LOVE

LOVE

Monday, August 22, 2011

Summer Activities

This summer seemed to fly by and we were so busy.  But we did manage to do a few fun summer things.  

Here we are at the drive in movie to watch Cars 2.  Madeline kept asking all night when the movie was going to start.  And when it finally did start she fell asleep about 2 minutes later.   Luckily the kids were free.  






This was at pride days and we watched the snowmobiles race across the lake.





It was pretty exciting unless one didn't make it, then we had to wait while the got it out of the water.  

Wyoming

We spent a few days in Wyoming with my grandparents for a family reunion.   It was great to see all of my cousins again and reconnect.   

Here are all the girls out where my mom use to farm.  



Max is showing his uncles that he has matching shoes.  



Here is the old homestead where my grandpa grew up.   
It was still standing and we tried exploring more but the mosquitos were eating us alive.  




Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Madeline's Birthday... All three days of it.

On Madeline's birthday we dropped Max off at my mom's house so that Madeline could spend the whole day with her dad and I .   Alone.    Her request was that instead of presents we gave her the money we would have spent on presents and she got to go shopping and have a date.  
We started out at Great Harvest Bread Co. for  sandwich and brownie.  Yum!




After lunch we hit Target and Madeline shopped for deals!   That was a proud mother moment because I found out she is careful with her money.  
We found out that there was a theatre that was playing the movie she really wanted to see... Judy Moody and the not so bummer summer.  
It was a super cute movie and Madeline quite enjoyed herself.  
That was our day and then we picked up Max grabbed some pizza and watched Rio with my parents.


On Sunday our good friend Diane came over with Madeline's cake.  She made a beautiful topsy turvy cake for Madeline and was going to let Madeline help decorate it.   



Putting the layers together!




Madeline decorated the whole middle layer all by herself.    Isn't it great!?!



Madeline and Diane with the finished product!  

Madeline had SO much fun doing this!   
A great big THANK YOU to Diane!




THE birthday bash on Monday!







I was so bummed about my blurry pictures.   I had just messed with some new settings right before and it totally messed it up and I  couldn't fix it fast enough for Madeline!  So excuse the blurriness! 





















 It was a great party and we loved that everyone could come!  And the cake was DELICIOUS!   Lemon with raspberry filling on the bottom and the top layers were key lime!  It was so good but it made me sad to cut it up.  

Happy Birthday Madeline!








Saturday, August 6, 2011

7 years



My dear sweet Madeline,
Today you are 7 years old and quite grown up.  I can't believe that 7 years ago I was watching your big midnight blue eyes as you blinked and stared at me.  Most newborns don't really focus on anything but you focused right on me.  It was a spiritual moment and confirmation that I had my baby and we had waited a long time to see each other.  

Here is everything I want to remember about this last year.
You have had quite a year.  You finished 1st grade with flying colors.  You had your first spelling bee and the word you lost on was larvae.  You were upset because that wasn't even on the practice list and who knew there would be an e at the end.  But you were one of the only 1st graders left in the spelling bee with the rest of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders.  And I was impressed that you could spell most of those words anyway.  You even spelled encyclopedia right when I couldn't.

You are very interested in everything that is going on around you.  You hear everything and anything you don't hear you want repeated back and then explained in detail, just to make sure you didn't miss anything.      Sometimes that is pretty frustrating for dad and I.  But it is a new phase of life and I remember doing the exact same thing to my mom.  

You have an incredible desire to be good.   You are worried about being modest enough, and watching the right things on the television.  You really want to make sure that people say they are sorry when something  wrong happened.   You write beautiful letters saying you are sorry and how much you love me.  

You love to play the piano and this year you were able to compose your own song and play it at your recital.  Several people mentioned how creative and beautiful your song was.    I hope you continue to enjoy it and enjoy practicing.  

You love your baby brother so much and are such a good big sister.  I have been very impressed at how great you are with him.  You like to play with him and help him when he needs it.   He adores you and loves to "help" you with things you are patient with him most of the time.  As long as he stays out of your room.  You are very motherly to him, in fact you worry way more than I do.  

You LOVE reading!  Oh my heavens how you love it!   You have read all of the "Diary of a Wimpy Kids" books and it is so funny, because you are an excellent reader but not necessarily old enough yet to understand all the things in the book.  But you plug through and love every minute of it.  You are now reading the 'Judy Moody' books and thankfully you seem to understand everything.

You have your first loose tooth but haven't lost it yet.  It is just barely hanging on but you won't let anyone pull it for you.  We get to go to the dentist in a few weeks maybe he will pull it for you.  

You are starting to get over you fear of your bike and you are trying to learn to ride without training wheels.  You are so timid with your bike and every time you rode a little ways without the training wheels you would have to stop and "stretch" your legs.   You are getting better at it though, as long as we can get you to practice it.  As soon as you figure it out you have a whole neighborhood of kids waiting to ride with you. 

For your birthday you wanted $$ and to spend the whole day with Dad and I shopping for your birthday present and going on a date.   So we did and we all had a blast!   You realized that $50 didn't go quite as far as you had hoped and I enjoyed watching you put back the $15 shirt because it was too much money.  It was nice to see that you were money conscious.  Sometimes I worry about that.   You went to the clearance section and found a very cute skirt.  Then we hit the toy section and you were very careful there.  In the end you were excited about everything you bought and kept exclaiming how this was "the best day ever!"
We went to lunch and a movie.  We had to see "Judy Moody" because you had just finished the book and it was so cute to watch you explain to me everything that happened in the book during the movie.  And can I just say that you have a giggle that is to die for!  So cute!

You are a special girl and I know that Heavenly Father has big plans for you.  Keep trying to do what is right and being a good example.  Your dad and I love you to the ends of the earth and back.  We would do anything for you.  

Love,
 Mom



Monday, August 1, 2011

Kids pictures


The clouds started rolling in so I grabbed the kids and we took some pictures.  I needed some updated ones for my wall and the dark blue sky was too good to pass up.  

Aren't they adorable?