught up. Check back later!! But don't judge me if there is nothing new posted

Latest Quote

2010-05-17T19:36:00.001-07:00

Madi to my dad: Grandpa, our garden isn't working out very well. And I am VERY hungry!

Loving IT!!

2010-04-19T21:28:00.000-07:00

I have loved being outside the last couple of days with the kids. The weather is finally warming up and we have had cabin fever for way too long. I think my "nesting" phase has started early and has expanded to the yard, much to mark's dismay. I have big plans for taming the wild that grows all around my little world. For now, we planted a garden and picked all the weeds around the house. It felt good to be outside and working, and the best part is how fun it is to be outside with my kids. We discovered worms, jumped in mud puddles, chased butterflies, had a picnic and are wearing out our little buckets and plastic shovels. There is something so satisfying about spending a down and dirty day outside and then coming in and getting in the bath and smelling their sweet clean hair and cuddling in a chair with a book before bed. Summer is magical and I am so glad it is finally here! I can't wait to get out the little pool and smell sunscreen on their bathing suits. And hopefully, we can pick tomatoes, squash and a few other things from our garden. If Tyce hasn't dug them all up by then!! I will take pictures of our outdoor adventures...i just need to get new camera batteries!

It finally happened! And then some

2010-03-23T21:09:00.000-07:00

I woke up from a nap the other day to a very strange soft noise. I peeked out my door to find madisen cutting her hair with little kid scissors! She hardly has hair to begin with!!! Ahhhhh!! She cut a chunk out of her bangs, off the top and side of her head and who knows where else!!! The worst part is that I can't fix it! I can't cut the rest of her hair to match what she has done. Her only saving grace is that she has curly hair so I can kind of hide it....kind of. I will post pictures later but I am too heartbroken to document this, she seems unaffected however! And then today we had another first. We were on our way out to the park and she was complaining about her nose. So I told her to get a tissue and blow her nose. She said it hurt and was whining about it. I wish I could say that I had been more patient about it but I wasn't. So in the car she said this " we don't put apples in our nose...do we mom??" I said "madisen....did you put a piece of apple up your nose????"

she said "yeah, I did!" So, it took a little while to solve that problem but I laughed so hard and then felt bad that I hadn't given her more credit when she was complaining about her nose. But honestly....she has never put anything up there...how was I supposed to know?!!!! I think I have been initiated into a new phase of life this week.

when dady's away the children will play!

2010-03-19T14:23:00.000-07:00

Madisen loves to dress up! She is changing clothes all day long! And now, she is not only changing her clothes, she is changing tyce's clothes as well. Mark would be horrified if he saw his little guy in this purple tutu, but doesn't he look like he would be a great sugar plum fairy?! I also love that this is how madi chose to pose for her photo shoot!

Funny madi quotes: This is for you Nicole!

madi was talking to grandma christensen yesterday and I couldn't hear what they were saying when all of a sudden madi put her head in her hands like she was very frustrated and said
" My life's a joke!"

Mark was putting madisen to slep last night and was laying next to her when she got up all of a sudden and said
"good night kiddo!" and walked out of the room. I guess she was pretending to put mark to sleep instead of the other way around.

I think I mentioned that madi loves to quote movies ( I wonder where she gets that from?) anyway, it's really funny when she messes up the quote. For instance, on aladin, jasmine says " standing around deciding my future? I am not a prize to be won!" This is what I caught madi saying
"standing around deciding my future? I am not surprised!"

Random Photos

2010-03-19T14:05:00.000-07:00

My sister asked me to make a cake for the 100 yr. birthday party of scouting for the blue and gold banquet. The theme was "the best things of scouting" , so after talking it over with mark he said the best thing was campfire food. So here is my version of a campfire cake!

We were watching the winter olympics and madi jumps up and wants to be properly dressed for such an occasion. Look out Lindsay vaughn!

Why is it impossible to get both kids looking at the camera at the same time?

Tyce, being the goof-ball that he is. He cracks me up!

Sleep Success

2010-03-07T21:59:00.000-08:00

I have started reinforcing a new bed time/ sleep plan for Madisen in an attempt to break some bad habits and be more consistent myself. The last two nights have gone amazing and I was giving myself a pat on the back until I realized a few factors that may have contributed to my success that have not at all been my doing.

1. she played outside at a friends house for over and hour and got really tired

2. She hasn't taken a good nap, or even one at all in 2 days

3. (and this one is the kicker) she has been sick and the dr. recommended giving her benadryl at night.

