Madeline is 4, part 1

So over a month ago Madeline turned four. Yeah, I'm behind. Like very very very behind. Don't remind me.

So although I never intended it this way it seems we have a tradition of going to the zoo to celebrate Madeline's birthday! This is the third year in a row we've spend her birthday at the zoo with friends. (Read about her second and third birthdays by clicking on the links.)

We started the day on the carousel. I should have cropped these photos better than I did, but click on it to see her HUGE smile a little better.

And did you see Lydia's terrified expression? I'll wait while you go back to look.

Totally worth a second look huh? Comedy gold I tell ya!

And because I am posting this way after the fact but just a few days after father's day I wanted to post this photo because if that expression isn't the look of love I don't know what is.

Good God I love that man!

Back to the zoo....

As soon as I snapped this photo I remembered a similar photo I took almost three years earlier. This girl needs to stop growing up so fast. Stop it I tell ya!

Although Madeline loved the zoo animals there was one person who really made her day:

This is Scott, Kevin's best friend and Madeline's birthday buddy. He and his wife and brand new baby girl (eep!) just happen to be in town for Madeline's birthday (which also happens to be Scott's birthday). This might just be one of my favorite photos of Madeline ever. She and Scott have a very special bond and the love and admiration is mutual.

A huge thank you to Anna, Madeline and Cullen and Scott, Becky and Eliza for joining us in celebration of Madeline's 4th birthday! It was a great day and I am so glad she got to share part of it with you!

Many Moons Ago

Weeks ago I took a million photographs of my squirrels in order to get two usable photographs for Valentines Day.

So as not to mislead you into thinking that my children are in fact perfect in every way and sit, smile and are even remotely still on command I give you the out takes.



I call this the "I think I'm gonna sneeze" shot.


"What is that in your hand?" shot.

"Who invited him*?" shot.


"Mom, I have a hair on my tongue" shot.


"Mom might be missing an eye, but at least I'm cute" shot.

"Not him again?" shot.

"Man are we cute but I should really be wearing makeup" shot.

So in order to gain Madeline's compliance on this entire ordeal, I told her that if I could take pictures of her for 5 minutes she could direct me for five minutes.

This is her artistic vision of a valentines day photo shoot.

The girl is an artistic visionary. Santa and play toast on a plate. She is going to make tens. I'm sure of it.


Then we played with the camera's timer and I handed her my remote shutter**. You can see it in some of the photos below. This activity was wildly popular and I am a bit disappointed that I didn't think of this earlier in the winter. She was highly entertained and I found the photos highly entertaining. Win-Win.

That second to last one cracks me up every time.

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*Meet Mr. M. He comes to play with us on Monday's so you might see him around the bligity-blog from time to time.

**It is simply a remote that operates the camera's shutter so you can move freely with a fixed camera. (It is also how I took the family photos from this post.)

The Tuesday Ten, vol. IV

-1-
I am beyond ready for spring.

-2-
Santa brought Madeline wings for Christmas and they have lasted 31 more days then I expected them to. They've been bent, sat on, smashed, pushed and pulled almost in two. Today they were closed in the bathroom door. There is barely a scratch on them. Although they appear to be nylons and wire hangers I think they must really be made of titanium and gortex.

-3-
I slipped on a patch of ice this morning before taking Madeline to school. I am sure my knee will be a beautiful technicolor mess by tomorrow. See #1.

-4-
I made turkey stock over the weekend and although I got a lot of comments on Facebook about how I was crazy and why wouldn't I just buy it I felt super proud of myself and was totally excited about it. That was until this morning when I measured it and realized I cooked it for E-V-E-R and I only got 96 oz of stock, or the equivalent of three pots of potato soup out of it. It's a good thing it was a low maintenance project. I'm gonna be extra peeved if it tastes like shoes.

-5-
We are in so much trouble.


-6-
Yesterday Lydia had her first (and hopefully only) case of nursemaids elbow. We are unsure of how it happened because she was just getting up from a nap when she started crying (so we didn't see anything). I am pretty sure after all of Madeline's trips to the Dr. for this condition we are on some sort of watch list, moments away from being hot lined by a mandated reporter. You can read about Madeline's forays into the world of NME here and here.

-7-
Madeline let me do her hair today. It may have been the highlight of my day. Just maybe.


-8-
Please tell me I'm not the only person who saves bananas for banana bread but never gets around to making it. If not, please lie.

-9-
Negative: Kevin's schedule today kinda sucked.
Positive: We had dinner alone when he got home from work.

-10-
Last, but in no way least: One of my oldest friends (who I've known since kindergarten) lost her grandmother today. Although I am supremely sad for the family I know that Grandma Joan's love will continue to bless them as they move through their grief and begin to heal. The love she gave will be carried on by not just her family but by all who knew her, including me.

The Guide

I have a friend who is expecting twins. Although she still has two months ahead of her, after a conversation with her on Friday I gathered that she was feeling kinda done with the whole pregnancy thing.

I GET THAT.

Although I've never carried twins, I totally get the feeling of being done growing beings inside you. So in order to lift her spirits, maybe make her chuckle and know that someone is thinking about her I present:

Madeline and Lydia's guide to twins.

#1- No matter how you feel inside always keep a smile on your face.

#2- Cleaning is a snap with two kiddos in tow.

#3- Clothing makes a great handle while getting those tough to reach spots on your floor clean.

#4- never. stop. smiling.
(thumbnail is enlarged from the photo above...)

#5- Who needs two high chairs? Although you might want to situate them better to avoid brain injury or broken bones.

I hope you're smiling... Who loves you? *een does, that's who!

Playing Catch Up, vol. II

October 19. 2010

So after celebrating Lydia's birthday with about 60 people we spent her actual birthday very low key.

