Siblings...

Madelyn went to the store with her Daddy to get some new sand for her sandbox and came back with some ice cream. I heard all different kinds of excuses from both of them (pwease, Daddy, can we get a tweat), but I just labeled it as Daddy-being-a-sucker...

It's okay though. They brought me one too, so I couldn't complain.

And just like every other day, Madelyn said, "Mwoom, is it okay if Emmitt has a bite?" To which I generally respond, "No, Emmitt can't eat that. He can only eat baby food."

Today, however, it just seemed right to let her share her sweet treat. Maybe because she was so kind in the first place. Maybe because Em was looking on with eager eyes. Maybe just because I love ice cream so much... who knows. 

But one thing's for sure...

Ice cream doesn't get much sweeter than this!

And when his big sister skipped away, Emmitt decided it was time to climb down, so he eased himself forward and hopped down with a *plop*.  

Does this look like a man-on-a-mission or what?!?

Watch out world, here he comes. 

*sigh*

I love summertime.

And I really love ice cream. 

Scooters and Tutu Dresses...

 It might be raining outside for the majority of the day, but that hasn't stopped us from finding a minute or two to scoot down our sidewalk...

This three year old just got a new "pwincess scooter" for her birthday from her friend Droiy and she's not wasting any time!

And what better apparel than a tutu dress?

She'll be throwing kick flips and rodeos in no time after her lessons from this kid...

Watch out, Wilshire, here comes Droiy!

...that is as long as she stays on her scooter long enough without throwing anymore of these tantrums...

And that my friends, is what 3:00 and no nap looks like for our daughter...

You should see 7:00!

Just sayin'

All in a days work! =)

Our Angel Baby...

This boy is so incredibly cute. I know, I know, I'm a little biased, and yes, this is one of those I-can't-get-enough-of-my-kid-because-he's-so-cute posts, so if you have a problem with that than you might just wanna stop reading...

Emmitt slept all morning and Madi and I played. Then Madi went down for a nap just as Em was waking up so Em and I have been playing! It's as if I only have one child today.  After giving this boy a bath, I couldn't resist his cuteness, so I pulled out the real camera, which sometimes sits on the desk too often these days, and practiced taking pictures with my it's-pouring-down-rain-outside setting. I guess I shouldn't complain.  We had a week of sunshine, right? 

I can hardly remember it right now...

This is how I bribed him to sit still. 

Then I quickly took it away, because I'd like it to keep working for a few more years.

 And this was what I got... 

Somehow I started to become funny and just when I thought I was going to get a smile... 

...he broke out the oh-yeah-I'm-Emmitt-and-everything-has-to-be-Serious look!

With a capital S...

I love this face! 

And this face!

Our boy will be NINE months old in two days, NINE months!!! Where has time gone?!? 

He's so incredibly cute (as documented ;).

He's a major snuggle bug.

He loves to nurse, and most recently has decided he's way too cool for bottles. 

He's busy, and speed crawls, stands up, walks along furniture, etc. 

He puts EVERYTHING in his mouth (I won't tell you what the most recent thing was... you'll judge my housecleaning).

He finally loves food, especially pears, brown rice and other small pieces he can shovel in his mouth. He hates avocado, which drives me crazy cause Madi loves it (and so do I)!

He always has a cold, but it never seems to bother him. 

And, he is a MAMA's boy! 

This last picture is a little weird, but still fun, I promise I did NOT edit it, I just cropped it down.  The shutter apparently captured his face super clear, but everything around him was blurry.  He was chasing after me (surprise, surprise)!

Oh, Emmitt, I just want to smooch your cheeks forever! Thanks for being so. darn. cute!!!

Pinterest...

So... I resisted for what seemed like eternity!  Because after all, if you don't know what you're missing out on, than what's to miss? But... when I finally did give in, I fell hard! Seriously! Do you have ANY idea what fantastic ideas people have floating around out there? Thankfully I've had more than a couple excuses to float around on the web looking at all of the crafty people's smart ideas.  Last weekend we had a little party for Madi's birthday, this weekend I hosted a baby shower for a dear friend from church and next weekend we're throwing my sister's bridal shower at my mom's house! Sheesh, right?!?! 