So, maybe I shouldn't pat myself on the back just yet. But I will say, when starting a new sleep training program with kids, benadryl is proving very helpful. Don't judge me...the doctor told me too, however, if I knew it would help this much I may have considered.......

Can you guess?

2010-02-20T21:08:00.001-08:00

Madisen has an infatuation with disney movies. In fact, she has her favorite ones memorized and can quote certain lines that apply to everyday situations. Here are some of her lines, can you guess what movies they are from?

Movie #1

Me: madisen, you need to go and get your jacket on.

Madi: no, that is not the path my heart chooses

Movie #2

Me: Okay madi, you need to pick up your books and then you need to put all your dress-ups in the dress-up chest

madi: and then what step mother?

madisen in the bathtub with a wash rag: Sing sweet nightengale, siiiiiiiing sweet nightengale sing!

Movie #3 (this is a hard one)

me: madisen, you need to share your toys with tyce

madisen: Oh, for goodness sakes!

Movie#4

Madi: mom, hand me that dinglehopper!

Things to remember

2010-02-09T21:25:00.000-08:00

A the beginning of this year I wanted to write down the things about my kids I want to remember at this age, so at the end of the year I could see the changes. I'ts not exactly the beginning of the year but close enough.

Madi: started sunbeams this year, is mostly potty-trained, loves to change clothes all day long and wears her swimsuit to bed, loves to wear her dress ups, loves dancing to music and still walks mostly on her tippy-toes, she still has a hard time staying in bed at night, still drags her ratty blanket all over with her, thinks her blanket is an actual person and calls it "she", is super active and busy, I have a hard time getting her to sit through primary, her favorite movie changes every week, most recently it has been pocahontas or the backyardigans, her favorite books are The Princess and the pea, Where the Wild things Are and If you give Pig a Pancake, her favorite food is a pancake, her favorite color is purple, she still throws a fit when we have to leave any grandma's house, she can buckle herself in her booster seat, has curly hair that just won't grow, she loves to help me in the kitchen, she is stubborn and sweet and brave all at the same time, she will only let me put her down at night and cries for her dad every morning when he leaves for work, still takes a nap almost everyday. She is a fireball and I love her so much!

Tyce: Goes to nursery (he is a little young but grandma and grandpa are the nursery leaders, lucky us!), Loves to eat, thinks madi is a great playmate, hates to get his diaper changed, loves his orange and white polka-dotted blanket almost as much as madi loves her blanket, is trying to wink with both eyes, makes me laugh everyday, like to pretend he is shooting a gun with anything he can get his hands on, makes car noises with his little cars, loves being outside and throws a fit when we bring him in, likes to dance with madi, is actually letting us read him a book without throwing a fit, can say quite a few words like: ball, more, mom, dad, blankie, I want that, thank you, papa, guys, bye, and a handful of other phrases, loves spaghetti and pancakes, has to do everything himself, must have his own fork at dinner, wants to drink from a regular cup and spills every time, loves the bath and practices swimming, loves his dad and checks out the window all day for him, loves cell phones and pretends to talk to his dad all day, is such a little entertainer and has started rolling in a circle around the living room. I just love him and can't get enough!

mark: is general contractor to his first house, a house he also drew the plans for so that is exciting to be apart of a house from the beginning, says he is going to do a triathalon this fall, hasn't started training yet, plays church basketball, is the blazer leader, dreams of owning a boat this summer, keep dreaming mark!! we love you and appreciate all your hard work!

For myself: I want to remember what it feels like to fit into my favorite jeans and how great it is to sleep through the night and be able to have a day to myself every now and then because come august, all those things will be a distant memory. You guessed it, I' pregnant! About 14 weeks and looking forward to feeling better!

Quote

2010-01-28T20:28:00.000-08:00

I wasn't feeling well the other day and was laying on madi's bed while she and tyce played.

Madi: what's wrong mommy?

me: Oh, i'm okay, my stomach is just upset

Madi: Oh, who is it upset at? Me??

man, I really wish I could have not laughed at that one, it made me feel worse.

Busy

2010-01-26T14:35:00.000-08:00

This is what I was working on this morning. Re-organizing my closet and room.
While I was otherwise engaged, this is what tyce was working on. Swimming lessons, in the bathtub with all his clothes on. Summer is just around the corner, you can never start too early I guess!
side note* of course I had just changed his diaper and gotten him dressed not 2 minutes before he decided to cool off in the tub!