This (mini) cup cake I did make!

She devoured her first birthday cupcake.

So did Madeline.

We decided not to go totally crazy with gifts for Lydia's birthday. We usually don't go to wild with birthday gifts in general. Knowing that Lydia would get a ton of stuff from family added to the fact that we have accumulated a ton of stuff in Madeline's 3 1/2 short years of life Lydia wasn't really in want or need of anything. We chose to let Madeline pick out a gift for Lydia instead.

At her party she had no interest in her gifts. She was way into this one though.

Look at that happy face!

Madeline chose this blue haired friend for Lydia all on her own. If you've been around this bligity-blog since the dark ages you might remember this post from when Madeline got her Grover. Lydia had recently taken a liking to Madeline's Grovie and although she never really protested I think Madeline was really sick of sharing her lovie. Lydia's Grover has been a favorite since her birthday and, just like her sister, sleeps with Grovie each and every night.

Lydia did get some light reading materials as well.

It is hard to believe Lydia is one. She is a bucket of fun and cuter ever single day. I mean how can you not smile when you see that face?

That is unless you are dead inside.

Just sayin'.

Iowa 2010, fin

After a sleepless Friday night, Saturday night both of the girls went down (relatively) easy. AND they stayed asleep!

Sunday morning we were looking at a five hour road trip ahead of us so after a super yummy breakfast we packed up the car to head home.

But not before getting some group shots of the kiddos.

Do you know how hard it is to get a "good" photo of three kids three and under?

I know Q is a cutie, but look over here girls!

Madeline? Madeline? Madeline?

Well I guess that works.

It's kinda like trying to organize a bunch of squirrels.

Lydia practiced her walking.

So a HUGE thank you to Aaron and Jenny! They were the most wonderful hosts (for the second year in a row) and had a fantastic weekend! I am sorry Madeline got sick in your bathroom... although I am not sorry I cleaned it for you! You are welcome at our house at any time and we can't wait to meet your number 2!

mg

Iowa 2010, Part II

And by tomorrow I mean two days later of course.

In order to move on to Saturday of our trip I must first address Friday night. Friday night was eventful. Madeline didn't want to go to bed. She was so wound up from being in a new place, with new people, and a new bed that she wouldn't calm down. To add to the crazy Lydia was equally crazy. She didn't want to sleep in the pack n play. So after three hours of crazy Madeline finally settled down and fell asleep. Lydia was shortly there after. That was until an hour later...

Madeline slept through, but Lydia cried every time we tried to set her in bed. For the rest of the evening she slept in 45 minute shots whilst being held by Kevin or I. None of us woke up rested.

Lydia had no interest in napping in the pack n play either. She konked out in the sling instead.


So we made guacamole.


Her neck isn't nearly as strained as it looks in this photo. Promise.

Madeline and Quentin got along famously. They played together all morning and kept each other entertained for most of the football game.

Did I mention the football game? The whole reason we headed up to IA was for a barbeque with Kevin's friends from his Iowa State days. The Iowa State vs. Iowa rivalry game.


This is Lydia watching some other game.

So now for the story you've all been waiting for.

During the game the big kiddos were playing outside in the sand box. Somehow Madeline got sand in her eyes. In order to clean them out as quickly as I could I used saline solution to wash her eyes out.

I have to stop here and interject a bit of commentary. Madeline hates getting water in her eyes. Bath time leads to a huge melt down if water even comes close to her eyes. So me spraying saline into her eyes was probably her personal idea of hell.

By the time I had washed all the sand out of her eyes she was really upset. So upset in fact that we had a repeat of the infamous crying induced vomiting episode. That's right. She puked all over Aaron and Jenny's bathroom, the floor, the shower curtain, herself and me. I had to launder my clothes, Maddy's and the bath mat. I washed the shower curtain separate (because that is what the instructions told me to do) and I cleaned their bathroom.

I couldn't have felt worse. Now I know that it wasn't on purpose. I also know that they felt bad because of the sand getting into her eyes in the first place, but I don't know that I have ever done two loads of laundry and cleaned a bathroom with so much apologizing afterward!



After that was behind us, Madeline recovered quickly. There were cupcakes involved. I truly believe cupcakes cure all.


mg

Iowa 2010, Part I

Two weeks ago (because I am about that far behind on everything in my life including laundry and dishes (just kidding (sort of))) we hopped* in the car and headed north to Iowa.

It was a very eventful weekend. The weekend started with a 5 hour car ride with two small children. That is not fun. Period. I know there are a million websites that will tell you that traveling with kids is great if you have the right stuff to keep them entertained, but that is just a bunch of crap. You know what I need? A never ending supply of DVD's for my three year old and a intergalactic transporter a la 'beam me up Scotty" for my 10 month old. Just kidding of course. They don't let children that young transport alone.

So after a short nap for Lydia and about an hour of mild fussing by both the girls we stopped for lunch at a park. I was navigating and as we got off the highway the road I directed Kevin onto turned into a gravel road only 100 yards off the highway exit. He was more than skeptical.

But I didn't lead him astray and we found a park with picnic tables and a play ground for the girl to burn off some energy.


Did I mention it was freezing? It was freezing.

Eventually we got the girls to go back into the car. It was like we were torturing them or something. Hell in a Nissan. We are so flippin' mean.

Eventually we made it to Iowa to hang out with Quentin and his parents.

Madeline promptly found a even smaller spot to hang out in. See! She loved torture by Nissan.

They didn't spend all weekend in a bucket.

The train table was pretty cool too.

Tomorrow's installment: How Aaron and Jenny got me to clean their entire bathroom, do two loads of laundry AND apologize for it! Stay tuned!
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* and by hopped I mean we spent hours packing to leave the house for only three days and two nights.


mg