I decided right off the bat that we needed to kill two bird's with one stone, so I went with a "pink lemonade" theme for Madi's birthday so that we could reuse the colors for the baby shower! Now every year we've debated on how to celebrate Madelyn's birthday.  We never had huge "friend" parties when we were little and I certainly can't justify spending tons of money on a child's party (or an adult's for that matter), but we do have lots of wonderful family and close friends that we love to have an excuse to get together with, so for the last two years we've had a small-ish backyard party with food, family and friends.  This year we had homemade pizza and cupcakes (pink lemonade flavored ;) and of course I didn't take ANY pictures (except one of Madi blowing her candles out). *sigh* 

Anyway, I'm about to finally rip down decorations and I took a few pics before all evidence of cuteness was destroyed!

Tissue Paper Pom Poms!!!  So EASY and FUN and CHEAP! I used this tutorial. You can't tell from these pictures, but I made three big ones and three mini ones. 

This is a blurry shot of a name banner (I made one that said "Madelyn" for Madi's party.  This was for sweet baby Devyn Rae). Again, EASY and CHEAP! Inspiration found here. 

For the baby shower we decided to turn into into a "Southern" theme since Sondra's from Georgia (and loves it there).  I borrowed a GIANT bag of doilies that my Grandma has crocheted over her lifetime and threw them around the house and called it good! =) This was the blog I found that got me started on this, although I altered it and used real ones, not paper ones. =) 

This was cuter than this picture is letting on... It was hard to take a picture of the doily swag without the sun glare ruining it...

White lilacs, mason jars and some more doilies! 

Mmm. Possibly my favorite part - Oatmeal Cookie Peach Cobbler in individual jars.  Inspiration here (and from the Pynchs), but the recipe is one I originally got from Ramie and have made a bunch! I did use homemade canned peaches though instead of fresh and I baked them frozen for about an hour and twenty minutes (with the lid on).  Topped them with a dollop of vanilla ice cream and we were all moaning with delight!!! I have one more I have to eat today because my mom needs the jars back from my sister's shower.  And, yes, I did have one for breakfast too...

To finish with a mason jar theme we drank iced sweet tea in these bad boys (pink lemonade at the bday party ;) and enjoyed our afternoon sans boys (except for Em, of course).  

Thank you, pinterest for making me crafty! Hopefully I'll do a better job of documenting Jess' shower while it's all set up!

So Proud!!!

We did it!!! We completed our first Sprint Triathalon as a team! And although my part was admittedly not difficult, it is most definitely my husband's hard work and dedication that came alive today! I could. not. be. prouder!  

He's worked so hard to come through so much. Nothing has been easy and yet today he competed as an athlete again for the first time in over two years! In 2011 Matt made a goal to be able to run again by the end of the year.  Although he never loved running, not being able to do it makes it somehow seem much more desirable.  I remember very clearly he came home one night last spring and told me he thought he could run down our hall and wanted to show me (mind you our hall is about 20-30 feet long?!?!).  We laughed together at his gait, but still celebrated this small accomplishment.  By the end of the year he was slightly discouraged.  He had tried a couple of times to run a small block (or part of it) with Winston and it left him pretty banged up for a quite a while afterward (and tripping a lot).  His artificial foot orthopedic (AFO), or "leg" as I like to call it, has helped a ton with his ability to be on his feet for longer periods of time, and it should allow him to do more small hikes, etc., but not enough for runs of any length.  

So, at the end of the summer Matt spent Christmas and birthday money he'd saved to have a friend build him a custom road bike.  Unfortunately he wasn't able to use it a ton during the winter, but the sun has started to peak out and with it have come the spandex! Eight mile rides turned into ten miles and ten into twelve.  Within the last few weeks he's ridden over twenty miles in one ride (with big hills included)! In addition, Matt's worked hard at getting up two to three times a week and heading down to the pool at 6 to swim before the workday begins.  Today, he swam 500 meters (actually 550 cause the lady counted wrong - I witnessed this), and rode his bike another 14 miles in almost under an hour! When I finished the 3.1 mile run (which was also longer, but that's a whole 'nother story ;), he looked at me and said, "I think I can do that part next year too!"  