Camping

2010-01-26T14:30:00.000-08:00

Things get a little dreary out here in the winter. I think it has been cloudy and rainy for 3 weeks straight. I thought I moved away from that when I left Seattle...I think it is following me. So in order to beat the gloom, we had a little "campout" lunch and made hot dogs and other camping treats. As you can see, we are in a very scenic part of our living room with a real evergreen brought in just for the occasion! Don't worry, our Christmas tree has been taken down since these photos.

Bitter Sweet

2010-01-26T14:23:00.000-08:00

I don't know if I am happy or sad about the fact that madi moved out of nursery and into sunbeams. That seems so old, I feel like she is too little to be in sunbeams. I think she is the youngest in her class, she just turned 3 in october and went into sunbeams in january!! where has the time gone? I was in the grocery store the other day and madisen was throwing a fit about something and a lady turned to me and said, "don't worry, tomorrow she will be 18". I feel like that is true, how quickly child hood passes. It makes me want to do a better job of not missing it. Regardless, she looks so cute!!!

Quotes

2009-12-15T20:35:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-23T13:34:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-08T22:38:00.001-08:00

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

2009-11-05T22:09:00.000-08:00

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!!

2009-11-03T19:16:00.000-08:00

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.

2009-11-03T19:07:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-11-03T19:03:00.000-08:00

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

2009-10-19T13:26:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2009-10-19T13:16:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-10-04T20:27:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-23T21:22:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-09-09T13:10:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-08-30T20:28:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-23T22:23:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-16T21:16:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-08-12T21:43:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-19T22:03:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-12T20:12:00.001-07:00

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

2009-06-28T19:50:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-17T19:10:00.001-07:00

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!

weekly Re-cap

2009-06-14T20:10:00.000-07:00

Lets see, how do I sum up this week. There is an older couple in our ward that has these kiddie pools in their back yard. They have a filter system and cement and everything like a real pool except they aren't as deep. One of the pools is about a foot deep and the other one is maybe 2 or 2 1/2 feet and they are a mother's best friend. This older couple opens up their pools and anyone can come and use them anytime, you don't have to call or anything. I have nick named it the "water hole" because it's where all the mom's go during the summer and their kids play and we get to visit and not worry too much about anyone drowning because the pools are so shallow. I went twice this week and internally committed to working out more and buying a new swimsuit! I keep saying, "I just had a baby", but I think I officially have no more rights to that phrase since Tyce is 8 1/2 months old. Now what? Anyway, the kids love it. Especially Madi. She has aquired the nick-name "kamakazee madi" because she is fearless when it comes to anything that should be feared, like a pool when you don't know how to swim. Tyce really likes the water too so it is an all around good time, even though their rolls look so much cuter than mine!

Here is a quote madi said recently that kills me

me: doing situps after a run with the kids

madi: what are you doing mom?

me: I am doing situps

madi: oh, ............they're not working!

Don't worry, I didn't cry, I laughed, it's better for your abs.

Also, since I am on the subject, it probably didn't help my cause that this week I made cinnamon rolls and brownies. I heard once that girls who were anorexic liked to cook because it fulfilled their need for food, I am just pretty sure they didn't eat most of what they cooked!

The picture is of madi last summer. I love swimsuits on little girls!!! I will be sure to post some recent ones of tyce and madi at the pools.

My Moment

2009-06-10T19:17:00.000-07:00

Well, here we are and better late than never right? I know I know , I really have no good reason for not starting a blog earlier, but frankly for a while it was nice to simply be a spectator to other blogs ( and thank you by the way, you filled many nap time hours with laughs and interestsing events as I read the blogs of family and friends). But really, what kicked me in gear to start this blog was a newly discovered fact that you can print your blog pages off into a book as a sort of journal/scrapbook of your family. And since i am not even finished with madi's 1st year baby book, this seemed a much more sensible way to (and less expensicve) journal, with the hope that my mother will then feel satisfied with my efforts! Yes mom, I will still do a baby book for my kids! That being said, I can't promise any profound or intelligent posts, just real life chaos that has become my constant companion. Lucky for me, I like the chaos, and the ones who cause it! So here goes at my attempt to document this adventure called motherhood! And also, wifehood, sisterhood, friendhood and any other "hood" you can think of. Above are some pictures of madisen and tyce as most of my posts will be about them so you now have a mental picture, then there is the picture of mark and I and they are not recent but it is the way I want you to picture me, and maybe if we all think positive thoughts it will end up becoming a reality. The picture of the guy getting on the motorcycle is mark's grandpa and I don't know how it ended up on this post but here it is and I don't know how to get it off, so there you go.