Good Things to Come

I've watched this 3 times and cried every time. Watch it here (http://www.youtube.com/mormonmessages) if it won't work. The motherhood one is good too. Enjoy.

Monday = Laundry Day

Do your kids come running when they hear the washer starting?  Mine both do.  Mady was the fastest this time and grabbed her chair and ran over to help.  We're definitely cultivating this love of laundry.

Also, do you love her fashion statement?  Look at that turquoise necklace.  It goes great with her Halloween PJ's.  ;)  I got it last week and she's totally commandeered it.  She pretty much hasn't taken it off since Sunday morning, so I think it's officially her "pretty."

A Little Help Here?

I'm putting out a call for ideas here.  We're trying to figure out how to teach Sydney to WANT to be good and listen to us.  Sometimes, she's awesome,  but it's usually only when I've convinced her there is mortal danger (like around cars, etc.).  I know that a lot of it is simply the fact that she's only 2 1/2 years old, but really, I feel like a lot of the time we're going backward instead of forward.  So for those of you who've been there, know someone who has, or have some genius ideas, please please please share!

Gems

Sydney came up with a few gems today that I loved.  While out garage saling today, I had given the girls some cereal to snack on.  Out of the blue, Sydney turned to me and said, "Mom, you such a nice mom to bring this cereal for us!"

Then later when I was singing along to Hercules, Sydney said, "You a good job singer Mom!"

She's such a sweet little girl!

Perfect Day

What a gorgeous day we just had.  The weather was supposed to be so hot, so we planned to have some friends over to play in the kiddie pool.  It ended up being perfect; warm, but not hot.  The kids had a blast in the pool and running around our NEWLY FENCED YARD (YAY!!!) and the adults had a great time enjoying the warm fresh air and some great summer fruits and salads.  Perfect.  After that we had naps (except Sydney decided she was not tired and stubbornly refused to sleep).  When the kiddos woke up, it started to rain, but it was still lovely and warm!  We of course ran outside to enjoy it.  Being from Idaho, I am used to very infrequent rain storms accompanied by freezing temperatures, so I love our warm rain storms out here!  Last year Sydney loved puddle jumping, so this year it was time to introduce Mady to it.

She loved it and has so much fun.  Sydney remembered exactly what to do and enjoyed her new rubber boots and rain coat.

They had so much fun jumping, kicking, splashing, sending off leaf "boats," and throwing rocks in the puddles.

I love seizing the moment to play with my girls!

Then we had baths in the sink! (This is a new tradition we've started if the girls are having baths at night.  It reduces the amount of bath water they drink and therefore makes it more likely that their sheets will be dry in the morning).  The girls think it's so fun.  Sydney calls them "little showers."

My baby girl has started posing for the camera and saying "cheese!" when we pull it out.  So darn cute.

Such a perfectly beautiful day.  I love being home with these babies.

Curly Girly

Look at the curls this little girl woke up with after her nap!  I think she's got some wavy hair in her future! 

Getting Sappy

In the "Before Sydney" chapter of my life, I remember how painful it sometimes was to read other people's blogs about how much they loved their kids.  Not the "I love my kids so much" comments, but the ones who could talk of nothing else.  It seemed like they were just twisting the knife in my heart with each word.  (Don't feel bad if you've done those posts, you didn't mean to hurt anyone, you just love your kids.)  So, in the "With Babies" chapter of my life, I've tried not to be overly gushy about them since I know I have blog readers who are in the same situation I was once.  But tonight, I have to write it down.  I have to preserve how I feel, so if you feel like I did, then you might want to skip this one.

I just watched 2012, and like all apocalypse movies, it made me sad, but the worst part is when a child is the main character.  Seeing the little girl in that show made my think of my little girls, and when one of them called, "Mommy!" in her sleep, I ran up.  They were both asleep, so I took a rare moment and just stared at them.  I smelled them, kissed them, and brushed their sweet little cheeks.  I love them so dearly.  I've heard people talk about how they love their children more than life itself.  I've wondered how you know that, and then occasionally, it hits me.  I love them.  Differently, yet equally.  But so much it hurts.  And I decided a few things tonight.  People often wonder what heaven will be like.  I think I know.  Heaven will be the color of Sydney's baby blue eyes.  It will smell like Mady's hair does after a bath and that yummy purple lotion.  It will be as soft as my babies' cheeks and as wispy as Sydney's little curls.  It will sound like their soft breathing when they're deeply asleep and the stars will look like Mady's smiley eyes when she's really pleased.  Her whole face smiles and it's like someone turned another light on in the room.  No one will ever be sad, because how could you not be on cloud 9 with smiles like these to look at?  (Plus get a load of those mad scientist eyebrows on Sydney.  She uses them well and often.  I LOVE them.)