I have tears coming down my face thinking about how far he has come! So many times it would have been easier to just take it easy when he hurt or call it a day, but instead he persevered.  Every time I went for a run and thought I was going to die I'd just remember how much harder training has been for Matt, or I'd remind myself to be thankful I can run.  

I remember comments the doctors made a few weeks after surgery such as, "You might want to see a counselor, things are going to be a lot different from now on," and "Something like this is hard for someone in your field {p.e. teacher} to have to go through."  It didn't really make sense.  I suppose what they were really trying to say was you're never going to be able to run again, or good luck going a whole day without your leg hurting, or we don't ever expect your leg to function the same way it used to, without putting it so bluntly. I guess sugar coating isn't always a bad thing...

On that note, I can't wait to send a card with pictures to Matt's doctors. I remember Matt telling one of his surgeons, "I was so scared I would be like that forever that I just had to keep going cause I didn't want to think about the possibility of that being my life." His doctor said he did the right thing, but that most people don't push through cause of the pain and fear of hurting themselves more.  Being lethargic would have been his worst enemy (and still can be). He's worked SO hard, SO hard and I couldn't be prouder! It was so fun to stand next to him today and watch him beam with pride after a huge accomplishment! God is good and we have SO much to be thankful for!!!

We competed with our friends Sam and Shannon (who are like pros at this)!  Apparently Shannon was trying to take a nap on Sam's shoulder. ;)

I had to add this picture because this was a classic "transition" scene! =)

Apparently we didn't get the leg memo or Shan was just really proud of her age in this picture! =)

And my favorite party?!?!  Every participant had their age on their right calf.  I started playing a fun game straight away - check the person out and guess their age, then verify on the leg.  Wow! Spandex do numbers (literally) to someone's age!

Some things I learned today:

* Pretty much anyone can compete in a sprint tri - clearly mind over matter. (Well, maybe except for not drowning in the deep end...)

* Not everyone looks their age...or even 10 years close to it.

* Spandex usually aren't the most becoming on people over 40... or anyone for that matter

* My husband is my hero. Again.

* Running without my ipod SUCKS! Booo to that being against race rules!

And because a blog entry wouldn't be a blog entry without our cute kids being showcased:

Our sweet baby boy cheering us on! 

Madelyn snuggling her Nana. 

Oh, also, we just happened to finish 3rd in our division (co-ed teams).  Granted, it was only out of 9 teams, but still... 

Stay tuned for news on the next sprint tri, and until then, go try on a pair of spandex! ;)

She's THREE!!!

Nobody ever warned me about how melancholy your own children's birthdays are! Yes, it's exciting! But seriously, how could she possibly be that old?  I often say that I want to capture her at this age and keep her here forever.  I don't want it to slip by and then only be a faint memory, but I guess that's the reality of this life, right? Just a short, teensy, tiny part of a long rope...

Anyway, so as to prevent any tears, here's a sweet picture of our birfday girl and all my favorite things about this age...

{This is totally out of focus and super grainy, but her smile is so sweet!}

* Her 'ten octaves too high voice' when she talks to her brother, "Hey Em! Over here, Em bug".

* My little helper - the other day I caught her emptying the bathroom garbage into the garage garbage (which is what I usually do) without me ever asking her.  I think she might already like to clean. ;)

* She LOVES to snuggle.  Matt and I always talk about how we hope this will never end, although we know that's not very realistic.  Matt always puts her to bed and she often says, "Mama you wanna cuddle me?" if I put Emmitt down after she's in bed.  It's pretty hard to resist.  She wraps her arms around my neck and gently tickles my back.  Seriously, she knows how to work it.

* Her pronouns! "Yours" comes out "irs" or "ors"depending on how fast she says it and although she's gotten a little bit better she almost always replaces "for" with "to", even if she's repeating something that we've JUST told her! Me, "Madi, this is for tomorrow." Madi, "This is to tomorrow?" Yup, every time...

