My littlest man!

At the River

This last weekend I decided to take the kids up to the river with my parents and Alan so that we could all get a little energy out...and I could have a little adult conversation. Madi had so much fun playing with Alan, swimming, and climbing rocks. We were there all day on Sunday and Madi refused to take a nap...but on our way home that night her and Alden crashed hard!

A little bit of Alden

here is one of the photos from yesterdays shoot...it was hard to do, but we finally captured a smile. He smiles a lot, but the camera seems to distract him. It was so funny to see Debbie and I trying everything we could to get him to laugh or smile, i know that he smiles at the word BOOBIE lately. So here we were practically yelling the word boobie over and over again, it was hilarious. Thank you Debbie, not only for a wonderful morning of pictures, but also for your company, we have become such good friends these last three years, and i trust no one else to capture my babies like you do.

http://www.dshorophoto.com/

Stuff for the Daddy...

Well honey, we miss you more than you could ever imagine...only one more week and i hope it goes by as fast as this last one did. Alden has his 3 months photos with Debbie (http://www.dshorophoto.com/) on Saturday, we're really excited about that. It's going to be so neat to compare them to Madi's pictures of her at the same age.

Yesterday auntie Katie came by just after 10am and hung out for most of the afternoon, it was so fun just to visit and talk about school starting back up again (Auntie Katie is a teacher at Jesuit High), I also got Katie into blogging, we set up her page and everything. Just as Katie was leaving for the day Joanna got here to help me with the kids and visit as well. It's just really nice to have such a great support network that is so close by to help when Tom's away...it makes it that much easier. Thank you both for all of your help and mostly just your company. Here are some pics of our awesome day yesterday.

Potty Time

So Tom and I started potty training Madi about 5 weeks ago, and she's done suprisingly well with it, even when we're not at home. She has her little potty chair that she uses most of the time and she even wears pull-ups now instead of real diapers which i think help her feel more like a big girl. The only problems that we have encountered are as follows:

1:) Madi is no dummy, she knows that she can use the "I PEE PEE!" excuse at any time, and I mean ANY time. So lets say we've just had a long and exhausting night of chasing miss thang around trying to get her in the tubby, then her jammies, then sitting down on the couch for a nice cup of soy milk (baba milt) and a quick viewing of the Upside Down Show...a Madi Chase favorite. Then after that it's into the bathroom for brushing teeth, into her room for a story...we say our prayers, we tuck her in with all three close companions Bunny-Boy, Pooh, and Monkey (her Baby Brook doll will occasionally join her, it depends on the night and what Brook's already got planned) We give her x-amount of kisses and hugs, turn on her aquarium music thingy and lights off. She remembers that she misses Daddy and has to run back down the hall for one final kiss, then back into her bed right by the door mind you so that Madi can "Watch" as she likes to put it. So an hour has passed and she's finally in bed right? WRONG! as we settle into the couch for some random show we hear..."mommy, daddy...i pee pee" at first we say, yeah right she's just saying it...we wait a few more minutes then we hear "MOMMY, DADDY...I PEE PEE!" ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT...in we go she runs out to the potty takes off all her clothes (the only way madi knows how to go potty) and looks right at us with the cutest face in the world and says "NO NIGH NIGH"

You see people, this small human child of a mere 2, has grasped the importance of potty and how ape sh*t mommy and daddy go when she has to do it, and when she does do it...therefore she plays that potty card to the best of her ability...at bed time when she doesn't want to go nigh nigh. Can we blame her? the answer is no, and tom and i actually think it's pretty stinkin funny, and cute! But we're onto her now...we're onto her. But what is our other option, if we say no, too bad, she'll pee in her pants (if she genuinely has to go this time) and then she'll think that she can't go when she needs to...so here we are running in circles for the pee-pee queen. All hail the Queen!

2.) We can't seem to keep clothes on this little thing.

Clearly one of our issues is greater than the other...unless she never grows out of #2.) then i don't know what we're gonna do.

Anyhoo...i'll keep everyone updated on her potty progress...

For Daddy

For the next two weeks, i will be posting daily pictures of the kids for Daddy to view and enjoy. I know how much they miss him and I can only imagine how much he misses them. So sorry about all the pics! (and when i say daily i mean whenever i have time...just had to clarify) :) hee hee

The Diamond Anniversary!

This last weekend my family and I celebrated my grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary by throwing a surprise party for them in the church social hall at St. Peter and Paul. It was so fun to see their reactions when they walked in and everyone yelled "SURPRISE or as madi says "PRIZE!" My grandpa started clapping like crazy while my grandma started crying and collapsed against the wall...we got them to the church by telling them it was Alden's Baptism...they bought it hook, line, and sinker...suckers! It was such a fun day of visiting, yummy food, and memories through a photo slide show of the last 60 years.

It's so crazy to actually sit down and think of spending 60 years with the one that you love, having children and raising your family together, literally growing up and growing old with each other. Tom and I always say that we're so excited to have grandchildren some day, we just love having our two little loves and embracing family togetherness, we can't wait to see what the future holds down the line. I know one thing is for sure, we will defintely see 60 years together. This weekend was just a great reminder for me of the wonderful man that i am so lucky to have in my life, to share my life with, to raise our kids together, to travel the world together, and to always be thankful that we found eachother so early in our lives. I love you Tom and miss you very much, even though you've only been gone two days. (side note: tom is in North Carolina for two weeks in training on a new product with Glaxo Smith Kline)

Another great part about this weekend was that my sister Isobel came to visit with her husband Joe and their kids J.J and Jordan (aka Jordi) from Santa Cruz and stayed two nights with us. We don't get to see eachother very often, so I really tried to visit as much as i could. I wanted to just hog her to myself the whole time, but i had to share her with 'the others' dangit! But we had so much fun watching jordi and madi play together...they are the only two girls out of all eight grandkids, and they're so stinkin cute together when they play...that is when they're not yelling at eachother, hitting eachother, or screaming "MINE"...I swear, they do love one another :) Thank Izzy for making the drive up and staying with us.

My cousin Ryan and his wife Lanelle and their two kids Kaylee (oh man, i'm not sure how to spell her name) and Paul came all the way from Boise Idaho for the party as well as a family vacation in general i think. It was so good to see them and the kids, they are growing up so fast. I didn't get a chance to get any pictures of the kids while they were here, but i'll have to post them after i steal them from some one else. It was so good to see you guys, hope you had a safe trip home!



Notice the looks of shear hapiness from both girls. Keeping clothes on these two is a regular day job.