I love my family.  I love my husband.  I love, cherish, and adore my babies.  I have to go peek in on them again.  Goodnight.

So Tired

We played outside today.  For a good long while.  When we finally came in and ate lunch, I realized how hard Mady had played:

Amazingly, she ate an entire sandwich like this.  Then she finally woke up when she put the blackberries in her mouth and realized she'd gotten her second wind.  Then came the fight to get her to actually go to bed.  Such fun.  (She keeps reaching for her head because she strokes her hair when she goes to sleep.)  Welcome summer.

Adventures in Landscaping

For a long time now I have hated our front yard landscaping.  It was done by the builder and the shrubs that were out there were both ugly and poorly arranged.  The sprinkler system didn't work so they hadn't been watered for 3 years, but the dang things refused to die.  Finally on Saturday, my great friend Karen took my kids and we ripped them all out! 

Then we went and bought a lot of rocks to build a front garden!  My family came to visit this week and were good enough to help us out with some manual labor and/or watching our kids.  We built the garden, filled it with happy dirt (not the native clay bricks), ran a working sprinkler line, and planted trees and flowers! 

Here they are building the sprinkler system.

Here's the finished product!  I love it!

Here's the corner flower bed up close.

Hooray!  We have more color and prettiness than before!  Goodbye conformity!  Thanks everyone who helped!

New Pets

A few weeks ago there was a slaughter in our house and a lot of our fish died.  Then all but 1 fish and our frog followed suit.  We've been working on getting the tank all balanced and happy so that we can fill it with fish again.  Rupert is a trooper and has survived the devastation, as has a single nameless fish whom I decided deserved a name after living for so long.  Since he's proven hard to kill, I've dubbed him Rasputin.

Here's the rundown of our new pets and who named them for your amusement:
Rupert the frog - Sydney
Taffy the Beta - Sydney
Mango the male Swordtail fish - Mady
Nefertiti the female Swordtail fish - Sydney
Marty the Vacuum fish - Sydney
4 tiger barb fish who were recently acquired and are currently nameless

Apologies

Sorry to those of you who checked my blog last week and found it missing!  Thanks for being concerned about me!  Turns out my gmail account was hacked and my email, blog, and anything else related to google was disabled.  I freaked out, but am thrilled to have access again.  Let the blogging begin again!

First Piggies

Last Wednesday I successfully got pigtails into Mady's hair for the first time ever.  It's happened since too.  Isn't she a doll?!  I love her face in this picture!  She's so darn cute and grown up!

Speaking of which, I'm like a month late posting about this, but Mady had her 15 month checkup (almost a month ago) and she weighed 29 lbs 6 oz and was 34 1/2 inches long!  She can talk so well now too.  At 15 months she could say almost 150 words and she has added so many more now that I have missed!  I think we're done making word lists for her!  Maybe we should try a list of words she can't say?  It might be easier!  She's so grown up and we love her so much!  Thanks for being our baby Mady!

Addicted

Remember this post about how I like to spoil my kids?  It's bad, I know.  Hopefully I don't end up regretting it when they are older.  For now, it's lots of fun!  I'm still cheap though, and if there's one thing that I love most about summer time, it's Garage Sale Season!  Whoever invented Community Garage Sales is my best friend.  I love them.  We went out last week on Friday and Saturday, and this week on Friday and scored big every day!  What did we come home with you ask?  A train set (we had no space for the train table, so it stayed there) for $10 complete with 2 motorized trains and many additional wooden cars and engines.