* Nap time.  Yeah, I pretty much never want it to end.  She snuggles up on her bed so well, sticks her thumb in her mouth and drifts off to never never land.  It's just that easy!  In fact, it's so easy, it sort of makes me want to curl up and take a nap everyday!

* She talks NON stop, about pretty much everything! Although, she does have stranger awareness and freezes up when she's not comfortable.  Not a big surprise for a 3 year old though.

* She loves to talk about Jesus.  Most of the time in context, but not always.  The other day she was running from Emmitt (or so she told me) and she jumped up on her bed yelling, "Emmitt's gonna get me. Emmitt's gonna get me." I said, "Oh yeah, what's he gonna do?" She replied (without skipping a beat), "He's gonna die me on a cross!" Yeah... I was pretty much speechless. I thought it was so funny and yet so inappropriate all at the same time...

* She's been waiting to turn 3 so much that all day we've heard, "Madi free now." We'll often say, "No way. Can you stay 2 forever?" And she's quick to respond, "Yeah, Madi am. I'm free."

* Her dinnertime prayer, "Dear Jesus, Thank you to this food! Jesus name, Aaaaaa-men!"

* She LOVES to read books.  She can sit and be read to for HOURS! I suppose such is the life of a little one with two teachers as parents, but it's awfully sweet!

* This is definitely not my favorite thing, but it's definitely 'Madi' right now - changing her clothes! And by changing, I mean 14 times a day! No. Kidding. We've had to lay down the law because it makes me go c.r.a.z.y. to say the least, but if she could she would put on every outfit in her closet everyday! Some people tell me it's a girl thing, but I asked my mom and she told me I wasn't like this, so I guess that means I can blame Matt. ;) And she's getting PICKY! Oh, my! She throws the biggest fits over her socks or leggings having a wrinkle in them! It usually doesn't bring out the best side in me either... This can, however, be blamed on my brother.  I remember my mom warning him hours before we'd leave the house so that he'd have ample time to find "right" and "left" socks.  *sigh*

* Her overall love of life! She loves her family, she loves her friends and she just loves being alive! It's awfully fun to live life alongside her! And I feel SO blessed to be her Mama! Oh what a blessing she has been these last three years.

I'm sure I'll think of many more things, but for now this sums up our baby girl.  And yes, she'll always be our baby girl!  We love you, Madelyn Ann! Thank you for blessing our life!!!

*** Post Publish Edit***

I thought of a few more I don't want to forget!!!

* Madelyn is THE BEST at playing independently.  I actually have to remind myself to stop and sit down and color with her.  She has SUCH a good imagination and she could play with a blank wall, a stick, and a blanket and still be having fun! She's often turning laundry baskets into baby beds, couches into cars, etc.! She's all over with her imagination and I can literally sit back and watch her read books to her crowd of stuffed animals (often referred to as "babies"). I love it!

* Lately, Madi has turned into the best little hostess.  I hated the stage she went through when other people would come to our house and she hoarded everything! Seriously? She hadn't played with something in 2 months and she'd still want to rip it out of their hands! She is the complete opposite now (thank goodness) and she often is a little over bearing! We were watching a friend a few weeks ago and she was SO excited that she was here to play that she tried giving her every doll/blanket/toy/shoe she could get her hands on! She was even trying to feed her (and she's the exact same age as Madi) and wanted to make sure she needed to go to the bathroom about every 5 minutes! As Matt put it, it was a good thing her friends are passive!

* She loves to "colo" (color) and she totally sucks at it! I was actually just wondering if she really got my artistic abilities or if this is (hopefully) a skill that develops a little later?!?!  Cause this sista is gonna need some serious help!

* Finally, and how did I forget? She loves to "sneak" into our bedroom in the middle of the night and cuddle us.  She learned quickly that I will take her straight back to bed.  Her dad, on the other hand, is sort of a sucker, and he rarely wakes up... as such, she just crawls into his side. He flops his arm open, she crawls in and the two snuggle up until someone wakes up too sweaty and then she gets sent back to bed! It's cute, but if I start getting kicked it all comes to a quick end!!! ;)