A Little Tykes slide for $4!  I looked for one of these all last summer and never found one!  They usually sell first thing in the morning and I never got there quick enough.  I spotted this one after noon and assumed it was either broken or priced too high.  Other than a few spider webs and some dirt there is nothing wrong with it, and the price was perfect, so it now lives on our porch!  Sydney is ELATED.  Mady loves it too but can't figure out how to climb up on her own yet.

The dinosaur tent, tub of Mega Blocks, and large Magna Doodle cost a grand total of $5.

This weekend we scored a Little Tykes rocking chair for $1.50.  We have another one identical to this, so no more fights over outdoor seating!

My crowning glory this weekend was this awesome art easel.  It was marked at $4 or I never would have looked at it.  I offered her $2 and she took it so fast it made me feel like I overpaid!  It has a chalk board on one side and a dry erase magnetic board on the other and clips on both sides to hold paper.  The girls are in heaven and Sydney (who didn't know what an easel was until we brought this home) is constantly asking for chalk to color her "huge magadoodle."  Mady is also thrilled with it and I am still giddy about the low price!  I can't wait to see what else we find this year!

Fashion Statement

Tonight at dinner Sydney decided to use maple syrup as hair gel.  It worked awesome, as you can no doubt tell.

Pardon the yucky picture. I had to capture the moment.

Deep Thoughts for the Day

This morning as I bent over to pull something out of the dishwasher, Sydney surprised me. 
Sydney: Mommy, you have a baby in you tummy?
Me: Umm, I don't think so.  Do know about a baby in my tummy?
Sydney: Mady was in you tummy.
Me: That's right Sydney, Mady was in Mommy's tummy.
Sydney: I in another mommy's tummy.
Me (after a slightly stunned silence): That's right Sydney, you were in another mommy's tummy.
Sydney: Where my mommy go?

Me: I'm you're mommy.  Do you mean where is your birth mommy?

Sydney: Yeah.

Me: She was too little to take care of you (trying to keep this simple for her sweet little 2 year old brain), so she let you come live with us so we could be your mommy and daddy.  Wasn't that nice of her?

Sydney: Yeah.

Me: I love being your mommy.  Do you like me being your mommy Sydney?
Sydney: Yes.  And I love Mady too.

Note: We've had the conversation before that she didn't grow in my tummy, but I never expected her to remember it and it came out of nowhere today!  What a sweet little exchange with my baby.  I love you Sydney Bean and I'm so glad to be your mommy!

Sydney at 2 days old

Sydney at 2 1/2 years old

For Those of You Still Reading...

We're still here.  And our lives have been a little messy lately.  Just like our kids. (This girl is magnetically attracted to dirt.  as soon as she steps outside, she can't resist it.)

But we've shared some laughs and good times too.  And the girls (and I!) bought our first ever ice cream truck purchase.  That's what happens when you grow up in the country! 

We look forward to every sunny day and particularly to every nice Friday since we ditch the house and go garage saling.  Such fun.  Yesterday we went pretty much ALL DAY.  And my kids were angels.  And we came away with some good plunder.  They are both recovering from colds, so I was proud of them and the fact that they each took 2 short naps in the car!  Then we had to get the oil changed in our car.  I was dreading sitting in the waiting room with them.  So we grabbed hamburgers and a shake before they took the car and had a picnic on the grass outside.  We had a blast.  It was a great reminder to me to look for the good in every situation.  I needed that reminder.  It was such a perfect day.  Right up until Aaron started vomiting.  Thank you stomach flu for making an appearance at our house this weekend.  My family was sick last Mother's Day too.  Crappy tradition if you ask me.  I recommend not copying us.  I know it's hard since we're so cool and all, but really, refrain this once.  Go get some ice cream and play in the dirt instead.

Springtime!

Oh, how we love spring!  Honestly, what isn't to love?  Besides todays insane snow storm and yesterdays hail storm and tornado sirens (fun times) I mean.  We love doing yard work

We love all these trees.  We're tree huggers here. ;)

And remember how much you loved dandelions as a kid?  We're discovering them.

Going on walks.  Summer walks are the best!

We've got lots of sisterly affection going on in this house right now.  Mady is in LOVE with Sydney and constantly says, "SYDNEY!" whenver Sydney comes in the room or leaves it.  The other day Sydney came up to me and said, "I love my sister!"  Melts my heart.  Hooray, I didn't ruin her life forever!

Oh, and all that summer fruit.  My kids ate half a watermelon (a good size one) in 2 days.  Pretty much by themselves.  Heaven.

Easter Happenings

My parents came to visit us 2 weeks ago and left on Sunday.  We had a great time while they were here and we have very few pictures to document the trip!  We hit the zoo (absolute madness), the historical museum, and the Wildlife Experience/consignment sale.  At the Wildlife Experience Mady and Sydney had fun in the butterfly exhibit.  Mady got stuck in the web like a little bug.

Miss Sydney had fun climbing "like Spiderman!" She really likes Spidey for some reason!

At the Historical Museum they had a working farm and blacksmith shop.  It was fun to see, but I think we were too early in the year for the animals and farming part and the blacksmith was only interested in the older kids and was kind of rude to poor Sydney.  We ate lunch at the park across the street where the girls had a blast chasing squirrels!  We don't really have them out by our house (we've seen 3 in almost 4 years!)  Mady is so happy to be a big girl and get to run around!

We also had some Easter fun.  Our HOA put on a little event at the clubhouse with a bouncy house, a petting zoo, pony rides, airbrush tattoos, and a visit from the Easter Bunny.  Mady wanted to watch, but Sydney was right in the thick of things.

The Easter Bunny was much like Santa Claus pictures.  Mady took the eggs he gave her, sat on his lap long enough for me to snap a picture and took off.  Sydney went back 4-5 times.  Not for the eggs either, she really liked that Easter Bunny and talked about him for the rest of the day!

And last but certainly not least, the pony rides.  Mady was fine if I was RIGHT next to her, but those moving things made her a little nervous (are you sensing a theme here?).  Sydney was in heaven with those ponies though.  There were never more than 3 people in line while we were there (they said we missed the huge line of earlier!) so Sydney got to ride each pony multiple times.  I lost count, but I think she rode 5-7 times.  One of the girls leading the ponies started calling her Princess Sydney.  It was very cute and fun. 

On Easter morning we had a little egg hunt at our house for the girls.  Sydney was a good sport and went hunting, but Mady found an egg with jelly beans in it and wouldn't budge until every last one was gone.

The girls got their first kites (a tradition in Aaron's family) and we went outside to try them.  They were both briefly interested and Sydney even took a turn flying her Spidey kite, but they quickly lost interest and left Aaron and I flying the kites alone.  We had fun though!

Happy Easter!

Something Fishy...

I've taken the girls to PetSmart frequently as a reward for good behavior on trips to Target (the stores share a parking lot).  Almost every time we have gone in someone has commented on Sydney's absolute love of all animals by saying, "You've got to get her a pet!"  At which point I usually smile politely and inform them that I have enough messes and bodily fluids to clean up with 2 toddlers.  Mady has really gotten into the animals lately too, but I still held with my firm resolve that my hands are just too full right now.  Then we met Pancake.  On an ordinary trip to PetSmart we met the most adorable little Dachsund/Boxer/Sharpay (i.e. MUTT) you've ever seen.  If he hadn't been a puppt in every sense of the word (the poop guy couldn't take a drink without tipping his water dish over), he might have come home with us.  As it is, my resolve just weakened a little.  When Aaron brought up getting the girls a fish tank a few weeks later, I thought, "that wouldn't be too bad."

We were thinking something small-ish but still bigger than our 1 gallon tank from college.  We started out with a 5 gallon tank.  The girls kept themselves busy during the set up.

Due to issues with filters, location, and I don't remember what else, we ended up purchasing 3 different tanks and keeping the largest - a 10 gallon tank.  This did mean we got to get some pretty things to put in it though!

Can you see the fishies?

Funnily enough, we originally though Sydney would enjoy the fish the most, but Mady is the one who loves them!  She drags a little chair over to the counter and watches the fish while she eats her snacks.  So cute.  Sydney prefers our frog and vacuum fish.

All in all, we ended up with 12 schooling fish (3 different kinds, 4 each), 1 vacuum fish (a corydora I think?  they clean the bottom, thus Sydney's name for it), and 1 African dwarf frog that Sydney named Rupert.

I think that's my favorite part.